over the river and through the woods: section C

the motel we stayed in in eureka was another 2-star-er in my old AAA book, again with the "free continental breakfast" for which we weren't holding out any high hopes. it was downtown - which is a nice way of saying that there was sure to be sleeping transients within 20 feet in any direction, not to mention the, ahem...ladies of the night. (a humboldt hooker should definitely be at the top of your list of Things to Do Before I Die [eek! i mean SEE...should definitely be at the top of your list of Things to SEE Before I Die. if you still want to DO then go for it, but it may very well be the last thing you manage to cross off, so personally, i'd put it towards the bottom of the list.] there is just nothing quite like it anywhere else. it's a very natural [read: totally granola] area where the bathing and the shaving of one's body are ritualistic pressures laid upon us by the man and sometimes actually scoffed upon. oh, and evidently teeth are not necessarily necessary either). the chick behind the motel counter tells me to be sure and park in the lighted, covered parking area...not that, you know, it's not a safe neighborhood or anything. it's just that SHE wouldn't park out on the street, and neither should i. ok, good enough...i can take a hint.

keeping in mind that i am basically an honest person, i lied like a rug about how many people we had staying in our room. i am not about to pay an extra $10 per person, per night or shell out another benjamin for another room so a couple of kids can actually sleep on beds. i figure they are lucky i even like them enough to allow them to sleep on the floor and breathe my motel room air...they certainly aren't getting their own room. this place was much nicer than the previous night's motel, lots of body-sprawling floor space and a tv that was actually bigger than my purse. everyone slept well and we awoke fresh and ready for a day of FOOTBALL with the mcbirdie clan. we had wanted to go out to the beach first, but gee...oddly enough, it was raining. huh, who knew?

[side note: humboldt county is an absolutely gorgeous place of huge redwoods and beautiful exotic-looking plants...lush greenery almost everywhere you look. as with most everything, there is a reason for this - they get something insane like 7 feet of rain per year. oh yea, it's pretty, but dang do you pay the price]

i sent the kids down to the "free continental breakfast" in twos with instructions to not talk to the other pair, so you know, no one would know they were together and therefore here illegally. deportation at this point would have put a serious kink in our plans...turns out that this place actually had a nice breakfast. waffle maker with pre-measured little cups of batter, biscuits and a crock-pot full of yummy country sausage, cereals, oatmeal, breads, muffins, fruit, juices, again with the lukewarm coffee, but hey who's keeping track? everyone had a bit of something (even little-miss-picky-pants brynn) and with a warning phone call, we were off to la casa de mcbride.

playoffs weekend...those damn undefeated patriots were playing in the first game of the day, my beloved packers in the second. leaf and her family were kind enough to allow us to invade her lovely, clean, quiet home for the day. the kids all paired - or tripled - off and stayed outta our hair for the most part. braden had to be threatened a couple of times as he was, on occasion, being particularly braden and making people want to throw him off a bridge. or hit him - whatever. the girls went for walks and got muddy, the boys pretty much stayed upstairs in front of the ps2 all day. we ate yummy whore's-derves and just vegged with my leaf and her man. oh and leaf got sick to her stomach - well that's what she said anyway. it did happen right about dinner time, so she may have just wanted us OUT. heh heh heh...i did manage to forget a kid at her house that night. score one me.