Sunny California

So I was going to write out a whole detailed and elaborate blog about the last week and the last couple days, but instead I will do a short recap.
Our family had quite the hectic last week in Seattle, getting ready, fine tuning our bags, and what we were taking, boxing up our bikes, planning out our riding, and so on. That aside, we are off on the road now!! We flew from Seatac to Long Beach Airport on March first, the plane ride went really well. It was just a short 2 hour flight, Soeren-Raedek and Ave did great. The LBA is just a tiny airport, so we walked around a corner or two and were outside at baggage claim in sunny beautiful Cali, where I organized our panniers, Chris assembled our bikes, Soeren ran around in the sun and made friends with security guards, and Ave slept like a little angel. We of course were full of the excitement of the day!
Once we got everything assembled and ready, we headed out to our first destination, in Orange. The weather was perfect and we made a few stops along the way for the kids, and map checking to make sure we were on the right track, (we found out later that evening we could have taken a quicker much simpler route, haha..oh well). As for how we rode it was a mix of both bike lane riding, bike/jogging trail riding, and back roads.
We stayed the evening with a beautiful, and incredible couple, David and Maria. We ate, ate, and drank, drank, and went to bed early! The next day we were lucky enough to be accompanied by David most of the way on our day number two. He is one tough rider, he has a huge kind heart that shows in his face!! We certainly enjoyed our time together, Dave even asked to carry some of our weight for us. We were spoiled by him from the first minute to the last, he even pointed out the sites and gave us some history facts!!
The second day of riding was not quite as easy breezy as the first day, it was a windy windy ride!! Head wind the entire way, (there was even a high wind report for the Santa Ana area). The route on day two was mostly on the Santa Ana River Trail, with the last couple miles on a road bike lane. The trail was nice and smooth riding -minus the pushy winds.
Here is the route we've taken so far:


View Larger Map

And here are some pictures of the journey the past couple days:

The last days, whittling down the stuff

Packing bikes

Long Beach Airport getting ready

Adorable lady waiting and watching us clean

Look! ducks!

Awesome Dave on his tandum bike

Snacking and changing diapers

Hi!!

Look at those shoes!

We arrived, and they are OUT!