Yay! Our family vacation is finally here! Every year for the last eight summers we have spent our vacation time and money heading from San Jose to Minnesota and Michigan (with some rendezvous in Wisconsin) to visit our families. We so adore that time and love love love staying connected with our loved ones. But this year, due to our big life change (Brian and I working together and making one income “work”) we decided that a big trip to the mid-west was not a wise choice. Instead, we sent our middle two as family ambassadors, and planned to do something fun at home. But then, our wheels began to turn. What if we head up the coast and visit our friends in Portland and our family in Washington? That would be fun. So we spent a Sunday afternoon looking through camping and travel books about HWY 1 and the beautiful coast. But “Houston, we have a problem!”; we sold all of our camping gear last fall to make room in the garage for Brian’s office. Well, okay, hotels then, but suddenly, our plan cheap road trip plans were adding up. Hmmm. . . thinking outside the box, or van, or airplane . . . what about a train?? Within a few days of coming up with our brilliant plan, we had six round-trip tickets on the Coast Starlight, Amtrak’s flag-ship line, up the coast of California, Oregon and into Washington. Now, how cool is THAT? Best part? The tickets were $100 each way per person!! Um, wow! So there you have it; the Mayer family adventure is about to begin. I am excited and a little nervous. Four kids on a train, in the dark, in the rain . . . wait, I am waxing Dr. Suess. Anyway, it should be a blast, and of course, there will be MANY photos to prove it (or show how crazy it is). Who knows, maybe I will convert you all to rail travel!