VACATION!!!!!

Well at least this time I have a real excuse for not "blogging " for a couple of weeks!! We went on VACATION!

The initial reason was a family reunion that occurs every 3 years but Momma {me} decided that as long as the effort was being put forth might as well make it a full fledge VAY-KAY. We hit Gilroy the first night and of course had to hunt down PIZZA--we lets face it cant take all of the routine out of the autism --and realistically you have to have compromise if you want to enjoy your efforts--So it was pizza and oh boy was it good---lots and lots of Garlic--wooohooo a late swim and bed for the night and No Behaviors---yeah

Next on to Guerneville-- this place is a trip to say the least its a tiny town on the Russian River near Bodega Bay.We stayed at a place called Dawn Ranch and although I am no pedigree and I can hang with the best of them when it comes to "less than perfect " accommodations this place was a definite challenge.It was like a mini village of one room cottages that were barely big enough to have a bed and lets not even talk about the bath closet--OH excuse me bathROOM???? No phone No TV --yes there was electricity but only 2 sockets one behind the bed that took up 75% of the room and the other one ws in the bath-closet-oooooh excuse me the bathroom and it only worked if you left the light on!!!!Knowing I had Autism as an extra guest on our travels I came equipped with several "tools" to aide me in the fight against boredom and ritual including a portable DVD player,a laptopcomputer,a slow cooker with a detachable heating unit so I could warm things in the room as well as make Decaf Ice Tea , a small room fan --to drown out unwanted noises,compact disc player with a radio,familiar snack foods,and our own water supply. Well so much for pre-planning--Ok there was WI-FI there but only if you had Cingular service-- what a joke no cell phones no service for many of the computers cuz it just wasn't happening--- Now don't get me wrong I knew some of these conditions ahead of time and all in all it was BUT MAN WHAT A CHALLENGE! This was one step up from tent camping-- Oh yeah lets not forget that the showers were equipped with "on demand" water heating systems which took me almost 3 days to realize that I had to run the water in the sink at the same time as the shower in order to KEEP THE HOT WATER FLOWING because the shower head was so tiny that there was not enough flow to "tell" the on demand system to keep heating the water--- The very first time I got Dakota in the shower which was a feat since it was new and different than home i barely get him wet and soaped down and here comes the "blue-balls" cold -ass water and he starts getting agitated and jumps out which there was no room for both of us in the Bath-closet--OOOOH I mean bathroom!Remarkably he handled it quiet well and giggled and laughed at me getting pissed off about the situation-- sometimes our kids teach us lessons about handling things! The Family Reunion got on with several activities over the course of 4 days and there are many more stories to tell but for nowI will get on with the vacation as a whole--

On to San Francisco-- as I look back I have decided that whenever I am going to visit a city like SF I need to double the length of time we stay because there is "prep" time each day so essentially we need twice as much time to see and enjoy what others would do in half the time ????{that's an awkward sentence} A N Y W A Y --- we stayed a block off of Fisherman's Wharf and had a great time-- I negotiated with the concierge to "comp" my parking {which by the way is outrageous in San Francisco over 40 bucks a night} if I attended a vacation ownership "deal". So Dakota and I went to the presentation and did amazingly well. It was a power point presentation with a touch screen and he sat there and was the best kid ever-- WHAT A BLESSING. Several years ago I never would have believed that Dakota could do it but He continues to shine and show me he can step out of his "limitations"! The plus side to the hour long presentation was it was at the Cannery Building which gave us an opportunity to walk the Wharf and also to see the new Argonaut Hotel . They have taken the building and transformed it to a beautiful Hotel right on the Wharf and when I go next time I will stay there.The highlight of the trip was searching out the only Carl's Jr in San Francisco which by the way is at Embarcadero Center right across the street from PIER #1.It forced me to drive in San Fran something I have never been fond of but I have to say it is quite improved since the last time I visited. We actually drove down Market street which is a trip in itself and headed to the southwest corner of the city to "Twin Peaks" {I always think of the old TV show--ha ha} The view is great there but alas it was very cool and foggy --Imagine that in San Francisco and not much "viewing power" the day we were there-- so we drove through Golden Gate Park and the Marina District just to familiarize Dakota with the city-- kinda laying the ground work for future visits-- oh yes and of course if you are driving in SF how can you pass up the opportunity to drive down the "Crookedest Street in the world"--Lombard Street.Then back to the hotel. The day before we left this fair city by the Bay: the day revolved around visiting Pier 39 --Dakota didn't have any interest at all and the famed Cable Car Ride--we rode all the way down the Powell line to Market Street and when we got to the bottom the guys allowed Dakota to ring the bell and take a picture as the "engineer" then we hopped off and got in line to ride back up to the Wharf-- On our way back one of the street artist "bargained" with me on a pastel of Lombard Street for a whopping 10 bucks best bargain in San Francisco-- its really quite beautiful, 16x20 hand painted with bright colors something Dakota will look at for the rest of his life and remember the day we bought it on the Streets of San Francisco.

On the day we stared down to Cambria the search as on for Wienerschnitzel--OH MY GOD Remember that its really a small price to pay for calm and peace for the day. I genuinely believe that the anticipation of Daks needs clearly makes the day the week or the journey smoother! There is NO Wiernerschnitzel in San Francisco So the route out of Frisco expressly to get us too a Wienerschnitzel-- I know it sounds crazy but I have to admit that this "food routine" was really the only issue Dakota was having on the trip and was a small price to pay for the betterment of our vacation and sanity!!!!!! We ended up in Sunnyvale took care of Dakotas "need"