WELCOME TO THE WORLD, LEAH!!!

More to come...

Last Few Days...

This road trip has ended the way it began: making sweet memories with family & friends, but doing it on the West Coast.

From the Grand Canyon, we hopped back on Route 66 and road tripped down to Scottsdale

(AZ). Got here late in the day, but never too late to convince The Prince of Weequahic (Jerry Fernandez) to join us for a cold one...or two...Met up at a fun bar called Giligin's.

Best thing about this place, aside from the late-night pizza, was the Shot Wheel. Pay 6 bucks and wherever the wheel lands you have to take that shot. These are just SOME of them, and yahhh, we were fine watching everyone else spin it.

The next day, we hung out with Weequahic's "Not-Even-Close-to Being-A-Mean-Lady" Marcy Hartman and her husband Oren. We thought everything was big in Texas?? Marcy has such a big washing machine she literally stands on a step stool to reach into it. And yes, we gave her a good work out that day.

They also treated us to a LOVELY bagel brunch. See Marcy, you CAN cook!!

The highlight was visiting Oren's restaurant NAKED Q. About 7 years ago, when Oren was visiting Marcy at camp, he talked about an idea to start a BBQ restaurant, and we finally got to see it. It's AWESOME!!! Click here to check out what is now an award-winning CHAIN (yes, there's more than one now!).

The stacks of pecan and oak wood you see here are used in Naked Q's giant smokers. Marcy filled up a giant goody bag for us, we gave her a big "summa sista" hug, and...

...hit the road for San Diego to visit our daughter-in-law Rachel's mom, Kathy. So what's that drive like??? Stare at this picture for 5 hours and 36 minutes.

Finally arrived at the FANCIEST KOA we have ever been at. It's A KOA RESORT!! This MUST be Cali.

The next day we headed over to Kathy's house and were treated with SUCH hospitality. And it was very sweet sleeping in Rachel's childhood bedroom and hearing all the stories about her growing up. And to think we're only a few days away from being able to tell all those stories to HER baby.

Kathy also took us around the city, with the highlight being Balboa Park. Click HERE for a 2-min history lesson.

When we were home with Kathy, she treated us to homemade blueberry muffins, her roasted cashews, and I got a much-needed lesson on pour-over coffee (which is a thing here). We also went out for EXCELLENT Mexican food & drinks. We basically ate our way through S.D.

Check out these people night fishing on Ocean Beach Pier as planes flew overhead. San Diego is a great city, by day AND night.

But alas, morning came, and we waved goodbye to Kathy knowing that the next time we'd see her is when the baby arrives. Our van LAX then began the journey toward her motherland: Los Angeles.

We skipped the airport, and went straight into town to visit with longtime Tenafly friends who relocated to L.A. a few years ago, Karen & Bob Porper.

Their now-very-grown-up son Greg joined us for lunch and regaled us with funny stories about the new movie he's making, called "Don't Tell Larry." Click HERE for a sneak peek. So worth watching!!

After a great lunch with the Porper's, we hopped into the van and headed to Pismo Beach to celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary. Saw lotsa surfers, beautiful sunset, hot tub at night...

And then...well...we were done.

It was time to head to Berkeley and move into our new home and start our new life there.

We said goodbye to LAX, but not without having a chuckle as we read this sign in the Escape Campervan office. We still have our drug rugs. Maybe we're not done...?

MIA - Where Have We Been??!

Spoiler Alert: we're writing this from our backyard in Berkeley, California. The legs on the right are Mark's, the legs on the left are Lizzie's. It's lovely to be here.

I've spent the afternoon breathing life back into my raisin challah recipe, which hasn't seen an oven for quite some time. It's shabbat, and I have these ready to bake - one for us, one for our niece Becca & fiance Colin, one for Jacob & Rachel, and...er...none for the vegans (Lizzie & Dylan). That'll be a project for next week (send me recipes!).

Wanna know more about Berkeley? If I put it all here, you won't read about the rest of our trip. So LEMME TELL YOU ABOUT NEW MEXICO....Here's a shortened version of the post that got deleted (which is why I got mad at the blog and had to ignore it for a few days):

SANTE FE was definitely a cute town, albeit VERY touristy. The museums are well-thought-out and the galleries are cool, but at times I felt like I was strolling through Riverside Square Mall, but with everything fashioned from adobe.

The State House was SUPER cool -- for example, the one on the left is Trenton, a typical State House; the one on the right is Santa Fe, consistent with the architecture of the whole city, which reflects its indigenous heritage:

The entire city has that feel, and it makes Santa Fe special. We could have spent more time there, for sure, but I think I need to come back with some female companions.

HIGHLIGHT: We encountered the most amazing rainbow we've ever seen. These really are the colors and it really was this big. Imagine living in a place where you're putting your groceries in the car, and you look up and see this. It has to make you a happier, more humble person.

Then on to ALBUQUERQUE, where Mark finally found a place to shop!!!

And YES they offer "Breaking Bad" RV tours, but they are booked until October!!!

Next Stop: THE GRAND CANYON, which is located in Arizona. We visited the Southern Rim.

And stayed for the sunset...

We then parked at the SKETCHIEST campground of the trip. SO sketchy we were too scared to get out of our van to take a photo. Couldn't wait for 5 a.m. so we could pull out and head to Mather Point for the sunrise.

A few young men were on a ledge near us laying tefillin. We could see why...

Walked back to our van, where we made breakfast and coffee in the parking lot, still in our jammies.

WAIT! The Berkeley challahs are ready for delivery, so we're ending this post. Watch for upcoming visits to Scottsdale, AZ, San Diego, and L.A. The trip's not over yet!