"Will we see moose here?"--Henry

Today, June 25th at about 8:30 PM, I got in my car and drove to the airport.  I snapped this photo of the sun setting on the horizon.  CA is big on letting drivers know their laws.  Replacing all of the plastered "click it or ticket" signs on the highway there are now, "one hand on your phone the other with a ticket" signs every few miles.  I tend to think I shouldn't have been taking this picture while speeding down I-80 at 71mph.  But, I was using a real camera, not a phone. 

At the airport I picked up my fifth group of students from rural Alaska who are going to join me for a spell in California.  This time in particular the students are Justin, Yago, Henry, Henrietta, and Alaina.  They are all just about to enter the eighth grade having spent their seventh grade year at Akiuk Memorial School.  For the first time we are also hosting an adult.  Marilyn, the school secretary and the mother of one of our student travelers, is coming along to experience her first adventure in the Lower 48 too.

It's different every time a new group of students comes to Sacramento. Back when I took the Oscarville kids for the first time I remember having to nearly push Chinace on to the escalator in Washington.  And two years later, when her sister Elizabeth approached the escalator, we held hands and did a one-two-three step to get on it.  But these folks.  These five newly-turned-eighth grades from Kasigluk, AK rode the escalator like seasoned professionals.

I wondered if this was all going to be a little anti-climatic.  Maybe I've romanticized my previous adventures.  Maybe a few weeks in CA is really not all that big of a deal.  The kids grabbed their luggage off the carousel and followed my parents and I to the cars without any kind of wide-eyed gaping awe.  I think at one point one of them said, "it's kind of hot".  But with perhaps our only raining of the summer hitting just this morning, there really wasn't much I could say about it feeling hot at 75-degrees.  Sorry kid, it's gonna get a lot worse for you.

But then a magical thing happened.  We split the group into two vehicles and all of the sudden the conversation came alive.  They seemed to snap out of the jet-lag-fog and I was asked a string of questions for the next 20 minutes.  Everything from, "are we going to see the Sacramento Kings?" to "if we are going to ride a horse tomorrow, what will happen if we get lose?" to "well what kind of animals DO they have around here?"

There it is!  That's the spark that makes this all worth the while.

I did my best to answer questions but really these aren't questions that need answers from me.  They're questions that need to be answered with time in CA.  And that... is just what's in store for them.

Our first activity on the agenda is to go to the Drive-In Movies.  I love movies.  And I miss out, during the school year, when I am hundreds of miles away from a theater.  But there's something even BETTER about seeing a movie at the drive-in.  It's nostalgic but not in a way that reminds me of *my* childhood.  I mean, sure, I have those memories of trying to sneak in High School age friends in the trunk of the car.  Staying out, and fighting to stay awake, until that second movie ends at 1:30AM on a weekend.  Feeling completely free of parents and rules.

But going to drive in reminds me of times that weren't even my own.  Drive-in movie theaters to me are the 50s and 60s and having been born in the mid-70's I fully acknowledge that I am waxing on poetic.  So let's get back to the kids.

We gathered outside the cars in lawn chairs, tarps, and blankets and gorged ourselves on chicken, bread, pop, fruit, chips, popcorn, and the likes and settled in for two movies.  The first movie was Monsters University and I was bummed that we had missed the first ten minutes or so of the show.  With a delayed plane from Seattle, the need to lay everything out and get settled with food, and really the excitement of being in a drive-in for the first time, I am frankly surprised we only missed the beginning.

At one point during the movie Marilyn's gaze move from the movie screen over to the sky and she said, "It's like a dream.  It's just feels like a dream."  Marilyn gets the magic of the Drive-in. 

During the intermission we cleaned up the food a bit and resettled on our viewing positions.  It was 11:30PM at this point and some members of our party were starting to get sleepy (I'm looking at you Mom).  So when the second movie, "Iron Man 3" started up, we were ready.

The action and comedy in Iron Man definitely held my attention but the kids were getting a little punchy at this point.  First the boys went in the car.  Then they came out.  Then the girls went in the car.  Then I went to the bathroom and found my seat taken when I returned.  At one point I pointed out a stray cat along a side fence to Yago and Justin.  A few minutes later it was joined but a couple of other animals that looked a little less cat like.  They asked what it was.  I suggested an opossum.  They asked if they could get a closer look and I said, "sure".  We watched the boys approach the animal and then, once about 15 feet away, the stopped dead, turned, and ran back with great speed.

The boys were convinced that with its fluffy tail, it was a skunk.  I asked if they could see the color of the tail and they said they thought it was a black, but it is dark out.  So they went back to investigate.  This time they went with company.

  
And you know what?

They were right.

A baby skunk was so focused on snacking on some garbage that we were able to get pretty close without getting sprayed.  So there you go... no, Henry, you won't see a moose here and when you asked earlier and I named birds, deer, snakes and maybe bear--well add skunks to that list.  Apparently you'll see those too.

We got back to home base shortly after 2:15AM and everyone chose beds quickly.  The boys said they were going to pull an all-nighter tonight and everyone else said they were welcome to do so.  It's now 4:00 and having given up on trying to hook up the new Wii U, they put in "Warm Bodies" and I haven't heard a peep since.  Am I the last one awake?  Guess I'll find out in the morning.