Redwoods

We're camping tonight under redwoods along Pescadero Creek with gear mostly purchased by Cara at Walmart this afternoon. Knock America all you want, but we completely outfit ourselves for less that the cost of a night's hotel stay in Silicon Valley. And, as Cara put it beneath these gigantic boughs, we don't really need to go to Muir Woods anymore.

It's been wild already to bring the fam back to the US with all the opinions and contradictions and engagement. Zara was so happy just to have people smile back at her in the stores again. And Cara has struck up conversations with more than a dozen strangers in less than 24 hours. That's America for you! At breakfast this morning the news was on and Cara was aghast at the latest Trump immigration policy being sensationalized by the media and lamented that she'd been able to avoid this while in Norway. Europeans mostly respond with the knee-jerk "Trump is bad" response, but the Turkish woman at the table next to us was having none of that and gave Cara an earful. It was a beautiful thing, and so American!

So you are a Trump supporter now, Bradley? Why does being excited about people expressing contrarian opinions automatically mean I support them? This woman has obviously thought out her beliefs and had arguments to back them up rather than just regurgitating the media filth that is anti-Trump at any cost. I'll take a thinker I disagree with any day over a mindless follower. And to argue politics at breakfast, well, that to me is what made this country great. Everyone believes their opinion matters and through that together we can make awesome and crazy shit happen. The unbridled belief that America is a great place that we have the power to make better is a fire I miss living in a country where people go along to get along.

Maxwell & Zara are in a bit of a culture shock about how much Spanish is spoken here. And also how much English they hear! Tonight they were playing with a football (as they'd say - Americans would call it a soccer ball), and a couple little boys rode up on bikes to watch them. They wer impressed by some of Maxwell's tricks, but I overheard one little boy say to the other "he talks weird" when my kids left. It might be Maxwell's voices, but it's probably also his broken grammar that is no longer American but not really norsk either. It'll be good for them to be back here a month to rediscover their roots, although sadly we shant see fireflies.