We struck gold in northern California

We traveled to Colfax, California where my brother and his wife live. I was expecting the trip to be a little more difficult with Kevin, but he was overall very agreeable. Of course he had his difficult moments, but they were just that: moments. Since the last road trip we took with him was quite a bit more difficult, this was a pleasant surprise.

The next day we took a little tour of Auburn, a city not far from Colfax that has its roots in gold mining. They have a huge statue of a man panning for gold. Look what we found in his bowl:

After our golden find, we took a walk around town and now that Kevin has taken some steps, he seems to want to walk all the time(with help). Actually, he probably wouldn't mind crawling. He just doesn't want to be held, so he'll compromise and walk. Here he is walking with us down the street.
We passed by several little shops and found this little theater. Kevin loved it!

We took it easy on Sunday, but on Monday we went to Old Sacramento. We walked everywhere and saw this ship, The Hawaiian Chieftain, docked on the river. It looked awesome from up high. A guy from the ship told us to come down and have a closer look, so we did. I'm not sure who had more fun, Ellis or Kevin, but here they are at the helm of the ship.
The crew takes the ship up and down the coast. They live on it year round. It's home port is Grays Harbor in Washington State. They normally take it out for school field trips and other booked tours. They didn't have any tours scheduled that day, so we lucked out. It was fun to be on a real ship.
We had a great time visiting John and Kris. We felt very welcome in their home. Thanks for letting us invade your home and lives for a few days. We had a great time. Here's Kevin with Kris.
And one last goofy smile from Kevin with his Uncle John. I can't be sure, but from what I can tell, Kevin had just as good of a time as his parents.