Day 25

Waking up in a giant Best Western bed is a nice start to any morning. Em and I head back to Mr. Kraft's house, where Laurie makes us yogurt parfaits for breakfast and then whisks Emily away for an early-day dessert at TCBY. I stay behind and look at apartment listings for Ann Arbor. I take a quick break, remember that Emily's birthday is in a few days, and order three tickets for the American Idol concert in Glendale, AZ.

The girls come back toting a bag of my favorite potato chips of all time: Kettle Krinkle Cut, Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper flavor. It's a very happy day all of a sudden, and I forget about my housing trouble. When Mr Kraft returns home after dropping off Aunt Allison at the airport, we pile into the car and head toward Lassen Volcanic National Park to see the patches of snow that still remain from the cold months.

Laurie and Emily are excited about the prospect of seeing snow. I'm excited about doing something that doesn't involve swimming in a pool of mountain ice water.

The park is pretty. Steep drives, geysers, lakes, and mountains are the norm here. We do find snow, but it's much higher up than normal, which means Lassen is getting hotter by the year. Scary. We have an impromptu snowball fight and photo shoot before heading back down to sea level.




On the way back, we grab some food at one of Chuck Norris' local hangouts: the Kopper Kettle. No sight of Chuck tonight, much to Laurie's dismay.

- Andrew