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The American Dream
Cars are not a big deal for this household, except to those of driving age
who for whatever reason do not yet have one. Then cars are a very big deal!
RVs are also sort of a big deal, but that's another story!
Our first car in California, the Mazda that Sue and Derek,
our in-laws, sold us for $1,000
soon after we arrived in 1997, can also be seen on that page.
This Solara on the left had a few moments of glory, because the top came off!
Here are Charlie and Brigette, his best buddy from Kindergarten at Happy
Valley School, going cruisin' in the convertible in spring
2001! But the
thrill of the convertible top wore off before the monthly payments reduced, and we sold it early.
Here on the right is one of our workhorses, the Suburban, which filled that role from
1999, when Nick and Tom rejoined us in Santa Cruz,
to 2003. Not a particularly pretty car, and environmentally very unsound, but it
did carry all of us in relative comfort with a lot of luggage.
We're a bit of a
workhorse family when it comes to cars. They do a job. Our first collective car
was our first workhorse, a Ford Aerostar that was ours from
1994 through leaving France in 1997 that appears on
this page. Next are two other Aerostar photos.
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This regrettable event occurred in Rambouillet in
1996, when the driver (who shall of course remain nameless) berated the
post for being in the wrong place! Which it was. The city removed
it not long after.
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Daphné and
Alban asleep in the
back of the Aerostar in late 1994. Are they cute or what?!
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For some reason, Nick here adorns the Mercedes
that Ian leased from 2003 to 2006. It was a better deal than the Solara (thank
you Robert Hammer), and with its excellent sound system and 200 hp, was a lot of
fun to drive. Daphné's Focus is
in the background. It was July of 2004, she had yet to turn 17, and she already
had a car!
Below right is another of the Focus. Alex and Daphné were
washing, and perhaps Charlie was there too but out of the photo.
And below left here is the Volvo getting a wash, this time from Alban,
Charlie and Alex. The Volvo replaced the Suburban in 2003 as the older children
spent less time with the rest of us. It carried six with the rear-facing seat in
the trunk, and used about 2/3 the gas. These photos of the children washing the
car should not mislead you into thinking that it was a regular event. Rather, on
the rare occasions when it happened, out came the camera!
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We have not been very successful in other vehicles. Ian offered
Marie-Hélène
the beautiful Virago on the left for her birthday in 1999, something that she
had mentioned that she had always wanted. But with all the family responsibilities and the
switchback in our driveway, she was not able to ride it enough.
Then Nick had the moped below for running around town, and it was stolen from
in front of the local cinema on Pacific Avenue.
On the left is the "vanity" plate that has adorned Ian's Altima hybrid starting in 2007.
We like license plates with a message, even if we need to add
letters to get the message across!
Changing the subject, below left is dashboard perfection, caught in
2005 by
Marie-Hélène in what was
then her Volvo.
We were out for dinner, knowing that the 111,111 miles was coming up, and she
had
already synchronized the trip odometer to give us 111.1 simultaneously. We were
ready for a great collection of ones.
But it got better when, after dinner, she though to see what the
temperature was in Celsius: in Fahrenheit, there were no ones in view. At the
restaurant it was 9C. At home a little later it was 6C. But in downtown
Santa Cruz, where she parked to marvel at this
extraordinary sight and preserve it for posterity, it was 11C.
Okay, so we did
wind the clock on so that we did not have to sit in the center of town for an
hour and a half. But how many times have you seen anything close to those
numbers!
Here are some of the things that we care more about than cars: swimming,
soccer,
diving,
surfing, homework, more soccer,
trains, funfairs,
screens,
mountain biking,
stamping, more
soccer.
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