Underground Italy

We had been scheduled to go out on the 1:00 flight but I had learned it was totally booked, but I thought at least I could try to get Nick on without us girls. I dropped Nick off at the airport and the girls and I drove around downtown Fresno to see what there was to see. Someone said that Fresno reminded them of an old immigrant farm town, with fruit orchards and vineyards everywhere, but not much else. So totally true. Fresno is very Hispanic, in fact so Hispanic we weren't sure we even saw a African American even in the town little alone a white person. Someone also mentioned there was a outside mall. The outside mall consisted of course Hispanic stores of all sorts, with covered bars on the windows and doors. I kept on driving in hopes the girls would ignore the outside mall, but they kept on requesting me to stop and do some shopping. The people in the store were very nice, but you could tell once you noticed there was three white people with a white baby in their store, that we were definitely the gossip session of the day.

Lucky enough for me my son called to tell me that he didn't make it on the plane and so we left and picked him up, checked into the hotel and then had to decide what to do for the rest of the day. Again in spite of Ammie's pleas to go back to Yosemite, (all I could see was us going off that windy road and dying), I said no, but we found out from several people that there was the "Underground Gardens." http://www.undergroundgardens.com/

In a nutshell, the underground gardens were started by an Italian man that left Italy in 1906 and once he got to Fresno bought a large piece of property to start a citrus orchard in. When he started digging in it he realized the dirt was made out of pan dirt which is dirt that has hardened into rock. He didn't know what to do and since he was hot in Fresno weather he decided to build his house underground. Then he thought maybe he could make some money off of a resort area if he dug out enough places for people to stay in. After approximately 50 years and 50 acres from a lot of digging out dirt with a pick, shovel and wheelbarrow, he died from pneumonia due to complications from a hernia (the irony). Even though most of the acres and over 50 rooms were sold off to developers, they did keep his main house intact. It was quite amazing.

After that we headed for the hotel to rest and get bored from wanting to be home. The next morning we headed for the airport at 5:00 a.m. to hit a 6:30 flight which was totally sold out. We then waited for the 10:00 flight which I barely shoved Nick onto the plane. The girls and I waited for the 1:00 flight, I then shoved Ammie, Gracie and Randi on to the plane and then at the very last minute I was able to get on. I had already surveyed all of the rental car agencies to rent a car to drive home. I couldn't take another night in Fresno. It was either that or drive to a bigger airport to head home.

All in all it turned out to be memories that will last for a long time. I love my children and I really had fun with them all. Now we need to plan the next holiday.