Day 13

Home Sweet Home! 

Loonngg drive to finish today.

Iowa is superior to Nebraska.

I 80 around the bottom of Chicago sucks.

Kitties are happy we’re home❤️

Day 12

Nebraska sucks. We finished Colorado …and honestly once you pass Denver the mountains disappear quickly on the horizon and there’s really nothing left.   Then on to Nebraska. It’s a flat, depressing nothing of a state. Every stop we made was filthy and gross. There wasn’t one thing that made us say…gee we should come back to see that. One exception was the hotel we stayed in on the border with Iowa. It was the cleanest, friendliest Holiday Inn Express of the trip. I guess if a visitor only drove 94 through Michigan they might say the same thing about us…but we still have no desire to spend anymore time in Nebraska. All 5 of us want to click our heels together and just magically be home. Oh well tomorrow we will be. Planning to get up early and get on the road. There aren’t any pics from today except one from the car. Jack has been a trooper taking the way back the entire time because anyone else who’s tried it gets carsick. One more day…

Day 11

We planned our route to Rocky Mountain National Park to make it in our 10-12 window to enter. It was a crazy back route with a large portion on a dirt road…we made it with 15 minutes to spare. The oohs and ahhhs started immediately. We pulled off at every chance to explore. We all agreed we loved this area. It was much cooler today and I wore jeans…quite the turn around from the hot hike yesterday.  Again we took tons of pictures and I’ll share just a few. I did well until we got up to 12,000+ feet driving curvy roads with no guardrail…I had a major panic attack😳 The downside to a car full of boys is zero sympathy and actually attempting to make it worse…Does that look like the road is washing out to the side there? Boy if we hit that edge we’d roll for looong time. Brats! We got down to a lower level and I could breathe again😂 We got to see a lot of wild life including a momma moose and her baby. The grass was so tall we couldn’t catch the baby in a photo. The twins are quite the photographers and deserve the credit. We all agreed this was a fabulous replacement for missing out on Yellowstone.  Now we just have a couple days of straight driving to home. 

Day 10

Arches National Park- Last night we stayed at an almost brand new Holiday Inn Express…so very nice. We were able to sleep in and take long showers. I booked our trip in January and found out at the beginning of May Arches required you to book an entrance time into the park. The earliest I could get was 12:00. It worked out just fine to have a slower start to the day. The back up to get in the park at noon took 50 minutes😳 I was concerned we wouldn’t make it into the parking lot to be able to make the hike to the arch…you can’t park on the road you have to be in a spot in the lot. We were able to find a spot no problem and had our picnic lunch before we hiked. It was 94 degrees so there was a bit of getting set up…sunscreen, a backpack full of water, and a backpack full of Gatorade. The hike up to the arch was tough for me, especially in the heat. I needed lots of breaks. I realized how very blessed I am with the boys and Brad. At every step/ledge I always had a hand/elbow/shoulder offered to me to help. The last stretch is on a wide open ledge…I don’t know how far down exactly because I never looked. Brad and a kid always had ahold of me. When we reached the arch the boys wanted to go right up to it…on a precarious edge. They all talked me into it holding on to me. Geez I sound like a weenie but it was nerve wracking. We got some great pictures and had a comfortable, stable spot to sit and relax, catching our breath and drinking before heading back down. The trip down was very easy once we finished the ledge back. We were fried so we went into Moab to grab dinner at a cool bar. We had a 3 1/2 hour drive after to Eagle, Colorado for the night. This is the first leg of our reroute after the Yellowstone cancellation. We wanted to do Rocky Mountain National Park but it’s also a timed entrance park and it was booked. At 5pm today they opened up another batch of entrance spots and we scored a 10:00 time slot! Looking forward to our last adventurous day…then the long drive home.

Day 9

Wow what an amazing day! We got on the road early to get to Zion in time for our horseback ride. What an awesome experience! I found it right on the Zion website. I highly recommend it if you go. It was the boys’ first time riding a horse. My horse’s name was Sandy so I had to tease my sister😂 We finished the ride and did the Emerald Pools hike. We didn’t want to leave Zion and all agreed at some point in our lives we’ll come back to stay a few days. We headed to Bryce Canyon. We were tired and worn by the time we got there but pulled it together for one of the hikes. Luke picked it and he won the day😁 We did a switchback hike down to the bottom of the canyon…and then had to come back up😳 I made it the last quarter because Brad was pushing me from behind😂 So many amazing pics but most are on our good camera…here are a few good ones. Tucked in now at Green River and tackling Arches tomorrow . It’ll be in the 90s but determined to make it to the arch. We’ll be carrying multiple backpacks of water and Gatorade !

Day 8

Bye Bye California! Brad wanted to see Laguna Beach…one of his favorites before we left. Pit stop to run around and stretch legs. I’d love to spend more time here…some day. Our drive to St. George, Utah was interrupted here and there with heavy downpours with stiff winds…in the desert, and hitting Vegas at rush hour. We made one cheesy stop the boys decided on…a hotel had the actual Bonnie and Clyde car with bullet holes. It was interesting. We made it to St. George and had an awesome dinner next to the hotel. Now for a good nights sleep to be ready for tomorrow!

Day 7

Beach Day! ….our body count on this trip was rising and I worried nobody would ever travel with us again…Brad took us to Torrey Pines State Park. We did a long hike that was awesome. We saw tide pools with crabs…and the boys all put their feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time…well technically Jacks second…he was 6 months old the first time. We hiked back to the main beach, changed into swimsuits, and turned to play in the waves….only to see the lifeguard running up to everyone getting them to leave the water. That’s when we noticed all the emergency vehicles and the coast guard helicopter come in. There was a missing young man and they pulled all the lifeguards to help. We watched the search for about an hour and decided to leave…you don’t really want to swim and play where someone may have just lost their life. We moved on to seal beach…always a favorite. This time however there were no seals…bummer. Next we tried Mission Point and it was still a zoo. It wouldn’t have been fun. We had a group meeting, checked Twitter for updates, and decided that we should go back to Torrey Pines. The coast guard gave the all clear that the missing person was unconfirmed. Good to know that everyone was safe.  This was our best decision to go back. The kids had a blast playing with Brad in the surf! Got back to Pats in time to catch the last sunset😞 Tomorrow morning we start our adventures on the trip home.

Day 6

No matter what we chose to do today was going to be crazy in a big city with a national holiday.  The boys all got up and took a hike through the hills. I stayed behind to readjust the end of our trip. We lost Yellowstone…and with it Mt. Rushmore 😞 My friend is in the area now and has been giving me the updates. The park is reopening Wednesday, however they have instituted an admission policy based on license plates. Wednesday they will admit plates that end in an even number and will turn away anyone with an odd plate. They will flip flop each day. Our planned day is Saturday which falls on an odd plate day and our plate is even. My friend told me we could book a cheap campsite and they will let us in…I think everyone got that memo, there are none available. We took it as a sign that it isn’t meant to be. I am in the process of changing and rebooking plans. Mr friend got ahold of an old Michigan plate with a qualifying number and are putting it on their vehicle to get in on Wednesday . Crossing fingers it works for her. We decided to head down to the zoo. I was the one pushing everyone to go because they have pandas and there are only a couple zoos that have them to see in person. The zoo parking lot was so full we had it to drive around and wait for a spot. We finally made it in and navigated through the shoulder to shoulder crowds…sound familiar…to the Asian area of the zoo. I couldn’t find the pandas so Logan googled it…and found the pandas were returned to China in 2019. Brad started hysterical laughing…if you know him well you know this means he was losing it😂 We tried to make the best of it but it was 90 and HOT. All the animals were hiding and miserable. At least we can still laugh about it now. Brad took us to Coronado where we got ice cream and sat at the beach looking at the city. We headed back up to Pats with pizza. Spending the evening doing laundry and more relaxing and visiting. It’ll be a beach day tomorrow 😁

Day 4

What happens in Vegas….today we went from parents of the year to you might want to call CPS in just a few short hours😂  For starters we’re grateful. Friday 6,000 flights were canceled or delayed in the US. Both legs of Brad’s flight were a go and on time so he made it safely to join us. We started our day on the road by 7am to head to the Grand Canyon …with many grumbles. We drove straight into the park with no wait and parked right up front. We kinda had the place to ourselves for the first hour…very worth it! We got so many amazing pics I can only give you a snapshot. I gave everyone strict instructions to always stay behind the railings and don’t do dumb teenage stuff…people have died this year already. I turn my back and Brad has the boys at an edge😳. I gave up the fight and they chose places that had a ledge underneath and not a straight to the bottom to get the pics. We must have 1,000 pics between us😂 By 10:30 the place was so overrun with tourists we were done. Good tip to go early if you ever go. On the road again to Vegas. A bit of an adjustment with an extra person in the car, but welcome because Brad loves to drive.  We stopped at a little town that was the inspiration for Radiator Springs in the movie Cars. Oh man how the Hoover Dam has changed! We wanted to go see the actual dam rather than just cruise over the new bridge…what a fiasco. You now have to go through a checkpoint like a border crossing …they even were pulling people over and searching cars. You have to pay to park in a ramp and it has turned into a moneymaker. There are tours but we just went out on the dam to check it out. The heat was miserable and it was so windy I couldn’t hold my phone. The pics are all on our good camera. Very sad about the water levels …crazy low😳 We finally made it to Vegas…and here’s another tip…make sure it falls on a weekday. It was a zoo! This is my 8th time in Vegas and I’m not exaggerating to say there were 10 times more people than I’ve ever seen. We stayed in the pyramid at the Luxor…every room was booked in the pyramid  and the towers…insanity! We got settled and ate dinner, then we were ready to walk the strip and show the boys Vegas. It was dusk so the lights were firing up. I had all the fun hotels lined up to show them…we were shoulder to shoulder on the sidewalks on the entire strip😳 At one point Brad mentioned wanting to crawl up on the side and suck his thumb😂 It took a few hours to get up and down the strip and we were fried and done. It took so long the boys saw the seedy side come out…the hookers started their shifts scantily clad shouting ‘Hey Baby!!’, falling down drunks that could barely walk, the crazy costumed visitors trying to get people to pay for pictures with them, a deranged homeless man shouting at them that he ‘needed a dick in his butthole!’ As we walked by, and to top it off a man robbed CVS in a grab and go…he ran out of the store with an armload in front of the boys as the workers were shouting at him.  Logan looked at me at one point and said, the things I’ve seen in the last 6 hours… They certainly got an education 😂 I asked a worker what was going on that so many people were in town. He was confused …this is what it’s been like post Covid. He said everyone got their Covid money and came here. We fell into bed and are looking forward to low key hanging out in San Diego with Pat the next few days.