There and Back Again

This year instead of flying to our family reunion, we decided to drive (more cost effective), little did we know that this drive would be so exciting. We planned our journey from Louisville, Colorado to San Clemente, California; passing through five states in about 17 hours and roughly two days. We planned stops in St George Utah (to sleep at Ben’s brother Tobin’s house) and then at in Las Vegas to eat and look around… here is how our trip went.

We left Louisville around 8:00 on Friday August 8 and started our journey. The drive was easy and we had lots of excitement and anticipation for the trip. The drive took us down through Grand Junction and through the Rocky Mountains, they are beautiful. The day went by quickly and 10 hours later we arrived in St. George, Utah where we would be staying at Tobin’s house. We got there early enough to have a light dinner at I-Hop and go to Costco (where we got a camera and our picture journal begins).

The next day we left Tob’s around 9:00 and headed west towards… nothing. Arizona had some pretty rocks and mountains but was mostly a hot dessert. Nevada was…the same. Then we came upon SIN CITY- Las Vegas. Neither Ben nor I had ever been to Vegas before so we decided to take a while walking the strip and eat some lunch. It turned out being really… HOT!!

 

We didn’t pack any water with us we were not used to the 100 degree weather. We stopped, exhausted and parched, to eat lunch at the Planet Hollywood (good food, crazy waiter and exciting movie crud everywhere). Our overall view was of Las Vegas was not great. I was super disappointed that there were people gambling and drunk out of their minds at 10am and the Casinos were all dark, twisted and filled with smoke- I guess that’s why it’s called ‘sin city’. There was nothing magical or exciting about it! So I guess we will skip it on the way back through!!

So on to Andrea’s house, or so we thought until… the tire blew…somewhere in….??

Good thing we are married because we make a GREAT team. We had that tire off, a new one on and were headed down the road to find a repair shop in no time. We ended up being 4 miles outside Victorville, CA and pulled into a Tire Repair Shop only 15 minutes before closing (yay). In total it was only an hour detour and we were on the road again!!

We arrived to Andrea’s (well Orange County) just in time for Jasen’s Birthday Dinner at In-N-Out (Yum)!! It was great to finally be there but we had fun on the way.

AND FAST FORWARD ONE WEEK TO THE RETURN!!

So I am writing about all travel in one posting- I thought that would increase suspense about the middle week AND I could overlap pictures!! So it was pretty much the same except in reverse and we had two teenaged boys with us; Yes, Michael and Jasen came home with us!!

Although there was a lot of sleeping, eating, ‘Psych’ watching, and listening to books on tape… we still tried to make it a cultural experience for the boys!! We stopped and let them see the scenery! Yikes- that’s high!!

All in all it was fun to drive and I enjoyed the scenery and the time with Ben and the boys! I would highly recommend a drive for anyone wanting to get away and have a fun, bonding experience!!