Road Trips

Ahh, the family road trip: the open road, the fresh air, the peaceful...

When are we going to be to Utah...

What? Camryn, we've been driving for like an hour,
and we're going to be driving for like 4 more...

Lotsa tees, lotsa tees...

Yes, Christian, look at all the pretty trees...

We're going to hit downtown Chicago traffic...

Hey, do you guys want to watch a movie???

Watcha Nemo, watcha Nemo, watcha Nemo!

Why don't we try one of the new ones I bought...

We're gonna hit Chicago at rush hour...

I'm bored with driving, when are we going to be to Utah?

Umm, Camryn are you not getting
that we're stuck in this car for like...

Mom, tees, lotsa tees, lotsa tees, lotsa tees, lotsa tees

Yes, Christian, LOTS OF TREES, WOW, GREAT, NEAT....

Find a happy place, find a happy place...

Well, we've made it out of Michigan, just 6 more states to go...

Find a happy place, FIND A HAPPY PLACE...

Oh boy kids, look, it's Chicago and look at all the pretty cars...

Find a happy place, find a happy place...

Why are you crying Heather?

Daddy, what's wrong with mommy?

I'm just so happy, I can't wait to drive back home!

Like I said, "Ahh, the family road trip!" Who's idea was this anyway? Grandpa's?? Joel's?? Ok, I admit, it was mine. It was my plan all along, "C'mon kids, lets pile in the burb for days on end so that mommy can just focus on serving all of you. Oh, and I'll get an extra gold star for being nauseated the whole time!" Sounds great eh? Well we made it through the 6 states and are now enjoying the fruit of our labor: family time. Sweet!



What?? We have to drive back???!!!!! NOoooooo!



Driving Day Uno: Poor Joel couldn't sleep (he was on call the night before) - he just wanted to get on the road. Poor Heather didn't sleep much either - ahhh, the joy of pregnancy. Anyway, so we picked up JD from his last day of school and were off towards Chicago. We had this brilliant plan to bypass Chicago's rush hour traffic, but our plan was foiled when the toll booth worker informed us we missed our freeway. Crap! So we got stuck right smack in the middle of downtown Chicago traffic. But hey, the nice thing was we got a fabulous view of the Sear's tower - for like an hour.



Driving Day Dos: Well, after a night in Rochester's FINEST hotel establishments, we had higher hopes for day two. We just didn't think it could get much worse than the day before - ummm, wrong. We began the day learning a valuable lesson about GPS Systems: You can't trust those things. We took all of these back roads to Madison, instead of the freeway. Nice. Once we joyfully connected to the freeway, we discovered something very very very sad. So apparantly the flooding in the Madison area caused enough of a problem to shut I-90 down. So the whole world got diverted onto this little 2 lane highway for 3 lovely hours of bumper to bumper traffic. Nice. We finally made it to a cute hotel (with a water park!) in Sioux Falls by day's end.




Driving Day Tres: We basically drove across South Dakota on day three. I noticed that South Dakotans like to advertise via road signs. Actually, they're obsessed about it! You're laughing if you've driven through it. We kept seeing signs for this Corn Palace joint in the middle of nowhere. By the 100th sign Joel and I were convinced that we couldn't leave South Dakota without seeing the "Corn Palace." So it's like this big building with lots of murals made out of, you guessed it - corn. It was hilarious! We decided after that little side trip to ignore the enticing advertisements (especially freak'n "Wall Drug" with their sign every 5 miles!

The whole reason we decided to travel the northern route to Utah was to see Mt. Rushmore. We got there and loved it. I hadn't been there in years and it was fun to show Joel and the kids a part of Americana that I think is pretty cool. It was also gratifying to take Joel to see some of the Founding Fathers up close - on Father's Day no less.






Driving Day Cuatro: Since it was pouring rain in Rapid City, we took the kids indoor mini-golfing and panning for gold. JD thought that was pretty cool. We drove to the Crazy Horse monument just to turn around and leave (after a picture of course) - they wanted $27 just to go inside - Wow! We kind of kept driving and driving that day until we crashed in Rock Springs. Camryn kept asking when we were going to be at Crazy Horse. Funny girl. Joel and I decided we didn't like Wyoming after Joel got a ticket for speeding. A highlight for us was making a quick stop at Martin's Cove where JD got to pull his bro and sis around in a handcart.

Driving Day Cinqo: Yes, we drove for nearly five days! What was supposed to take 28 hours, took 32 instead. Dahang! Joel and I kept swearing up and down that this would be the last road trip we ever take. Crap, we have to go back?!

It's so great to be here with family, so I guess it was worth it.
My kids are in heaven playing with all of their cousins.
Anyway, that is the first chapter in our cross country trip.
I'll keep posting as life continues in this desert called Utah.