luftballoon

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Day 5

Friday July 3rd, 2009

* Drove through Utah

* Ate @ Cowboy's Smokehouse in a little town close to Bryce Canyon

* Arrived @ Bryce Canyon and had our breath taken away....every human being should see this place....there is something about red rock that is just so enchanting

* Drove to Nevada and arrived in Las Vegas to check in at The Mirage

*Ate at a ridiculous buffet called "Cravings" which we found hilarious and depressing....for all of those people that claimed buffets in Vegas were cheap...you lied. my poor husband sat for a good 10 minutes smiling all deranged, staring off and nonstop blinking from the shock

* Walked up and down the strip then went to bed

side note: if my previous tone indicated im not a fan of Las Vegas, it was so very correct. that place just felt so shallow and awful....not to mention it is NOT appropriate to bring your children. Bah!

Day 4

Thursday July 2nd, 2009

* Woke up only to have a chance sighting of a boy on a unicycle. Nate saw him coming and saw the crash a second later and the boy running away with the unicycle in hand. I was inside the tent and Austin just outside it...."there's a boy on a unicycle...(crashhhing sound). I dont know who it was funnier for, nate and austin who saw the whole thing, or me in the tent just knowing and then hearing the horrific crash a second later

*Hiked to Alberta Falls which was a gigantic waterfall with tons of large rocks to climb on

*Drove through Rocky Mountain National Park. the highest point we reached was 12,000 ft above sea level which made us sort of dizzy and short of breath....but it was beautiful. we were so high austin got to play in the snow at the top

* Drove southwest heading to Utah on I-70 and saw Glenwood Canyon which was completely amazing. It looked like the interstate was going through south america for a minute

*Stopped in Fruita, CO for pizza and dinosaur hunting....apparently the town has a dinosaur theme as they were everywhere

*Arrived in Salina, UT and got a Super 8 hotel room which turned out to be the best hotel room yet...it had a hot tub. Go super 8, go. i assumed they were all disgusting really.

Day 3

Wednesday July 1st, 2009

*Drove around Denver & Boulder, CO

*Drove to Rocky Mountain National Park

*Set up our tent @ RMNP

*Explored the park then went in to Estes Park, the little town right outside the park, for some dinner, ice cream and souvenir shopping

*Went back to our tent to get some sleep, only to be in one of the largest thunderstorms ive ever experienced....our tent was going berserk! Nate and I awoke a couple times to hear animals outside our tent, crossing our fingers and holding hands breathlessly to see if it was a bear which there had been sightings of

Day 2

Tuesday June 30th, 2009

* Nate and Austin ate some Kansas City BBQ at Zarta's BBQ, apparently it was delicious

* Drove through Kansas the whole day

*Arrived in Denver, CO around Midnight and got a hotel

Day 1

Monday June 29th, 2009

*we picked up our rental car bright and early only to find ourselves waiting for hours. we were supposed to get a Ford Escape and they tried to give us a Pontiac Vibe which is clearly not the same. clearly. so after i "accidentally" upgraded us to a bigger more expensive vehicle, nate worked his man magic and landed us a Hyundai Santa Fe, same price as the Escape but bigger!

* Drove to St. Louis, MO to visit the arch. ate at Tigins Irish Pub where we became instant friends with the owner from Scotland....some how we left knowing every detail of the grumpy man's life.

* Drove to Blue Springs, MO on the border of Missouri and Kansas and got a hotel for the night

Our road trip west for 2 weeks went splendidly. we started out on I-70 west, never knowing what was past the chicago exit....that being the farthest west any of us had been in 20 plus years(my family used to go camping when i was a girl and the memories of driving to missouri flooded me as we drove onward). i liked to think of our trip as unplanned to make it more fun in my head.....as if we were just getting up and going on a whim. those two weeks were so very much needed for our little family....nate to escape from his work place, me to escape the thoughts of oncoming full time school, and austin just along for the ride enjoying his summer break. it really could not have gone smoother and now i feel as if i could drive anywhere...literally anywhere. no destination is too far or unreachable. there is truly nothing lovelier than being forced to be with the ones you love in a car for 2 weeks...every minute of the day. with the exception of Las Vegas and Death Valley, one of the same really....every destination was mesmerizing, a new adventure. in the end we saw the following-

* St. Louis and the Gateway Arch

* Kansas and all its rolling hills and flat plains

* Colorado and its Rocky Mountains

* Utah's Bryce Canyon and more, soooo beautiful and red

* Nevada and all its hot weather and sin smog

* California, you were large and plentiful...death valley, the valleys of fruits and vegetables for hours and hours, san francisco and its nippy breeze, Napa Valley, the coast and the redwoods

* Oregon and its green green everywhere...Portland and its utopian society

Thank you my boys for seeing a bit of the world with me!

Friday, July 3, 2009

The Dulings go West

We have been planning this little trip of ours for several months and it is finally happening! We left on Monday and so far have been to St. Louis, MO, what seemed like ALL of Kansas, Colorado and now Utah. Our final destination after this two week trip is Portland, OR. Today we are heading to Bryce Canyon, UT and then.... Las Vegas! High rollers.