I've always planned on taking the kids to Utah for an extended visit while Brandon is in Korea. I considered driving the 20 hours to Utah with just me and the kids, but I couldn't figure out how I would do things like go to the bathroom or check into a hotel with all the kids in tow. So I invited my in-laws to come along for the ride.
Steve and Jacque flew into the Austin airport on Thursday. The kids were so excited to pick them up. We were planning on going to the Austin Children's Musuem, The Thinkery, while we were in town. The Thinkery is giving free admission to all military family members this summer so it would have been a great activity. But the girls' bout with Norovirus cancelled that idea. They had stopped throwing up, but they still had high fevers and were pretty listless. So we just drove back to Fort Hood.
We still had several things to take care of for our long trip so Steve and Jacque helped me out with those things. The kids all had fun getting reacquainted with their Bestemor (Grandma) and Bestefar (Grandpa).
We woke up early on Friday morning and put everyone in the car. Then we said goodbye to the house and drove off. We drove north through Fort Hood so Steve and Jacque could see how big the area is. They were interested to see the soldiers doing their morning PT exercises on the main post. And then they were surprised at the fact that we drove over 20 minutes before we were off of Fort Hood. Yep, this place is huge.
From there it was a lot of driving on Texas Highway 36. After about 3 hours we stopped at a park in a little town called Rising Star for breakfast. We had donuts, yogurt, cereal, and fruit.
Jacque helped me get everyone dressed in their clothes.
Derrick got a long with his Bestefar really well. He liked following him around and doing what ever he did.
Our next stop was the town of Post. We went for a quick walk around the main street.
Another stop was in the town of Melrose NM. This is the town where all the nice people helped us out when our Jeep broke down when we moved to Texas. I made sure to fill the Honda with gas at the gas station where all the people had worked. I also even bought over priced candy from them.
I've been itching for a road trip for a long time so I was perfectly fine driving most of the way. But I let Steve drive after we got to Melrose. I had fun sitting next to the kids in the back seat.
Jacque had been so good to sit back there and help the kids with whatever they needed. None of the kids cried during our drive and that was mainly because she was back there to help them. Charlotte and Lydia were finally over their fevers, but they were still pretty listless. It was kind of convenient.
I was super happy to finally be on our trip. I've been looking forward to this pretty much since Brandon left for Korea.
Veronica did great on the trip - especially since she had the misfortune of needing to ride backwards the entire time. That meant she couldn't see the TV and all the movies the other kids could see. I put a little mirror toy on the seat in front of her and I think that at least gave her something interesting to look at.
We arrived at our destination for the day, Santa Rosa New Mexico, around 6:00. I checked us in the the Americas Best Value Inn where we had our reservations. The girls immediately emptied the cooler into the fridge.
I'd been telling the kids that they could jump on the bed at the hotel, and Derrick took me up on that.
I'd picked this hotel because it had a room with 3 queen size beds. It also had this little couch and table.
Lydia was so excited to find the little pad of paper and a pen. She covered all the papers in letters.
We ate microwavable bagel bites and other snacks for dinner. After about an hour it was cool enough outside to go visit some things that I wanted to see. Santa Rosa is a Route 66 town. I've watched Cars about a billion times so I wanted to at least drive down part of Route 66. We did that and then went to what I really wanted to see - The Blue Hole.
This is a big spring that is in the middle of the town. There were lots of people swimming in it. It goes 80 feet down and you can scuba dive in it if you have a permit. We saw some people getting into wet suits and preparing for a dive.
We had fun looking into the water and watching people dive in. We even went on a little walk so the kids could get all their wiggles out.
It took a while to get the kids to sleep, but eventually they all settled down. Veronica and I shared a bed. She wouldn't fall asleep unless she was holding her teddy bear.
Charlotte and Lydia shared another of the queen beds.
Derrick got the couch.
In the morning Steve and Jacque took the girls down to breakfast. Derrick woke up a few minutes later and I took him and Veronica down. He insisted on bringing a towel with him as a blanket.
Then we hurried and packed up the Honda and kept driving. Aside from a stop for gas in Albuquerque, our next stop was the Apache Nugget Casino in the middle of the Apache Reservation. There were two picnic tables set up under some stone Teepees. That's where we ate our lunch of hard boiled eggs and snacks.
We took turns walking over to the casino to use the bathroom. The walk felt good after driving for so long.
Hours later our next stop was the Mesa Verde National Park visitors center. I've wanted to see Mesa Verde for years and years. But it's becoming a bit of a unicorn for me. My brother Billy and I always wanted to go for a family vacation, but it was too far for our old van to make it. Brandon and I thought about going there on our Southern Utah road trip, but it was too out of the way. When we moved to Texas we went by Mesa Verde, but it was too late in the day to warrant a stop. On our way back from Texas last year it was too early in the morning for a stop. So this time I was determined to stop there.
I'd even called ahead to make sure that there would be some kid friendly areas that we could see. The people at the visitors center told me that the trail to The Tree house was paved and didn't have any steps. I was pretty excited that would wouldn't have to climb anything like this guy.
The scenery was beautiful.
The kids were excited to be out of the car and see things that they could touch. Charlotte and Lydia ran up and hugged this statue.
The visitors center had some nice displays to look at.
It had this cute little miniature of the ruins. Unfortunately this all that we saw of the ruins. Somehow I hadn't realized that all the ruins are located an hours drive into the park. None of us wanted to spend an hour driving into the park, and hour hiking to the Tree House and back, and then driving another hour back out of the park. So once again seeing Mesa Verde will have to wait until another time.
Still the visitor's center was a good place to get out and take a break. Steve and Jacque took the girls on a little walk. I nursed Veronica while Derrick played with rocks.
No one was very upset that we weren't seeing the ruins.
When we got back to the car Steve took over driving. He drove us all the way to Moab. We went to the McDonalds there. We had all expected it to have a play place, but it didn't. So I told the girls they could get happy meals so they could play with the toys instead. Veronica bested her record and downed 5 chicken Mcnuggets. She has top teeth now so the first two McNuggets disappeared within seconds.
There was a mom with 4 kids at the McDonalds. Here kids were older than mine, and she was doing a good job with her kids, but seeing them all made me very glad that Steve and Jacque were there to help me with my kiddos. The trip was so easy with them along.
We took the kids on a walk around main street Moab. They all especially liked the mists of water that restaurants sprayed on their patios.
They also liked looking in the windows of all the shops.
Aside from a brief stop for gas in Price we didn't stop on the rest of our way to Salt Lake. Most of the kids fell asleep. I was nervous to drive on Highway 6 in the dark - I'm scared of the Price part of that canyon in the day time. I did alright though. The drive to Spanish Fork seemed to take forever, but as soon as we got to Spanish Fork the drive went really fast. It was surreal to finally be home and driving on I-15.
We had to go to the airport to get Steve's Jeep out of long term parking. Jacque stayed in my car and made sure I remembered how to get to their home in Eden. I knew they way, but since it was after midnight I was glad she was there to help me remember.
The kids all woke up when we got to the house. But they all went back to bed pretty easily.
This is the view I woke up to out my bedroom window. Every view from Steve and Jacque's house could be a post card. I've been looking forward to sleeping at this house for years. I'm so happy for Steve and Jacque that they finally accomplished their goal of building their dream house.
We've spent the day detoxing from our long drive. The kids have had fun seeing all of Bestemor and Bestefar's things. Most of the stuff has been in storage since Charlotte and Lydia were 7 months old. It's nice to finally see it being put to use again.
I'm excited for all the family and friends that we get to spend time with here in Utah. It's good to be here.
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