Best Summer EVER!!

It has been a long time since I have blogged. Life just keeps rolling along.  Lexie came and went. That was very interesting, very hard and not something I think I will do again for some time.  But I can say she learned some things while she was here that put her in a better place.  But I am not sure if it was enough.  But I am not in a place where I can be the one to make the difference.

School ended, summer happened.  I think it has been the best summer we have had in a long time.  Don't get me wrong, last summer's wedding was a huge event but I was a wreck over it.  This summer we worked on unloading the garage by having some yard sales. Instead of a season pass at the local pools we got one of our own above ground models.  I am finally getting some time in it.

There are times you realize that time with the people you care about most has to come before everything else.  I am really glad I was able to do what we did next:

The big event of summer was going to Texas to see my sister.  My sister had a baby girl 16 months ago and she had a health issue that reminded me how much I really REALLY love my sister and how much I really needed to see her.  We made it an epic journey.  I love to plan these trips even when I am fretting over the car and all the other details and insecurities travelling involves. This one I planned the best yet.  The car did not break down.  There were no animals left for dead on the side of the road and the weather cooperated on everything we did.

Here is the travelogue and my reviews and tips for travelling.  ;)

I was concerned we might not get out of town.  The two days before my departure the freeway was closed twice due to fires.  The morning we left there was thick smoky haze that covered town.  I had been worried about hitting fires because of the past few summers had big fires in New Mexico and Arizona.  This time it is all here.  So we only saw one fire on our journey that we actually see start from lighting in Utah. 

Why was the trip to Texas epic?  Well we did go straight there.  We went to Flagstaff first.  The drive there was beautiful.  I have never been that way before.  We drove through some mountains that just rolled along in southern Utah.  Then we got to Kanab which was fantastic with its deep red rocks.  Reminded me of scenes from Cars.  All of the drive from Kanab to Flagstaff when it was daylight reminded me of Cars. 

 We stayed in Flagstaff and the Travelodge we stayed at was long the origional Route 66.  More Cars reminders. Our stay in Flagstaff was so we could spend a day at the Grand Canyon! 

We had a good laugh from the start. When we drove into the park we saw that some town in the area was going to hit 107.  I wanted to know where that place was.  Kylee was looking at the map and said it was by the Colorado creek.  She saw the word creek and put them together by accident.  So we joked about the creek down in the canyon.   When you get there to see the canyon for the first time the canyon does not look real. Especially when it is a little hazy.  It looks like a faded backdrop.  I teased the girls that we just needed a 10 foot pole to touch the canvas. A good part of our day was looking at the view in a haze from the right side and then over by the left we got a little different view because it was so vast. 
There are shuttle buses that run you to the overlooks and around the main area of the park.  We were waiting for the one to take us down all the other views.  But the line was huge.  I decided we needed ot hike the trail a ways.  It proved to be a great choice.  We had a nice walk.  The temperature was perfect. There was a thunderstorm rolling in behind us but it never came across the canyon.  We kept walking.  Hannah's shoes were giving us trouble.  We only walked past to two of the overlooked and then decided we could wait for the bus.  We were still looking at the same view just further to the left.  We sat to wait for the next bus.  This English woman came and sat beside me.  She asked me if I thought the bus would come because the shuttles stopped taking people to the overlooks because of the thunderstorm.  I didn't know that.  But I did see a bus just leave before we got there so we waited and I had the best talk with the woman from England.  The bus came and the bus driver went through a long drawn out explanation about him having to pick up people to take them back to the main shuttle stop because of the storm but he couldn't make anyone stay on the bus.  Blah blah blah.  He explained it with every group that got on the bus.  He was a nice guy and I really enjoyed my visit with the English lady.  As soon as he explained the restictions with the third stop, they lifted the thunderstorm warning and he folded over the steering wheel.  It was quite humorous.  What that did for us was the bus was not crowded.  There was hardly anybody at each of the view stops.  I got some great pictures of a different view of the canyon and the haze was clearing out because of the storm.  It took us a but to get back to the car after that. 
The shuttle busses around Grand Canyon village to the parking lot were packed.  That was not as fun.  What I find intriguing is that there are more people at these national parks from other countries than there are from ours.  I don't know how many different languages I heard that day but there was a lot. 
We got in the car and drove down the other side of the canyon.  I really wanted to go to one of the overlooks that has a big tower.  I remember going there when Amber and Kelsea were really small.  That spot was breathtaking.  Another storm rolled in.  It was getting later in the day.  Lightning was very present with this one. In fact some struck wildly close to where I was standing outside.  I stayed inside the giftshops until it passed.  We were able to climb the tower.  The pictures were ever changing.  It was the best view of the canyon even if there was no storm. 
We moved on from there.  When we travel I always have to get a magnet of where we have been and I let the girls get postcards we put there postcards in mini album so they can share where they have been on our trips.  The day was perfect, the elk were near the road as we left the park.  We had not seen any until then so it was as if they were telling us goodbye. What really baffles me was that it was completely dark there at 8 o'clock.  As we drove home from the park it felt like 11 o'clock when it was not even 9. 
The next day we moved on.  We stopped in Albuquerque at my cousins cupcake shop.  That was a fun treat.  I haven't seen her in 6 years and she has never met any of my kids.  Then we went to Clovis NM and stayed with my Aunt Vickie and Uncle Randy.  They have never met my girls either.  We enjoyed our stay with her.  We stayed on Sat and got to see Brave for the second time.  Oh, and with ipods we love to listen to music.  One of my favorites is movie soundtracks.  I surprised the girls with the Brave and Tangled soundtrack.  The Brave songs were our theme music on this journey. 
We left on Sunday.  We drove through Roswell. Funniest little town.  Aliens were everywhere.  If we had not been there so early in the morning we would have stopped at the UFO museum there.  But the drive through town was quite the novelty. 
We went to Carlsbad Caverns after that.  The caverns are really cool.  They are so big and it is hard to comprehend how big the cavern is. It is kind of an illusion.  It is hard to describe.  Even my pictures make it look like a small place.  I would hate to be in there if the power ever went out.  Autumn actually had a bit of an anxiety attack while we were in there.  It was such a fascinating place to visit. 
After we left there we made our way to San Antonio.  We were able to meet up with my sister and her family at the motel they were staying at.   That was the best then getting together to go to Sea World together the next day. 
We love Sea World.  But we do not love Texas humidity.  It was a struggle.  All the shows are shaded there.  But they were still hot.  We toughed it out and made it to last Shamu show of the day. Melissa left early but she has a toddler and the poor baby just had a very full day.  There were a few things that I would actually contact them about that could be better.  Like our lunch was very expensive and the food was not good at all.  Several of the soda flavors were out of syrup.  The outdoor soda fountains were covered in yellow jackets when I tried to refill my soda.  I was stung under my eye once and had to visit the ER the next day- they are not my friend. In the end, the San Diego Sea World will remain my favorite.   But we love getting a chance to go.

I made it to my sister's finally.  We got to rest finally for a day.  The next day we started our Houston adventure.  I bought the Houston City Pass. If you ever travel to a major city, see if they have a city pass.  They are seriously worth it.  They are a great discount and you get other little benefits when you use those tickets.  I really wanted to go to NASA.  When I looked it up it mentioned the city pass. The pass was maybe 15 dollars more than the admission to NASA.  You get to go to so many places with it.  Our first day we spent at the zoo.  We melted there.  We got to the point we decided we were done and we were suddenly about as done looking at animals as they were looking at us.  We typically love the zoo.  Houston has a great zoo. 
The Museum of Natural Science was nearby so went there.  Air conditioning is so lovely!  Down there we went from melting to freezing.  Humidity sure messes with you.  We watched a show in the planetarium and then we went to see the dinosaur exhibit and fossils.  The girls all loved it.  Melissa and I really enjoyed it to.  I thought it was open later.  I was confused as to which day of the week it was.  The museum closed earlier than I expected.  The rest of the museum was seen on speed view.  In 30 minutes we saw the rock and jewel exhibit (there was a lot of cool stuff to see) the stuffed dead animal exhibit and whatever was left.  We did pretty good.  We were going to back track through one room we had not seen and then all the security guards were walking towards us.  It was a huge crew of them.  We about faced and quickly made our exit.  That was a hit!  Too bad it was cut short due to my day of the week confusion.
We went to The Aquarium next.  That was a disppointment.  There was neat stuff to see but the building was 3 stories tall.  The aquarium part was only on a section of the first.  I think they want you to eat at one of their many restaurants.  Needless to say it was not worth the purchase of a magnet.  But it was part of the City pass so it was another thing to do.  We were glad we did not plan on more time there. 
One more day of rest before we went to NASA.
NASA's Johnson Space Center was a fun place to visit.  I think I anticipated it to be bigger.  There we some shows we should have seen that we did not have time for.  But we took the tram to see the origional mission control and the Saturn V rocket.  They we road the tram again to see the astronaut training center.  That was my favorite place to visit.  The real working facility.  It is sad it is in transition from them retiring the Space Shuttle program but we saw some of the robots they are planning to send into space in the future.  Big hit!

Since NASA is on the freeway to Galveston we decided to go to the Rainforest Cafe.  We have never been to the Rainforest Cafe before and this one was fun.  The restaurant was a volcano with a waterfall coming down outside. We had to wait over an hour for our table.  The wait was fun. They were playing music outside.  Then there was a magician and a hula hoop contest. Kailyn and Hannah actually participated and they were both in the last 4.  Then they both lost their hoops at the same time.  It was fun inside as well with the animals that moved, they made noise and then the occasional "rainstorms".  When we were done and went outside to see the ocean, the volcano was on fire!  What a show.  What a blast!  It was the best day yet.
We had been missing Melissa's son Dylan this whole time.  It was Dylan's month to spend with his dad.  I talked to his dad and finally talked him into letting us have him for a few days.  So we got Dylan on Saturday but the major part of what we had planned to do was done.  He went swimming with the girls for a little bit.  I was really wanting to see the beach during daylight.  When we lived in Texas before we went once and managed to get some fantastic shells.  So I looked at the map.  I looked up the beaches on the internet.  We made a plan to go to the ocean the next day. It was something Dylan really wanted to do as well.  We packed up a cooler of food and went on our nearly 2 hour drive south to Bryan Beach.  We drove along the beach, backed up and the kids got to play in the ocean for a few hours.  I got great pictures.  Dylan and Kylee had a couple of brushes with jellyfish and yet they kept playing anyway. Melissa says she wants to plan a day trip there in the future.  She really enjoyed it and didn't know that it was so nice there. 
Our trip was nearing its end.  I had one more day.  My good friend from High School lives in Texas and I had contacted her through Facebook to let her know I was coming down.  We were finally going to get a chance to see each other on Monday.  And my grandfather and uncle were on the agenda too.  I caught up with my old friend and my grandfather met my 3 youngest.

But we aren't done yet!  We did leave Tuesday morning.  We stopped in San Antonio again.  We got to see the Alamo and crossed the street to see the Riverwalk.  I really liked that a lot. 
We drove to Clovis again.  That meant we went through quirky Roswell.  I stayed the night at my Aunt Vickie's again.  This visit was brief.  We went to Albuquerque.  We stayed the night with my cousin Jammie.  I had a great visit with her.  More cupcakes.  The last day was nearly the killer. 

We drove from Albuquerque to the 4 corners.  You know where Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah meet.  I would have never thought to stop there but that was the only place the girls asked to go.  It is on an indian reservation.  It was interesting.  All around the center square there were long booths were the Indians sold their goods.  Lots of jewelry and other fun stuff.  Everyone stood in line to take their pictures in the center.  Then you can sit on benches in each state.  It was pretty hot.  Dry hot is so much better though than humid.  We ate lunch possibly on the border of Arizona and Utah.  Then when we were done we were in the long stretch for home.  I really wanted to get there.  I started at 7:30 that morning.  We got home at 1:45 in the morning.  I was so wound up that I did not go to bed until 3.  whew.  That was a long day, a fun filled trip and ridiculously long blog. 

But when it is all said and done, I love travelling this way.  I love looking at where you want to go, look on the map to see what is there and filling your trip up with as much as possible.  I love this country we live in.  I love how it changes when you are on the really long car trips.  I find it fun to see when you cross the border to a state sometimes everything changes dramatically.  That happens when you cross into Colorado.  You are only in it a short time on this journey but it so different than New Mexico.  It is green and the ground rolls as you go.  Then you head into Utah and you are in the giant read rocks. I love the time in the car with my kids.  They are really great travellers and they enjoy seeing the country they live in as much as I do.
 
Last week we put on Cars.  We saw so much of the land that the movie bases Radiator Springs on.  What was even better was we watched John Lasseter little documentary on how they travelled Route 66 to do research for the movie.  It meant so much more to us since we had just been there.  He tells how he bought an RV and travelled across the country with his family to do what his father did with him as a boy.  It is something special to take your kids on road trips across the country and see all that you can see as you go. I can't wait to go on our next one.  

I had the best time with my sister.  Melissa, I really miss you.  :(