Day 17: Final day of The Great American Road Trip

You know how the saying goes, All good things must come to an end.  Today was our final day and we started it off with a trip up the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  If you have never done this you should know you get to the top in a tiny circle shaped car that has 5 seats and 6 if you have a child on a lap.  The door is about 2 feet by 4 feet and you will bump your head.  Talk about close quarters!  Good thing we are all still friends!

It was pretty much straight driving from there.  The boys have been absolutely amazing on this trip and enjoyed watching a final movie on the road while Mommy took a nap.  I sat in between the boys in the way back of the van for the entire trip and I am so glad that I did.  I will have memories of funny faces, silly games, and fun times to treasure forever.  

As we neared our final destination of Nana's house I asked some questions to each person and I thought you might enjoy some of their responses.

When asked what their favorite thing about the trip was:
A replied "Getting all the badges."
L replied "Spending time with my family"
N replied "Las Vegas"
J replied "Yellowstone because of the Elk fighting, geysers, buffalo- we got to see all kinds of crazy stuff"
Grandpa replied " Traveling with my grand kids and family and seeing Zion National Park"
Papa replied "Being with the whole family and having a great time, especially when my grandsons tried to drown me in the pool"
And for me the best thing has been being with the people that I love and seeing the many wonders that God has blessed us with in this country.  The activity that I most enjoyed was swimming in the waterfall with the boys!


All of us agreed that we will remember forever the fun that we had and all the wonderful things we saw with our family.  I am so thankful for the family that the Lord has blessed me with and the safe travels He provided for us.  My boys has such amazing men in their lives to teach them how to be men of character that is truly my best memory and biggest blessing. 

17 days + 15 States + 5,201.6 Miles Traveled + 114 hours and 4 minutes in the car = The Trip of a Lifetime

Thanks for joining us for our journey their will be many more to come!

Day 16: The Great American Road Trip

We're in St. Louis!  I had no idea there were so many things to do here until last night when I started researching it.  We arrived to the city around 3:30 and decided to divide and conquer to make the most of our time here.  The kids, Papa, Nitka, and I went to the The City Museum.  It was AMAZING!  Basically it is a giant jungle gym made out of trucks, planes, trolleys, etc.  They also have a ferris wheel and crazy high slide on the roof.  This is not for the faint of heart- my boys loved it!  Inside they have a skateless skate park so that the kids can run, jump, and slide the ramps.  We will definitely be coming back to St. Louis again. 

J and his dad went to the Budweiser plant for a tour.

After all of our fun we headed to Pappy's Smoke House for dinner.  People this is some amazing BBQ and what a well oiled machine this establishment is.  You wait in line to wait in line and then you order at a window are are seated with your food.  They have the BEST sweet potato fries- their secret sprinkle them with brown sugar.  Why have I never thought of that?

We then headed to the Gateway Arch and the tours to the top were sold out.  Yes that was a bit of a disappointment as I suggested we purchase our tickets last night.  So we visited the museum and the boys got another Jr Ranger badge. 


Tomorrow we head back to Indiana for the final count on hours in the car, miles driven, and best memories from each person.  What a trip!

Day 15: The Great American Road Trip

We are only two nights away from completing this journey and I am finding myself wishing we had made it longer.  The kids have been great.  The Grandpa's have been great.  The driving really hasn't bothered me.  I am sad to see us closing in on the end.  Tonight we are in Tulsa, OK pretty much just to sleep.  We spent some extra time in Amarillo shopping so we don't have time to really check out Tulsa. 

I know that my own husband doubted my ability to fit everything in the minivan without a car-top carrier so I thought I would show you how PERFECTLY it all fit!  Everyone was allowed to bring one carry- on size suitcase and the boys shared.  We should do a KIA commercial for how much their mini-van can fit.

I got my boots so now I need to go line dancing and to some more concerts!  Anyone want to go with me?  I went with a traditional style but they are so comfy!  I could easily have bought 5 pair, there are so many styles.   I LOVE the jeans that they had at the store but the shortest length as 30 inches and very few in that.  Most were 34 inches long- yeah not gonna work for me.  But I did find a real cute pair on sale. 

So when J and I returned with my treasures A started crying because he wanted Cowboy boots with stars.  He is so my child.  We added a second trip to the boot store where he tried on about 5 pairs and settled on his first pick while his brother who wanted black boots tried on one pair and was good to go.  Notice the stars and stripes so fitting since his career choices at age four are SWAT or in the Military- totally my All-American boy.    He rocked those boots all day as I am confident he will for a while.  We had some more Texas beef for lunch  and set off to Oklahoma.

As promised we watched the movie on the way!

Tomorrow we head to St. Louis, Missouri and there is way too much to do there in a day- so your guess is as good as mine as to what we will end up doing.

FYI : Currently all five of my guys are snoring, ear plugs anyone???

Day 14: The Great American Road Trip

After sleeping 5 hours the boys and I hit the pool this morning while J mailed back some lenses that he rented for his camera.  I taught the boys how to play Marco Polo, they are so much fun!  I just love how when you are on vacation nothing gets in the way of hanging out with your kids.  I really need to put this into practice in my everyday life more. 

J hasn't been feeling well and luckily we have an amazing doctor who called in a Z pack for him.  Hopefully he will feel better soon.  The good news is Dr. Mom is pretty confident that it is a sinus infection so no one else should get it.  Can you imagine 7 sick people driving in a mini-van- aghh not my idea of fun.

We ate an early lunch at the restaurant that had the amazing pie in Wyoming!!  Love it- but unfortunately I think this is the farthest east we will find the ol' Village Inn.

We traveled 5 hours east today to Amarillo, TX.  We ate at this ridiculous steak place that has a food challenge.  If you eat a 72 oz steak, baked potato, roll, salad and 3 fried shrimp you get your meal free.  It was pretty crazy.  There was a guy about 26 years old trying to do it.  They sit on a raised platform where the whole restaurant can see you and there are timers over the top.  He was not able to do it.  But the record was set a few years ago when someone ate it all in less that 9 minutes!!  Crazy and wrong. 

We are staying at the Country Inn and Suites (so nice) and I was able to finish my laundry.  Thank the Lord!  The boys had a blast in the pool until 11.

Tomorrow morning I will get my cowboy boots before we leave Texas and head to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  We are gonna watch the movie Oklahoma on the way there.  For those of you who knew me back in the day- I was in the musical in high school as Laurie

Day 13 : The Great American Road Trip

I am a bit delirious at the moment as I have been up for nearly 24 hours as it is fast approaching 4 am and I woke up this morning at 5 am to see the sunrise at the Grand Canyon.  It is such a quiet and peaceful place- I would relish a space like this in my life.  Calm is definitely good when you are a mom of 2 and a school counselor of hundreds. 

We stayed at the Canyon until a little after noon and then began our journey back east.  We decided to add the Petrified Forest National Park onto our trip as we were passing near it to get to Albuquerque, NM.  I would probably skip this if it were up to me next time but the grandpas liked it.  It is safe to say that I am pretty much full up on rocks or canyons for the moment.  But we did see a double rainbow on our journey there which was cool. 




















At the moment I am waiting for like 2.5 hours for our stinking clothes to dry in the laundry downstairs.  Yeah, I will not be doing all four loads at this hotel as it has turned into an all night task for just ONE load!!! 

Tomorrow we head 6.5 hours east to Amarillo, TX.  I have no idea what we will be doing there but I hope to get some real cowboy boots!!

Day 12: The Great American Road Trip

So today we left Las Vegas at 9 am and it was already 92 degrees outside. Can you even believe that?  I am pretty sure I could not live in that heat all summer long unless I was in the water non-stop.

 We visited the Hoover Dam and our dads did the Dam Tour.  The boys are too young so we only did the power plant tour.  A little bit of history for you... The Hoover Dam was built in 5 years under budget and faster than originally planned in the 1930's for less than a million dollars.  The bridge that now spans above it took 5 years to build at a cost of 10 million dollars.  Hmmm, when did we function better as a country???

 We left the Dam and headed to Arizona for the Grand Canyon.  The boys began working hard to earn their badges.

J and I are talking about taking this same trip again in 10 years with the boys.  I can't wait to do this same picture above and put them side by side in a frame.  I love my boys- all 5 of them!

Day 11: The Great American Road Trip

We have officially passed the halfway point of our trip and I am happy to report that I have not lost my sanity or my temper yet!  I just told my dad and J's dad how truly lucky we are to have parents that not only get along but that can spend 17 days together in close proximity.  Our boys are so blessed to have strong role models in their lives.  When J and I did our marital counseling 12+ years ago the priest told us the only thing we had going for us was our parents commitment to their marriages- he called that one right for sure.  (I do however feel we had and continue to have other things in our corner as well) 

So this morning we headed back to the family hotel in Henderson and the boys and I played in the pool all day!  It was so much fun.  You should know that the temperatures reached the 120's today. 
Here is the temp on our way to see Spider Man at 4:00 this afternoon. 

 Can you even believe that?  127 degrees.  Summer in Vegas is like CRAZY- but you would not believe all the people that are here!  I cannot for the life of me figure out why people would come to the bloody desert in the summer? 

So Spider Man was a bit scary for my little man so he and I hit up the arcade and his big brother joined us afterward.  Then we stayed at same hotel/casino/movie complex and had a buffet dinner.  Love the buffets and this one was only $14! 

Tomorrow we are off to the Hoover Dam so the grandpas can do the Dam Tour, (I just love that play on words) and then onto the Grand Canyon.  The good news is that it is supposed to be hotter tomorrow....  Holy cow batman I may melt!

Day 10: The Great American Road Trip

Before we left Bryce Canyon this morning we decided to check out a waterfall just up the road.  Our hope was that the kids could swim in this, but when we arrived the trail down had been washed out.  So J. forged a new path and we walked up the river bed to the bottom of the waterfall.  This was probably one of my best moments of the trip.  The water was freezing but the boys absolutely loved it.

 After we left Bryce Canyon we headed 2 hours south to Zion National Park.  We did not begin our trip with this park in mind but added it after several people along the way recommended it and I am thankful to them.  This park is amazing.  The road that runs through the park is truly an engineering feat and took 5 years to build in the 1920's.  I am convinced that most amazing things were done the 20's and 30's in the USA.  We will definitely visit this park again and hike through it for sure.   But not in July or August as the temperature in the park today was 115.  HOT, HOT, HOT!

 3 hours south of Zion is Las Vegas and that is where we are staying for 2 nights.    Our base camp is actually 15 minutes outside of Vegas in Hendersen.  J and I got a room on the strip at the Luxor for $40.  I have to say that the Luxor isn't really that bad.  You know me the hotel snob- I am growing up! This is the view from our room door. 

 So J and I didn't really know what to do with ourselves.  Our days have been so planned out that we floundered for a bit with having no set plans or directions.  We toyed around with seeing a show but then opted just to walk the strip.  We ate at the Bellagio and it was fabulous as always.  I have only been to Vegas in the summer one time before and two things stand out for me now.

1.   English speakers are the minority.  It is like every person here is vacationing from another country.  I certainly hope they are visiting other places other than Vegas!  
2. The line to Bellagio Buffet is THE best place to people watch.  You would not believe the outfits, hairstyles, mismatched couples.  That was truly a show for us this evening.  I so wish that I had a tiny camera on my sunglasses to document the things we saw.  You have to see it to believe it!

They added the Washington Monument- shout out to DC.

So before we walked the strip we were thinking about bringing the boys to see the pirate show at TI and the Bellagio water show tomorrow.  That would be a big H*!! no.  If you have not been to Vegas in a while the pamphlet people are out in full force.  I truly think this takes away from the fun that this city has to offer and pulls out the sleazy side.  There is no way that we will be touching foot on the strip with my boys.  We will drive through tomorrow night to see the lights and then they can return when they turn 21.