Well, let's recap the big month. Mom and Dad celebrated their anniversary. It was pretty low-key, in fact they made a homemade pizza instead of going out to eat. They kept telling me they were waiting to celebrate on the big "Out West" trip. I had no idea what they were talking about, but trust me it didn't take me long to figure it out.
Pre-Out West Trip...
...so the night before the Out West Trip mom and dad were packing and laughing at how close the kids playing outside seemed to be. Then mom looked out the window to realize the kids were in OUR yard and we didn't know the kids....Dad went running downstairs to see what was going on and although the dogs appeared to love the company of the kids, dad seemed to startle the kids and got a good laugh at watching them try to climb the 6 ft. fence....oh heavens.
Out West Trip....
...Mom and Dad planned this CRAZY Out West trip covering 2,800 miles, 6 states and multiple popular landmarks and destinations. We left at 5 AM on a Wednesday morning and headed towards Sedona, AZ (our first destination). We stopped at the welcome center in New Mexico....if you go through New Mexico, you can avoid the welcome center...it's not very exciting. Aside from that, it was a funny day of travel....at one point while heading through some construction there were 2 cute birds sitting in the road looking at us...mom and dad thought they would move, but instead we felt a bump, bump and then saw in the rearview mirror what looked like a feather pillow exploded....apparently, they didn't move.
We visited Uncle Ted and mom's cousin Amy with her family in Sedona. It was a blast down there. I got to play on the coolest swing set ever while mom and dad enjoyed lots and lots of wine with the adults. Maybe too much wine....but it didn't stop us from visiting the Grand Canyon. Let me tell you about the Grand Canyon....it's a big hole in the ground....sure it's neat, but I don't need to return anytime soon. Sedona however, is absolutely beautiful and we'd like to return sometime to go hiking down there.
From Sedona we headed to San Diego, CA. The trip went well again. But at one point along the Mexico/USA border mom had to go to the bathroom, so dad pulled off at an exit with one, so called gas-station with a sign that read of "middle of nowhere AZ." Dad went first and mom waited in the car, when dad returned and said it was safe mom went in....she walked right back out. They lady denied her the bathroom because it was for paying customers only...dad handed her $5 and said to buy a pop and see if that would make the lady happy...thankfully it did. What are the odds?! We had the joy of also experiencing border patrol safety checkpoints along the trip. Thankfully, Dad (and us) passed with flying colors.
In San Diego we stayed in the Mission Bay area. It was beautiful, mom however, was not....she was so sick. Somewhere on this trip she got a nasty cold. This meant she actually spent a day in bed sleeping. Poor mom, so we tacked on a day in San Diego for site seeing. We went to the Zoo (which was amazing) and to the USS Midway, a retired Naval Aircraft Carrier. I got to play in the sand on the beach and dad thought it would be a great idea to put my feet in the ocean...he was nuts!!! it was FREEZING!!!!! Oh well, I touched the Pacific Ocean literally. By the way, I don't recommend trying to eat the sand...it doesn't taste very good.
From San Diego we headed up to Las Vegas, NV....I thought we were going to "win big" but apparently mom and dad had no interest in taking me to the strip...instead they took me to Hoover Dam. It was pretty cool. (should I tell mom and dad now or later I won't remember any of this trip when I'm older?)
From the Hoover Dam we headed to Zion National Park. Let me say this.....a MUST SEE NATIONAL park. Far more exciting than the Grand Canyon and absolutely beautiful. There is a tunnel you drive through that's very narrow, has no lights and is about 1.2 miles long. What a crazy experience, but so fun.
From Zion National Park we began our drive home. Mom and Dad took a week and a half off work for this and we all had a blast. I surprised everyone and only fussed once for 10 min. Other than that, mom and dad stopped every 3-4 hours so I could play on a swingset and use some energy.
Now, here's the twist to our travels....we are hopping in the car again next week, actually in 5 days to drive to Iowa. Mom and Dad are godparents to my new cousin Hailey and her baptism is next weekend. It's a crazy month of travel, but it should slow down after that for awhile.....
.....well, not too long...Mom and Dad got a pop-up camper from Uncle Tom and Aunt Mary in Iowa (we'll tow it back next weekend too) so they say we'll be testing it out soon....don't worry, the first test site is Chatfield...10 min. from home so not a long drive, but the dogs get to go on those excursions. I'm sure there will be some funny stories and photos from that.
As always - Madeline
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