Road Trip Week Two

So I definitely lied when I said I would be posting the pics of our second week on the road soon... back in April :) A whole lot has happened since then and those of you who read my bulletins know that my life has been a little insane lately. Long story short, I'm back in Fresno (Clovis) now and if you want details give me a call.

Dun da da DAH! WEEK TWO!!!
(that was my attempt to type a fanfare)

The second week was even better than the first week! We had SO much fun.

Our last stop before we left Colorado was Colorado Springs. We were originally planning to spend a half day there and then drive down toward New Mexico, but we had so much fun and there was so much we wanted to do that we ended up staying two full days!!

Our first stop was to ride the Cog Railway up to the top of Pike's Peak. We got all bundled up (the temperature is an average of 30 degrees colder at the peak than at the base!) and climbed aboard the train!!

Once we got to the top, the views were amazing. Every other passenger on the train was over 60, and they had an EMT standing there with oxygen since the air is so thin. We were even having trouble breathing! We ate some good chili and drank some hot chocolate, and then headed back down the mountain.

Next stop... Cave of the Winds! Brian had gone through this cave with his brothers when he was in high school and loved it, and we could see why! I had never been inside a cave before, and was totally awestruck by the size and beauty of it. Most of my pictures didn't turn out since it was so dark, so you'll just have to go there and visit yourself!



(yes, I took a picture of the picture they tried to sell me for $15... I'm cheap like that)

After the cave, we went to the Hopi Cliff Dwellings, which were about 2 minutes down the road. That was a very cool experience. These dwellings were built an estimated 3,000 years ago, and they are still standing due to their advanced architecture. We got to climb in them and everything!

Our next stop in Colorado Springs was the Garden of the Gods National Park. It was a huge area of land with massive red rock formations everywhere. We went right before sunset, so the colors were even more amazing. We hiked through the park and then left when we couldn't feel our faces anymore cuz it was so COLD!!

(the two barely distinguishable figures waving at you are Robbie and Brian)




Our final destination... Focus on the Family! Their headquarters were really nice. We took a tour and got to see Dr. Dobson taping his radio show.

But the HIGHLIGHT of the whole trip was... WHIT'S END!!

For those of you who grew up listening to the Adventures in Odyssey series, you can probably imagine how cool it was to walk into a fully functioning Whit's End(!), complete with Imagination Station, KYDS Radio, and the theater in the back! There were also the Underground Railroad tunnels(!) and a Narnia room complete with a wardrobe you could walk through into a forest!! Robbie and I were seriously acting 8 years old again and had SO much fun! Brian had no concept of what we were so excited about at all, but he allowed us our indulgence. :) For us, it was better than Disneyland!!!

Drinking "Wod Fam Choc Sods" in Whit's End! (if you have to ask, you're not a true fan)







The Imagination Station! (aka the elevator)


The Underground Railroad tunnel!


The theater and KYDS radio! You can actually be a DJ and they'll record you a tape!!!


The slide you take to get down into Whit's End from the main welcome center...


The Narnia room!


After hours of playing, we finally left to drive to Albequerque, New Mexico and stayed the night...

We left Albequerque Wednesday morning April 26th and drove toward Arizona on Route 66! (like in the song) Random sight... there were LLAMAS just chillin on the side of the freeway! So of course I had to stop and take a picture...

(I made Brian turn around to get this picture)

Llamas!!

Our first stop after our overnight in Albequerque (which I had a lot of fun learning how to spell as I was trying to get google map directions) was...

The Petrified Forest National Park and the Painted Desert.

The Painted Desert was beautiful. The colors were breathtaking.

We were a little disappointed by the petrified forest. I was thinking we were going to see some thousand-year-old trees still standing there, but in reality all the trees had broken into pieces and were laying around like boulders all over this huge valley. Granted, trees that turned into stone thousands of years ago is not something you see every day, but I was a little underwhelmed.

After driving through and buying some petrified rock souvenirs, we headed out toward our next stop in Sedona, Arizona (the place that's being consumed by wildfires at the moment).

I wish I would have taken more pictures of Sedona and the surrounding areas, the scenery was absolutely incredible. We stayed overnight at the Hilton Sedona Resort and Spa, went swimming, played tennis (Brian KILLED Robbie) and I had a fabulous facial complete with hand and foot massages... heaven! The air was so clean and the hotel was beautiful--it was our one splurge on the trip and was definitely worth it. We're planning a trip back there in the near future... when it's not being burned up.

Next stop... Grand Canyon!!

It started raining as soon as we finished at the Grand Canyon, and we drove through a huge thunder storm on our way out of Arizona. It made for a beautiful view, though!

And the final destination on our cross-country road trip was (drum roll please)...

VEGAS BABY!!!



We stayed at the Ventian and got upgraded to a suite! Robbie enjoyed lounging around in his robe and slippers (he's got pics on his page). We did a little shopping, walked around the strip, played some black jack, got kicked out of a bar at Caesars cuz Rob is underage, and then went back to the room to finish off some wine coolers we had bought in Sedona. All in all, it was a blast. We'll go back when Rob turns 21 for some real fun...

The next morning we headed home (which is weird to say) to Fresno. The trip overall was fabulous, I highly recommend taking a cross-country road trip at least once. Next time I want to take the northern route and see St. Louis, Chicago, Yellowstone and Montana.

Maybe next year...