Day 8
After a short morning at the meeting, we did some laundry, packed up, and hit the road a short drive to Flagstaff for the night. However, since it was a short drive, we decided to take the time to go the scenic route through Sedona. What a sight! Coming down south from Flagstaff on the Interstate you wouldn't have had much clue that just a few miles to the west was this beautiful paradise of red stone rock formations nestled in amongst deep canyons.
Since the kids were sleeping we didn't chance stopping and waking them up, so all photos were taken from a moving car. Some turned out okay. :)
It was really nice to arrive to our evening destination with time to have an early dinner and then hang out in the hotel room for a bit before bed (as opposed to all the late night arrivals we'd had on the drive to Arizona).
Since the kids were sleeping we didn't chance stopping and waking them up, so all photos were taken from a moving car. Some turned out okay. :)
It was really nice to arrive to our evening destination with time to have an early dinner and then hang out in the hotel room for a bit before bed (as opposed to all the late night arrivals we'd had on the drive to Arizona).
Chilling out watching a little TV before bed time...trying to lay just like her big brother is
Day 9
The next morning we got breakfast in the hotel and hit the road for New Mexico. The weather was really cooperating with us on this road trip, allowing us to do a big loop (not have to go back the same way we came), though I had planned flexibility to allow us to take various routes depending on what cards Mother Nature dealt us. Anyway, we headed east across northern Arizona and were tempted to stop at Meteor Crater and the Painted Desert, but in the interest of just making good time with two young kids we passed each of those by. We stopped in Gallup for lunch at a McDonald's (with a play area for the kids), and then stopped in Albuquerque to get some fresh made tortillas and giant sweet cinnamon rolls to bring home from The Frontier. We picked up one fresh sweet roll to go and found a park nearby to let the kids play some more. However, it was late afternoon and starting to get cold so we made that a very short stop in order to get further along our way for an overnight in Santa Fe. Upon arriving to Santa Fe I had yelped good New Mexican restaurants and found one not too far from our hotel. However, it was Friday night and this place was reviewed to be packed on weekends...so we called and got a reservation for as early as we could. The food was great, but a little too spicy for John. Evan didn't want Mexican food of any kind and sadly ordered a hamburger from the kids menu, which he ate none of. It was huge, by the way, I don't know how it qualified as a kid's burger! I, on the other hand, really enjoyed my New Mexican style smothered burrito and the sopapillas with honey and got back to the hotel stuffed full and ready for bed!
Day 10
Home...so close, yet so far! After breakfast in the hotel, we made our way north from New Mexico toward home, stopping only for lunch in Raton and then dinner in Colorado Springs. For each stop, we aimed to find fast food with a play area for the kids. Sadly, there was no such thing in Raton, but Colorado Springs had a Chic-Fil-A, which always has a play area and pretty good food too. This one was hopping with a local kids theatre company previewing musical/play, so it was packed, but had free "entertainment". It reminded me of my younger days in choir doing silly gigs like that around town.
Of meteorological interest, we drove though some freezing fog on our drive home in northern New Mexico. As we left Santa Fe we could see white "dusted" trees near the tops of the mountains, and then as we drove further we could see what remained of the fog bank ahead. As we entered it, all of the power lines, fences, and shrubs/grasses were rimed in white. Luckily, it was not really reaching all the way to the surface (and was actually quite patchy after we got into it) so the road was never slick for us, but it sure made for some neat vistas.
Overall, I'm glad we broke up the driving into several days like we did. It allowed us to take long stops to let the kids play and not keep them strapped into their car seats for too long each day. Our goal was no more than 6 hours of driving per day, and with a comfortable start each morning (usually leaving around 9am or so) and a few hour-long stops along the way, that usually helped us arrive at our daily destination around dinner time or just before the kids' bedtime. I know some folks have luck driving after bedtime with their kids sleeping in the car seat, but I don't think our kids are that good of car seat sleepers. Sure, they may doze off, but when they wake up or find themselves awake still after bedtime, riding strapped into the car seat, they are not happy campers. Plus, I'm not a good driver after dark anyway, because I get sleepy too. Since we wanted to let the kids play at each major stop, I ended up having more than my fair share of fast food than I'd like (Chic-Fil-A and McDonalds mostly, with McD's being my least favorite), but finding stops with indoor playgrounds was a key to helping the kids get their energy out. (If it wasn't winter, stopping at outdoor playgrounds along the way would have been more feasible freeing up our food choices a bit more I think.)
So, while this kind of trip is not one I'll do very often with young kids, in the end it worked out great. The weather cooperated, we saw some great sights and made some great memories, and we didn't have any major snafus, so I'm calling it a success!
Of meteorological interest, we drove though some freezing fog on our drive home in northern New Mexico. As we left Santa Fe we could see white "dusted" trees near the tops of the mountains, and then as we drove further we could see what remained of the fog bank ahead. As we entered it, all of the power lines, fences, and shrubs/grasses were rimed in white. Luckily, it was not really reaching all the way to the surface (and was actually quite patchy after we got into it) so the road was never slick for us, but it sure made for some neat vistas.
There is something lurking up ahead!
Getting into the thick of it...from having clear blue skies to looking like winter again
As it broke up, it was really need to see off in the distance against the mountains
A few trees on a hill still coated in white rime ice
Overall, I'm glad we broke up the driving into several days like we did. It allowed us to take long stops to let the kids play and not keep them strapped into their car seats for too long each day. Our goal was no more than 6 hours of driving per day, and with a comfortable start each morning (usually leaving around 9am or so) and a few hour-long stops along the way, that usually helped us arrive at our daily destination around dinner time or just before the kids' bedtime. I know some folks have luck driving after bedtime with their kids sleeping in the car seat, but I don't think our kids are that good of car seat sleepers. Sure, they may doze off, but when they wake up or find themselves awake still after bedtime, riding strapped into the car seat, they are not happy campers. Plus, I'm not a good driver after dark anyway, because I get sleepy too. Since we wanted to let the kids play at each major stop, I ended up having more than my fair share of fast food than I'd like (Chic-Fil-A and McDonalds mostly, with McD's being my least favorite), but finding stops with indoor playgrounds was a key to helping the kids get their energy out. (If it wasn't winter, stopping at outdoor playgrounds along the way would have been more feasible freeing up our food choices a bit more I think.)
So, while this kind of trip is not one I'll do very often with young kids, in the end it worked out great. The weather cooperated, we saw some great sights and made some great memories, and we didn't have any major snafus, so I'm calling it a success!
1 comment:
Yes I think it sounds pretty successful given how being trapped in a metal box with two little ones could have gone. :) I'm sure it's something you will always remember! We used to go on a lot of road trips growing up and they were some of my favorite memories.
Post a Comment