Day 16 - Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee

Max started talking about what we need to do next week when we get home...... I hate this part of the vacation. I'm not allowing my mind to go there yet. School will be with me in plenty of time!

Mom almost left her night light...... again..... this time at Uncle John's house. They don't like the room to be completely dark. I, on the other hand, like to cover the clock so I have no light. Helen brought a night light on the trip. Mom thought that was a great idea, so at a WalMart stop, she bought one. That worked great for a couple nights, until she forgot it at one of our hotels. At Val's house, their room was so dark she had a panic and they needed to sleep with the light on all night! A day or so later, I saw some in a gift shop, so I got her a pretty one from the Grand Canyon. But I don't think it was bright enough and she was afraid she'd forget it somewhere. So, she bought another one at a WalMart stop. This one almost got left at Uncle John's house. We were getting in the cars to go to breakfast this morning and she realized it was still plugged in, in the guest room! At least we hadn't left yet! I wonder if it will make it home?!

We had breakfast with Uncle John at Sunny Side Up. I think that's a great name for a breakfast place!

Mikaela spent the night with Doug and Jane. He's like my brother..... they were my home away from home while I was in college in Tulsa. Now Mikaela loves him too! :)

Doug took us a tour of the Food Bank where he works and loves his job! He doesn't usually dress like this..... It was wear your colors day and the last Friday of the month, which is jeans day. Just so you know, normally, he looks like a professional! Love you, Doug!



Question of the day: ?What are creative ways you say, "I love you?"


Mikaela piped up with the way we have said I love you for a long time: 3 hand squeezes, I LOVE YOU.

Dad said with cards, notes, & flowers.

Helen said she packs Tim's lunch and adds special things. And she does his laundry! I like how she thinks!

Tim said he checks with her, "Are you gonna be OK?" And some other things that we all thought were pretty cute!

Mikaela informed us that tonight is a Blue Moon - It's looking pretty nice. And the Memphis skyline looked nice as it was getting dark. We stayed northeast of Memphis. The motel was the first disappointment for the lodging department. A bit sketchy! But we'll survive.

Day 15 - Oklahoma

Three Falls Cove was a great Bed & Breakfast! Again! God has certainly blessed our lodging choices! We had a delicious breakfast, then headed east toward Oklahoma. We've been traveling the scenic route! Loving it! Last week on another day of remoteness, Max said, "I'll tell you, when Starbucks says they want a shop on every corner, they have a long way to go!" Baha! I love how he thinks!

Saw a sign in Mobeetie, Texas:

I found a great way to attract money: work!

We are going through major farm, or should I say, ranch country! Huge fields - round irrigated fields with corners big enough to build a house on and have a huge yard. 

We saw oil and gas rigs. 

More windmills.

And land, lots of land! And pick-up trucks. Everyone seems to drive a truck. Car lots are full of pick-up trucks. I wonder if they call them truck lots out here????

TJ & his Uncle Doug

We made it to Uncle John's house in Norman, Oklahoma by early afternoon, so we could visit with him and the family. We had dinner with Doug's family, then some of us went to TJ's first college football game. He is probably going to red-shirt this year, so he didn't play. But we visited with Mike's family and watched the University of Central Oklahoma football game. Great to be with family we don't see very often.

Day 14 - New Mexico, Texas

While I was planning and researching, I looked up the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives” website, to see if we would be traveling anywhere near one of the restaurants they featured. I found Harry’s Roadhouse in Santa Fe that looked like a winner! Harry’s had all good reviews, we were traveling to Santa Fe, sounded like a good plan!

We spent the night at Sandia Peak Inn in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A very nice, family-owned hotel, comfortable & clean. We drove to Santa Fe, and found Harry’s Roadhouse, which totally did not look like a “roadhouse”. It was much more gourmet-like. The meals were very unique. I had Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Fresh Strawberries. Delicious! We all tried something unusual.

Today was a day that Mikaela and I were really looking forward to. Santa Fe and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. O’Keeffe is one of my favorite artists. Dad joined Mikaela and me. The rest of the gang went to a shopping mall. And Max went to a Jiffy Lube and had the van serviced. We got to the museum soon after it opened and listened to a talk about O’Keeffe’s life and the museum. We then admired all the artwork and watched a couple videos, as well. Overall, the Museum was a great stop, in my opinion!

I wish we could have spent more time in the Santa Fe and Taos area, but we are running out of time. Plus, Mikaela and I would have been the only ones to really enjoy the Artsy things we could have visited!

From Santa Fe, we drove East toward the Texas panhandle. We are still seeing ever-changing terrain. On some scenic road in Texas we drove for 30 miles without seeing a vehicle!

Then we had to yield to a very long train at a Railroad crossing!

We found a local hangout in Fritch, Texas, a Mexican restaurant, Tio Pancho’s. Love Google Maps! We would have never found the place without it!

We are staying at a B&B near Sanford, Texas, Three Falls Cove. It is gorgeous! We are staying in a log lodge. Lots of Southwest style décor in the places we’ve been visiting.

And we saw a tarantula crawling up the outside wall. Yuck! That's a regular size brick it's crawling on! I hate spiders. Mikaela was doing the spider shuffle! She thought it was funny!

Day 12 - Arizona

We had an early breakfast at Val’s, then headed to Boulder City for a tour of the amazing Hoover Dam.

The security is pretty intense there and we had to go through a check similar to airport security. Dad always carries a pocket knife in his pocket….. Mom & Helen have knee replacements……. Needless to say we were setting off the alarms!

Mikaela flew to Vegas to join us for the rest of our trip. She originally was to arrive around 10:15, but her flight was changed and she arrived after 11. Perfect timing for us to pick her up after our Hoover Dam Power Plant tour! It’s so good to have her along. It’s too bad Nick couldn’t join us. That would make this trip perfect!

Today we experienced a great jump in temperature!

We left Las Vegas, temperature: 105° drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, temperature: 63°.

This trip has definitely been a trip of great variety! Landscape, humidity, temperature, elevation, vegetation…

We stopped for lunch on the way to the Grand Canyon. We saw a Jack-in-the-Box and decided to try it. But while we were ordering they had a fire in the kitchen and had to give us our money back. We got to keep our drinks for free for the trouble. Dad was happy; there was a Burger King next door we could walk to. He loves Burger King! That was our excitement for the day.

Our Bar J Wranglers CD is still being enjoyed. Bar J thought:
“Don’t ever sell your saddle, cause life’s a long ride.”

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon is basically camping and cabins. The South Rim is very touristy. There is a lodge and restaurant and gift shop, of course, at the North Rim with overpriced food and gifts made in China. But I like it better because it is not as crowded as the South Rim. It’s more remote and not as convenient to drive there, I suppose.

We’ve driven this way before, and liked the drive and the lodge we found last time, Lee’s Ferry Lodge. I decided while planning our trip, that we would skip the South Rim. I suppose some people would disagree with me. But, honestly, after seeing a lot of Utah and canyons and rocks, well, the Grand Canyon is amazing, but one can only look at so many canyons and rocks!

Pretty soon, they look a lot alike! Our trip has been one to hit the “high” spots. And it has worked for us.

We talked about our favorite family vacations after our Grand Canyon visit until I couldn’t see to write anymore. It was dark driving to Lee’s Ferry Lodge at the Vermilion Cliffs. We saw tons of deer along the road. Max was definitely ready to stop driving for the night.

All of our favorite vacations involved family and extended family. Trips to Canada, Florida, Iowa, Niagara Falls. All of them Road Trips that brought back memories of fun, picnics, and kids in cars before seat belts. I remember traveling with my two sisters. One lay on the floor, one on the seat, and one in the back window. Dad remembered putting a board on the uneven floor so we could lay on it more comfortably! I’m thinking they’d be fined if they did that now.

Day 13 - Arizona, New Mexico

One of the things I tried to do on this trip was find interesting lodging. I did tons of online research and read reviews. Lee’s Ferry Lodge is the one place we had stayed at before. On our 2007 Road Trip, we visited the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, driving there from Las Vegas. There weren’t many options for lodging on the route between the North and South Rims. We chose Lee’s Ferry Lodge. I don’t remember why. It may have been the only one available or the most reasonably priced…. I can’t remember. Lee’s Ferry Lodge has character. It definitely isn’t the Hilton, but it is comfortable. And if you stay there, you must eat at the restaurant and meet the interesting people that run the place. Of course, the setting is amazing. Very little traffic, practically no light outside at night, and a setting at the base of the beautiful Vermilion Cliffs. Ed & Gwen, I think you’d love it!

We backtracked 5 miles to check out the Cliff Dwellings, since it was dark last night when we went by. Very interesting way of life built around the huge rocks from the cliffs. Harsh environment. We’ve seen lots of harsh environment.

We crossed the Navajo Bridge across the Colorado River at Marble Canyon.

From the Vermilion Cliffs, we drove to Sedona, Arizona because I heard the Red Rock formations were interesting. The drive was another study in contrasts as we changed elevations and landscape forms, once again!

I’m sure there would have been tons we could have done there. But we drove to Sedona, though the Oak Creek area, stopped at the Chapel in the Rock, and drove back to Interstate 40 to head east toward New Mexico. The Chapel in the Rock is an amazing piece of architecture, but we really enjoyed the views of the surrounding countryside and Red Rocks! It was worth the visit just to get pictures of the area.

I would like to make something like this.

Most of the places we have been staying at include breakfast. We all like to eat a good breakfast, then snacks during the day and dinner before we call it a day. We often make an ice cream stop in the afternoon. The towns are few and far between out here in remoteness. It was about time for a stop and we found a town, Winslow, Arizona. Mikaela wondered about the town, thought it sounded familiar. As soon as she said, “Winslow, Arizona”, I knew the song. We ate a Sonic, love that place! And found “Take It Easy” by the Eagles on YouTube, to sing along while we were eating our snack!

Question for today: “What were alternative names for your children?”

If I was a boy, Dad & Mom were going to call me Randall Scott. Mom said that was probably the boy’s name for Marty, as well, but they weren’t sure. And Betty & Gerry used that name, so they knew that wasn’t the name for Angie.

Helen said she was so sure that Max was a boy, they didn’t pick out any girl names.

If Nick was a girl, he would have been Alexandra. If Mikaela was a boy, she would have been Jedidiah or Jed.

Albuquerque looked pretty big, as we drove in on Interstate 40. Especially after last night at the Vermilion Cliffs!

Day 11 - Utah, Nevada

Did I mention Utah is remote? Wow! Yesterday we passed very few vehicles. We saw very few people. And the parents counted the cattle crossings we drove over. 20+, yesterday and 10, today……

I was curious about schools and how that works out in the very remote towns we’ve been going through. I definitely offended the gal at Capitol Reef National Park Visitor Center when I asked if there were schools in the small towns. “Yes, we ARE educated!” I apologetically told her that is not what I meant. I was curious about whether kids went to school in the town where they lived or if they were bussed or homeschooled or what? Turns out the town we stayed in, Hanksville, has an elementary school, but the middle and high school students are bused to a town 60 miles away. I told her we thought 20 or 30 miles on a bus was long in our rural PA county. I wish I would have asked about sports and how that works. But I figured my questions were annoying her. We picked delicious peaches there and some apples, too. The park has an old Mormon Ranch. I can't imagine locating and farming here!

We started the day with a continental breakfast at Stan’s Burger Shack.

Then headed south-west through more rocks, canyons, & sage!

I’m pretty sure that we saw the most variety in the landscape in one day. It just kept changing!
Started in Central Utah and ended in North Eastern Nevada, around 300 miles.

We saw Factory Butte. Who names these things?

We saw the amazing Hoodoos of Bryce Canyon.

Then, on to Las Vegas, to Val’s house. We had a great visit with Don, Val & Crystal. They fed us dinner and then some of us drove to the Strip. We parked at Bellagio and walked around a bit, admiring the amazing flowers.

I love the Chihuly installation. Beautiful glass work!

We watched the water fountain show and that was enough Strip excitement for us!

Dad & Mom stayed overnight with Val. Tim & Helen and Max & I stayed at a nearby casino, I mean, hotel, Santa Fe Station. I’m so pathetic, I couldn’t even figure out how to use the slot machines!