We’ve been back a month and a half now, and it finally feels like the house is back in order. In a way, it seems like we were never in Fresno. Then I see a picture or think of something that reminds me of someone I met there, and my heart feels a bit empty. Maybe I didn’t leave my heart in San Francisco. A piece of it is in Fresno.
Thankfully, our drive back to Minnesota was pretty uneventful. The boys were great in the car. We followed a pattern of picking movies and having 30-60 minutes of playing/reading/doing activities while listening to music. Sirius Radio was running their free week of service for our whole drive home, it was awesome. Brad and I listened to Outliers and A Girl on a Train. Brad drove the ENTIRE way. I kept offering to drive, but didn’t want to be stuck on my part of the car surrounded by stuff. We were quite jam packed in the van. Here’s some pictures from the drive.
Our first stop was Las Vegas. Luckily, the boys were oblivious to all of the butt cheeks all around. It must be hip to wear extremely short shorts and almost thong bikinis. They were distracted by the limousines, fountains, buildings, and characters. We enjoyed breakfast for dinner at Hash House A Go Go, and walked around the strip for a few hours. Here’s the Las Vegas pictures.
We spent the night at the Hoover Dam Lodge, and visited Hoover Dam in the morning. It was a bit rainy, but my structure loving family loved the dam and the huge bridge that wasn’t there yet when we visited in 2006. There was a HUGE motorcycle meet up, and we had to wait in a parking lot for about 20 minutes for them all to pass through. Charlie and Teddy got a kick out of seeing all of those motorcycles. Here’s our Dam Pictures.
After the dam we drove to the Grand Canyon. We weren’t planning on being there too long, so we just did the basic touristy things. It’s quite amazing not only how deep the canyon is, but how long it is too. It is definitely, “Grand.” It was rather crowded in most spots. The boys were much more interested in crawling around on rocks than viewing the canyon. The pictures don’t do it justice. I want to go back when the boys are teenagers and hike in the canyon.
Monday we visited Four Corners, which is in the middle of the most desolate area I have ever driven in. Charlie had to go to the bathroom. We pulled alongside the road and he couldn’t get himself to go. Twenty five minutes later we finally found a gas station called “Mexican Water,” where he was able to relieve himself. Here’s our pictures from Four Corners.
Mesa Verde is what Brad was most looking forward to on this trip, and it exceeded our expectations. I am not much of a history buff, but I loved learning about the history of this place and what life was like for these people. Theo did a great job climbing up the steep ladders and stairs, but was quite loud and obnoxious during the tour guide’s talk. It was raining on our way out of our guided tour, but we got to the car before it started downpouring. My FitBit was very happy with me this day. Charlie got his beloved hummingbird puppet and Theo picked out the bear puppet. We were thankful to have these as a distraction as we were waiting a few minutes here and there. Here’s our pictures.
On our drive to our hotel in Moeb, we came across Wilson Arch along the highway. It was a great stop to stretch our legs and take in the scenery. The boys were quite quick to jump into climbing up the formation, which make me a bit nervous at times. Tator the van looked tiny from the top! Here’s the pictures.
Tuesday morning we visited Arches National Park. It was simply stunning. Charlie’s hummingbird enjoyed getting nectar from every flower it found. Poor Teddy’s hand got smushed in the fan door. The highlight was definitely climbing the rocks. I might have two little rock climbers on my hand. Here’s the pictures, once again, they don’t do the place justice.
After a long chunk of driving, we stopped in Grand Junction, CO to see the Allen Unique Autos museum. Highlights were the herse that carried JFK, the real Herbie, and a limousine with a hot tub in the back. There were mannequins all over the museum. Spiderman was near Madonna, and Theo was certain that Madonna was a villain. Enjoy the pictures.
We were thankful to see snow on our drive throughout the afternoon and early evening. We needed gas near ski country in CO, it was 40 degrees and windy. It felt sooooooooooooooooo good. We were going to stop at an awesome park in Denver and eat some dinner, but it was raining. Instead we went to Cabela’s and Hobby Lobby which was just as fun. We spent Tuesday night in Cheyenne, WY.
Wednesday was our long driving day, we were so glad when we finally made it to Watford City, ND to see Grandma and Grandpa. Highlights of this trip to Watford City were climbing Battleship Butte, Teddy showing Great Grandma all of his toys, driving the electric wheelchair, playing with daddy’s old toys, and Fun Aunt Beth’s Beanie Babies. Here’s some pics.
We were so thankful to arrive home safely on Saturday, May 30th. Our yard and landscaping were looking great thanks to my parents. Our trailer came six days later, and the massive unpacking and reorganizing project started.
I’m not sure how many more blog posts there will be since our “California Adventure” is over, but I’m sure glad to have this little blog to reflect on and remember a very memorable year in our lives.
Thanks for “Frolicking in Fresno” with me.
Frolicking in Fresno 