Friends and Family

We said goodbye once again to my mom in California, but then surprised some of our best friends that relocated from Hawaii. The kids enjoyed a few days with their best friends dancing, playing video games, swimming, playing dolls, watching movies, etc.


I was able to spend time with two of my best friends also- Melanie and Ginny


Ginny and I will be running the Disneyland half marathon Sept. 2. We're goofing around here, but we did get a workout in during our visit. Hope we feel this happy after 13.1 miles!


Our next stop was Bakersfield to see my aunt, uncle and cousins I hadn’t seen in ten years. Ten years is too long to go without seeing family or friends, but in our defense we lived in Italy for two years, Hawaii for four and have spent the past year on the road. We plan on seeing them again this summer when we head to Disney for the run.

The Land of Extremes

Death Valley is the land of extremes- it’s the hottest, driest and lowest. It has the highest recorded ground temperature of 201! In 1913 the air temperature was 134 and birds were flying and falling out of the sky dead! It’s the driest spot as it receives less than 2 inches of rain a year. And it’s the lowest spot in North America with Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level.


I loved the sand dunes. They just looked perfect. We enjoyed sliding down the dunes, but we should’ve brought water with us instead of leaving it in the van. It was hot out there and we were gone longer than we’d planned.


Jacob surfing down the sand dunes.


Next stop was the lowest place in North America- Badwater Basin at 282 feet below sea level. A sea used to be here and now all that’s left is salt. A few of us tasted it and it was really salty. Other people had dug holes into the salt and there were little pockets of water.

There's a little white sign half way up the mountain that shows sea level.

As we headed out of the park we drove through Artist’s Drive to see Artist Palette. The rocks are all different colors- it was quite interesting.

Big 'n Showy Nevada

Two hours from Zion are the bright lights of Las Vegas. We drove down the strip and looked at all the lights and people. I wondered how many people work in the city- cleaning rooms, serving food, entertaining. Just looking at one huge hotel baffles the mind thinking about how many people are employed there.



While in Vegas my mom, daughters and I went to the Dancing with the Stars Vegas show. It was a fun show filled with music, dancing and jokes. There were professional dancers from the tv show and some celebrities that have been on the show. My girls had so much fun that Becca turned to me when it was over and asked to go to the evening show.



While in Nevada we drove to Lake Mead so Faith could earn a Jr Ranger badge. She's earned over 60 now!



We also walked across the Mike O'Callaghan/Pat Tillman memorial bridge to see Hoover Dam. The bridge spans the Nevada and Arizona state lines and at its completion in 2010 was the longest concrete arch span in the western hemisphere.

Zion National Park

We had a short drive to Zion canyon from Bryce- only two hours. The drive was incredible as we had to drive through the national park to get to our campground.

Checkerboard Mesa

We had to disconnect our van from the RV because there was a tunnel we had to go through. The tunnel was short and we were surprised they’d made a fuss over it. Little did we know there was a mile long dark tunnel still ahead.

When we arrived at the mile long tunnel there was an RV that appeared to have been towed out of the tunnel. The rangers let vehicles go in the tunnel one direction at a time so it made it easier for Rick as they told him to just drive down the center of the tunnel since it wasn’t two way traffic. This tunnel was built in 1930 and took three years to complete.

One of the windows inside the big tunnel


We stopped at the visitor’s center to pick up Faith’s Jr Ranger book learn about the park and the scheduled activities. It was really hot- in the upper 90s- but at least it was a dry heat. Our plans were to return the following day, but I didn’t feel well so Mom took the kids on a nature walk to the river nearby and they ended up with ice cream. Grandparents ;)




The following day we went on a short hike, participated in a ranger talk and toured the park. Zion has some of the tallest sandstone in the world. It’s just gorgeous! Come see for yourself if you can. Utah is awesome!