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!

Bryce Canyon

Once again on our trip we lucked out with our plans to be in the right place at the right time. We’d planned on being in Utah around the end of May to see the canyons, but after talking with a Ranger in Kansas at Brown v Board we found out there was going to be a solar eclipse and Bryce Canyon was having a stargazing event to celebrate it.

When we arrived at Bryce Canyon Becca had been sick the day before and today was Jacob’s turn. When their tummies seemed calm, Mom and I went to the park to get our bearings and see the sunset. We returned and decided to take Faith to the evening program they were having. There were about 25 telescopes you could look through to view different celestial bodies. We saw Saturn incredibly clear, close and with its rings. It was so clear that it looked like someone had taped a picture of it at the end of the telescope. We also saw a double star- one bright blue and one bright yellow; nebula rings which are the left over from a star that has blown up; and the Hercules galaxy was dazzling with so many stars gathered together. The sky itself was fabulous with so many stars shining, but to be able to zoom in to see these heavenly bodies was even more incredible.

We drove through the park the following day and saw the Natural Bridge

and other wonderful formations. But the star of the show was the solar eclipse. The park gave out special glasses to watch the eclipse. The sun seemed extra bright that day. It was amazing to watch the moon block the sun and leave a ring of fire. I was afraid to try to take a picture of the eclipse because I didn’t want to ruin my camera, but this is what we looked like during the eclipse. We had perfect seats at our campground.

We returned with the whole family for the evening telescope program and then Mom and I got up at 5:30 to watch the sun rise over Bryce point.

We learned in a Ranger program that Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon- to be a canyon you have to have a river running through it and Bryce is dry. It's a beautiful place even though it's misnamed.

Rocky Mountain Fun

Our first stop in Denver was at the airport to pick up my mom. This was her third visit with us during our RV trip. We grabbed some lunch and then toured Hammond’s Candy store.

We watched as the workers created the candy canes. They start with a huge 60-70 lb piece after mixing and adding flavoring and coloring. A machine rolls the candy out, one worker cuts the candy to the right size and another pinches the end and adds the curved end to the other side. They also make marshmallows and I didn’t realize it took three days to make them. They also make ribbon candy on a machine that was created in the 1800s. Ribbon candy is only made in Denver and in Massachusetts.

This is what candy canes look like before they are stretched out, cut and shaped.


We headed to the courthouse to prove that we were in Denver- a mile above sea level is etched into the step.

Nearby was Margaret Tobin Brown’s home. She’s also known as The Unsinkable Molly Brown thanks to the musical. She was actually never called Molly while she lived, it just happened to rhyme with Jolly in the musical so they gave her that name. We couldn’t take photos inside, but it was ornately furnished. Margaret’s husband found the largest gold nugget that’s ever been found in Colorado. He also struck it rich with other minerals in the area. She paid $4500 for her first class cabin on the Titanic- that’s $70,000 in today’s dollars! She spoke six different languages and that came in handy once the survivors had been rescued by the Carpathia. In the days that it took to reach New York she organized a survivors fund and knew the needs of those aboard.

We met my cousin Cristy for dinner. We had wonderful food and great conversation.

The next day we headed to Boulder and snapped a picture of Mork & Mindy’s house. They didn’t film the tv show here, but this was the house they showed.

Next stop- Celestial Seasonings. We had a yummy lunch and then toured the factory- complete with hairnets!

One of the rooms we went into was the mint room. It was so strong in there that our eyes began to water. They have to close this room off from the others or every tea would take on the mint scent. There are three mint scents- peppermint, spearmint and a third we know better as cat nip! After our tour we sampled various teas. This is the only production plant in the world and they make ten million tea bags a year here!

Our final destination in Colorado was Rocky Mountain National Park. We saw lots of bighorn sheep and elk. It was beautiful up there. Faith earned another Jr Ranger badge and we headed back to the city.

We're in Kansas Auntie Em

Brown v Board of Education was the historic site we visited in Topeka. The site was Monroe Elementary, which was built in 1926 as a segregated school.

The Brown case involved nearly 200 plaintiffs suing the Topeka school board. The NAACP brought five similar cases from across the country to compile Brown v Board of Education to end segregation in schools. In 1954, the Supreme Court determined that “’separate but equal’ has no place.” This upheld the 14th amendment, but there were still challenges for the next decade, like the Little Rock 9 at Central High School that we learned about in Arkansas last December.

Since we were in Kansas it made sense that we’d tour an Oz museum. The author of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, wrote many children’s stories. He felt he was going to write a classic and he was right about that! We read about the various actors including the munchkins, the good and bad witch, and the main characters. It was the perfect sized museum to entertain our kids and give us a break from our drive across the state.