Home!!!!!

We are home!!! So good to be here. We had a nice trip but 3 weeks may be just a bit long.

We spent last night in Kansas City and had dinner with our friend Jose'. Got up this morning and drove 9 1/2 hours home. I am tired!!!!

We drove 6178 miles and hit 10 states. I took over 2,000 pictures.

Going tomorrow to pick up my puppy, thanks to Beth and her kids for keeping him for us.

Rocky Mountain High....Colorado

We stopped by Arches National park this morning. We went there on our first big trip 2 1/2 years ago and we really loved it. We didn't have a lot of time today just the morning but we walked back up to Window Arch this time because we really enjoyed climbing around in it last time. Still Beautiful!!!!!!

We had lunch a picnic lunch in the park at the Garden of Eden. Its so nice to sit and enjoy nature while you eat.

We left the park after lunch and headed to Colorado. I drove so David took pictures with my camera. He got some good ones :)

The rest are Davids pictures.

Vail Colorado

Today was a driving day.....

Today was mostly a driving day. We did stop to quickly drive through a Ghost Town called Rhyolite. It was just outside of Death Valley on the way to Moab where we are spending the night. David has been doing most of the driving and I spent most of the day snaping pictures as he drove. If we have to be driving at least its a beautiful drive :)

Death Valley day 2

Death Valley is so cool!!! Today we saw Salt Creek and the tiny pup fish that live there. This creek is more salty than the ocean! The fish are tiny but fast and fun to watch. They were given their name because they play like puppies. We also got to see Road Runners at the creek. All the boys were so excited, especially when they flew a little.

We took a ride around Artist Drive. It had some interesting colors. And I got to take a few pictures of the desert flowers.

We also drove to the Furnace Creek Inn to check it out. We had watched documentaries about the parks and inns before our trip and I wanted to see it. We didn't get a good look, it did seem smaller than I thought it would be. The pool there is interesting, it doesn't use any kind of chemicals, it is continuously fed by an underground spring and the water is replaced 5 times a day.

After lunch at the 49er Diner we got back in the car for a drive up to Ubebehebe Crater. This crater was formed when lava heated up water from an underground spring and the pressure caused it to blow. It was pretty cool but very windy.

We got back to our hotel to find that the construction going on had broken a water line and we didn't have water in our room. We took the boys swimming while they worked on it and they gave us coupons for some free drinks and desserts at the restaurant. It was fixed by the time we were done with dinner.


Salt Creek

Pup fish

Artist's Drive

Only Jacob and I got out to walk up the hill for this view. A man up there took our picture.

Desert Flowers

The Furnace Creek Inn.

Ubehebebe Crater.

Stopped by the sand dunes from the other road....better pictures :)

At the pool area waiting for the water to be fixed.

Death Valley day 1 3-13-11

We left Lone Pine this morning and got to Death Valley around noon. We got lunch at the Badwater Saloon then headed down to Badwater, the lowest place on Earth!! We stopped at a Ranger station on the way to get Junior Ranger books. We got to Badwater just as a Ranger talk was starting :) Ranger Bob was full of interesting information and was really impressed by the boys and all the badges they have. He spent a long time with them after the talk answering questions and asking them questions. He even let them all put on his hat. And wonder of wonders Anthony said he wasn't too old to put it on!!! Jacob told him that he wanted to be a Ranger and Ranger Bob told him that he could start when he was in college. Jacob was thrilled to hear that. Badwater is 284 feet below sea level. Ranger Bob said the sign was 2 feet off. We walked out a little way onto the salt beds. It is really dry there and even though it didn't get very much above 75 it felt hotter.

One the way back to the hotel for the evening we stopped to play on the sand dunes. We were hoping to see more wildlife but all we saw was one little bug. He was tromping along making lots of little tracks which was cool to see. After dinner I took the boys to the outside pool. While there a man came over to me and told me that jacob was yelling and being disruptive. It was a pool and only 8 o:clock!!!! Right after the man left 6 other kids came to swim. Sure was glad he left before all that fun really happened!!

Father Crowley's Canyon

Badwater.

Boys with Ranger Bob.

Salt flats.