Arizona- the end

Nora’s video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ocdESx86lkAHJNjE6TMxj0ohCT6cQctC/view?usp=sharing

Everyone slept in until 10 today.  We were supposed to be on the plane at 6 am and home at 3pm.  Everyone is feeling it.  Our vacation is at its end.  

We found Ike’s Love and Sandwiches, recommended by Jennifer Murphy. It was on Nora’s to do list.  A walk through old town will complete my trip. Kids hit up Castles and Coasters. It was a small park near the hotel. Not impressive at all and a bit expensive.  Went on a half dozen rides then voted it out. At least they can say they went on a roller coaster in Arizona.  

1/21/19

Up early. Pack the car and get going back to Boston.  Everyone is ready.  Kate misses the dog. Nora needs to get back to school and I need to get back to work.  Unfortunately our flight was cancelled. This flight does not get in until 1210 am and we had to go through providence.  We will have to rent another car or risk a 200 dollar UBER from Providence home.   But alas. We got an extra day in Phoenix, relaxed a little.  Kids swam and we missed the coldest day of the year in Boston. 

2300 miles. 50+ hours of the car and three states for me and John.  Five states for Nora, Patrick and Kate. 

Next... maybe kentucky/West Virginia in the spring.   John and I have six states left. KY, WV, OK, LA, TX and Alaska.  Twins and Nora have Hawaii too.   

Keep praying for that kidney for my dad so we can get to Alaska together! 

Arizona -Phoenix

1/19/19 -Phoenix 

Turns out there is a big storm in Boston which will prevent us from flying home on Sunday.  We have to arrive Tuesday at 1210 am.  In Providence since Boston was booked solid.  This is not surprising knowing our travel history.   So making lemonade!  Staying next two nights in Phoenix.  Nora and John are going to a music festival put on by Nora’s favorite bands.  She will get to go to some meet and greets Sunday since we are staying.  Kate and Patrick want to shop, hit the zoo and the pool so we will see what the day brings.  It’s a two hour drive from Sedona to Phoenix.   

Phoenix Zoo.  Kids gave it a 6/10 on the zoo scale.  It was about 75 degrees and they were hot.  Overall they do a good job keeping lots of shade around.  Loaded with bees which kate wasn’t thrilled about.   My favorite was the burrowing owls and the prairie dogs.  I could watch them all day.   The two germaphobes wouldn’t feed the giraffes which would have been a highlight.   

They were both hungry and Patrick found an Olive Garden.  We drove through Scottsdale first. I would like to go there tomorrow with everyone. But we will see.  Nora has a meet and greet with her favorite bands and John wants to golf.  So who knows where we will end up.  

Back to the room for me and the twins.  Nice double tree in northern Phoenix.  Of course there is a roller coaster next door.  I imagine the kid will end up on it somehow.  

Have a room with a patio to the pool.  Patrick wants to swim but kate doesn’t. I don’t want to have to. Somehow kids never want to do anything by themselves.   Didn’t I have twins so they would entertain each other?   

Actually, after I wrote that we looked out at the pool and it happened that several teenage baseball teams were here. Boys everywhere.   Kate says “can we go buy a new bathing suit.”  Two hours later they are still in the pool.  

Nora and John has a great time at the concert.   Nora’s Facebook post said: 

“Last night was one of the best nights of my life. All of my favorite bands in one place surrounded by amazing friendly people. My cape is signed by other fans from all around the world and I couldn’t be happier about it! An amazing way to end an awesome trip thanks to my parents ❤️❤️❤️”

Arizona -part 3 Sedona

1/18/2019 -Sedona

Sedona is definitely an amazing place.  Feels so different than the dated parts of Route 66.  Amazing skies and views.  The architecture is beautiful.  Everything seems so clean and new.   There are rules about what colors you can use on your house and you are only allowed one 60 watt bulb on the outside of the house.   This really gives the town a nice feel. There are loads of vortexes here. You can feel the good energy. Definitely feels like a healthy place to be. 

Patrick bought himself a real cowboy hat.  He never spends money but found one that looked and felt great.  So he bit the bullet.  I think it was a good choice.  

Started this morning with a pink jeep tour.  Bonnie our driver took us to diamond gulch.  Beyond off roading we went down cliffs.  It was a dose of home school.  In addition to learning about the geography of the area we also learned about the animal habitats and behaviors of the packrat (they like shiny things) the red tail hawk and how they charm the rattle snake, the tarantula hawk who is actually more of a wasp, and the badger.     Nora said “it was educational but bumpy-like my education”. 

Kate said “it was aggressive”

Patrick described it as “it vibrated the bones and it reignited the outdoors”

John called it thrilling with beautiful views of the red rock.  

Passed a billboard that said 

“Adulting is soup and I am a fork”. This brought some discussion.  Kate and Patrick seem to be stuck on a version of a song that says “he was a moth she was a lamp, can it be any more obvious”

A drive to Jerome, a haunted mining town. Dinner at the asylum was expensive and food was ok but the kids were entertained by the haunted feeling. We colored on. The paper on the table.  There is a book full of stories from guests about their haunted experiences.  We drove up to what seemed like a haunted junkyard.  Full of old trucks and folklore.   Whole town had an eerie feel. Scariest part to me was the dirt roads on the edge of the mountain! 

Arizona -part 2

Woke up this morning in a caboose.  No signs of ghosts. Everyone seemed to sleep well.  John headed to the library for work and I took the kids to Bearizona.  It’s a drive through animal park.   I drove through once.  Had deer licking my front bumper.  We went on a bus ride through and then saw the otters.  Nora and Kate got to feed them small fish.  Enjoyed watching the jaguar try to bite patrick through the glass.  Had amazing loaded potatoes.   Then let nora drive through.  This time a black bear decided to park himself in front of the bumper.  The rule is you have to keep driving but nora did not know what to do.  Apparently they have a history of pulling stuff off cars and climbing on them.  So she started to back away.  After about ten minutes we made it out.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go again but think Nora had enough.   

We picked John up and headed to Sedona.  Beautiful ride with lots to see. Road with hair pin turns.  Very little traffic.   We arrived in Sedona to see a sweet little town.  Much different than the run down history of Route 66.  Everything looks pristine.  We are staying in a Pueblo style condo with Diamond Resorts.  They want me to sit through a time share spiel and will give us five tickets for the red jeeps for 116 dollars. (Regularly 100 each).   Cheryl is insisting we do this so we have it planned for tomorrow.  

The room is great. Two condos side by side. One bedroom plus studios with two pull out couches. Two bathrooms and laundry in the condo which is what sold me on it.  The resort has six pools.   The twins opted to hit the pool right away. In the first real rain we have had all trip. It’s 57 degrees out. Which is warmer than we have had it in days.  Tomorrow should be in the 60s.  The pool is  heated to 84 degrees.  No complaints from them

New Mexico

1/15

New Mexico

Started our morning with breakfast at the hotel followed by archery from a Groupon. We went to Hit or Miss Archery Center and the kids spent an hour aiming at both targets and target animals. The people were lovely and made it easy.   

We then went to Old Town in Albuquerque.  The kids got their traditional hooded blanket shirts and some jewelry to share with their friends.  Enjoyed seeing all the breaking bad memorabilia. 

Old town is an adorable section of shops. 

Crossing the continental divide in New Mexico. 

Route 66

We have hit Route 66 in several places.  Old Town a Albuquerque and Santamonica Pier were nice additions to the trip.  But here goes the heart of Route 66.

Route 66.  Isn’t really a route any more.  But I’ll take gas for less than $2 per gallon.  We tried to follow 66 but hit a dead end.  It hops on and off route 49 periodically. Stayed mainly on route 40. 

A stop in Gallop New Mexico brought Earls Family Restaurant.  The town definitely had a step back in time feel.   Service was good.  Food was fine but having a peddler come to the table every four minutes was a bit excessive.   Necklaces, scarves, pillows and earrings.   Didn’t buy anything.  Just wanted to eat and get back on the road.  

Three hour drive to Holbrook and we check into the Wigwam motel.  Two Wigwam’s for us.  It’s small but a unique experience.   Not sure the kids feel as excited as I am for a Route 66 experience. 

Just like it shows on the internet.  Concrete Wigwam’s (number 12 and 14).  John and I split up.  Train behind us with lots of horns adds to the ambiance.  The bathroom was decent.  And it’s right on Route 66.  

1/16/19

Waking up in the wigwam we made a plan for the day and got an earlier start than we expected.   Jumped back on Route 66.  Spent time standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, found the Jackrabbit on Route 66.   Stopped at meteor crater.  Impressive nearly one mile crater that is well preserved.   Went to the top. It was so windy we could see how they had shirts that said “i survived the winds of meteor crater”.  Patrick stopped in the shop and bought some space ice cream.  

Kids decided on chick fil A for lunch and straight to the Grand Canyon.   Bigger and more impressive than I expected.   Glad we got to see it last.  The other stops would have been tiny in comparison.  

We may be the only ones benefitting from the shut down. Everything has been free of charge (except Meteor-that was 54 for four of us)

Got right into the Grand Canyon.  It was snowy and many paths were covered in packed snow.  It didn’t stop us from getting a good view.  

Lots of people braver than I am getting closer to the cliffs.  The pic of us sitting was as adventurous as I would get.   

John and the kids threw snowballs into the canyon and watched them fall.  One mile deep we couldn’t see it hit ground.   

Now we are off to another unusual hotel.  It’s in the Canyon Motel and RV Park.  Our room is a Caboose and only Nora knows.  It will be a bit of a surprise.  I found out they have two cabooses and one was on Ghost Hunters and is confirmed to be haunted.  Not sure if we are in the haunted one.  We will know by morning :)