I am in a writing rut. I need to post about this trip. It was a very fun trip. Okay, here we go. Lets see if I can do this without droning on and on and on...
I have to first of all start off with this little tid-bit. Dad had just gotten off shift Tuesday morning and was home nary a few moments and I thought he was going to pee his pants in anticipation! He had told us he had not been able to sleep that night due to the copious feelings of excitement overpowering him. I would definitely have to say the he was truly giddy about the trip. And I don't use that word lightly. He was giddy. It made me chuckle!
We got all the stuff hauled into the motor home and the kids helped grandpa fill the water tanks and Enok was in charge of pushing all the buttons and flipping all the switches in the drivers seat. He was fantastic at his job. We got everything squared away and headed off down the road. Well, we had to make a quick detour to fuel up and grab a few odds and ends we had forgotten to buy. Then we were on our way!
Our first stop was in a small town called Zuni. We were going to go to these ruins, but the tour wasn't for another couple of hours and we didn't want to wait around for it. Dad loved the town as it reminded him of Mexico. It was old, in the desert and dusty. It might have reminded me of Mexico if there were Mexicans there, but there weren't. So we continued on our way to
El Morro (click on the link to read up on it in case you want to), which is a big rock in New Mexico. I had hiked there before a couple of times and was very excited to have my kids be able to hike it too.
When we got there Enok was asleep so we told dad he could stay behind and rest a bit since he hadn't had much sleep the previous night (due of course to being giddy) and that he could catch us up since Jarek and Malik aren't that fast of walkers. Mom, the boys and I decided to check out the shorter hike which would show us the pool and the carvings on the sandstone. We weren't able to hike the big loop since there was still snow on the back side of the rock. It didn't seem like we were out there that long, but by the time we got back to the visitors center and I ran out to check on the boys back in the motor home, they were already on their way out. I had to laugh my head off when I saw dad. He had tried to get Enok into the baby backpack and put him in it the wrong way. I had to take a picture of it.
We then hiked up the other side of the rock and up onto the top to see the ruins. I had forgotten that there was a box canyon in the middle of the rock. The wind was blowing a little and the air was somewhat chilly, but not freezing cold. I felt so peaceful when we made it to the top. You couldn't hear a lot of noise from cars or airplanes or anything much at all. Just the slight breeze and our own chatting. The hike was very nice even though the boys complained how tired they were. I made them keep going. The did pretty good though.
After El Morro we went to these ice caves. Well, there was a volcano and an ice cave. I can't remember the name, but if you look at the pictures we are standing in front of the sign. I thought this was so amazing. There was this cave and inside on the bottom and sides of the cave there was this very thick ice. The brochure said that the ice was like 20 feet thick. This ice stays there all summer and all winter. Because of the way the cave is shaped, it stays super chilly there. The temperature is never above 31 degrees. Dad said there was a much bigger difference in the temperature change when he had gone there in the summer. It wasn't quite as dramatic when we went becuase the air above the cave wasn't that warm. But I still loved it! We didn't go to the volcano part though. One other interesting thing about this stop was the lava flows. There were many lava rocks and you could see where lava tubes had collapsed. I thought of Risa cuz she likes rocks so much!
We then headed on to Grants. We had to stop at the store to get a few things then found our way over to the KOA. The boys enjoyed that and I actually took a shower at the KOA. That made me laugh. NM is an hour different than AZ so we ended up going to bed around 9:30 AZ time. The kids slept pretty well, except they got a little cold in the morning. They slept on the bunk in the motor home above the drivers seat. Enok got to sleep in the playpen. I actually stayed very warm all night long even though it was very cold outside. Must have been all the body heat in the small motor home. At any rate, we all slept fairly well and the next morning went to have a nice continental breakfast at the KOA lobby.
We headed out and started making our way towards Gallup. We had thought about stopping at two places on the way, but passed the exits so kept on going. We made it into Gallup and headed over to the El Rancho Hotel and Restaurant. It is supposedly haunted and the kids were so excited to eat there. I loved the old hotel lobby. Upstairs there were pictures on the walls of all the famous people that had been there. The kids really wanted to see a ghost, but no such luck. Enok probably scared them off with all the howling and moaning he was doing. Jarek kept trying to play tricks on grandma telling her that his silverware kept moving. It was very cute.
After that we headed up north some more and stopped at Window Rock. I had never actually been to there to see the rock that gave the town its name. It was pretty cool though. The kids had fun running around and getting some exercise. Mom was wishing Quentin was around. I'll let you all think about that one and draw your own conclusions. I would have loved if he and Yesenia could have been there too. They would have been fun to have around.
Our next stop was Canyon de Chelly. I had never been here either. I love all the canyons in Arizona and am so amazed at just how different, yet beautiful they all are. These canyons were kind of box-like and just amazing. We didn't hike down in them, but I wish we could have. I love being out doors. At one point Enok was getting a little frustrated and worried cuz he couldn't walk very well on the uneven surface of the rocks. And then another time he became entranced with his shadow and was following it around, lifting his legs up to see what his shadow would do and just enjoying this new find. I tried to get it on video but was too late.
Lastly, we headed to Holbrook. I never in a million billion years would have imagined that I would actually be staying the night in a hotel in Holbrook. We stayed at the Wigwam hotel right on route 66. The kids, well mostly Jarek, was so thrilled that we were actually on route 66. This hotel reminded me a lot of the movie cars. The guy that owns the place had a bunch of older cars parked all over the property, even an old tow truck. But the kids made it very clear to me that it wasn't 'mater since it was a red tow truck, not a brown one. In the morning mom and dad got a little surprise as the cleaning guy opened their door around 7:00 am. We didn't have any strange door guests though. Mom asked if Jarek had taken a shower in the wigwam, but Jarek was very matter of fact and said he didn't want to because real tee pees didn't have showers. He failed to notice that real tee pees don't have televisions, heaters and electric lights either... Oh well. I had to share a full size bed with the two older boys which was an interesting thing. Malik was in the middle and kept getting hot, so would kick the covers off. I would get cold and put them back on and it was like that all night long. But, what a great memory! hehe
Oh yeah, forgot to mention the stellar dinner we had that night. (that being said in voice dripping with sarcasm) This restaurant we ate at was probably on of the worst I have ever been to. The service was horrible and the food was pretty bad too. The first thing I ordered (after we had been sitting there for about 15 minutes) they didn't have. And after they told me that, it took them another ten minutes to come back and get my other order. The salad bar was the very worst one I have ever seen. It was even worse than the Chuck E Cheese one. I ended up getting ribs thinking that you couldn't go to wrong with ribs. Boy was I wrong. They were burnt to a crisp and the sauce was absolutely terrible. And Jarek's hamburger was very burnt and not appetizing in the least. And it was late so Enok was a total bear. All in all it was not a great experience. But it was at least an experience.
In the morning we decided to just head back home since we were only an hour away. At home we made our biscuits and gravy and dad took the boys to walmart to get their film developed. Oh yeah, mom and dad bought them disposable cameras for the trip. They took crazy pictures but had a lot of fun with the cameras.
This was a great trip. The pace was wonderful, the stops were so much fun, riding and sleeping and peeing in the motor home was fun and adventurous. We can't wait to hit the road again with mom and dad. Hopefully more of you will be able to join us.!!!!!!
We were so lucky as to have Quentin and Yesenia come down for conference. I love having them here. They are such easy house guests!
I nodded my consent and next thing Quentin had been
pushed unceremoniously into the pool. I was laughing my head off. He went in with not much grace but emerged with a smile on his face. Yesenia felt guilty for pushing him in and jumped in herself up to her waist, clothes and all. What a nice wifey! It all happened so fast that I didn't get a picture of it. Oh well, the memory will be burned into my mind forever!
I swear, it is uncanny how often he wins. If only he can be lucky enough for an assignment in London that would afford him all the things he wants for his career. :)
Anyhow, thanks so much to Q and Y for coming down and spending the weekend with us. Oh, one other funny thing. When Malik was saying a prayer on the dinner one night he said "Thank you for letting Yesenia and (then a pause and much thinking) the other guy for coming here." I was bad and couldn't help laughing. It made him sad that he forgot Quentin's name during the prayer and sad that I had laughed. But it was super funny to me. Good ole Malik! He always makes me laugh.
