Day Ten: Drive Through Colorado

From the beginning of planning this PCS, Tyler wanted to drive across Colorado. He has spent lots of time there and loves it! I was excited to see Colorado in the Spring, too.

Day Ten began with a lazy wake-up, breakfast in our room and then into the car we went.

Colorado was very pretty. It was interesting to see how the land changed as we moved east across the state. We stopped for a leisurely lunch at a cafe in Derango and then ended the day by checking-in at the Air Force Academy, which by the way is the nicest lodging we've ever stayed in. This is definitely something the Army can learn from the Air Force!! We spent three nights in Colorado Springs before moving on to Denver.

Day Nine: The Drive to Nowhere

Hello again! We are wrapping up our vacation/PCS move, and we are in our final hotel room for this trip. Let me catch you up on where we've been.

Last Tuesday we left our hotel and drove down the Vegas strip. My parents, grandparents and family friends went to Vegas annually for many years when I was little. I was so excited to see Vegas. It's a place that has changed over the years (from what my family has said), but I was excited to see a place they enjoy. Although I liked what I saw, it was not what I expected. I thought it would be more like a big city ... away from the airport, more than just one strip of hotels/casinos, but it wasn't. Las Vegas was literally a strip of hotels and casinos moments from the airport. I most certainly would return to Vegas, but it just wasn't what I'd made it out to be over the years.

After Vegas we drove south to the Hoover Dam. It was neat, but I'm glad we just drove through. We had to go through a security check-point to get in. I'm still baffled at how vulnerable America and it's assets are ... it makes me sad. Anywho ... the Hoover Dam was quite impressive. 

Then we drove. And drove. And drove.

The goal was to make it just outside of Four Corners, but after driving across Arizona without cell phone service we followed signs for hotels that said they were a few miles away. We drove closer, closer, and then they were non-existent. That's right ... the hotels weren't where the signs (multiple companies, multiple signs) said they would be. At this point it was 9:00 pm, we were all tired and it was dark with nothing in sight. So, we drove thirty minutes ahead to the next town ... Shiprock, New Mexico. Seriously one of the darkest, creepiest places I've ever been. And by the way, there are NO HOTELS HERE. So, we chose to get gas and drive to Cortez, Colorado to set us up to drive across Colorado the following day. The sky was incredibly beautiful as we traveled to Cortez, one of the bright spots of the day. We were thrilled to get out of the truck that night!!

Day Eight: Drive to Vegas

Our family had a lovely morning with the Larrabees before getting on the road to Las Vegas. There is nothing really super exciting about this day of driving. After nearly nine/ten hours in the car, we were super lame Vegas-visitors. We checked into our hotel, ordered Chinese, watched the second half of the NCAA championship then Smash and headed to bed. It was really relaxing and wonderful!

 A HUGE windmill farm in Eastern California.

 

I'm not in a car-seat!!

Day Seven: On to Monterrey

Sunday morning we awoke to sunny, but breezy skies in San Fransisco. We had breakfast with Mack and then headed down to Monterrey to see our friends Kate and Kevin Larrabee and their two boys. Kate and Kevin are affectionately known as our "first Army friends." Although our visit was a bit of a surprise to them, we were most thankful for their hospitality and excitement to see us and meet Caroline.

 Although it doesn't look like it here, Caroline does love Mack. He makes her smile, carries her around and Caroline just watches and laughs at/with him. We are so fortunate that Mack has gotten to be around her twice in her short life.

We drove down Highway-1 to Monterrey. The coast was beautiful and it was amazing to see how the coast has changed from Oregon on down to Monterrey. Although it is still vast and rough, the cliffs and shoreline changed throughout our journey.

Upon arrival in Monterrey we were greeted by warm smiles and hugs. Cullen, Kate and Kevin's oldest son, was quite nice to Caroline. He would put his arm around her, snuggle close and just play with her. After catching up briefly, Kate and Kevin took up wine tasting on Cannery Row in downtown Monterrey. We had a great time catching up further before heading home to put the babies to bed and enjoy a home-cooked meal.

I only got one picture of the Larrabee boys and Caroline, but head over to Kate's blog to see a few more!

Day Six: San Fransisco

San Fransisco was supposed to be super windy and rainy all day on Saturday. We were obviously a bit bummed, but ready to find something to do. The weathermen talked about winds of 50 mph and torrential downpours all day, but much to our happiness it only lightly rained until noon!!

We started to day by taking a trolley to the market in the old Ferry building on the water. Mack, Tyler and I had breakfast here and enjoyed looking at the local produce, cheeses, meats and wine. When we finished here, we stepped out to misty, but not rainy weather .. we were thrilled!! We decided to go to Alamo Square, a park, because the rain had let up. This is the park in the opening credits of Full House where you can see the seven Painted Sisters (painted houses standing together in the background). Unfortunately, because of the rain I did not take my camera this day. I was so bummed when the sun came out and I was camera-less. I used my iPhone for a few pictures that are still memories, but at far less quality.

 Tyler, Mack and sleeping Caroline 

After we toodled around the park, we walked down Steiner street to look at the pretty houses, view Mrs. Doubtfire's house, and head to the hotel. We all enjoyed the exercise on the way back to the hotel.

We picked up Bella and Bubba, Mack's dog, and headed to a little beach that sits just below the Golden Gate Bridge. Again, we enjoyed the sun and simply hanging out with a friend for the afternoon.

That night we went to Luna Park, a local restaurant in the Mission District. I had been there this summer, but it was the first time for Tyler and Mack. We all enjoyed a good dinner to round out a great day.

Day Five: San Fransisco

What a day!! We are so very fortunate to have the opportunity to see several friends and family along the way to Missouri! One of Tyler's best friends from home, Mack, met us in San Fransisco for the weekend. He suggested that we meet just north of San Fransisco at Hog Island Oysters in Marshall, California.  We drove down through wine country (Napa) then farm/dairy country then down the coast to Marshall. This quaint town of 50 people was a narrow strip of US-1 on the California coast, but Hog Island was hopping!! Everyone was coming to HIO to picnic and have fresh oysters. If you ever get the chance, you should try it; the BBQ'd oysters are the best!

 Organic Valley farms. We sometimes buy their butter ... it was neat to see their pastures.

After lunch, we headed to Sausalito, California directly across the bay from San Fransisco. This is a touristy, cute, cute town that I'd love to go back to one day. It was overcast, but we could still see the city across the bay.

 San Fransisco

 Alcatraz

 Golden Gate peaking through.

After viewing the city, it was time to get there! We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to get there. I was extremely excited about this; I'm unsure why this was cool to me, but I loved it. I was in the back seat with Caroline at this time so the pictures are not the best, but I loved the experience.

Upon arrival in the city we found the Full House house. It sits at 1709 Broderick, which is pretty close to the Golden Gate bridge. Mack was leading us around the city and he did a fantastic job of hitting some of our "must sees" on the way to the hotel. The family has changed the door from red to black and there is a green rope at the bottom of the steps, other than that it looks the same! (I know this was a cheesy request, but I thought it was neat to see it.)

We then drove down Lombard Street. Yes, a Ford F-150 down Lombard. Although I'd seen Lombard before, I hadn't driven it. That experience was quite neat, too.

After Lombard we headed to the hotel to wash up for dinner. We met Mack at his boat and walked to dinner on the water. After dinner we went to Ghirardelli for ice-cream. Caroline was close to the end of her rope, but she did fantastically all day!!

 The person taking the picture cut out the stroller/Caroline for some reason. Caroline was really finished at this point, so we opted to head home instead of seek another cameraman.

We were pretty pooped after such a fun day! We walked home and headed to bed in order to gear up for the next fun-filled day.