Road Trip!

After a great and relaxing weekend in Denver, it was time to get down to business and drive cross-country.  I'm not going to lie--that Monday of driving was one of the longest days of my life.  We were only going to Durango, CO, in the southwest corner of the state.  I think the mileage total was 350 miles or so.  No big deal, right?  Well, add in a detour for wildfires, and twisting mountain roads with speed limits of 15 mph, plus all the normal stops with three small children, and that day of driving took us 10 hours.  To make matters worse, the antibiotics for my mastitis had not fully kicked in and I think Hannah's ears were bothering her because of the altitude changes, so she screamed for probably 7 of those 10 hours.  Needless to say, it was a loooooooong day.

But there was a light at the end of the tunnel: my mom and sister met us in Durango in Zach's car to drive the rest of the way with us.  Hallelujah!  Two more pairs of adult hands were just what we needed.  After a good night's sleep, we were ready to hit the road again on Tuesday.

We had a long, hot drive through the Arizona desert, but we saw some cool sights along the way.  We got out and stretched at Four Corners, which was pretty cool.  I sat right on the spot where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado meet.  (Insert obligatory "your butt is so big, it fits in four states" joke here.)  We stopped again at the Grand Canyon and oohed and aahed at its beauty.  Well, the adults did, anyway.  Dan and Ben were more interested in the little lizards running around.

Williams, AZ, was our stop for the night.  It's about an hour south of the South Rim and it's a really cute little town on Route 66.  Hannah didn't get the memo about the time change, so she woke up on Wednesday at about 5 am.  The sun came up at about 5:20, so my mom and Lauren and I strapped on our walking shoes and walked around the town with the baby.  After Zach and the boys woke up, we ate breakfast and hit the road for the last leg of our trip.

Finally, after driving through places where I can't even fathom living (Needles and Barstow, CA), we arrived in sunny San Diego on Wednesday afternoon!  Yay!  We stayed on Miramar (Zach's new base) for two nights before moving into our new house on Friday the 28th.  We survived and are glad we don't have to do that kind of trip again.  At least for a few years....