Day 25 - Lexington, KY to Clarksburg, MD

Day 25 - 504 miles, Lexington, KY to Clarksburg, MD

We made it!  I tried to convince the kids to spend some time at the Lexington Horse Park but they just wanted to see the horses and go!  Everyone slept as we drove through West Virginia (I wanted to stop and get a picture with the Mothman statue but they were all sleeping so soundly). 

When the kids woke up the went through their "Best Of" lists. 

Best Statue:  Winged Angels at the Hoover Dam (their toes are shiny from everyone touching them)

Best Pool:  MGM Grand Lazy River (playing with Miss Crystal all day)

Best Part of San Francisco:  Visiting Ron, Judy, Mark, Oralee, Oliver, Maya, Rainier, and Marky (the kids consider this the best part of the whole trip).  The Golden Gate bridge is in second place.

Coolest Stop:  Grand Canyon Skywalk

Best Landscape:  New Mexico Mesalands or the Painted Desert of Arizona

Coolest Soil:  Death Valley where they discovered magnetic dirt

Best Tour:  Meteor Crater rim tour

Coolest Restaurant:  Nick's at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica, Ca

Best Food:  Silver Moon Cafe on Route 66 in Santa Rosa, NM

Temperatures:  From 52 degrees in SF to 122 degrees in Death Valley

Best Decoration:  10 foot stuffed Grizzly in the lobby of our hotel in Wyoming

Best New Food Discovery:  Tristan loved Trish's Mini-Donuts sold hot by the bag on Fisherman's Wharf

Within 90 seconds of pulling in the driveway Jack was at his best friend's house and Tristan was riding his electric ATV vehicle.  Griffin was excited to ride his new bike (birthday present) and to see my mom and Marty who stopped over for dinner.

Day 24 - Blue Springs, MO to Lexington, KY

Day 24 - 564 miles, Blue Springs, MO to Lexington, KY

We left at about 6:00AM this morning and made it to St. Louis by lunch time to see the Gateway Arch.  We had a hard time getting a picture with the kids and the whole arch.  It is impossible to get a picture up close.  It is just too big.  The heat and humidity were crazy.

 After our Arch stop we pretty much drove straight through to Lexington, KY and passed Louisville Slugger Field.  When I it out to the kids Griffin said "I think that is pronounced 'Lewis-ville' mom". 

 After this long drive we all hit the hot tub and got take out and watched a movie.  The kids are so excited to get home tomorrow they didn't get to sleep until after midnight.  One more long drive.

Day 23 - Westminster, CO to Blue Springs, MO

Day 23 - 647 miles, Westminster, CO to Blue Springs, MO

I can't believe the kids are holding up on these long drives.  They are motivated to get home and see the animals.  I think I might wear out before they do.

Today we drove half of Colorado and the length of Kansas.  We passed the Eisenhower Presidential Library (Jack likes Ike), the Oz Winery, Fort Hays, Oakley, KS (where William Cody won the title of Buffalo Bill--Annie Oakley must have something to do with this town but we didn't see anything), the Monument Rocks (I know...we have seen tons of rocks) the historical marker for Brown Vs. The Board of Education, and lots of prairies straight out of my Little House books.

We made it to Blue Springs, MO which is right next to Independence, MO, home of the Harry S Truman Library.  I hear the "S" stands for his Grandfather Shipp, but that is only what I hear and I am too tired to Wiki.

Tomorrow on towards Lexington, KY.

Day 22 - Evanston, WY to Westminster, CO

Day 22 - 447 miles, Evanston, WY to Westminster, CO

Out hotel in Wyoming had a Grizzly Bear in the lobby. You don't see that every day.

We are pushing towards home but there were a lot of cool little stops to make along the way.  We were driving a lot of the way through what the signs called "Wyoming's Outback" and it looked like the outback.  The Flaming Gorge in Green River was cool, especially the Castle Rock. We were stuck in dead stop traffic in Laramie, Wyoming for over an hour.  Uuggghhh!

We passed the Continental Divide and then saw the Chimney Rock near Cheyenne.  On a side note: I kept seeing signs to Ogallala which, to my fellow Lonesome Dove readers, was the place that July (Juuu-lie) Johnson's crazy wife kept trying to go.  If  signs to Ogallala were a high point for me then that may well describe the day. 

We applauded when we hit Colorado.  Fort Collins and Denver were beautiful and we finally made it our hotel after a quick trip to the local Albertson's.  Jack was hilarious because they have these rounded conveyors to put your groceries on and every time it moved he jumped, truly startled.  It was a long day!

Day 21 - Reno, NV to Evanston, WY

Day 21 - 602 miles, Reno, NV to Evanston, WY

It was a big car day today.  I am so tired so I will keep it short. 

We hit a rattlesnake...if we were going to meet a rattlesnake I am glad it was in an SUV.

Northwestern Nevada is very windy!  We saw two tractor trailer blown over and tons of dust devils.  Big ones.

The kids were not that impressed by the Great Salt Lake but were very impressed by the Bonneville Salt Flats where the Land Speed Record was set on the Measured Mile and the sound barrier broken.  You can actually see the curvature of the earth.  They also took 1000 pictures of a rainbow of Salt Lake City.

We had dinner in Park City, Utah and that is one nice place. Charming and cool at the same time. We could see the huge ski jump from the restaurant which was awesome.

Day 20 - Rockaway Beach, CA to Reno, NV

Day 20 - 232 miles, Rockaway Beach, CA to Reno, NV

Nick's for breakfast one last time.  We will miss that place.  Since it was Griffin's birthday they brought him an outstanding blueberry muffin with a candle and we sang happy birthday. 

We dropped Jim at the airport in SF and then headed towards Reno.  I had a few stops planned but Tristan didn't feel good.  We made a quick swing by Donner Pass (if you are wondering if I told the kids about the Donner Party, I didn't...Jack did...he  read a book about it in the school library and knew way more than me) and then we charged by Tahoe to the Silver Legacy hotel in Reno. 

Legend has it that Sam Fairchild discovered a deep vein of blue ore where the Silver Legacy stands today.   The hotel has a huge dome that houses Fairchild's 120 foot high automated mining machine produces lightning, thunder and smoke hourly.  Ooooh.  Ahhhh.


We spent the majority of Griff's birthday night at the adjoining Circus Circus Hotel which has an arcade with boardwalk games and circus acts.  A big car show called Hot August Nights was also going on so we saw a lot of cool cars. 

I can't believe Griffin is eight!

Day 19 - Pacifica, San Jose

Day 19 - San Jose

We had breakfast at Nick's on Rockaway Beach again.  I think are in love with this place.  It opened in 1927 and is just a very cool "joint" filled with very cool people.

After breakfast we headed to San Jose to visit Jim's Aunt Judy and Uncle Ron.  What an estate they have above the city in the hills.  We followed paths Uncle Ron put in which lead to the tire swing over the creek, the kids played tennis on their tennis court and swam in their beautiful pool. 

Mark and Oralee and the kids came to stay in the guest house for the night, which was so great.  All the kids played capture the flag and picked cherries and just ran around the grounds having a great time. 

Uncle Ron and Aunt Judy's house has cherry, almond, pecan, olive trees and more.  They grow grapes, carrots, peppers, citrus, avocados...it was incredible.  Aunt Judy made a terrific dinner for the gang and the views became even more amazing by night.  The kids were sad to leave.  Really, really sad :(

Tomorrow (8/5) is Griffin's 8th birthday.  I can't believe he is 8 already.  We can't do our usual cinnamon roll shaped like an eight with a candle to wake him up, but I did stop to get a hostess cinnamon roll for the morning.  It is the best I can do on the road.  Then we drop Jim at the airport and begin the trek home.