I flew out Saturday afternoon to NC and from there to CA, arriving that evening around 8. We went to eat and drove around-though other than the Coronado Bridge, I could not say what I was looking at.
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| My first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean! I had no tripod and was pretty sure I was going to fall off the cliff! |
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| The water was FREEZING, I was surprised and ran out squealing. |
We arrived at GC around 7:30 and walked around a while, then had breakfast, then did a short hike, drove the rim a little way and went to a few overlooks and such. The rain was moving in, so we opted to leave around 2:30 and get going on the drive.
We made it to Holbrook, AZ and stayed overnight at a motel. The next morning we ate breakfast there and hit the road for Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert. We spent most of the day on the 22 mile drive and ended up staying at Albuquerque that night-not much further down the road!
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| I liked the Painted Dessert much more than the Grand Canyon! |
On Tuesday, we stopped at Roswell, NM for lunch-which did not happen. I was so bummed, I was envisioning cafes and such with aliens all over the place. Main street had both, but not TOGETHER, which is what we had in mind. We grabbed a cache and ended up stopping at Chapz for BBQ and sat down-no BBQ! We ate and left and looked back at the sign and it said 'Bar & Grill'. Oh. Hrm. We both read BBQ, so I don't feel too dumb.
We got to Carlsbad Caverns at 3:37 and the last tour left at 3:30. It was still amazing, even not getting to see the caverns. The drive through the Guadalupe Mountains was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. There was an Ansel Adams exhibit at the visitor center, which I loved seeing. I was not disappointed we missed the cave. Next time.
That night, I drove until around midnight again and pulled off to sleep. We got going around 6 the next morning toward Teresa's moms house and got there around 9. We unloaded and showered and did some laundry and headed out for sushi and to meet Heather, the wife of a sailor Teresa served with on her last deployment. She was AWESOME! We hung out with her the rest of the day, headed back pretty late to Teresa's moms house.
The next day, we got up and went to the mall for facials. hehehe! We had fish tacos for lunch and went back to pick up the girls and headed to Heather's-she's MUCH closer to the airport and I had to be there so early Saturday morning.
The 45 minute drive took nearly 4 hours plus we had to stop for groceries. What a PITA! The traffic was horrific, so we opted to just stay in that night-we planned to see the bats and such, but no way did we want back in that madness. We chatted, Teresa did her hair, we ate and played with Paytin, the baby. We all headed off to bed around 2 and I was back up at 5 to leave for the airport.
I got home at noon on Saturday and promptly unpacked, handed out the few goodies I bought-bracelets for the kids and t-shirts for Matt-and went to sleep. 7 hours later, I woke up, ate, went back to bed. I was pooped!
So there was the basic run-down of my week, I don't think I was prepared for how much space there is out there. Here, you drive 2-3 hours and you are in a new state-on nearly ANY road. There, you may not even be in the next town over. It was hotter than I was ready for and I was thirsty most of the trip, despite drinking MUCH more than I usually do. It's DARK at night, things were growing that I have never seen before, the animals are different, too. I loved it! : ) Can't wait to get back with the kids and Matt.
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| This looks blurry, but it's the movement of the stars, the shutter was open for several minutes. |
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| Flying back to Bama! |
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| Hands-down the BEST view all week! : D |
