Well, January went by in a flash. It's always amazing how close Christmas seems at the end of November, but how distant it feels by the end of January.
We started the year off with a series of unfortunate events financially, but were able to prioritize a bit better and hopefully turn that into a chance to get further ahead in the long run. I have new travel plans in the works, a camping trip in March and in May, an extended backpacking trip being planned out now and the trip out west in the late summer. It now looks like this:
Stop One: Lawrence, Kansas
Taking the Loess Hills Drive to South Dakota
Stop Two: Corn Palace
Stop Three: Black Hills
4: Badlands
5: Mt. Rushmore
6: Devil's Tower
7: Cody
8: Yellowtone
9: Tetons
10: Thermopolis
11: Cheyenne
12: Denver, where Matt joins us.
Natural History Museum
Celestial Tea Company
Estes Park, Rocky Mtn Ntnl Park
13: Salida Springs
14: Black Canyon of the Gunnison
15: Various parks in Utah
16: Grand Canyon
17: Sedona
18: Route 66 back to Oklahoma City with various stops including Petrified Forest and Painted Desert
19: Home in time for Matt to have a day off before he heads back to work!
We are cutting out California and Nevada to give more time in Denver and the Rockies with Matt. We will pick those up on the northern end when we go to Seattle in a few years and do that loop. I am taking 4-5 weeks to do this trip, I want to have time to stop and stay if the mood strikes us, chances of getting back to most of these places with the kids is very low.
Right NOW, today, we are enjoying our day off this week. The kids have practice every day but today and Friday, but that's skate day and we have plans for the entire day out. It's been raining, but the new patches seem to be working, no leaking! The Volvo is waiting for Matt to come home and check it out this evening, I think it's drivable until we get the part in. We are all healthy and the house is clean, laundry all done, porch swept, pets fed.
Yesterday we went grocery shopping and with coupons and in-store discounts, got our total from $209 to $132! That's 2 weeks of groceries, we will just have to pick up more almond milk, fresh fruit and probably eggs and bread-oh, and dog food. I can't seem to buy enough of any of that for a full 2 weeks.
I am looking at 3 different long trails to go backpacking this spring. We need a few more things before we can head out (3 backpacks, 2 sleeping pads and a cold-weather sleeping bag), so I have been keeping an eye out for sales locally and also on Craigslist. The kids think 22 miles is enough for a trip. I was thinking 75...I imagine they are right, we need some more experience before we just jump into a week-long trip. *sigh* Sometimes I wish life were more like my daydreams. hahaha
