Spring Break in OKC

For the second half of Spring Break we took a road trip to Oklahoma City. We just stayed the one night before heading down to Dallas to celebrate the kids' birthdays with grandparents. It was very much a that's good/that's bad trip, and in the end I still don't know if we came out on top, or wish we'd never gone. 

Highs: we found a fun urban garden downtown, near the basketball arena, our first night there. It had paths and fountains and a children's play area. We also were able to visit the Science Museum on our ASTC pass, which is hands down one of the coolest ones we've ever been too. The kids had been looking forward to a return trip ever since we first went back in 2019.

Lows: Davey was sick on our drive out. He threw up once in the car into a bag and once in a dumpster as we drove through Shamrock, TX, a funny little town I'll probably never have reason to visit again. He spent our first day in a stupor. During the night Davey bounced back, but Griffin went down. He never threw up, but was the most feverish, miserable little guy our the whole next day at the museum. The traffic from OKC to Dallas was also awful once we wrapped up our little trip. We ended up detouring several times for construction or other random backups. Finally, our AirBnB host also left us bad reviews. First for not locking up properly, even though there were no instructions on how to set the alarm. There was a full instruction sheet for getting in, but nothing for leaving. Second, for bringing an extra guest. They were upset we had 6 instead of the listed 5. But I never reported Griffin because the terms only asked for guests over the age of 2 and he was still 1 and slept in a pack n play, which we brought from home. Third, for leaving dirty coffee cups, which is ridiculous because we of course didn't make coffee. We didn't use any dishes as our dinner was from KFC and our breakfast was donuts. Oh well. Can you tell I was bitter about it?

Happy faces at our Air BnB before we had negative feelings towards the host

Exploring the Myriad Botanical Gardens, pretty even in winter

Poor sick Davey just took it all in from a bench

Griffin went down and ended up spending the night on the couch with me

Ready for a fun day at the Science Museum!

We rode these Segways during our last trip and were so glad to see the course was still there! 

Miserable Griffin, and Davey got to keep the balloon from the science demonstration

Water and erosion

Climbing wall at the fitness exhibit

The shooting gallery

And this had to be documented because it was Griffin's first ever time INSIDE a Chick fil A! They had been closed for covid his entire life. We ate here for lunch and, even though feeling lowsy, he loved it!

Thanksgiving - Headed Home

On the drive home to Texas we made a couple stops again to break up the drive. The first was new - the balanced rocks by the Vermillion Cliffs, not far from the Marble Canyon bridge. We had driven by on our way there but it was getting dark and we didn't have time to detour. This time we did and it was cool to see a field of giant boulders scattered around an otherwise flat landscape. 

Big rock balanced on a small base

Overlooking the Colorado River

The critically endangered Condor can often be seen hanging out on the bridge and sure enough we saw a few when we were crossing! There are only about 500 left in the wild so it felt pretty cool to find some here! They're atually pretty ugly, but the nearly 10 ft wingspan is impressive.

On our drive out we saw this cool ombre rock formation. My mom and I both agreed we'd like a sweater in this color scheme. Anyway, on the way back I was able to locate it again, even though I just had a vague mental idea of where it was, and took a picture :)

The messy face of a road trip baby

Quick stop again at the Navajo zoo and this time the education building was open

Thanksgiving - The Roadtrip

I spent my birthday weekend driving through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah to reach St. George where to meet up with family for the Thanksgiving Holiday. The deserts of the southwest are so vast and beautiful!! My mom also gave me the best present ever in coming along as my co-pilot to help with the kids and the drive since Dave wouldn't be able to join us until the following week. We love Grandmari!! 

We made our drive from Amarillo to St. George over two days, stopping in Albuquerque for the night. This was our first time driving this route and we found some fun stops along the way to break up the trip. Highlights included a 66 diner, the Explora science museum, the Navajo Nation Zoo, a field of dinosaur tracks and the bridge over Marble Canyon. The kids were troopers!!

A few notable memories:

- We checked the kids out of school early to begin our drive. In class, Sophie made a huge I Spy list for us to play along the way with random items like necklaces and rabbits and we surprisingly found both! 

- Grandmari brought a giant box of jellybeans to meter out along the way for morale and we had to guess the flavor

- Coming out of the Kaibab forest was an experience. We were behind two old trucks towing a carts of logs down a windy, single lane highway. They were going incredibly slow, but it was so tricky finding a safe place to pass both the trucks and the other cars that were stuck and it felt so amazing when we finally broke free of the backup. 

- At one point Davey needed to use the bathroom and gave me about a 10 second warning, while we were on a cliff, before it was too late. 

- Speaking of bathrooms, they were almost impossible to find in Navajo Nation! At one stop it took us trying 4 gas stations to find one with working restrooms

- The really hero of the trip, besides Grandmari, was Bubble Guppies. I think Griffin watched it for the last 4 hours on repeat. We had the episodes almost memorized by the time we got there. 

Grandmari visited for lunch at school the day before we left

A few fun activities at Explora Science Museum. They had so many hands on stations. Mask mandates were still in effect, but we cheated a little. 

Dinner at a cute diner - they had a huge Pez dispenser collection all around the ceiling, hopscotch on the floor, and great milkshakes

Grandmari and Charlie had matching blue camo shirts

The kids and Grandmari toilet papered the hotel room for my birthday - happy 36 to me!

We had a great pit stop at the Navajo zoo - free entry! They had a nice collection of local wildlife like cougars, bears, and eagles as well as a fun playground and picnic tables for lunch.

Somewhere in Arizona we stopped to see possibly real, possibly fake dino tracks

If you look closely, you can see a bee in these photos by Griffin's head. He had a ham sandwich from Subway and that bee followed him all over while we were looking for the tracks.

Found some!!

Bridge over Marble Canyon - almost there, only 2.5 hours to go. Unfortunately the last chunk was done in the dark as the sun sets so early this time of year.

Thanks for making the trip easier for me!!

1000 Mile Road Trip - Baker City, OR

Our summer trip this year included a drive from Seattle to Utah for my Grandma's Mimi's memorial. We hadn't made this trek in a few years, since moving from Utah to Texas meant flying now instead of driving. The last time we did it we saw the Hindman's house still in the framing stage so it was fun to come back and see it as a full, complete house! The kids had a good time sleeping over with cousins and seeing a few of the Baker City highlights during our quick stopover stay. 

We were literally packed to the roof for this drive

Baker City playground

Touring the Heritage Museum with cousins - the rock room was a favorite

Ice cream afterwards at Charley's was a nice treat. This was Griffin's first time having his own cone and it turns out shirtless was a good choice for the experience :)

The kids had a fun time chasing grasshoppers and playing in the creek on the Hindman's property

Griffin adored Daisy. If she ever licked him, he would lick her right back