I could get used to this place

Well, I have figured out one thing is for sure. I definitely like trees, grass, water and mountains over the desert. The desert is okay, but there is just something about seeing and hearing a river run that is so incredibly beautiful and soothing. We are now in Durango and get to actually stay in the same place for more than one night, which I realize has been harder than I thought it'd be. Let's recap how we got here...

After leaving Albuquerque, we made the trek to the Grand Canyon, which is as breathtaking as you expect it to be. It's hard not to just look at it with an open mouth and just say "Wow". We didn't have any wi-fi, so I wasn't able to update from there. We stayed in a really nice lodge that reminded me a lot of Disney with the walking trails, the shuttles and the cafeterias. We ended the day with a sunset tour of the canyon. Our guide told us that some of the rocks have been dated to 5-10 million years old. That doesn't even register to me. It really puts Creation into a whole new perspective, doesn't it? Those days mentioned in Genesis 1 were probably more like millions of years. Kind of makes you look at Eternity in a whole new way, as well.

After an awesome breakfast at the El Tovar hotel, we headed out into the most desolate part of the US I have ever been in. There was nothing to look at but rocky deserts. It was a very hard day of driving, but we finally got to Durango late yesterday afternoon. Let me just say that I love this town. Our hotel is right on the river and we have a small balcony that overlooks it. I could sit out there all day and just listen to the river flow. We are about to head out and do a 2 hour rafting adventure. The girls are a little nervous about it, but we have convinced them that it will awesome. We took an old steam engine train from Durango up to Silverton that took about 3 1/2 hours. I would recommend doing that AND getting and open car. You get to see parts of the Rocky Mountains that you would never get to see otherwise. It was absolutely beautiful. We spent 2 hours in Silverton, which is an old-timey mining town and then rode a bus back down. That only took an hour, so that was much better.

We debated staying here another day, but there is still much more we have to do and it's hard to believe we are only on Day 5 of this adventure. All the Shearons are well - mostly sniffly from the altitude and tired from the time change, but other than that, we are having a great time.

Later~

Fireworks, Shmireworks

Albuquerque is a nice place. Hot, but nice. Very New Mexican, but nice. Lots of stucco, but nice. Our hotel, thankfully is MUCH nicer than that dump last night. There is a 2 story water slide, but it was closed today. So, after having lunch at this neat local diner called Frontiers, we hit the zoo. Now I know why I haven't renewed my own zoo membership since April. BECAUSE I DON'T GO TO THE ZOO IN THE SUMMER!!! But it was something to do and the girls had fun, so it was fine.

Then after an afternoon of animals and swimming, we went to Macaroni Grill to eat, with great plans to watch the fireworks from our car. And long story short, we ended up spending the rest of the evening in the ER. Yes, I said the ER. Maggie went to the bathroom and ended up having what is called a vagal reaction. Basically, her blood pooled in her feet and when she went to stand up, she collapsed. Praise God I was right there and she fell into my arms. A VERY, VERY scary moment to say to very least. If we had been home, I would have just made a phone call, but since we are headed to the Grand Canyon tomorrow, I just couldn't take a chance. We saw a great Nurse Practioner, originially from Little Rock, by the way, who was so sweet to Maggie. She is probably also a little dehydrated, as we all are. That dry air, higher altitude thing is for real. Did you know that Albuquerque is at 6000 ft? I didn't. Thankfully, she is totally fine now and you'd never know. We are all going to be pounding the water from here on out.

Ironically,we have some good friends who are notorious for visiting the likes of every ER in every town they vacation in, so I did get a laugh thinking of them tonight. (you know who you are...)

Tomorrow, we are hitting the road early to see the Painted Desert, the Petrified Forest and then God's masterpiece - the Grand Canyon. We can't wait. Only problem is we will now have to make 42 pit stops for all the water we will be drinking. Better than another visit to the ER.

Tata for now~

Independence Day from this nasty place

Thank goodness, we are only at this hotel for one night. First of all, pets are allowed, which is why we all woke up sniffling and sneezing. Second, despite the fact that we are in a non-smoking room, the room next to us is a smoking room, which is why we all woke up sniffling and sneezing. What in the world?

Thankfully, we are headed to Albuquerque after a fine dining breakfast in the lobby. I hear there is a 2 story water slide at this next one. Should be a much better arrangement. All part of the experience, Clark.

Happy 4th of July!

Press on, young soldiers...

Well, 11 hours and 750 miles later, we made it to Amarillo. Those of you who prayed for us, THANK YOU. The girls couldn't have been sweeter and more patient with the really long drive here. We had told them that today would be the longest day of the trip and if we could make it through this day, they'd be troopers. They did and I am confident that the prayers of our friends had a lot to do with that. Keep it up! We got 20 more days. : )

I have figured something out. God must have run out of ideas when He got to Oklahoma (no offense, Gibsons...) There just isn't much out there. Although we did pass under a lot of crazy looking clouds, including one that looked like a tornado that went all the way to the ground. I tried to take a picture of it, but it's hard to see. We saw about 73,000 cows, a giant cross that would dwarf Bellevue's, the tourist trap also know as The Big Texan, and some pretty cool looking flat fields. We did have quite a bit of rain, but nothing that our brand new windshield wipers couldn't handle.

Now that we are in Amarillo, I feel like vacation is actually starting. Here is my lesson we learned today. Pack for a few nights in each bag. Not all the clothes in one, all the toiletries in one, etc. Poor Robert had to unpack everything for a mere 15 hours in the Hampton Inn. But, we didn't know. Many of our trips will be like that, so I guess he will be an expert at packing and unpacking.

With our favorite show, House Hunters, on the TV, we are ready for bed. Thanks for taking the time to read. I promise that things will get more interesting as we actually start seeing things.

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

Where are the cameras?

Okay, I feel like I live a lot of my life looking around for the cameras filming the stuff that seems way too outrageous to be happening all at once. Why should the night before I leave for vacation be any different??

This afternoon, Maggie came home with a gnarly case of pink eye (sorry Becca...). I have some really strong eye drops from previous bouts with it. However, things are quite different considering we are leaving in the morning. So, I put in a call to her opthalmalogist who said she probably needs to be seen. Okay, really? As if I have time to go to the urgent care. So, off to LeBonheur we go (after dinner that is).

However, as Providence would have it, I would say we are 90% packed. House is cleaned and ready for our house sitter and I feel pretty good about where we are. Gotta love those unexpected bumps in the road. Keeps you on your toes for sure. I have to remember that God uses those bumps to remind us that we don't have it all together and we aren't in charge of what happens. When I think of it like that, I don't mind those bumps so much.

It's finally time for vacation. I'm so thankful to a company that allows my husband the opportunity to take this much needed time off. I just wonder how long it will take him to wind down and relax. Probably NOT at the time we are riding the open air gondola up the mountain in Silverton. Can't wait to get on the road and start making all kinds of awesome memories with the family. Maybe all those cameras would be nice right now.

Multitasking at its best

It's amazing what you can do when you do several things at once. We spent the majority of the morning packing our clothes and I am trying to make sure all the laundry gets done that they want to get done. Maggie decided tonight that she wanted to wear a certain shirt tomorrow and could I please have it washed and ready to pack in her suitcase. "Um, no. Why don't you wear something else and go ahead and pack it." "Oh...okay."

It is nice to check things off my "to-do" list. I think I am down to 2 and those can be done tomorrow. Why is it such a sense of accomplishment knowing you can check things off. I think I'm going to start making one every day.

1. Get out of bed

2. Brush my teeth

3. Drink lots of coffee

4. Put on clothes

5. Back out of driveway.

6. Work out (easy one for me...it's my job)

You get the idea. Make it virtually impossible not to get it all done. How nice would that be? Actually, probably pretty stressful. Making the list would cause me to leave something out. My luck I'd forget to go to the bathroom, then I'd be (as my mom says), in a mell of a hess. Think about that one...

Let's do this again tomorrow, okay?

Surcharges may apply

Okay, seriously - ONE bag each? Does my husband not realize he lives with 3 females? I get that he can travel for 2 weeks in Europe with one suitcase, but I also realize that it is ONLY during those 2 weeks that I actually get caught up on laundry. Hmmm...what is wrong with this picture?

One bag per person will not cut it. Especially when it will be 70's and 80's during the day and 40's at night. (I know...doesn't that sound heavenly??) We will figure it out, I'm sure, but I guarantee that the Shearon women will prevail.

I'm a little concerned about the remnants of TS Alex and the rain it will bring to Texas as we are driving through. Maybe it will have dissipated enough that we will still have a wonderful 4th of July in Albequerque. The girls think we might see Troy Bolton and Gabriella Montez, but I had to break the news that East High isn't a real place and certainly isn't really in New Mexico.

I got the car serviced today and is all ready to hit the road. When I listed all the things I needed checked, I ended by saying, "And whatever else you deem necessary, since we will be putting 5-7000 miles on it over the next 3 weeks." Can you imagine the double take? "Yes, that's what I said. 5-7000." Miles...in the car...with my family...around the world...vacation...rock on.