We ended our summer this year with a 10 day, 3000 mile road trip! And, although our children can't seem to handle the 15 minute drive to Gramma and Grampa's house without fighting and being threatened by us to pull over and make them walk home . . . a magical thing seems to happen when we road trip. They all get comfy with their favorite pillow and blanket and hunker down into road trip mode. (I'm not gonna lie, the portable dvd player and ds's don't hurt either.)
Day one: Our first stop on our trip was to stay with our long lost friends in Boise. The last time we saw them was four years ago. So much has changed since then (okay, mostly the kids have grown up), and yet it felt like we just picked up where we left off. It was so great to see them.
Day two was a big one. First, we drove to Salt Lake City to check out Temple Square. We realized recently that our kids have no familiarity with Utah. I know, blasphemous, right? I grew up road tripping to Utah every summer to visit my grandparents, so Utah was sort my home away from home. And, then there's the seven years Mike spent living in Utah between going to school at BYU and serving a church mission in Salt Lake City. The kids really liked Temple Square and we wished we had more time to spend there. James especially liked the Tabernacle. We went in and he just stared at the pipe organ and then found a spot to sit down. Then, lucky for us, there was someone there who started playing hymns on the organ. The sound was incredible and James was definitely a fan.
From Temple Square, we walked across the street to the Church History Museum to check out the "I Am a Child of God" exhibit. They had all kinds of interactive things the kids could do. Of course, James and Analise wanted to dress up and pretend to be part of the MoTab.
Good-bye Salt Lake . . . see you in another four years. Next stop, was Provo, home of our alma mater, BYU. We drove by our old place and up to campus. Mike and I met and got married while attending BYU. We're really into living up to Mormon stereotypes. We even graduated together one month before our first anniversary. Awww . . .
There's this very modern sculpture installation on campus close to where most of our classes were. It looks like a "Y" from one angle and an upside down "Y" from another. I always called it the Y sculpture. Mike quickly informed me that it is called "The Tree of Life." We were both wrong. It is actually called "The Tree of Knowledge." Whatever it is, the kids LOVED it. We let them run and play in it, on it, and around it for at least 20 minutes before we pried them away. Then, we did a quick stop off at the BYU Bookstore and checked out the art department where I used to work in matting and framing. After taxes, I only made $4 an hour! No wonder we were so poor in college. Oh well, at least we were young and having fun.
After our campus tour, we went to Gandolfo's for dinner. Gandolfo's is a New York style deli on Center Street in Provo and if you haven't been there and are planning to be anywhere near Provo, I highly suggest you go. It's a serious hole-in-the-wall kind of place in the basement of a building and as soon as we walked down the stairs we could smell that all too familiar aroma of Gandolfo loveliness. Everything was exactly the same inside, too. It was like being in a time warp. Except, instead of Mike and I being there for a cheap college dinner date, we were there with our four children on a break from our road trip. Some things never change and some things really change.
After dinner, we hunkered down again and drove to Mesquite, NV for a cheap hotel room (seriously, it was $29) at the Virgin River Hotel and Casino. We were pleasantly surprised by the size of the room, cleanliness, softness of the sheets and pillows, and the delicious coolness of the air conditioning. We got some really good and much needed sleep that night.
Day Three: We woke up refreshed and ready for more adventure. First and only stop for the day was San Diego to see Nate! We arrived in the afternoon on a Friday and were immediately showered with gifts that Nate had brought with him all the way from Brazil! Here he is with James and Patrick in their soccer jerseys.
We didn't sit around for too long, though. This was not a vacation for that. We were all about packing it in on this trip. So, off to the beach we went.
After the beach, we went back to Uncle Paul and Aunt Lindsey's house for a three-night stay.
Day four: The next day was Saturday and our lovely Escondido friends put together a pool party and invited the whole Ellis clan and many friends of the Ellis'. On the way there, we stopped at Uncle Brian and Auntie Meredith's apartment and played a little with their awesome cat, Choid.
And, since they live so conveniently close to Petersen's Donut Corner, of course we had to stop
and get the best cake donut in existence.
Stay tuned . . . it's time for me to pick up the girls from school and then we're all going to get flu shots . . .
Analise has been begging for quite some time to go to Skateland with some friends. I finally gave in and since there's no school tomorrow for Veteran's Day, tonight was the night.
