Goodbye, for now.

Hey there!

We are down to our final hours at the house before our travels begin.

We made a point to visit Gramps before leaving. Upon arriving at his place, he told us that this would likely be the last time he would see us alive, a great way to set the mood for the visit.

That night, we were finishing up the final things at the house when we noticed a frog outside. In the entire time we have lived in this house, we haven’t seen a frog. Kids were psyched to see it.

The next day, we left. We hadn’t seen any rain in a while, so it was fitting that Oregon cried a little when we left. We had rain pretty much across the entire state, down to a little south of the California border.

At night, we arrived in Sacramento. Did a quick oil change, went to bed, and the next day we were up and moving again.

A long long day of driving.. I think close to 14 hours. We didn’t stop for the night until we arrived in Phoenix. We did stop along the way – see the photo below at the Cabazon Dinosaurs (the world’s biggest). Hadn’t been here in a few years, so stopping by one final time would allow for some updated photos with all the kids.

Then we entered Arizona. Tried to meet up with Emily, but by the time we arrived (8ish), she mentioned she was going to bed and otherwise unavailable.

Didn’t really think anyone else would want to meet up.

The next day, we left the hotel, and as we were pulling out of the parking lot and onto the main road, our trunk opened, and all our items spilled onto the road (mainly just my violins and a couple of Native American flutes).

We pulled over. Tried to fix it but ultimately couldn’t, so we drove to the closest Chrysler dealership. The motor that locks the trunk went bad, and so $1500 later and about 6 hours later, we were good to go. Since it was already around 3, we decided to spend the night in Phoenix again, as it would be cheaper than Flagstaff or anywhere else we might end up.

That afternoon, we checked out AZ falls, went to the Danzeisen Dairy creamery store in Laveen, got a coffee at Xtreme Bean (in Tempe), and had YC’s Mongolian BBQ and Spinatos Pizza for dinner.

The next day, we noticed that the USS Arizona Memorial was beside our hotel. When we last lived in AZ, they did not have this, so we checked it out before heading north. It was a really nice memorial; we would have liked to return to see it at night (they have thousands of lights forming the shape of the boat, each light representing those who died on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor).

We heard stories of how they found rings and other jewelry worn by those aboard, now melted into the deck. If in the area, check it out. They even include part of Arizona in the exhibit. Worth the visit.

Along the way (which took us through Payson), we hit the great part of the trip where you see Cactus everywhere—snapped a couple of photos.

We stopped to get the kids at the Danzeisen Dairy shop in Payson. After that, before we knew it, we were in Holbrook.

Can’t stop in Holbrook without seeing some R66 stuff, can we?

Also stopped at a few random places to look at Dinosaurs and ended up picking up a few rocks, too.

Speaking of rocks, we have a National Park Pass, so we stopped by Petrified Forest National Park.

Last time we were here, Ara was tiny.

She definitely enjoyed looking at and discovering the petroglyphs.

Ezra was happy too!

After this, we didn’t stop until New Mexico for the state sign.

Then we pushed onward to Albuquerque.

When we arrived, we checked in at the hotel, only to be told we didn’t have a reservation. Apparently, sometimes Priceline will allow you to book a room at a hotel even if it’s overbooked and they are sold out.

After a while on the phone with Priceline, we decided to go to a Motel 6… that was until we pulled up and noticed several police cars in the area. I walked up (at 2 am now) and asked them if this was a good area. The officer told me that he wouldn’t advise anyone to stay in this area, and then pointed me to a better area where they likely still had some rooms.

I think we got into our room and finally into bed at around 3 am.

What a day.

What a couple of days!

And so tomorrow (or later today) the adventure continues.

just Pray