Is life a highway?

Are we going to drive it - all night long?

Actually, no. We are going to stop in Page, AZ for a little break on our road trip!

Yes, folks, we are on vacation (or as Rick likes to call it, "vaction"). This year we are taking a road trip to Pagosa Springs, Colorado to visit some family friends and enjoy the great outdoors and have fun and simply RELAX. Which Rick and I desperately need to do. We have both been pushing ourselves to exhaustion the past few weeks and it has definitely taken its toll on us. Lots of nights of very little sleep and lots of days of long work hours. And of course, the kids are out of school which means we have to figure out ways to entertain them. I do have some great photos of recent entertainment, such as golf lessons with their great grandpa and pool time with Tinty and Luke, but those photos are on the home computer (I am typing from Rick's laptop), so those will have to wait till next weekend.

So, vacation techincally started last night, when we were greeted with a broken downstairs A/C unit. And on a Friday afternoon the day before we leave to go out of town there isn't a whole heck of a lot we can do. We cranked up our swamp cooler and are hoping for the best. At least the upstairs unit is still working fine (good thing for the girls who are dog-sitting for us!). And of course we realized the A/C was broken about 15 minutes before we were having guests over for Poker Night. Good thing they have a sense of humor cause as you can imagine I was seriously fweeking out.

Our plan was to leave this morning at 10 or 11 am... but I still had work to finish up before going and Rick was messing with the A/C (which we never did get to work... sigh!), and of course there was the obligatory notes for the house and dog-sitters to write, and the packing of the car, tetris-style, with our luggage, camping gear, and misc travel food (cheez-its and chocolate hostess donettes, of course!).

OH YEAH!

The car. Speaking of the car... (The Ford Expedition is still for sale! Tell your friends! I am willing to pay a finder's fee of a free photo shoot!!)

WE GOT A NEW VEHICLE!
Well. Technically not new. But newer than we actually have ever had before! It is so cute and sooo fun and sooooooo happy and SO COMPLETELY exactly what I wanted! It's my car and I love it. It's a 2006 Honda Element and ever since I saw my very first Element on the road I wanted one for myself. Of course, had it been my choice and a new vehicle that I built myself, it would have been lime green instead of raspberry red. But other than that everything (everything) that I wanted to have included in the vehicle is in this one. Sunroof, MP3 jack, cruise control, sound controls on the steering wheel, compartments and pockets everywhere, roof rack, rear fold-up seats... you name it, it's on here. And with Rick's new TomTom GPS, it's the whole package. I still need to name the car. I am thinking Intern George. HA. Riley wants to call it "Surprise" - as in the "element of surprise."

So. This car is freaking RAD and fits everything. Of course that means that the kids EACH packed two (TWO) backpacks of toys and crap they *had to take* on the trip. Riley's bags included a baseball bat (no ball though), lightsaber, gameboy, TWO teddy bears, and thirteen different books. Violet's had another 15 books, her Polly Pockets, her baby doll, her baby Pluto doll, her PHONE (!!!!!) - this is not a small phone either. This is like an old fashioned desktop phone. FULL SIZE! - her ipod, her Nintendo DS, ALLLLLL her games, her camera, her video camera, and a few more things. I pared it down to one bag for the both of them. They have their gameboy and DS, ipod, and cameras. Each got 2 books (and Violet got to bring 2 bonus chapter books) and one stuffed animal. No phone (cause. SERIOUSLY. WHAT. what do I do with that?).

We loaded it up and we finally hit the road at 2 pm. Nothing like being on time... ;)

The GPS was great - we mapped out our itinerary to Page (with stops in Mesquite for potty breaks and a quick trip to Wal-Mart and another stop at Zion National Park). And of course we had our book on tape. Finally I would get to listen to Angels and Demons! Woohoo! After a bit of a slow start (and another trip home because RICK FORGOT HIS JACKET), we were off (for reals this time). I took a little nap for the first 45 minutes or so while Rick drove. We made our pitstop in Mesquite so Rick and I could get Riley's surprise half-birthday present (his own DS since his gameboy is on its last legs). He will get it before the trip is over... :)

Next we drove through Zion. What an amazing place! We didn't get to go to all the cool trailheads (you have to take a shuttle for that), but we still got to drive through and stop and check out some cool sites. We even did a little hiking! The kids loved the cool sandstone rocks and I was actually quite surprised at how much it reminded me of Red Rock Canyon (but on a much larger scale) and how I really need to appreciate what I have taken for granted for so long.

Finally, after 6 hours on the road, we made it to Page. Our hotel here is soooooo ghetto. Which is funny, because I picked it based on the really great reviews it got. So if this is the best Page has to offer, let me just say it: YIKES. At least the pool was kind of fun for the kids (but really, what pool is *not* fun for kids?). I'll let you know tomorrow how the "Continental Breakfast" is...

Right now Rick is sleeping in the bed next to me and the kids are asleep in the other bed. I know I have to do at least one driving shift tomorrow, so I should probably try and get a good night's rest. I left the camera cable in the car so I can't share photos yet, but I will tomorrow (maybe right from the road!).

We are about 1/3 of the way through Angels and Demons and it's really good. I am sad the CDs are in the car and I can't listen to them right now. As it stands, I am sure I will be dreaming of proton accelerators and dismembered eyeballs tonight, so maybe it's good I am not listening to more right before bed.

PHOTOS and more vacation journaling to come tomorrow!