Surprise Roadtrip

I've mentioned before that I love to travel with my family.  Roadtrips tend to be our most frequent form of travel.   (You can read about a couple of them here and here.)  Even as newlyweds, the Bionic Man and I used to jump in the car and see how far we could get before it was time to turn around and head back to school.

Since we've had children, the Bionic Man and I don't get into spontaneous roadtrips like we used to.  Generally, we spend months preparing for our roadtrips:  researching routes and destinations, planning stops and activities, putting together detailed itineraries, making reservations.  Often, we depart for vacation with a thick binder that maps out all the details of our trip.

Our 2011 summer trips weren't going to be any different.  We'd been planning a family trip to see our Connecticut friends and East coast sites for weeks.  And Bionic Man had been prepping daily for a special backpacking adventure in Utah's Uintah mountain wilderness.

All that changed when we got the news that Bionic Man's grandmother had passed away.  We made a last-minute decision to change all our vacation plans for the summer.  Within 48 hours we were packed and on the road.


Whew!  Can you believe that?  That type of spontaneity is wildly uncharacteristic for us.  I have to say that these three kids are largely responsible for getting us ready.  They were such good helpers!

 

That picture was taken on the first day of the three-day journey out to Utah.  See how happy everyone is?  That's because riding in the car is relaxing, compared to the way we flew around getting ready to leave.  (By the way, you can't see Hunter the Dog, but he came too.  He's our best traveler, because he never ever asks how much longer 'til we get there.)

This is the third summer in a row that we've made a trip to Utah by car to visit our families.  We just love our faithful Swagger Wagon.  (The fact that we've done this before helped with the spontaneity issue.)

I took that picture somewhere in the middle of Kansas.  No offense to my Kansas-dwelling friends, but your state is a bear to drive through.  It was scorching hot, gusting wind, and humid (how is that possible, with wind?) the entire day.  After we'd crossed the border into Colorado, I solemnly swore to the Bionic Man that if he ever drove me across Kansas again, it had better be in a moving truck headed WEST.  Needless to say, we did not drive through Kansans on the way home.

So, we were super-duper excited to get the mountains in our sights as we approached Denver.  Having not seen any REAL mountains for almost a year, my camera is full of pictures just like that one.

Here we are on Day 3 of the roadtrip.  Everyone's enthusiasm for the adventure had diminished.  We were all tired of driving.  And Kansas.  And granola bars.  Seeing vistas like this one in the mountains outside of Denver helped a little.

We love the mountains.  And we loved spending time with our families.

Stay tuned for more of our roadtrippin' adventures to come!