The Road Trip

After a lot of back and forthing, we decided that it was worth the cost and effort to go to Arizona for the holidays.  My brother, Scott was flying in with his family from Florida where he works for the Air Force.  I hadn't seen him for a while and wanted to see his new baby (not so new anymore...Ivan is 7 months old!) and have our kids play with four of their seven cousins.  It is a rare and fun occasion when we can all be together.  So, I packed up the kids, our stuff and headed out on what ended up to be the worst snow storm day of the season.  

I stopped at my grandma's house to drop off gifts and planned to stop a few more places, but ended up giving her the assignment of finishing my deliveries because the blizzard was getting increasingly worse.  I am terrified to drive in snow after a college spin off and this was to be my first time.  Plus, I had the kids on my own since Doug had to stay behind to work his seasonal job as he agreed to.  So, after a quick christmas show for grandma, we were off to battle the storm driving slowly and carefully.  I was given a few tips from my uncle while there that freaked me out and I drove the first three hours with white knuckles, passing spin offed cars and a few jack-knifed semi's.  Why was I insisting on going that day?  It was supposed to snow for the next four days and it was the only time we could go or else be grounded.  So...on I went.  

When we stopped in Filmore, the talk of the gas station was the storm and everyone said that about five minutes more south would put you ahead of the blizzard into rain.  I rushed the kids back to the car skipping the treats and we made it ahead of the storm into rainy, foggy weather but out of that ice-y, slippery snow.  Carter was a great help keeping the kids occupied.  What would I have done with our DVD player in the car!  I kept telling the kids to not talk to me  because I had to focus.  I even had to put on my I-pod earphones with my dentist relaxation music at full volume to calm myself down.  Don't laugh...Barry Manilow songs are deep on so many levels.  I made it through the rain...Somewhere down the road...Let it shine, shine, shine all around the world.  I admit it with full disclosure.  I love Barry. 

Anyway, for the next few hours, we had a little snow here and there but mostly rain, which I can totally handle.  That is until we got past St. George on the way to Vegas.  For that stretch of road, we passed what looked like a chocolate river so full and high and muddy that we were reminded of Willy Wonka.  Then around 3, the rain and sky were so dark it was basically pitch black and I couldn't see past 40 feet.  With the other cars' kickback, I was ready to call it a day.  There was no way I could keep going in the middle of the desert, in the rain, with the temperature's dropping.  So we stopped in Vegas and tried to find a hotel with a last minute room.  

Can I just complain for a moment about Vegas?  It's not my favorite town and one reason is that the parking garages are a long walk to the hotel.  I had the five kids, one in my arms, one in my tummy, as many bags as I could hold and drape on the kids necks, which they weren't happy about, and trecked our way into the lobby, past the restaurants, past the casinos and gift shops for an hour wait in line.  When I got to the front, soggy from rain and snow, I told the lady that I hoped they had a spare room or I would just sit down and cry.  I was so tired from the day, the drive and the long, long, slow walk into the hotel.   When we got to the room, I laid down for a while they explored and watched even more TV. Hotel TV is so much more entertaining than other TV, though for some reason.   Then back to the car for more diapers, a pizza from the lobby and a night sleeping in our underwear because I couldn't carry a suitcase and a baby.  Why don't those places have those carts for suitcases?  

Luckily the next day's drive was a light rain with no problems.  We had beaten the blizzard for the most part and our drive took two days and a total of 17 hours.  The kids had a fun time the whole ride there and I...made it.  When you're a kid traveling is no stress and an adventure, but for the mom's and dad's it's a bit different, I suppose. 

Looking out our window at Treasure Island to the rainy view of the city.