We headed west out of Manassa on Monday morning, the 28th. We aimed for earlier but didn’t actually make it out until about 11 am. We aimed for Durango where we figured there would be a Walmart to stop and buy groceries. Sure enough, there was. We decided we need to go back to Durango and stay sometime too. It was beautiful.
I packed a backpack for each of the little kids with tons of stuff to do. Maddie was in charge of helping Sawyer with his and I helped the girls change out toys every 5 minutes for 3 weeks. Thankfully, as long as I kept changing out the toy they were playing with for a new one they were happy almost the entire time. Grace played lots of patty-cake with her baby. You can see a book on Emily’s lap in the picture below. This was the best purchase I made for the girls, by far. That book kept Emily entertained for 90% of the trip.
Somewhere in western Colorado Sawyer started having a major fit. He was tired and needed to nap and was also tired of being in the van (little did he know this was just the beginning!) So Josh said something like, “Stop screaming or I’m throwing your binkie out the window!” Yes, Sawyer still had a binkie for sleeping at this age (3 1/2). Well, Sawyer saw right through this idle threat and, of course, screamed louder. Josh immediately grabbed the binkie, which was sitting right by us in a cupholder at the time, rolled down the window, made the motion of throwing it out the window and discreetly dropped it in the pocket of the door. The look on Sawyer’s face was absolutely priceless. He didn’t really think Daddy would throw his binkie away! Sawyer then proceeded to scream even louder. Josh looked at me, realizing that even though we still had the binkie we couldn’t give in at this point. We had all unwittingly made the decision to wean Sawyer. Not the time or place I would have chosen. . . . but it ended up working out. Sawyer screamed for a good hour but finally wore himself out and fell asleep. He asked for the binkie for a few times but I blamed Daddy for being a meanie and throwing it out the window. He asked for a it a few more times during the trip but overall he did amazingly well for such a traumatic break up! He was excited to finally get home because he knew we had a bowl of binkies there so I had to run inside before any of the kids got out of the car and throw away all the binkies before Sawyer could find them and fall back on the habit.
There is some beautiful country in the southwest. I snapped a few pictures as we were driving along.
It looks like a bunch of clay dolls lined up on the ridge.
The big circle cut out of the rock was fascinating. How the heck did it get there?
The rock formations rise out of the desert like a shipwreck on a dry seabed. . .
We really wanted to take the kids to Four Corners but we didn’t make it there until after 6 and they closed at 5. The kids were totally bummed and we were too. We kept trucking on and started looking for somewhere to eat dinner. There were very few choices. McDonald’s was really the only restaurant we saw for miles and miles so we ended up stopping there out of necessity. No one in this family likes McDonald’s but we were all hungry and couldn’t put it off any longer looking for a better option. We ate quickly and headed for our first real RV park, Gouldings, right outside Monument Valley, Arizona. We got in late and got everyone to bed as soon as possible. Josh didn’t hook up the sewer lines because it was so late but he got the water and electricity going which meant air conditioning - yay!
Tuesday morning we woke everyone up at 6:30 am and got everyone ready. We all showered in the trailer that first day with me going last. As I’m in the shower, Josh starts hollering at me to turn off the water. He finally realized that he hadn’t hooked up the sewer drain yet and the gray water tank was almost full. I had to stand there - all soapy, mind you! - while he moved the trailer 15 ft so the hose would reach the drain. So that was fun. There is definitely a learning curve to traveling in an RV. We all managed to get showered, dressed and breakfasted and lunches made and packed all by 9 am when we checked out and headed over to Monument Valley. I tried to get a picture at every campsite. This is the first - Gouldings. (This campsite made me think of “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer with that big huge mountain in the background. Creepy.)
Monument Valley is actually a very big valley, strangely enough, and not just one sight to see. It spreads over a great area with several large rock formations. This is a pretty famous backdrop to lots of movies too. This land is owned by a Native American tribe (I can’t remember which one) so they charge admission ($20) and then charge you for a tour in the back of their trucks or in your vehicle. We paid the $20 to get in thinking there was a visitor’s center or something but it was pretty much just a gift shop and a bathroom and a place to pay for a tour. We had the trailer and didn’t want to haul it around not the dirt road through the valley so we decided to take in as much as we could from the lookout area at the gift shop.
One of the greatest investments we’ve ever made was buying each of the big kids a digital camera of their own for China. They wore those things all day everyday and took so many photos and so we made sure to bring them along on this trip too.
There is no denying the beauty and majesty of this part of the country. These pictures don’t do justice to the shear size of it all. After getting our fill at the lookout we headed back to the van and set out for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
We got to the RV park, Kaibab, around 2pm and got everything set up. Daddy and the kids went exploring in the forested area near the campsite while I got the RV set up and took a little break from kiddos. They found a fort that someone had built and the kids thought that was really cool. We really hoped to be able to go to the Grand Canyon before dark so we hustled and tried to find somewhere for dinner before sunset.
This was one of my favorite campsites. The tall trees made for some great shade and the weather was perfect - even for Arizona!
We stopped for dinner at Jacob Lake Inn. Our waiter told us that Cape Royal was the best place to see the sunset on the Grand Canyon so we decided to try it out. We bought the National Park pass as we entered the Grand Canyon National Park (which was totally worth it and had easily paid for itself after the second NP). The road to Cape Royal was very long and very windy. We didn’t think we would make it before sunset. The first thing we saw was a lizard on a rock and we had to spend 10 minutes there so all the kids could get all their pictures taken. I kept saying, “Guys, we’re here to see the Grand Canyon, not a stupid lizard!"
We had to take a long path to get to the rim of the canyon too. We came up Angel’s Window before Cape Royal so we stopped there first. We got there just before sunset. Angel’s Window is the hole forming a little arch on the right of the photo.
We followed the path on down to Cape Royal.
I wanted to get a picture of everyone before the sun went down but the little ones were not cooperating.
This is why Sawyer was so desperate to get away and out of the picture. This kid and his pooping. *eye roll*
I snapped this one while waiting for the beast to finish his business. And yes, Emily is having a meltdown now.
After he’d finished his business he was back to his happy self again, although quite malodorous.
Proof that I was on the trip too! We were losing light pretty quickly by this point so the colors weren’t as vibrant anymore.
Gracie is almost always happy. She is so good natured!
Em needed a little break. I felt bad for all the people who had come to enjoy the scenery in peace and quiet. There was not much of that on this night. . . .
Last sliver of sunlight. . .
We walked back over near Angel’s Window on our way back to the car and found a very awesome view. Thankfully everyone had calmed down by then, although we were still very stinky.
All the kids had to pose on this rock. Except the little girls who were a little fearful of standing on it.
I sure love this man!
We made it back to the van, changed some diapers and then headed back to the RV in the dark. If we thought the road was long and winding on the way up it was nothing compared to on the way down in the dark. We almost hit several deer and cows that were all over the road. It was nerve-wracking to say the least. We made it safely back to the RV eventually and got everyone showered/bathed and put to bed. Tomorrow - Zion’s National Park!
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