On the Road Again

Lunch Stop: Albuquerque NM

Historic Route 66

We drove to Farmington New Mexico that evening and stayed the night there. 

The next morning we drove to Monument Valley. 

The Valley was an awe inspiring sight and well worth the detour. We didn’t have the time to drive into the valley but we did tour the historic Trading Post and John Wayne movie museum and set.

 

We stopped at the Navajo market where the girls found a perfect souvenir. They had Navajo Tacos and we devoured them at the local park.  The girls made friends wherever we went. 

We loved the rest of our drive past Lake Powell and into St. George UT.  Burke’s Sister recently moved there and built a beautiful home with lots of extra room for guests.  We settled right in and had a great evening catching up with Tiff and Brad and watching our girls play with their cousins. 

The Road Trip Begins

We hit the road at 4:20 Thursday Morning and drove for a few hours before the girls woke up.  We found a fun and memorable wagon themed rest stop which put everyone in high spirits. 

After breakfast we drove for another five hours and arrived at Carlsbad Caverns NM by lunch time. We had a fun picnic lunch and then headed up to the cave.  The girls had been looking forward to going to the “bat cave” for weeks now and it was very exciting.

I had heard numerous time how amazing Carlsbad is but it is truly something you have to experience to believe.  We toured just one of the cavers and it was so huge that it could fit six football fields inside and took us an hour and half to tour.  It was worth every minute and the JJ and Zana did awesome walking the whole time.    JJ’s favorite formation was the popcorn and Zana liked the colossal columns.

Biddy got tired but we did our best to keep her going and made it out with only a few minor temper tantrums. Her favorite part was riding the elevator.  We were the only ones going up and the ranger turned of all the lights so we could see the rock and get the feel of hurtling upward through thousands of feet of rock.  It was an unforgettable experience.

Part of the fun of our road trips is the “Kamping”.  We cheat and stay in cabins at RV resorts.  The girls the love it and we love all the fun ammenities this kind of camping provides. Name any hotel that has ponies, covered wagons and a tire merry go round?

That night we tried to see the bat flight but there was thunder and lightning so we had to stay in our cars.  We waited for a while in the parking lot and caught sight of a few bats before heading back to our “Bat Motel” for a good night’s sleep.  

Johnsons in July

We kicked of the month with a big 4th of July Bash.  Burke smoked 30 lbs of meat and we had dozens of our friends over to help us eat it all.  San Antonio outlawed firework displays of any kind so we settled for a glow stick display.  We had a great time.   

 

We studied the American Revolution in our Funshine Summer School.  The girls learned all about our fight for independence and JJ especially began to understand how important our freedom is.  We made Yankee Doodle Hats and learned the origins of the song.  Have you ever wondered why they called the feather “macaroni”?  We learned that “macaroni” was a term the English used to describe a decoration or accessory one used to make themselves look grand.  Isn’t school great!

 

Through the month the girls and I kept busy with various play group activities.  Some of our favorites included a trip to the river bank at the Zoo and Chukee Cheese.