{Colorado :: part one}

::the journey::

 

they say that sometimes the journey can be half the fun right?

well, with family road trips i guess you're a lucky bunch if you can say that.

 

 

so a little back story here...we went camping a lot growing up and almost every summer we would load up the pop-up and the back of our bronco and head west. and from south florida...that was a loooong drive! and we did it all with zero technology mind you. i remember sitting in the back seat with the big rand mcnally atlas (because of course we didn't have gps, we actually had to read a map!) playing travel agent. pretending to book imaginary vacations. or playing cards with my brother, or travel bingo, or counting license plates from other states. we usually listened to john denver, or abba and of course we knew every song by heart, but every once in awhile we could convince my parents to play our styx or reo speedwagon tape!  a couple of summers we each brought a friend with us. we would sit three to the back seat and rotate who had to have the middle while one of us road in the way back with the food box and the cooler.

 

oh how i wish i could inset some really cool camping pics from when i was little...but they are all on slides. total bummer.

 

heading west was really a beautiful ride.

 

 

 and i guess all that open road can make you sleepy.

 

 

boy did this sign bring back memories.

when i was little we would always stop at a stuckeys around 2:00 for a milk shake.

i can tell from the gas prices this one has been closed for awhile.

can you imagine what the sign said waaaaay back then??:)

 

 

 

kansas is beautiful.

i used to love camping there.

something about the wind whipping through the pop-up at night.

i can still remember it.

best sleeping weather ever.:)

 

this kind of became the joke of the trip.


please, don't laugh...if i had a dollar for every time i asked siri that question we would be quite rich!!:)

{riley told siri to call me the best mom ever about a year ago...i swear that wasn't me! and if you don't have an iphone and you have no idea who siri is, you really think i'm nuts right?}

 

and siri pronounced panera...pan-era so after awhile i was saying it wrong too!!

weird road trip humor i know!!!

 



 

 

we decided to stay in hotels on the way out and back.
first night...emporia kansas, second night longmont colorado

if we were truly roughing it, we would have camped those few nights too, but with a tent and a rental van stuffed to the MAX we decided against that. something about pulling up to our hotel, grabbing our goodies, having dinner out and hitting the pool sounded kind of appealing!

we always camped along the way when i was young and i bet some of you early campers did too right??

we are so spoiled these days!:)

i keep telling myself, when we have a pop-up someday we will too.:)

 

 

 

we ate at an applebees across the street from our hotel.

it was yummy and fun and janey loved the fries and really wanted us to tell the manager.:)

funny

 

do your kids have the best time ever in hotels??

pretending to make reservations on the phones.

trying to play hide and  seek in a teeny tiny room.

setting up the luggage holder like it's a waitress tray stand and serving us all.

getting ice.

running up and down the halls.

love it.

 

 

it was aubrey's first official night in a big girl bed.

she snuggled up quite well.
and she loved it!!



after a morning of texting we realized we were rather close to my parents on the hwy.

so look who we had lunch with in blustery kansas.

 

 

which was great cause mimi always has the best food and is good at improvising when you have no headband...or a spoon...and it's windy as heck!:)

look at that!
doesn't all that open space make you just take a deep breathe....and exhale slowly?:)

 



 

 

we made it!!

 

 

 

as kids, getting closer to the rockies always meant trying to be the first one to spot the mountains.

harder then you think on a hazy day.

is that a cloud? or a mountain?:)

but look...there they are!

 

 

 

  last night to snuggle in a bed girls...tomorrow it's tents and sleeping bags.

 

 

::girls favorite memories::

 

riley - making up secret handshakes with aubrey in the car and snuggling while watching movies with jane.

 

janey -  asking siri silly questions, sleeping with riley, playing travel agent, swimming and taking pictures by the colorado sign.

 

aubrey - eating m&m's and swimming in the pool.