Back to Reality and An Ode to my Road Companion

It's been almost 10 days since we returned back to the Midwest. And a whirlwind.

We cranked through Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois in one day for one reason, so I could come home to see my dear Aunt Jane. I was blessed enough to be able to spend a few hours with her and the family on Friday morning and retrospectively say goodbye to the most beautiful woman in the world. Sometimes Gods' work is more apparent, and I know he made it possible for me to say goodbye to the sweetest aunt and one of the most influential people in my life. Wednesday, July 6th, she became another angel of mine... and while I was surrounded by some of my dearest friends on the lake, the sun reflected upon the clouds in such a way that it looked like heaven's gates were opening up and I was comforted.

After spending time with my family, we headed up to Grandma's that afternoon and those 6 hours were probably the longest of the trip. But we had singalong time with Boodle and we jammed loudly to Celine and Send it On...me and Beth doing all the hand motions. Seriously laughter...we even skyped in Carrie and the Startts so she could see what her daughter was up to. We stopped in Cedarburg to drop off the gear and then make our way to the Northwoods.

By the time we got to Grandma's, it was almost as if our great adventure had not happened.... perhaps if the odometer didn't read 12,000+ miles higher and we didn't have 10,000 pictures to prove it, I'd feel like it was all just a dream. The month went so fast and we experienced so much. We learned so much about our country and about ourselves... we learned the importance of seatbelts in national parks and that bear spray is really important...after learning about a man being attacked in Yellowstone by a grizzly only a few weeks after we'd been there. And like I said before.... we experienced so many different lifestyles but were reminded that kindness is often the best way to accomplish a task and that communication is key to any relationship.

Perhaps the most important lesson was that anything is possible and that you can do whatever you set your mind to, which perhaps sounds like a Mr. Rogers' afterschool special, but people doubted our ability to drive to Alaska... and sometimes we even doubted it, but despite challenges and obstacles, we used our resources and each other and made it, without too many scratches.

I think this lesson was especially important for my road trip companion. Despite outside opinion about her abilities, she often doubts them. While I am hands down the more logical, Lindsay can do anything she puts her mind to. I couldn't have had a better sidekick on the road... or a better big sister. This trip only solidified our relationship... especially when I would steal her stuff and then return it half broken in total little sister fashion. And our sibling banter. For me, I saw a light ignite in her somewhere along the road... which turned into a fire when we crossed into the State of Washington. And while I've always been able to bring out the "car jammer" in her... I think she finally reached a new level of openness on the road. I saw that shell begin to break open, and the wings beginning to emerge from my little baby bird. I hope that our road trip memories will be the fuel she needs to stretch those wings and fly into the wide open, this time solo. I have no doubts about her abilities.... and as much as I will miss her by my side... I will always remember the 30 days we spent together on the road.... love you lucy.

including my travel to and from cedarburg.... finally miles : 13,133 plus 412 nautical miles by ferry.

Guest Writer: 7 year old Beth

We had Elizabeth blog in the car about her time with us....

The funny thing is that she wrote this before she got up to grandma's, but already talked about how much fun she had there and all the things she did. We had so much fun with her... definitely kept us entertained and she's so much like both of us. This is her take on our adventure :

So my godmothers made me eat on the side of the road. We were cooking on the side of the road to I was the look out and I saw a fox Lindsay said that they could of have been eaten alive by the little thing. I hid in the messy car. Lindsay was scared so Lindsay got a rock and threw it at the fennec fox. She was so terrified we had to eat in the car. I don’t know y but Brittany used her hands . After we were done eating we were on the road again. Finally we found a campground .We setup the tent we slept on our sleeping bags ow!!! We woke up at 7:00 pm We got dress and Lindsay made pancakes and put Hershey’s syrup on them yum!!!!!! Then we got back in the car boring!!!! We drove to Zion it was so fun. We went looking for a koa which is a fancy campground. We found 1. We set up the tent. This time me and Brittany slept on the air mattress. Lindsay slept in the car. At 6:00 am Lindsay set off the car a alarm she woke ever body up. We yelled ather . after that we took a shower Brittany took a shower in the handicap shower. We drove through Nebraska to Chicago to Britt’s house. We arrived at her house at 5 :00am by the time we got to her house we were so tired. That we just went up stairs and fell in to Britt’s bed. And Britt went to sleep on the couch for 2 hours and went to go see if her aunt Jane was ok because she was sick for 2 week. And was in the Hospital. Britt said she was doing ok but not that good. But anyway we went to GGF great grandma floe. Had so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got to ride on the wave runners, paddle boat, swim in the lake, I also got to catch fish.

Friday July 1 (Day 29 Part 2) – Saturday July 2 (Day 30) – 80 on 80

We hit Denver, stopped at a Wal-mart to get rations. It wasn’t a supercenter so we couldn’t get groceries so we settled on Subway and some mountain dew and pepsi cans in anticipation of our long night of driving. I took over the driving so Lindsay could nap and be ready for her later driving shift. She got in the back so I had Beth up front with me. Now these are the times that she really is my goddaughter. She automatically took over DJing on my ipod…which was a little more heavy on the Jonas Brothers but otherwise identical to my DJing skills. She has music ADD just like me, meaning she can’t go through a whole song without switching it to the next. Her favorite song is “I Like Big Butts”, which she loves to play so we all dance and sing along like crazy fools. We’ve also done Baby by Justin Bieber a few hundred times and she has adopted my sweet hand motions in the car. We played “Send it On” by Disney’s Friends for Change which involves me doing a lot of swaying with my hands and “sending it on”. We had crossed into Nebraska and despite their sign indicating it was “the good life”, the driving was quite boring so entertaining ourselves was necessary. Beth got a kick out of us being goofy and singing along. I set the cruise control for 80 on highway 80… the speed limit is 75… but I was still going slower than most of traffic. Despite my recent speeding ticket I have a hard time being the slowest one on the road. Genetics I think. The day of my speeding ticket I felt like a dog that had just been punished, every time I moved over so someone could pass me, I felt like I had my tail between my legs in shame.

Beth and I were singing and cruising.. she was playing a mix of Jo Bros, Kesha, Counting Crows, and Fall Out Boy. Beth played Battlefield and suddenly Lindsay started screaming along. Lindsay had gotten stuck in the backseat as her feet were up in the air and her butt was stuck. Close quarters. So we were cruising, and singing, and screaming, and dancing like a bunch of crazy girls. That’s how you survive a roadtrip after all. This is standard Brittany and Lindsay driving, but I think Beth had fun being goofy with the girls. Sometimes when you have brothers you can’t let loose around them without being made fun of. No holds bar here…sing off key all you want. Since we don’t shower, the car has turn into the place where we can sing. I had turned the music down so Lindsay could sleep and Beth promptly told me to “turn it up, you’re a buzzkill”. I about died.

We cruised and sang for a while… playing some pretty girl rock and a mix of everything. Nebraska was kind of smelly, and just flat… no good life here. We got near Lincoln when we started seeing the sky light up with fireworks. Happy 4^th of July weekend. When we got near Omaha and it had gotten dark.. we decided it was time to serenade Beth in our favorite midnight cruising song… the one and only Celine Dion…. We sang probably our best performance of the trip… It was all coming back to us now.. in full force. Beth covered her ears. I was almost out of breathe from singing so hard. Hilarity.

We switched drivers and I got in the backseat. I curled up in a ball in attempts to sleep so I could drive the twilight shift. We crossed into Iowa and I fell asleep. I slept for about 2 hours, but woke up cause my neck was stiff from the way I was packed in the car. When we stopped for gas, I offered to drive since I was awake because “I slept like a unicorn”. I really meant “I slept like an accordian”. It was like 2 am..... oops. I napped in and out but by 4 I was awake. We crossed into Illinois… and then Beth woke up. We told her to go back to bed but she claimed to have slept 5 hours and there was no use arguing…she could sleep when we got to my house and in the car on the way to gram’s. Since we were all up, we had another godmother singalong… throwing down some 4 am St. Lunatics.

We got to DeKalb and we switched drivers again. I took us the last hour and a half to my house… watching a beautiful sunrise over scenic Naperville. Both Lindsay and I were sort of melancholy…after 30 days on the road…we were back in the Midwest. It had gone so fast… but what an awesome 30 days… I can’t even remember all we’ve done and seen.. but all good things must end they say. And we have a little vacation on the lake to look forward to. That should ease the post road trip blues. That and hot showers and comfy beds. We got home and were greeted by my mom who had been out doing errands (at 6:30 am…she’s crazy), who had bought us donuts. Lindsay and Beth took my bed and I crashed in my moms. Back home.

Friday July 1st (Day 29) – Colorado Mountains

We slept in (meaning until like 9 am) because all of us were tired from our hiking yesterday. I took Beth to the bathroom…which I swear smelled much worse than it had the night before. Got to love pit toilets. Lindsay reorganized the car while I packed up the tent. The car is a continous disaster area… that’s what happens when you live in it. * I humbly refer to it as my shit hole. Not a reflection on the fine piece of machinery that has safely got us were we wanted to go like a champ just a reflection of what happens to a vehicle when exposed to the wilderness and roughing it for a month. I promised the poor girl we would give her a nice thorough cleaning inside and out. She deserves it that vision of beauty she is! Yeah I love my car get over it!* We brushed our teeth using our bottled water and changed our clothes. Lindsay updated her portion of the blog (she’s much slower than I) *list of talents/skills that I am lacking and completely fine with…typing on the computer quickly. I suck at it so sue me. I get what needs to be done done, plus I keep the car organized which is a task when you’re in it with a girl who manages to get her purse strap and every cord in the vehicle tangled in a horrific mess withing 2 minutes of being in that car. I am just fine that my skill is packing things in the vehicle with precision (like a puzzle if you will) instead of typer extrordinaire* while Beth and I explored Rifle Falls..the waterfall and caves nearby. It wasn’t too far and the waterfall was pretty cool. We explored the caves a little bit, but they were dark and we had flipflops on..not ideal exploring shoes. We made our way back to the car, and got in. Time to hit the road again. I drove us back to the main road and Beth made up a game for us to play… where we had to go through the alphabet and remember all the things we were bringing on vacation. We didn’t finish but we had gotten as far as “I’m going on vacation and bringing the Startts, a Rooster, a Quilt, a Pear, an Owl, nuts, Mom, Lindsay, kids, a jaguar, ice cream, a helicopter, a gorilla, a fan, an elephant, a dog, a coleman stove, a boat, and an apple orchard”. Beth and Lindsay had a hard time using the alphabet backwards..so I had to help them with what letter we were on. *yet again a skill I am okay with not having*

We got some donuts and ice at the gas station and filled up and switched drivers. I had driven all day yesterday and I was tuckered. We checked in with Carrie since our phones had no service the night before. Then Denver bound.

The last time I was in Colorado I was like 6 but I still remember all the mountains. While we’ve had our share of mountains on the trip, the highway cut right through the mountains, giving us the best of both worlds: a scenic view and an efficient route. The Colorado River runs fast along the highway, with some serious whitewater that makes our Alaskan whitewater look like a float trip. * the river is extremely high at the moment over flowing it’s normal banks to flood the land near by* We drove along, enjoying the mountains until we arrived a little east of Vail. There was snow patches off the road and Beth had been fascinated with the snow topped mountains in the distance. We got out of the car and walked into the forest were there were some snow piles. Impromptu snow ball fight on July 1^st. Beth and I made snow angels in our shorts and tank tops. Then on the road again. Beth and Lindsay keep talking in their Sid the Sloth voices…but I’m unable to make that voice… not surprising given my inability to do accents. Goofy girls. We’re a little west of Denver now…and depending on how we are feeling…we may power through to Chicago tonight or rather early tomorrow morning. Tom saws we can be there by 4 am…. We’ll see.

Thursday June 30th - Day 28 part II: Utah Rocks!!!

*If I wasn’t already thoroughly impressed by Utah the arches for sure clinched it. One of my favorite states so far. I was thinking it was just going to be a lot of desert but it wasn’t it was a lot of different rock and clay and sandstone formations in all kinds of colors just beautiful. *

We headed to Arches National Park after breakfast, which was about 3 hours from our campsite. We arrived about 12 and after a bathroom stop and water bottle fill up at the gas station, we headed into the park. We headed to the Balanced Rock and then parked so we could explore “the Windows”. We changed into our gym shoes…we learned at the Grand Canyon that hiking in flipflops was not ideal. Beth lost her flipflop under the car because it was super windy but some nice dad in the car next door fetched it for us… he must have thought me crawling on the pavement trying to reach it with my umbrella was not effective. Now the basic idea behind Arches National Park is that there are these natural sandstone arches formed by erosion. *mostly wind erosion. The sand blowing against them at high winds deteriorates them after time. I say wind erosion because it was flipping windy out there and I kept crunching on sand the would blow in my moth or get stuck to my teeth. MMM grit*We had experienced the powerful Utah rain already so it was understandable. There is something amazing about this… and I suppose if you had some engineering background you could explain how the arch holds itself up. *like most arches its all about the keystone, but in this case I think its really the relentless swirling wind and god* But we just explored and climbed around. Lindsay was desperately trying to get into this big hole next to the Turret Arch but she couldn’t get all the way up there because it turned flat and she had no hand holds. *ah so mad. If I wasn’t so scared of heights I think I really could have done it oh and had a little more arm and upper body strength (note to self pump iron and loose some more weight all could be helpful in rock climbing endeavors). This hole was so great. I know I’m weird but it was so inviting a nice little place to tuck yourself in absorb nature and read a book or take a nap spend some time reflecting. I wanted to be in that hole and I got pretty far but my fear of heights was not ideal for having confidence to get myself up the rest of the way. I will go back and get up there!* Beth wanted to follow her but I told her no, so we explored on the ground. *yeah I am not ideal to have around either when you have a very curious kid wanting to follow you. But a girl after my own heart she is just as curious as me. After all most days I revert to a younger age or maybe just to wild eyed curious spirit of a child. Whatever I love being in touch with my inner everyone should try it especially B. She does and awful sid the sloth impression. It’s more Sylvester spitting impressioin not as charming with spit flying everywhere* We found a little cave to climb up into, but it smelled like a portapotty so we were convinced people have been peeing there. We were starving so we headed back to the car, but not before Lindsay and Beth hunted for lizards. They caught this collared lizard which had all sorts of bright colors on it.* once again I reiterate that any day that includes successful lizard catching is a good day and especially a bigger one like that. I mean I am the queen of catching lizards but they are usually only abour 3 inches from head to tail and I am quite good at it. One year when I was by carrie in Tucson I went to start family easter at a park and I had every last child following me around because I was catching lizards. I hadn’t intended to be the family babysitter I just wanted to catch lizards and suddenly a line of kids formed behind me. I caught a lizard and handed it off to one of the kids until all of them were holding lizards. Told you childlike curiousity. But this collared lizard was a boy yep I know those things. Impressed? I know me too. It’s the biggest lizard I have caught in the wild and he was opening his mouth at me so I opened mine at him, B got some pics. Awesome lizard I thanked him for his time and set him free. I believe in catch and release just like fishing, that is if you don’t intend on cooking them and eating them that day and even then I still feel bad. A big sap I kno, why I am not a vegetarian is a good question. Because meat is delicious simply said.* We got back in the car and I drove to the Delicate Arch while Lindsay made sandwiches for us. Beth and I jammed out to Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers… screaming and singing at the top of our lungs. When she chases lizards and spits, she’s like Lindsay, *for the record I did not teach her to spit! She did it the first day she was on the road with us and I was like she spits,she’s like me. COOL! Lol* but when she’s rapping Bieber, she’s definitely like me.*yes B can have that one that’s cool I like being able to carry a tune ooo burn jk love you B!*

We devoured our sandwiches and after taking a loop to the arch viewpoint, Lindsay said she wanted to hike up to it. We saw some people on an offroading trail, but the Vue doesn’t have 4 wheel drive so we couldn’t try it out. * bummer that would have been a blast right up my alley, stinken grocery getter as some very humourus boys of the worzalla family call it while trying to get a rise out of me. What they don’t realize is I find the constant picking on me entertaining it cracks me up actually* We got to the Delicate Arch trail and brought our water bottles. The trail was supposed 1.5 miles, but it was all up hill so it seemed so much longer. Beth was tired so we’d stop every so often to rest and drink her water. She finished her water, so I gave her mine. Lindsay ventured ahead of us…apparently too impatient to wait for us. * more of I’m not a skinny minney and not all that fit and kept going so that I wouldn’t loose momentum. If I stopped I wouldn’t have kept going. I thought there was a direct path to this arch so I figured they’d be fine. Right? Well no because I followed these two girls who apparently didn’t take the path and I got lost and wound up on the not arch side of a big ravine. When I finally found the path I got up into and arch overlooking delicate arch and heard my name being called. Beth and B were on one side and I was on the other.i didn’t have any intention of loosing them but I’m like a pack mule I have a larger load to carry and slow and steady gets you were you need to be* We followed her but she vanished from sight so we kept walking in the direction we thought she went. Beth cooled off in the puddles on the rock. The sun was very hot and the hike was strenuous. We finally reached the top, but found a cliff, so we hiked around, and finally located the Delicate Arch. Lindsay was nowhere in sight. This is why you don’t separate. We found a rock to sit on…. The arch was surrounded by this big hole that looked like we were walking inside a clay pot. Beth spotted Lindsay on the other side of the gorge. We shouted to her…and it sort of echoed across the big pot. All of our water was gone so I was getting hot and agitated, since I hadn’t really gotten any water since I’d given mine to Beth. Beth climbed up to this cave…a little explorer just like us. We finally found the trail, which we had apparently deviated from. We found Lindsay and I gave her a piece of my mind for separating from us and being impatient. I hadn’t hiked my butt all the way up there to see the side of the arch so we walked around and I hiked over to it so I could stand underneath it. It was amazing in its strange simplicity and yet complexity. Very hot and tired, we began our descent. By the time we made it all the way down the mountain (we had an epic view of the whole desert), we’d been hiking for about 3 hours. I swallowed a whole bottle of water within 2 minutes and set out for the park entrance.

We pointed ourselves in the direction of Colorado. It was about an hour and a half drive to the state line, so we forged ahead. We stopped to fill up at Papa Joe’s gas station… and then on the road. We stopped to take a picture at the state line and headed into the Colorado Mesas… big plateaus. The sun was going down, so the lighting on the plateaus was really cool. We drove for about an hour more…than I got off at the town of Rifle, Colorado. We had passed Parachute too, but there wasn’t any campsites. There had been signs for Rifle State Park and since there had been no other signs for camping, I figured this was our best bet for finding a place to camp. We headed north through the small town of Rifle and towards Rifle State Park… we made a right at the fork which pointed to camping…left at the fork would’ve led us to the Rifle Correctional Facility. Just what you want to be camping by. * and this is the girl who apparently lives by the phrase “stranger danger” and we are both afraid of creepers, I’d be way more comfortable with bears.* We drove for about 10 more miles (so far away from the correctional facility) and passed the Rifle Gap Lake. Beth has a habit of calling any body of water a lake…like a stream or a river or a pond… apparently puddles are lakes in Arizona. *And lakes flow to the sea who knew?* We found a spot to camp and Lindsay set up the tent while me and Beth paid the fee, went to the bathroom, and I made us sandwiches. We decided to sleep sideways so we could all fit in the tent on the airmattress. It was chilly, so we put on pants. And then it was time for bed. We were all exhausted from all the hiking, and I think I had a little bit of heatstroke because I had a pounding headache. * actually she is unaware of this but she was fully experiencing the effects of “no food=bad mood” but she will never admit to that. Just sayin’. Also I would like to add we are tent setter upper pros. I am really good at setting up a tent in the dark. With the exception of Alaska and parts of Canada we always arrive to the campsites in the dark. Because it was dark we obviously had no idea what our surroundings looked like we could only speculate based on sounds and dim lighting. So it left a cool air of mystery for the morning to see what we were surrounded by. Kind of a fun little surprise every morning. I dug it.*

Thursday June 30th (Day 28) – Breakfast in the Rain

We all slept a little longer today, until Lindsay accidently set off the car alarm. *woopsies*Good morning campers. We all headed to take a shower. We passed all the shampoo and conditioner back and forth and had good hot showers. Which ofcourse ended up being sort of pointless since it began to rain as soon as we started making breakfast. I tried to hurry up and put away the tent while Lindsay kept cooking the pancakes. I managed to get most of our stuff out of the rain before it started pouring and even a few little pieces of hail. By the time we had breakfast ready to eat in the car, I was soaking wet and so was Lindsay. * once agaqin I was left cooking under an umbrella because of the elements but this time I had to hold the umbrella myself while trying to flip pancakes on a little propane stove. So maybe they weren’t the prettiest pancakes but they still tasted good. I was somewhat seltered from the huge rain drops but my back was completely exposed. Soaking wet back awesome. I also cut up a bunch of fruit so the chocolate drizzled pancakes were at least a little counter balanced by the fruit, right?* Beth was excited about the rain, but ofcourse she got to sit in the car and be dry. Earlier when we had walked out of the bathroom and passed the man mowing the lawn, she remarked that it smelled like mildew and I said no, that’s the grass. And she’s like “that’s what grass smells like??”… oh man, a little desert baby. We had pancakes with chocolate drizzle again and a bowl of cut of apples and pears. We finished getting the stuff packed up and on the road again.

Wednesday June 29th (Day 27) – Arizona State Patrol and Utah’s Landscapes

Beth woke up at the crack of dawn, which meant we all woke up at the crack of dawn. I took her to the bathroom (a fancy portapotty… well a pit toilet). I advised her not to look down. Then we brushed our teeth using the water spigot. Lindsay made pancakes (fancy campers) while I packed up most of the tent. We didn’t have syrup so we used melted Hershey’s chocolate bars for chocolate drizzle. Quite good I must say. We got everything packed up and got ready to head out. Lindsay hadn’t slept well and I could tell she was exhausted so I decided I would drive while she slept in the backseat. We hadn’t found our campground host and there wasn’t a drop box, so we ended up not having to pay for this campsite. On the road again. Beth sat up front with me and watched a movie.

We were on two lane roads through the Northern Arizona Desert where they were all sorts of rock formations and plateaus. I was enjoying the scenery and cruising along… apparently cruising a little too fast because before I knew it, a state trooper was coming straight at me, with his lights on. I still stand by the fact that I had a spotless driving record until this trip… haven’t been pulled over in 6 years of driving and this would be twice in 3 weeks. * I told her at some point the lead foot catches up with you and the luck runs out. The luck ran out today but it was somewhat of a blessing because if it was me she’d be driving the entire way back seeing as my luck ran out a few times now leaving me with measly 5 points left on my lisence. Oopsy poopsy. Do you get points back after 2 years?* The officer approached us on Beth’s side and asked for my license and registration after informing me that my speed was the reason he was pulling me over. I handed over my license but told him we didn’t have any registration or insurance information. Lindsay rolled down the backseat window to explain to him that in Wisconsin you don’t need proof of insurance or registration so she doesn’t have any. He seemed skeptical about this, but he took down the VIN number. * I have never been asked for my registration or proof of insurance, NEVER. And believe me I have had my share of run ins with police officers. When I got in an accident, pulled over for my lisence plate holder, speeding, speeding and more speeding. And none of those times have I ever been asked for that. So I have a hard time believing that all those time it was just coincidence. Furthermore now I probably sound like a horrible driver when in fact I am a pretty darn good and capable driver. That’s what B gets when she makes fun of my grandma driving lol jk.*He instructed me not to put the car in drive while he was doing this. Luckily for him, I am still afraid of authority and wouldn’t have dreamed of it. We got our information and went back to process my ticket. He came back with it, and was a little more friendly this time. Maybe he noticed my spotless driving record. There was no chance of him just giving me a warning because he was a state trooper and it was the end of the month. It was stupid of me to be speeding when we had literally seen 20 cop cars on the side of the freeway the day before….definitely end of the month quota time. Beth wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to get arrested and I told her ofcourse not, and she was calm the whole time and even told the officer to have a nice day when he left. It looks like I’ll be taking online driver’s school at the price of $225. Since I don’t think I’ll be returning to Moccasin County anytime soon. Didn’t really budget for tickets when planning this trip. But I was speeding so I guess I deserve the ticket.

After that, we were on the road again. We crossed the state line and got out to take a picture with the Utah sign. Lindsay told me I should’ve outran him to the border. *well he couldn’t have done anything once you cross the state line that was like 4 miles down the road. That must be my Bucholz thinking kicking in eh hem dad, uncle leonard :P*

Our first Utah stop was Zion National Park. We ended up taking the side entrance so we drove for a bit until we found a spot to pull off and explore. Zion has all sort of layered rocks that are easy to climb up on. We did just that, and hiked for a bit. Lindsay and Beth chased after lizards. * I so caught one and any day that includes a successfully caught lizard is a good day in my book. Yeah Beth is so much like both of us it’s weird. She totally spits like me which I did not teach her she did that all on her own and laughs when she toots like me yet she is evry bit as girly as B. Kind of cool to see.* Sometimes Beth is so much like Lindsay and sometimes so much like me. Lindsay hiked up one of the rocks, but I told Beth she had to remain by me. We explored for a bit, enjoying the view. We continued to follow Tom’s instructions but then figured he was wrong. Lindsay had apparently know that I should’ve stayed on the main road but didn’t say thing. Lindsay fell asleep so it was just me and Beth driving. We stopped to get gas in Springdale and head through Zion National Park. It was a beautiful park with these astonishing rock walls. I think my favorite part was driving through the tunnel which was 1.1 miles long and just carved into the mountain..dating back to 1930. It was awesome. Me and Beth got out of the car a few times to get a better view of the park and for Beth to scribble “Beth Was Here” in the sand. After we left Zion, Beth fell asleep too, so I kept driving until we got to Bryce National Park. I woke both the girls up and we took a picture by the sign. Lindsay had to go to the bathroom so we pulled into the lodge. Beth was getting really hungry so we tried to get a meal at the lodge but the dining room was closed until 5. We decided to go out and explore Bryce a little bit and then come back and get dinner. We went to Bryce Point and finally got a view of Bryce’s famous Hoodoos. It began to rain, which Beth was so excited about. People from the desert love the rain I suppose. The drops were big and cold but we decided to keep exploring. We found the path and walked down the side of the canyon…getting a better view of the orange and pink rocks. We walked underneath this natural archway and followed the path around. Lindsay decided she wanted to climb up to one of the caves so me and Beth sat by a rock while she did. When she got to the top and couldn’t climb into the cave, she shouted down…why don’t you tell me this is a bad idea? Just as three guys walked by and probably had a good chuckle. She slid down and we explored more until a big cloud appeared threatening a downpour. The hike up was much more difficult than the hike down and all 3 of us were huffing and puffing. When we finally got to the car, we each drank a whole bottle of water. * I hate getting so close yet being so far from my goal I just wanted to sit in the cave and B to take my picture. Grrr *

We made it back to the lodge and entered the dining room. I made sure we didn’t have to be hotel guests to eat, and we didn’t so we found a place and looked at the menu. Ofcourse this was a hotel restaurant so everything was a little pricey and fancy. I had really just wanted a cheeseburger. We devoured the bread and I went to the bathroom. When I got back, Lindsay had gotten a kids menu. The kids menu seemed so much more appealing with pasta and cheeseburgers and chicken fingers. We asked the waiter if we had to be kids to get food off the kids menu and he said no so we ordered pasta, chicken fingers and a cheeseburger. We must have looked famished because our bus girl kept bringing us new bread. She was super sweet and told us we could have as much as we wanted. I felt like a poor person at a fancy restaurant….loading up on the free bread and eating off the kids menu. But its not like the $26 entrees were really in the budget. Especially since I had quite the expensive morning. We gave our waiter a nice tip since our bill was pretty low. Both Lindsay and I have worked at a restaurant so we were on the same page on that.

Fed and happy, we hit the road again. * the food was so good mmmm delicious. Plus I figured we owed beth a better meal that gas station street meat for dinner even though it was that bad.* Beth kept us entertained in the car… Lindsay talked about the good look men we saw at the Grand Canyon the day before and Beth insisted that she should’ve given them her number and said “Call me toots”. I’m guess she learned that from Stewart… We had originally planned to go to the Four Corners but given there’s not really a clear cut path there and it would be like an 8 hour detour to just stand on a piece of desert, we decided to head towards Arches National Park and bypass the New Mexico slice. And we were rather impressed with Utah’s landscape…especially as the sun went down and cast its shadows on the colorful rocks of the mountains. We drove for a while until we hit the town of Richfield where I found a Wal-Mart. There was also a KOA campground there so we decided to hit Wal-mart and then camp. We got Beth a pillow since she had forgotten hers and I didn’t enjoy sleeping on the rolled up blanket when I gave her my pillow the night before. We also got some lunch meat and fruit and more pancake mix. We stopped at McD’s so me and Beth could get ice cream cones then we headed to the campground. We found a spot and set up the tent…this time with the air mattress. Lindsay offered to sleep outside so we wouldn’t be smushed on the air mattress.. how nice of her. We got in the tent and after a little of blogging, I got tired and fell asleep. * I was totally fine with sleeping outside but soon moved to the car because I was sweating profusely in my sleeping bag and was not so keen on being out of my sleeping bag outside. So I soon moved to the car. Not a better choice. I could not get comfortable.*