The Road Home

Monday we left Orange City around 4am (I think) and drove to Denver, CO.

FYI: The AAA book has lots of interesting information on places you've never heard of, like Ogallala, Nebraska.  

Apparently there used to be lots of fighting among cow herders here. . .

Now, there's a nice little Pizza Hut where we stopped for lunch. . .

oh yeah-- but there were lots of flies! EW.

 Sunflowers on the side of the road.  :)

It was an easy (but long and boring) drive.

We got into Denver before dinner with plenty of time to swim and play at the park before having a picnic dinner, more play time and then finally bedtime.

Tuesday morning we left Denver at 5am and started driving into the mountains.

We had a rocky start (haha, get it?  "Rocky"?) because we hadn't even gone 2 hours (or was it 3?) when Emily began puking in the back seat.  I handed her ample buckets and bags to use, but she proceeded to douse the backseat before we had a chance to pull over near Vail. 

Ahh. . .  family vacation memories at their finest.

The picture above was to show how cold it was. (Only 48 degrees, and we had to clean her (and everything else) up and change her outside when she already felt sick!)

Anyway--I thought that photo would be more pleasant to recall than what Emily or our car looked like at the time.

 Back on the road.

A park in Grand Junction, CO near our hotel on the way to the midwest, that we returned to today.

We had a picnic lunch with Pita Pit.  Yum!

On the road again.

 These drowsy driver signs aren't meant to be funny. . . but I got a chuckle out of them.

 Gorgeous clouds.

Believe it or not, our kids were HAPPY in the car.

For almost the entire 20+ hours this day (and the 40+ hours preceding this!) 

 Again. . . with the clouds. . . amazing.

Notice the change in temp--and this was when it was finally starting to drop!

 9pm.  Still 100 degrees, somewhere near Vegas I think.

 See?!?  Happy!!! (And starting to get goofy leaning like that--this was just before bedtime.)

Blurry, awful picture, but it's the 605 freeway!

Our final freeway of our 4,000 + mile road trip!

(Would you believe we hit traffic after 1am on the 605?  There was an accident...)

We made it home!!

Thanks for following along with our blog posts!

Next blog: back to normal weekly life here in Long Beach.  :)

-Sarah

Orange City

Orange City, Iowa!

On Wednesday my parents drove us halfway to Orange City where Pete picked us up.

Grandpa sat in the back and entertained the kids--thanks Dad!

When we met Pete it was time to move all our stuff---no small feat when on a month long road trip! 

In Orange City there was a LOT of marching band. . .

and playing with cousin Joey :)  

I think the outrageous heat got to Peter ;)

the students (and the staff) worked really hard all week

 and we enjoyed watching the evening rehearsals (when it was a little bit cooler)

(I love this picture of Jo)

Peter 'show stopper' Connell hard at work

 The sweet kids in the pit befriended Emily.  (See her sitting in there watching?)

Noah just wandered around in amazement half the time. 

Their favorite part of band camp though, is riding in Grandpa's golf cart after rehearsal!

So much fun!

Twinsies at the park 

Inside band rehearsal (Wonderful A/C!)

102 at 6pm?!?

That calls for some ice cream at the ice cream capitol of the world--LeMars, IA!

 This (above) is more or less what corn should look like now. . .

 Unfortunately, due to the drought and the heat, THIS is what a lot of the corn looked like instead!

:)

 Isn't she lovely?

Her new Hello Kitty dress matches the flowers, too!

Who speaks Dutch and knows what the bridge says?

Does that say 'Welcome to Orange City'?

 (That has always been my assumption...)

 :)

our curious little guy exploring the bridge. . .

 Noah and Patches

hugs for cousins!

adorable, right?  :) 

 Steve's student and his "Wheely Good Ice Cream" came by again.  Yum!

 Grandpa flying his RC plane.

 Watching the hot air balloon. . .

Uncle Paul explaining something to Emily. Noah was too interested in the gravel to pay attention.

 Gpa and Gma's house :)

 aww.

Time to pack up and get home. . . thanks Orange City. . . see you next time!