California Trail

When you drive around Kansas you will see little markers along the road that say California Trail Crossed Here or Oregon Trail Crossed Here. Depending on my attitude when I see those signs, I get super homesick and think I want to take that trail home or I think, where can I find the game Oregon Trail to play again? And then other times I think, "it's no wonder why they left this place." If I'm feeling really negative, I say that last one.

But, that's getting away from the topic. What I mean to say, is this Christmas Break we did our own California Trail and not realizing it until later, we ended up seeing the whole entire South Western corner of this great country. We had some family things to see and do in Utah, so we went through Kansas and Colorado to get to Utah and then dropped down the 15 (so many memories, we know that portion so well) through Utah, a small part of Arizona, Nevada and then on to California. On the way home to Kansas, we took the Southern route and even went a little more southern to avoid any potential snow storms, which luckily we had just missed. We went through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and then Kansas. Here is a list of things we learned along the way, followed by a bunch of pictures:

1. The drive to Utah from Kansas, not bad. It was about 17hrs but we stopped in Denver for the night to break up the drive. We took the 70 and we heard later, that is the best route to take because they rarely close the road because of all of the ski resorts.

2. Colorado was beautiful. Would love to explore it more closely.

3. Utah County has some traffic, especially when you only have 45 minutes left of your drive and you just want to be done, you get to sit in Spanish Fork for a little bit. But Utah's restaurants are just how I remember them, so yummy. Yanni's in Sugar House is still amazing. If you like Greek food, go there and order the Yanni's special with pork and chicken and extra pitas, you will not regret it and you will dream about it later.

4. The shorter days in winter make me not a fan of road trips in the winter. By the time we would get rolling, we'd have about 7 to 8 hours of daylight, so we couldn't really stop and enjoy things like we had hoped. Also, as soon as it got dark, the kids got antsy and we did too. It went from leisurely enjoying the scenery, to claustrophobia real quick. We gave us a few extra days to take time with the drive and see everything we wanted to see, so that's why it was a bummer when night fell. If we just wanted to plow through it, then nighttime driving is always the best.

5. Go to Tucson, AZ if only just to see those huge Saguaro cactuses. They were amazing and a highlight of my trip. If High School Laura read this, she would be so disappointed in me, because I hated desert things, desert decor, desert front yards, everything. Guess I'm becoming a Senior Citizen already.

6. You should go to Roswell, NM once in your life. Only if you have ever been curious about it. If it has never crossed your mind, skip it and go to White Sands, NM for me. That was one thing that when we got there it was too dark to see. Roswell though, is a quirky town with tons of alien shout outs, but plan on just spending a day there, if that. It's fun to drive down the Main Street and go to the museum and then get on your way.

7. In Texas, make sure you see Cadillac Ranch, on the way to Amarillo. We didn't see it because it was too dark and it is a big Route 66 attraction. While in Texas, make sure you stop in Shamrock, TX. They have this restored Conoco gas station that is amazing. It may look familiar because it was inspiration for one of the buildings in the Cars movie.

And now for some pictures:

I had to drive by the Unsinkable Molly Brown's house, if only to look at the outside and get a picture before we headed on our way.

It seems like we haven't seen mountains like this in forever, so we were soaking in the views and wishing we could take a detour and go skiing. So many skiers and chairlifts in those mountains.

On the way to California from Utah, we followed my sister and her family. This is when we stopped in St George, for a little DI, Deseret Book and Cafe Rio action. We lived there for a year when we were first married and I fought off the urges to walk around Red Cliffs Mall where we both worked and driving out to almost Santa Clara to see our old apartment. I am such a sucker for going down Memory Lane.

Watch out for dinosaurs!!

I am sure we will cure our children of road trips by the time they leave the house.

But as long as this baby gets Cinnamon Buns aka: Doughnuts the whole drive, she'll go where ever we want.

I think this was just outside Barstow, CA. Just pretty views, I feel like my Grandma for saying that, but there is a lot of beauty in the world.

The next set of pictures are from the California - Kansas route.

We stopped in Tucson, AZ for the night and the kids really needed to swim in at least one hotel pool on our trip. It was a warm day for 9:30 in the morning and the kids were in heaven.

So many Saguaros, so little time.

Aliens in Roswell, NM.

I just really appreciated the awesomeness of this store front.

A cool portrait as you walk into the alien museum. These guys did not want their portrait painted.

These are their act scared faces.

Lots,

and Lots, 

and Lots of alien decor in Roswell. 

This is the gas station in Shamrock, Texas.

From what I read on Wikipedia about this place was that they worked really heard to restore the gas station to it's original glory. It now houses a small cafe, a museum and Shamrock's city offices.

There were tons of Indian trading posts and of course, we had to stop at a few. 

These were all somewhere in Oklahoma.

Kansas Prairie.

Take away points: We wanted to just go at our own pace, explore and see parts of America we have never seen before, but I think next time I will make more of a schedule. Because at some points, we spent more time doing things that we kind of wanted to do and that took time away from things that we really wanted to do.

Kuddos to Ryan for driving the entire time. I offered to drive, but maybe it's because the last time we switched drivers on the last trip, I was pulled over for speeding because I was trying to drive and be a Mom. Sometimes in works, sometimes it doesn't. Regardless, I was impressed.

I'm convinced that this world is a marvelous place and I am amazed at all of the landscapes we were able to see in just two weeks. It was a long journey, but I'm glad we did it.