Greetings from California

The 'Ski' family has landed in California! We had a pretty uneventful/eventful trip across country. I say uneventful because we arrived safe, sound and with very little problems along the way. Both kids dealt with a bit of vomiting from the lovely cold they contracted just before we left but other than that, it was almost cake. The eventful part was all of the wonderful places we got to explore.

Day 1: We stopped for the night in Joplin, Missouri to meet some old friends from our Kansas days. We drove through the tornado ravaged town in awe of how destructive nature could be but also in the strength of the local people who were rebuilding (see photo at right).

Day 2: Booked it across Oklahoma and part of Texas without really stopping much because we wanted to have time to see the GOOD stuff.

Petroglyph National Monument

Day 3: Drove through New Mexico and all the nothingness was so beautiful. Then stopped at the Petroglyph National Monument where we did a easy hike in search of Petroglyphs. Bug LOVED this and enjoyed "doing it himself."

Petrified Forest National Park

Day 4: We visited the Petrified Forest National Park where Bug really enjoyed walking/running the concrete path but occasionally became interested in exploring these amazing feats of nature.

Meteor Crater

Then off to Meteor Crater. I honestly never knew this existed until my husband brought it up the day before. We toured the museum and then a quick jaunt out to look at the crater and back into the car.

Grand Canyon National Park

We made it to the Grand Canyon National Park just before dusk. Wow, what an amazing site. At this point, Bug was much to tired to enjoy the park but we plan to return this summer or next. Throughout today's drive, we also stopped at a number of cheesy Historic Route 66 attractions . We made it all the way to Las Vegas, NV for the night and enjoyed all the lights (from the Interstate).





Day 5: Made it to California and stayed the night in Morgan Hill, where we hope to rent a house so we could tour the area both at night and in the daytime.
Day 6: Landed in a temporary housing situation (hotel) until we find our new home.

We had a number of wonderful learning opportunities on this trip with geography, science, history and so forth... it's too bad that both Bug and Peanut are too young to benefit from it. I look forward to the days when they will be old enough to participate in the NPS Junior Rangers Program. All I can say, is they better like National Parks because we are going to be dragging them to everyone within driving distance of our new home.

 

 

 

And now I can say to you, "Greetings from California."