Road Trip

Hello world!  Life has looked a little different this past week.  Not only are we not on the boat, but the majority of our days have been spent driving/riding in the car!  Let me tell you, it’s not quite the same as sailing to your next destination.  We’ve since made it all the way to Tucson, Arizona from Virginia!  We got in last night and finally got some good sleep.  It felt so nice to be at our final destination, well, at least until we start our trip back home again.

Our journey began early Tuesday morning.  We made it to our hotel in Kentucky that night, which was only about a 5 minute drive to Cincinnati.  We ordered some delicious Chinese food that we got rained on while picking it up.  It was so nice after a long drive.  Our next night was at a small motel in Hannibal, Missouri.  This, little did we know, was the hometown of Mark Twain.  Naturally, we decided to explore a little.  We walked down to the Mississippi river, saw statues of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, and had a drink and a pretzel at the Mark Twain Brewing Co (which allowed dogs INSIDE!!). 

It was a blast, besides the motel being not the best.  However, we got what we paid for, and by that I mean:  The price of our motel + a pet fee was the same price that we paid for only the pet fee at the first hotel.  So, yeah, there’s that.  BUT we had a blast regardless.  We got some much needed rest and made it to Java Jive the next day for coffee and breakfast. 

It was the cutest little shop, and was painted all different colors.  It was the first morning it felt like fall this year and I couldn’t have been happier.  The wind was blowing just a little, the temperature was just chilly enough for a sweater, it was perfect.  And of course my dirty chai latte added the perfect fall feeling to the morning.  

We stopped at the B&B on Sixth in York, Nebraska next.  Oh my goodness. We have a newfound love for B&Bs.  Not only was the house beautifully decorated, but since it was a Thursday no one else had booked rooms so we had the house to ourselves!  The breakfast the next morning was delicious and the hosts were absolutely lovely.

We started out again the next day and made it all the way to Colorado to see Steve’s brother.  We spent a couple of days there, taking in the mountain air and living in their very cool fifth wheel.  All of Saturday was a recoup day and we rested up for more days of traveling.  It was glorious.  

In order to make it to Arizona, we could take two routes. The fastest route or the scenic route (which added about 1.5 hours of driving time). Needless to say, we took the scenic route. We drove to Downtown Denver and walked around. We even stood on the capitol building’s steps where we were 1 mile above sea level. I mean, we’re normally maybe 6 feet above sea level, or 0 if we’re down below in the boat, so it was a fun thing to document. We then took a walk around the art district and let Buoy roam around with us before we were in the car again. On our way to Idaho Springs, we stopped at Red Rocks Amphitheatre and walked around. Oh man, those views were amazing. We added seeing a concert there to our bucket list!

We then went to Idaho Springs for a couple of hours.  What a cute town.  A family friend suggested BeauJo’s for lunch, and man oh man did we destroy that pepperoni pizza.  We picked up a few tourist items, as one does, got a delicious coffee and pastry from The Frothy Cup, and went on our way.  We stopped at a rest stop a little while later, and guess who dipped their toes in the Colorado river – we did! Buoy, as Steve said, “full on sent it” and jumped in for a swim, so she had the best time of all of us.

The drive was beautiful.  Colorful mountains, the sun painting the sky as it set, the scenic overlooks that we stopped at every few hours.  This was the prettiest drive, but also the one that I was the most tired on.  We ended up stopping about 45 minutes from the North Rim in AZ and slept in the back of the car.  It was, um, comfortable?  Well, as comfortable as it could’ve been with two bodies and a dog.  

A few days ago the Bucket List Family, who travel all over the world with their 3 kids, talked about how they love arriving in new places at night because when you wake up it’s like you’re in a whole new world!  Well, that’s how it was when we woke up and drove to the North Rim.

That morning, we woke up at 5am and drove to the North Rim.  I offered to drive because I knew I would be able to take in all the views the best that way.  As the sun was coming up, I could see the world begin to reveal itself.  The trees were massive and lined the road beautifully.  The sun reflected on the fields and dew and made everything shine brightly into the new day.  We saw creatures like a deer, a fox, cows, and SO many buffalo.  I was in awe of it all.

The trail was beautiful, and though we weren’t exactly used to the higher elevation, it was totally worth it.  We also drove to the visitor’s center for that view, and then made our way back toward the interstate.  We made yet another pitstop at Horseshoe Bend and holy cow was that beautiful.  I climbed on a few rocks to get some good shots with the camera, and when I stood up Steve very calmly said “can we go look over here instead, please?”  He was not the biggest fan of his girlfriend being that close to the edge of a major cliff – what a sweetie.  Anyway, it was beautiful, but we hurried back to the car in order to get Buoy some more water (and us too).

We drove and drove and drove and finally made it to Steve’s parents’ house last night.  It felt so good to finally be at our destination, even though our adventures along the way were some of the best.

We’ve realized that the journey is just as good as the adventure.  We love planning trips.  Finally making it somewhere and getting to do all of the fun things you’ve planned is lovely, but the fun had along the way has always been a tiny piece of joy that is almost always a surprise.  Everyone knows the quote that goes along the lines of “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”, but I always forget how wonderful the journey is until it’s happening.  Life is beautiful.  What it turns into is wonderful, but the journey that takes you there, that makes you who you are, that is something like no other.

Our last week has been crazy, but I don’t think I’ll ever get over the fact that I get to have adventures like these with my best friend and our sweet pup.  Find that thing that lights a fire inside and please, I beg of you, never let that light go out.