Road Trip Stats, FAQ's, etc

Total number of days:

• 2 with just our fam back and forth from Las Vegas to Salt Lake
• 10 with Royce and Heather on the World's Largest Things Tour
• 5 days with me staying in salt lake with the kids. Ry flew home to work and then came back for a wedding. more to come on that later. Total days gone from Las Vegas: 17

Miles driven: a little more than 6,000
Oil changes: 2
New Tires: 2
Tanks of Gas: idk-30?

License Plates Found: all states except Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, North Dakota, South Carolina, and Vermont.

Significant States Visited: Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Tennesse, Colorado

No. of laptops we brought: 2
No. of laptops that didn't work very well: 2

No. of presidents memorized: the first 10
Verses of 99 bottles of beer on the wall sung: all of them! including a nice rendition on the answering machine of one of ryan's clients
World's Largest Things Seen: I don't know-look through the pics and count them

Random Quotes: No need to understand

• Heather (while compiling a list of 50 states) Okay, I'm missing a state. Ryan: Which one?
• Royce: They had gyros, but they pronounced it "Guy Roe" so you definitely didn't want one
• Heather: The smoky mountains smell like incense. Ryan: No, my laptop's on fire!

Was it fun? YES
Was it better than expected? For the most part
Would we do it again? Probably but the jury's still out on that one
Did you miss the kids? yes, but honestly not that much. I actually read a book start to finish!
Did we all hate each other? As a matter of fact-we're all still friends. Royce and Heather still like our kids which in all honesty is quite the miracle.


This trip was sponsored by the letters A, W, X, and R. And the ABC song. And the Wonder Years.

Sunday- Denver to Home! (salt lake is close enough to home)

 

We left Denver with only one thought in mind: "tonight we will be home". And even with an extra long potty break, stupid Wyoming traffic, and having to turn back to get gas, we still made great time. And we were still in great spirits. So our 10 day road trip comes to an end. But don't worry-there is still more fun to be had.

Almost Home

The day started at 5am CST. It ended at 11pm MST. In between were some of the worst hours of my life. I don't think I'm exaggerating. I'm still recovering from the hours of driving, and screaming, and the blow out while I drove and the hour from hell at Wal-Mart while we fixed the tire. And the parts where I completely embarrassed myself in front of our friends that we stayed with. I'm pretty sure they will never have children.At least there was Casa Bonita. The mecca of all that is good about dining smack in the middle of Denver, CO. But despite the pictures to show our fun at the puppet show, arcades, cliff diving, and Black Bart's Cave, I can only remember the moment when I was finally left alone at the table to finish the remnants of my dinner. I could only stare at the food while I broke down into sobs. But I was still aware of my surroundings enough to notice that the old man trying not to stare at me was definitely staring at me. So I decided to take my over tired and worn out mothering self to the ladies room to at least save some of my dignity. The private handicapped stall was occupied. Of course. So I carried my tear stained face to the public restroom, but it was next to the arcade. I pictured my family winning tickets with their ski ball skills and decided I might as well just start enjoying myself. So there you have it. If Casa Bonita can make my worst day better, it is definitely a good place.

 

Friday the 30th?

Memphis, TN. 

BBQ

 

And...

 

Elvis had more horses than Churchill Downs

 

Again, I can't remember exactly where or when, but here it is: World's Largest Rubix Cube. Still worth it after asking for directions in a torrential down pour.

 

And last, but not least: World's Largest Basketball. Guarding over the Women's BBall Hall of Fame.

Friday night brought us full circle to St. Louis and a reunion with our children...I should have flown home while I had the chance...

On Thursday-Kentucky to TN

Our morning in Louisville, KY was pretty jam packed. The drizzly day started at a closed KFC where I nobly dove into the dumpster to find the perfect buckets of chicken to property honor the Colonel. Okay, so we actually ran into an employee who asked the manager who hooked us up with 2 free and clean buckets. BUT, I REALLY was going to jump in the dumpster to get one. We had to ask two maintenance workers where his grave was, but once we found the yellow line leading us straight there, well, it was easy. 

From there we headed to our only "crowded" World's Largest Thing. The Louisville Slugger was also visited by a large Japan/American student exchange program. All wearing bright green T-shirts. And it seemed to me that there were more Asian kids on the American side of things. So although we had to wait to get a good picture, it gave us a chance to admire the bat in all its glory.

Louisville was my favorite city. Mostly because not two blocks away from the baseball "bat" is the World's Largest Vampire Bat. Not newsworthy enough for the foreign exchange students, but we enjoyed it. But even more exciting is this little tribute:

 

Although Royce was not too happy about missing out on a Cinnabon, the rest of us enjoyed going to Churchill Downs. (okay, Royce enjoyed it too). In case you're not into horse racing-Churchill Downs is where they have the Kentucky Derby. And apparently it costs the arms and legs of you and all your grandchildren to get a seat at that event, so I suggest doing it our way--when there are no horses there.

 

or you could just win your own race. 

And finally, I have no idea where or which day we saw this World's Largest Dragon, but here it is. And we definitely saw it. And it was cool. And I have better pics of it somewhere but I can't find where they are now. So you'll have to go see it yourself.

Road Trip Intermission

While looking at a box of cereal:

Rachel: (pointing to the letter M) says, "W" (double oo)

Adam: No! "M"

What Day is It?

Since we were doing such a good job of having fun, we decided to add some righteousness in with it. It was me and Ry's first trip to Kirtland, OH, and even though we had to do the shortened tour, it was still amazing, and I can't wait to go back.

Thanks for going back to take this picture, Heather!Royce served his mission in Cleveland, OH. We decided to pay a visit to some of his old stomping grounds and had lunch in Little Italy. I'd say it was worth the detour.

There's nothing like driving and having something large pop out at you. Here is the World's Largest Picnic Basket. Otherwise known as the Longaberger co. Headquarters

Where is this? I don't know, but it's the World's Largest Gavel

And here we are at the World's Largest Crystal Ball. Which we almost gave up on finding. Which Royce touched several times before he asked if you were supposed to. You weren't.And finally the day brought us to ?? somewhere near Louisville, KY and the World's Largest Clock (although there is some controversy on this issue.) Good thing we were running behind schedule so we could see it in all its glory at night.