Have I mentioned that my parents own a minivan? Well, that’s how all of my out-of-state adventures start, in the good ole minivan. In the summer of 2016, when Betta, our exchange student, came back to visit, we decided to take her to a whole bunch of states that she hadn’t been to yet. My cousin lived in Arizona and none of us had visited him yet, so we decided to take a road trip and see him and hit a few National Parks along the way. Our journey started in Nebraska (State #1).
Then we drove down through Kansas (2). Now, I know a lot of people say Nebraska is flat, but Kansas is FLAT. We wanted to go a long distance the first day so that we wouldn’t have as much driving to do the next few days. After Kansas was Oklahoma (3) and then Texas (4). The highway we were taking was about a few hundred feet from the Texas state line, so we took a gravel road for a half-mile in order to say that we went through Texas too.
It was the middle of the night when we drove through New Mexico (5). I had to go to the bathroom really, really bad. The only problem was that there hadn’t been any towns or gas stations or even rest areas in a LONG time. I didn’t want to squat in a ditch because I was afraid a rattlesnake or some other sketchy animal might bite me. So we continued on for a while. Unfortunately, we didn’t ever come upon a gas station. My dad stopped in the middle of the road, and I squatted next to the minivan while my sister held a flashlight to watch for animals and my mom got a paper towel ready for me to use. And that my friends is the story of the time I peed on the side of the road in the pitch black in New Mexico.
We finally stopped in Santa Fe and slept for the night. In the morning we went to the Cathedral Church of St. Francis of Assisi which was the home of the Chapel of La Conquistadora (Our Lady of Peace). The side chapel had so many relics of a variety of Saints in a glass case. Our next stop was at the Loretto Chapel, which is known for its spiral staircase. This staircase was built by a wandering carpenter with no visible support. The handrails were added later because the Religious Sisters of the community were worried about their safety. It was pretty dang cool to look at the architecture of both of these Chapels.
Next, we headed toward Albuquerque and stopped at the Rio Puerco Bridge. The bridge was on Old Route 66.
Then we got back on the road and headed into Arizona (6). We spent the next few nights in Phoenix where our cousin, Mike, was one of the managers at the Marriott Phoenix Resort Tempe at The Buttes.
The next morning we got up early to head to the Grand Canyon. Oh my goodness, it was so incredibly beautiful! It is crazy to see the impressive landscapes that God is able to create. Bekah, the most adventurous of us, went on a hike down into the canyon, while the rest of us took a short bus ride and explored the top.
The Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona was next on our trip bucket list. This chapel was so much more breathtaking than any of us could have imagined. We were way up in the mountains overlooking the red-rock buttes.
After Mass Sunday morning at the Catholic Church of Phoenix, we went to a delicious little breakfast place called Matt’s Breakfast. We got back to the hotel and went for a swim before our Sunday naps.
The next morning we left Phoenix and headed to the Four Corners Monument. This location is where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah (7), and Colorado (8) meet. It was in the middle of nowhere and the only bathrooms were a couple of port-a-potties. The sun was beating down and since we were in the middle of the desert, there weren’t any trees for shade. But it was all worth it for the amazing family picture we got….not. Note to self, always choose someone who looks like they know how to operate a phone when you ask them to take a picture. At least we got a nice picture by the “Thank You for visiting” sign!
Since we were now traveling in Utah, we had to stop by some arches, so that we could climb them. A storm was starting to roll in, so we had to climb fast and take in the views quickly. So many of the landscapes looked like they were just painted and not even real. God does some pretty amazing things!
We stayed that night in Grand Junction, and then explored part of western Colorado the next day.
We stayed at a very interesting Airbnb the next two nights and voted that dad could sleep in the living room in case something happened. We continued to explore Colorado during the days.
Now we could have taken the faster route home, but then we would have only been through eight states in nine days, and us girls decided that that didn’t have a nice ring to it. So, we journeyed up to Wyoming.
At last, we were finally home with only stories to tell about our adventure. Our joke for the week was that Bekah didn’t fall over the edge into the Grand Canyon, so we considered everything a success!
