Road trip

Our move from Kansas City, Missouri to Monterey, California

We stopped for a couple days at a time to do some sight seeing and break up the long hours in the car. We had a great time, saw some firsts and increased our state tally. 

Miles traveled: about 1,900

States passed through: Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California

Hotels: 6
Car repacks: 9
On the radio: Pimsler Portuguese basics

Notables: See pix!

Piddle pack. Geoff has a stash of these from all those long flights in the B-2. This was the first of the trip and unfortunately we were only about an hour in. Impressively full, I'd say. No one wants to own it, but Eri was in diapers then and Brye really regretted all the coffee, beer and watermelon for breakfast.

Still driving. No word from the backseat thanks to the endless loop of Yo Gabba Gabba. 

Life on the road.

Somewhere in the middle of 2,000 miles. Are we frickin' there yet?
Still not a peep from the backseat.

Stop No. 1: Colorado Springs for Geoff's Class of 2001 (fire it up) United States Air Force Academy reunion. Highlights: staying with Drew and Seher Judkins / meeting baby Cody; hanging with all the fellas; lots of hiking, kayaking and all things outdoorsy; granola; petchuli.

Class of '01: Desperate to cling to its youth, though the beer quality is much higher 10 years later.

Dr. Dugg feeding his goddaughter a little pre-USAFA football game "maca" and cheese.

Drew Judkins skydiving onto the USAFA field before kickoff. What a badass.

Life is good.

Hiking in Red Rocks in Colorado Springs. After watching her father scale this mountain that had absolutely no traction or anything to hang on to, Eri insisted on following. I insisted they both come down.

Eri gives baby Cody Judkins a goodbye kiss. Not pictured: Geoff and BFF Drew's goodbye kiss.

Stop No. 2: Ouray, CO. Highlights: staying at the Wiesbaden cottages, where we spent a surprise weekend getaway after we got engaged (!) in 2002; hiking above the little Bavarian town; enjoying the famous hot springs pools and natural steam caves.

Hiking in Ouray, Colorado, headed to the waterfall to show Eri where daddy proposed to mommy 10 years ago! She agreed it was very special and that her dad is quite a guy.

One of Ouray's famous natural hot springs (left of kiddie pool). There some health code that prevents toddlers from going in to the hot springs pools, so we improvised.

Lovely Ouray.

Stop No. 3: Telluride, CO. Highlights: riding the gondola to the village; more hiking (nope, not sick of it yet. (Six years in flat, flat Missouri.))

Loved Telluride. So beautiful, so casual, so expensive.

Riding the gondola in Telluride, Colorado.

Awe, Dad.

Eating like she's on vacation!

Stop No. 4: Flagstaff, AZ. Highlights: the Grand Canyon, Sedona

Four corners! Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. We paid 5 bucks to do this. 

Greetings from Sedona.

Happy Hour overlooking downtown Flagstaff.

Just seeing the sights and wearing silver loafers.

Beautiful Arizona.

The Grand Canyon. 

Awake to marvel.

Stop No. 5: Las Vegas. Highlights: Nana and Grandpa; gambling and (mostly) winning; shopping and eating; seeing friends who live here; the Lion King musical; boxing.

Doin' Vegas with a couple of pros. Thanks for meeting us Nana and Grandpa.

Two guys boxing in some really big fight in Vegas. Geoff went with his buddies.

Vegas, baby, Vegas. 

Bringing home the soy bacon. Cha-ching.

Last Stop: Monterey, CA., our new HOME! for the next nine months. Highlights: The beach; nearly perfect weather; language school; California living.