TEXAS!!!

No matter where we go, and what we see, it's always a great feeling to see the WELCOME TO TEXAS sign.  We had a great trip and we had a few problems, but we never let it get us down, we will always talk about this vacation and all the stuff we went through. Chris is already asking where we want to go next year, we're not even home yet.  So i have about 8 more hours till I walk through our front door and i can't wait.

Denver, Co

Soooo Note to self or to Chris, no more two week vacations.  We're stuck in Denver Colorado, as we were going through the rocky mountains, we hit a traffic jam, and were moving very slow if not at all. The the kids noticed smoke coming out from under the RV and as we pulled off the road we noticed we're leaking something. It turned out that a seal on the pump in transmission went out so....... we had to get towed down the mountain. Yes, i said towed down the mountain with all of us in the RV. Now it seems that we will be here for a few days until they get the part and get it fixed and because of fourth of july coming up we're having trouble finding a rental car. But all in all we have had fun and will be talking about this vacation for years.  I told Chris out of all the vacations we've had we've never had any problems other than someone breaking into our car, so we've been very luck, looks like that luck ran out lol.

Colorado

We're in the beautiful Colorado State!!! There's still snow in the mountains and the colorado river is running fast. Cj keeps spotting waterfalls of the side of the mountains it's amazing.

Moab

We ended up in Moab last night, took the kids to Arches National Park. We wanted to hike up to Delicate Arch, but it was a 3 hour hike and we didn't really have the time. So Amber, Anthony and I settled for Double Arch.

Balanced Rock 

Amber and Anthony were  brave enough to climb all the way into double arch

just outside the park is a huge dune the boys wanted to try and tube down it.....didn't work.

Zion

Yesterday we got up early, had breakfast and took the shuttle into town. Our mission, to buy tubes so we can float the Virgin river for a few hours. We purchased our tubes and had Joe AKA the shuttle guy, drive us to a good spot so we could let in. We find a  spot off the side of the road and walk a few yards down to the river. Here we are a family of 7 with 7 tubes, 7 people 14 shoes and 1 small bag of beef jerky , just incase we get lost, and we are now floating the river in water that feels colder than the frio. So, anyone who knows anything about us knows things can go south quick, 30 mins into our float CJ sees bubbles coming out of his tube, remember I said 7 tubes 7 people. He puts is finger on the small hole and we keep on doing our thing. A few miles down the river , our fearless leader (chris) hears rapids and we see him trying to back paddle up stream. Margie and I are laughing and yelling at the kids trying to get to the edge so we don't get pulled down river further. After a few crazy minutes,We all got to safety and managed to walk down the little water fall, this is when the fun really starts. We hit a few good rapids and I see chris standing on the side of the river. He has one shoe and is looking for he other, no luck so he continues on his journey with one shoe, which Anthony points out he thinks it's so funny that he's still wearing it. Then disaster strikes again Chris hits something in the water and his tube now has no air. He now has one shoe and no tube lol. We know that we are near our campsite so the boys take to the road and give chris the good tube. It felt like we floated the river for another 2 miles or so and the boys got there before we did. We must have looked like a crazy bunch waling through the RV park, Chris with one shoe and 3rd degree burns on his other foot lol.  We all took showers and rested a few hours before heading back into town for dinner. We had so much fun and today we are red, sore and tired, but we are on the road again headed to Colorado. Then we are making our way back home!!


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Zion

Today was an eventful day for us. We woke up early had breakfast and then headed into Zion, via a shuttle.  It's such a beautiful place, and we got to see things we didn't see the first time we came through here.  We ate lunch in the park and took a hike up to the emerald pools, The kids and i hiked three miles up into the mountain to see the last pool we get there and Amber says " mom is Cj with you."  Yes i freaked, because he was at the middle pool with us and when we got to the last one he's not there.  All i keep thing is God im going to kill that kid when i see him, and how am i going to tell Chris i lost our son on the side of a mountain.  A long 25mins ,after yelling his name and hearing it echo back we find him, thank God.  No i didn't kill him i just hugged him and told him i cant believe we lost you again lol.  We all got back to the RV took a shower and headed back into town to have dinner and do alittle shopping. The food was amazing, and the walking after did us some good.  Tomorrow we're headed into town to tube the river, it should be fun!!!

we're in the shuttle that takes us into Zion.

Hiking up to the emerald pools

Camping.....

Yesterday we spent traveling, stopping to see Indian ruins and beautiful sites.  We ended up at Lee's Ferry, for the night, on the Colorado River. This is where all the rafters come to start their journey into the Grand Canyon.  So we pull up in our RV and there is no hook up, so that means no A/C and no TV, now we're camping.  Whoever said that the canyons are cool at night didn't know what they were talking about, last night was 71 and no wind.

Tonight we are at a nice RV site, just outside of Zion National Park in Utah. Tomorrow we will explore the Park and take in all the wonderful sites.

above is a picture of the Sunset Crater Volcano.

below is the volcano lava flow

Colorado River taken from the Navajo bridge.

Wupatki indian ruins 

this has to be one of the largest ruins we've ever seen.

Slide Rock, Arizona

We stop at Slide Rock, yesterday and setup in a little RV park next to the river. The kids ran up and down the river while Chris cooked steaks on the pit, it was so peaceful.  Words can't describe this part of the country and pictures, just don't do it justice. The sky is so amazingly blue, the mountains with it's different hues of red and orange are breath taking, and the trees are so tall and green.  If you are really still you could hear the forest talk to you as a gentle breeze blows through the tree tops.

Montezuma Castle

Our day started at 5:00 this morning, we stayed the night at a KOA campsite. We still don't know what we are going to do, so we're basically looking at the map and picking where we want to go next. Chris found Montezuma Castle National Park located in Arizona. It was a short walk for us to view the cliff dwelling, and although we've seen many dwellings before we are always awe struck by what these people accomplished.

Above is Montezuma Castle it had five-stories and 20-rooms. It's 100 feet above the valley.

This is a picture of Montezuma Well, If you look hard you can see the cliff dwelling on the other side. 

these two pictures are the irrigation system built by the Southern Sinagua cliff dwellers to irrigate their farms  

Tombstone, Arizona

 Today we stopped in Tombstone, spent most of our morning walking around this cute historical town.  Walking along the wood planked walkway, and seeing a young man walk by in a old white shirt,  rolled up pants, suspenders and an old hat, can take you back to 1880's.  I could see what it was like back then, minus the black top road.  It was great, I love going to places like this and letting our kids see how people lived.
 We stood in the first bank of tombstone, FYI it had never been robbed, and we got to walk among the dead on boot hill. Took the kids to the Old Bird Cage Theatre, that was nothing more than a glorified brothel house. This is where Wyatt Earp meet his last wife, he also signed her license to work there, that was to be hung above the bed in order for her to work. The cool thing about it was that when the flooding of the mines in  Tombstone struck,  the theatre was boarded up with all it's fixtures and furnishings intact. So all of the original stuff was there for us to see.

entering Tombstone

this light fixture is the original one

the little rooms up top are why it was called the bird cage theatre.

that's where all the entertaining was done.

Doc Holiday sat at this very table playing cards 

This is the hearse, AKA The Black Moriah, that carried many famous and infamous characters to boothill.