Sunday, December 6, 2009

road trip - part 1

          Memphis, TN to Richfield, UT via I-70
Matt and I were sitting around a couple of months ago planning his time off for the year and we decided we wanted to go to Utah again.  Matt wanted to help his Dad elk hunt.  We looked into plane tickets and they were way too expensive.  Memphis is such an expensive airport to fly in and out of which is reallllllly anoyyyyyying!  I miss the Detroit airport prices.  So we decided to DRIVE THERE.  It took about 24 hours each way.  We went last week.  It went well.  Matt had 10 days off (4 weekend days, 5 vacation days, and 1 sick day since he was still feeling rotten from his cold from Nashville) (oh, and Willa ended up catching the cold too so she was pretty miserable for a few days before we left. Darn!)

We left Friday, December 4 at 10ish am and drove and drove and drove and drove.  I bought Willa's forward facing car seat a little early because I thought she would enjoy sitting forward for the trip.

She did.  And we also brought along her regular rear facing car seat just in case.  Plus Matt made us a comfy bed in the back of the van.  She was one spoiled baby.  She moved from car seat to car seat to my lap (devilish, I know) to the back bed.  No other Wetzel baby will be able to be that spoiled.  Enjoy it while you can, Willa Bean.  There weren't tears because I catered to her every need while Matt drove. 

Our plan was for Willa to sleep through the night somewhere in the van (hopefully in a car seat) and Matt and I would trade off driving and sleeping in the back bed area so we could drive straight through.  (from Memphis, TN across all of Arkansas, through the corner of Oklahoma passing through Tulsa (picture below), up into Kansas and across the whole state, across all of Colorado, and then into Central Utah)

After a gorgeous deep red sunset in Tulsa, OK, Willa fell asleep around 6 pm.  But she woke up around 9 excited and delirious.  She was dancing around and squealing and being crazy.  There was no way one of us would be able to sleep so around 1 am (15 hours after we left Memphis) we stopped for a motel in Colby, Kansas.

Oh, we drove through Oklahoma.  A state we hadn't been to together yet.  So we snapped a picture and crossed state number 36 off of our list.

We slept in until 7 or 8 in flat, flat, flat Colby, Kansas on Saturday and then hit the road for a short 7 hour gorgeous drive through Denver and the Colorado Rockies and into Grand Junction to stay with our friends Chip and Lindsay for the night.  (We beat them to their house so Matt entertained Willa by letting her climb on the steering wheel. The car was off.)

It was sooo good to see them.  We miss our friends from Toledo. They showed us a lovely time.  We went to a yummy Indian restaurant Saturday night and sat right by the front window so we could watch the holiday lights parade drive by outside.  It was freeezzzing out so we got to eat tasty food and stay warm inside while watching the parade.  Perfect-O.  Sunday we went for a drive through the National Monument in Grand Junction.  Gorgeous. 

Our plan was to hike but it was way too cold and windy so we headed back to the Keller's (they got married a week before we arrived. Congrats!!!) to spend the afternoon.  Oh, and want to hear something funny? Chip and Lindsay live next door to one of my roommates from BYU.  So of course, we had to go over and say hello.

We headed out Sunday evening for another beautiful 3 1/2 hour drive to Richfield, Utah to Matt's parents' house.  (Willa napped in the back for most of the drive.  I woke her up trying to take a picture)

When we pulled off the highway into Richfield we were greeted with beautiful Utah snow covering the roads and houses and Christmas lights galore. Very pretty.  Snow is great when you're on vacation. 

I enjoyed our drive there.  Maybe it is because I didn't grow up taking road trips or something.  But I think it's fun to see the country by car.

To be continued...

5 comments:

Clayton & Kayley Anderson said...

Oh my gosh! I love her hair in that pic, so stinkin' cute!

sinika said...

The picture of Matt stepping over the gap with Willa makes me dizzy with fear! Crazy Dads...

What a cute little (lucky to be able to lay down while riding) Willa!

Renae said...

what a nice roadtrip! After our last one, I vowed never to drive it again, but maybe we were doing it wrong. :) What states are left? Merry Christmas!

Lindsay said...

We have Alabama, Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, & Wyoming left. :)

JoJo said...

road trips are grueling but the best way to see the country