CA Road Trip 2012 - Part 1

We have returned from our 3 week road trip to Northern and Southern California! What an amazing experience! The kids did AWESOME on the road...I might have over prepared just a bit but they really suprised me. We left on Wednesday, July 4th with the intention of making it to Albuquerque to see fireworks. Well, we did in fact make it to Albuquerque but it was storming. No fireworks this 4th.

On our way to Northern California we took a northern route via Highway 40. Such a great drive...beautiful sights, light traffic and smooth sailing :)

We stopped at quite a few rest stops including picnicing for lunch each day and also to let the kids run around. Our favorite was in Arizona where they had some great climbing rocks!



Outside of Amarillo, we stopped at Cadillac Ranch. The kids got a kick out of the funny cars and someone even let them borrow some spray paint to paint their initials. It was really windy and dusty.


We made it to Albuquerque for night number 1...about a 13 hour drive. We hit up an authentic Route 66 diner where Daddy had the "Pile Up" which is their signature dish ;)


The big reason we went the northern route was to see the Grand Canyon!!! Neither Keith or I had seen it and it was worth it. AMAZING! A short 5 hour drive from Albuquerque :)



Our original plan was to stay somewhere near the Grand Canyon for night but decided to go for it and get to Las Vegas! We drove down the strip and looked at all the lights and we managed to get a 3 room suite at Circus Circus for cheap. It was really late so while Mommy and Ryan passed out, Daddy and Katie hit up the roller coaster and the rides :) No pictures sadly :( Part 2 to come!