Zion

We stayed in Watchman Campground in Zion.

Annie supervising us as we set up camp

Rocks + Sticks = Happiness

Rocks + Sticks + Alice = Joy

Breakfast baby

It will be a serious adjustment when we have to plan our own vacations instead of blindly following Robb

 The plan for the morning was to check out of the campground, park at the campground parking lot, then take the shuttle to the Narrows to splash around for a bit before making the 7 hour drive to Canyonlands. Sadly, things did not go as smoothly as planned. The park was PACKED. We ended up having to pay for parking outside of the park and walking in to the shuttle stop. The shuttles were coming non-stop, but it took us a whole hour standing in the heat waiting for the shuttle to come. It became apparent that even with us spending only a short time in the Narrows, we would still get to our campground late at night.

The eternal line

The guys with the babies at the Narrows trailhead

Finally made it to the water!

She was much happier than her brother

Rocking the socks and sandals

Flagstaff

 We set off on Saturday afternoon. It was nice having the whole morning to load up. We decided it was too long of a drive to go straight to Zion, so we spent a night in Flagstaff and went to church there Sunday morning. 

A slightly Manic Elliot helping load the van

The highlight of this first leg was probably that Aaron was able to test out "NAFTA Net," which was a plan that the guys developed to let them play Starcraft over a local network from their respective vans while Lakin and I drove. It was having problems maintaining connection, so they switched over to using data to log into a web server that would let them play against each other. It turns out that kids are needy so they were only able to play for about half an hour, but that was enough to label their experience a success.

Our charming home in Downtown Flagstaff

This was not long before Elliot collected his first of many skinned knees.

On the road again

NAFTA

Two years ago, we went on an epic road trip with our friends the Hays. While on that trip, we discussed various options for our next trip. We settled on a NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) trip where we would cross into Canada, the US (7 states!), and Mexico. We fleshed out the route a little last summer. A beautiful spreadsheet was created and lovingly filled out over the many months. We made reservations for Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone a year in advance. 

The whole trip took 18 days (June 30 - July 17). We drove about 4 hours most days, with two days that had 7 hour drives. 

Most of the route- Google Maps limits you to only 10 destinations.

Our ambitious plans required a LOT of planning. We reserved lodging for every night in advance. Most places we stayed were campgrounds in the middle of nowhere, so we planned and packed dinners for every night as well. 

At one of our planning parties

 A few weeks before the trip, Robb got a job offer in Seattle and they decided to take it. The Hays were suddenly moving two weeks after the trip ended. This turned the trip into something of a last hurrah, although we do have plans to someday do a reunion tour of the pacific northwest.

Sibling Love

These two are great buddies. Annie is getting old enough that they can kind of play together.

Elliot's current favorite game is putting sticks on Annie's head. This game must be played under one specific tree at the park. He is very consistent about it

He also loves trying to feed Annie. This always results in a mess, but not that much more than when I'm feeding her, so we count it as a big win. 

I sure love my little blondies!