On the Road Again

 Driving across the country was actually so much more amazing than I ever could have fathomed it would be.  Were there long torturous stretches, with kids melting down and parents losing it?  Yes.  Were there ugly stretches of land hardly worth looking out the window for?  Sure.  But for much of our drive -- both there and back -- I was awestruck by the beauty of the world around us.  Between storm-drenched skies and rocky gorges; between amber fields and grassy meadows; and between desert rocks and verdant hills; I fell in love with America the Beautiful.  I can't even tell you how many {terrible} cell phone shots I attempted to take over the course of our trip, while trying to capture every detail of those magical moments.  Not many of them measured up, but the images now imprinted in my mind will hopefully stay with me forever.

White River National Forest -- Colorado 

{western Colorado and eastern Kansas were gorgeous}

Our first stopping point on the way home was in Denver.  While on the "trekking out west" portion of our trip, a family friend from my New Orleans days contacted me after following along on our picture and kindly offered their house as a pit stop should we be passing through their neck of the woods.  As luck would have it, we WERE planning on cutting through Denver on our way back, and the hospitality we met with from the Cutlers was legendary.  Kristi is seriously one of the most gracious and generous people I've ever known.  Despite the fact that she doesn't know me all that well -- she was my seminary teacher, briefly, during my junior year of high school, and was in fact in a different ward, and I haven't seen her or visited with her in person since I left for college -- she pulled out all the stops for us while we were there!  A delicious dinner, engaging company and conversation, and super comfy accommodations.  Even after getting up to run 14 miles the next morning for her marathon training, she was still back in time to make sure we had breakfast, snacks for the road, AND a gift bag of games, stickers, coloring books, and other treasures to help make the next leg of our journey more tolerable with the little ones.  It was a treat to be with their family.  :)

 They even have a guest book!  :)

Pretty sure I don't look this good after running even HALF of what Kristi had just run!

From Denver we made it to Blue Springs, MO {hometown of one of my college BFFs and the best Denny's dinner of our life}, and the next morning we finished up with one last stop before going home.  We had to stop in St. Louis on our way back to visit all our old stomping grounds and to see some of our old friends.  It was the perfect way to end the most epic road trip ever.  :)  Visiting with our good friends was like balm for my soul.  I wish we could have stayed longer, but it was time to get home.  After staying one night, we went to sacrament meeting the next morning, then hit the road for the FINAL time. 

 Playing at Sugar Creek Park

 Grace found a spot on the playground where she had scratched her name with a rock.

 I had to make them take a picture in front of our old house.  :)

 And I had to get some cupcakes from Jilly's while we were in town.

 College roomies for life!  {Although obviously not literally.  Hahahaha.}

 Will and Natalie, Paul and Jen, me and Scott, Tawny and Brian

By the time we pulled into our neighborhood, we were ALL ready to be home.  There's nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed again even IF you've just been on the trip of a lifetime.  Now that a few weeks have gone by since we've been back -- and most of the difficult parts of the trip have faded out of memory -- I can honestly say that I'd do this trip again in a heartbeat.  But before we travel that same road again, I think we need to explore the other side of the country.  The question is -- can the East Coast handle this crew???  Hahahaha.  We'll just have wait until next summer to see...  :)

Home Sweet Home!