Road Trip 2015: The drive home

After graduation, we hit the road once again. It was almost time for school to start! No time to waste! Well, OK, maybe a little time to explore. But not much!

We stopped at Arches National Park, near Moab, UT. I LOVE the red rocks in that area, but had never stopped at Arches.

We ate a quick picnic lunch and drove through the GORGEOUS scenery, 

but it was too hot to do any hiking.

When you can't hike out to delicate arch,

it looks tiny!

Can you see it back there?

It's on the far left of this picture,

on a different angle than I imagined.

A beautiful, iconic landmark.

Glad we got to see it.

Want to go back when we get a closer view.

Oh, how I love exploring with my family!

We drove through Shiprock, NM,

where my family lived when I was a preschooler.

Another memorable rock formation.

We stopped in Farmington for dinner with Marianne and Patrick.

 The kids loved the root beer floats for dessert.

We stopped in Albuquerque that night.
And went to church there in the morning.

Then it was off to San Saba!

My cousins, Yolanda and Chayo came to see me!
We haven't visited in YEARS.
So, so fun to catch up!

Chayo and I can't believe how much our
sons remind us of each other:

B and D didn't see it.
Can you?
(If you look past W's photo bomb!)

They DO share a love for VIDEO GAMES.
And were THRILLED to discover that Aunt Virginia
still had Michael's old NES in the box!!

Took me back to the good ol' days!

I spent SO many hours of my childhood playing this game!

A bunch of good-lookin' cousins.

While we were in San Saba,
we had to stop at Harry's

 to smell the boots

And try on a cowgirl hat.

And we had to visit Oliver's fancy new downtown store.

And buy some yummy pecans.

After a way-too-short visit in San Saba,

we drove to Aunt Irene and Uncle Bill's.

We met in Ft. Worth at the American Airlines museum,

where they had a cool Trivial Pursuit 50 States exhibit.

Under one roof, we got to:

 do a little boating,

 cross-country skiing,

kayaking,

 watch Old Faithful,

ride in a hot air balloon,

and ride a donkey through the desert.

Yes!

Other cool things at the museum:

Thanks for taking us, Aunt Irene and Uncle Bill!

Another fun, but too short visit.

My kids LOVE their dogs!

So cute and sweet.

And then we were on the home stretch!

Stopped at Sci-port in Louisiana

Stayed the night at a hotel in Mississippi...or was it Alabama?

We made our last fun stop in South Carolina

at a BMW plant.

Look at that cute little car and camper!

Care Bear liked the motorcycles.

And.....

We made it!

What a summer!

Loved it so much.

And school started THREE DAYS later.