After a good night of sleep (each kid only up once and everyone sleeping in a little in the morning) we were ready to pack up and hit the road again. It took us awhile to get everything in order and back into the car. We didn't actually leave Grand Junction until about 11 am. Sarah rode in the backseat with the boys so she could help Paul with homework for the first 2 hour stretch of our drive to Edward, Co. We enjoyed our picnic lunch at a rest area in Edward before driving into the Denver area. Levi napped and Paul played in the backseat while we drove. We arrived in Morrison, CO with just a few minutes to enjoy the indoor aspects of Dinosaur Ridge. The directions we followed got us to the ... read more

After a bit of a rough night of sleep, we started the day by returning to view the Bryce Canyon Amphitheater from the rim between Sunrise and Sunset points. We even went a few hundred feet down the Queen's Garden Loop trail before deciding we were not prepared for that intense of a hike. Next we checked out of the Bryce Lodge and headed down the Canyon road to Rainbow Point where Paul really wanted to see the 1600+ year old Bristlecone Pine tree that is highlighted in one of his ViewMaster reels. We all enjoyed that hike, although Levi's enjoyment was for more of the nap he got while in the backpack on Sarah's back. Unfortunately, the famous tree doesn't appear to have any more living branches. We decided to take the Scenic Hwy 12 ... read more

With a big day ahead of us, we wanted to get up and going right away. We were checking out of our room by 7:30 am so we could meet our friend, Dawn Kiss, for a breakfast buffet at a hotel restaurant by 8:00 am. Dawn had worked in our church nursery when Paul was little, so it was very fun to reconnect with her. Afterwards we walked outside to quickly look out at the strip one more time before getting in the car for our two hour drive to St. George, Utah. Our drive took us out of Nevada, through a corner of Arizona, and into Utah. In St. George, we visited the Dinosaur Discovery Site at Johnson Farm. In 2000 a bunch of dinosaur tracks were discovered here and they built this museum around ... read more

Today is our day to prep for our biggest roadtrip ever! We have planned a 16 day trip covering more than 3700 miles of American inlands. Here is a highlight of the schedule Day 1: Fresno - Las Vegas, NV Day 2: Las Vegas - Zion National Park, UT Day 3: Zion National Park - Bryce Canyon National Park Day 4: Bryce Canyon to Grand Junction, CO Day 5: Visit Grand Junction and Fruita Day 6: Grand Junction - Denver Day 7: Denver Day 8: Denver Day 9: Denver - Mt Rushmore (Custer, SD) Day 10: Mt Rushmore area Day 11: Crazy Horse / badlands Day 12: To Rock Springs, WY Day 13: Flaming Gorge and Vernal, UT (Dinosaur National Monument) Day 14: To Salt Lake City Day 15: To Reno Day 16: To Home Although ... read more