Road Trip Part 5

Wednesday morning we woke before dawn. Don't you just love fellow campers who get pumped up for a sunrise hike by turning up the bass in their car radio! My man got out his flashlight and turned it to blinking and tried to alert them to their annoying behavior. I laughed as I rolled over and said “that group is going to think that's a strobe light”, sure enough one of them said, “hey, there's a strobe light!” To be twenty again:).

We spent a few hours walking the rim of the Grand Canyon, sipping coffee and hot chocolates. I could take that view with my coffee every morning!

“On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again” (hope you just sang that, we seem to be singing it often); to Scottsdale, AZ we go. We are visiting a good friend there and he suggested we detour off the interstate and take the curvy road through Sedona. We almost didn't make that trip, we missed the turnoff and we were just tired; but thankfully we turned around. WOW! I mean really, wow! My man and I were soaking in the view trying to get our small children to really appreciate what they were seeing. Then it dawned on me, we were driving thru “Radiator Springs”. Dawson has watched “Cars” a few times on the trip; this is the old Route 66 and the Red Mountains that Lightening McQueen raced through. All of a sudden, they were very interested in Sedona! We basically pretended we were in a cartoon. Ha!

We arrived in Cave Creek, where our good friend Gabe lives. Don't you just love seeing a good, ole friend. My man and Gabe became friends in dental school and the ties are thick. Uncle Gabe as the kids call him, lavished the kids with gifts and always had a great stash of candy. We got to take 2 nights break from the trailer, feel the continuous stream of shower water, and enjoy relaxing by his pool. This was some sweet time with Gabe and a sweet break from driving. Gabe we love you!! Thank you for being such a great host. See you soon we hope:)

Look at these amazing Cactus!  The kids never left the path in this "sticker" filled hike 

Oh so early friday morning Claire awoke, the 2 of us snuck out of the house and opened the local coffee shop so as not to wake the entire house. If you visit Cave Creek, which I highly recommend (it is absolutely charming) make sure to stop off at Cave Creek Coffee Co. The Cowgirl blend is so smooth and yummy, you won't be disappointed. We loaded up said our goodbyes and drove west towards LA. The mood in our truck changed, my man was suddenly on a mission: home James. The leisure ride time had passed; we had 1000 miles to go. So, I convinced my man that the children must eat, we were wasting away (ok maybe not but we were all hungry), please pull over for a quick lunch. He obliged. We ended up in Quartzsite, CA. Think ghost town meets twilight zone meets trailer park (the kind you tow) meets Mad Max (the movie, says my man). It might be the craziest place we've ever stopped. Its out of body. The town is comprised entirely of towable trailers that reportedly populate the town upwards of 2 million people from October to April (snowbirds) and all business shuts down for the summer months. They park in the dirt fields (ie desert) and let the pump truck come by weekly. :) Levi, they say you can buy and sell anything here; we thought of you. It is just a little bit of crazy, don't miss it if you are on I-10. (we did spend half an hour perusing the local gem store, and if you visit us you can see the “gems” we purchased:)

Friday night we parked our trailer in the parking lot of a Carls Jr.; nice. We are getting very cheap here at the end of our trip.  (smile)