Washington - with my sister in Mt. Vernon

Washington - with my sister in Mt. Vernon

Okay, you see that fog in the background of the pictures?  It's been like that for four days and counting!!

Ashley, Aaron, Ryan, Tucker and Autumn

Alan, Heather and Lance

Savanah

Alan and I outside Coupeville

This is pretty much what it looks like all day, everyday

If I don't see the sunshine soon I don't know what I'm going to do!!  We're planning to head home this weekend and be back in time for Halloween...

Arizona - the Best Governor on Earth

Arizona - Meteor Crater and Grand Canyon

We had planned to drive thru Arizona only stopping at the Meteor Crater for a quick overnight tour and then continue on to see our family in Washington.  Here is a picture of the Meteor Crater and our tour guide - just to give some scale to the picture.  While we were at Meteor Crater we found out the Arizona had opened up the Grand Canyon and decided to go.  We were so lucky because we hadn't made any reservations ahead of time - not knowing when we would get across country to it and then finding out it was closed.  We happened to be about an hour or two away from it when it re-opened and were able to get in and be there with no crowds...  The rangers and staff were so grateful to their governor for re-opening the park and letting everyone get back to work.  We were too.  We've decided we will definitely go back.  Took our breath away and there is no way to get the grand scale of the place without standing there yourself.

One of the things the boys loved best about the Grand Canyon is being able to explore and play in the woods.  They built a fort out of wood and made a chair, firepit, bunkbeds and spent quite a few hours out in the woods here.  

We took a three hour train ride into the Grand Canyon on our first morning.  The boys and I had never ridden on a train before and it was a lot of fun.  I imagine if the Grand Canyon was really crowded this would be the ideal way to get into it if you were staying at a lodge.

Hiking on the trails.  We went down 1 1/2 miles which took us a little under two hours and about three hours to get back up.  My butt was so sore fro the next couple of days.  Ryan was so disappointed that we couldn't go all the way down. 

New Mexio - Hail and All

New Mexico - Hail and All

I was awestruck by this amazing view from our RV in New Mexico.  It was breathtaking and our first taste of cold on the whole trip!  The boys setup camp outside and played music and drew landscapes it was that inspiring.  What surprised us most was when it hailed!!  The boys ran outside to get pelted as they'd never been in hail before.  It was quite astonishing to be in the desert and get hailed on.

Texas - Austin

Texas - Austin

We finally made it to Austin and stayed with our good friends Robbie and Sam.  It was so nice to spread out and be in a house and we all realized how much we missed home and being rooted in one place with people you know.  What a fun place Austin was.  We enjoyed paddling on Ladybird Lake with the boys and went to Barton Springs (freezing!!).  We looked at lot's of property in Austin and had a hard time leaving.  

Texas - Kraus Springs

Texas - Kraus Springs - a Fairyland

We went to Texas and were expecting a desert-y looking place kind of like you see in the old westerns.  I don't know what we were thinking but we were so pleasantly surprised by what we say in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin.  We knew Texas had been experiencing a drought and expected the countryside to be dry and brown.  Not at all.  We were there in September and everything was green and beautiful.  Gave us a whole new idea of what Texas is like.  We found this amazing spring called Kraus Springs and spent a couple of days there before getting to Austin.  Here are some pictures:

Land Between the Lakes

Land Between the Lakes - Kentucky

We visited the most amazing National Forest before the government shutdown.  The Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky and Tennessee.  We drove in in the middle of the night and got setup and found out we were in a huge Bison and Elk preserve.  These animals were spectacular and so huge that they just own the road.  

It's really hard to get the scale of how big these animals are in person.  But we were driving right along with them down the road and just gawking and snapping photos.  It was quite something to see.

We also went horseback riding and enjoyed some adventures at a farm reenactment living history center.  It was one of our favorite places on the trip.