April 1-2 - Zion National Park, UT – Zion River Resort RV Park

We got to the RV park at mid-day and decided to have a “down” day. The pool and spa here were nice and we needed to take care of some housekeeping stuff. I also had some lingering work responsibilities that needed my attention. The weather here was windy and colder than we had experienced in the desert east of LA.

We woke up early the next morning and set out for the park. We stopped in Springdale and rode the tram up to the park entrance where we hopped aboard another tram that took us up into the canyon. We travelled about half way up the canyon to the Zion Lodge where we enjoyed a short hike to the Emerald Pools – a series of cascading waterfalls - and had lunch out on the lawn in front of the lodge. Zion Canyon is a remarkable place – a narrow valley carved by the Virgin River with red sandstone cliffs that rise nearly straight out of the valley floor. There are incredible rock formations all the way up the canyon. It was a bit too early in the year to do Zion’s most notable hike – “The Narrows.”  This hike involves wading through the Virgin River up a 16 mile long channel cut into the rock. The channel is only a few feet wide in places with the canyon walls rising hundreds of feet above. This early in the year the water is about 45 degrees and seasonal rains cause flash flooding – we’ll save this hike for the next time through J

On our way out we drove through a mile long tunnel bored through a mountain. The tunnel was built in 1930 when cars were smaller so we were required to pay a small fee so the park ranger’s could stop traffic in the tunnel so we had it all to ourselves and could drive down the middle of the two lane road. The kids thought that was pretty cool.



Hiking to the Emerald Pools



Tight fit...



We saw a herd of Bighorn Sheep on our way out of Zion



March 30 – St. George, UT - Walmart

From here on out we are officially in uncharted territory, at least for our family, as we’ve never been to Utah. We stopped for the night just a short drive from Zion Canyon in St George, UT. The natural beauty of the land here is already beginning to show itself even though we’ve just crossed the border into Utah. The red sandstone hills are amazing. St George looks like a beautiful town set amongst the valleys in between sandstone cliffs.

March 28-29 – Las Vegas, NV – Residence Inn

Yes – we took all 6 kids ages 5-11 to Las Vegas. In addition, the Biggs family joined us with their 6 kids. Together we went tromping up and down the strip. I tried to run interference keeping the porn slappers – yes there is a name for the folks handing out the “cards” on the strip – from getting to the kids and Nancy was the sweeper bringing up the rear making sure that none of the kids got distracted and left behind. Beyond the bright lights which are an obvious attraction for the kids we did a couple of cool things while in town. We went to the Coca-Cola store and sampled 16 different coke products from around the world. Sunfill Mint from Djibouti, Beverly from Italy and Smart Apple from China were the favorites. If you ever want to taste Vegiabeta from Japan this is the place to do it. We also took in the M&M store – all 4 stories of it. They even had a M&M NASCAR on display. The ACM awards happened to be in town when we were there and there were free concerts down on Fremont street. It was a total madhouse but we had a blast checking out the sights and sounds there. Nancy also allowed a brief visit to Bass Pro Shop. I had forwarned her that the store was an impressive sight and warranted a visit and I considered it quite a feat getting her into the store. I think she actually enjoyed it. I almost fell over when she pulled me into the women’s clothing section to show me a sundress she liked. Wonders never cease…

We stayed in a Residence Inn while in town and the kids enjoyed the pool. The hotel has 2 swans – Elvis and Pricilla – that live in a pond in the lobby of the hotel.  Pretty cool. We also enjoyed dinner with Nancy’s cousin Ben Stuart and his wife Nicole.

When we left town, the “Hot Babes Direct To You” mobile billboard was still traveling – seemingly nonstop – up and down the strip.



Fountains @ Bellagio




Sampling Coke products




12 kids - 2 families...



Fremont Street

March 23-27 – California City, CA – Misty and Joey Biggs

Our good friends, Misty and Joey Biggs, live in Cal City. They have visited us often over the years in Seattle but we’ve never paid them a visit on their turf. We rolled in to town late Saturday after making the 2 hour drive east of LA into the Mojave desert. We had a great visit and our 6 enjoyed the chance to get reacquainted with their 6 kids. Recreation opportunities are limited in the Mojave desert but we did take in a couple of movies, the girls went out to tea and the boys – yes all 11 of us – headed out to the desert with our combined arsenal a couple of times. As I understand it the girls enjoyed their tea. I can tell you with certainty that the boys loved shooting guns in the desert. James knocked down quite a few clay pigeons with a 20 gauge shotgun, Zach broke clays with a BB gun – he’s a great shot for 7 years old – and Lucas went scavenging through the debris left behind by others and came up with a Susan B Anthony dollar. Yep – you read that right. He was very proud of his find!

March 19-23 – Disneyland – Anaheim RV Village

When we were planning this trip Disneyland was a must do. We visited the park 4 years ago with James, Lucas and Eve but Isabella, Zachary and Elizabeth have never been. We stayed at an RV park about ½ mile from the park – easy walking distance - and thoroughly enjoyed our 4 days in the park. We timed our visit here to avoid SoCal spring break and sort of succeeded. Waiting 45 minutes in line to ride a 2 minute ride is not my idea of a great time but we did it – a lot. Interestingly enough the kids don’t seem to mind. Disney, of course, is the master of entertainment providing various bits of entertainment while in line waiting for most rides. If you can endure the long lines the rides are first rate.

The unanimous pick for favorite ride was California Screamin' – the roller coaster in California Adventure. Other favorites were Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Carribean and Buzz Lightyear - shooting guns here got the ride its high placement. Least favorite had to be the huge ferris wheel. The boys, Uncle Jim and I went on one of the swinging baskets. Although they don’t go as high as the stationary baskets, they obviously move. The combo wasn’t so good if you are afraid of heights. James spent the entire ride with his head between his knees making some moaning noises and Lucas was playing with the vomit bags. I’ll also have to give a big thumbs down to World of Color. This is a big production using fountains/audio/video that Disney puts on in the evenings in the water pond in California Adventure. The production itself is OK – the major downer is that once this thing starts around 7 in the evening California Adventure basically shuts down which means no coaster. Totally unacceptable and a horrible tradeoff!!! We enjoyed the extra time we had with the 4 day pass. We took our time seeing everything at a leisurely pace. We also spend time at the RV park enjoying their outdoor pool and the kids spend hours riding their razor scooters. I decided early on that we’d have to forgo bikes for this trip. When you’ve got six kids you’ve got to make some compromises – traveling cross country with 6 bikes strapped to the back of the RV wasn’t going to happen.

For those interested, Disneyland did mark the spot of our first RV related failure and subsequent “fix it” project. Evidently I didn’t thoroughly winterize the fresh water system because when we turned on the hot water heater for the first time on the trip water started running out the side of the RV in a very conspicuous spot. A quick inspection revealed a split/broken water pipe near the hot water tank – a sure sign of freeze damage. As luck would have it there was a plumbing supply house less than half a mile away – closer than Disneyland believe it or not! They hooked us up with some water pipe and slip on fittings and a short time later we were back in business. I believe the couple hours my brother and I spent on the fix saved us from having to endure the Disney princesses. From that perspective, this “problem” wasn’t really a problem after all.

We departed Anaheim Village RV Park mid-day Saturday and made our way to the airport to drop Uncle Jim off to catch a plane back to Seattle. He had some work to do back home for a week or so but I think the fun he had the first week of the trip convinced him that he needed to rejoin our adventure.

California Screamin'



Do you think they are happy to be here??



Lucas and Eve having fun @ the RV park

March 17-18 – Marysville, CA – Gary and Katie Schaal

No trip through California is complete without a stop in Marysville/Loma Rica. Nancy was born and raised here and her parents and 2 brothers still live in the area. We enjoyed our 2 day visit although the weather didn’t cooperate – it was rainy and cold. Not quite what we were in search of. While here I swapped the windows from one side to the other in the back bedroom of the motorhome. In preparation for this trip, my father in law and I built a set of six bunk beds in the back bedroom of the motorhome – one bed for each kid. Great idea right? Shortly before we left it occurred to me that the emergency exit window, which is next to one of the beds and is very easy to open for obvious reasons, could inadvertently come open during travel. As the kids regularly play and/or sleep on their beds while we are underway, I had visions of one of the kids falling out of the window while motoring down the interstate  - not good! Fortunately the opposing window was exactly the same size so I simply removed both windows and reinstalled them  - problem solved!

The kids had a blast spending time with their cousins. We also enjoyed some quality family time with Nancy’s family. I was happy to drop off the pontoon boat that we towed down from Washington.  It will definitely lighten our load and make for a little easy travel as we shrink from 60+ feet to about 34’. Gas mileage will improve as well. On our way through Redding we did manage a stop at the In N Out Burger. This is our family’s favorite burger place – easily better than 5 Guys – and the Redding location is the closest to Washington.  

 




RV and pontoon boat in front of In N Out in Redding, CA.

 

Snow on the ground - Siskiyou Pass

The kids hanging out in the RV on the way to Disneyland

March 16 – Battleground, WA - Uncle Dave and Aunt Mel's

For the past week I’ve been busy finishing up work responsibilities and getting the motorhome modified/set-up for our extended vacation. Nancy has been busy packing all our stuff into the RV. Unfortunately we’ve done all of this in the rain and snow – the weather has been downright horrible. We can’t wait to get to sunny weather!

We pulled out in the early afternoon and headed straight to Nancy’s aunt and uncle’s place near Battleground, WA. Nancy’s uncle had a role in an Easter play, Bow the Knee, and got us tickets to attend the Friday evening performance. The play/musical traces the last few weeks of Jesus’ life leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.  I believe the play is in its 10^th year now and the music, sets and costumes were all spectacular. Although we know the story of Jesus well, events like this really bring the gospel message to life. We always enjoy our time with Uncle Dave, Aunt Melanie, Karlee and Sadie and this visit was no exception. We’re looking forward to seeing them in July on Lake Shasta!