Rocky Mountain Travel

Last week our family took our annual road trip/ vacation. This time we covered approximately 2658 miles through four states, two nights camping in one national park, stops in three cities (Denver & Colorado Springs in CO, and Arlington, TX), one Children's Museum (Denver), three waterfalls, 6 audio CD's of Star Trek Nemesis (this one is for me), and 42 episodes of Adventures in Odyssey.

Anne and Joy says the most memorable part of the trip was our return home. We drove from Colorado Springs toward Kansas, and on the way thru Dorothy's home state, "a tornado was chasing us." Frank had been driving for a while and was planning for Betty to take over, but every time we stopped for gas and a pit stop to change drivers, the storm caught up with us, and so Frank continued driving. He didn't want Betty to drive in a storm. Only when we were finally headed south on I-35 did Betty take over.

The truth is, we had strong winds and lots of rain chasing us but the twister was reportedly at least a hundred miles south of us, near Stafford, Kansas. I remember Stafford because Joy, at a pit stop in a McDonald's in Kansas, pointed out that we must be close to Sugar Land, TX, because she saw Stafford on the map.

Another highlight of the Colorado Springs visit was going to Whits End at Focus on the Family. Joy and Anne got to record an episode of Adventures in Odyssey. We have the CD, now if only we can figure out how to put an mp3 file on a blog. Betty commented that "the girls had great radio voices." Frank literally bumped into Mr. Whitaker in the hallway, and our family had a picture taken with Eugene. Though this is our second trip to Focus on the Family in three years, we do want to go back again. They're building a Chronicles of Narnia exhibit room.

Frank learned on this trip that sometimes the best deals are found in the simplest places. While searching for a hotel to stay, he discovered that the travel coupon books you pick up in the fastfood restaurants along the highway actually had the best discount for our stay at the Fairfield Inn in Colorado Springs.