We Made it!

On the morning of July 30th, we woke up in a hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico & went to sleep that night in our house! It was a wild day! We woke the kids up around 5:30ish that morning, so there was lots of car naps to be had throughout our long day on the road.

We rolled into town around 8pm and ate dinner at Jason's Deli before getting to our house around 9pm. After 11ish hours of driving, the last thing we wanted to do was unload our cars from three weeks of travel {and alllll the stuff we have to keep with us during a PCS}, vacuum up all the bugs & cobwebs from our house sitting vacant for the past 6ish months, set up shower curtains & air mattresses, and...you get the idea. ;)  It was a lot, but we did it! The girls blew us away & immediately jumped in to help however they could. They kept saying: "How can we help?" They were the absolute best!

{Brady did his job as the youngest child & while everyone else was running around a mile a minute, he was working on building a lego set he got as a souvenir at Arches National Park}

We finally got the kids tucked in around midnight & then we woke up early to prepare for the movers...who never showed. Grrrrr! Military moves are always fun & keep you on your toes! So, instead we spent our day like this:

Derek & Shelby ran up to the post office to pick up all of our mail & stamps for our moving announcements. Shelby helped me get them all stamped & ready to sent out!

Then Derek had to run on base for a bit, so we tackled the most important order of business: securing our new library cards!!!

It is such a weird & surreal feeling to be back in the same place again {for the third time now!}. The place is the same, yet different...and we are the same five people, but we're different now, too!

Traveling from Alaska to Texas by car and visiting eleven national parks along the way is no joke. It certainly isn't for the faint of heart, but lots of memories were made! I hope all five of us will always remember this summer!

Mesa Verde & Bandelier

On July 28th, we headed out of Moab, Utah and made our way to the Needles District of Canyonlands, which was on our way to our next destination. But first we made a quick pit stop at the Moab post office..the girls sent countless post cards to friends & family over the duration of our trip!

{Needles District of Canyonlands National Park}

At this point in the trip, we were all starting to get a bit weary of the travel & hotel life. But we headed to Mesa Verde next. It ended up being a bit of a bust for us as we couldn't go down into the dwellings, but it was still cool to see! We stayed in Durango, Colorado that night & had dinner at Applebee's before calling it a night. We were so happy to feel somewhat cooler air again!

{Mesa Verde}

The next morning we woke up to discover that our household goods would be arriving much earlier than anticipated. Our "guaranteed delivery date," which is very often ignored & completely bypassed, wasn't until the end of August. So when they called to tell us they would be delivering our things on the morning of July 31st, we were quite surprised! We were scheduled to arrived home on the evening of July 31st, so we quickly pivoted & adjusted our schedule to arrive in time to accept the delivery. 

We left Durango, CO & headed to Bandalier National Monument in New Mexico. 

We stayed the night in Santa Fe, New Mexico making plans & preparations to bypass Lubbuck, TX {our next scheduled hotel stop along our route's itinerary} the next day and head straight home, which would be 11ish hours of driving. That may not sound like that long of a drive, but after driving for three weeks straight it seemed a bit daunting. We had been living out of suitcases & eating out of our cooler for so long, it seemed so surreal to think that this wild & crazy adventure was suddenly coming to such an abrupt & slightly premature end. 

Great Basin, Capitol Reef, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks

On July 25th, we checked out of our hotel in Ely, Nevada & made our way to Great Basin National Park.

{windmill farm right outside Great Basin National Park}

After visiting Great Basin, we made our way to Richfield, Utah for the night. There was actually a wildfire that started near there, and the smoke was crazy! Our cell phones were going off with warnings, but we were thankful it didn't get too close to us nor did we have to adjust our route. The next morning we hit the road for Capitol Reef National Park...this was one of my very favorite parts of the whole trip! This particular park was an unexpected delight, and it wasn't even on our original itinerary! We had the best picnic location, and while we drove through the park in awe of the most beautiful scenery Hadley and I were listening to what ended up being my favorite audiobook of the whole trip (The Day the World Came to Town). It was the best day!!

{There was a little/creek right behind our picnic spot, and we spent the longest time here!}

After our visit to Capitol Reef, we headed to Moab, Utah...it was soooo hot there! Moab is a quirky, fun little town with almost no chain stores or restaurants. We ate dinner at The Trailhead Public House & Eatery (so yummy & quick!) then headed over to see Arches National Park in the hopes that it might not be so hot and crowded. It was a successful first visit! As we were driving through the park, we just kept saying it felt like we were in the middle of the Radiator Springs Racers ride in Disneyland--it didn't even feel real! 

The next day was a rest/non-travel day for us in Moab, but very little rest happened! We knocked out some laundry and visited both Canyonlands & Arches National Parks. The parks are super close together & easy to visit from Moab. We started our morning at Canyonlands...

{a little morning journaling to start the day}

And then we made our way to Arches again! 

On our way back to our hotel, we picked up some pizza to eat in the lobby of our hotel before calling it a night. It was the perfect way to wind down after our fun & full day in the heat!