Road Trip...Arizona Day 1

After Talia threw up most the night, and I'd only had 3 hours of sleep, I was a little nervous about the drive to Arizona.  After all, St. George is easy, you pretty much follow I-15 the entire way, but I was going to have to navigate roads I'd never traveled before...by myself, with a sick child in the backseat.  I had printed directions from St. George to Flagstaff before I left home, so I put Kyle in the backseat with Talia in case she needed to throw up, and Alec got to ride in the front seat (he was thrilled).  We finally got on the road at lunchtime.  I had prepared the kids sandwiches to eat in the car to save time.  The boys ate, but Talia only wanted a few sips of water (which was fine, because water is better if she was going to puke again). 

Once we had been on the road awhile, I realized that the directions I had printed were taking me through Zion's National Park...with it's $25 entrance fee.  At that point, It would have taken me so much time to turn around and go back, that I decided just to pay the fee and drive through.  It was slow going, but it was a beautiful drive. 

From August 2011

I would have liked to have stopped and taken more pictures, but my sweetheart was so listless in the backseat, I didn't dare.  It made me realize I definitely want to go back there someday...at a cooler time of year :)

After that, my directions were perfect.  We drove past Lake Powell, and it was so beautiful...I'd forgotten how much.  Talia had napped on and off during the drive, but when we got to Lake Powell she was crying really for no reason, and I could tell she really needed to eat something.  I couldn't tempt her with anything we had in the car, so we stopped at a gas station and bought a treat for everyone.  She got her favorite "Crunchy Cookies" (Reese's PB cups) and once she got some sugar in her system, she felt a lot better.  It was a long drive, with lots of stop and go traffic due to construction.  We didn't get to our hotel until 6ish local time (7 Utah time).  We basically got some dinner, put on our swimsuits, and let the kids swim for awhile.  I sat in the hot tub (which was heavenly), and after a few minutes, all our kids wanted to do was sit in there with Cole and I.  Everyone was wiped out, so we all crashed into bed.  It was fantastic to have our family all together again.