Shortly after leaving Las Cruces, we passed through a Border Patrol checkpoint on the interstate. All traffic was forced to exit and pictures were taken of our license plates and we drove through the checkpoint and were waved through. We worried for a moment that we had taken a wrong turn and accidentally gone to Mexico. Luckily, we were still in the good ol' US of A and did not look suspicious enough to be searched.
We've traveled about 1200 miles so far and the kids have been fantastic little travelers. They haven't complained at all. I made travel books for each of them so they can follow along with a kid-friendly itinerary. They have a page for each day that shows where we are going and how long we'll be driving. Caleb is obsessed with setting timers so he can look in his book to set a timer for when we will arrive. It also has pictures of what we will see and do that day and Morgan's has some extra things that she can read about the places we are going. They have a travel journal page for each day to record their memories.
The big hit, however, is new Kindle Fires that are loaded up with books, games, movies, and TV shows. They have been enjoying them and even wearing their headphones so the grownups have had some peace and quiet as well. They are at the age where their voices are so high pitched that it is almost painful to hear in such a small space when they get worked up and crazy. The tablets are giving us all a little dose of solitude and sanity in our close quarters.
At times, they are too consuming though. We have made a rule that they must look in their travel books and write/draw on their journal page before any tablets come out. And we also make them put them away when the view out the window is better than what's on the screen. Unlike our previous vacations, the drive is often as good as the destination and we don't want them to miss the best parts of the trip.
We stopped for lunch at Roper Lake State Park for a picnic by the lake. This was a few miles out of our way, but it was a nice spot to eat and get some energy out before finishing our long drive.
We continued on through Tonto National Forest. We saw signs that the road would be closed today until 1:00PM. We were set to arrive at that part of the road right at 1:00 so we took our chances that the road would be open by the time we passed through. We did have to wait about 10 minutes and later encountered more construction delays, but it wasn't too bad. The mountain area we drove through had several mines and the sign before the road closure said something about a blast in progress. Beyond the mines, the view was beautiful and we were almost in Phoenix by the time we came out of the mountains. We also saw our first Saguaro cactus (the tall ones with the "arms"). It was so exciting that I pointed to it and stuck my hand right in Rodney's face. Not a good idea to do to the driver!
We went through another tunnel in a mountain.
As we came out of the mountains and drove toward Phoenix, the outside temperature was rising by the minute. I think we got to 111 degrees. It was 122 last weekend I guess we lucked out.
We were overjoyed to finally arrive at Aunt Sue's house. We unloaded the car and jumped in the pool because that's what you do when it's 111 degrees. The kids were in heaven. This pool still has a diving board and a deep end deep enough to have a diving board. These are 2 things our kids have never seen, but thoroughly enjoyed. Morgan quickly perfected her dive and Caleb jumped feet first with his hands in diving position and claimed to dive. Same difference, right?
Aunt Sue made us a delicious dinner and then we were standing in the kitchen talking when Logan and Connor came running into the house and said "Where are your kids?" We directed them to the backyard and that was that. Instant best friends. Logan and Connor are Rodney's cousin Kim's kids. Logan is 8 and Connor is 4. She lives less than a mile away so they came over to visit before bed. All the kids jumped in the pool and had a great time until it was time for bed.
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