Leaving Canon City and saying goodbye to Bella, Tim and Cam was sad. I always say I don’t really miss Laurie day to day, but when she comes to visit and we have to say goodbye is when I realize how much I miss her living in Mass with all of us. Travelling cross country was a great way to get to know Tim even better and if can survive hanging with this crew their marriage will be a breeze. We sat laughing as Cam would come back from the rv saying she has all her stuff only to be called back 4 times for forgotten sneakers (2 pairs) clean shirt (trying to show her New England Pride by wearing her Pat’s shirt on the plane only problem it could stand up by itself it was sooo dirty) random pieces of clothes. Next the remaining crew piled into the rv, I started twitching having to add Nanny’s 2 suitcases and Stacey and Sams. We don’t have room for extra stuff and the suitcases we add to accomodate always disturbed the order of the rv!! We headed to Breckenridge. Mike and I skied here probably 28 years ago with a bunch of friends who were all ski instructors from loon. We loved the town and the challenging terrain. It was great for our kids to see another cool ski town. After missing the base lodge and ending up at peak 9 with rv, feeling like the movie rv driving around dirt mountain access roads, but getting to see some gorgeous ski homes, we arrived and took the gogo up to the area of fun activities. We all did the slide- see Stacey’s update. Then went to bar for some snacks. OUr waitress was from Hanover, MA. Always getting our employee discount at loon i almost puked when the kids told us they paid $53 for 3 orders of nuggets and fries. A grilled cheese sandwich was $13, I kept telling Stacey we could go back to rv and I can whip out the frying pan and make 12 sandwiches for $2.00. Back to rv and headed to Denver.
Stacey filling in for kids
Last Blog post from the add one part our trip: bouressa crew still has another week!
Stacey here. The kids said they need a break from writing the blog so they instead could concentrate on their summer reading! 🙂
Laurie, Tim, Cam, Nanny, Jake and I all flew home yesterday. Back to our respective homes now so it’s only appropriate that we jump in and write the blog for our last two days.
Time spent with family, for us happens often, whether it’s a few days at Loon or the lake or at Saquish or Just Sunday afternoon cookouts with Dad and Babs. We are fortunate that we enjoy each other’s company. BUT as with spending a lot of time together we know there may be tiffs here and there. But we never go to bed mad and always move quickly on. Heading into this trip and the RV crew already two weeks into their journey, I thought it was going to be like a college student starting at a new school as a sophomore when they need to break through the already established routines of those that have already been there for a year together spending 24/7 with one another. We all quickly adjusted, the RV crew to new members and the red rover van being understanding to some of the established routines of the RV ( stops at Walmart, needing to leave an hour earlier due to limited speeds in an rv, lunches and dinners made while driving etc…). Teenage boys are harassing Nanny again let’s separate them for our next 5 hour drive. This trip was easy. No fights. No tiffs, just all happy to be together enjoying the beauty that surrounded us often (usually that’s what they said when they were talking about me) We now easily accept each others idiosyncricies, know when someone needs a break, ( I chuckled during one of our long rides and thought knowing when one of us needs a break is just like with a newborn baby, they are either, tired, hungry, or need to be changed as we often were wet and sandy from one of our daily excursions), are accepting of these things and cherish this time together.
Visiting with Karl and Kerry was amazing. Nothing better than pulling up to a dear friend’s house and comfortably piling out with 14 of your family members and feeling right at home. Dirt bikes, skeet shooting (you should ha e seen how proud kim was when her first shot shattered the clay pigeon), fireworks, cards games, foosball, basketball, pool, ping pong. It was like we were staying at a luxury resort. Karl and I have been friends since high school and he was one of JPs best friends. I love my boys to spend time with their dad’s friends to hear from others, JPs love of life and the joy he brought to so many. Thank you for your continued friendship Karl.
After leaving Trinidad Karl and Kerry and their two kids, joined the red rover van and the RV and we headed north to white water raft. We lapsed in our judgement for timing so the RV crew was a little rushed and almost missed the trip. Not bad since it was day 7 for all of us and the first time we were running late. 17 of us. Sad to leave kim behind as her recent back surgery prevented her from joining. Suited up with our helmets and life jackets, we were ready to conquer what the Arizona river had to offer. Trip was fun. I almost fell out of the boat a couple of times. Sitting in the toughest spot in the boat probably wasn’t such a good idea since my left foot has limited mobility due to nerve damage. Thank goodness Kerry was behind me to keep me from being tossed into the raging waters. The trip ended sooner than we thought. About 90 minutes of rafting and boys were a little disappointed there were no class V rapids. Tim didn’t rip up the 6 day old marriage license even though Laurie accidentally dropped his iPhone into the river!
Now to check out the RV park. Most of the time The Red Van crew slept in hotels. But the last two nights we stayed in the RV park. Let’s just say these cabins that we were staying in weren’t even as nice as Kims shed in her yard turned bunk room each summer! But it was our last night together so with the river running behind us, a 360 degree view of the mountains and all of us sun kissed and happy, it didn’t matter what our cabins were like.
Sad this was our last night together. We always talked of staying up late and drinking a few beers and playing poker but this night ended like most, all of us exhausted and going to bed early with no poker games into the wee hours (sorry Tim).
We all woke up early to say good bye to Tim, Laurie and Cam. They had an early flight and took off in the van. Was so sad to see them go. I think we all cried. That left the rest of the van crew to hop in the rv and head to Breckenridge for the day before our 11 pm flight. It was my first time riding in the RV. I sat shot gun. I’d get car sick if I rode in the back and this was the first time I wasn’t driving the van all trip. Was fun being all together. The extra weight of the four of us and all of our suitcases definitely weighed us down and the steep climbs found the RV barely hitting 40mph. We made it though.
Gondola to the top of Breck. Was beautiful. We all took a ride on an Alpine slide and kim, mom and I reminisced about our trip 30 years ago to one at attitash and Laurie was determined to not use her brakes the entire time which resulted in her flipping off the track. Lunch, shopping and hanging in town for a bit ensued. Mike and I found a hidden back yard pub complete with baggo boards, music and good beer and we were envious that we didn’t have the afternoon and night to hang out in this quaint town. We vowed to come back for a ski vacation with everyone.
On to our last segment of the trip. Two hours to Denver to visit Kim and Mikes good friend Brendan Reed. He was one of the first kids they taught together at loon 25 years ago. He is their son Brendan’s namesake and it was those years with Brendan Reed, Kim and Mike understood their love for teaching and the importance of their Loon family to them.
Kim in the drivers seat, me as co-pilot and mike as third in command because he knew the both of us would be chatting away and forget to pay attention. We arrive in Denver safely, meet up with Brendan and even though years separated their last time together, like any true friend, you pick up right where you left off and are grateful for your time together.
RV, Gondola, bus, escalator, van and now Uber. Time to say Good-bye. With working from home, and the boys typically in a million directions, I often spend a lot of time alone. I thought after 10 days with 14 of us together 24/7, id be happy to be going home. Not this time. Was sad to say good bye. Sad another trip of a lifetime was coming to an end, but was leaving with a happy heart so full and grateful for having to have had this opportunity of a lifetime.
Back at home now. I traded Jake and Sam so jake is home with me and Sam stayed with the RV crew for the last week of their trip.
As we are using this blog to keep our memories fresh, going to mention a few memories:
Banana chips, hitting your shin on the running board every time we open the side door, hit the rumble strip three times you are out as driver, kim obsessing about filling up the water bottles, nanny yelling at sam not not wipe his sweat on Jake, fighting about chargers, boys Ubering all over Vegas, salt n vinegar chips, giving nanny pot brownies (that didn’t really happen but every time we went by a pot store in Colorado we said wouldn’t it be funny if we did that), seeing the bear, wait that was just a hitchhiker. Big Bear. What the heck was that animal that just ran in front of us.
In Zion there was a sign that said, Nature and the Wilderness isn’t a luxury but a necessity of the soul. That certainly rang true for all of us. Though we were privileged to be able to go on such a journey, it is the simple pleasure of seeing the beauty that surrounds us every day, whether it is the beaches of Marshfield, Mountains of New Hampshire, or Canyons of Arizona and Utah, and sharing those times with friends and family you love, that remind you that you don’t need much more than that in life to be happy.
Days 21-22
On Friday we woke up at Staceys friend Karls house, which was a really cool house out in Colorado. The house was on an old golf course that went out of business that he bought so it is not near anybody so right when we got up at 7:00 we shot skeet and we got to shoot pistols, then after that we rode dirt bikes again. It was cool shooting their because since there was no one around people couldn’t call the cops like they do to us when we are in Marshfield. When we were done playing, Karl and his wife made a huge breakfast for all of us and then we were off to go white water rafting. The ride to go white water rafting was definitely a the most cramped the RV has been yet. There where 6 Bouressa’s, 2 Reismsan’s, 2 Grissman’s, and Then Karls 2 kids so we had 12 people in the 8 person RV. The van with all the adults beat us to the place by about a half an hour cause we had to go slower than them and we almost missed the bus, so when we pulled up 11 people piled out of the RV and jumped into the rafting bus. Rafting was ok. we were all hoping that it was going to rougher than the last time we went but it wasn’t, but we still all had fun. It was really fun watching Nanny out in the river paddling through all the rapids, and every time we got near her boat she kept on splashing us with her paddles, and I would say that I don’t think I have ever seen Sam so happy as he sat there soaking Nanny with his paddles as she was firing right back. So after Rafting we went back to the campsite and hung out there for a little while. Once we all regrouped we went out to dinner at “The worlds best burger place”, they were pretty good but my Mom said she still thinks Wendy’s are better. After dinner we went back and since it was the whole families last day here together we all just kinda hung out and planned what we were going to do tomorrow. eventually we all went to bed after a fun day.
Saturday we woke up to Bella coming in the RV saying her goodbyes and dragging Cameryn off to go bag to Florida. Bella, Tim, and Cam all left in the van leaving the rest to go in the RV with us, so we took our time packing up and had breakfast and then we were off to Breckenridge. I’ve heard stories from my Dad about what Brecks like but I didn’t really know what to expect of it, but when we go there it was awesome. The mountain was so big but the town below is so small. It was really cool, we took a gondola up the Mountain and went and did some of the rides and slides up there but then it started lightening so everything got shut down so we had to take a bus back down to the base. When we made it down after waiting in line for 30 minutes to the bus we went down and walked around Main St. Main St has a ton of cool little shops and restaurants that we went in. Stacey kept saying that she was going to go into one of the Marijuana stores and go buy Nanny a brownie or two and sneak them to her but I don’t think she ever did. Or maybe she did and that was why Nanny was so happy the whole trip. After visiting Breck we all hopped back into the RV to go to one of our parents friend, Brendan Reed from Loon who they taught skiing to when he was little and always stayed in touch with him and the family. Brendan is actually who I am named after and my parents would tell me stories about him so it was really cool to finally get to meet him. We hung out at their house and they cooked us a really good pulled pork dinner, and it was nice to eat a meal that wasn’t hot dogs or hamburgers. After diner all the kids went into the basement and the adults talked upstairs and caught up about life, and our parents were giving Brendan and his wife Michelle tips about being parens because they are having a baby in a couple weeks. Later we all went to bed to get ready for today. We woke up nice and early today. Ate breakfast, took pictures and hit the road. So now we are driving to Kansas while I am writing this and tonight you might be hearing from Connor but probably not because he doesn’t really do the blog. He has a lot of catching up to do from a couple of days ago.
Trinidad>Canon City
We woke up at our friend’s Karl and Kerry’s house to a huge feast for breakfast, we were all grateful to not have pancakes or poptarts. Mike and I lost our minds and agreed to take all 10 kids in the rv. A few brawls over who got to sit on the couch, but for the most part they were good and only horrorified our friends kids a couple of times. Mike cranked out pb and j or tuna sandwiches for 19 people during the course of the ride ( and complained non stop about the stench of the tuna!) We drive slower than the average car and ended up late for rafting, literally pulled in and kids were piling out before we even came to complete stop. I could not raft because of back surgery, so I took the rv and went the to Museum of Colorado Prison History. Super interesting tour of an old prison. It was very strange to be out by myself. I checked into the campground -Mountain View and had to do all the set up myself. Got me thinking about the comfortable rhythm we have settled into living in the rv. When we arrive Connor and Brendan hook up to the sewer and drain our tanks from the ride, Brian does the water, Jake/Cam do electricity and cable and unlock compartments, Courts and Kerrin organize the inside, push out the slideouts and level. They all do the reverse on departure. My kids have shared a bedroom at home since they were born until this year, so they are all very used to being together in a small space, except in the rv they have the best playground in the world for their backyard. I keep waiting to get sick of the rv but each day I love it more. I am going to be soooo sad when I have to give it back. Mike and I both agree would could live in an rv and travel around when we retire. We love the people we meet, the places we have visited, and the change of scenery every day or two. I was thinking today why it is better living in an rv than our house. Each kid has color coded cup and plate, as soon as they use them they bring them in, wash them and put them away or they don’t have anything to use, so we never have to load or unload dishwasher. We have limited space so we have no clutter. If it is not useful we don’t have it in the rv. The kids make their beds every day because they have to sit in them or look at them all day. We have campground bathrooms with multiple toilets and showers so no waiting for your turn to shower or use the toilet. When we go food shopping we load the food in rv and then put it away so we don’t handle it twice. No having to stay up late waiting for the kids to come home or pick them up because they are always home. Way less space to clean. Kids are forced to get along better because they are stuck with each other (and Mike and I can hear every arguement so we usually know who started it.) No annoying phone calls from telemarketers. No cable so no fighting over shows. Not having to use green bags for trash, we always have access to a dumpster. Stupid little things become funny jokes that we all laugh about. Little oven so I do not have to cook much. The best views ever!!!! When the crew got off the river, it started to rain a little as we arrived at a burger place for dinner. We huddled under a canopy and ate, grateful this was the first rain we had and it did not really impacting our activities. Back to campground, Nanny, Stace and Bella in cabins that are really just sheds. Sad that tomorrow they leave the trip and head home. It has been fun having them and hard to believe we all went 10 days with not a single fight ( there still is tomorrow) as long as we give Nanny the plan the night before she is a happy camper. Will def say my Mom is such a trooper. She jumps right in on all the adventures and keeps right up. Not too many grandmothers that will go white water rafting, climb 60 story canyon walls to see ruins, pile into rv with 9 other people, or hike around the grand canyon. We have made lots of memories that I know I will cherish forever with my mom, siblings, Mike, and all the kids. Forever grateful for such an amazing opportunity to share this with all of them- thanks Nanny!
Day 20- Sam
Yesterday I got a late start to the day. My Mom came into my cabin that we stayed in the night before and ripped off all my covers and told me that if i did not get up now i wasn’t going to get any breakfast and they were going to leave without me. After she said I wasnt going to get breakfast I jumped right up put my clothes on and ran up to the rv where Mike had a huge plate of pancakes waiting for me. After I ate breakfast I went back down to my cabin where I had to load all the suitcases including nanny’s whole side of her house which she decided to pack and my moms 300 pound suitcase that is impossible to lift. Once the van was packed we piled all the kids, Bella, tim, and my mom in the van since we couldn’t go in the rv cause it was broken down. Within 10 minutes of being in the cramped van jake and i were fighting over the phone charger and you can guess it he cried and i got in trouble. After the first hour in the car it smelled like farts, was hot, and every one was complaining that they were thirsty, so we stopped at McDonald’s were only Tim, Bella, and my mom got out to get stuff but got us nothing. Yet again 20 minutes after stopping in at mcdonalds jake and i were fighting over the charger but this time i stated crying. HAHA just kidding jake cried again not surprising. After 2 1/2 more hours in the cramped van we were complaining again that we were hungry so we stopped in a shady town to get Subway. When we got to Subway we all climbed out of the van and it looked like clowns piling out of a clown car we just didn’t stop coming. Once were racked up a $ 100 bill at subway we all piled back into the van with our subs happy as could be. After 1 hour of being on the road after subway we saw a big sign saying great sand dunes of Colorado we were told there was a surprise on the other side of the desert. After the 30 minutes of anticipating what our surprise was we finally made it and there it was a big sign that read sand dune sledding and snowboarding. We got to the store where we rented the boards we picked them up then drove to the dunes. Once we got the dunes we started the treck up to the top of the dunes. once we got to the top we went down and hiked back up and we did that for an hour untill we were all covered in sand and sweat. once we returned the boards we started the 2 hour ride to Karl’s house. Karl was one of my dads best friends. When we got to Karls house we got a tour of his house wich was very nice and jumped on the trampoline. After 20 minutes of being there we started riding their dirt bikes which were awesome. They have a 80, 110, 400, 450 and they were a blast. After we were done riding Karl took out his shotguns and his skeet thrower ans skeet. We shot skeet for 2 hours and everyone shot even Nanny. Brendan and Connor were the best by far but Cam was up there with them……. Not she was horrible. We ended the night by playing a big game of screw your neighbor which is a card game that takes a very long time. towards the end of the game it came down to kerrin, Connor, and bella. Connor got out because Karl got out and couldnt give him the good cards anymore. In the end Bella won and won the whole 14 dollar pot but was a nice aunt and gave the money to kerrin. All and all it was a great day that was jam-packed. Tomorrow you will be hearing from Connor if he actually writes his blog.
Mesa Verde>Trinidad
Mike and I get up early, catch up on laundry, realize we are camping next door to horse stable since we came in the dark. All night we are accusing the kids of passing gas. We make pancakes for the crew and then literally throw them all out of the rv and send them down the hill to the cabins and Big Red, we keep Nanny and start calling places to see if we can get RV fixed. First two places we call can fix it in two days. I am envisioning the three of us at this campground as our family continues on with my siblings. Finally D & L service are the saviors. They say come right in they can help. We meet two super nice mechanics who come right out assess the problem and tell us what we should do and then whisk Lady Bird away to get a flush. Sitting in waiting room with Nanny chatting away on the phone and Mike being embarassed that her and I are so loud is comical. AN hour later we are on our way. Stace and Bella have all 8 kids in van and are heading sledding at Great Sand National Park, since we missed it you will have to wait for Sam’s update. We are off to Trinidad, Colorado to visit friend’s Carl and Kerry. Carl was my brother in law JP’s childhood friend as has been friends with our family forever. Our ride with just me, Mike and Nanny is sooo quiet. We stop at Walmart and get snacks, Nanny sneaks in a bag of Mint Milano’s and I feel like I am really travelling first class eating milano’s dipped in milk as we cruise along. We told the kids Carl and Kerry’s house was like ours, so when the kids pulled up and it is the former Cougar Canyon Golf Course club house converted to their home. The text messages they are sending are hysterical, pool table, ping pong, fooz ball, skeet shooting, dirt bikes, fireworks. They are saying they are staying here for ever, outdoor fireplaces, bathrooms with urinals, a bubbler in the hall. Our kids are all in heaven. Carl and Kerry treat us to appetizers, dinner, laundry without having to use quarters, they even have power for the RV. It is such a beautiful place we feel like we are at a gorgeous resort. As a kid, my best friend Heather Flaherty’s family owned a ranch in Idaho and I spent many summers at the ranch and learned to shoot skeet. Highlight of the night was when we were all shooting and I hit the pigeon on my first shot, Made me look super cool in front of all my gun shooting boys. Even Nanny shot skeet tonight. When I was taking pictures from a hill, hundreds of grasshoppers were hopping all over the place, now I know why so many pioneer farmers lost their crops. It is crazy seeing them all over. Laundry all caught up, everyone else playing cards, I am heading to bed. Will be sad leaving this place.
Lake Powell >Mesa Verde
What a crazy day. In a momentary lack of sanity, Mike and I decided to take all the kids in the rv for a six hour drive to Mesa Verde. We pulled out with the 6 rv kids still snoozing away in their beds and pulled up to hotel to grab Sam and Jake. This results in a few skirmishes about seating as the rv crew is not willing to fold up beds to allow others to sit down. We start our morning at horeshoe bend canyon. The river literally circles around piece of canyon and it looks like a horseshoe. Stacey and I are thinking it is only a short stroll to the edge of the canyon, so mike and the kids throw on flip flops and we head off. Big mistake hike is almost a mile in – hot sand, steep hills, and complaining kids and Mike. They all made it down, we spent the entire time yelling at them to not go near the edge as there is nothing between the edge of the cliff and death for them if they tumble down. Back to rv for lots of poptarts, crunch berries and granola bars. Shockingly the kids decided to play hearts with 8 of them trying to get someone to 100. A couple of minor fights when Brian gets caught cheating, Brendan’s addition skills are subpar and he cheats Jake by giving him extra points, and couple of instances of body odor requiring extra deodorant or febreeze. Then they moved on to “screw your neighbor.” I think they just played because they liked the name. When we arrived at Mesa Verde visitor center, we can’t even get the kids to make lunch because they are still playing the 6 hour card game. Big Red is 30 minutes behind, the addons are not adjusting to my pace yet!!! We buy tickets for the balcony house tour, it is described as the most difficult tour requiring physical stamina. I am fat and out of shape but decide I am up for the challenge. We drive up the 45 minute trek to the top of the mesa. Scary road with switchbacks and Mike giving me lots of feed back on my driving- as usual. We meet the rest of the crew at the top and join other tourists from Italy, Belgium, and Virgina with our guide David Night Hawk who is a Lakota Indian. The kids have a look of disappointment when he approaches as he looks OLD! To all of our surprise he is a wicked wise ass and loves harrassing the kids. He designates Stacey as his assistant. We take off climbing up ladders along the sides of the canyon that are 60 stories high. We explore cave dwellings made by pueblo indians and hear stories of life hundreds of years ago. OUr guide also adds in vital info like reminding people to not pass gas while climbing the ladder and that if anyone touched the cave walls he will throw them over to the mountain lions. Great to learn about some history and as we squeeze through tunnels and crawl on our hands and knees to get through to different rooms it is easy to imagine what life must have been like for these cave dwellers. We end the tour with Dave Night Hawk playing a homemade wooden american indian courting flute. It has a spiritual sound that captivates all of us as he tells us to imagine a young indian boy courting a girl by hiding in the woods and playing the flute. We pile in to the rv ( we are now calling Lady Bird- as she is Jayco Red Hawk and has glimmers of our friend Lori Mccall who entertains us all. As Mike begins the descent down the 25 miles of steep switch backs, with Big Red taking off way ahead of us to get to the campground first (my sisters are still competitive) he suddenly looses power and notices the temp gage is super hot. He pulls over and opens the hood to steam and notices the radiator fluid reservoir cap is not on but sitting next to it, our oil change place must have not put it back on when they changed all our fluids. Then an angel in disguise as a park ranger pulls up behind us and begins flagging traffic. We have no cell service, I am reading the truck owners manual to figure out if we can add regular water to replace and order all the kids to take their water bottles and start pouring the contents into the radiator, till we realized they all had gatorade. Quick washout and they start filling from the reserve water for rv. thank goodness we did not pee too much and have to flush. Quite a sight, 8 kids lined up pouring water in with ranger directing, Cameryn hikes up a little higher and gets one bar on her at &t phone and sends an SOS text to the family to return, they think she is lying and ask for me to confirm. Big Red appears over one of the switch backs, takes as many kids as they can fit around the suitcases, we keep Brendan and Connor and start Lady Bird up and she flies off down the hill with the kids hanging out the window assuring Big Red that we were ok. The campground we were staying at was at the bottom and we pulled in grateful to have arrived safely, the sisters headed off to their cabins. We ended up short a cabin so Nanny had to rough it in the rv with the rv crew. Kids all dug up the ear plugs we had from Tom snoring since Nanny snores. As we are going to sleep Nanny yells good night Jim Bob, from the Waltons, kids have no clue, but our redneck kid connor who the kids all jokingly call Jim Bob is stunned Nanny is calling him Jim Bob. I fall asleep so grateful that we broke down when and where we did, as we have had days of driving hundreds of miles without seeing a service station or anyone who could help us. We are 10 minutes from a good size town- Cortez, so hopefully they will have someone who can flush our radiator.
Lake Powell
I had never heard about Lake Powell until we started planning this trip and then mulitple people told me we had to go here. So we put it in the plans and I am so glad we did. We left Zion with Nanny and the girls bright and early. Leaving behind the boys to go in the van and have a nice breakfast. We had a quiet, relaxing ride, if any one did pass gas it was not announced, nobody fought, and everyone’s phones got to charge the entire ride. We left earlier to avoid the Zion Mountain Road which we had done the day before and it is not pretty in the rv, there is a tunnel that is only tall enough if you drive down the center of it so rvs have to pay $20 for a tunnel escort and the police shut down the tunnel so you can take up the entire thing. We decided we would rather add 20 minutes than do that road again. We arrived at Lake Powell at what we thought was 11 to check in to campground only to realize Arizona does not participate in daily light savings time so we were an hour early. Luckily they let us go to our site, we dropped off the rv and piled into Big Red for our kayak adventure. Hidden Valley Kayak owner Dave is originally from foxboro so we liked him right away. We followed the trailer to Lone Rock Canyon. We actually drove right on the beach to unload and the beach was full of rv’s parked right next to the water, they can stay for up to 14 days, all running off generators it reminded me of Duxbury drive on beach but no piping plovers. We dumped a few gallons of sunscreen on the kids, filled the water bottles and set off on our kayaks. The water was crystal clear and super warm. We were all in double kayaks and it was great watching each of the teams try to out do each other, except Stace who had her own single and loved showing off her expert paddling skills. The guides figured our kids out quickly and took the kids right away to jump off cliffs. Even Auntie Bella was brave and jumped off. We paddled around to different parts of the canyon. The entire Lake is filled with houseboats and people can just pull up to a flatter area and set up camp. The big difference out here is no body owns the land around the edges, it is national park so anybody can just pull up and hang out. Crazy when you compare Marshfield and people fighting over rights to walk across the high and low water marks. It is also nice to drive along the water edge and not have houses every inch of the coast. Our guides gave us scooby snacks and peanutbutter crackers, huge hit. When we paddled back to the beach, it was sooo hot that we all jumped in the van and headed back to campground and hotel for showers. Kids used the outdoor shower on rv, showering to the view of lake powell surrounded by the desert. Waweap Campground was the best view of all our campgrounds so far. Headed over to waweap lodge for dinner with the family. Beautiful sunset over the canyons and full bellies, everyone off to bed for a busy next day.
Zion – better late than never
What a place! Mike and I did not stop here when we went cross country 25 years ago and Stacey and many others insisted we come here. We woke in the morning surrounded by giant canyon walls all around. Specatacular sight. It is a new challenge travelling with the sisters because I can’t boss them all around like I do the rv crew. I am used to getting everyone up and out early, the add ons thought 8 am departure was early. We had breakfast surrounded by deer eating the flowers and grass and bees everywhere. Sam caught a bee in a glass. Best bacon we have ever had. Resort lost money on our kids eating this morning. Nanny decided to take a much deserved break. We headed off to rent special water shoes, neoprene socks and walking sticks. Quite a sight. They also advise bringing water bottles hiking. Of course every hike we go on someone forgets their bottle and we have to buy one because you can get really dehydrated. I stress about that stuff and of course have food and water for a small army to be stranded for a week. We head to visitors center to get on the zion shuttle. FOr anyone coming here, I would def stress getting up and out early, at 10 AM we waited 30 minutes for the shuttle, but we are all looking super cool with our matching water boots and walking sticks. It is a 45 minute ride to the top of the zion shuttle loop, but the bus has a great audio tour describing each of the 9 stops and history of the canyons and land. We hop out and head for the Narrows. The most popular hike. We immediately notice these very obese squirrels walking like pets alongside of us, begging for food. They are so fat they can not even climb trees. The park rangers and signs everywhere beg us not to feed them. They have shorter lives and end up starving all winter because they are so used to people feeding them have not learned to get their own food. The Narrows Hike is like nothing we have ever done. We are literally hiking along in a river surrounded by gigantic canyon walls. The water is warm (kids say because so many people pee in it) When you get to waist deep spots you can tell everyone is taking a leak. The rangers tell us their is a moderate chance of a flash flood. This is a little scary, a family of 9 people died yesterday in a flash flood. Many times the spot you are at can be sunny but the flood can start miles up the river and just sweep in. Mike is looking for spots along the canyon walls he can hunker down if one comes, I am thinking we are all screwed and will be a story on the Today Show. We love this hike, water “weeps” from the walls of the canyons sometimes forceful enough to make water falls other times just trickling out. The kids of course find spots where they can ride the current, other spots they can jump off nto deep water and other spots where they scurry up canyon walls into little crevices. One hiker after seeing our crew stopped us and said “your group looks adventurous, you should take them to this ledge, and proceeded to give us direction to spot of the zion road with a cliff for them to jump off. We spent a few hours hiking, making fun of each other when we slipped on rocks and tumbled, and marveling at the beauty of this adventure. We stopped for snacks, luckily I had salt and vinegar chips, hot fries, saltines and candy. The other hikers looked envious of our great snacks. Stacey of course ate her banana chips. There are sooo many international visitors to our national parks. People come from all over the world to visit these places. We are so lucky to have these treasures in our own back yard. Even though it was 98 hiking through the river in the canyons we were not hot. We returned via the shuttle to the bottom, shipped the kids off to subway and parents went to a brew pub to celebrate the old people making it through the river hike in one piece. After break, we dropped the kids off to canyon mountain school, they agreed to take them rock climbing without an adult. We are too fat and out of shape to squeeze through narrow canyon walls and then rappell down the sides of the canyons swinging in harnesses. So different from all the regulations of Loon, signed one ROL for 8 kids, then shipped them off in the guides own junky jeeps, and the kids said they were texting and driving. The guides wanted confirmation we would be back in 4 hours to collect them, we told them we did not even know the kids, we were their guides on the last trip and their parents never came back!! We went off food shopping for dinner. I had to send frugal Mike out of the store, he was having a heart attack, we usually get 6 gatorades at Walmart for $3. hear they were $8!!! Price gouging for sure. It was so expensive he would not even buy budlights. We cooked out on grills at the resort, surrounded by deer eating next to us. Worked out great, RV parked in dirt lot next to Nanny’s room, so we could get supplies from RV. Kids had a blast on their adventure, learned new skills, see girls post for bathroom stories. (last time I let the kids post without previewing!!) Kids were so tired they refused to play cards with us and went to bed (after some major drama over sharing hotel bed, Brian wanted to trade sides of bed with Brendan because Brendan’s side closer to plug for cell phone, Brendan refusing and wanting line of pillows separating them, Brian refusing the line because he can’t watch Sam and Jake playing play station. Battle that results in phone calls and text messages, me trying to drag a kid out of the bed, finally get them in and asleep after threats of sending them back to the rv. We head out to the hot tub and soothe our weary bones. Arrive to our bedroom we are sharing with Stacey and Jake, no mints on my pillow but a cute stuffed bear. That’s a story for another day!! Now I am caught up with my posts. Keeping up with them is like being in school and not getting your work done on time. Hoping to stay on schedule.
Lake Powell>Mesa Verde Brian
Today we had an early start. My mom pulled in the slide outs well Connor and I were still sleeping. I woke up when all the cousins got in and were fighting about who gets what seat in the RV. I decided to stay in my bed and not get involved in the fighting. After a little bit of driving we pulled over to a stop and my mom told us to get out we are going on a hike to see Horshoe Bend where a river makes a Horshoe shaped around an Island in the canyon. My mom told us it was a mile hike there and back. But it actually turned out to be a mile hike there and back. All the kids were moaning and groaning because we all decide to wear our flip-flops and it was all Sandy and Our feet got all dirty. We got back in the RV and decided to play a card game. We all decided on playing hearts. We played for three hours straight until we finally someone get to 100 points. We played 29 rounds and Jake finally got to 100 points and lost. After playing hearts for five hours we decided to play screw your neighbor. We played screw your neighbor for three hours and finally arrived at mesa verde. At the balcony house at Mesa Vertie we finally got to go on our tour. Our tour guide was old but really funny. Since everyone in our family kept farting the guy started calling us the gasing family. On the tour we got to see all of the places where they kept their food and had fires and where they had their religious ceremonies. We got to see all of the stuff that they constructed and has not been touched by other people. In the winters it was very hard they could not live did not have a fire in their dwelling. 50% of the kids there died before the age of five. Most of the woman died at age 25 because of childbirth. Once we are finished with the tour we got back in the RV and started driving again. We were in the middle of the game the screw your neighbor when the car started slowing down and we had to pull over to the side of the road. The problem was the people at our last oil change forgot to screw on the for the radiator fluid and the RV over heated. Luckily there is a park ranger right behind us that pulled over and helped us out. We then filled up the radiator with cups of water to cool it down. After a while of trying to call the other people in the van we finally got one call through and they turned around and came and picked up some of us and brought us water so we could keep calling it down more. After a while he finally got the RV running again if we drove to our campsite. After we got all set up we went onto the roof of the RV and took pictures of the lightning. We were then summoned down for dinner. After dinner we all cleaned up and use the restrooms and all went to bed. He also had a surprise sleepover from Nanny in the RV. There was no room on the cabins she’ll be squished you’re in here. The next blog is from Connor we have to go back a day and do Zion, he is really slacking on his blog duties. Since we are going to one of Sam’s dad’s friends house tomorrow he will be doing the blog.
RV Having Fun Yet Bouressa Bunch Goes Cross Country 