Our California trip took some planning, mainly because we stayed at 6 different hotels during our trip! We did a lot of moving around. We decided to drive just because we are used to driving, and it it is not that much further than Phoenix. Plus, driving is so much cheaper and logistically easier when you factor in car rentals, car seats, etc. There was a total of eleven of us who went: Joey, me, the kids, Katy, Bryan, Jameson, Ella, and my parents. It was a big group but we managed to fit into two minivans for our adventure.
I normally don't really blog about our trip out there or back. Unfortunately, we had a pretty eventful trip on the way out there that I felt was worth mentioning.
It has barely snowed at all this winter. As luck would have it, Friday, the day we were planning on leaving, a big snow storm was predicted. Joey and I debated driving down to Albuquerque Thursday night. He checked the forecast and ultimately decided to leave Friday morning. When we woke up Friday morning to leave, it was a winter wonderland. There was a lot of snow on the ground. From what we could read, the further south you traveled the better the roads were. We decided to still head out.
We were barely able to get out of our neighborhood in our van. It does well in the snow, but it is not four wheel drive. We got on the road and the roads were clear once we headed south. I thought it would be smooth sailing. When we were south of Walsenburg things got really bad. It was snowing very hard and the interstate was covered in snow. The plows were behind us so we were moving very slowly. Eventually, we came to a standstill. We sat in the same spot for about three hours. Luckily, the kids could get out of their carseats and they did really well despite being at a standstill for almost three hours. FINALLY, we got moving again. The roads were much better and we made our way south. Until we got to Trinidad. Raton Pass had been closed for about four hours and it was still not open. So, we had to sit on the side of the road again for about an hour waiting until it re-opened. FINALLY, it was open and we were on our way. It was very crazy because once we got to New Mexico, it was blue skies and not a drop of snow!
We had originally planned on staying in Flagstaff that night. Since we got incredibly delayed, we only made it to Gallup, New Mexico and didn't get to our hotel until after 10:00 P.M. Everyone was exhausted that night! We woke up bright and early the next morning and made our way to San Diego. We had planned on getting their around 2:00 P.M., but because of our delays the day before we didn't get there until around 6:00 P.M.
It was a very eventful and adventurous trip. I think it made us all appreciate sunny California that much more!
 |
| Our backyard Friday morning |
 |
| This is what the interstate looked like. Notice there was only one lane to drive on. |
 |
| Snowy interstate |
 |
| Finally, in sunny California! |
No comments:
Post a Comment