We're Here!

This is a little song that Quincy sang as we entered Virginia.
It was all off key and off of the top of her head, but it pretty much sums it all up.
I asked her to write it down so I could share it with you.
We're Here!

Our quest is done,
Our journey is over.
We are in Virginia.

Look at that tree!
It's in Virginia
Look at that leaf!
It's a Virginian.
See the grass?
It's in Virginia,
And now, I am too.

Washington State was cool.
We had friends and went to school.
But now, we'll have to suck it up and get over it.

We are here,
Where we are gonna live.
Hey, person I might someday know,
I may learn to like this place that I will soon call home.

By Quincy

One last stop...

We had pretty much hit the end of all the fun sightseeing after we left Utah. Colorado was beautiful, but we didn't have time to stop. Kansas was just an immense sea of flat nothingness. Honestly, just grass all the way to the horizons. Missouri gave way to rolling hills and a few more trees and...what's that?... another arch?!

We'd seen the natural arches in Utah, so it only seemed proper to go visit this man-made arch.

The elevator/tram to the top was the coolest part of the visit. They were little, 1960's, space-age, round capsules that sat five, but we managed to squeeze Julia in on my lap. In order to get in, you had to duck through a tiny, Willie Wonka-type door. The walls were round so certain tall people had to watch their heads. We sat there knee to knee to knee to more knees listening to the cables grind and creak as we rolled and jerked our way to the top.

Once at the top, we had quite a view of the city through some teeny-tiny windows.

We also got quite a view of the floodwaters. Notice the trees that really shouldn't be submerged? The road sign below was just about twelve feet below where we parked our car. If it had rained or if a levee had decided to break, I think our car would have been drowned.

Now that we've seen the natural arches and a man made arch, it seems only proper to go have lunch at the golden arches!

What we really saw at Arches...

We didn't have nearly enough time to truly explore Arches National Park, but what we were able to do was a lot of fun.

This is Balancing Rock.
Now we know where Chuck Jones, the animator, got his inspiration for all of his Wile E. Coyote cartoons.

If Julia were a certain coyote, that rock would be falling on her head.

Quincy contemplating nature.

Cowboy Grant

Isn't she cute?

After being reined in and kept from climbing while we were at Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon, Grant was thrilled to finally find a place where he could let loose and climb everything.
According to Grant, this was the best National Park that we've explored.

Julia enjoyed the climbing as well.

What we saw at Arches National Park

Bryce Canyon

We did a whirlwind tour of Bryce Canyon. We were there just long enough to see the sights, walk a couple of short trails and take a bunch of really cool pictures. I'm sure that the place deserved more time, but we are definitely doing the drive through tourist thing.

The background in this pictures almost looks fake to me, like we put some sort of backdrop behind the girls.

We had just hiked up an incline and had more to go... Quincy wasn't sure she wanted to go further.

Grand Canyon

The last time I visited the Grand Canyon, Kevin was 3 and Quincy was 18mos. I remember glancing at the canyon occasionally, but more often, I was watching the kids and trying to keep them from falling off of the edge. This time I didn't have to worry quite so much, so enjoying the scenery was much easier.
Well.... Grant was a little annoyed that we wouldn't let him climb the rocks right next to the sheer drop off.

Another difference between this trip and the last, is that this time we visited the North Rim not the South Rim. There are fewer tourists there and I also think it's just prettier.