Day Six -- New Life...

June 6, 2011 -- Monday

Well, many have asked so here's what the hotel looked like when we moved in.

We moved furniture around a little to better suit our needs. We swapped the table and chairs you see in the way back with the sleeper sofa you can see in the foreground. Emily is sleeping on the sleeper sofa.


On the right side wall, you see the handles for the murphy bed where the Henry is sleeping. There is a closet and a bathroom down that hall.

The kitchen...

Steps up to the loft

The loft and our bed. There is a bathroom up there too.

It's small but it works for now. We signed on the dotted line for the house on Tuesday but we also allowed the former owners to stay in the house until the 27th of June because they need to find a place to live for a few months before their move east. We hope to get in the house before the 27th but until then, this is home!

Day Five -- Last day! Carson City to San Mateo

June 5, 2011 -- Sunday and the Last Driving Day!

We woke up in Carson City and went to see the capitol before we made one more west-ward drive. We were looking forward to finally getting to California but first wanted to see some sights along the way.

Carson City is the capitol of Nevada. Did you know that? It's a very quaint little town with a great mining history. They have a bunch of restored buildings too. The capitol dome is painted silver because Nevada is the Silver State. The capitol is surrounded by trees with large canopies so it was hard to see the dome but we got one good family shot from across the street.


This is a statue of Kit Carson who Emily studied this year in 3rd grade. Kit Carson mapped the way to California and is the namesake of this capitol city.

After leaving Carson City, we took Route 50 west which bumps right into Lake Tahoe. We took the short route north to meet back up with I80 in Truckee, CA.

This was one road sign I've never seen before!!

Our last "Welcome To" sign of the long road west. We were happy to be in California!

We did not stop in Tahoe -- as we were anxious to keep going and get to Sacramento for lunch. We'll be back to Tahoe soon -- definitely by the winter to get some more skiing in!

Next stop was Sacramento where we enjoyed a nice long walk around their Capitol Hill.

This amazing Sequoia tree is one of many on the capitol grounds. There were palm trees, orange trees and others native to California.

The last 90 minutes of the drive west went smoothly and we safely arrived at the Residence Inn in San Mateo, CA at about 6pm that evening.

1,611 miles, 5 days, 3 state capitols and a whole lotta road!

We're happy we are here!

Day Four -- Salt Lake City to Carson City, NV

June 4, 2011 -- Saturday

We left Salt Lake City in the morning but first took time to stop down at the capitol and temple square on our way out of town. The state capitol is really amazing. The building is beautiful and the surrounding grounds are very nice. We were able to go into the historic building across the street to read more about Utah and the capitol.

Utah is the beehive state...

Then we headed out I-80 West through the Bonneville Salt Flats. The landscape is so barren and white. The salt flats last for miles but are rimmed with amazing mountain scenery.

This is a mirage...

After you pass through the flats, you start up in the foothills and cross the Nevada state line.

It was an 8 hour drive and we only stopped twice so there was a lot of sleeping and "ds" playing.

Finally we arrived back to civilization and Reno! We decided to pass through Reno and stay in Carson City which is about 30 miles south of Reno and the state capitol!

Day Three -- Salt Lake for the day -- No Driving!!

June 4, 2011 -- Friday

We woke up in Salt Lake City after arriving at about 10pm the night before. We had a nice easy morning -- hotel breakfast, swim in the indoor pool, then headed out around 10:30. Emily had been sniffly and complaining about her ear hurting so we stopped at an urgent clinic to make sure it was not an ear infection. Well... it was. Luckily we found a Walgreens and the doc prescribed some antibiotics!

Then we headed out to Antelope Island which is a wild animal santuary (yes, antelope and bison!) in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. It is a state park that you get to via an 8 mile long causeway. The scenery is breathtaking. Salt Lake is surrounded by snowcapped peaks and you can see for miles from the island. Another great find!!

We went out to the old homestead and were able to see a whole herd of bison.

We had to touch our toes in the Great Salt Lake so here is the mid-way picture similar to the one of us at the St. Louis Arch in September '09.

We headed back to the hotel and were able to leave the dogs while we went and had dinner. We had a bunch of recommendations for a mexican dive called the Red Iguana and it was yummy! It's a "find" from Guy Fieri on "Diners, Driveins and Dives" on the Food Network. The dogs did really well in the hotel by themselves and we all slept well that night!!

Day Two -- Grand Junction to Salt Lake City via Arches NP

June 2, 2011 -- Thursday
We woke up early to get a good head start on the long driving day ahead. It is about two hours to Arches NP which is near Moab, UT. The CO/UT line is only about 25 minutes from Grand Junction so we were out on the long lonely road pretty early.


I have to get the obligatory state welcome sign photo but this one was a good one too!

Utah is the first state heading west.


We went along Route 70 for a while until we had the option to take a left turn on South 128 to get to Moab and Arches. The canyon we passed through was long and unbelievably scenic. If you have not had a chance to get out to this part of the country, you should.... it's like what I imagine the surface of mars looks like. The Colorado river is tan -- so much so that at times, it looks more like a dirt road. The canyons are so high and unusually colored. Mostly you see red, but sometimes the canyons have large swaths of black and white colors.

I thought the "cave" on the top of this canyon was particularly interesting!

We stopped for lunch and gas in Moab then headed up into the National Park. We decided to take the whole drive north through the park then stop at the sights on the way back south.

See what I mean about the surface of Mars?

This is the world famous "Delicate Arch". Looks delicate but it's 52 feet wide. The Olympic torch passed through here on it's way to Salt Lake City for the summer games in 2002. You can hike closer to it but unfortunately... no dogs allowed. And we certainly could not leave them in the car in the 83 degree desert heat!

I thought the arches were cool but was also amazed by the other rock formations. This rock was made this way by water, wind and time.

This is another famous double arch -- made somewhat more famous by the photos of Steven Speilberg while filming an Indiana Jones movie here.

After a long day at Arches, we headed north back up to 70, then west until we got to Route 6 where we took a long north-westerly path to Salt Lake City. For the record, it's pretty hard (impossible for us) to get a meal in Price, UT at 8pm on a Thursday night. Just so you know...