Spring Break Roadtrip!

Whew!  We just got back from a whirlwind, but incredible, 5 days on the road for Evie and Izzy's spring break.  The ultimate destination was Sanderson, Texas but, on the way there at least, we meandered our way.  We left on Tuesday after Patrick got out of a hearing and made the 5 hour trek to Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Flower in bloom on Gerard and Monique's Ranch

In order to make the traveling easier on the dogs last week we bought a hitch carrier and a bag for our stuff.  It seemed like such a good idea.... but as it turns out Subaru's, heat from exhaust pipes and long-distances = melted plastic carrier bags, ruined sleeping bags and general stinkiness.  The worst part about all of it was the sleeping bag that got permanently attached to my cargo bag is my dad's sacred bag that he has had since I was a kid.  He allowed us to borrow it but asked that we "not let anyone throw-up on it..." Well melted plastic and singed down isn't exactly barf but it is decidedly less recoverable.  As a result my Dad has now "aquired" a brand new special sleeping bag.

Aside from the sleeping bag tragedy our trip to Las Cruces was uneventful.  I remain very thankful for my two kids who will just sit in a car for hours on end with only coloring books and recorded stories to keep them entertained.  I did learn this trip though that after about 4 hours Isadora becomes very touchy and the littlest thing will send her over the proverbial edge.  On the way home, for example, (which was actually at hour 9) she got all in a tizzy because we told her we were stopping to go to the "little girls room" and then when we went to the bathroom she dissolved because "This is NOT a little girls room, this is a bathroom!" and proceeded to scream about the lack of little girls room the entire time we were at the gas station. 

Anyway on day two of our adventure our plan was to make it to a campground near Carlsbad Caverns.  On the way we decided to stop at White Sands, which was just as amazing as Patrick and I remembered it from over a decade ago.  Evie fell in love with the big dunes immediately and was running up them and rolling down them and generally having a fantastic time.  Isadora on the other hand at first refused to get out of the car, I think she was intimidated by the wind and rather large dune we stopped at.  So for our first stop she hung out in the car and watched us play.  Then we took a little walk on a trail and she enjoyed that, so when we asked her if she wanted to try the dunes again she said yes.  We went to a more Izzy sized dune and she had a blast.  So much so that she was about as mad as I have ever seen her when we told her it was time to go.... 

From White Sands we journeyed up and through the mountains and down back into the desert, where we stopped at probably the most awesome roadside stand and petting zoo I have ever seen.  They had a camel and a water buffalo... not to mention your typical goats, llamas and sheep.  Let's just say feeding a camel was certainly the highlight of my day. 

The whole trip it was really windy, and with all of our random stops it was getting late so we decided to try to find a hotel for the night instead of camping.  After calling 10 hotels that were either full or didn't take dogs we booked it to where we wanted to camp and managed to get the last available camp site.  It took Patrick, Evie and I working together to get the tent up in the wind but once it was up we really enjoyed the spot (they even had a playground and an abundance of kids) and had a great night camping.

The next morning we packed up early and headed to Carlsbad Caverns.  I have always wanted to go, and it did not disappoint!  Izzy and Patrick only made it through part of the 1 mile hike through the caverns, but, Evie and I explored the whole path and she worked on a junior ranger badge, answering questions and writing poems about caves.  We will definetly have to go back some time in the future when Izzy is older so we can do one of the more involved ranger-led tours!  From Carlsbad we made our way through the New Mexico/Texas oil fields down toward Abu and Oma's house.  We made it there by dusk and were treated to a fabulous home-made quiche. 

Making pasta.

On Friday we mostly hung around with Gerard and Monique, after a fabulous french toast breakfast made by Gerard.  We left really only to take a little trip out to their ranch land, where Evie found prizes for the fairy garden she was making at their house and I found lots of pretty cactus flowers to take pictures of.  In the afternoon Patrick and Evie make a fairy sled out of balsawood and Izzy almost took a nap (so close yet so far).  We gave Monique and Gerard a break and walked from their place to a little shop in town, which of course was when Izzy decided to fall asleep in Patrick's arms.... but little nap is better than no nap.  That night the girls got to watch Oma make pasta from scratch and we had amazing homemade fettuccine alfredo and venison sausages. 

Just a small sampling of Monique's garden.

The next day it was time to make the long journey home.  All told it took us 11 hours on the road to go from Sanderson, TX to Tucson, AZ in one day.  Probably the highlight of the drive home was listening to the first Laura Ingalls Wilder book.  Qe listened to most but not all because at round about hour three of the book, and hour 8 of the journey, Izzy declared "I DO NOT like this book!"  and proceded to repeat this over and over for a 1/2 hour until the CD ended... poor Izzy long car rides are tough when you are 2.5 years old.  All told it was a fantastic whirlwind road trip!