And We're Off!

It's finally that time of year! Time for our fall road trip. My mom, my grandparents and I will be doing a west coast/middle America road trip this year instead of our usual east coast jaunt. We're getting ready to blast some John Denver and see America! Here is our itinerary:

Day One:
Drive from Cerritos to Flagstaff, AZ

Day Two:
Enjoying the incredible Grand Canyon

Day Three:
Drive to Santa Fe & enjoy the southwestern food

Day Four:
Explore the Plaza in Santa Fe. Drive to Colorado Springs

Day Five:
Whit's End! If I can pull myself away from Whit's End we will also go to Garden of the God's and have dinner at the Broadmoor.

Day Six:
Explore Denver. Drive to Boulder and tour Celestial Seasonings (can you tell who planned this part of the trip) and explore Rocky Mountain National Park.

Day Seven:
Drive through Cheyenne Wyoming.

Day Eight:
End up in Nebraska! Explore the Bohemian Alps & shop the "Junk Jaunt" (300 miles of treasure hunting!). Stalk Grandpa's favorite author.

Day Nine:
Lou's Legendary Marble Factory Tour. World's Largest Porch Swing. Drive to Red Cloud to tour Willa Cather's home & walk the "last of the American prairie"

Day Ten:
Head back to Golden Colorado.

Day Eleven:
Drive through the Rocky Mountains.

Day Twelve:
Drive to Utah. Go to Arches National Park.

Day Thirteen:
Head home.

As you can see, this is a very random vacation. It all started with my grandpa reading a book by a Nebraskan author. In the book, the author gives directions to his house. So we decided to see if we can find this guy. Along the way they are letting me stop in my favorite state, Colorado! It's going to be weird, but family road trips are ALWAYS fun!

See Canyon

I am continually amazed by what the central coast has to offer. We've made a really fun new discovery lately - Apple Orchards! A friend of ours from CIV told us that See Canyon had the best apples ever and they were so right! Apple season started July 31st, so we decided to explore the area a bit. See Canyon is actually on the way to Avila Beach (our fave spot), but it could not feel further away from the beach. It feels very much like the east coast. To get to the orchards you have to drive down a windy, shady, tree lined road. It's a gorgeous drive. We have made it to 2 orchards thus far: Gopher Glen, and See Canyon. There are plenty of apple products to buy, but my favorite thing is the apple tastings! They offer as many as 60 varieties of apples, so it's fun to learn about the different kinds. I love that you can be at an apple orchard and then 10 minutes later you can be at the beach. This place is growing on me.

Shelly came!

It was a whirlwind, but it was AMAZING! Since Shell's up for pretty much anything, we covered a lot of ground... We explored AG and had quite possibly the most delicious beverages known to man. I had the spiced apple chai, and Shell had something with peanut butter - chocolate & espresso! Yum! We meandered through the village, RAN over the suspension bridge, played in the creek, and shopped! We then hit Avila Valley Farm, Avila Beach, and San Luis Pier to see the sea lions. And that was just day one! We also made it to the goat farm, the luffa farm (who knew Luffa's grew on vines?), wine tastings, Jack Creek Farm, the movies, downtown SLO, and more coffee shops of course! It was an AMAZING visit. Can't wait to see you again Shell.

World's Largest...

We've been gearing up for our fall road trip. My grandpa has wanted to go to Nebraska for a while now (he grew up there, and wants to visit one of his favorite authors), so we decided to turn it into a road trip. We're hitting the Grand Canyon, New Mexico, and my favorite - Colorado! We've found some really fun stuff to do all through the trip, except when we are in Nebraska. Literally, the most exciting thing we have found thus far is the world's largest porch swing (which we will of course go see!). It got me curious about other "world's largest" things. Here are some of my favorites... I think I might have to have a life goal of visiting these.

World's Largest Yogurt Container - Dubai

World's Largest Loaf of Bread - Urbana, Ohio

World's Largest Bike - Germany

World's Largest Badger - Wisconsin

World's Largest Artichoke - Castroville, CA