Trip of a Lifetime - Part 1

For years, David and I had heard about this great family camp that was just so awesome and that we should try to take our family at least once.  Well, this past spring, the opportunity arose.  We found out that Young Life's famiy camp, Trail West, was offering a deal for the first week of camp.  David jumped on it!  This was his kinda thing.  After all our trips to the beach and Disneyworld, he was really wanting to take us out west.  This was a great chance to do just that.  Saddle up your horses, cause here we go!

The first big decision we had to make for this trip was: fly or drive.  Both had their goods and bads, but after hearing that drive could just be alot of fun, we decided to bite that off.  All 2500 miles of it.  And we are so glad we did.  Our first stop on Thurs, May 27, 2010, was for breakfast in Forest City.  It was a quick run through the drive-thru, which proceeded to bathe our car in syrup and orange juice.  Seriously. It got everywhere.  In trying to push us a little bit while the site seeing was rather bland, we made it all the way to Oklahoma City for a late lunch.  We didn't make it much further after that, but we entered the famous Route 66.    As we hit the road the next morning, we managed to find a quaint Route 66 museum.   It was full of really cool antiques, replicas, and just plain ole cool stuff. 

We kept on truckin', making our way throught Chekotah, Okalahoma, home of Carrie Underwood.  Had to play her song as we went through.  Once we made it to Texas, the scenery was just unbelievable.  Flat, flat in some spots where you could see for miles.  Then in other spots there were these beautiful gullies.  The only problem with all of this, is there is nothing for miles.  Nothing.  Including a restroom.  Finally made it to the only place around.  We get out and there is this sign.  Never seen one of those before. 

Next, we bypassed Amarillo and headed down these really rural roads.  Corn fields for miles and miles.  Did you know that they plant them in circles there, so the irrigator can go all the way around?  We then entered New Mexico, where we went for miles and miles with nothing.  All through these travels I wondered how many people ran out of gas with nowhere to go or how many people ended up using natures facilities along the roadside!  Driving in New Mexico, we passed probably our 100th coyote, spotted antelope, passed an extinct volcano, and began to drive the mountains.  This perked everyone up, as we started yawning, chewing gum, anything to pop our ears.

Our long day ended in Colorado Springs for dinner.  We ate, swam at the pool and all crammed into our hotel room looking forward to spending a couple of days sightseeing.  Below are some pics from our few days in Colorado Springs.  Not pictured are the Olympic Training Center, which was very cool, and Focus on the Family Headquarters, which was the kids favorite.

Seven Falls

Garden of the Gods

We had had so much fun already at this point,

we couldn't begin to imagine how much more fun we were going to have.