After the pictures I'll tell about our loooong and very unintentional scenic route home...
I stole this one off Mindy's blog :)
This isn't from the trip. I was just trying to get a good picture of Rachel's frowny face. She has a very good pout.
Mike likes to let Rachel taste things. Don't worry, we don't actually feed her any of it, but her reactions to the licks of random foods Mike gives her are pretty funny. This one's a fruit snack.
The parade. I think we have the flag department covered.
At the parade, she was very interested in all the sights and sounds...
...until she fell asleep
Mindy carrying Rachel around in her Snugli.
Mike with the statue of Mike The Headless Chicken. It was a chicken in Fruita that lived for 18 months after it's head was cut off. Ahh Fruita :)
The sun was beating down, but we didn't have any kind of hat for Rachel. Luckily, a bank was giving out free foam visors that were VERY adjustable, so we were set.
Mike got a visor too. They're all the rage.
Just walkin' around the festival. Mmmm...cotton candy...
I think they're a little obsessed with frying... Has anyone actually eaten a fried twinky? Please leave a comment if you have and are still alive.
Daddy daughter time while Mindy was at work. No one can make Rachel smile like her Daddy.The Scenic Route
So Mike doesn't like driving long distances, and I don't mind it too much, so I offered to drive on the way home. We left Fruita at about 3:30 in the afternoon and planned to get home around 7:30 so we would have time to unpack, shower, wind down, etc from the trip. So I'm driving and Mike is in the backseat so he can keep an eye on Rachel and keep her happy, and he has the laptop back there and is playing games and stuff while she's snoozing. We had been driving for a couple of hours, and I was marveling at how beautiful the landscape was and thinking about how I hadn't noticed how pretty it all was before. Suddenly Mike looks up and says, "Where are we? I don't recognize any of this." I thought for a second, and then the realization hit me.
I had missed our turnoff.
And it had been a long time ago that I started noticing the different scenery. Like, a LONG time ago. Usually we're driving through desert-y looking nothingness with pretty redrock cliffs in the distance. We were currently driving THROUGH the redrock cliffs.
Then I panicked.
How long had I been driving us in the wrong direction? Where WERE we??? How could I not have realized something was wrong?? I just kept saying "I don't know where we are. Oh no. What did I do? I'm such an idiot," and the like over and over again. There are NO towns or gas stations or anything out there, so there was no way to find out exactly where we were. The only thing to do was to turn back and drive until we hit the turnoff we were supposed to take. Guess how far I drove us in the wrong direction? Go ahead. Guess.
60 miles. Yup, 60 - one way, before we turned around. That's 120 miles of unnecessary travel. I drove for AN HOUR in the wrong direction. It added 2 hours to our 4 hour trip.
I've done a lot of dumb things before, but this was one of the worst. I don't really blame myself for missing the exit - that's common enough and we figured out that Rachel had been screaming about the time we would have missed it. I DO blame myself for not questioning why the scenery looked so completely different. I mean, we drove through a big red rock canyon and everything. And I don't have the excuse of not being familiar with the drive either. We've driven that route, either to Mindy's or to Moab probably a dozen times in the last 5 years. And I've been in the drivers seat for several of those trips. And it's a good thing Mike said something, or I might have just driven us in the wrong direction forever. I just kept thinking, "I'm SUCH AN IDIOT!" I still feel like an idiot.
But hey, it gives me something to blog about, right?
I had missed our turnoff.
And it had been a long time ago that I started noticing the different scenery. Like, a LONG time ago. Usually we're driving through desert-y looking nothingness with pretty redrock cliffs in the distance. We were currently driving THROUGH the redrock cliffs.
Then I panicked.
How long had I been driving us in the wrong direction? Where WERE we??? How could I not have realized something was wrong?? I just kept saying "I don't know where we are. Oh no. What did I do? I'm such an idiot," and the like over and over again. There are NO towns or gas stations or anything out there, so there was no way to find out exactly where we were. The only thing to do was to turn back and drive until we hit the turnoff we were supposed to take. Guess how far I drove us in the wrong direction? Go ahead. Guess.
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60 miles. Yup, 60 - one way, before we turned around. That's 120 miles of unnecessary travel. I drove for AN HOUR in the wrong direction. It added 2 hours to our 4 hour trip.
I've done a lot of dumb things before, but this was one of the worst. I don't really blame myself for missing the exit - that's common enough and we figured out that Rachel had been screaming about the time we would have missed it. I DO blame myself for not questioning why the scenery looked so completely different. I mean, we drove through a big red rock canyon and everything. And I don't have the excuse of not being familiar with the drive either. We've driven that route, either to Mindy's or to Moab probably a dozen times in the last 5 years. And I've been in the drivers seat for several of those trips. And it's a good thing Mike said something, or I might have just driven us in the wrong direction forever. I just kept thinking, "I'm SUCH AN IDIOT!" I still feel like an idiot.
But hey, it gives me something to blog about, right?
6 comments:
:):):):):):):) that is laughs by the way. Don't feel too bad. I do stuff like that all the time. I could of passed my provo exit and ended up in saint george dozens of times, no prob, if Tiffany wasn't so perceptive:) But 60 miles will make it memorable! By the way, I LOVE!!! fried pickles. That sign looks like something straight out of Texas, except for the fried oreos. Who does that anyway? And fried twinkies? How about breaded suicide anyone? Any takers?
Guess what? If you kept going that direction it would have taken you to Provo. You go thru Richfield, I think. It takes a little longer because you go thru a lot of small towns and the speed limit goes down to 35, but it would have been faster than 6 hours! :)
PS- gotta love the fall fest! Wish we could have been there too.
Don't feel too bad. Mark once took a scenic route at my request. There was supposed to be petroglyphs in this place called 9 mile canyon, just outside of Price. We got lost (seriously, scary, prayer in your heart, no humans for miles, thought we were going to die,lost) We blew out a tire, nearly hit two elk, and drove through a blizzard with close to nothing visibility. It added about 9 hours to our trip. So, really 60 miles is nothing.
Sorry about your long trip home! That's so frustrating! You do have to watch for those exits or they'll sneak right by. But it was still great to see you guys again, and yes, we do love to see you and Mike too! (Not JUST Rachel!) Maybe next time we can get the two babes to make eye contact...!! That was so cute.
Mary, I have missed that exit, too. It makes you mad, doesn't it? I was so happy to see you all three this last weekend. We love you so much! I wish you could come for Thanksgiving, but I guess there are other family members who might not like it much if you did that. We love little Rachel so much and we're happy that you guys are so devoted to her. Isn't she just precious? We were talking about how she is exactly who Heavenly Father intended her to be. Everything has happened exactly the way He intended (like it always does). Thank you so much for letting us be a part of her life and for coming to see us!
you have to ask mark about fried mars bars. He says that they are great. . .I say it sounds gross. Cute pics!!! I know what you mean about the best smiles for daddy.
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