Presidents' Day Weekend Trip

Since C had Fri/Mon off this week, D decided to take the days off too. Friday morning we went to Scottsdale to visit with a friend (and stealth blog-reader) from Iowa City/Portland who was in town for the weekend. After a too-quick breakfast and visit, we ran home to pack for a little vacay...we were headed south, to see some more of our state.

Just heading out of our house, heading down the 101...I saw the single most awesome vanity plate ever. We were heading South on the 101 about 3:30 in the afternoon. For non-locals, the 101 is ALWAYS backed up and really obnoxious to drive. Generally, we'd avoid it completely at rush hour, but we found ourselves none the less on its surface...complaining about the traffic as always...when I suddenly spotted this:

(isn't that the coolest ever?? I actually got this through our windshield while driving...I was so very happy I had the camera handy!)

After that awesome spot, we headed to RawMilkStar's ranch south of the city complex. We just started getting 2 gallons of raw goat milk a month from these guys, and thought a visit to the goats providing the goods would be fun for all of us.
D, C and I all gave milking a shot...D's feeble attempt wasn't successful (to be fair, he only gave one go). However, both C and I did OK for a first try. Of course, I have the advantage of being a multi-year lactating mama LOL...Here's C in action:




From there, we headed towards the Colossal Caves area, thinking we'd find a hotel and crash for the night. Surprisingly, three kids later, D and I are still pretty much fly-by-the-pants travelers. Who wants to plan ahead? *eyes rolling here*

Here started the comedy-of-errors trip...

We got to the Vail exit (according to the whole-state map to which I was referring, it was closest to the caves, and therefore a great spot to stay, right?)...and there were no hotels. So we headed back north towards Tucson, but since the Gem Show was still in action, everything was full or way too expensive. We headed South AGAIN, past the Vail exit and all the way to Benson...about 40 miles further down I-10. At Benson, we got off the highway, and found....nothing. Actually, we drove by two little motels, both with "No Vacancy" signs and full parking lots. Then we drove down a dead end that paralleled the highway. Then we stopped for a girl potty break, where I proceeded to somehow whack my fourth toe, right foot, so hard on some seat mechanism as to most likely break the bone. In excruciating pain, I finally looked up the Days Inn in our "Family Fun in AZ" book and called for some directional help.

We arrived at the Days Inn around 10:30 at night, paid too much for a room, and after limping up the stairs to the second floor, we settled into our nasty, polyester-creepy-feeling skanky-blanket-clad beds...but hey, at least there was a complimentary breakfast, right?

Yeah, so the breakfast buffet consisted of...Cocoa Puffs, Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes, donuts, Folgers coffee, X-brand instant oatmeal, and white bread and white bread bagel-ettes. Mmmmm.

We quickly ditched that place, and headed towards Tombstone, famous home of the Shoot-out at the OK Corral (Doc Holladay, Wyatt Earp, etc.). Cool, right? Re-enactments, Western-town...uh, no. You have to pay to get in to any shoot-outs, and the sidewalks were lined with folks smoking cigarettes.

As we walked down the (OK, relatively cute and interesting) Western town boardwalk/sidewalks, some guy walked out of a store, took a disparaging look at our family, and stated as he walked right on by, "You guys need a few more." I just wish I'd bothered to tell him, "You're right. We're working on it," or "Ah, thanks, you think we're that special?" But no, instead I'm seething at the rudeness and blatant nastiness the fellow exhibited. I sure hope he has no kids of his own...

We decided to take the trolley for the narrated tour. This was great, and actually very interesting...and also the place of E's first ever "accident." Yup, she full on peed her pants, standing in the old trolley. Sigh.

At least they enjoyed some cheezy sights...



After the tour, we went back to the van to get new pants...and realized she (we) hadn't packed any extra pants. I asked about thrift stores, but alas, there were none. So we drove on to Bisbee...cute place! I can't wait to go back. We didn't actually get out and explore, since I was pretty much unable to walk or even put on a shoe, thanks the toe incident...but we grabbed D a cup of coffee and found a thrift store with a pair of jeans for E. Of course, when we got her out of the carseat to change pants, turns out she'd had yet another accident...sigh.

From Bisbee, we drove Northwest to Sierra Vista. Here, we decided to simply get a room and hang out, since for the girls half the fun is the hotel, and as for me...well, I still couldn't walk around.

We stayed at the Hampton Inn (which, for the record, is our favorite hotel). We swam, hot-tubbed, got Pizza Hut pizza, and watched bad TV. The girls thought life was great...and I could keep my feet up.

Sunday we headed home, stopping in Tucson at the Children's Museum. Not quite the vacation we originally intended, and full of error...but we still had fun.

For Presidents' Day, we cleaned the van...


...and C took the baby for a little walk:


At least all the peeing got us to finally remove the covers from our carseats and wash them!

The stats from our odd little trip:
12 hours, 24 minutes driving time; 530.4 miles

And no, I still can't walk normally. I really think it's broken.

Next on the agenda: swimming lessons at 5:00, and back to real life...