Travel Log Day 1 - 11/15/2011

Cheers!

About six months ago my wife and I decided that we wanted to take a road trip to see my dad with my long vacation.  Unfortunately I think the great American road trip is in dire straights as most people rarely have the time to dedicate to driving "the long way" to a destination.  But I am blessed with a job that affords me enough time off to travel for a true extended period of time.  Now if the pocket book can support such an en-devour will be another issue.  The trip, Los Angeles to Flagstaff, Flagstaff to Santa Fe, Santa Fe to Amarillo, Amarillo to Dallas, Dallas to Lake Charles, Lake Charles to San Antonio, San Antonio to El Paso, El Paso to Tempe and finally Tempe to our Home.  Time frame November 15th - December 3rd.  This trip's underlying theme is Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

A good omen

So the family road trip of 2011 was off and running.  At the bright and early time of 4:20 in the morning my wife and I hit the road with 3 very drowsy kids and a full pot of coffee between my wife and I.  Our goal was to make it to Needles, CA for breakfast with our kids asleep the whole time.  Sure enough the kids needed a brief stop for a potty break (none of them slept the whole time), and we managed to be done in under 15 minutes and back on the road.

Needles is famous for being a gateway to Lake Havasu and on Route 66.  The options for breakfast are slim but with the help of Yelp we located Juicy's River Cafe.  While I won't slam the place, I couldn't praise it either.  In the end the lovely Asst. Manager waited our table and put up with our kids, which alone requires a lot of patience and we ate a successful meal and about an hour and a half later were on the road nearly arriving in Flagstaff AZ .

We pulled into Flagstaff with a last hurrah of a movie, courtesy of my mother-in-law's portable DVD player.  The last hour was trying needless to say, but Peter Pan playing distracted the kids perfectly and the timing couldn't have been better ending right when we pulled in.  It was brisk outside in the high 30s, but this was a breeze.  My wife took the kids inside and we ate sandwiches I packed the night before.  The kids played with their Lego set I bought them (a small pack from target) and when we were all done my wife very lovingly took the kids to the store while I took an hour nap.

When I awoke we took the kids to the pool and it was a great family time.

When we wrapped up the pool we decided to take the kids to dinner and it was our first try at the idea Cristina and I embarked on with the trip.  Attempting to hit as many Triple D (Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives) restaurants as possible.  We decided on Salsa Brava, and the wife and I had a drink and shared a stuffed sopapilla.  While my daughter was totally fried and basically cried the entire dinner, we did still enjoy the great salsas and dinner.  For our first go round with a Triple D restaurant on this trip I would say we picked a winner, and avoided the dreaded chain burnout that can be associated with road trips.  Eating like a pseudo local I find to be far more enjoyable than a restaurant I can eat at back home, or anywhere for that matter.

Sleep at this hotel was rough, all of us in one room, but we managed. I'm just thankful I got that nap.

When we first started on this trip many thought we were crazy for doing this with 3 kids under 5 (my wife and I did too at times) but if all the days can be this smooth, we are in for a wonderful trip.  440 miles driven, one movie and only one unplanned stop for a potty break.  Day 1, a big success.