Family Road Trip

We left last Friday (June 3rd) for our first major family vacation with Mia.  We were going to meet Papaw, Nana Bev, and Ryan in Albuquerque, and then drive to Colorado to go camping.  On Friday, we left after I got off of work and drove to Edmond, OK to stay with Mia's Nana for the night.  We thought driving that far would be advantageous since we were due to be in Albuquerque the next day.  Mia has become a very good traveler since we bought a DVD player for the car.  She just sits there watching Tangled, Mickey Mouse, or Hello Kitty depending on what she's in the mood for.  On Day 2, we drove to Albuquerque and met up with our family in Rio Rancho.  It was weird for Wes and I to be back there.  We haven't been back there since we moved to Texas 4 1/2 years ago.  Things had changed: new homes, new businesses, even new roads that had not existed when we lived there.  However, some things never change.  The Sandia Mountains still stood sentry over the eastern edge of the city.  Dust storms still have the ability to block out the sun.  My favorite constant: Venezia's in Rio Rancho still has some mighty tasty pizza.  We stayed the night in a hotel in Rio Rancho that wasn't too far from the house we rented in northwestern Albuquerque.  As we drove north out of town on Rio Rancho Blvd the next morning, I concluded that Albuquerque was a far better place to visit than live.  I'm from eastern Oklahoma originally, and I like grass.  Call me crazy, but the desert is not for me.  At least, not on a permanent basis.  Mia was excited to see Papaw, Nana Bev, and Ryan.  She also loved that a few desert bunny rabbits were hanging around outside our hotel after breakfast that morning.  She likes to identify animals and then imitate their noises.  Rabbits don't really make sounds distinctive only to them, so she just announced, "Bunny rabbits!"  As we crossed into Colorado, I fell in love with the state.  By the time we reached Durango, I was ready to buy a second home there.  Colorado is simply gorgeous.  We drove out to Mesa Verde National Park where we were going to camp.  Neither Wes nor I had been tent camping in years, so I had the car totally loaded down with everything we might need.  We set up camp and prepared for the next day's activities...

Mia was happy watching Perunzal and eating M&Ms

 View of the Sandia's as we drove out of town