As Long as We're Here...

There are a handful of NPS units within a couple of hours' drive from Phoenix. When we were here in March for spring training, we stopped to visit Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, but didn't have time to visit any of the other sites.  So, on this trip we decided to check out Tonto National Monument, which preserves the ruins of 700-800 year old Salado cliff dwellings.

From Glendale, we headed east towards Mesa, took the 60/Superstition Fwy to Globe, and turned north on Rt. 188 to the monument. It doesn't look like it's that far away on a map, but it still took us a little over 2 hours to get there. The scenery along the drive was pretty, but man, beyond Mesa, you are really in the middle of nowhere!

Bear Down, Chicago Bears

Game Day! We went to breakfast in the lobby this morning, dressed in our Bears garb. I was happily surprised to see that everyone else here was too! After that awful beating of the Giants fan at Dodger Stadium and reading a couple of Rick Reilly's columns online (see here and here), I have become more than a little leery of being a fan of the visiting team. But thankfully in our experience, Cubs/Bulls/Bears fans travel well (safety in numbers!) and we haven't had any issues at the Dodgers or Clippers games that we've attended.

We were staying within walking distance of the stadium, so we headed out early to grab lunch and watch the first set of today's NFL games at a restaurant nearby. Nearly everyone there was a Chicago fan - a very good sign!

I'm Dreaming of a Blue/Orange Christmas

At J's basketball travel team practice about two months ago, I was talking with another parent who also happens to be from Illinois. The Bears were off to a hot start, and we were excited about their playoff prospects! He mentioned that he had thought about getting tickets to the Monday night (11/19) Bears-Niners game in San Francisco or to the Bears-Cardinals game in Phoenix (12/23). That brief conversation started the wheels turning -- both cities are a reasonable drive away and both games fell during times when the boys would be on break from school. Hmmmm....

Yosemite Circa 1997

The last time R and I visited Yosemite National Park was in June 1997 (the summer after the valley had flooded). We flew out to California for a college friend's wedding and decided to make a vacation out of it, celebrating our 2nd anniversary by visiting San Francisco, Yosemite, Sacramento, and Monterey. Here are some pics so that you can see what has changed (us) and what hasn't (Half Dome) over the past 15 years!

It's a Dangerous Place!

A week after we got home from Yosemite, the news broke about a handful of confirmed cases of hantavirus contracted by people who stayed in Curry Village. To date, two of these visitors have died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. Apparently what they have in common is that they all stayed in the signature tent cabins back in June.

*NOT* a signature tent cabin!

From One Mountain to Another

M and J wanted to get up early this morning. Why? To squeeze in one last hike before we left Yosemite? So that we could drive over Tioga Pass as an alternative route home? Don't be silly. Of course not! They wanted to hit the road early so that we would have time to stop by Magic Mountain. Good thing smart mom figured as much and brought our passes with us!

Down in the Valley

After our morning bike ride, we came back to our cabin to fix ourselves some lunch. While eating out on our porch, we drew a big crowd -- stellar jays and lots of fat squirrels that had absolutely no fear of people. Once we finished eating, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring more of Yosemite Valley. So we hopped onto the shuttle and headed over to the Happy Isles Nature Center first, mainly for M and me to pick up another passport stamp.

Two-Wheeled Adventures

It was still hot inside the cabin when we went to bed last night, so we slept with the windows wide open. Every time someone turned over in their sleep, the beds would creak and I would wake up, convinced that Yogi and Boo Boo were trying to get at our food. (Yep, call me a city girl!) By early morning, it had gotten pretty chilly, so we definitely made use of the extra blankets in the room. No complaints, though - I'd gladly take cold over hot at any time!

Big Trees and Big Rocks

Since today was a summer weekend day, our goal was to get inside the park early to try and avoid the crowds. After a quick “breakfast included” at our hotel, we loaded up and checked out – we have this routine down-pat from last summer’s road trip! Driving through the foothills up into the mountains on winding Highway 41 meant that I was the designated driver.

Wanna Get Away?

School starts next week! School starts next week. (Exclamation point from me and R, but just a plain ol' period from those still needing to receive an education.) After a busy and stressful couple of weeks at work, I had hoped to take a quick trip somewhere before the end of summer. Initially I was looking at visiting some of the NPS sites east of San Francisco (plus there's another Six Flags in the same area where we could use our passes), but those sites are only open for tours on certain days (one of which requires 2 weeks advance reservation for security clearance), and that just wouldn't work with our schedule. :(

Interview with the Road Trippers

With this trip, we've visited 86 of the 397 National Park Service units, and the boys have earned 68 junior ranger badges! In keeping with tradition, here's the debrief of our latest adventure...

In the 3 amusement parks we've visited, what are your favorite rides (top 3)?

M / R: Millennium Force (CP), Tatsu (MM), Raging Bull (GA)

J:  Maverick (CP), Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth (MM), Ninja (MM)

Me: Millennium Force (CP) x3, because it's the best one of the few I could ride that didn't make me sick!

Growing Like Weeds

For our last day in Morton yesterday, the highlight was R getting a haircut in town. Woohoo, fun times!  It figures that the heat is finally starting to break, just as we are leaving.  My guess is that it will be hot in CA when we get home... the irony of it all!

One last pic of the boys with the grandparents before we hit the road.

Just some of my parents' roses

5 Pounds Later...

It's been a couple of uneventful days here at my parents', just resting, relaxing, and eating lots of good food! Just perfect!  

On Saturday, Mom made one of the family's favorites for lunch -- Chinese green onion pancakes, for lack of a better translation. R took the boys to the Morton pool in the afternoon. They swam, jumped off the diving boards, and went down the slide. M seemed to really enjoy going off the high dive! For dinner, we went out to eat at Busy Corner in Goodfield. My parents and R love their fried chicken. Sorry, no pics!

Hail to the Orange!

From Dayton, we hopped onto I-70 and drove about 2 hours west to Indianapolis. Another 2 hours farther, and we were in Champaign-Urbana! It's been nearly 20 years since R and I have been back to campus, so we were eager to see what had changed (or not!) and to show the boys around. I just wish it hadn't been so hot today -- we could have walked around to see more!

Dayton History

For our last day in Ohio, we went to visit the rest of the sites in the Dayton Aviation Heritage NHP. Starting out at the Wright Dunbar Interpretive Center, the boys worked on the other half of the Jr. Ranger booklet that was relevant to this location in order to earn another patch.
  

The Heat Is (Still) On

We spent Wednesday night in Canton, while K went back to Cleveland since he had appointments with customers on Thursday and Friday. I stopped looking at the weather forecast because, really, what difference does a few more degrees make once you've moved beyond "cooked" on your way to "well done"?! Ugh. So thankful that the A/C works well in the car and that most of the places we're going to are indoors!

Da-Da-Da Dun!

From southern end of Cuyahoga Valley NP, it was only about 45 minutes farther to Canton, OH and the mecca of the gridiron... the Pro Football Hall of Fame! Cue the heavenly chorus! *Aaaahhhh!*

Hello, Sweetness!

Crooked River

Too hot, so no one would get out of the car for my pic!

For this Independence Day, what could be better than visiting a national park?! Yes, there is an actual national park (the same designation as Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, or Yosemite) just outside of Cleveland -- Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It preserves and reclaims the rural landscape along the Cuyahoga River between Akron and Cleveland. Cuyahoga is the Mohawk word for "crooked river". For us, this visit is #24 of 58 national parks. Making progress on that bucket list!

Cleveland Rocks!

We checked out from Hotel Breakers first thing in the morning and grabbed some breakfast to eat on the road. About 90 minutes later, we were in Mentor, Ohio (~30 miles northeast of Cleveland) to visit James A. Garfield NHS.

Wheeeeeeee!

One of the benefits of staying “on Point” is entry into the park an hour earlier than the general public. Thanks to one of my friends from high school, we were armed with all kinds of information about the park (i.e. which rides to hit in what order). We ate breakfast at the Perkins restaurant in the hotel and headed over to the gate for early entry.

After the national anthem was played, the gates were opened, and it was off to the races. At least that’s how it felt with the throngs of people running towards the back of the park. Haha!

Here's the final installment (for this trip) of the Saiki-delic Awesomeness Review...

Five for the Road

As per their usual custom, Uncle K took the nephews with him to Starbucks before church this morning. Hot chocolate for J and a double chocolate chip frappuccino for M (just how many calories are in that thing?!) We caught up with them at church – so nice to see so many familiar faces this morning!

After church, we grabbed a quick lunch and loaded up the car. K is coming with us as far as Cleveland, where he’ll stop in to visit some of his customers before flying back to Chicago. Until then – it will be a cozy ride in the back seat of our full-size car.



American Pickers

One of the shows that our family likes to watch is History Channel's American Pickers. If you've never seen it, the show is about two guys (Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz) who travel across the country to pick through other people's stuff, looking for "rusty gold" (i.e. antiques and other Americana). To me, all of the junkyards, barns, & rooms stuffed to the rafters are just a nightmare of hoarding run amuck.

Since my in-laws will be downsizing eventually, one of the things that R needed to do on this trip was go through his stuff that is still at their house. And so this afternoon, my very own set of pickers went to work...

Now they're ready to go see the Pawn Stars in Vegas to see what their new-found "treasures" are worth!

The Genius Files

Earlier this year, J read “The Genius Files 2: Never Say Genius” by Dan Gutman. In the book, the main characters, Coke and Pepsi, have been recruited into an agency for super-smart kids. They are on a cross-country road trip to their aunt’s wedding. But along the way, they are being pursued by bowler-hat dudes who are trying to kill them. The author has used various real-life places in developing the plot of the story, even providing websites and additional info about those locations in the margins of the book.

One of these spots was the McDonald’s #1 Store Museum in Des Plaines, IL. So when J asked if we could go visit, how could I refuse?! Besides, R and I have never stopped by there either!

Spontaneous Fun!

I have a confession to make. I am a planner, but that should not come as a surprise to anyone. However... (pause)... I had absolutely nothing on the schedule for today. Oh, the horror of it all! *gasp!* Well, maybe I did have some ideas just in case, BUT I was fully prepared to do nothing and be perfectly happy about it!

That being the case, I have no explanation for why I was wide awake at 5:30AM!!! But I'm so glad I was, because I checked Facebook and saw a late-night message from our good friends from college... who just happened to be in Chicago, too! They were flying back home late today, but wanted to try to meet up before they left! Yippee!  

Deja Vu

Twelve years ago, we left IL and moved to CA for my new job. Last year, my brother started working for the company I left. Since we were fully cooked (about medium well, I'd guess) after our day at Great America, we left around 5:30PM to meet G for dinner. But the boys wanted to check out his place first. When we pulled up, it all seemed vaguely familiar. I'm pretty sure he's living in the same complex that I did when I first started there 19 years ago!

We went to eat at The Silo in Lake Bluff - used to come here a lot for lunches out with people from work. The food was decent, but the service was a little slow. Poor kids were so tired they were ready to fall asleep at the table waiting for the check to come!

Call Us Crazy

The thermometer in the car read 92 degrees at 9:00AM this morning. Ugh. Not looking good for spending the day outside at Great America. Traffic was slow on the Edens, so we went local -- quite surreal for me, because that was my route to work for more than 7 years. Instead of going to the park via the tollway, we stayed on Route 41 and used the south entrance off of Washington St. I would highly recommend going this way rather than through the main entrance off of Grand Ave. We zipped right in, driving underneath American Eagle on our way to the parking lot.

All of the warnings about the heat today must have scared away most of the sensible people, because only a manageable number of CRA-ZEE people like us were in the park today. Even though it was H-O-T, there were minimal lines for the rides -- at most, a 15-20 minute wait. R and the boys (including cousin D) were able to go on everything they wanted at least once.  

As we did for Magic Mountain, here is the second installment of the Saiki-delic Awesomeness Review...

The Adventure Begins (Again)...

0245 PDT: Let me just start out by saying that I am *not* an early riser. “O dark hundred” is not a time that anyone should be awake. But I was worried that we would oversleep and miss our flight, so ~3 fitful hours of sleep will have to suffice today.

0300 PDT: The boys are up. I didn't have to wake them. And they’re soooo chirpy. Why are the boys up?!

0400 PDT: All packed and ready to go. There is a Hertz rental location at my workplace and they have special deals for one-way rentals to/from the airport. It’s cheaper than long-term parking and definitely better for my stress level since we don’t have to worry about a shuttle picking us up on time.

Magic Mountain vs. Cedar Point

I didn't realize that Magic Mountain and Cedar Point had such a rivalry, battling it out for the title of "Roller Coaster Capital of the World". I just found this article on the Los Angeles Times website. Cedar Point removed a coaster earlier this year, which means that Magic Mountain (currently with 17) owns the title... for now.

Last year, the same author wrote another piece comparing rides at the two parks head-to-head. The accompanying photo gallery also has some nice pics. Can't wait to do our own SA review!

Thrillville

We took the boys to Six Flags Magic Mountain today. We decided to go and brave the Memorial Day crowd (which really wasn't too bad) for a couple of reasons:

1. J has finally reached the magic number... 54", the tallest height requirement for rides.
2. Later this summer we'll be going to the mecca of roller coasters, Cedar Point! For our highly scientific evaluation using the SA rating scale (Saiki-delic Awesomeness, trademark pending), we needed to set our baseline somewhere.
3. Buying season passes for the family before the end of May got us a free parking pass for the rest of the year. And as an added perk, the season pass is also good for admission to any Six Flags amusement park in the country, Great America included. Looks like it will be a roller coaster summer for us!

Survey Says...

It feels like our vacation was ages ago, even though it's only been two weeks. It was interesting to hear the family's thoughts/memories after our last mega-road trip, so I thought I would poll the family again for their reviews of this one...

Which autographs are your favorites (top 3)?

J: Torii Hunter (Angels), Marlon Byrd (Cubs), and Dustin Ackley (Mariners)

M: Torii Hunter, Brett Jackson (Cubs), and Dustin Ackley

R: Same as the boys, but it was also fun seeing them get autographs from coaches who were players when I was a kid (and I still have some of their baseball cards, too!)

Me: Besides the players the boys already listed, Cubbies Reed Johnson, Joe Mather, and David Dejesus

Heading Home

Our side trip to Tucson added about two hours to our drive home today. I'm glad we were able to make it down here to see the signature saguaro of the desert and visit our friends. But in hindsight, I probably would have tried to rearrange our itinerary. Alternatively, we could have visited Casa Grande Ruins NM, Saguaro NP, and Tucson in one loop, coming back to Phoenix on Thursday so that we wouldn't have had such a huge chunk of driving on our last day. Even still, we've covered 500+ miles in a day a couple of times before, so we know it's totally do-able.

Cubs and Cacti

Since this was our last day in Mesa, the boys wanted to try one last time for some more autographs. So after breakfast, we loaded up the van, checked out, and went over to see the Cubs take batting practice before their away game. We weren't sure whether they would be at their practice fields at Fitch Park or at Hohokam, but we planned to stop by both facilities since they're so close to each other.

Great House

Our friends had to head back home today for a family wedding, but we're staying in Arizona for a few days longer. Both the Cubs and the Angels were off today, so we weren't planning to watch another game. Even though the boys would have liked to try to get more autographs, there just wasn't another game or stadium that seemed very interesting to us grown-ups.

So the plan for today was to visit Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, which is about an hour away. There are a few other NPS sites surrounding Phoenix, but we just didn't have time to see them all, which just means my OCD will bring us back here for another trip!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Today was the day that we (meaning, R and me!) have been looking forward to ever since we decided to come for spring training! Cubs vs. Rangers game at Hohokam! Cubs! Woo!

Rich took the boys down to breakfast first while I was working on yesterday's blog post. One of the Cubs spring training regulars overheard the boys talking about getting more autographs and offered a tip. He recommended going to watch batting practice on days when they have an away game. They warm-up at their own practice fields before boarding the team bus to head over to the other stadium. Since it's not as big of a crowd as there is at a game, more players take time to sign.

Autograph Hounds

Wow! We've only been here for two days, but I feel like we've been here for a week! Maybe it's because we've already seen three games... but I'm getting ahead of myself.

When we started planning the trip, we only bought advance tickets for the Angels/Dodgers and Cubs/Rangers games. We weren't sure if the kids would be willing to sit through more than that. Were we ever wrong! After they got their first autographs on Saturday night (and were left empty-handed on Sunday), they have been on the hunt for more. So, it was no surprise when given the choice of visiting Casa Grande Ruins National Monument or going to another game today, they picked baseball.  

Hail! Hail!

Previously, the boys' spring break has always been tied to Easter. So, for the past couple of years, their week off has fallen in April. This year our school district changed the calendar, but coming out to see spring training wasn't even on our radar until I heard my friend at work talking about her plans to come see her San Francisco Giants, which started the trip-planning wheels turning.  

Besides coming to watch the Cubs, we were also interested in seeing the Angels/Dodgers game at Camelback Ranch, partly because the Angels are R's adopted west coast team and partly because our friends who came along with us are a family with split loyalties. Something for everyone, win-win!

On the Road Again...

Just can't wait to get on the road again...

I guess it's about time to dust off our travel blog, since we're hitting the road again! Destination: Arizona, to catch some Cactus League spring training games and maybe even a few national park sites!

I was a little concerned that how we started out our trip this morning was a foreshadowing of things to come. RAIN! Ugh. We saw an overturned truck before we even got out of town! And three more accidents (likely due to hydroplaning) on the freeway on our way through LA. But thankfully by the time we reached Palm Springs, we had gotten in front of the storm so it was clear the rest of the way to Phoenix.