Okay, those of you who don't have kids wouldn't understand. But, Legoland is a big deal for my little boys. Corbin my oldest and is a HUGE fan of all things Lego. My family desperately needed a vacation the last few months have been pretty tough. This trip would not have been possible but for my friend Chris who helped out with accommodations and Aunt Dan-Dan who drove with us and waited in every line with us. There is also another huge group of people, my Prescott Mom's Community that have given so much to my family to allow for me to take this trip with out an extraordinary amount of financial stress. To every body that has given me any kind of support on the journey thank you................
One knows that they have aged or rounded a significant corner in their life when, you want to borrow a mini-van for vacation. Now I do have cancer and have undergone a chemo regime that may have altered my cranial chemical composition some how. None the less I found my self swapping my SUV for my mom's minivan for the Legoland trip. I had visions of the kids being towards the back, and Dani and I being able to walk back give them snack, settle any disputes, maybe even have a press conference, kind of like air force one, only a tad smaller. The minivan had lots of potential and I was anticipating it being a vital new member of our trip.
The mini arrives and the seats are in the two forward positions. Not exactly the plan, but oh well, the boys will be closer to me for the 7 hour car ride, I like intimacy. The cargo area is vast and as we are only going for 3 nights, loading the car is a breeze. The perfect excuse to pack absolutely everything you don't need, because you have the room. What the vehicle did lack was some kind of fabulous organizational tower that might fit between the two captains chairs to hold transformers, legos and all of the other kid entertainment in a tidy fashion.
My SUV had this perfect catch all, it was known as the back seat. The bench would function as shelf, storing all manor of toys in a delightful pile. Then it would transform to net, when they would take up a game of back seat tennis throwing various toy back and forth to each other. I don't advocate this particular game and toys have only been thrown one time in the backseat by my children EVER..... The bench can also become the wall, the boys when on each others nerves can pile things on the bench high enough to prevent them from touching each other. That's right the backseat of the SUV would allow for the boy to be a little more hands on, they could actually reach out and touch each other, a definite need for brother to brother antagonizing.
The final word SUV vs. Minivan, for this particular trip not so important. If we had it for last years 12 day National Park trip it would have made a huge difference. That would be my practical opinion, or perhaps I am not of an age yet that can fully appreciate the benefits of the minivan.
The minivan was loaded the evening of July 27th. We scheduled a departure of time of around 6:ish. When I vacation I add the ish so I don't feel like we are on a grueling fun "schedule". Getting up two hours earlier then normal is bad enough, I would hate to have the added pressure of being right on time. Thankfully Dani appreciates and understands that this open time line makes for way less stress when traveling.
The official departure time is 6:45 on the morning of July 28th, I have made bagel sandwiches for the road and we are off. The morning is cool, overcast and peaceful. I love traveling on days like this not to bright just calming. The first "How much longer until we get to San Diego?" rang out around 6:48 AM. We fielded this question with the utmost patience for the remaining 6 hours and 57 minutes. The actual number of times can not be reported in the blog as I don't want to negatively impact my readership.
The 1st stop was Quartzite. Sleepy, blazing hot desert community, that apparently is a mecca for the snowbirds. I have never been through when the snowbirds are in, but I have witnessed remnants of there nesting. They are empty plots of lands with about a 100+ APS poles sticking out of the ground in some kind of grid format. The high end ones have a cement slab with pole, the lower rents just have a little desert floor, "bring your own turf" is on the flyer. This vacant RV park is usually arranged around some type of office/clubhouse/mini-mart/bar/restaurant. The signs usually read "Best HH 2$ ritas", "Pasta dinner 5$", "STK dinner $7.95, free coffee", "Dancing Sat. nite". Perhaps this is the birthplace of texting? These cultural hubs are what truly fascinates me about Quartzite, I am so curious about what the hell goes on in these places. Someday when I am limited on material I may blog about the mysteries in the desert. What about the giant rusted fishing pole? I could go on and on. Our stop is not at any of these wonderful mysterious places as they are "CLOSED, for season".
We stop at McDonald's. The All American chain/rest-stop for my family. Thankfully they are only serving breakfast and I don't have to buy my kids a happy-meal just to secure the latest in Marvel Comic characters recently released from their Chinese prison. It is crowded and funky, and not in a good way. We escape with only purchasing a large carbonated beverage for the next push to Yuma.
We are drawn across the street however by a sign, large and painted by an elementary school child that reads "REALLY GOOD JERKY". I have to find out who thinks this? and who writes signs like this? and jerky after all is a road trip staple. We take our lives into our own hands by walking across that 6 lane road in Quartzite, nothing says vacation like 18 wheeler leap frog. Before we enter the building we go into this Arizona Bedouin style shop, that has all manor of things. Dani buys a sun hat for $3. Every thing you would need to fix or accessorize an RV is under one of these tarp constructed buildings, also enough tarps for you to start up a desert gift shop of your own. I really wanted a yard frog on a metal stake whose arms wobbled in the wind, but I refused to part with my 5 spot so early in the vacation.
Next stop jerky shop, it had quite possibly the coldest air conditioning my little bald head had felt.....ever. Kind of felt like a meat locker now that I think about it. One wall was filled with all manor of dried meat. Another wall was filled with over priced candies. The final wall was filled with all types of marinated olives, I have never wanted a martini so bad at 9:30 AM in my life. If there had been rows of vodka behind the cash register I would completely understand why snowbirders come here, this is mecca. Alas these are not my vodka days so we stocked up on "provisions" and hit the road. By the way if you are passing through Quartzite, and you are in to that sort of thing, the sign was right "REALLY GOOD JERKY".
Now I must blog rush to get to the present I seem to be slipping....farther and farther behind......
Drink water and breathe.....
Awesome Sarah. I like how you cater to your readership. I felt like I was there, chuckling along with your observations.
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