I am a planner by nature, so it was somewhat out of
character for me to take a spontaneous 3-week long road trip at the last minute
and I will always be glad that I did. There were so many good things that came
out of that trip! The road trip was to Salt Lake City, Utah to attend my
cousin's wedding. Although it was last minute, a lot of planning went into it.
Each place we stayed was just for one or two nights along the way. I
strategically planned which states we would visit along the way as we were
adding to our goal of visiting all 50. This trip alone would add Colorado,
Wyoming (briefly), Utah, and New Mexico (again) to our list. One of the biggest
parts of the planning was packing to fit ALL of the people AND stuff we would
need! We came up with some unconventional solutions.
It began with meeting my sister from Austin and
picking up my youngest nephew, Owen, to bring him along on the first leg of our
trip. I took Owen (5), Jaxson (2), and Trenton (9) to the Great Wolf Lodge in
Dallas for one night on our way to Amarillo. Once in Amarillo, we traded off
Owen for my mom, Gabe (11), and nephew, Nate (14). Therefore, we had 6 of us
for the rest of the trip in my small SUV!!! That may have been a bit further
complicated by Nate having broken his foot and being on crutches at the time. It
truly was an adventure!
Our next stop was Colorado Springs, where we got to
stay at the Broadmoor for two nights. It is so spectacular!!! I would love to
it to become my second home one day:) This is where we met up with the rest of
the family for the wedding trip. We enjoyed such a great visit with my Aunt
Deb, Uncle Randy, and Cousin Jeff. Randy and Jeff took the older boys to the
Airforce Academy and showed them around. Then we headed out in a caravan with
Deb, Randy, and Jeff’s daughter Jojo (5). We stopped to stay one night on our way
to Utah in Wyoming, which turned out to be the theme of the trip. The longest
we stayed in any one place was two nights the entire trip. Honestly, that
looked easier on paper than it felt on the trip.
The ROAD part of this road trip was significant. That
is why my biggest concern was everyone being patient and having fun. I didn’t
want to end up regretting tackling such a big trip because everyone was cranky
and miserable! It turned out to be a lot of fun and good memories for everyone.
Most of the trip we had Deb and Randy’s car to trade people back and forth too.
That helped immensely as we could change up combinations of people. One thing
that didn’t change was Jojo riding in our car with Jaxson, they had a great time
together and were fast friends!
We were in Salt
Lake one night for the wedding and headed out to Moab the next night. We
visited Arches National Park in Moab. It was truly breathtaking! I am so glad
we took the time to stop in as it was one of the more memorable parts of the
trip for me. We also had an amazing hotel room there that had three queen beds
in it. Also significant on a road trip with 6 people! This is where we said
goodbye to Deb, Randy, and Jojo as they headed home to Colorado.
This trip was really my boys first time to get to know
my Colorado family and I am so glad that they did. It ended up being the only
time for my boys to get to know my Uncle Randy as he passed away only a few
months later.
It would have been so easy for me to miss out on the
opportunity of this trip because of fear, inconvenience, and the unknown of tackling
something like this by myself. We would have really missed out on a blessing!!!
I am so glad I didn’t let fear stand in the way of stepping out to try
something new. I learned that I can do much more than I ever knew! (I also discovered 5 hour energy for those late night drives.)
This is the story behind a couple of my first
Captivating Joy creations. These two photos were taken at Arches National Park
in Moab. I partnered them with mottos from that trip! I hope you will be
inspired to follow God’s lead in whatever He is calling you to do. I know you
will be glad you did.
www.captivatingjoy.com
