To be honest, I never imagined that we would be able to do such a trip as this. And we didn't the first time I planned it....
I have always had a passion for traveling. It's my favorite, to see new things, different cultures, God's creation. It is a gift. As a young adult, I went to many other countries in several different capacities, usually serving or on a missions trip. I would see other kids on airplanes from time to time and thought that was truly a blessing and not necessarily attainable for me with my own future children.
A few years back when Beach and I got to go to Yosemite National Park after a work trip out west, we talked about taking our kids on such an adventure. It was a dream, we like to dream.
Fast forward to last year and my sister and her family took an amazing trip out west. The pictures were breathtaking and it brought back the dream. Could it be that we could have such an adventure as well? Combine my love for finding a good deal and saving up for experiences, with Danielle doing so much leg work in planning the trip (I can get overwhelmed by such), the kids being great ages to travel, and work being stable enough to leave potentially, and it seemed like a dream that could come true.
We would follow Danielle's itinerary for a fantastic baseline, but I did hyperfixate on filling in all the details in planning and was super excited, and couldn't believe it was actually happening. There aren't a lot of timing options for planning a trip in the desert, and the middle of summer did not seem very wise. So I planned something in September when the kids had a couple of days off of school. Everything I booked was refundable, though, as I don't trust my body and I feel anything crazy could happen with work that being on the other side of the country would not be a good thing.
Two weeks before we were set to go, Shiloh got sick. Phew, I thought, we are far enough ahead of things that she can get over this illness and we can move on. Zoe briefly got sick as well and the rest of us stayed clear. Except, Shiloh did not get over it but just continued to get sicker and sicker, the medication was working, to the point where our only option was to hosplize her, as she had refused to eat or drink for awhile and was very out of it. She ended up having phenomena.
It was scary seeing her very much not like her normal self and being that sick (and I spent a lot of time canceling all the things sitting by her hospital bed knowing there was now no way we would make the trip later that week). Thankfully, after a couple of nights there, and a few more weeks of rest, she was a lot better. Truly that was the most important thing!
I wasn't sure when or if we would reschedule, but I watched the flight prices pretty hard core, and when things seemed to align that we could actually make it work on spring break with decent flight price, I jumped on it.
However, there were some hard circumstances the week leading up to the rescheduled trip, and I wondered if we would have to cancel all over again. One of the major issues was our basement continuing to flood anytime it rained. The solution to this was Beach having to be there to HEPA Vac the water up. With all our past mold issues, we cannot risk anything like that again. To fix it would be a massive amount of time, as Beach would need to dig underground several feet under our deck to repair it. He was waiting for the ground to dry up enough so that he could do so. This went on for weeks with no luck, just whenever it rained, having to stop what he was doing to vacuum up water. With time running out, he finally just had to dig up mud and find a creative solution. No small task but he did it, and praise God it worked!
So when the big day came to actually leave, it felt like a miracle and a dream come true!
Beach's dad dropped us off at the local airport...
We had a layover, so the kids took turns with the window seat.
We only had an hour between flights, and I always worry about our luggage making it. However, we almost didn't make it, as our flight could not get to the gate due to complications. It was quite nerve wracking to be at the airport but not be able to get off or know if we would have time.
Triam to our next flight...the 3 hour time difference meant that we saw two sunsets this day.
We hustled, though, and just made it, but the kids were not thrilled with not having time to grab dinner and had to settle for snacks. One of us got some sleep on the last plane ride😝!
It took awhile to get our luggage (but so thankful that it all made it), find the rental car area, to be shuttled to our off site rental car company (I didn't fully realize that when booking - not ideal), and then drive to our hotel to get settled for the night. It was a challenge as our bodies thought it was after midnight but we made it! Thank you Jesus for working out all the details!
