Road Trip of the Year

 As many of you know my lovely sister Libby and I took a road trip through seven states in two weeks. Since Libby will be writing all about it on her blog in the next few weeks, so I thought that I would just go over the highlights of the trip. Be prepared for lots and lots of pictures!

 The beginning of the trip when we were both happy and excited. We started off heading down through Vegas and over the Hoover Dam.

 Libby standing in front of the Hoover Dam and the new bridge.

 Me in front of the Hoover Dam and bridge.

Here we are on historic Route 66. We spent our first night of the trip sleeping in Seligman, AZ. The KOA that we stayed in was right next to some train tracks, and a train went past at least every half hour, needless to say it was a wonderful nights rest ;)

From Seligman to Flagstaff there is a small town called Williams. Of course we had to stop by and get a picture next to the sign.

As we headed south to Phoenix we drove through Sedona and stopped at Montezuma Well.

Libby and me by the spring.

As we were planning our trip we found a couple of very helpful websites. The first is 10best.com. What you do is put the name of the city your visiting and it will give you the ten best attractions, restaurants, and what not. This place was in the top ten attractions of Phoenix, AZ, it's called the Mystery Castle and it is a house that this guy built out of junk, it was kind of cool, but it was so freaking HOT!

 Of course we had to stop at the Mesa Temple.

After Phoenix we headed down to Tucson. On the way we stopped at Saguaro National Park.

 These cacti were so cool, and they were all over the place. Me and Libby were trying to imitate them.

 We stopped at Old Tucson studios where they have filmed a lot of westerns such as Tombstone, El Dorado, The Alamo, and many others. This place was so cool, I would have loved to have spent more time there.

 I think Libby enjoyed seeing me in the can.

 We took the train around the studios.

 And of course a picture in front of the studios.

After Arizona we met Summer and Klint in El Paso, TX and ate dinner. Then we drove the two hours to Carlsbad, NM. Sunday we went to church with them, and Monday Libby and I drove the twenty minutes to the Carlsbad Caverns. We had time so we walked down through the natural entrance.

 Inside the Caverns.

 We used the bathrooms that were 755 feet underground.

Hanging out with Summer, Klint, Trace, and Peyton was so much fun. Peyton loved drinking out of mine and Libby's cups. I still think that Summer needs to get Peyton one.

On Tuesday we went to Roswell and went to the UFO museum. I didn't think that it was that interesting but I'm almost positive that my mom would have loved it.

 Trace became quick friends with this little Alien.

 Doesn't Libby look hot? I should have bought a pair of these, they crack me up!

 This is by far the cutest picture that I have ever seen. Look at her the alien is the same size as her. ;)

 A picture of us girls.

We spent a couple of days at the park along the Pecos river. The first night we spent feeding the ducks. The second day we spent at this cool wooden park. It was fun playing with the kids, and I loved walking Peyton around.

After we left Carlsbad we were planning on getting gas in Roswell, but Libby couldn't find a place that was cheap enough for her so she told me that we would get gas in the next town, she didn't realize that the next town was 96 miles away and of course like so many other things she didn't listen to me when I told her that we should turn around and get gas. Instead we headed north and about twenty plus miles away from the next gas station the gas light came on. As soon as we saw the sign for the gas station we were ecstatic and the ulcer in my stomach finally disappeared. The picture above is all we saw for 96 miles.

 Eventually we did make it to Albuquerque, NM. We went on the Sandia Peak Tramway, which is the world's longest aerial tramway. We went at the perfect time, about a half hour before the sunset.

At the top, which was so cold, we were able to get lots and lots of pictures of the sunset. I especially like my hair in this picture.

We also stopped at the Albuquerque temple.

The next day we drove up to Santa Fe, NM and saw a couple of Catholic churches. When Libby was taking the above picture there were several people sitting in the pews looking toward her. It was quiet and I think several of the people were sitting reverently enjoying the beauty of the place. Of course when Libby tripped and fell on her tush as she was trying to take the above picture the silence was broken by several people's worried expressions and the ring of laughter escaping from me. If only I'd had my camera out so I could have caught it on video.

 After Santa Fe we drove up to Colorado Springs, CO. We went to Seven Falls and hiked up these lovely stairs to the top of the waterfalls.

 Going up was a lot easier than coming down. It was freaky walking down the stairs.

 

This was up the first set of stairs. Isn't the waterfall pretty.

Then we went to Garden of the Gods and got lots of pictures. This is the worlds most photographed place.

 Pointing to the Kissing Camels.

 

Then we headed to Denver and stayed with Kim and her kids. The first thing we did was go to the Botanic Gardens. It's a good thing we did this first because it started to rain as we were heading to the Denver Art Museum.

 Attractive isn't it?

 Libby almost peed her pants because she thought that my advice was hilarious, if she had only listened to me we wouldn't have gotten in trouble for taking water into a museum. Hello they have drinking fountains all over the place!

 Denver, CO temple.

 Me, Ellie, and Bryce.

 When we went to Boulder, CO we went to Celestial Seasonings and went on a tour of the factory. Wearing hairnets was nothing new to me ;)

 After Boulder we went to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was cold and foggy, and we saw a ton of Elk. Sadly it was too cold to camp there so we drove up to Cheyenne and stayed in our favorite type of hotel.

 Libby thought that this was funny. I just wanted to shove all of my crap into my suitcase so the car would look nicer and not so full of junk.

 A train engine from the Union Pacific.

 A memorial on the way from Cheyenne to Laramie.

 Libby took a ton of pictures of herself, nothing new of course, so I thought I would share one of them.

 I'm in jail again :(

 This is the Wyoming Territorial Prison in Laramie, WY.

 Libby decided that it was photo shoot time for me.

 In Rock Springs hanging with Lucas, Shellie, Legz, and West.

 The last day of our trip, I was tired and ornery, and I was making fun of Libby. Don't I look like Libby?

 Vernal, UT temple.

Of course a picture next to the big pink dinosaur in Vernal.

A fun trip that marked the beginning of the summer, filled with lots of new places and family. Being stuck with Libby for two weeks was not the best part of the trip, but for the most part it was a lot of fun. I hope that you enjoyed all the pictures. If you want more stories check out my sis's blog in the next few days, I'm sure she'll have lots to say.