On the way there….

We headed out around 6:35 on Tuesday morning.  We had to stop in Nephi to try and fix my parent’s old “hamburger” car top carrier that was coming open at the front and making an awful sound.  Luckily, the guy at Napa Auto Parts opened earlier than was on the sign so we could get some wire and zip ties.  That set us back half an hour or so.  We ended up ditching the carrier at the DI in St. George.  It was just sad and noisy, created a ton of resistance and we couldn’t go faster than about 65.  So we said goodbye to it.  Sorry Dad.  Then we had to repack the van…that was fun.  
After that, we drove through Vegas and didn’t stop until Baker, CA.  I think the only permanent buildings in the town are the service stations and the fast food restaurants and that its sole purpose in existing is to provide a place for travelers to stop and to charge extra for gas.  But we needed the break so it was all good.  So, on to driving…
There was a lot of this…

Some of this….

And a little of this…

We could see a huge storm front as we were getting ready to drop down into the LA valley.

Finally, some green!  I have always thought this canyon was really cool.


There was also a lot of this and other silliness!



The boys did AWESOME traveling, thanks to Grandma in the back with them as well as lots of activities and the fact that there really are great little travelers!  Sometimes, when they’re driving me nuts, like around Christmas or on late summer nights, I buckle them in their car seats and drive around the fields in the areas by Utah Lake and random back roads for an hour or so.  Not good for the gas budget but great for my sanity! 
Anyway, thanks to Grandma for all her help and fabulous company!  And thanks to my boys for being so good!
I don’t know why I didn’t take pictures of the cool decorations and flowers along the freeway…oh, wait, it was because I was trying to help Carlos take the right exits and stuff.  It was the first time we’ve used the GPS in a city like that because, around here, I AM the GPS.  So we weren’t really used to the directions such and Stay Right, then Stay Left, which REALLY mean, there is an exit coming up but you DON’T want to take it.  Maybe they could just go without that step.  So we took a couple of exits we shouldn’t have and it had to recalculate, but we still made it without taking too much extra time.
When we turned onto the street to the hotel, the GPS woman told us to drive two miles to our DESTINATION.  I swear, she recorded that word with extra enthusiasm in her voice.  Really, listen to it if you have “that” woman talking.  It’s hilarious!
We arrived at our hotel in time for dinner at Denny’s and a swim with Jaiden, although Austin and Zach went to sleep.  We stayed in the Desert Palms Hotel, in a great kid’s suite.  They were very accommodating when I requested a bigger room after realizing the one we originally booked didn’t have enough room for the wheelchair AND the stroller that we were using as a wheelchair because of Austin’s broken leg.  It was a suite too, but a smaller one.  So they put us in a larger one that was PERFECT.  It had two queen beds in the one room and the other had really cool bunk bed and a sofa sleeper as well as a little closet.  It has a nice bathroom, another closet and a fridge and microwave.  It was just around the corner from Disneyland, about 10 minutes walking.  We parked our car and didn’t move it until we left on Saturday!

It was nice to be able to put the kids to bed and not have to turn out the lights and go to bed too.  Not that was stayed up much later than them!
I was just going to post pictures and minimal writing, but, as always, I couldn’t stop once I got going.  Disneyland/California Adventure, Day 1, coming soon…maybe tomorrow….