From ID to NC

We took a different route back home, and were able to make some wonderful stops. First up, Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was 103 degrees there that day (yikes!), but so beautiful. The kids loved the displays in the visitor's centers.

 Jake took this great shot of the Christus Statue.

We just happened to be in Provo the morning of the football team's one open-to-the-public practice. Jeremy was in h.e.a.v.e.n.

We had to stop for quite at while at the BYU bookstore to re-stock on t-shirts and chocolate-covered cinnamon bears. Then we took the kids on a mini-tour of campus. The building behind them in this picture is the Harris Fine Arts Center, where I spent 4+ years of my life!

And then we were back on the road. There were only two times during the entire trip that both of the kids slept at the same time in the car. Part of the stretch from Provo to Arches was one of them, and it was pretty glorious.

We would have loved to spend more time here, but we did at least get to drive through quite a bit of the park, and take two short hikes.

After the Utah fun, we buckled down and drove like mad for the most part. We did take a few hours to stop in Independence, Missouri and we did a drive-by sighting of the St. Louis Arch; but we were up against the deadline for Jeremy to start work again Monday morning. 

So four days after leaving Idaho, we arrived home sweet home. This was the state of our van when we pulled into the driveway.

We actually had so much fun on the road together. The kids were very good sports most of the time--they especially loved staying in all of the hotels. It was a big memory-maker for all us!