Great West Adventure - Day 8 - Don't look down...

Day 8 was to be a relaxing day! In that right, it wasn't too bad. Mom and dad wanted to show off their new winter home state to us, though, so we headed out of town on Arizona 88 around 10:30 to catch up on some history and engineering marvels. Our first stop was Tortilla Flat, a (very) small stop on the way up to the Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River. What might be said about Tortilla Flat is that it is the last sane place to stop on Hwy 88 before you wish you had brought a dune buggy! After spending a short time in Tortilla Flat getting a beer and looking through some of the buildings, we headed out again on 88 with a destination of the Roosevelt Dam. 88, however, was the real attraction of today's trip. All along my dad was explaining to me how horrendous this road was, and let me drive to prove it to me. Of course I didn't really take this all that seriously - he's old, right!? Well, let me be the first to admit that this is far and away the nastiest drive I've taken in all my years. Not only is it a curvy, mountainous road with little or not shoulder or barrier between the road and the canyon floor many hundreds of feet down, but the road is unpaved and, seemingly, ribbed (for her pleasure). I'm not sure of the science behind dirt roads and why they get so bumpy, but this one seemed to have been made so on purpose, perhaps to keep people from going more than about 15 miles per hour. Anyway, our 28 mile trek from Tortilla Flat to Roosevelt Dam took well over an hour. We did stop for some lunch along the way at Apache Lake where Quin started out napping, and upon waking half way through the meal asked us "where is everybody?" Business was not bustling in Apache Lake today!

The Roosevelt Dam was quite impressive itself. Not so much as the Hoover Dam that Jenny and I toured some years back, but still impressive any time you view an engineering feat like that. We quickly stopped at the Roosevelt Lake Visitor Center and promptly headed to the Tonto Monument, which was very, very cool. Remember when you were in grade school studying Native Americans and you got to the Pueblos built by those in the Southwest? These were those! Of course, these weren't the ones that you see in your textbook growing up as the Salado people were not quite the masons that those in more northern areas were, but it was really neat to see this piece of history that had only been known in books prior.

For the drive back we took the "long route" through Globe on more traditional roads and highways. Now we are resting at mom and dad's place anticipating our return to reality tomorrow...

Disney Day 2

Found this in the archives and thought I would post it. It's pretty dated, but I'm sure it's got lots of good stuff in it!


Good Night's Sleep

Our first night in the hotel was blissfully uneventful.  My biggest worry coming to this resort with an infant was that he would be up and unconsolable in the night and he would wake people up.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about all along.  In fact, I would say that Quin probably slept better at the hotel than he does at home.  That is most likely because we were so close by and it was easy to get up to tend to him.  Either way, it worked out well and I had nothing to complain about.

Ethan slept in Grandpa and Grandma's room the first night, as we thought he might be kept awake by Quin more than by Grandma's snoring.  Nothing really stirred him, though, and he slept quite well through the night.

In the morning, Jenny and I got up somewhat more rested than the day before.  We slept in until around 8:30 having only gotten up once each with Quin during the night, so we felt good enough to try out the 1.4 mile track that surrounds the lake in the middle of the grounds.  The Caribbean Beach Resort is a number of buildings organized into Islands.  Ours was Martinique.  Each of the islands surrounds a big lake in the middle with beaches surrounding it.  Each island also had its own pool, which we took advantage of several times.  Anyway, Jenny and I went for a small run then stopped by the central shop to get water for Quin's bottles and some snacks for breakfast.  After that, off to the parks!

EPCOT

Our first stop for this day was EPCOT, which again stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.  We grabbed a quick snack for breakfast as we had reservations in EPCOT for a character lunch, then jumped on the bus to EPCOT.

Have I mentioned how big the Disney World Resort is?  Let me put it another way in case I haven't properly explained that yet.  From our hotel, we could see Spaceship Earth, the big ball in the center of EPCOT.  It seemed not at all far away.  However, after boarding the bus in the morning, it took us no less than 20 minutes to get to the park!  Now, after having consulted a map, I now know that it took a long time to get there because the park entrance was all the way around the park, forcing us to weave in and out of several highways to get there, but still, 20 minutes, and they are both on the same property!

EPCOT, much like the Magic Kingdom before it, was BUSY!  There were people walking all over the place.  The weather was somewhat better than yesterday, but still not hot, which was OK since there were so many people around, hot weather would have made things uncomfortable.

The first look at EPCOT is no less amazing than that of the Magic Kingdom.  The huge Spaceship Earth structure dominating the sky right at the entrance, with the Beach Boys music playing (why the Beach Boys, I couldn't say), water fountains splashing about everywhere...  They definitely went the extra mile with this park to make it seem different.

EPCOT is separated into two separate parts, Futureworld where there are a bunch of rides and attractions that deal with imagination, conservation, and life in the future, and the World Showcase, which has buildings and attractions attempting to capture the feel of different countries around the world.  Since it was quite busy, we decided to check out the newest attraction first, Soarin', which was located in "The Land," one of the buildings in Futureworld.  Well, that line was already around 2 hours long, so we did the next best thing, we caught a couple of shows.

The first show we saw was called "Live With the Land," which was narrated by Pumba, Timone, and Simba from the Lion King.  This, along with most attractions, seemed to have the actual actors doing the voice work for the video, which is impressive.  The show was pretty neat.  It was all about how we should conserve and live with the land instead of against it.  I found it somewhat ironic that Disney of all companies was preaching conservation when they pump millions of gallons of water through their fountains and use tons of plastic to deliver food to their hungry customers each day, but hey, the message is still important, and the show wasn't too bad.

The next attraction we took in was again in The Land.  This time we boarded a boat (a common theme in many Disney attractions) and toured through some labs that Disney had setup in an attempt to grow things in different ways.  This trip was pretty cool as it showed all kinds of different plants being grown in a huge greenhouse.  They also tried new ways of growing things, like suspending tomato plants in the air so that the air can get to the leaves properly, or growing tomatoes upside-down.  Fairly interesting stuff.

We had made reservations for a character lunch in The Land's table service restaurant for around 2:00, but after taking in our two shows we still had some time to burn, so we headed outside and went into a building titled "Imagineering."  This was basically a big hands-on playground of all sorts of technology that could change the future, stimulate the imagination, or educate in some other way.  They had stations setup with video games, fire

Disney's Hollywood Studio

Wore Out Part II

Great West Adventure - Day 7 - Permission to Board

There was no plan in the works for today other than to drive back to Phoenix at some point. Small portion of the day, only 6.5 hours... Surprisingly, though, it seemed relaxed since we didn't have an itinerary. So we started out the day like we did any other day on vacation, we ate at a local breakfast establishment. This time we found a local favorite, Panera Bread. Excellent bagels and sandwiches - oh who am I kidding, we just wanted something fast.

The only thing we wanted to make sure we did on this day, other than drive back to Phoenix, was to go to and see Coronado Island. On the way, though, we found the Midway Museum, a decommissioned naval aircraft carrier. Wow, am I glad we stopped! It was fascinating! Of course, Quin was a little less than impressed, but I really liked it... Ethan was even able to earn his Junior Aviator wings by listening to the free audio tour and answering a page full of questions about the topics.

After several hours on the Midway, we found our way across the Coronado Bridge to Coronado Island where we parked on a local road, walked through the commerce district, and found Miguel's Cocina, which I found an interesting confluence of English and Spanish. Regardless, the food was quite good. Their special touch was given to the pre-meal chips and salsa where they provided an additional portion cup of cheese dip for your chips. Quin immediately commandeered the cheese dip until it was gone. He ran out half way through a chip and was quite disappointed to the point of crying and screaming until Jenny introduced him to the Salsa. That kid REALLY likes to dip things!

After lunch we found our way to the beach where we got our feet wet in what seemed like 55 degree water - seriously, it couldn't have been much warmer than that! The beach was gorgeous and large and the kids really enjoyed it. We only wish we would have had a couple of hours to spend there so the kids could play more.

Unfortunately, we had to call it quits in California - I wanted to beat rush hour traffic out of town, and we didn't want to get back to Phoenix too late in the evening, so we packed up around 3:30 and took the arduous trip back to grandpa and grandma's house outside of Phoenix. We arrived around 10:00, not bad considering we stopped several times for bio breaks and food. Jenny quickly deposited a large load of clothes into the washing machine and we tried to wrestle the kids into bed so they wouldn't be too ornery the next day. Jenny and I followed quickly behind them - vacation is tiring!!!

Great West Adventure - Day 6 - It's a zoo out there

In case there was any question to the subtitle of yesterday's post, we were watching the weather where the cute weather lady exclaimed that the clouds were pretty moist and deep, and that she wouldn't be surprised to see them start to rain at any time. I found that amusing - I suppose I've never really progressed past the age of 12 as far as my maturity level goes...

I again find myself 3 days tardy in posting this, so I think this will be pretty short. Today was about the zoo. The day started out a bit earlier than any of us would have liked. Around 6:25 AM, the hotel's fire alarm system started going crazy. We awoke in a daze, but figured out what was going on well enough to put some clothes on, grab our "necessities," (my wallet and keys to the car - oh, and the kids), and get outside. We weren't outside more than a couple of minutes before they gave us the all clear stating that it was a false alarm. No kidding... By this time, Quin was finally starting to wake up. As I was holding him in my arms, he took his head off my shoulder, looked up at me and said, "please I push the button?" Apparently to a kid of three, pushing the elevator button is pretty much the coolest thing you could ever hope to do. The entire week he would dash to the elevator anytime we hinted at going up or down in it. Ethan caught on, being the mean big brother, and taunted him at every turn, threatening to push the button instead of him, sometimes succeeding. Of course, being the opportunistic parents that we are, we used it as leverage to get Quin to do the things we wanted him to do. So, whenever we were heading to the elevator, he would ask us if he could be the one to push the button...

After our early start we needed to find a good place for breakfast. I turned to my mad internet skills and consulted "the Google" to find The Old Townhouse Restaurant at Ocean Beach. Now able to navigate the city proficiently, I got us there with minimal assistance from my navigator (Jenny) who manned the iPhone map application. The restaurant was on Newport Ave near the beach. We parked on the street right in front of a hostel, which I mistook as some sort of halfway house - I suppose I wasn't that far off... The restaurant didn't look like much on the outside, but the food and the service were fabulous!

The zoo is pretty much what you would expect from one of the most famous zoos in the world. Completely beautiful. Most of the time I didn't even know we were in a zoo. The animals just blended in with the surroundings. We did get lost from time to time before we finally figured out the lay of the land. Of course we were surrounded by some of the most exotic animals we've ever seen, but Quin was most impressed by the squirrel that passed in front of us. That's sort of his thing right now. Anytime he sees a squirrel, regardless of what he's doing, he will stop everything, point, and scream "squirrel!" Have you ever seen the Pixar movie Up! I believe it was Doug the dog. Anyway, here's a link.

We headed back to the hotel pretty early by our going standards, 4:00, where we finally got to enjoy the pool for a bit while Jenny and I enjoyed a beer on the patio. We finished the night at Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Company which was a short walk from our hotel room. The kids ate free, the beer was adequate, and the pizza above average.

After that, we were spent. Quin fell asleep by 7:30 again, the rest of us watched Gulliver's Travels on HBO (seemed like a short movie to me, though I may have napped through some of it).

Great West Adventure - Day 5 - Moist and Deep

Man, I have to start doing these as they happen. This is my third log today!!! To get me through it, I've gone to the fridge to finish off my San Diego brew sampler with a Karl Strauss Brewing Company Boardwalk Black Rye. Tasty!!!

Today's plan was to go to Seaworld. We figured we would do things a little differently today since we completely missed supper yesterday, so we opted for a smaller breakfast of Subway sandwiches and Starbucks. After breakfast we headed north to Seaworld, San Diego.

Much like yesterday, Seaworld seemed pretty dead. To start the day we were walking right up to anything we wanted to do! Later in the day the park filled up a bit more, but it is definitely nice to be here "off season."

We started out in the penguin habitat where we got to see a trainer feeding some of the penguins out front. Interesting things we learned about penguins included the fact that Seaworld is the only place in the Western Hemisphere where you can see Empire Penguins, and that some birds can dive up to 1700 feet, almost twice as much as a killer whale!

We then went to see an educational program on Shamu - it turns out Shamu is more of a code name for the killer whales than the name of an actual whale. There was once a whale called Shamu, she was Namu's partner in the Pacific Northwest, the first two killer whales purposefully captured and kept in captivity. They gave us a little bit of a peek into some of the training methods they use with the whales - quite impressive.

Most of the day was spent attending shoes, from the sea lions and sea otter show, to the dolphin show, to the Pets Rule show, then back to the Shamu show. The dolphin show was particularly good, and the sea lion show was a family favorite. The kids had their ebbs and flows throughout the day - we did get a quick lunch, but the kids waned in the early afternoon hours while we hit show after show. Later in the afternoon they rallied as we started doing rides instead of shows. Ethan, Quin, and I went on Journey to Atlantis, a combination flume ride and roller coaster. Quin just qualified to go on the ride, so he was pretty excited. Jenny didn't want to go on it, however, since we stood a good chance of getting wet. When it was our turn to board the boats, Quin advanced towards it and tripped, hitting his face on the side of the boat. Looked like it hurt, and the waterworks came on. The people manning the ride were a bit concerned, thinking he was afraid of the ride. I checked to see that he wasn't bleeding, then convinced him that he wasn't hurt, and he came through to smile before they would let the boat go off. It was quite a ride, quick drops, splashes, dark caves, then it went out of water to a roller coaster area. Lots of fun. Quin was all smiles. At one point he looked at me and said, "that was awesome!"

We again spent the entire day in the water park. When we got out of the park we drove downtown for our first glimpse of San Diego proper and got a quick dinner at the Edgewater Cafe. The kids were most likely overtired, and that translated into them being very loud and acting like robots for quite a long time. When we got back to the room at 7:30, we put Quin in his pajamas, brushed his teeth, then kept him still for about 30 seconds before he crashed, which brings us to now. Ethan is complaining that we aren't letting him go to bed, so Jenny and I are heading into the other room to entertain ourselves while he goes to bed on the couch - that's right, Jenny, Quin, and I are sleeping together on the king bed in the bedroom while Ethan occupies the couch by himself. I suppose that's why they call it a trip instead of a vacation when you travel with your kids...

Great West Adventure - Day 4 - A Ton of Bricks

Day 4 - San Diego. Today started out early with Quin waking around 6:00 - he's getting better. He and I passed time playing iOS games on the iPhone and iPad in the second room of our suite while Jenny and Ethan grabbed 90 more minutes of sleep. By 7:30, Jenny got up and I hit the road for a quick run along the water.

By 9:00 we were off for a full day of vacationing. We decided to load up on breakfast since our plans for the day included Legoland, and our guess was that food would be somewhat expensive there. So I mapped out Perry's Cafe near the freeway where we all ate enough to skip the next several meals - well, I did anyway! Delicious!

We then headed north to Carlsbad, the home of Legoland California. Our day there started by 10:30 and the park was next to deserted! Apparently Mondays in October aren't a high traffic time for amusement parks in Carlsbad. No worries. We took in a couple of immediate rides and weren't so impressed. Hopefully this wasn't going to be a stinker! By noon we still hadn't really done much that was too exciting - in fact we waited for about 30 minutes in line for this bicycle ride that was really pretty lame.

Things started to pick up a bit when Jenny and Quinton found full sized, human powered Lego firetrucks lined up for a fireman competition. Our family took on 4 others in moving the firetruck about 50 feet by pumping it like a manual rail car (like in O! Brother Where Art Though), then getting off and putting out a fire using 2 squirt guns, then powering the vehicle back 50 feet. We came in a close second - I blame Jenny as she was manning the device that determined the direction of the vehicle. About 10 feet into our initial surge, she decided to throw it in reverse to test how it worked. I'm pretty sure that cost us precious feet that ultimately would have left us the champs! Oh well.

The day REALLY picked up when we found our way to Miniland, which is an area with Lego models of the United States and several scenes from Star Wars. The Star Wars area was very cool - the designers capturing some of the pivotal moments of all 6 movies and one of the cartoon movies. We spent quite some time there. Then we discovered the USA where they had modeled large sections of San Francisco, Las Angeles, Las Vegas, Washington DC, and New York all in bricks. They even had a small patch that was apparently "The Midwest." I have to say I was a little insulted. The seemed to put thousands of hours of thought and workmanship into painstakingly replicating every last detail of Las Vegas, then the midwest had a couple of tractors, a church, and a rodeo... We had a hard time getting Quin out of this area - he was completely transfixed by these Lego cars that were automated. He stood and watched this piano truck in San Francisco for no less than 5 minutes. We had to tell him about all the other cool moving cars in the other areas. In all I would estimate we spent at least an hour in Miniland.

After a quick lunch (Jenny didn't eat enough for breakfast) we ended up with some really fun rides in Adventureland, Pharoh's Curse (or something), and Castleland. Ethan and I got onto a decent roller coaster, but they wouldn't let Quin on. Even though he qualified for the minimum height of 42", Jenny mistakingly admitted his real age of 3 and a half, when they had a strict minimum of 4. The most fun ride of the day turned out to be in Castleland, the Knight's Quest. It was a strange confluence of new and old with chairs nestled atop these huge robotic arms. Two people would sit in the chairs and select one of 5 different programs, each program getting progressively more aggressive. Jenny and Quin were unable to do any program by 1, the only one allowed for folks under 48". Ethan and I had no restrictions, however, so we went for a 4. I'm pretty sure we could have gone for a 5. Our last ride of the day was the Dragoncoaster, Quinton's first roller coaster. As we expected, he loved it. It's sometimes easy to forget how easy going and adventurous Quin is. I remember taking Ethan to an amusement park in the past, he was 4 or 5, and he was petrified of many rides. We also saw lots of kids at Legoland, kids Ethan's age and older that were crying uncontrollably at the thought of doing a "scary ride." Not Quin, he wanted to ride everything. After the ride he loudly exclaimed, "That was awesome!"

After a long day, we headed back south toward our hotel. Carlsbad is about 30 miles north of San Diego, and since it was rush hour we decided to take the scenic route back, so we got onto Hwy 101 and headed south. Quin fell asleep before we got out of the Legoland parking lot, but the rest of us enjoyed a beautiful drive along the coast. At one point we spotted a large group of dolphins feeding or something, so we pulled off the road and watched them for awhile. It was the first time Ethan saw dolphins outside of captivity.

The day ended much like the previous. Quin finally woke up around 6:30, so we had a hard time getting him to bed before 9:30, but once he went down, the rest of us followed in order and quickly. Vacation kicking our butt once again!

Great West Adventure - Day 3

Since we were up by 6:00 anyway, we decided to try to get an early start at things, so we got ready and left by 8:00. My parents graciously lent us their vehicle - they are currently going without any sort of motorized vehicle of their own, relying instead on pedal power and favors from friends - so we loaded it up and took off on our 6 and 1/2 hour drive to San Diego. Before we left town we had to make a quick stop at Starbucks to get Jenny her vacation nectar, Tall non-fat Chai Tea Latte, and at the gas station for a Pepsi Max for me - it's not a diet soda, it's a zero calorie soda for men! At one point, Quinton asked "where are we going?" I explained we were going to Starbucks to get mommy a coffee - he responded, "oh darn it, I wanted to go to California." I need to take this opportunity to say that the gas station/car wash/oil change establishment at the intersection of Highway 60 and Signal Butte Drive in Apache Junction is perhaps the most beautiful gas station I've ever encountered. From the clean, modern, southwest exterior, to the wide aisles, copious beverage choice, leather chairs, high definition televisions while you wait... It was spectacular!

The drive took us south almost immediately. After about 2 hours we were ready for a quick stop just as we were about to get onto Interstate 8 headed for California where we picked up some Mike and Ikes for Ethan and quickly used the bathroom. As we got onto I8, we had the option to go West to San Diego, or South to Mexico. So I gave the family the option, Mexico or San Diego. Ethan and Quinton both shouted simultaneously "San Diego," so I guess we were committed.

The drive was mostly uneventful to Yuma where we used the iPhone to locate a park, Kennedy Park off of Exit 2, then navigated to it for a quick picnic lunch compliments Grandma Cheryl, meat and cheese sandwiches, Fritoes, bananas and apples. It was nice to stop and stretch our legs and let the kids play on the toys in the park. It was a beautiful day - 95 degrees, not humid, not a cloud in the sky. In fact, Jenny and I were amazed that there was almost nobody out to enjoy the beautiful day. As far as we could tell, people were either sleeping in (until noon), going to church, or it was just not such an oddity for them to have such a beautiful day on their hands so nobody was out taking advantage of it. A day like this in Wisconsin in October would be a recipe for some of the poorest daytime television ratings days of all time!

On our way out of town we had our first vehicle mishap. While putting Quin back in the car and trying to close the automatic sliding door, the door started to "misbehave." We have a similar car at home, and if something gets in the way of the door closing, it reopens then starts beeping crazily. If you try to drive with the door open, it does the same thing. Well, that started happening. The door opened and would not close. When we were able to get the door to close by quickly locking it before it re-opened, it would beep uncontrollably. We drove for about a mile with it in that state until we got to a gas station where we filled up with gas and continued to debug the door. After about 30 minutes, I finally found a combination that left the door closed without any beeping of any sort. Since then, we have not touched it - Quin has been getting out on Ethan's side!

We finally entered California for the last part of our drive. We were mildly nervous that we would get searched at one of three border patrol stops along the way and that they would make us open Quin's door, but our fears were not realized and we cruised right through to San Diego, where the weather finally turned cooler. In fact, we stopped at a gas station for some Slurpees about 20 miles East of San Diego and the thermometer read 87 degrees. Not more than 5 miles down the road, the thermometer read 67!!!

We eased off the interstate on Rosencrans Road and were greeted by a big sign, "Live Nude Girls." Jenny and I looked at each other and wondered without saying anything if our recent hotel luck was going to continue. The last two times we've gotten hotel rooms we've had less than pleasing experiences. Were we staying in the red light district? Well, again our fears were not realized as within a few blocks we started seeing signs for Trader Joes and seeing nice cars parked on the side of the road.

Our hotel, the Courtyard in Libertyville, is nice enough - clean, dry, and in a nice area. We took some time to walk around the area before we ventured out for some supper in the Ocean Beach area, only 4 miles from the hotel. We ate supper at a Mexican restaurant near the ocean while we watched Sunday night football. We then headed down to the beach to let the kids get their feet wet - Quin scared the heck out of me when he started to chase the tide out to the ocean. I had glimpses of the tide taking him out to sea and me having to frantically try to find him in the dark waters, but he must have seen the fear in my face and quickly came back up the beach towards me.

When we got back to the room it was about 8:00 - we got Quin ready for bed and he fell asleep within perhaps 2 minutes - the rest of us didn't last much longer...

Great West Adventure - Day 2

As should probably be expected, since Quin went to bed at around 6:00 local time, he woke up around 4:30 local. I suppose the day was going to start early! We aimed to do quite a bit during this day, but ultimately decided to back it off a bit seeing as how we were still a bit groggy from the previous day's travels. We did manage to get to the Superstition Mountain Museum which is the site of an old Hollywood set for westerns which only recently burned to the ground. We also spent some time at Goldfield Ghost town where we got to see a gunfight, Ethan bought a cowboy hat, and we ended up taking in some old west entertainment at the Saloon.

The day was not without excitement, however. In the morning, Jenny and I went to get some Starbucks and to get some things from WalMart, something we have to do each day during vacation. When I went to get my credit card from my wallet, I was shocked to find it missing! Luckily I remembered using it at a different WalMart the day before, and a quick call to them proved that I had indeed left it there. Something about vacations makes me sloppy with my wallet!

At the end of the day, while my dad cooked chicken for supper and Jenny and mom went to Kohls to look for sweet deals, the boys and I were watching the Superstition Mountains turn different colors in the sunset. Ethan and I got onto the topic of Spanish, saying different phrases in Spanish to each other. At one point, Ethan said to me, "Say shut-up in Spanish." Quinton, without missing a beat, said "Shut-up in Spanish." Not a single hint of irony in his voice... He's got great timing, I'll give him that.

Great West Adventure - Day 1

3:45 AM - the alarm called out the start of our Great West Adventure. We were ticketed for a 7:00 departure from Milwaukee's General Mitchell Airport. With 3 and 10 year old in tow, we didn't want to leave anything to risk. So we all showered the night before, set the alarm for 3:45, and aimed to leave by 4:15.

The plan went off without a hitch - the crew was excited for the trip. We pulled into our offsite parking lot at 5:10, plenty of time to spare. I suppose we could have probably slept a little longer, but who knows on a work day how bad traffic will get. After a quick shuttle ride we were at the ticketing counter, then off to the gate to meet up with our first trip on Southwest Airlines.

I'm not sure if you've flown Southwest before, but here's how it works. Basically it's like a bus - you get on the plane, pick a seat, and sit there. Their fares are pretty low and they don't charge for luggage, so we decided to risk it. In actuality they do give you a number to board, so we would have been the 90th people to board the aircraft, if we hadn't "won the lottery" by traveling with Quin. After the preferred ticket holders, group A, Soutwest lets families with children under 5 board so they can hope to sit together. Us and another family took advantage of this rule and boarded the plane. Quin and I sat together in one row with Jenny and Ethan sitting behind us.

The flight was pretty uneventful. Quin couldn't wait to "blast off". As we taxied down the runway to do so, however, he promptly fell asleep for about 30 minutes, some of the most peaceful on the flight for me!! Actually he was a good flyer. Surprisingly, another set of good flyers were the set of 2 dachshunds flying in this woman's carryon a couple rows ahead of us. I couldn't believe that they would sit still and quiet for a 4 hour flight in that little bag!

When we got to Arizona, Mom and Dad Grady picked us up at Sky Harbor Airport, still the best name for an airport as far as I can determine. Though we arrived fairly early in the day - we got to mom and dad's southern home by 11 AM local time, we were pretty well spent. We took the rest of the day fairly easy by picking up some odds and ends that we weren't able to pack and swimming in the old folk's pool at the community. One smallish faux pax on my part was that I bought the wrong pull-ups for Quinny. He still sleeps in night-time pull-ups. I was assigned to go to WalMart and pick up some various things that we couldn't get, one of which were pull-ups. Jenny and Ethan were shocked to find that I had actually purchased princess pull-ups rather than the normal Cars 2 pull-ups. Luckily Quinny was OK with it.

We dined out at Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa for dinner, truly an amazing sight! This largish restaurant is completely filled with glockenspiels, pipes, drums, dancing cats, and gobs of other things, all hooked into the central organ where the organist controls it all. We got to take in a 45 minute show while we polished off a pitcher of beer and 2 pizzas.

Back to the folk's pad, we finished up the evening fairly early. I'm pretty sure we were all sleeping by 8:00 local time. Mom and dad were surprised until they realized that we had been up since 2:00 AM local time... All in all it was a decent travel day.