The Rexes head West

The Rex reunion was in Oregon this year, so after much hemming and hawing, we decided to drive out and have some adventures along the way!

We left on Thursday June 27th and drove to New Mexico. We stopped in Santa Rosa so the boys could swim in the lake and play on the Wibit with Grandma and Robert. We had a picnic, then because of lightning, everyone packed up and drove to Albuquerque.

 The next morning we drove to Arizona. We went to the Grand Canyon (Grand Canyon Village straight north of Williams, AZ).

We took lots of pictures, rode on a bus...

and headed back to Sedona to spend the evening with my brother John. We had some pizza, chatted, hugged goodbye, and stopped to see Snoopy Rock.

We drove as far as we could, and stopped at an RV park near Chloride, AZ. They had a dry campsite that we set up in after 10:00 pm, and got up the next morning to take it all down and head to Hoover Dam (which Dale was very excited to realize was right on our path)...

 The kids were not too thrilled about walking on the huge bridge, but it was so neat to see the dam...and many dam jokes were spoken throughout the day.

We drove to Las Vegas and decided to skip a bunch of the stops I had planned because it wasn't worth finding parking. We did go to the Silverton Casino to see the famous mermaid swim. The girls were entranced, Kimball was not impressed. It was awkward walking through a casino with all 4 kids, but it was fun to see the magic in the girls' eyes.

We drove until super late, and Dale found a beautiful campsite where we camped under a Joshua Tree.

Happy 13th anniversary to us! Sunday June 30th, we got up early, packed up the tent and drove to Visalia, CA to see my college roommate Suzanne Hamm and her family. They fed us breakfast, let us use their showers, and we went to church with them. I got to go in nursery with her second hour so we could have a bit more time to catch up, and our kids played in the nursery for a while after church.

 We said our goodbyes and drove to Sequoia National Forest. It was incredible! The trees were huge. We spent hours there and probably could've spent even more.

That night we stayed in a hotel and enjoyed their buffet breakfast the next morning before heading to Fairfield, CA to tour the Jelly Belly factory.We got stuck in a traffic jam because there was a wreck on a bridge, and there's no good way around it with all the bridges they have.

Who knew it takes 14 days to make a Jelly Belly Jelly bean?! The process was so interesting to learn, though the girls were not nearly as interested as we were.

We drove into San Francisco and Dale braved driving on the crazy-steep streets including Lombard Street. Pictures don't do justice to how steep the roads were. I can't imagine living in one of those townhouses.

We ate some San Francisco pizza and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge.

 We had to stop and enjoy the CA coast...except it was very cold and windy.

Then it was time to head up towards Oregon. Most of the drive was along the coast, and we saw some huge Redwood Trees along the way.

We also had to stop and get a picture with Great-great-great-great x 1 million Grandpa Rex!

 Dale drove well into the night checking many campsites but they were all permanently closed, so we ended up paying way too much to stay in a run-down hotel in Ukiah, CA. Tuesday morning we ate breakfast and continued out trek, arriving in Wapiti Park near Lincoln City, OR to the reunion. We had dinner and set up camp while the kids played with cousins.

On Wednesday July 3rd, we went to the tide pools and Devil's Punch Bowl. It was fun to climb and see the sea life in the tide pools, and Becca was oblivious to the cold as she played in the water.

There was a beautiful beach where the kids played for ages and all of the uncles braved the water. Uncle Alan got caught in a rip-tide!

Everyone except Kimball went to see Yaquinta Head Lighthouse. The tours were closed, but it was fun to walk around.

That night we had a bonfire on the beach and a 4th of July tribute where Dale got to pull out his pocket trumpet.

On the 4th of July we spent more time on the beach

 and then we hiked God's Thumb. Kimball went with Uncle Gary's family, and Cameron went with Uncle Greg's, so we had the girls. It was nap time, so the girls were slow and grumpy until we got to the top. Then, they were pretty happy to march down the hill...we were sore after carrying, convincing and coordinating the girls, but we made it! Kimball got to see whales and a sea lion from the top of God's Thumb.

 That night we watched fireworks over the ocean. The girls fell asleep.

On Friday the 5th, it was time to go. We ate breakfast, hugged goodbye, packed up the tent, and hit the road. We drove all day to get to Aunt Kathy's house in Idaho.

 The next morning I woke up with a stomach bug, so while we waited that out, Dale helped clear out some trees and I did laundry. We hadn't decided if we were going to go home through Utah or drive across to South Dakota, but we decided to head over to South Dakota. On the way, we stopped at Yellowstone where we saw bison and a bear! We also saw Old Faithful erupt just before 10 pm.

Waiting for Old Faithful

 The campsites were all full, so we just drove until we were too tired and slept in the car...then drove some more. Neither of us slept well and paid for it the next day, but we woke up on Sunday morning and drove to a ward for Sacrament Meeting. After that, we headed to Devil's Tower.

It was so much fun to climb the boulders, though Dale had hurt his foot so he didn't get to climb much.

Then we went to see Mt Rushmore and I finally got to check that off my bucket list. It wasn't nearly as big as I expected.

 That night we drove to Oregon Trail Campsite in Oshkosh, NE.

It was Monday July 8th and time to head home. We had a long day of driving, but did stop at Pop's for dinner and some soda to take home.

We got home late that night, but it was so good to be home. All in all, it was a good trip! The kids were fantastic in the car and there was very little fighting. We made so many good memories and saw so many incredible parts of our beautiful country. Cameron had a pass to National Parks for 4th graders which saved us tons and let us see so much more.

We drove through 13 states, and our van Ruby carried us over 5400 miles. What a wonderful world!