The Nelsons Go Southwest - Petrified Forest and HOME

Leaving Tusayan early Friday morning was sad for us. Not only were we leaving the Grand Canyon, but it was the official end of our trip. The trip had been AMAZING, and we weren't quite ready for it to be over. But alas, real life awaited. 

With about 10 hours of driving time ahead of us, we drove south out of Tusayan, hit I-40, and headed east across Arizona. We had a bit of a hard time getting around as early as we would have liked that morning, and that coupled with several stops for fuel and restroom breaks meant that we weren't making as good of time as we wanted. However, I-40 in Arizona runs right through the Petrified Forest National Park - and while we absolutely didn't have time do much there - we wanted to at least make a quick stop. 

Last National Park of the trip!

We quickly looked around the visitor's center, then set off on the scenic drive to see just a bit of the park. 

We thought the southwest architecture was perfect. 

Brianna had purchased a ring at one of the gift shops near the Grand Canyon. She decided to show it off in this photo, so of course the twins copied her, ha!

Love the pink

This was a restroom facility we stopped at before we exited the park . . . so unique!

By 11:25am, we were saying good-bye to Arizona.

We stopped for lunch at Sonic in a town on the western side of New Mexico. We needed somewhere quick, and we were just tired of eating out of our food bin. Besides, there wasn't much food left in it! While we were at Sonic, a man came up to our vehicle and asked for money. Chris didn't want to give him money, but offered him what we had left of a loaf of bread, lunchmeat, a couple cheese sticks, and a bottle of water. He took all we offered and seemed very grateful for it. We were thrilled to give the food away to someone who could use it because we probably would have thrown it out once we got home. 

Everyone was so tuckered out that they slept several hours in the afternoon as we drove across New Mexico. 

It was already 5:00pm as we were rolling into Tucamcari, New Mexico, and we hadn't even crossed into Central Time Zone yet ("losing" an hour). Chris and I seriously considered driving all the way home because we were just ready to sleep in our own bed! We were both at the point of just being done with the trip. However, it would have been well into the night (like 2:00 or 3:00am) by the time we got home, and we decided we just didn't have it in us to push it that hard. 

At least the sunset was beautiful!

We stopped for dinner in Tucamcari at a sit down restaurant that was very good. It took a while, but it was worth it for good food! After that, we had about two more hours of driving time before we made it to Amarillo, Texas for the night. 

All of us were exhausted that night, but thankfully we only had about six more hours to drive before reaching home on Saturday. Our trip home was smooth. We hit Oklahoma City at about lunchtime and decided to eat Quik Trip food for lunch . . . not our best decision 😂. Also, the kids had played the license plate game during our entire trip, and the only state they had not yet seen was Rhode Island. Wouldn't you know that a car with a Rhode Island license plate passed us on a highway in OKC, and Brianna screamed out "Rhode Island!!!" and scared us out of our wits! We all thought that was pretty hilarious.

We pulled into our driveway right about 2:00pm, looking like we'd been through the ringer. Our van looked the same. I was blown away when Chris pulled the seats out of the van, and we saw this:

😂😂😂

It served us well, but it may never be the same again!

That evening, we went to our favorite local Mexican food place for dinner. Finally some good Mexican food . . . and it hit the spot! On our way home, we enjoyed the Oklahoma sunset. I reminded myself that as much as I love to travel, I must always take the time to enjoy what is in my own backyard. 

Grateful doesn't even begin to describe how I feel about being able to take a trip like this. Admiring God's amazing creativity and majesty through His creation is a blessing that I can't adequately put into words. Spending that precious time together as a family and making memories that will hopefully last a lifetime was truly a dream come true. What an enormous blessing this trip was!