1st Stop: Palm Springs, CA

Cabazon Dinosaurs, “World’s biggest dinosaur” located out in the desert near Palm Springs. These not so little guys were featured in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, now houses a creationist museum…Ha! Ya gotta stop and take a pic – Rawr!

2nd Stop: Kingman + Grand Canyon, AZ  

We stopped for lunch in Kingman, AZ at Floyd and Company BBQ…YUMM, Thanks Beejie! I got The BIG bubba: Hellllooooo buttaaaa so much butter, sour cream, cheese sauce, broccoli, green onions, topped with Pulled Pork and Sooie Sauce (Sweet BBQ). It’s a beast! Brent’s BBQ plate was a little underwhelming after seeing The BIG bubba, so he stole most of mine but this was easily our favorite meal of the entire trip!

Back on the road with our bellies full of BBQ, 2 hours later we arrived to the Grand Canyon! (aka The Grand Butt Crack as Brent would say) Over 3 million years old, 277 (river) miles long and 18 miles across. Attracting over 5 million visitors a year. No surprise that it’s on countless travelers wish lists. It was certainly on ours! We arrived just in time for sunset and headed straight to Yavapai Point, amazing panoramic viewpoint along the South Rim with exceptional views of canyon ridges and the Colorado River! Cute little museum, gift shop, and parking lot adjacent. South Kaibab Trailhead, We caught the 7am hikers shuttle (Orange) to the Yaki Point drop off and we were on the trail towards Ooh Aah Point by 7:15am and back up on the rim by 9am. Ooh Aah Point, was a great (quick) hike to experience just a small part of the Grand Canyon since we had only a few hours that morning. It was 1.8 miles and rated as difficult. I’d say the trail was more moderate than hard.

3rd Stop: Durango, CO

Eeee! I LOVVVED our hotel! The Historic Strater Hotel, located in Downtown Durango, Colorado. It’s a beautiful red brick four-story building built in 1887, antiqued-filled rooms with Victorian furniture. The lobby has an old west vibe with a cocktail lounge and saloon-style piano bar. It was also decorated beautifully for Christmas! Brent’s uncle lives in the area, so we had our very own local to show us around. We checked out the local microbrews and bourbon selections, of course. Fun night of good food, bundled up walking the downtown area, and catching up with Uncle Donald. We woke up to a winter wonderland the next morning. Overnight it had snowed and looked really beautiful out of our second story window! We had breakfast in the hotels cozy Mahogany Grille before hitting the road…biscuits and gravy were insaneeee! We survived Wolf creek pass headed towards Kansas City, with all the snow we had no idea what we were in for. (Note: I have a two wheel drive car!) Large trucks were directed to have chains and the visibility was terrible, like driving in a snow globe. The roads hadn’t been plowed, so gaining traction was a little difficult. For a good hour there was silence, no radio, both of us just starring out the front window looking for the white and yellow lines. Haha. Crazy, yet memorable part of our drive…my little Mazda 3 rocked! Zoom-Zoom! 

• Elevation: 10,856
• Road: U.S. Route 160
• Range: Rocky Mountains + San Juan Mountains

 

4th Stop: Kansas City, MO

Lunch Break at Como Smoke & Fire! Look at this Brisket Mac n Cheese sandwich!!!

5th Stop: Nashville, TN

Overall, a successful five days, 50+hours, and 3,212 miles. On December 23, 2017 we arrived to Georgia for Christmas and took a few days off to relax and be with family before making our way down to Dania Beach, FL where our newest sailing adventure awaits!

Look forward to sharing more soon ~ Cheers!