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Home » Holidays & Special Days » Seasons » Summer » Our Cross Country Adventure

Our Cross Country Adventure

July 30, 2014 by KC Coake 5 Comments

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As many of you know, my two girls and I set out on a 5 week cross-country adventure. We left on July 8th. We drove 2,400 miles to my hometown of Phoenix.

I have shared a few pics on Instagram and on Facebook, but I thought you might enjoy seeing a bit more of our journey. It has been a great trip! I’m so glad we decided to go for it.

These are pictures from the our trip out West as well as our time in Phoenix. Tomorrow we begin our journey back East. We will be on the road for 8 days this time. Stopping to see some family and the American Girl Doll store in Atlanta along the way.

I will warn you, this post has a lot of pictures. I hope you enjoy!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Got the car packed. Everything fit! Time to leave…only an hour late.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Yay! We made our first state line!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

My girls convinced me I NEEDED to start a collection of the Starbuck You Are Here mugs on our journey.

 

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

2nd day and 2nd state line.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Day 3 and 3rd State line.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Pop’s Soda Ranch on Route 66 in Oklahoma. This place was so fun! Such a great stop on a long road trip.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

A 66 foot tall soda bottle. It lights up with LED’s at night.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Pop’s Soda ranch has over 500 varieties of soda in glass bottles. Apparently the fries are really good, too. I couldn’t eat them because they use peanut oil. My kids raved about them.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

The restaurant and shop are beautiful with soda on display all around. Photography eye candy!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Pumpkin and all those soda bottles.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

The hardest part was picking out which of the 500 types of soda to try in a float. This was my girls first time to have an ice cream float. They are fans now!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

So much fun to photograph at Pop’s Soda Ranch

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

This is in Shamrock, Texas. It is the gas station that was used to base something in the movie cars. (Haven’t seen the movie so not sure what). It is a great pic, but that is about it and was a bit anti-climatic in person.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Day 3 – 4th state line! Texas had no visit center near the border. It was 100 miles away. We found this sign in Shamrock, Texas right around the corner from the Conoco gas station. It works for a state line pic.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We arrived at our hotel in Amarillo, TX really late on Day 3. We at pizza in our hotel room at 11pm!
We slept in the following morning because we had a short day. We started the day with a one hour trip to the American Quarter Horse Museum for Miss Pumpkin! She was quite happy!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Have you ever heard of the Cadillac Ranch? It is outside Amarillo, Texas in a field. You see all these cars in the field.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

As you approach, you see that you can spray paint the cars.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Another family leaving as we were arriving gave us their leftover spray paint. My girls got to spray paint the cars.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Snowflake was a bit bothered by all the spray paint trash and at first didn’t want to participate. Once she did, it was hard to get her to stop. She had fun! Wish we could have packed out some trash though. We ended our time here by paying it forward. We gave the spray paint we had left to another family.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Day 4 – We made it to New Mexico! The girls are holding their dolls. Pumpkin is holding Saige the AG Doll of the Year 2013 who is from New Mexico.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

The lady at the Visitor Center at the border told us about this Blue Hole that was a perfect stopping point.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

This blue hole goes down 110 feet at which point there is a series of caves. We of course could only see it from above.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

The water was 67 degrees…COLD! Perfect place to get out and stretch our legs, watch some diving and learn a little something.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Another mug for my collection. The other states we traveled through didn’t have them…boo!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We spent our final night on the road in Albuquerque. In the morning, we road the Sandia Peak Tramway. It was fantastic!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We got lucky and got a spot right up front on the ride up the mountain. Amazing views!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Top station of the Sandia Peak Tramway

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Amazing views from over 10,000 feet elevation.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Gorgeous flowers at the top.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Hiking, too! I think we could have stayed all day.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Neat tree ‘skeleton’ at the top of Sandia Peak.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

For the ride down the mountain, we waited extra to be the first in line and get the best front row spot. Totally worth the extra time for the amazing views! Then on the road again…one last state to go!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We made it! My home state and the final state in our journey out West.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We made it to my brother’s house. Went to a local bar/restaurant our first day to watch the World Cup finals with his family and the German exchange student staying with them.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

A little hiking in the cool pines was a must before heading to the heat of Phoenix. Both of my girls worked on Girl Scout badges as well.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We found this on our hike. All the girls held it before we released it.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Cousins hiking together is always fun and filled with lots of talking.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

My girls picked out of our Summer Jar (post on my blog) to have a tea party. We had a tea party with the cousins! Made M&M scones…yum!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We had the most fun tea party! Totally not a classic proper tea party and so much fun!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Having grown up in Phoenix, I knew we needed to enjoy our outdoor time in the cool pines. We had a picnic one evening and enjoyed some fun with family.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Fun in the trees!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Sisters

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Such a great pic of the cousins in a tree. I cllimbed the tree as well to get this viewpoint.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Jojo – the German exchange student staying with my brother. Such a sweetie and so much fun!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Another mug for my collection.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Another pick from our Summer Jar – paint a small pottery piece together.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Pumpkin went from not being able to swim to diving off the diving board within the span of a week.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We were down in Phoenix now. Swimming is a must in Phoenix in the summer. I think my girls have turned into fishes.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Diving board contests are also lots of fun! My brother pretty much always wins.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We managed to fit in a few swim lessons for both girls. They improved so much because they had plenty of time to practice.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Roller staking with Momo (Grandma) and cousins is sure to be fun!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

In-n-Out…need I say more?!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

My girls sure love their baby cousin (2nd cousin). What’s not to love…she is adorable.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

My Uncle is always good for some fun for all ages!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Another pick from our Summer Fun Jar – do each others nail.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

We thought this would be a great indoor activity. It is the Butterfly Wonderland. It was great and it was hot and humid…

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

See how humid? The foggy pic is because of the humidity. A gorgeous butterfly landed on Pumpkin.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

Decisions, decisions…a little retail therapy at Nordstrom Rack.

 

We are headed back East now. I’m going to be sad to leave the gorgeous mountains of Phoenix and my family. I miss the West very badly and long to live closer, but alas it is not meant to be for me yet, so we will head back to our East coast home.

If you want the latest on our journey, be sure to follow me on Facebook or Instagram as that is where I post the most pics. Thanks for reading…hope you enjoyed our fun summer trip!

 

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Comments

  1. Elisabeth Harrell says

    July 30, 2014 at 3:23 pm

    What an amazing journey! Your road trip looked like so much fun. Glad you were able to see your family and have some fun. Wishing you safe travels back. p.s. Did you have to do all the driving?

    Reply
  2. the cape on the corner says

    August 5, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    what a great family vacation! i didn’t know about those starbucks mugs, they’re actually really nice. and the shoes on the left…no, the right. both!
    b

    Reply
    • KC Coake says

      August 13, 2014 at 11:14 am

      Aren’t the mugs neat?! So glad I let my daughters talk me into getting them. I’ve had fun drinking my way through our trip via a cup of tea each morning. 🙂 I ended up getting both the black shoes in the picture. Saw another Nordstrom Rack when we were in Atlanta…so tempted to check on shoes there, but we were all too tired and the car was getting pretty full. 😉

      Reply
  3. Patty says

    August 5, 2014 at 5:12 pm

    I LOVED your pictures. Since I don’t think I will ever get across country, I really enjoyed seeing the sights. Safe home.

    Reply
    • KC Coake says

      August 13, 2014 at 11:16 am

      Than you! Glad I could show you some sights you may not see in person. I need to put together a part 2 post from our drive home. Eventually.

      Reply

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