Omaha to Cincy

Sam right after his 1st haircut. Check out that belly!


My mom & Sam eating lunch on the front stoop.

Sorry for the delay in posts. We're at my mom's house in Cincinnati. A week ago today we were in Omaha and had a dreadful night. We got a really gross hotel room after a very long day. Sam woke up at 2:30 am and we could tell he was going to be up a while so we decided just to hit the road. We were on the road by 4:00 am. We couldn't bear another night in a hotel and another day of fast food so we drove straight to Cincinnati.

It's been such a great week. My mom has loved the time with Sam. Ian cut Sam's hair for the 1st time, I've gotten to see some old friends and I'm actually getting a lot of drawing done. They'll be posted soon.

Yesterday we lost electricity for about 18 hours. Hurricane Ike blew through. I've never seen such wind and there is some major wind in LA. The power is still out in parts of Cincy but ours came on this morning. Whew!

My show at Lab 101 opened Saturday night. If any of you out there went I would love to hear how it looks and what the turnout was like.

This coming weekend we're going to Gatlinburg, TN for my cousin Francis' wedding and then on to Asheville for a few days and then back to Cincy until the end of the month.

We're not really missing LA but we sure do miss our friends!

xoxo

Laramie to Omaha

A stop along the way on our scenic drive near Centennial.


Sammy walking with Ian. This is the first time Sam's been bundled up like this. So cute.


Gorgeous. I swear these are not scans of postcards.




Tony at the ranch.


Sammy & Papa checking out the view.




View from the ranch. Breathtaking.


Paige, Tony, Al & Peg


Paige at her soccer game.

We're in Omaha tonight. We left Laramie this morning and drove about 7 hours to get here. I have to say the drive wasn't nearly as interesting as the drives have been up to now. Nebraska is very beautiful but it doesn't change too much. So we don't have any pics of today.

Yesterday was a great day in Laramie. We went to Paige's soccer game (they won!) and then my cousin Al took us on a scenic drive around Laramie & Centennial. They have some land there with a gorgeous view just waiting for their cabin. It was breathtaking.

We ate Mexican food last night and played Spades with Tony & Paige. Thank you Allen, Peg, Paige & Tony for welcoming us into your home and for an amazing time. We'll miss you!

Cousin Al in Laramie, WY

At the football game


Eating crackers before the game.


Amazing Patrick Doherty sculpture on campus. Loved it.




Sam and Ian dressed for the game.




Paige & Tony in front of another great sculpture.


Tony, Sam & Paige playing this morning.


Cute Sam. It's so dry here that Sam's hair has been stick straight. We think it might be time for his first haircut but I don't know if I can handle it. We'll let him be long-haired hippie baby a little longer. Hopefully we'll hit more humid climates to make those curls come back.

We arrived in Laramie around 4:oo on Friday. I haven't seen my cousin Al in several years and it was so great to see him and his amazing kids Paige and Tony. We all went for a COLD walk into town to the farmer's market and to see his wife Peg and her new office. Al cooked a great meal and we laughed our butts off. Sam is madly in love with both Paige and Tony and wants to share everything with them, including his half-eaten bites of cheese. They got out some of their old toys and he had a blast.

Sam had a very rough night last night. He was up for 4 hours in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. He probably just couldn't wait to see Paige and Tony again.

Today we went to the University of Wyoming football game (Sam's first) but had to leave at half-time to give Sam (and us) a much needed nap.

Everyone went to bed early tonight. We're off to bed soon.

Rocky Mountains, Longmont, Colorado & our anniversary

Moab, UT bright & early before we hit the road.


Elk in Rocky Mountain National Forest. You need a magnifying glass to see them but trust me, they're there and beautiful.


Lake in National Forest


Trying to find a warm spot in the sun to eat my peanut butter & jelly sandwich. Man, it was cold in the mountains. Note that I'm wearing flip-flops!

Okay, we have to back track a little. Thursday was our 4 year wedding anniversary. We got up bright and early, headed out of Moab, UT and off to Denver. It was a very LONG day but beautiful driving. We drove through the Rocky Mountain National Forest and it was gorgeous. We saw lots of elk roaming around.

That night we stayed with Ian's friend Paul who lives in Longmont, CO which is closer to Boulder than Denver and a very cute little town. We arrived around 7:00 pm just in time for yummy homemade split pea soup with crusty olive bread and a tomato and dill salad made from local produce. Heavenly. Sam was having a ball petting their dog Jazz and we let him stay up late. He had some energy to burn after being in the car all day. Next day we took our time getting on the road because we only had a two hour drive to Laramie. We had a nice lunch at a local Brewery and we were on our way.


Paul's gorgeous courtyard

More Grand Canyon & Moab, Utah

We got up bright and early and were on the road by 8:00. We went to the Grand Canyon before we left and it was even more amazing in the morning light. We had a LONG day of driving through Northern Arizona and Utah. Gorgeous scenery. Amazing red rocks and desert. So beautiful. Tomorrow we're headed out to Denver which will be another long day.

Sam is doing great in the car. He mostly reads his books and but also plays with a pair of fake glasses that we found. He's probably imitating us with our glasses. When he gets fussy we put on this CD that his Aunt Jen gave him. It's from a Music Together class and can get pretty annoying (for us) but it instantly calms Sam down and he usually falls asleep soon after the CD is popped in. The songs really get stuck in your head, unfortunately.

So, we're in Moab, UT now. Sam is asleep and Ian is picking up food. We've been going to bed around 9:30. Amazing how sitting on our butts all day long can be so exhausting.

More tomorrow...

Pictures...finally

Following are the captions to the photos above. I tried to get them next to the pics but it didn't work out. I'm too tired to figure it out.

Walking in Parker, AZ trying to tire Sammy out before we hit the road again.
Check out this great sign "Open During Altercations". Love it.

Standing in front of a fantastic old caboose in Desert Center, CA. Man, this place was depressing but love this caboose.

Ian & Sammy in Desert Center. Whew, it was HOT!

After breakfast with the newly engaged Kelly & Peter. Kelly & I were laughing and crying at the same time. I continued crying in the car until we were well on the road. What am I going to do without her?

Self-timed photo right before we closed the door on our house. Goodbye Reynier Avenue.

Liz & Jeff bringing us dinner the night before we left. We sat on the floor and drank beer and had dinner. We'll miss you two so much!

Blogging in our empty house.

After the movers came to take everything away. Ian fell asleep on the floor and Sam was loving all the space and the new toy that his friend Sylvie gave him.

Our friends Heather, Sylvie, Marc, Rachel & Iris the day before we left. We'll miss you! Thanks for everything.

Back online...

Sorry no update for a couple of days. We haven't had internet access. Lots to catch up on. We just had a wonderful visit with Ian's dad & Jean and now we're staying near the Grand Canyon which is amazing!

We had a very teary breakfast with Kelly & Peter before we left LA. Got some smoothies (a proper LA sendoff) and hit the road around 11:00 am. The first day was a long one but Sam surprised us by taking a 3 hour nap in the car. We were shocked! Must have been the hum of the car. So, he was quite the trooper. When he was awake he was either engrossed in his books or sqawking every time a truck would pass (often). We made it to Casa Grande around 8:00 at night. Sam was so happy to be out of the car. He had a great time running around Sandy & Jean's new house.

We stayed in Casa Grande on Monday and tried to replace some of our electronics that didn't make it on the trip. Kind of a pain.

We hit the road bright and early today and made a stop in Williams, AZ for gas. Pulling up to the pump we noticed this guy outright staring at us. We thought he was thinking we were hippies from California (good thing we took that "Impeach Bush" bumper sticker off). But once we were parked he came over and said he noticed that one of our tires looked like it was shredding. At first we thought it was a scam. Here we are in the middle of nowhere and this guy says our tires look bad and all he has are brand new top of the line Firestone tires. But he showed us the tires and we could see where chunks of rubber had fallen off. It turns out that all of our tires needed to be replaced. He said we narrowly missed having a blow-out which would have been really fun in the middle of the desert.

And the thing that makes my blood boil is I just had my car serviced a week before we left. Damn Honda. Why didn't they catch that? The guy that replaced the tires said it would have been obvious several weeks ago. Ugh. I'm going to call Lars at Honda and give him a piece of my mind.

Now I'm waiting for Ian to return with a pizza. We're all in the same room (no money for a suite after the tire fiasco) so it will be a quiet evening since Sam is sleeping just a few feet away.

We managed to transfer some of our pics which I'll post but the Grand Canyon pics are stuck on the camera until we can a digital card reader. At least I think that's what it's called. That's Ian's department.

Bye for now. Tomorrow we're off to Moab, UT. It's been a great trip so far. We're so happy to be on this amazing adventure.