Road Trip Home: Good-Bye Utah

Early this morning, we packed up the van, double checked the condo for any forgotten items, and loaded up for a long day of driving.  The weather was cold, it was very windy, and it started raining while we were leaving, so it was a good day to be in the van watching movies, reading books, playing Nintendo DS, coloring, playing lap games and just enjoy the scenery as it passed by.  I was thankful the weather waited until today to be yucky.  It was beautiful weather the whole time we were there.

The wind was so strong in some areas that it kicked up dust and covered the road.  It was similar to the way fog covers and area, but instead it was a dust cloud.  We enjoyed watching (and hitting at times) tumble weed as it was blown across the road.  You couldn't help laugh when a large piece rolled by, dancing in the wind.

Along the way there were a few scenic overlooks, so we stopped for a few minutes to see what they were and grab a photo.  At the first one it was so windy I could barely get out of the van myself and the stinging sand blowing against me was no fun to try and photograph anything in.  So with each stop we looked from inside the van, then I hopped out, grabbed a few photos, then jumped back into the van and we were on our way again.  At one time Ethan said from the backseat "If we keep stopping like this it will take us forever to get home!".  Funny kid.

The drive was pretty uneventful, with us stopping for gas a few times and once for food at Chick-fil-A, right on the outside of Denver.  The kids were exhausted and we were too, but we drove as far as we could go and finally decided to stop at a hotel we stayed at in the past, The Oak Tree Inn in North Platte, Nebraska, and Derrick's parents later stopped there too.

The hotel, as I remember wasn't the best, but it was comfortable and it had a diner next door, Penny's Diner, where you can enjoy complimentary breakfast before heading out of town in the morning.  Out of the few places to pick, that sounded the best to me.