Top 10 (or so!) Photos from the trip

Some of these are my images, others are borrowed from my wonderful family! Thanks, guys!

1. My dad and brothers demostrate the "Watkins Wave" at the Watkins Family Reunion in Solvang, CA.
2. Downtown Solvang, CA. My new favorite place.
3. Us in Yosemite National Park, specifically the river crossing at Wawona. One of my favorite family pictures ever.
4. My mom & Addison, also at Wawona.

5. Andrew & Evelyn fully enjoying their time at Disney.


6. Addison's unforgettable reaction to the Disney Princesses.

7. Addison taking in the world around her while at Glacier Point in Yosemite.

8. Pretty girl on a hike in Zion National Park.

9. My brothers: dorks, or the coolest guys on earth? Impossible to distinguish.


10. My dad, Doodah / Dude, with Addison at The North Rim's Grand Lodge.
11. With Amaly at the Grand Canyon. It's actually one of the best canyon views we got in a photo. If I hadn't actually been there myself, I might suggest we were simply standing in front of a green screen or picture of the Grand Canyon. I love it.

12. Anacapa Island, Channel Islands State Park. One of my favorite views from the trip, despite the fact that I was working through the sea-sickness I experienced on the way out. Everything about this place was spectacular. So glad we went.

I am SURE there are other photos I love, but these are the ones that come to mind pretty immediately. I hope you enjoy. :-)

FINALLY! Vacay Recap Part 3!

Going from the coastal breezes of Southern California into the Southwestern US desert, you quickly notice a change in temperature. Especially if you are eating gummy bears. Mine melted into one giant, gummy lump the car, while the car and the A/C were running, full blast. It was just that hot. 102. Ugh. At the time, I remember thinking, "Why did we leave California to go back into the desert?" I didn't need to look much further than the backyard of the Cliffrose Lodge & Gardens in Springdale, Utah to find out. We were exactly 40 yards from the South entrance to Zion National Park. Absolutely spectacular views. Here's what we could see out of our hotel room: Ah. This is why we drove here.

We spent the first morning hiking in the park, a weeping rock trail, a trail following a river (beautiful walk!) and then a picnic. By 11am it was 102 again, so we spent the afternoon swimming while we await AMALY's arrival! She loves me so much that she drove 6 hours to Springdale from Phoenix, basically the entire length of Arizona. It was awesome to see her again. We hadn't seen each other since December! Addison was, as usual, immediately comfortable with Amaly. Addison does this with exactly two people beside her immediate family members: Amaly & Jason. I find this fascinating and wonderful. Anyway, we wasted no time getting Amaly into the spirit of a Watkins' vacation and went on a dusk hike. It was about one mile, flat, and paved, so it hardly constituted a hike, but we all enjoyed getting to see the park at night time. The following morning, we awoke early and drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive, on which I nearly got carsick. I attempted to sit in the back seat with Amaly & Addison. A mistake I will not soon repeat. We arrived and I was speechless looking at those canyons. No words can describe the size of them. Simply astounding to see. And, while I was not exactly EAGER to get up early on my last day of vacation and drive for two hours to see more rocks, I am extremely glad I did. It is something no picture can express accurately. We lunched at the North Rim Lodge, which was built in the 1920s. It was a beautiful building and the food was delicious. We also saw the most wildlife on this part of our trip: wild turkeys, including several babies, big horn sheep, porcupine, and tons of deer. I think that made Robert's trip.

We saw this on the way back to Springdale from the North Rim. This is my favorite sign of the entire trip. Be sure to read the fine print!
I was extremely sad to leave Springdale for several reasons: 1) Amaly was leaving and I never know how long it will be until I see her again, and 2) our vacation was O-V-E-R. We drove solemnly back to Las Vegas, slept a few hours despite all the obscenities being yelled in the hallway by drunken partiers winding down their evenings, and got up VERY early to head back home. All the flights were smooth and no major delays. We were glad to be back home but so sad our fun was over. We cannot wait to go on our next vacation. Spring Break 2010 we're hitting up NH, ME, and MA!
Check back later for my "Top 10" photos from the 2009 Watkins Family's Awesome Adventure!

Vacation Recap #2: Solvang, Glendale, Disneyland

From Oakhurst, we headed to Solvang, CA for the Watkins Family Reunion. We have one every three years. This year was a little odd because far less people attended. And of the 30ish people there, 24 of us were from the East Coast. Go figure. It was a great excuse to head West and it was tons of fun.

On the way to Solvang, we drove staight down California-1, and got our first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. I didn't get any great pictures, because we never stopped the car, but it suffices to say the water was a gorgeous blue-green. We skirted the coast for a bit and eventually wound our way to Solvang, which is an adorable little Danish-inspired village. I want to live there. I love the convenience of everything being in a six-block radius, the short distance to the Pacific, and the even shorter drive to mountains. The weather was beyond ideal: cool mornings, sunny but comfortable afternoons, cold evenings. I was in heaven the whole time we were there. Mom and Hoyt rented a pedal car for one afternoon. Poor Hoyt was forced to wear the hat since he was under 18, and he wasn't allowed to steer...only pedal. They ended up having a blast anyway!

The whole family went to a play together (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee). If you haven't seen it, you should. It was HILARIOUS...not at all appropriate for young children, but so funny.

And here is my dad (left, yellow shirt) with his siblings & dad:








While in Solvang, we took a day trip to Oxnard where we caught a boat to Anacapa Island, one of five in the Channel Islands National Park. Apparently, sitting inside a cabin of a boat is the worst place to sit, because I ended up getting sea sick. Totally gross & embarrassing - especially since we were less than 1/2 mile from docking. We also had to hike up 153 stairs from the dock to the top of the island. It was quite the hike, but we all made it. The views were spectacular. I would not have missed this trip for anything...even sea sickness. There was a National Parks Naturalist who took our group on a one mile hike across the island, but I didn't make the whole hike (I was deflated after being sick on the boat & needed to sit & rest & eat), so Robert & Hoyt took pictures for me from Inspiration Point.










After the reunion came the three highlights of the trip for me: 1) visit with Heather & Greg, 2) Disneyland, and 3) visit with Amaly.

We were all a bit anxious about driving into LA, but we were luckily driving in on a Sunday morning, which made traffic about as light as it ever could be. We persevered and made it to Glendale just 10 minutes shy of our goal time. We met Heather & Greg at their apartment and drove into Glendale for lunch at a restaurant called Porto's Bakery. Very yummy & very nice to visit. We only had about an hour to chat because dad & Hoyt were already late for an Anaheim Angels baseball game and Addison was desperate to get to Disneyland. So, we rushed off, venturing further into L.A. More traffic, confusing lane switches, exits and entrance ramps on all side of the road, lanes that abruptly turn into Exit Only lanes were all successfully maneuvered and we arrived at Disneyland. Addison was happy as could be by the time we hit the tram. She immediately began asking when we would see "her" princesses, and we (thanks to a relative at the reunion) had a plan for that. We had reservations for the Character Dining Experience at Ariel's Grotto, where four princesses parade through the dining room taking pictures with their adoring fans. We rode on several rides, endured the heat, and were all glad to see dinner time arrive, though for different reasons. The food was really yummy (other than Robert's steak). In the middle of our dinner, the princesses started arriving. My mom took the most amazing picture (which I do not yet have a copy of) of Addison's reaction to Cinderella's arrival (she was the first princess to make an appearance). We thought Addison might have a stroke. She flapped her arms, sucked in all her breath and then froze with a smile plastered across her face. She was beyond over-joyed. It made the trip for Robert & me. We were so thrilled to see her so happy.
We spent the next day at Disneyland, too. We walked through Sleeping Beauty's castle, but Adds thought it was scary. We stayed for 12 hours total that day. A few highlights from the day include Addison barfing up her dinner on me and peeing on Robert as he gave her a piggy-back ride through the park. We watched a highly impressive fireworks show over the castle that evening, which included TinkerBell flying from the top of the Matterhorn mountain to the top tower of the castle.

By the way, if you go to a Burger King in LA, expect to pay $0.25 to use the bathroom. I wish I'd had my camera to take a picture of the pay lock on this bathroom door. CRAZY!

Check back later for installment #3 of my vacation recap. That will be the last one, I swear!

quickly

Because of my horribly insufficient short term memory, I have a total of four pages of notes about happenings on our trip to record here later. I hope to spend the first few days back at home sorting through those pages of notes as well as the - wait for it - 800+ pictures we've taken! I have lots of fun stories that I can't wait to share, but I'm not going to do it now because I'm awaiting Amaly's arrival here in freakin' hot, but astoundingly beautiful Springdale, Utah. Whoo hoo for great friends who are willing to drive 8 hours out of their way to visit you!

Check back for updates sometime next week!