On the last day of our trip we decided to completely embrace my scenic route {directionally impaired} talent & try a completely unknown way of heading home.

With a new car game {table topics - to go/for kids} & yet again a full tank of gas {another $50} we were off.

Meandering our way through 2 lane highways & taking in all the interesting small towns along the way we learned that DH & I have fewer memories of our childhood than we used to, that our super powers were all in the spirit of fun & not necessarily to save people {I would be elasta-girl & DH would have x-ray vision} & that DS#1 will probably become one heck of an engineer for the military on the UMV projects while DS#2 plans to follow in his father's footsteps of firefighting.

Our main stop on the way home was to another rock & water creation with amazing lookout spots, a gift shop & a movie that lasted much longer than any of us had the attention span for {explaining how this area came to be so scarred yet beautiful}.

On our way out of the gift shop DH noticed what is pictured for this post a "pet parking" area right outside the building. When I shared this on Facebook his best friend commented with "did they have kid parking too?" :o)

haha

A few more stops to stretch our legs & we were pulling into the driveway. Ready to see the DD & the AK. Ready to unload the car, get laundry going, mow the lawn & return to life as usual ~ only well rested & more connected to one another.

That night we sat down to count what we came home with. There was $64.57 in my wallet, but then we realized we had to pay the neighbor for watching the animals so after the $20 was paid out we were left with $44.57, not bad for 4 days & approximately 800 miles!

And I would so do it again in a heartbeat!

Even the boys shared that it was one of our best family vacations!

And they didn't even watch a single thing on the DVD player!

TOAM