The trip already seems like ages ago, and it’s only been 12 days since we got back.

Little victories. I just bought the first 3 seasons of Mad Men on sale in iTunes for $10/season. WooHoo!

Been eating better and walking a lot. Can already see results. It’s motivating. Today was a blowout day. First day since I’ve been doing better. But tomorrow back to putting less and better things into my body. I feel better, every day.

Got filmed by a Food Network crew while eating lunch with a client today. May be on TV in September. That’d be cool.

We got up at 4am this morning and left Albuquerque for home. There isn’t much to tell of today’s events other than a long, long drive. We arrived home to a very hot afternoon in the area with temperatures pushing 100 degrees. We haven’t stopped sweating yet.

If feels great to be home and it’ll take a few days to adjust to being off the road. It was a truly unforgettable trip. We saw some amazing sights and spent a lot of great time together and with our family and have a wealth of memories to carry us forward.

Thanks for following us on our trip!

We toured the museum at the site which talked a lot about the meteor geology and blast effects, as well as the solar system in general and where meteors, comets, and such come from.

It’s a fairly quick experience though and I guess it’s privately owned (it’s not a national park) as it cost WAY more than any of the national parks we visited. But it was fun and interesting.

Then we made the 4 hour drive from there to Albuquerque, stopping in Winslow, AZ to stand on a corner and have a taco.

When we arrived in Albuquerque, it was thunderstorming but we missed the worst of it. We had dinner at Outback Steakhouse and will head to bed early tonight and get up around 4am local time to try to get home by dinnertime Sunday.

We’ve had an AMAZING trip but miss our stuff and our dog and our neighborhood and our friends and CAN’T WAIT to be home tomorrow night.

Next we boarded the train and departed for the Grand Canyon, which took about 2 hours. Along the way, we were entertained by cowboy/Native American musicians, and the sights along the route were described by the tour guide on each coach. The scenery started with forests around Williams, then changed to mostly flat scrub-brush ranchland, then to high-desert forest, then to pine forest, then we arrived at the Grand Canyon. The weather was cloudy for the most part and the temperature was mild in the upper 70’s.

Once at the canyon, we went directly to the rim and took some pictures, then walked the rim trail to the west and visited a few gift shops and got something to eat. Then we caught a shuttle bus to the other side of the main visitor area, hoping to take a longer walk along the canyon rim back towards where we started. There was some construction of the rim trail underway at the second location though, so we didn’t get to take the route we planned, so caught another shuttle bus to another location and the kids filled out their postcards.

By then it was almost time to catch our train so we took a shuttle bus back to the train depot. When we arrived, it started to rain and hail lightly, so we hurried to the train before the monsoon-season deluge began, which lasted about 20 minutes. The train ride back included more cowboy musicians and a mock train robbery by bandits, which although the kids knew about beforehand and knew it was pretend, still kind of freaked Ethan out a little.

In the evening we got some burgers from the local Dairy Queen and watched movies in our hotel room.

Tomorrow we start the long journey home, with stops at Meteor Crater just east of Flagstaff, AZ, and staying in Albuquerque for the evening.

We’ve had a great trip and look forward to starting the trip home.

We passed through a lot of different scenery and it changed quickly between widely varied landscapes – treeless valleys and mountains in central Utah to rocky desert in southern Utah to pine forests in northern Arizona back to rocky, mountainous desert, back to pine forest near Flagstaff.

We feel like we’re in the home stretch and are a little road-weary and homesick. We’re looking forward to Sunday and seeing our house again (and our dog on Monday)!

Tomorrow we’ll see a cowboy shootout in the morning at the train depot in Williams, then board the train for the Grand Canyon, visit the Grand Canyon, then return to the hotel in the afternoon on the train. We can’t wait!

Once in Salt Lake City, we had a relaxing evening and went to dinner with my Uncle and his wife while the kids played with their cousins.

Tomorrow we’ll head out early for Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel for our visit to the Grand Canyon South Rim on Friday.

In the evening we all got to ride a horse owned by one of my grandmother’s neighbors. The kids took turns being led around the pen, then they took the lead off and the kids rode the horse around on their own, turning him and giving him kicks to make him go. They both rode around the large pen on their own leading the horse for about 5-10 minutes and had an awesome time. Debbie and I took our turns too. Then the kids rode with me and I tried to get the horse running a bit but all we managed was a trot as he was pretty old and tired by that point.

But it was a ton of fun and a new experience for the kids. After his solo ride, Ethan got nipped in the fingers when trying to give the horse a carrot which freaked him out a bit but he got back on the horse with Dad after that. Will post some movies of it all once we have a little time and get settled.

We’re so proud of them both.

Tomorrow will head back to Salt Lake City for the night before heading on to the Grand Canyon and starting the long trek home.

Took the grand tour of Malad. It’s a neat little city where everybody knows and looks out for each other.

Wrapped up the day playing UNO and studying for my class last week.

We had a good evening visiting outside in the cool air and plan to have a relaxing few days here before heading south again.

Happy Father’s Day to all the father’s out there!

After lunch we took the kids swimming at our cousins apartment complex and they had a good time.

Debbie and I got to go to dinner alone and take our time at the bookstore while the kids stayed and played with their cousins, which was fun.

Tomorrow we’ll have a Father’s Day breakfast and then head to Idaho for a few days to spend time with my grandmother.