We're Off......Again

6:45 am and we are mostly ready to leave. Nana needs to be somewhere at 8:30am so the plan is that we will all go to breakfast and then we are off. Maggie gets her first real trial today. We are going south on I-75 to I-20 east then back to I-15 north. I have no idea where we will land tonight.

We made it to Dillon Montana. We made a two hour stop at Craters of the Moon National Park. While there, we hiked through Indian Tunnel. Way Cool!

We also stopped in the little town where they mine opals, Spencer Idaho. We saw the most beautiful opal I have ever seen. It was deep red with flashes of blue.

Meet Maggie

My father is worried about my directional and navigational skills. His first clue that I might not know what I was doing was when I decided that the shortest route to Fairbanks, Alaska from Malibu, California involved a trip through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and three Canadian provinces. When viewed from a satellite, the route traces a soft backwards approximation of a "C". Then, when I was making my detour to Sun Valley to visit my parents, I passed a sign that read "Twin Falls", Sun Valley" with an arrow pointing south. YIKES! Somehow I had passed the turnoff and had gone who-knows-how-many-miles in the wrong direction. So I pulled off the road and called my father.

BIG mistake! Grandpa the MIT Wiz, was alarmed that I was taking Beloved Granddaughter 1 and Beloved Granddaughter 2 into a black hole where no light, let alone Beloved Granddaughters 1 and 2 would ever emerge again. Clearly I could not be trusted with something as important as navigating all the way to Alaska and, here is the critical part, BACK to Malibu SAFELY. In my mind's eye I could see him shaking his head as he gave me directions. Grandpa was utterly baffled at how ANYONE could get lost when driving on the Interstate!

Grandpa solved the problem. He presented Beeray with a navigational device and instructions that she was now to be the navigator. The navigational device is a Magellan Roadmate and has been dubbed, Maggie. Tomorrow will be Maggie's first test. Beeray and Maggie will help us find out way to Interstate 15 which will take us to Canada.

Tennis Fun In Sun Valley

Friday is for tennis

The girls are enrolled in tennis camp here in Sun Valley Idaho. Of course, Nana had to get them the proper outfits. :)

Beeray and Boo woke early and got their tennis outfits on, ready to go. They spent 2 hours in a small class with the tennis pro. This was their first exposure to tennis and they loved it.

Sun Valley and Ketchum are right next to each other. There are about 1000 residents in Sun Valley and about 3000 in Ketchum.

I am acutely aware of the fact that my girls are 11 and 13 (almost 12 and 14). Sometimes they are so cranky! These are interesting ages, one moment they are little girls and the next they are adults. And sometimes they are demons. :) In the afternoon we decided to see a movie. The girls decided to be on good behavior for the movie. We saw Wall-e at the Magic Lantern Movie theater in Ketchum.

Sun Valley

The light here lasts until 10 pm. Predictably, my girls were up way too late. This morning it was a struggle to get them up. By 8:30am we were able to get them out of the house. We went for a hike up Fox Creek Trail where all the wildflowers are in bloom. I can tell that I am at altitude. On the switchbacks I couldn't catch my breath. It didn't effect my girls or my father who are both in much better shape that I. LuLu and Doodles, their standard poodles went with us.

My older daughter, Beeray is thinking to start cross country in the fall semester at her school so she shot ahead. She took a wrong turn (Grandpa wasn't all that good at his directions) and ran about a mile before figuring out that she was in the wrong place. If she hadn't told us we wouldn't have known because she was back at the trail by the time the three of us got to the fork.

Nana is off on an easy hike with her friends.

Then back to the house to change and then the girls went off with grandpa to the swimming pool, then lunch, and now they are ice skating. Tennis camp tomorrow.....Busy girls!

Payson to Sun Valley

As it turns out, RiVa, the Van RV is quite a way to travel. The mileage is around 14 miles/gal and we have almost all the comforts of home. Where she fails is the tight space. It is a struggle to get my two teen-ish daughters to keep rubble off of the floor so we can walk. Riva has a stove and microwave, 3 beds to sleep 4 VERY good friends :), a shower inside and one outside, refrigerator, 2 TVs, toilet, and sink. She is very convenient.

Today was a pretty short day. We checked out of Payson and headed north on I-15. There was quite a bit of construction on the Hwy just north of Salt Lake City. Our next stop was Ogden, Utah for gas. At a Flying J the gas price was $3.93. Woo Hoo!

We passed the turn off to Sun Valley and then though better of it, turned around and headed toward my parents' house. They are thrilled. Grandpa took us all out to dinner at Rocky Mountain Pizza (the best pizza in Sun Valley/Ketchum).

Alaska or Bust

We left Malibu at 5:35 am and drove pretty much all day. We took a long lunch
break in Las Vegas to see an old friend. We have been in 4 states
today, California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. We are told that this is
the fastest way to get to Alaska though it is 300 miles longer than
going the coastal route. The highlights of today were seeing my dear
friend, Virgin Creek Canyon (about 20 miles south of St George), an
area just past St George where all the rocks were an impossible red,
Cedar City Utah.

Gas prices for regular are:
$4.79 in Malibu at the cheap place (The San Fernando Valley is $4.55 at
the cheap place)
$5.79 at a road stop in the apparent middle of the desert -I passed
$4.24 just over the hill from the outrageous place both were in Nevada
$4.14 Las Vegas Nevada
$4.04 Cedar City Utah

I didn't stop but the prices were $4.07 in that little corner of Arizona
that we passed.

Low points were HEAT, truck kicked up a rock and dinged my windshield, 2
teen-ish girls in close quarters, we have way too much stuff packed in
that little RV and the loooooong drive, and we only made 698 miles.

Tonight we are in a hotel in Payson, Utah about 60 miles south of Salt
Lake City. The people here are impossibly clean cut. The men in Payson
(just south of Provo) remind me of Ken as in Barbie and Ken, they look
plastic to me.