Well, most people thought, that we were absolutely crazy to try to drive all the way to California with four little kids. Didn't you just do that last year? We decided to up the ante and explore and camp out along the way. It will be fun. Naturally, this resulted in having to haul twice the required gear. Once this realization hit, we checked out ways to obtain more spacious modes of transportation. Since we did not have $250,000 for a new bus-sized recreational vehicle, we opted for the economical solution -- a second Sears "X-Cargo" brand car carrier on top of the minivan. We spent the whole trip trying to find one other vehicle on the road with two cartop carriers. As you can guess, we remained unique.

We drove from Denver through spectacular scenery toward southwestern Colorado. We camped our first night at Curecanti, which is a National Recreation Area with a man-made reservoir on the Gunnison River. We then drove on the Mesa Verde National Park and spent a couple of days camping and exploring the Anasazi ruins. From Mesa Verde we drove back (generally speaking) toward Denver (not California) through Durango and on to Silverton, Colorado where we planned to spend the 4th of July weekend. Are you tired yet?

We found a campsite in the National Forest a couple miles outside of Silverton. The elevation there was about 9,500 feet. We had a great round trip ride on the Durango - Silverton narrow gauge railway and thoroughly enjoyed the small town family atmosphere of Silverton and the 4th of July parade and activities at the park. The tent did well in the rain and snow. We did ok thanks to hot showers at a trailer park at midnight. Those showers would have to last.

From Silverton (remember 9,500 feet and snow on the tent) we drove to Four Corners, which for the geographically challenged, is where the Navajo people tricked the surveyors, who were laying out the boundaries for Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico, into having all four states meet at a single point in the middle of a dry forbidding desert. The temperature for us when arrived was above 100 degrees. All so the Navajo could get hot sweaty tourists to buy more turquoise jewelry and so they can laugh when people burn their backs while laying down on hot cement to be in Four States at once.

We blasted out of Four Corners and avoided large elk on narrow two lane state highways through Northern Arizona on the way to the Nirvana of Holiday Inn Express in Payson, Arizona. Real beds, running water, basic hygiene. The camping part of the expedition was over and after high fives and a blood oath between the adults, we exclaimed never again and permanently locked the car carrier with all the camping stuff.

From Payson we drove into Phoenix and spent the afternoon with our friends from our New York days, LaMar and Lynette Hill and their kids. As a "monsoon" storm as they call it was kicking up, we piled in the van to sandblast our way over to Yuma, AZ. We thoroughly enjoyed the 80 mile an hour winds carrying sand and rain as we drove westward, thinking "beach beach beach." We had to stop for gas and personal hydraulics in the middle of all this and while in the restroom in the gas station with the boys, Scott had to calm down a poor guy from Maryland or somewhere who thought he was driving into the middle of tornado. "No it is merely a dust storm -- but be sure to stay on the interstate or people may never find you. Have a great trip." (Jaw drop).

In Yuma, we stayed overnight with Jonathan and Rosalie Lines, friends we made in Maui. We enjoyed getting to know the Lines' kids and had a fun trip to a camel farm the next day before heading into San Diego.

Ah, San Diego, the beckoning beach laid before us. We had a blast staying in one place, hitting some waves and getting sunburned for a few days. Harrison and Liz went to Sea World with Grandpa and Grandma Young. The whole clan had fun barbeque'ing and taking a side trip to the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center. We had a lot of fun getting caught up with all the Bringhurst uncles, aunts and cousins.

Since this is getting long, we will spare you all the details of the trek back to Denver, but since it was not camping, it seemed so much smoother. We took a different road back through Arizona, saw Monument Valley in extreme southern Utah and stopped in Arches National Park outside Moab.