Sunday, July 19, 2009

Finally, A Spadoman Vacation Update

WOW! It’s been a week, NO, over a week on the road already. I haven’t had a chance to update anything, and we’ve done so much already! We’re having a great time. Actually, right now, we are in Redondo Beach, CA. We’re staying with friends right now and will go to Disneyland tomorrow, Monday, then be on the road traveling North to Redwood country on Tuesday. Over 2500 miles so far. Van running great. All campers are happy so far.

We picked up some passengers here in Southern California. My daughter, along with her husband and 2 year old Gracie, flew here from Minneapolis on Friday and will travel with us until the 28th of July. They’ll fly back home from San Francisco. My other daughter, Jayne, will fly back home tonight. She also came to join us last Friday.

We had a passenger that we gave a ride to from Colorado when we started the trip. Her name is Chanti and I met her on The Longest Walk last year. She was in the Minneapolis area when we left and was going to take the bus. Since we were going that way, she rode with us for the first two days. WEe dropped her off in Longmont, CO last Saturday.

We were on the road all day the first two days of the trip. Traveling down to I-90 and west to Hot Springs, SD before we stopped the first day. WE camped out at a nice lake that first night and put over 700 miles under our belts.

The next day took us into Nebraska and Wyoming and down to Colorado to drop off Chanti, then we continued over through Rocky Mountain National Park and west to Grand Junction, CO. We stopped in Grand Junction and stayed with friends there for two nights. It was great fun traveling through the mountains. We all played in the huge snowbanks we encountered at over 12,000 feet above sea level.

While in Grand Junction, we went to a lake and swam, but that trip was cut short when Squint Eye took a fall and landed with a loud “Thunk” on a cement boardwalk. She had a bad bruise on her forehead, but never passed out. She cried a little and was banged pretty good. We named the bruise Eggbert after a trip to the “mergency room” to have a doctor take a look and make sure all was okay. It gave us quite a scare, but we had a marvelous visit with some old friends while in Grand Junction.

We continued on through Utah, seeing Moab and Arches National Park. We hiked amongst the huge stone arches and the vistas of colors was fantastic. Back on the Interstate west, we crossed some of the most beautiful high desert landscape on the planet before getting to Kanab, UT where we got a motel room with a pool to swim and cool off. The temperatures were up in the 100’s. We stayed in Kanab for two nights. We drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and played around there all day Wednesday. Thursday we traveled through Nevada and into California and to Redondo Beach where we are now.

We stopped and had picnics almost every day. Our cooler kept the ice and things were cool. Nice to have a cool drink when it was so hot out. Passing through Baker, CA, there is a giant thermometer that told us it was 109 degrees. Dinner out was okay, but we haven’t found any really good food yet. We stayed away from the large corporate chains on purpose except for the Jack in the Box, (2 tacos, .99 cents), while passing through Las Vegas. WE drove the strip and saw all we could, but didn’t stop there. Too hot and we wanted to get to the ocean.

Once in Southern California, the ocean called to us all. We went to the beach on Friday, then on our friends beautiful boat Saturday along with more swimming in the California Yacht Club pool. Today, we are definitely back at the beach in Rdondo and there is talk about V Venice Beach in the afternoon.

This recap to this point is brief. I can’t possibly mention all the things we’ve seen so far. All I know is that to see the kids faces when they see the sites of nature that I’ve told them about over the few years that they’ve been around has been reason enough for me to be alive.

I’ll leave this piece with pictures. Enjoy. We sure did.

Peace to All.




Na in the water.




Swimming in the Pacific Ocean.




Camping in Hot Springs, SD
























Make sure you drink plenty of water when in the desert.




Arches made of stone naturally




Swimming at the KOA




Have you seen the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD?




Saying goodbye to Chanti, (at the far right)

5 comments:

  1. I knew I caught a flash of you! Must have been when you waved from the Cajon Pass (although you were only a half hour from us by the back road from Barstow!) Looks like you all are having too much fun! Yippee!
    Peace and health and fun n safety to all!

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  2. Thanks for stopping in Mendocino, Spado family!! As I said, it made my day. What a stellar bunch of humans-I am indeed honored to know you. Safe travels and peace to one and all! x0x0

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  3. Ohhhhh...familiar places and HUGE bruise. Yikes--that woulda given me a good scare. I'm glad the little things is okay.

    Happy traveling....and enjoy the ocean as much as I'm sure you enjoyed Moab. (gosh I love that place....)

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  4. Am enjoying all the entries, Joe. What a grand trip you and family have had. I love road trips, and this one looks like it was fun!

    :)

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  5. How fun to go along on your vacation! I come from that neck of the woods (the Mojave), and it's always nice to see pics from my home state of CA. :) Happy trails! Pam

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