California- The drive

 We took a family trip to California! We met up with my family down there but we, ourselves, drove. Haben wasn't able to come but Winta was and June actually got to fly with my parents because she got to stay a few extra days to go to Disneyland with them because they are starting a new tradition of taking grand kids on Disney trips. So that's how we ended up with the crew that we did on our road trip down to California! 

We made a few stops on the way there because it's only right. We first drove the strip in Vegas and the kids were all in complete AWE of the place. haha Too bad Vegas is also crazy. ;) But I had to stop and let Winta take a photo with the famous sign.

 

Then, just a little bit outside of Vegas there is a random thing of painted boulders stacked on top of each other and so why wouldn't you stop to see that? ;) 

 

And THEN we found a road side diner and just in time for dinner so we stopped and it was the best. I love random diners, the more eclectic, the better. And this one was so quirky. There were roughly a million billboards on the way telling us to stop at the diner and once there there were so many things going on inside that place.... a store and ice cream shop, a pizza joint, and the classic diner with so much retro memorabilia... it was amazing. Oh and out back? A "diner-saur" park that was very run down but still a thing so we checked that out briefly too. 

Even the bathroom was random... and jarring..... you walk in and JUMP out of your skin at the male mannequin posed like it's peeing.... just what every woman wants to see as they enter a public restroom.

Over all- a 10/10 on road trip stops that day! haha

Other than that we survived with dollar store finds and movies and good snacks.

This looked like the tower of Mordor or whatever it's calling in Lord of the Rings. It was HUGE.

Crazy sun set in the smog.

And then there was the drive back to Utah a week later. You know how it goes, by that point you're all done and ready to just power through it and get home. 😆 So the only stops we made on that drive were to gas stations. And I have no photos of that. ;) 

Grateful to have fun things to stop at, fun things to do in the car, for good kids, a safe vehicle and a safe journey there and back! We missed our June Bug in the car but I'm sure she didn't mind too much since she got to fly in the sky. It's nice to not have babies in the car anymore and these kinds of drives feel so much more doable now! Here's to more road trips in the future. ;)