On the road again. We were home from Florida for less than a day and, off to the airport.
Wheels up at 8am. Ella is going to Lake Vallecito, Colorado for the first time. 750 or so miles by land it takes a little over 3 hours to make the trip by air.
Arriving at the Durango airport at noonish we were ready to be on the ground. We made the trip with four adults, one baby in car seat, two dogs, a weeks worth of luggage for 5 people, several tool boxes and miscellaneous stuff. The ride to the house wasn't much different. I made a quick calculation that the inside of my mothers Lexus SUV (which was waiting for us at the airport) has roughly exactly the same interior space as the air plane. We did not have enough room to stop for groceries. No problem 40 minutes later we were at the house and off the road.
The next 5 days slowed nearly to a stop. The goings on included a lot of sitting by the fire with hot chocolate, napping, sitting in the hot tub with a glass of wine, and planning the next meal. All of this was only interrupted by a few short projects around the house and up the mountain, one picnic by the lake, and a dinner and overnight visit from long time friends Eddie and Kathy Choice. The whole time we kept Ella on her schedule of bath and bed around 8pm Texas time and naps and meals as needed all day, which makes her a joy to be around day and night.
Friday morning after Eddie and Kathy left, Meredith and I started getting our things together and helping my mother with the same as we were planning to leave for Texas around noon. We loaded the car with our gear and some snacks told Dad goodbye and thank you, as he was staying on for another week alone, and hit the road. Non-stop to B-town! I started the drive not on a hard push, we would stop whenever we needed to and even get a hotel if needed ,per the baby's needs. The drive home takes a hardcore adult about 12 hours. It takes most people about 14 and, we didn't know what to expect with now 5 week old Ella. Four hours or so down the road we stopped outside of Santa Fe, NM for a really late lunch at Harry's Roadhouse. After a diaper change and feeding the kiddo we hit the road again. The last, longer half of the trip we didn't stop for anything but fuel, which of course included feeding and changing the baby, and a bathroom break. We arrived home around 2am unloaded the car and called it a day.
Ella was a model travel companion, getting upset only once just inside TX right around her normal bedtime (8-8:30pm). She was quickly calmed by a short stop road side for a burp, and the companionship of her mother in the backseat. All of that followed by a few miles of lullabies in the car and she was out for the count. I can't wait to do it again. Chad
Click below for Ella and family in Colorado:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mflocker/EllaGoesToColorado
Wheels up at 8am. Ella is going to Lake Vallecito, Colorado for the first time. 750 or so miles by land it takes a little over 3 hours to make the trip by air.
Arriving at the Durango airport at noonish we were ready to be on the ground. We made the trip with four adults, one baby in car seat, two dogs, a weeks worth of luggage for 5 people, several tool boxes and miscellaneous stuff. The ride to the house wasn't much different. I made a quick calculation that the inside of my mothers Lexus SUV (which was waiting for us at the airport) has roughly exactly the same interior space as the air plane. We did not have enough room to stop for groceries. No problem 40 minutes later we were at the house and off the road.
The next 5 days slowed nearly to a stop. The goings on included a lot of sitting by the fire with hot chocolate, napping, sitting in the hot tub with a glass of wine, and planning the next meal. All of this was only interrupted by a few short projects around the house and up the mountain, one picnic by the lake, and a dinner and overnight visit from long time friends Eddie and Kathy Choice. The whole time we kept Ella on her schedule of bath and bed around 8pm Texas time and naps and meals as needed all day, which makes her a joy to be around day and night.
Friday morning after Eddie and Kathy left, Meredith and I started getting our things together and helping my mother with the same as we were planning to leave for Texas around noon. We loaded the car with our gear and some snacks told Dad goodbye and thank you, as he was staying on for another week alone, and hit the road. Non-stop to B-town! I started the drive not on a hard push, we would stop whenever we needed to and even get a hotel if needed ,per the baby's needs. The drive home takes a hardcore adult about 12 hours. It takes most people about 14 and, we didn't know what to expect with now 5 week old Ella. Four hours or so down the road we stopped outside of Santa Fe, NM for a really late lunch at Harry's Roadhouse. After a diaper change and feeding the kiddo we hit the road again. The last, longer half of the trip we didn't stop for anything but fuel, which of course included feeding and changing the baby, and a bathroom break. We arrived home around 2am unloaded the car and called it a day.
Ella was a model travel companion, getting upset only once just inside TX right around her normal bedtime (8-8:30pm). She was quickly calmed by a short stop road side for a burp, and the companionship of her mother in the backseat. All of that followed by a few miles of lullabies in the car and she was out for the count. I can't wait to do it again. Chad
Click below for Ella and family in Colorado:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mflocker/EllaGoesToColorado
Click below for Ella's Colorado Scrapbook Pages:
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