On the Road Again

And the long trip begins. We planned on taking our time again, but this time was not nearly as easy as the last. Traveling with a 3 month old might be frustrating because of having to stop to feed so frequently, but traveling with a 1 year old is just plain difficult. AJ did pretty good, but he just gave up around 4 o clock every day. We traveled an average of 9 hours a day. It was rough sometime but we made it.

This was when we made the most progress.

 We didn't want to feel super yucky our whole trip so we decided to pack enough food to make our own picnic lunches so that we didn't have to eat out for every meal. I am so glad we did that. I was so much happy than usual because my stomach wasn't causing a problem half way through the trip.

We found a nice little park our first day and had lunch in the dug out. 

We worked on AJ's walking a little...still nothing to show. 

Let me out!

This is a new thing. I guess whenever he doen't like the feel of something on his knees he will pull up onto his toes. 

We saw a lot of beautiful things as we drove across the country. A lot of open country property, a lot of little white fences, a lot of live stock, and a lot of really cool architecture.

We passed over and by a lot of really cool bridges. 

 We wanted to be sure to get the full traveling experience by once again following our "diners, drive-ins and dives" map. We found some pretty fun places, and some amazing food.

This was in Louisville, KY. A lot of home cookin soul food. The Mac and cheese AJ got was the best part I think. 

 Each night at a different hotel was an adventure. Unloading the car every night got to be a real chore. We tried to make everything we needed easily accessible, but it just wasn't gonna work. Babies make things far more difficult when traveling. One overnight bag just doesn't cut it any more.

AJ stayed entertained most of the time by small little things...and I wondered why our wipes kept running out faster than they should have. 

He took a few good rides. 

 We spent Mother's Day on the road. Usually there are dishes to do after a nice mother's day meal, but on the road there are no dishes to do. I think this added to the fact that this just might be the best Mother's Day dinner ever!!! We found this fun restaurant in Kansas City, so as I am sure you can guess, it was BBQ time!

Again, a Triple D stop.  

Our Apetizers: hand rolled, corn husk, smoked pork jalapeno sausage and good ol' Gumbo  

For dinner we had the deep fried corn on the cob and out of this world baby back ribs. 

I enjoyed them...

Joe loved them...

And AJ cleaned the bones for us as soon as we were finished. He loved the BBQ sauce that was left on the bone. 

 It was an amazing meal. We will be stopping there again on our way back.
So back on the road again. We were getting closer! Almost there. AJ spent most of his time reading books, singing songs, and talking to himself. He also found it most comfortable to travel with one leg in the air.

This is how I found him almost 75% of the time. 

Drove pass the Gateway Arch in St Louis 

AJ even got a little road rage when it was his turn to drive. 

 We made it to Denver. We were starting to feel like we were home. There is something about the west that we just love. We can't stand to be away.

The buildings were beautiful.

Sadly our triple D choice for Denver was closed on Mondays, so we turned to yelp for a little help. We found a fun little jazz lounge called Dazzle Jazz. The food wasn't like Kansas City BBQ but the entertainment was great.

This however might have given us a heart attack...yes that is a burger between two grilled cheese sandwiches. Gosh, who thinks of these things? 

Last leg of the trip and I was worn out. I snoozed for an hour or so.

We found our mountains and knew we were home. 

We stopped in Utah for the week. We wanted to see family and give our bums a break...little did we know the trials that awaited us there...