A Grand Family Adventure : Less than a week!!

I can't believe in less than a week we will be heading out on our family adventure. Jay's excited, the girls are excited and I'm excited too, but it's the kind that when you think about it too much you get an upset stomach.

I want to make sure we have everything ready and even though we don't need to pack the house, I also don't want to buy a lot once we're on the road that I could have easily brought from home. For someone like me, this trip is a logistical nightmare. I've placed notepads in every room of the house so that if I think of something I can write it down immediately. :) Jay loves this about me, he really does.

So where are we going and what are we doing on this adventure? Well, to begin with we are heading to Nashville, TN first and enjoying Father's Day with a riverboat cruise and lunch. Then it's drive time. We will spend the next two days driving like it's our job and hopefully arriving at Mount Rushmore by Monday, early afternoon. We plan to enjoy an evening under the stars with the presidents. After that we will journey to Grand Teton National Park where we will enjoy six days exploring the park, Jackson Hole, and Yellowstone National Park. I am very much looking forward to the cooler temps and the amazing sights. Maybe even a bear?

After Wyoming we will travel through Utah, making a stop in Zion National Park for a horseback ride. Next, we will move on to the north rim of the Grand Canyon. While there we hope to get a mule ride down into the canyon, do a little rafting down the Colorado River, and tent camp one night on the rim to witness the sunset and sunrise over the canyon. It's going to be GRAND.

This should put us at July 3rd and we will head into the Navajo reservation in Arizona to enjoy Fourth of July festivities. Finally, we will make our trek on to Amarillo, TX where I am very excited about enjoying a steak at the Big Texan. The heat, not so much. After Texas we will make our way to what will probably be our last stop before home, Memphis, TN. Katie Jo has requested some Mississippi River time, and we are hoping to do a river boat cruise down the Mississippi. We would be fools if we didn't use this opportunity to visit Graceland, so hopefully time will present itself so we can do just that. After Memphis, I believe our intention is to head home and arrive sometime around July 9th. That is when our post-trip depression shall begin.

The girls have been so cute in their research of the spots we are visiting. Katie Jo has made an adorable notebook with animal pictures and corresponding facts. And Georgia, at least once a day, has asked to use the computer so she can research. Her time is usually spent looking at images from Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. I know this is going to be a once in a lifetime experience for all of us, but especially for them.

Here are some of the drawing from Katie Jo's notebook.