Utah part III :: the drive home

The plan was to wake up early, to be on the road before sunrise...

But we got to bed late. Super late. (No regrets, though, I loved chatting with my sis until 2 in the morning.) Instead, we woke up around 8 or 9. Which was fine, because the children got to spend a little more time with their cousins. Plus, just before we left, my sweet little nephew reached for me! I was so surprised and thrilled by that. He is such a cute little guy!

Funny story: this happy boy was terrified of Mr. Boss. From the first morning when he crawled into his sister's room (where we were sleeping) and saw Mr. Boss sitting on an air mattress on the floor, until the day we left. If he spotted his uncle nearby, a look of terror would come over him. If nobody rescued him, or worse, if Boss went to pick him up, he would cry. It was so sad, and cute, and had fun teasing Mr. Boss (who refers to himself as "Uncle Awesome") about it. (Still do, actually.)

We did manage to leave, eventually.

Boss decided that we should take the route we had never taken before. The one that happens to take the longest time. (Largely because the highway became the main street for every small town we passed through, taking speeds down to 35mph.) But it was beautiful. And funny. We had to pull to the side of the road at one point, so C could relieve himself. I was taking the above pictures and decided to peek at my little boy. His shirt was under his chin, his pants at his ankles. I couldn't help it. The sight of his skinny, white bum sent me into a fit of giggles. (Aren't I mature?)

As we got nearer to the Utah/Colorado border, dark clouds began to replace the bright blue we'd been driving under earlier. Not long after passing through the last town in Utah, we got a little rain. And it was glorious. There is nothing better, when on a summertime road trip, than to experience a small storm that brings cooler temperatures. We hardly used our ac during the 2nd half of our drive.

We stopped for a potty break and lunch just outside of Dinosaur, CO.
(We didn't use the picnic tables because they were rained soaked.)

Once back on the road, I discovered I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. It was useless to fight it, so I slept. Which was fine...until I was woken up by Mr. Boss slowing the car down and cursing under his breath. That was a fun moment... But the scenery was nice.

We were always a bit confused by Colorado's "Welcome To Colorful Colorado" signs, because we had never seen anything about the state that struck us as amazingly colorful. That was, until we were driving along Highway 40. Along that particular highway, you come across some of the most colorful rocks, cliffs, and mountains. We were a bit stunned by the whole thing. Unfortunately, most of the color was out Boss's side, and he doesn't like me taking pictures over him while he's driving.

The children were so patient about being in the car all day, even after spending most of the weekend in the car.

These pictures make me want to go for another drive along highway 40.
We almost missed this sign. If it hadn't been for the people who were getting pictures of it, we would have driven on past, completely oblivious.

I love road trips.