Homeward Bound...I'm driving?

Well, after a week of craziness, it's time to return home to our crazy busy life! The breakfast at the Hampton Inn north Phoenix, Happy Valley, had the best free breakfast yet! Not only did they have make your own waffles, but they also had omelets, bacon, apple turnovers and more! Also, it was the least expensive hotel night on our trip: $79 + tax. That makes up for the gas prices rising to the high $3.40's on this last leg. Overall we traveled approximately 1250 miles, at an average gas price of $3.40 and an average of 34mpg. That would total $125 in gas cost for this awesome 7 day family vacation! Thank you Kia Soul! https://www.facebook.com/#!/kiasoul

Kia Soul Roadtrip 2012

Since Rick's shoulder is out of commission, I drove today and everyone was scared. It was super windy, dust devils everywhere, and I got distracted by the sights and swerved a few times, haha! Our final stop was the McDonald's at Gila Bend. Thank you dollar menu and sweet tea! This is a cute town with cool dinosaurs (or maybe Gila monsters?) along the road, and a cool Space Age restaurant.

Gila Bend our last stop for food 

We had no idea how beautiful Arizona could be, and we were pleasantly surprised about how comfy we were in the Kia Soul for a week of driving, stopping, eating, sleeping, playing DS, ipod movies, satellite radio, and lots of family conversations. Yes there was some bickering, but no trip is complete without a 16 year old yelling at a 4 year old, "Stop touching my face! He won't stop touching me!" That is old school, right? ; )

Sand Dunes, photo credit Rick Fortin ;) 

Day 6 - Slide Rock State Park

How can you get lost with so many helpful signs? This is a "right or left turn only" end of the road, veritable cornucopia of signs to help you on your way into, around, and out of Flagstaff, AZ, haha! Okay so did you know that Flagstaff is way up in the mountains? We didn't. Anyway, super fun morning at the Hampton Inn loading up on waffles and fruit ;) On the way out of town, we drove through NAU's campus. Only 2 years until our oldest goes off to college. I'm pretty sure she didn't think this college was "off" enough as she is looking mostly on the east coast.

We haven't stopped for gas more than a few times during this trip. I will have to add up the miles and total fuel cost, but the gas in AZ is averaging about $0.40 cheaper per gallon than CA. Check out the Kia Soul facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/kiasoul?ref=ts

Right after they refused to walk over there because of all the grasshoppers, haha

Our destination today, Slide Rock State Park, Sedona, AZ, along with a bazillion other people, haha! It took forever to get to pay the $20 to enter the park as they were letting one car enter each time one car exited. You can bring chairs, a cooler, towels, etc, but we brought nothing with us and had a blast! Don't spend $19.99 for the towel in the gift shop since you will dry fast. But definitely buy the $3.50 soft serve cone ; ) We were surprised to find out this park was originally a homestead for an apple farmer who really worked to grow the tourism industry. He even built cabins on his property and worked to improve the road to the area.

View from "Slide Rock Market" with the $20 towels we didn't buy and the $3.50 ice cream we did buy :D

My guys <3

Love my little boy <3

It was over 100 degrees so it was necessary to get in the water even if you hadn't planned to do so. The trip was definitely worth it, but the sliding was bumpier and slimier than my kids had anticipated ;) The two teens jumped off the small cliff and then off the higher one near the bridge. Mikey and I watched in awe, as dad got ready to save face and jump off too. Dad unfortunately dislocated his shoulder and had to spend some time pushing it back in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4M6elzhbgc&feature=plcp

At our hotel tonight, a young local firefighter informed us that there have been tons of injuries at those cliffs, and he strongly recommends they don't ever jump again. Hmmmm, guess we lucked out this time?

When we arrived to our hotel in Phoenix tonight, we decided to swim in the warm pool. It was still around 100 outside, the air was still and the sky was beautiful. A perfect ending to our wild and crazy family budget roadtrip. Well, not really the end yet....still have some miles to drive tomorrow and you never know where we may have to stop to check something out!

Day 5 Route 66 & Grand Canyon

Last night we stayed at our favorite hotel chain, Hampton Inn & Suites. It's a Hilton brand which we love, the price is between $79 and $149 per night, and there is a full hot breakfast in the morning including make your own belgian waffles. When you have children, especially 3 of them, it is way too expensive to go out to breakfast during your vacation. Most days we have had 1 or 2 meals plus snacks and save a TON of money. After our yummy breakfast, we checked out and got on Route 66 to find the inspiration for the Cars movies, "Peach Springs."

Power House in Kingman, AZ with a huge elevated railroad track

Come to find out, Peach Springs is no more than an old town with a few homes, and a couple businesses. There was no Cars fun to be found. However, the towns of Hackberry and Stilgeman are full of Americana, and cute references to the Cars movies including look-alike cars with eyes and all.

Mater's Buddy



Hackberry

Hangin' with the locals

"Look! These are chairs!" ~Mikey

Old School Tree Swing

We even passed a motel called the "Cozy Corner" that looked like the Cozy Cone, but it was located closer to Hackberry than Peach Springs. Of course, we never located Lightning MacQueen so Mikey was bummed out. We told him he was probably racing somewhere and coming back to hang out with Mater asap ; )

Tow Mater waiting for his best friend to get back

Americana :)

After an awesome lunch in Stilgeman, we continued our trip to the Grand Canyon. It was breathtaking and the highlight of our roadtrip so far. Just so you know, you don't have to buy any fancy expensive tours to have fun in the Grand Canyon! We had stopped in a gift shop on our way, and the lady told us there are no cars allowed at a certain point and we'd have to get one of the tour packages in the pamphlet she gave us. It was very misleading and would have been unaffordable for our family of 5. Needless to say, we had a phenomenal time and paid only $25, the fee to enter the National Park.

Ranger Books

 The best part of this day was that we not only saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, but we were there at the perfect time to hike for awhile, see an amazing sunset, and enjoy and photograph the views right after sunset.

Buds

 So romantic ;)

So beautiful it looks like a fake background, right?

We had a long drive to our hotel in Flagstaff, and we passed on the gross fast food on the way because it was twice the price of the same chain back home. So after we checked in, we rushed over to the only open fast food place, and got some not so healthy, but inexpensive dinner. This was our longest roadtrip day yet, but so worth it!

Day 4 - Happy American Independence Day!

What a day! We left Las Vegas around noon after stopping by the M&M store for a quick souvenir. Look how happy they are to be leaving Las Vegas, haha! Rick and I didn't gamble one penny, yayy. Also, our gas today was around $3.35 a gallon, and all of our entertainment was free ; ) I love this family!

http://youtu.be/S064fOjDblE

Our bargain lunch took place at Jack-In-The-Box in Henderson where we spent less than $13 on the value menu. We took the 93 South all the way to Route 66 and the drive was beautiful, and had zero traffic! We passed Lake Mead and stopped at a scenic viewing area where we took some awesome pictures and video.

Kingman is a lot bigger than I expected, but you see more businesses than homes when you drive in. It was raining and 30 degrees cooler than Vegas when we got here. The kids first comment was "The elevator is so fast here!" Haha! As soon as we checked in to the hotel, we drove to the small town July 4th Celebration in the Staples parking lot. There was a live band and they were really good! I think they were called "Rattlesnake Junction." I can't get the video to upload :(

There was something on the advertisement about a "burnout contest" but we had no idea what it was. Well now we know. The residents of Kingman, AZ seem pretty into it, and the smoke is cool, but we couldn't help but think about the cost of replacing all the tires ; )

http://youtu.be/6zmM5S8kl60

A car show was part of the entertainment and they had a brand new Corvette with doors like that Delorean in "Back to the Future," but I liked this Chrysler Imperial the best. Check out the grill and headlights:

Oh, my other favorite car was this one. Check out the reflection of our car in this car. It's like they are meant to be friends ; )

Haha! We had Taco Bell for dinner and spent less than $13 again, but we need to make some better food choices tomorrow. Good thing our hotel has FREE breakfast, and not just continental ; )  After mingling with the locals, we drove around looking for Centennial park or the Mohave County Fairgrounds so we could get ready to watch the fireworks. I took a video of the amazing sunset view.
http://youtu.be/0lADGaEuWAA

The firework show was over 30 minutes long! I took video of it in the beginning since Mikey was being hilarious, and the full moon to the left was cool to see at the same time.
http://youtu.be/DBoifZUNzvg

The kids are so excited because tomorrow we are taking Route 66 to Peach Springs which is the town that inspired the Cars movies. However, they are unaware that we will be in the car for a loooooong time before arriving at the Grand Canyon National Park, woohoo!

Last Day in Vegas....Day 3

My family loves to sleep in, especially when there are "blackout" curtains : ) So, today we got up around 10:30, ate protein bars again for breakfast, and the girls made their way to the NYNY Roller Coaster to get the all-day pass for $25. One ride is $14, and nobody wants to ride that roller coaster just once. You have to check it out in the daytime and at night to really experience it. They ended up taking 12-15 rides until it closed at midnight ; )

Since we woke up late again, we skipped lunch and checked out Groupon.com and the many coupon books I'd picked up for dinner options. Overall, we were really unimpressed with the coupon books, Groupon options and family activities in general here in Las Vegas. The one coupon we thought was a great deal had a ton of bad reviews on Yelp so we passed on that one.

There was a time that Vegas was getting more "kid-friendly" but I think with the recent recession, the locals are getting desperate. There are lots on scantily clad "showgirls" that take pics for tips all over the strip, even in front of my fave the Bellagio :( My girls looked at each other and were appalled at what they were/weren't wearing.

Since the coupons were sub-par, we took a vote and decided on In-N-Out Burger for dinner which is across the street from our hotel, NYNY. You can see our rad Kia Soul, our hotel, and our dinner spot in this picture ; ) One of the awesome things about chains like Starbucks, Subway, and In-N-Out is you always know what to expect.

My kids love cruising in this car so we took a drive down the strip to park closer to see the inside of the Paris and Bellagio, and check out my favorite Vegas attraction for the second time, the water show. I was so excited that the one we saw today was "All That Jazz" and last night's was "Luck Be a Lady" two of my faves!

 The Bellagio lobby, garden, and chocolate store are super cool and great photo spots! I can't believe we didn't buy any treats at the chocolate store, but it's hard to eat chocolate when it's soooooo hot! One of our last stops of the day was another penny smasher with some standard Vegas designs, so we bought a couple more.

Because Netflix is such a bargain, Rick and I logged in to watch a movie called "The Way" which was outstanding! I may need to add to my Bucket List now ; ) We have decided that tomorrow morning we are "leaving Las Vegas" to continue our "Kia Soul Roadtrip" and spend American Independence Day in a small town, yayyyy!

Roadtrip to Vegas and Beyond - Day 2

Oh my goodness, it is 1am and we just returned to our hotel room! Poor Rick had to carry Mikey for the last hour walking back to our hotel from the Venetian. We began our day with a breakfast we brought from home: Atkins bars and cereal. A couple of us got up around lunch time so we all walked over to Subway and saw that the footlongs are $9 instead of $5 at home. So the kids chose this since it came with the Arctic Rush Icee:

It's vacation right? Rick and I shared a Subway though, we can't eat that junk, haha! Two cool kid-friendly places on the strip are Coca-Cola and M&M stores. Nothing is inexpensive at M&M but they did hand out 2 or 3 dark chocolate mint M&Ms as samples. For $1.50 each we bought a few small glass bottles of soda at the Coca-Cola store, yummm. For $7 you can get 2 trays of Coke products from around the world to taste. We met a family from Louisiana who bought them and Mikey tried the green apple soda. The girls posed for a photo with the Coke polar bear and we took our own pictures to save money (instead of buying the one they frame with graphics and the date). Mikey didn't want to get near the bear, haha!

We came back to our hotel for dinner and Rick bought a huge pizza for $28. We drank waters we brought from home. They also sell water bottles on the bridges between hotels for $1 so we bought a few of those today too.

After dinner, we went to the arcade at NYNY and Sami won 2 Smurfs in the crane game with $1, first try, which is super hard, but Rick and Sami are pro at it.

Wow, I almost forgot about the magician! In the NYNY there is a magic store, and Mikey helped the magician do the floating card trick, and the "where is the light" trick. Then, Jamie volunteered to get a sword through her neck, so here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krw_-eQfbKA&feature=youtu.be

So now we don't have to pay to see a magic show in Vegas, woohoo!

Next we walked to a few casinos including MGM Grand where they have Rainforest Cafe and we bought our $0.51 souvenirs: smashed pennies! My kids have been collecting these since they were teeny. As you can see in the background, they have an aquarium with some "Finding Nemo" look-alikes, so that was cool.

One of the last places we went was Ceasar's Palace. I don't know if spelled that right because I'm super tired. When we walked in, Rick tried to cover Mikey's eyes so he wouldn't see all the "Roman Art" (naked statues, haha) in the hotel. The coolest thing in the hotel is a huge fish tank, so we now we don't have to go to some expensive aquarium to see these rad fish ; )

Well, I guess everyone is now asleep, and they used all the towels, dangit! Good thing there is a Starbucks in this hotel. That is one luxury I look forward to, even on a budget vacation.

We may cut our visit to Vegas one day short so we can go to Kingman for the 4th of July. It sounds "small townish" and fun.

Road Trip - Day 1

What a full day! The two of us, our two teenagers, and our 4yr old got a great start on our family vacation/road trip to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, Slide Rock State Park, and maybe a drive-by past Joshua Tree. We made it to Vegas in less than 6 hours. We even made a few "pit stops" on the way. We brought snacks for the car so we wouldn't have to stop for lunch, including a huge bag of pretzels that was accidentally dumped on the floor. Chip clips aren't as strong as they appear ; ) Also, our recent purchase of the Kia Soul http://www.kia.com/#/soul/explore has been the best economical decision in our married life so far! As you can see in the photo, it averaged 35mpg so we made it to Vegas on less than 10 gallons of gas. At $3.78 a gallon, we spent $37.80 to drive here, which is less than ONE airline ticket to Vegas, much less 5 tickets. We fit luggage, snacks, and activities for 5 in this car!

You can also see by the photo that it is a sauna in Vegas. The hotel had a sale price in April for $50 per night, so we booked far in advance. What I didn't anticipate was the $18 per night "resort" fee. This is hardly a resort, and the pool closed at 7pm....poor Mikey :( The gym closed early as well, which is included in the resort fee. Lastly, we splurged for a dinner out without using a coupon because we met some relatives at a basic American cafe. Needless to say, we need to be more careful dining on this vacation.

Lastly, check out what I packed for this trip: In addition to Mikey's Trunki from Melissa & Doug http://www.melissaanddoug.com/trunki-terrance-blue that I paid $20 for with a promotion last Christmas, we packed tons of free samples we've received from multiple sources. We have free shampoo, conditioner, lotion and Nexcare bandage samples. You can't forget all of the free toothpaste that we get from the dentist. You can take as many as you want and they make great spares when the kids run out. So the kids won't get bored, I stocked up on activity books from GTM and some dollar bargains from Target.

Time to turn in for the night. Tomorrow, we'll pick up the Las Vegas discount booklet and find some bargains for the next few days.