Boots, the best $1 coffee ever, Painted Desert, and Rio Rancho with Uncle Dale & Aunt Norma

It was so nice to end this day with people we love, an amazing home cooked meal, and some space and time for the kids to unwind a bit. Yay for Rio Rancho! I am currently blogging from a bed I'm sharing with Bender, which means I might not get my hair pulled or kicked tonight! Double Yay! I love Zoe to pieces, but she is a huge (semi-violent) bed hog! 

We woke up at the Red Garter Inn in Williams this morning. Chris went for a run around Williams (and said his lungs were screaming because of the altitude) - sharing some of the parts of this awesome small town that only Bender got to see! 

It felt like he was gone a long time this morning, and at one point I actually checked on him via text. He was good...but the elevation did mess with him more than he expected it to! On to breakfast downstairs. Red Garter has a deal with the breakfast/coffee shop down below and we were excited to eat like locals. Chris got a chili bean omlete that came with corn tortillas...and was exactly what the legit cowboys next to us were eating. Zack was tempted by the breakfast burritos, but he decided to save up for Aunt Norma's. Chris and I still talk about the breakfast burritos she made us on our first cross country trip 16 years ago!

We also got to chat with the Inn keeper for the first time this morning in person. Lovely! Her and her husband must work hard to run the whole place by themselves, but what a fun way to live! She stopped what she was doing and wanted to hear about our travels and plans. Cannot say enough good. We bought tshirts and a pint glass and magnets. I also signed the guest book. A real guest book. Love, love, love. Next it was time to find Zoe some boots! So we went to the only place in town that came recommended for kids western wear.

It was awesome. I saw this rack and had two thoughts...I could rock these with an Amelia, and Emily Geiger needs that super sparkly one. But they were $150 belts, so I'll give you a hug when I get home instead Em.

This picture proves that Bender is not a cowboy even in the appropriate hat. (Funny story, the owner of the store saw Chris running around this morning and made a comment when we were checking out about seeing him jogging around. Zoe looked at me and whispered, "Mom, isn't that offensive that she said he was jogging?" Bwahahaha!)

Zoe got boots. They are big and will fit her for four years. Or maybe they will fit her in four years. She was happy and we got a coffee recommendation from our non-running friend.

Cowboy Coffee was incredible. Just incredible. It's a tiny store with a pastry case full of goodies and fresh made coffee that you pour yourself for $1 a cup. But it gets better. They make their own whipped cream with real vanilla bean and carbon dioxide that you can squirt on top. Heavenly. Zoe was eating it out of a cup with a spoon. I would get their coffee every. single. day. 

The chef trained in Paris and all kinds of other fancy places and her husband was so entertaining. What a great team they make! The pasties were insanely good too!

Zoe in her new boots!

Then we were out. We were headed to Rio Rancho - about a four hour drive ahead of us...but we had some stops we wanted to make. The first was to see the crazy meteor crater off the highway in Arizona. It sounded so neat - we had the kids all pumped, we drove 7 miles off the highway to get there...and it was $18/person to get in to the viewing area and look at a hole. Seriously. $18/person.  The Grand Canyon was $30 for our whole car. So we took this picture out in front, promised to show them on Google Earth, and got back in the car. (To add insult to injury, Zack finished another math test thingy and hit a dead zone just as he was trying to submit. Don't go see the crater.)

Do go stand on the corner of Winslow, Arizona. It's quite a fine sight to see. (Even if my kids didn't really understand why...) There really is a flatbed Ford...but no girl inside :)

On to the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. After we got through the checkpoint where the ranger told Zoe that she couldn't collect rocks, we were good.

Incredible pictures, incredible views, awesome learning experience. I enjoyed this more than the Grand Canyon because we could relax and really check things out, and there weren't 100 million people vying for a place to take a picture and yelling at me. Just my opinion ;)

Another CCC.

Zoe nonchalantly posing in her new boots. Not planned at all...right.

We did meet a Ranger and her horse, Trooper. It doesn't look like we're going to get to go horseback riding...so at least she got to pet one! Trooper was super sweet. He rides the trails all day answering questions. 

See Bender waving?

Totally and completely gorgeous. So happy we stopped to explore. Chris bought a piece of petrified wood from the gift shop for his office, then it was onward and upward to Chris' Aunt Norma and Uncle Dale's house. Once again we got out of there just in time - and had some awesome views of the storm rolling in while we were driving. At least Chris and the kids did...I was out! Late night blogging caught up with me!

This is driving in to Rio Rancho, unfortunately an hour later than planned. We crossed a time zone we hadn't planned on - and are now only two hours ahead Jax peeps! 

It didn't take long for Zoe to make friends with Freesia. Sweet girl is 16 and just wants to be cuddled! Zack and Zoe are missing their pup and enjoyed every snuggle. I think Zack is sleeping with her on the couch as I type!

This is the view from their back porch. For realz. Insane. I was so glad we were eating outside!

This was the first grass the kiddos had been on in a while...flipping commenced.

Aunt Norma made us the most amazing enchiladas and rice and flan for dessert. So good! I think Zack had thirds!

Our crew for the night. Awesome to catch up! So thankful for the incredible hospitality! 

When the sun set, we headed inside for more chatting. Such a fabulous night.

Not exactly sure what tomorrow holds. We think horseback riding is out, may try and visit Santa Fe. We'll be in Lubbock at bed time...excited to see what adventures the day holds!

XOXO,

Benderz

Ps...so many of you have asked about Browny. He is enjoying his own vacation with Mama Laura in Gainesville. She is the bomb diggity and sends me pictures so I don't miss his sweet face too much. He's having a blast digging holes, making friends and taking swims. ❤️❤️❤️

Grand Canyon and Williams, AZ

It's always a little surreal to wake up in one town doing something crazy cool - and go to bed in another town doing something completely different. Today was one of those days, and may very well have been my favorite of the trip so far. We woke up in Vegas today, checked out of the Mirage and were on our way. I will not miss all the cigarette smoke. So annoying that the hotels, attractions, and streets were full of smoke. It's taken me all day long to get rid of my sore, scratchy throat. Rant over. I wanted a picture with the Vegas sign - so off we went. When we arrived there, there were seven police cars and a bunch of women cops. We were a bit worried, but got out anyways :) 

I love that pic...may see that one on the Christmas card somewhere this year. If you look in the next one you can see the the cars and officers lined up for their photo shoot. Kind of makes the sign even cooler in my opinion. 

Selfie with the sign!

Then we were off on our travels - four or so hours to the Grand Canyon. The views while driving were pretty insane. 

The next two are of us crossing the Hoover Dam. Chris swears that you used to be able to see the water when you were crossing over - but that's not the case anymore. We got the kids all pumped up to see it - and then the walls were all they saw from the car. Bwahahaha! 

Then there was a lot of this...with the random trailer in out in the middle. Can you imagine? No electricity, water, sewer, phone...WIFI!  I'm pretty sure even Amazon Prime wouldn't deliver out here. And what happens when you need some Sudafed in the middle of the night? I couldn't do it. But the landscape was gorgeous. 

We made it to the Grand Canyon! Chris and I visited once before on our cross country trip after college. We had the opportunity to hike a little bit in and spend some time in awe. It was just as impressive this time around...except we were fighting the rain, thunder, lightning and wind today.

The kids were impressed. It's hard not to be impressed. We happened to be the only ones there speaking English, but we were cool with that. We had our GoPro and selfie stick...totally self sufficient. (Seriously though, lots and lots of visitors from foreign countries getting to experience America's beauty first hand!)

Zoe tried a number of times to get the perfect handstand picture that also showed off the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon in the background. We must have taken 40 handstand pics. She thought this one was "just ok". 

And she didn't like this picture at all...but I did and I'm doing the blogging, so hah! This one hurt her head a bit. 

While I was trying desperately to capture the perfect shot so we could stop taking a bazillion pics and scaring everyone around us, the boys were hanging out by the Canyon. Cool as can be. Cool is no joke either. As the storms blew in, it dropped to 60 degrees - which, if you're keeping track, was 40 degrees cooler than when we left Vegas this morning. A trip to the car to grab reinforcements was in order. 

Another Christmas card contender!

Around 2 we realized we hadn't fed our children since a bagel somewhere near Vegas. Gummy worms to the rescue. Zack was kind and shared his worms, so Zoe hugged him. Obviously, he's totally comfortable with that. 

We hiked down a little bit into the Canyon, saw some crazies walking out onto ledges they definitely shouldn't have been on, almost stepped in mule crap (more than once), and talked to a ranger about improvements they were making on the trail. I know that Chris would have liked to go further, but the storm was a coming - and the thunder was making me nervous. 

And another contender....big day!

We got to see some crazy lightning across the Canyon during the storm. Unfortunately, the lightning also closed the red bus tour that we were planning on taking. The best laid plans....we have been so lucky on all our trips to really not have any weather issues. It was still an amazing day at the Canyon, even if it was a little shorter than we thought it would be. (And yes we fed the kids something other than gummy worms. We got some pretzels and ice cream!) In this picture, Bender is using his time wisely and editing the GoPro pics for me :)

A fifty minute ride brought us to the Red Garter Inn in Williams, AZ. Favorite hotel yet. Totally quirky and unique and lovely. It actually used to be a brothel back in the day - and all the rooms have names like "Big Bertha's room " and "Best gal's room". It's run a lot like many of our hotels in Europe. They gave us a code to get in the front door and then we found our room. There is also a nicely stocked kitchen/lounge area! If you are ever out this way, you must stay at the Red Garter Inn.

Yes, that's a manequin hanging out the window. The cafe is where we'll have breakfast tomorrow morning. 

View from the back porch area. That green building is a restaurant on main street. So fun to people watch. I enjoyed music from a nearby bar tonight while blogging until 11:30. 

Our room...we also had a clawfoot tub!

Best gal's room. Only one bed in this room :) 

Boas and hats at the entrance. We'll try and get the boys to play tomorrow....and I'll try and figure out how to pose and not look ridiculous. 

We figured that there might not be much to do in small town Williams, Arizona. Boy were we wrong. If this is not the town that inspired Radiator Springs, I'm not sure what did. But I don't remember a zipline in Radiator Springs...and we definitely rode one over the town tonight. 

I'm not really going to think about how safe it was - two high schoolers were in charge of the whole thing, the seat belt didn't do much, and Zoe asked if it was running on power lines - it was ridiculously fun. I'd do it again.

Bender took a selfie at the top - Mike DelCharco has taught him well.

View of Williams from the zip line.

Then it was off to a Western show in the street. Zoe had the best seat in the house. 

It was pretty well done. I'm assuming it was locals who were putting on the show. It didn't cost anything and was literally in our way - they were taking up the whole street and sidewalk. They fired cap guns (which made us jump every. single. time.), told slightly inappropriate jokes, and made us laugh. Win!

It was finally time to feed these children some food. Zack was starting to act like a wild animal.

We found this place through the power of Yelp. We crossed our fingers and went for it. 

So. Much. Yum. I can't even tell you how amazing everything was. If this place was in Jax, the Benderz would be regulars. The beer cheese was devine. The meat and cheese plate was the bomb. And can we talk about the fact that you could get flights of local beer and wine? Yasssss!

Zoe did some cheese writing while she waited for her wedge salad to come. 

It was a very relaxed, fun night. We were the only ones in the place for the last half of our meal. (Amazing how in Europe 9pm is early and in the U.S. 9pm is "get out so we can clean the tables" time). Our particular table got sillier and sillier as the night went on. 

This sequence shows Zoe trying to get Chris to dab, with Zack trying to physically restrain him from doing so. (Notice all the glasses are empty at this point).

Down goes Zack.

Bender with the dab for the win....maybe?

Crying. Laughing so hard at them that I was crying.

On the way back to the hotel, walking down a one way street, we found this.... #truth.

Fantastic day. I am happily blogging from an awesome chair that I'm thinking about taking with me tomorrow. Kids and Bender are snoring away. We head to Rio Rancho tomorrow near Albuquerque to stay with Uncle Dale and Aunt Norma. So excited! 

XOXO, 

Benderz