2011 ROAD TRIP overview

David and I have been doing some traveling in the last few years but primarily to visit family or attend weddings. Both are fun and enjoyable but neither is truly vacation. Plus, we feel it's important as a couple to escape every day life. Even though we don't have children there's the daily grind that is nice to get away from.

This year (03.05.2011) we celebrated 6 years of marriage - which means we are working on year 7, which is supposed to be the "7 year itch" season of married life. Thankfully 6 days into our 7th year neither of us is experiencing an "itch" but we figured time off from regular life would be a great way to end year 6 and kick off year 7. In addition to our anniversary David and I have Birthdays within a few weeks and I start a new job Monday. Much to celebrate indeed.

We drove a large loop down to Big Bend Ranch State Park (which we chose over the National Park for the lesser restrictions concerning dogs & fires), then up through Tucson and Phoenix to the Grand Canyon. We mostly camped but got a hotel room for the occasional real shower and a load of laundry. Then we looped over to Albuquerque, up to Santa Fe, South through Santa Rosa, Roswell (alien nation evidently), Carlsbad then through Ft Stockton, TX and east on I10, with a stop in Austin, TX and home again. It was great. I'll post here about the actual trip and on our food allergy blog about the food and how we managed all the various food allergies while on the road.

(picture from Grand Canyon 03.05.2011 sun rise near Mather Point, South Rim)