personal post | 2016 EPIC SUMMER ROAD TRIP
4,737 MILES
16 CITIES
Lincoln, NE
North Platte, NE
Denver, CO
Veil, CO
St. George, Utah
Las Vegas, NV
Victorville, CA
Los Angeles, CA
Santa Barbara, CA
Malibu, CA
San Louis Obispo, CA
Big Sur, CA
San Francisco, CA
Sacramento, CA
Reno, NV
Salt Lake City, UT`
2 CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 4 1/2
Clay + Rachel (Us)
Zoe Jo (4 year old princess)
Cohen Eli (20 month old cracker-monster)
1 JEEP
Main Path: Blair, Nebraska to Denver, Colorado.
Denver, Colorado to Las Vegas, Nevada.
Las Vegas, Nevada to Santa Barbara, California.
Santa Barbara to San Francisco.
San Francisco to Salt Lake City, Utah.
Salt Lake City, Utah to Denver, Colorado.
Denver, Colorado to Blair, Nebraska.
As we set out on our journey, we were a bit nervous of what the possibilities could bring. Can our Jeep make it? Will our kids? Will we pull our hair out? Surely we can do it.
Come along! See! Let's go on a drive!
We stopped off in small town Aurora, NE (about three hours in to our drive) to see my best friend Triniti Jensen (fellow photographer).
Triniti was so thrilled to see us!
Zoe kept VERY busy with her bracelet making.
Cohen enjoyed the roll of tape.
We had to get our coffee fix! Zoe sucked down a vanilla bean frap. We are in North Platte here. So close to the Nebraska | Colorado border!
Oh hey, Denver!
Checking both ways! This little Mexican restaurant was only a block from our Air BnB.
5:30AM UPDATE
Zoe is out. Cohen is wondering why we are driving at 5:30 in the morning.
Today's agenda: Denver to Las Vegas
Here we go! Through the mountains!
Cohen finally fell asleep. :)
It was June. It was 34 degrees out.
BURRR.
Coffee time!
The kiddos were so excited to go through the tunnels!
Zoe loved the fresh air out her window.
We made it! Utah drive, here we come!!
Long day of driving- a total of 16 hours from Denver to Las Vegas.
Oh hey Las Vegas! Nice to see you. Getting up at 5:30am to drive paid off.
We made it to our hotel!
Zoe was ready to get to the pool!
Poor quality cell phone shots. Oh well! It helps tell the story, right??
This day was not well documented for the morning. Getting out of Las Vegas was rough. But stopping 4 hours into driving, hitting Victorville, CA to see these two was worth getting the camera back out! :)
Stretching our legs before getting back in the Jeep.
Mist from the ocean was thick.
We made it to Santa Barbara! Donut time before we hit the beach.
Zoe's first time seeing the Pacific Ocean.
Cohen loved doing yoga on the beach.
And he also loved rolling in the sand.
And eating the sand...
Here we are!! Our dear friends The Stutzmans' home in Santa Barbara!
Zoe slept on a blow up in their boys' room. All four kids slept in one room! Anthem + Durham Stutzman and Zoe + Cohen Wakefield! Sweet children talked themselves to sleep each night.
Our dear friends! We love you Stutzman Family!
Josh, Carissa, Anthem, Durham and Avalon.
El Matador Beach in Malibu, CA
Photo credit goes to Joshua Stutzman! Thanks Josh for taking these amazing photos!
A few days into our time in Santa Barbara, we hit the local streets. It was a nice time to hit the park and do a little window shopping.
This playground was epic.
Here we go! Santa Barbara to San Francisco!
Ocean mist covering the hills. So lovely. We are driving the PCH here, and will continue to all the way to San Fran.
SAN LOUIS OBISPO
Scout Coffee
My main squeeze looking so fly.
Just an odd coinsidence.
SAN FRANCISCO
Those steps behind the kids are the very steps of the home shown in the TV series "Full House".
I fan-girled for a good hour.
The Painted Ladies
San Fran is magical. So in love with this city!
We can spot the bridge!!
We didn't have coats and it was cold & windy!
Ocean mist was fogging our view.
Driving down into the valley to see the John Muir Woods!
The view from my window driving up the mountain out of John Muir Woods back to San Fransisco for dinner.
The bay.
Roadtrippin' SO HARD.
This is some restaurant in the middle of nowhere America.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Unloading our Jeep at our Air BnB in SLC! Our host family was amazing!!! She had a cherry tree in the front yard, Zoe picked cherries every morning.
Walking around in our Air BnB neighborhood.
We drove up to Park City, UT. It was only 20 minutes from our Air BnB. Such a lovely mountain town!
He's a rockstar daddy.
Back on the road! These kids love a good clean car!
Between Salt Lake City and Denver! Basically, the desert/mountain deserted area of the nation.
My sweethearts. We made it to Denver. So basically, home. Right? When you do that many hours in the car, Denver is just a hop away from Omaha.