Family in front of Landscape Arch "Part II"This trip was very special to us because it marked the end of the era of cross country journeys for us as a family. Andrew and Tommy will be 17 and 15 next summer and the time has come for summer jobs and college searches. That doesn't mean we won't be traveling together, but for now at least, the trip durations will be a bit shorter and the destinations might be a little less exotic. Perhaps there'll be a Lolo's Extreme College Campus website in my future. That being said, although there was still some bickering as tight quarters will often do, there was much more of a sense of appreciation for having the chance to do something as special as a cross country trip together one more time.

With the boys being older, the trip also had a little different flavor as to activities. Both boys run cross country in high school and as any runner knows, the summer is the time to build up your mileage. Being cramped in an RV for too long a time just wasn't gonna cut it. So each day by 5:00, we would start to look for a place to stay where the boys could find a fun and safe place to run. Tommy bought this truly amazing that very accurately told them their distance and pace. The part I liked about it was that it plotted their course so I knew they couldn't get lost. They just had to follow the little bread crumbs on the screen to get back home. We also used it hiking so we wouldn't have a repeat of our Church Rock hike at Red Rock State Park in 2002. It has now become a required accessory on all our hikes.

Andrew also had several summer assignments that intertwined nicely with our trip. For his Photography class he had the task of shooting 5 rolls of black and white film, which forced him to focus even more on the beauty of the American West. His AP Art History assignment brought us to an art museum at the University of Kansas--a wonderful experience that we would never have had if not forced to visit two art museums on his summer vacation. It also finally got us to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in western Pennsylvania; something that Herb had wanted to do for years.

So, we headed out of our driveway one more time and pointed our trusty Lazy Daze west in search of some new adventures and the chance to revisit some old favorites.

Road Trip Highlights and Lowlights

• Tommy leaping into a sand pile and having a fish bone go through his big toe at Lake McConaughy State Park
• Soaking in a hot spring pool while gazing at the snow-capped mountains surrounding Ouray, Colorado
• Hiking the trails of Natural Bridges National Monument at sunset without seeing another soul
• Swimming in the 80 degree turquoise waters of Lake Powell, our family's unanimous choice for best place ever visited.
• Jumping through a waterfall in Capitol Reef National Park
• Rafting the Colorado River near Moab/Big Bend
• Seeing an incredible thunderstorm over the eerie red rocks of Arches National Park
• Touring Frank Lloyd Wright's incredible Fallingwater