Newton Family Road Trip 2011

In June 2011, the Newton family hit the road for a 2,500 mile trip from Boulder to southern CA and back. We drove through five states: Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. We spent a night in Utah and Las Vegas on the way out, 3 nights in Santa Barbara, 3 nights in San Diego, and 1 more night in Utah on the way home. It was great to hit the road together and see such beautiful sights along the way through the Rocky Mountains in CO and UT, the desert in AZ and NV, and the CA coastline.



Tunnel!



William catching an afternoon nap on our first day of driving.



The gorgeous scenery of western CO along I-70 and the CO river.



We stopped for dinner in Grand Junction, CO on the first night of driving. Next to the restaurant, there was a small playground with some gorillas. It was fun to spend a few minutes playing before pushing on to Utah.





William enjoying the hotel room on the first night in UT.



William has a tradition every time we go to a hotel that started at a hotel in Kansas City on our road trip to St. Louis for Christmas last year. He hops on the phone and makes several calls to the front desk to order things for the room. The conversation typically goes like this: "Hello? I need two groceries, and two beds. Thanks!" On this trip, he also added in requests for new sand and two bikes, among others, at different hotels along the way. Of course, we unplug the phone so he doesn't bother the staff!



On our way to Las Vegas on day 2!



Las Vegas Sunset




Back on the road again headed to Santa Barbara.





I went back and hung out with William throughout the trip. We had fun coloring, playing, reading, and watching movies in the back seat.




Santa Barbara, view from our hotel room. We spent three nights at the Hotel Mar Monte, next to the Santa Barbara Zoo and across from the beach.



After Santa Barbara, we headed south to San Diego to stay with our relatives, the California Ord family. We spent three nights at their house and went to the beach a few times. We also checked out some of the SoCal scenery each day and had some delicious home cooked meals each night. It was great seeing them and spending time with them in San Diego.



On our way home back to CO after a week in California! It was back to back days of 10 hour drives, with a pit stop in UT to spend the night. William got a special treat for the long drive - Jelly Beans!



One way to keep William entertained during the long drives was a portable DVD player. He watched Finding Nemo, Toy Story 3, episodes of Bob the Builder, Thomas, and Curious George. He also watched the movie Cars a few times, which was set in some of the places we drove through. It was a lot of fun and a great lead up to Cars 2, which we are all excited for this weekend!



Hanging with his new stuffed turtle, which he named "Duck," as we drive through a tunnel.



One of the many gorgeous rock formations we saw along the road in Utah.



Happy Father's Day!



As we pulled into Boulder on Sunday evening after 9 days on the road, we were greeted and welcomed home by this lovely rainbow.



We were happy to be reunited with Nora, who stayed with friends while we were away. We bought her a special treat at a posh pet store in Santa Barbara, and William was so excited to give it to her when we got home!



Stay tuned for more photos from our trip!