There are few things I enjoy more than coming up over a hill or bend in the road, only to be greeted by dozens of synchronized red lights flashing on the horizon. To the uninitiated driver it might look like an attack by UFOs, or perhaps a Lady Gaga half time show (power by Intel), but for those who know its just a reminder that there are dozens of wind turbines in the area and it would be a real shame for a small air craft to have a misfortunate meeting with one.

Therein lies the point of road trips. No, not seeing planes crash, that’s weird. Instead seeing the tiny and pointless things you miss when life is moving too fast for you to take in the scenery. Turbines, political signs, mom and pop gas stations, people asking for handouts, entire trains that you can enjoy in the distance vs. at the crossing, and even a few animals here and there tucked safely behind their fences. I love being able to take the time to see what there is to be seen.

As you can probably guess, I’m on a road trip. As a family we took a road trip to Phoenix by way of Grand Canyon and Zion National parks in 2014 and thought it was time to repeat that adventure with kids who will actually remember the whole things. Our last trip had us celebrating 2-year old Madeleine’s birthday at the Albuquerque KOA. Her gift to us (she’s weird like that) was the gift of speech on that trip/birthday, and she hasn’t stopped since. This time around we left for Colorado Springs for the week. Don’t rob our house. Though if you do please do so when the cat sitter is around. Between the three sitters and their momma, I wish you a quick recovery.

The drive to North Platte Nebraska was more or less uneventful. The kids had their iDevices and books, I had audiobooks and music, and Kristi had Solitaire… somethings just don’t die. After a road trip breakfast at the gas station Denny’s (TIMEOUT) Who orders like this: Hint… Joshua.

We got in the car and were met by the weather saying “No Spring Break for you!”

Thankfully the weather cooperated and within 45 minutes it was back to smooth sailing, but what a rude wake up call. Also, I think Nebraskans are not as accustomed to snow as the rough and tough folk from Michigan.

This is the point in the blog where I transition from trying to write something awesome, to just trying to finish :) Kristi and I have been awake far more than usual in the last 36 hours and we were the TOUGH ONES at the hike today, but now we are hanging on by a thread.

Speaking of hikes, after a long 4-5 more hours in the car we made it to Colorado Springs and our first visit was the Red Rock Canyon Open Space. We had been here a year ago for a friend’s wedding and wanted to revisit with the kids. They quickly vacillated between: