We're home! Wow, what an awesome vacation! Crossing 7 different states, the Zeiners have returned after a whirlwind tour visiting family, friends, and amazing places.
Our trip began heading north to Oregon for a wedding. Our friends, the bride and groom, gave a heartfelt celebration, one that we will always remember. Dianna was reminded that once again the Northwest coast is beautiful, not knowing that so many shades of green even existed. The pictures of the waterfall, were from Multnomah Falls, on our way out of Portland, OR. Traveling east towards Idaho we were shocked to see that desert can exist this far north, and that when you stop at Hungry Redneck Cafe, that you should actually expect to meet some rednecks.
After arriving in Moab, UT and only having 4 hours of sleep, Dianna woke up at 6am to see the orange rust landscape she missed since the Zeiner wedding. The Arches were spectacular and even though we only had 1 day to visit them, we snapped numerous pictures. A moderate hike up to Delicate Arch was appreciated after being cramped in the car. The desert heat reached almost 100F that day, and although we were well hydrated and sunblocked, Zane did receive his first sunburn. Luckily SPF50 allowed only a surface burn to penetrate, he did not seem bothered and his skin was healed within the next 2 days. Since Moab is the mecca for mountain biking, Gus also got a morning ride in the next day before heading to Santa Fe, NM.
On the way to Santa Fe our route brought us directly towards Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Since we are suckers for National Parks, we made a quick pit-stop to see the Indian ruins from 800+ years ago. 2 hours later we were off to Sante Fe, but poor Zane could not handle the car and the altitude changes any more and the next 300 miles were unbearable, the worst leg of the trip. Luckily when we arrived in Santa Fe, Zane's sweet personality returned as he met long time family friend and talented artist Kate Palmer. The next morning we went to her studio and saw her neat environmentally green house (it was an actual house, solar panels and all) at the outskirts of town. Not wanting to leave so quick, but definitely wanting to see Nanny Pam and Grandpa Van we headed to Ruidoso NM for a Vandertulip family reunion.
At the reunion Zane met Meemee, his great-grandmother, and many Vandertulip cousins, aunts and uncles. Even the adults were kids again as we all played in the world's largest sandbox at White Sands, NM. Gusti's first Father's Day was spent along side our cousin Joe-Daniel's first dad's day and Grandpa Van first Grandfather's Day. Gus woke up to his son and wife giving him presents that we lugged across country for his special day. Books on hiking in the Bay area, National and State parks will be used with his new hiking backpack to carry Zane. A plan to spend our first camping trip together was also announced for Labor Day weekend, which we will travel to Kings Canyon NP.
But wait our trip is still not over...
After the reunion, we headed back to California. On the way to Arizona, we stopped at a Ghost Town called Stein at the NM-AR border. This was something that Dianna, Nana and Papa used to do on their road trips when she was a child. Stein was a town of 1200 people, but the advent of the diesel engine caused this booming metropolis to fade away, not needing this water stop for the outdated steam engine trains. Outside of Tuscon, AR we made a quick drive thru Saguaro NP, home to thousands of 100 year old 25 feet tall cacti. We were pleasantly surprised how neat this park was, especially for a day trip. Afterwards a starving Zeiner family ended up in what looked to be a neat Mexican restaurant. Although the Luchador decor was favorable, the food was not. It was the first time in Dianna's life that she thought Mexican food tasted like dog food, yuck! Although it took us a while to find a hotel that night we somehow mustered enough strength to wake up the next morning.
Finally we made it to our last stop of our road trip, it was time for Zane to meet his 95 year old great grandmother Nuki. We spent a very nice evening with Nuki and Aunt Mady catching up and hearing old stories. The next day for memory sake, we briefly drove around LA stopping at our favorite breakfast joint, Kings Road Cafe and the Santa Monica beach. Zane touched the ocean for the first time and we all got in the Prius for our final leg home. To our friends in LA... we miss all of you and were honestly stuck with a crisis of choice. There are too many to visit on a one day trip. We really wanted Zane to meet Grandma Nuki and we decided to end it there. Forgive us for not contacting anyone else, but do not worry we will visit again soon. We love LA!
So we are back and happy to be at home. We traveled over 3000 miles, 100% by car. Our new Prius was awesome as we frequently got 48 mpg. we never had to stop and get gas more than once a day. We saw 3 National Parks, 1 National Monument, a ghost town, waterfall, desert, and ocean. We laughed with family and friends and have memories to share for a lifetime. A photo album is above on the right giving about 125 photos of our 250+ photo vacation. Even though this is the longest post so far, we hope you enjoyed hearing about and viewing our trip.
Love to you all! Dianna, Gusti and Zane
