Pisa and Cinque Terre, Italy

After getting to Florence we promptly rented a car and took off on a last minute road trip. Like I have said before, we have travelers A.D.D. and wanted to go visit the tower of Pisa and see the costal buildings of Cinque Terre. Plus driving through the Italian Tuscany was sure to be beautiful. 

Diving around the rolling hills of Tuscany did not disappoint. At some points it was like driving through a painting. With old vineyards on every side, and where the Italian cypresses did not look out of place (am I the only one who thinks they look out of place here in the states?). 

The Tower of Pisa is huge!!! and man oh man is it leaning. I mean, we have all seen pictures of the place, but it is so much more impressive than I thought it would be. WOW!

We took our time wondering around and laughing at literally every other person taking the, "look at me, I'm holding up the leaning Tower of Pisa" pictures. Then after deciding to take one ourselves we learned how hard that picture really is capture. 

^^such enthusiasm^^
After the leaning tower we stopped at a beach town to walk around, grab some gelato, and dip our toes in the Mediterranean. We had to wake Lizzy up from a short nap in order to accomplish this, but were pretty sure she would fall right back to sleep after getting back into the car.... we were SOOO wrong.

When we packed back into the car on our way to Cinque Terre, our little baby girl was a mess. She was tired. Tired from lack of sleep, tired of being in the car, and I'm pretty sure tired of looking at my face. She cried almost the whole 45 minutes to where we thought we would find the cute towns of Cinque Terre (her worst car ride still to date). We thought you could only walk to these towns... so we tried to find the trail head.... drive and drive we did with no idea where we were going. 

Finally we found the beautiful cliffs and could see the colorful towns below us, but still no way to get to them. Almost giving up we stopped at a railroad station and asked for help. Turns out we were wrong, you could also take a train into the towns. So after a miserable car ride, we were finally rewarded. We got Lizzy out of the car and she immediately fell asleep in the ergo baby. 

This was such a last minute whim of a road trip that we did not even know which of the five coastal towns we wanted to visit. So after asking a local girl which her favorite one was we grabbed the first train to Vernazza. 

We got there right before sunset. With fresh air, the view, eating sea food by the sea, and a sleeping baby made the car ride worth it. We were all content on the late night drive back to Florence. It kinda felt like we were in high school again with my two best friends.

Blake dropped us off at the hotel and we girls went to sleep... Blake on the other hand had a little adventure out on his own.  

While attempting to return the car at 2am, he found everything closed. To set the scene the car rental return was located under a large highway overpass, it was dark and far from anything. Walking around trying to find how to at least drop off the keys, he was approached by two Italians who looked like they walked straight out of an 80's mobster movie. They professed that he could just leave the keys with them (or at least that's what Blake interpreted their Italian as), but not trusting the two to get with in 10 feet of him, he ended up running under the over pass to the closed airport and found a barred up window to throw the keys through. Then walked to a gas station and finally found a cab driver to get him back to the to hotel. We tried to sleep in, but with a full day of Florence ahead of us it was no use.

Angles Landing: Zion National Park

This was our last stop before our family reunion. We woke up in Vegas and drove to Zion National Park that morning. We arrived at the park just past the heat of the day. Which was perfect because we reached the top right before the sun sank behind the mountains. Also giving us enough time to make the hike down before dark. With my very limited experience in hiking (just don't get the chance living in Florida), this is definitely one of my favorite. The hike is hard yet doable, diverse, beautiful, and not your everyday kind of thing. It's about 5 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1500 feet. I'm so proud of my mom for making it the whole way, she was the oldest lady I saw on the trail that day. Making all the young folks look bad I tell ya. After reaching the car and driving through southern Utah trying to find a Cafe Rio we got a full firework show celebrating Mormon Pioneer Day. It was a perfect ending to a perfect Western Road Trip with Family. 

The Grand Canyon: South Rim

Last time I took a road trip out west we had to cut out the grand canyon. But not this time, even though it might always seem out of the way, it's just something you got to do. It took us longer then we had expected to get there so we just walked the trail right there by the visitors center instead of trying to pick one of the many hikes or trails that are offered. Now I'm not one to be afraid of heights but as we walked up to the edge my stomach dropped. It truly is amazing. And yes, Blake and Adam were one of those "idiots" pushing their limits, going over the guard rail and getting closer to the edge. Not going to lie I think I would have gone with them if there weren't so many people watcing.

As the sun started to set we left the Grand Canyon and made it to Las Vegas for the night. I love it when we make it out there to see family. Specially when there is a new baby to meet. Plus we can never turn down the chance to watch the fountains at the Bellagio. 

Sedona Az.

    

Jari and I had our own western road trip in the summer of 2009, it was the best sister trip EVER!! On that trip Sedona was one of our stops. I knew my Mom would love the place so we made sure to fit it in our plans. You just can't beat the red rock, green trees, and water ways throughout the valley, its like Christmas. We rolled in just in time for dinner at the cowboy club grille, where we tried buffalo, rattlesnake, cactus fries, and more fry bread. This is also where Adam downed the remains of the chocolate syrup from dessert. We left that place 100% satisfied. While we walked down main street we could not stop ourselves from ducking into a few shops where we picked up a nice cheep Indian blanket, fudge (I know even after our dessert from dinner), and dirt shirts. One thing the desert has over the tropics is that in the evening it is nice and cool, perfect for walks and fires. Here at home we work up a sweet at night walking around in the summer. So it was fun enjoying a cool summer evening. The next morning we got up and loaded into a pink jeep for a little bouldering. This trip was not only an adrenaline rush driving up and down steep rocky trails, but was nice and scenic, especially first thing in the morning. Totally worth waking up early on vacation to get views like this without the crowds. Plus we got back to the hotel and showered before check out, can't beat that. Before we left town we stopped and let the boys take a dip at slide rock where they cliff jumped and slid down the natural water slide. So sad we did not have more time to spend in Sadona. We had such a nice time that we are already planning a family trip back.