Fall Break

In the school district that we live in, we start school pretty early (August 5th) but the kids get some nice breaks during the course of the year. The first one was fall break - two weeks off in the middle of October. We decided to spend one week in Utah. Aaron had a business trip during that first week, so I drove to Utah by myself with the kids. I have usually been fortunate to have pretty good driving conditions, and I didn't think this trip would be any different. We left at 8:30 am - hoping to arrive around 4:30 or 5:00 pm. We started out in a very nasty ice storm in Colorado Springs. It was 20 degrees outside and there was a freezing mist that kept coating the windshield. Before I got too far, I stopped at a gas station and stocked up on windshield washer fluid. My heater/defroster was not working and I had to spray the windshield every couple of minutes. It wasn't too bad - just slow going. Then, I-25 was closed because of an accident. There wasn't any real detour - they just made us get off the freeway. I was on dirt roads for several miles until I got to highway 83 and made it towards Denver. We were all freezing in the car and already an hour behind schedule. I was finally able to get back on to I-25 and then my car started overheating - badly. Luckily I was in the middle of Denver and was able to get the car looked at and fixed. So, we finally pulled out of Denver at 1:30 pm (heater was working - obviously it was part of the problem). But, we still had Wyoming ahead of us. It was cold, windy, and was either snowing or the wind was just blowing snow around. It seemed to take forever, but we finally made it to my parents house at 9:30 pm. It was a trip I'll never forget and I hope to never have to do something like that again!

I was very blessed - my car broke down right in the exact place where I was able to get help. I even think getting detoured by the accident was part of the plan - maybe my van wouldn't have overheated until we got to the plains of Wyoming (nothing for miles, 12 degrees, and a mean blowing wind!) And then I would have had to wait with 4 kids (with no heat) for a tow truck. Anyway, enough complaining! We had a fun time in Utah. I didn't have my camera - but we went to Gardner Village and the kids went on a Pony ride and visited a petting zoo. They saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (which was slightly disturbing by the way), had a shopping spree at Deseret Industries (a fun thrift store), went miniature golfing, and swimming every day. Aaron joined us later in the week and we saw lots of Bloomfields at a Halloween Party. It was a fun break! Aaron drove home with us and we had no issues with the car or the weather. I'm glad that we were able to spend the break visiting with family