Ward Family Vacation 2008

July, 2008

Wow! We just got home from a whirlwind vacation.  July 10th, we loaded up the van and took off for Williams, Arizona.  We had to wait until July 10th because Virginia had 5th row tickets to the Jonas Brothers concert on July 8th.  She had an “awesome” time and got to see her favorite group up close.  So, we left the evening of the 10th, Jason and I drove all night and made it to the Grand Canyon Hotel mid-afternoon July 11th.  The next morning we boarded the Grand Canyon Train to the Grand Canyon.  We rode in an old pullman car that was used for the Polar Express.  The ride to the Canyon was about an hour and a half.  There was a nice tour guide named Sam and an entertainer named Calvin who sang old country and folk songs.  We got about 3 hours to explore the south rim of the canyon before we had to board the train again.  The canyon was majestic.  Jason and Hannah sat on the edge for awhile.  On the way back we had another entertainer named Paco and then we encountered some “train robbers”  They rode their horses up shooting guns in the air, boarded the train and proceeded to rob us of whatever “folded money” was visible.  We put a dollar in Joel’s overalls so he could get robbed.  It was a great day and we were very tired when we got back but we loaded up in the van and drove 2 hours to stay in a “cheaper” hotel in Laughlin, Nevada.  That experience wasn’t great.  Suffice it to say we won’t ever do that again.  The next morning we drove to Anaheim, California and the Disneyland Hotel.  The Disneyland Hotel was wonderful.  We enjoyed the pool the first afternoon after we checked in.  Then we toured Downtown Disney that evening.  Lots of shops, entertainment, eateries, people.  We even got to watch the fireworks show from afar.  We spent two days at Disneyland and some of that time at California Adventure.  We rode all the good rides and some twice.  Even Virginia rode the rides.  The girls loved Space Mountain.  I loved the Thunder Mountain Railway.  Joel loved the Toy Story ride.  Jason couldn’t make up his mind which was his favorite.  The park was great.  We didn’t have to wait in long lines, the day and the environment were beautiful.  After our second day at Disney we checked into a cheaper hotel to sleep then the next morning we drove up the coast towards Santa Cruz, our next stop.  We stopped at a beach in Santa Barbara to play in the ocean.  At Santa Cruz we checked into our hotel which was a stone’s throw from the entrance to the Boardwalk but had no air conditioning.  We spent the next day playing at the Beach Boardwalk, walking the pier and riding the rides.  I got sunburnt.  That night we drove to San Francisco and checked into an overpriced hotel at Fisherman’s Wharf.  The next day we took a double decker bus tour of San Francisco.  We insisted on sitting on the top although it was very cold.  We saw all the top spots.  My favorite was the Golden Gate Bridge.  The architecture of the houses was great to see also.  We stayed another night there then drove to North Bend, Oregon to spend a week with Jason’s grandparents.    There, we had a nice relaxing time.  The Coos County fair on Tuesday was a blast.  I love small county fairs.  Jason went deep sea fishing of course, for bottom fish because all the other fishing was bad this season. 

    We had planned to take another week taking our time driving home.  Staying at his grandparents cabin, visiting my brother and his family but circumstances at the donut shop were deteriorating and we felt it was time we got back.  So we left North Bend at 5:30pm Thursday evening and drove straight through, stopping to eat twice, to home.  We arrived home Saturday morning.  Even though we all enjoyed our vacation immensely we are glad to be home.

    Joel pointed to the canyon while talking to a little japanese girl and told her it was his vacation, he said at every stop that it was his “vacation”.  He had so much fun.  Sometimes I thought his head might explode from all the new experiences he was trying to take in.  And even though he thought he could use the people in the back of the van as a human jungle gym he really did quite well in the van for such a long trip.