The fastest way to get west from Arkansas is to follow interstate 40 through Oklahoma. We stopped for the weekend in Tulsa to spend more time with my brother’s family. My brother has a pretty spectacular home with a separate pool house, outdoor seating area, and an in ground pool surrounded by tiki torches. We ate lasagna, played in the pool, watched tv, and basically lived like a normal family. Luckily we picked a weekend when Jonathan was playing with his band.
He was playing a show at a new place in downtown Tulsa. I put Stone to bed and took an Uber with my sister in law to the bar. It was a bit of a mad house when we arrived. The sound equipment wasn’t working properly. And even worse, the location of the stage caused a strong breeze to blow up from behind the stage. One gust was strong enough to knock my brother’s Gibson guitar off the stage, cracking the neck. His wife ran home to grab another guitar cause the show must always go on. Even though he was furious and frazzled, he went on to perform exceptionally. I even got on stage with him. Thankfully there was no video evidence.
We left Tulsa content, rested, and also saddened. I knew that it would be a long time before I saw this part of my family again. I had everyone take a group photo before we took off. To this day it is still one of my favorite photos.
We stayed in Amarillo, TX for a night to rest. We also stopped a bit early to watch the PBS series premiere of Ken Burns “Vietnam War”. We shared a foot long sub from Subway and climbed into our beds to tune in. I wouldn’t realize at the time how much of a bonding moment this would be for my mom and I. My dad didn’t talk about his experience in Vietnam to me. I was too young or he wasn’t ready. He did tell my mom though. And she was able to relay those stories and feelings to me with grace and compassion.
I was really ready to get to Albuquerque and then the Grand Canyon. These were areas that I had never seen, never even come close to. The Southwest was uncharted territory to me, endless, red, and enticing. We spent a day in Old Albuquerque, walking through shops and churches built in 1701. I was ogling native artists and their ceramic works and loving the colors, smells, and textures throughout the alleyways and shops.
From Albuquerque we continued on to Flagstaff, our base point for the Grand Canyon. We took a detour at the Petrified Forest, a park I completely forgot was on our route. There were layers and layers of orange, cream, red, sepia, and brown steppes with scatterings of petrified wood. We also saw archeological sites with petroglyphs, rock carvings thousands of years old.
Getting to Flagstaff was difficult. Stone had fallen ill and thrown up all over himself and his car seat. We made it to a shopping mall, cleaned him up and changed his clothes. I took time to nurse him and walked the mall. Approximately 15 minutes later, he vomited all over himself and me. He continued to vomit as we drove to a laundromat. And so began the process of learning how to disassemble a Graco car seat. Stone fell asleep in my arms while we waited for the washer and dryer to do their work. Thankfully he slept most of the night, refusing to nurse. I was just worried about our upcoming day at the Grand Canyon.
There is no real way to describe the Grand Canyon. It is truly beyond words. It looks unreal, overwhelming, and all makes you feel incredibly small. Stone survived the drive and even walked the rim trail with us on the western side of the park. We took a break and sat on the edge of the rim. My mom captured us on her iPad as we took in the view. My always barefoot babe.
We stayed the night in Tuba City after searching for a place to stop for what seemed like hours. Stone was still sick and I was growing worried having a sick baby on a road trip. He continued to vomit here and there through the night into the next day. We made our way to our next big destination, Zion National Park. Before stopping at Kanab, UT for the night we went to Horseshoe Bend, just outside of Page. It’s the river bend that Instagram hipster dreams are made of – layers of red rock with a green curve hundreds of feet below.
There are no bad pictures in Zion. I mean that. Whole heartedly. Zion is glorious, even from the time you begin to enter the park. They measured my truck to make sure we could fit through the tunnels carved into the canyon walls. We all hiked together along the Virgin River. Stone napped as I continued on to hike the Narrows a trail through water….barefoot. My mom stayed back on the shore and guarded my shoes. The water was cold but not unbearable, and thankfully the weather was hot and dry which kept the rest of me warm. It was absolutely perfect. And I vowed to come back to hike Angel’s Landing, a narrow trail along the top of Zion’s canyons.
We finished out the Southwest by stopping just shy of Salt Lake City. We were ready to head back home, my home at least.
