53 weeks old…
Ava is now 53 weeks old! Yeah. She spent week 53 on her first real road trip. The plan was to spend 10 days on the road, starting with San Diego, swinging through Yuma, visiting Tucson and Alamo Lake outside of Phoenix and ending the trip at Joshua Tree and Pioneertown. We chose this path since it would be the warmest route this time of year. Southern Arizona is supposedly the place to be if you are a retired old timer or scared of a little cold like us.
Our first stop was Sweetwater Reservoir, just 10 minutes or so from downtown San Diego. The campsite allows horses which was a first for us. Here is Ava and Dan setting up for our first night.
After the 6 hour drive through LA, Orange County and San Diego traffic during the Friday before a three day weekend (good planning, I know), we were starving. Thank goodness for Dan and his propane stove. Here is Ava after her spaghetti feast.
We didn’t spend too much time at this campsite. We were too busy enjoying the San Diego Zoo.
Ava’s pointing finger was working overtime at the zoo… especially when she saw the ducks… or as we call them, patka.
We met up with Nicole and her sister and nephews at the zoo and also met up with Sal, Cynthia and Diego. And just like during her birthday party, Diego was trying to kiss Ava and Ava was trying to push him away. Both dads were so proud of their respective little ones.
On the third day of our road trip, we hit the road for our next stop… Yuma, Arizona. We decided on Yuma since it was a drivable distance between San Diego and Tucson. We were also going to stop at an old town that Carrie recommended, Julian, but our GPS thought we were off-roading and we totally missed the town. I think we need to upgrade to a Tomtom. Mr. T would never tell us we were off-roading and I sorta like being called a foo’. So, we decided to stop at a IHOP for some lunch and guess who decided she wanted to drink from a straw for the first time?!?
If she took a big swig of cold ice water, Ava would spit the water out of her mouth as if she was a fountain. Note to self: I must try that the next time I need to avoid a brain freeze.
So, we finally made it to Yuma and decided it was not the place for us. They didn’t have any campgrounds there, just RV parks. Not sure if any of you are familiar with RV parks, but they look like RV dealerships. A huge parking lot with no trees or privacy… and more than half of them are for 55+ and don’t allow pets. Oh, did I mention that Yoda went with us?
Ava decided to take an extra long afternoon nap, so we hit the road, leaving Yuma in our dust. We ended up staying the night at the Days Inn just outside of Tuscon since it was too late to check into our next campsite. Ava was happy to have carpet under her feet to practice her lounging skills and Yoda was more than happy to have her litter box on solid ground.
The hotel had a no pets policy but we were sneaky about it. Thank goodness Yoda didn’t meow during our mission not-impossible. During our stay there, I swear I accidentally kicked Yoda in the middle of the night while coming out of the bathroom. I felt her whiskers on my leg and heard her scamper away. But when I got to the bed, she was laying there fast asleep. Oh oh. The Days Inn is haunted by a dead cat. Ahh!
The next morning, we made it to our Tucson destination, Catalina State Park. Yeah. But as soon as we got there, we dropped off the Tab in order to make the drive to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum.
Ava had a blast there. We loved pointing and giggling at the Mexican Gray Wolves. I think they reminded her of Rudy.
She also loved staring at the Prairie Dogs even though they don’t bark.
Here she is pointing at a baby Javelina statue at the front gate. Oink oink.
We truly enjoyed staying at Catalina State Park. The surrounding mountains were beautiful.
Ava spent a lot of time riding in her red wagon and birding with her mama.
I don’t see any birds.
Oh wait. I see a bright red one!
It’s official. The Northern Cardinal is the first bird on her life list. (I’m a dork, you don’t need to tell me.)
You must be wondering how we slept. Let’s just say that I’ve had better nights. I slept between Dan and Ava, and Yoda slept by my feet or above Ava’s head. Sleeping next to a one year old is not easy. She does somersaults in her sleep. No joke. And when she is not using me as a pillow, she pinches the entire left side of my body, like an out of control massage chair.
Ava was never bored on this trip. Between all the pointing and her truckload of toys, she had a blast.
But she did get a little pissed off at one point when I put her new pink boots on her feet. I guess she is not a big fan of ankle support. After some encouragement, she started to walk like a happy little robot without bendable knees.
After packing up half of our house for this trip, I somehow forgot to pack Ava’s homemade frozen food. Good one. So we hit up a few restaurants during the trip. Here she is at Numero Uno’s of Chicago in Tucson. Silly I know.
Ava didn’t want anything to do with her first cheeseburger. Her appetite was not where it normally is on this day.
On the 5th day of our road trip, she was feeling like a champ for the most part…
But on the 6th day, Ava started to feel a bit under the weather, to say the least… to be continued in the week 54 post…
November 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
[...] But he didn’t intentionally lie. You see our first road trip started of like this but ended up like this. We were beyond exhausted and somehow forgot we had a cat in the car with [...]
December 11th, 2008 at 10:09 am
[...] each dip. But once we got there, Ava was a happy camper. Not sure if she remembers this place, but we first camped here back in January. Yes, the trip that she got sick [...]