Our Berning Family vacation this year took quite a turn. Throughout the year we have been eagerly anticipating visiting the great state of New Mexico. We had it all planned. We planned it around the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta which we knew would be a highlight, along with other plans to visit Carlsbad Caverns and White Sands. We were planning on leaving the day after General Conference.
BUT…then the government shut down happened. And we discovered that all of the parks we were planning on attending were completely shut down. Our family trips are very much a tour of our national parks, so the vast majority of our planned trip was no longer going to be possible.
We quickly had to make a choice – either continue our trip as planned and hope and pray the government shut down would end so the parks would re-open OR plan a completely different trip very quickly. We really didn’t like either option. But we knew there was WAY too many parks we wanted to visit in New Mexico that we didn’t want to count this as our trip there, without being able to go visit the parks (if that makes sense). But then that opened the can of worms of what state could we go to that would be least disrupted by the national parks being closed down.
I spent an afternoon planning four entirely different state trips (keep in mind, I love planning but this was a little much, even for me). We debated between Nevada, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri. We eventually landed on Iowa. But I was struggling to find a weeks worth of fun there (looking back, I think I could have done this better but I was scrambling). And then I had the idea to visit the Church history sites in Missouri (and Iowa!) and then finish off on our “Iowa trip”. Mark and I felt good about this and so we went forward. Again, I really don’t think we would have gone this route if we had had more time, but here we are.
So the weekend of General Conference, inbetween sessions we were on the phone trying to cancel reservations in New Mexico and make new ones in Missouri and Iowa. It felt chaotic and I really don’t know how people travel that way! I guess that is why we are all different (can you tell spontaneity is not my strong point?).
And we’re off…!
Monday morning we were up and going! We woke up early and were on the road by 5:30 AM. It was actually the perfect travel day with overcast skies all across Colorado, Nebraska, and into Missouri. The kids were little angels (they truly are the best road-trippers) and were excited to make some memories and have quality time with one another experiencing new things.
One sad thing that happened the very first night is that Sarah chipped her tooth. This is such a trial for Sarah. She is really so careful about her teeth because this has happened so much. She was eating dinner and something felt off (she is pretty sure she swallowed the chipped tooth). Three years ago, Sarah broke off the bottom of her two front teeth and so they are fake and very fragile. She is very much looking forward to the day where she can get a more permanent and stable solution. But she was very sad that it happened, and that it happened on our trip, AND that it happened on the very first night. Poor thing.
The other great part of this trip that is definitely not the norm, is that we got to spend FOUR nights in the same hotel! Since we are normally bouncing all over the state, two nights is usually the most we are able to stay in the same place, so this felt like such a treat to not have to pack up every morning.
I was wondering what you decided to do with your trip to NM! I’m so sorry that you didn’t get to see the fiesta but hopefully another year. Good job on not skipping the other places, they’re def worth seeing! Glad you were able to pivot okay and that you still got to go travel. Love you!!
Oh my goodness, I was so sad we weren’t able to meet up! I was so excited to see you again! Another year we are definitely going to make it happen! Love you, too!