Day Three: Moab, UT to Albuquerque, NM

10am to 8pm

Word of the day: “Albu-turkey”

Same as day 2, it took us forever to get moving this morning. It becomes blatantly obvious what Hank is good at when he is not here to do it (i.e. rouse the troops to motion). Of course, it didn't help things that we stopped three times in the first hour for a latte, bathroom, and The Wilson Arch. But how could we pass this up?

Further on down the road we came to Mesa Verde National Park, another lengthy but altogether rewarding detour. Upon entering the park, we immediately determined which cliff dwelling could be reached without a half-day hike and pack mules (okay, really none of them required those measures but at this point in the day I have a just-awakened three-year-old and a yet un-napped two-year-old). We zip down the trail to the Spruce Tree House ruins, a priceless visual aid to the history sentence we learned just a few weeks ago in school: The Anasazi of the southwestern US built adobe villages in the sides of the cliffs from 500 BC to 1200 AD. The kids and I enthusiastically inspected the ancient handiwork, and all the while I am peppered with comments from the park rangers and numerous retired persons as to my “full hands,” (read: kids wanting to climb the walls and ladders, peering dangerously close to the edge of the 15-foot-deep kiva, fighting over who gets to push the stroller back up the hill, and having fits when not permitted to climb said architectural exhibits).

We finished off the day with a late-night swim in the hotel pool with Hank's brother Sam. Uncle Sam was a great sport and skillfully extracted all the kids' remaining energy and screams by playing the role of The Shark.

One thing that is notably in short supply so far on this adventure is any type of personal “down time” for me. When we are at home, we generally have all the kids in bed by 8:45 or so. Then Hank and I have a little time to gather what's left of our sanity and patch it back together before another day begins. This generally involves a big bowl of popcorn, a French lesson or episode of Parks & Rec., an independent trip to the bathroom (woo hoo!), and a little reading before we turn in. There is none of that winding down for me in the hotel. It's lights out for one and all, way past the kids' normal bedtime. Maybe that's why I find myself wide awake now at 3am, mulling over the events of the day and eating half of the powdered sugar doughnuts I bought to surprise the kids for tomorrow's breakfast.