Holiday Ro-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oad

The Griswalds got nothin' on us! The Hanks family recently embarked on our own roadtrip vacation, hitting many of the same spots Clark & co. covered, and I'm happy to report no dogs or elderly relatives died in the process. Alas, there were no cameo appearances by Eugene Levy or Brian Doyle Murray either, but we did have some pretty awesome celebrity sightings including Dean Stockwell on our flight to Albuquerque and The Hedgehog himself, Ron Jeremy, poolside at our hotel in Vegas!

In all we covered six states, five national parks, one epic twleve hour day at Disneyland, and a lot in between! It's hard to pick just a handful of pics from the trip, but here's a few that stand out for me.

First stop on Day 1 was Tinkertown, a museum of curiosities just east of Albuquerque that was assembled by one family over decades "while you were watching TV" as their motto states. Highlights include a collection of figurines taken from the tops of wedding cakes, a boat that sailed around the world, shoes worn by the world's tallest man, and this wall of bottles that my daughters Sally (age 3) and Emma (age 6) quite liked.


Later that same day we stopped at the mysterious Ice Cave off Route 66 near Grants, NM. It's a collapsed lava tube that created a cave where it stays 31 degrees year-round. That green oozy-looking stuff behind us is a frozen block of ice.


After the Ice Cave, we headed to Arizona for another otherworldly wonder, the Meteor Crater. It's hard to convey the scale of this thing in one photo, but I'll try. See that little rock on the rim in the upper left hand corner of this photo? It's the size of a house.


After a long day on Route 66 we spent the night in what may have been my favorite lodging of the entire trip - the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ! Holbrook is also home to one of my favorite meals from the trip, the huevos rancheros at Joe & Aggies Cafe.


Day 2 brought our first stop at a National Park, the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. Here's a shot of Emma checking out some petroglyphs with her new binoc's.


Later that week we really hit full stride with a visit to the Grand Canyon. Emma and I got up early one morning to watch the sunrise over the canyon. Here's a shot of her at abround 5:45am.


And here's another shot of her taking pictures on the Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Trail. Just past that path ledge is a sheer drop of several hundred feet. It completely freaked me out but Emma didn't seem to mind.


OK, one more from the GC. An elk taking a leisurely stroll down the South Rim's main thoroughfare. That's the famous El Tovar hotel off in the distance (which, yes, was used as a location in 'Vacation.')


On to Bryce Canyon where we did some serious hiking (for us), took in a rodeo, and spotted an elusive Alaska license plate. We found about 45 different license plates in all, but were most excited about this one.


Emma participated in the Junior Ranger program and every park we visited (Sally was too young, which most parks were OK with, but they were real sticklers at Bryce). At Bryce, one of her assignments was to pick up trash around the park. Here she is making an ill-advised attempt to throw away a piece of gum. Good thing they provided gloves!


Here we are hiking the Navajo Loop at Bryce. The way down was easy, and beautiful beyond description. But.....


...the way back up was pretty brutal. I had to carry my daughter Sally the entire way.


Fast forward a few days to Vegas. In a city of strange sights, here's one of the strangest. The aquarium at the Silverton Lodge features a live mermaid. The girls were spellbound.


While in LV we also made the short drive out to the Hoover Dam. In addition to the awesome sight of the Dam itself, we got to see construction of the Colorado River Bridge, just a few hundred yards downriver. It's scheduled to be completed this fall.


And here's a shot from the Pinball Hall of Fame, which is really just a rundown old arcade in a stripmall (they specialized in primitive old video games too), but hey, nothing wrong with that and when was the last time you played Paddle Battle?


OK, we're in the home stretch now. Between Vegas and LA we stayed at the Joshua Tree Inn. I didn't have the budget or the ghoulish need to stay in the "Gram Parsons Room," but this is a place I've always wanted to visit, and I'm glad I did. The sunsets in Joshua Tree are pretty spectacular.


And finally, the promised land - Disneyland! Ask my girls what their favorite part of the trip was and they'll answer Disneyland with total certainty. My hope is that this trip opened and their eyes and their minds a bit, but sometimes, you just can't compete with a bunch of fairies and princesses and talking mice. Here's a couple shots of them meeting their favorite princess, Cinderella, and doing some karaoke at the House of the Future in Tomorrowland. Note the facepaint on Sally, which she insisted we leave on for, like, three days!