As we gear up for more family adventures, I want to establish a place to reflect and share our experiences.
So here goes: The Koubsky Family Adventure
We have talked for years about detaching from many things material and taking our four children on the road to experience new people and places. Just letting go and following our interests and learning though the opportunities that present themselves.
In the two weeks after Christmas this winter, we took possession of a travel trailer, hitched it up behind our Suburban, which we affectionately call "Mambo", and drove from our midwest home in Omaha, Nebraska out west. While we planned to travel to Los Angeles to visit my two brothers, their wives and our new niece and cousin, our trip was less of a destination vacation and more of a journey of experiences along the way. That is our philosophy for the "K Family Adventure": To enjoy the journey, rather than focus on "getting there" - wherever "there" may be.
So we left Omaha on December 27th amid a very mild winter - in Nebraska terms, and headed south and west, following much of old Route 66. As we rolled out of the dealership with the RV, our 3 year old daughter Kalista named it "Big Baby", and she decreed that "Mambo and Big Baby got hitched."
We dealt with the difficulty of learning how to maneuver and use our travel trailer, running out of gas (yes!), me smashing the crap out of my thumb on my right hand and having a dislocated shoulder for most of the trip. I was in pain the entire time we were gone, but I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.
We went to Petrified Forest National Park and walked the Blue Mesa Trail and enjoyed the Painted Desert. We drove to Joshua Tree National Park, climbing the huge rocks and getting prickly choia stuck to our shoes and pantlegs - OUCH! We spent New Years Eve exhausted at my brother Dan's house, after a mildly damaging mishap to the RV. We enjoyed family, met precious baby Liv, watched the Huskers lose their bowl game - their first bowl as a member of the Big X. We watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, wearing shorts in January. The kids frolicked in the waves and sand, not wanting to leave the beach as the sun went down. We went to the LA Discovery Science Center and saw an exhibit on the technology and costumes of the Star Wars movies. We drove through Las Vegas, stayed at Lake Mead and toured the Hoover Dam. We took the kids to see the fountain show at the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas, which was Kalista's favorite. But the most impressive place (as far as Ken and I were concerned) was the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
I had never seen the Grand Canyon before. As luck would have it, we enjoyed unseasonably mild weather throughout our trip, and we were able to enjoy the Grand Canyon at a time when there were very few tourists. We practically had the place to ourselves, and we walked and sat looking out over the scenic views, took pictures and listened to a ranger presentation on the canyon. We took our time and enjoyed the beauty for two days. We wanted to stay. There are few places I have ever been that took my breath away so completely, and left me feeling so serene. It is a magical place.
We were gone for twelve days. Getting our feet wet, you might say, as we tested the waters for more in depth adventures to come.
