Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Griswold's go to Colorado

Sometimes even we need to take a break from rolling on the mean streets of Apache Junction. Arizona is H-O-T, and the siren song of Colorado gets to us and we have to answer.

While every vacation has it's "issues", here on the Mean Streets we do it up right. Anyone can go on vacation, it takes a special group of people to turn it into and adventure. And my family has that special talent is spades.

I give you now a comprehensive list of what needs to happen in order to vacation Mean Street style

  • You start off taking 5 hours to pack when you only planned for 1.
  • You lose the table you strapped on your camper.
  • Due to the late start you end up staying in a scary hotel in Holbrook, Az. with drunk crazy people pacing on the sidewalk outside yelling at themselves.
  • Your 1 year old refuses to sleep.
  • The road to your camp site was last grated sometime in the 1800's.
  • Your Father in law breaks a rib and nearly impales himself packing up his gear
  • Your Sister in law bruises her tailbone jumping off a 40 foot cliff
  • Your Mother in law hurts her leg slipping in a stream
  • Your Sons legs look like a dog gnawed on them from the mosquito bites
  • Your 3 year old Daughter's face swells up from the mosquito bites
  • Your 1 year old Daughter rolls out of the tent trailer in the middle of the night
  • Your Nephew gets shot in the neck with an air soft bullet
  • You spend north of 100 bucks in fishing licenses, bait, and other goodies and bring home 5 trout making it about 20 bucks a trout.
  • The first lake you go fishing is out of a postcard. The scenery is breathtaking and at any given moment there are about 20 trout jumping in the air and you don't even get a nibble.
  • Leaving camp you bend the heck out of the back bumper of the trailer
  • Your Father in law's transmission goes out on the way home
  • Once at the In-Laws and ready to start the non camping portion of the vacation, you spend the afternoon at Discount Tire replacing a flat
  • You come across 1 motorcycle accident, 1 SUV accident, and 1 truck accident
  • While visiting Grandparents, the neighbors shed catches on fire and 4 Fire trucks respond, giving us some fine entertainment that evening.
  • On the way out of town to come home, your engine blows a spark plug and you have to take it to a Mechanic.
  • The mechanic never called to say the vehicle was done. We decide to just drive into town just in case and find the mechanic closed, causing us to delay the trip home a second day.
  • The extra 2 days allow a sore to develop on 1 year old's backside, causing her to scream for the majority of the 9 hour drive.

And the crazy thing is that you take all of these elements and blend them together and you get on of the best vacations we've ever been on.