Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jog

We arrived back home from our 3-week road trip last night, in time to have a late dinner (we were all sick of eating out after our last three days on the road).  We drove to Oklahoma to see Ken's dad with our camper, making lots of stops along the way, then spent a week in New Mexico, which we all loved!  We especially enjoyed our time in the Santa Fe National Forest, northwest of Santa Fe - the mountains were wonderful!  If you'd like to see pictures of our trip, just visit our road trip blog.  Scroll down to June 13, 2010 to read the entries in order.

As usual, I felt pretty good for most of the time while we were on vacation.  I had a few days where I felt really tired, but I managed an amazing amount of exercise and exertion!  In New Mexico, I did a 2.1-mile hike in the hot desert heat at Bandelier National Monument, including climbing up lots of steps and ladders to climb into the cave dwellings (you can see pictures on the trip blog). It was really cool, but I was soooo tired afterward!  I had planned initially to just go on the 1-mile loop hike and wait on a shady bench while Ken and the boys did the extra 1-mile to the highest cave dwelling, but then I talked myself into doing it all.  I was wiped out the next day, but I'm glad I did it.  And I knew better than to even contemplate the next day's hike - Ken and the boys hiked 2 miles from our campground to a series of warm springs out in the backcountry (and back another 2 miles!).  They loved the hike and the soak, but I was happy to stay in the camper and take a nap!

On our way back through Oklahoma last week, we stopped by to meet fellow CFS blogger Dominique (of 4 Walls and a View) for lunch at P.F. Chang's.  We had a wonderful time together.  Dominique is just the same in person as you'd imagine from reading her blog - warm, vibrant, and intelligent with a great sense of humor.  It was fun to meet her in person after getting to know each other online.

Now, we're faced with LOTS of laundry, a big pile of mail, and that ever-lasting to-do list that I left behind 3 weeks ago.  On the other hand, it was very nice to sleep in my own bed last night, and we're enjoying all the wonderful fresh produce we bought at an Amish farmstand on the way home (we live close to Lancaster, PA).  Now I need to try to maintain my stress-free vacation mindset...

Happy 4th of July!!