ROAD TRIP!

Ahh the open road. For my money, there is nothing better than packing up the car with junk food, drinks, music and just driving to new and far away places. As a bachelor, I did this as often as possible. After getting married, I thought for sure my wife would enjoy sharing these little adventures with me...okay, so Katy may not have been the most excited about the idea of taking 17 hours to get somewhere when you can fly in just 2, but I was sure she would enjoy a trip with just me and her. But before that could happen, yadda yadda yadda, got a dog, blah blah blah, had a kid, and so on and so forth. Who cares?! Anyone who knows me knows I am not easily deterred by such obstacles...we would still do a road trip with the kid AND the dog. As you can probably imagine, there were a fair share of people who thought this was a monumentally stupid plan (mostly Katy) to strap an active 8 month old into a car seat and an 85 pound dog into the trunk for 17 hours. But I prevailed and we hit the road on Monday the 30th (the day after Katy’s triathlon...another point for Jon!). I will let the pictures (the many, many pictures) tell the story. But in short, our kid and our dog are great travelers, everyone loved Caden, large fires suck, and Vegas is no place for a baby or a dog. Enjoy!

Ahh the open road. For my money, there is nothing better than packing up the car with junk food, drinks, music and just driving to new and far away places. As a bachelor, I did this as often as possible. After getting married, I thought for sure my wife would enjoy sharing these little adventures with me...okay, so Katy may not have been the most excited about the idea of taking 17 hours to get somewhere when you can fly in just 2, but I was sure she would enjoy a trip with just me and her. But before that could happen, yadda yadda yadda, got a dog, blah blah blah, had a kid, and so on and so forth. Who cares?! Anyone who knows me knows I am not easily deterred by such obstacles...we would still do a road trip with the kid AND the dog. As you can probably imagine, there were a fair share of people who thought this was a monumentally stupid plan (mostly Katy) to strap an active 8 month old into a car seat and an 85 pound dog into the trunk for 17 hours. But I prevailed and we hit the road on Monday the 30th (the day after Katy’s triathlon...another point for Jon!). I will let the pictures (the many, many pictures) tell the story. But in short, our kid and our dog are great travelers, everyone loved Caden, large fires suck, and Vegas is no place for a baby or a dog. Enjoy!

After one week, 2500+ miles, many visits with family and friends and the ever threatening wild-fire, we were ready to be home. We had a great time and it was so good to see everyone. Caden and Lucia proved everyone wrong (except dad) and turned out to be wonderful travelers. This trip needed to be about one week longer and with a little less impending doom, but it was great fun. We are lucky to have a home away from home in Santa Barbara. Thanks to all who made this a great trip for us! Enjoy the video!