Here we are on day one of our summer adventures – it felt like we were never going to make it to our first destination. Today primarily consisted of driving for about 12 hours with a couple of breaks along the way. The kids did terrific and slept most of the way with a minimum amount of bickering which this mama was super happy! We left reasonably early, about 6:00 am Arizona time which is pretty darn early in my book! I don’t know any of my mom friends that would want to be up that early on the weekend, but we made it out of the house and on the road.

We made our first stop at a cafe in Quartzite, Arizona to eat breakfast. It was delicious and lasted us all the way to dinner which is yet another win for the day! Travis was my hero and drove most of the way. I helped out towards the end for about two hours or so. Let me add; I am so thankful to have a fantastic husband that is willing to put up with me and drive regularly. I have been at home and sheltered from traffic for over ten years now that it causes my anxiety to kick into gear in high traffic areas. Even though we had a ton of bathroom stops, drink breaks, and snacks along the way … we are finally in Visalia!

The hotel we reserved the first day was called Lamp Liter Inn and was absolutely breathtaking. The entire Inn was a garden with an amazing amount of foliage everywhere you go! It was so pretty that we all loved walking around and sitting on the patio to take it all in. The hotel has been around for years but is in fantastic condition, and the rooms were superb. We will be staying here again no questions asked, we loved it. This place also had a decent size swimming pool, so the kids took advantage of it in the evening to cool down. The boys had a blast swimming before we spent some time relaxing before heading to bed. We are all excited for tomorrow as we are heading to Sequoia National Park to spend the day and possibly camp. Stay tuned as I am updating the blog daily of our daily adventures!