We started this trip a bit later in the day than usual, as Laura worked late the day before, and seats looked good enough.  So, we hopped on an 11am flight to Dallas.  This was the youngest’s last couple flights as a lap child, as she’d turn two during the trip.  We were able to get two seats together in one aisle, and two the aisle behind, which is really nice when traveling with small children.  Once arriving in DFW, the girls had nachos and BBQ, while I had a delicious Vietnamese inspired bowl with a tofu spring roll from Bahn Shop on D Concourse.  Both were delicious, and will be a go-to anytime I’m at DFW from now on.  We were able to get a similar seating situation on the way two Grand Junction, and were on our way after a 2 hour layover.

Because we weren’t able to book day-of hotels and cars on my travel rewards credit card, we booked a full size car for the first night, and a hotel adjacent to the Grand Junction airport.  We’d like to have booked the car for the full 4 days, but it ended up working out just fine, as the car seats fit just fine, and we found plenty to keep us entertained in Grand Junction.  After checking into the hotel, I looked around online for something fun to do.  Within a few minutes, we adventured out to drive through the Colorado National Monument, a picturesque canyon just a few minutes away from town.  After getting the obligatory National Park Service sign family picture, we drove the length of Rimrock Drive, the road passing along the edge of the canyon.  We made several stops along the way to get out and get pictures.  The girls especially loved going through the tunnels, and we carried on the tradition of singing “John Henry” (which started at Tunnel View in Yosemite) from Disney’s short features as we passed through.

Toward the end of the drive (it took close to 2 hours with multiple stops), the youngest was getting antsy.  After two flights of two hours each and putting up with a ride in the car to see the canyon, it was time to let the wee ones run around a bit.  Through the magic of Yelp, I was able to find Kannah Creek Brewing’s Edgewater Brewery, which I could tell from pictures would be kid friendly and have room for them to stretch their legs.  We headed there where the girls were able to run around in the grass and play on a stage that was set up.  There were a couple other families, so plenty of other kids to play with.  Laura and I each got a salad, and I had some pork green chili, a must when in Colorado.

After some time running around and eating, the girls were either falling asleep (the oldest), or running around trying to keep themselves awake.  We headed back to the hotel, and after a long day of constant movement, everyone was ready to crash.  Now that we’d made it to our destination and no longer had to worry about getting seats, I booked a mid-size SUV for the remaining days, and booked our lodging for the next day, though was unable to book it for Friday night also as I had hoped, as it was full that night.  We at least got to experience it one night, which was so much fun.  More on that later…