Day 12 - Leaving Goodyear

This was a crazy morning. Even though we were up until midnight last night packing, we still were up by 7am busy getting stuff to the storage unit and packing suitcases for road trip. We decided we didn’t want to take everything with us so when we’re stopped in busy cities, we don’t have much in the back of the suitcases. So it took a bit of extra planning to pack clothes and items for these upcoming six days and get everything else into storage in Goodyear. Obviously we didn’t want to pull the trailer either, so we’ll head back through Goodyear to pick everything up as we make our way next week to Lake Havasu City. We had to be out of the rental by 10am and we also wanted to get to Harvest Baptist Church for one more Sunday, so the time crunch was on! We managed to get to church *only* 10 minutes late. It is the friendliest church we have ever been in! Such wonderful people, very sincere with a love for Jesus that shines brilliantly. After church we realized we forgot the burgers David had BBQ’d that morning for lunch in the fridge so we quickly popped by to get them from the fridge. It worked out perfectly as we were able to quickly heat them up, take them outside and enjoy a “tailgate lunch” :). The kids were able to play a little more at the park and then we did some sight-seeing up around Estrella Mountain. It is another beautiful community with a fantastic park and two golf courses. We enjoyed our time looking at show homes and the area. Joshua & Sarah were getting antsy to get back on the road so by about 4pm we pulled out and headed to Costco for an early dinner, ice cream treat to cool off and set the GPS for Tucson, AZ. It wasn’t a very long trip, only about two and half hours. In that time Sarah had guzzled a large water bottle and was anxiously needing a bathroom. We finally pulled off and found a Circle K. Feeling very relieved, she said “my uterus feels so much better.... no I mean my udder!” We all had a good chuckle and explained to her it’s actually her bladder that is feeling better. :) We pulled in to the Days Inn at Tucson and got the truck reorganized from the mess it was in and settled in for the night. We’re looking forward to our exploration tomorrow :)

We enjoyed fruit salad nearly every morning, this morning we had some vanilla bean ice cream that needed to get eaten before heading out - no one complained :)

The entrance into Palm Valley where we stayed this week.

The city has done an amazing job with the medians, so beautiful with all the shrubs and palms.

At Estrella Mountain - one of the lakes and part of the water park.

While David was at the information center the kids decided to have a little game of soccer. The palm trees on each end made perfect goal posts!

Sarah finding a little shade to cool off.

Megan dipping her feet in the cool water.

At a pit stop on route to Tucson, AZ.

Between Phoenix & Tuscan... incredible sunsets night after night.

☀