O'Connor's Big Road Trip!!!

Hey Everyone!!

June was really eventful for us! School was finally out, the races were getting ready to get into gear and we were getting ready for our biggest road trip yet! Our Family Reunion in SOUTH DAKOTA!!! The last one was in Washington DC. I'm lobbying for the next one to be in SAN DIEGO!! BEACH BEACH BEACH!!! 

Well, we started our adventure, leaving Friday night and driving to Las Vegas. There we met mom and picked up Nolan. 

We had some running around Vegas to do that day, in 116 degree weather, so yes, we were all very happy. From there, we set off to North East Nevada. A little side trip of Mom's. 

To the Land Art

SUN TUNNELS

http://www.utah.com/wendover/suntunnels.htm

We made it to the Hotel...Nolan called it Bates Motel.

Yes, we went back in time. Pat was worried because we were in Room 1. (Psycho reference)

In order to get in our rooms, the keys were left under the mats because the motel office closed at 5pm. (Psycho) We took showers but then repacked the cars because we had to wake up at 4am. But that night, trains went by the motel all night long. (My Cousin Vinny reference here).  Pat had every scary and thriller movie go through his head. So, not much sleep and no place to get coffee or food. But off we went.

I truly don't know how we found them and made it out. (Deliverance reference here). We had to be there at Sunrise because it was the Summer Solstice. But what we didn't realize was that the Sun Tunnels were actually in Utah! An hour ahead. HA HA HA! So mom hauled ASS on a dirt road, with dust, rocks and dirt FLYING!!! 

These are the directions to get there because GPS doesn't recognize this area of the world. 

We did make it, at sunrise. Got some really great pictures and had a great time roaming in and out of the tunnels. All the while, picking on mom about this little trip. She said you'll never forget this experience, she's right, never. When we drove in..er...slid sideways because mom was driving so fast, dust everywhere, spilling into everyone's cameras and video's, for this one moment that comes but once a year!!! Yes, people were camping there the whole weekend to get this magical moment! The lady from LA comes flying in like a NASCAR driver.

So, after 30 minutes, we were all hungry! We went into Wendover, Nevada, ate, and hit the road to Deadwood, South Dakota. Sunday was the day of 3 states and driving through Wyoming diagonally. That's a lot of Wyoming.

We made it Deadwood by 9pm. 4 states in 1 day. Woohoo!!! 

This is where we all stayed!!! The whole Fam Bam. We had to get all of our stuff into our room and prepare for the next day. We all met in Uncle Mark's room to just all hang out for awhile. Talking and eating and lots of drinking. But Monday was very eventful.

We did both of these in one day! After driving all day on Sunday, Monday we did the same. Devil's Tower is 90 minutes from Deadwood. We smiled all the way through it!

The next day was off to Crazy Horse!

Nolan got a ROCK!

That night we went back to Crazy Horse because they have a Laser Light show. It was cool.

On the way back, at night in the forest, is not a fun drive back. Deer and Big Horn Sheep on the road. We had 11 deer on the road to avoid. 

The next day, we went on the scenic drive with rock tunnels and pig tail turns.

We were in the middle of a Buffalo Herd, saw Antelope and wild donkey's. 

We went our to dinner in town often and we found these bar stools.

Pat loves trains, so we took the 1800's train.

We found out a lot of information on South Dakota by taking this train. Before the ride, we had lunch at a Saloon and I had steak and Pat had Buffalo!!!! It was all so good. Pat said I was eating like a Ranch Hand all week!!! And yes I did!!!

After the train, we had to book it back to town because Family dinner was that night and we needed to be there!!! 

It was Aunt Nancy's birthday celebration as well. We had music and liquor all night long. Then pictures started. 

First the aunties and uncles:

Trying to get these guys to just stand and smile for the camera is worse than the younglings. 

Then the next Generation:

Oh, all of the neon was for Nancy's birthday celebration.

Then this generation with partners:

Mitch was squatting down...he he!

Then the whole Fam Bam

This picture was surprisingly easier to get than the older folks!!

After dinner a few of us went next door to 

Saloon #10

There was live band, Uncle Jeff was buying the younglings shots all night, bad influence, we danced all night and had a great time!!!!

Yes, there are NO pictures from this time. We have Snap Chats but alas, they're gone.

The next morning at breakfast, no one was "awake". This last day was  a very easy day. Pat, Nolan and I walked around town, had lunch, and went back to the hotel early.

Yes, Wild Bill and Jane's graves..That was it for the day. Actually, we all took naps. 

At dinner, we said our goodbyes to those leaving early the next day. 

In the morning was good bye's, breakfast and packing. 

Mom and Nolan went back to Las Vegas, but, Pat and I weren't done with our adventure.

We drove all the way to Four Corners NM. We got there at midnight. Only after I got pulled over by a FEDERAL RESERVATION OFFICER. "I pulled you over for your speed". I shook my head yes. Top speed on the reservation, 83 MPH. He let me go!!! WHEW! I don't know why.  We were driving a car from Tennessee (rental), I had a license from California, driving in Arizona. We should've been arrested just for confusion. 

Midnight, Four Corners was closed. We drove into Shiprock NM (28 miles). Everything was closed and no hotels. So, we drove back to Four Corners. Parked in the dirt, with other cars around, slept in the car. I slept and Pat played with his Stars App to see all the stars! 

It opened at 8am, we went in got our pictures and started home. A Day of 4 states!!!!

In Arizona, Pat said, Let's go through Sedona...Okay! Why the Hell not!!! 

I drove the rest of the way home..This is what I looked at the whole way...HA HA HA! Poor baby was tired...

We got home at 7pm on Saturday night, we had at the entire Sunday to rest...

IT WAS A FANTASTIC TRIP!!!!!! Can't wait til the next one!!!!

Enjoy The Ride!!!

Pat & Sondee

May Adventures and Birthdays Celebration!!!!!

Hey Ya'all!!!!

May was very very Eventful! Since we can't celebrate Pat's Birthday in November, we celebrate both Birthdays in May!!!!!
Soooooooo....The weekend of May 14-17 we went BIG!

First and foremost, our Traditional Disney Trip and renewal of our PASSES!

We're HERE!! We had so much fun!!! Rain? What Rain?! We're the biggest kids ever and we're happier than ever, so why shouldn't we be at the Happiest Place on EARTH!

Who needs Birthday Cake, when you can have your traditional DOLE WHIP!!

We rode rides then had dinner at the BEST place EVER!

That's right!!! Chicken n Waffles!
Holy Fried Chicken with GRAVY Batman!

Yes, that was DAY ONE!! WHEW!!
Day TWO!
We headed out to Las VEGAS!!! We went right to a friends party, had a great dinner with friends and then ended up at the RIO in a HUGE SUITE! Yes that's a JACUZZI in the ROOM!!! WTF! Yes, we had to test it out!

Early the next morning, we got up and Nolan met us at the Hotel. We took off for our Desert Adventure. RZR Off Roading!!! Yes, we want to buy a couple of them now. HA HA HA!!! 2 1/2 Hours of Off Roading Fun! We got some air on one of the roads, we were going faster as we got comfortable and Pat was making his own DUST!!! HAHAHA! So Awesome!

After this adventure, we headed to Downtown Las Vegas to have lunch and go to the Neon Sign Museum. Learned a lot of Vegas History!

After all of this, we definitely needed a rest! So we went back to Nolan's house and rested, got dressed, still had dust all over us, but didn't care! We headed out to our favorite Las Vegas Restaurant!

AND FEASTED for an Hour and a Half! Totally FULL when we left!
Great ending to an Awesome BirthdayS Celebration! We dropped off Nolan, picked up the dog and headed home Saturday night. Yes, we slept very well Saturday night.

Until next year! Who knows what we'll come up with!

Enjoy The Ride!
Pat & Sondee

March and April Adventures!!!!

Hello All!!!!
Our Spring has been very eventful. Experiencing new things and going new places!!!

First in March, we had a Date Night Paint Nite with friends! SOOOO FUN!!! We met our friends, Julie and Domingo at a Pizza Place for drinks and appetizers then went to Paint Nite!! ROCK N ROLL, drinking and painting!!! Had a BLASTOLA!!!!

 Then in April, the start of Spring Break was a whirlwind!!! We left on Thursday night and drove to Flagstaff, spent the night, then in the morning went to Winslow AZ.

 We had breakfast at Dar's Diner!!! Very good!!! We stood on the corner of Winslow Arizona and they had a Flat Bed Ford. WOOHOO!!! We left there for Meteor Crater!! We took a guided tour of the rim of the crater and that was so awesome!!!!

 We learned a lot about the crater and the history! We then left there for the Grand Canyon!!!! South Rim. Always beautiful and peaceful....

 Then we headed home. 31 hours and we did all of this!!! We had Saturday and Sunday to recuperate. And Recuperating we are!!! It was so fun on our little quick adventure!

Until next time!!!

Enjoy The Ride!
Pat & Sondee

Fabulous February!!

Ok Peeps!
Our February is great so far! President's Weekend both Pat and I have a 5 day weekend! TOGETHER!!! So, Thursday, we got our hair done and went to Disneyland.

Rode a lot of rides and had a Dole Whip of course. It was a perfect day!

At the end of the a Perfect Day we had a Perfect Ending...

SOOOOO Good for our ride home.

THEN TODAY.....50 Shades of Grey..... DAY!!! OMG!!!! Early Valentines Day!!!

It was so good....I'd see it again. So would Pat!!! HA HA HA!!!

Can't wait to see what happens Tomorrow, Sunday and Monday....
Stay Tuned....

Enjoy The Ride!!!
Pat & Sondee

Vacation Stuff we did!

WHEW!!! 

Now that you know what happened at the beginning of the Vacation, here's what we got to do.

The King Tut Exhibit is at the museum of Natural History here in San Diego. We both wanted to do that and we did. It was so much fun and really cool to learn more about the find!

 The tour is a couple hours. We went around 10am and we were done about 12 noon. We decided to splurge and go to  Hodad's for lunch. We headed to Ocean Beach to GRUB!!!

And Grub we did!!! Oh...no filter on the pic...The sunlight that day before the cold front moved in. 

After this great day, Nolan came down and we spent the afternoon with him then the 3 of us went up to my mom's again, nothing happened this time, to spend time with her and some friends visiting from Ohio. Nolan got his Christmas Present that day, IPhone 6+. HEE HEE! We have tickets to go to the Midway, but, that's when it gets warmer. We've baked, cooked, done a whole lotta nothin', and loving every minute of our Vacation Together!!!

Be happy

Enjoy The Ride!!!

Pat & Sondee

It's 2015!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR Everyone!!!
The last Pat & Sondee Adventures of 2014 were very eventful!!

First of all, Pat and I, had 2 FULL weeks off together! Pat had vacation he HAD to take and I get 2 weeks Winter Break because I work for the school district! WOOHOO!!!! We both decided that our Christmas Presents to each other was the fact we have 2 weeks together, IPhone 6's and baking hardware. We played around with the idea of Costa Rica, Orlando, Palm Springs, and some other places. But, since Pat's work wasn't sure if he was going to be able to take the time off, we couldn't make plans in advance. We decided to stay put and enjoy San Diego. In hindsight and with this cold front, Costa Rica sounds like a better plan. 

My last day of work was the Friday before Christmas and Pat's was the Thursday. We went to dinner, as usual. During dinner we discussed what our plan was going to be. Nolan, my son, needed my mom's couch, which we were storing for her in our back room. It's a big beautiful grey leather couch. So we made a plan to borrow a family members truck, load the couch and drive to Las Vegas, drop off the couch and drive home. Easy, peasy. BUT, it's US! We woke up early, on our first day off mind you, loaded the truck, got gas, picked up breakfast (Del Taco) and were on our way. We're talking away on the drive and having a GREAT time. You know somethings going to happen...Just outside of Barstow the truck sputters and a "ding" from the dashboard. "CHECK YOUR GAUGES". The Oil Pressure plummets. We look at each other and say, "weird". Pat pulls off the freeway. We look under the truck to see if the oil is pouring out. No. But there's a weird noise coming from the engine. We look at each other and say, we need to turn around. Being half way between home and Las Vegas, it's a toss up, but the daunting road ahead into Baker, the smart thing is to turn around towards civilization. So, we do the smart thing and turn around. 2 miles on our way back to Barstow, "CLUNK"! We pull off to the side of the road, Pat puts the truck in Park and the truck stops running. He didn't turn the key off. So....THANKFUL THAT WE BOTH HAVE IPHONE 6's FOR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!! Our phones were blowing up! He's calling the owner of the truck letting them know what happened. I'm on YELP finding a good tow company our of Barstow. We found a great Tow Company and got towed into Barstow. It's 11am. We started this Adventure at 7am. They towed us to a Garage so they could let us know, what we already felt, the engine was toast! The truck needed a new engine. So.....We're stuck in Barstow with an expensive couch. So we talk to the mechanics and they let us know that the Tow Company who towed us in, rents U-Hauls. No other rental car company was open on Saturday after noon. ARGH! Pat Calls and gets a U-Haul. We go and PAY for the rental after PAYING for the tow. We load the U-Haul with the Couch. The expensive couch is getting more expensive as the day goes on. We hop in the U-Haul, gas it up, get food because, it's 1pm now and I'm hungry and getting cranky. 

Side Note: Pat and I NEVER got mad, yelled at each other or anyone else. We worked together to get this done. WE even laughed a lot!

Back to the Adventure. Now we're back on the road to Las Vegas. Get to Nolan's house, unload the couch, set it up, fix little stuff in the house. Sat down on the Expensive Couch and tried to figure out how to get home. We could spend the night and fly home, but we didn't have a ride home from the airport. We decided to rent a car. The Cheapest rental car. Nolan was at work so he met us at the 

U-Haul garage to turn it in. Then he took us to the Airport to pick up the car. PAID for the rental. Price of the couch still going up. We got about 30 minutes to visit with him. It's now 6:30pm. The car was a Nissan Versa. Skateboard with a car body attached. Small and good gas mileage. We bought a tank of gas so we didn't have to get gas before we returned it. Hop in the car and get on the road. It's 8pm. We stopped for food in Barstow. Grabbed a couple HUGE Breakfast Burritos and headed out. Took a deep breathe, released all the stress and got back to normal. Gabbing the whole way. We get to Oceanside (on the 15) and the Gas light comes on and says. "40 miles to empty". We're only 20 miles from home. Going up the hill to our exit, "26 miles to empty". Getting ready to exit "---------" and FLASHING!!! WTF does that mean! We exit. Part of the way home downhill, Pat says, we're in neutral...HA HA! Get to the bottom of the hill. Get to the first Gas Station we see, pull in....CLOSED!!! Again..WTF! Start the car, whew! Get to the next gas station, put $15. Jeez. It's 12:30am. We get home, leave everything in the car, go to bed!!! The next morning we have to wake up and take the car back. 9:30am. I follow Pat down to the Airport, we return the car, drive home and STAYED THERE!!! Back home at 11am. 24 hours after we broke down.

First Good Deed done. Second Good Deed

Oh! You thought I was done. NO! 

Christmas Eve. My mom still had some more things stored in our garage from her move and we wanted to get it all up to her. We thought we'd take it up to her and have dinner with her since my step dad is gone until Feb. 

Deja Vu...We wake up, load the car, get breakfast, and get on the road. This time on the 5 north. Not even to Camp Pendleton. A truck driving in from of us has one of his tool box lids flapping in wind. Pat says, "look, it's coming off!" It did. It flew off onto the road, slip toward us and we thought we'd drive over it. It's US remember? It took flight and Karate Chopped the Drivers Side mirror!!! So our mirror is dangling on Pat's door the whole way to mom's in Santa Monica. HA HA HA!!! I said some expletives, more expletives, and some more. Then I said, "CATCH THAT BLEEEEEEEITY BLEEEEP"! Pat says, "It's Christmas honey!" We get to mom's and show her what ELSE has happened. Good Deep #2. We had a nice dinner, drove home without incident. Found a mirror online and shipped to us CHEAPER that Pick a Part Wrecking yard. 

All in All, we made it through without any anger, well except for my little moment. HA HA!!!

Hope Everyone had a wonderful Holiday Season!!! We actually did!!! More to come!

Enjoy The Ride!!!

Pat & Sondee