Through hell and high water!

We just returned from a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico to see our daughter Trystan graduate from St. John's College. Making the trip was a struggle from before we even left. Youngest daughter Michaela and I came down with a ferocious stomach bug the night before we planned to leave. There was no way we were going to be able to spend 8+ hours in a car the next day. We didn't get the motel room canceled soon enough, so we had to pay for it anyway.
By Friday, we still didn't feel very well, and oldest daughter Rachel had caught the bug. Her two little boys had it too, but they all decided to go anyway.
We took off from here at 2 in the afternoon and by stopping at every opportunity to make use of the facilities, we trudged along. Going over the passes we got into a spring snowstorm. We stopped for dinner in Pagosa Springs, where it continued to snow on us (and me in sandals). After dark, as we were crossing the Colorado/NM border, we got into snow that, during the day, would have been called a white-out. The best way to describe it to those who may not have driven in snow like that is to picture the screen in Star Wars or Star Trek when they make the "jump to light speed" and the stars look like they're flying toward you. Except this went on for miles and miles, with my husband peering out the windshield trying to see the center line, which was quickly covered by snow. I could sometimes see the white line out my passenger side window, and we managed to stay on the road that way, if not always in our lane.
We finally made it to Santa Fe, but Rachel and family weren't up to attending graduation on Saturday morning. Those of you who are parents, imagine spending a whole day in an un-babyproofed motel room with a 5 year old boy and a one year old boy who are alternating between vomiting and cabin fever....while you are sick as a dog yourself.
My husband and I and Michaela were able to attend graduation and the party afterward, thinking the worst had passed. By Sunday morning, however, my husband had come down with it. He spent the day in the motel room, and the rest of us had recovered enough to do a little sight seeing at the plaza and the Georgia O'Keeffe museum (where there is a double show with some Ansel Adams photographs--wonderful!).
On Monday we packed up Trystan's belongings and headed for home. About half way here, she came down with it, too.
Both ways, what should be an 8 hour drive was a 10 hour drive, what with one or more of us needing to stop. But we got to see this:

and this:

and finally this:

So it was a fine trip after all.