The Wheels On The Bus

Spring Break - Bastian Style

Some of you have heard about our great adventure over Spring Break: The Bastian Family Bus Trip! For those of you who did not hear, Bonnie and her brother, Brad, bought another bus for the family. This time the bus was located in New York, so 29 family members (cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandma) all flew to New York City on a Jet-Blue red-eye on Wednesday night, March 12, to start an 11-day roadtrip back to California. We picked up the bus at West Point, the U.S. Military Academy, on Thursday, March 13, and then we spent the next few days in the city exploring Ground Zero, Times Square, Wall Street and the NYSE, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, and the New York City Temple. While in NYC, we mainly kept the bus parked at our hotel, and our main mode of transportation was the subway. Imagine 29 people trying to get on and off the New York subway, and trying to keep track of everyone. It was a chore! And comical! After a day of that, we all split up into smaller, more manageable, groups.


From NYC, we drove south to Washington, DC, where we spent three days in the nation's capital. While there, we were able to take in the Washington DC Temple, the White House, the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court, the National Archives (Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights), the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and some of the Smithsonian museums. Bonnie's cousin, Claudia, is married to Representative Chris Cannon (member of Congress from Utah), so his office was able to arrange some personal tours for us in DC.



After DC, the trek across the United States began in earnest, with our next major stop in Nauvoo, IL, to see my mother who is serving a mission there. It was fun pulling into Nauvoo on the bus where we were instant celebrities. As we walked around Nauvoo and the historic sites, all the missionaries would comment: "Oh, you're from the bus. You're Sister Bastian's relatives. My, we love Sister Bastian!" In our two days there, my mother gave us personal tours of almost all the buildings and sites. It was so humbling, yet inspiring, to see how the former Saints built Nauvoo and gave their all to the Lord. On our last day, we all piled on the bus and headed for Carthage to see where the Prophet Joseph and his brother, Hyrum, were martyred.


Our next major stop was Salt Lake City, but we stopped briefly at the Winters Quarters Temple in Nebraska to visit the pioneer cemetery and see the names of relatives. Two days later, we pulled into Utah where we passed Easter Sunday at one of our Utah homes. Twenty-nine people in one home--it was a party! The next day, March 24, we piled on the bus bright and early, and left for Sacramento. The grand trip was ending, but it was going to be great to be home. And it was!

If anyone is wondering why Bonnie bought a bus, well, Bonnie's family does interesting things! There are 65 grandkids on Bonnie's side of the family (only 35 on mine!), and they all live in Sacramento. So we will use the bus for taking family trips to Giants' games, the Jelly Belly Factory, the IMAX theatre, the zoo, the pumpkin patch at Halloween, and Disneyland, etc.

Bro. Stan Bastian