Alice's summer road trip

i-f875c0b07d9b3cb6229668554781b35a-alice.jpgOkay. I've been back a week now, and am getting myself a little recombobulated, so now it's time to jump back in to blogging. Thanks for your patience while I've been offline.

Our trip out west was phenomenal. As I've mentioned, my parents have a cabin north of Vancouver, and it's really the place we try gather -- holidays are nice, but really we all want to go to the cabin. My husband and I decided to drive because then we could visit friends along the way, and then we figured it would make less CO2 than flying to visit all those folks.

We started in Indiana, and spent nights in Nebraska (camping), Denver (friends), Bayfield (friends), Ridgeway State Park CO (camping), Jackson WY (hotel - because it was a long way from Ridgeway, and dark when we arrived), outside Livingston MT (camping), North Cascades (camping), and then to the cabin. On the way back, we meandered much less, camping near Anaconda MT and Bismark ND, then visiting friends and family in Eagan MN, Champaign IL, and then back home. Whew.

Some highlights with photographic evidence include:

Soaking in the Pagosa Springs Hot Springs with Joachim and Sarah, and their kid Sabina
Walkway across the warm water

Hiking near Silverton, CO with Sarah and Sabina(with Engineer Mountain in the background)
Flowers with a view

A stunning day in Mesa Verde National Park
Balcony House in cliff

Incredible rock paintings from ~800-1200 CE on the side of the road, south of Dinosaur CO
Road-side rock paintings

Seeing dinosaur bones still in the rock at Dinosaur National Monument
Femur fossil

Going for a lovely hike in Grand Teton National Park
Reflections

Seeing the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone in Yellowstone National Park
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Finding our campground south of Livingston
DSC_0193

Reaching the end of the road in Egmont, BC
DSC_0216

Becoming the Blackberry Monster (that stick is my cougar-fighting Pointed Stick)
Blackberry Monster!

Our "Letting the outside come inside" cabin view
Famous view

A sunny cabin day
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Sunny cabin view
The view from the cabin deck

Leaving the cabin in the rain and fog and being almost the last car on the ferry
Almost last car on the ferry

Visiting the way cool Science Museum of Minnesota with friends Gina and Mike
Showing us about math and calculus

Rocking out to Guitar Hero
and some Guitar Hero

Attending Ariana's bat mitzvah
Ariana's bat mitzvah - dancing!

More photos are on Flickr here.

Final stats for the trip: 5931 miles at an average of 49.7 mpg.

We came home to a slightly overwrought (but very much alive!) garden, and the sad realization that school starts in a week.

However, upon reflection, I really liked going on our vacation right before school started. That allowed me to get stuff done in the summer, and then feel ok about staying offline for almost the entire vacation, knowing I had been productive earlier. But sharing the productivity will be a another post.

I also reflected on how our trips will change if we're able to have(/get?) kids. All my reflection simply dumped me into the conclusion that I have no idea how much things will change. At least I know that I don't know. :-)

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It looks like a wonderful trip. I particularly like the Blackberry Monster's t-shirt!

Great pictures. And next time you travel from Pagosa to Silverton to Mesa Verde, let me know you're coming though, so we can have coffee or something!

Wow! That looks like a fabulous road trip! I really enjoy road trips.

I am a firm believer that kids do not abolish road trips. My kids have, at various ages of infant through nine, gone on road trips of hours of 13 to across to *pick a coast*, none of which do we live particularly near.

You may have to stop more often for potty breaks, you may have to be more involved in figuring out entertainment, you may need to learn new depths of patience, but you do not have to stop having road trips.

Looks like such a fabulous trip; lovely photos! Don't worry about the kids!! They'll love the cabin as much as you do, so will dig the road trip. Trust me- I was a kid that road tripped to Jackson WY every summer. How could I not love that?

Oooh! Aaah! Wonderful trip!

Wonderful photos!
As a kid, I loved road trips, sometimes more than the actual holiday itself. And that was looong before any kind of digital entertainment. So don't worry!
Actually I still love road trips and I am very jealous of yours! Great idea to visit people on the way. Hope you are fuelled for another era of work ;)