Chapter 21: Farewell And Adieu To You, Fair Spanish Lady...
Whether here or on social media, the temptation many of us face is to whitewash our experience. We want to look like a happy family, making wonderful memories and having amazing adventures year after year. Mother and Father fall deeper in love as time passes and the children are all dutiful, behaved and adorably cute.
Well, I believe in being honest. Tell it like it is, warts and all. And you guys know better, anyway. When you spend this much time together in mostly confined spaces like rental vans and hotel rooms, things aren’t always going to go smoothly. The fact that we keep pulling these vacations off year after year tells me we must be doing ok. But my daughter recently reminded me that it’s not all roses for her, either.
At night, we typically have two beds in the hotel room. Julie and I take one, 2 of the kids share the other, and 1 big kid sleeps on the floor. We had a little pup-tent contraption for the baby. The kids rotate each night so no one has to sleep on the floor two nights in a row. Anyway, Sarah says she sometimes has trouble sleeping at night with all of us in the room.
For starters, I snore. Apparently very loudly. This is not news to me, as sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night after a particularly vicious shove in the back from my adoring wife, trying to get me to roll over or change positions. In return, Julie steals the covers. It’s not uncommon for me to wake up (again) to find that I’m completely out in the cold while Julie basks in a cocoon of warm blankets. It takes a lot of work to re-claim my territory.
Scotty grinds his teeth at night. If you happen to be awake, that’s a sound that will drive you absolutely nuts. The baby fusses and cries out occasionally. And David…well,
Dave’s sleeping habits have been well-documented here.
I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that Sarah has some restless nights in our hotel rooms. She is a good sport, and most things roll right off her back. But she did tell me that occasionally, as she’s lying awake in our room at 2:17 a.m. and listening to snoring, grinding teeth, and general chaos, she’ll just yell out, “Everybody SHUT UP!!!”
It doesn’t work, but it makes her feel better.
Anyway, we’ve reached the end of yet another Oblivious Family Trip Report, warts and all. I won’t lie to you and pretend that covering all of this ground and spending all of this time in enclosed spaces together in enclosed spaces is all peaches and cream. Sometimes it’s frustrating. Sometimes it’s exhausting. But on balance, the rewards outweigh the trials. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t keep doing this.
We’ve been truly blessed to see some amazing sights on these vacations. These are some of our most vivid memories as a family. I think they always will be. And this makes them priceless, well worth the time and resources we’ve invested in them. Material things will break. Shared experiences last much longer.
This trip took us through some of the most beautiful scenery the United States has to offer. Let’s take a look at the final numbers:
Top 7 Most Spectacular Sights
7. Geysers erupting, Yellowstone N.P., WY
6. Grand View Point, Canyonlands N.P.,
UT
5. View from the summit, Pikes Peak, CO
4. Standing above the tundra line, surrounded by the Rockies, Rocky Mountain NP, CO
3. The Teton Mountain Range from Mormon Row in early morning, Grand Teton NP, WY
2. Artist Point, Yellowstone N.P., WY
1. Delicate Arch amphitheater, Arches NP, UT
Top 5 Meals
5. Paradox Pizza, Moab, UT
4. The Ale House, Grand Junction, CO
3. Steuben’s Food Service, Denver, CO
2. 5280 Burger Bar, Denver, CO
1. Bar J Chuckwagon, Jackson, WY
Sights I Never Need To See Again
6. I-25 traffic in Denver, CO
5. Scotty’s dinner, for the second time, after a bout with altitude sickness
4. The Best Western of Eagle, CO
3. The Old Faithful Lodge cafeteria
2. Any Super 8 motel, which as Scotty says, are “definitely NOT super.”
1. That infernal baby carrier backpack
Best Places to Stay
2. Holiday Inn Express, Moab, UT
1. Old Faithful Inn, Yellowstone N.P., WY
Most Obscure National Park Passport Stamp obtained: Golden Spike National Historic Site, Promontory, UT
Most Valuable DISFriend on this trip: Jill (
@jedijill )
Best Drive: Rt. 128, the “back way” into Moab, Utah
Honorable Mention: I-70 west of Denver, Colorado
Worst Drive: I-25 during rush hour, Denver, CO
2nd Worst Drive: West Grand Loop Road under construction, Yellowstone N.P., WY
3rd Worst Drive: Rt. 191, western Wyoming
Most Surprisingly Enjoyable Experience: Hiking lava tubes in Craters of the Moon N.M., Idaho
Why The Heck Did They Build This All The Way Out Here In Podunk? Award: Denver International Airport
Best Swimming Pool: Holiday Inn Express, Moab, UT
With that, let’s close the book on the Rocky Mountain 2015 vacation. Here’s the updated U.S. map of our travels:
The big kids are now up to 32 states visited, while Baby Drew got to visit 18 before he even reached 2 years of age.
Looking at that map, you may notice that there is a large swatch of unexplored territory in the middle of the country. These are sometimes referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland of America, the Great Plains, the Flyover States, or the Boring States. And believe me, being from Delaware, I know boring states. Guess where we’re headed next?
I now present my
Poor Man’s PTR for our 2016 Road Trip.
We’ll be spending slightly over 2 weeks in the Bor—uh, the Heartland of America. Here is the itinerary:
Tuesday: Fly from BWI to Minneapolis, MN. Attend Phillies/Twins game at Target Field that evening.
Wednesday: Explore Lake Superior Coast, Minnesota. Spend the night in Duluth.
Thursday: Voyageurs National Park, Northern Minnesota. Spend the night in Bemidji, because it’s fun to say.
Friday: Boring driving day all the way across North Dakota. Possibly made more interesting if
@pkondz is free and can meet for lunch in Fargo. Spend the night in Dickinson, ND.
Saturday: Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND in the morning. Devil’s Tower National Monument, WY, in the afternoon. Collapse into bed in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Sunday: Explore Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and Badlands National Park. Don’t forget to stop at Wall Drug. Spend the night in Custer, SD.
Monday: Jewel Cave National Monument and Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Black Hills, SD.
Tuesday: Wind Cave National Park in the morning. Drive to Nebraska with a stop at a secret major cultural site in the afternoon. Spend the evening in Scottsbluff, NB.
Wednesday: Scottsbluff National Monument in the morning. Long drive across Nebraska in the afternoon, driving the Oregon Trail backwards. Spend the evening in Omaha, NB.
Thursday: Visiting WWI Museum and Federal Money Museum in Kansas City, MO (and Kansas). Stuff faces with BBQ at night. Possible DIS Dad meet-up pending.
Friday: Drive to St. Louis, MO. Possible tour of Busch Stadium. Definite tour of Jefferson Memorial Arch. Spend night in Springfield, IL.
Saturday: Drive to Chicago, IL. Visit Museum of Science & Industry. Maybe Willis Tower as well? Spend evening north of Chicago.
Sunday: DIS Dad meet-up with
@FreezinRafiki and family in Wisconsin. Spend evening in Green Bay, WI.
Monday: Tour Lambeau Field in morning. Drive to Minneapolis, MN in afternoon. Watch July 4 fireworks somewhere.
Tuesday: Spend day visiting friends/swimming in Minneapolis.
Wednesday: Fly home to BWI. Crash.
I really, really hope we’re not biting off more than we can chew with this one. As you can see, we’re covering a huge amount of ground. So we’ll have a lot more quality time in the minivan with each other. Let’s hope the DVD player works well.
I know I poked fun at these states, but I think we do have some interesting destinations on the agenda. I saved the Black Hills region of South Dakota specifically for this trip because I knew that would add a worthy destination to the itinerary. I also tried to find a way to add the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa to the agenda, but it’s just too far out of the way for it to make any sense. Also, my fellow DIS Dad Barry (FreezinRafiki) pointed out that when we’re visiting, the corn will only be ankle-high, so it would kind of ruin the effect there. So we thought a swing through Chicago might work instead. We have visited the Science and Industry museum there before and thought it was the best science museum we’ve ever seen, by far. Looks like they’ll have a
Lego exhibit when we’re there, so that might be worthy of a stop. If we’re not ready to kill each other by then.
If all goes well, we'll be up to 40 states by the end of the trip!
So, that’s the plan, the end of this TR, and the end of the lame-o PTR. If you have any ideas or suggestions for this upcoming trip, I’d love to hear them!
As always, I want to thank you for taking the time to read this, or any, of my Trip Reports. I’m stunned, flattered, and thankful that so many of you take the time to read them. I really enjoy writing them, because it’s a way to keep the memories alive. I always hope that it either inspires you in some small way to have your own adventure, and that it helps with your planning. And I absolutely love reading the comments and feedback, and having conversations with all of you. It’s a joy. Thank you for sharing the adventure with me.
Next up, I will start a Trip Report covering our one magical weekend in December, when Julie and I ditched the kids to go to Disney World…and somehow lived to tell the tale. Look for it in the main Trip Reports thread, or I’ll post a link here when it starts.
Thank you! Adventure is out there!
Yeah, the qualifiers make it fun. I'm the best male TR writer from Delaware on this whole message board!
That sounds like the kind of lesson you only need to learn once!
