Our trip in review

So, I've had a few days to recuperate and it's time for a few statistics and a review of the trip.

Miles Traveled: 6,101
Gallons of gas used: 600 (can you say ouch!)
Ice cream cones/milkshakes eaten: approx. 92 (how embarrassing!)
Junior ranger badges earned:  37
Days of trip: 24
States:  14
National parks/monuments: 9
Kids: 6 
Tents: 4 (5 when my mom joined us) so fun to put up/take down almost every day!
Mom: 1
Grandma: 1/3 (one week of the trip) 
Emergency room visits: 0 hooray!

Would I do it again without Dode?  Yes, although I'd much rather have had him with me!  The long driving days got lonely with the kids plugged in to movies/books/headphones.  It's also nice to have the dad along when parenting issues come up.  Plus, he's my sweetie.  I missed him.  Would I do everything exactly the same?  No.  I'd plan another day in the Black Hills.  We didn't have time to do any bike riding or hiking or take advantage of any of the ranger programs in Custer State Park.  I'd bring coats/blankets and food if we were staying for the lighting at Mt. Rushmore.  I'd take the detour to see the homestead that inspired Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I'd skip the tour of the Minuteman Missile Command Center (even though those things really interest me) in favor of a hike in Badlands National Park.  I'd find something to do in Minnesota besides gassing up and getting new movies at Wal-Mart.  It killed me to drive by the Czech museum in Cedar Rapids and it surprises me how much it continues to rankle me.  My dad is half Czech which makes me 1/4 and my grandpa has relatives that live in Iowa.  I'm sure that museum has information about my ancestors.  And I would love to know more about how their culture and lives were affected when they came to the United States.  Next time, I'm stopping!  I'd also stop at the Strategic Air Command Museum in Omaha.  I'd spend more time with Sharon and Lynn.  I'd skip Pikes Peak Railroad (it was pretty but too long and expensive) and instead drive through Garden of the Gods and stop at the Focus on the Family visitor center and then be able to enjoy the drive along the river to our campground without being so tired.  I would have stayed closer to the Grand Canyon.  I would have biked the trails at Kodachrome State Park.  I would have planned more "down time" where we just enjoyed a day of swimming and relaxing without seeing anything special, maybe every 4-5 days.  There's a lot more in Southern Utah I want to see and my hope is to make it a trip of it's own in a few years.  I would just put my shoulder to the wheel and gone all the way to the Atlantic,  another 800 miles to the east.  Then I could have felt like I made a truly cross country trip.  So much more prestige you know!  One thing I fought the entire trip were the bikes we brought along.  They took up 3/4 of the trailer and had to be put in like a jigsaw puzzle to fit in.  It was a shove fest to get everything in and the doors closed.  The bikes got used maybe 20 minutes the entire trip.  I guess my bike riders are getting too old to enjoy riding around the campground and my little ones are still too little to begin.  Next time, I'll just bring my bike!  Plus, I'm sure there's some delicious ice cream shops we missed.

We managed to eat several traditional and/or officially legislated state foods- South Dakota: Kuchen, Minnesota: blueberries, Nebraska: Kool-Aid and Runza sandwiches, Utah: scones.  I would have liked to include: Indian Tacos at 4 Corners Monument, the Illinois state snack of popcorn (we made some in the microwave while we were there but that doesn't count). 

I've been asked what my favorite thing was on the trip.  I don't have a favorite but I have a top 5.  Here they are in no order of preference:

1.  Seeing the smile on Sharon's face when we pulled up.  It made all the miles there so worth it.
2.  Storybook Island- the playground in Rapid City that was fun and free.  A playground where I could enjoy too.  If I'm ever rich in more than children and blessings, I'm building one in Arlington.
3.  Mesa Verde National Park- I live on the west coast where nothing is more than 100 years old and most is much younger.  To stand on structures that were built 800 years ago is amazing.
4.  Taking the kids to the Nauvoo and Salt Lake Temples
5.  Little Bighorn Battlefield- I really felt the spirit of that tragic battlefield

There are also things I accomplished that I'm quite proud of like:
1.  surviving the trip!
2.  navigating my way through states I'd never been to before without getting lost
3.  getting camp set up/taken down and meals cooked/cleaned and still getting to bed on time
4.  being a cheerleader for 24 days, as in "who cares that it's (fill in the blank....raining, hot, buggy) aren't we having fun!"
5.  taking the trailer wherever I wanted, backing it up successfully
6.  dealing with dead batteries, collapsed tents in the middle of the night, stolen license plates, closed mountain passes 90 miles from home and overheating vans while keeping my cool
7.  keeping the little ones from getting sunburned, the bigger kids were on their own and it showed
8.  planning a trip that was a lot of fun for the children and still had things to appeal to me

Here's the kids favorites:
Isaac- Hoodoos in Southern Utah
Anastaya- watching grandma and grandpa perform in Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo
Elizabeth- Lost Island Water park
William- the playgrounds at the campgrounds
Miriam- swimming pools, playing Boma's itouch
Jacob-the Grand Canyon

Now that the trip is over, I'm going to be taking the rest of the summer off, just kidding.  I have day camp coming up in 11 days.  I'm the program director which basically means that anything and everything that happens at camp is my responsibility.  Our theme this year is sports and so far we have 120 cubs coming for four days.  Once day camp is over, then I can relax (stop laughing)!