Well, it was a great trip. It's one of those trips that we'll remember for a long time. On the way back I was wondering how much of this trip Ben and Megan will remember...let's say 10 years from now. My guess is Ben will remember quite a bit, and Megan may even remember a few things as well. Our biggest concern going into a trip like this was simply how the kids would do spending 3 days in the car each way. It turns out they were exceptional. Not once did they whine or complain or utter those famous words "are we there yet?" They love to travel and see new places. In fact, when we arrived back in Michigan Ben was kind of bummed out. He wanted to keep going and not stop. Pretty funny. Anyway, I thought I'd bring this trip to a close with some random thoughts I collected on the way.
* All in all we drove through 9 states. Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
* We drove just shy of 3000 miles.
* In the end we visited 5 national parks, and 1 state park.
* The highlight of the trip was of course our week in the Tetons. I'm an avid hiker, but it was cool spending a week doing activities you don't normally do (kayaking, rafting, horseback riding, etc.) Everyone had a great time, and everyone got to do several things they really enjoyed. Pretty good considering our group had 17 people in it.
* One of the coolest things we encountered was at Grand Teton National Park. Instead of selling bottles of water in all the stores the park has "water refill stations" all throughout the park. I'm not talking regular tap water. This was filtered water right out of the lake - and it was free. Pretty cool!
* The biggest surprise of the entire trip was the beauty of the Badlands. It's an incredibly scenic park that you can see most of from the car.
* The biggest disappointment was Custer State Park. I had fond memories of this place from 14 years ago, and all in all it's still an interesting park. But the park's management (I guess in an effort to cut costs) has implemented a program where all the staff is hired from Eastern Europe. Every employee we came in contact with was from eastern Europe. They were friendly I guess, but the service was terrible for the price we were paying. We kept having to ask for our cabin to be cleaned, kept having to ask to have the trash taken out, even had to ask for new towels. Anyway, Jenny and I were so disappointed that we probably won't go back.
* One weird thing we noticed - unleaded "plus" was cheaper in South Dakota than regular unleaded. I found out later it's because of the "ethanol." They're trying to encourage you to buy gas with ethanol in it, which then in turn supports the local corn growers. Ah! Pretty crafty.
* The coolest rest area we stopped at was in Chamberlin, South Dakota. The place is right on the Missouri river and it looks more like a visitor center at a nature preserve than a building with restrooms. When we walked inside there were several exhibits on Lewis and Clark. Since we were by the Missouri I didn't think it was too odd, but still I wondered why the rest area was so "built up." Turns out the area we were in was an actual "landing site" for the Lewis and Clark expedition. It was the first rest stop I wished I could stay longer at.
* Just a random thought here. There are so many tolls driving through Chicago. Okay...I accept that. But for what is the money being used for? The roads all around Chicago are TERRIBLE!
* Our weather throughout the trip was perfect. Minus a hard rain shower the night we cooked dinner in the Tetons, we had nothing but sunny skies and pleasant temperatures. We completely lucked out.
* Austin, Minnesota is the home of Hormel, the makers of "Spam." And yes - on our way driving through we noticed the town...well...smells like "Spam."
* I still don't get "Wall Drug."
* Iowa was another huge surprise. We had never set foot in Iowa before this trip, and I wasn't expecting much. But the state is actually very beautiful. Lots of green rolling hills and valleys. Took us completely by surprise.
* Another random thought. There are SO MANY wind farms in southern Minnesota, but there's hardly any roadside restaurants. Weird.
* Rocky Mountain National Park is my favorite national park, but it's mainly because we're so familiar with it. We have a history with the park. But by far Grand Teton National Park is the most beautiful national park I've ever seen. I could sit there all day at the visitor center and just look at those mountains.
* When we started our journey out west I wondered if we would come across a "Stuckey's." You know, those roadside restaurants/shops that you stopped at as a kid on your family vacations. I vividly remember always stopping at a "Stuckey's," and I thought it would be fun to stop at one with the kids. Turned out we drove through 9 states without seeing one. I looked them up online and they're still in existence. I guess we just missed them all.
* Another random thought. I love Wyoming. Simply said.
* During the entire trip we all played "the license plate game." You know the one - find all the license plates from all 50 states. Turns out we found all of them except Rhode Island and Pennsylvania. Rhode Island I can accept. After all it is the smallest state. But Pennsylvania? Really? I thought Steeler fans loved to travel.
* From what we could tell from the road the Mississippi and Missouri rivers were both swollen and still very high (even flooded in parts.)
* Another random thought. Indiana is STILL my least favorite state to set foot in, drive through, etc. Can't stand that place.
* The biggest detour we took was stopping in Chicago for pizza and shopping. We love Chicago, and we just couldn't resist.
* Megan's favorite thing from the trip was riding all the horses. Ben's favorite from the trip was the kayak trip.
* During our week in Wyoming I read SHANE by Jack Schaefer (a western that takes place in the area.) Not the greatest book I've ever read, but being in the Tetons somehow made it more entertaining.
* The biggest thrills for me was watching Ben scale a 99ft rock face in South Dakota, and watching Megan ride the horses.
* Believe it or not the only construction that slowed us down to a halt was in Chicago...on the very first day. We didn't have any problems the rest of the trip.
* Final random thought. All I can say is thank heaven for "in-car" DVD players, XM Radio, Nintendo DS game players, and iPhones. I don't know how our parents did trips like this without them.
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