Day 9 and on…

We left Cody, WY by way of Montana and after traveling some dirt roads and apparent back-roads, we finally joined the interstate again and made good time through Idaho and then on into Washington where we unpacked for our last week in the lower 48.

We spent the last few days in the lower 48 in Seattle. We went to a 3D movie, showed the kids the space needle, explored the Market and the 1st Starbucks (a highlight for us avid coffee drinkers)

We also explored the Boeing Factory outside of Seattle, explored the waterfront, and drove by the Seahawks Stadium several times. After about a week in Seattle, we left and headed North to Bellingham, Washington and towards the Alaska Marine Highway (aka Alaska Ferry).

Day 7-8

We spent the next couple of days in Cody, WY. We explored the Buffalo Bill Historical museum and firearm museum, ate in Buffalo Bills old restaurant and hotel the Irma, got all dudded up in cowboy gear, and explored the Buffalo Bill/Cody Dam.

We had a fun few days, despite the never-ending rain fall (which apparently never happens unless we are in Wyoming, lol). However, our exit from Cody did not go as hoped since we where barred from our next destination, Yellowstone, due to record snowfall and threats of avalanche. So, we left Cody after that last day and detoured around.

Day 6: A Summer Surprise

We left Mt. Rushmore and headed into Wyoming bright and early. Soon after passing into Wyoming, our route took us into the Big Horn National Forest. As we began an ascent up the mountain range of Big Horn, we where barraged with…Snowflakes! It was snowing in June! We climbed trough hairpin turns and sheer drop-offs playing "duck, duck, goose" with the salt truck most of the way to the summit. My family was delighted and even bailed from the car a few times to dance in the snow and check out the views…

After the summit, we began our descent and ended up hiking, checking out waterfalls, and anything else that caught our eye as we made our way to our night's destination of Cody, WY. After descending the mountain, the terrain turned more desert-like and we entered Cody rather late in the day. We ended the day eating at a Roadhouse, named Cassie's General Store that was famed to be a former "House of Ill Repute" (or a whorehouse for short). We retired that night to a wood paneled hotel room that had a horse farm in the back and rested up for the next couple of days.

Alaska Bound: Days 4-5

Mount Rushmore:

We spent all the next two days of our adventure at a national landmark…Mount Rushmore. We wanted our children to fully remember this portion of the trip, so we headed into the park and spent hours exploring. We then returned that night to watch the "lighting" of Mt. Rushmore which was a breathtaking and spectacular sight to behold. My husband was even honored to be asked to help retire the colors. 

We spent the next day exploring around Mt. Rushmore and even did a little hiking on the trails around the park. Our time in Mt. Rushmore was well spent and we retired that night to ready for our next adventure.

Day 3

We left Missouri rested and ready for our next adventures. We traveled through Iowa (and some very scary looking bridge-art work) and onto South Dakota. South Dakota seems to be one of  the longest states we traveled through. Miles an miles of hilly flatness broken up by occasional hand-painted signs advertising a place called Wall Drug. Literally miles and miles interspersed with these signs. Often, accompanying these signs was a completely random item…like an old fire truck or dinosaur skeleton.

To break up the miles we detoured a little off the road to see the "Corn Palace". Not being much of a agricultural guru, I wasn't too impressed with the auditorium filled with corn. But, it was nice to stretch the legs and kind of cool in retrospect.

From the Corn Palace, we hit the road and moved on to see what exactly was Wall Drug. We worried a little about reaching it before it closed, but we realized as we traveled that we where chasing the sun and time was flipping back as we traveled (new timezones). We made it in plenty of time and even enjoy dinner in the little throw-back to the Wild West little town. We left Wall Drug a little less road-weary and headed on to our hotel in Mt. Rushmore. We checked into our tiny room and called an end to day three.

Alaska Bound:

PART 2:

Day Two:



We left Tennessee on a gray morning and headed onto Kentucky and then Illinois. The terrain became flatter and you could see for miles with the sights only occasionally being interrupted by a farmhouse or building. Kentucky and Illinois held their individual forms of beauty. As we continued our trek Northwest, however, a trend became apparent…flooding. There were rivers and small lakes where they obviously did not belong. This was made apparent by trees or structures that jutted out appearing to be islands on this recent water-ways. Many of the rivers we swollen past their banks and miles of fields and farmlands were under water.  I truly hope they dried out quickly as it appeared that farming was taking a hit this year and it was a sad sight to behold.

Flooded Banks

We saw the great St. Louis Arch miles before we actually crossed into Missouri. We detoured off the interstate to play tourist and parked right off a cobble street near the waterfront. It was misting rain and cold, but passing this land-mark was not an option. Here again, the waters where swollen past their banks and the skies where a very distinct shade of gray. We wondered around the Arch, trying to get good shots and learned very quickly that photography here was tricky due to the enormous size of the Arch itself. After walking through the plush grass that carpets the arch and exploring the immediate vicinity, we decided to load back up in the car and head further down the road to eliminate some of the miles necessary to make it on to more fun destinations.  

Swollen Banks by the St. Louis Arch

Under the Arch

The St. Louis Arch

After leaving St. Louis, the roads again became pretty rural. The vast remainder of Missouri was miles of farmland punctuated by hilly flatness, where every structure and tree stood proud and obvious in placement with little to no protection from the elements. We made it to somewhere around St. Joseph, Missouri, that second day and found a hotel room to rest our weary head. Much to our surprise, and my delight, we were also given a complementary wine-cooler at check in which helped me relax after hours in the car with two children, a dog, & a sleep-deprived husband. Too tired to go for dinner, we snacked off my “road fuel” snacks and found our way to dream land very quickly.

Our Nomadic Migration Northwest: Alaska Bound

PART 1:

Goodbye NYC...

The Grand Exit from NYC:

New York was one of the most difficult places we have ever left. Not, because we were sad to go (although parts of us were), but because NY apparently did not want to let us leave! My husband spent a large chunk of money and three weeks of his time, prior to our departure, doing preventative maintenance on the vehicle that would be used for our cross-country trip…only to have it overheat & shut down HOURS before we were due to leave NYC! Imagine the frustration. However, we had several members of our wonderful family ready to make the 20-24hr round trip to get us and one very good friend NY-side who helped us through the sticky part of that jam. Thankfully, I also, married a man with a good base-knowledge of mechanics and he was able to slap a “band-aid” on it and get us through the first leg of our journey…home-base in NC. We spent a wonderful week and a half with our families in NC before heading out on our Big Adventure.

Day One:

Saying goodbye to our families (and friends) was especially hard this time due to the sheer number of miles and space we were putting between ourselves and our families. But, alas…duty calls and this is our life. As difficult as the goodbyes were, we were all extremely excited for the “Big Adventure” in which we were about to embark.  We left NC on a beautiful warm day with big puffy white clouds framed by a gorgeous blue sky. Our first leg of the journey took us through the breath-taking Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.

French Broad River that runs thru NC & TN

Driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains is an adventure in itself. Hairpin turns with sheer drop-offs, large sections along the craggy mountain-side littered with warning signs about falling rocks, and tunnels that take you right through portions of the mountains, are all common place as you journey through those majestic mountains.  We stopped for the night on the far side of Nashville, Tennessee late in the day and decided we really weren’t up for sight-seeing. So, we found a little park to get some exercise in and stumbled upon a Historic 1779 Frontier Fort called Manskers Station, The Bowen Plantation House dated 1787, and a part of the Civil War Trail.

Historic Manskers Station

Towards the end of our exploration/walk, the wind whipped up and the clouds rolled in signaling that a very-nasty storm was imminent. We headed back to our hotel with some take-out and watched its fury unfold. That first night in the hotel was, at the same time, exciting and scary. That looming storm thundered through with tornado-like fury producing a power-outage, hail, and damaging winds making sleep nearly impossible. The storm finally petered out in the wee hours of the morning allowing our vigilant protectors, the man & his dog, to finally get snippets of rest. The next morning, the true-fury of the storm was apparent in the littering of trees, branches, pool furniture, & other debris littered about in the pool, parking lot and road-ways. Thankfully, we emerged unscathed, albeit a little tired, from the night’s adventure. We loaded up the car & headed on to St. Louis...