Monday, September 1, 2014

homeward bound

Going home felt different from our travel westward.  I guess it partly felt like the adventure was behind us; we had less flexibility on the way back, with more pressure to get home for The Next Thing.  Even so, it was beautiful and so interesting, watching the land change as we drove by.  This is one big goldang country!! Nothing drives that home better than, well, driving it.

Eastern Oregon
Sisters


Idaho
Bruneau Dunes State Park
morning!
Common Nighthawk




Wyoming
the last tent spot in the Gros Ventre campground, Grand Tetons




can you see the pronghorns???
Thunder Basin National Grassland - also home to the largest surface mine in the country.



South Dakota
Crazy Horse monument

Badlands, SD




Minnesota - this was the day that we started at the far western edge of South Dakota and by the time we hit the Badlands we were thinking, hm, I bet we could drive aaaall the way to Wisconsin by midnight. And so we did!

The soundtrack for this particular leg of our trip was amusing: in a sanity-saving measure, the girls, with massive headphones, were "allowed" twenty minutes of singing at the top of their lungs before we moved into a more quiet driving mode for the last few hours.  What this sounded like was a mash-up of Taylor Swift and The Beatles.  If not the best combination, it was entertaining, and we still had enough sense of humor left to find it pretty funny...

I-90 and a sampling of the insects of eastern South Dakota
These were long driving days, but they were spent with the Snake River, dozens of osprey nests, miles of sagebrush, and wide, mesmerizing skies.  As we got closer to Wisconsin, I could feel Dan moving into work-mind, and I felt like I was mourning the passing of our vacation.  When was the last time I had a relaxed husband spending weeks of adventure with me?? (That should probably be rhetorical, but seriously - I have to think it was before our girls came along. Twelve years?)

Five weeks, 7,000-some miles, one new radiator, 13 nights camping, 2 nights in a hotel motor inn, and the rest on the floors, couches and spare beds of many kind friends and family...
I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

4 comments:

merry said...

Ahhhhh, what a beautiful, diversified country we live in. And you found so many gorgeous camp sites!! So happy your family shared this wonderful trip. So happy you mostly kept your sanity and sense of humor. So happy you got home safely. Love you all!

alissa said...

You are crazy and adorable.

Stacy @ Sweet Sky said...

What a wonderful trip! I LOVED seeing you all, and I love seeing these photos. There is something so sweet about seeing your tent popped up in the midst of all these wonderfully wild places!

verdemama said...

Oh my! What a heart-ful, wonder-filled road-trip adventure for you all. I loved seeing your photos. Beauty.