Home again, home again clickety clack

As we make our way home, it seems worthwhile to do a summary post so here is our trip by the numbers.

27 states
8500+ miles on the car
9 new states for the adults
18 new states for Juliet and Evelyn and 17 new states for Sydney
40 days and 39 nights
17 nights crashing with people
16 nights camping
6 nights in motels
17 national parks, monuments, or memorials (10 NP, 6 National Monuments, 1 National Memorial)
8 junior ranger badges earned for each Munzster
4 new tires

For J and me, our state total is 48
45 states for Sydney
39 states for Evelyn
35 states for Juliet

We discussed some highs and lows and look forward to sharing stories as we see family and friends.

We were welcomed back into PA with rain and severe storms (and a rainbow).

Chicago...the last stop

We are spending the last days of our trip with friends in Chicago. We're not doing the best job with photos but we did manage to get some shots at the museum of science and industry today.

Iowa

We are having a great time visiting family in Iowa. We checked out the downtown sculpture park and Exile and Confluence Breweries yesterday and made it to the Omaha zoo today (Nebraska was a new state for all 3 girls). On our last full day in Iowa we helped install a baby gate and video monitor while hanging out with our adorable nephew. We also managed to catch up with Joshua's college friend!

ND and UND

On our second day in Grand Forks we enjoyed a tour of UND. We met up with one of the Norwegian students from American College of Norway and enjoyed dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Our ND friends were incredibly hospitable.

We did it!

Yesterday was a big day because Joshua and I each entered our 48th state (ND for me and MN for him). We drove from Badlands SD to Grand Forks, ND after enjoying a walk and then a short hike on our way out of Badlands NP. We couldn't resist stopping at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD and found people mid mosaic redesign. We met up with friends we made in Norway and started learning about Grand Forks (including the flood of '97). We had a great dinner at The Blue Moose in East Grand Forks, MN and the bridge connecting the two towns provided brilliant photo ops for our last 2 states. We are excited for this last stretch of our trip with lots of people on the agenda!

Some unanticipated excitement in SD

Before leaving Wyoming, we went to Devil's Tower National Monument - an impressive monolith. We made our way to Mt. Rushmore and started to hear something with our car. We saw the sculpted mountain (which is an improvement over the last time J and I tried to see it during a blizzard with white out conditions). As we left we were convinced we needed to get the car to a mechanic asap. Turns out we were right. There was an issue with the wheel bearing and that issue was causing the back left tire to wear quickly. We were very close to blowing out a tire which could have been disastrous (especially on Beartooth Highway where we were the day before!) The incredibly nice person at Tires, Tires, Tires gave us a ride to a nearby gas station which had an amazing make your own pizza place and bar inside it. Joshua and I dubbed it the nicest gas station we had ever been in and were grateful to be able to spend a couple of hours there rather than somewhere else. We are now the proud owners of 4 new tires and the car is all set so in the grand scheme of things we were incredibly fortunate. To say we have been places during this trip where it would be awful to blow out a tire would be a huge understatement. We made it to Badlands in enough time to check out lookouts on the way to the campground and catch the sunset as we rushed to set up the tent with lots of wind. We went to the night ranger talk on black footed ferrets and the subsequent sky viewing event. The girls had lots of questions for the rangers who rewarded their curiosity with a special night explorer patch. We experienced a very windy last camping night of the trip complete with Joshua wrestling the fly into submission at 3:30am. It was a long day with a near miss and a long night but there's lots to be thankful for.

A week in Wyoming - Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks

We spent the 4th of July in Riverton, WY (Rendezvous City) on our way to Yellowstone. There were no fireworks...and the restaurants were closed so we stocked up at Wal-Mart and had a feast in our motel room. The next day we made our way to Grand Teton National Park and did part of the Jenny Lake hike. The girls enjoyed wading in String Lake. We then made our way to the south entrance of Yellowstone and camped 3 nights at Grant Campground and then 2 nights at Canyon Village campground. On our first full day in Yellowstone we tackled Old Faithful and the surrounding geyser basins. The highlights were grand prismatic spring and the colorful hot springs. We also hiked to Mystic Falls. Day 2 took us to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the upper and lower falls with a steep hike to Red Rock Point. Day 3 we went to Norris and saw the largest active geyser (Steamboat geyser). Although we saw a "minor" eruption, it was very impressive. We learned all about geysers, hot springs, mud pools, fumeroles and other geothermal features. We also saw heaps of Bison. Day 4 was wildlife day. We saw a grizzly bear, a black bear with 3 cubs, 2 mule deer, and another mama bear with 2 cubs swimming (and all before 9am!) We made our way to Mammoth Hot Springs were there were elk throughout the town and Joshua saw a bald eagle. We walked all around the hot springs and marvelled at the gold, orange and white coloring. On our way back, we saw another grizzly which you can see way behind us in the photo (good thing Juliet wasn't our official lookout!). We left the park and enjoyed the Beartooth Highway scenic drive (which took us into Montana). We stopped at the Battle of Little Bighorn National Monument before making our way to our motel in Wyoming. The girls hung in there with the 5 consecutive nights of camping and the gobs of people there for 4th of July week. The photos are not in order but they capture some of what we saw and did!

Colorado Part II - Rocky Mtn National Park

We enjoyed our time at Rocky Mtn NP and reached 4500 miles on the trip as we entered the park. Highlights included seeing the start of the Colorado River, finding snow, an Alpine hike and rock scramble at 11,000 feet (that's the windy pic!), wildflowers and rugged peaks, marmots, and a birthday hike to Nymph, Dream, and Emerald Lakes (plus a quick glimpse of Bear Lake). Lowlight included

having the campsite next to the loudest campers in the campground - unlucky. The park itself was worth it!