Road Trip 2018: The Drive Home

Before we knew it, it was time to bid farewell to

those beautiful National Parks and start making our way home.

Luckily, there are pretty vistas along the drive, too.

We stayed the night in Cody and then met up with

my friend, Sandy, and her kids.

Sandy and Andrew worked together at BYU when

we were all students there.

We haven't seen her since we moved out of Utah in 2001!

Our husbands both served as bishops at the same time,

so we bonded online during those years.

We met at a park that has a sprayground and a creek to wade in.

I love how quickly kids can become friends!

They had shaved ice across the street.

So fun to catch up!

I love having friends all across the country.

I found a pink cookie!

They don't sell these in NC.

More pretty views.

We made it to our hotel in South Dakota

with time to swim.

The next morning we did some exploring around Custer, SD.

We found a yard full of Bison.

(Much less intimidating than the ones

we encountered in Yellowstone.)

We did some geocaching.

And found wild raspberries!

We love foraging!

C even had to climb way up there to harvest some.

It was a gorgeous day.

I booked us a trail ride through the Black Hills.

C was so excited!

She was the last rider in our group and did a great job.

It was so fun riding through the forest.

After that, Mount Rushmore!

Such an iconic stop.

Unfortunately, they were doing some construction

on the walkways while we were there, so there wasn't

a whole lot to do. We just took some pictures and walked

to a dead end for a slightly closer viewpoint.

This part of South Dakota is FULL of touristy things

to spend all of your money on. :)

We decided to visit a park with an alpine slide and zipline.

You got to ride this ski lift to the top.

And the slide down.

Wheeeee!

C is very used to wearing a harness, but had never ziplined.

She liked it!

I'm not sure why I stopped filming in the middle of her ride...

Maybe it was my turn next and I had to get ready?

My favorite part of personalized souvenirs--

finding Andrea and Andrew side by side. 

Stopped for dinner and ice cream in cute little downtown Custer.

Then back to Mount Rushmore for the nightly lighting ceremony.

It was beautiful.

They played patriotic songs. It was touching.

I was proud of my invention to keep

the sunlight of our hotel room in the morning. :)

The next day, we left South Dakota on our way to Omaha.

There's not a whole lot to see between those two cities.

We stopped in Rapid City at Storybook Island.

It would have been a great fun stop...

three years ago. Ha!

We didn't stay long.

After that, LOTS and lots of flat land to drive through.

We listened to audio books in the car.

She's getting ready for Battle of the Books again,

so we listened to some of those as we drove.

Ruby Holler was pretty good.

Caroline LOVED Found by Margaret Petersen Haddix,

so we listened to a couple others in the series, too.

I also talked her into listening to Anne of Green Gables,

which is SO good.

Our next fun stop was The World's Only Corn Palace

in Mitchell SD.

It's the type of place that I'm glad we stopped once,

but we don't need to go back. 

Lots of corn displays.

Hooray for corn!

On the walk back to the car, we passed a yummy

cotton candy shop. It was too cute.

We had to stop and support the local business. 

This place wins the prize for my favorite gas station

in the whole country:  Coffee Cup Travel Plaza near Junction City, SD.

It is awesome--spacious, clean, and some decently healthy

snack options, which are not always available at convenient stores.

Also, this is totally nerdy, but they had these sinks.

These sinks!

Look at them! It's like something out of the future!

Water, soap, and dryer all right there.

Amazing.

Our stop for the evening:

Visiting the Mason's.

Ryleigh and Caroline always pick up like no time has passed.

Grateful for their friendship.

We stayed the night with them and

had a little time to play in the morning

before taking off for our next stop.

We found out that they're moving to South Carolina

at the end of the summer, so hopefully we'll get to 

see them more than once a year now.

From Omaha, we hit the road to Kansas City,

where we had a quick visit with Jessica, Tyler, and their kids.

They have purchased a home and are remodeling it.

It was so fun to get a glimpse of all the hard work going into it.

It's going to be amazing!

Passed lots of silos.

We stayed in St. Louis and had two fun stops the next day.

First, the St. Louis Zoo.

Free!

The hippo was awesome.

We had a great view of the elephants.

Hyena... I think...

Red panda

Gorillas.

We didn't spend a whole lot of time here,

but liked what we saw.

Then, to one of our FAVORITES:

City Museum!

You can see it in the background,

with all the crazy stuff on the roof.

We love exploring here.

Care Bear did the ten story slide!

I kinda got sick last time, so went with the smaller one

this time. I think it was five stories.

These rolling chairs were super fun.

Spent some time in a lounge listening to a band.

Had fun watching this magician.

Caught a glimpse of the arch on our way out.

We drove to Louisville that night.

This is the second time that Aunt Stephanie

and Uncle Alex have been out of town 

when we've been passing through.

They were kind enough to let us stay in

their house anyway!

Care Bear LOVED playing with Trixie!

(Although Trixie doesn't like posing for pictures.)

She got loaded up on new copies of Reader's Digest

from Aunt Stephanie. She loves them.

It was a cloudy drive home,

with some rainy patches.

You get to go through a couple long tunnels.

Aaaaaaand... We made it home!

So happy to be back together as a family!

We found ALL FIFTY state license plates!

We found the fiftieth on the last day,

with just hours to spare!

Total mileage this trip: 7158

I love this tradition and am so grateful that we get to see our family across the country while visiting fun spots and taking in the beauty and grandeur of this country. It'll be interesting to see how things change as Brandon MOVES OUT next summer... Grateful I have these memories to treasure.