My favorite National Park was Yellowstone. Simply because of the diversity. The geysers, the fumerols, the mud pots; the sulphur smells and of course… the wildlife. Never in my life have I had buffalo walking beside my car.
The prettiest National Park is still Bryce Canyon. The hoodoos, the spires and the colours of this place is incredible.
Our temperatures ranged from 2 celcius to 42 celcius. I much preferred the 42. We only bought 1 souvenir each and those were our hoodies from Yellowstone. They were a life saver on those really cold nights and made a big difference.
The average price of gas was around the $3.80 per gallon mark. The highest that we saw it was in Death Valley for $5.86/gallon and the cheapest that we saw it was in South Dakota and Mississippi for $3.43/gallon.
The highest that we paid for gas was in Yellowstone and since it was $4.99/gallon, we only put $20.00 in and that got us to a place that was much more reasonable.
The highest place that we were at was Rainbow Point in Bryce Canyon at 9109 feet and the lowest place was at Badwater in Death Valley, 283 feet below sea level.
We saw the biggest tree in North America - the General Sherman tree; and we also saw the tallest/biggest sand dunes in North America at the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado.
We spent more time on scenic highways than we did on the interstate and as a result of that, saw some pretty incredible sights along the way.
We were in Red Rock Canyon twice - first time outside of Las Vegas and the second time around the Bryce area. We were also in Las Vegas twice. The first one was the one that we all know, Las Vegas, Nevada. The second Las Vegas was in New Mexico and didn’t resemble the one in Nevada in any way shape or form.
Vegas was nuts, and I still think there’s no other place like it. Where else can you see young skinny Elvis; old fat Elvis and Michael Jackson all on the same corner.
We also got to visit with 2 of Mike’s cousins. Pati and her boys in Phoenix, Arizona and our last night on the road with Catherine and husband David in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Some will remember that Catherine and David visited with us last winter in Costa Rica. It was great to visit with both.
Our goal was to have zero speeding tickets or accidents. I’m happy to report that that goal was achieved. However, with less than 10 hours of driving time left, on Friday while heading to Kalamazoo, we heard a stone bounce off our front windshield; and yup, you guessed it… a stone chip! So close to home too; but that will be an easy fix.
This trip also had us in a bunch of new States… 9 new ones for me; 5 new ones for Mike. That means that I’ve now been in 41 States and Mike in 43.
The boarder crossing was a breeze and we arrived home by mid afternoon. We had left our slides out and our awning up; so had less to do when we arrived. Spent a few good hours cleaning and unpacking the car. Finally cleaned the inside of the car the other day; but still haven’t gotten to the outside yet. I’m sure we’ll need a little elbow grease to help get the bugs off the front. And still haven’t done laundry. Since the weather has been a little on the cool side since arriving home, there hasn’t been a rush to wash our shorts or tee-shirts.
Overall, we had a great time! Thanks to all of you who take the time to read our blog and to look at our pictures. The comments that a lot of you have sent mean a lot to both of us. Not sure where the next adventure will take us; but stay tuned…
Please click here to take a look at our pictures.
