Today was a productive day for the Gray clan. Didn't see a lot of sights, but we got some well needed miles behind us.
We survived the night in Holiday Inn west of St. Louis without incident. A batch of thunderstorms moved through after dark and gave us a brief scare, but all we seemed to get was lots of rain. The A/C couldn't seem to keep up with the intense heat, so we all sweltered a bit as we tried to go to sleep. Steph was up early this am, on the treadmill around 5am to keep up some semblance of training for the Chicago Marathon in October. We packed the car and roused the kids early, loaded them in the van in their PJ's and made in on the road shortly after 7am. After a nutrious backseat breakfast of powdered donuts, chocolate pop tarts, granola bars and Sprite, the kids were primed and ready to face the day.
We ticked off a lot of miles today, but didn't have lots of scenery. We blazed accross Missouri (looked like North Mississippi to me...) and turned north at Kansas City. After passing from Missouri into Iowa, the only noticable change was the increase in potholes on I-29. As a native Mississippian, I'm proud to say that our roads and roadside parks are light years ahead of anything we ran across in Iowa. Probably the only memorable thing in Iowa was the water - it seemed to be covering fields everywhere. Every creek and river was at or near the top of its levee.
Late in the afternoon we finally passed into South Dakota. Steph was driving and took great joy in the 75 MPH speed limit. We stopped in at the South Dakota vistor center and gathered up maps and brochures on all of the sights we hope to hit over the next couple of days. We rolled into Sioux Falls, SD around 5:30pm and got settled in at the Hampton Inn. I made a quick run to gas up the van ($3.98 a gal), add some ice to the cooler and grab a few adult beverages for the tour across South Dakota. The kids enjoyed a long soak in the pool while Steph and I enjoyed a beverage and studied our travel loot from the SD visitor center. The kids just wrapped up their showers, so we're off to grab a quick bite for dinner.
No new pictures to post today - the camera and camcorder are resting up tonight in anticipation of a big day tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone who is reading - and keep the comments coming!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
St. Louis is pretty cool
I never thought of St. Louis as much of a destination - more a place you "pass through" when you're headed somewhere else. I was a little skeptical when Steph said she wanted to spend a day in St. Louis to explore, but I'm glad we spent an extra day here.
After our great night enjoying the Cardinals defeat the Astros, we had a great nights sleep and a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. We walked down to the Arch and explored a bit. Luckily, no one really wanted to go to the top of the Arch, so we were able to mark that off the list. The lady I sat next to at the Cardinals game last night told me a not so pleasant story about getting stuck on the tram on the way to the top. Glad we were able to get by without taking a trip to the top...
After the Arch, we headed to the Budweiser brewery to do the tour. The tour was nice - very well done. The only strange thing is that there didn't seem to be any employees at the brewery - other than the tour guides themselves. Every part of the brewery we toured seemed to be missing workers of any sort. Maybe the beer oompa-loompas only come out at night...
By mid day, it was pretty hot - mid 90's - so we enjoyed our beer samples at the end of the tour.
We gave the kids a couple of choices for an afternoon activity, and they chose the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. We didn't know much about it, but it turned out to be a great choice. The City Museum is kind of hard to describe - it's a hands on kids museum, but the focus is the creative reuse of discarded materials - lots old iron work, stone work, glass bottles, even some old bank vault doors. It's really cool, but almost a bit creepy too, if you can imagine. Something of a Tim Burton meets Lemony Snickets take on a late 19th century industrial kids museum. Probably a bad description, but maybe the pics will help explain. Anyway, we all had a blast. The kids swear it's their favorite museum ever.
St. Louis had lots of other kid friendly attractions that we didn't get to check out - enough that I would consider a long weekend trip back here to check out a few more. St. Louis has been a pleasant suprise - glad we gave it an extra day.
Today's pics can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay2
After the museum, we headed west of downtown to our hotel in St. Charles county, just accross the Missouri River. After a quick swim in the circa 1975 "Holidome" indoor/outdoor pool at our hotel, we grabbed a quick dinner and are hoping for an early bedtime tonight. Tomorrow we're heading West and then North to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's going to be a long day of driving, so I'm off to bed.
After our great night enjoying the Cardinals defeat the Astros, we had a great nights sleep and a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. We walked down to the Arch and explored a bit. Luckily, no one really wanted to go to the top of the Arch, so we were able to mark that off the list. The lady I sat next to at the Cardinals game last night told me a not so pleasant story about getting stuck on the tram on the way to the top. Glad we were able to get by without taking a trip to the top...
After the Arch, we headed to the Budweiser brewery to do the tour. The tour was nice - very well done. The only strange thing is that there didn't seem to be any employees at the brewery - other than the tour guides themselves. Every part of the brewery we toured seemed to be missing workers of any sort. Maybe the beer oompa-loompas only come out at night...
By mid day, it was pretty hot - mid 90's - so we enjoyed our beer samples at the end of the tour.
We gave the kids a couple of choices for an afternoon activity, and they chose the City Museum in downtown St. Louis. We didn't know much about it, but it turned out to be a great choice. The City Museum is kind of hard to describe - it's a hands on kids museum, but the focus is the creative reuse of discarded materials - lots old iron work, stone work, glass bottles, even some old bank vault doors. It's really cool, but almost a bit creepy too, if you can imagine. Something of a Tim Burton meets Lemony Snickets take on a late 19th century industrial kids museum. Probably a bad description, but maybe the pics will help explain. Anyway, we all had a blast. The kids swear it's their favorite museum ever.
St. Louis had lots of other kid friendly attractions that we didn't get to check out - enough that I would consider a long weekend trip back here to check out a few more. St. Louis has been a pleasant suprise - glad we gave it an extra day.
Today's pics can be found at http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/YellowstoneDay2
After the museum, we headed west of downtown to our hotel in St. Charles county, just accross the Missouri River. After a quick swim in the circa 1975 "Holidome" indoor/outdoor pool at our hotel, we grabbed a quick dinner and are hoping for an early bedtime tonight. Tomorrow we're heading West and then North to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It's going to be a long day of driving, so I'm off to bed.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
And They're Off...
We lifted off on our crazy adventure shortly after 5am today.
Yesterday was spent packing items in every nook and cranny of the van. The van, which seems larger than a school bus when parking it at the grocery store, suddenly took on the proportions of a Pinto when we tried to cram 30 days of stuff for 4 people inside. We made a few tradeoffs on what made the trip and what didn't, but in the end we THINK we packed everything we really need. If we forgot something, I'm not too concerned. At least 20 people have told me that "...they have lots of Wal-Marts along the way..." for whatever we forget.
Today was a great day to travel. It may be the best day we have, but we cruised through
Memphis around 8am with little difficulty, stopped at a not so clean rest area in Arkansas for a quick breakfast, and raced through the morning to Missouri. We took a small detour for lunch and hit the Trail of Tears state park north of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The break was nice - about an hour and a half off of the interstate to enjoy a picnic lunch, a quick hike and a few moments to toss the football around.
We cruised into St. Louis around 3pm and settled in at the Drury Inn downtown. Steph took the kids for a soak in the pool while I negotiated with some "entrepreneurs" near Busch Stadium for tickets to the Cardinals game tonight. We enjoyed a quick happy hour at the hotel and walked the couple of blocks over to the stadium for the game. The stadium was amazing, and we enjoyed cheering the Cardinals on to victory.
Yesterday was spent packing items in every nook and cranny of the van. The van, which seems larger than a school bus when parking it at the grocery store, suddenly took on the proportions of a Pinto when we tried to cram 30 days of stuff for 4 people inside. We made a few tradeoffs on what made the trip and what didn't, but in the end we THINK we packed everything we really need. If we forgot something, I'm not too concerned. At least 20 people have told me that "...they have lots of Wal-Marts along the way..." for whatever we forget.
Today was a great day to travel. It may be the best day we have, but we cruised through
Memphis around 8am with little difficulty, stopped at a not so clean rest area in Arkansas for a quick breakfast, and raced through the morning to Missouri. We took a small detour for lunch and hit the Trail of Tears state park north of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The break was nice - about an hour and a half off of the interstate to enjoy a picnic lunch, a quick hike and a few moments to toss the football around.
We cruised into St. Louis around 3pm and settled in at the Drury Inn downtown. Steph took the kids for a soak in the pool while I negotiated with some "entrepreneurs" near Busch Stadium for tickets to the Cardinals game tonight. We enjoyed a quick happy hour at the hotel and walked the couple of blocks over to the stadium for the game. The stadium was amazing, and we enjoyed cheering the Cardinals on to victory.
Trey was wiped out from hitting the road so early, so he crashed midway through the 2nd inning, but managed to rally for the 7th inning stretch...
Lemonade - $5
Hotdog - $6
Baseball cards - $10
Ticket - $30
Catching some zzz's during a game.... priceless!
Our hotel is next to the St. Louis Arch, so we'll wander down there in the morning after lunch. Who knows what else we'll get into on Friday.
Not much more to report here. We have pics on the web - the link is http://picasaweb.google.com/MarionGrayCPA/
I'm off to bed.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Getting A Little Closer
The days seem to be ticking by a little bit faster now. The kids wrap up school on Friday, so we're dealing with the rush of year end activities for them. Taylor had her early birthday party over the weekend, and we had a nice visit from my Mom Saturday night and Sunday AM. My Mom's a bit of a Yellowstone warrior (I've lost track of how many times she's visited the Park), so we took some time to flip through the Yellowstone and Teton guide books and make notes on the "must do's" at each park. Steph and I did a little more shopping today and started marking stuff off our list of things to buy from the trip. We've turned the guest bedroom into a staging area for everything we've got to pack for the trip. I hope it all fits in the car...
I spent most of today knocking things off of my list of things to get done before we can hit the road - fun things like a new windshield, inspection sticker, getting the tires rotated and balanced. Hopefully tomorrow I can make it to the Honda dealer so they can give the trusty Odyssey the once over before we leave town next week. The Odyssey isn't even 4 years old yet, but she's got a ton of miles on her - emotional and otherwise. She's made the trip to Disney in Orlando, the beach in Destin, and also served as a means of fleeing hurricanes Ivan and Katrina when we lived in New Orleans. We seem to have created a lifetime of memories in the short time we've had the Odyssey, and we're hopeful this trip will add a host of new memories and experiences to the log book.
We've been watching the weather in Yellowstone, and it looks like we're going to be in for a bit of a shock after experiencing 90+ degree days here in Madison. There's still a lot of snow on the ground in the park, and they're expecting another round of light snow this week. By all accounts the snow seems to be melting at a rapid pace, but I imagine we'll be in for a few chilly nights in the park in June. Better dig out that long underwear after all.
I spent most of today knocking things off of my list of things to get done before we can hit the road - fun things like a new windshield, inspection sticker, getting the tires rotated and balanced. Hopefully tomorrow I can make it to the Honda dealer so they can give the trusty Odyssey the once over before we leave town next week. The Odyssey isn't even 4 years old yet, but she's got a ton of miles on her - emotional and otherwise. She's made the trip to Disney in Orlando, the beach in Destin, and also served as a means of fleeing hurricanes Ivan and Katrina when we lived in New Orleans. We seem to have created a lifetime of memories in the short time we've had the Odyssey, and we're hopeful this trip will add a host of new memories and experiences to the log book.
We've been watching the weather in Yellowstone, and it looks like we're going to be in for a bit of a shock after experiencing 90+ degree days here in Madison. There's still a lot of snow on the ground in the park, and they're expecting another round of light snow this week. By all accounts the snow seems to be melting at a rapid pace, but I imagine we'll be in for a few chilly nights in the park in June. Better dig out that long underwear after all.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Getting Ready...
The countdown is on - 14 days until we leave on our great (crazy, perhaps?) cross country adventure. I'm not sure how the blog thing will work out (or how current we will be able to keep it), but we decided to give it a shot. After all of our moves, we seem to have friends in most every time zone. We're hoping this is the best way to keep everyone in the loop as we make our way out West in June. If we have to rely on me and Steph to get post cards out to everyone during the trip, we may be in trouble...
As a little background, our family is going to attempt a driving trip to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and many points inbetween during the month of June. I made this trip several times with my family in years past, though I haven't been to Yellowstone since 1988 - the year the park burned. (Only 20 years - I'm getting old fast...). Anyway, Steph and I decided in late 2007 or so that we needed to bite the bullet and take our family out West before the kids got much older. (Trey just turned 8, Taylor will hit 10 (double digits!) in early June.) We put the last 2 weeks of June 2008 on the calendar and starting making a few reservations. In late 2007, I couldn't really see how I would be able to take 2 weeks off of work, but I figured I could find some way to make it work...
I guess things just have a way of working out if you pray about it and are patient enough. Just be careful what you ask for. I left my job at the end of March and decided to take a few months off to recharge my batteries and catch up on my family time (and a long list of unfinished projects from our last move). The ability to take several months off is a luxury that probably won't pass my way again anytime soon. When I look back on my life, I've been working at least one job (sometimes 2 or 3) since I was 16. I figured after almost 22 years of continuous employment, a few months off wouldn't be such a bad thing. It's a long story I suppose, but needless to say, it became evident that taking 2 weeks off for this trip wasn't going to be a problem at all. Our family decided to make some lemonade out of lemons and extend our trip from 2 weeks to 4.
Over the past month our so we've been pouring through travel books, the internet, and almost worn out an atlas. I guess I am my father's child - I've been working on a meticulous list of everything to take and everything to get done before we hit the road. Every day I seem to think of something else that needs to go on a list. I'm sure we'll forget something important, but there are a lot of Wal-Mart's between here and there.
Our plans seem to change a little every day, but our current plan is to leave Madison on May 30th and spend a night in St. Louis, MO and Sioux Falls, SD on our way out West. We'll spend a few days in and around Hill City, SD to see the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Deadwood, and anything else of interest. From there, we head to Cody, WY for a few days, then on to Yellowstone. We'll spend about 2 weeks in Yellowstone and the Tetons. Our itinerary gets a little iffy after Jackson Hole, perhaps because I'm not sure if our family will still be able to be civil to one another after 3 weeks on the road. If we're all still sane (or adequately medicated), we'll head from Jackson Hole to Las Vegas, then Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Roswell, NM (so Trey can photograph some aliens), Carlsbad Caverns, friends in Austin TX, then back to Jackson. Then straight into some intensive psychotherapy...
The kids will either love this trip or be scarred for life. Either way, the trip will be memorable...
As a little background, our family is going to attempt a driving trip to Yellowstone, the Tetons, and many points inbetween during the month of June. I made this trip several times with my family in years past, though I haven't been to Yellowstone since 1988 - the year the park burned. (Only 20 years - I'm getting old fast...). Anyway, Steph and I decided in late 2007 or so that we needed to bite the bullet and take our family out West before the kids got much older. (Trey just turned 8, Taylor will hit 10 (double digits!) in early June.) We put the last 2 weeks of June 2008 on the calendar and starting making a few reservations. In late 2007, I couldn't really see how I would be able to take 2 weeks off of work, but I figured I could find some way to make it work...
I guess things just have a way of working out if you pray about it and are patient enough. Just be careful what you ask for. I left my job at the end of March and decided to take a few months off to recharge my batteries and catch up on my family time (and a long list of unfinished projects from our last move). The ability to take several months off is a luxury that probably won't pass my way again anytime soon. When I look back on my life, I've been working at least one job (sometimes 2 or 3) since I was 16. I figured after almost 22 years of continuous employment, a few months off wouldn't be such a bad thing. It's a long story I suppose, but needless to say, it became evident that taking 2 weeks off for this trip wasn't going to be a problem at all. Our family decided to make some lemonade out of lemons and extend our trip from 2 weeks to 4.
Over the past month our so we've been pouring through travel books, the internet, and almost worn out an atlas. I guess I am my father's child - I've been working on a meticulous list of everything to take and everything to get done before we hit the road. Every day I seem to think of something else that needs to go on a list. I'm sure we'll forget something important, but there are a lot of Wal-Mart's between here and there.
Our plans seem to change a little every day, but our current plan is to leave Madison on May 30th and spend a night in St. Louis, MO and Sioux Falls, SD on our way out West. We'll spend a few days in and around Hill City, SD to see the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Deadwood, and anything else of interest. From there, we head to Cody, WY for a few days, then on to Yellowstone. We'll spend about 2 weeks in Yellowstone and the Tetons. Our itinerary gets a little iffy after Jackson Hole, perhaps because I'm not sure if our family will still be able to be civil to one another after 3 weeks on the road. If we're all still sane (or adequately medicated), we'll head from Jackson Hole to Las Vegas, then Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, Roswell, NM (so Trey can photograph some aliens), Carlsbad Caverns, friends in Austin TX, then back to Jackson. Then straight into some intensive psychotherapy...
The kids will either love this trip or be scarred for life. Either way, the trip will be memorable...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)