Oh! Hello there! Bet you thought I dropped off the face of the earth. Nope. Just spent a lot of time working at my “retirement” job over the last few months. I’ve temporarily lost my “mojo” for genealogy, but I’m sure it will return once my traveling is done and our house is empty of our temporary guests.(Meg, Andy, and the kids have been staying at our house till they close on their new one. Definitely a bittersweet situation, but it’s so exciting to see them getting ready to start their new life!)
Before embarking on this year’s road trip, Scott and I spent a fabulous week in Mexico with Cait, Matt, and their adorable boys. Those of you who know me will be shocked to hear that I did NOTHING for a whole week except eat (that’s not a surprise, really), drink (every day!), and hang out by the pool. Yes! It’s true! I spent about 75% of everyday OUTSIDE! Some days I even went in the pool TWICE!
Here are a few shots from that trip:
In retrospect, we probably should have done the Road Trip first and then spent a relaxing week in Mexico. Ah, whatever. It’s not like we have to go back to work after returning from our adventure.
Hopefully, I will post for each day, as I have for past trips. But if I slip up ( I’ve gotten pretty lazy!) you can always follow on Scott’s Facebook😂https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000861175428
DAY ONE
We picked up our car at the Hertz rental car place in Boulder and got on the highway.
We started driving. Then we drove a little more. Then we drove even more! There was a lot of driving today! And a lot of friggin rain!!!
We had a really nice lunch – totaled about $13 including the tip – in this nice little town, Julesburg, Colorado. Then we made a quick pitstop at the antique store across the street. As soon as we walked in I realized something familiar about it. The place smelled just like my mother’s basement! Probably because the exact same stuff that these people were selling was also in my mother’s basement!
After our little stop we got back on the road and headed to Nebraska. If you love cows, you’ll love Nebraska! The scenery was pretty flat, could be monotonous at times but definitely different from what we’re used to on the East Coast! Rolling hills and these black dots everywhere! Those would be the cows!
As the afternoon wore on the clouds started to gather pretty threateningly. At one point we actually had to pull to the side of the road because Scott could not see in front of him. I’m not gonna lie, it was a little scary. Scott did a great job forging the 1-foot deep lake that formed across the State road.
We entered South Dakota late afternoon and headed towards our hotel. On the way we saw… You guessed it! More cows. South Dakota has even more cows per capital than Nebraska. See reference chart below.
We did do two touristy things though. A really nice stop was the Dignity Statue in Chamberlain, South Dakota.
The 50-foot-tall statue depicts a young Native American woman with a star quilt and is made entirely of stainless steel. It was created by Black Hills artist Dale Lamphere. The statue represents “the pride and strength and durability of the native cultures.”
Dinner was at what is basically South Dakota’s answer to South Carolina’s roadside attraction, “South of the Border!” Al’s Oasis was definitely a touristy place but the food was OK. It was 8:30 PM by then so we probably would’ve been happy with cardboard.
Our stay at the Howard Johnson’s was serviceable for the night. The room had a nice king size bed! Scott reported that the air conditioning unit made a nice white noise machine to mask my snoring. Got to remember to get rooms with two beds- maybe that will help😂
Tomorrow we really start our sightseeing and will be making several interesting stops.
Stay tuned!!
Who We Are and How We Got This Way 