Q & A

After 5 weeks, 9,300 miles, 23 states, 7 state capitols, 4 time zones, and 17 National Parks/Monuments, we just wanted to take a minute to recap highlights of what we saw with a few questions and answers.

1) Favorite National Park

Anthony: Badlands, because of up close encounter with the bison

Lisa: Glacier National Park.  It is difficult to describe, just try to experience it for yourself.

2) Favorite campground in which to sleep

Anthony and Lisa: Badlands, again because of the bison grazing beside campground, the coyote howling at night, the stargazing, and just the people watching. We also liked it because it was free:)

3) Favorite City or State Park

Anthony: Valentine, Nebraska, small city park, small community, allowed camping for nominal fee, and good scenery. We cooked breakfast here one morning.

Lisa: Spearfish, Montata City Park to sleep because we were camped right beside the creek.

3) Weirdest happening

Anthony and Lisa: the trumpet playing When The Saints Go Marching In in the middle of the night in the Walmart parking lot in Steamboat Springs, CO.

4) Most interesting person met

Anthony: Dewayne Makescoldweather in Montana.

Lisa: Doc, the fella on the horse at the Dinosaur National Park who was on a mission to feed the hungry children

My close second were our kindred spirits from Canada:

5) Very favorite day

Anthony and Lisa: the day our whole family was together in Seattle, and Alyssa was our tour guide. A very close second is being able to be with Hannah on her birthday and climbing Gray' Peak.

6) Worst thing about trip

Anthony: Driving on the interstates (Interstates have no personality. The only thing they are good for is getting from point A to point B fast unless you are stuck in a traffic jam. Fortunately we haven't spent much time on the Interstates)

Lisa: Listening to Anthony complain about driving on the interstates. 

7) Favorite street name

Anthony and Lisa:

8) Favorite state sign

Anthony and Lisa:

9) Favorite city sign

Anthony:

Lisa:

10) Favorite meal

Anthony: Every breakfast cooked outside

Lisa:

Santa Fe

11) Favorite hike

Anthony: Hiking a 14'er on Hannah's birthday, Grays Peak, with Lisa and Hannah, and the view was phenomenal.

Lisa: ^ this one was great. But I only made it to about 13,000 ft. So I will put our most unique hike, Part of The Narrows in Zion National Park. I just think the picture is pretty cool.

12) Favorite part of the country visited

Anthony: the Northwest, specifically Washington and Oregon. The cooler temperatures were nice in the summer.

Lisa: Although Utah was steamy hot, the scenery was spectacular.

13) Favorite thing that got checked off bucket list

Anthony: extended adventure with my wife. Good quality time together.

Lisa: ^That was really sweet, and I agree. But I always wanted to go to Yellowstone and see Old Faithful.

14) Best shower

Anthony and Lisa: Flying J truck stop

15) Favorite animal seen:

Anthony: Camel Rock

Lisa: (that man^ cracks me up) 

The whales! even though I could just barely see them, it took my breath away.

16) Highest gas price:

All gas in California was over $4.00/gallon, but the highest we paid was $4.95/gallon outside of Yosemite Park. Anthony purchased just enough to get us to the next service station.

17) Favorite City:

Anthony: Omaha, Nebraska, because of their bicycle trails and the bike/pedestrian bridge over the Missouri River, that links to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Lisa: Spearfish, Montana, because of the campground, and bicycle trails. It also had any amenity you might need or want. 

Anthony: on a trip like this, we quickly learned that our windshield was our TV, sunset is bedtime, sunrise was our alarm clock, eating out literally meant eating out(side), gazing at the stars was our late night entertainment, and our interaction with people was our reality TV. All of these experiences were very positive, but the best part of the trip was the time spent together with little distraction. 

We decided our theme song is definitely Zac Brown Band's, "Free."

We are planning on doing this again, and highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity.

New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama AND Georgia

Sunday night after we left our friends, we decided to find the closest Walmart parking lot and pull in and settle in for the night. We thought we would head to the Ski area and sleep there, but it was a bit far, and we didn't even know if there would be space for us to camp. When we woke up, we fixed our normal egg and bacon breakfast in a city park and headed out to explore Santa Fe for the morning and then head East. We got to go to the Plaza and walked through the Native American vendors selling their wares. Lots of silver and turquoise all made into rings, bracelets, necklaces, and other trinkets. 

We also made our way to St. Francis Catholic Church.

You may recognize the church from the movie, "Twins."

Picture Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito walking about in this spot.

We also just strolled around looking at the other churches in the area. 

And also went to the Capitol.

We saw this statue on the outside and Anthony did his regular pose with another Native American.

Would somebody please just pull the man's finger??!!?? They just aren't falling for it, and I don't blame them.

We found one of our favorite stores:

Ate lunch, and then we decided it was time to head home. This is when we got completely out of character of this whole trip. We found the nearest interstate and got on it. 

We were able to get a shower at Santa Rosa State Park. When we take showers, we have been sharing towels, so after I used it (he always let me take a shower first so I didn't have to use a wet towel:) I then walked a few feet out of the bathroom with wet hair, and by the time I handed it to him and walked back to the bathroom, my hair was practically dry. It was crazy. 

We drove through Texas.

I don't really need to say anything, but can you tell it was sunny and windy?

When I have driven through Texas on Interstate 40, my nose always knows when I am coming up on this area for miles before I get there. My stomach gets queasy, and here's why:

Not a blade of grass anywhere for these cows.

I am not going to go into a long speech, but would you rather eat these ^cows?

Or these ^?

Anyway, we made it to Elk City, Oklahoma, and slept for the night.

Look carefully, it really does say Oklahoma.

The next morning we pulled up our GPS, and it said we had 790 miles before we made it to Huntsville, Alabama, my mom's and dad's house, our destination for the night. We put rockets on our van, and made quick work of:

(Lots of construction work, take alternate route if possible)

And finally:

Yay!! Home sweet almost Home!!

We had a few people in our welcome party when we arrived. Some very friendly faces I was so glad to see:

:) <3

We even probably smelled, but we got hugs anyway!

The bed felt exceptionally good, and the shower was especially welcome, but it was good also being in familiar territory.

After spending a wonderful night and most of the next day in Huntsville, we decided it was time to make our way home. So we made it to Tennessee again:

Dipped down in Georgia:

User error, sorry.

And then in Tennessee again!!

Lookout Mountain^

Some familiar sites that make me smile:)

Thank you for taking this journey with us. I have loved all the words of kindness and encouragement from so many of you throughout this Advanture.