Recovering from a 5200 mile road trip
I’m tired. Here’s a map explaining why.
Many of you know that my wife and I and our two youngest sons just completed a somewhat spur-of-the-moment 5200 mile road trip. Ostensibly, we made the trip so my 16 year old could visit a couple of universities in California (more about that some other time).
Crunching some numbers, though, it was apparent that it would cost about the same for four of us to drive and do some sight-seeing as it would for two of us to fly and rent a car.
What to do?
Actually, it was a no-brainer. I was the only member of my family who’d ever been to the Grand Canyon, and my wife had wanted to go her whole life. So we seized the moment, and decided to take a mammoth road trip.
We saw, among other things:
- The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert
- The Grand Canyon
- Sedona
- The Sonoran Desert, home of the Saguaro cactus
- The Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake Desert
- The Garden of the Gods
- Pike’s Peak
We had a maximum of 10 days to try to visit two campuses and squeeze in as much sight-seeing as we could. We didn’t sleep much. We drove hard. One day we were standing at the top of Pike’s Peak, and a day and a half later we were standing in the sanctuary of our small church in southeast Missouri. We maintained a grueling pace, but it was probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip, and we tried to make the most of it. I believe we succeeded.
There’s more to the story than that. I hope to post a few pictures and some details later in the summer. But first, I have some more traveling to do… seriously.
Barry Wallace
theoparadox
pijohnson
Barry, you should have taken me with you! I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon either…but I used to live in Colorado Springs, so I’ve been to Pike’s Peak and Garden of the Gods many times…in fact, we went on vacation there a few weeks ago… I’m hoping to finish my post about that very soon- complete with some pictures
Jenny, you’ve got to go to the Grand Canyon some day. It’s incredible. I should have consulted you before our stop at Colorado Springs! I’ll be watching for your post.
Barry,
You must have kept up an insane pace to accomplish this. The country out west is sooooooo beautiful, I wish I could make a trip like this. Someday, Lord willing, I’ll take my family to the Grand Canyon to admire His amazing work.
Derek
Derek,
The pace was insane (or maybe we were insane to attempt that pace). I hope you and your family get to make that trip some day. Without a doubt, the beauty and vastness of that canyon, as staggering as it is, is nothing but a faint reflection of the beauty and vastness of its Framer.
I’ve driven most of that way: from Oklahoma City to Phoenix, from Phoenix to LA, and from Colorado Springs to Salina. I love road trips, but more so when I’m driving!
Oh, and I guess I’ve driven from Topeka to St. Louis a few times, too!
Ronnica,
I like road trips too, but I’ve never made one quite like that. As grueling as it was, I have to say I’d love to do it again!
You were so close…. Hey, by the way, which universities did you visit?
I know, Laurie. I really wish we would have time to stop and visit with you and Paul, and with David too when we went through Arizona. As far as the universities are concerned, we visited Cal Tech (in Pasadena) and Stanford. Both campuses were beautiful, and the staff and faculty of both were very helpful. Between the two schools, though, he liked Cal Tech a lot better.
Sounds like you had a great trip. Ten years ago I visited the National Parks and travelled from Yellowstone to Grand Canyon and I can certainly recommend that trip!
Hi, Andrew. Sounds like you had a great trip, too! I didn’t have time to take in Yellowstone on this trip, but I’d like to do that some day. Thanks for visiting and taking time to comment. Best wishes!
Sounds like a great trip, Barry!
I have really been thinking about doing that type of trip with my family. We’ve been to Pike’s Peak, but no further. I want us all to see the Grand Canyon together, too!
Praise God for your safe travels!!
D-Monk
D-monk, you’ve got to just pack up the family and make that trip one of these days. You’ll never be sorry you did.
Barry, like your site. What a trip! I couldn’t help but notice all the bells and whistles your blog has compared to mine. Did you pay for those? How did you put the subscribe box in?
new in the blog world,
Gloris
Thanks for visiting, Gloris. I’m still learning, too, so I may not be the best person to help you, but I’ll be glad to try. I’m not paying for blog hosting or for any of the widgets.
For the most part, the items that are not standard WordPress widgets were created either by adding feeds using the RSS Widget or by adding HTML using the Text Widget. For instance, for the subscription box I signed up for a free Feedburner account, used the Feedburner tool to create the html code for the box you see, and then just copied and pasted the code into a Text Widget.
Don’t be afraid to experiment. I learn a lot by trial and error! Thanks again for visiting.