The End

We left Kewaskum on Thursday, July 9th around 12:20pm.
We arrived back home around 7:40pm on Sunday, July 26th 2015. 
That's 17 days 7 hours and 20 minutes of travel.

Here are some more fun facts about our trip :

We traveled 5947.2 miles.  Eric drove 5947 miles and Karen .2

We got 1 speeding ticket: Byron, WY - what a crabby old cop

We went through 12 states (13 if you count Wisconsin): Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Minnesota

We visited 4 national parks: Crater Lake, Redwoods, Yellowstone and The Badlands

We went through 5 major mountain ranges: Cascade, Rocky Mountain, Cost Range, Bitterroot, and Bighorn

We went through 14 national forests: Medicine Bow, Wasatch, Fremont, Winema, Rogue River, Siskiyou, Siuslaw, Mt. Hood, Coeur D'Alene, St. Joe, Lolo, Shoshone, Black Hills, Bighorn

We also went through the Great Salt Lake Desert, the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge, the Smith River National Recreational Area, the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area, and the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

We saw countable waterfalls but I'll have to research and add them later!

We took and kept 1,189 pictures

We saw 14 different wild animals (did not count those in any type of captivity and did not count common birds): White tail deer, mule deer, black bear, buffalo, chipmonk, ground hog, bighorn sheep, moose, antelope, mustangs, rabbits, osprey, owl, golden eagle

We saw 46 of our 50 state's license plates!  A truly legitimate Hawaii in Seattle!  Several Alaskas and everything else except Delaware, West Virgina, Mississippi and Lousiana

We stayed in 9 hotels for 10 nights: Stuart, IA, Laramie, WY, Klamath Falls, OR, Crescent City, CA, Missoula, MT, Big Sky, MT, Cody, WY, Rapid City, SD (2 nights) Mitchell, SD

We stayed with three families for 7 nights: Murry, UT with Susan and Trent, Vancouver, WA with Karen and JR for 5 nights, Seattle, WA with Jackee and Andy

We ate 32 restaurant meals, 8 hotel breakfasts and 13 home cooked meals

We had ice cream 8 times - 6 times at ice cream shops and twice at "home"

Eric gained 9 lbs, Karen gained 6.7

Here's what we ate and where for fun and so we remember:

Thursday 7/9
Cousins in Kewaskum, WI
Ice cream at Culvers in Verona, WI - with Kristin and her girls!
Tacopacolypse in Des Moines, WI  **Food Network Restaurant - Diners Drive-ins and Dives

Friday 7/10
Hotel breakfast in Stuart, IA
McDonalds in Council Bluffs, IA
Bunkhouse Bar & Grill between Cheyenne and Laramie, WY

Saturday 7/11
Kids ate hotel breakfast but gag, Eric and I had Wendy's in Laramie, WY
Maxwell's East Coast Eatery in Salt Lake City, UT  **Food Network Restaurant - Diners Drive-ins and Dives
Trent and Susan made us a beautiful Hawaiian barbecue dinner with pork and chicken, rice and fruit - YUM!

Sunday 7/12
Susan made us fruit crepes - YUM!!!
Can't even remember lunch, must have been a McDonalds maybe in Elko?
Waffle Hut in Klamath Falls, OR

Monday 7/13
Hotel breakfast in Klamath Falls, OR
Lunch at Crater Lake
Northwoods in Crescent City, CA

Tuesday 7/14
Hotel breakfast in Crescent City, CA
Sunset Family Pizza in Gold Beach, OR
Ugh McDonalds - FOR THE LAST TIME!!! Tillamook, OR

Wednesday 7/15
Karen made us German Pancake with Buttermilk Syrup and fruit
Karen made Hawaiian Haystack for lunch with her parents and Beth
Podnah's in Portland, OR **Food Network Restaurant - Diners Drive-ins and Dives
Salty Straw in Portland, OR for ice cream

Thursday 7/16
Eggs and fruit made by various people
JR made grilled cheese sandwiches
Arawan Thai Cuisine
Cold Stone Creamery

Friday 7/17
Karen made French toast
We ate our way through Pike Place Market in Seattle, WA
Jackee and Andy made us burgers and quinoa burgers, baked mac and cheese and fruit for dinner
Tillamook Ice Cream!

Saturday 7/18
Karen (me) made Waffles and sausage
Red Mill Burgers in Seattle, WA **Food Network Restaurant - Man vs. Food
Three Sixty Restaurant and Bar in Vancouver, WA

Sunday 7/19
Karen made a hashbrown egg bake
Sunday turkey dinner with orzo fruit salad, rolls, lettuce salad, pie and pastries and coconut cupcakes!

Monday 7/20
Karen made butterscotch balls
KFC/A&W in Pasco, WA
Dairy Queen ice cream in Coeur d'Alene, ID
MacKenzie River Pizza Co. in Missoula, MT - ordered in, ate at our hotel

Tuesday 7/21
Hotel breakfast in Missoula, MT
Yesterday's in Ennis, MT
Cafeteria at Old Faithful

Wedensday 7/22
Hotel breakfast in Big Sky, MT
Picnic lunch purchased from Roxy's in Big Sky, MT but eaten in Yellowstone
Irma Hotel prime rib buffet in Cody, WY

Thursday 7/23
Hotel breakfast in Cody, WY
Peter's Cafe and Bakery in Cody, WY
Ice Cream at Peter's
McDonalds in Sheridan, WY seriously. done.

Friday 7/24
Hotel breakfast in Rapid City, SD
Nosh in Rapid City, SD
Fort Hays Chuckwagon Supper and Cowboy Music Show Rapid City, SD

Saturday 7/25
Black Hills Bagels in Rapid City, SD
Ice cream at Wall Drug in Wall, SD
Pizza Ranch in Mitchell, SD

Sunday 7/26
Hotel breakfast in Mitchell, SD
Arby's in Fairmont, MN
Jimmy Johns in Portage, WI















 

Sioux Falls

Sunday morning we began the final leg of our journey.  We started off thanking the good Lord for our good health, good friends and safe travel at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Sioux Falls, SD.  What a beautiful place.

Then before we left Sioux Falls, we visited their famous and gorgeous Falls Park.  Probably the most spectacular falls we've seen on our trip.  In the middle of town and steps away from a parking lot so not quite the same as a remote discovery but awesome none the less.

The Badlands and the Corn Palace

We spent much of Saturday, the last full day of our trip traveling across South Dakota.  But of course on that stretch is the Badlands.  We spent some time there taking it all in.  After all we'd seen, it was cool but there was not a lot of green and no waterfalls so not my favorite place certainly but there was a super cool surprise just as we were leaving the park! 

                   Okay!  The bighorn sheep are in the Badlands, not in the Bighorn Mountains!

                   Super cool;  I was able to check off the last species of wildlife from my bucket list.

The Corn Palace is located in Mitchell...where I'm certain was also where the very last available hotel room along southern South Dakota - and Minnesota! was waiting just for us.  It was something to see but we were glad it was free!  There's some good history here though and it's pretty cool.  They redo all the designs on the outside of the building each year and are getting ready to do that in mid August.

Bear Country

Our second day in Rapid City we skipped our hotel breakfast and went to Black Hills Bagels, so glad we did.  It was awesome! And then we went to Bear Country where there was much more than just bears but the bears were wandering throughout much of the park, we could have walked right up to them but of course didn't! 

     This beautiful Elk was absolutely huge! They also roamed free and he went right behind our van.

Okay, who does he look like??  There's an actor, not John Ratzenberger but someone similar.  He played a cop in something....Either way, he's trying to tell me something and I'm not sure it's friendly but the more I look at him, the more I like him!  I think he's a yellow bellied marmot.

                   The bear cubs were so much fun, we could have watched them all day long.

                                              I'm loving our shadows in this one.

Fort Hays and Mount Rushmore

Later that afternoon, we had reservations at a place called Fort Hays for their Chuckwagon Supper & Cowboy Music Show.  There was also a small Old West Town that was fun to tour.  They had parts of the set from Dances With Wolves there!

                                             Calla and Annika helped make a rope!

And then we were on to Mount Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony.  I may have taken upwards of 50 pictures to capture the lightning...but I did!

Reptile Gardens - Rapid City, SD - With Flowers!

Please don't be scared off by reptiles, I've got some lovely flowers mixed in here with some lovely reptiles.  This tourist trap was fantastic, we all absolutely loved it!  We started out first thing with a bird show (where Calla was chosen from the audience to help with the show!) Then went right to a snake show followed by a alligator/crocodile show!  It was all great timing.  Then we visited the grounds and buildings where there were many reptiles obviously but also fantastic floral landscaping. Beware...I took a ton of pictures.  Eric took this first one though and not at Reptile Gardens...

After an extremely eventful morning at our hotel (ask me about that too if you'd like a story!) we had to find lunch before starting our day.  Naturally, I turned to Tripadvisor....not sure if I mentioned that yet but I used Tripadvisor a TON planning this trip!  Would you believe that the #1 place to eat in Rapid City is a food truck called Nosh??  It wasn't difficult to find, we just checked their Facebook page and they had literally three options on their menu but it was FANTASTIC!!!  Gannon and I had the fish tacos, Eric had beef tacos and the girls had the kids meal quesadillas!  Served with rice or a chilled bean salad that was awesome and a soda. This place was a winner!

                                                             Ha! Hello audience!

         They had a pigeon go between her hand and the other kid's hand several times.  Great fun!

Everyone in the audience had the opportunity to give Queenie a dollar!