Wrap-Up

We made it home on Friday night around 12:30 am. The night was clear and a full moon guided us all the way. The drive was fairly uneventful. Games from the Carschooling book (thanks, Lisa!) and the BBC movie, Great Expectations, helped pass the time. About five miles from home our van's "check engine" light came on. We still don't know why, but we made it here safe and sound anyway. This weekend we were all coming up with some memorable little things about our vacation, and here are some of them:

non-smoking rooms with two queen-sized beds
humming the Little House on the Prairie theme song
public restrooms
cases of bottled water
2008 Summer Olympics
the GPS on Brad's BlackBerry (thank goodness for it)
Twizzlers red licorice
corn and more corn (outside in the fields, that is)
restaurant food
caffeine
walking
collecting bottle caps
blogging
spotty computer reception
taking photographs
exploring
driving
individual packs of pretzel sticks
hotels with pools
journals
white towels
highways
18-wheelers

Below are a few honorable mention photos that didn't make it into this blog earlier.


Cahokia, St. Louis - Brad and the kids with Monk's Mound in the background.


The Arch, St. Louis


Fort Hays, Kansas


Entering Colorado - it rained every day we were there!


hiking at Red Rocks Park, CO


Kevin & Catherine's wedding - our homemade bolo ties worked out well!


the kids with Uncle Kevin


Pearl Street, Boulder, CO


Rocky Mountain National Park


Rocky Mountain National Park


Sod House, Nebraska


Iowa - organic farm/restaurant


Chicago - bed-sharing!


"Bean" sculpture in Chicago


Navy Pier, Chicago


There were ups and downs but overall we loved this trip, and loved creating these memories together. Thanks to all for checking our blog - there were about 56 different people who logged in to read it.

We traveled approximately 3,600 miles total. It's good to be home!