I have really wanted to drive cross country for a few years. I wanted to see the sites across the country and make some good memories together. This year seemed like the perfect year to do it. Ben had a lot of vacation days to take, everyone was healthy, and the kids were old enough that we could make the drive. We made lots of prepartions for the trip and planned out all the things we wanted to see. One of the main things Ben and I really wanted to stop and see was all the temples we passed along the way. Having the kids be exposed to so many temples seemed like a great idea and now that it is all over I am really glad we did it, even though they weren't as excited about them as I had hoped.
Day 1
The goal today was to get to Palmyra, NY and see the church sites there.
We encountered a lot of rain but the kids were thrilled to watch movies on the new DVD players. We finally made it the visitors center in Palmyra at about 3:00 and all of us were happy to get out, stretch our legs and enjoy the sun while it was out.
Hill Cummorah Monument
Dad tried to join us in the picture but he didn't quite make it.
The Palmyra Temple
The first temple on our tour.
Sacred Grove
(Guss was taking the picture.)
The road to the recreation of the Smith Log Cabin where Joseph Smith was visited by the angel Moroni.
The main room of the small Smith house.
It is amazing that 10 people would live, eat and work in this small area. It made me realize my house is not too bad.
After we were done seeing the sights we went to the KOA where we were staying for the night. There was a thunderstorm coming and so we got a cabin instead of staying in the tent. It was really nice but unfortunately I woke up at 2:00 in the morning, couldn't go back to sleep and ended up locking myself out. I had gone out to the van to watch a movie and didn't realize that Ben had locked the door of the cabin. At about 5:30 I finally knocked on the door and Ben let me in. It made for a rough travel day that day.
Lucas enjoying a bath in the very big utility sink in the bathroom.
Aside from a lot of rain it was a great day and I was really glad to visit Palmyra.
Miles traveled: 403
Day 2
Today the agenda was to stop in Kirtland, Ohio and see the church sites there. Unfortunately, the rain made it really hard to see and enjoy all that was there. There was also a lot of tour groups that made it so that we had to rush through things or wait an hour or two for an opening to see what we wanted to see. We enjoyed seeing the Isaac Morely Farm and letting the kids hear about their ancestors. We got to into the Newel K. Whitney Store and see where the School of Prophets was. We tried to go into the Kirtland temple but there was a large tour group in front of us and so we decided just to walk around it but it started raining too hard and so we had to take pictures from the car.
Hiding behind the tree and the power lines and the rain drops is the Kirtland Temple.
We camped in Toledo that night and luckily, or unluckily, depending on your point of view, the rain was done and so we spent the night in the tent. Everyone was very happy to be out of the van and running around, except Lucas. He kept getting in and shutting the doors and playing with all the buttons and knobs as the rest of us put up the tent and got camp ready.
Miles traveled: 396
Day 3
Today our goal was to travel from Toledo, Ohio to Madison, Wisconson. We traveled through Chicago and the traffic was horrible because of an accident on the other side of the road but it was better for us than the other side. It was like a parking lot for miles. We also decided to stop and see the Chicago, Illinois temple. It took a lot of little side roads but we finally made it. It was nice to get out and stretch our legs and feel the spirit that exists on the temple grounds.
Chloe and Owen desperately wanted to swim in the fountain but we were mean and wouldn't let them.
Group shot in front of the temple.
It was a beautiful temple but different from any others I remember seeing. The front side of the temple was the only side with window and all the service doors were all made to look like they weren't there.
Next up was a trip to the Jelly Belly Factory in Wisconson. We got to ride a train around the factory and watch movies about how jelly beans are made. It is actually a lot more involved than I thought. It takes 3 days to make a batch of jelly beans. I always assumed it would take a few hours.
After the tour we got a free sample and then we browsed the factory store, which also had a free tasting bar where you could sample every flavor they had. Owen got close before we finally cut him off. They had a lot of fun products. Our big purchase were the Belly Flops, which are the jelly beans that don't make the standard to be a true Jelly Belly because of size or shape but they taste the same. We also got some chocolate covered Jelly Belly's which I really enjoyed.
Finally we made it to our stop for the night. The Madison KOA. We stayed in a big grassy field that turned out to be a mosquito family reunion. Poor Lucas woke up with 8 bites on one side of his face.
Miles traveled: 390
Day 4
Sunday morning we woke up to a soaking wet tent. Not from rain but from a dew like none I had ever seen before. We got up and packed everything up and drove to a chapel that was about 90 minutes away. We got there a little early and so we spread the tent out on the parking lot to let it dry and met a lot of the members who wondered what we were doing. After sacrament meeting we headed off again. We wanted to make it to Sioux Falls, South Dakotah before it got too dark to see the falls. It was a long day but we made it late in the afternoon and got to spend a couple hours walking around. The falls were beautiful and the park was really nice.
Chloe saw some other people posing on this rock and she had to do it too. Guss and Owen had run off, rarely to be seen again and so it was just her and Dad that made the trek out.
Lucas insisted that his baby come along.
Too tired to walk any more.
Guss has been obsessed with origami and so when we found these sculptures in the park we had to take our picture with them.
In front of the Sioux Falls.
We were going to go back later that night for a laser show that they do on the falls but a thunderstorm came along and cancelled it. We had to spend our evening in the laundry/game room playing foosball and StarTrek pinball instead.
Miles traveled: 349
Day 5
Monday took us across South Dakotah. We had really been looking forward to seeing Mount Rushmore but we had been told that we had to go through the Badlands and so we stopped and hiked around and we were glad that we did. There were so many cool rock formations to see but we did have to keep on the look out for rattlesnakes. It reminded me a lot of Goblin Valley in Utah.
Finally, we made it to Mount Rushmore. It was further off the main road than we anticipated but the drive was nice. We were all on the look out to see who could find it first and Owen was the one that found it first. It was a lot higher up than I thought it would be but it was also smaller than I thought. All the pictures that I had seen were very deceiving but I was still very excited to see it.
This is as close as the public can get to the carvings.
We got hiked around the bottom learning about the different presidents of the mountain. There was also a neat museum that showed the artists orginal design for the mountain. It had all of the presidents carved down to their shoulders but the change in the composition of the rock made it impossible to finish completely.
We finished the day off at the Rapid City KOA. We really enjoyed their kiddie pool, hot tub and lap pool.
Miles Traveled: 349
Day 6
Rapid City has bronze, life-size statues of all the Presidents of the United States of America on the corners of the downtown streets. I really wanted to go and see these and so after a nice pancake breakfast (they even made butterfly pancakes for Chloe) my nice family walked around a large section of downtown Rapid City for me. We didn't end up seeing them all but we did see some of our favorites.
Ronald Reagan
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln
Theodore Roosevelt
After leaving Rapid City and South Dakotah we started our trek across Wyoming. We took a detour to see Devil's Tower. It was very neat to see this rock just rising from the ground. It was a different type of rock from all the rocks around. We wondered if maybe this was a volcano many years ago.
After a day in the car the kids were ready for a break and luckily we found a McDonald's with a great playplace.
We finished off the day driving through a mountain pass to get into Cody, Wyoming. We loved seeing the different patterns in the melting snow. It was amazing to see how much snow was still on the ground at the end of June.
We got to end the day in a Kabin at the Cody, Wyoming KOA. They had a great pool, playground and giant Chess board which we were happy to use.
Miles Traveled: 487
Day 7
Today was an exciting day. We were finally making it to Yellowstone and meeting up with our Archibald cousins. We were so glad that they could make the drive up and see all the sights with us.
Buffalo vs. Bison
We kept calling it a buffalo and Guss really wanted us to call it a bison but since he couldn't tell us the difference we used the names interchangabley. We were really excited to see them no matter what we called them.
It was surprising to see so much snow at the end of June.
We loved the falls.
There was a big traffic back-up to see the elk that were just off the road.
Owen had to keep a tight hold on the railing, otherwise he might have blown away in the 80 mile an hour that were there that day.
The bubbling paint pots.
We loved seeing the geyser pools.
We did get to see Old Faithful, which Guss had really wanted to see. We didn't get any pictures because there was a lot of kaos that happened in the hour before it was supposed blow. It started to rain and so we ran for the cars and while we waited for the rain to stop, Owen got overheated and then when we got out he threw-up a couple of times. With all of this we forgot to take a picture when Old Faithful blew. It was very amazing to see how high it went.
When we started this road trip the kids each had a map to try and find license plates from all the states. Ben and I were more excited about the game than the kids were and so we kept track as we drove. While we were in Yellowstone we found a Hawaii license plate which was the last of 50 states that we needed. In addition to the 50 states we also found a few from Canada, one from Washington DC and one from Mexico.
That night we stayed with Uncle Bill and Aunt Brenda Schiess. It was fun to see family my kids had never met. Lucas, who is usually very shy around new people, went right up to Uncle Bill and gave him a hug and stayed very friendly with him for the rest of our visit. They were so welcoming to us and I am so glad that we got to have that time reconnecting with them.
It was a great day and we got to see a lot of neat things but we were really ready to be done in the van. Cache Valley was only a few hours away and we were so excited to get there.
Miles Traveled: ?
I am not sure how many miles because when we originally planned the trip we were going straight from Yellowstone to Smithfield which is 335 miles.
Day 8
We started our last day of this trip by saying good-bye to Aunt Brenda and Uncle Bill. Then we made a quick trip up to see the Rexburg Temple. The boys all rode in the van and the girls all rode in Aunt Terri's car.
Owen, Guss, Jacob, Chloe, Mom, Lucas and Abi under the House of the Lord Holiness to the Lord. It was one of the things we looked for on all the temples.
Our last stop before Cache Valley was the Idaho Falls temple. The grounds were all torn up for a total remodel of the grounds but they had a nice visitors center we were able to see.
It is not often you get your picture taken in front of a temple and a backhoe.
Make Way for Backhoes.
They had a statue of Christ in the Visitor's Center that the little kids were drawn to.
Finally, after all the fun stops and days of driving, we made it to Cache Valley. We had a great trip but it was really nice to be done with the van for a few days. It was so great to see all of our family that we hadn't seen for the last two years and see everyone's new homes. Everyone had moved since the last time Dad, Guss and Owen had been to Utah to visit.
Miles Travel: 2794 miles traveled in 8 days with 4 children under 10
Would I do it again? Yes.
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