Today we went to a place called Canyonlands! It was a long drop down but beautiful and amazing. We also saw Dead Horse. That was a long drop but very cool too. We went to our next hotel afterwords. We had dinner there (I ate pizza) . We were going to get ice cream but there stand was closed so I got fudge! I would rather have fudge more than ice cream anyways because I haven't had it in a while. And Grammy paid for it! Thank you Grammy!
~Pink Fluffy Unicorn~ Kit Kat wanted to blog! Today we left Moab and went to Canyonlands National Park. This was not on the itinerary but I saw it and saw how close it was and we decided to go. (just car 2) It was a park I had read about that is not really visited and is a beautiful park. It was the reds were so pretty (wifi isn't let me upload photos I will add some at a later date). We could see the rivers below and the other two main locations of the park Needles and Maze. Kit Kat earned another Junior Ranger badge. We then went to Dead Horse State Park. The reason it is named this is that they say a group of Cowboys wrangled up some wild Mustangs and corralled them onto a point of a cliff then used branches and stuff to hold them all in. They picked which horses they wanted and then they left the others there. They said these poor horses died of thirst with the view of the Colorado River. We left and headed towards our next destination. We stopped at a rest area along the highway and ate lunch. We arrived at Mesa Verde right before dinner and unloaded into our room for the next two nights! Yeah we are in one place for multiple nights. Our rooms have amazing views from our balconies. We watched the sunset from it! And most likely will be able to see the sunrise in the morning! My family ate dinner at the Metate Room it was delicious! We went for a walk after dinner. Tomorrow we are getting up early all but three of us are walking down into the cliffs (I am not it is a 32 foot ladder on the side of a cliff NO THANK YOU!) Johanna
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We drove from Vernal UT to Moab UT. Somehow Car 2 and 3 went through Colorado and Car 1 stayed in Utah. My car drove a very scenic route. At one point we were coming up a mountain and it seriously looked like the road ended and we were about to drop off the side. There were construction cones and a crate across the road. I am pretty sure I grasped out loud and almost had a heart attack. Nothing phases Ed he just kept driving. Once we got to Moab we ate lunch out. Car 2 went to La Hacienda and got some Mexican food, two kids were not impressed the rest of us loved it. After lunch we drove to the hotel and checked in and the kids and Ed went swimming in the pool. We left around 4pm and headed into Arches National Park. We drove the entire park it is so cool all the different colors...Red, Green, Yellow, Brown, White, Grey....no rock, arch area looks the same. We walked up to the one arch. We also watched the sunset as we drove out of the park. It was another great day. Just a tad to hot. Kids are all exhausted I think we have worn them out! Tomorrow Car 2 is heading to Canyonland National Park on our way to Mesa Verde National Park.
Johanna I really wanted to see a Moose it was on my lists of must dos for this trip. I was really disappointed on Day 8 when we searched for hours to find one So Ed and I went back out very early this morning. Let me tell you I was not disappointed we saw not 1 but 2 Moose! There was supposedly a baby also but it never came out of the tree line. After Moose hunting we packed the hotel and headed out of Jackson Wyoming (which I have to say was a very nice town I remember as a child when we stopped it not being so nice). We took highway 191 all the way south through Wyoming and into Utah. As we entered Utah we also entered the Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area. The colors of the red rocks is so vibrant and the water is very pretty. We drove over the reservoir and then headed to the visitor Center and 11 of us ate lunch together along the water. We headed out after lunch to Dinosaur National Monument. I remember some of this from when I was there in 1992 but some has changed. The one building is new and there are a lot more fossils for you to view and you can touch some! We then headed to our hotel in Vernal Utah and decided we should do our wash. Grammy, Ed and I headed to the Laundromat and Jess did hers at the hotels laundry facilities. The kids all went swimming in the pool at the hotel. Today Ed realized he was missing dirty laundry the conclusion we have some up with is somehow it was left at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone (along with his water bottle/filter that he left at the restaurant there also). His two Eagles shirts are gone (one is the one from this years Super Bowl win). So we ran to the store and picked up a few things. If I added right Car 2 is at 2.994 Miles so far and I have walked 75,720 Steps in 9 Days. We have driven through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Utah! That is 10 States! We have gone from Eastern to Central to Mountain time zones. We are currently in Mountain Time Zone. We have seen 9 different National Parks/Monuments/Lake Shores/Recreational Areas/Historical Areas and 8 other random planned stops. We have stayed in .7 different hotels. Today when we woke up it was in the upper 40's by time we left Dinosaur National Monument the temperature was up to 109 degrees! It was also very hazy in southern Wyoming and when we got into Utah I asked about it and Dino and they told us it was from the Wildfires. Crazy!
Johanna Sorry I had absolutely NO SERVICE from the time we left Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument till today when we arrived at Jackson Wyoming (other then a few occasional moments). Day 5 WAS AMAZING! Words can not describe the beauty of Montana and Wyoming! I think I am going to move here! The snow capped mountains, the cool air its just so refreshing! We drove to Little Bighorn after leaving Buffalo WY. We did not know it was the anniversary the next day so there was a lot going on. I learned a lot of history about Custer's last stand and I wish we would of had more time to spend there but we had to head out we had a long drive ahead of us still. We went through Montana and up into the Beartooth Highway. Oh my this was the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. At one point we came up over a curve after reaching the highest point on the pass and the sight is one I will never forget. It was majestic! One we drove through the Highway we entered Yellowstone National Park and IMMEDIATELY saw a BEAR! How cool was that! We saw many animals while at Yellowstone Bears and cubs, Elk and babies, foxes, coyotes, river otters, mule deer, mountain goats, I know I am forgetting some. The kids were amazed by the wildlife. We stayed at Mammoth Hot Springs in a hotel with NO AC and we had to share 2 toilets and 1 shower with an entire floor of the hotel. It wasn't bad I think we may have been the only people staying multiple nights so a lot of them did not use the shower. The first night we were there we went and walked all around Mammoth Hot Springs! It has changed a lot since I was here last.
Okay so now Day 6 We went down the grand loop drive on the east side and saw the lake, mud volcano area, the falls, the grand canyon of Yellowstone...etc...The kids DID NOT like the smells at the mud volcano area it was very sulfuric. Around 3 we made our way to the Roosevelt Corral. Some of us went horse back riding and some of us took a wagon ride out to a COWBOY DINNER! We saw lots of more animals, We ate a delicious steak dinner and then returned the same way we arrived (wagon or horse). Day 7 We did a whirlwind tour of Yellowstone on a bus all 14 of us and Kevin the driver. We left at 8 am and arrived home at 630pm. We started on the west side of the loop road and stopped at some of Yellowstones many amazing sights Like OLD FAITHFUL! We also saw the twin geysers and some pools and mud pots. He showed us all the different features that Yellowstone has! We ate our picnic lunch at Yellowstone. We saw the lake again it was cool one side the water looked green the other looked blue! After we returned back Ed and I and two kids ate dinner at the dining hall. GUESS WHAT I ATE ELK Meatloaf! It was Delicious! We also shopped and got some ice cream at the general store! Finally our room cooled off this night and we were able to get a little better sleep. The rooms hold the heat really well even though it was in the 40's every morning and we slept with our window wide open. Day 8 we left Mammoth and stopped at Artist point. I really wanted to see the mud pots. These are my absolute favorite feature of Yellowstone National Park! We also stopped and took a back way in to see the Prismatic (sp) pool). We could not see directly down into it because we were even with it but the colors were spectacular! We saw a fox walking out to the pool it was maybe 10 feet from us! After that we headed out of Yellowstone and into Grand Tetons National Park we drove the entire inner loop and even went further down to the Roosevelt Reserve. This place was beautiful so peaceful. We searched for many hours to find a moose and sadly none were found. We then headed into Jackson WY and got to our hotel for the night unloaded what we needed and then headed to Snake River Brewery. We had a nice walk to it and a nice walk home. Which gave us the opportunity to see more of Jackson. The Tetons were just as breathtaking as the Beartooth Highway. These last four days have been amazing and it is going to be hard to top this but I know there are still MANY more amazing places we are headed too! We should be good with Wifi tomorrow hopefully (we are at a Holiday Inn Express). But then after that it will probably get iffy again as we are entering National Parks! Johanna Day 4
We started out from Keystone SD and headed to Crazy Horse Memorial. We left American soil and entered an Indian Reservation! The Memorial is a work in progress and if my kids are lucky it might be completed in their lifetime. Only the face is done now. After returning to American soil we headed towards Wyoming. We took really neat roads and the landscape is just beautiful. The kids are amazed at the red soil. Colors seem so much more vibrant and Ed and I were talking about how beautiful the wildflowers are along the road. We finally arrived at Devil's Tower. The kids earned their next Junior Ranger Badge. The Native Americans hold June as a very sacred month and the was a voluntary no climb order in place. Ed and I read about it in the visitor center and both agreed we would honor it. This made for one very unhappy twin that he was not allowed to climb on the rocks. As I told him this was their land first and our government took it from them the least we can do is honor their wishes. We saw more prarie dogs at Devil's Tower. After leaving Devil's Tower we headed to our hotel. We arrived in Buffalo Wyoming around dinnertime. We checked in and went to a local restaurant for dinner. The rain started again on our way towards the hotel and it is supposed to rain all night. Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone National Park. I think the wifi access at this point is going to be very iffy so you may not be seeing blogs or a lot of photos. Johanna Today Car 2 started out in Brandon SD. This is in the bottom eastern corner of the state. We drove clear across the state today. Thankfully the rain stopped and we had beautiful weather all except one brief thunderstorm right before we got to our hotel. We left the hotel and headed for the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD. This is a neat place to visit they have a unique design every year and it is REAL corn dyed and put up in the murals! When we were heading out a working told us to stop at the Chamberlain Rest Area and see Lady DIgnity and the Lewis and Clark Museum. This is where I had a ditzy moment and said wow look at that lake...The lady next to us was like um that is the Missouri River. So we then headed to the Badlands. The kids were all AMAZED at the beauty of the National Park. We earned another Junior Ranger Badge. We walked around and toured the area. We saw lots of Prarie Dogs and Big Horn Sheep and Deer. We met up with Car 1 at the Visitors center! After we drove the loop tour we headed to our hotel and to meet Car 3. When we arrived at the hotel Car 3 had arrived! They had already checked us all in and made dinner reservations. We had a delicious meal! Afterwards it was time to go see Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately due to the storms they had lost power so they canceled the evening light show the generators could not handle it. BUT we did earn another Junior Ranger Badge! It was overall another excellent day on our adventure! The highlight of the day for me was PMan thanking me for letting him chose to come along with us. He was so overwhelmed and amazed with the Badlands. He said it was so much better then a baseball game. This is something he may never see again!
Signing off! Johanna We left Portage Indiana and it was POURING. The weather was horrendous today. (torrential downpours and lots of flooding) We eventually got to our first stop Herbert Hoover National Historic Site. We toured the area and the kids earned their first Junior Ranger Badge. It started pouring while we were on the grounds (thankfully Kit Kat had an umbrella and her and Grammy used it) the rest of us got a wee bit soaked. As we left the grounds and roads were flooding we got back onto the highway and headed towards the Buddy Holly crash site. It is were Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Bopper (J.P. Richardson) plane crashed here. This event is known as The day the music died. This tragedy was why Don McLean wrote "American Pie". We then all got very hangry due to eating stuff in the car and not an actual lunch because of the rain so we found a travel plaza with 4 choices of restaurants. Some of us had Pizza Hut and some had McDonalds. After refueling us and the car we headed to the Jolly Green Giant! We had another great laugh at the green man standing 55.5 feet tall (google it). We then headed to our hotel and to our surprise (I must of missed this on the itinerary) there was a waterpark! So I let the kids who were extremely wound up after two days of rain and being in a car play in the waterpark. We had a meltdown of some kids today and I may of lost my cool (and its only day 2) but we have gotten through the two longest travel days and I am hoping this weather PLEASE gets better.Sorry I could not post last night the wifi stunk at the hotel...
Day 1- June 20, 2018- We left Lancaster PA at 545am and headed quickly to Turkey Hill to get caffeinated beverages! We were on the road and headed to the Space Acorn. It started raining pretty good about 2 hours from our home For those that do not know about the Space Acorn the town says that the saw a UFO here. We all had a good laugh over the acorn. Kit Kat swears its the poop emoji! After we left the acorn we started heading to the Thomas Eddison Birthplace. We crossed into Ohio and decided to stop at a rest area for lunch and gas. We arrived at the Thomas Eddison Birthplace and toured the outside grounds we decided to not go inside the building. After leaving here we started heading towards our hotel and the last pit stop for the day. We eventually arrived at Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk National Lakeshore. We tried to see Lake Michigan but it is very foggy. We arrived at our hotel for the evening the kids were a little bummed the pool is closed for maintenance. I decided to reroute us for tomorrow so we do not go through Chicago. So now we have a new itinerary for the first part of the day! We had a wonderful day with the bare minimum bickering between the kids (I think it was when they eventually got tired and then when Pman informed us he was Hangry and needed dinner immediately) Weather was iffy we had some really torrential rain off and on for a good part of the drive today. Overall our first day has been great and can not wait to see what tomorrow brings! It's 8:33pm (central time) and I am ready to go to bed! Johanna By William Schmitt
Thirty-one years ago on an early Saturday morning in June, we (Grammy & Pop Pop) departed home with our three children: Susanna, Johanna, and Laurence, ages 12, 10 and 8 and Mom Mom (my wife Johanna’s mother) for the trip of a lifetime. It was Saturday June 6, 1987 at 5:00 A. M. to be precise. We wanted our children to get a good sense of the expanse of this wonderful country, so we drove the six-thousand plus miles by automobile. One day I will write about that, but I mention it now because that trip is pretty much the motive for our present day trip. However let me narrate just one little incident that occurred on Father’s Day, Sunday June 21, 1987. A few days, maybe a few weeks, prior to Father’s Day our 1981 Chevy Suburban had been hiccuping every now and then especially climbing steeply graded hills. On this particular Sunday afternoon, East of Ten Sleep, Wyoming (Pop. 200 or so) climbing up the side of a Mountain on Route US 16 the old wagon finally petered out. I had to coast backwards downhill without power brakes or steering to get to a place off the main road. We came to a stop in the gravel inches from an overhang. My wife and our oldest daughter Susanna walked out to the highway to flag down a Westbound car to get back to Ten Sleep for help. Only one problem - there was no traffic, East or West. The sun was setting, and I was getting nervous. Finally they flagged down a van from Georgia and were able to get into Ten Sleep and hire a tow truck to get our Suburban back to Civilization. It was pitch black when we arrived. Everyone we met in Ten Sleep was very helpful and no one price-gouged us. The Motel room was very reasonable, and the repair cost for a new Fuel pump was actually less than I would have paid back home in Philly. We were back on the road Monday afternoon. Anyway, Thirty-one years later we are heading out west again to visit the same places, Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, Devils Tower, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and more. Much more. I remember joking back then telling them we can do this again as a caravan with their families when they grow up. And, well... here we are with some new additions, but we’re missing one, Mom Mom has since gone to Heaven, but she will be with us again on this trip, I’m sure. We never took a vacation without her. There’s 14 of us on the 2018 trip: Grammy & Pop Pop, our children Susanna, Johanna & Larry, and grandchildren, Caleb, Patrick, Jakob, Charlie, Katie, Liam & Gideon. Our daughter Susanna is 2 years older than I was when we made the first trip in 1987 and Johanna is the same age I was then, Larry, 2 years younger. |
Authors
Kreibick, Schmitt, & Archives |