The Grand Tour

First, let me say this blog post will be like no other I've ever done. It will be long and there will be lots of pictures. We went on a big vacation we called "The Grand Tour". It was 23 days and over 5,200 miles. It took us through 13 states as we visited all of our kids that don't live in the same state as us. It was just Brombeere and I. We took over 1,600 photographs and I have winnowed that down to 98 to use here. A monumental task. I hope you make it to the end and don't die. It was an incredibly fun trip and we loved every minute of it.

We left home on a Friday. I had packed before I went to work that morning so Brombeere picked me up when I got off work and we were on our way. That first day we made it 410 miles before stopping for the night. That was interesting. We stopped at a motel and the guy checked us into a room that was already occupied. The room they moved us to wasn't very impressive, either. But it was a place to sleep and we survived.

As we have traveled across South Dakota we have learned that it is populated with a number of" tourist traps". Like Wall Drug, SD. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD is another. This trip we found another: 1880 Town, SD. We were going to check it out but when we got there and saw it, and saw that they charged admission we decided not to go in - we just took a picture and then got back on the road.

One of South Dakota's many tourist traps

A stop we had planned on making when we were planning this trip was at Mt Rushmore, SD. We'd been here once before but that was back in 1988, the year Yellowstone Park burned down. But that's a whole different story for a different time. Anyway, we stopped at Mt Rushmore and found that it had changed a lot in the 27 years since we were last there. We didn't stay long. We went up to the observation area, looked at all the pillars they had for each state and found ours, and looked through some of the shops and information booths they had. It was hot the day we were there. We were going to get an ice cream cone but saw the line and remembered we had over 1,000 miles we wanted to cover that day and decided not to wait. That was a mistake we ended up regretting for several days. Ah,well. Our souvenir from Mt Rushmore ended up being a refrigerator magnet. Don't laugh, we liked it - not kitchy or gaudy, actually somewhat useful. Anyway, that's what we got.

Mt Rushmore, SD

Brombeere at Mt Rushmore, SD

Yeah, me, too

We were there probably about an hour and then it was back on the road. We didn't particularly need gas at that point and weren't particularly hungry so, figuring any place we stopped would be less expensive if it was farther away from Mt Rushmore, we left the area without stopping anywhere else. Throwing all our trust to the GPS, we took off across eastern Wyoming, cutting down toward I-80, which we hoped to pick up somewhere east of Rawlins. Turns out there are plenty of places to get gas but not many places to get food, like no national brand fast-food places. It wasn't until we were in Rawlins that we finally got something to eat, we just stopped at a grocery store and got some french bread and chicken salad spread. And some cantaloupe. And it was really yummy. Then it was more gas and back on the road.

One place we stopped to change drivers was at the entrance to Martin's Cove near Alcova, WY. Actually, it's not near any place. We didn't realize it at the time but this is as far as the Willie and Martin Handcart companies got before they got bogged down in the snow. It was here they were rescued from. The church has a visitors center there but it's only open until 4:00 pm and it was just a little after that when we were there. We'll have to make sure we're going by at a time we can stop one of these trips. I think it would be an interesting place to stop. It wasn't until later in the trip that I realized what had happened there.

Once we reached I-80 the speed limit was higher and it felt like we were finally  making better time. We saw a glorious sunset and got to Heidelbeere's house after a long day - it felt good to be there. It's always exciting to me to drive that last little stretch from Evanston, Wyoming down into Utah. It goes so fast.

Sunset, somewhere east of Evanston, WY

 And, finally, at long last, we got to meet our newest grandbaby. She's such a cutie. She looks a lot like her big sister looked when she was that age. Meeting these new babies as they come along is always such a wonderful experience. They’re so little and new.  Just raw genetics, pretty much uninfluenced by environment at this early point.  I always find myself thinking about and wondering what the world they'll grow up in will be like, what they will be like as they grow up, and how different it will all be from my own experience with the world has been. The world is constantly changing, and changing so fast. And here's this little baby, so small, so new, and so fresh and unspoiled - I always find myself hoping and praying it doesn't get the better of them.

Sunday we went to church with Heidelbeere and her family and then pretty much took it easy. Brombeere was in grandma heaven, playing with all Heidlebeere’s kids but particularly enjoying that new one.  These are moments grandmas (and grandpas) live for.  I believe the phrase is “That ye may have joy and rejoicing in your posterity.” (Gen 1:28).  That we most certainly do.

Brombeere and the newest grandbaby - content at last

Sweet little girl

Sleeping on Grandma's lap

Getting ready for church

 Monday we got up and headed north to Idaho to see Maulbeere and husband.  It was, after all, her birthday so we needed to slip in a little celebration.  Her sweet husband actually made her two birthday cakes.  One was a watermelon cake and the other a little more traditional, with candles and everything.   

Birthday cake one

Birthday cake two

Checking on the dogs

Getting the feed for the chickens

Feeding the chickens

These were actually the neighbor's horses but they still needed to be checked

The nanny goat

Crossing the irrigation ditch

Done with the animals and heading back to the house

So we all had cake, did presents, took care of the animals, and then headed out for the next stop on our trip; Craters of the Moon National Monument.  It was a little bit of a drive but well worth the time.

The entrance to the national park

Our first stop at the monument was at the visitors center to look around.  They had a map on the wall of the United States that people had stuck push-pins in for all the places visitors were from. So of course, when I saw that our home town had no pin I had to get one and put it there.  And then, since all was now right in the world, we left the visitors center to look around the actual monument.

At the visitors center

The place is amazing, its incredible.  They say this was where Yellowstone was 50,000 years earlier - the thin, hot spot in the earth’s crust has been moving in a path from southern California, across Nevada and Idaho and is now under the northwest corner of Wyoming, leaving behind incredible landscape as it goes.  They said the last active eruption at the monument was some 2,000 years ago and is largely responsible for what you see today.  And it was recent enough that it hasn’t all eroded away like has happened farther back along the path.  So we saw rock that was liquid and then hardened while retaining its appearance as liquid, flowing lava, stove-pipe chimneys where gases had boiled and bubbled to the surface, pushing up piles of rock from the bubbling, like thick, viscous fluid does when its boiling hot. Big mounds of rocks where the ground rose and bulged up as gases and deeper hot lava pushed toward the surface.  Amazing, beautiful landscape.  All around all this evidence of a very unwelcoming place back when it was happening but awe inspiring to see now.

Rocks

More rocks, still having the appearance of when they were liquid

Chimneys where gas and air bubbled up through the cooling rock

The park has a loop you can drive around with stops here and there where you can get out and go for little walks or hikes out into it to see the different formations up close.  I think it helped lend a little realism to it that it was such a hot day the day we were visiting.  All that heat reflecting back off the black rock all around.  There is actually a campground in the park you can camp at if you’re so inclined.  We were content to just visit and look around.  We drove, looked, hiked, and played until it was getting late enough that it was time to think about heading back to Maulbeere’s house.  Then we bought another refrigerator magnet and started back.  After being in the heat all day we decided to stop in Atomic City and get ice cream.  This time we stood in the line and got the ice cream!  It tasted so good and we were finally able to get over the feelings of regret we’d been suffering from since not getting any at Mt Rushmore.

The four of us at the national monument

Getting ready to climb the dome 

The view from the top

At the top

Starting back down

Playing around at a chimney

Hope there's nothing in this hole!

Maybe there is something in there!

The landscape at Craters

That was a lot of lava!

We wanted to take Maulbeere out to dinner for her birthday but Atomic City is still pretty much out in the middle of nowhere and didn’t have much in the way of restaurants so we drove back closer to civilization to get something to eat.  This was Maulbeere’s 21st birthday so she had to celebrate having reached her majority by getting a Shirley Temple to drink.  Pretty wild, eh?  It was a good time and we found ourselves just sitting there and talking and taking forever.  You know, the kind of patrons restaurants hate because they occupy a table without continuing to run up the tab.  I had sort of been watching to make sure we weren’t keeping a table while the place was full but that never happened.  Still, the waitress actually came over finally and asked us if we could check out because she was going off shift and wasn’t suppose to leave any open tickets.  We took the hint, paid our bill, left her a big tip, and took off to take Maulbeere and her husband home.  Then Brombeere and I went to our motel room for the night.  It was a really nice day.

Maulbeere with her Shirley Temple - Happy Birthday!

The next morning we went back to Mauleere’s house and got there as they were unpacking a load of baby chicks that had come in the mail.  Who would have thought!  Mailing baby chicks.  Cute little fellers.  So we watched while they unpacked them and got them all set up under a heat lamp and with water and feed.  They said they’d stay there, in the basement under the controlled environment for several weeks until they were better able to be outside.  Then they’d go out with the other chickens.  After that we played Uno until it was finally time for us to head back to Heilebeere’s place.  It was a good visit.  Leaving wasn’t quite so bad because we knew they were coming down later in the week for the baby blessing.

Baby chicks

They all looked the same except this one

Set up with feed and water

 The next few days were spent with Heidelbeere and her family just playing and taking it easy.  And getting ready for the week end.  All kinds of family was coming in for Sunday and the blessing.  During that time Blaubeere and her kids arrived.  They had come out for the blessing as well. Both my sisters came in for the blessing.  That was nice. On Saturday my brother and his wife also came up for a few hours.  So all four of us were together again.  I think that was the first time since my Mom died a few years ago that all four of us were together  It was nice to see them.  

Fixing a salad

Cooking pancakes for breakfast

Me and my sibs

When Maulbeere and her husband came down on the 4th they brought a big box of fireworks with them.  They had been working as seasonal help at a fireworks stand and on their last day their boss gave them this big box of fun stuff so we had our own private fireworks show after it got dark on the 4th.  That was a lot of fun.  The little kids were amazed.  We had sparklers, fountains, and aerials with all the noise that brings.  We spread a blanket out on the lawn and all watched while everything was set off.  There was enough stuff to last 20 or 30 minutes.  It was fun.

Happy Fourth!

Volcanoes

Sparklers! Yeah!

And roman candles!

Sunday was the big day.  The blessing of the little baby.  Lots of family, lots noise and tumult afterward - you know how family gatherings can get.  Blessed by her daddy, it was very nice.  There was also a set of twins blessed the same day.  That was interesting.  Anyway, after church everybody went to Heidelbeere’s house for talk and food and talk and food and talk and food and on and on.  Actually, everybody was so busy enjoying the moment and living life that the few pictures I took of the baby still in her blessing outfit, sitting on my little sister’s lap, turned out to be the only pictures anyone took of her all dressed up.  Nobody remembered to pose anybody or line up anybody or try to get any real cute pictures.  Good thing I’m a bit of a pix-addict.  I just couldn’t help myself.  It was another very good day.

Dressed up for her blessing

Monday Blaubeere, Heidlebeere, her husband, and all the kids piled in cars and we all headed for the zoo.  Lots of animals, very nicely on display, lots of statuary for the kids to play on, climb on, and jump off.  Got to see the most important animal in any zoo - the polar bear, of course. The kids  almost seemed more interested in climbing on the statues of animals than in the animals themselves.  Have to admit, though, the statues of dinosaurs they had scattered around the zoo were pretty cool.  The zoo was a nice time. I like zoos.

Everybody lined up at the zoo, ready to go in!

The best animal in the whole darn place!

As we were leaving they brought out a snake!

We stayed at the zoo most of the morning and early afternoon and then it was time to move on to the next leg of our journey - we headed south to see Brombeere’s family.  Over the next two days we saw four of six of them.  Short, quick visits but it was nice to see them.  It had been quite a while for most of them.  We saw Brombeere’s little sister and her family when we were out last Christmas but for the rest it has been years since we’d seen them.

Me, Brombeere, and her brother and sister

 We were feeling some urgency to get to Moosbeere’s house so we didn't stay any longer.  Quite unexpectedly, just before this big trip, Moosebeere got and accepted a job offer that required him to move from Texas, where he and his family have been living for the last couple of years.  So when we got there it was crunch time - they were already starting to pack and get ready to move.  They didn’t actually have a place to move into lined up until while we were staying with them.  That was a big relief when that happened.  Here they were, packing and moving out without yet having a place to go to.  Exciting times.  The day they planned on jumping in their vehicles and driving to their new home was just a few days after we were scheduled to leave their place so we wanted to get there and help them with all the packing and cleaning.  So we only stayed a couple of days with Brombeere’s sister.  One full day, actually.

Part of the plan on this big trip was a stop at a few places along the way.  In the past on these big trips we've always driven passed everything but not this time. So Wednesday morning we got up for an early start and headed out, we were headed for a place call Fish Lake.  We had learned something amazing about aspen trees a few months before the trip - they grow as great big organisms called "clones", connected into a single living being by their root system.  So the largest living organism known to man is an aspen tree clone near Fish Lake, Utah, known as “Pando”, or “the Trembling Giant”.  Pando is a Latin word for “I spread.”  Made up of over 47,000 tree trunks, Pando covers 106 acres and is estimated to weigh in excess of 13 million pounds. Pretty impressive.  So we had to stop and take a few pictures.  Unfortunately, the lodge there was not selling any Pando refrigerator magnets.

Aspen in the heart of Pando at Fish Lake, Utah

Brombeere, me, and Pando

The blur in the upper left is a hummingbird that was buzzing Brombeere

Brombeere and Pando

All these aspen trees are part of  Pando

Our next stop was Hanksville so again throwing our trust onto the GPS we set off again across the wilderness.  Little did we realize that our route would take us through Capitol Reef National Park, heart of some beautiful red rock country.  We spend the whole time ooohhing and awing, stopping every so often to take pictures.  We were like the little kids at the zoo, going from here to there to see something else amazing.  We even saw some petroglyphs.  That was amazing.  That whole drive through the park was serendipity - unexpected pleasure.  Amazing rock formations everywhere you look.  We pretty much stayed to the main road on our path to Hanksville but it left us feeling like we needed to get back some day and see more.  Another surprise as we left Capitol Reef was that the road also took us through the Glen Canyon Recreation Area.  More pretty landscape but not quite as impressive as Capitol Reef.  We were on the back end of the recreation area, no where near the dam or Lake Powell.  Still, we did keep stopping for pictures and at scenic lookouts because it is a very beautiful area.  

A storm across the way as we were getting into Capitol Reed, UT

Red rock cliffs in Capitol Reef

Petroglyphs in Capitol Reef, Utah

Our point of interest in Hanksville was a gas station.  Yep, you read that right, a gas station called Hollow Mountain.  Back in the sixties some guy decided to take some dynamite and blast out some rooms in a rock side and build a gas station in them.  Couldn’t do that now days, dynamite is a little harder to come by.  But back then you could and he did.  Then, after a few years he sold it and the new owner got some more dynamite and enlarged it a little bit.  Once you’re inside it really doesn’t look out of the ordinary unless you go into the back, which the owner let us do.  Cool place.  

Stopping for gas at Hollow Mountain, Hanksville, UT

They didn’t have any refrigerator magnets at Hollow Mountain either but since the GPS had been giving us a little bit of trouble, what with the lack of signal way out there in the middle of nowhere and all, we decided to get an atlas.  All they had was a little pocket atlas but it did the job.  So we bought gas and the atlas and were back on the road with one more stop in mind.

Looking out front from the back room at Hollow Montain

The back room at Hollow Mountain

Glen Canyon Recreational Area, southern Utah

A bridge we crossed traveling through Glen Canyon Recreational Area

The Colorado River, passing through the Glen Canyon Recreation Area

Neither of us had ever been to the Four Corners area so since our road took us fairly close we decided to make a stop there, too.  Four Corners isn’t a national park, its on an indian reservation and is run by the Navajo. Funds are limited, I guess, because it wasn’t very well developed.  There’s a big marker in the ground and some stuff right around the marker but that’s about it.  Kind of underwhelming, we thought.  But still lots of people stop there.  There was a line of people waiting to stand on the marker that we figured to be about an hour long.  That was more time than we wanted to spend so we took a few pictures, walked around the square and looked at all the vendor tables, bought a Christmas tree ornament and, you guessed it, a refrigerator magnet, and then got back on the road.  We made it as far as Albuquerque before calling it a day and stopping.

Four Corners

The marker at Four Corners

Brombeere

Me

The next day was pretty much just a travel day - we’d done all our sightseeing the day before.  However, as we were leaving Albuquerque we noticed we had stayed at a motel that was located on historic Route 66, the one that reached from the coast of California all the way to Chicago, IL.  We hadn't realized it but in arriving at Albuquerque we also had picked up route 66 as it came from the west and headed on east.  We wouldn’t be following it, we planned on sticking to the interstate freeway.  But we would run along parallel with it for a while, then it would diverge off and come back later. We went south to Texas as it continued east and north through Oklahoma. We would cross it again on our trip from Texas up to Illinois several days later.  As part of the highway system, route 66 no longer exists. But it's famous and much of it and the sights and attractions along it have been preserved. Who would have thought a road would ever become a tourist attraction.

Getting our kicks on Route 66

Being hip on Route 66

We pulled into Moosebeere’s place Thursday afternoon, happy to get out of the car.  The chaos of packing was evident everywhere.  They were already well into it. It was late enough when we got there that we didn't do much that first evening except talk and play with the grandkids. When you don't see them very often sometimes you have spend a little time getting reacquainted so that's what we did.

The chaos of packing up a household

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

The next week was spent pretty much just helping pack and clean. Sometimes the helping took the form of keeping the kids occupied so their parents could get some stuff done, work a little more efficiently, and the like. The farther into the week it got the more specialized the packing tended to get. It's like that, you tend to leave the difficult stuff to the last, or the stuff you need to use to the end and pack so it can come out first when you arrive and begin to unpack. After a while it was more efficient to just get out of the way rather than constantly having to ask "What about this?" or "What about that?" or "What can I do now?" So we helped where we could and got out of the way when we needed to.

A deer we saw while driving through Moosbeere's neighborhood

Keeping the kids occupied and out from under foot

We did take time out to all go out to dinner one evening - that was fun. We also took the time to go visit the state capitol building which is really an amazing place. They don't build like that anymore. Nowadays it's all steel and glass. Back then it was all wood and marble. Personally, I prefer wood and marble. Plus public places like capitol buildings tend to be collecting places for memorials and monuments and this building was no exception. The grounds were well kept and the whole effect was a very nice place to visit. We weren't in a hurry so we took our time wandering around the building and then the grounds. It was a very nice afternoon and a welcome break from all the packing.

Looking from the ground floor up in the rotunda at the capitol building

Some walked up a few flights of stairs.  Others took the elevator

Looking from the fourth floor down in the rotunda

 All too soon the week had gone by and it was time to leave and get completely out of the way so they could finish up. It dawned on us as we were leaving that we probably wouldn't ever be back to Texas since Moosbeere and his family wouldn't be there any more. Other than the visit to the capitol building we really hadn't done any sightseeing so at one of our last trips to the grocery store we bought a Texas refrigerator magnet. Then it was off on our way towards Illinois.

Texas really has some parts that are quite pretty and the drive was nice.  This first travel day was pretty much just that - a travel day. We had talked about places we might stop on our way to Illinois but in the end we had stayed in Texas to help long enough that there wasn't much time for stopping on our way out. So we just drove. Texas is a big state so that first day we made it out of Texas and across Arkansas to just across the state line into the southeast corner of Missouri before stopping for the night at Poplar Bluff.

On the road again

Southeastern Missouri

In the Mark Twain National Forest

In the morning it was back on the road again, heading toward St Louis. As we headed north from Poplar Bluff we found ourselves passing through the Mark Twain National Forest. Lots of trees everywhere you look. We soon decided we had enough time to stop for a closer look so we turned off the main road and followed this little tiny back road off into the trees a ways. I never knew Mark Twain had his own forest but this was Missouri, after all, so it made sense. Hannibal was just a couple hundred miles north of us at that point. We pulled off the road into a little clearing called the Ozark Trailhead to look around and take a few pictures. We didn't hang around long, though because the bugs were really bad. Soon as we got out of the car they started eating us alive. We took a few pictures and got back in the car pretty quick and got back on the road.

At the Ozark Trailhead, Mark Twain National Forest, MO

As we were coming into St Louis you could see the Gateway Arch from quite a ways out of town. It is, after all, 630 feet tall. We debated back and forth whether or not to stop but in the end decided not to. As we were getting closer there was a lot of construction and we weren't sure we wanted to spend the time it would take to look around and ride to the top. We were more interested in getting to Erdbeere's house and getting some time with her and her family.  It was just as well - I found out later, after we were back home, that it had been closed during the time we were there anyway. So we skipped it and zoomed across the Mississippi River into Illinois.

The Gateway Arch, St Louis, MO

 A little later in the day we came across a little town called Gardner and just had to stop.  Gardner, IL is a little village of about 1,400 people named after some guy named Henry C Gardner, who help establish the town back in the late 1800s.  We didn't realize it at the time, but Gardner is also on historic route 66 so we were back in that neighborhood again. We hadn't realized it but we had actually picked up route 66 again back when we went through St Louis and had been running near it for most of the morning.  It's just not very well marked in a lot of places. So as it was, we stopped by the city's sign for a couple of pictures, bought gas and lunch, and were back on the road again.

At Gardner, Illinois

 From Gardner to Erdbeere's house was only a few more hours so it wasn't very late when we got there, even with all the construction we ran into at the end of the trip. It was nice to get there and be able to get out of the car again. And it was especially nice to get to see Erdbeere's family again. It was getting on in the afternoon so we didn't go anywhere or do anything. Mostly just talked and visited and played with little Townsend for the evening. Quiet and relaxing, very nice. The next day was Sunday so we went to church with Erdbeere and her family. Then we went back to the house for lunch. Then, all too soon, it was time to head home.

Me and Townsend, having breakfast Sunday morning

One of Townsend's favorite toys - loves dropping the marble

Leaving this time was a little harder - we hadn't been there very long and leaving meant the whole, grand tour was coming to an end.  The trip home went pretty quick and then we were back home. While it was nice to be home and back to our own bed and bathroom it was also sad to see the whole thing come to an end. We'd seen people we loved, people we hadn't seen for a long time, and lots of new, beautiful territory. It truly was a grand tour.

Our souvenirs from the Grand Tour