Two weeks ago on June 18th we loaded the minivan with our 4 kids (11, 8, 6, and 3) and enough snacks to stock a 7-11 and headed on the road to Columbus, OH for my wife's sister's wedding. We started in Spokane, WA and went through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio on the way there with stops in Billings, MT, Rapid City, SD, Cedar Rapids IA, and then Columbus. Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorial were our big tourist stops on the way. Made the trip out there in 4 days.
My wife comes from a big family (she is 1 of 11) so there was a ton of time with aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins while we were in Columbus for 5 days. My sister-in-law made a beautiful cake for the wedding and my wife did the flowers (she used to work for a florist) so I got to spend a lot of time with the kids while she was busy with that.
Then we re-loaded the snack bucket and headed for home. Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and Washington on the way home. We stayed in Omaha, Cheyenne, Cody, and Butte so 5 days home. While we were in Cody we went to the rodeo they have every night there and the kids loved that.
A day in Yellowstone was probably the highlight of the trip home. We could have used a couple more days and some legs that could handle more walking (especially the 3 year old) but we saw the Grand Canyon of the Rockies, Hayden Valley, some mud pots and a cool spring called Dragon's Mouth, Old Faithful, Grand Prizimatic hot spring, Mammoth Hot Spring, and a bunch of other geysers, fumaroles, and springs. What amazed me was the huge variety of landscapes there were in the park. You could be in a big, grassy meadow and then go around the corner and you are in a huge canyon or in a super lush forest. Didn't see any bears or wolves but lots of elk and bison.
5016.4 miles driven, way too much money spent on hotels, food, gas, and souvenirs and now I need a vacation to recover from this trip. Awesome memories made along the way and a great time with the family.
