We left for Utah on Father's Day, so everyone came over to Tessa's for dinner, then we left from there. My dad has become a huge example to me of hard work and consistent love, and I'm grateful to see both my brothers following in his footsteps.
Our get together was also a goodbye party for Thomas, since he'd be staying in Utah for school. He's a giant anyway, but especially compared to these tiny nieces and nephews!
We started out that evening and drove through the night. My dad and Thomas manned the wheel most of the time, with the exception of the hour or so that Micah practiced. We drove through Illinois during the night and woke up in Minnesota. I can't say I was very impressed. I guess I always thought of Minnesota as this arctic place with tons of lakes (Land of 10,000 Lakes, right?) but instead it was just tons of flat. We continued on into South Dakota, which was a whole lot more of nothing. Seriously. No mountains or hills, no buildings, nothing. This was the view from one of the rest stops we stopped at.
In South Dakota, we stopped at the famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD which is essentially a giant tourist shop. I don't remember seeing any actual medications. This picture was prompted by, "Show me your Wall Drug smiles!" Pretty typical.
I love road trips. I think it's the greatest way to travel because you get to see tons of stuff on the way! My pitch for the drive out to Utah was a small detour up to Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. Obviously, everyone else was excited for that idea.:) Maybe not, but they went for it. And I think everyone was glad we went, because it was really, really cool. The area around Mt. Rushmore was absolutely gorgeous, but when we got there it started storming. And then hailed. We waited a little bit, though, and it calmed down so we were able to venture out and explore the area. (Until the insane hail downpour after our visit on our way down the mountain).
I think my favorite part was learning about how the monument was created, from the conception of the idea, to the planning, to the execution of the carving. For example, they actually carved most of it using precisely placed dynamite. Isn't that crazy? And all of it happened in the 1930s, when they were operating with so much less than we have today. The Presidents were also touched and even shed a few tears. Or raindrops.
My dad is stately enough to be a carved president.
The area that Mt. Rushmore is in is called the Badlands, and it is beautiful.
In Rapid City, we visited the Dinosaur Park, which was in fact a hill with some juvenile-ishly painted giant dinosaur replicas. It was actually built a long time ago...I want to say in the 1930s...so that's something.
The next day was a scheduled day full of driving. We drove through Wyoming, which is typically less than thrilling. I do love the huge blue skies, though. You just can't get wide open spaces like that anywhere else.
We filled our time by listening to talks on CD, playing a word-guessing game on my phone, and listening to stories from my parents. Thomas drove the whole day, I think, and I kept him company up front while Mom, Dad, and Micah camped out in the back.
Out of nowhere, we stumbled upon the Church's historic site at Martin's Cove in Wyoming. None of us knew where it was until I saw a sign for it on the side of the road. We were able to stop and see Devil's Gate and the site where the Martin and Willie Handcart Companies were stranded in the early winter weather 150 years ago. I was touched by the deep faith these Saints had in order to give up everything and take with them only seventy pounds of personal items across the country to start a new life with fellow believers. It was a wonderful surprise that we wouldn't have been able to see if we hadn't been driving. See? Road trips are the best.
