This & That; Nuts & Bolts



Bryce Canyon



August, 2012

OK, so we have been home 1 1/2 weeks now and I have to say that our trip still consumes much of our thoughts.  We have been journaling, picking out pictures for the albums we are putting together, telling stories, visiting with friends who did their own cross-county trips...just remembering.  I am thankful that we have these 3 weeks to readjust before school starts, but I would go again tomorrow if we had the chance.  I loved being away from commitments, responsibilities, schedules and I loved just being together.  We realize this trip was a gift, and we are so thankful for it.  I pray that our kids will always love this summer and our time together. 

My last blog I wanted to just write down favorite things, places we were....funny mish-mash stuff.  So, here goes. 

1.  We were gone for 37 days and covered 10,100 miles IN OUR MINI-VAN (which did awesome, by the way).

2.  National Parks that we visited:  Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Garden of the Gods, Mesa Verde, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Death Valley, Yosemite, Redwoods, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Rainier, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone. National Parks we visited:  Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Garden of the Gods, Mesa Verde, and Yellowstone

3.  States we traveled through:  Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Minnesota.

4.  Quote I said most often "To the right".  When we were hiking, it is proper etiquette to stay on the right side of the trail to make it easier for other hikes.  I don't think we ever really got this down.

5.  Breakdown of where we spent the nights:  2 weeks with family & friends, 2 nights driving through the night, 1 week camping and 2 weeks in hotels.

The best priceline was in Colorado Springs where we got a Residence Inn Suite for $60.  Our most expensive camping was in Cannon Beach at $40 (but VERY nice bathhouses and laundromat-which was good in the rain!)  Our cheapest camping site was for $16 at Rocky Mountain High outside of Glacier.

6.  Everyone's favorite places:  This was hard to determine but these are top favorites and not in order

Dave:  1.  Redwoods in Jedediah Smith  2.  Zion River Walk  3.  Boiling River in Yellowstone  4.  Base Camp on Mt. Rainier (Camp Muir)

Tracy:  1.  Mt. Rainier  2.  Bryce Canyon  3.  Zion River Walk  4.  Lake McDonald @ Glacier

Joshua:  1.  Monterey Bay Aquarium  2.  Garden of the Gods  3.  Yellowstone (the blue hot springs  4. Badlands    5.  Air and Space Museums we saw  6.  Bryce Canyon   7.  Grand Canyon

Christopher:  1.  Zion Riverwalk  2.  Yellowstone  3.  Oesul Falls, Big Sky, Montana  4.  Monterey Bay Aquarium  5. Bryce Canyon

Jonathan:  1.  Yellowstone  2.  Redwoods   3.  Grama and Grampa's house

Annika:  1.  Redwoods  2.  Zion Riverwalk  3.  Mt. Rushmore  4.  Grama and Grampa's house


Lake McDonald- Glacier National Park



7.  Animals that we saw:  moose, mommy moose with baby, blue-tailed skink, marmots, chipmunks, rock squirrels, big horn sheep, mountain goats, prong horn deer, elk, grizzly bear, black bear, sharks and all sorts of marine animals, starfish, anemones, hermit crabs, banana slugs and their ugly cousins, bison, rattlesnake, lizards.  We only missed seeing a scorpion and wolves.

8.  We averaged 2 meals a day.  Here are some of our favorite meals:
Dave:  Yosemite Lodge and Campbell's steak and crab meal
Tracy:  Pizza Ranch Pizza, Campbells, New York strip and sourdough bread over the campfire, The Spaghetti Factory, Fish and Chips & Joshua's Clam Chowder at the Driftwood.
Joshua:  Clam Chowder at the Driftwood and The A&W Diner in LasVegas
Christopher:  Gaslight (SD), Driftwood and A&W Diner
Jonathan:  Buffalo Burger in Yellowstone and A&W Diner
Annika:  pizza in Iowa

Most expensive meal was at Yosemite Lodge and the most reasonable (besides the grocery store) was at the Spruce Goose Museum (because they accidentally gave us the wrong food and let us keep it).

9.  Injuries and boo-boos (thankfully there were not many!!)
Dave:  burned his leg starting the campfire at Riffe Lake, big scratches from thorn bush at Bridal Veil Falls,  cracked his elbow on Chris's head :)
Joshua:  Fell at Oesul Falls and banged up his hip on a rock
Christopher:  lots of scrapes from surfing in the Boiling River, bleeding in the Badlands
Jonathan:  Fell on snow at Glacier and ripped up his side, allergic reaction to Salt Water Taffy
Annika:  scraped her tummy bad in the Badlands, Fell on the Golden Gate Bridge and scraped her shoulder and hip, cut her toe open at Mt. Saint Helens, fell off the bridge at Bridal Veil Falls (WA)



Zion National Park


10.  We did many workouts to keep the boys in good shape for football.  Some of the best were:

• Hiking up to Camp Muir on Mount Rainier - 5,000 ft. of vertical climb, 8.5 miles 90% on snow.  
• Bright angel trail at Grand Canyon - 45 minutes down and then run back out of the canyon - many disbelieving looks on the way back up. 
• Timed 1.1 mile run at 8,000 ft. elevation in Big Sky, Montana (with cousins Ellie and Ben). 
• 500 rope jumps and 100 body weight squats with push ups and sit ups - many locations such as Big Sky, MT and St. George, UT. 
• 6.5 mile hike at Beehive Basin in MT. 
• 1.7 mile run across the Golden Gate Bridge.
• Run to, along, and back from the Puddle jump trail in Orange City, Iowa.
• Many other hikes in Bryce, Zion, Rushmore, Yosemite, Mesa Verde, Death Valley, Garden of the Gods, and Washington state.

11. Favorite Activities during the summer:  hiking, swimming, scuba-diving, bouldering by waterfalls, climbing up Redwoods trees that had fallen over, hanging out in the hot-tub, just being together!!!!!!

Thank you for following our blog, for your prayers and encouragement and for all those who gave us places to lay our heads.  We are so thankful for this summer and all the memories that we have!



The Barretts at Ousel Falls