Summer Road Trip Photo Frenzy....

wowsa!

Talk about a lot of photos!

here is a handful of the best.

This post is a quick look back over last month's 

MEGA Road Trip across the USofA.

I say quick because I am going to try to use minimal words

to recap our fun....

and

hopefully I will be able to add a video for your 

pleasure at the end.

The best part of the trip for me was the driving out to 

Yellow Stone with Kevin and the kids.

You will see why as you go through the pictures.

We drove the looooooong way from Satellite Beach, FL

to (eventually), Kaysville, UT.

These may not be in chronological order....

but we did all of this stuff at some point,

so you will get the gist,  and we will be able to recall good memories

when we browse this string of photos.

These shots are from Cumberland Gap, TN (I believe)

This was a fun little look out point we veered off to.

It is also the home of the 

"1 MILE TUNNEL".

This brings me to reason #1 that I loved the drive out 

to Utah.

The curiosity that we were able to employ.

Kev would say something like, 

"Hey, that looks interesting, should we check it out???"  

"Why Not."??

So we would.

We did this many times over.

Sometimes it would take us a bit farther away from our ultimate

destination, 

but.....Who Cares??

We didn't....
we wanted to relax and see some of this 

magnificent country we live in.

 It was liberating to be in charge,

and yet not have a single plan of where we were going next.

Not to be rushed and hurried....for once.

These next photos were from North Carolina,

we pulled off to watch a bunch of river rafters, and kayaking.

We sat around and put our feet in the crispy water and 

decided we will have to come back here again.

We need to river raft as a family ASAP.

This was a fun spot to stretch and relax. 

 These were taken in Chatanooga, TN  

We went to Look Out Mountain, where you can see

6 or 7 different states at once.

Pretty cool.

It was a beautiful area.

 We came across a very enjoyable Civil War museum. 

We spent a bunch of time there.

K was really into it....the boys were making plans to 

get their hands on any kind of confederate money, flags, 

or rare documents so they could leave them 

around for Grandpa Dana to find.

They thought this place was big time fun.

We rode the tram up the steep incline and took in the sights.

 In Dayton Ohio, we saw the "Great American Ball Park"....

and this super cool Air Force museum.

This was the day of the only disagreement K and I got into 

on our whole trip.

It lasted a few hours....

but dissipated 

as soon as we found my name sake airplane.

Loved seeing my name plastered up on the side of the plane like that.

This museum was massive!!

So much to see....planes, helicopters, and memorials of all kinds.

It was so well done, and very entertaining.

not to mention....

FREE!!

This picture of the women pilots I had to have....

I pretended it was myself and my girls.

 Some fun random views....

corn fields aplenty.

Kev loved pointing these out to us, time and again.

They just never got old...
ever.

These tall and strange moving vehicles were also aplenty.

Beautiful sunsets each night.

Chocolates on my lap.....a sight I ALWAYS love.

Choffy and creamer at my feet, 

plus the bargain book I found at one of our stops....

"Age Erasers"...... I have had the best time with this book.

and it was only 5 bucks!

Steal of the trip I think.....I am still referring to it.

 A super fun highlight was meeting up with my Aunt Danae in 

Nauvoo, Illinois.

On this day she was serving in the School House 

for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It was fun to pop in on her, and then hear her tell us about the 

saints of olden time.

Love you Auntie!!

 Kevin's favorite stop on our quick visit was the 

Gun Smith Shop.

We heard the history of John Browning.

K was mesmerized and fascinated with this man... his 

genius, generosity, and goodness.

If he wasn't a Browning Gun fan before....he certainly is now.

 McCauley got to make her own rope at the Family Center.

She was extremely stoked by this.

We concluded that we want to come back and spend more time

at Nauvoo.....we did not get to see all that we wanted, 

and can picture coming back just to visit this great place of Church history.

We ended up following the Mormon Trail for the rest of this day and 

into the next.  All back roads, winding through towns surrounded by

fields and cows and green.

Loved the slower pace for a time.

 This same day Kev introduced the "Shouting Tree" to our family.

Being in the car for hours on end,

in such tight quarters with one another, occasionally brought out 

negativity.

Kev told us to "Save it for the Tree"...

at the end of the day,

when we all needed a little alone time K found a private area

that each person got to walk up to,

and have a few minutes to unload any built 

up negativity they were harboring. 

This helped us get on peacefully with our trip.

This proved to be not only a smart idea....

but, a pretty entertaining one as well.

 The giant wind mills went on forever!

A few times we saw large semi trucks carrying one of the 

arms of one of these big boys.....

talk about unbelievably big!

One arm is like the size of a whale.....really!

maybe I am way off....but I don't know what else to compare it to.

 Bridges, tunnels, and overpasses!

So much variety!

 McCauley and I finally got to see Mount Rushmore.

The boys have gone with K for the past several years on their annual

hunting trip, but this was our first time to see 

their stomping ground while they are away on their

"guy trip".  

They took us through the Black Hills and showed us some of the places

they stay, and their favorite hangouts to eat at.

We finally made it to YellowStone!!

Immediately upon driving into the park, the wildlife was upon us.

What a fun thrill!

We surprised Kev's parents for their 50th wedding anniversary.

His whole family spent a few days near the park in some

super sweet cabins.

It was great seeing everyone.

One of the books I read on the drive was 

"The Kitchen House"....I loved it.

This book got me into trouble a few times....

occasionally my reactions

were delayed when K was trying to point out something to me on the

drive....he didn't appreciate me being so into my book.

I made a point of having quick responses in the future.

Feet on the dash, and a great book is reason #2 

that I loved the drive out so much.

Pure relaxation, and doing exactly what I wanted to be doing.

Reading, Eating, and Drinking

doing all three 

in the company of my loved ones.

HA!!

My perfect vacation.

I realized I could go for weeks on end like that.

Drink, Read, Eat, Pee, 

repeat.

Look, talk, laugh, take in the beauty.

Read.

Pour Choffy, eat Junior mints, read, shed a few tears over story.  

Check out the bear, be amazed by the waterfall,

feel grateful for each other....

read, fall asleep for a few minutes,

have K take my picture with my mouth open and me looking 

like I'm a million years old.....

and so forth.

The Best of times.

 The kids and I learned we HATE Wasabi Peas....

I always assumed that the white covering on the peas

I saw at gas stations was white chocolate.

So the taste that immediately hit my taste buds was a huge shocker 

when K was passing them out.

Buh-Arf.

We could hardly get the fish or any other wild life to give them a snif.

  Yellow Stone Falls.....

note to self - 

remember to wear some kind of foot wear other than cheap, 

thin flip flops for the hiking.

Kinda slowed me down a bit.

Happy 50th Deanne and Delbert!!!

We love you!

It snowed the second night we were there!
It is June Folks!  So this seemed surprising to me.

...but totally AWESOME!

 HAD to stop at Bear World on the way home.

HAD TO.

Kev's pool guy hat was worn by him A LOT on this trip,

as well as every other family relation.

It was a pretty popular prop.

 Good bye Christensen clan.....

Helllllll-o Dana's

....incoming Cherry Hills, Waxing, Lash tinting,

Lagoon, Spa time, and my older Brothers extra great photo ops.

 We ate a ton of cabbage at my parents.....their garden held mega 

heads of it.  

I do love cabbage!!

We celebrated Father's Day....

on this of days one of the craziest 

things happened while we were putting the final touches on dinner.

My sister Heather and her hubby were there with my parents and I.

My mom noticed a little grape juice around the base of a large

glass container of homemade grape/lemonade.

She had me lift it so she could slip a towel underneath it.

As I lifted it,

 the entire bottom came off!!!

GALLONS of juice came pouring out.

I tried to slide it over to the sink but,

the amazing onslaught of juice was EVERYWHERE!!

That was so very bizar, and sticky, and messy and shocking!

and STICKY.

 We sewed late at night working on Amy's trademark 

personalized dolls for my friends back home.

Keri colored my hair and nearly every grandkid got a little 

lick of color to.....cuz

Why Not?

Love our families!

Loved our visit!

Loved our road trip.

Thanks for the memories!