Around the country in 16 days!

We took a semi last minute trip across the US in 16 days!  Yep…that’s right.  We drove-across the United States-in March-during one of the coldest winters on record.  Are we crazy?  You bet!  Would we do it again?  You bet!

For those who likes things short & sweet, this version if for you:

Mar 2:  Drove through part of California, Nevada, and into Utah.  Stopped in Highland, UT.

Mar 3:  Drove through Utah and into Colorado.  Stopped in Colorado Springs, CO

Mar 4:  Drove through Colorado and Kansas.  Stopped in Salina, KS.

Mar 5:  Drove through Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and into Kentucky.  Stopped in Shelbyville, KY.

Mar 6:  Drove through Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and into Maryland.  Stopped in Lexington Park, MD

Mar 7-Mar 10:  Stayed in Lexington Park & toured area.  Left Lexington Park Monday morning and drove through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and into Ohio.  Stopped in Columbus, OH.

Mar 11:  Drove though Ohio, Indiana and into Illinois.  Stopped in Chicago, IL.

Mar 12-14:  Toured Chicago area.  Left Chicago Friday morning and drove though Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska.  Stopped in Bellevue, NE.

Mar 15: Drove though Nebraska and Wyoming.  Stopped in Rawlins, WY.

Mar 16: Drove though Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada.  Stopped in Sparks, NV.

Mar 17: Drove through Nevada and into California.  Arrived HOME!

For those who like details, this version is for you:

We decided on February 20^th to take a trip to Maryland and planned on meeting one of Scott’s brothers out there while he visited his daughter.  And in route, I’d visit my sister and maybe even get to meet some of my “Garnet” girls along the way.  After 9 days of planning-we were off.

We left on March 2 at 5:00 am in the morning.  Our first stop would be just south of Utah to meet up and stay with one of my Garnet sisters.  (Side note here-I met my “Garnet” sisters on line when I was pregnant with Leah.  There are about 21 of us who have stayed in touch for just about 10 years now! Some even “talking” daily via FB.   Some of us have met in person along the way and we’re scattered across the US and one in London!) 

Our visit with Laura and her family was delightful.  We were sad to leave the next day as more time there would have been fun.  But we had to be in Maryland by Thursday night.  So off we went, leaving Highland, UT at 7:40 am.  We made a pit-stop in Price, UT at the Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum where we the kids had their first field trip of the adventure!  We left at 12:00 and headed for Colorado Springs.  We arrived in Colorado Springs at 9:10 pm-having taken a “scenic” route instead of the more direct route on the map.  We stayed our 2^nd night in Colorado Springs near the Air Force Academy and Nolan had fun watching the planes the next morning out of our hotel window before heading to breakfast. 

We left our hotel at 9:30 and headed to the Garden of the Gods and Glen Eyrie to do some sightseeing before leaving the state.  We crossed the border of Colorado & Kansas shortly after 1:30 with 67 degree weather, sunny and fairly warm.  We even had the A/C on in the car for a bit and wondered what everyone was talking about with this winter weather?  Our parents had tried to discourage us from driving on this trip because of the weather and evidently followed our trail on the weather channel all the way!  We stopped in Salina, KS for the night and found a hotel with an indoor pool.  Leah and Scott enjoyed the pool and slide, but Nolan wasn’t having any part of it.

We left Salina, KS at 7:00 am on March 5.  It was 32 degrees. We were travelling I-70 which took us through MO, IL, IN, and we stopped 30 miles east of Louisville, KY for the night arriving 8pm.  By Wednesday night we’d driven through a total of 8 states and had 3 states on the agenda for March 6^th!  The only weather we’d had at this point was rain in Truckee, CA.  We saw remnants of snow on the ground in IN and KY but not affecting our travel.

We left Shelbyville, KY at 7 am and it was 27 degrees.  We did notice the temperature dropping as we moved further east.  We drove through West Virginia, Virginia and into Maryland and arrived at our destination in Maryland at 7:00 pm.  We had remnants of snow, but no weather during our visit. 

We had a great visit in Maryland with Russ and Emma.   The cousins were so excited to spend time together!  We visited a Naval Air Museum, several parks, Point Look Out Prisoner-of-War camp for the civil war, Point Look Out State Park and Lighthouse, Historic St. Mary’s – home of THE St. Mary’s college, and Fort Mc Henry-where Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner during the war of 1812.   So much history back there and it was decided another trip needs to be schedule in the future!

We left Maryland on March 10 and drove through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and into Ohio where we stopped in Columbus, Ohio for the night.  There we had to opportunity to meet up with another Garnet sister from North Carolina who just happened to be working in Columbus, Ohio!  We had a lovely dinner with her and I was grateful for the opportunity to meet up with another longtime friend.

We left Columbus, OH on March 11 and headed to our destination:  Chicago, Illinois.  As we passed through Indiana, we made a pit stop in Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where the Indy 500 race takes place.  We toured the museum and took a bus ride around the track.  At the museum we saw a photograph and trophy of Louis Schneider who won the 1931 Indy 500.  Louis Schneider was Scott’s grandfather’s Uncle.  So I guess he’d be our kids Great, Great Uncle.  After spending some time browsing the race cars and then having lunch just outside of Indianapolis, we were on our way to Chicago. 

We arrived at my sister’s penthouse about 4:00 in the afternoon.  The cousins were ecstatic to see each other.  The time in Chicago was another nice reprieve from driving.  On Wednesday, the girls visited the Art Institute of Chicago, while the boys toured the Field Museum.  On Thursday, we all partook of the activities and sights at the Museum of Science and Industry.  All of the above places are highly recommended if you ever make it to Chicago.

We left Chicago Friday morning about 9:30 on March 14^th.  A short visit, but it was time to get back home to reality.  We drove through Illinois and Iowa and barely into Nebraska.  We stayed in Bellevue, NE for the night.   We left Bellevue at 7:00 am and drove through the rest of Nebraska, on into Wyoming.  It was late in the day and the weather everyone was talking about finally began.   It started to snow a little bit and became very windy when we made a pit stop at a Cabela’s in the middle of nowhere.  Literally there was Cabela’s and a gas station.  It was snowing lightly as we left Cabela’s and continued steadily for about 2 hours into Wyoming.  The snow wasn’t sticking to the ground, but it was very windy.  We stopped in Rawlins, Wyoming for the night.  We’d hoped to make it to Green River, but not knowing how the weather would progress, we figured we would play it safe.  We arrived in Rawlins, WY at 6:00 pm and the indoor pool at the hotel was a life saver to get rid of excess energy!

We left Rawlins, WY shortly after 7:00 am and made it through UT and back into Nevada.  Our hope was to make it home Sunday night, but by 7:00 we were done with being in the car.  So we stopped in Sparks and stayed with Scott’s brother and family for the night.  It was a good opportunity to say that Leah & Nolan had visited with all of their out-of-state cousins on this trip!

We left Spark, NV around 8:30 and arrived home before lunch.  Whew!  If you made it this far-you’ve travelled 6273 miles with us!  Congratulations.  These are the states we went through: NV, UT, CO, KS, MO, IL, IN, KY, WV, VA, MD, PA, OH, IA, NE.  Obviously some states we went through twice, once on I-70 on the way east, and on I-80 heading back west. 

For 6273 miles-we all did pretty well together cramped in the Subaru together.  The kids are not ready for any long trips real soon, but seriously, we would do it again.  We're so grateful that we homeschool so we could do this trip off-season.  The crowds at museums and tourist locations-non-existent.  From what we've heard for some of our stops-the lines during the summer are like Disneyland.    Thanks to Chris & Ren for taking care of our animals and mail and to Niki & John for taking care of our business while we were gone!  Couldn't have made this trip without you.

That’s all for now folks.  It’s time to rest!  Check out some pics on the side bar from our trip.