Friday, July 28th, 2023

Starting mileage: 11,620, Distance travelled: 235

Miles walked: 4.75

We spent the morning visiting our last national park of the trip, but only from a train. We boarded the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway at the Akron-Northside station for a round-trip ride to Peninsula station, inside the park. Scenic was a massive overstatement and the most exciting thing we observed was the Akron sewer pipeline that was so big, they had driven a Model T through when it was built. Fortunately we were seated next to a lovely retired couple from Kansas who were just heading out on an 8-week trip like the one we had just completed so we had a very nice conversation with them. We also managed to get our national park passport stamp for one of the conductors in the cafe car and bought some scenic railway stickers too, so I guess that counts…

We still had some time to kill before meeting family for dinner so we decided to spend the afternoon at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, just a couple of towns over. We got lunch before at a fantastic Mexican place called Blue Habanero. David accidentally got served a huge bowl of black BEANS instead of GREENS due to a miscommunication between the waitress and the kitchen which we got a kick out of. The family enjoyed the Hall of Fame but we were underwhelmed given the cost of admission and what David had built up in his head after driving by it during college but never wanting to spent the money. David did enjoy getting a photo with the bust of his favorite New York Giant, Lawrence Taylor, who more than anyone turned him into an NFL fan. He also spent a stupid amount of money on a Taylor jersey that the sales clerk had to dig out of the warehouse.

Upon exiting the museum, we were desperate for coffee so wandered over to this massive new development behind it that was barely inhabited but looked promising but only found overpriced custom ice cream sandwiches that Brady and Laura were happy to partake of.

With still more time to kill, we drove to Canal Fulton, the town where we were meeting for dinner and went for a nice walk along the towpath of the Ohio & Erie Canal. David reminisced about the time he spent in the town when he was a young boy. We also got serenaded by a Meatloaf cover band that was warming up for an evening concert in the park.

We met David’s mom’s sisters, Linda and Sandy and Sandy’s daughter, Heidi for dinner at Canal Grille in Canal Fulton, OH. David was again really happy to reconnect with part of his family that he’d long been out of touch with. They reminisced about the summers spent visiting with his beloved grandparents and playing with his cousin Heidi. We once again failed to get photos, unfortunately. After dinner we drove about 3 hours to avoid spending the final day of our vacation entirely on the road. The kids were also anxious to return home to catch up with friends before turning around to get to sleep away camp on Sunday. We landed at a Best Western in Fredonia, NY just before midnight and crashed out pretty much immediately.

Thursday, July 27th, 2023

Starting mileage: 11,389, Distance travelled: 231

Miles walked: 2 miles

We got a bit of a slow start this morning and drove to Wooster, OH where we had birthday dinner plans for David’s Uncle Alton. We stopped first at the College of Wooster, David’s alma mater to walk through the campus and reminisce about his crazy college days.

We drove to David’s Aunt Verna’s house, the same house his father grew up in. We met Aunt Verna, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Alton, their son Rob and his wife, Angel. We also met Verna’s three adorable dogs, Cupcake, Moe, and Trixie. We had a delicious home-cooked dinner and a wonderful visit with the family. David really enjoyed reconnecting, pleased by how comfortable the conversation was, even after 30 years. Brady and Laura enjoyed hearing the stories from dad’s childhood. David had some touching moments reminiscing with Verna about the regular Saturday night visits he had with her and Dick during his college years that left him with a lump in his throat as we left.

After dinner we headed to our LAST RV park stay of the trip, a small, well-maintained, family run spot just outside of Akron, Countryside Campground.

Wednesday, July 26th, 2023

Starting mileage: 11,180, Distance travelled: 209

Miles hiked: 2.5

We realized while setting the camper up at the Mammoth Cave Campground that the heat dome causing record breaking heat had been tracking our path from Arizona to Kentucky. This led to us spending a VERY hot and humid night sleeping in Kentucky, where we had no hookups (and so no air conditioned comfort). We woke up groggy and uncomfortable as we headed out to our scheduled 9:45am Historic Tour. The cave is the longest in the world and quite different from Wind Cave, especially in its expansiveness. There was much more evidence of human activity, including mining for minerals that got turned into gunpowder during the War of 1812. David thought it was very cool to be walking through an ancient underground dry riverbed.

After the tour, we decided to hit the road rather than exploring above ground at Mammoth Cave as soon as we felt the 95 degree temperature and 90% humidity. Instead we put some miles behind us to cut down on driving to Wooster, OH the following day. We made to Cincinnati, ate a fabulous Turkish meal on the north side of the city and stayed at an RV park a little further north still. Brady, Laura and Susan played in the pool to cool off before bedtime.

Tuesday, July 25th, 2023

Starting mileage: 10,869, Distance travelled: 311

Miles walked: 4

We had some time to visit the St. Louis Zoo before heading out to our next destination in the afternoon. Unlike other non-profit zoos, this one is free to the public, relying on public funding, philanthropy and corporate sponsorships. We were very impressed with the habitats, facilities, and landscaping. Probably everyone’s favorite moment was watching a 2-year old chimp swinging and leaping around her play area. The heat of the day made it impossible to see several animals who were hiding out in the shade. Brady was our primary photographer for the visit, taking over 200 pictures in just about 2 hours.

After leaving the zoo, we drove to Ted Drewes, an iconic frozen custard joint recommended to us by many folks. We made sandwiches which we ate in the parking lot before grabbing our dessert, the classic Concrete that made Ted Drewes famous. It’s the thickest malted milkshake you’ve ever had, able to be turned upside down without spilling, that is before it melts in the 95-degree heat. We found out when we arrived that it’s also located along the historic Route 66.

With bellies full of delicious concrete, we hit the road east to Kentucky, passing by the Arch one last time.

Monday, July 24th, 2023

Starting mileage: 10869, Distance traveled: 0 (not counting Lyft rides)

Miles walked: 7.5

Certainly not…but we tried. Loaded with suggested destinations from colleagues and friends, we started the day heading out to the Gateway Arch, walking through a very diverse set of areas, on the edge of downtown St. Louis. We passed housing projects and recently built duplex developments, walked under highways and railroads, saw Hamilton’s Steakhouse and Bourbon Bar, and finally passed Busch Stadium which hosts the Cardinals. We arrived at the Arch, which we all agree shouldn’t be a National Park, given it’s human-made, but that didn’t stop us from getting our passport stamp (on paper because we forgot our passport…) We were impressed by so many aspects of the monument, from the architectural marvel itself to the engineering feat getting so many people to the top in a safe and organized manner.

The recently renovated museum underneath the Arch was excellent. It related the history of St. Louis from its 1764 founding through it’s critical role in the migration westward in the 1800s. Upon exiting, we captured a few more photos of the arch and the Mississippi Riverside.

We found a fabulous spot for lunch called BLT (Breakfast, Lunch, and Tacos). We ate everything from breakfast to tacos to salad to shrimp grits, plus delicious local beer.

After lunch, we headed to the City Museum, an enormous (600,000 square foot, 10-story) indoor/outdoor jungle gym of sorts made from all manner of repurposed architectural and industrial objects. It was one of the most bizarre, interesting and exciting places we’ve been. It’s very hard to describe but we captured all kinds of pictures of the kids clambering in, on and through many of the areas, from a treehouse, to a dragon cave, to an aquarium, to a 10-story slide, to a rooftop jungle gym. Secret tunnels and caves riddle the entire place, with many taking you to areas in other floors or even outside the building envelope. Susan and David braved a 3-story tube to get up to the praying mantis on the roof, but they both concluded they were too old and creeky, and perhaps not the target audience for these amusements. Susan got lost three times and we lost the kids repeatedly, but not permanently, thank goodness.

Perhaps a better way to capture the scale is with this stop motion video of the kids clambering up the inside of a giant dome and exiting out the roof.

In the evening we met Erik, Sara and Selma for a traditional Italian dinner on The Hill at Rigazzi’s, known for its Frozen Fishbowls, 32-ounce goblets filled with beer or your favorite mixed drink. It was a great end to a really fun day.

Sunday, July 23rd, 2023

Starting mileage: 10,603, Distance travelled: 266

Miles walked: less than a mile, ugh

We woke up and ate breakfast in our hotel, mom finished the last of the laundry and we were on the road again. We crossed into Missouri shortly after driving the state line road for a bit so we got a terrible angle on the sign, but managed it entering the highway. Before leaving Kansas City, we caught a glimpse of Arrowhead Stadium, where the Chiefs play. We realized we were going to pass right through Columbia, where David was born, so we decided to stop there for lunch. We had cheesesteaks at a mall food court because there was a used video game store, where Brady scored a few Dungeons & Dragons books and David got a video game. Meanwhile, Laura got MORE earrings and hair clips at Claire’s.

We made the final drive into St. Louis and landed at David’s friend Erik’s house just after 4:30pm. We spent a lovely evening having dinner with Erik and his wife, Sara, and their two kids, Joe and Selma. Brady and Laura got to clamber up into their amazing multi-story treehouse which Erik built.

Erik and Sara put us up in Erik’s parents’ city loft while they were away on Cape Cod for the summer. It was an awesome spot, that Erik built himself, with huge windows opening out to the city. We could even see the Arch from our window. We could also see an enormous illuminated Ferris wheel right from our loft, which turned out to be located right next to the historic Union Station downtown.

Saturday, July 22nd, 2023

Starting mileage: 10,022, Distance travelled: 581

Miles walked: 2

Our goal for today was to get as many miles behind us from Colorado Springs toward St. Louis as possible. Much of the day was spent driving through Kansas, a seemingly endless prairie with farmland and ranch land sprinkled in. We captured some photos to share the essence of Kansas. We did see several wind farms including this first one which was raising a baby windmill.

The most exciting thing that happened was a lane closure.

Actually, another more exciting thing happened, which knowing the history of tornados in Kansas and having seen storm shelters in truck stops, did worry us. A approaching thunderstorm turned the sky an ominous gray, but aside from a short period of heavy rain, we successfully outran it.

The Roadside America website tipped us off to the only landmark on the trip, “Sh-Wheat Jesus,” a billboard of Jesus holding wheat.

One redeeming quality of Kansas was the relatively clear highway, allowing us to maintain the 75 mph speed limit through much of the state. We stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn in Overland Park, KS, just south of Kansas City, MO, which meant we didn’t quite escape Kansas before the end of the day. We went out to Q39 South and had some of the best barbecue we’d ever had and also delicious local beer.

Friday, July 21st, 2023

Starting mileage: 9641, Distance travelled: 381

Miles hiked: 2

We woke up to find a nursing deer right across from the camper van.

We made our final stop in Mesa Verde at the visitors center on the way out of the park. There was road construction right at the entrance so the sign was covered in plastic and inaccessible. David got the kids in front of the visitors center instead.

We had lots of driving to do so we got right on the road. We spent much of the day on a blue highway with varied terrain, including getting back up into higher mountain passes and crossing the great divide. We went through a couple of tunnels, including under another wildlife bridge like the one we saw earlier in the trip before heading into the mountains out west.

At David’s friend Erik’s suggestion, we made a spontaneous decision to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park which turned out to be only 20 minutes off our route, which worked out great because Brady had wanted to include the dunes in our trip. It was a lightning fast visit, including eating lunch in the van (because the picnic area was being renovated) and walking across the dryish creek bed to get to the base of the dunes to snap a few photos. We also got to witness some sand sledding and sand boarding. Although we got our passport stamp, a tour bus had just arrived when we got to the visitors center so we weren’t willing to wait in a half hour line to buy our stickers. We all agreed that it was worth the diversion and it might be fun to include the park in a future trip when we have time to try sledding. In addition to the unique inland sand dunes, the park also included other activities and ecosystems that we didn’t have time to explore.

Our destination was Colorado Springs and our ETA was about dinner time so Susan found a great little brewpub, Trail’s End Taproom and Craft Eatery. They had a unique system for serving beer, with a wall of taps attached to a card system that charged by the ounce, allowing us to try lots of different local brews. After dinner, we went to Garden of the Gods, a large city park surrounding stunning red rock formations. The sun was getting low in the sky, lighting up the peaks so our timing was perfect. David regaled us with stories of his rock-climbing youth, proceeding to attempt a climb on a rock formation, leaving Susan to wonder if he would be able to get down or if an ER trip was in our future.

When we got to the Garden of the Gods RV Resort right around the corner we found essentially a parking lot with hookups densely packed with giant RVs, but it had a pool and Laura and Susan went for a swim before bedtime. It served it’s purpose and was one of the few RV parks with functional wi-fi, much needed to catch up on our daily posts after two night with no cell service.

Thursday, July 20th, 2023

Starting mileage: 9590, Distance travelled: 50

Miles hiked: 5

We started the day with another spectacular mountain drive up onto the Mesa, complete with views down into Montezuma Valley. We did an amazing guided tour of Balcony House, an ancient cliff dwelling, with a Navajo native tour guide named Davin who was working as an intern in the park for the summer. The Navajo are one of the 26 tribes descended from the indigenous cliff dwellers of Mesa Verde and our guide made connections with his tribe’s rituals and culture and the cliff dwellers of the 13th century. We had to climb a 32-foot ladder and climb through a 18-inch-wide tunnel as part of the tour so it wasn’t for the feint of heart.

After the tour we drove to the Archeological Museum, ate lunch, explored the exhibits and watched a film about the cultural history of Mesa Verde. The architectural design of the buildings was intended to blend in with the surroundings and call back to the techniques of the cliff dwellers who came before. Several buildings in the complex were on the National Historic Register.

After eating lunch in the camper van, we hiked the Petroglyph Point trail, which we dubbed Swiss cheese mountain for all the holes and huge overhangs along the entire canyon wall. The hike started at Spruce Tree House Overlook, the third largest dwelling in the park. Our hike was narrated by the children and David imagining which little nooks and crannies would serve as bedrooms, living rooms, etc. when we moved into the cliff side. Right at the halfway point of the hike, we came across the petroglyphs for which the trail is actually named, the only authentic markings accessible to the public in the park. We had a great time clambering through all the alcoves, some optional, others part of a pretty advanced trail. There was an additional bonus archeological site along the route with foundations still visible.

After we’d recovered from the 2-hour hike in the blazing sun, helped by cold refreshments, we returned to the van to take a self-guided audio car tour around the Mesa Top Loop. The stops on the tour traced the evidence of the increasingly complex dwellings designed by the indigenous inhabitants of the region. Each archeological site revealed the types of houses from 550 AD (pit houses) right up through 1300 AD (Sun Temple and Cliff Palace) when the last of the ancestral Puebloans migrated away from the area.

Our last stop of the day on our way back to the campsite was Park Point, the highest elevation in the park at 8,572 feet and home to the historic fire lookout. Conveniently, it was also home to the only cell signal in the entire park, so we were able to send our happy 80th birthday video to Grandpa before the end of the day! We also sent the following picture as proof 🙂

Wednesday, July 19th, 2023

Starting mileage: 9305, Distance travelled: 285

Miles hiked: 4

We started the day driving to the Grand Canyon visitors center to catch the shuttle to the other inner canyon trailhead. We hiked down the South Kaibab trail .9 miles to Ooh Aah Point. We traversed intense switchbacks, dropping down 1000 feet in elevation in just under a mile of trail. The views were much more expansive than Bright Angel, culminating in a nearly 360 degree view at Ooh Aah Point, earning its name.

Next we drove out to Desert View Watchtower, also designed by Mary Colter. We scored the last set of timed tickets to go up into the upper floors of the tower, which had been closed the day before. The architecture was intended to blend in with the environment and told the story about some of the native tribes in pictograms on the inner walls of the tower. The Desert View vistas were fabulous, offering 270 degree canyon views. We also learned it was the site of a 1956 passenger jet collision that lead to the formation of the FAA.

We said goodbye to Grand Canyon National Park, impressed by their infrastructure, transportation, and facilities. It was one of the best in that regard compared to all the others we had visited. The drive from Grand Canyon to Mesa Verde was striking. The desert landscape treated us to a rainbow of striking colors; dusty rose to mustard yellow to rusty red to tan and white. Dramatic rock structures uplifted, seemingly out of nowhere randomly in the desert. We watched what looked like a dust storm far off into the distance for 45 minutes until we finally got close enough to realize it was a rainstorm…in the desert! We didn’t plan on stopping at Four corners but it was right on the road we were driving through the Navajo Nation Reservation. There’s not much to recommend it. It was what you’d expect from a tourist trap but the kids got a kick out of it. The blazing heat kept our visit very brief.

We pulled into the campground at Mesa Verde around 6pm, surrounded by rock formations and plenty of wildlife (deer mostly). After dinner Susan and the kids hiked the nearby Knife’s Edge trail to see the sunset. There were at least 8 distinct flowers to capture photos of. The views from the end were awesome and the kids loved getting photos on top of all kinds of rocks. On the way back we saw two deer, a male and a female, hanging out in the pasture.

When we returned from our sunset walk, Brady captured a couple of night sky photos in the absence of artificial light.