And just like that…the trip is over.
6,631 miles driven, 67 hours in the car, and 604 gallons of gas.
The kids earned 20 Junior Ranger badges and gained a fine collection of pressed pennies.
We covered 16 states in 32 days on the road.
We still like each other.

We learned new things about astrology, paleontology, archaeology, geography, science and a lot of history!  We saw so much of God’s beauty in nature from waterfalls to deserts and mountains to caverns.  Traveling in July, the heat was a lot at times but boy, the blooms that were in season were intoxicating!

We took a tram up a mountain and had a snowball fight in a glacier, went swimming in a waterfall, toured a nuclear reactor, explored volcanic fields, caves and pueblos, and even went whitewater rafting.  It’s difficult to summarize the trip, as I’m still reeling from all our adventures.

The wonder, adventure and incredible stories too quickly take their place in our memories as daily life resumes.  As much as I relish in the telling, the trip was a whirlwind and it’s difficult to put any part of our adventure into a succinct story.  There were so many levels and aspects of the trip that I don’t know if I’ll ever truly relay them all.

I can say with certainty that it was a trip of a lifetime…nothing will ever touch the memories made.  The kids were a wonderful age and the stars aligned, and a blood moon, and so many other factors.  We were blessed to avoid any major troubles, and safely explore the beauty, the history, and the untouched glory of God’s creation in ways I’d never dreamed of.

I hope to have many more adventures in our (yet unnamed) camper and that we are lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit many more places in the years to come!