25 States, 6,885 miles, 25 Days!

What a trip it was! We arrived in Maryland late Saturday night. The eight hour drive from the beach was filled with excitement as we traveled along the familiar interstate, 95 North and approached the all too familiar sights of Washington, DC, Laurel, Columbia, and finally, Catonsville. Upon our arrival home we were greeted by a HUGE welcome home sign in the dinning room/living room archway and Hurley was in his travel crate below the sign. It was so cute and we were so glad to see him we forgot to take a picture of it! My parents created the sign and was really neat because they printed our a few of the pictures and put on the sign. So creative! We had the time of our lives but as Mark Vinje emailed us, "there is not place like home" and sleeping in our own bed last night was amazing!

We spent most of the day unpacking, cleaning up the camping supplies, and getting ready for school tomorrow! Yes it is right back to reality tomorrow as school starts!

As I reflect back to the trip, it is hard to choose one favorite spot or one favorite moment, but here are my top three memories:
1. The Badlands
2. Hiking in the Grand Canyon
3. Whitewater Rafting.

The places I want to return and or what I would change for the next trip:
1. The Badlands and I would want to camp and hike in that area
2. Yellowstone but stay in the western Montana area, and focus on one area of the park each day instead of driving all over the park!
3. The Grand Canyon and I want to hike down to the Phantom Ranch, stay there, and hike back up the next day. I also have a strong desire to hike Rim to Rim!
4. In and around the Grand Canyon are other National Parks we skipped over such as Arches and Bryce Canyon and I would like to take more time to head back to that area and explore!
5. Hopefully, in my lifetime I will be able to go back and see the completion of Crazy Horse.
All in all it was amazing and I cannot wait to make the trip again!

Here is Dan's reflections (yes I am forcing him to write it)
What do I have to write? A reflection? What, is this for a grad class or something? Just kidding, I would love to write a little something for all of our fans in blogtopia : )
Since our trip was so long it is hard to pin down ONE favorite location or activity. I do agree with Laura, there were several things that were amazing.
1. Hiking in the Badlands
2. Horseback Riding/White water rafting in Montana
3. Grand Canyon Hiking
4. Margaritaville
5. Wall Drug (just kidding)

On our next trip I would like to spend more time in just about ALL of our locations.
1. Badlands- It would be cool to do the 4 mile hike and camp in the badlands for a night.
2. Black Hills- We missed out on the Lantern tour of Jewel Cave. I still think it would be cool.
3. Yellowstone- Laura said it all. Next time we will be nomadic and move around the park. Yellowstone is HUGE.
4. Grand Canyon- I want to see the river. Laura and I did talk about a rim to rim hike. We could hike down from the north rim and up the south rim. We would only need someone to drop us off. Any takers? If not we could always simply hike down to the river, camp, and then hike back up. Any takers on that trip?

All in all, the trip was great. I was happy to see the Maryland welcome sign last night as we drove around Washington, DC. It was also great to see Hurley last night. I don't think he has left our side all day. I guess all three of us were happy to see each other.

I know I speak for Dan when I say I loved writing this blog and I hope you all enjoyed it. If anyone wants to take the trip out west, (I am certain that my Mom and Tyler will be making the drive next summer...Dad is going to fly out and meet them!) please chat with us. This trip was the "highlight tour" of the US and we look forward to more depth exploration of our great nation. As our National Anthem states, we live in the "Land of the free and the home of the brave" and what a great place we live!

Love to all and thanks for reading~
Laura, Dan, and Hurley :)