Friday, July 05, 2019

Home At Last

We're home!  It's time to get back in to our routine.  Routine means that on Friday I always post my thankful things from the week--Friday Fave Fives.  Today it's more of a travel documentary because I am always thankful for the wonderful places we are able to visit on our road trips.

 After having a wonderful visit, we said a long goodbye to our girls and grandkids at a yummy local coffee and cinnamon rolls shop.  Our goal was to take six days to drive the 2,400 miles back home. 

1.  First stop was in eastern Illinois.  We had hoped to walk the Chain of Rocks Bridge across the Mississippi River; however, because of the flooding, both approaches were closed.  I consoled myself with some photos of the bridge and with a promise to ourselves that we will be back to do it another time.   (Chain of Rocks Bridge was an early Route 66 passage across the Mississippi River and is now a walking/biking bridge.)


2.  St. Louis's Gateway Arch and the Museum of Western Expansion were beautiful!



3.  Then we drove on to another museum in Independence, Missouri--National Frontier Trails Museum.  If you ever have an opportunity, do visit it.  Although it's small, there is SO MUCH to see, read and understand about this beginning spot of the Oregon Trail, the California Trail, and the Santa Fe Trail.  In particular, I enjoyed it because I know that some of my ancestors stood there and climbed in their Conestoga wagons as they began their trip to California.


4.  Three other places held enough interest for us to make us stop on our way west.

Tall Grass Prairie National Preserve. 
We didn't really have time to walk anywhere along the trails through the preserve; we just ate lunch and enjoyed the views.


Dyck Arboretum of the Plains in Hesston, Kansas
Again, we gave ourselves an hour to walk around this gem of an arboretum and soak in the flora and fauna of the great plains.





 Route 66 Museum.  One sweet encounter in front of the Route 66 Museum sign was The Professor making an instant connection with a fellow Vietnam Vet who served in the SAME PLACE in the SAME JOB there but different years.  Oh, it was sweet to listen to them chat about their experiences.  I wish we had exchanged more than our first names and home towns.  Maybe someday we'll see them again.  On Route 66.


5.  We spent one night with our son in New Mexico where he lives and our last night with our PAL and her parents in Arizona.



ALL the changes in terrain and climate!


Then it was HOME AT LAST.

And for your amusement.  A photo of the obvious.


7 comments:

Barbara Harper said...

Glad you made it home safely! I don't know if I could handle six days in a car. I know, our ancestors spent much longer traveling in covered wagons with no AC and no fast food. But I'm a wimp. :-)Sounds like you were able to visit lots of interesting spots along the way!

Wendy said...

Sounds like you had a great time and good to know you're home safe.

Faith said...

Praise God for safe travels back across the nation! I've seen the St Louis Arch and I've driven across the Mississippi but ididn't know about that bridge!! that's neat!
Love your photos!
My FFF from last week was almost all photos of our mountain vacation.

I love being away but I also like coming home and getting back into the routine.....back to teaching on Monday for me! But thankfully it's just 6 weeks of summer school.

Are you anywhere near where the earthquake was??

ellen b. said...

Oops...that's a lot of water. Wise to take that many days to cover those miles. You had some interesting stops. Nice to start and finish with family!

Tracy said...

Glad you are home safe and sound after your travels, Willow... and with some great stops along the way! What a great meeting of heart-friends along Route 66--loved that story! So nice to catch up with you! ((HUGS))

Anonymous said...

What a great road trip. Of course, you know what my favorite part was! Mary

Susanne said...

What an interesting road trip! I love museums and would have loved all those stops along the way exploring them. And what a sweet meeting on the route. Small blessings all over the place.