It was a strategic decision to stay at the Westin at the Denver airport for the past two nights: easy check-in for our late arrival on Thursday, and easy check-out for our flight home today. Plus this was the only time on this trip we were in the same hotel two nights in a row.

This morning was remarkably easy: we packed our bags, left the hotel, and walked across the bridge to the airport terminal. The bag check line for United was really long (I considered going out to the Skycap) but it ended up moving quickly and shortly we had turned in our bags and then breezed through the TSA PreCheck line at security. We still had time to grab some breakfast in the terminal and eat before boarding our flight back to Florida.

Another road trip in the books! This one took us 1,691 miles on the road (plus the 391 mile flight from Salt Lake City to Denver), through seven states, in seven days. Whew!

… and next weekend we’ll be doing a little more travelling. Stay tuned!

We got an early start this morning as we drove into Yellowstone National Park (crossing into Wyoming) hoping to beat some of the traffic and crowds. Driving into Yellowstone was incredible … steaming geyseys and hot springs everywhere. At times it almost looked like those post-apocalyptic (or pre-historic) wastelands you see in the movies, just amazing.

We arrived at the Old Faithful visitor’s center around 9:30am. I had called the park’s prediction line before we left so I knew we’d have enough time to walk around the grounds before the next eruption at around 10:15am. The geyser erupted just about “on time” as predicted and was a pretty cool site to watch. After spending a little more time in the surrounding area and getting some ice cream at the Old Faithful Inn we started driving back out of the park. We made a few more stops at the other hot springs and scenic views (like the Fountain Paint Pots). It was definitely getting more crowded and we were glad we were working our way out of the park by now instead of trying to get in.

At 12:30pm we were back in West Yellowstone and heading west on US-20 into Idaho ten minutes later. The route south on US-20 was very scenic and different from the plains and prairies of North Dakota and Montana. We stopped in Idaho Falls at 2:30pm for lunch at Smitty’s Pancake & Steak House (I recommend the potato pancakes and sourdough waffle!). After lunch it was back onto the interstate system (I-15 now).

At 5:00pm we crossed the border into Utah and by 6:30pm we were checked into our hotel in downtown Salt Lake City. We had wanted to go to Caffé Molise across the street but it was closed for the July 4th holiday. 🙁 So instead we took the opportunity to get some laundry done and just had dinner at the hotel restaurant instead.

Tomorrow is a sight-seeing day!

Happy Independence Day!

Since we only had 8 hours of driving scheduled for today, we slept in a bit and were on the road by 10am after eating breakfast at the hotel. About an hour down I-94 we made a quick scenic stop at the Painted Canyon. Having just been to the Grand Canyon four months ago it wasn’t that impressive but still a pretty view. Half an hour later we crossed the border into Montana (with an 80MPH speed limit!).

1pm found us in Miles City for lunch (Subway) and then two hours later we made a stop at Pomeys Pillar outside of Billings. The Pillar is the site of the only remaining physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: Clark’s signature (and the date, July 25, 1806) is carved into the side of the rock. Very cool!

At 6:30pm we were in Bozeman and left the interstate for US-191. The trip west across North Dakota and Montana on I-94/I-90 was scenic, but heading south towards (and through a small portion of) Yellowstone National Park was really impressive (and we’ll see more tomorrow). At 8:00pm we were in West Yellowstone and checked into our hotel by 8:30pm.

The town was hopping with July 4th activities and crowded with tourists (like ourselves). Our plan had been to go out to dinner before the fireworks show so we walked over to Wild West Pizza a few blocks from the hotel. The wait time was 40 minutes so instead we put in a take-out order which would only take 20 minutes. That gave us some time to pick up drinks at the grocery store next door and also wander through a few shops looking for souvenirs. We ate our pizza on a bench on Canyon Street, watched the sun set, and still had time to walk back to the hotel in time for the fireworks show at the end of Yellowstone Avenue.

Today we kick off another family road trip over the July 4th holiday. The next seven days will see us through seven states and three college visits!

This afternoon we flew to Minneapolis on Delta. Somehow we ended up with two aisle seats and a middle in the exit row. I tried changing the one aisle to the window so we could all sit together but for some reason the system wanted to charge me $35 for that seat even though it was in the same row and I had already paid for the exit row seats! I tried last night online and at the airport but couldn’t get the seat changed (and I wasn’t going to let Delta gouge me more). By the time we got to the gate to talk to a rep, the seat was already assigned. Oh well. Other than that, the trip was uneventful (always good).

After getting our bags and picking up our one-way rental car for the week (a Nissan Rogue), we checked into our hotel for the evening across the street from the Mall of America (we were last here back in 2010 for our Mount Rushmore/St. Louis road trip). By now we were hungry for dinner so we walked over to the Mall. Unfortunately we forgot it was a Sunday evening (vacation time!) so most of the retail shops had closed at 7pm, but luckily the restaurants were still open (we ended up at CRAVE).

After dinner and a brief walk around the (now empty) mall, we drove out to get supplies for the road trip. We went to three places (Target, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart) and were unable to find a simple styrofoam cooler so we had to buy a smaller (and more expensive) soft-sided cooler to hold our snacks and drinks for the drip.

Tomorrow, the road trip begins!