Journey in June: We Live in a Beautiful Country!

From the time we left Kent back on the 8th of June, we were immediately surrounded by beautful scenery. It started with the snow topped Cascades into the vineyards surrounding Yakima. From there we hit rolling hills in Eastern Oregon and as we drove into Salt Lake City we were awed by the mountains that surround the city on both sides. Next we headed into eastern Utah where we saw magnificent red cliffs and rock formations. Then we headed up and over the Rockies where the views were stunning - rivers, high cliffs, and snow capped peaks. I drove that portion of the trip and asked Ron to take pictures for me as often as I felt like I could without bothering him! Just as we reached the summit of the mountain we came around a bend to be face to face with the snowy mountaintops that we had seen in the distance and we drove right into them through a tunnel. It was amazing!

From the Rockies we drove northeast into miles of farmland. Nebraska was much greener than we expected (possibly due to all the rain we've had this year) and we thought eastern Kansas and the Kansas City, Missouri area especially pretty - rolling hills, lush rivers, and green trees. From there into Kentucky, we noticed the lovely, old brick homes and buildings.

Seeing Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river were both highlights for me having never been east of Kansas by car. South Dakota was the only state that really didn't offer a whole lot in way of scenery until we reached the Black Hills which were stunning. The night sky in Eastern South Dakota made up for the lack of scenery!

Montana took us back into the northern part of the Rockies and then we headed into Idaho via Hwy 12. That is probably a portion of road that we won't have much reason to drive again, so I'm glad we took advantage of it. It was beautiful!

We had a conversation with a Californian while we were in South Dakota about how simpler things seemed to be when you got away from the Pacific Coast and we'd have to agree. As we stated before rules were more relaxed, our little ones were able to go on the waterslides and we didn't see a child wearing a bicycle helmet at any of our campgrounds. With one exception (due to a car accident), we never sat in a bit of traffic on our entire drive! The change of pace was refreshing as we toured the country together as a family and took in all the sights.