Brown Family Vacation - Day 20 and Reflections

From Yellowstone National Park

Ft. Smith, AK to Calhoun, TN

We left early in the morning after a wonderful breakfast at the hotel.  Guesthouse Inn is quite nice despite it being probably 2nd least expensive hotel of the trip.

We changed drivers several times, at lunch at a Zaxby's, dropped by and picked up Papa John's for dinner, and made it back to Calhoun right at 12 hours.  Long day of driving but it really wasn't that bad.

We cleaned out the van and then reflected on the trip. There were 19 major locations we saw during the trip.  In order of appearance, they are...

St. Louis Arch
Corn/Wheat Fields of Midwest
1880's Western Town
Badlands National Park
Mt. Rushmore
Black Hills National Forest
Devil's Tower
Bighorn National Forest
Yellowstone National Park
Grand Tetons National Park
Crater Lake National Park
Oregon Coastal Road
Redwood National Park
Napa Valley
San Francisco
Sequoia National Park
Las Vegas
Grand Canyon National Park
Petrified Forest National Park/Painted Desert

I asked my family to rank their top 5 locations.  The following lists the top 5.  The top 3 really aren't that much of a surprise, but the last 2 might be considering that we didn't know we were going through them.  The remaining of them were not even close.  A couple of surprises in here I thought, but overall a solid list for anyone wishing to travel.  Keep in mind of the diversity of ages and experiences where the votes came from...

#1
Grand Canyon National Park - No surprise here as 3 people listed it as their number 1 choice; however, 3 people didn't rank it all.  Nonetheless, the Grand Canyon is probably a highlight of any trip out west.

#2
Yellowstone National Park - 6 of 7 people ranked the park in their top 5, which some could make it a case at being #1 on this list.  We'll stick with it at #2 in accordance with total points though.  Again, no surprise considering all that we saw there, including a bear.

#3
Redwood National Park - 5 of 7 people ranked this in their top 5, and one of the people who didn't had already been there before.  One person ranked it #1. The redwoods are majestic, and the highlight was the short 1.5 mile walk through these towering trees.

#4
Crater Lake National Park - 5 out of 7 people ranked this one.  We made a last minute decision to go here and diverted from our plan.  Lucky that we did because it outranked some other popular spots and one person ranked it #1.

#5
Big Horn National Park - The largest surprise on the list, but the drive through here it quite impressive.  Only 3 people ranked this but one ranked it first and two ranked it 2nd, so the points added up quickly.  Surprising still because we re-routed to drive through here not knowing how rewarding it was going to be.  The winding road through the mountains were worth the extra time which also got us to Cody, WY and closer to Yellowstone.

There it is.  The top 5 locations as voted on by the Brown family.  Feel free to agree or disagree if you have been to these locations.  Anyone wanting advise if you are traveling through these areas, feel free to email me. Also, don't forget to see all of the locations and photos on our PICASA PHOTO ALBUM.

Dad just said that it wasn't fair to rank these and that the best thing about the whole trip was us all being together for it.  I couldn't have said it better....

Brown Family Vacation - Day 18 and 19

From Petrified ForestPainted Desert

Day 18

Holbrook, AZ to Amarillo, TX

A nice little breakfast started out our day and we made our way first to this large store outside of Petrified Forest National Park called Jim Gray’s Petrified Wood Co.  Great store that gave you a ½ pound of free petrified wood.  I bought a couple of samples to show my students but the store had a wonderful variety of wood and gemstones to see. 

We mainly just drove through the Petrified Forest and also made our way through the Painted Desert which you really have to in order to get back onto the Interstate.  It was all interesting enough with some crazy landscapes.  I would have like to get out and walk around a little, but it was just a drive through sort of thing.

From here on out, it will be driving time.  We probably won’t stop to see too much.  We have to be back by the 27^th so we can clean up the van and get it back by the 28^th.

We ate lunch in Sky City, NM at a McDonald’s.  Sky City has a city on top of a mesa that is the oldest continuously occupied city in North America, or so they say.  We didn’t stop to see it though and moved on to Amarillo, TX for the night where we stayed at a Day’s Inn.  We ate dinner at Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Samantha’s 15^th birthday.

Day 19

Amarillo, TX to Ft. Smith, AK

Driving day again today.  We left Amarillo and drove through the panhandle of Texas and into Oklahoma. We were around Oklahoma City for lunch and drove past the bomb site memorial.  It was threatening rain and parking and driving downtown was a disaster, so we didn’t stop and fully explore. 

We ate lunch out of the box and moved down the road finally stopping at Ft. Smith, Arkansas.  We stayed a wonderful hotel called the Guesthouse Inn and ate a mediocre dinner at TGIFridays.  

Brown Family Vacation - Day 17

From Grand Canyon

Flagstaff, AZ to Holbrook, AZ

Grand Canyon Day!  Staying at Flagstaff is a good location because it is only about 80 minutes to the South Rim of the Canyon.  We had breakfast in the room and headed north toward the canyon.  The Grand Canyon has a ton of things to do, but we knew going in that the only part of this trip was to view it from the rim, enjoy it magnificence of it, and move on.  I will no doubt be back to the Grand Canyon one day to do helicopter, mule to the bottom, rafting, or other things when you have more time.

There is literally no way for someone to describe the feeling you get when you first see the Grand Canyon.  I won’t bother to do it here because I am neither poetic nor capable of doing so.  I will say that it is a site that everyone must see in their lifetime whether it is to just stop and see it from the rim or fully explore. 

They are doing some wonderful work there, so the new visitor’s center isn’t quite finished, but people do not go to see the visitor’s center. 

Lunch today was at a Wendy’s outside the park and we drove on down to Holbrook, AZ, a place chosen because it was just outside the Petrified Forest.  We drove by Meteor Crater but was unable to see it because it was closed for the day.  It would have been spectacular because it is the best preserved crate in the world almost a mile across and over 3 miles in circumference.  Maybe one day.

We stayed at a nice little Travelodge in Holbrook, ate out of our lunch box, and Mom, Jamie and I took a long walk that night while seeing a pretty sunset. 

Tomorrow, we begin our drive home.  We have broken it up into 7 hour driving days, but we’ll see how that goes.  

Brown Family Vacation - Day 16

Las Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ

Shorter day today.  We left Vegas later in the morning.  Amy and Samantha had heard about a replica Simpson’s house outside of Vegas in Henderson.  After a great, late breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, we went found the Simpson’s house only to be disappointed to find out that it had been sold, repainted, and turned into just another regular house in that neighborhood.  Too bad really because it would have been a great stop especially considering the Simpson’s fans in our bunch.

We then made our way to Hoover Dam, only to be disappointed again for 2 reasons:  1)  There way no way for mamaw to get to the visitor’s center via escalator or elevator due to her pacemaker.  2) It cost $8 per person just to get into the visitor’s center, but that does include the tour.  Dad’s legs were killing him from our walk in Vegas, so we decided to bypass the tour and visitor’s center and drive across the dam instead. Again, no pictures today because we didn't really get out plus I already have pictures of Hoover Dam.  

We drove on to Flagstaff where we stayed at this nice little Budget Inn for the night and ate at Cracker Barrel with dessert at Dairy Queen.  Jamie and Amy were gracious enough to go do our laundry.  

Brown Family Vacation - Day 15

Bakersfield, CA to Las Vegas

We left somewhat early and after a quick wrong turn made our way with a 5 hour drive to Las Vegas.  We stayed at the Imperial Palace, which I like because of its decent price and central location on the strip.  Nice places were available for the price but would have put us further down the Strip.  IP is also located across from Caesar’s Palace and on the monorail line. 

After lunch at Cheesecake Factory at Caesar’s Palace, we rested up for a little while and some hit the pool.  We then headed out to see some of the casinos and some that the Vegas strip has to offer.  It had been about 5 years since I had been there with Jamie, and they have actually built a couple of new casinos on the strip. 

We took the monorail down to MGM but the lions had already been put up for the night.  We saw M&M World and all of the street performers dressed up in characters.  We got a quick snack while walking around New York, New York, then made our way up the strip by walking to see the fountains of the Bellagio. 

Everyone was pretty tired from the walking, so most made their way back to the rooms.  Amy and I headed out to play some blackjack until late in the evening. 

Too little time in Vegas, but it was enough to see it at night and experience some of the larger casinos.  Always more to see in Vegas, but I know we’ll be back.  No pictures because I had already been there and had some pictures from before. Tomorrow, we’ll make our way to Flagstaff, AZ to prepare for the next day at the Grand Canyon.

Brown Family Vacation - Day 14

From Sequoia NP

Fresno, CA to Bakersfield, CA

We got a late start but headed out toward Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park today.  We had no idea how large the park was and what we were going to be able to see and decided our plan once we got there.

After talking to a ranger, we decided to forego the Kings Canyon part of the park.  This is unfortunate, but I'm sure we'll be back to see it some other time.

We first went to see General Grant, a massive tree that is near the visitor's center.  We then took the winding road down toward the main part of the Sequoia NP to see General Sherman, the world's largest tree by volume.  It isn't the tallest nor the oldest, but one statistic said that if you filled it up with water, you would have enough water to take a bath every day for 27 years.  We ate lunch near there at a very peaceful picnic site.

One the way out of the park, they were doing road construction on the curviest road I have even been on.  They only let cars through the area at the top of the hour, so cars were backed up for quite a ways and it took them a long time to get through the one lane construction.  It took us nearly an hour and a half to get down off of the mountain.

We finally arrived at Day's Inn in Bakersfield and found a Chik-Fil-A to eat at.  Sweet!

Tomorrow, we'll take the 5 hour drive to Las Vegas and see some of sin city, with or without the sinning.

Check out our pictures of the Sequoias!

Brown Family Vacation - Day 13

From San Francisco

Vallejo, CA to Fresno, CA

It wasn’t on the schedule, but we were able to swing by San Francisco today.  You could easily spend a week here, but we only had a few hours.  We decided to take a small quick driving tour to see the sites and ended up eating right next to the Golden Gate Bridge.  We drove the steep streets, saw Lombard Streets, Chinatown and some of the Victorian Houses.  Hard to take pictures because we didn’t actually stop, but I have a feeling Jamie and I will back to San Francisco very soon to fully explore.

Lunch was amazing as we ate at a park in San Fran but watching this giant fog cloud roll in and completely cover the GGB.  It was only at the very top of the bridge when we sat down to eat, but it slowly covered the entire bridge including when we crossed it to leave.

A somewhat quick and easy 3 hour drive took us to Fresno, CA where we booked a place at the Comfort Inn.  Dinner was Olive Garden that night and it was quite yummy.  Fresno puts us only an hour away from Kings Canyon and Sequoia NP, so we’ll be seeing it tomorrow.  Not many pictures today, but I’m sure I’ll have plenty of the sequoia tomorrow.