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Published: September 16th 2009
Home again in California after The Summer of Wonder. What an absolutely wonderful experience - from both cross country road trips to the idyllic days by the lake in Maine. On our last leg from Winnemucca to home last Saturday Steve and I, with our own unique brand of humor, decided to do a Top Ten list from the summer. As you will note from the results below, it got a bit out of hand!
Just The Numbers, Please
Total miles driven all summer: 15,365
On both cross country road trips:
Miles Sacramento to Maine: 4,360
Miles Maine to Sacramento: 4,102
Number of days on the road: 33 (and we’re still speaking to each other!!)
Number of gallon of gas used: 302
Gas cost: $803
Average miles per gallon: 27.35
Average price per gallon: $2.65 (and how lovely to get back to CA gas prices over $3 a gallon…)
Highest elevation: Independence Pass, CO at the Continental Divide - 12,095 feet
Lowest elevation: Death Valley, CA - 282 feet below sea level
Highest temperature - 110 degrees in Death Valley, CA
Lowest temperature - 32 degrees in Stanley, ID (although the Fourth of July in Maine felt colder…)
Number of states visited: 29
Number of Canadian provinces visited: 3
Number of countries visited: 2
Number of national/state parks, monuments, sites visited: 16
Number of presidential libraries/museums visited: 6
And now for the details:
Best interstate rest stops: South Dakota, whose state department of tourism must work overtime - nice, friendly folks, all the stops marked with stunning metal pole teepees, great maps, clean restrooms, interesting historical exhibits…but then you need this type of entertainment when driving across this state.
Worst cell service: Yup, South Dakota again…closely followed by Montana - in one minute, out the next.
Fastest speed limit: South Dakota, Montana and Nevada at a speedy 75 - which we were happily doing while trucks and cars went whizzing by us.
Cheesiest tourist attraction; Wall Drug, in Wall, SD…but I always wanted to go there!
Best iPod playlist - Fourth of July, which includes random tracks such as the BSO playing “God Bless America”, Pete Seeger singing “This Land Is Your Land” and Bruce Springsteen singing “Land of Hope and Glory.” Yes, I know it’s hokey but when you’re driving through our vast, gorgeous country somehow this music fits.
Best road trip appliance: Toss up between the plug in cooler and the iPod. Thanks, Claire, for the tip on the cooler. How did we ever do long drives before iPods?
Windiest road: Going To The Sun Highway in Glacier National Park - makes you feel like a mountain goat.
Most interesting roadside decorations: Arkansas, with the flower planted toilets in the front yard of the doublewide - Martha would have been appalled.
Most cultural adjustment required: Branson, MO - just check your cynicism as you drive into town and go with the flow.
And here are some of the highlights from our road trips:
-the special behind the scenes tour of the Eisenhower archives
-the Minuteman missile silo in South Dakota
-the brown bears at Glacier National Park
-the buffalo at Custer State Park
-the Emerald Pools hike at Zion National Park
Most memorable food/meals (note I didn’t say best!!!):
-buffalo burgers
-Arthur Bryant bbq in KC
-fried everything in Branson
-Lamole di Lamole Chianti in Lexington, VA
-picnic lunches all along the way
-lobster all summer in Maine
This has been an extraordinary summer for Steve and I and I feel grateful for all the wonderful experiences we have had and the family and friends with whom we have shared them. So what were some of our final impressions of our country? It’s beautiful, it’s diverse, it’s massive…and it creates a sense of pride in who we are. I know that our country is facing many problems and trials - the economy, war on two fronts, political divisiveness - but nonetheless when you see the country as we did you get a sense of its strength and energy and understand why it as great as it is. When you travel the same route as Lewis & Clark and see the land as they saw it, you sense the majesty and the sense of infinite possibilities that they felt. When you pass Civil War battlefields while listening to the Gettysburg Address, you appreciate both the tragedy and the strength of our union. When you pass the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, you mourn the industrial might of our past. When you see the glory of our National Parks - Zion, Bryce, Glacier - you appreciate the foresight of Teddy Roosevelt and the continuing commitment of his successors.
We live in a complex world, fraught with fears and problems, but for one blissful summer Steve and I felt the glory, the majesty and the profound beauty and pleasure of our country.
Remember our favorite iPod playlist - Fourth of July - you don’t know the number of times we listened to it and one of the songs we regularly sung along with has words that are worth remembering.
America the Beautiful
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
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Louis Gold
non-member comment
I'm jelous
What a wonderful diary. You now are able to revisit the favorite spots as you wish. Just put on your glasses and turn on the computer and relive the wonderful Vacation of 2009. Iam envious : Big Daddy