Reflections on 2017, Part 2

After our wonderful visit in NJ ended, we once again headed west, stopping first at the Flight 93 Memorial and then at Fallingwater to tour one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous works.

We stopped in Lancaster, OH before moving on through Crawfordsville, IN and Knoxville, IL. We spent a couple of lovely days in Dubuque, IA with my niece, her husband, and her boys.

We lingered by the Mississippi River for a few days in LaCrosse, WI before traveling to Adrian, MN and then on to South Dakota. We saw the solar eclipse in Rapid City, SD, and visited Mt. Rushmore, Badlands National Park Park, and Custer State Park.

It was time to continue, so we headed north to North Dakota and spent time in both the South Unit and the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park Park, where we saw wild horses, bison, and a nest of baby rattlesnakes. We visited Bismarck and some fine museums there, learning more about the Louis and Clark expedition and Sacagawea.

From North Dakota we turned the motorhome southwest to Miles City, MT and the Terry Badlands, then headed to the Yellowstone area where we lingered for a couple of glorious weeks. We saw loads of elk, bison, a fox, a wolf and bear sanctuary, and the most wonderful views. We visited Old Faithful, the Grand Tetons and crossed the Continental Divide numerous times.

Leaving Yellowstone, we passed through Idaho Falls, ID, stopped into the Idaho State University Library in Pocatello, ID, then moved on to the Salt Lake City area where I was inspired to do a bit of genealogy. We passed through Green River and visited Moab, UT where we saw Arches National Park, Islands in the Sky NP, and Canyonlands NP.

From Utah, we moved on to Arizona, spending a night in Cameron before arriving in Mesa where we fell in love with a park model and decided to purchase a winter home. We spent a couple of weeks in Mesa before visiting friends in Tucson. Then we returned to Mesa for the winter season.

My daughter’s health concerns resulted in me flying to NJ for a few weeks, and I return in two days to my waiting husband and to poor Auggie (who is by now certain that I have abandoned them forever.) I will be returning to help out again when my daughter has surgery in February but until then I look forward to being reunited with Bob and seeing what he has been up to.

It has been a year full of memories, to be sure! And 2018 promises to be an interesting year as well.