There’s No Place Like Home
by Liz
It was an amazing trip. During 30 days, we:
–Covered 6,621 miles (which costs $1,160 in gas, in case you were wondering. Don’t ask me why we took the longest driving trip imaginable during the SUMMER OF THE MONSTER GAS PUMP.)
–Passed through 13 states and 2 countries
–Packed and unpacked 21 times
–Took 1164 photos and a couple hours of video tape
–Visited six national parks or monuments
–Saw a sculpture made of sand, a building made of corn, and a giant peacock made of flowers (but not the World’s Largest Ball of Twine — next trip)
–Took a ride on 4 boats, 1 raft, and 1 inflatable kayak
–Hiked to 10,000 feet
–Slurped down the best oysters in the world on Orcas Island, Washington (yes, I said the world)
–Participated in 1 awesome talent show
–Played in snow in the middle of summer
–Slid down 3 super water slides, soaked in 2 natural hot springs, and dunked in 9 extremely frigid bodies of water (the coldest–The Puget Sound off Orcas Island–Ouch!)
–Traveled with 1 computer, 1 PSP electronic game player, 1 dvd player, 1 video camera, 2 still cameras, 4 ipods, 4 cell phones, and all accompanying chargers
–Saw 32 exciting species of wildlife (favorites: Orca whale, bald eagle, black bear, baby fox)
–Consumed 138 peanut butter crackers (Walker), 112 chocolate chip cookies (Graham), 24 Starbucks Frappacinos (Liz), and 3,265 cups of coffee (Tim). Ok, I exaggerated Tim’s … a little.
–Watched way too many episodes of the Gilmore Girls to admit
–Visited with some great friends
–Saw the license plates of Washington, D.C., 5 Canadian provinces, and 49 states (damn that Rhode Island)
The drive home was a little hard: 3,000 miles from Tuesday, July 15, to Saturday, July 19. We knew we were back when we opened the car door in St. Louis, MO, at 10 p.m. on Friday night and it was 86 degrees with 95 percent humidity. “Welcome Back to the South.”
But it’s all good. We’re glad to be back in our own beds, making coffee in our own coffee maker, and having our own dog Abby once again barking in our ears.
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
–T.S. Eliot