Last night we spent our final night of the trip in a hotel in Altoona, Iowa. This marked 14 straight nights away from home including visits to 9 different Holiday Inns. But most thankfully, it brought our arrival routine of checking for bed bugs to an end. Each night, Julie and I would pull back the sheets and inspect the mattress looking for itty bitty critters. Fortunately, none were found, but there was a Best Western that we refused to stay.

484 miles until home 🙂

Next big road trip…….Joe drives while we nap.

Well I finally had a Griswold moment today. We planned to end the day in Mitchell, South Dakota with a visit to the world’s only Corn Palace. As we turned the corner, I was horror struck with what I saw. The Corn Palace is under repair. UGH. I now know how Clarke felt when he arrived at Wally World. I somehow avoided a trip to the local firearm store and instead just sulked to the hotel.

Today, we got to experience another new new. Whitewater rafting. We all had a blast. Some were a bit nervous before it started, but everyone had a blast as we rafted down the Yellowstone River. The rapids were for beginners so no huge waves, but we did get some good size splashes. And we also all got to jump into the river and hold on the side of the raft – it was COLD! It was a great day and we are all looking forward to finding another time to go rafting again.

We spent the rest of the day trekking across Montana. Pretty dull drive. Tomorrow is another long day of driving as we get to Mount Rushmore.

Look for the exciting recap of the license plate game soon but check out what we found yesterday.

Well, we’ve been at this for 8 days now. We are still getting along though there is the occasionally brief argument, but what do you expect after 3,000+ miles and traveling through 13 states. You can see the states here.

We’ve settled down for the night in Pocatello, Idaho at a brand new Holiday Inn – this place is awesome. It’s a big room with a great pool and hot tub and xbox game room. It’s nice to be at a hotel before dark.

We’ve already done a complete van clean.

We’ll also be doing about 4 or 5 loads of laundry.

Time to order some pizza and pick up a six pack of beer.

Tomorrow it’s off to Yellowstone!!!

Today was our trip to the Grand Canyon. WOW! It was impressive. Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 Mislanskys have some level of fear regarding heights or falling. We still made the most of the day. We spent a lot of time walking along the rim, taking photos and being amazed. Joe & I did a short hike down into the canyon, but eventually my fear of heights and falling got the best of me and we had to come up. We hiked about 2/3 a mile and descended about 600 feet into the canyon. It was a steep hike and I was huffing and puffing by the end of it. We also ate a couple good meals at the lodges. We didn’t have to do any driving because of the great bus system in the national park so it was nice to not be behind the wheel for a day. And we ended up by watching a sunset. Overall, it was another great day. Tomorrow we are off to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas.