eurojenny

Midwest Road Trip

21 May – 4 June 2021

I love road trips…my soul needs to get out of my house and into nature periodically. I had been planning this trip for quite awhile but put it off until I was vaccinated and it was late enough in the year for the northern parts to be warm. I visited 13 states on the trip (4 of them for the first time!) and visited 7 National Parks, 5 for the first time.

Visited Andre for his birthday on my way out

Fort Bridger State Park…walked the grounds and ate old-fashioned stick candy 🙂

Dinner at Cavalryman Steakhouse in Laramie…trout, Cajun zucchini, and berry cobbler 🙂 Ordered takeout and ate it in the parking lot on my lounge chair.

21 May 625 miles
Stayed at Lewis Park campground (free!) in Wheatland Wyoming

Scott’s Bluff…would have been more striking without the fog, but it was cool in its own way

Agate Fossil Beds NM…the calendar skin is so cool! Lots of places started allowing no masks for vaccinated people

Ducked back into Wyoming to hit Devils Tower NM…saw some bison and pronghorn. The wind circle sculpture was really neat.

After a quick shower stop at Spearfish campground where I was planning to stay, I pushed on so that I could be at wind cave early enough to get a cave tour. Briefly stopped in Deadwood for some pub fish and a quick selfie with Wild Bill. Crowded tourist trap honestly.

22 May 495 miles Stayed at Oreville campground. Pulled in after dark but the shot the next morning proved that it’s s pretty spot 🙂

Wind Cave NP…waited for 2 hours in line but I was able to get a spot on a tour.

Wind cave is named for the amazing airflow throughout. This is the natural opening

Crazy Horse Memorial was blanketed in fog so I had to settle for posing with the model

Mount Rushmore poked out of the fog briefly

Farm Island state park…got there early evening. Knowing I had along driving day ahead, I abandoned the cute cabin, took a shower, and pushed on!

23 May 574 miles Ended up at Garden Inn in Sioux Falls

Iowa state Capitol has a pretty shiny gold dome

Beautiful sunset shots at a rest stop in Iowa

24 May 610 miles Slept in my car at a rest stop near Davenport

Lincoln Boyhood home NHS…the buildings were closed but the street was charming

Didn’t catch it right at 350,000 but close enough. I love my Ace…best car ever!

Buckeyes are my favorite! These are excellent 🙂

Ohio state house…there was nowhere to park, circled and circled so this was the best I could do

25 May 687 miles Stayed at Charles mill lake state park. Looked for my site for awhile and then finally just pulled into one of the many empty ones. Took these shots the next morning.

Drove through some Amish country. Visited Yoder’s bargain store, an awesome store. Bought a Dutch card game that the shopkeeper said is really fun…excited to try it!

Fruit hand pies and wild apple soda from Dutch kitchen. Also some of the most delectable wheat bread I have ever tasted.

Cuyahoga National Park…it poured when I first got there. I did two conference presentations while there…the first one on the side of the road and the second (after a slight reprimand) in a public library. And parts of the park were closed so the whole experience was a bit tainted

Henry Ford museum (closed but the colonial buildings were so cool)

26 May 427 miles Michigan state Capitol. Stayed in Lansing at Hampton.

I had planned to skip the northern part of the “glove” and head directly to Sleeping Bear Dunes but I decided to try for Mackinac Island so I headed north. On a whim I stopped at this German-inspired town.

Went to Brommers, the hugest Christmas store I have ever seen! Bought a really cute figurine for the Belen.

Got Apple strudel and Mozart kugel from the Bavarian inn shops and would have had lunch but it’s all meat…schnitzel and brats 😦

Stopped in Bay City to put my feet into Lake Huron, visit my street, and do a conference presentation in a tiny corner of the public library. Finding quiet public places is pretty hard when you’re on the road. I used a TON of data this trip using my hotspot all the time.

Mackinaw City is so nice! Visited the lighthouse at Colonial Michilimackinac park

Fish and chips (excellent!) and chowder (strangely bitter) at scalawags.

Great little hike from McGulpin lighthouse through the woods to the shore of Lake Superior

Hiked around the beach at Headlands Dark Sky Park

Crossed the Mackinac Bridge into St Ignace hoping to find a rest stop to stay the night (I got a ferry ticket for the next morning so I needed to be somewhere close). Beautiful rest stops with awesome views but no overnight stays allowed 😦 so I headed back over the bridge and got some amazing sunset shots.

27 May 365 miles Ended up at Mackinaw Mill Creek campground which was right next to the windy Lake Huron

Mackinac Island (so cute!) beautiful church, an old fort, buggies. No vehicles are allowed.

Walked around, bought a puzzle, ice cream, some fudge. Watched the fudge guru pour a batch, had some breakfast and then took the ferry back.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Seashore…the overlook was terrifying. Heights and big water all at once.

28 May 445 miles Drove around looking for a place to stay. The campground at Indiana dunes was full, couldn’t find a place on town streets where I wouldn’t be worried about someone getting suspicious of my presence. Ended up in my car at a truck stop in Michigan city 🙂

Pullman NHS…cool but no actual Pullman car…strange!

After reading The Devil in the White City, the Chicago Worlds Fair fascinated me. The Statue of the Republic is one of the few artifacts left

Deep dish Chicago-style pizza from Giordanos…doesn’t get better than this! The traffic through the city was horrendous or I would have also stopped at a churro place and at the Art Institute. As it was, I parked illegally after circling and circling!

The Chicago temple is stunning! Cool fountain too 🙂

In Milwaukee I stopped at this basilica because it reminded me of my mom who used to say “Jehoshaphat” on my to find that it’s actually Josaphat. Haha

Went to the Harley-Davidson museum with my brother in mind. Didn’t want to pay $22 for the entrance fee so I just took a few photos

Must eat cheese while in Wisconsin…Mac and cheese, fried cheese curds, and a grilled cheese sandwich

Black River…the water did look really dark

29 May 535 miles Stayed at the Garden Inn in St Paul. No welcome to Minnesota sign…48th State! 🙂

St Paul temple. Went to sacrament meeting at the church next door

Interstate State Park -straddles Minnesota and Wisconsin. Taylors Falls

30 May 438 miles The drive through the Upper Peninsula was beautiful but very winding. Camped at the very end of it at Fort Wilkins State Park

3 1/2 hour ferry ride across Lake Superior. Talked to a couple from Illinois and a guy who was biking and hiking across the US. Their distancing signs were pretty funny!

Isle Royale National park. One of the main reasons I took this trip. It’s only accessible by boat or plane and is closed most of the year. It’s a beautiful place! I didn’t have too long before I had to catch the ferry back so I just hiked around a little and spent a bunch of time just lounging with my feet in the water 🙂

Keweenaw NHP. Old towns where they extracted and processed copper

31 May 227 miles The drive back off the peninsula was really pretty. Camped at Wanoka Lake

Killed SO MANY insects with my car this trip!

Stopped for a video call and bathroom break at this pretty Lester Park

Stopped for lunch at Betty’s Pies in Two Harbors. Doesn’t get much better than a veggie pasty and Great Lakes pie (apple, rhubarb, and mixed berry). They didn’t have small ones so I just chipped away at the big one. a little each day 🙂

Split Rock Lighthouse. Didn’t want to pay the entrance fee so just shot it from a distant viewpoint

Beaver Bay. This whole drive along Lake Superior is so beautiful!

Braked at a turnoff for a black sand beach and waded around thinking it wasn’t really black just dark. Drove a little farther down the road and found the actual black sand beach. Well mostly black gravel. But very pretty 🙂

Voyageurs National Park…I had been so looking forward to it. It was honestly a little underwhelming, not really any prettier than the other local nature. Drove around Kabetogama Lake, hiked to the beaver dam overlook (trees were in the way so bit much of an overlook), explored around other small lakes in the Rainy Lake area up north

1 June 384 miles Stayed at the Days Inn in international Falls. Took forever to get there because of this intense road construction. Did some work at the hotel, cooked some ramen in the parking lot for dinner, and got a good nights sleep. Wanted to get Canadian candy but with the closed border, that was a bust. Bought some amazing Old Dutch potato chips in the morning before I left.

Fargo. Funky painted bison. Cool Norwegian architecture. Amazing fish at Sickies Garage.

North Dakota state Capitol. No dome or anything. Looks more like a random office building. In fact I couldn’t find it at first 🙂

Scandinavian Heritage Park in Minot. Danish windmill, beautiful wooden Norwegian church, Swedish horse and house, and the most amazing chocolate (Icelandic and fazermint

Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Basically Badlands 2. 🙂

Billings Montana temple. Pretty but way in the boonies!

3 June 715 miles. Stayed in the KOA in Mandan

Little Bighorn battlefield…super hated this. Made me sad.

Hot Springs State Park…way too hot to get into the pools but cool to photograph

Sinks Canyon State Park…what a hidden gem! Sat at the edge of the river for awhile. 🙂

Cool sink hole…how the canyon got its name 🙂

Back to Utah! 4 June 624 miles Slept in my own bed 🙂

Grand Canyon with Teo, Ada’s Graduation, My Birthday

28-30 April, 1-2 May 2021

Hiked down over these cool rocks to the overlook

Just caught the end of the sunset before I had to go pick up dinner in Page

Saw the Grand Canyon from various viewpoints along the South Rim

Teo requested the Grand Canyon specifically as the destination for our road trip

Listened to good music and played the category game all the way back to Page

We have a photograph of Horseshoe Bend so it was cool to finally see it in person

Teo pretty well freaked me out looking for the perfect shot

There were swarms of gnats that we had to contend with, so we took this shot really fast

Teo opted out of the 15 minute trek to the water’s edge…

…but I really wanted to put my feet in so I carried on 🙂

Short stop at Pipe Spring National Monument (last time it has just closed when I got there)

Ada, Alex, and Steve joined us at Coral Pink Sand Dunes

Teo and I stopped at Cedar Breaks for quick photos on our way to the condo we rented at Brian Head. The others went to Cedar City to get Ada’s stuff.

Teri and Anne made a huge poster with photos of family members on it since they couldn’t come down. Super cute!

Went to the museum of art to check out the senior collection

We were all on our laptops at one point. Had a good time looking at old photos and reminiscing

We had to leave the condo early Sunday morning so we went to a park in Ephraim and played our new fun game, Wavelength. The we went back to Cedar City and ate Chili’s takeout at a different park.

I made myself a carrot cake for my birthday (Alex grated all the carrots and also made me dinner) 🙂

Touch of Disney

10-13 April 2021

Crystal Cove State Park…my new favorite beach

Visited the Nixon presidential library…I had no idea that he did so much for the environment!

Boysenberry festival at Knotts…decent food but not much else. I didn’t stay long.

Downtown Disney had better fare…impossible burger, mint julep, beignets 🙂

Dippin tots, calamari, and a Nola Spritzer…coming back for these!

Searched for (and found!) all of the hidden character eggs 🙂

Dole whip/lemon twist and a pineapple cookie. Dunked the cookie in the ice cream…yum. Made a float with some pomegranate limeade…double yum.

Chip and Dale were very funny

Went back to the campsite for a rest and a swim

Had a great time getting artistic shots around the park 🙂

This was my very favorite…plant-based cheeseburger Mac

They did the awesome turning on the lights thing at sunset…it was the biggest crowd I saw all day 🙂

Bye California Adventure! See you when I can actually ride your rides again!

Stopped at Elmers Bottle Tree Ranch on the way home

Colorado Trip

18-21 March 2021

Vernal temple…a conversion from their tabernacle just like the one in Provo

Flaming Gorge from the top (at Red canyon)…

…and from the surface without any shoes 🙂

Camped at Green River campground…beautiful!

The geese were in rare form

Stayed at a Hampton Friday and Saturday nights. Visited the Denver temple the first night and got Chili’s takeout.

Rocky Mountain NP Fall River Road. Too crowded to hike but I did manage to get out on a rock by myself.

Had fish and chips, walked around the lake, and had Winchells donuts with Dave

Did my Sunday school zoom class from the grounds of the beautiful Fort Collins temple 🙂

Random Lincoln Statue along the Lincoln Highway. Giant Pez dispenser?

Stopped briefly at the Old Pen…neat old prison building

Had the Taylor call just as I hit a little bit of storm coming back into Utah around Echo Lake. Whew, just made it!

Winter Ramblings

16-17 February and 1 March 2021

Went snowshoeing at Craters of the Moon…so much fun!

Great food at this small cafe…no one inside wore masks so I’m glad as ever to be rockin takeout

Windy and cold day at Minidoka Relication Camp

What an experience. I can’t image how the Japanese who lived here must have felt. I’m glad I was totally alone.

The Meridian temple is so beautiful even in the winter

The Boise temple…incredible. I walked around the grounds for awhile and unfortunately got locked in! I actually had to climb the fence to get OUT! 🙂

I stayed in downtown Boise so I saw the Capitol at night

Grabbed some delicious Spanish food in the Basque quarter and then headed back home.

Winter means a pathetic Shoshone Falls that I couldn’t get to and impassible roads to City of Rocks.

Because of the storm, I skipped Golden Spike and the Spiral Jetty so I went back for the day a couple of weeks later.

The level of the Great Salt Lake made a trip to the spiral jetty a bit muddy.

Ordered some fish and chips takeout from a pub in Layton on the way home. Yummy!

Tubing at Soldier Hollow with Weston, Spencer, and Teo was supposed to be a fun way to get out of the house but the lines were incredibly long and only one really slow conveyer belt so we left early.

The runs were really fun even though we only got 3

Christmas 2020

We built this cool Super Mario lego all morning. It’s interactive. 🙂

The only way we got to see extended family is through Teri’s cool barrier

Cool thermal photos complements of Steve’s present to me

Teo had sweatshirts made of Ada’s awesome adaptation of our family photo

I asked my family to send photos since we weren’t able to be together. Here are the darling Sage kids

New Years was beyond weird. Played games at home with just us.

Fake champagne. We still did go out and rang bells and made lots of noise at midnight.

Southwest Road Trip

10-18 January

After the insanity of the Capitol riot, I needed out. So I hit the road without much warning

Pipe Springs National Monument. Didn’t get to really see it…closed

Toadstool hoodoos hike at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Steve got me a thermal camera attachment for my phone

Painted Desert Inn at Petrified Forest National Park

The temperature of the log is the same as the surrounding rocks and much cooler than wood

Yay! A pool! I stayed at this rental so that I could swim laps

Boo! the “heated” pool is 11 degrees Celsius. I was lied too 😦

Arizona state Capitol. All barricaded up after the Capitol riot aftermath. I had dinner with Davon and Mikaylee (cherish didn’t feel well) which was fun. Didn’t take a photo 😦

Saguaro National Park. Amazingly monotonous

Dipped down into Texas to see Big Bend National Park

I was a little underwhelmed by the “mighty” Rio Grande

Could never have had this experience outside a pandemic

Saw exactly 2 other visitors in the whole huge cavern

Also has a fun kitschy store. Found this alarmingly timely 🙂

New Mexico State Capitol. Also fenced off. But besides the closed streets and the alert police all was normal. No insanity

The artifacts are scattered around this beautiful park

Great Sand Dunes National Park. If I can’t go to the beach at least I can have sand 🙂

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

The drive through Colorado National Monument was terrifying, dizzying heights abound

Southern Utah has actual winter!

10-13 December 2020

Never seen a half-frozen river at Capitol Reef

Woke up to this stunning skyline after a cold night in my car at a completely empty campground at Hite (Lake Powell)

Bridge over the Colorado River at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Enjoyed sitting solo at the edge of the river

Couldn’t drive up to Bears Ears because of impassible roads

Stupendous

Monument Valley was closed along with all other Navajo nation territory so I took a few photos from a distance

Crazy drive through an intense storm getting to Mesa Verde. The statue at the closed visitor center is all I got to see because of snowy roads 😦

Didn’t hike out to Delicate Arch. Parking lot was crammed. 😦

Hiked to the lesser-known arches instead

Cali Top to Bottom

31 Oct-8 Nov

When the fires were no longer a danger I decided to visit Northern California and then continue on south.

Made good use of my loungy chair when I needed a break from driving

Sacramento temple…incredibly beautiful on the most amazing wild grounds. I went early in the morning and it was so peaceful 🙂

I love my car. I love sleeping in my car. I love relaxing and putting my feet up in the middle of a long stretch in the back of my car

Cool bubbly mud pots

This huge rock came from the mountain in the distance!

Yay! The beach! woke up early to this amazing sight. The long drive down a bumpy dirt road in the total darkness the night before did not give me a sneak peak

Camped at Gold Beach so named for the soil color

The early morning gave me a peaceful grove almost to myself

The drive that morning was misty and surreal

Visited some of the crazy exhibits while at Confusion Hill

The Gravity House…queasy and strange. I made videos of the things I saw there for my nephews who love Gravity Falls and wanted me to visit for them

Glass Beach…collected some sea glass to take back. It was much sparser and smaller than the last time I was here.

Solvang, fun Danish town that my family visited when I was little.

Driving down through Los Padres National Forest at sunset. Gorgeous

Yay! windy boat ride out to the Channel Islands National Park

The dry bag I bought was pretty terrible so this is the best photo I got. Rowing through that arch with the waves swelling took timing and courage.

Chillin’ on the beach afterward. I opted not to go hiking because I was wet and sticky from the kayaking abs there is no fresh water on the island in which to clean off

Saw pods of dolphins in the ship’s wake on the way back! Loved it 🙂

Cute vacation rental in Long Beach was home sweet home for a few nights

Disney did a great job with distancing and requiring everyone to wear a mask

They also kept the numbers low and stopped people who were walking and eating.

Downtown Disney is fine and I got to shop and eat good food but it was really sad being right here and not being able to go inside the park 😦

Belmont Shore Beach plus new Mickey mask 🙂

Drive down the coast to San Diego and back for the day. Black’s Beach. Humidity plus my already curly hair…yikes!

San Diego Castle, I mean temple. I still remember how awed I was the first time I ever saw this temple. Dreamed of getting married there for most of my young life

La Jolla Cove was so neat! so many sea lions!

It’s on the very tip of the peninsula affording the most striking views of the pacific

Bye bye ocean! It rained the morning I left Long Beach

Cool random Route 66 historic hotel that I didn’t even know was there!

Just missed the sunset. Dam. Hoover Dam in the dark…freaking scary. Would not recommend

Las Vegas temple in the dark. Not scary. Extra cool. 🙂

Visited Ada in Cedar City and then home again, home again. What an amazing trip!

Northwest Trip

4-15 September 2020

Delicious food from The Celt Pub & Grill in Idaho Falls

So crowded! I circled the parking lot for like 20 minutes.

Inexplicable miniature Lady Liberty on a short pier at the beach. I was amazed at how many people were at the park and I think I saw only 2 people in masks.

Spokane temple. The temple president was there working on the grounds and he let me wander them even though they were closed

The wind kicked up as I was at the falls in Spokane on the morning I left.

Just got worse and worse as I drive through Eastern Washington. Plus the smoke from the fires burning all over the western states.

Leavenworth was smoke-free and gorgeous!

The shops were fun. Fudge for Teri (and of course some for me as well!)…

…and incredible chocolates including fresh mint that actually tastes like the plant. Amazing! I ordered some a month later when I was stuck at home in face pain

I sat here next to the river and ate veggie brats, San pelligrino, fudge, and yummy gelato

Got in the water, even took a spin on the paddle board I borrowed from Anne

The campground was so peaceful that I stayed for hours in my comfy chair watching Gravity Falls

Hiked up and around a random little waterfall near Ross Lake

Darling bookstore named for Ada Lovela…I mean Taylor 🙂

Emptiest Pike Place market you ever did see…but still scored crack berries, some of those yummy mini donuts, and the amazing chowder.

Took the ferry across to Poulsbo where I visited Jim, Julia, and Anneke before continuing on to Olympic

Drove through this cute little town on the Olympic peninsula. A lady at the general store gave me a free “I 💚 Joyce” bumper sticker when I told her it was my mom’s name and that she had died

Stayed at this cute little loft for a couple of nights

This is what runs right past the backyard 🙂

Hurricane Ridge…the mountainous part of Olympic National Park

Kalaloch Beach…the beach part of the park

Washington State Capitol building through the haze. I couldn’t go on to Mount Rainier because of fire danger 😦

The beach house ended up being a huge disappointment

Zero visibility and smoke inhalation danger can sure put a damper on a trip to the beach

I felt extra bad because Alex drove all the way out to spend a few days with me at the beach

We made the best of our beach house quarantine. Baked cookies, got Tillamook ice cream, built a puzzle, and streamed Timpanogos Storytelling events.

Yaquina Head lighthouse. From your nightmares.

Newport. Went to Oregon Coast Aquarium for an otter stuffed animal for Spencer and Westin and some incredible cobbler at Georgie’s for Jul

Decided to brave more possible fire issues and continue down through Oregon into California instead of going home through the Columbia River gorge and Idaho. First stop…my favorite temple. Portland.

Crater Lake. You may have to take my word for it. 🙂

Medford temple. Hey maybe the mask helps with particulates too! 🙂

Here is where the extremely disappointing and abrupt end to this trip occurs. I drove 2 hours from Medford toward the redwoods only to be turned around by closed roads. Had to drive all the way back to Medford and then back to Utah and cancel all of my Northern California plans. I was so bummed.