Columbus, OH to Annapolis, MD, Thursday 6/29/2017

We finished our trip with a 420 mile drive from Columbus, OH to Annapolis, MD. We didn't make too many stops on this last day, but found a nice park in West Virginia for lunch and stopped at one of our favorite places for dinner: Beef, Buns, and Paradise in Frederick, MD, about an hour away from home.

Sierra (left) and Cali (right) at park in West Virginia.

Our lunch spot in West Virginia at a park.

This was a common occurrence when Sierra was allowed to be free in the car prior to departure. She always seemed to want to drive. Dakota and Sunny are in the background.

Beef N Buns N Paradise for dinner in Frederick, MD.

We arrived home about 8:30 PM at night. Total trip mileage, from Annapolis to Golden and back to Annapolis, including all stops and detours, was 4599.0 miles.

Indianapolis, IN to Columbus, OH, Wednesday 6/28/2017

We didn't drive as far today to allow time to visit the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH. This free museum was fantastic. We also stopped at a nice park outside the base for lunch.

Sierra is interested in some ducks at our lunch stop at a local park in Dayton.

Dakota and Avery look at Little Boy, the first atomic bomb. Fat Man, the second one, is in the background. They are standing under the wing of the actual Bockscar B-29 that dropped the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Dakota is explaining things.

Bockscar, the actual B-29 that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki.

Dakota walking through a B-29 fuselage.

Luke in the B-29 fuselage.

Avery and Dakota standing in the bomb bay of the B-29. Not actually the place you want to be when the bomb bay doors open.

Iowa City, IA to Indianapolis, IN, Tuesday 6/27/2017

On this leg, we visited Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, just west of Chicago, and ate at Giardano's Pizza. Giardano's is a famous Chicago pizza chain that features Chicago deep dish stuffed pizza, which (some) of us love, and which you just can't get too many other places. Our schedule didn't allow us to linger in Chicago at all, so we drove around the city and headed to Indianapolis.

Wheaton has a great exhibit on CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. This was in the small museum area, and the desk shown is the one on which Tolkien wrote the Hobbit and much of the Lord of the Rings. It has a hand written note from Tolkien on the top.

A typical scene from the evening - wrangling luggage into a La Quinta in Indianapolis.

Cheyenne, WY to Iowa City, IA, Monday 6/26/2017

We tackled a long driving day all the way through Nebraska and much of Iowa, which took all day. We stopped at Boot Hill in Ogallala, NE to walk around briefly. This is one of many "Boot Hill" cemeteries where cowboys and others were buried with their "boots on" in shallow graves.

Boot Hill in Ogallala, NE.

Avery, Sunny, Luke, Dakota and the dogs under the Boot Hill sign in Ogallala, NE.

Golden, CO to Cheyenne, WY, Sunday 6/25/2017

We left Golden and drove West and North through Winterpark, CO and then along the Trail Ridge Road, which is U.S. Highway 34 from Grand Lake, CO (west) to Estes Park, CO (east) through Rocky Mountain National Park. According to the park, this is "the highest continuous paved road in the United States, reaching an elevation of 12,183 feet."

Avery on our way into the park.

The entrance to the park on US 34 where we had lunch.

The sign says the elevation is 11,796 feet. We continued to go up after that.

At or near the top at one of several pull-offs and picture spots.

A snowfield we stopped at to throw snowballs in June.

Avery's Adventure Camp

Avery participated in an Avid4Adventure camp. She did the version of the camp where they do a different activity each day. Avery's week was: mountain biking, canoeing, climbing, hiking, and kayaking. Some pictures from the camp are below.

Day 1 - Monday - Mountain Biking

Avery is lower right corner.

Avery is fifth up from the bottom of the picture wearing a grey shirt.

Day 2 - Tuesday - Canoeing

Avery is in the middle of this canoe turned around on the left side with a light blue shirt. Her friend from camp, also named Avery, is in the back.

Day 3 - Wednesday - Climbing

This day was super hot - in the 90s. Avery had a harder time because the rocks were really hot, and it was just really hard to be active outside. The counselors didn't take any pictures this day, it seems - it might have been a tough day all around.


Day 4 - Thursday - Hiking

Hiking group picture.

Avery is the back-most hiker here.

Avery with her friend from camp, Avery.

From left to right, our Avery, her friend Avery, Sammy, and Addy, a good group of friends from camp.

Avery, Addy, Sammy, and Avery (left to right).

Day 5 - Friday - Kayaking

Avery and Avery in a kayak.

The group again: Addy, the Averys, and Addy.

Avery's main camp counselor is on the left, camp name Beef, kayaking with the other Avery on the bow.

The kids were given the option to "walk the plank," meaning to walk forward off the end of the kayak. This was the coldest day of the week; although Wednesday had been super hot (in the 90s), this day was in the 50s-60s and overcast. It felt cold. But Avery went in. See the next picture.

Avery's in the water.

Here's another boy walking the plank.

The closing ceremony for Avery's camp. She is in front in blue.

Avery and her main camp leader, "Beef."

Avery and two of her good camp friends. From left to right, Avery, Avery, and Addy.