When we arrived in the San Diego area, the first destination that we were anxious to experience was Legoland California, located in Carlsbad.  It was probably as expensive as Disneyland, but I’ll admit that it exceeded my expectations.  Seeing that there was also a separate […]

I had never heard of Valley of Fire until about a month before we visited, when I read about it in a travel magazine.  Within a week after reading that article, I heard several people at Zion National Park mentioning this as a must-see destination.  […]

After visiting Bryce Canyon National Park, we made our way back to Springdale, Utah, where we stayed for the week, down the street from Zion National Park‘s entrance.  I must admit that we were very surprised at the crowds for October.  The weather was in […]

Bryce Canyon National Park, located in southern Utah, was a side trip for us from our week long spot in Zion National Park.  We drove the two and a half hour route, through the “tunnel” in Zion. Spending one night in a hotel right outside […]

We spent a week in Salt Lake City, and stayed downtown for easy access to all of the sites.  I found Salt Lake City a very easy city to get around by car.  There were shuttles readily available to take visitors to the The Salt […]

Idaho Falls was a short stop over for us on the way to Salt Lake City. We braved the rain, and took a stroll through the Idaho Falls River Walk and Greenbelt.  There were nice views of the entire falls and surrounding city. There were […]

Yellowstone National Park was one of the places that I could not wait to visit, and it did not disappoint!  We spent 3 separate days exploring, and still did not get to see everything.   For some reason, I pictured Yellowstone as a relatively flat area, […]

After visiting Bozeman and Glacier National Park, we headed south to Big Sky, Montana.  Our visit coincided with our quest to see Yellowstone National Park. My parents joined us for the week, and we stayed in their two bedroom timeshare at Bluegreen Lake Condominiums at […]

Glacier National Park was breathtaking.  We stayed on the east side of Glacier in the town of St. Mary. This location was a great jumping off point for the Going to the Sun Road.  We were just minutes from the east entrance and Visitor’s Center […]

I’m not sure if it was the sweeping mountain views or the small town charm. But, I quickly fell in love with the town of Bozeman. Museum of the Rockies The boys and I visited the Museum of the Rockies, which had a massive collection […]

As we crossed into Montana, I could not resist the urge to stop at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Crow Agency, site of General Custer’s Last Stand.  In college, I took a Native American Literature class, and after reading the accounts of history […]

From Rapid City, we took a day trip to Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, a sight you may recognize from the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The drive was gorgeous, and we were surprised at the beautiful red rocks surrounding the area.  […]

While staying in Rapid City, there were 3 attractions that we really enjoyed, aside from Mount Rushmore. We visited Custer State Park, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  There were many scenic drives available throughout the park, but we chose Needles Highway.  The […]

While in Rapid City, we spent a day visiting Mount Rushmore.  Within that single day, we were blessed with clouds, rain, hail, and sunshine.  It felt just like being at home in Chicago. Mount Rushmore is a patriotic site that features the 60 foot faces of […]

As we approached the entrance to Badlands National Park, it was such a spectacular sight to see the large, jagged “hills” rising from the Plains, seemingly out of nowhere. This was our first National Park visit on this trip, so it was here that we […]