Rachel’s posthaven

Day 4 of the big cross country move. We woke up in Cheyenne, Wyoming
and then drove to the Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado
area. We wanted to do some hiking and take Maximus with us, so we
found an area called Hermit Park that allows dogs and hiked the Kruger
Rock Trail. It was a 4 mile trail round trip, 2 each way. Kruger
Rock is at 9250 above sea level so there were some beautiful views.
This evening we had dinner in downtown Estes Park, walked the main
street and browsed the cute shops. It was a great day in absolutely
gorgeous countryside. Tomorrow we are driving through the scenic
Rocky Mountain National Park on our way to Moab, Utah to see the
arches!

Day 3 and we visited the Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore,
both which are really amazing. We also saw the "Wall Drug" store
which seems to be a big tourist attraction in South Dakota. Then we
drove to Cheyenne Wyoming where we are spending the night. We've seen
far more cows than people so far in Wyoming. :) Tomorrow we are off to
Colorado!

We did a lot of driving today through Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota
and finally stopped for the night in Oacoma, South Dakota. We
weren't originally planning on it, but I finally talked Dan into a
northern detour up to see Mount Rushmore, woohoo! I've always wanted
to see it so tomorrow will be the day. Didn't see too many exciting
sites today…it was really just a day for driving. However, to recap
we crossed the Mississippi River, and drove by the world's largest
truckstop (I know you are bummed, but no pictures of that, ha). Then
we stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota for dinner which we now know is
home to the famous Corn Palace so we stopped to take a few pictures.
Pretty cheesy stuff, but I was thrilled to get out of the car and see
some true Americana. ;-) We also crossed the Missouri River…our hotel
is just on the other side of the river.

We made it to Peru, Illinois tonight. Maximus had a great day
sleeping in the car after his big month in Pennsylvania. He's not so
sure about staying in a hotel though. He keeps thinking we should go
out in the hallway, probably to meet other people/dogs. La Quinta is
like doggie paradise…seems like everyone has dogs here. I guess it's
the differentiator that brings in the business. We made a quick stop
in South Bend, Indiana and saw the Notre Dame campus plus grabbed
dinner while we were there. In other news we started playing the
license plate game and have 29 states already plus Ontario and Alberta
Canada…not a bad start, but it’s sure to get harder!