Day 15- Last Day on the Road! Annapolis, MD

~Last Day on the Road~

States: PA, MD

After traveling over 3,700 miles through 14 states, checking in and out of 11 hotels/campsites/friends' houses, visiting 4 National Parks, 3 National Monuments, 2 Grasslands, 1 National Forest and 1 State Park in 15 days, we made it to the east coast and rolled into Annapolis! 

15 Day Summary:

States Traveled Through: 

CA, NV, AZ, UT, ID, WY, MT, SD, IA, IL, IN, OH, PA, MD

National Parks:

Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Black Hills, Badlands

National Monuments:

Cedar Breaks, Crazyhorse, Mt. Rushmoore

Grasslands:

Thunder Basin, Buffalo Gap

National Forest:

Caribou

State Park:

Custer

Day 14- Behind Enemy Lines

Before heading out of South Bend, we got a few pictures! We drove most of the day and ended up in Bedford, PA, a small town full of antiques.

States: IN, OH, PA

Miles on the Odometer: 3,208

Since Ken is headed to the game in Dublin in a few weeks, he made his prediction clear!!

Downtown Bedford, PA. Small town, USA!

Day 13- Chicago with the Junes!

We headed out of IA and to Chicago, IL to see the Junes. On the way, we stopped in the adorable town LaClair, IA (Buffalo Bill's hometown, even though I think this is like the third town with that claim) where we dipped our toes in the Mississippi River. We went to the Mississippi River Distillery on the river where we did some vodka, gin and whiskey tasting. We also drove through the hometowns of John Wayne (Winterset, IA) , Ronald Reagan (Dixon, IL) and Herbert Hoover (West Branch, IA). After Chicago, we drove to South Bend, IN, home of Notre Dame.

States: IA, IL, IN

Fabulous Peking Duck Dinner in Chicago with Fellow Newlyweds, Matt and My Twin!

 Mississippi River 

Day 11 & 12- Fireside Winery, Iowa

After having breakfast and shopping in Wall Drug, we checked out of Annie's Cottage. We headed to Sioux City, IA, (drove through many corn and wheat fields, passed tons of old barns and through Loess Valley where the hills were made by glaciers) where we stayed on the Missouri River and had dinner at 'Bev's' on the river.  

The next day, we headed to Morengo Firestone Winery in Iowa. On the way we saw a 'Wallace' winery and stopped for lunch at LT organics where we had our favorite meal in the whole trip! We had 2,610 miles on the odometer after lunch! 

When we got the the winery, we were greeted by William and Rona Wyant, who showed us around their vineyard, over 3,500 acres of corn and soy bean fields (suffering from a bad drought tho year), did some wine tasting and fed us a steak dinner! Iowa wines are sweeter than CA wines and delicious. The whites were so refreshing in the heat. We highly recommend visiting Firestone if you are ever in IA!

States: SD, IA

The Wyants

Vineyard

Iowa Corn

Wallace Winery

Day 10- Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument and The Badlands

We checked out of the Roost Hotel and headed to the Crazy Horse Monument,  Mt. Rushmoore, and to the Badlands. We ended up in Wall, SD, in Annie's Cottage, home of the famous 'Wall Drug.' 

Miles on Odometer: 1,900

Animals Spotted:

~Billy Goat

~Red Breasted Robin

~Steer

~Big Horned Sheep

~Prairie Dogs

~Sheep

~Turkeys 

Mt. Rushmore

In order of presidencies: Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.

 Four U.S presidents who have fought for our freedom. This monument was meant to draw in nationwide traffic in SD. 

Billy Goat

Crazy Horse Monument

A work in progress; they are carving his horse.

Badlands, 

South Dakota

Some of the only flowers we found.

Window Trail

Animals in the Badlands   

 (there are not many!)

Prairie Dogs!

DIVE Bar in the middle of no man's land in the Badlands. Of course we stopped for a Coors Light.

Notch Trail: 1.25 miles

See me??

South Dakota Mullet