8,000 miles on the way home

We’re home from our four-week, 8,000-mile Road Trip!  We had so much fun traveling around the USA and Canada, seeing places we’ve never seen and visiting friends and family we haven’t seen in years.  Here’s a basic summary of the cool stuff:

• Mount Rushmore:  it totally rocks!  I was really amazed by it.  I was expecting to like it, but I was way more impressed than I thought I would be. 
• Wisconsin:  probably one of the prettiest states we drove through.  Red barns, blue silos, green grass, golden wheat and black-and-white dairy cows that look like they were just Oxy-cleaned.  Add to that some great barbecue and a pack of squeaky cheese curds, and that’s a winner!
• Niagara Falls (Canada side): beautiful views of the water and a bustling town center with plenty of activities (Coney Island-style) for the kids.
• Montréal’s old town center:  cobbled streets, old buildings, local beer and some very yummy foods.
• Québec City and Île d’Orléans: a beautiful fortress city with so much to see, just by walking around.  The island is only a 20-minute drive away and very much worth the day-trip away from Québec.  It’s one of the oldest towns in North America, settled in 1642.  Buy some fresh strawberries from the guy who grew them – on farms that date back four hundred years.  Then, go into town and buy some fougasse, beautiful bread stuffed with olives, ham, feta, or whatever else they want to put in it. Yum!
• Portsmouth, New Hampshire:  a very picturesque New England town, also dating back to the 1600s.  We had such a lovely time visiting family there, hanging out with my aunt, uncle and young girl cousins.  We went swimming at nearby Pleasant Lake – aptly named, I must say.  We also went blueberry picking in Maine (only a 15-minute drive away) and ate some juicy lobster.  Hard to beat!
• Cape Anne and Boston, Massachusetts:  we got to visit some old friends and enjoy more lobster!  Nice.  Boston’s Freedom Trail is a very cool walk – seeing Paul Revere’s house and following his ‘midnight ride’.  Some of the countries more well-known ‘patriots’ of the American Revolution are buried there, near Boston Commons.
• Washington, D.C. and Front Royal, Virginia:  more family and friends to visit here (yay!).  We also got to see a Civil War re-enactment, and learn a lot about ammunitions and fighting methods of the day.
• Utah:  I talk about Southern Utah every chance I get because it has to be one of my most favorite places on earth.  GO THERE!  You cannot be disappointed by Arches National Park (Moab), Zion National Park, or Bryce Canyon National Park (in my top 3 favorite parks).  It also adds to it for me when I get to visit my wonderful family in Salt Lake City when I'm there.

There were so many other experiences every day that made the trip so worth the many hours of driving, and it was nice to see family again!

Okay, now we have to switch gears and start packing for Kazakhstan.  We haven’t been getting excited about it because there are so many things to do between now and then… difficult logistics often get in the way of enjoying an upcoming adventure.