Road Trip!

Now Aussie Chic has inspired me to talk about road trips. I was going to talk about the one that RB and I did last summer, but instead I have chosen to talk about our upcoming one--I will talk about past ones later. Also, I am uber excited about this one.

We will be driving a hefty 5100km (3060-ish miles for my friends to the south). Each road trip so far takes us up to Edmonton, Alberta first where my best friend Kathleen, her husband Bry and their two kids (my little darlings) live.

The Gore family (L-R: Me, Kathleen, Alexandria, and Mikayla) Kathleen and I have been friends for almost 8 years now. We worked at Orange Julius together in 2001 and have been pretty near inseparable since except when she decided to take off from BC to Alberta on me. I guess I can't really talk as I have been to various provinces and territories. I've managed to see them at least once per year since 2005 anyway...some years 3 times per year.

These are the dearest girls I've ever known. I've known them since they were in mommy's tummy and I love them like they're my own. And miss them too! Don't worry girls, Auntie's coming soon!

Now I don't have favourites, but I do love this one of Alex. They love to put on their princess dresses.

So the first leg of our journey will take us from Langley, B.C. to Edmonton. We'll definitely be seeing this sign again. Hopefully we get out early in the morning and we won't see this in daylight. As we'll be towing a trailer we will have to allow ourselves the extra hours it will take to get through mountainous terrain.

We'll be leaving August 24th in the wee early hours (I am wanting to kick RB's butt into gear around 2-3am. I used to be a competitive swimmer with swim meets that started at 5am so I have no issues waking this early...he was a sea cadet and that's supposed to make him an early riser but....alas, no.) We'll be spending about 5-6 days in Edmonton before we take off south toward Montana. I've shown Montana pics before so I won't again...well, maybe I will show new ones :)

Coming into Butte, Montana

We are planning to stay in Butte over night and then in the wee early hour head south into eastern Idaho, to Utah and south through Salt Lake City where we will hang a left to head into Colorado. I am hoping to stay overnight in Colorado--though not sure where. Any suggestions????

From Colorado we will keep on the interstate heading northeast into Nebraska--through Nebraska all the way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. From here we will go to Chicago, head south a bit around around the southern bend of Lake Michigan into Indiana and then over to Ohio. We will then head north from Toledo into Michigan up to Detroit to cross back into Canada heading to Guelph, Ontario our final destination point. I will post a map so you can see this whole trek--as I am a geographer, and I do love my maps.

Our super-awesome-fantastic road trip 2009

So, all said and done, we would like to know of places near the interstate or near our route that could potentially be of interest to us. Some of the places that I know of are:

• Lewis & Clark Caverns
• Mormon Temples in Salt Lake City
• Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado
• Iowa 80 truck stop

Any other suggestions????