Instead of taking one long vacation this summer, we opted to schedule two separate events, partly because of the newest addition to our household, partly for convenience sake. The earlier trip was documented earlier, but at the end of July, we again loaded up the suburban and headed for the great outdoors.
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We began our trip with a Thursday night trip from our house to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We left after Papa got off work and (due to a couple of construction detours) arrived at about 11:00 PM. Early the next morning (vacation early, not regular early - like 9 AM) we headed out for the first fun stops of our trip. We were accompanied by Aunt Kylie and her two little ones for this leg of the trip. We stopped at Smith Falls and then Merritt Reservoir before parting ways with our cousins (and aunt) and heading to Chadron.
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We stayed in a cabin there for the next two nights, enjoying a day trip to Carhenge and Box Butte on Saturday before hitting Mass in Chadron that evening.
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Early Sunday, we rose, packed up the last of our stuff, stopped by Kimball for a rubbing, and headed home (with a slight detour through Denver). We know, we know, Denver isn't exactly on the way, but the girls had never seen the mountains, and they wanted to go to a new state this summer, and... well, read about it in that post.
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All told our trip covered nearly 1500 miles. We had an awesome time, listened to the Frozen soundtrack at least 10 times, and still made it home only having used one of Papa's vacation days. We feel very blessed to be able to take vacations like this. We don't have a lot of blow money, so two vacations in a summer would be a pinch. However, finding ways to save money, like packing a cooler full of food for easy meals, camping, or enjoying a cabin stay which we won by doing the Great Park Pursuit last summer, we can squeeze all the fun out of every dollar. We were proud that our only real expenses were gas, coffees (to keep the driver and navigator awake, and one fast food stop because of unplanned delays. At the risk of sounding cliché,
Gas.........$375
Coffees...$25
Fast Food...$10
A 1500 mile vacation in 80 hours....Priceless.
So without further ado, here are the details:
Smith Falls
Merrit Reservoir
Chadron State Park
Carhenge
Box Butte
Scenic Drives
Kimball
Denver
..and arriving home at nearly 2 AM. Totally worth it.
We began our trip with a Thursday night trip from our house to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We left after Papa got off work and (due to a couple of construction detours) arrived at about 11:00 PM. Early the next morning (vacation early, not regular early - like 9 AM) we headed out for the first fun stops of our trip. We were accompanied by Aunt Kylie and her two little ones for this leg of the trip. We stopped at Smith Falls and then Merritt Reservoir before parting ways with our cousins (and aunt) and heading to Chadron.
We stayed in a cabin there for the next two nights, enjoying a day trip to Carhenge and Box Butte on Saturday before hitting Mass in Chadron that evening.
Early Sunday, we rose, packed up the last of our stuff, stopped by Kimball for a rubbing, and headed home (with a slight detour through Denver). We know, we know, Denver isn't exactly on the way, but the girls had never seen the mountains, and they wanted to go to a new state this summer, and... well, read about it in that post.
All told our trip covered nearly 1500 miles. We had an awesome time, listened to the Frozen soundtrack at least 10 times, and still made it home only having used one of Papa's vacation days. We feel very blessed to be able to take vacations like this. We don't have a lot of blow money, so two vacations in a summer would be a pinch. However, finding ways to save money, like packing a cooler full of food for easy meals, camping, or enjoying a cabin stay which we won by doing the Great Park Pursuit last summer, we can squeeze all the fun out of every dollar. We were proud that our only real expenses were gas, coffees (to keep the driver and navigator awake, and one fast food stop because of unplanned delays. At the risk of sounding cliché,
Gas.........$375
Coffees...$25
Fast Food...$10
A 1500 mile vacation in 80 hours....Priceless.
So without further ado, here are the details:
Smith Falls
Merrit Reservoir
Chadron State Park
Carhenge
Box Butte
Scenic Drives
Kimball
Denver
..and arriving home at nearly 2 AM. Totally worth it.