30th Anniversary of the Big Out West Trip

In 1982, not long before I turned 13 and went into 8^th grade, my parents took our family on an epic trip out to the western U.S.  This marathon trip in many ways had a big impact on me (for example, my tendency to want to travel to the western U.S.) and created many memories for me.   I recently had the opportunity to look at some pictures from that trip in my parents’ photo album.  Here is an excerpt from my parents’ 1982 Christmas letter:

“Then on July 22 at 4:15 a.m. we left on a 15-day vacation.  We went to South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, and, of course, Wisconsin.  We saw Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills, Devil’s Tower, the Badlands, Wall Drug, Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, the Bighorn Mountains, and Jackson Hole.  The sights were indescribable, pictures just do not do them justice. We had a super great time.  We were caught in a terrible, golf ball-sized hail storm while driving in the Black Hills and have surface dents all over the hood and trunk of the car. We also received five different stone chips in the windshield of the car…We arrived home at 1:30 a.m. August 5 to find that our sump pump was off because the power was out for nine hours on Tuesday from a bad storm they received here and the water had run over in the sump pump well and in the walls and the carpeting we have in the basement was saturated…But we still would take the vacation all over again if we had the chance. “

So many memories: I remember that storm – worst hail I ever personally experienced.  I have a rock that I picked up just before the storm hit.  It is black with wavy white lines and a white, twisting vein running through that.  To me it resembles a lightning bolt in a windy storm.  I also remember my brother and I seeing a small rattlesnake in the wild outside Graybull, WY, and running terrified blindly down a hillside, while my father stuck around to see the snake beat a hasty retreat. 

Having traveled to many states with my own wife and kids (and experienced both challenges and happy memories), it is only fair that I should shout out a “Thanks!” to my parents for providing that great travel experience.