Dana Daily

In fourth grade, I decided I was going to see all 50 states, and here I am with just 12 to go. I am well on my way to 50 by 50.

I am so sad to leave. While we hit everything on our itinerary, there's more I want to see. I know how silly this sounds, but before this trip Colorado to me was Denver. Now that we're here in Colorado Springs, I know it's so much more, and I can see why people love it out here. The scenery is beyond gorgeous, and everyone is so friendly. We enjoyed the complimentary waffle bar in the common area of the Buffalo Lodge , and then packed up the car and headed for the Garden of the Gods . In no way was this what I was expecting. Everything is bigger out west so I should have known. I pictured a small-ish city park with a few rocks spread throughout, which is laughable now that I think about it. Garden of the Gods is pretty, just like everything else out here. The red rocks reminded us of Sedona, and against the blue sky, they're just stunning. There's a paved road through the park with pull-offs to access trails and rocks for climbing. Fortunately it's Monday...

The last full day of our western adventure. We woke up early for 9am Mass, only to arrive at the church and find out that the website and sign in their lawn were not updated. The church was dark and empty at 8:55. We scrambled to find another, and ended up at St. Matthew's Cathedral. The priest spoke with a heavy accent, and we were given copies of the homily as we entered. I kind of liked that. Following Mass we drove the 1.5 hours or so to Denver for a Colorado Rockies game. The radar didn't look promising and sure enough, the announcer came on about 30 minutes before the first pitch and asked that people move from the seats to shelter as hail was threatening. We rode out the hail and torrential downpour for nearly 2 hours wondering if we should just pack it up and head to Colorado Springs. Finally the skies cleared, and it ended up being beautifully sunny. At that point though, nobody was really feeling the game and we made it through 6 innings, I guess and decided to ...

Our trip is winding down, but we still had some sightseeing to do. Today's adventures included the Vore Buffalo Jump , the town of Sundance, Wyoming, and Devils Tower. We also had to make it to Cheyenne (George Strait reference). I don’t know why the buffalo jump hunting tactic has stuck with me since elementary school, but we stopped at Vore Buffalo Jump, one of about 300 such sites throughout the West.  I was expecting a roadside attraction / money grab, but this site was far more than that.  It was completely fascinating, and the guide had the girls’ full attention too. Our guide’s family is originally from Indiana, PA, but she was born out here. They drive back and forth for holidays so it was fun talk to her. The exhibits were well-done, and the dig site presented highly detailed descriptions and a plethora of artifacts that can be traced to a variety of Native American tribes and hunts over a 300 year period. We easily spent an hour exploring, and then it was ti...

Today we said good-bye to our little cabin in Keystone and The Black Hills. I enjoyed our visit so much, and it feels like vacation is almost over. It's not of course; we have a few more days to enjoy. We packed up and headed north toward Montana. I was super excited about being able to squeeze yet another state into an already ambitiously planned trip. All we had to do was make it to the southeast corner, and a big state would be checked off my list. In order to get to Alzada, Montana, we traveled north through South Dakota. We stopped in Belle Fourche, a tiny town that had sprung up along a cattle trail, but is now famous for being the geographic center of the United States. I had expected a small marker in town designating the center point, but on-site there is a visitor's center, the 1876 Johnny Spaulding log cabin , and a large monument with a map of the United States marking the geographic center. Photo op! After spending more time in Belle Fourche than I had imag...

It's Badlands National Park day! We left later than anticipated, but still at a reasonable time. We had about an hour's drive to the national park, but had a few stops planned along the way. The first stop was Wall Drug . We really had no idea what to expect, but this place has quite the history. It comes up in roadside attractions, South Dakota tourist traps, all kind of kitschy articles and blurbs. We did a little bit of souvenir shopping, but it was also where we ate breakfast. Coffee was $.5 a cup. That's right, a nickel for a cup of coffee. Emmy was the only kid I could talk into hopping onto the jackalope for a photo op. I don't think Sal or my brother could wait to get out of this place, but at least we can say we were there. It was both what I was expecting, and not. From Wall Drug we drove a few minutes east to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site . There were no tours of the launch control facility available, but we watched the movie at the vis...

It was a chilly, rainy morning and we tossed around several options. We debated on finding indoor activities until the rain moved out, or just running with it and hitting Mount Rushmore first. Ultimately, we decided to deal with the weather and stick with our original plan. We arrived at Mount Rushmore shortly after it opened. There's a $12 parking fee, but the ranger asked if anyone was active military. My brother showed his military ID and we were given free admittance. We found parking close to the monument and took in the carving from a distance. Then we hit the Avenue of the Flags, and then went out on the terrace for a close-up view. It's amazing. Even against the gray sky it was an impressive sight. Sarah pointed out that Jefferson had a runny nose, and that Washington was crying. With the way the rain tracked down the sculpture, she was completely right. We went into the museum downstairs where I noticed a sign that the artist's studio and presidential trail w...

I was up bright and early this morning, and enjoyed some quiet time on the front porch of the bed and breakfast. Arnold had a pot of coffee on over the camp fire, and Kathy put out fresh "bear signs," homemade donut holes. Once everyone was up, breakfast was served in the common area. We enjoyed delicious pumpkin pancakes with cream, bacon, and apotato/egg side. We all lingered over breakfast, but eventually it was time to get moving and on the road. We stopped at a nearby trading post to look around, and then got out the GPS to find Fort Laramie. Fort Laramie was a key fur trading and military post, and it's been in many books, both fiction and non-fiction, that I've read. I was really looking forward to visiting, and was bummed the weather wasn't better. However, we didn't let the misting rain or chilly temps prevent us from exploring. Some of the buildings have been restored, and there are markers indicating where others would have stood. It's qui...

We had a 5:55am flight out of Pittsburgh, and in typical Dana fashion, I didn't sleep at all that night. Everyone was up at 2:30am and we headed to the airport around 3:15. Once again we parked at Globe, and they shuttled and dropped us at the Southwest gate. We did curbside check-in, and when the attendant asked for my driver's license, the only one I had in my wallet had expired. Fortunately, I remembered giving my license for Sal to hold when we were at the water park in Virginia earlier in the month. He pulled it out, and away we went. Crisis averted. We made it through security pretty quickly, and arrived at our gate with plenty of time to grab snacks and use the restroom. My brother showed us just as we were boarding, and hopped in line. We had an uneventful, hour long flight to Chicago Midway. We had about a 45 minute layover so had just enough time to find our gate, use the restroom again, and buy a quick breakfast. We then boarded for Denver. We arrived shortly a...

A nagging voice told me to skip Yorktown this morning, but Sal had already given two thumbs up to the idea and I really did want to see it as well. We were up early, got the car packed, and stopped at Duck Donuts  for a dozen donuts to go, and headed to Yorktown. We got in free with our receipt from Jamestown earlier in the week, and stopped in the theater to watch a brief film about the battle and surrender. We saw a group assembling in the foyer with a guide, and assumed we'd be given a tour of the battlefield so we stepped up. The guide said he'd speak about 45 minutes. We went outside to a point overlooking the York River near a canyon. After about an interesting 5 minute talk, the guide moved us over to some benches underneath some pine trees. We gave us a history lesson beginning with what is now known as the French and Indian War before getting to the Revolutionary. Sal suggested we leave the tour and go back inside. It was too much for the kids, and he and I don...

Today we went to Williamsburg. I had heard navigating the experiences around Williamsburg can be kind of confusing, and we weren't sure what to expect, so I just decided to go with it. We bought our tickets at the visitor's center, Sal was 1/2 price with his teacher ID, and boarded a shuttle. We had a map, and picked what appeared to be a centrally located stop, right outside the State House . We were just in time for a tour, and our guide was excellent. She was interesting to listen to, and allowed the girls some extra perks - like being the only two people sitting where the accused would have been seated. It was enough to pull them into the world of Williamsburg, and from that point on, they were into it. Interesting to note, the chair shown covering the middle window in the photo above, is the original governor's chair. It was saved from the fire that burnt the original state house. We watched carpenters making cedar shingles, entered a print shop, bought some ...

In my mind I had planned that we would spent Day 3 at Williamsburg and wind up our trip at Water Country USA on Wednesday. When we consulted the weather app, it looked like, temperature wise, that Tuesday would be the better day for a water park. The Powhatan Resort is only a few minutes from the water park so we were there just after opening. The wave pool seemed like a good place to start, and it was fun, but it wasn't on the same scale or as much fun as the pool at Big Surf in Phoenix. I kept Seth in the kiddie areas of the park, and Sarah chose to stay with us, while Sal and Emmy rode all of the crazy water slides. The five of us also enjoyed the Lazy River. Sarah has all these fears now about slides and rides, and she's fine with just hanging out in a pool and playing. Both girls loved the floating inflatable logs that you try to cross while holding on to a cargo net above your head. Emmy even said that was her favorite thing all day. As always, it was nice to just h...

view of the private side of Monticello We were up and at 'em early this morning because we needed to arrive at Monticello about 30 minutes before our scheduled tour time of 9:15. We arrived and parked just in time to catch a shuttle bus up to the top of the mountain. We had time to explore the grounds a little before our tour began so we checked out Mulberry Row , which has been reconstructed to some degree. Finally, it was time to enter the house. Our tour guide took us into the house from the carriage side, meaning the public side. The private, residential side of the house is the most recognizable and more grand, from the outside. The carriage side had been added later and was a place for Jefferson to receive guests and display artifacts from Lewis and Clark's journey, as well as antiquities from other parts of the world. Seth was well-behaved on the tour of the house, and the girls hung in their too, but far more interesting to all of them were the rooms un...

This morning we picked up rental car, a 2018 Kia Optima, and the kids grumbled and fussed, as expected. We originally had a minivan, but because we didn't need a vehicle that large, and the trip had been shortened, we downsized. It was fine. Anyway, we left Pittsburgh before noon, and made it to Charlottesville, Virginia without any problems. We wanted to find a BBQ place for dinner, but the one we had chosen appeared to be closed, as in forever, so we opted for Buffalo Wild Wings instead. It was cold when we came out and in checking the weather app, it didn't look like it would be any warmer in the morning so we ran to Walmart and found cheap long sleeve shirts for the kids. Then, we settled into the three bedroom house we booked on Airbnb, and spent our first uneventful night in Virginia. Oddly enough, I didn't take any pictures, but pulled this off the website. I put Sarah in a separate bedroom to give her some peace from Emmy, who was relentless in arguing with ...