Our Midwest Summer Road Trip

Ok, I started writing this post last Summer, but as usual six months later it's still not done. If you see any references to our "recent" Summer trip, just pretend it's still August 2021!

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Did you travel anywhere last Summer? 

Over the end of June and start of July we took a two and a half week road trip through the Midwest and explored some new to us cities, towns and well known locations. The main destination of our trip was Chicago. I'd been wanting to visit Chicago for such a long time, and we had actually planned to spend Spring Break there in 2020 - but we all know why that didn't happen! I'm so happy we finally made it there this past Summer and it's one of my new favorite cities. We'll definitely be back!  

Originally we thought about flying to Chicago or even taking the overnight Amtrak train from Denver, but ultimately settled on making it a road trip. I figured that while we were right by the Great Lakes it would be nice to explore the area a little more and we'd need a car for that. The original plan was to take the sleeper train to Chicago (something we've never done before) and then get a rental car to explore the Great Lakes after a week in the Windy City, but with rental cars being a hot commodity last Summer and there being no guarantee that a booking would actually stick (no matter how high the price) we figured it was safest to take our own car. Driving from home also gave us the freedom to add in some extra stops along the way, extra space for luggage (our minivan fits a LOT), and no need to lug around car seats to use in a rental.

As well as Chicago, our trip included Detroit, St Louis, Kansas City, Mackinac Island, Mount Rushmore and more.  We drove through ten states on this trip: Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri and Kansas. I've got a lot of new states to cross off my list! We visited world famous landmarks, stopped at quirky roadside attractions, ate all sorts of new to us foods, crossed mighty rivers, took in lots of art, visited amazing museums, and caught up with friends. Our good friends from New York met up with us in Chicago and spent the better part of two weeks with us before we went our separate ways to head home. It was so good to catch up with them and the kids love having other kids to play with when we travel. This was our third Summer trip together so it's become something of a tradition. Last year they stayed with us in Colorado and a few Summers back we spent time with them in New York before traveling to Boston together.    

 

Here's a look at the route we took for this road trip. We added in some detours to visit various places rather than driving the most direct route. Google tells me that it was about fifty two hours of driving all up - and I can tell you that it definitely felt that way! Most of our driving days were around six hours of driving, but there were a few nine hour drives thrown in towards the end. While it was nice to be able to add in a few destinations that wouldn't otherwise be on our radar, I've got to say that the driving part of road trips is definitely not the highlight. Who ever came up with that "It's about the journey, not the destination" phrase clearly did not spend 50 hours in a car driving through the mid-west! It's always about the destination if you ask me!

Let's take a look at our trip day by day...

A Desert Road Trip: Las Vegas to Palm Springs

One year ago today, just a week before the world shut down, I was on my way from Palm Springs to Las Vegas for a flight home after the annual Alt Summit blogging conference. I had planned to share all about my trip as soon as I got home, but with everything that ensued it felt a little irresponsible to post about a fun trip. Plus, with the entire family suddenly home 24 hours a day and being thrown into the world of home learning time for blogging wasn't really something I had much of. 

The world is obviously still under the grip of the virus, but with vaccinations rolling out and a new, much more responsible federal government that actually takes the pandemic seriously, things are looking up. So today I thought I'd finally share that road trip and my time in Palm Springs with you all. A word of warning, you're going to see lots of pics of me here and not a single pic of my kids! 

Alt Summit is my favorite conference for bloggers, influencers and creatives. Each year it takes place in late Winter/early Spring in Palm Springs, California. In past years I've either flown direct or driven from San Francisco. This was my first year attending after our move to Colorado, and unable to get direct flights with one of my chosen airlines, I decided to fly to Las Vegas and drive the rest of the way with my friend Sareka who was flying in from Michigan. I met Sareka at Alt Summit the year before when we were roomies. That's my favorite thing about Alt Summit. I always learn a lot when I'm there, but the connections and friendship I've made are the best part. 

The drive between Las Vegas and Palm Springs is about four hours long. With a few stops thrown in it ended up taking the better part of a day in each direction. There are a couple of different routes that you can take, and we opted to go with the route that took us through Mojave National Preserve, a small section of Route 66, and past the northern entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. I've shared a map of the route at the end of this post. My plan had actually been to take one of the other routes this year, but Alt Summit, like most conferences, was cancelled due to the pandemic. 

Our first stop, and one that you will see no matter which route you take, was the iconic Seven Magic Mountains sculptures. If you've been here a while (or even just a short time) you'll likely know that I'm a big fan of colorful art. I'd been wanting to visit Seven Magic Mountains for years, and I've got to say that they didn't disappoint. Well, the crowds did - I would've preferred to have it all to ourselves, but that just shows how popular it is. If you're not familiar with Seven Magic Mountains, it's a series of seven sculptures reminiscent of balancing rocks, or cairns. The sort of sculpture you often find on desert hikes, but on a much larger scale. And slightly more colorful too! These 25 foot tall sculptures by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone were installed back in 2016 and were originally only supposed to be in place for two years. They proved to be so popular that the installment was given an extension through to the end of 2021. If you 've been wanting to see them in person, this is your year to do it! 

Our Stay at the Madonna Inn

After my last post about our trip to San Diego over the Winter break last year I thought it was about time I finished posting about the rest of that particular trip. 

Our visit to San Diego was part of our Southern California road trip over the girls' Winter break from school. We drove down to Los Angeles where we spent a few days hanging out in Downtown and Longbeach before heading to San Diego on Christmas Eve. We then spent four days in San Diego before starting our drive back north. We spent a day at Legoland and then made our way to San Luis Obpiso and the subject of this particular post: the Madonna Inn.

Where to start about the Madonna Inn? Let's see... It's tacky. It's over the top. It's pink. It's one of the most amazing places I've ever stayed!

Joshua Tree National Park

I'm so behind with writing this last installment of our Southern California road trip over the Christmas break that I think this almost counts as a Flashback Friday post! Let's just pretend that I haven't been that lazy though ;)

Our road trip was one full of quite varied destinations. We visited the Danish inspired village of Solvang, spent Christmas by the beach in Santa Barbara, hung out in Los Angeles for a few days and then headed towards Palm Springs with a detour to Salvation Mountain, seriously the coolest desert location EVER! The final place we visited on our road trip was Joshua Tree National Park. 

Salvation Mountain

A few years back I saw some photos of the most amazingly colorful art installation in the desert and I just knew that we had to visit there one day. As luck would have it, that explosion of color in the desert happens to be right here in California, just over an hour's drive from Palm Springs, and a perfect destination for our recent Southern California road trip.

Salvation Mountain is a completely surreal place. I never really know how to describe it to people. The creation of outsider artist Leonard Knight, Salvation Mountain is a 50 foot high and 150 foot wide "mountain" made entirely of adobe clay, straw and donated paint. Leonard started working on the mountain in the 1980s to promote his message "God is love". The mountain features many biblical texts as well as recurring motifs of birds, flowers and waterfalls. Leonard continues his work to this very day and the mountain continues to evolve.

A Few Days in Los Angeles

On our recent trip to Southern California we spent a couple of days in Los Angeles.

I'll be honest. LA isn't my favourite place but I figured we couldn't travel all the way down there and not see any of the city. Ava and Lola had only briefly visited Los Angeles in the past (a quick breakfast in Hollywood with my sister on the way to Disneyland and a transfer at LAX when we first arrived from Australia) and there were a few things they were pretty keen to see.

Ava and Lola couldn't wait to visit Santa Monica Pier, the stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame, the handprints and footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, and La Brea Tar Pit. But most of all, they couldn't wait to buy cupcakes from the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM! Ok, I was pretty excited about the cupcakes too!

The girls enjoyed Los Angeles and I must admit that I actually kind of warmed to it a little too. You won't be seeing us moving there any time soon but my opinion of the city has improved a little!

Here's a look at our time in Los Angeles...

A day in the Canadian Rockies

Back to the Canada trip posts...

One of the highlights of our trip to Canada was our day in the mountains. We spent two days driving from Drumheller and Calgary to Vancouver and the vast majority of this trip (especially on the first day) seemed to be driving through the awe inspiring Canadian Rockies.

So exciting when those majestic mountains start to appear

I could get used to having this view out the windscreen 

Road Trip California

After our recent visit to Disneyland we took a road trip along the beautiful Californian coast back to San Francisco.

Here's a little look at some of the sights along the way.

We started our road trip in Carpinteria, near Santa Barbara. We had driven there the night before to avoid Los Angeles peak hour on a Monday morning. After a delicious bagel breakfast in Carpinteria we headed to the beach at Santa Barbara where we spent a short while splashing about in the waves. The girls, Ava in particular, were super excited to spend some time at the beach. Back home in Australia we would go to the beach quite regularly however here in San Francisco the beaches are just a little cold so we've only been once or twice.

Two excited kids

The Happiest Place on Earth - Day 1

Ok, so I've been a little slack with posting lately. So, so much going on over the last month. I think it's about time I catch up with a look at one of the reasons I've gotten behind in the first place.

So prepare for a total onslaught of photos...

Here it is...

Our trip to DISNEYLAND!!!

Ava had been looking forward to visiting Disneyland since well before we made our move to the States. In an effort to help her get excited about our move we'd told her than we'd be living in the same state as Disneyland. Ok, so we're at the other end of the state but compared to Australia San Francisco is pretty close to the home of Mickey Mouse. Knowing that Mickey and his friends were only a half day's drive away, Ava would ask almost on a weekly basis when we'd finally make it to Disneyland. Well, that day finally came a few weekends back when we made the trip down to sunny Anaheim to meet up with my sister, Kylie, who was on holiday in America. Disneyland AND seeing Aunty Kylie? I think all of Ava's dreams came true in one go!


Day 1

Where to start about Disneyland? There's just so much to see and do that it's hard to work out what to do first. Ava had made a short list of "must do" rides that was pretty much all located within Fantasyland so that made for a good place to start. Of course, getting to Fantasyland took an awfully long time as we were greeted with friendly Disney characters and photo opportunities at every turn! Lola had been a little (ok, a LOT) grizzly when we first arrived at Disneyland but that all turned around when she spotted Pluto. In the past she's been very apprehensive about meeting life size characters but she took to Pluto (and every other Disney character she met) straight away. It's amazing the transformation that cuddly pup brought about!

Hooray for Pluto!