Our Vacation

Chapter 1: The Journey

Odyssey (noun): A long series of travels and adventures.

That's the perfect term for our journey from Washington to Colorado and back. There were several reasons for the trip: visit family, see parts of the country I hadn't ever seen, take a break between college and being employed again, spend time with my husband and son doing something adventurous, and probably more that I couldn't really put my finger on.

It was the perfect time. I'd just finished a fairly intense 18-month school term to earn an Associate's degree in Library & Information Services, I was looking for a new job but hadn't gotten to even the interview stage yet, and my son was on summer break. My daughter, I should point out, was also out of school, but chose to stay home and be house/pet sitter for us. THAT was a huge relief to have the dogs and home taken care of by someone I could trust.

We plotted a course that would take us through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Colorado. We have family in Gillette, Wyoming as well as all over the Northeastern quadrant of Colorado, so rough plans were made for stops to see as many of them as possible. I also wanted to see sites like Little Bighorn, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, etc. The guys had already seen most of that on a separate trip years ago.

So we packed up the trusty van (which had been transformed from dog-hauler to people-hauler) with luggage, some food, maps, and all the technogear we'd need to survive two weeks on the road (cameras, iPods, laptop, Nook books, cell phones -- you name it). We even decided to take some prezzies to the peeps we'd be staying/partying with and chose yummy stuff from Johnson Berry Farm.

Next: We hit the road.