Favorites!

Favorite Sunset

With only about 5 days left in our grand adventure, we talked today while we drove about our favorite things on the trip.  Here are some of them!

Arches National Park - Utah

Favorite National Park

Chris - Grand Canyon, AZ

Chelsea - Badlands, SD

Daddy - Rocky Mountains, CO

Mommy - Arches, UT

Katie - Arches, UT

Favorite Thing We Did

Chris - Six Flags, IL

Katie - American Girl, MA

Chelsea - American Girl, MA

Daddy - Sandia Peak Tramway, NM

Mommy - Sandia Peak Tramway, NM

Sandia Peak Tramway

St. Louis

Favorite Restaurant

Daddy - Sunset Grill, UT

Mommy - Sunset Grill, UT

Chelsea, Katie, Chris - Melting Pot, MA

Favorite Food

Chelsea - Cheesecake

Chris - Steak (Cattleman's Grill)
Mommy - Butterfinger Cheesecake at "The Range"

Daddy - Prime Rib at Sunset Grill
(And Fried Pies - St. Louis!)

Daddy loved them pies

Favorite Campground

Big Pine, Custer, SD (Daddy)

Yogi Bear/Jellystone Park, St. Louis - (Kids)

Favorite City
St. Louis


Most Unexpected Surprise

- Louisville Kentucky and Churchill Downs

(we didn't plan on going to Louisville, but bad weather diverted us there)

Funniest Thing(s)

Person who used to live in Maine and flipped out when he saw our license plates at the Grand Canyon saying "Holy C...p did I just have a brain f..t and get transported back to Maine?  Are you guys really from Maine!?!

People in Oklahoma at "Pop's Soda" in the parking lot who saw our plates and pointed saying "Look!  Maine People!" (like we were from Mars)
Russian who ate the 72 ounce steak in 43 minutes at "The Big Texan Steakhouse" in Amarillo, TX

Worst and Most Annoying Camper 

- Bentley

Best and Most Well Behaved Camper 

- Max

Biggest WOW!!!

TIE: Grand Canyon and Arches National Park

That's all we can come up with for now, if anyone can think of other things you'd like to know what were our favorites leave a comment!

We are moving pretty quickly now as we move through the northeast and start to turn north.  We were in Ohio yesterday, Pennsylvania today, will be in Connecticut Friday, Saturday, Sunday (visiting Grandma), and then back in Maine by Monday night!
- Posted by Ted

Six Flags Great America

Here are some photos from today's trip to Six Flags!

Jelly Belly Warehouse

We made it to the Jelly Belly Warehouse in time. We took a factory tour on a cute little train and watched videos about how jelly bellies are made. Their factory is in California. 

But the best part of the tour was the tasting afterward. Much to my surprise and delight, they had Bertie Bott’s Jelly Bellies. Those are the jelly beans in Harry Potter. They had all of the great flavors. Chris had soap flavor, Katie had toothpaste flavor, Chelsea had sausage flavor, Ted had grass flavor, and I alas… had ear wax flavor. Not to be outdone, Ted decided to have the booger flavor. Much to my horror and the lady’s disgust behind him, he said, “It doesn't taste like mine.” 

We left Jelly Belly with a bit of jelly beans and headed to our Yogi Bear campground.

See more photos in the Photo Gallery #2!

Little House in The Big Woods

Today we drove to Pepin, Wisconsin, the birthplace of Laura Ingalls Wilder author of The Little House on The Prairie series. The site of “Little House in the Big Woods” is seven miles from the village of Pepin. Unfortunately, the house, barn, and big woods are no longer there. We did get to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder historical museum which was small, but interesting. 

Beautiful Lake Pepin is still there, and we had lunch at The Pickle Factory overlooking the shores of Lake Pepin. We had fried pickles and cheese curds for appetizers. Afterwards we walked along the lake. Lake Pepin is much bigger than our lake in Maine, although not as pretty. 

Tomorrow we are driving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We are hoping to make it in time for the Jelly Belly Factory Tour along the way.