I’m the Dad in this wonderful, although somewhat nutty family. After spending ten years active duty in the Air Force I went to graduate school at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and picked up a couple advanced degrees. I then spent the next 15 years in the corporate world running various technology organizations. Throughout it all I was fortunate to be able to travel all over the world. But because it was generally for work, I rarely got to stay and “see” the places I visited. I can’t tell you how excited I am to spend this time with my family and explore our amazing country.
So far, Capitol Reef NP has been the surprise of the trip for me. Driving in, I quite honestly was questioning my sanity for wanting to visit and really questioning anyone who actually was going to make a homestead here. It was the most desolate landscape I have seen outside of the Saudi deserts. Once we got in though, things changed quite a bit...
Spent the night in a fantastic state park about 30 miles south of Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We were all up first thing and headed to the Canyon for a guided ranger tour. I freely admit that I knew little about this National Park so was excited to have a ranger available for questions. Turns out, I knew even less than I thought...
Today we got up early and headed to downtown St Louis and the Gateway Arch National Park. We got exceedingly lucky and were able to get tickets to ride up to the top. The best part for me; I have not done that since I was probably Hazel’s age. And to make it even better, the elevator/tram has not changed at all. Still ridiculously small, crazy...