In a nutshell, Dana and I spent 4 weeks on the road. We flew to L.A., back to Denver, then drove through Nebraska and Iowa into St. Paul, MN to spend some time with Dana's extended family. After a week there, we drove through South Dakota and Wyoming on the return trip back to Colorado Springs.
Here's a Google Map of where we went:
View Minnesota Trip. Summer 2010. in a larger map
Dana and I started our trip by flying to L.A. and spending some time with my family for 10 days. I loved nearly every minute of it (there was some business stuff I had to handle). There are times when I really miss spending quality time with my family and friends, so I cherish every minute of these trips back "home". Dana was able to take a weekend and go to Palm Springs with her good friend Emily to attend the Resolved Conference. We arrived in L.A. on June 19, just in time for Father's Day, and we flew back to Denver International Airport on June 29.
From Denver, we picked up our car and drove west through Nebraska. Nebraska was beautiful, if you like flat land and miles upon miles of corn. I didn't realize Nebraska had so many pine trees though. One thing that I found interesting is how Nebraskans have man-made lakes along the highways that they vacation to. To each his own, right?
We spent the first night in Lincoln, home of the University of Nebraska. Cool little college town.
This was just the start of a beautiful morning. After taking these photos at Memorial Stadium, we drove about an hour further to Omaha and visited my great aunt, Dianne. She treated us to breakfast and told us some wonderful family stories. She's so pleasant and kind. Dana and I thought she was a female version of Grandpa, and by saying that, it's a great compliment. We wished we could have stayed later, but we had a lot of miles to cover that day.
From Omaha we drove into Iowa, specifically into Des Moines, and then north to the Twin Cities. Iowa is very similar to Nebraska, except with more hills and windmills.
We drove past Forest City, Iowa, where my sister Bethany spent a year at Waldorf College. I don't mean to put Iowa down, but I can understand why a young lady from Los Angeles would be anxious to leave after a year in Iowa.
At least Forest City is manly. No sissy jokes allowed.
Did I mention there was corn in Iowa?
Stay tuned for Part 2: Minnesota!
