The sky as we crossed the AZ border last night

Now that we’re home safe and sound, our trip has officially come to an end, and I can say this without fear of jinxing anything (such a silly feeling isn’t it?  But there it is):

I am blown away by how smoothly the past three weeks have gone.  Blown away.  It truly was a dream vacation for us, and I honestly don’t even have words for how thankful I am for all of it!

First, the driving (hundreds of hours of driving) went without a hitch.  Hundreds of hours.   Six people.   Without a hitch.  99.8 of the trip, we truly and thoroughly enjoyed our time together in the car.  There were no popped tires, and no busted transmissions.  Even the traffic jams were minimal.

Second, everyone was healthy… the entire time!!  We know first hand the crimp that a nasty cold or – even worse – a stomach bug, can put on a vacation.   This time there was nary a sniffle.

Third, to paraphrase Dr Seuss.. “Oh the places we went!”  How often are we going to get to enjoy the red rocks of Zion, the mountains of Colorado, Niagara Falls, Cape Cod, and Washington DC all in same trip?

Finally, the people.  It was a much needed reconnection for the six of us,  one that I’ll be forever grateful that we got the opportunity to experience.  It was also incredible to be able to visit with so many wonderful people, both inside and outside of our family, and I am humbled and thankful to have experienced so much warmth and generosity… from people opening and sharing their homes and their meals and their companionship and their time.   I truly feel an embarrassment of riches right now.

It wasn’t a perfect trip, but it was perfect for us.  It was EXHAUSTING at times, without a doubt, but it was worth every hour of lost sleep and every minute on the road.  I had grand plans to use some of the time in the car to work on writing some blogs, to catch up on my reading, to study for my personal training test, to edit my Nano book from last year.   I did none of that…. and that’s okay!!  As it turned out, what I needed wasn’t more time to do more stuff, but more time to do nothing.  The time in the car was like 3 solid weeks of meditation, and it has refreshed and revitalized me more than I can say.

I blogged about each day of the trip mainly because I wanted to have it for myself, to remember.  I don’t do scrapbooks, only sporadically keep a journal, and am terrible about getting pictures printed.  But I can blog.  So here they all are, if you’d like to read any or all:

Our Great Summer Road Trip:  Day One
Day Two:  Small Town Fun
Day Three:  Driving, Driving, and More Driving
Day Four:  New Friends
Day Five:  I’m Tired
Day Six:  Niagara Falls
Day Seven: And on the 7th day, they rested
Day Eight: Pizza and Waterfalls
Day Nine: The Big Apple
Day Ten:  Grandma
Day Eleven:  Back in Massachusetts
Day Twelve:  Cape Cod
Day Thirteen:  The Beach
Day Fourteen:  Goats and Fishes
Day Fifteen:  Clamming, Piers, and Candy
Day Sixteen:  Long Drives and Good Friends
Day Seventeen:  My Souvenir
Day Eighteen:  Washington, DC
Day Nineteen:  I Told You So
Day Twenty:  Final Days
Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Thank you to everyone who helped make our trip so memorable!