Location: Home Sweet Home, Nevada City
What a fantastic trip! We called this trip "The Greatest Hits" revisiting a lot of our favorite places and throwing in some outrageous excursions like Dominican Republic and Disneyworld. We were blessed with good health, great weather and no car troubles. We traveled 9963 miles, were on the road 52 days, visited 21 States and 2 countries. We rode about 250 bike miles, swam day and night and did a fair amount of hiking. A personal goal for me was to run a 5k by the time I returned home. Using an app to coach me, I ran 6 days a week for 8 weeks. The plan was to run 5k by running 35 straight minutes. Alas I only made it to 30 min running and 5 min. walking. Fritzi, my running buddy, get me over the top now that I'm home!
On our way home we swung by Eugene, OR and picked up a couple of bags of cocoa beans, Peru and Ghana.
My plan is to hit the Yuba River on our return, looks like Ned will be making chocolate...(just kidding! I think he'll wait for a bit cooler weather).
Thanks everyone for traveling on this journey with us. Below are our list of "best ofs:"
Best View: Zion National Park
Best Bike Ride: Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas.
What a surprise to ride thru the desert and then all of a sudden come upon the Rio Grande.Good thing we did this in the morning and not at night!
Loudest Night of Natural Sounds: Lake Fausse, LA
The sounds of the insects, alligators, frogs, and God knows what else was deafening.
Best Spontaneous out of the way meal: Muffuletta in New Orleans.
What's a couple of hundred mile detour when you really really want it?
Most Overloaded Bike Ride: Grayton Beach, FL
Just how much stuff can one person carry? towel, bamboo mat, water bottles, umbrella, snorkel gear and lunch.
p.s. Ned had the same, plus a boogie board!
Best Boogie Board Ride:
Ned at Grayton Beach
Debi at St. George, Island
Favorite Manatee: Ned with Martha, don't ask.
Most Over-hyped State Park.
Camp in a parking lot, snorkel boat ride too long, no great swimming area. fuhgetaboutit.
Best Snorkeling: Bahia Honda State Park, Florida Keys
Silliest Dress-Code Incident:
Ned wearing borrowed bowling shoes in DR resort restaurant to comply with "closed toed shoe" requirement.
Best Traveling Buddies: Linda and Gary. What troopers! They not only met us in the DR, but also accompanied us to a cocoa farm. Gary also saved the day by loaning out his camera memory chip to me. Yeah...I forgot to put ours back in the camera.
Hey Linda & Gary can't wait til our next trip!
Best Enchanted Moment: Getting glittered on Main Street in Disneyworld.
Best Belly Laugh: Careening around the Disney Speedway with Debi driving.
Best double-fisted drinking: Monster Mango Margaritas at the Mexican Pavilliion in Epcot.
Best Meal: Low Country Boil, Tybee Island
This is a two time winner.
Best Hush Puppies: Hog Heaven, South Carolina
Best and Longest leisurely lake soak: Lake Strom Thurmond, South Carolinaa
Best Historic Fort: Fort Donelson National Battlefield, TN. We loved watching the huge barges go by on the Cumberland River.
The visitor's center was really well done. They had a great film about the shift in the Civil War and how this battle put Ulysees S. Grant in the spot light.
Best forests, streams and mills goes to the "Show Me State" of Missouri. We are definitely planning on spending more time here next year.
Honorable Mention Bike Ride goes to the Katy Trail in Missouri. Only reason we didn't give it #1 was cause there was no surprise element. However, the Lewis & Clark campspots, tunnel, Missouri River and wildlife on this trail almost made up for it!
Best Presidential LIbrary - hats off to "Give 'em Hell" Harry Truman Library. We've visited the Clinton Library and the Hoover Library, this one is the best! Really engaging and makes your think.
Best Citizen Award: Goes to Liz in Mound City, Missouri. She went above and beyond to help us locate any information on the Russell Family. Thanks Liz!!
Best Family History Sleuthing. Finding the water tower photo of 1928 from Granger, Wyoming.
Best nature wildlife sighting: Dog catching a rabbit, while tending sheep. Whaaat?!
Best State Capitol Building: Salt Lake City, Utah. Kinda puts Sacramento to shame. Cheyenne and Boise were beautiful, but dang does SLC know how to wow'em.
Most fun getting in trouble: Riding the slide at Willard Bay. We didn't know you had to pay to rent it out. Oopps. After a good half hour taking lots and lots of rides, we were yelled at to get off. Ahh, brings back summer memories of my childhood...haha.
Best Waterfalls: Shoshone Falls in Idaho.
Best Tour: Underground Tour of Pendleton, OR
Hottest Camping Site: Yakima Sportsman State Park.
It was 108, in the shade, with no place to swim. Yes, this man is still smiling, which is why I love him so much. Best ever traveling buddy. Me, I was having a melt-down...(for the record I still ran that day!)
Best Cup of Coffee: in Washington, of course! The Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls.
Whipped cream, regular cream, dark and white chocolate shavings and raw sugar crystals. It wasn't so much coffee as dessert.
Best Traveling Team: US!
Love you sweetie, when can we go again???
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