We set out from our friends in Iowa and headed north east. Our destination was the suburbs of Chicago. Scott and I visited Chicago last year for our anniversary and while I loved the city and would love to visit it again, we didn’t feel this was the trip to take the family into the city. Instead we planned a stop at Lego Discovery Center outside of the city.
After leaving the Badlands, we were Eastward bound and on the homeward stretch. We planned lots of fun stops for this part of the journey, knowing it was the final stretch and wanting to change it up a bit and keep things fun and exciting.
Our first such stop was in Sioux Falls, SD. I found a hotel there that had a water slide and a splash pool. There was also a put put course in town.
How many times have you wished you could be in more than one place at a time? I know there’s been many a time that I’ve had that thought….
And Saturday, I had my wish. We were in four places at once.
The circus family stood in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado at the same time.
We goofed around a bit and then the big kids got to strike their favorite pose in 4 states at once.
While planning our trip, I was searching for some sort of fun diversion for our long car ride day. I wanted something free, fun, and not out of the way.
Cadillac Ranch fit the bill perfectly.
Cadillac Ranch is a wide open field on the side of route 40 with 10 old cadillacs stuck in the ground. People can come and spray paint on them. It’s a “changing art exhibit” as people are continually coming and adding to and changing it.
Sunday was one of the few days of our trip that we spent entirely in the van. While we will be in the car for portions of almost every day of our trip, Sunday was a day when the event for the day was driving. For over 11 hours. We left Ft Smith, AR around 9:45AM5am CT, quickly entered into Oklahoma, drove the top portion of Texas, and arrived in Albuquerque, NM a little after 11:00pm MT.
Saturday we left Nashville and continued further west. Our goal for the day was to reach Ft Smith, AR (on the border of AR and OK) and to visit Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, AR. Mission Accomplished
We were in the car from about 9:45am to 11:30pm… with the exception of 3 hours in Hot Springs. No one seemed to mind though. They had video games, movies, books, coloring pages, and crafts to pass the time.