Destination die round 2 July 4 week

Thomas and Rochelle have vacation and could not come up with a direction or place to go to.   So destination die round two came into play.   

Rochelle got to pick the direction. So he rolled again to pick the direction. 

I 70 to Denver onward friends

We stayed the night in Vail... and pressed onward towards Denver... we had been hoping to make it to Denver the night before but after passing through a rock area that a rock had fallen on a car and being simply worn out from days worth of travels we made the wise decision of stopping. 

We stopped in Ft Collins for lunch!  I had an amazing chicken pot pie...

As we passed through Wyoming we passed "the bitches corner bar"  couldn't resist turning around to snag a photo just for fun.

 Missy had never been to Mt Rushmore so we made a quick stop to see Mt Rushmore! 

and home we were headed..

We arrived back into Sioux Falls at about 1a.... plenty of time to make it to the Tulip Festival on Saturday. 

12 states, 4400 miles... and a richened friendship! 

I will admit that there was times I just wanted to get out of the car and explore, times that I had poor communication, times that I was irritable.  However... Missy and I were still talking and laughing at the end of the trip!  Very blessed to have so many people follow us on this fun journey...

I have been asked if i would do it again!  Absolutely I would but not do it next month:)

Headed home via scenic highways

We headed North on highways... up into Utah.  We traveled through New Mexico Native American reservations... and saw a wide array of terrain.

We stopped at one reservation for lunch/supper for an Indian Taco.  The Natives were eating hamburgers and the guests were eating Indian tacos:)  This meal was completed with a spilling of dt coke by the waitress. She felt horrible and I was pleased to have dt coke spilt on my food as then i would stop eating it... as I could not make myself stop eating such a delicious meal!

This is the fun of the view for much of the day...

and another area...

and we keep going and going..

and going...

No trip is complete with out seeing the mystery mobile with a flat tire right outside of Moab Utah...

About at this time I was sick of being in the car... the sights were amazing but.. my sit in my was all gone:)

Phoenix

We arrived in Phoenix and met up with Elveryn and Helen, Missy's aunt and uncle.  They live in a home with a fun backyard with all sorts of South Dakota farm treasures in the gardens full of beautiful flowers, which Helen must spend hours meticulously working on them to keep them in such amazing order. 

This is Missy and her aunt Helen...

Elvern gave us a variety of options for dinner locations, after much conversation we decided to go to Asi La Vida.  which was an amazing Mexican restaurant that didnt sell your typical tacos and burritos.  I readily appreciated the Sangria. 

They offered us another drink and I may have said something about enjoying tequila (which I dont know that I had ever had before and was simply being sarcastic) they provided us shots of an almond tequila on the house.... this group of Dutch rooted gals loved the almond tequila which had the taste of a liquid almond patty! 

We went back to the house, had a good nights rest before we were up and off for breakfast at a local diner just up the street. 

Helen's friend joined us!  She had met Missy in the past and wasn't going to pass on the opportunity to see her again!  Breakfast was great and I learned much about the difference in Fox and CNN news!

After breakfast we were off... After much discussion of how we were going to go about getting home.  Elveryn who had driven to Iowa numerous times over the last 30 years they lived in Arizona was able to provide us with some route options... so north we headed... ready to go home!

Wild six again

I picked south.  Prior to this roll it had been determined that if we go south we will not go further south than Phoenix.  So we are headed to Phoenix 

And the competition is on...

This is Missy... Thought I'd give Rochelle the driving for a bit and do the blogging!  We are thrilled and impressed by all the people that are following this blog!  So here's the competition that we have going... Who has more friends and family reading this blog!?!  The winner with the most comments will get $20 from the loser to spend in a casino!  If you know both of us just pick your favorite... I won't hold it against you if I do your eval or your schedule and nobodies feelings will be hurt!  :)  so just comment on this post with Missy or that other persons name. ;) you have 24 hours from now when we will tally the votes.  Oh and if my mom and dad are reading just call Becky and she'll tell you how to comment! LOL

Tourist trap sucker

Well I'm a sucker for a tourist trap....  We have avoided them most of the way however stopped at this one just for fun...

Good thing too as I found my protection for the trip 

Ok ok I am anti fun and had a difficult time picking that up but couldn't resist as I thought it was kinda funny 

This was a piece you could purchase but instead I took a photo and purchased some Minnetonka moccasins!  

We did not leave without some fry bread  

Earlier today we saw and exit for fry bread. Thought about stopping then ended up turning back around to get the fry bread at the exit we passes needless today we ended up with no fry bread