We started the trip by working our way from Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, & Missouri on the first day of driving. Along the way, we liked to stop and do some quick things along the route to break up the amount of time we were in the car. There are a lot of things to do on the route of this road trip, but not a lot of these things are very fast, so we missed out on a lot. Now, of course there are a lot of things to do in north Georgia if you have a lot of time, such as camping, kayaking, ziplining, visiting the German town of Helen, tubing, visiting fruit orchards when they are in season, etc. I'm sure there are many places you can do these things, though. Anyway, we were just passing through, so we did not do any of these things. Tennessee also has some really neat cities to visit if you're ever there for a few days. I recommend visiting Nashville or Pigeon Forge, where there are tons of things to do, whether you're in the mood for go-karting, cave tours, zorbing, etc. Again, on this trip, we were just passing through, so we missed out on all of that on this trip. You can pretty much forget about seeing anything neat in Kentucky. Illinois is a nice state to drive through. Chicago was about a 5-hour drive out of our way, so we didn't get to go there, but I wish we had gotten to see the Chicago Bean and step into Skydeck Chicago of the former Sears tower (now called Willis Tower.) Skydeck Chicago is a completely glass overlook of the city. It hangs off of the side of the 103rd floor of the building for you to see the city on every side of you, including underneath you. We stayed in a hotel on the very edge of Illinois, right next to St. Louis, Missouri, which is a beautiful city. We visited the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and it was beautiful, but I wish we had gotten to ride in the elevator to the top.
The next day, we continued driving through Missouri & Iowa until we reached Nebraska, where we stayed at a couple of family member's houses for a few days. We found quite a few neat places along the way. Missouri had a Russel Stover store where we stopped for some chocolate, and we also found a fun Irish pub to grab some lunch: Paddy O'Quigley's. I'll never forget that pub gave us free cups that read "And so it was said that on the grand & glorious eight & extra day, God did indeed create beer to keep the Irish from conquering the world." I kept that cup for about 4.5 years until my mom accidentally threw it away a couple of months ago. Iowa and Nebraska are beautiful states covered in corn fields, bean fields, pivots, tractors, & bales of hay, which are completely normal for the folks who live out there, but for a Georgia girl, that's scarce to see down here. Before moving on, we stayed a few days at a couple of family member's houses in Nebraska, just visiting them and seeing places where my step dad used to live and go to school and church when he was growing up in York, Nebraska.
Once we were ready to keep moving, our family joined us on a drive up through northern Nebraska to South Dakota. We went through Kearney, Nebraska and stopped at the Great Platte River Road Bridge, which was a fun place to learn the history of the area and see some the museum inside. Once we reached South Dakota, we saw Mt. Rushmore & the Crazy Horse Memorial. The was even an option to fly over the monuments with a helicopter, but we didn't do that, unfortunately. The memorials were really neat. The Crazy Horse Memorial remains unfinished, as it has since 1947. There is currently no completion date in sight. Both monuments were enormous, and it was nice to explore the parks. Mt. Rushmore has a giant gift shop that has tons of neat merchandise, and the Crazy Horse Memorial has a museum and tons of Native American artisans selling their handmade products and telling stories about their culture. We spent the rest of our time in North Dakota at my cousin's wedding rehearsal, wedding, & reception. I wish we had gone to the Badlands on the way out of the state, because that is a beautiful national park with some really neat rock formations, but we were pressed for time. We did pass by them and see the park from a distance, though.
After the wedding, it was homeward bound! We went from South Dakota, down through Kansas, to Oklahoma to drop my step sister off at her house. There was really nothing to see in either Kansas or Oklahoma. We stayed overnight in Oklahoma and picked up the next morning to go through Arkansas, Mississippi, & Alabama, on our way back to Georgia. Again, there's really nothing to see in these states. The only place I know of that's cool in Mississippi is Biloxi, because they have some good casinos, but that wasn't on our route. The only place in Alabama I've ever liked is Gulf Shores, which is on the southern coast of the state, almost in Florida, so that also wasn't on our route this time around.
No matter what part of the trip was boring, it was nice to take a cross-country roadtrip with family. That's something I'll always recommend doing at least once. Make sure not to try to tackle too much in one day. Make sure to stop at sights along the way. It is worth it to get out and stretch, and seeing what there is to see along the way of the roadtrip is what makes the trip interesting and memorable. Remember, it's not always about the destination; sometimes it's about the journey!
One of my photos of Mt. Rushmore.
The statue in the foreground is a small version of what the Crazy Horse Monument will look like when it's finished; the actual unfinished monument is in the background.
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