Summer Vacation: Part 1, on our way.

          I am back from my vacation.  It was a good vacation.  Ok, my wife says it was great, but she wasn't driving.  The little timer in the truck says we spent nearly 60 hours in it.  That means I spent nearly 60 hours driving through the western US towing a camper with 4 boys.  All that after sleeping on a bed that was less than comfortable and it makes for a very tiring vacation.
          To be honest, if that were the entirety of the vacation, then the vacation would have been the worst ever.  What elevates it to good is the fact that the parts where I wasn't driving (and even a few that I was) were absolutely amazing.  I got 2 weeks with my family and we stuffed a lot into that.
          First we went to Idaho and visited my brother in law, and it was a great visit even if it was only for about half a day.  Then we left for the Grand Canyon.  Due to a slight miscalculation on my part, we had an extra day to get to the Grand Canyon.  We decided to spend it looking at various sights.  We decided on the Hagerman Fossil beds.  Turns out, they weren't that great.  It was interesting and all, but it wasn't worth a day of travel .  I think the family would have preferred Craters of the Moon National Park instead.  The problems with Hagerman are that, in hte first place, it is 30 miles off the main road.  This normally wouldn't be a problem, but the second issue is that the park entrance is a small town and the visitors center is small, very small.  There are a few activities, but they are rather mundane and, for a fossil bed, there were suprisingly few fossils.  Top that off with the fact that the fossil beds themselves are inactive, hidden, and can't be reached without a few mile hike (not recommended with a 4 year old) and the whole thing was disappointing.  We ended up going a few miles down the road before camping for the night.
                 The next day is when the vacation really took off and became what really made it all worthwhile.  We now had 2 days to go about 600 miles.  No problem.  It started off with us looking for a Walmart or something like it because we were low on a few necessities.  The GPS told us there was one not to far off the road so we headed that way.  At the exit, I noticed a sign for Golden Spike National Memorial.  For those of you who are currently having brain farts, Golden Spike National memorial coomemorates the driving of the last spike on the transcontinental railroad in Promontory, Utah.  As we approached this Walmart, we discovered that what the GPS had meant to say was Walmart Distribution Center.  Yup, It was a huge warehouse surrounded by Walmart trucks.  In other words, shoppers not welcome.  We decided that, since we were on the road anyway, why not visit Golden Spike.  it was so worth it.  Sure it was another 30 miles off the main road, but it was informative and the kids loved it.  It helped that it had 2 working steam locomotives and was pretty quiet.
               As we left the Memorial, we noticed a rocket display at a place called ATK.  At first, I was convinced that I had heard of this place before.  Turns out, I had.  ATK is where they built, fueled, and tested the booster rockets for the space shuttle among other applications.  The display actually included a full size decomissioned booster rocket that you could go up to and be awed by.  My wife went nuts and wouldn't stop talking about it the rest of the day.  We did eventually find an actual Walmart and got our groceries before we stopped for the night.
             This is a good place to stop for now, I will continue with part 2 on Monday.  Hopefully, I will be able to complete it, but I wouldn't count on it.
             Thanks for reading and, as always, have a great day.