road trip mini-album

I have lots of photos from our cross country road trip back in April. Lots. And I decided to make a mini-album of some of my faves rather than do traditional layouts. Cause...there's just too many!

This is different from my travel album in that this is much more simple. More focused on the photos like a photo album. The travel book has much more details & momentos.

Back in May I did a layout about our road trip. And I do plan on dedicating a layout to Mt. Rushmore. But other than that I felt that a mini-album would be more fun. Originally I had planned on putting our road trip pics in my travel journal I took on our house hunting trip but ultimately decided that a separate, fun little mini book would be better.

I used one of those inexpensive 4x6 albums that you can pick up at Target, Walmart, etc. These are great for mini-albums and they hold a decent amount of photos.

I used a shipping tag along with one of my favorite alpha stamps (Studio Calico) to create the cover along with some other travel embellishments and finished it off with some twine...turquoise, of course ;)

Inside I kept it pretty simple, adding little tidbits about our trip here and there. 

I think this will be fun to look at years from now. How often do you get to drive across the country?!

road trip {part 3)

Day 6 - South Dakota, Wyoming & Montana

552 miles

On the road again! This driving is getting a bit old but thankfully we're on to some pretty landscapes & we know we're in the home stretch.

We weren't in Wyoming for very long (I believe it was just over 100 miles) and pretty much the entire time it looked like this:

Nowhere to stop. Not much of anything. Not good when you're pregnant & have to pee every 20 min! And then we hit Montana. Montana was pretty. Very pretty. I'd have to say Montana & Idaho were the 2 prettiest states we drove through. Ya know, aside from our new wonderful state of Washington :)

I couldn't help stopping to get a few pictures of these baby cows. Yes, I stopped on the side of the highway to take pictures of cows. My husband saw me pulling over & thought I was nuts! But thanks to my zoom lens I could do it from the comfort of my car & not risk getting out & being hit by a car. But come on, they were just too dang cute!

Olivia started 'mooing' at them & they took off. I guess they knew she wasn't a real cow:)

The further we got into Montana, the prettier it got.

What is it about mountains that makes them so mesmerizing?? I could stare at them all day.

And then a much needed chance to stretch our legs...and a chance for mom to do a quick impromptu photo shoot!

 Gosh, I forgot how toothless my son was 3 1/2 mos ago!

Tucker was quite comical in the van. Most times, when we'd get out for a potty break he'd get up onto the cooler so he could look out the window. Then he'd try & stay up there when I started driving but his big butt would fall off. What a nut!!

Back in the van...almost to Idaho!

Day 7 - Montana, Idaho...and Washington!
315 miles 

We made it through the better part of Montana the previous day. This last day of driving we finished up with Montana & on to Idaho. Idaho was pretty...& snowy. 

When we saw the exits for Coeur d'Alene, ID we knew we were getting close!

This is what happens when your daughter is handed the camera...

Since my hubby was driving the truck & I drove the van the entire way, Olivia helped be photographer :)


And, of course, when we hit the Washington border it was raining. But we made it!!!

So here's a recap:
2 adults...one that was 7 1/2 mos preggers :)
2 kids
2 70+ pound doggies...with tummy issues
1 guinea pig
7 days of driving
11 states
2579 miles
rain, sun, wind, snow, sleet, multiple tornado warnings, mountains, fields, lots of beautiful country


I hope you enjoyed a few of the photos from our road trip! Considering how far we drove it really wasn't that bad. I'm glad we did it & got to experience it. We drove through many states that I'd probably never get to see otherwise.

We've taken many road trips but never any that were quite this far. I'll share some of my road trip tips that I've discovered over the years. I also made a cute little road trip mini-album that I'll share in my next post :)

road trip {part 2}

Day 5 - Mount Rushmore
68 miles

We made it into Rapid City, SD the night before & since we were making good travel time we took a day off to spend at Mt. Rushmore. Not to mention my feet, ankles & legs are beginning to look a bit Fred Flinstone-ish from the swelling so it was nice to take a break for a day.

To say it was windy there was an understatement. It was knock you off your feet, forget about having a hairdo windy. And cold. On our way up we saw snow flurries. 

Coming up the hill & around the corner...I see it!!!!

And a bit closer...

If you go to Mt. Rushmore you really need to bring a zoom lens for your camera so you can get shots like this:

I could look right up George Washington's nose! ha!

We took a break to head to the gift shop. Cause we were fuh-REEZing!

Notice Olivia is wearing 2 of my jackets! Like I said, it was cold. And we did not have any winter coats with us!

Back outside to brave the cold & wind again. Then to get some lunch...we tried a bisen burger for the first time. It was yummy.

Oh, and it was our 10 yr anniversary :)

A few more shots heading back down...

We headed back to the hotel for some much needed swim time for the kids & down time for all of us.

Mt. Rushmore was something I'm definitely glad I got to see. We're hoping to head back there maybe in a few years. There was a lot more to do in and around Rapid City that we still want to check out.

By the way, here's a road trip tip that worked great for us. LEGOS.

I brought a few new sets & some plastic baggies. It was a fun thing for the kids to do when being stuck in a hotel room night after night :) My kids love traveling & hotel rooms but when you're on a long road trip it gets old around day 4 or 5!

Next up - 2 more days!

road trip {part 1}

This is a post that has been a long time coming. I had always planned on sharing some of our cross country road trip pics. But not having internet for a month after we moved & then having a baby (and having that baby early) kind of put that on the back burner.


So while I'm still going through my Seattle pics & working on some other projects I thought I'd take a couple posts & share my road trip pics:)

Day 1 - Georgia & Tennessee
221 miles

We left GA late afternoon on Tuesday, April 26th after the movers had finally finished packing up all of our stuff. We didn't want to drive too far, but at least get a few hours under our belt. So we made it to Chattanooga, TN. 

Day 2 - Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri
473 miles

The next morning we woke up to this:

Tornado warnings, thunder, power flickering in and out, sitting in the hotel lobby with wet hair (I had just showered), 2 kids & 2 dogs, waiting for the storm to pass. When we left we realized just how bad it was outside.

A tornado hit just a few blocks down the road. We instantly realized how lucky we were.

Tennessee is always so pretty. But unfortunately most of the day driving through TN, KY & IL was dark & rainy.

Not sure if this bridge was TN or KY, KY I think.

See...dark & gloomy. By the time we had made it into IL we had passed through 2 more tornado warning areas. Crazy weather we were driving through. When we were driving into St. Louis, MO we saw the prettiest sunset. It looked like the sky was on fire.

Day 3 - Missouri, Iowa
515 miles

My kids love bridges :)

Driving through Iowa was, ummm, booooring. Not saying that the whole state is boring (cause I can't speak to that) but the highway we were on was 4 hours of nuh-thing. 

I mean - field, field, field, field, casino, field, field, field, field, casino...etc. There were no rest stops, nowhere to eat, nowhere to stop and take a potty break. 


Like I said - nothing. Pretty sunset though.

Day 4 - South Dakota
435 miles

The next morning - civilization!!!! We were just into the SD border.

Oh I miss Panera. Moving on...

The entire day would be spent driving through South Dakota on our way to Mr. Rushmore to take a much needed day off from driving.


Not sure what this was supposed to be...

About halfway through SD we came upon this.

So pretty. Too bad I had so many dang bug guts on my windshield!!

And then we came to this little town & decided it would be a cute place to stop for lunch & stretch our legs.

Cute huh?? 

And no road trip would be complete without some silly antics :)

It was a really nice place to stop. This was also where our dogs decided to start having intestinal issues. We came out from lunch to a very stinky car. Thank God we had put some industrial carpet tiles in the back of the van. Needless to say, those got thrown out pronto!

Just past this point (which was about halfway through SD) the landscape started looking more like this:

Next post - Mt. Rushmore :)