Twenty-six days and 5960 miles later, I am back where I started after our thirtieth anniversary car trip.  DH and I rarely tent camp now, so this one was motels, restaurants, and picnic lunches. 

We also stayed in, or at least dined in, all those great railroad lodges of the US and Canadian Rockies.  Considering that, I was glad to return home weighing a half pound less and having walked over 50 miles, according to my Fitbit pedometer. And stairs. Did I mention we were on the third floor at Many Glacier Lodge?

We waded across the Mississippi at its source at Lake Itasca.  We admired the beautiful farms of Iowa, and the plains and mountains, rivers, lakes, and glaciers.

The weather was moderate to very cool and crisp all through our trip. I wore jeans more often than I thought I would. And wool socks in my Columbia sandals are not only warm, they’re cushy like slippers. Even the plains were not too warm.

We discovered that there are many places where you can still be without phone service, and that not everyone’s idea of “WiFi”actually works.

I think this shot should become a quilt, don’t you?

We saw a lot of wildlife.

Much of the US side of the trip was a repeat of various other years, but the Canadian side was all new.  Here is beautiful Lake Louise, but I could not get the turquoise color of the water to photograph.

The laundry’s been done, the house is presentable, I’ve preserved the most pressing vegetables from the garden and the blueberries we brought back from Michigan, and done the grocery shopping.  Today I need to pay bills and vacuum my studio in preparation for my machine’s homecoming from the “spa”.  Tomorrow, let the sewing begin!