Oopsies!

Psych! New dates!

Alrighty, friends.. Here's the deal- we finally got news that we were approved to rent an awesome house in Sioux Falls beginning in May! YAY! The problem is that with all of the deposits we have to put down, and with graduating, moving, and finding new jobs, our money is getting tight.
SO- we had to shave a week off of our road trip plans to make sure that we can pay all of our bills while we are gone and after we get back before new money starts coming in.. Being grown up and responsible is such a bummer... haha

So, we have a new set of dates! Again, not the prettiest looking list, but it's got the important information. :)

Day	Date	From	To
1	10-May	Sioux Falls, SD	Toledo, OH
2	11-May	Toledo, OH	Ashtabula, OH
2	11-May	Ashtabula, OH	Niagra Falls, NY
3	12-May	Niagra Falls, NY
4	13-May	Niagra Falls, NY	Danby, VT
5	14-May	Danby, VT	Portland, ME
6	15-May	Portland, ME	Acadia National Park
6	15-May	Acadia National Park	Boston, MA
7	16-May	Boston, MA
8	17-May	Boston, MA	Philidelphia, PA via New Jersey Turnpike?
9	18-May	Philidelphia, PA	Baltimore, MD
9	18-May	Baltimore, MD	Washington, DC
10	19-May	Washington, DC	Shenandoah NP
10	19-May	Shenandoah NP	Rockfish Gap, VA (Waynesboro)
11	20-May	Rockfish Gap, VA	Lenoir, NC
12	21-May	Lenoir, NC	Navarre, FL
13	22-May	Navarre, FL
14	23-May	Navarre, FL	New Orleans, LA
15	24-May	New Orleans, LA	Austin, TX
16	25-May	Austin, TX
17	26-May	Austin, TX -> Jacob's Well- Wimberly	Short of Carlsbad Caverns
18	27-May	Short of Carlsbad Caverns	Albuquerque, NM
19	28-May	Albuquerque, NM	Bandelier NM
20	29-May	Bandelier NM	Telluride, CO
20	29-May	Telluride, CO
21	30-May	Telluride, CO
22	31-May	Telluride, CO	Moab, UT (Arches NP)
23	1-Jun	Moab, UT	Zion National Park
24	2-Jun	Zion National Park
25	3-Jun	Zion National Park	Grand Canyon
25	3-Jun	Grand Canyon	Mesa/Phoenix, AZ
26	4-Jun	Mesa/Phoenix, AZ
27	5-Jun	Mesa/Phoenix, AZ	Flintridge, CA ( or E of LA)
28	6-Jun	Flintridge, CA (LA)	Big Sur, CA- Monterey Bay
29	7-Jun	Big Sur, CA	Yosemite NP
30	8-Jun	Yosemite NP	San Francisco, CA
30	8-Jun	San Francisco, CA	Ukiah, CA
31	9-Jun	Ukiah, CA	Redwood NP
32	10-Jun	Redwood NP	Portland, OR
33	11-Jun	Portland, OR
34	12-Jun	Portland, OR	Mt. Rainier NP
34	12-Jun	Mt. Rainier NP	Seattle, WA
35	13-Jun	Seattle, WA
36	14-Jun	Seattle, WA	North Cascades NP/ scenic drive
36	14-Jun	North Cascades NP	Seattle, WA
37	15-Jun	Seattle, WA	Lake McDonald/Glacier NP? Add 5hr round trip                -->Missoula, MT
38	16-Jun	Missoula, MT	Yellowstone NP
39	17-Jun	Yellowstone NP
40	18-Jun	Yellowstone NP	Black Hills NF, SD- Keep Going?
41	19-Jun	Black Hills NF, SD	Sioux Falls, SD

Tell all yo friends- we are super excited!! :)

Where and When

Road Trip Map from our myscenicdrives.com itinerary

We have a map!
It's hard to keep from getting excited as we continue and continue to plan all of the incredibly fun things we are going to do and the great people and places we are going to get to see. (though, the more I think about it, the more I know that we will miss our pets like crazy..)
So, I think it's about that time to let our friends and family know where we will be, when. It is a tentative schedule, but we do plan on booking some hotels in advance, so it isn't a super flexible thing.
I'll apologize now, because apparently tables do not hold together well when posted into a blog format.. but basically, we have 48 days to drive around the country, with the city on the left being our starting point each day, and the city on the right being our hopeful end point for the day. (Also, if you are looking at this and the map, disregard the numbers on the map- they are numbered by stops, not days)

Day	Date	From	To
1	6-May	Sioux Falls, SD	Chicago, IL
2	7-May	Chicago, IL
3	8-May	Chicago, IL	Ashtabula, OH
3	8-May	Ashtabula, OH	Niagra Falls, NY
4	9-May	Niagra Falls, NY
5	10-May	Niagra Falls, NY	Danby, CT
6	11-May	Danby, CT	Portland, ME
7	12-May	Portland, ME
8	13-May	Portland, ME	Acadia National Park
8	13-May	Acadia National Park	Boston, MA
9	14-May	Boston, MA
10	15-May	Boston, MA	Philidelphia, PA
11	16-May	Philidelphia, PA	Baltimore, MD
11	16-May	Baltimore, MD	Washington, DC
12	17-May	Washington, DC
13	18-May	Washington, DC	Shenandoah NP
13	18-May	Shenandoah NP	Rockfish Gap, VA (Waynesboro)
14	19-May	Rockfish Gap, VA	Lenoir, NC
15	20-May	Lenoir, NC	North of Atlanta, GA (Afton)
16	21-May	Atlanta, GA (Afton)	Navarre, FL
17	22-May	Navarre, FL
18	23-May	Navarre, FL	New Orleans, LA
19	24-May	New Orleans, LA	Austin, TX
20	25-May	Austin, TX
21	26-May	Austin, TX	Short of Carlsbad Caverns
22	27-May	Short of Carlsbad Caverns	Albuquerque, NM
23	28-May	Albuquerque, NM	Bandelier NM
23	28-May	Bandelier NM	Telluride, CO
24	29-May	Telluride, CO
25	30-May	Telluride, CO
26	31-May	Telluride, CO	Moab, UT (Arches NP)
27	1-Jun	Moab, UT	Zion National Park
28	2-Jun	Zion National Park
29	3-Jun	Zion National Park	Grand Canyon
30	4-Jun	Grand Canyon	Mesa/Phoenix, AZ
31	5-Jun	Mesa/Phoenix, AZ
32	6-Jun	Mesa/Phoenix, AZ	Los Angeles, CA (Camp- East)
33	7-Jun	Los Angeles, CA	Big Sur, CA
34	8-Jun	Big Sur, CA	Yosemite NP
35	9-Jun	Yosemite NP
36	10-Jun	Yosemite NP	(Pass through SF)Healdsburg, CA
37	11-Jun	Healdsburg, CA	Redwood NP
38	12-Jun	Redwood NP	Portland, OR
39	13-Jun	Portland, OR
40	14-Jun	Portland, OR	Mt. Ranier NP
40	14-Jun	Mt. Ranier NP	Seattle, WA
41	15-Jun	Seattle, WA
42	16-Jun	Seattle, WA
43	17-Jun	Seattle, WA	Day Trip
43	17-Jun	Day Trip	Seattle, WA
44	18-Jun	Seattle, WA (North Cascades NP?)	Missoula, MT
45	19-Jun	Missoula, MT	Yellowstone NP
46	20-Jun	Yellowstone NP
47	21-Jun	Yellowstone NP	Black Hills NF, SD
48	22-Jun	Black Hills NF, SD	Sioux Falls, SD

It's kind of insane how long it took to actually get this solidified as much as we have. We went through multiple drafts, adding places, deleting places, moving our endpoints to allow us to set up camp before sunset, making sure we get to spend enough time at each place, finding cheap and free places to camp, etc.. But I won't bore you with the whole process.. We'll just say- it was more work than I imagined, as there are at least 10 more columns on the actual spreadsheet, indicating the time and miles per drive, gas, food, and lodging costs, and activities. When I am organized, by damn, I am ORGANIZED. (Though most of my life is quite unorganized.. :)

We would love to hear suggests for activities to do along our trip. We have some in our minds, but would always love to hear more!

NP = National Park

+Marc Wagner
We are planning an awesome, US-wide road trip, beginning and ending in good old South Dakota, focusing on National Parks, Monuments, Forests, Scenic Drives, and Good Food (of course we will hit some tourist-y stuff too). I'll highlight some of our most anticipated stops:

We will be starting off heading East, hitting Acadia National Park in Maine, heading back down through Boston, DC, (bypassing NYC- I just can't plan a 1 or 2 day trip there and keep my sanity), drive all along the Blue Ridge Parkway (Beautiful- look it up!), stop in New Orleans, Austin, and then...
Colorado- Telluride, specifically, and Utah (Arches National Park as well as Zion National Park)! This is one stretch that I, personally, am completely excited for. We already booked 2 nights at the campground at Zion NP, which was so exciting to do!
Then we will head down to Phoenix to see family(!), and over to Los Angeles, to drive most of the west cost on highway 1 (right along the coast). We will hopefully spend the night at Big Sur, which I hear is absolutely beautiful, and make a trip inland to spend time at Yosemite National Park (FYI- it will not be long before I abbreviate National Park as NP every time :).
We'll dive over the Golden Gate bridge, and continue North to the Redwood National Park, Portland, and Seattle (where we will be spending about 3/4 days, taking a trip to the North Cascades National Park), then slightly south, to spend time at Yellowstone (still trying to figure out what to do and see among the enormous area), back through the Black Hills, and home again.

I started off making that a short version, and somehow ended up with a longer version than what I hoped for, but I just get so excited, especially about the southwest and west US stops!!
If you have any more suggestions of places to visit, things to do, places to eat, or long-term driving/camping tips, we'd love to hear them!

Once I get more into blogging, Ill figure out how to post the map. We have the entire trip mapped out on myscenicdrives.com, which has turned out to be such an amazing resource, like mapquest, only better!

On a side note, we went to, and loved Schmeckfest, which we attended this last weekend in Freeman, SD. It was a great celebration of German/Russian food. We got to see sausage being made (and still really wanted some- and had it!), along with other popular german foods. The people in this picture were working on cheese pockets (which by the way- were delicious). The little old lady had her technique down, and was whipping those puppies out like nobody's business. (and isn't her hat just awesome?!)

-Allie