Shannon's Summary

So it seems we've all come home and started our normal routines again, not having time for this lovely website. Our last night on the trip was absolutely wonderful. We just played around with the makeup, watched one of the four DVD's of our trip (because the other three we can't get to work :( ), and we finished watching Prime, the movie we started when we were bored in Wisconsin. The next morning we all left completely excited to go home, see our family and friends, and start the routine in the SAME house, the SAME bathroom, the SAME bedroom.

More than 8,500 miles, $905 worth of gas, $495 worth of camp sites and hotel (the hotel was $200 of that $495) later, we're home and broke... or at least I am. Thank goodness that was all split by three people.

Since I've come home, the famous question is, "What was your favorite part?". Here's my answer. "Well, Austin was to me the most beautiful and diverse when it comes to nature because it's a whole beautiful area, being hill country, and there's all these secret things, lakes, waterfalls, restaurants that look over the lake from a million feet up, and a million and a half bats that all fly out from under a bridge. The trip up Rt. 1 in California was beautiful as well but not as diverse as Austin. Yellowstone was AWEsome with things I've never seen in my life and probably won't see again unless I visit the park again. I liked watching the video in Mount Rushmore at night cause at the end it had the "Oh Beautiful Song" (which was my favorite when I was three years old and I still don't know the actual title for it, for most of you who don't know that about me) because it showed all these pictures of the county as the different phrases were showing up on the screen and it just made me see how much of our country we really were able to experience and how beautiful it was. But besides nature, my favorite days on the whole trip were the days we were able to relax. It made me appreciate more of what it is to be able to be tired and fall asleep in a bed instead of setting up the tent first. Being able to sit in front of a TV or computer to watch a movie and even if you're not really talking to the people next to you, you know that they're sharing the same appreciation. To sit and chat with people you barely know and get to know more about them and share stories in a love-filled room. Relaxing can really be so great, when done correctly. :) My favorite past-time with the girls?... "I really like how..." is a game that my friend Molly helped me make up that makes you appreciate everything around you. Just fill in the sentence and since it says "how", it makes you explain why you like something. We got to pick each other's brains and see how we each see things in the world. Good bonding game. Plus, everybody gets compliments here and there. :)

I'm sooo glad Jessica moved out to San Diego and that Monica had the brilliant idea to drive out to see her. What an experience. It was wonderful to read and hear that so many people were following us along on our trip. It made it even more exciting knowing that we could tell everybody about it and they'd be excited too. Hopefully you were able to get to know more about our country and appreciate it at least a little more after following along so dedicatedly to our wesbite.