and we're home;

I spent the entire summer exploring this vast, incredible country I call home.

New Mexico. Arizona. California. Oregon. Washington. Montana. Wyoming. South Dakota. Colorado. Missouri. Tennessee. And Florida, always Florida.

It was exhausting, exhilarating, and a once in a lifetime adventure.

We drove the Pacific Highway, from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and then we found the redwoods. Which were just as big as I remembered. I stood at the top of the Grand Canyon and couldn't quite take in what I was seeing. We splashed our feet in the Pacific, and drank tea in Portland. We shopped in Seattle and drove through hilly San Francisco. We spent the night on an island in Washington, an island so quiet that a person could hear deer munching in the yard. Which they did quite often. Along with frolicking, and whatever else deer do. We experienced the big sky that is Montana, and fell in love with a little town called Whitefish. We drove the Going to the Sun Road, and walked through snow at the top of the Glacier National Park mountains. In July. We discovered cowboy country, and found a town with a population of four. Just four. We spent days without cell service, and decided to buy a ranch in Wyoming. Maybe. Someday. I got wheeled around Mount Rushmore when my lungs took the day off, and we ate frozen yogurt while admiring the good men carved into the mountain. We experienced the beauty that is the Rockies, and the height that is the Mile High city. We stood under the St. Louis arch and got to know Nashville.

We made it home, in one piece and with a car full of mementos.
And a lifetime worth of memories.