In 2003, one of the Gouldings...may have even been me...had the brilliant idea of a long family road trip. I planned a two-week itinerary for anyone wanting to make the journey known as the Goulding's Go West (GGW) trip and reserved motel rooms to get us started. We started with 16 people in KC, and with a good Catholic mass send-off by in NKC and having a group photo, we were on our way. We had numerous exciting sights, as found at www.roadsideamerica.com (RSA), to keep the enthusiasm going. I'm talking to the level of eating at the Red Barn where Cheryl Ladd was a teen car hop! Here a few of our sights and experiences:
Sioux Falls, SD - saw the rapids and a laser show
Laura Ingalls Wilder's homes in South Dakota - (Lisa and Abby were in LIW heaven) - kids had a pony ride and learned how to make rope; all of us had a wagon ride and saw how small people were back then; I pulled out surprise bonnets that I made for the ladies and the guys even had a pic with them on
Corn palace in Nebraska - yup, everything made of corn and the building exterior decorated with corn cobs
World's Largest Prairie Dog - where's the wackem' mallet when you need one!?
Badlands - need I say more
Car problems - okay, this wasn't a planned stop - but it was a sight to see - all of us loitering around the repair shop and looking for stuff to do. The other sight to see along the way was walking in to a restaurant and saying 'table for 16, please!'.
Custer State Park, Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse - the genius idea of those blasting rock from Crazy Horse: take the rock pieces to the visitor center and invite people to take a piece of history with them while getting rid of their 'trash'
Deadwood and Sturgis- Luke and Dave meccas
Yellowstone and Old Faithful - memories of us (mom, Nikki, Molly, Abby, Emily, me) on a four-person biking cart going to a stoplight and me saying 'pedal, girls, pedal!', Mark falling in the water while fishing, cuz Julie having the errant horse that kept trying to knock her off by going under tree limbs
Idaho - Mark's mecca - we barely crossed the state line and bought a bag of POTATO chips at the first gas station, but we can say we've been there! Everyone had one chip.
Lincoln Highway - Lincoln head on a monument - and pyramid in the middle of nowhere - These, and many more, compliments of RSA search
North Pole, CO - Mark got to meet Brad Garrett (Robert) from Everybody Loves Raymond and cuz Sheryl snapped a long-distance photo of them
Royal Gorge and Pikes Peak
AND, we topped it off with 37 Gouldings in Denver for Peter and Theresa's 50th birthday, and Mike's 38th.
There are sooooo many stories to tell, many which have faded within the last eight years, so we're off shortly on the Goulding Great Lakes adventure, and my goal is to document those memories here as they are made; not only to share with our non-traveling family and friends, but to get them 'journal-ed' as sister, Julie keeps demanding!
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