Back from Vacation and a Request!!

Hi everyone!! I've missed you so much!! Wow, what a vacation...and I say that not necessarily in a good way :/ Mother Nature and the Government conspired to make it a not so fun trip. I just got home yesterday...a couple days later than expected. We had to outrun the blizzard in Wyoming and the tornadoes in the middle part of the country. We had to scratch the whole second half of the agenda due to the storms :(

Before I get to the pictures, I have a request to ask of you. I would be so appreciative if you would go to the Heartfelt Creations blog HERE and vote for me. I'm a semi-finalist for the Design Team. I love their products...their dies are made by Spellbinders. If you do vote, you will be registered to win a $50.00 HC Gift Certificate!! If you click on the semi-finalist vote list, I'm the Lisa on list number 2. Thank you in advance :)

Okay, on to the trip!! This might get long winded, so you don't have to follow along if you don't want to :) Usually our family RV trips are exciting and fun-filled. We try to hit as many National Parks as we can. We should have known the first night what was in store. Our first day was a short one, an overnight stay in St. Louis. It poured rain. A portent of things to come.

Rocky Mountains National Park was on the itinerary, but it was closed due to the horrible flooding. I've been there before but the rest of the family hasn't, so we didn't get to cross that one off the list. We drove through Denver (said a sweet hello to Peyton Manning ;) and the Rockies in an absolute downpour. It was foggy and windy and made the trip not so fun in an RV through the mountains.

Our next tussle with Mother Nature was outside of Reno, Nevada. Apparently the rain hadn't hit the area as we were in dust storms and gusty winds all day. The interstate we traveled closed to trucks and RV's due to the high winds. Our first detour.

We finally made it to one of my favorite places in the USA, Lake Tahoe. Usually the beauty of the gorgeous lake, the soaring mountains and stately pine trees is unparalleled. The whole time we were there, it stormed. You couldn't even see the tops of the mountains (that were dusted with snow).

Next was a jaunt through beautiful Northern California and Redwoods National Park. We also visited Great Basin National Park and Lassen Volcanic National Park. Look...a little sunshine :)

From there, it was up Highway 101 and the Oregon Coast. Oregon was the last of the contiguous US states that I haven't visited, so there's an item off the Bucket List. We stopped at all the lighthouses, but again, the weather didn't cooperate. This one was gorgeous, but shrouded in fog.

It was a little better here, but the winds almost knocked you off your feet.

We had three days on the ocean, staying in the top whale watching city of Depoe Bay. Seeing a whale is another Bucket List item we hoped to cross off. We were right on the ocean but the weather was horrible. The winds rocked the RV constantly and you couldn't see very far out into the sea. It even hailed. The waves were powerful due to the storms.

Unfortunately, this is the only whale we saw :(

I always keep my camera ready as we travel, and was able to get a snap of the beautiful Blue Heron as it flew in front of us.

After traveling the entire Oregon coast, we headed inland through the Columbia River Gorge. My gosh, this is one of the most beautiful drives. I am sad that the weather was so bad that we couldn't fully enjoy it.

We stopped at beautiful Multnomah Falls, the same falls Vanna poses in front of in several Wheel of Fortune episodes :) And yes, it was pouring rain.

After a trip through Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, (and lots of snow in the mountains), we had planned to revisit Yellowstone National Park. The last time we were there, half of the park was on fire and we didn't get to see it. Well, thanks to the wonderful Government, the shutdown closed all of the National Parks. But...if the Government hadn't closed it, the blizzard would have. So we had to abort those plans and venture around Wyoming all together to avoid the snow. We ended up in Montana and North Dakota trying to outrun the snow. But it gave us a chance to see...

Salem Sue, the world's largest Holstein Cow, and...

The world's largest Sandhill Crane :) So, in our attempt to avoid the snow, we were smack dab in the middle of the tornadoes that rocked the middle part of the country. We spent a night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as tornadoes hit all around us. Finally, after a harrowing few days, I was so happy to see...

this as we crossed back into Indiana (where, yes, it was raining :) So, that's the trip in a nutshell. I didn't intend to make it sound bad...the scenery was incredible. I would love to live on the Oregon coast. But I would have appreciated a little cooperation from Mother Nature instead of wind and rain and hail and snow and dust and tornadoes.

I am trying to catch up now. I will be by your blogs in the next few days to visit you. Thank you so much to those of you who stopped by while I was gone!! And thank you for voting for me at Heartfelt Creations!! I will be drawing the winner of my Early Christmas giveaway in the next couple of days!! I hope your week is starting off marvelously :)