Why am I blogging about something to look forward to you ask? So that its in writing and other people can be excited, maybe even a little jealous too :)
We've tossed around a lot of ideas as far as what to do and where to go when Todd gets home the end of July. There are some minor details that keep us pretty limited including:
1.Todd will have just gotten back from a 6 1/2 month deployment on crazy, mostly drug induced, 12+ hour work shift sleep schedules that he needs to get back on track.
2. The exact day they get back may change up until about 2 days before they get home.
3. They get 2 mandatory weeks of leave for free but have to actually take leave if you go more than about 8-10 hours away from base, i.e driving distance.
4. They ONLY have the 2 mandatory weeks because they have to be back to work 12 Aug to start preparing for a HUGE base exercise called Operation Readiness Exercise (ORE) in which they have a "mock" ORE in September and the real deal in October.
So where do you go when you live in South Dakota, want to "get away" but not have to actually take leave and not break the bank because you still want to go on a "big trip" after ORE?? Well here's the plan:
We're going to rent a camper from outdoor rec on base to be our traveling hotel (think $100 for a whole week!), pack up some food, the dogs, our bikes, our rock climbing gear and head west with stops at Devils Tower National Monument, Grand Tetons National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Jackson Hole Wyoming, Bozeman Montana and Theodore National Park in North Dakota before heading back to Rapid City. It makes a big loop if you look at it on a map and we're calling it our "Midwest National Parks Road Trip". We got our National Parks pass this year since we have 2 National Parks just here in South Dakota less than an hour from our house so we want to get its use and see the beauty of this part of the country. Others may not see this as an awesome trip, but we're pretty excited!
Like I said...something to look forward to :)
1 comment:
YAYYYY!! that sounds like fun! having something to look forward to is nice b/c it gives you something you can both talk about and, well, look forward to :) Sounds perfect for the two of you.
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