Our Homeschool Road Trip was a mix of fun, learning, and the beauty of God’s creation.  Many of my readers have asked how we filled the drive time.  Well, for some of the time, we worked on specific subjects but for most of the time we found ways to take the basics and turn them into a game.  This not only helped to pass the time, but brought out the creativity in all of us.

Today we headed up to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The drive in was gorgeous and unexpected.  After the deserts of Zion and Bryce Canyon, we expected a dry desolate landscape with the little vegetation and few animal sightings.

Instead, we drove through green meadows that stretched peacefully to a forest of both evergreen and deciduous trees.  We longed to stop and hike across the meadows and into the trees to see what lay behind, but the anticipation of the canyon drove us on.

Our road trip is coming to a close (only one week left).  We left the Grand Tetons on a high and made the long trek down to Bryce Canyon wondering if we should just stay put and enjoy the beauty of our surroundings.

But, knowing that we have a deadline to return our vehicle, we pressed on.

Well, I have found another place to which I would definitely like to return.  Somehow the mountains seem to capture me as I gaze out over Colter Bay.  These snow-capped beauties rise up above the lake in a captivating majesty that is impossible to explain. 

They are incredible.

Days Ten to Twelve
We pulled out of our campground early on day ten to head for Yellowstone Park.  In my mind’s eye, we were heading for a large forest with Old Faithful somewhere inside.  Was I wrong!  Not only was Yellowstone enormous, but it had such a variety of terrain that we could have easily spent a full week and left feeling like we had only scratched the surface.  The park touches three states (Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) and includes beautiful mountains, a huge lake-Yellowstone (as well as a number of smaller lakes), breathtaking canyons, vast plains, forests, geysers and hot springs.

The trail in the background is said to be the tracks from the wagons heading west.

Our drive north was again very beautiful.  The plains were lined with bighorn antelope (which we of course then had to research) that are currently migrating north to Yellowstone.  We learned that they migrate very quickly and we can verify that after seeing them moving through the plains.

Days Six to Seven

It was on to Wyoming today as we tried to keep on schedule.  We traveled the gorgeous Snowy Ridge Pass along the southeastern region of Wyoming, ending up in Saratoga.  The drive was once again awe inspiring!  Although we saw few animals, the views were breathtaking.  At the top of the ridge, we encountered snowdrifts that were actually taller than we are.

Days Four and Five

The view from our camp

We headed out to the Rocky Mountain National Park after Focus on the Family yesterday and were blown away by the beauty!  We were surrounded on all four sides by gorgeous snow capped mountains, the green of forests and the color of alpine meadows.  Oh, how I wanted to stay for weeks!

Day Three-Catching the Vision
Today we returned to Focus on the Family to take a tour of the administrative buildings (which we were unable to do yesterday) and we were inspired by their vision and by how God has blessed their ministry.  What an impact they have on so many countries, cultures and people groups.  It forced us to consider what kind of legacy we will leave behind?
Today’s homeschool lesson?  To begin to develop a personal vision for the future.  A vision that goes beyond what we will do to who we will be and the legacy we would like to leave behind.  Can’t wait to see what we all come up with!

Day Two

Today we discovered that our kids really are quite talented when we visited the Focus on the Family headquarters and Whit’s End.  It was there that they had the opportunity to record their very own episode of Adventures in Odyssey and they were amazing!  In fact, the sound tech commented that they were the best he had heard in a long time because they added their own personality to the script rather than simply reading it.