Never Heard of the Place...

So on last year's trip, we visited a quiet little national monument, Agate Fossil Beds, in Nebraska.  This was the place we found porcupines, rattlesnakes, jackrabbits, and an empty visitors' center (the rangers were in their weekly meeting when we showed up. They quickly come out to excitedly greet us... and turn the lights on).

Well, a recent article from the Chicago Tribune says Agate Fossil Beds is the fifth-least visited national monument in the country.  In 2009, Diana and I were two of only 12,694 visitors to the monument.

See all of Disneyland?

So Disneyland is popular and therefore crowded.  It's tough to see everything you want and many visitors spend their whole day standing in lines.  To the rescue:  RideMax.  These guys gather statistical data about lines and wait times all over the park.  Then you tell them the day you're visiting the park and they give you a detailed guide to get around to the stuff you want to see with minimal wait times.  The reviews are out-of-this world!

Trip Part One

Proposed Phase I of tripishness:

• Escape San Antonio and get to Sonora/Junction area for Night 1
• Drive to Las Cruces, NM for Night 2
• Drive to Phoenix, AZ to see fam on Night 3
• Detour to
• Petrified Forest
• Meteor Crater
• Walnut Canyon National Monument
• Wupatki National Monument
• Stay in Flagstaff area for Night 4
• Go to Grand Canyon.  Phase I complete.

View Larger Map

How do we get there from here?

Okay, so summer's only a couple of weeks away.  This year we're planning to go up to Seattle for several days, then over to Salmon, Idaho, and back home.  Where to go along the way?  Here are some places on our list for consideration:

• Grand Canyon
• DisneyLand
• Yosemite
• Crater Lake

Yikes -- It's looking like 5,500+ miles.