The McCabe Family Yellowstone Road Trip 2016

What a fabulous, wonderful road trip to Yellowstone National Park, and many other National Park Service sites! We created memories and stories to last a lifetime. On this trip, we canvassed 11 states (not including Pennsylvania), and traveled a total of 5,749.2 miles over 16 days (not quite the feat we achieved with the Grand Canyon Road Trip  in August 2013, but close enough for me). Thank you to the National Park Service for the incredible and indispensable work it does for all of us. And thank you again for the Interstate Highway System , without which this road trip would not have been possible. Thank you to Clare and Conor for being such good sports throughout the trip. It was stressful at times, we got on each other's nerves, I acted a bit odd on occasion, I was obsessed at times with the travel blog, but all in all they weathered the ups and downs and seemed to enjoy most of the stops, road side attractions, and quirky museums (the out of the way and small town museums

Our last official stop of the road trip was the Wright Memorial ( Huffman Prairie Flying Field Interpretive Center ) located not far from the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Clare was gracious enough to exit the car and snap a photo of me next to the impressive memorial, which was erected by the Dayton community in commemoration of the courage, perseverance, and achievements of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Our second-to-last stop of our Yellowstone road trip was the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force , the world's largest military aviation museum, located at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, the hometown of Wilbur and Orville Wright and the birthplace of aviation in America. The museum consists of four large hangars that contain literally hundreds of aircraft dating from WWI and WWII, the Korean War, the Southeast Asia War, the Cold War, and the present day, and includes a gallery of Presidential aircraft, including planes used by Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower, and SAM 26000 (otherwise known as Air Force One) in which President Kennedy's casket was transported from Dallas and on which President Johnson took the oath of office. Other planes include a B-2 stealth bomber, a B-52D Stratofortress long-range bomber, and the B-29 Bockscar that dropped the Fat Man atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Clare and Conor were not as enthusiastic as I was during our v

With Denny's just a distant nightmare of dinner dining, I again redeemed myself in the eyes of Clare and Conor by selecting Steer-In  in Indianapolis, Indiana, as our dinner spot tonight. Although admittedly a bit of a dive (not the cleanest place we have ever eaten), it did live up to its 4.5 star rating on Google. I started with the fried green tomatoes. I then ordered the breaded fried pork tenderloin, with mashed potatoes and green beans (with bacon) on the side. It was to die for. Clare and Conor each had the fried chicken. For dessert, I had the warm apple pie, a la mode.  All in all, it was well worth the stop. The Steer-In was even featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives with Guy Fieri.

After finally leaving Chicago, we stopped in at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore  to check out the dunes and Lake Michigan shoreline. This was a case of my wanting to cram in as many stops as possible into a single day. In hindsight, we probably could have easily skipped it, but having stopped, Conor and I took a short hike into the dunes and onto West Beach where we found hundreds of people enjoying the lake and sandy beach in the 90 degree heat.

Before leaving Chicago, we stopped for a quick visit to the  Frederick C. Robie House , designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Robie House  is "both a masterpiece of the Prairie style and an icon of modern architecture." We did not have time for a guided tour, and Clare and Conor were eager to get on the road, so we left soon after we arrived.

After leaving the Palmer House, we headed straight for the 10:30 am opening of the Art Institute of Chicago , arguably one of the finest art museums in the world. We could only stay for about an hour and a half, but were able to see some absolutely great art and photos and special exhibitions. We all especially liked the Thorne Miniature Rooms , and both Clare and Conor gave the visit a hearty thumbs up. Highly recommended for anyone planning a visit to Chicago.  Here's a sampling of what we all saw. Yours truly, with Grant Wood's American Gothic : Edward Hopper's Nighthawks: George Seurat's A Sunday on La Grande Jatte : Van Gogh's Self-portrait: Andy Warhol's Liz #3 : Seated Buddha: Marc Chagall's America Windows : Claude Monet's Stacks of Wheat:

After breakfast at the West Egg Cafe, and before heading to the Art Institute of Chicago, I decided to show Clare and Conor the renowned Palmer House hotel in downtown Chicago. Built in 1883, the hotel's lobby and finishes are absolutely luxurious and harken back to an earlier age.

After taking a rest from the architecture boat cruise, we grabbed a taxicab to Lou Malnati's for some awesome Chicago-style deep dish pizza. We all enjoyed the pizza very much, and then we walked back to Swissotel via the Chicago Riverwalk which was quite pleasant. Along the way we learned an interesting factoid about the Chicago River.

After grabbing a hot dog lunch at Chicago's famous Portillo's , we walked a few blocks from our hotel to the Ogden Slip for a 90-minute Chicago architecture boat cruise on the Chicago River on the Ft. Dearborn of the Chicago Line Cruises. It was an interesting and illuminating tour of Chicago riverfront and an overview of Chicago's various architectural styles and eclectic buildings. Clare and Conor both enjoyed the tour, as did I. The Tribune Building: The Merchandise Mart: The Jeweler's Building: