Cheerios and The Wild Wild West

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Cheerios® is giving you the chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, your ultimate family vacation. As part of a paid promotion for their “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, Cheerios® is sponsoring my post today about what my ultimate family vacation would be. Read mine, Enter the Sweepstakes for a chance to actually win your own fantasy family trip or one of a bunch of other great prizes.

When I was in college, on a whim, on very little sleep and probably about two hours notice, a handful of friends and I piled into a too-small vehicle and hit the open road. I don't remember why we chose to go where we ended up or who was in charge of directions but we took what turned out to be one of the most fun and memorable trips of my life. We left Wisconsin early in the morning and headed West -- a direction I had never traveled before.

We slept on the ground in sleeping bags in Sturgis, South Dakota. I drove through the Badlands and admired the jaw dropping beauty of it all. I shrugged my shoulders at Mount Rushmore (that's it? Isn't it bigger than that? Really?) Got a Wall Drug bumper sticker, shouted to the buffalo who roamed Yellowstone, tied a string to a fence on top of a mountain so high I almost peed myself driving  back down and said the words "We're not from 'round these parts" to a mountain man in a convenience story with a beard down to his knees when I had to ask for directions.

There was more too, wading through freezing cold mountain springs, music, photographs. As clear as some of those memories are in my mind, I'm sure there is much I've forgotten. There were places we didn't get to as well. We wanted to see the cliffs at Mesa Verde and swing by the Grand Canyon but ran out of time.
That's why I can't wait for the day that I can do that again. With my boys - my husband and my sons. I want to recreate that Western trek. I want to see it all again. I want to show it to them. How different this country can be and how amazing. I want to spend hours in the car.  Maybe we'll rent an R.V. I want to wear silly cowboy hats and I want to hike under the sun and I want to see the Grand Canyon this time. From a helicopter. Yeah! I want to stand where I can't see anything but wide open spaces in every direction and I want them to see that too. I want them to be open to a world so much bigger than the small city we live in.
I can't wait for that day. That's what I would do if I could.

Don't forget to enter the “Do What You Love” Sweepstakes, for a chance to win your own ultimate family vacation. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity.

As stated above, this post was Sponsored by Cheerios, which I really love, especially the honey-nut variety.