Vacation is a Numbers Game

Santa Fes Five and Dime Store

Santa Fe’s Five and Dime Store -Tiled Entrance ©2008

Back home after a great trip out west. Here is our vacation summed up in a few numbers. We managed to spend lots of nickles and dimes, but it was well worth it.

Days of vacation: 16
Days we had precipitation (either rain or snow): 2

Nights temperature dropped below 32˚F: 5
Days temperature rose above 90˚F: 2

Total miles driven: 4452
Most miles driven in one day: 739

Total cost of gas: $1267.02
Highest price we paid for gallon of gas: $3.79 (Fort Morgan, Colorado)
Cheapest price for gallon of gas: $2.48 (multiple stops in Kansas and Iowa) though we saw it for $2.29 in Des Moines, IA – just after we filled the tank.

States visited: 9 (including home state of Wisconsin)
State capital cities we drove through: 7
National parks/monuments visited: 11

Days we were in the mountains: 12
Days we were in a desert: 9
Days we were in deep canyons: 3
Days we were on sand dunes: 3

Nights we camped next to loud rushing water: 1 (Once was one too many.)
Nights we camped so close to tracks we heard train whistles all night long: 7 (There are train tracks everywhere west of the Rockies.)

Photographs taken: 2021
Number of books purchased (mostly from National Park Service): 14

Overall cost (borrowing the rather well-used phrase from our “friend” MasterCard’s famous commercials): Priceless!

About Bo Mackison

I'm a photographer, book-artist, traveler, naturalist, and creator of the Contemplative Creatives Journey, An Online Workshop and Community and Desert Wisdom Cards and Workshops. Though often not well known, I find the desert a welcoming place - a healing space. Its mysteries and gifts transformed me several years ago. Since that first encounter, I return again and again to fill my well in what most people think of as a desolate region. I'd love to share my desert discoveries and wisdom with you. Please subscribe to receive my five part mini email course The Gifts of the Desert. It's my gift to you.

Comments

  1. Sounds like a wonderful trip! Can’t wait to see more of the 2021 images!!!! Love the simplicity of this.

  2. Ron in L.A. says

    Sounds like too much fun Bo, I’m jealous… 😉

    R(etc… )

  3. Travel makes one rich in a way that money cannot buy. I love your travel summary – that’s outstanding.

  4. 2021??! Holy moly! (Ok, ok, I’ve been known to take over 600 on a 4-day trip…lol!) I’m looking forward to seeing more of your photos as you get a chance to sort through them.

    Like Ron, I’m jealous. It sounds like it was a great trip.

  5. You really can’t put a price tag on traveling. So much to see and do.

  6. Great stats! From what I’ve seen so far it looks like you really got your money’s worth on the trip!

  7. VERY clever summary of the trip. You sure did see a lot and stay in a lot of places that you made beautiful by your photography.

  8. What a great trip — 4452 is a lot of miles! Isn’t it amazing how cheap gas is in the Midwest right now? And I like seeing the temperature drops and rises. Extremes. We live in a country with haunting landscapes — urban and wilderness.

  9. Welcome home..I am still jealous! 🙂

    Beautiful pictures, and I am looking forward to seeing some of your 2021 photos!

  10. Great set of stats! Now on to see some of the other posts.

  11. I agree with ybonesy, great set of stats. Whew–what a lot of miles! Sounds like a wonderful trip, indeed. 🙂

  12. Were you trying to match the Presidential candidates’ schedules? You’re definitely close.

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