Here's what we experienced:
-- Worst Coffee: Days Inn, Elk City, OK
-- Worst nights sleep: Alamosa, CO - BNSF trains all night, the RR tracks were 50 yards across the Hwy.
-- Worst Motel: Sunrise Inn, Cody, WY - the only hotel that the online ratings were totally wrong. I could write 2 pages about how bad it was.
-- Worst Beds: Days Inn, Fort Collins, CO. - soft & bouncy
--Worst Meal: JR- Denny's Fort Collins, CO- the place was almost empty and we could see when our food was put on the counter for the waitress. About 5 minutes later she picked it up-it was cold. I sent it back 2 more times til it was cooked right. About half way through the meal, the Mgr. came by and asked how was everything...well, we didn't have to pay for the meal
-- Worst Continental Breakfast: Sundance Inn, Jackson, WY nothing but unappetizing looking muffins, no juice and bad coffee
-- Worst Shower: Red Feather Lodge, Tusayan, AZ (Grand Canyon) - no pressure and not very hot ( Wanda likes it scalding) 2nd worst surprisingly was the Orleans in Vegas - no pressure & lousy shower head - but what can you expect for a $40. room !
-- Worst Price Gouging: Tusayan, AZ Gas $ 3.69/gal , McD's 2 coffees & McMuffins $12., 7 lb. bag of ice $ 4
-- Worst NPS Visitor Center Movie : Shiloh Battlefield- the movie was filmed in 1956 and the "reenactors" costumes were terrible, they looked like polyester leisure suits and the fake beards were laughable. We actually were laughing while watching the movie it was so bad. The battle scenes were filmed with the same 30 guys doing the same charges, sometimes wearing grey & then blue and filmed from different angles so it looked like there were maybe 100 guys
-- Most Disappointing Destination : Horseshoe Curve, Altoona, PA - they closed early for a private wedding party & White Clay Creek SP, DE -we didn't get to see the Mason-Dixon Markers due to parking proximity
-- Worst Days Drive: Boring: JR- from Phoenix to Kingman AZ- 4 hours of desert while Wanda slept
Wanda- Green River, UT to Salt Lake City through the desert while I slept
-- Most Harrowing: Day 15 UT 12 ; after we left Bryce Canyon, we went through the beautifully desolate Grand Staircase NM and wound our way up to the top of a plateau and arrived at the "Hogback" -the road follows the top of a narrow ridge with a 2,000 ft. drop off on either side of the road, no shoulder or guard rails. About an hour later we were climbing 10,000 ft Boulder Mountain at dusk when we came around a bend to find cattle in the middle of the road. For the next hour as the sun was setting we drove along the top of the Mt. and never knew around which bend we would encounter more cattle. We both were grateful when we got down off the Mt. and got to our Hotel at Torrey UT
++Best Breakfast : Pavilion Inn, Salt Lake City
++Best Shower: Sleep Inn, Moab, UT
++Best Pharmacist taking care of travelers she never will see again: Nikki Smith, Walgreens, Cortez, CO
++Best Unexpected Roadside Attraction : Tower Gas Station, RT. 66, Shamrock, TX
close second ; The Antler Gallery, DuBois, WY
++ Best $ 40 2 room suite, Orleans Casino, Las Vegas, NV
++ Best Hotel Decor & Room: Best Western Devils Tower, Hulett, WY
++ Best Sheets & Softest Towells: Microtel Inn, Erie, PA
++ Most Surprising Hotel Quality: Microtel Inn, Erie, PA
++ Best Meal ( JR) : Buffalo Steak , Gunbarrel Steakhouse, Jackson, WY - the meat was kinda sweet tasting
++Most Surprising Meal : Cousin Ron Larson's Ostrich egg souffle'
++ Best Front Desk Person: Josh, Pavillion Inn, Salt Lake City
++ Best Wine Cellar with Wanda's favorite Wine: Ron Powell, Avondale, PA.
++ Most Exhilarating Sensory Experience: Maid of the Mist boat ride, Niagara Falls, Ont, Canada
++ Best Hot Tub: Best Western Hotel, Thermopolis, WY - the water is piped directly from the world's largest Hot Spring. The minerals in the water turned our jewelry different colors.
++Most tunnels in 1 day: 9 - Day 1 Blue Ridge Pkwy, Asheville,NC & I-40
++ most States in one day: Day 4 Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma
+/- Least time in any state -1 min. - Idaho drove across Teton pass from Jackson, WY to take the welcome sign pic & turned around - close second California, 3 min. & drove 30 ft.
++ Best NPS Rangers: Elizabeth Faison- Blue Ridge Pkwy, NC Minerals Museum ; Brandi Shores- Geo. W.Carver,MO. : Catherine Harrison- Washita Battlefield, OK
++ Best Wildlife Locations: The Elk at Rocky Mt. were really close as well as the Buffalo at Yellowstone , the Pronghorn and Mountain Sheep at Custer State Park, SD , the Prairie Dogs at Devils Tower, and the mule deer at Capital Reef. the most animals were the large herd of Buffalo at Theodore Roosevelt
++ Most Isolated Nat'l Park experience: Natural Bridges - it is way out away from anyplace and there was only 1 other family of tourists there - 2 park rangers drove around on the driving tour route and stopped to spend time with us we think because they were lonely with no one to talk to.
++ Best "As Far Out of the Way as you can Get" Amazing Rock Formations : Goblin Valley State Park, UT- it's about 2 hours from any sign of civilization and 1/2 hour from the main road.
++Most National Parks in one day: 5 - Day 11 : Grand Canyon, Wupatki, Sunset Crater, Walnut Canyon, Montezuma Castle, AZ
++ Best Non- National Park that should be one: Valley of Fire State Park, NV - If you ever go to Las Vegas & have an extra day, drive about a 1 1/2 hours north. the colors & textures of the rocks boggle the mind.
++ Best Money Deal: Grand Canyon Assn. membership: It is affiliated with the various National parks associations, like Eastern & Western Nat 'l, Zion, Yellowstone , etc. For $35, we got discounts of 10 to 15% on all our souvenir purchases except for a few Nat'l parks like Valley Forge & Independence.
++ Best " Don't do this trip without it" deal ; Wanda has the NPS Access Handicap pass because of her knees which saved us 100's of dollars in entry fees. If we didn't have it, we would have purchased the yearly NPS pass for $85 which does the same thing. Most of the major parks, Grand Canyon, Zion, Yellowstone, etc. were $25. entry fees