We took a road trip from Minnesota to Utah a few weeks ago — a journey filled with adventures, family, and changing scenery and weather.  We  went from the agriculture of southern Minnesota to the Black Hills of South Dakota, to the Sandhills of Nebraska, to the open ranches of Wyoming, to the snow capped mountains of Utah.  The variety of landscapes always amazes me, especially when you condense the journey over a few days.  Many of the areas were unusually green because of the higher amounts of rain that have fallen.  Fields and hills were looking quite lush, except for those areas (especially in Nebraska) that are still trying to recover from flooding earlier this year.  Surprisingly we encountered little rain during our trip, but we did endure 40-45 mph winds across Wyoming, and we slept a few times with the furnace on and a couple of times with the air conditioner on.  A quick trip such as this makes me appreciate the beauty and diversity of our country; how fortunate to be able to take it all in!