Family, fun, sheep, and near-death experiences filled Beaver Area sophomore Madelyn Hamilton’s 2020 summer as she and her family traveled on a 19 day trip across the country to visit several National Parks.
The Hamilton family packed their bags and set off on a road trip to stop at 13 various cities and sights during their COVID safe “HamFam Western Tour.”
Throughout their trip Madelyn and her family, including her mom, dad, and brother junior Max Hamilton, visited St. Louis, Missouri; Pawhuska, Oklahoma; Clinton, Oklahoma; Kingsman, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Sedona, Arizona; Grand Canyon, Arizona; Bryce, Utah; Jackson, Wyoming; Cody, Wyoming; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
After three days driving and making several small stops along the way, Madelyn and her family made it to their first big stop in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“We went around all the [Las Vegas] hotels and shopped in a bunch of them because a lot of them are like shopping malls but really big … I bought a Swatch,” Madelyn said.
Although Madelyn is not old enough, what’s a Vegas trip without going to a casino? Madelyn’s mom played the Wizard of Oz Slots and won $100!
Another stop Madelyn took in Las Vegas was to Hershey’s Chocolate World, Las Vegas where she and her brother stopped for a photo op with Hershey’s characters Hershey Bar and Hershey Kiss.
Madelyn’s brother was even stopped by exotic dancers for a picture before the family had to leave for their next stop.
The next big stop was in Sedona, Arizona which was Madelyn’s favorite stop on her western trip.
Madelyn enjoyed seeing the red-rock buttes on trails on the outskirts Sedona.
“We just walked around the little town. It was kinda like a hippie town, very mystical, and the town was very set on something called the vortex.”
Some people from Sedona are very spiritual and believe that Sedona is a pocket where energy crackles most intensely which residents call the vortex. This large amount of energy makes Sedona a very popular place for meditation, yoga, or other rituals.
The next stop in Madelyn’s trip was to the Grand Canyon in Arizona and then Bryce Canyon in Utah.
“We only spent one night at the Grand Canyon and seeing it, but the real fun happened the next day when we got to Bryce Canyon.”
While at the Grand Canyon, the Hamilton family just looked at the canyon, but at Bryce Canyon they got to hike through the canyon.
While hiking in Bryce Canyon, Madelyn encountered some switchbacks. Switchbacks are turns that cut sharply in a mountain trail that are steep and difficult to climb.
“At Bryce we hiked into the canyon and my mom thought she was going to be able to get back out, but there were these switchbacks getting out which means it was going to be very steep to climb out and it kind of curved around this mountain . . . we are nearing what we think is the top, but we get there and we turn the corner and there are at least five more switchbacks . . . My mom almost didn’t make it out because she was dehydrated and we almost had to call a park ranger,” Madelyn said.
After the family’s switchback adventure Madelyn went to the Tetons in Wyoming.
“So it was really beautiful. We went on all these little hikes and it was kinda rainy when we were there. It was very laid back and nice and cool unlike how hot it was at Bryce,” Madelyn stated.
While hiking in the Tetons, Madelyn stayed in Jackson, Wyoming where another accident occurred.
“My brother ate ice cream with walnuts in it by accident—and he’s very allergic to nuts. So we had to take him to the emergency room in Jackson, Wyoming,” Madelyn explained after a second health scare during the trip.
The final big stop for the Hamilton family was in Yellowstone National Park which includes half of the world’s geysers.
The family was able to see several geysers including Old Faithful which erupts every 44 minutes to two hours.
“We stayed in this little town outside of Yellowstone called Cody, Wyoming and we stayed in this hotel called The Irma. It was Buffalo Bill’s that he named for his daughter, Irma,” Madelyn said.
Buffalo Bill Cody was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Bison roamed all over Yellowstone. When Madelyn was in their car driving past a heard of bison, the heard started to run at the car!
This wasn’t the first time animals crowded the Hamilton car as they tried to drive down the road. While driving through Wyoming, a heard of sheep crowded the road which is happens because of open-farming laws.
“There where thousands of sheep crowding the road. Farmers would take sheep from one side of the road to the other, but that is probably my favorite memory; I liked seeing the sheep,” Madelyn joyfully recalled.
After the bison encounter at Yellowstone, Madelyn and her family safely made it back to Pittsburgh with no more near-death experiences. The nearly three-week experience spanning over 3,000 miles is one the Hamiltons won’t soon forget.
Where to next for the Hamilton family?
“My family had so much fun on this trip that we can’t wait for the next one. Maybe next time we’ll go to Europe,” Madelyn said.