Many of you may decide to cancel your vacation this summer.  If you plan to do a lot of driving, you’re likely considering scaling back the amount.  The price of gas is eating into leisure budgets.  I know my week-long forays across much of the west are going to be scaled back.  Yet, I still want a break from the cabin fever of a long cold winter and an unusually cool spring.  I plan some day trips and to some places, I’ve been to before.  Because I don’t mind seeing some sights a second or third time.

It's Almost a Religious Experience

One of those places is the City of Rocks.  I love the drive to get there.  You first circle the mountain and then drive through some of the most picturesque small towns in the mountain west.

Credit Bill Colley.
Credit Bill Colley.
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The route is filled with history.  Old schoolhouses and abandoned homesteads dot the landscape along the way.

It Used to be a Rough Journey

I often find myself thinking about the early pioneers making their way west.  Many left their names on the stones.  I’ve googled some of the names in hopes of finding descendants in the western states. In many instances, I find no matches.  Just a reminder.  Not everyone made it to the end of the journey.

Credit Bill Colley.
Credit Bill Colley.
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For those of us who shower every day and sleep in a warm and comfortable bed, it’s a reminder of the grit our forebearers had in their character.

Climbing is a Popular Activity

By the way, I also admire the toughness of the guys climbing the rocks.  I think I’ll try and keep both feet on the ground.

The park is located in Cassia County.  Budget for the best part of the day.  The National Parks Service estimates almost 120,000 people visit the City of Rocks every year.  That includes 60,000 climbers.

LOOK: What 25 Historic Battlefields Look Like Today

The following is an examination of what became of the sites where America waged its most important and often most brutal campaigns of war. Using a variety of sources, Stacker selected 25 historically significant battlefields in American history. For each one, Stacker investigated what happened there when the battles raged as well as what became of those hallowed grounds when the fighting stopped.

These are the battlefields that defined the United States military’s journey from upstart Colonial rebels to an invincible global war machine.

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

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