I’ve sort of lost the desire to post in detail... so this is just a laundry list reminder for me of what we did.
Day 3 - morning horseback riding. First time for Mike, Alex, Ben. Mike on Bonanza, Alex on Blue Goose, Ben on Cletus (oldest horse in the park - only works morning rides a couple days/week), me on Teton - big, stout, super sweet horse. He goes so very very slow - can’t be last or he’ll lag too far behind.
Afternoon hiking around Apgar, Lakd McDonald, drive our to Polebridge for hike and huckleberry bear claws at Polebridge Mercantile. Hike around meadow at Polebridge entrance to park.
Day 4 - drove out to East Glacier. Running Eagle falls, two medicine lake hike and boat ride to two medicine falls. Crazy weather. Warm and sunny to extremely windy and cold, rain/sleet mix.
Friday, July 19, 2019
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Glacier National Park - Day 2
Day two in Glacier National Park started off with a half day white water rafting trip. When Mike booked the trip, we opted to go with the most adventuresome ride available that would a comodate the boys’ ages. That meant class 2 and 3 rapids. Shall we just cut to the chase, or drag along to the inevitable conclusion you surely have reached? We’re in the back boat of a group of 4 boats. Alex and Ben volunteered to be the lead paddlers, so they got the seats right in the front of the boat. Mike and I directly behind them. We floated lazily Ali g for a few miles, got all the safety instructions... how to stay in the boat, what to do if you fall out of the boat, what to do if the boat flips, etc. The first little baby rapid elicited a lot of smiles from the boys. The first class 2 rapid gave us all out giant grins and everyone is having a ton of fun. The water is a very cool 53 degrees or so. We’re all getting
splashed, cruising right along. We’re in a series of rapids and the left side of the boat where Alex and I are sitting is in the business side of these waters. We’re coming up on a pretty good rapid, and about halfway through it I look to the left and realize that the left side of the boat is heading directly down the side of this big rock. Which means the right side of the boat is leaning a little higher. We’re all paddling like crazy and just that fast I see Alex go in the water and then i’m In right after him. Turns out the girl behind me also went in the water. So here’s my take on what happened next... I’m bouncing around for a second and when I feel that i’m Right side up I open my eyes. Everything is dark, I put my hands up and i’m Under the boat. Hmmm. Not exactly where I want yo be. Thankfully I disn’t Panic, felt along the bottom of the boat in a controlled manner until I felt one hand come to the edge. I reached up and found the safety rope on the side of the boat and grab on. Mike grabs hold of my life vest and starts to haul me up. Problem was, I was still mostly under the boat, I had come out backwards. I waved him off, took a second to get completely out from under the boat and then the guide and Mike hauled me in. My par is floating somewhere along the way. I knew Alex had gone in, but by the time I got pulled out he was sitting as if nothing happened. We floated along a bit, managed to collect 2 of the 3 oars that apparently went in and had a fun, uneventful rest of the journey. Alex was freezing, but the guide gave him a fleece jacket to wear and warm up a bit. It was only at the end that I realized the girl behind me also went in,
Now... this is what happened according to Ben, who was on the right side of the boat... We’re floating along, go through the rapid and he feels the boat is slightly higher in his side. He says he just saw the big white splash of the water then the boat settles and there are 3 people missing. Alex and the girl pop up immediately and are pulled in immediately. Then everyone looks around and realizes that I am still gone and they can’t see me anywhere. Apparently about the time everyone started to freak out is when I popped up and then they pulled me in. I asked what the guide was directing them to do/saying/doing/etc. They can’t remember, they just said it was a bit of chaos.
The aftermath? I have never seen Mike look so scared, I think he was shaken more than me. Ben was freaked out too, but as soon as I was in the boat he settled... a little. It wasn’t until we talked things through later that he really was able to put it out of his mind. Alex was a bit confused... he and the girl came right up and we’re immediately we’re back in the boat, why wasn’t I? I was fine, just took a mi Ute to catch my breath. Once we rescued my floating oar, I was right back to paddling again. I do have a pretty nasty bruise on my arm, another on my leg. The one on my leg is surely from being pulled back up. I’m not sure if I banged my arm on the big rock we went over or if it caught an oar, or the edge of my life eat, or what. But, at the end of the day, we are all fine. We had a blast and I would still definitely do it again,
As for the rest of the day? Not nearly so exciting, but still fun. There was a hike Mike wanted to do, so we got that in. Avalanche falls, or lake, or creek? Or all 3? Avalanche something anyway. The trail led to a beautiful water fall then up along the river then up into the trees and opened around a lake. It rained for most of the hike, but I think it just made things that much more beautiful. The tall trees acted like an umbrella for the moSt part.
We also hit the Alberta visitor center so Alex could get an Alberta roadmap for the second half of our trip. And I found some good huckleberry tea in a little gift shop. It was quite cool today - highs only in the mid 60s when it wasn’t raining. Dropped down to the mid 50s in the rain,
I’m not sure i’ll Ever want to leave this place. More adventures tomorrow.
splashed, cruising right along. We’re in a series of rapids and the left side of the boat where Alex and I are sitting is in the business side of these waters. We’re coming up on a pretty good rapid, and about halfway through it I look to the left and realize that the left side of the boat is heading directly down the side of this big rock. Which means the right side of the boat is leaning a little higher. We’re all paddling like crazy and just that fast I see Alex go in the water and then i’m In right after him. Turns out the girl behind me also went in the water. So here’s my take on what happened next... I’m bouncing around for a second and when I feel that i’m Right side up I open my eyes. Everything is dark, I put my hands up and i’m Under the boat. Hmmm. Not exactly where I want yo be. Thankfully I disn’t Panic, felt along the bottom of the boat in a controlled manner until I felt one hand come to the edge. I reached up and found the safety rope on the side of the boat and grab on. Mike grabs hold of my life vest and starts to haul me up. Problem was, I was still mostly under the boat, I had come out backwards. I waved him off, took a second to get completely out from under the boat and then the guide and Mike hauled me in. My par is floating somewhere along the way. I knew Alex had gone in, but by the time I got pulled out he was sitting as if nothing happened. We floated along a bit, managed to collect 2 of the 3 oars that apparently went in and had a fun, uneventful rest of the journey. Alex was freezing, but the guide gave him a fleece jacket to wear and warm up a bit. It was only at the end that I realized the girl behind me also went in,
Now... this is what happened according to Ben, who was on the right side of the boat... We’re floating along, go through the rapid and he feels the boat is slightly higher in his side. He says he just saw the big white splash of the water then the boat settles and there are 3 people missing. Alex and the girl pop up immediately and are pulled in immediately. Then everyone looks around and realizes that I am still gone and they can’t see me anywhere. Apparently about the time everyone started to freak out is when I popped up and then they pulled me in. I asked what the guide was directing them to do/saying/doing/etc. They can’t remember, they just said it was a bit of chaos.
The aftermath? I have never seen Mike look so scared, I think he was shaken more than me. Ben was freaked out too, but as soon as I was in the boat he settled... a little. It wasn’t until we talked things through later that he really was able to put it out of his mind. Alex was a bit confused... he and the girl came right up and we’re immediately we’re back in the boat, why wasn’t I? I was fine, just took a mi Ute to catch my breath. Once we rescued my floating oar, I was right back to paddling again. I do have a pretty nasty bruise on my arm, another on my leg. The one on my leg is surely from being pulled back up. I’m not sure if I banged my arm on the big rock we went over or if it caught an oar, or the edge of my life eat, or what. But, at the end of the day, we are all fine. We had a blast and I would still definitely do it again,
As for the rest of the day? Not nearly so exciting, but still fun. There was a hike Mike wanted to do, so we got that in. Avalanche falls, or lake, or creek? Or all 3? Avalanche something anyway. The trail led to a beautiful water fall then up along the river then up into the trees and opened around a lake. It rained for most of the hike, but I think it just made things that much more beautiful. The tall trees acted like an umbrella for the moSt part.
We also hit the Alberta visitor center so Alex could get an Alberta roadmap for the second half of our trip. And I found some good huckleberry tea in a little gift shop. It was quite cool today - highs only in the mid 60s when it wasn’t raining. Dropped down to the mid 50s in the rain,
I’m not sure i’ll Ever want to leave this place. More adventures tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Glacier National Park
What fun to finally visit the one park i’ve REALLY wanted to see! It is so beautiful up here. No words of mine could ever do it justice. One can’t help but feel utterly content and at peace in this place.
We had a very early start to the day. The main road through the park, Going To The Sun road, can get very busy. More to the point some of the stops along the road can fill up very fast. So we were out the door before 7 knowing that it would take us about an hour to get to Logan’s Pass, the high point on the drive. Logan’s Pass is one of those places that fills up fast, usually the parking lot is full not long past 8. So we drove straight there making note of things we wanted to stop and see on the way back. We get to the pass plenty early. There are many people there, but room for us still too. We had wanted to stop at the visitor center, primarily to pay the park entrance fee. The booth was unmanned when we passed through so early and the autopay station required a better cellular signal than we could get. Alas, the visitor center was not open yet. So we decided to hike on up to see the hidden lake. It was about 1.5 miles each way. The path continued on past the viewpoint down to the actual lake, but it was closed beyond the viewpoint because of bear activity. Bears up here can be big - as in grizzly bears. Anyway, we weren’t entirely properly clad today. The weather in West Glacier was supposed to get up to about 75, it was 50 when we left. So we wore shorts and t-shirts with some warmer long sleeve shirts/sweatshirts on top. We neglected to take into account the elevation change from down low to up in the pass. By the time we got up to the pass it was a whopping 43-45 degrees, and there were clouds, and a breeze, and a light rain from time to time. No matter, hiking will warm us up! That was sort of true on the way up, because that mile and a half was all up hill! By the time we got to the top though, the wind kicked up and we were all pretty cold. I gave Alex my sweatshirt and he practically ran back down the path! As we weren’t planning on leaving the park until the end of the day I stopped in the visitor center (now open) and bought myself a sweatshirt because I was FREEZING! I didn’t want to take my sweatshirt back from Alex, he needed it :).
Anyway, the view at the top... we caught a very brief view of hidden lake in a break in the clouds. It’s all beautiful, even if shrouded in clouds and mist. We did see a funky large whitish animal we couldn’t Quite make out. Turns out it was a big ol’ marmot. So that was cool. Mike checked about the entrance fee we still hadn’t paid, the rangers said just to take care of it at the end of the day on our way out (we did).
So now that we were a little warmer we headed on up the road a bit further. There were some waterfalls we wanted to see. It’s now nearly 11:00 and the park is getting busy. There was no parking in the one lot we needed so we headed on. Found another place a bit further up. There was a waterfall a short hike from our parking area, but we wanted to see some other ones as well. So, we hopped on the shuttle which took us back to the other full parking lot. Was a nice hike down to the waterfall. The water was so clear and such s pretty blue. It did not disappoint. From there we decided to head to yet another waterfall, it wasn’y Too far away. The weather was nice and cool and sunny. So now it’s time to head back to the shuttle and grab lunch. Only, the shuttles only run every 30-40 minutes. It was just a fluke we caught the one when we needed it. So we opted to skip the shuttle stop and continue hiking around the lake, down by s beach area, up to another waterfall and back to our car, all in the same 30-40 minutes we *probably* would have waited for the elusive shuttle. Picnic lunch time, as we had covered a full 10 miles in hiking already.
The rest of the day was continuing along the Going to the Sun road to the end and then back again. A little more hiking, a few more stops. Started to rain a bit before we got back to the cabin.
Grilled some dinner, relaxed for the rest of the evening. Everyone is exhausted.
Alex took a gazillion pictures today, it will be fun seeing them when we get home. It’s 9:15 at night and the sun hasn’t even begun to set yet. That’s still do strange! Time to call it a night. More adventures tomorrow.
We had a very early start to the day. The main road through the park, Going To The Sun road, can get very busy. More to the point some of the stops along the road can fill up very fast. So we were out the door before 7 knowing that it would take us about an hour to get to Logan’s Pass, the high point on the drive. Logan’s Pass is one of those places that fills up fast, usually the parking lot is full not long past 8. So we drove straight there making note of things we wanted to stop and see on the way back. We get to the pass plenty early. There are many people there, but room for us still too. We had wanted to stop at the visitor center, primarily to pay the park entrance fee. The booth was unmanned when we passed through so early and the autopay station required a better cellular signal than we could get. Alas, the visitor center was not open yet. So we decided to hike on up to see the hidden lake. It was about 1.5 miles each way. The path continued on past the viewpoint down to the actual lake, but it was closed beyond the viewpoint because of bear activity. Bears up here can be big - as in grizzly bears. Anyway, we weren’t entirely properly clad today. The weather in West Glacier was supposed to get up to about 75, it was 50 when we left. So we wore shorts and t-shirts with some warmer long sleeve shirts/sweatshirts on top. We neglected to take into account the elevation change from down low to up in the pass. By the time we got up to the pass it was a whopping 43-45 degrees, and there were clouds, and a breeze, and a light rain from time to time. No matter, hiking will warm us up! That was sort of true on the way up, because that mile and a half was all up hill! By the time we got to the top though, the wind kicked up and we were all pretty cold. I gave Alex my sweatshirt and he practically ran back down the path! As we weren’t planning on leaving the park until the end of the day I stopped in the visitor center (now open) and bought myself a sweatshirt because I was FREEZING! I didn’t want to take my sweatshirt back from Alex, he needed it :).
Anyway, the view at the top... we caught a very brief view of hidden lake in a break in the clouds. It’s all beautiful, even if shrouded in clouds and mist. We did see a funky large whitish animal we couldn’t Quite make out. Turns out it was a big ol’ marmot. So that was cool. Mike checked about the entrance fee we still hadn’t paid, the rangers said just to take care of it at the end of the day on our way out (we did).
So now that we were a little warmer we headed on up the road a bit further. There were some waterfalls we wanted to see. It’s now nearly 11:00 and the park is getting busy. There was no parking in the one lot we needed so we headed on. Found another place a bit further up. There was a waterfall a short hike from our parking area, but we wanted to see some other ones as well. So, we hopped on the shuttle which took us back to the other full parking lot. Was a nice hike down to the waterfall. The water was so clear and such s pretty blue. It did not disappoint. From there we decided to head to yet another waterfall, it wasn’y Too far away. The weather was nice and cool and sunny. So now it’s time to head back to the shuttle and grab lunch. Only, the shuttles only run every 30-40 minutes. It was just a fluke we caught the one when we needed it. So we opted to skip the shuttle stop and continue hiking around the lake, down by s beach area, up to another waterfall and back to our car, all in the same 30-40 minutes we *probably* would have waited for the elusive shuttle. Picnic lunch time, as we had covered a full 10 miles in hiking already.
The rest of the day was continuing along the Going to the Sun road to the end and then back again. A little more hiking, a few more stops. Started to rain a bit before we got back to the cabin.
Grilled some dinner, relaxed for the rest of the evening. Everyone is exhausted.
Alex took a gazillion pictures today, it will be fun seeing them when we get home. It’s 9:15 at night and the sun hasn’t even begun to set yet. That’s still do strange! Time to call it a night. More adventures tomorrow.
Monday, July 15, 2019
Standpoint, ID to West Glacier, MY
The boys were up bright and early this morning. It seems either they are still on Austin time, or more likely, they just rise when the sun does. Thus far they are holding up quite well.
It was a beautiful day today, highs in the upper 70s. The sun was warm, but the breeze was cool. As I lay in bed typing this now, the window is open and it’s actually quite cool. We started our day with breakfast at a local diner in Sandpoint. A local happened to tell us about the place and it was filled with locals when we got there. Yes, the food was good. It’s always nice to find those spots and not the ones the tourists flock to. After breakfast it was hat finding time. Mostly Mike needed one, his head is the only one truly endangered by the sun. But, Ben and I also forgot hats and Slex didn’t want to be left out. So... we found a shop and we all got hats and it all sort of felt slightly silly, but it was fun. The hats were quite welcome and handy throughout the rest of our day.
We left Sandpoint and headed towards our West Glacier destination. To break up the drive a bit we stopped at Kootenai Falls in Montana. The falls were beautiful. The highlight of that stop though was the suspension bridge high over the roaring Kootenai river. It was a nice little hike down to the bridge. Mike opted not to cross the high bouncing swaying bridge today. He stayed below whole the boys and I had our fun. No harness securely holding him up meant no walk across the bouncy bridge. This stop was something that Ike came across just last week. I’m glad he shared it with us and let us have our fun even though i’m Sure from the moment he saw it he had no intention of ever crossing it.
That was about it for the day. We continued on our way, stopped in Kalispell for groceries. Pickings for good are a bit slim around here. We’ve got a great little cabin for the next several days and apparently we are now fairly well provisioned.
I am looking forward to wandering around Glacier Nationsl Park tomorrow. The parks make me happy and this is one I have wanted to see for s very long time. Looks like we’re in for another beautiful day with temps in the low 70s.
It was a beautiful day today, highs in the upper 70s. The sun was warm, but the breeze was cool. As I lay in bed typing this now, the window is open and it’s actually quite cool. We started our day with breakfast at a local diner in Sandpoint. A local happened to tell us about the place and it was filled with locals when we got there. Yes, the food was good. It’s always nice to find those spots and not the ones the tourists flock to. After breakfast it was hat finding time. Mostly Mike needed one, his head is the only one truly endangered by the sun. But, Ben and I also forgot hats and Slex didn’t want to be left out. So... we found a shop and we all got hats and it all sort of felt slightly silly, but it was fun. The hats were quite welcome and handy throughout the rest of our day.
We left Sandpoint and headed towards our West Glacier destination. To break up the drive a bit we stopped at Kootenai Falls in Montana. The falls were beautiful. The highlight of that stop though was the suspension bridge high over the roaring Kootenai river. It was a nice little hike down to the bridge. Mike opted not to cross the high bouncing swaying bridge today. He stayed below whole the boys and I had our fun. No harness securely holding him up meant no walk across the bouncy bridge. This stop was something that Ike came across just last week. I’m glad he shared it with us and let us have our fun even though i’m Sure from the moment he saw it he had no intention of ever crossing it.
That was about it for the day. We continued on our way, stopped in Kalispell for groceries. Pickings for good are a bit slim around here. We’ve got a great little cabin for the next several days and apparently we are now fairly well provisioned.
I am looking forward to wandering around Glacier Nationsl Park tomorrow. The parks make me happy and this is one I have wanted to see for s very long time. Looks like we’re in for another beautiful day with temps in the low 70s.
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Spokane to Sand Point, Idaho
All day long I had all of these thoughts about things to remember for this blog. Now that it’s time to post, I can’t remember them. So. The day. We are so much farther north than we are used to. The sun is up by 4:30 in the morning. We all took note of that and then fell back to sleep until a slightly more reasonable hour. We took a nice pre-breakfast walk around Spokane, explores the park and falls there. Saw some furry little animals that we are pretty sure were marmots. Found a nice little cafe for breakfast and enjoyed the cool morning air while dining outside. The boys showed their Texas roots by shivering all through breakfast. It was 65 degrees! After a quick stop to check out of the hotel we headed to a fun little tram ride to get a great view of the falls. That pretty much wrapped up our time in Spokane. There was a giant radio flyer wagon in the park. We have this amazing picture of the boys when they were small in our identical, but much smaller, wagon. Their faces in that picture are just full of the happiness only kids seem to have. Everything is magic. The boys were going to climb up into the giant wagon for some pictures, but it was not meant to be. Someone was sleeping in it . Anyway...
We hit the road after all of that and headed into Idaho - the 43rd state I have now visited. It was not a terribly long drive from Spokane, and being in the far northern and very skinny bit of Idaho, we continued to pick up this great feel good best of the 80s radio station. The music brought back many fun memories of middle school dances, early highschool years. In lieu of lunch we headed to Farragut State Park, the largest state park in Idaho. There are many things to do in the park, but a couple caught our attention today. Ben especially wanted to try the Tree2Tree ropes course. I left the do or pass decision up to Mike. He’s just terribly uncomfortable with heights and absolutely hates ladders. But, he didn’t want to keep us from doing it, and he decided to give it a go too. There’s lots of pre-course training involved and we learned all about the harnesses, click-ins, our zip line attachment, and all the fun obstacles we would encounter. We all breezes through the practice course 3 feet off the ground. The real deal was a bit more intimidating for some. Ben and Alex headed off with no hesitation. I let Mike go ahead of me so I could cheer him on and do he wouldn’t have to watch me, which makes him just as uncomfortable. I think the first ladder was the worst for him, but he got through it and did great. As for me, I have no issues with heights. Not gonna lie, even without that obstacle it was a bit breath-catching at times. We all pushed ourselves, we all exceeded our own expectations, and we all had a blast. And, we would all do it again in a heartbeat, especially the zip lines! Oh... and Ben is definitely the ropes champ, that boy is a climbing little monkey!
Next stop in the park was the Museum at the Brig. During WWII, the park was a large snack training facility. A lot of interesting history in the museum. Our final stop was a view over the lake. 4th deepest lake in the US I think. The name escapes me st the moment, but i’ll Look it up later.
To round out our day we drove through the little town of Bay View on route to Sand Point. Sand Point is a cute little town. Right outside the hotel is a little beach area. The high in this area today was 80. There were many people swimming in the icy water. The boys and I put our feet in, it did feel amazing. The cool water is definitely inviting, but I still am not sure I would have gone all in! Who would have thought we would find a little beach in Idaho? We walked into town for dinner, was a lovely evening to eat outside again. It’s supposed to drop down to 50 tonight.
Tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park. This has been on my bucket list for awhile. Looks like the weather will be cool, the forecast has changed and cooled off a bit.
We’ve visited the Pacific Northwest several times now. Someday...
We hit the road after all of that and headed into Idaho - the 43rd state I have now visited. It was not a terribly long drive from Spokane, and being in the far northern and very skinny bit of Idaho, we continued to pick up this great feel good best of the 80s radio station. The music brought back many fun memories of middle school dances, early highschool years. In lieu of lunch we headed to Farragut State Park, the largest state park in Idaho. There are many things to do in the park, but a couple caught our attention today. Ben especially wanted to try the Tree2Tree ropes course. I left the do or pass decision up to Mike. He’s just terribly uncomfortable with heights and absolutely hates ladders. But, he didn’t want to keep us from doing it, and he decided to give it a go too. There’s lots of pre-course training involved and we learned all about the harnesses, click-ins, our zip line attachment, and all the fun obstacles we would encounter. We all breezes through the practice course 3 feet off the ground. The real deal was a bit more intimidating for some. Ben and Alex headed off with no hesitation. I let Mike go ahead of me so I could cheer him on and do he wouldn’t have to watch me, which makes him just as uncomfortable. I think the first ladder was the worst for him, but he got through it and did great. As for me, I have no issues with heights. Not gonna lie, even without that obstacle it was a bit breath-catching at times. We all pushed ourselves, we all exceeded our own expectations, and we all had a blast. And, we would all do it again in a heartbeat, especially the zip lines! Oh... and Ben is definitely the ropes champ, that boy is a climbing little monkey!
Next stop in the park was the Museum at the Brig. During WWII, the park was a large snack training facility. A lot of interesting history in the museum. Our final stop was a view over the lake. 4th deepest lake in the US I think. The name escapes me st the moment, but i’ll Look it up later.
To round out our day we drove through the little town of Bay View on route to Sand Point. Sand Point is a cute little town. Right outside the hotel is a little beach area. The high in this area today was 80. There were many people swimming in the icy water. The boys and I put our feet in, it did feel amazing. The cool water is definitely inviting, but I still am not sure I would have gone all in! Who would have thought we would find a little beach in Idaho? We walked into town for dinner, was a lovely evening to eat outside again. It’s supposed to drop down to 50 tonight.
Tomorrow we head to Glacier National Park. This has been on my bucket list for awhile. Looks like the weather will be cool, the forecast has changed and cooled off a bit.
We’ve visited the Pacific Northwest several times now. Someday...
Saturday, July 13, 2019
Austin to Spokane - July 13, 2019
Hey - it’s been a year! Vacation time again. This year our travels take us north, specifically Montana and Banff, with a few other places thrown in the mix as well. Today was a big travel day. We left Austin early this afternoon, had a nice long flight to Sacramento, hour layover, another hour plus flight to Spokane, WA. Was a short drive from the airport to our downtown hotel. Dinner at a lovely upscale place (gotta start off right!), and now a quiet evening. There were a few highlights of the day...
Alex is officially old enough to go through airport security sans adult. So that was fun for him. Well, until his groin area triggered the scanner. So, first time through and the poor kid has to have a groin area pat down. He survived 😝.
It has been awhile since i’ve flown. I was surprised that food now has to be scanned separately. I never suspected the unopened boxes of cheezits and granola bars could ever be dangerous.
The flights were largely uneventful, but the boys kept interrupting my nap to show me things out of the window I coildn’t See ;)
We are driving a Cadillac for the next two weeks. Yeah, I don’y Know why either, but it’s nice!
It’s a whole lot of fun traveling with kids that are maturing. It’s easy, it’s nice, it’s fun. This is a very cool age for the boys.
And finally, what a difference being able to hear has made. So much of the stress and tension I normally feel with traveling was just gone today. I had never imagined it was simply because I was trying so hard to hear and process and make sense of things I simply couldn’t grasp. Now that I can hear, everything is so much easier. I had contemplated leaving the hearing aids at home - it’s a fair amount of extra stuff to pack, there are activities that I will have to remember to leave them out for, i’d Be lying if I said I wasn’t still a bit self conscious about them. Anyway, it’s nice to be able to piece together a little more of what most other people get.
The next couple of weeks should be a lot of fun.
Alex is officially old enough to go through airport security sans adult. So that was fun for him. Well, until his groin area triggered the scanner. So, first time through and the poor kid has to have a groin area pat down. He survived 😝.
It has been awhile since i’ve flown. I was surprised that food now has to be scanned separately. I never suspected the unopened boxes of cheezits and granola bars could ever be dangerous.
The flights were largely uneventful, but the boys kept interrupting my nap to show me things out of the window I coildn’t See ;)
We are driving a Cadillac for the next two weeks. Yeah, I don’y Know why either, but it’s nice!
It’s a whole lot of fun traveling with kids that are maturing. It’s easy, it’s nice, it’s fun. This is a very cool age for the boys.
And finally, what a difference being able to hear has made. So much of the stress and tension I normally feel with traveling was just gone today. I had never imagined it was simply because I was trying so hard to hear and process and make sense of things I simply couldn’t grasp. Now that I can hear, everything is so much easier. I had contemplated leaving the hearing aids at home - it’s a fair amount of extra stuff to pack, there are activities that I will have to remember to leave them out for, i’d Be lying if I said I wasn’t still a bit self conscious about them. Anyway, it’s nice to be able to piece together a little more of what most other people get.
The next couple of weeks should be a lot of fun.
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Edmond, OK to Home
Mike managed one last blog post, I should too. Kids are in bed, each in their own bed, in their own room, and all the happier for it.
We had planned to stop in Oklahoma City to see the state Capitol. It was pouring rain this morning, so we skipped that. Also thought we might stop in Fort Worth to see the stock yards, though the big attraction there is the moving of the cows twice a day, at 11:30 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. We got to Fort Worth around 11:45, kept right on driving. Though we did stop at Bucees for gas, their world famous bathrooms, and snacks. Does Buc-ees count as a grand adventure? One more stop in Waco for lunch and we were home around 3:30.
We came home to 3 very happy pups. My incredibly sweet and awesome neighbor swept up all the dog hair, cleaned dog bedding, baked us cookies and left us food for breakfast!
We unloaded the car, somehow or other got everything unpacked and put away. Two loads of laundry have been done, will have to sort out the rest tomorrow. The list of things we have to do in the next few days is staggering. All I want to do is hit the road again. I’ve always thought that I could travel indefinitely. After 6 weeks, I know I could. It’s hard to be home. I’m not ready to face work and school and everything else.
Anyway, trip stats...
43 days
22 states
2 Canadian provinces
18 National Park Service sites
4 Canadian Park Service sites
7 days of no driving
Almost 200 miles on foot
16 tanks of gas
And 6406 miles on the road
The boys spent a large part of the afternoon with their friend down the street. The 3 are already planning lots of ways to kill the rest of these summer days. Fun to see them happy together again. It also hammered home how much the boys grew and changed these past 6 weeks, in more ways than I can count. I hope they remember this summer and this trip as a very happy time.
Seems a bit unreal that we made it through, seems like forever since we left Home, feels like months since we got home.
We had planned to stop in Oklahoma City to see the state Capitol. It was pouring rain this morning, so we skipped that. Also thought we might stop in Fort Worth to see the stock yards, though the big attraction there is the moving of the cows twice a day, at 11:30 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. We got to Fort Worth around 11:45, kept right on driving. Though we did stop at Bucees for gas, their world famous bathrooms, and snacks. Does Buc-ees count as a grand adventure? One more stop in Waco for lunch and we were home around 3:30.
We came home to 3 very happy pups. My incredibly sweet and awesome neighbor swept up all the dog hair, cleaned dog bedding, baked us cookies and left us food for breakfast!
We unloaded the car, somehow or other got everything unpacked and put away. Two loads of laundry have been done, will have to sort out the rest tomorrow. The list of things we have to do in the next few days is staggering. All I want to do is hit the road again. I’ve always thought that I could travel indefinitely. After 6 weeks, I know I could. It’s hard to be home. I’m not ready to face work and school and everything else.
Anyway, trip stats...
43 days
22 states
2 Canadian provinces
18 National Park Service sites
4 Canadian Park Service sites
7 days of no driving
Almost 200 miles on foot
16 tanks of gas
And 6406 miles on the road
The boys spent a large part of the afternoon with their friend down the street. The 3 are already planning lots of ways to kill the rest of these summer days. Fun to see them happy together again. It also hammered home how much the boys grew and changed these past 6 weeks, in more ways than I can count. I hope they remember this summer and this trip as a very happy time.
Seems a bit unreal that we made it through, seems like forever since we left Home, feels like months since we got home.
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