YTD-Day 3

Well, it's actually Day 4...I think...or is it 5?  I'm a little behind.  We have been running all day and this is the only day we have had some down time.  We need to remember every family vacation should include at least one day where we plan absolutely nothing.  Right now I am doing laundry so it's the perfect time to blog.  I will probably just post more pics rather than writing about everything we did.  I won't remember it all, anyway. 

There are funny things that happen which, at the time I think, "I've got to write about this!" but most of the time, I forget by the time I get to my computer.  One of those moments was when we first checked into the hotel. Ryan was speaking in a French accent (or so he thought) and he spoke that way for the rest of the day, especially when we were out in "public" because he wanted everyone at the hotel to think he was from France.
There were a million more of those moments and I'll probably never remember them! 

Anyway, our third day was spent at Bear Country, the Cosmos, Rushmore Tramway and Slide and Mount Rushmore.  On the way we saw this car and Nathan asked why they had underwear hanging from the car.  After closer inspection it appeared it was actually underwear.  But hard to tell.  Ha!

 

Bear Country is a drive--thru animal park with bears (obviously), Big Horned Sheep, wolves, and other animals that are walking free.  The line got very backed up because of animals walking in front of the cars, which is fine when someone doesn't have to use the restroom!  I was cursing these animals and the driver of the SUV who didn't plow them over.  (Just kidding)  :)

Fellow Missourian!  We had seen a few on our way and I tried to wave and take their pic but usually Mike was driving too fast.  Since we were waiting in line to see the animals, this person was captive but had no idea I was taking his picture.

 

Friendly bear...saying hi to his friend.

Family pic.  One of these days Nathan will learn how to take a picture without closing his eyes and with an actual smile on his face.  :)  Poor kid...I think he's getting tired of us trying to teach him how to smile for a photo.  He is beginning to avoid getting his picture taken.

 

 

Grace loved the bears so much, she wanted to kiss one!

 

Nathan loved Bear Country.  He bought a stuffed bear and named him Coco.  He brings him EVERYWHERE!!!  This is not the stuffed bear, btw.  But a cute pic with his eyes OPEN!  :)

On our drive through Bear Country, we let the kids take turns sitting in the front seat.  I was trying to get a photo of Ryan and me...this is probably the 10th one I tried to get.  Every time he would make some goofy face. 

I finally make a goofy face along with him and he doesn't...go figure!

On to the Cosmos...this place was great and I would definitely recommend it.   I am still completely confused by that experience.  I know it is some optical illusion but it makes my brain hurt trying to figure it out.

Here are Ryan and Grace on completely level concrete slabs.  Yet, they appear to be different heights when they switch sides.  Why??? 

This I understand a little better...the "cabin" is built on a hill and was, itself, slanted so the center of gravity appeared to be off.  Well...I understand it better than I can explain it!  Haha!  Anyway, it was a complete mind trick...they showed balls that could roll up hill and we could stand against the walls and lean forward without falling.  Craziness! 

 Next was a completely unplanned stop but those are the best kind!  We took a ski lift up to the top of a huge hill and went down a slide.  On the way up, they took everyone's picture. 

Here we are on the way down:

Last stop for the day...Mount Rushmore.  Or what Ryan called it about a trillion times until you felt like wringing his neck--Rush Mountmore.  This was the place where we found our 44th state in the license plate game.  Yes...we actually drove through the parking lot checking out the plates of all the cars.  We are still wondering if we are going to find Hawaii.

This was a great end to our day.  At least, Mike and I thought so.  I think the kids just wanted to go swimming back at the hotel.  We got some great pics:

Foreshadowing???  :)  Grace did tell me she wanted to be the first woman president.  That should earn her a spot on Mount Rushmore!

And we are hoping they win the contest being held by their orthodontist.  Kids were to send pictures of themselves wearing their orthodontist's t-shirts at a summer vacation spot.  I think it's a winner!

Well, that was the end of that day!  We did manage to get back to the hotel for an hour of swimming.  Kids were happy!

YTD-Day 2

10:40 a.m.

Well, an hour and a half behind schedule is certainly better than the eleven hours behind we fell yesterday.  We are, again, packed like sardines and 32 states into the license plate game.  It’s amazing how quiet the car is at the moment.  Even Nathan who is ALWAYS talking is quiet.  AMAZING!  Everyone is pretty tired.  But I am wide awake-Thank you, Starbucks!

10:47 a.m.

I spoke too soon.  Ryan is managing to tease everyone in the car…tickling Nathan, looking at Grace “wrong”, and calling me Laura!  Who does he think he is??  J 

(Sigh)

As I sit here in the passenger seat traveling a stretch of road that does not offer much to look at, I think about the road trips I took as a kid.  We never traveled by plane.  Always by car with my sisters and I in the back seat.  I sat in the middle with my feet on the hump.  We brought things to do to keep us busy…crosswords, seek and finds, books, cross stitch projects, music on the FM radio, paper/coloring books, crayons and pencils.  We would make our own fun:  driving Sandy crazy, singing, making up songs/stories, or just looking out the window.  My parents would try to engage us in games like the license plate game, guess the distance, the alphabet game, or they would torture us by listening to talk radio on the AM dial…ugh!  And to get from here to there, we used a map.  Times have certainly changed!

1:15 p.m.             Boredom

Nothing to do…nothing to see.  Just trying to pass the time.

2:30 p..m.

Potty break at scenic overlook. Pretty pic of Grace and other scenery or "ob-scenery". Nathan just couldn't wait so we had no choice. He also didn't realize he shouldn't go right on the walkway. After we got back to the car, this family stood for a photo opportunity right where Nathan peed! Eek!

3:25 p.m.

Soooooooo close to running out of gas but we made it just in time!  First stop…gas station.  Second stop…Wall Drug.  We saw signs for miles and finally arrived.  How Wall Drug started was fascinating.  A couple had a dream and against the advice of some and a lot of prayer and encouragement of family and a church community, they bought a drug store in Wall because it was close to a Catholic church and the people were friendly.   They had little success and thought they made a mistake.  They agreed to give it 5 years and if their business didn’t grow, they would move.  It was coming up on five years during one of the hottest summers during the Great Depression and business was not good.  One day the couple had a conversation about the heat and mentioned the fact that there was a lot of traffic on the highway of people who needed water.  They decided to begin advertising free water.  They posted billboards along the highway and in no time, they found people would take the detour for water.  And it grew from there and is now a major tourist attraction.  I am not fond of those really touristy places but there were a few interesting things and we did get to eat and buy a few souvenirs. Mom…it doesn’t look like they have those fountain sodas.   Here are a few pics:

Later that day...Can't recall the time because I am actually not writing about this until the next day!

The Badlands...Absolutely amazing!!  And can you say "windy"????

I could spend days driving through, climbing, hiking through this beautiful place.  Of course, I might feel a little better if I had all three kids on a leash...especially Nathan who has the energy level of a room full of children after ingesting a case of Mountain Dew and 150 Pixie Sticks.  The anxiety felt imagining one of the kids falling off the edge...ugh!  Yeah....remind me never to take them to the Grand Canyon.  And did I mention rattle snakes?  Didn't see any but there are signs everywhere telling us to "beware".  The weather was perfect...so much better than home.  We are thoroughly enjoying the mid-70s/80s.  These pics will probably not do the Badlands justice but here they are: 

Yellowstone Trip Diary

Day 1: July 5, 2012, Best Laid Plans 6:35 p.m. The plan was to leave at 3 a.m. and drive to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, check into a hotel with plenty of time for the kids to swim. In order to make that happen, we would’ve had to grow a brain and THINK for minute and realize we need cross bars in order to attach the car top carrier to the top of the car! The light bulb moment occurred around 4 p.m. on July 4th. Of course nothing was open and one Craigslist ad and drive to Ballwin later, we remained cross bar-less. So, instead of leaving at 3 a.m. we left at 2 p.m. after finding a dealership that had the part, installing the cross bars and the car top carrier and loading everything up, jam packed even with the car top carrier. Love my Acadia but the one, and only, complaint I have about it is the lack of luggage space. This trip so far has been typical of others. We packed too much, planned too little, left too late. I always envision leisurely preparation with every member of our family happily lending a helping hand. But what actually happens involves much more complaining, arguing, cursing and my attempt to referee and look on the bright side. Bottom line is there is nothing we could do to change it so why get too upset about it. Once we actually left the house, everything went smoothly. That is after one return home to get the charger for the Garmin when we were about a mile away from home. Then the questions began which all begin with one word…Mom…and included “I’m hungry!” I fielded questions, started a movie and then took a deep breath. So, now we are on our way. We are almost to St. Joseph, Missouri. We are 27 states into the license plate game and have stopped two times. We had one scary moment. We were right behind two semis, one was passing the other. The one in which we were directly behind didn’t pass the other completely before he decided to merge into the right lane. Had that other truck not swerved onto the shoulder…. The important thing is, we’re alive! Here we are…And btw, in the pic there are only sunglasses on my head. Grace’s DVD case is balanced vicariously on all of the blankets and pillows crammed in the backseat but it was well behind me.

8:20 p.m. Just ate the dinner that was supposed to be lunch. Why are we eating so late? Because another one of our family traditions is to bring a bunch of crap to eat along the way. And strange thing about road trips…everyone is hungry all the time! We can go through a typical day at home satisfied with three meals and a snack or two. In the car when we are all sitting and not expending much energy, everyone needs to eat every ½ hour, buy candy at every gas station, and we all must have a soda at all times. Can you say sugar high?

About three hours away. Please….no one say they need to go to the bathroom!! Fat chance of that. Nathan had ½ of a huge bottle of Powerade so any time now…

8:53 p.m.

So far so good. Nathan is singing in the back…”Today I swear I’m not doing anything. I’m just laying here in my bed. I don’t feel like picking up my bones. So leave a message at the tone. Today I swear like doing anything.”

Then he suggested maybe Samson should have come along. Mike told him we didn’t have any room. He said, “Yes we do…he could sit on mom’s lap!” Ha!

9:30 p.m.

Bathroom break for boys…exit in the middle of nowhere, shoulder on the exit ramp. Better than peeing in a cup as someone in this crazy place suggested.

9:52 p.m.

How quickly things can fall apart when we have all been in the car for 8 hours! Gum fell out of Nathan’s mouth…can’t find it. Mike is freaking out!!! Looks like no more gum for Nathan!

12:30 a.m.

Finally arrived at our first stop…Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Holiday Inn Express and Suites. After unloading, checking in, getting ready for bed, a significant amount of arguing about who is sleeping where, and me turning into a drill sergeant, we all went to bed. Long day!