Day 1-Gretna -Denver
When Planning a trip for 5 people, three of whom cannot pack anything for themselves, it is quite the chore. The original plan had been to leave early Saturday morning and make it 1/2 way to Jackson, WY. No dice! I could not get anything in order and hate to be rushed trying to get out of town for 12 days and not forget anything. So Sunday morning bright and early, 5am, we hit the road. The boys did great, and by great I mean we stopped an hour and half into the trip for the 1st of hundreds of potty breaks. They slept for 2hrs somewhere between Grand Island and Ogalalla. We made it to Denver and Colorado Springs by 2pm MT and enjoyed a run/stroll through the Garden of the Gods, Barett found an eagle feather, and we enjoyed dinner with my cousins Paula and Mindy. My brother kindly offered up his house for us to bunk for the night since he was in Omaha. Problem #1-he is 20 something, single, and lives with a bunch of guys in a nice house Problem #2 -all the roomates were gone for the weekend so the air was turned off when we got there ans it was still 80 degrees outside 79 inside. Problem #3(relates back to #1)-No one bothered to take the trash out after they had feast on shrimp tails and God knows what else the night before they all left. What we walked into was a hot box of horrid ripeness! Needless to say I opened all the doors and windows, turned the air on and made Dave take the trash out. Somewhere along the line I called my brother and thanked him for the Colorado Bachelor Welcome! Day 1 came to a close late 2am our time...
Day 2: Denver - Jackson, WY
With my middle brother as our guide we set out at 7am for Jackson. Our GPS said it would be a 14hr journey which I later came to believe. The day started with our child life line(the DVD players) DEAD! Should have know this day was going to be long. Thankfully my brother's roomate had some doo-dad that allowed us to charge one of them while we were driving so the boys could watch something. Onward we travelled, the boys learned the fine art of roadside "relief" with Uncle Tom(I am sure that bus of church ladies didn't see a thing:0) We attempted to eat lunch at 3 different places in Rawlings, however 12 noon is apparently not the time anyone eats lunch there because NOTHING was open. We opted for a bumper lunch out of the cooler in the highschool parking lot. Wyoming for all intensive purposes was one construction zone after another complete with a lone stoplight in the middle of nowhere. When we finally arrived in Jackson, it was late, everyone was hungry so we opted for the "Garage". Nice restaurant, not kid friendly, way over priced. The day came to a close at 2am again only to wake up at 3am to a buring smell. Turns out the hotel next to us was on fire...GREAT! The fire department was quick and no one was injured....
Our intention was to get up early and see Yellowstone when most of the animals would still be out....no such luck, everyone was wiped and slept til 9am. Most days this wouldn't bother me, but dammit I wanted to see some animals! Tom left us early heading back to report in Seattle. We arrived in Yellowstone around noon and saw Old Faithful erupt 3x. The boys were thrilled with each eruption but the hike around the geyser basin left them a little...ok alot crabby. The highlight of the hike was the buffalo sitting along side the trail no more than 10ft from us! A dutiful ranger reminded everyone to keep walking, he must have seen my boys before. That would do it for our animal sightings that day...VERY disappointing. We did visit the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Zone in West Yellowstone(thanks Sage) this was a hit with the Grizzlys and Wolf behind cages at a safe distance. On our way back into the camp, there was a brief and welcomed sunny rain shower that yielded double full rainbows(no leprechauns to be found-believe we looked).
Day 4: Teton and Yellowstone
This was the day I will not soon forget. Hiking with the boys we met baby Grizzly. Thank you immensely to the park rangers who descended with lightening speed and shoo'd everyone off the roads and trails within any respectable distance of this little/BIG furry friend. After that little encounter we headed to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the great falls. The views were breathtaking, as was the scaling maneuvers performed by none other than Barett himself. As we readied ourselves for a family photo-op, B took it upon himself to climb atop a ledge with a 400ft drop. As I calmly(as calm as one can be with a child about to fall that distance) coaxed him down and then proceeded to have a major melt down with the Asian tourist contingency watching. That would end any hiking/climbing/out of the car sightseeing we would do at any appreciable altitude for the remainder of the trip. Needless to say there would be no "family picture" taken at the falls and explains why there is a death grip on Barett in the pictures that were taken. What a day it had been already and it was only 10am! We ended up spending lunch in the area of the fishing bridge where we had our first of many encounters with the Bison of Yellowstone . These mammoth creatures could care less if they are in the way of anyone or anything. They lazed beside the road and munched on grass til their hearts and bellys were content. The boys enjoyed this view much more than the bear...I would have to agree. As we wound around way through the northern part of the park I was amazed at how high and steep the mountains became. Being afraid of heights, this was NOT my favorite part. We ended the day in Bozeman, MT with a much needed swim, hot tub and fine meal prepared by Outback (ie the Kangaroo Guys).
One thing I learned on this trip was that Montana is by far the largest state with the least amount to see between the tourist traps. Waking up in Bozeman, I being the master navigator inquired to a local how far/long Glacier was away from us..."3 to Billings and another 2hrs after that" Ok so factor in 3 little boys, lunch, half a dozen potty breaks...we'll make that 8hrs. We visited the Missouri River headwaters for Dave's piece of mind. Interestingly enough, it looked nothing like the flooding beast that we had left at home, instead it was a peaceful mountain like stream winding its way through the dusty hills of south central Montana. Bored with the scenery, Dave and I invented a game "how long can we go without seeing another car"-the record stands at 36min(not too shabby). We wound our way through the mountains across an Indian reservation and into St. Mary on the eastern upper half of Glacier Nat'l Park. Dave was determined to drive the going to the sun road which had recently opened for the year due to the record snowfall. Entering the park I thought, no big deal, these roads were no worse than northern Yellowstone...WRONG! We had driven the GTSR backward and the cliffs and valley were on the later half. The highlight of this little adventure for the boys was hands down the group of motorcylcists that had followed us into the park. With only a 2 lane road that wound through the mountains, they were stuck behind us for the duration. As they were still plowing (YES P-L-O-W-I-N-G) some of the roads, we had a few areas to stop and stretch. It was at one of these stops that "the motorcycle guys" let the boys be men and hop on their bikes. I thought Barett's head was going to explode he was so excited.
Eventually we reached the halfway point at Logan's Pass where we had to break out the winter gear and turn on the seat warmers!! The snow there was unbelievable as were the views of the Glaciers and waterfalls. As we began our decent, a friendly Mountain goat took the liberty of greeting Dave with a leap in front of our car!
Day 7: Couer d'Alene
Finally we made the trek from whitefish to the wedding. We got to the "heart of Alene" a day early for resting purposes. The boys enjoyed a leisurely stroll around the lake and the local Treasure Hunt Trail based on a local book about a Mouse and a Moose-Mudgy and Millie. The night was spent scouting out the FANTASTIC shopping and finding a fun little restaurant where the boys became the chefs and made their own pizza. Mudgy and Millie made a special appearance at bedtime complete with book, plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk...YUMMY!
Day 8: Coeur d'Alene-Wedding day
Somewhere along this trek west the boys managed to lose my wedding attire, so it gave me a fantastic reason to shop!! Dave and the older boys set out in the morning to go find a place to do the laundry that we had amassed since Denver, and Laeth and I set out for a morning stroll around the boardwalk and lake...nothing like a little mountain air and lake to cleanse the mind and soul for a long night of partying. The shops didn't open until 10am so we had a good little bit of just mom and Laeth time.
Our plan was to let the boys nap until 115, walk the 10minutes to the church for the wedding at 2 and then stroll around until the boat left for the reception at 530. Sparing all the chaos that happened in the interim...the wedding was at NOON! So, you can imagine my surprise and embarrassment when we came up to the church at 5 til two and there was the grooms mother asking where we were sitting in church. "HA you are funny...we are just getting here" The look on her face couldn't have been more serious as I burst into tears! Afterall, we drove no less than 3000 miles to attend this wedding and missed it by 2HRS!!! It became the laugh of the night(we DID NOT miss the boat) as I had checked the invite atleast half a dozen times on the way up and never bothered to check the time- LESSON LEARNED: Never rely on your husband for time of ANYTHING! The reception was spectacular set on the lake. The boys danced the night away. And, when it all came to an end, my shoes, stroller and gift bag got left at the reception(it was a GOOD Night!!)
Day 8: Homeward bound
It was an early start but we wanted to make it as far as we could across Montona to make the following days drives less strenuous...and so it began the longest drive of nothing to see. We ended the day in Billings at a divey hotel that gave Dave the eebie jeebies...but it did have a waterslide at the pool so the boys were occupied.
Day 9: Mt. Rushmore and Home
After a night of no sleep for Dave this was the landmark day. We started in Montana, crossed Wyoming for 20 or so miles, saw Mt. Rushmore in S. Dakota and hit up Wall drug. At some point Dave decided that he was done...spent...no longer willing to spend another night on the road so he drove 20hrs all told to get home at 5am the next morning. Note north Central Nebraska in a thunderstorm in the middle of the night is a VERY SCARY place! We made it home in one piece...all 5 of us! The next morning we opted to sleep in and spend the afternoon at the pool.
Warning to all...while I enjoyed this trip...I WOULD NOT reccommend it again for anyone with 3 kids(boys) under the age of 5!
