Home Again, Home Again

After a one night stopover at Brian and Jodi's house, we headed north for a visit to see Grandma Smith. Lauren took the wheel from Spanish Fork, UT to Shelley, ID and got us there safely. Her only complaint was that after 5 hours of driving, including a half hour stuck in stop and go traffic, her leg hurt. I probably should have had more sympathy for her but after all the hours I had spent behind the wheel, I didn't have much.

A picture I took of the Idaho sky and farmland while we were stuck in traffic just to make my husband jealous that he wasn't with us. Love that sky.

It was nice to see Judy and Grandma. Elaine came over for a quick visit too. And Marie popped through the door for a few minutes between her many activities. Judy took us swimming at the pool where Marie was lifeguarding. They had a high dive which Steven enjoyed jumping off. The girls and William weren't interested in trying it.

Steven on one of his jumps off the highdive.

We left Shelley on Friday morning and only planned a five hour drive because we intended to tour Yellowstone Park that morning. Everything went well until just before we got into the car and Geral's stomach let loose its contents. That didn't bode well and I probably should have just stayed put for a couple of days but I was ready to be getting home. Well, poor Geral stayed sick all day and Rachel followed suit a few hours later. We still did our tour of Yellowstone but didn't spend as much time looking at things as we otherwise would have. We did see some mudpots, geysers and mineral pools as well as dipped our feet into Yellowstone Lake. We saw one bison and a few elk. We hit a few highlights and the kids can say they have a good idea of what is there. Maybe we will get to explore more another time.

William is pretty please that his candy colored tongue is the same shade as the hot spring.

This is the little girls view of Yellowstone, my lap or shoulder. They just felt lousy.

Geral felt bad but was determined to put her toes in the water.

Rachel was just happy that I didn't make her wear a seatbelt in the park.

We stayed the night in Powell, WY. Somehow, I managed to lock the keys into the car. So at 9pm on a Friday night I called the local locksmith to see if he could get me out. He and his wife arrived an hour later to help me retrieve my keys. He told me that if I have the time, I should take the alternate highway through the mountains and see the Native American Medicine Wheel at the top. He thought it was worth the time and effort to see. I am willing to take a tip from a local so that is what we did the next day.

The drive through Bighorn National Forest was really impressive. There were some really steep grades and tight switchbacks, but incredible scenery usually accompanies that sort of road and we were not disappointed in that. I even got a few "whoa"s from the backseat of the car. Of course, this was because I refused to let them turn on a movie and they had no choice but to look out the windows. Really, no movie can compete with the real feeling that you may fall off the mountain at any minute. Up at the top as promised we saw the sign to the Medicine Wheel. What the gentleman neglected to tell me was that there is a parking lot and a 1 1/2 mile walk from there out to the point of interest. We started to walk but both little girls were still ill. I was carrying Geral and the older kids were taking turns carrying Rachel. William balked at the idea of walking so far to see something that he was sure wasn't worth the effort. The reality was my kids had been traveling and playing hard for two and a half weeks at this point and were pretty tired. We barely made it a quarter mile before we realized that it just wasn't going to be possible to go that far carrying sick kids. We decided I would go back to the car and stay with the girls while the older kids went to see it. When we got back to the parking area I approached a ranger and said, "I know I am in no way disabled but is there any way I can drive my vehicle out to the site?" The did have limited parking for handicapped out by the site. She let me and I am very grateful. The site was interesting. I can't believe that they built this thing so high up in the mountains (almost 10,000 ft) and so long ago. It would be interesting to know what it was really used for instead of just the speculation of its purpose. The natives call it The Place Where the Eagle Landed, so much more descriptive than the white mans name.

I think an aerial view helps understand it.

The view from the ground.

I really love the tops of the mountains, at least on a summer day in good weather.

Our detour through the mountains was worth it but it cost us some time on our schedule homeward. I had hoped to make it to Souix Falls, SD but ended up in Rapid City on the western side of the state instead of the eastern. Looking at a map, Kaye's house would now be a good days drive for us. That was to be our new destination that night. I have to say, this third day of the trip home was the worst day we had the whole trip. Both little girls were still not feeling well and spent most of the day moaning for me to hold them. Lauren and Steven were both not feeling well and Sarah and William just needed to sleep. I think at this point the effects of traveling and playing hard were catching up with everyone. They were tired, not very tolerant of one another and quite unwilling to be helpful. I felt a little overwhelmed with driving while constantly having to be begging for help from the older kids to calm the little girls or help one another in the car. I wasn't sure I could drive the 11 hours to the Wierda's. It didn't help that Geral was completely obsessed with getting a waffle and cried about it all day long. She refused to eat anything else until she got one, hot with syrup. Waffles are not readily available everywhere, therefore she didn't eat anything all day. I promised her a waffle when we got to Kaye's house but still she moaned and moaned. A couple of phone calls with my husband were very helpful. He encouraged me just to get there and it is a good thing we did. We stopped at Walmart and bought waffles and frozen burritos. When we got to the Wierda's at 10:30pm we had some food and the kids went straight to bed. But here was the wonderful part. We all disappeared into separate rooms and spread out. I think we really needed that. For too long we had been on top of one another in hotel rooms and we just needed space. It is amazing what some alone time and a good night's sleep can do. I didn't wake anyone up the next day (except Lauren, who as a teen could have slept until 2pm). I let them wake up on their own. They could get up, have some cereal, watch some TV, just like at home. It was a much needed respite from hotel rooms and sharing space. So Kaye, I am sorry we missed you, but I am grateful for the use of your empty house.

When we got back into the car, it was a changed atmosphere from the day before. The little girls were feeling better, Geral had had waffles for dinner and for breakfast and was therefore satisfied, and the kids with some sleep and space were so much more willing to cooperate with one another. Plus, with only 16 hours to drive, we could see the light at the end and knew we would be home soon. The rest of the drive was uneventful and peaceful. Aaah. Nothing like happy kids.

So there you have it, the big summer trip all done. It is good to be home. Thankfully we have a few more weeks of summer to recover from our vacation. It was a lot more work than our regular lives, but adventures always are.