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Northwest Trek
  • Mommy Traveling Pants
juil. – août 2017

Northwest Trek

Une aventure de 16 jours par Mommy Traveling Pants En savoir plus
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  • Début du voyage
    27 juillet 2017
    Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Day Before Departure

    27 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Well, we are 18 hours from departure. My usual plan for one week before our trip is to clean the car and start packing it with essentials. I have everyone start packing their clothes for the drawers in the car and pack their backpacks with sleepwear ("Jammie's" is not an acceptable terms these days particularly because underwear is the sleepwear of choice.), socks, underwear and bathing suits which we need every night in the hotel. I figure out what food we need to pack for the road and for our first major stop. I also clean the house so we come home to a nice house.

    This year is a little different. Last week, we took our van into the shop for an oil change and to check a noise we heard. They have had our van since then. I am picking it up at 2 PM today, Thursday, the day before we leave and we are leaving at 6 AM. UHHHH! The van is not ready. There is another kink in the plan. We have had construction going on for the past year and we are at the tail end of it. While we are gone, the painters are coming in to finish the upstairs and the downstairs. As much as I can say that I am relieved I won't be here while they finish, we have had to prep for them which means making a ginormous mess. No clean house when I come home. UHHHH!

    Literally, Paul and I (and the kids) are getting in the car and driving west and never looking back. It will be nice to not think about it. We will miss our doggies though. Thanks to our neighbor and our dear friend Miss Jen, our doggies will be well taken care of.

    Today, I have been baking muffins, making sandwiches and quinoa, and packing dry goods. I'm picking up the van soon.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Bismark ND

    28 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ 🌫 20 °C

    July 28, 2017

    Weather: 85 and sunny (arrival at night 65 and moony)

    Hours Driving: 16/17

    States Drive Thru: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota

    Miles: 1,118

    Restaurants: Good Ol' Applebee's (actually my burger was yummy)

    Movies: Rush Hour 1 & 2

    Games: The Office

    Books: Dream On Amber (liz), Red Herrings & White Elephants (Matt)

    Hotel: Marriott

    We hit the road a little later than we wanted to this morning but traffic wasn't an issue. Today was a long drive day. We put in a 17 hour drive. We have to be in Seattle by Sunday. We left around 7 AM. We hoped for 6 AM. It's more peaceful driving in the morning. The kids have been reading, doing some homework, watched a couple of movies and played a continuous game of The Office. We listened to a book, Paul had a couple of work calls and I slept a short time out of fear that Paul will ask me to drive. He's a trooper. But, when he gets tired, he has to stop. Have I mentioned his sleep disorder? Cinemarkalepsy. The inability to stay awake for a movie. He can drive for 17 hours but is snoring away 5 minutes into a movie. The struggle is real.

    We had a nice peaceful drive today. It really hasn't been that bad. We ate blueberry pancakes and blueberry muffins (gluten and dairy free and delicious, says all) for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch in the car. We stopped at Applebee's for dinner in Minnesota. Not my first choice but it was on the route and they had something I could eat. Everyone was a little slap happy at the table. A little embarrassing (for me anyway). The kid's mission in life now is to rip on Paul. They make fun of how long his stories are, his grey hair and his country music (I'm with them there). He is taking it well. He can dish it out, too. Though, my kids pretty humiliate themselves with little effort. With the exception of Elizabeth. Back to Applebee's, here's what I don't understand. Everyone knows how hard it is to get the darn electronics out of our kids hands these days, right? Why does Applebee's deem it necessary to put an electronic game on the table which Matthew glued himself to the second we sat down. Then, to add insult to injury, he managed to "unknowingly" say yes to purchasing the game that was later added to our bill. Honest to God. They make it that easy? Or...my kids are that....well, we won't go there.

    We had 5 more hours to Bismarck, ND from MN to spend the night at our go-to Marriott. Day 1 down. Day 2 takes us to Bozeman, MT. It will be hard to be so close to Yellowstone and not go. They kids are begging to go. New adventures await us. See you tomorrow.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Bozeman, MT

    29 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    July 29, 2017

    Place: Bozeman, MT

    Weather: 91 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 8 hours

    States Drive Thru: North Dakota and Montana

    Miles: 433

    Restaurants:

    Movies:

    Games: 20 questions (or 20 insults)

    Books: Dunkirk (Matt)

    Hotel: Marriott

    We had a nice sleep last night. We had our typical free Marriott breakfast which really isn't all that bad (unless you are gluten and dairy-free). They had omelettes, scrambled and hard boiled eggs, sausage, Canadian bacon, all kinds of sweet rolls and breads, oatmeal, make your own waffles, coffee, juices, yogurts, fruits and more. Not bad really. We had a funny breakfast conversation about movie choices. Elizabeth has a very limited genre library due to the fact that most things are too scary for her. For instance, someone getting a paper cut or a lost puppy might stress her out. One of the scariest movies she has seen is Mall Cop. Mmhmm. Way too stressful. So Paul tells her to broaden her movie choices to include some more dramatic cinematic choices. I said that I don't love scary movies but they are kind of fun. (Wendy, you made me watch Friday the 13th) I said that the only thing that is bad is that the scary movies stay with me and chase me up the basement stairs. Ben whole-heartedly agreed. Elizabeth chimes in, "That's what I am saying! I can't sleep or put my feet out of the covers after watching movies like...Abraham Lincoln's death!" If you could see our faces when she said that. We were like, "What??!!" Your choice of movies that makes you feel like something is going to grab your feet is Abraham Lincoln? Four score and ten little toes. This is one of the most strong-willed and driven of our children and she shakes like a leaf at Home Alone.

    Anyway, we are on a beautiful winding highway in the middle of North Dakota with rolling hills of Amber waves of grain and the occasional awe-inspiring interruptions of badland rock formations. Paul and I were cued up for a little "Home, home on the range." by some random words on the side of a roadside hill. How many weirdos sing that as they are passing. Blue skies, wind whipping through our open windows and the nerve jerking "STOP" coming from the back. Now entering Montana only divided by a large welcome sign.

    We have been listening to the audio of the book "Lion" or "The Long Road Home". It is a 7 hour audio book. The title is appropriate for our travels. It is about a little East Indian boy who gets lost from home in India and ends up adopted by an Australian family. It is really good. It conjures up such images of his life and emotions of what he went through. We are enjoying It. The kids are listening while they play in the back. They seem interested every time we turn it on. The kids spent today making their own "The Office Game". Fun to hear them laughing and playiing and talking in the back. They really have been great for how long we've been in the car. They have not complained at all.

    We arrived in Bozeman around 3:30. It was hot but not oppressive. We checked into the Residence Inn Bozeman. Nice hotel. We have a King bed, a pull out and a kitchen. We have a blow up mattress. It is a nice room. The freezer allows us to re freeze our ice packs and chill the food we have. Tonight, we drove to Main Street Bozeman. What a cute little town with many (lots) of nice restaurants. You could stay here a week and eat well every day. We ate, first, at a restaurant recommended by Stone (Paul's brother, Dave), Ted's Montana Grill. We decided to show the kids how Paul and I eat on trips. We like to go to multiple restaurants and sample food from each place. We ordered some bison nachos, grilled shrimp on a bed of greens in a spicy lemon dressing and their specialty fries. We asked our waitress Jacq where she would recommend for our next stop and she told us about a sushi (now we are talking) restaurant a couple of streets off Main that her friend's boyfriend owns called Dave's sushi. You might drive right by it if you didn't see the over flow of locals spilling out to the parking lot waiting for a table.

    It was a cute little place filled to the brim with amazing plates of sushi, nigiri and other delights passing by our table. The boys were thrilled to find that some of the sushi was name Jack Sparrow, Black Pearl and White Tiger. Don't let the names cause concern for the quality of the sushi. The Jack Sparrow was amazing with levels of flavor, texture and temperature. All five of us fought for the last pirate bite. We all agreed that we will crave that forever. It was fried shrimp, advocado, and mango topped with spicy hamachi. The "Broad Comedy role" was yummy too. We had some kind of lettuce cups that were delicious too. Awesome place. My kids love sushi. That is good and bad. Good because we can all go out to eat sushi. Bad because I have to share. Hmph.

    We enjoyed walking the streets and now we are back at the hotel and the kids are swimming. Even though most of the day was driving, it is has been soon forgotten by a great evening. Off to Seattle tomorrow. 10 more hours    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Wallace, ID

    30 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ 🌫 25 °C

    July 30, 2017

    Place: Wallace, ID

    Weather: 77 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 6 hours

    States Drive Thru: Montana, Idaho

    Miles: 361

    Restaurants: The Smokehouse BBQ and Saloon

    Movies: Spies Like Us

    Games: The Office,

    Books: "Lion" (audio book)

    Hotel:

    We hit the road for another long drive. 10 hours ahead of us to Seattle,WA. We had our Marriott breakfast and got an 8:30 start. We passed time listening to our book, "Lion". It is so good. The kids even keep telling us to turn it back on. Amazing story.

    We made a stop in a little town called Wallace, Idaho. It was an unexpectedly cute little historic town nestled within the mountains. You could sense the history of the buildings disguised in a cloak of present day like True Value Hardware and artsy boutiques. We ate at the Smokehouse BBQ and Saloon. There you could feel the ghosts of the past within the walls and at the saloon bar top. The walls were covered in a confusion of current day memorabilia and the fading antiquities of long ago. There was no air conditioning on in the restaurant which disappointed our bodies coming in from the 90 degrees outside adding to the feeling of what this place was like a hundred years ago. It was tolerable and not really that uncomfortable. Just disappointing. We decided to try the pulled brisket, half chicken, rib combo and mac and cheese. When the waitress asked us what we'd like to order, we were thrown from a 1890 saloon to a Turkish bath. We know all the waitresses were Turkish because we asked. It was the weirdest twilight zone place. They were exchange students from Turkey for the summer. They hardly spoke English and stood behind this 1890s bar speaking Turkish. Just a little strange. Actually, the food was really good. I had pulled pork. If it's on the menu, I usually order it. Very interesting side stop.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Lake Union, Seattle, WA

    30 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    July 30, 2017

    Place: Seattle, WA

    Weather: 77 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 5 hours 34 min

    States Drive Thru: Idaho and Washington

    Miles: 360

    Restaurants:

    Movies: Spies Like Us

    Games: The Office,

    Books: "Lion" (audio book)

    Hotel: Ginger Houseboat on Lake Union

    We are heading through the east side of Washington state. Between Spokane and Seattle, it is pretty flat. The mountain ranges of western Washington are on the horizon. My excitement is growing, as is Paul's. I spent a lot of time in Seattle because my sister and brother both lived there and I have visited many times. I love it there. Paul has been there a couple of times as well. We went together while we were dating. We love it. In the summer anyway. I have a lot of memories visiting my sister and brother and I can't wait to share it with my kids. We have rented a houseboat on Lake Union. I haven't told the kids. It is a surprise. It is such a nice boat, too. I hope they like it.

    (finishing this in bed)

    The last leg to Seattle was a tough. I should say the last few hours. There was some construction once we got into the mountain passes. Not horrible but after driving 7-8 hours, every minute counts. Paul was losing patience with driving. His moral was falling fast. On the sly, I found a pizza restaurant near our houseboat, placed a carry out for a giant double pepperoni pizza, a salad and a gluten free pizza for me. I wanted to take away the worry of finding dinner once we did arrive. Instead of navigating him to the houseboat, I steered him to the pizza joint. We grabbed the pizza and headed for the boat. Mind you, the kids still didn't know. We told them we were going to eat on the docks by the water and we led them to the very end of the dock where there sat a charming little house on the water. I walked right into the boat, to their surprise. That's when they figured it out. I think the laughter and shrieking meant they were happy and mom done good...again. They ran around like toddlers exploring and taking it in. This boat is so cool. You know how everyone wants a hotel with water views and views of the city and sunsets, well we have it all! We ate on the roof overlooking downtown Seattle as the buildings and sky changed from blues to oranges and then faded to greys only to light back up in the night sky. Before going to bed, we decided to take a drive into town by Ben's request. He LOVES it here. He said he could live here. It is a great place. Tomorrow, we explore town and we can share our experiences with them. Now a slumber on the water. Bucket list...check.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Seattle, WA

    31 juillet 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    July 31, 2017

    Place: Seattle, WA

    Weather: 80 and sunny and blue skies

    Hours Driving: 20 minutes

    States Drive Thru: Washington

    Miles: 5 miles max

    Restaurants: Crepe de France (pike place) and The Athenian (Pike place)

    Movies:

    Games: Water tag

    Books:

    Hotel: Ginger Houseboat on Lake Union

    What an amazing day in Seattle. I knew what I was going to do first thing this morning the night before which actually came earlier than I expected, 5;30 AM though I didn't stay awake. I am not sure if it was the boat or time difference or Marne's texts that Mike was going into shoulder surgery (he is well and recovering). I forced myself back to sleep until 6:51. I made myself a coffee with Elizabeth and we went on the roof of the boat and took in the blue sky, cool breeze, lapping waters under the boats in their slips, the hum of traffic across the lake moving its way into the city and the smell of hot coffee. I'm loving it.

    We got an early start to Pike Place Market for breakfast. We parked on the waterfront because our vehicle (the beast) has difficulty parking in structures so we parked on the waterfront which is lined with restaurants, shops, the aquarium, the ferris wheel and is humming with people walking along it. We planned to park and walk to Pike Place recollecting incorrectly that is on the waterfront. It is actually a couple of streets above. After a really nice walk along the waterfront, we backtracked to Pike Place just as it was coming alive with shop owners filling their spaces with goods. Walking through was easy at this time. We found our way to a crepe shop which seems to be our go-to at Markets. We ate them at Reading Market in Pennsylvania. We had a savory crepe with ham, cheese and spinach and a sweet crepe.with strawberries and Nutella. I had an Americano coffee and a gluten free lemon and powdered sugar crepe. Delish but I'm certain theirs was better. After we looked around a bit, we grabbed some day old french bread from the bakery, some procutto, ham, chorizo and cheeses from the deli and some fruit from the produce and headed off to Seattle Center where the space needle is to have lunch on the lawn somewhere. I rambled that area often with my sister when she lived there and worked at the science center. I was disappointed slightly that it wasn't as recognizable as I had remembered. How things change in 15 years. Not bad changes but disorienting. What a great place for families. We had our lunch on the grass of the children's museum and wandered over to the International fountain that dances to music playing from the heavens. Children and adults were laughing and prancing through the fountain escaping its attempts to soak as if it were alive and chasing you. The kids loved it.

    One the way back, I wanted to take them to one of my favorite little oddities in Seattle that my sister took me to long ago. It actually won me a best summer photo award when I was teaching. The Fremont Troll. The stone beast watches over and under the freeway bridge. it would be startling if you didn't know it was there and you found yourself going up this steep street to a dead end with an enormous creature staring down at you. I must say that he is not scary but rather charming and looks a little strartled as if he's wondering why all of these people and children are one, not afraid, and two, they want to climb all over him. His one silver eue and the crushed VW Bug under his hand only draws everyone in. I love the Fremont Troll and I believe my kids do too and someday they will be back to share the mystery.

    We went back to the boat and the kids swam for 2 or 3 hours. They loved jumping off the roof of the boat. They kayaked and played on the inner tube. We got a call from Rhea, one of my dearest friends who I knew was here in Seattle too, who did in fact have time before their flight to have dinner. We met them down a Pike Place at the Athenian to have nice seafood dinner. Elizaberh and Sophia (their daughter are long time friends) and Paul has know Andy, her husband for ages so we had a great time. They get to be a part of the blog and our blog books that I print. All in all, a great day. I have to get to sleep though because we are waking wee early, 5:30 AM to get to the San Juan islands for a whale watching tour tomorrow. Can't wait    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    San Juan islands, WA

    1 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    August 1, 2017

    Place: Seattle, Port Townsend, San Juan Islands and Friday Harbor, WA

    Weather: 77 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 35 minutes x 2 by ferrry and 2 hours 14 minutes driving (roundtrip)

    States Drive Thru: Washington

    Miles: 70 miles

    Restaurants: Downriggers

    Movies:

    Games: Pictionary

    Books:

    Hotel: Ginger Houseboat on Lake Union

    My eyes slowly opened at 5:15 AM as morning breaks over Lake Union and a pink light fills the windows of the boat. I slept well and I don't think I was anxious about waking up in time for the 6:10 ferry to Bainbridge Island. I waited for my 5:20 alarm to play The Cup song. The gentle clapping at the beginning of the song is a nice wake up sound. If you choose not to wake, "I got my ticket for the long way round..." Anyway, I started the coffee pot and roused the crowd gently so as not to conjure up the sleeping meemies who stick around with their grumpies for a while. Matthew carried a few complaining meemies right on to the ferry. You've got to love them away.

    Getting to the ferry on time was the only thing that worried me because I didn't know if it would be busy though I've been on the ferries many times with my sister and going to Whidbey Island to see my brother and MIssy (and Cody and Mitchell). If we missed the 6:10, we might not make the drive to our 8:30 appointment with the whales. It was actually easy-peesy. Rhea also reassured me the night before how easy it would be especially at that insane hour. There was no wait, we drove right in and headed for the deck for coffee and hot chocolate and a 35 minute ferry ride (and a hot chocolate spill by an unnamed child-probably the meemie did it). Now we are driving for a little over an hour to Port Townsend to make our 8:30 meeting time. We should be early.

    We in fact arrived early to a cool marina of big boats and little boats, sail boats and motor boats, old boats and new boats. The air was cool which led us to believe it might be even cooler on the water. We checked in and boarded our boat. We were assigned a 6 person table in a boat that probably holds, at most, 60 people. There were about 35 on today. Our hosts were great. They were super friendly and knowledgeable. They served their specialty Blueberry Buckle and various warm and cold drinks. If you purchased their mug for $5, you get unlimited drinks for life. We bought them and told the kids that they had to come back someday with their families and get a free cup o' Joe or hot chocolate. They were excited about that.

    We left at 9 AM with a chill in the air. We cruised out looking for whales. We spotted a few on the way out to Friday Harbor. So cool to see. We cruised through the San Juan islands and stopped in Friday Harbor for lunch. I would recommend this town. Super cute. Good restaurants and shops. Harbor town. Looked like Maine a bit. We had lunch at Downriggers on the deck overlooking the harbor. Ahhhhh. I had the most delicious mussels. Paul had a corn tortilla encrusted halibut salad. I loved that too. Elizabeth had clam chowder and a salad (and half of my mussels). She said this clam chowder doesn't beat her dads again. Matthew had a delicious looking chicken sandwich and Ben had spicy chicken wings (all over his face). Even the cute young girl cleaning away his mess giggled at the spectacle he made with the hot sauce. We had a great lunch and headed out for our second half of the day.

    We traveled to Anacortes and through Deception Pass at Whidbey Island. Seeing naval base brought back memories of visiting my brother, Missy and Cody and Mitchell. I listened for Prowlers. My nephews could hear my brother's planes from miles away and plug their ears before I knew what was happening. I digress. We found a pod of Orcas feeding on a seal or something so says the naturalist. We sat and watched them for a while. Super cool. We got back around 5:30. I should mention that the weather was amazing. It got warmer throughout the day on the water though like swimming through a warm spot in the water, we kept going through periods of air that was 20 degrees cooler. Also, the water was a calm as anything. Our typical luck like kayaking at Pictured Rocks on the calmest Lake Superior (unheard of). Our guide today said that last week, their were 6 foot waves (and people puking). Our water was near flat most of the time. Thank goodness because I'd be a poker. I get carsick looking at a car. Even though we had a great day, at the risk of bad weather or choppy water, you might considered the 1/2 day trip just in case. That is hard to say though because Friday Harbor is cool.

    It was a great day. The kids all said they had a great time. Even though we didn't see tons of whales, they really enjoyed the whole day trip. There were no complaints about getting up though we had two nappers on part of the trip (see pictures). We are heading back to the houseboat now to BBQ some steaks for dinner. Already getting sick of eating out. Our biggest issue. We got issues...but you got em' too. Tomorrow, we are off to Portland via Mount Rainier and Mt. St. Helens.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Portland, OR

    2 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    August 2, 2017

    Place: Portland, Weather: 77 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 4 hours

    States Drive Thru: Washington and Oregon

    Miles: 238

    Restaurants: Subway

    Movies:

    Games:

    Books: Arf (Elizabeth), Dunkirk (Matt), El Elefante sin Memoria (Ben-for Spanish)

    Last night was our last night on the houseboat. We all slept very well on the boat. I'm a little surprised seeing that it wasn't the greatest mattress and Paul and I felt a little like our feet were higher than our heads just slightly. Yet, we boat slept well. Maybe it was the ever so gentle rocking. I mean gentle because any more than that might have had me at the Lake Union Courtyard. I woke up and brewed my coffee and went to the roof to watch the scullers (rowers) silently cutting through the water just as the sun is lighting up the lake. So peaceful. Matthew joined me, followed by Elizabeth with two plates of blueberry pancakes with peaches on top. We took in our last mental photographs to hold on to. We love Seattle.

    On our way out of Seattle, we drove the kids through the University of Washington campus. My sister went there after going to U of M (booo) and moving out to Seattle. What a gorgeous campus. The kids liked it too. We had to quickly start spilling out the negatives before all three of kids decide move to other side of the country and double our tuition bills. Then, off to Mount Saint Helens. It was pretty smoggy today I think because the temps were rising to 90s in Seattle and 100s south. It was still blue skies but a haze fell over Mount Rainier so we couldn't see it on our way out. Boooo. It likes to play hide and seek. We could not see Mt. St. Helens either due to forest fires and the direction of the winds. We stopped at the visitor center to watch a movie and see their little museum. We decided not to go all the way to the observation center because it was about an hour up and the rangers said visibility was poor. So we headed to Trail of Two forests. It is also about an hour but it is 30 minutes south toward Portland and then 30 minutes in.

    This was a place my sister took me and I loved it. Super cool and super weird. I wanted to share it with my family. I reassured everyone it was worth it (at least I hoped). We got there and we were the only ones there. I don't think anyone really knows to go there. I like it that way. There are wooden paths going through the forest where hot lava scorched the forest and burned trees right out of their holes. Now vegetation is lush again after 37 years since the volcano erupted but you can see lava rock peeking out from under the green. I believe the paths are there because you could very easily fall into some very large and deep holes where trees used to be. Speaking of holes, they have a spot where they put a ladder down into one of the holes so you can crawl inside and through the root system and come out 40 feet away. I did it with my sister long ago and swore not to do it again. You MUST do it once. It's creepy, rocky, chilly and small. Each kid started down the hole and peeked into the dark labyrinth of root tunnels (lava tubes). None of them wanted to go first. I told Paul to get down there and go first. So being the abiding husband and father that he is, he headed down and started into the unknown (trusting me all the while). The kids were still hesitating until Paul's voice traveled out of the hole, "Lets go, I'm not at all interested in being in here." Ben was last and still hesitating while laughing at his dad's comment. I said I'd go in after him so I climbed down the hole and watched his foot disappear into darkness and I climbed right out. I said that once is enough.

    They were all laughing and having fun even through the discomfort (as did my sister and I laughing hysterically going through it). I ran the boardwalk so I could get to the exit hole before they came out. One by one they came out smiling. They loved it. Even Paul. I don't know if any of them want to do it again but they all said it was an awesome experience. My question is...who was the first person to think it was a good idea to crawl in that hole in the first place? I also decided to take them to the Ape Caves (named after the spelunkers who found it). There are no apes in the Ape Caves. It is a giant cave formed by lava flowing in and receding out. I hiked all the way in with my sister and I knew they wouldn't really want to do it. There really isn't anything deeper into the cave that isn't near the front. It is a cold 46 degrees today, bumpy, rocky and dark hike in. So we just went into the opening. We didn't have a lot of time either. They thought it was cool as well. They all said they were glad we went to Mt. St. Helens.

    We arrived in Portland around dinner time to another Residence Inn, made some spaghetti, garlic bread and salad and headed for the pool. I got some laundry done and now we are in bed. I am tired. Tomorrow I think we are heading to the ocean. It is supposed to be a record 108 tomorrow. By the ocean it's cooler. I will let you know what we decide. Goodnight.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Cannon Beach, OR

    3 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    August 3, 2017

    Place: Portland, Weather: 107 and sunny, Cannon Beach 80 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 3 hours

    States Drive Thru: Oregon

    Miles: 106 miles to beach and back.

    Restaurants: Slappy Cakes, Yami Sushi

    Movies:

    Games:

    Books: American Born Chinese (Ben), Gravity Falls journal (Matt), Dog On It (Biddy)

    Thump, thump, thump. Creak, creak, thump. Bang, bang, bang, 5:30 AM? WTF? What's the Flipside? Us on the other side of the noise. This went on all morning. I would have sworn they were doing construction above our heads. I was so mad. I got up and hammered on the wall. We all tried to sleep longer. Finally, I just got up to take a shower. Grrr. Once everyone was up, we headed out for breakfast to a place called Slappy Jacks as recommended by our friends Wendy and Kevin. What a cute place where you choose your pancake batter ( I chose gluten free), then choose your ingredients (like chocolate chips, bananas, bacon) and then choose final toppings like whip cream. Then you cook it up at your table on a griddle. So cool. The pancakes were good too.

    After breakfast we took the kids to Powell's books, a six story book store. Pretty soon it will be like a museum since there aren't many books store anymore. The kids all chose books. Matthew who loves to read had to travel to all floors. Neat place. We walked around downtown Portland a bit and took the boys to the Nike store. Oh, they also have bike rentals here like Seattle (more expensive) but they are called Biketown (place nike swoosh here). Clever. Say it like Nike. See pics.

    Yes it was 107 in Portland today but we didn't really think it felt that hot. Maybe its a dryer heat. Regardless we had already decided to beat the heat by driving to the coast to a beach called Cannon Beach where it was in the 80s. Before we left, we grabbed our suits and such. Paul went upstairs to talk to the people banging around. Strangely, he found a little old man reading a book. He said something about the noise and the man said, "Its just me reading my book." He's lying or something. On our way down, a gaggle of young children came bounding up the stairs bouncing a basketball. Ah-HA!! He was lying. They went right up to that room. Grrrr. We went to the car but forgot something so Paul went back to get it. Along came grandma noisy. He stopped her and told her our dilemma. She was very nice but astonished that the kids were making such noise up in the loft. Seriously. I am not kidding how loud they were. We will see at 5:30 tomorrow.

    Off to the beach. We are so glad we did. It was gorgeous on the coast. What a nice little town with restaurants, shops and awesome looking houses and hotels on the beach. We really liked it there. We spent the afternoon on the beach. We headed back to Portland for dinner. We agreed on sushi so we hit a spot by our hotel. Not-so-much. When you walk into a warm restaurant with a sushi bar in the middle and a conveyer belt of sushi traveling around it past all the people sitting around it (lets say 30 or more people and 75 different sushis), turn around quickly and get the heck out of there. Eww, yuck, unsanitary, disgusting. We called our friend Mike Erb who lives here and he recommended a place to us near where he lives. It was much better. No Dave's sushi. After we ate we went to the park with a fountain and kids got their feet wet. Mike and Jen met us for ice cream in the park. It was a nice visit. Now we are home and exhausted. Remember, home is where the van is....I mean, clan is.

    Tomorrow we are off to Boise, ID.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Boise, ID

    4 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    August 4, 2017

    Weather: 105 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 6 hours 39 minutes

    States Drive Thru: Oregon and Idaho

    Miles: 431

    Restaurants: Boise Fry Co.

    Movies:

    Games:

    Books: Dog On It (Biddy), Dunkirk (Matt), Tuesdays At Morries (audio-everyone)

    Hotel: Springfield Marriott

    Today, we ate breakfast, found a post office to send postcards to themselves, and set off for Boise Idaho. Uneventful drive. It took us almost 7 hours. We listened to Tuesdays at Morries. Everyone seems to like it.

    We arrived a Springfield Inn Marriott to 105 degrees and it felt like it. Boise is a really nice, clean, updated city. We really like it. Lots of restaurants and nice places to be outside. We are impressed. The kids swam a bit, then we headed out to dinner to a place recommended by my sister-in- law Missy's friend who live here (i think). First of all, it is on the same street as the capital building which is gorgeous. Boise Fry Co. is a burger and fry place that is eco friendly and diet/health friendly. first you choose your burger type like bison, beef, vegan. Then you choose your style with various toppings. Then, you choose your potato for your fries. I had a burger on a gluten free bun. We ordered 5 different kinds of fries: purple potato, sweet potato, a fry cooked in rabbit fat and sprinkled with truffle salt (yummyy) and a couple of other potatoes. Then you pick a house made sauce. All different kinds that complement the kinds of fries. Pretty neat place and when in Idaho....eat potatoes.

    On the way back to the hotel, our car was making a weird noise. At first, we thought it was the tire. Ugh. Not again. It wasn't thank goodness. Some piece of metal under the bumper by the tire came loose. We just took it off. I let you know if the bumper falls off tomorrow. The kids swam again and now everyone but me is sleeping. Tomorrow we will hang out in Boise for a bit and then on to Salt Lake City.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Salt Lake City, UT

    5 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    August 5, 2017

    Weather: 92 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 4 hours 49 minutes

    States Drive Thru: Idaho and Utah

    Miles: 341

    Restaurants: Rumbi

    Movies: Lion

    Games:

    Books: Dunkirk (Matt)

    Hotel: Fairfield Inn Portland South Marriott

    I have to say that we really enjoyed Boise Idaho. We thought it was going to be a drive thru, check it off the list destination but we really liked it and wished we might have stayed another night. This morning we grabbed breakfast at the hotel and headed to camel's back for a hike up to see the city from a different vantage point. You should have seen this park. It was green and happy with lots of people playing soccer, playing on the playground, doing yoga, riding bikes in some sort of bike club, working out in this cool workout playground and the giant hill mountain that we intended to climb. It was reminiscent of camelback in Arizona that Paul and I climbed but smalller. No less challenging. It was nearly a vertical incline up a sandy rocky slippery slope. It was not easy and with every step was a chance for serious injury. At the top you can see the whole city including the capital building. Nice hike in a very nice park.

    We heard about a Farmers market downtown so we decided to see what it was all about. It was your typical market with fruits and vegetables, artists and food vendors. We ordered some pizzas from a vendor with a brick pizza oven. I can't tell you if it was good because I couldn't eat it but I had a nice warm kale, chicken, cranberry and goat cheese salad with blueberry dressing. Very tasty. We bought some lavender products, some gluten free treats and some meat sticks. It was a nice morning in Boise. Paul met a vendor who asked where he was from and she said, "don't tell me, you love it here?" She was from somewhere else, went to Boise once, loved it and moved there. Paul and I would like to go back. I think its a hidden treasure.

    Off we headed to Salt Lake City. Another uneventful drive. We arrived around dinner time though we got to the hotel and vegged a bit before running out for a quick bite. After dinner, we hooked up Netflix and watched the movie "Lion". That is the book we listened to on the way out to Seattle. The movie is good but the book is a hundred times better. There is so much more detail that is critical to the story. Read the book first.

    We have two nights in Salt Lake City. Tomorrow we will go out and explore.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Salt Lake City, UT

    6 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    August 5, 2017

    Weather: 92 and sunny

    Hours Driving: 30 minutes

    States Drive Thru: Utah

    Miles: 19 miles

    Restaurants: Aristo Greek Cuisine, Harmons Grocery Store

    Movies:

    Games:

    Books:

    Hotel: Fairfield Inn Salt Lake City South Marriott

    What a GREAT day! It''s going to sound like we ran around crazy all day but it was such a calm, smooth, fun day. After breakfast we headed out to do another hike up another big hill/mountain in Salt Lake City called Ensign Park. It seemed similar to the one we did the day before which caused the kids to look at us like, "Are you joking? Again?" We said trust us and they did. This one was longer and harder than the last (Camel's Back). The views got better and better as we climbed. It took us about 45 minutes to climb Ensign Peak. The view was spectacular of the city, the mountains and off in the distance the Great Salt Lake. The kids are really getting into this hiking and are quite proud of themselves when we are done.

    We drove to the University of Utah campus to have a look around because our neighbors, the Radacky's kids go there. I should say, Max has been there for 2 years and now Caroline is going there this Fall. We are very close with Caroline and I wanted to see where she is going to school. It is a really nice campus surrounded by mountains. It is beautiful. It is a very doable campus and surrounding area. We also saw the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics flame at the football stadium. We searched around for lunch somewhere. We were trying to find a place that wasn't burger and fries and somewhere that wasn't $100 for a meal. We went downtown in search and found a great grocery store called harmon's that had lots of pre-made foods.

    We grabbed some lunch and headed for a park. We couldn't find it on foot and ended up on a bench watched the Tour de Utah bike race which happened to be going on while we were there.

    Paul without thinking tossed a chunk of mushroom into the street. I scolded him. Then it became comical and stressful because the racers were coming down the street in packs of 40 or more right toward the mushroom. It could have turned into an episode of Seinfeld. We waited for a biker to hit the mushroom and wipe out. Probably not possible but added to our suspense of the riders going by. See the video. No one ever hit the mushroom.

    The guy at the grocery store recommended we go to Snowbird mountain ski resort because it is so beautiful and only 30 minutes away. Gorgeous! The drive up was beautiful and inside the resort was breathtaking. The weather is so beautiful that it is hard to believe people ski here. We took the Peruvian Ski lift up the mountain which was an open chairlift that is pretty frightening. It is so high. When we got to the top, we had to hike up to the tram down. We had flip flops on and shorts and tshirts. The temperature was 20 degrees cooler at the top and the hike up to the tram (which they said was an easy hike) was harder than Ensign Peak. WTHike. It was an amazing switchback hike through wild flowers and amazing vistas. So glad we did it but it was a challenge especially in flip flops. The most shocking thing to us Michigan skiers is that people actually ski down the hiking paths were on. Crazy. I would be scared I'd go off the cliff. See pictures. The tram ride down wasn't as exciting as the chairlift up though it was warmer. What a fun day.

    We went back to the hotel so the kids could have a swim before dinner. When we were looking for restaurants for lunch, we came upon this Greek restaurant on campus called Aristos. It was closed for lunch so we decided to go there for dinner. Our neighbor Caroline said she ate there and liked it. It looked great. On the way, we were lucky enough (or not) to come across the Salt Lake City Zombie march. Weird.

    Aristo is a stylish restaurant with an outdoor patio and a nicer indoor space. We ate outside. The weather was perfect. We decided to order for the kids since it was a Mediterranean style restaurant. We filled the table with saganaki, hummace, lamb tacos, chicken kabobs, Greek mussels, a flight of gyros and ended with baklava and rice pudding. Everything was delicious. We also had a Greek wine with a story. The wine has a hint of pine. The waiter really enjoys the wine and wanted to give us a history story about it. He said that when the Greeks were fighting in a war and lost, they would have to give up their food and wine to the enemy but they did not want them to enjoy the wine so they took pine needles and put them in the wine to ruin the flavor. It later became a wine tradition. They said the wine is an acquired taste but I did not find it offensive. It was nice. You can taste the hint of pine. The whole meal experience was great. The whole day was perfect. And a little unexpected. I love Utah. Neat place.

    Tomorrow, we head out to Park City Utah for a couple of days. Can't wait. i love the mountains    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Park City, UT

    7 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    August 7, 2017

    Weather: 85 and sunny (Salt lake) 78 (Park Ctiy)

    Hours Driving: 2 hours

    States Drive Thru: Utah

    Miles: 19 miles

    Restaurants:

    Movies:

    Games: Family Game of The Office - Make a Sale (made by Ben, Bee and Matt)

    Books:

    Hotel: Powderwood Condo

    I was so tired last night that I didn't write. So I am writing from our Condo in Park City with views of the mountains from our deck including the Olympic ski park. We can see the ski jumps and whatever the other horrifying ski runs on the side of the mountain are with the 2002 Olympic logo on them. The condo is really nice. 3 bedrooms 2 baths. It is perfect. The kids love the three bed loft above the living room.

    So, yesterday morning, I convinced everyone that we had to visit the Great Salt Lake. I needed to see if I can float. I don't normally float. Elizabeth does not normally float. Matthew does not normally float. Apparently, everyone can float in the Great Salt Lake. From reviews, they say the best place to view and swim in the salt lake is from Antelope Island. It is about 30 minutes outside of the city, north. What a strange place to be. We drove on a road that cuts through the crystallized dried up salt beds. The lake used to come all the way up to the edge of the mountain range covering the city. The salt in the lake is nine times that of the ocean. Surprisingly there are lots of birds everywhere but there are also a lot of tiny flies. They don't bite. The Seagulls would run across the sand with their mouths open disturbing the flies on the sand and eating them as they fled his open mouth. Elizabeth found this great sport running around disturbing the flies. (Not eating them.)

    After visiting the visitor center, we made our way to the beach area. Once at the beach, you literally had to walk a 1/2 mile to the waters edge. First, there is soft beach sand, then a more packed down dry crunchier sand. The water is surprisingly clear and inviting, though only a few people are actually in it which makes it feel a little eerie. You'd expect such a place to have people enjoying a beach day but most of the people wandered quietly. Off in the distance, you could see a few heads bobbing up and down, another 100 feet out. You have to go out pretty far to get deep enough to float. The water was warmer than I thought it would be. We were warned by squeamish reviewers that the water is filled with brine shrimp. You could see them if you looked closely. They are tiny. Nothing matches the red tide that Paul and the kids swam in in Rhode Island. They were covered in red algae from head to toe and in the pockets of their suits. Disgusting and smelly. This was nothing like that. In certain areas of viewing the Great Salt Lake, you will smell a dead fishy odor but nothing like the leaked bone broth in our car on this trip. It smells like a dead mouse. (I use the bone broth as part of my diet.) Ooops sorry.

    We waded out deep enough to float. Mind you, I don't like to swim in lakes, oceans and other bodies of water. I needed to do this and check it off my bucket list. The Dead Sea is next. Matthew went first. HE FLOATS! Ben went next. Then me. I FLOAT! Even with my head up. I didn't want to put my head in the salt water. ELIZABETH FLOATS! IF you taste it, it tastes like the salt water you gargle with for a sore throat if you over saturate the glass of water. It makes you want to spit it out. Gross. This time Paul chose not to participate in the float experiment. Though, he did wade in with us. On the walk back to the showers, the salt started to crystallize on our skin. The hairy you are, the more the salt crystallized on the hairs. Matthew has fine little white hairs all over him and the salt was visible on them. It was a neat experience. I don't know if the flies and shrimp are worse at times but they were not an issue for us at all. They don't bite either.

    After going to a couple of Costcos for meals for our next stop that is a condo (and I was in search of this great gluten free bread we found here that they don't have back home), we headed for Park City which is 30 minutes east of Salt Lake. Our car has been running hard in the mountains making us very nervous. We had Onstar run a diagnostic and they see nothing wrong. It is sluggish up the hills. We were told to take this scenic route out of Park City but we are too nervous to add more stress on the car. The mountains are rough. We will see.

    We love the little condo we are in just on the outskirts of town. Last night, we had a home cooked meal and played a game of "The Office", the one the kids made. Today, we will go into Park City and explore. We just finished breakfast. I'll let you know what we do today later. Signing out from Park City, Utah    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Park City, UT

    8 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Make sure you are scrolling all the way to the bottom of the page on the blog to see all of the pictures. I post at least 20 pictures the day.

    Today we started out slowly. We had breakfast and then went down to Park city main street to have a look around. Cute little town. You can tell that it's a high-end area due to the stores. Has to be amazingly bustling in the wintertime. I'd love to see it. It is beautiful in the summertime, too. Lots of restaurants and little shops. It took us a while to find Park city village where the kids activities are. Apparently we drove right past it at one point. How we missed it I have no idea. At one point, we ended up at another ski village. We asked for directions and worked our way back to Park city Village. There are lots of summer visitors there. They have a ton of summer activities like a bungy jumper, a putt putt golf, adventure climbing, alpine slide, zip lines, a Mountain bike course, and an Alpine coaster. We were looking for the Alpine coaster. I've always wanted to do that. When we bought our tickets to go on it, a rain storm started and they closed the ride. So we got our money back. I was bummed. It wasn't a long storm so I was hopeful that we cold go back little bit later in the day.

    We explored a little bit around town. Around our condo there is a lot of shopping. There's also a Tanger outlet right near us, too. They've got everything around here. We also found our way up to Olympic Park Village. So glad we did. It was really cool. It's actually the park that we can see from our condo deck. It's where the 2002 Olympics were and where they still train. It was so cool. They had summer ski jumps into a pool. Those skiers are nuts. They hit the water like a ton of bricks. They hit the water as hard as you hit the snow in a jump. Every time a skier hit the water everyone moaned. They also have a bobsled that you can go on that is the Olympic bobsled run. It was closed because of the rain. We went back to the condo and relaxed for a little bit. We taught the kids how to play euchre. It was fun. Before dinner we decided to go back to Park city and see if we could ride the Alpine coaster.

    It was up and running. You get into this open air sled like thing that takes you up the track all the way up the mountain. As high as the ski lift. Then it roller coasters you to the bottom of using gravity. Elizabeth and I went together because I thought it would be more fun to be laughing with someone on it with you. And it was. Paul and Matthew were together and Ben went alone. It was so freaking fun. You have control of the speed using a break. But I vowed not to touch the break on the coaster. It was so much fun. It's a pretty long ride and Elizabeth and I were laughing so hard. Our stomachs were aching as if we were doing sit ups. I could go on that 100 times. The kids also did the bungee jumping trampoline. I don't think they loved it that much. Cool little village with lots to do.

    At home Paul grilled up some ribs, potatoes and vegetables for dinner to a sunsetting Mountain background. We had a great day. Utah is so beautiful. Tomorrow we are off for home. We're just gonna drive and and see how far we want to go and then stop. This is where we start to get homesick. Probably because we know it's a long ride home. Any guesses where I think we might stop. We have no idea yet.    En savoir plus

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  • Mommy Traveling PantsNorthwest TrekVoyageur

    Lincoln, NE

    9 août 2017, États Unis ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    August 8, 2017

    Weather: 74 and sunny driving through Wyoming, 70s Nebraska

    Hours Driving: 12 hours

    States Drive Thru: Utah and Wyoming and Nebraska

    Miles: 860 miles

    Restaurants: Tasty BBQ

    Movies:

    Games:

    Books: Dunkirk (Matt), Bow Wow (Bee), Woof (Ben)

    Hotel: Fairfiedld inn

    As we make our way home from Utah, we climb mountain roads and descend into valleys. The landscape changes at every curve causing me to wonder why it is so different yet so close together. Green jagged mountains, strange hill-like mountains with little vegetation, mounds of sandcastle-like formations, piles of broken rock, red rock, layered rock as if we are driving through a dried up ocean floor and rock that makes you wonder how it came to be the odd shape or formation balancing on the precipice of crushing our car. Then, flatlands of gold and rolling hills of green to farmland with grazing cattle and the occasion prancing of antelope so well disguised in the brown grass. I feel blessed to be able to travel to these places and in between. I'm glad to say that "I've been there." This may be one of the greatest decisions Paul and I made for our family. Our kids truly love it and never complain about the driving or being away from home or being together. Do they fight? Do we fight? Oh yeah. All out brawls. Do we annoy each other. Oh yeah. But it's learning how to deal with it. These are learning experiences.

    What makes us very happy is to see Ben and Elizabeth and Matthew spend all these hours together playing, talking and bonding (and fighting). They are learning how to be with their boyfriends and girlfriends and husbands and wives someday. When we arrived at the condo in Utah, the kids had a loft though we had one extra bedroom which I thought Elizabeth would take. The minute the boys saw the loft with three beds, they said to Elizabeth, "you have to sleep up here with us!" She did not refuse their invitation. Love it.

    Our trip has been blessed again. Our weather as usual has been great. We have been driving in sunny skies. Even the hot weather was only one day and we were able to go to the ocean and avoid it. The only rain we've had was yesterday in Park City which was only short rain clouds (kind of like in Hawaii). Everyone loved our planned hotels and rentals which exceeded our expectations and they loved all the planned and unplanned activities. This makes me happy since i spend months planning and researching our routes. I love doing it. Paul thinks I should do it for other people and charge them. I don't know if people would want that. I think its fun. I personalized a trip for some friends from Seattle to San Diego for a 21 day trip. I found multiple hotels in each location to choose from and activities all along the way. They had a great time. I want to take that trip..

    Today we are heading for Cheyenne to see the capital and have dinner. We like to see the capital at as many locations as we can. Then we plan to drive a little further toward home.

    We stopped in Cheyenne for dinner which should have just been a drive-by. Shy Ann should just stay shy. What a blah town. Pretty capital building. We had the hardest time finding a place to eat. We stumbled across a BBQ place called Tasty BBQ. It get decent reviews. It looks as though it is below a run down motel. The definition of hole in the wall. It was pretty good food. We once again filled the table with various BBQ meats and sides. From the picture you can see that everyone must have liked it.

    From dinner we decided to drive as far as we could. While we were driving through Nebraska, we hit a storm of bugs. It sounded like rain but it was bugs splatting on the windshield. This happened on the way out to Seattle as well. My friend Michelle who has a place in North Dakota say you need this bug juice spray for your car. We didn't get it. Everyone at the gas station was scrubbing their windows. Gross. Not sure what kind of bugs. Clear juice. Hmmm. We also hit a good wall of fog when it was dark which was a little alarming though we were the only ones on the road.

    Funny story, Ben has a way of asking questions that he really hasn't put much thought into. Ben has a way of throwing out a sarcastic comment when he is not happy about what has been asked of him, then claiming he wasn't trying to be disrespectful. Maybe he wasn't or maybe he thinks we are dumb. He has a way of saying and doing things that play on Paul patience or there lack of. Yesterday, he was up between us in the car asking to do something (after we've told him to get in his seat a thousand times), by the end of the exchange, I could see Paul getting frustrated (with good reason) when Ben said something that nearly ended his life. I can't remember what it was but I immediately said, "Get back to your seat." MOtherly instinct to save her young. Paul says, "Yeah, get back to your seat quick, you are still in punching distance." We all started laughing. I am still laughing about it. Paul has this great sense of humor when he is frustrated which I think Ben likes and thinks is funny. He may even provoke Paul just to get a reaction.

    We made it to Lincoln Nebraska around midnight. Literally fell into bed and woke up this morning, had breakfast and we are back on the road. We are about 12 hours from home. Can't wait to see our dogs.    En savoir plus

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