Home sweet home

We arrived safe and sound.  Patrick was impressed he was able to drive the entire trip.  Emily offered to help, but Patrick was able to handle it.  What are Patrick's secrets?  Listening to Dave Ramsey, listening to movies the kids were watching, and thinking about future plans. 

Our house looked great considering what happened while we were gone.  We've been spending our days working in the yard/garden, washing clothes, washing cars, and trying to get everything back to normal.  The day after we got home we woke up to this:

This is the driver-front tire.  Our tire indicator light turned on during our drive home, but it was driving fine and the tire looked a little low the night we arrived.  We must have had a slow leak the last day.  We filled up the tire with air and took it to get repaired.  There was a large nail stuck in the tire.  They were able to replace it, which is a lot cheaper than a new tire.

We've had a great time.  Andrew said, "Our month trip was great.  It feels like we've only been gone a week."  Time flies when you're having fun, but it's nice to be home.  We wish we had a couple more days to get things settled before Patrick goes to work, but he has to go back some time.

Writing the blog has been good for us.  It's made us take more pictures than normal to document our trip.  We're looking forward to making this into a family book to keep a record of our trip.  We hope you've enjoyed following along.  If you plan on visiting the places we did you're welcome to ask us questions.  We'll try and help any way we can.

Final Thoughts...

Patrick-
Best thing:  Being together.  The kids were at a good age for the trip.  On some of the hikes the kids would take turns holding our hands.  It was nice.  I don't know if I want them to grow up and ignore us like teenagers do.
Worst thing:  We were fortunate the whole trip.  Even hiccups turned out okay.  The flat tire and Mia getting sick weren't fun experiences, but we survived them and it didn't impact our trip much.
Favorite stop:  Every stop was unique and I liked every one.  We sure do have a beautiful world.  My favorite thing was driving in the Northwest.  It's green like Virginia and has mountains like the west.
Where I want to visit again:  Mt. Rainier or Banff
Most memorable moment:  Mia getting sick or playing games as a family
Biggest surprise:  How green the trees were in Oregon and Washington.
What I wish we could have added:  Oregon coast.
Other observations:  Every place we stopped had international travelers.  I was seeing these things for the first time yet people from outside the U.S. were taking the time to see them as well.  It reminded me of a story I once heard.  A man from New York was visiting Zions National Park and stopped to fill up his car's gas tank.  He spoke to the gas attendant and said, "It's amazing you have this beautiful park in your backyard."  The gas attendant replied, "Oh.  I've never been there."  The man from New York was incredulous.  The gas attendant asked the man, "Where are you from?"  He told him, "New York."  "Oh, I've been there and visited the Statue of Liberty," said the gas attendant.  To which the man from New York replied, "Oh, I've never been there."  There are so many things that are in our own backyard.  While international destinations still sound exciting there are a lot of things close by that are worth the trip.  I'd like to visit the Great Smokey Mountains and spend more time at the Shenandoah National Park. 

Emily-
Best thing: Being together.  I feel like the kids really bonded, and it was really fun to have memorable experiences together.
Worst thing: Not having a break from the kids in the evening.  We were either in a hotel room or a tent with them.  It was hard to have adult conversations without listening ears.  And sometimes parents just need a break.  We need a date!
Favorite stop: I was really happy with everywhere we went, but I really liked Mt. Rainier and the tide pools at Rialto Beach in Olympic.
Where I want to visit again:  I wouldn't mind spending more time in Seattle or Mt. Rainier
Most memorable moment: Mia's eruption at Mt. St. Helens or the Lighting Presentation at Mount Rushmore or driving on the back-woods road in Idaho
Biggest surprise: I really liked Canada.  I thought about moving there, but I'm not sure Patrick's job would transfer very well.
What I wish we could have added: I would have liked to see the Oregon Coast.  We tried to work it in to our schedule, but couldn't fit it in.  Also, I hear that Victoria, British Columbia is beautiful.  I wish we could have worked that in.
Other observations: There were cyclists everywhere!  Banff had a ton of mosquitos, and they were mean!!


Brian -
Best thing: Seeing Luke, my cousin
Worst thing: I got hurt when I tripped and fell on the hike at Hoh Rain Forest at Olympic.
Favorite stop: California or Glacier
Where I want to visit again: Luke's house, Disneyland & California Adventure, Hurricane Harbor
Most memorable moment: Dinner with the Mack family at the Newport Beach Resort
Biggest surprise: The waterslide at the hotel in Canada
What I wish we could have added: Luke coming with us the whole trip
Other observations: I didn't know there were weapons in Walmart.  (Brian is interested in getting a bow and arrow.)  We had lots of candy.

Andrew-
Best thing: going to the beach and seeing my cousins, going to the National Parks (Crater Lake was my favorite)
Worst thing: Not doing electronics some of the time
Favorite stop: Newport Beach, Disneyland
Where I want to visit again: beach, Crater Lake
Most memorable moment: boogie boarding at the beach
Biggest surprise: we got to see a movie at a movie theater
What I wish we could have added: King's Dominion, Death Valley, Yosemite
Other observations: I saw bears for the first time

Mia-
Best thing: Water park (Hurricane Harbor), going to Zac's house, going to Grandma's house, getting some candy, Disneyland, getting badges at the national parks
Worst thing: Getting sick
Favorite stop: Chicago
Where I want to visit again: water parks
Most memorable moment: Getting sick
Biggest surprise: the deer being on the grass of a house
Other observations: going to the water parks, going on rides that didn't have water on them, going to the pool

The End.

Chicago

Even though we didn't get to the hotel in Rochester, MN until after midnight, we had to leave early in the morning on Tuesday to head to Chicago.  We had tickets for the Cubs game that started at 1:20, and we had a 6-hour drive ahead of us.  We tried to leave by 7, but had a little trouble waking up some very tired kids.  We didn't leave until 7:30.  By the time we got checked in to the hotel, met up with Emily's sister, Katie, and her cute little boy, Harrison, we took the train to the game and got there a few innings late.

 We got the kids some hot dogs.  We tried to take a picture of Mia eating her hot dog, but she hid the hot dog under her napkin and gave us this look.

 Then she decided to comply.

 The kids love their little cousin.  Mia spent most of the game playing with him.

 Here we are with Wrigley Field in the background.  It was a fun game.

 It was a slightly rainy day in the Windy City.

 We went to Lou Malnati's for some Chicago-style pizza, which was very good.  Katie's husband, Keith, was able to meet up with us for dinner after a busy day at school/work.

 What are the odds?  Patrick's friend, Wendy, from his BYU days ran into us in downtown Chicago.  Patrick and Wendy work for the same firm in different cities.  It was good to catch up for a few minutes before we had to go on our way.

It was a nice, short visit to Chicago.  It was fun to see Katie and her family, but the kids are excited to head home.

Car Trouble

When we were in Olympic National Park, we went through a tunnel.  There was a group of motorcycles coming the opposite direction.  Each of the motorcyclists honked their horn on the way through the tunnel.  Patrick was sure that they were telling him that his lights weren't working.  Emily thought they were just saying hi to their friends.  So, when we came out of the tunnel Patrick pulled over to check out the lights.  Here is what the headlight looks like:

The yellow light, the two circle lights, and the bottom left high beam were working, but the white light on the top left wasn't coming on.  The headlights seemed normal to Emily, but Patrick was convinced that the light was out.  We stopped to get some gas and there was a Napa Auto Parts across the street.  Patrick ran and bought the light bulbs, but we didn't have time to replace them then because we had to catch the ferry.  When we got to Canada, Patrick had time to switch out the lights.  He then realized that he got the wrong ones.  So, we found another Napa Auto Parts in Canada and Patrick exchanged them.  After putting in the new light bulbs, the lights still didn't come on.  Puzzled, we continued on our way.
When we got our oil changed in Montana, Patrick asked the auto guy at Walmart about the lights.  He, too, was puzzled at first.  Then he tried the hazard lights, and the mysterious light bulbs were working fine.  Good to know.

It was a good thing those hazard lights were working fine.

 We were about 30 miles outside of Sioux Falls, SD, when we felt our tire go flat.  There was a 3-inch gash in the side of it.  Patrick hurried and got everything out from the back of the car so he could work on changing the tire.  While it was fortunate that we were close to a big city, it was getting late and we were concerned that there wouldn't be a shop available to help us get a new tire.  Patrick changed the tire, start to finish, in 20 minutes.  Not too bad considering we had a car full of stuff.  Although, after we had everything on the side of the road, we realized that we only needed about 12 inches of space to access the spare tire.  Oh well.  We needed some more exercise anyway.

There was a really nice couple that stopped and offered to help.  At that point, we were almost finished, so we told them we were okay.  Instead of driving off, they backed up about 100 yards and turned their hazards on to help keep us safe.  They stayed there until we were all back in the car.  We were very impressed with their kindness.

We were able to find a Walmart that was open until 9, and they were able to replace the tire while we got some dinner.  We had planned to get to Rochester, MN around 10, but didn't arrive until midnight.

Badlands

The kids have been feeling deprived because we haven't spent too much time at the hotels, so they haven't been able to watch very much tv.  On Monday morning, we let them sleep in a bit and watch some tv, so they were pretty happy.  

We stayed in Rapid City, so we had an hour drive to get to the Badlands.  We had never heard about the Badlands until planning this trip, and we didn't know what to expect.  It was pretty close to the freeway, and we could drive through the park on our way home, so we decided to check it out.  This view was only about 8 miles from the freeway.    

 Here you can play I Spy to see how many sheep you can find on the mountain.

 Did you find 4?

 The contrast in the scenery was amazing.  Notice all the grasslands as we walk back to the car.  The name "Badlands" comes from a Native American word.  They called the rocky areas the bad land, compared to the good land in the grasslands.

 We stopped at the Prairie Dog Town.  There was a huge field with mounds everywhere.  The prairie dogs kept popping out of all the mounds.

 We continued our drive through the park.  Here are a few pictures along the way.  Hopefully you can see the various colors in the rock.  It was pretty amazing.

 At our last stop before the visitor's center, we let the kids get out and explore.

 Patrick wanted to climb on top of the rock, so the kids followed right behind.  We hadn't really planned to do any hiking that day, so the kids were all in flip-flops.  But they managed pretty well.

 Fortunately we didn't see any rattlesnakes.

 Here are the kids running down a hill.

 Mia was a little hesitant.

 The kids were able to complete the Junior Ranger booklet here as well.  We thought the Junior Ranger programs were excellent.  They helped the kids have fun learning about each park.  They were so excited to get the booklets, complete them, and get their badge or patch.  The rangers would quiz them in order to get their badge, so it really made them pay attention to the activities they were doing.  Brian ended up with 5 badges (Mount Rainier, Olympic, Glacier, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands), 2 patches (Yellowstone and Night Ranger from Glacier), and 1 dog tag (Banff).  Andrew and Mia got all the same as Brian except for the one badge from Olympic.

Mount Rushmore

In the middle of our long drive to Mount Rushmore, we found a church service to attend in Sheridan, WY.  (We often wonder what people do in all of these little towns.)  We didn’t have an iron the night before to iron Patrick’s church clothes, so he just wore a golf shirt and jeans.  The rest of us looked pretty ragged as well.  Mia had been sleeping in the car, so we carried her in without shoes.  And we were running about 10 minutes late.  We were a little embarrassed to walk in as we were, but when we walked in we were met with many smiling faces who helped us find a place to sit.  We were impressed with their nonjudgmental welcoming.  The speakers spoke about having a Christ-centered home.  We got some great ideas to implement when we get home.  It was a very nice service.  We just stayed for the first hour, and then continued on our way.

We stopped for dinner at a small diner, the Purple Pie Place, about 20 miles before we got to Mount Rushmore.  Mia thought the pink and purple decor was fun.  Our poor server had to service all 9 tables by herself.  Some of the other patrons were not too kind.  She was literally crying as she was trying to help everyone.  We felt sorry for her.  The food was pretty average, but the pie was great.

After we left the diner, we saw these deer at this house around the corner.  We saw a few more deer on the ride to Mount Rushmore.  Emily was nervous that they were going to jump in front of our car.

If you can see past the glare on Patrick's jacket, you'll see Mount Rushmore in the background.  The mountain looked smaller than we expected it to, even though the faces are 45 feet tall.  

Here are the kids with the Hall of Flags and Mount Rushmore in the background.

In the visitor's center, they had a plaque for each president on the wall.  They only posted one quote from each of the presidents, but we felt like the quotes were a good representation of each president and the spirit of America.

We got to Mount Rushmore later than we had planned, but it worked out to our advantage.  At the outdoor amphitheater, they have a ranger-led program at 9 pm, followed by a movie and lighting ceremony of Mount Rushmore.  The kids were able to get and complete their junior ranger booklets before and after the program.  

After the lighting of Mount Rushmore, they invited all active or former military to come to the stage to lower the flag.  They had each of them introduce themselves by name and their service branch.   

The whole Mount Rushmore experience was one of the most patriotic experiences we’ve ever had.  It made us proud of our country and also made us think about what more we can do to contribute.