Wyoming: Like No Place On Earth

Ah-mazzzing. That's my one word to describe Wyoming. Although I know that doesn't accurately illustrate what makes it one of my favorite places. It's just hard to sum it up.

Wyoming is a feeling. As we drive across the wide open grasslands edged by snow-topped mountains, sage dotted hills, into deep canyons, alongside clear streams and dashing pronghorn antelopes I can feel joy welling up inside me. I vividly imagine pioneers heading west across the plains and their spirit enters me. I feel the freedom of the space on the earth here and into the sky. It is the most ecologically diverse and freeing place I've ever been. And if you haven't has the pleasure, add Wyoming to your bucket list.

This morning we slept in a bit and after a nice breakfast at the hotel we hit the road. Driving in Wyoming is like playing a video game. The roads are open and you can see for miles. It is a pleasure to be at the wheel! We saw 100's of pronghorn antelopes on the roadside grazing on the sagebrush. It should have come as no surprise since WY is home to 2/3 of the worlds population of pronghorn.
About 40 miles outside Casper we stopped at Hell's Half Acre. This place is eerie! But worth a lookie-loo. I read that they filmed 1997's Starship Troopers there. It definitely seems out of this world!

We arrived in Cody in the late afternoon. Plenty of time to wander around Old Trail Town. An old city created from old cabins from around the area. It's the perfect stop for a family of history buffs.
We got the best news tonight, the East Entrance to Yellowstone is OPEN! Because of all the snow they had this weekend, we were concerned it would be closed. And it was for a few days, but this afternoon it was reopened. We are all very excited for tomorrow.

Happy Trails!

Jennifer
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Amarillo to Cheyenne

Wow! What a great day! Another 600 miles behind us on our drive from Amarillo, Texas to Cheyenne, Wyoming. We made quite a few stops today, but they were all worth the time. In Colorado Springs we stopped at Seven Falls to check out the falls, canyon and hike around. It was very cool! Well, worth the trip. First we took the elevator up 140 feet to The Nest for the best view of the falls. We could have hiked up to the platform, but walking from the car up to the falls was more exerting than we had planned because of the altitude. Forgot about that factor! We still made the big climb up to the top of the falls. Juliane and I made it half way up, but her fear of heights prevented us from making the second near vertical staircase. Sydney bravely hiked the rest of the way with Paul. I have to admit that the trek down was a bit nerve wracking. I was worried about the kids falling. It was a LOOOONG way down to the bottom.
We couldn't have timed our trip to Seven Falls better. There was a Native Indian dance performance. Juliane was asked up on stage to dance. She loved every second. Sydney could have gone too, but she wouldn't dare.
After hiking around the falls we hit the road for Denver. I was very excited to see my friend Liv and finally meet her son, Jesy. We met 17 years ago in Costa Rica. She was my first room mate and during the years I lived there we were inseparable. When I married Paul, Livie was my Maid of Honour. So, when she moved to Denver last month, you can imagine my excitement. It was perfect timing for us to meet up. At 5 o'clock our families met at Chili's in the 16th Street Mall shopping district in downtown Denver. It was like we were never apart all these years!
We had another successful day in the car. The kids were excellent. Sydney is such a funny child. She keeps us laughing all day. We had to chuckle at this converstation earlier:
Sydney: Mom, maybe I should get a job doing an MRI when I grow up.
Me: Umm. An MRI? Really? (look at Paul with raised eyebrows)
Sydney: Yeah, an MRI. What do they have to do exactly?
Paul: Do you know what an MRI is?
Juliane: Mom, what's an MRI?
Sydney: I know, its a CATSCA-AN! (major southern accent here)
Paul and I: widen our eyes
Me: How do you know that?
Sydney: From Melmin the giraffe!
All: errupt in laughter.
Tomorrow, we thankfully have a shorter drive, so we are all going to sleep in until 6am!
Sweet Dreams!
Jennifer

To Stop or Not To Stop That is the Question

To stop or not to stop that is the question.

When you know you have to cover 500 or 600 miles in a day,
you become a slave to the clock. We constantly are watching the GPS forour
estimated arrival time and gauge every stop to pee, eat or play by whether we
have enough time. Thankfully on the way to Canada time is our friend. As we
move further and further west we gain hours by the time change. Today is one of
those magical days where we have extra time. Already in the schedule we have
planned to stop at Seven Falls in Colorado Springs and in Denver for dinner
with friends.

On route between Texas and New Mexico we saw an Ornate Box
Turtle crossing the road while we were cruising along at 75MPH. Paul exclaimed,
“did you see that box turtle!” as he started to slow down. I could tell he was
considering turning around. But that would be against our main road trip rule:
NEVER BACKTRACK. So after much humming and hawing we continued on. This time
everyone was on red alert. Before too long we came across another. And perhaps
I should have started this blog with a note on how much we love turtles. We
have our little Shelly a red-eared slider at home that we found as a hatchling
by our lake. We have always wanted a box-turtle and have been looking for
several years to find one.

And so Paul slammed on the breaks and backed up (not
actually backtracking since we didn’t turn around). When we got to the turtle,
several cars were coming so he couldn’t get out to pick up the little guy. We
sat through 2 cars and a semi-truck straddle him as he skittered around the
highway in their tailwind. And the whole car breathed a collective sigh when he
survived unscathed. Having backed up to “save” him from oncoming cars only to
watch him get squashed would have been too much to bear.

He is not shy and quite friendly. We all wish we could just
take him with us, but he wouldn’t make the border crossing to Canada. I am sure
it would be quite illegal to try to smuggle a wild turtle across an
international border! Anyway, we couldn’t just part ways quickly, so it came
with us in the car between rest stops. He road with us in style in the clear
plastic bottom of a lunchable sandwich box. The girls have decided to call him
Mr. T and when we let him go at the rest stop they fed him some carrots.

Playing with the turtle is one of those stops that will be a
take-with-you-forever memory.

Houston to Amarillo, TX

We made it! Our 600 mile Houston to Amarillo leg was a great success. For the very first time we made it through the Day One without insane weather issues. Our first year there were tornadoes just outside Dallas...which should probably have been our warning not to go through Dallas (the traffic can be horrendous in the morning). Our second year the tornadoes were a little further north in Oklahoma and Kansas.
The endless plains and big blue sky accompanied us through most of the drive. Sage brush dotted hills scarred by last years drought fires, a grim reminder of those long dry smoky days in 2011. The landscape is still crudely chopped by dry red-clay river beds which tell a fortune best left unsaid. I am reminded every year when we make the Houston to Amarillo haul that Texas is truly flat. I know my fellow Texans are loudly protesting, "What about the hill country? or Big Bend?" "There are hills in Texas! It ain't completely flat!" As a mountain girl, I am telling you...Texas is pretty darn flat. And there is nothing wrong with that because as you all know, Texas is a beautiful state. I love Texas! But after 12 hours, it does indeed get old.


The girls were great. I believe they have truly become accustomed to our annual voyage. They had fun entertaining themselves with new coloring books, movies and family sing-a-longs to old Glen Campbell songs (video to come!).


We made it the whole way without any tears or too many are-we-there-yet's. We stopped in Wichita Falls for a picnic lunch.


Right off the interstate there is a nice park, Lucy Park where the real falls is located. The break offered the girls some time to stretch their legs and for all of us to just get out of the car for a bit. We ate in the shade of a large Cypress tree grove. It was deceptively cool out of the sun and so after we finished we decided to take a little walk to see the falls. Once we entered the sunshine we were overwhelmed by the heat and humidity. It was just TOO hot! So we escaped back to the comfort of the AC in our car with dreams of playing in the hotel pool.
Amarillo was a welcome sight when we pulled into the city limits. We rushed to our room, jumped into swimsuits, grabbed towels and dashed down to the pool. Although it was almost 100 degrees, the pool felt like we were embarking on a polar bear swim in January. BURR! The girls were out of luck to get mom into the water. I did put my feet in, but even that was a stretch. Later they admitted that it was icy and didn't lay the guilt on too thick. Tomorrow I will have to make up for it!
This year we are adding online tracking if you are wondering our whereabouts. You can click on the InstaMapper map below to follow our progress. We considered a live webcam in the car, but I ran out of time to plan it properly.
I plan to add pictures in the morning. For some reason the hotel wifi signal strength is not strong enough to upload pics. It is driving me crazy, because I have some great ones.
Happy Trails!
Jennifer
GPS tracking powered by InstaMapper.com

3rd Annual Cross-Country Road Trip!

Yes. We are at it again. Another cross country road trip! You might be thinking, "Are you nuts?" after last years insane weather and youngest daughters protests. And we would reply, "Ummm...yes." And we are still excited for the adventure! Like childbirth, after a year has passed we remember the great memories, the take-with-you-forever experiences. The unfortunate stuff (tornados, avalanches and crabby kids) becomes either forgotten or another one of those tall-tales you tell your friends and family during the holidays.

This year, we have decided to make some changes. From experience we have decided to avoid tornado alley during its peak season. So no Oklahoma or Kansas for us this year. Usually we are thrilled to be finally exiting the great State of Texas. It is such a huge state that it takes endless (and sadly rather boring) hours to get out of it in any direction. The kids think this is a grand problem to have as we will be able to swim outside in the balmy heat when we arrive in Amarillo tomorrow night. Outdoors in the heat is considered much better than in a freezing indoor pool where the prospect of Mommy actually getting in the pool is rather slim.

This year we will be hitting 7 States in 5 days: Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Washington State. And so the itinerary looks like this for the next 5 days:

Day One: Houston - Amarillo, Texas /  600 miles  / 12 hours with stops

•                via Dallas/Fort Worth and Lunch in Witchita Falls

Day Two: Amarillo, Texas - Cheyenne, Wyoming  /  533 miles / 12 hours with stops

•                  via Raton, New Mexico then up I 25 through Colorado. Visit to Seven Falls just outside Colorado Springs and then dinner in Denver with my VERY close friend Livie from Costa Rica!! Can't wait!!

Day Three: Cheyenne - Cody, Wyoming  /  392 miles  /  7 hours with stops

•                  via Douglas, Wyoming for a visit to the great Jackalope and then a stop in Casper, WY for our LAST Starbucks before Missoula, MT. How will we ever survive you ask??? We still don't know!

Day Four: Cody, Wyoming - Missoula, Montana  /  500 miles  /  12 hours with hikes and stops

•               YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK! Yeah baby!! Highlight of our trip FOR SURE! We will be attempting (again!) to enter the park through the East Entrance. There are winter weather advisories right now...so keep your fingers crossed!! http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=zmw:82190.1.99999

Day Five: Missoula, Montana to Abbotsford, BC CANADA!!  /  588 miles  /  12 hours with stops

•                via Idaho and Washington State. Day Five is our last day on the road. We drive through some beautiful mountains down into the farmland of Idaho and Washington. Finishing with a winding climb through the Cascade Mountains. We will pull into Seattle, as is our tradition, for some tasty grub and a visit to the Fish Market on the waterfront. Maybe even stick some gum on the famous Gum Wall.

Oooooh I cannot wait! Sydney was so excited she could hardly fall asleep. I am so happy we can make this awesome memory for the girls. The car is packed, the kids entertainment center is loaded (pictures to come). Well, I promised myself I would get to bed before 9 and its past already...

Nighty Night!

Jennifer

Touring the US of A

I wrote a nice lengthy blog to round out our trip to Canada. I saved it wanting to go back and add pictures, but after re-reading I decided not to post it. It just didn't reflect my happy self. In short, it was depressing! I guess I was suffering from lack of vitamin D. So I will tell ya all about the fun times we had in another blog.

So far we have travelled 1020 miles toward home! Today we are heading to Moab, UT and Arches National Park which is our half way point. We have crossed Washington State, Oregon, Idaho and into new territory: Utah.

Check! Utah off the list of states we've never been to. As you can imagine there are MANY churches here. One in every neighborhood and that is no exaggeration. But so far everyone seems very 'normal'. I haven't seen any "Big Love" type families and no one that just walked off "the compound". We walked the streets of Salt Lake City in the horrendous heat. We checked out Temple Square and played in the Snowflake Fountain from the 2002 Winter Olympics. After sweating buckets we cooled off at PF Changs where we stuffed ourselves to the gills!

Here are some highlights from the drive so far:



The Blue Mountains in Oregon



Enormous dandelions in Oregon



Three Island Crossing on the Oregon Trail - Idaho



Wicked gorge in Twin Falls, ID



Sandstorm we passed through on the desolate Idaho-Utah border.



View from our 16th floor room at the Hilton in Salt Lake City.


-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:E State St,Lehi,United States

The 12 Days of Canada...

Has it really been 12 days already? Time doesn't stand still here...it rushes by like a passing freight train. There are moments of stillness, but truthfully there are not enough of those for me.

Sometimes you are handed a set of circumstances that cause a chain reaction. This is the only way I can sum up the time since I arrived here. My niece, quite unfortunately, came down with the flu the day after we arrived. The day after the girls had already played and shared a bed. You can see where I am going with this..next thing we know it is passing from person to person within my whole family (Paul got out just in time) and every day someone new has been falling ill. We are still dropping like flies! My sister in law is the current victim. I really wish the flu was more selective. Perhaps it could not infect those on vacation? Just a suggestion. So now that we are starting to come out of our flu-fog, we have been having much more fun.

And then there's Paul. He jetted back to Houston less than 48 hours after crossing the border. He was lucky enough to miss out on the flu, but not so lucky to arrive home to a house without A/C. LOVELY! He actually toughed it out for a few days. When the technician from John Moore took a look at it and told him it had to be replaced he was wise enough to get a second opinion. I nearly keeled over when he told me the quote for a replacement was $4700! The second opinion (should have been our first call) was a trusted family friend and for a reasonable price replaced the fan and it was good to go. I am so glad for Paul's sake, not to mention you cant sell a house without A/C. He was somehow sleeping in the 89 degree temperature!

Before we got sick, we went to Grandma and Grandads (or Gigi and Poppa depending on the generation) and saw my cousin Ariel's new goats. I am curious to see what becomes of these goats. Dairy or meat? Either way they are cute and being treated with all the love and tenderness a goat needs. They seem to think Ariel is their mother. They are frantic when she is out of sight and race to her when she calls them in her high melodic voice, "goats, goats, goats." Juliane and Sydney enjoyed chasing them about the yard and watching them eat...well everything. I wonder if they thought the pine trees or Grandma's flowers tasted better? We saw the horses too, of course. These gentle beasts are magnificent. I don't know of another word that fits better. Juliane tried to give Taliesin some love, but he is not his friendly self because of his injured hoof. I have spent so many years of my life on this property. My Aunt Barb and Uncle Bob have owned it as long as I can remember. When we moved back to Langley when I was 7 years old we lived in the red A-frame house that faces the front pasture. It was here that I met my long time friend, Diana. Her parents still own the acreage next door. That's a story I will have to dedicate a future blog to. You can imagine us though, climbing the fence to get to each others house. There was a time too, right before we moved to Costa Rica that we lived in the trailer in the back 40. Nowadays, my grandparents live in the back by the barn and gardens and my Aunt and Uncle along with my cousin, Ariel, live in the beautifully redesigned A-frame in the front. The house resembles little of the home it was to me in my childhood, but it is nostalgic nevertheless. When I come back there year after year the land has a comfortable feel. It is a part of me in so many ways, like my fingerprints. I don't think about it when I am not there, but when I am, I remember its beauty and the memories that come flooding into my mind are all wonderful and pure. If you have a moment, you should really check out my Aunt and Uncle's website on their small farm:  http://rabbitswood.com/Rabbitswood/Rabbitswood_Farm.html

We took all the kids last weekend for a "photo-shoot" along the banks of the Vedder Slough. It turned out to be a lovely spot for a tea party and the pictures (to be posted soon) turned out beautifully. I took them myself this time around in an effort to save some money and use some of my artistic talents.

There have been a few days on the dairy farm. This is one thing I absolutely love and miss about BC. You can get dairy products right from the farm! Actually you can get so much directly from the source. You want berries? Go pick them right from the vine. Need some corn? There's a stand around the corner. I know my Houston friends appreciate fresh local produce and there is nothing fresher than picking it up at the farm! When we go, we pick up milk and cheese, pet the calves in the barn and eat a huge scoop of ice cream.

We bought wonderful handmade soaps in historic Clayburn Village from the delightful lady who makes them in her shop. Her soap operation, aptly named Clayburn Comforts, is located in the back of her lovely renovated cottage. I could have bought the whole store, and I just might if I have the chance to go back.
www.clayburncomforts.com

Last Saturday we enjoyed a fantastic stroll through the AbbotsfordMmm! After browsing the many offerings (hanging baskets that were breathtaking!) we headed up to Tracy Cakes for lunch. This place is AWESOME! I highly recommend it. The food was to die for and especially the scrumptious mini cupcakes. I had a Neapolitan with vanilla cake topped with chocolate and strawberry butter cream frosting. SO GOOD!

Yesterday we went to Centennial Beach in Boundary Bay Provincial Park. It is quite a drive, but the park was well worth it. The playground was very cool and the beach was endless. I love it when the tide is out. You can just walk and walk for miles before you reach the water. The girls really loved dashing around and through the tide pools. I was surprised they got so wet! It was only 65 degrees! The whole reason to go was to meet up with my long lost friend, Heather. Man!! We haven't seen each other since elementary school. So crazy! It's so incredible to see how the child of your youth has grown into a sweet woman and mother. I had a great time catching up and reminiscing about the "good old Glenwood Elementary" days. I must say, Heather looks so much the same as she did back in 1988!

Today, I was on my own. My mom and dad had things going on at work and so it was me, Sydney, Juliane and Amelia. As it always goes when you want to accomplish something, there are a million interruptions. That was how this blog was written today. I think I stopped and started it a thousand times. It was written from the coffee table, kitchen island, lawn chair and bed. And now that I am finished I am too tired to look at what I said! :)