Vacation Wrap Up Part I

We got home from our vacation on Thursday evening. Our original plan was to stop in Omaha for three days on our way home from Fargo. I had scheduled to meet with three fantastic women for various things (lunch, coffee, etc.) while I was in town. I was really looking forward to each and every meet up, but it wasn't meant to be. Unfortunately our host family started throwing up the night before we were set to arrive and hadn't improved by the time we spoke to them on Wednesday morning while we were headed south. After discussing it at length, we decided to make an adjustment in our route and head on home. As much as I would have loved to have seen everyone, the odds of getting sick ourselves was too much of a risk. I had visions of the three of us hanging out at various rest stops until we were well enough to move on to the next available spot. Not so much interested in the whole "Throwing up across America!" tour of 2011.

Anyway, we decided to try and make it to Colorado Springs on the first day. It was a looooooong day of driving. We didn't even eat at restaurants like we usually do, we just ordered and ate in the car. We were trying to avoid going on I-29 because we knew it was flooded further down the so Mister C found what he thought was a workable route. Then, we hit a spot in South Dakota where there had been flooding.

We turned on the two lane and I pointed out the sign that said "No Cars - Trucks Only". Mister C said "It'll be fine" and continued driving. We came around the corner and there was a guy fishing. From the road. Again, there was a sign warning that cars were not allowed. Again, Mister C said "It'll be fine, don't worry" and continued driving. We saw two workers adjusting the guard wires and I asked Mister C to at least check with them. So he did. He rolled down my window and asked how deep it was at the deepest point. The reply?

"It's two and a half inches deep on the center line (which we could make)." So long as no cars made us move to "our" side of the road where it was substantially deeper we should be okay. They also added that we would be fine so long as no trucks went by "like a bat out of hell like they usually do". Well, that's comforting. I thought that perhaps Mister C might decide to turn around. I thought wrong.

Mister C decided that turning around and driving an hour out of our way was too much hassle. We were going through. As a final heads up, just as we were starting down the road a trucker coming from the opposite side slowed to a stop and signaled for us to stop as well. He leaned out his window and said "You don't want to go down there, it's much deeper at the other end. You wouldn't want your engine to flood, better turn around now." Mister C politely thanked him. And then continued on our path to destruction. Now, obviously, I am typing this currently so I didn't get swept downstream, but it was more than a little unnerving to say the least.

Lest you think I'm exaggerating how scary it was...



Why yes, that is water across the entire road we're driving on. In our Honda Civic. You'll have to forgive the poor quality of the photo, I had put my camera into the trunk at this point thinking I was done with it. I thought about getting it out, but figured if we got swept away I didn't really want the evening news to open with a shot of me standing calf-deep in water, getting my camera out of the trunk so I could take photos of the danger we were heading into. Kind of the "Oh, look at those cute bear cubs over there, let me grab my camera and see how close I can get!" mentality that I try to avoid most days.

So anyway, we made it through and made it to Colorado Springs in one piece. Oh yeah, we also hit torrential downpours in Denver, followed by a hail storm once we got into Colorado Springs itself. Good times. But, we got a good night's sleep and had a great breakfast in the morning before heading back out on the open road. We got in to Phoenix by dinner time, picked up food at Chipotle and enjoyed the peace and relative quiet of our first night back home.

The next day consisted of laying about the place and doing laundry. And petting the animals which had obviously all been neglected for the previous two weeks*. Today was more of the same with yard work thrown in for good measure. We'll see what tomorrow brings but I certainly could go for another day of nothing before I pick up with the painting again on Monday.


*I'm just kidding Mamoo, I know you pet them all frequently and thoroughly and that they are all just liars.

Vacation - Day 12

Today is our last day in Fargo as we're heading out first thing in the morning. Since all the siblings, spouses and kids were in one location, the mil suggested we get a family picture. We loosely coordinated to mostly be wearing white shirts and I took a total of five pictures of the bunch of us in two different locations. Fairly painless and done in less than ten minutes. I am nothing if not efficient when it comes to taking photos. So here's Mister C's side of the family tree.

Vacation - Day 11

Nothing much again today. We only left the house long enough to take the dog for a walk and then to get a new screen cover on my phone because the original one (which was never put on correctly in the first place) was completely coming undone.

But we did at least get a family photo on my in-law's front porch.

Vacation - Day 10

Well, today was Mister C's forty third birthday. Which I forgot until almost noon. Because I'm an awesome wife like that. Anyway, most of today was spent doing not a whole lot but eventually we meandered over to my sister in law's house for an early dinner of pizza. And got to watch a semi-decent storm come through with lots of lightning, but not a lot of rain. Ah well, at least it dropped the temps substantially around here.

And while we were hanging out over there I got to take a few pictures of my nephew.



Also, on the way to my sister in law's place, we stopped off to visit my husband's grandfather. Which allowed me to take a picture of four generations of the family.



And seeing Mister C's grandfather just made me wish his grandmother were still here. She was such a wonderful, vivacious woman and she always made me feel welcomed and loved.



Even though she was in her late eighties when she passed, some people just don't live long enough and she was one of them. Love them while they're here because you just never know.

Vacation - Day 9

No photos today as I never left the house or took out my camera. It's been a pretty low key day overall. Mister C's sister, brother and their spouses came over for an early dinner and to hang out for a little while which was great. I finally got to meet my brother in law and his wife's younger son who turns two in August. He's an absolute doll. He has Down's Syndrome so he's a little behind on the development timeline but he's crawling around really fast and making lots of noises. And he has a totally infectious smile that lights up the room.

On a less than adorable note, apparently a call girl posted my cell phone number as her contact information on the web somewhere because I got five phone calls and two texts in the space of an hour. She must have eventually figured out there was a problem because the calls and texts stopped as suddenly as they started. Looks like someone was trying to earn some quick cash for the weekend. And evidently I'm in the wrong profession because that's the most my phone has ever rang for business, even if it wasn't my business.

Vacation - Day 8

The day after the musical we hit Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora. The park is home to wild horses and bison.

A stallion with one of his colts (the mare is behind).



This bison seemed totally unconcerned that he was a star. Telephoto lens of course, I'm not completely stupid.



Three generations: my father in law, Master J and Mister C.



Probably my favorite photo of the whole trip.

Medora Musical

So yesterday, after going visiting Devils Tower in the morning, we drove all the way to Medora, North Dakota where we met up with Mister C's parents who drove out from Fargo. We had a fantastic dinner of steak grilled over a fire on pitchforks and all the sides you can imagine.

Then, we enjoyed the "Medora Musical" which has been going on for almost fifty years. It changes and gets updated every year so it's current but classic. I was really impressed, but Master J loved it. When the band played the first few notes of Patsy Cline's "Crazy" for the hostess to sing, he turned to me and said "That's Patsy Cline's song! I know this one!" And then he sat with the biggest smile while the hostess sang three Patsy songs. The very next number was "Sixteen Tons" and again, Master J turned and announced with a huge grin that he had that song too.

The special guest of the night was Sylvia Fletcher, a ventriloquist. And lucky us, she picked my father in law and the man sitting behind him to help her on stage. It was hysterical and kudos to my fil for being such a great sport. I wish I could have videotaped it but at least I got pictures!

My father in law is on the right (to Sylvia's left)



All set for the action...



Playing it up for the crowd.



He really was a great sport about being dragged up on stage unexpectedly!

Vacation - Day 7

Devils Tower from a distance. I had my camera on automatic mode today and I have to say I'm not so impressed with my results. I guess I could have taken the time to use a digital darkroom to fix things up but that sort of seems like cheating.



A climber going up the side. I'm using the telephoto lens.




The same climber, only now I'm using my regular lens. You can see him about halfway up if you look really closely.



Family photo of the day

Vacation - Day 6

We drove from Glacier National Park to Gillette Wyoming on day six. On the way we stopped at Little Bighorn Battlefield.

Here's part of the cemetery of the non-native Americans. There are headstones for both men and women, from long ago up until more recently.



The monument to the soldiers who died at the battle.



One of the headstones for one of the native Americans that died during the battle.



And some random horses running through the middle of some small town we passed through on our route today. Based on the lead rope still attached to the last horse in line I'm going to guess that these are a group of runaways as opposed to some really cool wild mustangs running loose on the prairie.

Vacation - Day 5

This day was mostly about wandering around Glacier National Park. We almost didn't go here because it's so far off the beaten path. I am so glad we did as it's some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. The road that goes through the park (Ride To The Sun Rd) was closed for repairs in the middle so we had to drive back around to get from one side to the other but what we got to see was just gorgeous. The best part was that because it's so out of the way (and there really isn't too much commercialism yet) there were far fewer people there than places like Yellowstone. And everywhere you look are views like this one...



An unplanned hike of almost a mile through grizzly country resulted in this. Totally worth it.



Hiking out from a different waterfall that we stopped at.



Mister C and Master J contemplating the amazing power of water.



Ground squirrel checking us out.



Family photo of the day.

Vacation - Day 4

Montana. It's a very long way between point "A" and point "anywhere else".



I'm pretty sure there are more cattle than cars but all the people were super nice.

Glacier Park Lodge where we stayed, built around 1912-1915.



I think some of the employees in the dining room may be under the impression that time is standing still because they were slow as hell. Seriously slow. Like, arrive for breakfast and end up eating scrambled eggs for lunch type slow. Sheesh, for a bunch of university students they sure as heck didn't have a whole lot of pep in their step. And I believe they may possibly have been having a contest to see who could drop the most silverware as at least three servers did so during our two meals there. I believe Lauren won hands down when she managed to drop an entire trail over a ten foot area, starting at our table, complete with melon balls rolling under the nearby tables. Way to go Lauren!

Also, our hotel had the world's smallest sink. If you weren't careful you could whack your head on the shelf while brushing your teeth.



*Although these photos are from day four of our vacation, we didn't have internet access until the end of day six. Sorry for the delay.

Vacation - Day 3

Happy 4th of July!

What would a vacation to the west be without a visit to Old Faithful? Which, by the way, is not very faithful. We saw it erupting as we were driving towards the area and when we got there we ended up waiting for over an hour and a half for it to erupt again. So much for every twenty minutes like clockwork like we were told as children. Having said that, we spent the time fairly pleasantly talking with a couple from New Hampshire that had arrived just before us.



And what would a visit to Old Faithful be without seeing a cat being walked on a leash? Evidently not all cats turn into furry lumps when attached to a leash. Looks like The Antagonizer may be getting a retest when we get home...



Emerald pool.



Really cool looking patterns etched into the land by the thermal pools high content of iron.






A bison that had just gotten done rolling in the dust of an uprooted tree. He was not nearly so impressed with us as we were with him. He actually watched us drive around while I tried to get some decent pictures.



Yeah, thank goodness for telephoto lenses!



Early in the day, looking pretty decent.



Towards the end of our day, after I had mis-stepped while climbing down to the river and almost killed myself trying to save my camera. The end result was a small scuff on the base of the camera (not the body of the camera, just the thing that attaches it to the tripod), one scraped up arm and one very large bruise on my backside.



One more family photo for the album.

Vacation - Day 2

This post was supposed to get uploaded yesterday but since we had not internet service I had to wait until today. Sorry about the delay!

Mister C at Rick's Spring, Master J is somewhere behind him exploring a small cave.



The water has been higher than normal due to snow melt this year. This is the footbridge at Rick's Spring which is unusable. Side note, the water was also running over the open path and it was freezing!



Somewhere in Wyoming, lots and lots of views like this one.



Grand Tetons



We saw this guy running along the side of the road as we drove into Yellowstone Park. My first thought was that it was a wolf, mostly due to the sheer size of it. It's hard to tell from the photo because I was taking the picture from the passenger seat across Mister C while we were driving, but this is about the size of a large dog (like German Shepherd size). But the muzzle bothers me because it looks more like a coyote. So, either a real wolf or a coyote on steroids, either way pretty cool.



Again, not really sure where this is but it's somewhere in Wyoming.

Vacation - Day 1

We headed out at 5:20 this morning and started north for the first day of our driving vacation.

Here's Master J looking bright and perky (much more so than the rest of us I might add.)



He didn't know I'm was taking the picture or he would have acted goofy.



Vermillion cliffs.



Burned tree on the side of the road. The wildfires have done a lot of damage the past few years but the amount of regrowth is really amazing.



The Colorado river, taken from the original, 1929 Navajo bridge.



The new Navojo bridge is on the left, the original one is the right. These two bridges are one of only seven land crossings of the Colorado for 750 miles.



Mister C with Master J on the Navajo bridge (you can't get out of your car on the new bridge.)



The bunch of us looking a little rough after the first six hours in the car. Only five more hours of driving after this picture was taken...