2016 Road Trip - Day 16

Day 16: Only two stops on our agenda today, first for the kids and then our Last Sleep for this road trip.

Found this water park online maybe six or seven sleeps ago and decided to surprise the kids with it.

Roaring Springs in Idaho.
It's not another rock, mountain or reader board regarding history and thought the kids could end this trip on something they thought was "cool".

This time Oma hung out with Doug in Ethel since it costs no matter if you swim or not.

The twins went directly to the six story drop tube slide. So I followed and video taped each of them dropping out of my sight.

Cole didn't seem to phased but Jo was quite worried and even let out a little cry of fear when she finally fell.

(purple and white slide)
Jo: "It does this count down, three, two, one, launch...but then it didn't launch and I was starting to think, Oh, something went wrong...but before I could finish my thought I fell. THAT PAUSE WAS FUNNY and SCARY."

I tried to keep an eye open for the two of them after this slide so I could get more photos but I didn't see them again for the next hour and a half.

They didn't last too long in the park as Cole became motion sick and couldn't shake it even after taking a break and eating lunch. Jo was done as well with low energy from all the driving and long days. Plus sliding with a friend is much more fun than alone even if it is just your brother.

Oregon Bound!

And see how well we are holding up loving each other?

Our last sleep on the road and everyone still smiling.

Stopped for the night at Eddie's Truck Stop in Burns, OR.
We parked away from the semi's next to a building that was suggested for us and howdy are we crooked. Our dice kept rolling off the table playing Farkle. We didn't take the time to level up as all of us are tired and well...we just didn't care.

Home on day 17. We are ready to be home.

2016 Road Trip - Day 15

Day 15: After leaving our Walmart camp site we missed our turn that would take us "around" Salt Lake City, we were in awe of the the size of the ski ranges. Ski lifts that run right through the condos/vacation homes so a person won't even drive to the mountain, and then the Olympic Park with it's ski jumps were exciting to see as well. Really impressive.

So we ended up driving through Salk Lake City and made the turn off to Antelope Island and the Great Salt Lake.

The kids LOVED floating in this water.

Cole: "This is the most relaxing thing I have ever done, I just laid there and just...laid there and floated."
He also stated that his arms and legs felt very heavy when he got out and tried to walk. Interesting.

Here Jo is just kicking her legs with her arms by her side.

Jo: "Remember the mother from the Incredibles when she was the raft in the water? That's what I did and it was really fun!"

Jill also made the trek to the water and got a little wet. She said the water was fairly warm and very clear!

Again, Doug was not allowed past the parking lot and the trek to the water was quite long so I stayed in Ethel and made lunch for all of us. Another trip to this place will be in Oma and my future as I have always wanted to float here.

Stopped for the night in Twin Falls, ID at the Oregon Trails campground around dinner time. Showers were desperately needed and a relaxing evening as well.

Oma and Jo drove to Shoshone Falls so Jo could swim and they could view the sights. We need to check to be sure but we think Jo has stuck her feet in the waters of every stated we have visited except Colorado.

Jo couldn't get into the waters at the falls but could above them where they had this neat swimming area set up. Dock surrounding the swim area with a special wading spot and a floating dock in the middle including a diving board.

Jo was inspired with the sand?

Another big day coming with more driving for the push home! Down to 'One Sleep' we hope.

2016 Road Trip - Day 13 & 14

Day 13: This Walmart sleep was actually good, quiet town and the air cooled off enough to give a little comfort through the night.

Lucy is burning oil now so we are keeping an eye on that. Wish we could find some music to go along with the beat she gives us. Country stations are a huge hit in the areas we have been driving and Lucy just has too fast a beat for a two-step.

Ethel is holding up well, added some air to her tires this morning and that helped with her pull. We have learned a ton on this trip and can/will make slow changes that we know we want in the future.

Driving only today as we headed West. We could go miles and not see another vehicle either direction. And I know it was for miles because I could see that fair at times. Ha!

The kids kept to themselves, Jo reading her books and Cole playing baseball on his phone. Both looking up when Oma or I would point something interesting out to them.

Doug has really done well on this trip also. A ton of truck time and he has figured out ways to lets us know when he needs water or needs out to do his business.

Jill with her maps, phone and more maps directs us and gives us many facts.

Me? As I stated in an earlier post, I failed at navigating so I drive....and drive...and drive.

But I do like to drive.

Oregon Trail: A little stop at the Devils Gap, to see the pioneer's path to Oregon, California and for the Mormons. (Per this areas information)

Neat to see this so far from our Oregon home.

Independence Rock: We missed the turn off for this site and we should have just turned around and went back but didn't. Our understanding is that this was a landmark rock for travelers heading West and they also carved their names into this rock. I would have liked to touch this rock and give thanks.

Stopped for the night early (4pm ish) in Rawlins, WY.

OMG, they roll up what little sidewalks they have at 5pm. They do have an old depot station that is neat. But that's about it. I will rate this town: 1.2 out of 5 possible. Our camp ground had a small homemade mini golf that the kids and I had fun on and laughed a lot with. The twins found other young adults to play with and stayed out for quite a while to just be kids. They were happy.


Day 14: We drove from 9am till 9pm...yuck!

We headed into Colorado and stopped at another Walmart for a few more supplies. Oma was able to grab a geocach close by as well, so bonus!

Another gas stop in Dinosaur, CO and headed to Dinosaur Museum. We hit the turn for this land mark and read a sign "Dinosaur Information" along with a building. We didn't stop because we were headed to the museum, no information needed.

We took this beautiful drive along the ridges of Dinosaur National Forest and the views were gorgeous!

Wait, I thought we had already been to the center of the universe in Idaho? Now we are confused.

Ok, this drive was the WRONG way and just looped around. So we had at least an hour and a half drive that didn't take us to where we wanted to go. That informational building at the beginning came in handy after this long drive to nowhere. But as previously mentioned, pretty views.

We finally made the Dinosaur grounds and had about an hour and a half left of the day before everything closed up. I stayed with Doug in Ethel and rested my leg while the family took the tour.

Dinosaur bones in mountain wall! Many of the most complete dinosaurs of the era have been excavated here and are now on display at many museums throughout the U.S. and Canada. Because of shifting and uplift of the Rocky Mountains, this little ridge of sand with bones became exposed as a vertical boneyard.

Drove until we hit Heber City, UT and it's Walmart parking lot for the night.
Grabbed some Dickeys BBQ for dinner and did a little walking around the parking lot to stretch our legs. Jo had been begging for ribs for a few days, ever since going through cow country, we finally found a spot near us and it was worth the wait. Jo wants a Dickeys in Eugene, it smelled heavenly when we walked in and it was pretty good eating too.

14 sleeps on the road, WOW! Another 3 or 4 more sleeps until we get home. What an incredible trip so far. And we all seem to still like each other. But in the interest of still liking each other, we let the kids sleep in a bit this morning..... ;-)

2016 Road Trip - Day 11 & 12

Day 11: Big Plans today so we headed out of our Devils Tower campsite but first we had two things we needed to do.

One, take a family photo in our Mariner's gear.

My side of the family will appreciate this photo, I tried to use my timer so I could join in the photo. (We have many family photos of my father looking the same way as me.)

Two to stop by "Prairie Dog Town" so Jo could get up close and snap a few photos.

(This is the ground at the base of Devils Tower, Prairie Dogs everywhere!)
No zooming in to get a close up as some of those little dogs came running right up to Jo and posed for her.

Headed to the stone faces today but first stop would be North Dakota. Why do we want to go to North Dakota?
1. To get a geocach.
2. So we can all say we have been there.
Is there any other reason to go to North Dakota?

But then the conversation turned:
Jill: You know we are going to be very close to Sturgis?
Me: What? REALLY?
Jill: Yes, what if we set up camp near Sturgis, drive into town and then jet up and back to North Dakota in just Lucy?
Me: REALLY? We can go to Sturgis?

Yes we can and yes we did.

We took the kids to eat at One Eyed Jack's

Both kids were quite uncomfortable sitting at the outside bar with the ladies dressed in not much other than leather, fish nets. More skin showing than clothes.
 
But they powered through and the food was good.
And WE GOT TO GO TO STURGIS!

The town was/is setting up for the 76th annual event so everyone in town was quite busy. Jo bought a shirt and Mom got a new hat.
AWESOME!

Back to the town of Spearfish to set up camp and head North. The temperature was quite high and no one was really moving quickly after getting Ethel set up for the night.

Oma took the kids to the stream that was close to camp so they could cool off and even Doug got in the water. Did I say it was hot?

We decided to pass on N.Dakota and just "be". So we did a little laundry, got some fresh produce at a market and tasted some local ice-cream, showered and called it a night.

It's Hot...I really mean it's HOT! (Although Jill ins't suffering too much)

Stone Faces on day 12 I guess and no North Dakota this trip.

Day 12: All refreshed and ready for a very long day, as it did turn out to be.

Stone Faces here we are!

Again, Doug was not allowed to enter so Oma stayed with him in Ethel while the rest went to see our Fathers.


I have heard others state that they were not impressed with this as they thought they might be, but I was extremely impressed as was Cole. With the technology of the time to measure, blast and sculpture this is very impressive.

And I have heard for days and days now that we must get ice-cream at Mt. Rushmore.

So these two did.

Conversation has turned a little to "is this all we are going to do? See that tree, see that rock and ooooh and ahhhh?" A little force behind this conversation. The confinement of the truck has caught up to us.

We did a turn off at Crazy Horse, was given a pamphlet for the history and did the "Ooooo....Ahhhh" and kept driving without getting out of the car.

What is Wall Drug?
Well after seeing all the billboards Oma finally said, "We must stop".

Life is grand when you see something and it makes you think of someone special in your life. It has happened often on this trip. This one however is for Connie. Jackalope, baby!!


Fun place to get out and stretch legs and they let Doug in all the stores but the cafe which was great! The kids seem much happier as well.

Badlands were neat. It's amazing to see how different terrain can be from one mile to the next.

We drove through a good chunk of this but only made a few stops for viewing.

Big Horn Sheep! We have kept our eyes open this whole trip to see one of these and we finally found two grazing on grass in the Badlands.

Happy people in Lucy, this was not a rock or tree to look at!

West = Home.
Not many places or any to pulloffs for dinner so we pushed onto Wounded Knee knowing we could grab a little history and eat dinner.

It was not a comfortable spot to stop at 8:30pm as we were immediately approached by locals asking to buy dream catchers or just donate to them (over and over). We quickly ate and left without truly appreciating what this area was about.

Nebraska! Another state and another Walmart for the night in Chadron, NE.
Cooler weather helped with sleep along with it being almost midnight when we were in bed.