Road Trip '08

We had such a great time on vacation - a 3-week road trip that took us to Salt Lake City and Idaho to visit with friends and family. The kids did amazingly well in the car (hallelujah for in-car DVD players!), we saw some interesting sights along the way, and Jake is still saying "I want to go on another road trip!"

On the way to Utah we enjoyed:
-A stay in Wall, SD and a visit to the much-advertised Wall Drug Store.
-An unscheduled stop in the Nebraska corn fields to see "Car Henge" - a replica of Stone Henge made (obviously) from old cars. The kids (and Rob) got a real kick out of that one.
-Visiting Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, just to see what they were like. I love exploring new places.

In Utah we had so much fun:
-Visiting and playing with grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins.
-Spending a day at Lagoon - and Rob and I getting to go on the "big" rides by ourselves that night while grandma and grandpa watched the kids (thank you!!!)
-Participating in the 24th of July celebrations in Salt Lake - the early-morning race, the parade, the crowds.
-The Hogle Zoo - our nearest zoo to GF consists of about 20 animals. The kids loved going to a "real" one.
-Getting to see my dad and step mom - an unexpected surprise as they had to travel to SLC for a family emergency, but I was (selfishly) happy to get to see them.
-Celebrating cousin Natalie's birthday with a Hawaiian Luau that only Rob's mom could plan and put together - so much fun!

-So much (probably too much) good food: Cafe Rio, Robintino's Pizza, Pace's Dairy Ann Bars....
-Staying for a few days with cousins Ethan and Ellie and the rest of the Reynolds/Perkes/Heiner clan, going for hikes, playing in their super-fun back yard, swimming, taking the Front Runner train from Layton to Salt Lake (the kids were in heaven).
-Catching up with ex-Grand Forkians, the Edgar Family. Sorry to everyone that we didn't get to see!!!


In Couer D'Alene we enjoyed:
-Seeing ALL of my siblings and their significant others at the same time - it was so fun to all be together!

-Exploring the beautiful area: hikes, swimming in the lake, and one crazy afternoon drive halfway up a mountain and then into downtown Couer D'Alene.
-Amazingly delicious camp meals - who knew you could could like that over a fire?

-"Grandma Time" for Haley and Jake in the motor home; they couldn't get enough.

-Stargazing under a sky such as I've never seen before. The Milky Way was bright as could be and Haley was so excited to find constellations (lucky that Grandma Ann is an expert).

It was a great trip, and although it was good to get back home, we wish we could have stayed longer!