At the end of July, we drove to Wisconsin/Minnesota with Mitchell's dad and brother Roy. There was a reunion for all of Mitchell's dad's cousins. It was cheaper to drive, so that's what we did. I was a little nervous about it because it was going to be a long drive and I knew it was going to be pretty rough on the girls. We left Spokane around 6:00 pm on a Wednesday and drove through the night, all through the next day and stopped at a motel Thursday night, and then drove 5 more hours until we got to the lodge that we would be staying at. The girls handled it a lot better than I thought they would. It helped that we had a portable dvd player. Eventide pretty much watched that the whole drive up.
The lodge we stayed out was amazing and huge! It used to be a barn, but was gutted out remade into a lodge. We really enjoyed it and it was really relaxing...until you walked outside and the humidity punched you in the face! The beautiful scenery was very deceiving. It looked sooo nice and sunny and beautiful outside, and then as soon as you opened the doors, you started breathing water...
The reunion was on Saturday and Sunday. We all went on Saturday, but me and kids got sick, so Me, Mitch, and the kids stayed back at the lodge on Sunday and napped, read, and watched movies.
We drove around Minneapolis on Monday where Mitchell's dad showed us his homes growing up and the schools he went to and etc. Then we began our drive back that day. We stopped at a motel for the night and the next day we headed to Wall Drug.
Wall Drug is a really intense rest stop. (http://www.walldrug.com/). We had just woken Eventide up from her nap to go in, so she wasn't in the best of moods for the 1st half of our short visit. Her favorite things: The giant T-rex, the covered wagon that kids could play in, and the toy store! It was a good break from the driving.
After Wall Drug we headed towards Mt. Rushmore. About 5 minutes from our destination, we hit a deer! I actually didn't even know what had happened at the time. There was a large thump and the car shuddered and Mitchell's dad pulled over to the side of the road. I thought the tire had popped or something. Mitchell, his brother, and his Dad got out to check out the damage and it wasn't until about 20 minutes later that I learned what had happened. There's a lot of little details about the incident that kind of made us feel like maybe it was supposed to happen. In any case, It did some major damage to the front of the car and took out one of the head lights. We headed to a mechanic close by who turned out to be a really great guy and as it turned out, Mormon. Coincidentally, he also served the exact same mission in Korea as Mitchell's brother Monty (though at a different time) and his name was Roy (the same as Mitchell's brother & Dad). Though none of that really matters, it was just interesting. In the end, the mechanic, Roy, fixed the broken headlight for free and was wonderful and helpful.
After much consideration, we decided to still go to Mt. Rushmore. It was pretty awesome and worth the time we took to see it. As we left, Eventide said "Bye-bye Men!" (she also said "bye" to a cheeto on the ground).
We decided, instead of stopping at a motel, to just drive through the night to get home (I actually didn't drive at all, which I am EXTREMELY grateful for!). The drive home was a little more rough on the girls then the drive there. There were so sick of their car seats!
Reaching Spokane was a wonderful wonderful feeling! We had a good time, but I learned something very important...in regards to traveling across country with a three month old and a 2 year old-IT'S NOT WORTH IT UNLESS YOU CAN TAKE YOUR TIME! We had fun (listening to a ton of my father-in-laws stories, relaxing at the lodge, frequent Dairy Queen stops, Mt. Rushmore, Wall Drug....) but it was pretty exhausting driving so much at one time with minimal breaks and rough on the little ones.
The lodge we stayed at:
View from the lodge:
Tired from all that driving
Playing with Uncle Roy (or "Wo-ee" as Eventide called him)
Snoozin' at the Lodge
The giant T-Rex that Eventide loved at Wall Drug
Playing in the wagon
Mt. Rushmore