Vacation

So we drove 5070 miles. With three boys. Through the Midwest. In the middle of a drought. During the summer. I don't think we were ever so happy to be home as we were when we pulled into the driveway after those weeks on the road.
The memorable parts, in order of occurrence:
1) Leaving my purse, with $300 cash in it, at a restaurant in Twin Falls Idaho. On a Saturday night. In a restaurant that was closed on Sundays. Realizing my purse was left, in the high chair in the women's restroom (no hook to hang it on) on Sunday morning. Yep. Awesome start to the trip. Luckily we were able to find the owner and eventually convince him to open the doors and my purse was still there, and everything was in it, just as I'd left it. Whew. On to
2) Salt Lake City, Utah. By the time we arrived everyone was too hungry and hot and grumpy to take family photos at Temple Square, or do more than drive by the Olympic sights (more awesome family photo backdrops wasted), so we found a little park and ate mini bagels and cream cheese and turkey, drank warm lemonade, and got back in the car. We drove to Salton, which used to be this awesome health spa on the Great Salt Lake about a zillion years ago. We trudged (carefully, avoiding the masses of bird carcasses) across the hot hot sand for a 1/4 (1/2) mile or so to the lake, through a thick blanket of sand fleas, and onward, intrepid Caseload, into the water for another 1/4 mile until it was deep enough to try floating. The water was super warm, like a bath, and FULL of brine shrimp, live ones in swarms, dead ones under foot, in huge crunchy swathes. But we did it! We all floated. That is pretty cool, but I'm happy considering it a once in a lifetime sort of thing.
3)Dinosaur National Monument. Amazing! The kids were enthralled. Ansel appointed himself dinosaur expert. Miles became a Jr. Ranger for the first time and took his duties VERY seriously. So seriously it breaks your heart. Ah, sweet, sweet boy!
4)11.5 hours of googlemap drive time across Colorado and Kansas to Wichita. It was 105 degrees. And so windy the little kids were in danger of being blown over every time we got out of the car. They desperately tried playing on the most rundown, pathetic playground I've ever seen, in the middle of western Kansas, but even they gave up before long. Avery asking why Dorothy tried so hard to get home, hilarious.
5)Spending the afternoon at the Hawker Beechcraft training center with Aaron's cousin, who is an instructor there. Unexpected and very, very cool. Getting to play around in one of those $17,000,000 flight simulators, way too cool! Leaving our pillows and the cell phone charger in Wichita, at Ben and sweet Lindsay's perfect little Kansas farm house, not so cool.
6)Leaving three light sabers, the kids' favorite toys, in a park in Missouri. Misery. Miles might have cried all the way across Iowa.
7) Eating lunch out of the cooler (some variation of bagels, cream cheese, turkey, veggie sticks, warm lemonade) for the 7th day in a row. Sad. Even if it was warm mango lemonade instead of plain.
8)All the new words the kids learned from Aaron's relatives in Iowa. All kinds of new vocabulary words for all kinds of bodily functions, some of them anatomically impossible (I think) and most all of them immoral, unethical, and probably illegal in most states.
9)Aaron getting stopped for suspicion of drunk driving after a family barbecue where he was the only one of his family members NOT drinking, and he was only driving 20 in a 25 mile zone to try to get the little ones to fall asleep before we made it back to the house. Funny. Ironic, though, since the officer could have gone about two miles down the road and arrested most of the family and made his quota in one fell swoop. Oh well.
10)Aaron having a 36 hour gall bladder attack and spending hours puking and writhing in pain in the waiting room of the University of Iowa hospital before they finally brought him back, spent two hours rehydrating him, giving him IV painkillers, and doing one quick ultrasound.Not so cool. Getting the bill three weeks later, for $8000, also not so cool.
11) Day at the water park with a select few of Aaron's family members, super fun for us. Not so fun for Aron, who was still in agony and spent the entire day curled up on a lounge chair in the shade. But Miles finally worked up the courage to brave the big slides, and had a blast. And Ansel loved the wave pool. And being in the water was good and fun and relaxing.
12) The car phone charger finally dying.
13) Realizing one of Aaron's best friends from high school not only lives in Iowa again, but lives less than 100 feet from his Mom's house, and having two lovely, wonderful visits with him and his sweet, funny partner and their adorable new baby girl. That was great. Repeated conversations with the kids about why David can have a projector and huge screen in his TV room (what a way to play video games!) and we can't, well, oh well.
14) The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Both Aaron and I got all teary. We're saps, apparently. Well, we knew that already, but still. Places like that are testament to the goodness of America, the promise of communities working together, putting their best foot forward, and it's good. Corn flavored and shaped lollipops, however, are not so great.
15)The car DVD player I pestered and whined and begged about getting for weeks before the trip breaking, just not playing anything anymore. Devastating. Really. Have you ever driven through South Dakota with three kids in the middle of a heat wave? With a sick husband? Pregnant? Don't judge me.
16)The Badlands. Love.
17) Being too worn out and hot and grumpy to go to Mt. Rushmore. Bummer. Being grownups and getting to make these calls, being able to change plans and go straight to the hot springs resort in Montana, well, that's good.
18) The hot springs resort in Montana. Fabulous. Even if by the time we made reservations there was only one room left, no cabins, no suites. No queen beds. No rooms with bathrooms. Just one room, a third floor walk up, no elevator, with a two double beds and a bathroom down the hall. And no A/C. Oh yes. But it was funky and sweet and fabulous and we all loved it and should have just planned our vacation to be spent there. Swimming in a warm, warm swimming pool in the evening, with a band playing and the pools filled with every eligible 20 or 30 something in Southern Montana, and the guard that probably really wanted to be a stripper posing all around the pool in front of every cluster of pretty young things, maybe a bit much. But swimming in that same pool at 7 in the morning with just a couple of other families, fun, and pretty, and a lovely start to the day.
19) Yellowstone National Park. Wonderful. Getting to actually see Old Faithful this time, terrific. Having this be the best picture of our family of the entire trip, not so wonderful. And Avery took the picture, so he's not even in the picture.

20)Avery waking up in the middle of our last night with a fever and puking. And keeping the fever and the vomiting all the way home the next day. Filling a zillion ziploc bags with vomited bile, stopping every 20 miles so he could throw up along the way. It was already 9 1/2 hours of drive time from Bozeman to our house. It took longer, let me tell you. Miserable.
21)The cheap pull-ups I bought for Ansel for the trip not working, so that every time he peed he leaked out into his clothes and his car seat, well, that wasn't so cool. And it didn't help the car smell any better by the end of the trip, either.
22) Ansel dumping an entire bottle of chocolate milk all over himself, his car seat, and the middle row of the van when we were within an hour and a half from home. Might have been expected earlier in the trip (which is why I didn't allow any chocolate milk or sticky, stainy, hard to clean up liquids in the back of the van for the entire trip, until just that moment when I handed him the bottle of brown, sticky, stainy, impossible to clean up milk and he proceeded to tip it up to his mouth and pour the entire thing out all over himself).
And so,
23) Pulling into our driveway, late at night, and going into our own house, and sleeping in our own beds, might have been, could have been, almost maybe was, the best part of our vacation. Certainly the most relaxing part.

Where Did We Go?

Can you guess where we were? Here area few clues:
1) We camped out, with COLD nights and warm days.
2) We met a lot of people from all over the world.
3)We hiked around lots of clear, cold lakes, with colors ranging from milky white, all the blues, even jade green.
4)Everywhere you look are rocks in red, green, and white, exactly matching all the mountainsides around.

5)Alpen-like vistas and Swiss-themed lodges kept us thinking "Heidi", chasing mountain goats and singing "The Sound of Music" tunes all day long. (Yes, I know The Sound of Music was set in Austria, but still, who can argue with "The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music" as a mental soundtrack to this adventure? Who?)

6)"U" shaped valleys, anyone? Anyone guess where we were yet?

7)Of the 25 glaciers left in the park, all are expected to be gone by 2020. 2020!

8)Water from those glaciers flows to three different oceans- the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Arctic. I think it's amazing to stand on the ridge of the continent and think of all the directions available, and that with just a step one way or another, the path is determined.

Hooray! You got it! Yes!

We were camping in Glacier National Park in Montana.

We had other adventures too, I'll tell you later! For now, just know we're home, we're safe, the old Volvo has mysteriously expelled a semi-truck's worth of clothes and books, boots, swimsuits, snowsuits, rainsuits, camping supplies, dirt, cocoa packets, and sleeping boys all over the driveway and house.

Tomorrow we wash and organize, re-enter the world of work and school, chores and schedules. Tonight we'll leave the windows open, though, and sleep one more night with our dreams in the mountains, trailing off in every direction, to all the corners of the globe.

Good night.

Yakima Day Trip >>Goldendale

If you're ever in Central Washington wondering what to do on a yet another sun drenched day, consider going here: The Goldendale Observatory State Park. There is a 24.5 inch telescope, one of the largest public telescopes in the country. During the summer programs run from 2-5 and 8-midnight Wed-Sun, and admission is by donation! It's about an hour and 20 minutes to Goldendale from Yakima.

Goldendale Observatory State Park

Avery acting as a gnomon for the Human Sundial.
Just down the road a few more miles is the famous Maryhill Museum, home of Rodin's The Thinker as well as a huge permanent collection, tons of interesting and varied travelling exhibitions, workshops, and festivals. The museum is open every day from Mar 15- Nov 15, from 9-5. Admission is $7, seniors are $6, children 6-16 are only $2. The sculpture garden, picnic grounds, and parking are free, and it's just a few minutes down the road from Goldendale, overlooking the Columbia Gorge.

Avery, Columbia River, barge, big rock.

To make your day trip complete stop by Washington's Stonehenge, a full-size replica of Britain's Stonehenge (but intact), built as a memorial to soldiers lost in World War 1.

Grandpa Dave, trying not to lose his cap to the wind.

On your way back to Yakima stop at our favorite little gem, an unexpected surprise as you drive through the forest, 12 miles north of Goldendale: St. John's Bakery, a lovely little Greek Bakery, coffee shop, restaurant, and religious gift shop. They're open Mon -Sat 9-6. You can arrange visits to the Monastery, and Orthodox Christian families are allowed to stay overnight with prior permission. In any case you can munch koulourakia all the way home while you look for some of the wild horses on the Yakama Nation and try, just try, to smooth your windswept hair.

Washington Weekend>>Hood Canal

I grew up in the rain, in the lush, soothing green of the coastal northwest and Alaska. I think I considered myself more Cascadian than anything else most of my life. I know I rather snobbily thought the "Midwest" was bordered by the Cascade Mountains on the west wide and the Appalachians on the east. Now, of course, I live in the dry-side of Washington, and while my kids are probably the only ones in town with full raingear suits, they rarely wear them, never in our own town, and they've missed out on some of my childhood loves. Puddles, for instance, and the wonderfulness of jumping and splashing in them. Rainy days that last for days. Storms coming in off the ocean. The beach in the spring and fall, when it's empty and cold and gray and you feel like the last child at the end of the earth. Tidepools. Silent forests with thick, spongey floors and undergrowth and a million hidden hideaways. Ferns covered in rain. Taking shelter under a giant moss covered tree in a sudden downpour. Waking up to the sound of rain. The feel of your skin against a wet raincoat. It's true- they mostly think raincoats and boots are for dress-up.
Anyway, the weather was beautiful this weekend over on the Hood Canal. sunny and warm and perfect. Not rainy a bit. Here are some pictures- the few I took before my camera was the victim of a murder- well, accidental homicide, at least.
Ferns, unfurling. I grew up eating new baby ferns, called fiddleheads. A wet-side of the state spring treat. Now I'm rarely in the presence of ferns, and even more rarely somewhere I can pick them to eat. But I always like looking at them.

Our before supper treat Saturday night: fresh oysters, cooked in the shell in the campfire. Avery tromped around the Hood Canal with our friend Bob and found a bunch of oysters, they cooked them and we all ate them. Aaron's "trying to acquire" a taste, Miles isn't bothering- there's plenty of food that tastes good outright, I guess. Avery ate four, I think, and could barely eat supper he was so full. Mmmm. Food you hunt or gather yourself is always the tastiest!

Miles, refusing to look at the camera. Hmmm. I mean, Miles, looking angelic.

Avery, who spent the whole weekend making silly faces for the camera. This was the best I could get. He was proud to show me the oysters cooking, and excited to try one.

And, you know, the usual ridiculous baby picture. Because we don't want to leave him out, but he's almost always on my chest, in the wrap, and so I can only pictures of the top of his head. Which is sweet, but really. He makes the funniest fleeting faces, we're trying to capture his absolute chunkiness- we've never had a chubby baby before- and he's so delicious!

Washington Weekend>>Winthrop 1

Aaron had a conference up in the Methow Valley in North-Central Washington, so we all went. My parents even came over to play and help with the kids, and we all enjoyed the outdoors and sunny, windy spring days.
The conference was here, at the Sun Mountain Lodge http://www.sunmountainlodge.com/, which is beautiful and lovely and all. Also expensive and without the requirements I have for travel with three little children: kitchenettes and continental breakfast. Needless to say, we didn't stay there, though we have in the past, when we had just one quiet, calm, and gentle child. And it was lovely, really.
We did go for a couple of little hikes up there, though. It's impossible to NOT want to hike around, when you're surrounded by mountain tops and signs of spring, the sky is blue and the breeze is blowing. How can you keep from running, rolling, shouting, singing?

Miles, ready to get moving. Impatient with everyone else for not being instantly ready!

Spring comes mostly in sage and green in the arid inland northwest, but also in startling points of blue...

and tiny specks of yellow. You might miss it if you're not already kneeling on the ground watching ants and beetles scurrying around.

But it's good to look up, too. There's a big sky up there, and deer around every corner, if you're quiet and still and look closely.

Washington Weekend>>Winthrop 2

Winthrop, Washington. The village is done in a sort of pioneer/old west theme, and it's cute, not over done and obnoxious like some touristy places. The real draw of Winthrop is the outdoors, hiking, biking, horseback riding, river rafting and kayaking, hot air ballooning, fly fishing in the summer, skiing, snow shoeing, skating in the winter. Hotels are already booked for next Christmas! We've come a few times now to Winthrop in the spring and find it quite nice- affordable, friendly, walkable, really beautiful. This is a little picture of Winthrop's downtown- a couple blocks of little shops and restaurants.

Avery at the Shafer Museum http://www.shafermuseum.com/, which was closed when he went, but, he said, just as fun, because all this old equipment is outside and touchable, examinable, kid-explorable.

Our favorite Winthrop shop is Glassworks of Winthrop http://www.methowvalleyarts.org/webpage.php?username=gmudge where Garth Mudge works just a screen wall away from the sidewalk blowing glass into sculptures, folk art, vases, platters, pitchers. I'm totally into these sea stars, even though Winthrop isn't exactly near the coast. And he makes these cute little glass sort of mini paperweights with an embossed star, and we've started a little collection of them. The boys like to play with them, and I keep them on a tray with pretty rocks and candles.

When we're in Winthrop we always stay at the Chewuch Inn http://www.chewuchinn.com/, in one of the cabins with a kitchenette, grill, sofa bed. Chewuch Inn is clean and comfortable, the owners and staff are friendly and quick to respond, and the breakfast they provide each morning is delicious and generous, with homemade granola, oatmeal, scones, muffins, fruit, make-your-own waffles (what kid doesn't like that?!), cold cereals, a different yummy frittata or similar dish. They have an assortment of games and videos, space for kids to run around and explore. We love it. It was particularly fun this year because some other young families were staying there and all the kids kind of ran around together and had fun outside and the Moms could all sort of share child-watching duties.

On the way home, just outside of Twisp, we saw an interesting modern-homesteading couple with dreadlocks and polarfleece plowing their field with a team of giant Clydesdales. We pulled our old red Volvo over and watched for awhile. What hard work! What amazing animals those giant horses are! Imagine how much sheer WORK goes into the food we eat and take for granted. Even though most farmers around here don't use horses to plow any more- it's all I can do to keep a little garden- if we had to RELY on my skills and work ethic to eat... YIKES! Thank Goodness for Farmers.

And our last stop before we finally went home was the Aplets and Cotlets http://www.libertyorchards.com/ factory in Cashmere. We all had to wear hairnets to take the little tour, even the baby,who hardly even has hair. He wasn't happy, as you can see. And he didn't even get to taste any candy after, either! The rest of us made a good dent in a big box of Aplets & Cotlets the rest of the way home, though. And then we fell asleep, worn out by the travel and excitement of a weekend away.