Wyoming

Grace has put together this blog and written the last posts.  I think she’s done a great job!  She’ll be back as well as the rest of the kids taking their turn. For now, you get the musings from mom.

Today, as I sat listening to Burka read to me I could hear Grace and Greta at the table quizzing each other for their science test they take tomorrow. Hannah and Ryan discussing her Economics class in the front of the RV. All this was happening while were watching breathtaking views of Wyoming out our windows. I could not help but think I am one lucky mom.   Really, I’m not sure that it gets better than this unless my two college kiddos were with us. I love learning more about the hearts of my kids while we experience our beautiful county first hand.

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We woke up in Gillette this morning. We traveled up through the Bighorn Mountains and back down through them as well. I watched as my kids looked out the windows of our RV down to the valleys and up to the peaks. They noticed houses built way up high in the mountains and day dreamed about what kids would do if they lived there.   We talked about how getting groceries would be different if you lived in the mountains versus living in Alexandria MN.

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I packed our efit boards so Hannah and I got to get out and do a little stretching and working out in the Big Horn Mountains.  It sure did feel good to get out and move a bit on our long stretch of driving.

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Each of us has things that we think are great about our day as well as things that were not so great.  Things happen – like when Hannah lost a paper she wrote for her college class due to the Internet going down. It’s all part of the adventure.

In the afternoon we made our way to Yellowstone. The geysers and sulfur pools are really amazing. A bit stinky for some in our group, but really it blows my mind to think about these boiling pools of water.

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Buche is usually our comic relief and he’s not failed us on this trip. Our first stop in Yellowstone was “Mud Volcano”. We stopped in the bathroom before heading down the trail. After checking out the toilet (that did not flush) he said with a fearful look on his face… “DON’T fall in mom!”

The girls talked about memories we made on our trip with our friends the Thomas’ that we traveled to Yellowstone with some years ago. Those memories make me thankful for friends. Thankful for times spent together.

We watched the sun go down over Yellowstone tonight.  We walked a path until darkness had set.  It was beautiful.  It was quiet.  It was peaceful.  This place is a mystery to me.

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It is an adventure. It is good. And, I am so very thankful.

Day one

The first day was very fun, but very overwhelming as well. We started in North Dakota, where we went to the Enchanted Highway and we saw the worlds largest holstein, Salem Sue.  Next was South Dakota where we stopped and ate lunch at a park. It was good to get some fresh air. Then we where headed to Devils Tower in Wyoming.  Although, we did get lost on the way.  It was a 60 mile gravel road “shortcut” that we had no intentions of taking.  We crossed Montana somewhere along that “shortcut” and had to stop for a picture. We will hopefully be visiting Montana more tomorrow! Here our the pictures by the signs. I guess selfie sticks actually are kind of helpful.

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We managed the first day! The one good thing about being in a RV is that it makes you get school done out of boredom. My favorite part of the day was climbing on the rocks at Devil’s Tower. My least favorite part of the day was waking up early in the morning to everything bouncing around as we where going on the road. I guess I’m just going to have to get used to that.

Love, Grace