We started out this super fun road trip on Campbell's birthday- which she was thrilled about. Haha. We made a lot of stops, had an amazing dinner and got to play in the hotel pool so I think it was a pretty great day. She turned 14!
Hotel pool. Always a big hit. The pool is number one most important part of finding a hotel. Pre-COVID I also made sure there was free breakfast but nowadays the "free breakfast" is not very interesting.
We went on the most beautiful hike in Bend, Oregon the next day. It had all the great stuff: waterfall, bridge, beautiful mountains, river...
and a landbridge. Pretty cool. These guys are great hikers and have plenty of energy.
Miss Emery got to get some freeway driving practice on the quieter, car-less long stretches of highway. That was not the most relaxing part of the trip for me. She's careful and stays in the lanes and stuff so that helps.
We got to add the Spokane Washington temple to our list!
We rented 6 bikes and a a 5-bike rack (we shoved Quinn's bike inside the car) and headed out to start our Hiawatha Trail bike ride. We met up with Spencer's brother's family for this part which made it way more fun. Basically we heard they were going on this really fun trip and then we happened to show up at all the same places as them. The Hiawatha Trail was an old train track that has had the tracks torn up so now bikes can ride down a beautiful stretch in the mountains of Montana. There are seriously dark tunnels, trestle bridges and nice, wide roads to travel along.
We were each given lights for our bikes and we needed them! The tunnels were pitch black and I could barely remember how to ride a bike straight. Tunnel number one is just up ahead in that picture.
We made it through!
Quinn was a little speedy rider and as a result...
She was down one whole outfit on day 2 of our trip.
So beautiful!!! And terrifying. Especially when (as I mentioned) I could not ride in a straight line. These bridges were HIGH up.
We spent the evening in Coeur d'Alene, ID. So pretty!
This is where Griffin got poison oak for the 5th or 6th time.
The next morning we got a wake up call that was pretty funny. We didn't know that Idaho had 2 different time zones and we were in one but our scheduled rafting trip was in another time zone. Also, there had been a big mudslide so the direct route was closed down and we would now have to go back to Washington, Oregon and then back into Idaho. We raced out of the hotel room, threw our stuff in the car and sped away. According to Google Maps we were going to be late to our rafting trip but, with a 7 hour drive ahead of us we knew we could make up the time if we did fireman-speed bathroom breaks, didn't stop to eat and went at least 5 MPH over the speed limit.
Every time Google Maps showed another minute skimmed off our arrival time I was elated!
We totally made it- no big deal... I was just max stressed for 7 hours straight.
It was so worth it though! The rafting trip was amazing. We would definitely do it again sometime. We went on class 2/3 rapids and that was perfect. The kids got to get out and swim between the rapids and Campbell even swam through one of the less-bad stretches.
Our guide.
Really really fun!
After staying the night in Boise we went to Idaho City to walk around the old town and get ice cream
These hot springs were crazy hot and then they ran into the freezing cold river.
We stopped at Redfish Lake by the Sawtooth Mountains for some swimming and playtime
Stayed the night in Twin Falls and the next day was waterfall day. We went to 3 different waterfall sites which were all unique.
Shoshone Falls were pretty impressive.
Then we said goodbye to Idaho and drove down to Logan to see Grandma, Grandpa, Lana, and Morgan's family. Lana put together a huge, delicious lunch and hauled it all to the park. What a blessing to be able to see so many far away family members! We missed everyone so much and were grateful for everyone's efforts to make it happen. We got to visit, eat and still be safe.
What a blessing family is!
We stayed the night in Logan so we were able to get Aggie ice cream the next day. Luckily COVID hadn't shut them down- I would have been so disappointed! Campbell got grandpa's favorite lemon custard so she could tell him all about it later.
Trying out a new pose for our yearly BYU picture
We got to spend more time with Morgan and the cousins in Provo visiting our alma mater and eating more ice cream. I couldn't put little Lucy down. She's adorable. I also couldn't take my eyes off her for a single minute because she kept trying to quietly open everything I was holding in the BYU Bookstore! We sure missed them!
It was such a great trip- perfect mix of exploring and spending time with family. We'll see you soon Utah!
The next morning we got a wake up call that was pretty funny. We didn't know that Idaho had 2 different time zones and we were in one but our scheduled rafting trip was in another time zone. Also, there had been a big mudslide so the direct route was closed down and we would now have to go back to Washington, Oregon and then back into Idaho. We raced out of the hotel room, threw our stuff in the car and sped away. According to Google Maps we were going to be late to our rafting trip but, with a 7 hour drive ahead of us we knew we could make up the time if we did fireman-speed bathroom breaks, didn't stop to eat and went at least 5 MPH over the speed limit.
1 comment:
The Hiawatha Trial looks so cool
Great planning for a family vacation
Post a Comment