Trip Across the Country - Part 5 (THE END!)

Day 12: OREGON!  We finally arrived at our destination!  Tired of cheap hotels and unhealthy snack food, we were grateful to arrive in Oregon (but we gave thanks for the modern conveniences of A/C, restaurants, hotels and a car that drove us much more quickly and comfortably than our pioneer ancestors who crossed this country decades ago!!!)

After 12 days in a car, we were feeling pretty silly! :)

We were greeted by aunt Abbie and Grandma!  When we finally pulled up to their house, The Mr. and I immediately got out to stretch our legs.  Imagine our surprise when the children remained in the van!  We said "You've been in the car for hours - don't you want to get out?"  We had to literally drag and coerce them out of the car - our SuzyQ (our van) had become our cozy little "home" and the kids were sorry to see our road trip come to an end.  It was quite endearing! :)

It was an enormously successful journey!  Not only did we make it to our final destination in one piece, but we were blessed with the incredible opportunity of seeing many parts of the country we had never seen before, and enjoyed wonderful time together as a family, making memories which are sure to last a lifetime.  You can be sure there are more road trips in our future! :)

Trip Across the Country - Part 4 (Are we THERE yet?!)

Days 9-10: WYOMING

A friend from the Mr's and my college days lives in Wyoming, and we hadn't seen her in 15 years (that made us feel old!), so we decided to pay her and her darling family a visit.  They so generously hosted us, and our children played together beautifully! We all had a WONDERFUL time!

.After our visit with the DeGraws, we headed to Yellowstone National Park.  On our way, we saw SNOWwhich amazed and delighted the children!!!  We couldn't believe there was snow when the temperature was in the 90s and we were sweating!!  It was SUCH a hot day that we welcomed the refreshing stop!We had fun throwing snowballs and sliding down the mountainside!

Yellowstone National Park was stunningly beautiful!  We could have spent WEEKS there, and were disappointed we only had one day.  We will certainly be back soon!  We did make our way around the whole loop and were able to see quite a bit, including Old Faithful Geyser.

Here we are at a lake:

Grins took his first "selfie"

Naturally, we enjoyed the 'stinky' hot springs.  

One of the "clay pots" was gurgling so much it spewed hot clay on us!  That was pretty exciting!!

Of course, seeing Old Faithful erupt was one of the highlights of our visit!  

Another highlight was swimming in the stream! The cold (but not frigid!) water was refreshing and invigorating given the heat of the day!

We thoroughly enjoyed the abundance of wildlife we witnessed while in the park!  Here, we pulled over and exited our car to watch a buffalo in a field beyond a small stream.

We watched as he crossed the stream....

But when he drew nearer to us, we quickly hopped back in our car! 

We saw so many beautiful sights and remarkable, breathtaking views.  

It was with heavy hearts that we had to leave the park.  Had any hotel or campground within driving distance had vacancy, we would certainly have extended our time at Yellowstone.  Sadly, however, we were unable to find lodging, so we knew it was time to move on.

DAY 11: MONTANA

Montana was gorgeous!!!  Again, we wished we had planned more time there!  We would have loved to venture into Glacier National Park but had been on the road long enough that we were feeling ready to move on.  We determined that we would take a trip to Glacier soon, though!  It was beautiful!

Day 12: IDAHO - WASHINGTON

We drove through Idaho, then stopped and stayed in Washington: Our final state before Oregon!  We stopped in Spokane and spent the afternoon at Manito Park, an incredible park boasting multiple BEAUTIFUL gardens and ponds!  We saw ducks, birds, enjoyed some cherries from a tree, and studied dozens of different flower varieties in the Rose Garden.  An entire afternoon wasn't nearly long enough to explore the garden, so we are hoping for a chance to visit it again soon!

   It was beautiful, despite the fact that much of the foliage was out of season and not in bloom.  I can only imagine how amazing it is when in full bloom!!!

The rose garden had HUNDREDS of different varieties of roses!  Who knew there were so many breeds?

We took pictures with some of our favorites.  Here is Angel, with "Angel Face"...

 ...and "Little Darling"

It was a spectacular visit!