2017 Epic Road Trip: It Begins

I really like road trips. Everyone loading up into the car, packing snacks, books, music, movies and games to keep occupied.  Watching the landscape change as you travel across different parts of the country, and then ending up someplace new and exciting.  Sure, there's also whiny kids, messy car, having to pack and unpack all the junk it takes to make this happen, and the boredom of driving for hours on end.  Yet, I still get a little excited when I think about taking a road trip.

This summer, we decided the time was right to make the trip to Cody, WY (where Spencer grew up) and Yellowstone.  This is a 23 hour drive-each way.  Even for a road trip lover like me, I had my doubts and reservation.  As Spencer pointed out, he would be taking 2 weeks off work and essentially spending an entire work week in the car.  Well when you put it like that...But no! We were going to do this and it was going to be fun.  We set out and planned a route that involved lots of stops and sight seeing interesting places along the way.  This wasn't just about the destination, we were going to enjoy the journey there and back.  Also, we were going to camp for 2 nights in Yellowstone.  Oh boy!!

Our first stop took us to Minnesota.  Spencer's sister Jeni and her family live there and recently his mom moved there.  Our car was very cozy: full of 2 weeks of road trip stuff, including camping gear; Kyler who stayed behind after the baptism; Grandma; and Winston the dog.  We did get everyone and everything in the car and I think everyone was comfortable for the 8 hour drive.  It definitely added to the festive spirit that the start of a road trip always has.  Road trips are always more fun with a cousin and Grandma. 

We happened to arrive for Sawyers 2nd birthday and we celebrated with the biggest ice creams I've ever seen (Heaven!).  Actually, we had epic ice cream both days, because that's what you do on vacation. 

 Uncle Dave knows all the awesome parks around, so we enjoyed getting lots of outdoor play time.

 Minnesota is so beautiful in the summer! Every other time we've visited it's been winter.

 Liam and Kyler were determined to paddle the boat themselves and they did! Grandma got a nice ride!

It was also so fun to be Grandma's first house guests in her new Minnesota house.  Between all the ice cream and parks, the kids also just loved having cousin time to hang out and play.  Good thing we weren't separating the cousins for long, because they were sad to say goodbye!