Day 9

It was quite chilly this morning so I snuck out of the tent and made hot chocolate for us to warm up. The morning of Day 9 we celebrated our first day without rain! Only to discover as I was getting cool weather clothes out from the bottom of our bags that we'd had a breach in the cargo bag that holds all our duffel bags on the back of the car. All our shorts & t-shirts were packaged in ziploc bags so I pulled out all our jeans, leggings, and long sleeve shirts to go straight to the laundry bag. They all smelled like they'd been wet for a few days so there's no telling which storm they soaked up the rain - if not all of them!

After breakfast I covered my head with the cargo bag and spotted quite a few tiny holes and a few about the size of an eraser. They were holes all the way through but I would imagine they were enough to invite the water inside. Luckily on a previous trip I had purchased waterproof seam sealer so I got to work doctoring all the holes. It was supposed to dry overnight but after about an hour in the sun all seemed better. I don't think I'll really know for sure until the next storm though!

Fortunately the closest town was only 10 miles away so we headed there to get all our errands knocked out in one morning - post office, grocery store, and laundry. While we were running around the little town I noticed the D-Day Memorial our hosts had mentioned at our last site. I made a mental note to check with Brayden to see if he wanted to go.

After laundry we were all starving so our next stop was Azul - a local made-to-order Mexican stop. My eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach but we all enjoyed our meals and I found a delicious local beer too! Our grocery stop wasn't quite as fruitful but I grabbed a couple things that would last us until our next big stop.

On our way into town we saw several peach and blackberry farms and even saw a place with peach ice cream. We were planning to stop on the way back but Emily and I were chatting and I apparently missed a turn. Once I noticed nothing looked familiar I turned on my GPS and we ended up taking some serious back roads to the campground. No peach ice cream today.

Evey had been begging to go to the creek nearby so once we got back and the kids grabbed their water shoes we headed down to the picnic area with a lovely creek running through it. The kids of course had a blast exploring and taking Ryan's spy class entitled "Stealth".

I enjoyed the quiet sounds of the water and watching the kids while Emily dug around the rocks releasing trapped sticks and leaves. I definitely have decided I want to end up near water with lots of sound. I always say a solution to grumpy kids is to get them to water, but it might be for me too!

Once we made it back to the campsite the kids had a quick snack dinner and we made a fire. Emily had a stash of peanut butter cups so the kids made s'mores with them while we ate them straight up! Then Evey brought out the Oreos and we were all on a bit of a sugar high right before bed! Brayden crashed pretty quickly so it felt like he and I were taking care of two drunk Clarke girls until they finally fell asleep!

Day 6

We were up early after a great night's sleep with very little rain throughout the night. It was pretty hot and humid so I think we all slept on top of our bags. I made a big batch of pancakes for breakfast with yogurt and strawberries. I will never hear the end of the Vanana-yogurt-wishes as they settle for plain old Trader Joe's vanilla.

Once we were cleaned up the kids put on their water shoes and we headed to the creek next to the campground to climb around. As all the adults talked with some full-time traveling dudes, the kids scrambled around the slippery rocks exploring the creek.

The ever-cautious Brayden sat with the adults for awhile until I handed him the camera to capture the events on the creek. All the kids ran up at one point claiming they had found their pet for the trip. Once we compromised to have him only for our timem at hte creek, Laney ran to grab a little bowl from our site for his temporary home.  They carried this guy all around the creek for the next hour for his field trip.

I visited the kids at the creek after a little while to take a few more pictures. Just seconds after this picture was taken Brayden slipped on some rocks and by the way he was looking at his hand when he got up I knew we'd be taking a trip to see a doctor. Luckily we all believe it is just a pinky sprain so I taped it to his ring finger and even though it felt weird he did say it felt a little better.

I fed the kids a quick snack lunch and Ryan and Brayden piled in Otis's car to go fishing. Laney, Emily, and I opted for a 3-mile hike down to the lake. Laney can walk for days and once I told her we'd be crossing the creek and going under the road a couple times she was excited.

Emily and I chatted a lot along the way and we made the hills easier by teaching Emily how to play Contact. We even got to wish a girl happy birthday as we walked by their neat celebration in the woods.

We found the fishing people by the lake having a snack. We were greeted with, "Guess what we caught?!" follwed quickly by, "NOTHING!"

The kids walked us down to a little spot with rocks and a waterfall. The kids enjoyed exploring and climbing all around the area. At one point I spotted a snake that had caught a fish so we followed it to see what kind it was and watch it eat. He was a teenager but with the fish in his mouth we couldn't really see the shape of his head to tell what kind he was.

Emily and I decided to hike the 3 miles back to our site while Otis piled the all the kids in his car. Within 10 steps of entering the woods, the downpour started. It was 3pm in the South so we should have known better. The rocks were more slippery, the roots were more slippery and we became way more slippery! We made it back in record time though feeling squeaky clean like we'd just had a shower.

We waited a little while for the rain to stop but it wasn't letting up so we all decided to head to a nearby town for dinner. I set our GPS to a random Italian spot and we were on our way. The drive was nice through a little tiny town. Once we pulled into the parking lot I noticed the restaurant was in a strip mall so I wasn't thinking it would be the best place to eat. We decided to go inside anyway and instantly felt underdressed and out of place. If we hadn't already felt that way the hostess asking, "How can I help you?" instead of "How many for dinner?" should have given it away. We opted for a Chinese place a few doors down and felt much better!

We were all starving and the food was delicious so all our moods changed dramatically. We took the opportunity to do a load of laundry to dry out all of our wet clothes and shoes as well. And of course on our way in Brayden spotted an ice cream spot so we stopped there before heading back to our site. The kids were thankful we'd finally found an ice cream spot and kept reminding me it was crazy it had taken so long!

As we headed back through the mountains, we were treated to a beautiful sunset displayed along the range. Being down in the woods we don't get to see the colors like this as a backdrop to the mountains. I'm hoping at least one of our next sites is near the top!

Once we reached our site we got ready for bed and read another chapter of the book. We were ready for a good night's sleep as the temperature was somewhat cooler this night with the rain. We did decide however that Chinese food wasn't good for Ryan's stomach as there were all kinds of noises coming from that side of the tent!

Day 2

We all had a pretty tough night of sleep with all the rain and our lovely neighbors returning with plans to now put a rain fly on their tent. There wasn't much teamwork happening as flashlights were moving around like searchlights through the woods. At one point after angrily asking for help for the 4th time, one of the guys gave up and suggested they just go home. Shortly thereafter 4 doors closed. I assumed they were going to somehow sleep in the car until I was jolted awake about an hour later with tires spinning in the muddy gravel campsite driveway. Gladly, they figured out how to get out so we could have some peace for at least this night!

The rain was pretty constant with rushes from the water held in the trees every once in a while. Around midnight it stopped and we all were still and sound asleep. The rain started again a few hours later but we were all pretty successful with putting sleeping bags over our heads to keep the noise low and the light out. My suction-cup-cuddling child (Ryan) slept more attached to me than next to me all night. She woke up shortly after I did wanting to play games since it was still raining.

The rain had slowed to a drizzle so we took the opportunity to race to the bathrooms and grab a breakfast snack. We brought fruit and bars back to the tent and tried to decide what to do.

Laney and Brayden opted to read while Ryan and I played a few games of teeny tiny Connect Four.

I noticed I had a signal on my phone so I quickly tried to check the weather. In our area it wasn't supposed to rain again until the afternoon so we wiggled out of the tent, hopped in the car, and headed to the small town of Ellijay. We'd been through this town several times and Brayden was happy to finally get the opportunity to stop.

Our first mission was to find some local breakfast and that we did! We stopped at Mr. P's with the promise of the best homemade biscuits. The kids opted instead for giant cinnamon rolls slathered with the richest icing I'd ever tasted. I had to try a famous biscuit though!

Many of the shops weren't quite open so we browsed through the ones that were pointing out all the cute and funny treasures. There was so much stuff crammed in some of these stores I was overwhelmed and couldn't even focus to see it all!  

Next we headed to the library for some wifi and discovery of new graphic novels for everyone. The kids checked their email but with this being only day 2 they didn't have much to check!  The kids were very excited to find new graphic novels and others our library doesn't have so I didn't hear a peep from them for more than an hour. It was drizzling pretty good once we left the library so we decided to take the movie back and figure out something for lunch.

Brayden spotted a pizza buffet and I just couldn't talk them out of it. I'm not necessarily a pizza snob but I am completely grossed out by buffet germs. So I just made sure to get the first pieces of pizza fresh from the oven. I've definitely had better but I've also had worse. The kids were thrilled to try all kinds of different pizza,  especially the dessert pizza!

Waiting for fresh pizza afforded us a little down time so Ryan asked if she could try the Saltine Challenge with crackers from the salad bar. All three joined in and the results were hilarious. They did finish the crackers but it was in a little over 2 minutes. The only saltine sprayer was Laney when Brayden started laughing but luckily she kept it contained to her plate.



I checked the weather during lunch and the forecast didn't look good. It was oddly sunny outside but the prediction was for rain for at least the next 18 hours with possibly a break at 8am the next morning. We decided to head back to the campsite and see how it looked to decide what to do next. We drove by the ice cream place we'd talked about stopping earlier in the day and I laughed as the kids claimed they still had a small amount of room. They even tried to pull the but-we-always-get-ice-cream-on-our-trips trick but there was no way I was going to have sick kids today too.

Once we got back Ryan suggested we try to play campball as it wasn't raining at all. I'd remembered from the forecast the heaviest rain was to be at 5pm and it was 4:45. We decided to go to the field to take a better look and see how slippery a game would be. By the time we got there the rain already started. We raced back to the tent for 3Up 3Down - our latest favorite card game.

After playing a couple rounds of cards, tempers flaring, and rain stopping we decided to get back outside. We took a walk the other direction on the lake loop trail to discover a few more spots for Pooh Sticks. Soon after, Brayden wanted to head back so Laney and I headed to the showers. I knew I was going to get messy and muddy packing the tent up the next day but I've learned over the years to take showers when you can!






Once we got back it was still clear weather so we grabbed the football and soccer balls to play on the beach. Ryan marked off the field and we decided to play football first since there were some kids nearby that probably wouldn't appreciate being hit by a soccer ball. Ryan and I took on Laney and Brayden easily beating them 21-7.



The whole time we were playing the temperature would drop and the wind would pick up. Ryan would notice me look toward our campsite which was a good 10 minute walk back from the beach. She would tell me the all the dark clouds are moving fast and to not worry about it.  She said she would take the blame if we got soaked. There were so many dark clouds and the wind picked up so many times that I finally took a picture for proof.





Next up was soccer. After some hilarious battles in the sand, Ryan and I once again beat them 5-2. Against my advice, we then switched teams for soccer with Laney and me against Brayden and Ryan. I thought we would be destroyed but Laney ended up showing up and muscling her way to the goal a few times for a 5-3 win.

Once we got back to the site the weather still looked okay so I started a quick fire for the kids to roast a few marshmallows. We would be leaving the state the next day so we needed to have a fire now if we were going to use the wood we'd bought. The kindling around us was soaked so the fire didn't last terribly long but it was good enough for a quick dessert!

After a little prepping to leave in the morning we all got tucked in for the last chapter of our book. I was getting pretty sleepy during this everlasting chapter so I convinced the kids that even though it was 8:30 our time when we finished, we all didn't sleep well the night before so it would be smart for us to sleep now. We were all snoring within 2 minutes!

Day 16

We had big horseback riding plans today so everyone woke up pretty early and got ready to go. I am really enjoying being able to cook breakfast on the cabin's grill and not having to use all our camp stuff. Things like this make me appreciate the ease of cooking and doing dishes at home. Hot water. Dishwasher. Leaving pots and pans out to dry.

We had a short drive to Mill Iron Ranch to meet our new best friends. We were greeted by a cowboy that gave us a brief run down of what to expect. We were all amazed when he told us how high we would be going today, about 2000 vertical feet! The ridge above rocks in the picture below is at about 300 feet. We were all glad we had horses to do the hard work! Dave and I had huge, beautiful work horses that pulled sleighs in the winter.

We were soon underway with our fearless guide in front of us. When the kids heard there were delicious, sweet purple berries on the trail up for grabs they were ready for a mid-morning snack!

These horses worked so hard getting us up to the top and the views along the way were spectacular! Ryan's and Brayden's horses loved to stop to have a snack along the way. Our guide gave Brayden a thin branch to give his horse Cisco some extra motivation on the rear, but he would only barely tap him. I can only imagine how much that was making the horse laugh! My horse Peggy kept him motivated to keep moving by getting all up in his business when he slowed down! We stopped a few times to let the horses catch their breath.

Once we made it to the top we were all amazed by the view. Our guide lined us up for a picture with the Snake Range, Grand Tetons, and Jackson all around us. Here are Laney & Squirrel, Grammie & Rounder, Brayden & Cisco, Ryan & Rango, Jen & Peggy, and Dave & Piggy.

We slowly made our way down and felt all kinds of new muscles aching along the way. The horses took their time and we were able to really take in the view around each bend.

Once we got back and off our horses we realized what kind of pain we were in! We each said goodbye to our horses and thank you to our guide for our wonderful ride. It was time to change and get Dave into town to work for a few hours. But first, we needed to go to Auto & Diesel for a car check. On our way to Jackson my car started making a strange noise whenever the A/C was on. Shortly after that the fan for the front seat stopped working. We knew we would be fine in the areas we were going for the next few weeks but once we hit the Dakotas and went even more south we'd be in trouble. Grammie unhooked and followed us there then we all piled into her RV to head downtown.

After dropping Dave off our first order of business was to find parking - not easy in an RV! The second order of business was to find the photography business that took our rafting photos so we could check them out. The third, and possibly most important, order of business was to find some local ice cream. We walked past Hagen Daz and found Moos. When I saw they had won the award for best dessert in the state with their huckleberry ice cream I knew we were at the right spot. We took our cones to the park and sat down to enjoy. Each of us got the Lola puppy dog eyes for a lick or a bite, but Laney held out the longest. She had a good strategy!

While we were sitting in the park Marilyn and Heather found us to see what we were up to. As we were chatting, Heather got the call from Auto & Diesel about my car. The smile across her face told me I probably was not going to enjoy the answer. Apparently we have a creature obstructing our fan. And they are unable to take it out because the Nissan dealer needs to. And there is no Nissan dealer in this town or on our route until we get into Montana. Oh dear. Time to buy some Febreeze!! We grabbed the photo Grammie bought for us and headed to go pick up my car before picking up Dave. The mechanic laughed at me as I took the keys from him wishing us luck.

We had a date with Pinky G's this night recommended by friends in town as well as the internet! Lola was so patient as we all ate some delicious pizza!

Next we just had to go see the nightly gunfight in the square. It was short, but the kids enjoyed it even with their ears plugged!











On our way home we headed to the store to do a little birthday shopping for someone while he rode to the campground with Grammie. We also purchased a few quilts for the tent sleepers as we were heading into some colder and colder weather! I dropped off the people in my car and headed back to the grocery store as we were going to be in the Tetons and Yellowstone for the next week and we needed to be prepared!

By the time I got home everyone was in bed and it was time for me to start laundry. Unfortunately other people had the same idea so I could only do one load at a time. I do enjoy that part about camping - getting all the laundry done in one hour if you have an industrial or multiple washers and dryers available! It was a good opportunity for me to catch up on the blog before we left a few posts for while we were out there until I could find some coverage. I couldn't sleep after getting back to the cabin because we were excited about getting up before the sun the next morning to hunt for grizzly bears!!

Day 36

After being up until midnight the day before I knew the kids would sleep in late.  We all were squinting at the morning sun coming through the tent at 9am.  It was already pretty warm but we had oatmeal for breakfast anyway.  I was thinking it would be good for us to have a substantial breakfast for our long day planned.  

Unfortunately all three kids decided to make some unfortunate choices so we stayed at the campsite for quite a while.  I doubt they even remember what was so important they needed to act in such an unkind way to eachother.  I separated them for awhile and we had a family meeting about their behavior.  While I understand the close quarters, late nights, and endless hours together can contribute to this, I also believe it is a life lesson to learn how to treat people no matter how grumpy, tired, or annoyed by people we are.  

After a lot of talking and hugs, we headed to the visitors center to turn in the kids' junior ranger books.  Of all the books they have completed, this one was probably the easiest.  They still learned things but just didn't have to look all that hard.  

Laney wanted to check out the general store D.H. Day built next.  There were old games and candies for sale, but she really just wanted to go see the exhibit of his store office.  While the kids played with some of the toys, I learned all about D.H. Day and his vision for the area through its history.  

We next drove through several small towns in search of a book store I'd read about.  The kids love book stores almost as much as they love libraries! We thumbed through a bunch of books old a new and finally decided on a few for the kids for them to read until we see Dave.  And speaking of Dave, we get to pick him up tomorrow as you can see on our official countdown post-it!

  

We stopped at a little fishing town to walk around and hunt for ice cream next.  Two of the kids declared this the best ice cream yet.  Brayden chose key lime pie and Laney ate chocolate fudge brownie swirl.  I'm not sure why these guys try samples of anything as it's always what they ultimately order!  We spotted a playground that was begging to be played on so we spend a little time there playing on The. Most. Difficult. Monkey. Bars. Ever.

It was getting late and the day was cooling off quite a bit so we headed to the dunes for a few climbs next.  I had to stop at this sign for a picture after missing it the first year in Indiana.




















The kids vetoed me bringing the cameras so I would climb and run down with them without being nervous about falling on or dropping them.  We went up to the third tier of the dunes on the other side and ran down together as fast as we could. Ryan climbed and tried rolling down.  Then she tried doing somersaults.  She was absolutely covered in sand, but more importantly smiling with the biggest smile from ear to ear.  See those little tiny people up there?

Once the sun got pretty low, we said goodbye to the dunes and headed to the scenic drive in hopes of catching the sunset.  The kids enjoyed spotting the numbers of the important spots and hopping out at the lookout points for the spectacular views.  The kids liked going through the covered bridge and seeing yet another deer.  This guy was just walking down the road!

 At one stop we were headed up the trail through the woods and Ryan sighed a heavy sigh and said, "Oh no.  More sand."  It seems she'd just about had enough climbing through these dunes!  I convinced her to do it just one more time and we were rewarded with the most spectacular view yet!  There were bunches of people there with the same idea so we sat down and enjoyed the sunset for a little while.  

The kids were all itching to climb down this dune, but I had to be the mean mom and make them stay put.  Half because we'd need to go soon and the other half because it looked like the dune dropped off straight into the frigid water 100 feet below us and I wasn't risking looking to see for sure!

As we left we noticed a sign discouraging people from climbing down the dunes as it is a 2-hour climb back up!  The kids' jaws dropped and maybe, just maybe they realized that sometimes in very rare moments mom knows what she's talking about when she squashes their adventures.

Everyone was ready to go to bed once we got back to our tent as they wanted it to be less than 20 hours until we pick up Dave.  If only every bedtime was this easy!

Quote of the Day: Laney screaming, "It's okay mom, just fall down whenever you need --" as she proceeded to fall flat on her face while running down the dune.