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Kelly,
Margaret, Olivia, and Gray took a 17 day road trip to Oregon
to visit Chris, Amanda, Alexa, and Cooper. Involved was a
lot of motel stays, swimming, eating out, and lots of fun
games in the car, along with the Metro license plate game
THE
TRIP OUT
The foursome
hit the road from the Metro HQ on June 16. The first stop
was to visit the Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago,
Illinois where we took a good hike around and saw a lot of
beautiful foliage and sculptures in and around the park. The
following day, we crossed the Mississippi River and found
ourselves at Fort Snelling State
Park where we spent some time at the Minnesota River
Converge (where the Mississippi River and Minnesota Rivers
converges). We then drove up to Bloomington, MN where we stayed
near the Mall of America. Visiting the mall was really cool!
We ate at Wahlburgers, played a round of miniature golf,
and even picked up some Squishables for the girls.
The following
day, we proceeded to Bismarck, North Dakota. The group
took a drive down the Enchanted Highway, which was supposed
to have a lot of cool sculptures. Unfortunately, the signs
were bad or non-existent, and we only saw a couple before
getting back on the expressway.
A cool placewe went was to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park
where the kids learned a lot about the former President, saw
the cabin he lived in, and even got sworn in as official
Junior Rangers. Another cool part in the park was seeing a
lot of Bison up close. The kids did good in keeping their
distance, but close enough to appreciate how large these
beautiful animals were.
A highlight
for that evening was in Miles City, Montana where Margaret
went to "the best" Laundromat she has ever seen
while Kelly & the kids went swimming at the hotel.
Another part
of the driving included yelling "HEY" whenever
someone saw hay in the field. Also pointing out
"Aliens" whenever seeing the large wind turbines
that were all over I-90.
On June 20th,
we experienced the interesting waterfalls in Idaho Falls,
Idaho. We also heard reports on the radio that there was a winter storm
warning in Montana where they were the previous day. It was
in the 80s and beautiful while there, but they were
expecting snow and ice.
Margaret's
next big thrill came when we stopped at Craft Warehouse in
Meridian, Idaho. Margaret could have spent the whole day
there, but a hour seemed like it was enough. One funny
comment on the road was when Margaret saw a vintage old car
and pointed it out. Gray said,
"Yeah... It's probably from 1989!"
Nearing their
destination, and off the interstate, we crossed into Oregon
at 2pm, and continued driving the winding roads in Oregon.
We took a couple stops for food, ice cream, and made it to
Chris and Amanda's house at 7:30 pm.
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| Views from around
Morton Arboretum |
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| Mall of America -
Lunch and dessert at Wahlburgers - A tough putt-putt
game... Olivia won! |
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| Photos from around
Theodore Roosevelt National Park |
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| The 'best' Laundromat
ever - Welcome to Bozeman |
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| Idaho Falls pics |
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| Margaret's home
away from home - The old vintage car Gray estimated was
from 1989 |
IN
OREGON
While in
Oregon, they kids went to the community pool almost
everyday. They also jumped on the trampolines and went to
Sun Meadow Park. Kelly got back to walking, and everyone
just unwound from the 5 days of driving.
While in
Bend, we got to see Alexa (who is now several inches taller
than Margaret) play in her summer league basketball games.
We also visited the Crescent Moon Ranch in Terrebonne,
Oregon which is home to a large alpaca farm. The kids got to
feed the alpacas from their hands, and each one even picked
out the ones they would like to take home for pets. (Don't
worry Brad and Val, we talked them out of it :) We also hung
around the Old Mill District and shopped and ate.
We always
arrange our trip to coincide with Alexa's annual Ms.
Marcel's dance recital. This year was no disappointment once
again as she danced beautifully to several different genre's
of dance from ballet to contemporary. Of course we sprang
for the ice cream following the performance.
On June 26th,
Kelly & Margaret took all the kids to the High Desert
Museum in Bend for some indoor / outdoor time where we all
learned a lot about the animals, vegetation, and climate in
the area. We took in displays, and toured the museum and
outdoors with a guide. It was pretty cool.
The following
day, both families packed up their cars for a two night trip
to Newport on the coast, where Cooper was playing in a
baseball tournament. While the kids went into the Pacific
Ocean, Gray got stung by a Jellyfish, but she was a trooper
and didn't complain too much. We also went to a
fancy-schmancy restaurant in Newport called 'Georgies' for
dinner. The kids were very impressed with the cloth napkins,
and presentation of the food. They even got free souvenirs
from the hostess.
Cooper did a
great job in his teams' games. Although they eventually got
eliminated, Cooper played strong with several extra base
hits, and played well in the field. He even was called in to
close out a game in relief where he struck out the final
batter to preserve an opening game win.
We also went
to the Oregon Coast Aquarium where the kids got to see a lot
of sea life up close and personal. Gray and Olivia were even
allowed to touch some of the creatures including a star
fish. They also had a cool play area for the kids to let off
some steam. We finished the day walking on the Bay Street
Pier which has a lot of shops, restaurants, and places with
goodies (candy and ice cream) which we partook in all of the
above.
After getting
back to the hotel in Newport for the night, the families
said their goodbyes, and Chris, Amanda, and family headed
back to Bend, and Kelly, Margaret, Olivia, and Gray embarked
on their long trip back home.
HEADING
HOME
Our first stop was a revisit
to the Vista House outside of Portland, high atop a cliff
overlooking the Columbia River. Several years ago, Margaret
and I went there during a November blizzard, and almost
bought the farm with winds over 100 mph. Thank goodness it
was a beautiful day this time. We got to Ontario, Oregon
where we spent the night.
The following day, we drove
to the Great Salt Lake in Utah. It was pretty cool, however,
the girls were not thrilled with the gnats, and pungent odor
of brine shrimp and salt which smelled like rotten
eggs.
Some of the cool things on
the road on the way home was driving through a large tunnel
in Green River, Wyoming (screaming all the way through),
going to Sanford's Grub and Pub in Cheyenne (a favorite of
ours), and stopping at the Lincoln Highway monument in
Laramie, Wyoming (which was last month's What the Heck is
that). We stayed in North Platte, Nebraska and visited the
beautiful Veteran's Memorial, and also stopped at the
Mississippi River Rapids in East Moline, Illinois. Finally,
we made it back to Michigan, and dropped the girls safely
off at their mom and dad's house.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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| Various pictures on
our return trip. |
All in all, it was a
wonderful trip. Margaret and Kelly had fun, and Olivia and
Gray really enjoyed themselves. Thank you Chris, Amanda,
Alexa, and Cooper for making it a wonderful experience. And,
oh... by the way... We saw 48 of the 50 license plates on
our McCarty Metro License Plate Game which you can download
and print below.
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In 1983, journalist Cannonball Baker established the Cannonball Run, a race to drive across all 48 contiguous U.S. states in the fastest time possible. The record stands at 25 hours and 39 minutes.
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