We're Back!!

Don't we look just like The Griswold's?

We did it. We survived the Great American Family Roadtrip. We did not kill each other, our children, or any innocent bystanders along the way. And do I dare say, we actually had fun??

We saw rolling plains, majestic mountains, shooting (sort of) geysers, glacial lakes, and national parks.  We experienced marginal motels and luxurious resorts, listened to countless hours of The Grateful Dead station on SIRIUS Radio (the driver's choice), and an unbelievable log of good times. Really. 

There is something about the good 'ole American road trip that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.  I'm not sure exactly what that is, if for nothing more than bragging rights, but traveling the country by car is quite an experience, especially with three boys under the age of ten. I won't give you all the details, only the highlights and maybe a couple of the now hysterical low lights (nearly running out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Twice, but whose counting), but all in all it was a super amazing time that none of us will ever forget.

Old Faithful

After our Wienerwagon sighting in South Dakota along with countless Harley's on their way to Sturgis we pushed into Wyoming for a visit to Yellowstone and Teton National Parks.  Now folks, I gotta go out on a limb here. I believe that Yellowstone is the number one visited park in the United States, but I really don't get why. For those of you that have not been there, avert your eyes to the lower part of this page, because I just don't get it. You drive, and you drive, and you drive some more through windy little roads that on most days are jam packed all to stand around a stinky hole in the ground to watch a bunch of water gurgle (and when I say gurgle, I mean gurgle-the fountains at The Bellagio are far more entertaining) out of the ground.  It's weird.  And it smells.  It's also super crowded and the parking sucks. Unless you are going to be camping (no thank you) inside the park and plan to do some serious hiking I'm not exactly sure what else there is to do. Spot a buffalo or two? We didn't see any. If I am missing something here, please let me know.  This was my second visit to the park and I agreed with Mr. C that it is "something every kid should see" so we paid our $25 and entered the gates.  I certainly didn't want to be the family cynic just because my first visit to Old Faithful was with a college boyfriend who was a major douche bag- douche bag he was, probably still is, and Yellowstone is still boring. 
Mr. C agreed. Moving on to...


Teton National Park. Go south of Yellowstone and try this one on for size. Absolutely stunning, gorgeous, snow capped mountains that fall into Jackson Lake and Jenny Lake and God only knows what else that we didn't have time to get out of the wagon and nod our heads ala Chevy Chase and crew in Vacation. Those Tetons, they were amazing- a definite "Must See."  Take the park all the way into the town of Jackson, Wyoming which is a super cool town that has a touch of that cowboy/chic vibe thing going on. You know, like uber tan women (and a few men) that wear a lot of turquoise and suede year round and look like they just stepped out of the Sundance catalog. Those types. We loved it and were lucky enough to snag one of the last remaining hotel rooms in town at the ultra luxurious, very swanky Painted Buffalo Motel.  It was right off the square next to the Gold Nugget Motel, The 49er Motel, and the Stage Coach Inn. Get the picture?

Boys at the antler arch in the square in Jackson, Wyoming

By this time my brood had traveled extremely well.  I mean, blowing our minds, like "who the hell are these children?, and "we should do this for every trip!!" type of traveling well, but we still had to make it all the way through Nevada. In one day. We dorked around long enough in the parks (damn Yellowstone!) that we needed to make up some serious time if we wanted to make it to The Lake by cocktail hour the following day, which meant a killer 12 hours (to the minute according to the indispensable iPhone) through the Nevada desert.  I was nervous the boys would crack their heads together simply for something fun to do through this endless stretch of dust that lies between the towns of Elko, Winnemuca, and Sparks. Nothing to see except tumbleweeds and faded billboards for brothels and slot machines.  All things the average American kid should experience on a family roadtrip, right?  Wrong, but whatever, it had to be done.

Goodbye Tetons...

Hello Nevada.  This is the pretty part

We treated this nasty, endless stretch of Highway 80 as the Yellow Brick Road to the cabin, so we bit our lips, hunkered down for the long day and soldiered onward. The kids must have been anticipating Grama, the new baby cousin they had yet to meet, and the sunset over Fallen Leaf Lake because yet again, they rocked and at the end of the third day The Tahoe Basin appeared like Oz at the end of that fabled road.

And this was waiting on the door of the cabin...

Gotta love the Googling Grama!

Tomorrow I will tell you all about the ride home, and it wasn't quite as smooth as the trip out...