WYOMING

We left Utah Saturday morning of July 30th with the intent to stay at a hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming. When we got into town we called around and every hotel was booked due to a concert and a rodeo that night. We called up the KOA (Kampgrounds of America) to see how much a tent site would be and they quoted me $77!!! What?! That's how much a hotel would have been! Anyway, we went to a grocery store there in the area, stocked up on food, got dinner and got back on the road.

Before we left Wyoming we went to the Wyoming State Penitentiary, after we stopping for gas. It was just up the road and we figured, why not? The kids got to stretch, be goofy, and see some wildlife. That deer was right there on the front lawn of the Penitentiary and didn't budge.

Oh, I forgot to mention that when we first pulled off the highway and started heading into town we passed a car in the parking lot where two older kids were in the car waiting for an adult and the younger one, probably a 9-10 year old girl climbed on top of the car and her older brother maybe 12-13 got out and started yelling at her to get down, but she stayed up there. It was funny and my kids were like "Where are we"? Then on another street on the way to the hotel, two guys were standing in a parking lot in between cars facing the street and peeing! Who does that?! I guess the further east you go the weirder people get.

Here are some pics of Wyoming through the passenger side window going down the highway at 70mph!

UTAH

From Idaho, we headed to Magna, Utah to stay with my brother Josh and his family. We got there sometime around 4PM and Josh took us down to the Great Salt Lake where the kids braved the smell of sulfur and dead animal and went into the lake. We went back to Josh's, picked up JoAnna and went out to dinner.

The next morning we took the boys and headed to Temple Square and walked around all day looking at all we could in that short amount of time. We went to The Beehive House where Brigham Young lived, The Joseph Smith Memorial building, The Conference Center, the LDS Museum, and the Visitor's Center. We went back to Josh's, ate dinner and visited the rest of the night.

Moving Day and Beyond! Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

I think while blogging about our trip cross country, I'm going to take things slow and not rush through them, blogging only a few states at a time. There's so much to write about and pictures to upload it gets to be overwhelming...so here goes:

After days and days of hard work, little sleep and lots of stress, we packed everything up and took off Saturday, July 23rd, around 5PM. After Anson Jr. came home from Trek that is. (and what's left of his straw hat).

Here's a picture (HDR) I took of our vehicle when the sun was setting. (At a rest stop somewhere in Oregon).

We made it as far as Ontario, Oregon that night (at 2AM) and pulled into the only hotel in that town - The Budget Inn. It was ugly and disgusting but we were so tired and really didn't have any other choice. You see the bright blue of the doors? That was the color of our bathtub and toilet.



The next day, we drove from 10:30AM-6:30PM almost running out of gas along the way)...to get to our reunion in Ashton, Idaho at The Squirrel Creek Ranch.  Anson and I had a room with a King sized bed, our own bathroom and a balcony we share with a room next to ours. The kids slept on cots we use for camping. The kids went exploring, saw some albino buffalo and got bit up by mosquitoes right away. The had fun firing their BB guns, playing with their cousins, paint balling and running around.

The night before the end of the reunion I drove down the street and took a picture of this abandoned farm house as the sun was setting.

After we left the reunion, we stopped at this other abandoned farm house and I got some pictures of it.

So much blogging to do.....

BUT, I'm at a point right now where blogging is such a big chore! Sometimes I really enjoy it and and other times I just don't feel it. It comes and goes and right now it's gone! Hopefully I'll find it soon.