"Car" - Brand New

Day 3 of, I have no idea how many...

Technically we are done driving for a while after this.

Missoula, MT though Idaho into Washington with a final destination of Seattle.
478 miles.
7-9 hours.
Fort Polk to Fairbanks total completion = 60%

Things that amaze me #2:

Adding a lumpy soft-sided car top carrier to the top of our SUV actually improved our gas mileage from the time we left Traverse City to getting to the mountains.  It seems all those people that pay the extra $ for the smooth aerodynamic cases...you're wasting your money!  Just don't drive through mountains and you'll get great gas mileage.

We had a handful of debates (like you do when you're stuck in a car for the number of hours that we were).  One of them was trying to come up with the scientific term for the elevation at which vegetation stops growing in the mountains.  There is a very distinct line that traces the apex of a mountain that doesn't have anything there...So, are you ready for this so very scientific name?...

Wait for it...   Tree Line

"The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. Beyond the tree line, they are unable to grow because of inappropriate environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures or lack of moisture)."  Thanks Wikipedia!

I know, anti-climatic, right?    

Other than crossing into Idaho while it snowed, anti-climatic was pretty much the rest of our trip. 

We did have another conversation about Princess Hiawatha.  We were trying to figure out why we see her name all over the place, there is a forest named for her in Mi, we were seeing her name along our route out West...and neither of us could figure out what she did...

Back to wikipedia...
Basically, she was the leader of the Mohawks and convinced 5 nations to band together to become the Five Nations of the Iroquois confederacy.  Good for her.  That's some good girl power!


As we have crossed through a ridiculous number of state lines, the ones from MI to WA were the exciting ones because we were on official orders to Alaska.  Well, I did fantastically well getting pictures of each border crossing.  Until we got to Washington...

THERE WAS NO SIGN!?!?!  Jerks. 

It was a pretty state to drive through though. 

And then we hit Seattle at about 4:45...yea we thought that through well...

Seattle means a little bit of a break from driving.  We get to visit with one of our best friends from college.  She's been in Portland for a year or so, maybe two...I lose track of time easily :)  Either way, she's driving up to spend the next day or so with us before we head another 80 miles north to catch our Ferry to Alaska!

You have no idea how much joy there is in the fact that we successfully drove across damn near the entire country (Louisiana North to Michigan and then Michigan West to Washington) without any vehicle accidents or break downs, any major earth shattering temper tantrums, a cat who is in one piece and still under our care, a pregnant lady who is still pregnant and a happy couple that is still married!

I am thanking our lucky stars, counting our blessings, and loving all those family and friends who had any part in our vacation and/or general travels.  Those that followed us on Facebook and sent texts or comments throughout the trip, you all helped keep me sane :)  

Love, hugs, and blessings to everyone!

"Meet Me In Montana" - Marie Osmond

Day 2.

1 state line (ND to MT).
759 miles.
9-10 hours of drive time.

This is the part of the drive I was dreading.  Our longest stretch, mileage wise, and the most boring.  We got on the highway and never left it.  The hotel was even right off the highway.  Anyway, it was flat and boring.  And rainy. 

Marvin did not do well today.  He had a hard time being back in the car.  He tried to give me a heart attack by escaping from the car while I was checking us in to the hotel at 10pm in North Dakota.  Chad had the "difficult" decision to either chase the cat, or stay with his child...hmmmmm.  Luckily there was a man in the parking lot who chased after Marvin long enough to track him and allow Chad to unbuckle Caitlin and run after Marvin with her tucked under his arm...needless to say - my husband loves me.  A LOT. 

This is the last half of North Dakota.  We figure this is kind of what the Bad Lands of South Dakota look like, just a little more prolific.  The buttes were kind of cool to see.

And what long day on the road isn't complete without a big rain storm?

At least I was quick enough to catch the lightening!!!  I was initially really impressed with myself, but with the amount of lightening happening and how long each strike lingered in the air, it was actually pretty easy, especially with a SLR camera...

Montana was pretty when it stopped raining on us.  It became much more mountainous the more we got into the state and (duh) closer to the Rockies-go figure!

"When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky." - Buddah

Most things in life that we prepare for don't work out the way we plan.  Even more likely that they won't go as planned the more you prepare...

I'm beginning to see that people who can accept the above statement in a positive and fluid manner are happy people.  Constantly happy people.  I know some of these people, I sometimes feel like I'm one of them, but then I have a "day" and the next day I look back and think - "whoa, woman, you need to relax"... I have a good friend (that I know won't be reading this because she doesn't have a computer) who has two children under the age of 3 and just moved to a more remote location that I did.  She is one of the only people I know that doesn't have Facebook.  Hmm, I may be seeing a pattern here...  The time or two I have seen her in some form of "distress" I didn't realize it was that until days later when I was reassessing the situation and I put myself in her situation and thought, that would have put me on the floor in tears!  How does she do that???  What I'm trying to point out is that you can live through stress and use it in a positive way, I know someone that finds joy in EVERY SINGLE MOMENT OF HER LIFE.  I'm jealous.  I'm honored that she has allowed me to stay as close to her as she has so I can maybe learn a thing or two.  I hope everyone has someone that they can look to.  I hope that everyone has an aspect in their life that they can recognize as something to "work on"- it keeps one humble.

I'm keeping a list of Things That Amaze Me as we pull out of a drive way in Michigan for the last time in probably a good chunk of years.  Stay tuned for those :)

Here is our Snap Shot View of our drive from Northern Michigan to Central North Dakota.

674 miles.
10-11 hours, start to finish.

The first 10 min in the car leaving MI was the only time she wanted to play with her activity table and all the toys I packed her...go figure.  An entire bag of well thought out car friendly kid activities and she didn't want to touch them...

This is the start of the Great Mississippi.  Well, not officially, but it supposedly starts in Minnesota, and we crossed the Mississippi.  We couldn't be any more North in Minnesota, so this HAS to be the start of the river...in my opinion.

Best road food = cold pizza!

This was our long stop.  It's about 9ish, maybe a little earlier.  It was really good to stretch legs even though we were only about an hour from stopping for the night.

 

For once I'm thankful for the delayed picture taking of my phone.  When he thought I had pushed the shutter button he wasn't making a family friendly gesture (go figure), and then he laughed about it thinking he ruined my picture.  Ha!  Jokes on you!!!!  I win :)  See, sometimes things turn out really nicely when they don't go as planned ;-) 

"Sweet and Simple" - Journey (Week in Da UP)

This is my most favorite beach in the whole wide world.  I stood there 4 years ago in August and told my best friend I was his and he was mine forever and ever and ever :)  Just driving by the place and remembering that day brings so much joy to my heart.

We had a great rest of our drive through the UP (aside from the heavy rain) after we crossed the bridge.  All the non-adults in the car seemed to behave themselves and tolerate being stuck in the car.  I was worried that our smooth 19 hour drive from Louisiana was a fluke and all hell would break loose getting in the car for this trip.   


We had a very low key week in Negaunee with Chad's Dad and Step Mom.  I seemed to require an afternoon nap everyday.  I discovered after two days that me sleeping at the same time as Bug was a good example for the toddler who seemed to want to chase the cat around the room more than lay down and sleep...go figure.  Chad was pretty set on catching a fish or two while we were in the UP, so a few mornings he got up super early to hit the lake with his Dad.  Those days we all took an afternoon nap.  Those days Marvin would join in.   :)

We got to spend some time with my Seestor-in-law and her family.  We took all the kiddos to the Children's Museum and had the whole place to ourselves :)

Bug got to touch her first snake.  She kept saying she wanted to hold it, and then backed out at the last minute. 

The turtles on the other hand, we couldn't keep her hands out of the tank...

Most evenings consisted of some kind of card game.  We tried to use it as a way to teach Caitlin her numbers.  We weren't very successful.  She would request, "sit with you?" then crawl into your lap and browse through your cards and rattle off a bunch of random numbers.  No one ever really knew if she was accurate, I'm sure that will change soon... 

We spent the last day playing at the park with Seester Sabrina and family.  It was one of two maybe three really nice sunny days we had.   

More thanks and love to all the family that spent time with us, fed us and put a roof over our head :)

"We Are Family" - Sister Sledge (Week in Traverse City)

Traverse City, MI. We discovered that Grandma Amy and Grandpa Rich's house is a wonderland for a 2 year old here's why:

Amy has a chicken coop.  With chickens that Cate could chase and I believe by the end of the week she had actually caught one...

Aunt Chelle found turtles...

...and helped teach gentle handling procedure (thank you!)

So much fun!

We (Caitlin and myself actually) had our first canoeing experience.  I'm not saying this was my first time in a canoe (it was for Caitlin), it was my first time getting to paddle!  Way more fun when you get to drive.  Well, I didn't get to drive, I was told when to paddle and to what extent-that was for the best.



Caitlin learning what crisp cold water feels like:

...and then needing to embrace the coldness.  Over and over and over and over...

We couldn't have had a more beautiful day.

Or more wonderful smiles :)

And sometimes when we reach our limit, you just have to give in and let the boat take you along the current.


We ended the week with some much needed rain (according to the locals).  And of course, a two year old can find fun in anything.  Especially if it's something that requires extra loads of laundry for Mom...

We had a great time with our Traverse City family.  Thank you so much for sharing your space, time, and company with us! :)

"Vacation" - Vitamin C {Our week in Lansing}

We had a really great week in Lansing.  It actually felt like a vacation for once.  I'm flattered that I had friends who drove 1-3 hours one way just to come chat for an hour or two :)  It did seem there were a lot more people this time around that I didn't get to see, though.  I'll take the blame for that, I didn't feel very prepared for this trip to MI.  It didn't sneak up on me, but same as when the movers knocked on the front door, once the event was in my face it was obvious to me all of the things I had overlooked and not done.  The trade off of not seeing so many people is maybe why our time in Lansing for once felt relaxing and not hectic.  You can't have your cake and eat it too...even if you are pregnant.

I like the idea of snap shots.  I snap pictures that make me smile, and obviously things that make me smile are safely correlated to things that bring me joy - go figure :). 

A morning with my Grandma for Mothers Day seemed appropriate.  The Hubby woke up feeling just as crummy as Caitlin did on the drive up to Lansing, so he stayed at the house and got some extra rest.  As toddlers are so unpredictable, snagging a 4 generation photo took more than a few minutes, but it was worth it!

Monday was a guys afternoon out.  Chad got a game of golf in with Na and Matthew.  And for an even bigger bonus, I guess it was a good game of golf for all three of them, something about all of them getting a valid par on the same hole.  We spent the evening at the new Rivet household.  It's a bummer to know that M&M and Addy aren't going to be the next door neighbors they were down in Louisiana.  We really enjoyed seeing them every other weekend!

On Wednesday we drove out to Lowell to see Chad's Grandma and Grandpa.  They found Caitlin a small toad.  She was surprisingly gentle with it.  I didn't have to wipe toad guts off her hands and she will never know how grateful I am for that!

And what's better than toads?

ICE CREAM!!

A couple years ago Chad and I "bought" 10 acres in Muskegon a couple miles from Lake Michigan.  That's not really an accurate statement.  My parents paid for and own the land, it just happens to be the Hubby and I's name on the deed.  Long story.  Anyway, this property has become a pretty amazing getaway oasis for my Mom and Dad.  We spent two nights escaping the hustle and bustle or the real world.  It very nicely added to the vacation feel we were searching for during our visit up to MI.

We bought Grandpa a horseshoe set for Christmas and Caitlin helped set up the stakes.  If you can imagine, she was exceptionally helpful...

A trip to the property isn't complete without a day at the beach.  Growing up it seemed that every camp ground we camped at was on a rocky beach where walking out into the water was almost impossible without shoes.  I guess all those years of sacrifice paid off and the beach that is 2 miles from the property is a beautiful pristine sandy beach :)

We wrapped the Lansing visit up with a visit from two college friends on Saturday and a big Draminski family get together on Sunday.

I can't say thank you enough to everyone that made an effort to see us before we head North.  A super big thank you to Mom and Dad for putting the three of us up for a week and listening to the toddler temper tantrums that were so new then we had no idea how to deal with them!  And to M&M for watching Marvin for the week, I think my Dad appreciates that the most! :)

"Tu Compania" - Keith Urban

I'm going to describe to you one of the best moments in life that one can have.

It's a Saturday morning (days of the week really don't mean much to us since we've been on vacation), you get up to pee super early - around 5am.  You crawl back into bed not because you're really tired, but because it's just warm and cozy.  You get an hour or two to lazily fall in and out of sleep and cuddle with the best body pillow in the world.  Once you've soaked in all the lazy possible, you hear the little voice of your 2 year old babbling in the next room.  With one invite she is bounding across the room and jumping into bed with her blanket and paci.  Squirming under the covers she uses her blanket to tuck in Dad and snuggles her head on Mom's pillow.  She closes her eyes and fake sleeps.  Then it's just giggles and tickles and hide and seek in the blankets for 10-15 min until everyone realizes how hungry they are.

You'd have to be a heartless ogre to not see the Joy in moments like those.  I'm so glad I'm not a heartless ogre! :)