Day 7: Lake Easton State Park, Washington

Today was both the best and worst day! I’d say our stops were the best so far, but the car ride was harder. You can tell it’s been seven days and everyone is getting the equivalent of cabin fever (car fever?).

We got up after our best sleep yet; camping sleep is the best! It was starting to drizzle so instead of a camping breakfast (oatmeal) we treated ourselves to Starbucks.

The first part of the trip actually went smoothly. If you’re wondering, here’s what we do in the car:
Listen to music
Listen to podcasts
Sing
Talk
Listen to stories
The girls play
Look for animals
Negotiate
Hand out snacks and eat them
Look for license plates
Look out the window
Tell Taco to sit
Play “I spy”

We stopped in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho for lunch at the most amazing park I’ve ever seen! There were different parts and the play structure was huge! And it was close to the water. We’ve also been very lucky with the weather and it was a great picnic.

The next leg of the trip was the worst! Both girls were due for a nap, A fell asleep but then something set Z off and she started screaming and woke A up. So they were both fussy for a while. They eventually fell asleep and it was ok after that. We had another time zone change which doesn’t help as it makes our days longer than they normally are, so we just keep driving and don’t realize instead of 3 or so hours it’s been 4 or so.

We found a nice state camping for the night, this is our third night of camping in a row! We’ve gotten really good at it. This campground is amazingly beautiful, calm and near a serene lake. Usually when we arrive, Husband sets up the tent and gets the camp stove started for dinner while I go to the park with the girls. Tonight I decided to switch things up and help start the fire for the camp stove. It went ok, but I don’t think I’d win in a Survivor fire challenge 😂

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Day 6: Missoula, Montana

There is something about camping that makes me sleep so well! I think it has to do with being close to the earth and following the sun’s rhythm more. We were up early (5:30am) as I had anticipated due to baby A, but we felt really well rested nonetheless.

I’ve been feeling so fortunate during this trip that our girls and dog are such good travelers. I’m also so happy my husband is my partner in this adventure, we work really well as a team.

I forgot to mention earlier about Z’s odd fear of dogs. It is so weird considering we have a dog, but she is terrified of all the dogs we meet, we have to hold her in our arms otherwise she has a big fit! I’m hoping it’s just a phase.

Aside from the amazing Montana scenery, we saw so many animals today!

Bison (ok that was yesterday but I forgot to mention it)
Cows
Sheep
Horses
Pigs
Deer
Heron
Geese
Falcon

The similarities and differences from doing this road trip when I was a kid and now is that now I get to choose when we stop, eat, etc. Not that it was bad when I was young, but being in control of the stops is fun! Also, having access to the Internet and GPS instead of using paper maps makes a huge difference! For all of our stops, I just use google maps to find a park and I zoom in to see if they have a playground, something I definitely couldn’t have done when I was a kid!

Today went smoothly, we stopped in Billings for a picnic lunch near a river, it was an amazing spot! We stopped again in Butte for a play in the park, ice cream and a few more groceries. We almost rain out of gas!!!! The dashboard said we had 10km left and we turned in to this old gas station and it said “out of gas” and we had to cross our fingers we’d get to the next one in time, but we did thankfully! It’s getting really late - I think the coffee milkshake I had earlier is keeping me up!

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Photo

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Day 5: Miles city, Montana

After breakfast with D, we went grocery shopping to get some food for our camping trip. We then drove to Bismarck, North Dakota for a picnic lunch and play in a park. It was a beautiful day, sunny and windy, and we all had a lot of fun! We then continued driving and stopped at a viewpoint of the badlands. It is truly amazing to see the scenery change. It is simply breathtaking! We saw many cows, horses and sheep today. We arrived in Miles City at around 4:30pm (we had another time zone change today and I’m hoping baby A doesn’t wake us all up at 4am like last time!). While the girls and I played in the park, husband pitched the tent and made dinner. Then I cleaned up, we played a bit more and are now all in the tent hoping to sleep well tonight (it is 7:30pm!).

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Visiting the Mall of America

Visiting the Mall of America

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Day 4: Fargo, North Dakota

What a wonderful day! We woke up crazy early (4:20am) because of baby A and the time change. We had breakfast at the restaurant and then headed to the Mall of America. First stop was the Disney store, then the Lego store, then we looked at the rides, but Z didn’t want to go on them. We spent a good half hour at the American Girl doll store; Z was overjoyed to be able to play with the dolls! Next we went to the Nickelodeon store and then back to the Lego store where we bought each girl a new Lego. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Then we headed towards Fargo.

The drive went well. The scenery in Wisconsin and Minnesota is so beautiful. We saw many rolling hills, cows and horses. As we got closer to Fargo, the hills became prairies. We saw our first accident in 2500km 😢. We also saw a train from afar, we could see the locomotive and the caboose at the same time, it was really cool!

It was so nice to see D, my husband’s sister’s husband’s mother. She was a wonderful hostess! We first played in the park and then had dinner. I wanted to stay up to catch up, but the early wake up had me exhausted and I fell asleep when I put the girls to bed. This is also why I didn’t post last night!

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Day 3: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Four states in one day today! Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. We got off to a rough start as the fire wouldn’t get going. It had rained so the wood we found was too wet and would smoke instead of igniting. We found a cute cafe and had a breakfast that filled our hungry tummies and helped us be patient. The first leg of our trip went really well - the girls slept for about an hour and then were easily entertained with the toys I packed for them.

We stopped in a Panera near(ish) Chicago for lunch.

The next leg of the trip was the longest yet - over four hours! It went surprisingly well, again the girls were entertained and then slept, I also have a plentiful stash of snacks to keep them going. We stopped in a (creepy horror-movie-style) small town to get gas and let the girls and the dog play at the park for a bit.

The last two-hour leg of the trip was the hardest. They were both hungry and the toddler (Miss Z) threw her toys a few times. Finally we made it to Minneapolis and had dinner and we are ready for bed in a hotel tonight. We are super excited to discover the Mall of America tomorrow!

Oh also, the hubby and I started looking for different license plates and we found 32 today (plus 3 Canadian ones)!

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