It has been a long time since I have posted and we have had A LOT of life changes and done a lot of really fun things this summer. In May, Sean said good bye to PPD and his job of over seven years to return to school to become a high school science teacher. We took three weeks to transition (i.e. our last hurrah) via a road trip to Yellowstone/Teton mountains/Badlands.
You may be thinking, a road trip halfway across the country with a 13 month old? Jay must be really good in the car. Well, you would be wrong. The boy doesn't sleep in the car and prefers to be outside and moving at all times. The long driving days were made longer by the stress of pulling a trailer (mostly Sean), crying (mostly Jay), teething, and a raging diaper rash (mostly Mali...just kidding). The long days of driving were interspersed with the most amazing sights and adventures. It was better than we could have imagined. I will try to give the highlights...but there were so many, this may take a while :)
Jay and Sean in front of the mighty Missouri River. We decided everything East of the Missouri was boring and West of it was amazing, so it really was the gateway into our vacation. Every day while we drove I imagined what it was like for the Pioneers traveling West for the first time. I can't imagine crossing the Missouri without a bridge. No wonder a lot of people died. Can you tell I was a big fan of the game Oregon Trail as a kid?
The first week of weather was not fantastic. It was cold and very wet. The Badlands are known for desert-like conditions, and they had received more rain in the month of May than the usual annual total. We kept finding mud on our clothes, shoes, toys, etc. for the rest of the trip! One advantage to the rain was the gorgeous rainbow over the Badlands that appeared right as I was putting Jay to bed one night.
A hike on the Keyhole Trail was absolutely perfect. The sun even peeked out during our hike. We saw signs warning of rattle snakes (but no snakes) and lots of bunnies and little squirrels.
Part of the hike included this ladder to the top of a hill. It was a little treacherous but not too bad. We saw some very "non-athletic" folks climbing it, so we were fine.
The unbelievable view worth hiking to!
Jay was so exhausted that he slept through getting out of his carseat, handing him to Sean and putting him to bed (all things that normally wake him up)
The other end of the Badlands was even more gorgeous. A nice Norwegian couple took our picture and spoke Norwegian baby talk to Jay (we assume it was nice things).
This is the camper trailer we rented/borrowed from a friend and Grandpa Jim's old Suburban. It was fun to drive his truck (thanks to Grandma Carol) because it felt like his spirit was with us. He would've loved it too. You can see how close to the Badlands we were in our campsite. Each night as the sun set it highlighted the layers of the hills in a way that changed and evolved every minute, breathtaking.
Next stop was the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming. We had the campground COMPLETELY to ourselves. The camp host was the only other human for many, many miles. He told us we just missed the six inches of snow they got two days before over Memorial Day.
Our little mountain man was learning to walk and got a little better every day. Shortly after this picture was taken, he was pushing the yellow truck that is in the back of the photo through the trees and collecting pine cones. He stopped, looked up to the sky and howled like a coyote. What a ham. A gloriously hilarious and outdoorsy ham.
While driving through the mountain pass, we had to stop and give the brakes a rest. The ravine this overlooked made it well worth the time. We would love to go back and spend more time in the Big Horns.
A glimpse of the Big Horns through the clouds.
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