We had a fabulous trek to the West where we visited friends, family, and just about every church history site along the way. I'm still amazed at all the places we visited; the kids are still amazed that it'll be another year before they can play with cousins again!
I don't have pictures of everything we did (yes, you can sigh a sigh of relief), but we did get some cute ones that I'd like to share.
Get ready...Let's go!! So our vacation began here: bags packed, water bottles filled, tents and sleeping bags stuffed in cozy corners. Books on cd are ready to be listened to and movies are ready to be watched. Everyone was very excited to begin...and by day 3, everyone was ready to arrive.
First day of our journey we stopped at Carthage and Nauvoo, IL. We toured as many restored buildings as possible, played games at the Family Fair and enjoyed the Nauvoo Pageant. That night we camped at Nauvoo Stake Park. While we stopped at a few other interesting spots along the way, this was the most enjoyable.
Amy waiting patiently for a piece of homemade bread at the Family Living Center in Nauvoo.
After two more days of driving, we arrive and get to spend 3 weeks in Salt Lake City, UT!
Day of '47 Parade. We enjoyed going to the parade, but even more fun was getting a close-up view of the floats the week before and voting for our favorite. The picture below us at the rear of BSA's float celebrating 100 years of scouting. Do you think Paul is wondering if the fish is real?
I thought pigs only flew in Cincinnati!?!
Visited friends, the Rogers and Marbles! Can you believe this horde of kids? When we all lived in Chicago there were only two per family. :)
Day trip to American Falls, ID. We visited the Neeley cemetery where my dad is buried, toured the fairly new museum, saw the reservoir and falls, visited Aunt Bea, and drove by the old houses. Visiting our friends, the Adkins, was a big highlight. They treated us to lunch, then horse rides, egg collecting, and feeding the new calves. So fun!!
Grandma really treated us right. Paul loved to water the garden and pick apricots and apples. Everyone loved the fresh baked bread and pies. Yum!
Kennecott Mine was so cool! If you've never been there, you should definitely go.
Hogle Zoo!
Better get your gorilla face on.
Visiting Temple Square. Loved the temple model in the Visitor's Center! We could have walked around it all day long. We visited the Family History Center, the Church Museum, and had lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe. We also loved seeing the wall of temples in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building when we visited with Joel.
Deuel Cabin:
Inside the Tabernacle after a concert. Maggie was amazed at the changing colors on the wall behind the pipes.
Me and my boys outside Joseph Smith Memorial Building:
Family Reunion. We stopped at Bridal Veil falls before heading up to our family reunion. The girls loved being able to have cousins ride along.
Jumping rope was a huge hit at the reunion in Vivian Park.
Hanging out. When the kids weren't playing with cousins or swimming at David's, they were finding all sorts of interesting things to play with at Grandma's house, including some kind of acorn game in the back yard, mattress forts, and crayon structures. This happens to be James' masterpiece. Maybe we shouldn't tell Grandma...
We celebrated my brother Joel's birthday.
Long live ice cream!
And on the way home...
Crazy Horse!!
Mt. Rushmore!!
How could we not stop for free water at Wall's Drug??
Hey, even giant rabbits get thirsty!
Bad Lands were awesome!
This is my trying-to-be-inconspicuous shot of all the Sturgis motorcycles we saw. Unfortunately most of them had left the parking lot before I could get the shot taken. Clearly we missed a life-changing opportunity when we did not head north with them to the rally.
Following is a picture of our final rest stop dinner of the trek home. Kids were loving the macaroni & cheese with Spam; we were not loving the return to humidity. We knew we were headed East because each stop that day was progressively muggier. We decided we should splurge for a hotel our last night, and we were so grateful we did. All night we heard thunder, wind, and rain.
A final game before getting into the car. James is explaining the rules:
Welcome Home! The cherry on top was that we were home only one day before getting a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Nielson. And what a wonderful visit it was! We were able to get ready for school, make some decisions regarding our house, and Brian and I were able to celebrate our 14th anniversary. All too soon, we were back to ourselves and getting back to the everyday.
Thank you so much to everyone who made our summer trip so fun. We were enveloped in loving family and friends, who really went out their way to make it a special vacation. We love you all!!
1 comment:
I am exhausted after reading about all you did. There were a lot of smiles in those pictures...I would tag that as a success!
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