Our first day was the drive up to Utah. Bruce is not a big road trip fan (unlike me... it's the only way we ever traveled growing up and I have fond memories of being in the car for hours on end, motion sickness and all!) so this was the first road trip I've been on since Beebs was a newborn. I was a little worried about how the wee ones would do in the car for such a long drive, so I went into the trip very prepared. I put together binder with maps, car games, colouring books and blank paper to keep the girls occupied. I packed about 100 snack sized ziplock bags with treats to toss back when they were hungry and I downloaded tons of audio books in hopes of holding off on handing out iPhones as long as absolutely possible. And I planned for plenty of stops.
All the planning worked like a charm, because the trip up was an absolute delight. Seriously. I had no idea that 13 hours in a car with three young children could be so much fun! The girls listened to The Boxcar Children, coloured and played Bingo. Every few hours Sunshine would ask "which dot we were close to" on her map, and then she'd show Beebs where we were and how much farther we had to go. We stopped a handful of times, with two long stops to stretch our legs and enjoy the scenery. We ended up spending about an hour on the grounds of the St George temple and then another hour at the Cache Valley Cheese Factory in Beaver. It made the drive a little bit longer, but we so enjoyed the stops.
We arrived at my parents pretty late in the evening, but that didn't stop us from spending as much time with everyone as we could before retiring to bed. The next morning we were up as early as we could manage and we climbed back in the car, this time headed for Idaho, to deliver Gigi at her sister in law's house.
I probably should have mentioned Bruce Wayne's grandma, Gigi, earlier. Gigi is the reason this trip came to be. She was heading up to Idaho for a family gathering and when she found out I was looking for a way to get up to Utah for a few weeks, she agreed to drive up with me instead of flying. It meant for a few long days of travel, and being away from home longer than she was originally planning, but without her, this trip would not have happened. Even though I did all the driving, it was so nice to have an extra adult to stay in the car while I ran littles in for bathroom stops, and someone to keep me company during the long, ugly stretch of the drive through Nevada. Ü
The drive to Idaho was seriously breath taking. I did not realize how beautiful Idaho is. I think I said approximately one million times that I was dying to live there. Farms as far as the eye can see, I tell you. I was in heaven. The drive alone was enough excitement for me, but we also had a little fun along the way. We stopped at a small potato museum that Gigi knew of, then we ate at a popular little diner in Blackfoot. The food was... well, terrible, but since half the town was there, we decided it must be "the place" to be on the weekend. After our stop in Blackfoot, we left Gigi with her sister in law and headed to Idaho Falls where I did a photo session for one of my dear friends that lives there. It was so fun to see her and her cute family and I'm insanely jealous that they live in such a beautiful place. Before heading home, I had to drive by the Idaho Falls temple, as well as the Idaho Falls. Then we hit the road for another 3+ hour drive back to my parents.
So basically, we spent the first two days of our trip in the car practically non-stop. But we saw so much beautiful scenery and we made several fun stops along the way. And bonus- if you ask my girls what they loved about the trip, they'll tell you the drive up was a top favourite.
And so to recap- days one and two. Lots and lots of driving. Temple, temple, potato museum. Hmmm... if I managed to curb my long winded blogging, I probably could fit the whole trip into one post! Ü
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| St. George Temple |
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| The girls, in their mismatched travel clothes, enjoying the cow fields outside the Beaver cheese factory |
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| Outside the cheese factory |
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| Outside the cheese factory- Man Cub was so happy to have a little freedom! |
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| Idaho Falls Temple |
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| Idaho Falls Temple and the Idaho Falls |
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| I found myself a little obsessed with "naturally occurring water" while on our trip. I would stop at any lake, river, or waterfall I could! Such a nice change from the man-made canals and the random "washes" that we have in the Phoenix Valley |
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