Author: eaumaison (Page 44 of 207)

OK, one thing I will admit is nice about summer is that the boys are becoming closer friends than before. When we’re not doing separate trips or camps, they spend all day and night together and they seem to really enjoy it. Here’s some playtime photos from the last few days. As you can see, dressing up and playing superheroes is one of their top fun activities.

Jack made his costume crown during quiet time. I love that Sam wears this knight costume. I think he’s the same age Jack was when I made it for him.  It’s held up remarkably well considering it was cheap acrylic and has had heavy play!  

Jack says that he read Robin Hood to Sam during quiet time and afterwards they wanted to shoot arrows in the backyard. After Dad came home he assisted Sam with his first archery experience.  He seems so tiny to me! But this isn’t far off from when we started Jack on archery too.

Jack and I woke up around 7:30 and headed straight for Devil’s Tower.  Along the short drive to the visitor’s center, Jack realized what prarie dogs were for the first time and fell in love.  There was a huge field of them them right across the entrance to the park land.  At first he said “All I see is a lot of small rocks”, but I told him to look again and he soon saw the cute little buggers running all over.

We arrived at the visitor’s center a bit before they opened, so we headed up around the loop trail so we could see the tower from all sides.  The trail was pretty flat and paved, so it was easy going – there was also a pretty large amount of traffic for 7:45 in the morning.

The first feature we reached was the large boulder field.  Climbing is allowed in the boulder field up to the actual tower face without a permit, so I encouraged Jack to scramble up it a bit.  He was pretty nervous though, so he didn’t go far.

Once he got down from the boulders, we continued along the trail.  Soon, we saw a deer up ahead.  I stopped and was pointing to Jack and the person behind us thought we were pulling over to make room for us and charged ahead with a thank you.  I whispered “There’s a deer there!” and he stopped and gawked with us for a few moments.  It became clear that the deer was going nowhere fast and they guy asked if I thought he could continue up the trail (I don’t think he was from the US).  I told him the deer would probably run off as soon as we got a little closer, so we continued on.  I was wrong though – that deer had no intention of abandoning its sweet grazing spot.  We eventually passed right by it, not 10 feet away.

Just past the deer we saw a bunch of people off the trail looking at the tower and we realized they were watching climbers scamper up the sheer rock face like little spiders.  Seriously, these guys were way quicker than I would have expected.

We continued around the rest of the trail.  On the eastern side, I got to touch the face of the tower, which was my main goal.  We also saw lots of prayer bundles and prayer flags, but we didn’t learn the full significance of them.  I also saw a group of little figures that I liked.

Back at the visitor’s center, Jack decided he didn’t want to do the junior ranger program here, I think partially because it was becoming VERY busy.  He just asked to get a Devil’s Tower coin, mostly because it had prarie dogs on the back.  We climbed back in the car and plunged deeper into Wyoming.

One planned stop I had was to visit the site of the Sundance Kid’s incarceration.  However, since it was July 3rd, the museum and courthouse were closed.  A small bummer, but Jack was very much not interested in this historical figure, since he was a bad guy.  I had to coerce him to take a photo with the statue they had on site by saying he could beat him up.

After many more miles on the Wyoming highways, Jack was ready for a stop.  Lusk, WY was the next reasonably sized town, so we stopped there for pizza and to visit their stagecoach museum.  It was lucky we stopped because I think Jack enjoyed something at this little museum more than anything on this trip.  As most of you know, Jack is very interested in the Gravity Falls tv show, which is about a lot of paranormal stuff.  When he saw this real two headed calf in the museum, he was more excited than I’ve seen him in a long time – he even demanded a photo!

Once we actually had our pizza, Jack realized he had eaten a half can of pringles and wasn’t actually hungry, so we took it to go.  I figured there had to be a reasonably nice park down the road.  Right when Jack was ready to eat, we came upon Lingle, WY and a lovely little park right next to the highway.  We pulled over and had a quick pic-nic.

We were hearing from Rachel and Sam that they were on the road home and we were on track to arrive around the same time as them.  When we got near Cheyenne, I was feeling a little road weary, so I asked Jack if he wanted to stop in for some mini golf.  That was not exactly a hard sell.

It wasn’t the best course, but it was definitely better than Ogi’s.  Jack liked them both the same though, which means he had a great time.  Refreshed, we hit the road for our final leg of the trip.  Soon we were back in the big city and back with the rest of the family.  Jack missed Sam a lot and I missed them too, so we were happy to be home and to have a nice chill evening with everyone together.

Jack and I had a great adventure.  I hope he remembers some of it

Part 4 of a special guest post by Ben

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We slept in.  Which is good since we didn’t have a reservation at the (relatively) famous Hotel Saskatchewan sunday brunch until 10:00.  We were both up by 9:30 and we got dressed and went downstairs for the brunch.  It wasn’t quite ready for as at 10:00, so we had to wait for a bit until it was all set out, but once it was ready – I was blown away.

This was the very best buffet I have ever been to.  There was a table with giant bowls of shrimp, mussels and smoked salmon.  There was a GIANT table filled with cakes, pies, custards and all kinds of other treats and pastries.  The back wall was filled with those metal serving domes and had things like rice pilafs, eggs benedict, bacon, sausage, gravy and more.  There was even a fella carving off very nice looking roast beef of some kind.

Jack got a plate of bacon, a pastry and three pieces of cheese. He ate only the bacon.

Not the best bacon of the trip, but a close second!  I had a slightly larger brunch, but I could only do three plates without feeling like an absolute glutton.

The waitress came to clear Jack’s plate and when I said we were probably ready for the bill, she looked shocked.  It was at that point I realized that I had probably just paid WAY too much for a plate of bacon.  It was true, but I thought the experience was worth it.

We popped back up to our room to grab our stuff and checked out.  We were on the road by 11:00, which was right on schedule.  The road out of Regina into the Regway portal was even more lonely than the road we  had taken in.  I assume because it was not a rail line.  We soon came to the border and easily made it back into our home country.

Our next stop was the sleepy town of Plentywood, MT for a snack stop.  The first place I saw was the Dairy Queen, so I took it as a sign.  Jack was VERY pleased that this was where we had pulled in.  I was extra lucky since when we called home, we found out that Sam was already eating ice cream.  If we hadn’t already had an order in for a blizzard – there would have been some serious jealousy.  It was a nice little town and a very busy and friendly DQ.

Filled up with good ‘ol american dairy, we plunged deeper into Montana.  After several miles on a pretty rough highway, we transitioned to this:

It was actually a REALLY nice gravel road though.  I also felt the need to pull over to take a picture of the beautiful terrain and stopped to read about the old wagon road that was nearby.  At that point though, Jack noticed the impending storm and had to become brave again.

Luckily, we made it off the gravel road and got some fuel before the storm hit, but south of Wibeaux MT, the storm hit hard.  It was the most hair-raising portion of the trip, if only because I wasn’t sure what we would even do if the storm got any worse.  It was blowing hard and whipping huge sheets of rain across the road.  The road was good by this point and was free of standing water though.  We kept going at a much reduced speed, despite Jack yelling “I can’t see ANYTHING”.  (Note, I COULD still see well enough to drive at the speed I was going).

After the storm passed, we drove by a really neat state park called “Medicine Rocks”.  There were a bunch of slate grey sandstone formations that looked like giant blocks of swiss cheese scattered about the prairie.  Jack was in no mood to stop, but if you’re ever between Baker and Ekalakka MT – you should consider stopping in.

A little further down the road, I decided to pull into a little town called Ekalakka in search of some food for the nights stay near Devil’s Tower.  It was a tiny little town, but actually had a quite large grocery store, so we were able to get some yummy stuff for that night – most importantly, marshmallows.

Another interesting find in Ekalakka was as we drove through town, I noticed a big trailer and a bunch of people in weird clothes.  Then I noticed that there was a stage and an audience in front of the trailer.  They were putting on “You Never Can Tell” by George Bernard Shaw in this tiny little town in the middle of nowhere!  I desperately wanted to to stay for a bit, but Jack was in a road trance. “We’re not here for plays Dad.”

We continued on toward our camp ground, but I was becoming more and more worried that I hadn’t been able to contact Rachel in hours.  If I still didn’t have a signal at camp, I was sure she’d freak out.  So we stopped at a little crossroads gas station and I asked if they had a phone I could use.  They said they didn’t, which kind of irritated me.  Luckily, it didn’t matter.  Shortly down the road, we had a phone signal again as we neared Devil’s Tower.

Along the final stretch of road, we saw SO MANY deer.  We saw some antelope that were right up next to the road and just chilled while we stopped and gawked.  We saw a herd of eight deer chilling in a meadow under some burr oaks and cottonwood.  Not to mention the dozens I saw roadside as I carefully drove with blistering perceptual intensity through the final stage of the day’s trip.

Finally, we saw the tower and soon after we were at our campground.  We had made it well before dark, which is good – that drive would have not been great at or around sunset.   Our campground had the cute practice of showing “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” every night, and we had arrived just in time.  I didn’t make Jack stay long, since I’m sure it’s too scary for him, but I at least got to experience it.

We had great views of Devils Tower and we got a nice little cabin (since we were worried about weather).

As night fell, KOA employees wandered around lighting communal fires. Perfect! We have marshmallows!  I knew that fire was allowed, but I didn’t want to buy wood and try to start my own fire, but I did want Jack to experience roasting marshmallows.

He thought it was pretty cool at first, but got bored and tired pretty soon.  We retired to our cabin and watched a little TV on my phone as we drifted off to sleep.  This was the longest drive of the trip, and probably the least eventful as well.  We still had plenty of fun though and we were ready for a great start in the morning!

Part 3 of a special guest post by Ben

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Canada Day in Canada!  We woke up fairly early so we could spend as much time in Regina as possible.  I let Jack stay in the car while I checked out of our hotel, since he didn’t want to go through the fumes again, though they weren’t nearly so bad as the night before.  We were staying at the Bear Claw Hotel, so I HAD to grab a complimentary bear claw on the way out for me and Jack.

The road to Regina was very, very straight, right along a railroad line.  It was fun to see a new little town every 40 km or so, each with its own grain elevator, and most with their own small museum for some reason.  The only town we stopped at was Sedley, SK.  It was just a fuel and snack stop, but it was a very pleasant little store.  I got some very good beef jerky and Jack got a weird lollypop/toy.

My plan on arriving in Regina was to have the hotel hold our luggage and park the car, however when I went inside to arrange that, they told us they had our room ready AND that we had been upgraded to one of the penthouse jacuzzi suites.   We parked the car and schlepped our luggage up to the top floor and opened our (larger than normal) hotel door to see a huge suite of rooms that were very finely appointed.  Jack was flabbergasted by a hotel “room” that had SEVEN rooms.   We threw down our bags and put up our feet for a few moments and called home.

After we got settled in, we headed across the street to Victoria park for the first of our Canada Day festivities.  The had a small farmers market, a face painting stand and a giant Canada 150 sculpture.  We wandered through the farmers market and got something called a “sparkle” which was a cookie with a huge amount of frosting and sprinkles.  After that, Jack decided he wanted to climb around on the sculpture, since that seemed to be allowed.

Soon we were hungry for something other than sparkles, so I convinced Jack to drive over to Coney Island Poutine, so I could get my poutine fix.  It was very empty when we arrived just after 11, and I was afraid they were closed for the holiday, but they were open!  They had a vast array of different poutines and hotdogs.  I got a honey garlic poutine with little rib bites, which was delicious.

Jack got a hotdog with bacon, and a very special surprise “drink.”  They had slush puppies!  Rachel probably remembers that I was very excited about these last time I was in Canada.  They are still delicious, and Jack is also a fan.  We both agreed they were FAR superior to Icees.

As we wrapped up our meal, we noticed that there was a chalkboard wall that we were allowed to write on.  Jack drew a Canadian flag with a blue pine tree on top, and I made a sappy little display.

Our bellies full, it was time to head on to the rest of the Canada Day festivities at the larger Lake Wascana park.  We immediately got stuck in a traffic jam because I overestimated the likelihood of close parking.  Once through the jam, we started wending our way back from the park looking for a spot.  Finally, we got a 2 hour meter spot – good enough!

Once at the park, there was a lot of stuff going on – wagon rides pulled by clydesdales, a buffalo hide tanning demo, a one legged race and more.  We wandered through checking things out, but nothing really grabbed our interest until we got to the lake.  They were offering free kayak or canoe trips around the lake and Jack was immediately intrigued.  After weighing his worry about whether it was too dangerous against the cool factor of rowing our own boat around the beautiful lake – he decided that we should definitely do it.  After a short wait, we got a two person kayak and awkwardly boarded!

Jack had a blast and felt high confidence in his ability to paddle a kayak.  I still handled the steering, but I think he would pick it up for real very quickly.

After our tour around the lake, I realized we were running out of time on the meter.  I asked Jack what else he wanted to do before we went back to the car, and he chose the Royal Saskatchewan Museum.  It was a small natural history type museum, but it was really cool.  They had a giant 3d map of saskatchewan that I really enjoyed, but they also had very impressive taxidermy dioramas like they have here in Denver.  The big difference was that there was no glass.  I really think that made them seem ten times better.  I could have spent a lot more time in the museum, but Jack got his fill before we had to leave to catch the meter.

The embarrassing thing is, the place I parked was only a couple blocks short of our hotel, so I should have just parked there and I wouldn’t have had to worry about the meter. C’est la vie.

We were a little worn out from the park adventures, so we took a few minutes to enjoy our rooms and relax.  Soon enough though, Jack was feeling snacky and ready for more adventure.  We decided to head north to the cornwall center – a mall.  We explored a small comics shop on the way and I resisted buying some pokemon art.

At the mall, we got some fries from A&W and explored the canadian dollar store equivalent.  There was also a sports hat store, so I stopped in to grab a Saskatchewan Rough Riders had for my Dad, since he used to collect “odd” sports hats.  That team is so beloved in Regina… it was game day and I think 70% of the population had some sort of rider gear on.  People in Denver love their Broncos, but Regina has them beat in fandom.

Sam was enjoying some grandparent time in Grand Junction and got to go see the new despicable me movie, so, of course, Jack had to as well.  We headed south to another mall (which as now closed) and got dinner at a proper pizza place with REAL pepperoni.  After eating, we still had some time before the movie, so we went to a nearby park to play a bit.

After the movie, I had to get us back up north to our hotel, but the problem was – most of the roads were now closed.  We wormed our way up through various detours and finally got to the hotel lot, but it was full.  Luckily, they had a sign that said we could use valet service if the lot was full, so we dashed in and handed off my keys.

It was about time for the fireworks show, so Jack settled in on the bed and waited.  Soon they began, and we had a great view!

The show was long, and Jack was soon starting to cozy up in the blankets.  A perfect fireworks viewing spot!

We had been going strong since 6:30, so 11:00 was definitely bed time.  Jack was out almost immediately after brushing teeth.  A long and fun day in Regina!

Part 2 of a special guest post by Ben

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The beginning of day two of our trip was heralded in with a cacophony of bird sounds.  Some sort of waterfowl (maybe a loon?), dozens of chattering sparrows and even a woodpecker.  This concert woke me up at about 6:30 and I soon jostled Jack awake so that we could continue our journey.  We didn’t actually spend much time in Miles City, other than getting gasoline.

At this point, Jack started to get pretty confused about where we were, and where we were going.  He saw a casino in Miles City and (knowing that we were planning to stay in a casino that night) he said “is that the casino we’re staying at?”  I told him we had a lot more miles to put under our belt before we were going to tuck in for the night.

The first thing I had planned to visit was a dinosaur museum in Glendive, MT.  However, they didn’t open until 10:00, and it was only 8:00.  I offered to hang out and visit when they opened, but Jack wanted to hit the road.  We DID get to visit “Glendisaurus”, a very silly gigantic triceratops statue.

Dinosaur interested slaked, we headed on to our first National Park, the Fort Union Historic Site.  It was not the best leg of the drive, as google sent us on a route that included many miles of horrible rutted dirt road (under construction) that was full of large dump trucks.  I drove very carefully through there – and it was probably the most nervous I was on the trip of getting tire puncture.

Soon we got on decent roads again and arrived at the historic site.  We were amused by the fact that we passed back into Montana momentarily on our way in.

The fort was pretty cool looking with its large white bastion towers and heavy wooden gates.  There was no one to greet us at first, so we just wandered into the large main house, where we finally found the first park ranger.

She was very nice and immediately started Jack on the junior ranger program.  To his dismay, it required reading and critical thinking.  He complained several times that this program was much harder than the one at the monument, but he was determined to get it done.

As part of the program, we got to visit another ranger in the “Indian Trade House” near the gate.  He was dressed up in period garb and described the process of trading with the native americans.  Jack learned something, and I also learned something!  Jack learned that when making a tanned hide, the brains are taken and smeared all over the back part of the hide, which he found disgusting yet wonderful.  I learned that the practice of referring to the native americans as “Red Skins” may have actually come from one of their cultural practices, instead of the natural bronze color of their skin.  Apparently, the trade post would often trade chinese vermillion pigment, which the native americans would use to make a red skin cream that they would wear in formal situations.

After that, we wrapped up the program by hunting for facts on the interpretive signs spread about the compound.  I was disappointed to learn that this place is a reproduction built in the 1980’s, but also impressed at how worn it had become even after only 35 years or so.  It truly must have been a punishing part of the country to live in back then.

Jack acquired a new junior ranger badge and also got a silly little buffalo robe that he could have traded for a different trinket.  Jack is wise beyond his years and knew the true value of his natural resources, so he held onto the souvenir buffalo robe.

After the fort, we headed to Williston, ND to grab lunch.  I was immediately turned off to this town as I saw many horribly austere “Employee Accommodations” on the way into town.  I also saw multiple “Info Wars” bumper stickers, and everyone I saw seemed to be scowling or depressed.  I sent Rachel a text saying that I really didn’t like this town, and I think she rolled her eyes at me – but I don’t have proof.  I’ve since learned that between 2010 and 2014, the town grew by over 60% due to the fracking boom.  That explains a lot, especially since the boom is now headed toward bust.  I really didn’t like the town, but I do hope the people of Williston are able to find a way to equilibrium.

Full of McDonald’s, we headed toward the never ending acreage of farmland leading into Saskatchewan.  We saw another troubled motorist (this time from colorado), however – they also declined any help.  Soon, we were at the Estevan/Noonan border crossing and I was getting very nervous, since I hadn’t crossed an international border in over a decade.

We pulled up, and immediately there was trouble.  Since I didn’t have a “note” from Jack’s co-parent, we had to go into the border facility and wait while they called Rachel.  They were very friendly to us, but apparently they gave Rachel more lip than she prefers.  They were very calm about the whole thing, which was nice – since I was so nervous anyway.  They even gave Jack a pin and an activity book.  We eventually got our stamps and were on our way to fuel up in Estevan.  My first order of business was to get some native currency, which impressed Jack.

Having switched over to kilometers, we made one last lonely leg of the day to arrive at the White Bear First Nation.  We immediately stopped at Ogi’s Chip Stand for some mini golf.  Although the facility was really, really bad – Jack had a wonderful time.  It helped that we were the only ones there and he could be very goofy.  After our round, the owner seemed to be somewhat embarrassed that we had come so far to visit his humble chip stand.  He said “How was it?  I guess I should really get in there and sweep again…”.  I told him that we had a lot of fun, and that I had helped pick up the rocks from the greens, and that seemed to cheer him up.

Next stop, Moose Mountain Provincial Park.  It was later than I expected for getting to the park, so we didn’t do much there.  We went in and drove around the lake a bit looking for Moose, then we took a short hike along a very lush trail.

Jack soon tired out, so we headed to the Moose Mountain Inn for some pizza.  Unfortunately, the pizza was a huge disappointment for Jack.  Their idea of pepperoni was more like spicy bologna.  It’s really too bad, since the pizza was otherwise delicious.  If we ever return, we’ll have to try another topping!

We finally headed down the road to our hotel and checked in.  I was forced to recall what cigarette smoke smelled like while checking in to the lobby, but our room was clean, comfortable and odor free.

We were finally in Canada, and Jack realized that New York City was far, far more foreign (but at least they had proper pizza).

A few months ago, Jack said “I’ve never been out of the country you know.”  So, since I’ve been itching for a proper road trip for years, I suggested that we go to Canada.  I initially had Calgary in mind, but realized that Regina was much closer.  Since we had no reason other than “Go to Canada” and the legendary Edmonton Mall was really just too far, we decided to head straight north to visit our friends in Saskatchewan.

The first day, I woke up early because I was too excited/nervous to sleep more.  Soon the rest of the family followed me and we had some breakfast.  Meanwhile I was throwing stuff that we had packed the previous night in the car.  We had a lot of gear because we were planning to camp on 2 of 4 nights.

We were soon ready and Jack and I piled in to my car and headed north.  The first leg of the trip was fairly uneventful, and mostly territory and terrain that Jack and I were very familiar with.

Our first stop was Cheyenne, WY.  Our primary reason for stopping was that I realized I hadn’t packed any pillows for camping, so we needed to buy some before we left civilization.  Jack said “This looks just like our target!”  A Target’s a Target the whole world ’round they say.

The first fun stop of the trip was in Chugwater, WY.  Jack really enjoyed the name of the place, but the main reason we stopped there was that I had heard they had an ancient soda fountain.  It was a pretty cool place in a very sleepy town.  Jack had a root beer float, and I had a butterscotch ice cream soda.  Both were pretty good, but nothing special – she just used Kroger sodas and those ubiquitous coffee shop flavor shots.  I think I had overly high expectations for this one, but I’m still glad we stopped.  We later found out that we were SUPPOSED to get Chugwater chili there, but we didn’t.

 

Filled up on soda and powered by burps, we hit the road, bound for Douglas.  I was very interested in checking out the road conditions on this leg in anticipation of our trip to Wyoming in August for the eclipse.  The road was in truly excellent shape, except for a small bit of construction that I’m sure will be resolved by then.  We saw our first large herd of cattle on this leg and Jack was enamored with the many cute calfs.  We also saw a road mirage for the first time and I showed Jack the big “puddle” up ahead.  He was shocked when it disappeared!

We came in to Douglas and immediately went to McDonalds, as Jack was seriously jonesing for a new minions happy meal toy.  We played in the small outdoor play area there and Jack made friends with a very Wyoming sort of boy.

After lunch, we went across town to the Railroad Interpretive Center, primarily to take a picture of us with the big Jacaklope.

We also took a quick look at the trains and we were about to hit the road, when a friendly lady came out of the visitors center and asked if we wanted to go in the trains.  I thought Jack would decline, but he said yes.  We got to go in a dining car and a sleeper car.  I’d never seen a sleeper car before!  However, this one was a little ratty – clear that it’s been sitting around for MANY years.

After we visited the trains, the nice lady invited us into the museum to see their 60 year old model train.  It was not that amazing, but Jack was impressed that it started to spew “smoke” from the engine.  We saw the eclipse glasses and mentioned the eclipse, much to our host’s dismay.  She is terrified of the expected 40,000 person rush into Douglas and the 120,000 people in Casper.  She was also sad she had to work that day, even though it’s usually her day off.  I told her I’d bring her something nice if I make it back to the railroad museum that day.  I really do feel bad for the normal citizens of those towns, hopefully all the nerds will be nice and respectful.

After Douglas, we headed out onto the lonely highways of Coverse county.  Lots of giant oil trucks, but not much traffic overall.  Jack had an urgent need to stop in the middle of Thunder Basin Grasslands, but we managed to make it to the strange little town of Wright.  It seemed like a nice subdivision area of Denver, but spread out more.  It even had a little subdivision style sign on the entrance to town.  This is how I feel a proper oil town boom community should look (I’ll refer back to this in part 2).  The local Sinclair station had the usual dinosaur, but since this was Wyoming, the dinosaur had a saddle.

After that we continued into Gillette (“Energy capital of the world”), where I was excited to see the legendary Campbell County Rock Pile.  I mostly was amused that it was a thing, but it turned out that their museum was actually pretty neat.  Jack really enjoyed learning about all the old rancher tools, seeing some very nice taxidermies heads and visiting his first one rooms school house.

We headed out into another lonely stretch of road after Gillette on our way to Montana.  We passed through a few rain storms on this leg and had some lovely smells of wet sagebrush (yeah, I know I hated it as a kid, but it smells great now).  I also thought this was one of the prettiest sections of the journey.  20 miles shy of Broadus, MT – we saw a truck towing a few ton bales blow a tire.  I was worried about him, since it was the middle of nowhere, so I slowed down and asked if he needed a ride into town or anything.  He said no, but thanked us.  We headed on to Broadus for dinner.  I had heard that a place called the “Cashaway Cafe” that had homemade bacon, so I thought Jack really needed to try that out.  It was a very ragged little place, but the bacon and other meat was nothing short of incredible.  I was very glad we made the stop.  Jack even told me “You have to try this bacon dad!”  He doesn’t do that with food – this was his first foody moment We also talked with some truckers headed south who said we had a “clear run” into Miles City.

Our final leg of the trip was an easy one, but Jack was concerned about weather.  He was brave enough to agree to go through with the camping plan and so we found a very lovely campsite at a fishing access area on the Togue river.   We ended our first day with a little bit of walking around the area and by watching the first half of Back to the Future in the tent.

I’m behind in my journalling!  For Mother’s Day I met Cate, Erin, and Cate’s friend Megan at a Sur La Table in Cherry Creek to learn how to make croissants.

It was really fun!  They had everything ready to use, pre-measured, and written instructions to take home after class.  As we dirtied dishes the helpers whisked them away to be washed.  I feel like I could totally make my own croissants now (if I wanted to purchase a pound of European butter!).  We made plain, chocolate, and ham and cheese. If I were to make them again I would roll and cut them smaller.  I felt like it was too doughy in the center (the instructor says he prefers them that way), plus I’d rather get more smaller croissants than a few humongous buns.

I got to enjoy the time with my friends and had a quiet lunch by myself prior.  What a great gift!

Another museum!  This time: kid-friendly highlights from the Met.

We briefly went up to the roof to see the view of Manhattan but MAN it was hot!  Jack learned the true meaning of humidity.

In the afternoon we saw the truly amazing Gazillion Bubble Show.  It was very kid friendly, well run, and a total riot.  I think everyone had a big grin on their face.

In lieu of proper dinner we poked into several eateries walking back toward the hotel.

My folks took Jack to see Captain Underpants again, my siblings saw some interactive theater (Ghostlight), and did some solo shopping in Herald Square.  Afterward we gathered at the hotel for Father’s Day presents and a group photo.

The next morning we had some trouble getting home.  A large storm stretching across the Appalachians grounded all the flights.  We spent the entire day at the airport trying to get home.  We had to give up and stay in Astoria for one more night, leaving from a different airport in the morning.

I must have bad NYC mojo.  This is my 3/3 of my last trips there have had major delays or cancellations getting home.  I knit and entire sock during the airport/plane time on this trip, starting at the gate in Denver on Thursday; binding off as we landed back in Colorado.

Jack’s upright sleep accurately describes how I felt as we drove the last few miles home.  A great trip, a very tiring trip.  He’s on a road trip with Ben to Canada today.  Last I heard they had made it to Douglas, Wyoming.

A quick trip on the subway took us to the Natural History Museum.   (Sorry for the thumb in the photo.)

 

Earlier this spring we watch the movie “Night at the Museum” to prepare for the trip.  Jack was excited to see some of the sights from the movie.  The museum wasn’t exactly like in the movie.  Either they have made major changes to the layout in the last few years, or the movie set designers didn’t feel the need to replicate it very precisely.  Despite that, Jack had fun hunting for things he recognized.

Jack had a lot of anxiety on the trip.  He was sure we would be hit by a hurricane or flood or the buildings would fall over (he doesn’t yet know about any real terror attacks that have occurred in the city – I skipped that part of NYC history).  He was convinced this whale model would fall down.  Now that he has “survived” I hope he enjoys looking at the pictures of it.

His favorite part of the museum was the Tiger displays.  He did a school report on Bengal Tigers and has been in love with them ever since.

We walked out of the museum into torrential downpour. Instead of exploring Central Park as planned, we scurried to a nearby Shake Shack for lunch, then took the subway back to midtown to meet-up with the rest of the family.

This was my theater day.  Dad volunteered to rest at the hotel with Jack while I went with the rest to see In and Of Itself.  But first, there’s always time for snacks!  The rain had stopped enough to sit outside in Union Square.

 

 

 

The show was a one-man-show about identity told in a series of stories and magic tricks, more like an essay than a narrative performance.  I was underwhelmed by the written part, but he had an amazing memory and great slight-of-hand tricks.

Dinner at a BBQ place in Times Square.  Delicious, copious amounts of food!  Jack enjoyed his root beer float, then took a snooze as the meal ended.

After dinner I got to see ANOTHER show!  This was Anastasia, based on the animated movie from 1997. They (wisely) took out the villain Rasputin and all the mystical parts of the story, and also beefed up the historical context.  The music and costumes were gorgeous.  I absolutely loved it.

Another late night – I couldn’t believe Jack and my parents were still awake when we got back to the hotel!

(Bonus picture from the second day I forgot to post.  Thanks, whichever sibling took it!)

Jack and I have returned from his first trip to New York City!

Striker the tiger and Jack got their first view of Manhattan as we landed.

Our hotel room had a beautiful view of the Empire State Building.  It was beautiful to see lit up at night, even in the fog.

After checking in to the hotel we took to the streets for food.  Pizza, Kati Rolls, and Wafels and Dingels.  We took the food to nearby Bryant Park and met up with Andy and Jenn.

The next morning we went shopping in Rockefeller Center.  I loved the Koons installation.  Jack loved the Lego displays.

Next we went south to Battery Park.  Jack got a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and decided he didn’t want to take the Ferry for a closer look.  Instead we explored the Clinton Castle and had street vendor snacks.

More shopping in Soho.  This display at the Scholastic Company office caught his eye.  Although there is no longer a store at that location, the front desk staff asked him to wait while they brought down a pile of free books for him to take home!  Mom found good things at Gudrun and took Jack to the Evolution store.  I tried out some Uniqlo clothes and made my usual pilgrimage to Purl Soho for their lovely, soft yarn.

We all gathered a delicious Italian dinner.  Jack only showed enthusiasm for the tower of profiteroles.  While the others went to see the musical “Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812,” Jack and I went to Times Square.  We saw the Naked Cowboy, the usual skungy character buskers, and Living Statues of Liberty – who distracted him from the topless body paint ladies to my amusement.  Jack marveled at the giant Disney store and found a new Spider-Man jacket.  Sadly it seems the giant Toys R Us has closed; no ferris wheel for us this time.  After a long day I forced him to close his book and turn lights out at 11 pm.