Author: eaumaison (Page 44 of 207)

Part 2 of a special guest post by Ben

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.

SO FIERCE

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.

Passing the gates

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.

View from the southwest bastion

I fart in your general direction!

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.

Plastic Money?!

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.

Very pretty, but the mosquitos were like small dogs

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.

Yum!

ChugSODA amirate?

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.

Not REAL says Jack

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.

King of the rails

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.

Ride ’em dinoboy!

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 saw a moose(head)!

Can you name these?

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.

Bacon Ecstacy

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 do love this tent, thanks Dad

A great end to a great first day!

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.

I’ve always wanted to bake one of these.  I was surprised to learn the recipe is very old: 1856!  I also learned that for a brief time “pie” and “cake” were interchangeably used because they used the same baking pan.  Hence the name.

Easy recipe, I was surprised how quickly this came together.  I made the cake and filling last night, then the ganache this afternoon.

The recipe said to chill until serving.  The chocolate looked better fresh and glossy when freshly applied.  No one seemed to mind.  I made double the ganache too.  Unnecessary, I wouldn’t bother next time.

Sam couldn’t stand waiting 24 hours to eat the cake.  We were feeding the missionaries tonight. It’s a great excuse to make a cake, and leftovers are minimal.

Bonus!  I made s’mores cookies earlier this week and had an excuse to bust out my blowtorch.

Inspired by Gravity Falls (like everything they do) the boys insisted on making sock puppets this morning.

We took the boys to see Captain Undepants at the new Sloans Lake Alamo.  The book series is a favorite of Jack’s: he was AMPED for the movie.  As the credits rolled he started nerding hard to Ben, explaining all the allusions and differences from the source material. I tried to tape him but he got shy.

We prefer the Littleton Alamo theater.  This one is smaller, no lobby for hanging out before and after the movie.  The servers had to use the same hallways as guests to deliver food.  Also, the neighborhood has that weed stink becoming synonymous with Denver.  The drive is a bit shorter than to Littleton, but less pleasant (dense stop-and-go the whole way). But it’s great to have another option!  The food and service and film quality were great, as expected.

Not ten minutes after bedtime we had a special visit from two Captain Underpantses.

Tra la laaaaaaaa!

We started the summer right by biking to a nearby playground.

Long lunches are back too.  Indulgent, but they eat their fruits and vegetables this way!