Day 13-We made it!!!! July 13, 2013

(Sorry about the delay, we just got Internet-I couldn't make myself go into another McDonald's even if it was just for the free wi-fi-so this is what happened to us on Saturday the 13th-the last day of our trip)

We just spent our last night in a hotel for this trip. You'd think we weren't excited to get to our home. We didn't leave the hotel until 10am-we had to be sure we got the "free" breakfast I guess; perhaps we are avoiding getting back in the car. Gas in Washington is $3.87 (Yikes!)

We drive, with no issues, 3 hours to our new home. We don't have a key, but the code for garage did work (miracles never cease).

 

3,465 miles of bugs-gross!

 



We traveled 3,465 miles with no mechanical issues for 3 cars. No major mishaps (Kasen puked a couple of times and peed in a water bottle but he's too young to remember). We traveled through North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and finally Washington-13 states coast to coast in 13 days (no where close to a Guinness book record). Visited with 4 family members and 5 friends (I wanted to pick up a stray dog but Yany said no). Only sibling battles, no wars and Yany and I didn't fight (too much or too heated). Overall, it went MUCH better than I expected. 2-weeks on the road-would I do it again? Sure-but please give me a couple of months to recuperate!

We all run into the garage and straight out into the backyard (where else would you run to?). It was awesome, in a tiny sort of way. The weather is beautiful and I can tell we will be spending a lot of time out here. The girls work a deal out on who gets what room. Laney wants the view of the street- she likes peeking on the neighbors. Haley has no closet (rats!) and our master bedroom has no light (not wanted surprises). Really, no light on the ceiling, I am sure glad I got those super cute lamps from Plan B in Aberdeen, NC-they will be needed.

Laney's new room-no real bed till Tuesday

 



We grudgingly get back in the car and run to Wal-Mart, which has an awesome view of Mt. Rainier, to pick up some food. We are cooking tonight and eating out al fresco on the patio furniture the former owners left for us (wanted surprise). Spaghetti at home-it doesn't take much to make us happy-well a morning cup of coffee is pretty special, but we've got that covered, too.

Out of the car and at our new home sweet home-thank you Lord!

 

Our furniture will be here on Tuesday (July 16th) and then the playing stops and the work begins-yuck!

 



Y'all come and visit, we'll make sure you have an interesting time...thanks for traveling with us! Was it worth it? Of course, family always is.

DeeAnn- Military Lifer wife

Day 12-Almost there, July 12, 2012

Since we extended our trip we are now doing the sniff test to decide if our clothes can be reworn. I should have done laundry at Annie's in Omaha, but I was tired and didn't feel like it. Most of our hotels have had a laundry mat, but again I just really don't feel like we are stinky enough to make the effort; it's easier to just buy new clothes.

Yany has rebelled. He won't carry our bags in the hotels anymore. For the past four days he's made us dig our clothes out of the van in the parking lot. It was cold and winding in Montana and it's cold and windy here in Washington.

Digging out our stuff

 

Haley and Yany are twins in their souvenir shirts

Laney in her Yellowstone souvenir shirt

And Alyse sporting the Yellowstone shirt with her official Jr. Ranger Park badges

Montana was easy driving, gas is $3.63. It's open and mountainous but the speed limit is 75, as was South Dakota, and Wyoming. We leave Butte, Montana, and are ready for a big day of driving.

We get to Idaho and the speed limit slows. Gas is $3.71 and the road is straight downhill with tight curves. We race down like Fast and Furious-it was too intense to try to look at the speed and the road. A yellow Tracker weaved in and out and cut us off, we caught him and passed him-yes we are mature and fast.

I feel like we've been eating a lot of junk food with all of the restaurants we are frequenting. We found a place in Idaho with wonderful fruit and Washington cherries. An interesting thing about fruit is that it tends to make people gassy-my family has given a new meaning to "cherry bombs."

If felt like crossing the finish line when we flew across the state line into Washington-too bad we need to be on the far side of Washington to get home. We decide to stop in Ellensburg, WA, for the night. Three more hours to Lacey and we are off the road-YEAH!

Almost there...

DeeAnn-Military Lifer Wife

Day 11-Yellowstone, July 11, 2013

The sun and air are different in this part of the country. We started noticing it in Omaha. The air is so dry. My lips feel like I've eaten a jumbo bag of chips-they're pukery feeling. My skin is dry and we keep shocking each other. Also the sun is so much brighter. When we walk outside we put our arm over and eyes and complain like we are part vampire-arrggg the sun is too bright! I've told the kids it's because there are no forests of pine trees to filter the sun. Regardless of the reason we feel like the moisture is sucked out of us, but that doesn't slow us down (the altitude is doing that-got oxygen?).

We leave Cowboy Village in Cody, WY and set our GPS for Yellowstone. I am hopeful we can get in free with our National Park Pass.

Yellowstone, apparently, is a HUGE tourist attraction. My first glimpse of this is the line to get in-hmmm.
Turns out the National Park Pass only works for one car-unless you hold up traffic, beg and plead, and claim PCS status (yes, I have no shame). Then you can get a couple of day passes for your following cars.

We planned on mostly doing a drive through not realizing that:
1. Yellowstone is huge and the speed limit is 45mph
2. Lots and lots and lots of people trying to see the same things
3. Road construction

My front view

My rear view-Haley is the first car, Yany is the second

 

 

We were able to see Old Faithful erupt. It used to erupt approximately every 66 minutes-thus the saying, "every hour, on the hour." Some earthquake in the 1950s changed the eruption to approximately every 88 minutes, so we caught the 2:53pm show. It was quite spectacular.


I didn't realize there was a huge lake, forests, grasslands, and swamplands. I guess I've watched to much Yogi Bear and thought I was going to see bears crashing picnics.

The only bear we saw-we bought, he loves his new backpack

 Snow on the mountains

 Really big lake

Buffalo roaming around

We found out that you can become an official Jr. Park Ranger at most National Parks; one family we talked to has earned 7 badges. Alyse was interesting in earning a badge.

After spending too much time sightseeing and waiting in line we needed to leave. Alyse was very diligent and completed her badge requirements. She received her badge and this made Kasen cry. Therefore, Haley had to earn Kasen a badge or we won't get any peace, Kasen is VERY persistent. We convince Haley that she's completed enough-let's go. The "not real nice" Park Ranger was disappointed in our feeble attempt and denied our badge request. He suggested we work harder and mail in our paperwork to receive a badge. He gave Kasen a sticker and tried to send us on our way. If you remember, Kasen rides with me. I stand in front of "not real nice" Park Ranger and beg and plead (and let Kasen scream and cry) and eventually Kasen is also granted an official Park Ranger badge-I believe I also mentioned being shameless. "Not real nice" sent us on our way without a ceremony and I put 2 happy Jr. Park Rangers in their seats in my car.

We are becoming road weary and hotel leary and are ready to make it to our new home. We've got two more nights in a hotel and then we will be at our new home-sweet-home. Tonight's stop is Butte, Montana.

I'm glad we saw Yellowstone, but if we come back we will try a less popular time.

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife

Day 10-Mt. Rushmore; July 10, 2013

We reached Mt. Rushmore this morning. I was willing to forgo this stop, but Yany was really wanting to see this monument. I’m glad I gave in to his request. I was very excited about getting to use our National Park Passes and do something free. That silly notion of seeing something for free was squashed. We can get into the park for free, but parking is not.  Three cars at $11/car-arrggg!!!!

I passed history in school, but it never interested me much. I didn’t even know what Presidents were carved into the granite of the Black Hills of SD. For anyone who also doesn’t know they are George Washington-the Father of our country; Thomas Jefferson-the one responsible for drafting the Declaration of Independence and granting rights to all in a democratic society; Theodore Roosevelt-for his vision of progress; and Abraham Lincoln- for his keeping the union together and the Emancipation Proclamation.

 Mt. Rushmore

Yup-we're all there (Yany's our photographer)

It was quite awe inspiring and made me so proud to be a citizen of the USA.

One program they offered was becoming an official Junior Park Ranger. Three of our party acquired this prestigious certification. Alyse was the first to diligently obtain her badge. Kasen quickly followed her lead and he also became an official Junior Park Ranger.

Alyse showing off her badge, Kasen is tired and doesn't want to show his badge, as always-Haley looks great.

 

Yany apparently got badge envy and he was required to complete the hard certification-I couldn’t help with the answers. He passed with flying colors (show off) and now proudly sports his official Junior Park Ranger badge, too.

 Hard test

Official swearing in-Junior Park Ranger Yany Rivera

We spent more time than we planned at Mt. Rushmore and did the drive-by for the Crazy Horse Monument-I’m not sure why it’s not finished, but they still want $10 a person to see an incomplete statue-sheesh.

In the distance is Crazy Horse's Head

I thought the drive through Wyoming was going to be boring. The first few hours we drove I assume God had decided that Wyoming should not have trees. I don’t know what the opposite of claustrophobia is, but I felt like I had too much space. Then we came to a mountain. 9000 ft up and 9000 ft back down. I found out that:

 1. Looking out and down while winding around a mountain makes me nauseated-even though I am driving
 2. Screaming while driving on said road will make my passengers nervous, especially when looking down a 9000 ft drop off of the mountain from a very narrow 2 lane road
3. Laney does not want to learn to drive just because I am terribly sick and still have 18 miles of curves left to go-she is not a team player.

After the grueling trip up and down the mountain the terrain looked normal with small hills and trees-Wyoming is an enigma- or schizophrenic.

We stopped about an hour from Yellowstone. Hopefully, no mountains to cross before we get there.

Don't fall asleep before getting the blue cotton candy off your face or Laney will take a picture of you and your Mom will post it ;)

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife

Day 9, Gotta' get going-aiming for SD; July 9, 2014

We hated to leave but eventually Yany will need to go to work, so we set our GPS for Rapid City, South Dakota.

I have been overly tired. We figured out we are having jet lag while driving. We keep losing hours and we haven't pried ourselves off of Eastern time yet. Half way through South Dakota we lost another hour, we are now in Mountain time.  Too bad birthdays can't drop off by driving east.

 

 Look-it's not a corn field

We saw this attraction advertised from billboards on the side of the road. It was time for leg stretching so we said-why the heck not? I figured it was free, so after turning our clocks back we stepped back to 1880. Actually, you have to pay to get it in-but they do have a military discount (yeah ID card). I walked in a little miffed because I am getting tired of feeling like we are hemorrhaging money (or maybe I cranky from sleep deprivation). As usual, I needed to just lighten up-it was a lot of fun. They had all kinds of shops that were 1880 era with tons of items in them. What we really liked was being able to touch a lot of them. There was a Longhorn Saloon that we bellied up to the bar and ordered Sarsaparillas. Yany showed Alyse how to spit in the spittoon-her aim is pretty good.

 Alyse riding a longhorn

 16-sided barn

 1880 town

 Tractor graveyard

 plateau, butte, or mesa-we don't know

 

1880 Town was a neat distraction from a long day of driving. We are stopping tonight in Rapid City, SD and plan on seeing Mt. Rushmore in the morning. We should be to our new home by Saturday-I hope.

 



Coffee break with the dinosaur

 

We've been gone so long that I almost feel like cooking...almost. Maybe I should lie down until that thought passes.

 

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife





Day 8- Staying with friends; July 8, 2013

We were hoping to get our household goods delivered this Friday the 12th. The storage company said, absolutely, under no circumstances would they get to us before the 16th. So when Annie asked us to stay an extra day, it was a no brainer-of course we'd stay! (Gotta' be careful what you ask for).

It was so great hanging out with our ex-neighbors. One of the awesome things about being in the military is that we sometimes cross paths with some of our favorite friends. I decided to enjoy my wonderful friends' conversation and bask in their company and gracious hospitality and not be the paparazzi for the day.

I must be the richest person on earth. I have the most wonderful friends and family anyone could ever want. Money can be made and lost. One's health cannot be guaranteed, but memories are yours for keeps. I hope I never forget to take the time to make memories.

Thank you Jai, Annie, Isiah, Marissa, and Jai Jr. You guys are the cherry and sprinkles on our ice cream. I am so blessed to have been able to see you guys and make more memories! I can't wait until our paths cross again.

Isiah and Kasen-good looking guys

 

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife

Day 7- Still in Omaha, needed a break; July 7, 2013

To see our friends, the Pope family, we had to postpone a day of travel. This wasn’t much of an inconvenience since we are tired of being in the car already.

The last week of our trip is going to be a lot of driving so we are taking advantage of any walking opportunities. Annie advised seeing the zoo. I checked it out and it’s ranked #1 Largest zoo in the world by touropia and it’s ranked #1 US zoo from trip advisor reviews. Not what I expected to find in Nebraska.

I picked up a $99 picnic lunch (I thought I was going to save money-not!) and we set off to conquer the zoo.

The tickets were only $14 so our first impression was that possibly we were not at the #1 rated zoo and had erroneously followed the GPS to some impostor zoo. Well, first impressions aren't always correct. The zoo was HUGE and fabulous and had some really, really tall hills.

Kasen liked the monkeys the best. He must feel some kinship to them-he could climb before he could walk.

 

 

Haley and Kasen by the statue gorillas

Yany was resting by the ape enclosure and the gorilla put his rump by Yany's head-yeah, we laughed

 Alyse can nap anywhere

 The penquins were super fast swimmers-their habitat was cool, too

 Smiling on the train (mostly because we werent' walking)

 Still looking for Stella

We got impatient waiting for the elevator so we hiked up 3 stories with the strollers.

 

After 6 hours of hiking around the hot zoo we were a little tired and cranky. So we found a Village Inn (suggestion of brother Kerry) and ended the day with some surprisingly good food and fantastic coconut cream pie and tres leche chocolate pie. Our moods improved dramatically. I hope they have Village Inn in Washington. If you are ever in Omaha, NE, try the zoo and the pie at Village Inn-both are worth the effort.

 

DeeAnn-Military Lifer Wife



Day 6-Omaha, the half-way point, July 6, 2013

We finally were able to catch up with my family. I, obviously, have mastered the art of miscommunication. I thought we had booked the same hotel, but when we rolled in town they invited us across town to swim in their hotel pool. Dizzy from watching the corn fields whiz by, we checked in and then hopped back in the van and went to visit and swim. It turns out they were at our hotel on Wednesday and they thought we’d be there by 5 o’clock. I meant 5 July, not 5 that day (so sorry guys!) My only saving grace is that they were seeing other family and not waiting for us exclusively. We asked about the hotel change. Tessa traveled from Texas (at least 12 hours) with some kind of stomach bug. Without giving away all her secrets she mentioned violent eruptions from her north and south.

We booked all of our hotels with the plan of taking Charlie. What we have noticed is that hotels that allow dogs- smell like dogs. Poor Tessa was sick in a smelly, small hotel room and the hotel didn’t even have an elevator or pool, so they switched for her comfort. Their old room at the La Quinta was room 202.  The room we had just dropped our bags off at was (drum roll) room 202. We were staying in the room Tessa had contaminated. Since we had already checked in, we stayed that night, but we packed up and moved this morning.

First conversation of the day via phone call from Jace.

“Hey, Jace. What’s up?”

“Mom, Charlie is pooping rocks and dust.”

“Uhhhh, I think it’s from his kitty litter noshing.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Ok, things are good. Bye”

Short and sweet; phone calls from Jace are usually scary-this one was not too bad.

Since we’d never been to Omaha we started out by traipsing on the Bob Kerrey pedestrian suspension bridge . When you stand in the middle you have one foot in Nebraska and one foot in Iowa (more or less I suppose).

  

Walking on Bob with Haley, Laney, Yany, Alyse, Tessa, Kerry, & Carrie.

We read good things about the Lauritzen Gardens so that was our next stop.

Carrie, Kerry, Kasen, Laney, Alyse, and Yany in the stroller caravan

Kasen and Alyse figured out you could get more wishes by fishing money out of the fountain

Wonderful Aunts and Uncle helping the little kids climb something we probably shouldn't have been climbing

Kerry and Tessa spent time with their dad’s family in this area when they were young so we had to eat at their favorite spot as little kids, Spaghetti Works. Italian sodas and all you can eat pasta-yum!

We found the slides that they dangerously flew down during their younger summers.  They used wax paper to hit warp speed. We didn't have wax paper but we found something comparable and did our best to turn back time. These slides are really fast, you need someone at the bottom for a safety catch.

 

Yany and Alyse 

Laney

Kerry said he used to get a lot more air

Days like these are what make life in the military so hard. We had such a great time being with Kerry, Carrie, and Tessa.  I wish we could live closer to them and not be moved involuntarily. It was a perfect day in Omaha-family, fun and beautiful weather. Thanks guys-I'm missing you already!!

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife

Day 5- Time to roll, July 5, 2013

 We are sad to leave family, but we’ve got more places to go through before we can get to our new home in Lacey, WA. We get out of Chicago with only a minor mishap at the toll booth-this toll road doesn’t take Visa or MasterCard, only cash. The guy with the cash is in the last car. We need remedial toll booth paying.

We make it out of the city and into the wide open corn fields; hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles of corn fields. Iowa was pretty but the scenery was monotonous.

I had no idea you could grow so much corn

Fortunately, my son texted me for a little comic relief:

Jace: I caught Charlie (the dog we left him) eating cat poo from the litter box.

Me: uh, nasty

Ok, so that didn’t really go far with the 6 hours of corn field viewing; but I was desperate for distraction.

One of the benefits of being a military lifer wife is that we have friends all over the world. Our destination today is Omaha, Nebraska, and it is like hitting the jackpot. We will get to see my brother Kerry, his wife Carrie, and my sister, Tessa. On top of that we will get to see the Pope family who we used to live next to in Okinawa, Japan.  For the cherry on top, Haley’s high school friend from Okinawa will be stopping in Nebraska, so she’ll get to see Akani in the Heartland of America. It’s a triple play!!!

Can’t wait to see everyone and get out of this corn!

DeeAnn Military Lifer Wife

Day 4- Chicago & Independence Day, July 4, 2013

Happy 4th of July-y'all!

WOW! Chicago has a lot going on. I’ll start with the negative, because it’s not very long. Gas $4.45; parking $25-$45 per day; hotels-expensive; traffic-terrible.

Now the positive-just about anything you want to do within walking distance or by public transportation. On the 4 blocks surrounding our hotel you can eat pancakes, Thai, Indian, Greek, all you can eat Sushi (Mon-Thur), Vietnamese, Mexican, Starbucks, Japanese, Cuban, burgers, and a bakery. A 15 minute bus ride will get you to Broadway plays and the Magnificent Mile where shopping could be an extreme sport. Plus any other restaurant I haven’t already mentioned. Museums, Art Galleries, and the public library look like mansions. There are parks and beaches and big sidewalks to walk and bike on.

It is so much better to see a vibrant and populous town with someone who knows how to get around and knows what the best things to see are. Thus, Aldo made the day awesome!

Mouth watering Food-Quartino's

Alyse, Yany, and Kasen-Kasen is wearing a rain hat, because it is sprinkling on us

Tapas (means sharing-my kids are still learning sharing) Italian Food-Aldo got us reservations in his section on the patio-the food was SO GOOD! This restaurant is owned by one of the top 50 steakhouses. It was absolutely packed.

American Girl Doll Shopping

Alyse was in Paradise-she was moving so fast I couldn't get pictures

Legoland

Everyone else bailed on us and went to Legoland

Kasen drooling for Legos

Showed us how to see the view from floor 96 (the Hancock Observatory) without paying

View from the girl's bathroom on the 96th floor

 We sat in the Lounge and looked out from the 96th floor. I was glad we didn't pay ($22/adult, $12/kid) to see this because it made me nauseated-thanks MaMa for the vertigo

 

Awesome Park 

 

There were random sculptures in the park. We have sister bears and brother bears.
Below is a water feature. It is a tower of bricks that water is running down the sides. The digital picture shows up and makes different faces. Smiling- Sleeping-Blowing

Smiling    Sleeping

 

 

Blowing-the water looks like she spitting and everyone runs under it to get wet. It's a little gross when you think about it, but it was really awesome

 

 

Explained the difference between boy buildings and girl buildings

Girl                  Boy

Let us experience “the bean” 

 

This art piece shows our reflections. In the second picture Haley and Kasen are up close. Aldo, Yany, Laney, Alyse, and I are reflected in the background.

 Got us on the right bus



Brotherly love in Chi-town

Help us find the best investment for Chicago- strollers

We walked for about 5 minutes before the crying started-problem solved!

Laney did get a souvenir (Chicago tee, not the fountain)

No explanation-your guess is as good as mine

Haley needing to ride pushed by sleeping Laney

 

Kasen at rest while awake-a rare sight 

Laney doing "photo bomb" 

Alyse and Yany got the bird

 

 Kept us out of the ghetto

I forgot the name of the church

Spectacular view of Michigan Lake

Really much better in person-It was a beautiful day and so peaceful

FIREWORKS IN CHICAGO



Happy Birthday America!

 

 Some random guy in my shot-I don't do retakes ;)

 

God bless our service members on Independence Day; but thank God for our families-so blessed to have mine!!! We had exceptional company, and an impressive time. Thanks Aldo and Jonathan-it wouldn’t have been as good without you guys

Kasen, Haley, Laney, Yany, Alyse, and Me                       MIA my pirate son, Jace, and Will

Jonathan and Aldo

DeeAnn- Military Lifer Wife