Shortly after graduation, we worked like wild hogs (and they work dang hard in case anyone was curious) trying to pack up our house into hundreds of stupid brown boxes. All I can say is if I have to wrap (or unwrap) one more thing in light tan paper and ugly brown packaging tape, I'll go crazy! Once the house was all "wrapped up" (ha ha) we headed to the airport.
This picture pretty much describes the peaceful trip out to Utah. Rylie slept a fair portion of the trip, little B watched Monsters Inc. and we did our best to not get into too deep a sleep after not getting an ounce of sleep the night before. It had been a while since we'd pulled an all-nighter. For some reason, it wasn't as much fun as it was when we'd do that in high school throwing 200+ rolls of toilet paper on the neighbors trees.
Once in Utah, Brendan got right to work making
new friends and learning that "I can do it" without mom and dad's help. One of the neighbors in the neighborhood decided to have a little party and watch a movie on the side of his garage with a projector. Once the movie started, Brendan took his cup full of popcorn and plopped himself down next to some girl that I still don't know and started sharing his popcorn. When I went over to check on him, I put my hand on his shoulder and asked him if he was alright. He looked at me all disgusted, brushed my hand off his shoulder and said, "Daddy, no."About a week after Utah we packed up a rental and headed to Idaho for a week. The plan was to head straight to McCall, but the highs were in the upper 60's and the lows in the 30's. While that sounded fun, we decided the kids might have more fun in Boise. So we opted to go to Lucky Peak for a good afternoon.
The kids had some fun sleepovers...
The parents had some good Sunday afternoon naps...
We also rediscovered that the Boise Zoo rocks!
After a few days in Boise, the weather improved a little and we all started thinking, what would a Jones summer be like without going to McCall!? So we packed up the bags and headed to McCall for the night.
After an awesome week with my parents, siblings, nieces, nephews, etc., we headed over to Jackson for an open house on a development Mel's brother and dad are working on. We spent the night there and then drove back to Idaho. We all was said and done we'd driven mucho miles, spent at least 20 hours in the car (not including all the trips to parks, the store, etc), and had a wonderful week.
One week later, I packed up the bags again and headed North (well, sort of anyway)--ALASKA.
We spent a good day at a remote lake (accessible only by air) fishing Salmon.If you look close, there is a black bear walking away with a fish in his mouth.
We spent a rough day at sea (and I mean rough!) fishing for Halibut out of Homer-the Halibut capital of the world.
We spent a day fishing Halibut out of Seward--incredible scenary including the whales that surfaced no more than 50-60 yards away.
We took an amazing airplane ride over an ice field and saw many glaciers. It was really surreal to see how many miles and miles of ice and snow are in the mountains of Alaska. Completely untouched parts of the world.
The finished true Alaskan product...
We then returned home for another week of work, and play of course, beings that it was the 4th of July.
Nevermind the fact that we went riding in 100+ degree weather. It was fun though!We then decided that we wanted to go visit my Grandparents in Malad, Idaho. We were also dropping off Brendan for a week of fun with Grandpa, Grandma, and some aunts, uncles, and cousins (Boise). Beings that Brendan LOVES "horsies" I could resist getting one that he could see close up. Of course he showed no fear sitting on there. He loved it! He loved to feed it too. Again, no fear. Just stick the 'ole hand up there and hope it comes back with all five fingers. It was fun to watch.
Then it was off to beautiful Lake Powell. Although the scenery was amazing, the food was far too good, the waterskiing was heavenly, and company was a blast, it's obvious who the highlight of the trip was...
But like all good things, my summer suddenly came to an end. Before I knew it, responsibility, accountibility and well, adulthood began to creep up. I had to fly back out of SLC and head to Chicago and then catch a far too long of a bus ride back to South Bend. Once there, I was yet again pulling an all nighter finishing what was supposed to be a few last items before the movers showed up. It was an exciting though--a sign of a fun-filled adventurous future. That night was spent in a modern day tent (a house with nothing in it) on the floor with a blanket for a matress. As tired as I was, it was truly one of the best nights' sleep I have ever had!
That is when the fun began. The plan for the next morning was as follows:
8 am - wake up
9 am - pick up the trailer to tow the 2nd vehicle
10:30 am - roll out of South Bend toward Minneapolis
6:30 pm - arrive in Minneapolis, grab a bite to eat and set up my blankets in my new tent.
What really happened is as follows:
8 am - wake up
9 am - get told that the trailer is too heavy for the 4 runner to pull with another car on top
9-11 am - scratch my head wondering how the heck I am supposed to get two cars to Minneapolis by 8 am tomorrow morning when the movers show up to deliver house
1 pm - pay a towing company to pick up my Subaru to take it to a service station and have the drive shaft taken out
3 pm - pick up Subaru on a tow dolly behind the 4 Runner and head out of town
4-7 pm - get stuck in rush hour traffic in Chicago (getting very frustrated at the days events)
10:30 pm - Vehicle engine begins to cut in and out. I pull off into a rest stop, everything seems fine, I start to get back on the freeway and the engine just stops cold turkey. I spend the next hour on the phone with mechanics, parents, a frantic wife, etc. trying to figure out what to do. Turns out that after several failed attempts to get the engine running, I determine that I have run out of gas 45 minutes from my destination. Now, before you start laughing and calling me names, let me explain. The gas gauge still said I had more than 1/4 tank of gas. Stupid gauge.
12:30 am - walk 1.5 miles next to semi's coming 85 mph no more than 4 feet away to Walmart (thank goodness they're open 24 hours!) to buy a gas can, oil, and a hose to syphen gas out of Subaru into gas can for the 4 runner.
1:30 am - walk 1.5 miles back to Walmart to buy gas after discovering Subaru won't let gas be syphened out (yes, I know...should have just bought the gas the first time) It was 2:30 (my time) and I was running on no sleep!
2:30 - Engine finally starts and I'm off again for another sleepless night and a fun day watching slow movers unload our house.
The perfect finish for an incredible summer!
