The road trip putts along!!

We left Pam and Jerry's and headed for West Yellowstone via Montana.  I do not have any scenic photos to show - but I was not at all disappointed in the beautiful "Big Sky Country" that is Montana!!  In fact, I mostly just oohed and ahhed over it!! Occasionally Harry would say, "Maybe we should stop and take a picture," but I was pretty sure I could not do justice to the scenery.  Maybe Hannah can give me a few hints, since she always has wonderful scenic shots that evoke the place so well.

I did take a photo of the bear warnings that were posted everywhere!!

 

We had hauled the tent and other paraphernalia all that way, so we felt obligated to camp one night - so we did - at a KOA!  But we had s'mores and a chilly night's sleep!!  (Complete with the obligatory lightning and thundershower!!)

 

We used a little backpacking stove - and ate well!

 

My one scenic shot - through the windshield of the rain!!  Yellowstone was scenic also, but we didn't stop for any sights.  That will be another road trip!

 

Instead we headed for Chubbuck and a fun visit with Karen and some of her kids.  

And visiting the folks was once again the highlight of the day!!

Wonderful friends!!

After we left Phoebe's, we headed for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and Hayden, where Pam and Jerry live.  Hayden is not as "backward" and "country" as I had supposed, but it is a lovely setting - woods and water and flowers and wildlife that was not always welcome - namely the turkeys that seem to consume Pam and Jerry's garden!!

We ate and talked and walked and ate and talked and walked some more - nothing quite as nice as hanging out with old friends!!  We went to their ward with them, and afterwards drove around and soaked up the scenery.

 

This lake is close to their home.  No wonder their kids and grandkids love to come visit!

 

The weather was fine - it had been hotter earlier, but we got in on the "cooling trend."

 

Pam and I could have talked for another week or two - but finally we had to bid adieu and head for Montana - next stop on our "road trip!"

Lake Oswego Leg of the Road Trip!

We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon with the Fillmores after we got there.  Then Monday, after dropping Agnes off at Vacation Bible School, we took the boys to their gymnastics session.  It was fun to watch them - especially Sully, running with such fervor and enthusiasm!

 

Calvin was earnest in his efforts also.

 

David headed off on a business trip, so the rest of us headed out for frozen yogurt.  Lake Oswego has a charming downtown and lakefront.

 

And the fountains are irresistable!

 

Frozen yogurt and fountains - doesn't get much better in the summertime - they called it "heat" - we called it "pleasant!!"

 

 Always fun to hang out with Pheobe.  Ask me about our outing to the country's largest fabric store - right there in Portland!!

The pool is always on the agenda.

 

As is Burgerville and berry shakes!!  Ask me about making 56 pints of berry jam too! 

Phoebe joined David on his trip for a little anniversary getaway, so we enjoyed having the kids - sans Henry who was at BYU Baseball camp - all to ourselves.  Henry had visited us in Monrovia on his way up to BYU, so we did get to spend time with him.

 

Tree climbing - de rigeur in Oregan, that's for sure!

 

Visiting the river.

 

And one of several parks we went to.  Like the East coast, Oregon has lots of lovely parks - with lots of shade!!

 

And friendly dogs and owners!!

 

  The annual mani-pedi outing to celebrate Agnes' birthday.  She said, "Grandma, I love that we do this."  I said, "I do too, but I feel bad that there's nothing special like this for the grandsons."  And she said, "Oh, just take them to buy a Nerf gun."

The Fillmores are always up for games - here we gave Clue a run for its money.  Things ended all too soon after Phoebe and David returned on Friday night.  The next morning we headed for Idaho - and a fun visit with Pam and Jerry.

Starting the "road trip!"

The famous "Road Trip" started on July 17th.  We were going to leave at noon - and we left at 4!  After getting gas, stopping to see both grandmas, and getting some food at the grocery store, we really started out at 7!!

But we made good time - we were listening to Zorro by Isabel Allende, and it was pretty compelling - kept us both awake without too much junk food!!

We gave in around 11:30 and stopped in a place called Lathrop.  The next day we made good time and we were in Ashland before the Heders and Nebekers - and we were concerned they'd be waiting for us!!

First night we saw a new play, The Heart of Robin Hood.  It was good.  Next night we saw Midsummer Night's Dream, which was set in the 60's at a Catholic high school.  It was probably the best of the three plays we saw.  We also attended the pre-performance lectures, which were well-done and informative.

On Saturday night we saw a version of Taming of the Shrew - set at a pier on some ocean sometime in the 50s, 60s and 70s - the fashions and songs the "band" used were spanning some time!!  But the dialogue was Shakespeare and the performance was well done - it was my favorite, but maybe not critically the best.

In between we shopped, ate, geo-cached, shopped, ate, talked, walked, explored, slept, and tried to beat the heat!  Above we are at a great restaurant called Muse.  We had such a fine time being together I kept forgetting to take pictures - so I did remember to ask the waiter to snap a shot of all of us!!

On Sunday we went to church in Ashland, and heard some great talks.  Ask me to tell you the Hugh B. Brown story sometime!!

Then we headed on to Lake Oswego!!

A little tent-camping adventure!!

In spite of the warnings about grizzly bears, we did camp one night at West Yellowstone.  There are those who dismiss these warnings, but I've read too many magazine and newspaper articles about grizzly maulings of tent campers, so I was spooked. 

 

Thus we opted for a KOA campground - some might say that's not really camping, but you're on the ground in a tent - I call that camping!!

We were comfy enough, but after trekking out for my usual middle of the night restroom run, I was too wide awake to get back to sleep.

It was only for one night though.  The s'mores were great and so was the hot chocolate.

And the company was good!!

And I don't think I've slept in a tent for several years, so it's good to qualify once more as a camper!!

Home again - now for the next adventure!!

(I guess we had to come home - no more room in the car for anything else!!)

We finally got home today at 3 p.m.  Our journey was almost exactly 17 days long - especially since we left on July 17th at 3 p.m.!!

Lots of fun times - lots of photos - but we have Betsy and kids here and the Clayton reunion tomorrow, so it will be Monday or Tuesday before I get to a full report.

It's good to get back to your own bed - but it was great to see and spend time with family and friends.  And to see some parts of the country I have never seen before!!

But there is "no place like home!!"