We had a great time! We were lucky enough to have Grandma come along for some of the trip. And that made it a lot easier. We started out on the 5th of Sept. after dinner. Drove threw the dessert all night and spent the first night in St. George Utah. Dan found a great local coffee shop and left his phone there. It took us till Wyoming to figure it out, but we called and they had it and would hang on to it for us and send it back later. On to The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. We had such a good time there we decided to stay another day. We were ahead of schedule because of Super Gram and Super Baby! Zella was great in the car. She must get that from her momma. She was only fussy if she was hungry or wet and we could coordinate those stops at gas stations so Dan could fill up at the same time.
Had some mediocre fudge in Afton WY. But we discovered a great little town Cooke City. Great hotel and a great restaurant. The best pizza I have ever had. I'm not kidding. Hand thrown, cooked on a stone pizza oven and he used roasted garlic! YUMMY! And the views of that sleepy little town were amazing! We went back to Yellowstone the next day and of course were not disappointed. We saw what had to have been thousands of buffalo. They were all over the place in HUGE herds. Hundreds of Pronghorn Antelope, a bunch of Mule Deer, Elk, a few small herds of about 10. On the river there was a family of Loons! I counted 12. I have never seen that before. It was so cool! 2 coyotes and 2 Bald Eagles and an owl flying to a tree right beside the road! It was the best day, one amazing thing after another.
Then we went to Billings, Montana. Yuk! We saw the locals and decided to not go out but eat in our rooms instead.
Went to Little Bighorn Battlefield the next day. That was great. We were there all afternoon. They give you a lot of information.
Dan drove us to Deadwood. What a great town. Very cool, Great history. My mom would tell you to watch the Deadwood series. She loves it. We went to the cemetery and saw the grave of Wild bill and Calamity Jane. I won about 20 buck in the casino. That was fun!
We went on to Nemo about an hour away and met up with my family. We stayed there for the weekend and had a crazy good time. Zella met my cousins daughter that was born 3 days after Zella. So we had 2 small babies and a few grown ups that act like babies! Just kidding. We all had a great time. We laughed a lot, and had a lot of great food! Thank you Maggie!
Then we continued on to Pipestone, MN. Maggie and her family went too. Our Aunt Robyn, her husband Loren and their 2 little dogs were kind enough to put up with us for a few hours before we went to the hotel. The Calumet Inn or Hotel. Anyway what ever its called its haunted! Mom got 2 rooms for us. She showed me the first ones and I said "Umm whats the other one look like?" I didn't like it, for no particular reason. But we got the other one cause mom didn't care. But later that night she felt the bed sag like someone was sitting on the edge. And a minute later the bathroom door slammed shut. She was totally freaked out! And immediatly went back to sleep. The next day we went to the National Park there. And that was cool we had a good time all 8 of us. Dan did the baby sitting while the adults went for a little hike. It was nice to get out and move! We also played a game of bowling at my cousins bowling alley. We had a really good time cause we suck at it! Mom got second place behind the 5 year old, he got the lowest score. It was so nice to spend time with family. There was a Huge thunder storm that night. And the next morning we went to the museum to take a look at their records. I didn't find anything on my grandmother but i did find records on her brothers. I didn't know they attended the Indian Training School too. Then we sent my mom with Maggie, Andy , Audrey, and Sofia to Sioux Falls. That's where she caught the plane home. Only it wasn't that easy. She had a delay and actually flew out 4 hours later and then vowed never to take a small plane again! Again! So now we are on our own! Alone with the baby and only 3000 miles left to go. But she got home ok and we drove up to Brainerd to introduce Zella to her Great Grandma Mona and Great Aunt Jennifer. (Charlies mother and sister) Then up to Bemidji for night. MN wasn't originally on our agenda but plans changed and how could we not go to Bemidji its only another 100 miles north. So we did, and had a ball. We stayed up way too late, I ate the last of Julies Nutella, we talked and pained Zellas hands and feet and sticking them to mugs and plates. We got to meet baby Madeline who is 3 monts older than Z. I think I have that right.
We drove to Madison to see our great friend Althea and her boyfriend Matt. I would totally move to Madison if it didnt snow there. What a cool town! We had a HUGE thunder storm. That was fun. Went to breakfast with Matt and Al and were off to Chicago.
And thats Colenes side of the family trip.
To be continued...
