The Hideous Trip

We left Castle Rock, Colorado around noon. This trip - with smooth sailing and minimal stops from the short people in the back - takes about 4.5 hours. We stopped in Aurora to see Hannah's bmom, Amanda. We were gonna hang out but she was feeling crappy to say the least so we took her and Hannah's bdad some lunch and headed home.

As soon as we left her house and got back on the interstate we hit construction. Awesome. That lasted well over an hour just to go about 10 miles.

We had a normal drive to Cheyenne - albeit very windy around Cheyenne. We stopped to see Drew's mom, sister, and nieces. We visited for awhile, checked the road report and realized we need to get going. This was probably around 6? I forget. By the time we got to Laramie (45 miles from Cheyenne), the roads from Laramie to home were closed. Great. Drew has several brothers who live in Laramie. We headed to one their homes. They have a basement with this fantastic huge sectional sofa in it. Leah, Hannah, and I all slept on it and Drew slept on a twin mattress next to us. It was really comfy. Hannah thought we were insane - telling her to lay down and go to sleep on a couch but she handled it really well and then slept all night without any troubles. Yay for her!

(as a sidenote: Hannah has started calling us all with our last name involved. Leah Howe! Mommy Howe! Daddy Howe! So when she woke up Sunday morning her head was right next Leah's and she sits up and with total glee shouts: LOOK! Leah HOWE! - I'm ever so glad I was awake to witness that.)

We all get up. The roads are open. YAY! We pack up, leave, get the girls some breakfast (which before we left the house they both refused but then Leah was starving a few minutes later. I love kids. haha.) We get 20 miles down the road - we're so happy to be heading home. And boom. They reclose the roads. We are forced to turn around, drive the 20 miles back to Laramie to wait. We decided to hit Walmart. I needed things there but I hadn't wanted to go before because I wanted to be HOME.

Oh well. We spend 3 hours in Walmart. I get all the things I was after. The girls are losing it. I think maybe we should go back to his brother's house. So does Drew. Leah does not agree. That's backtracking. I see her point (no. she did not use the word backtracking) We were driving past the theater as we discussed this and see that "Puss in Boots" starts in 15 minutes (in 2D. THANK GOODNESS. I've had it with 3D movies.)

So off we go. We watch the movie and just towards the end I check on my phone and YAY - the roads are open.

We head out. Again. By now it's like 2:30/3 in the afternoon.

100 miles to go from Laramie to Rawlins.

20 miles. We pass the turn around mark. YAY.

30 miles. Dead Stop. Dead stop traffic in the middle of nowhere. Miles and miles of cars. Sometimes we'd get up to 4 mph.

SIX HOURS. 20 more miles. That's how long it took to go the next 20 miles. Six. Hours.

At one point I turned to Drew and said – the pioneers probably did this 20 miles in better time while pulling handcarts.

There were no accidents. It was windy. Very very windy. My sister heard them refer to it on the news as "hurricane force winds". We don't have hurricanes here. We just have wind. A lot of it. Sometimes it's stronger than others. But when you mix that with some dry-ish snow - there is no visibility. It's awful.

There was nothing to do but forge ahead. Did I mention that this 20 mile stretch has no cell phone service?

My poor children. They did so well. Leah never had a fit or freaked. Hannah had one little melt down at about the four hour mark. Seriously? She's one. That's impressive.

At that point (being the stellar law abiding mother that I am...) I let them up. We were staying between 0 mph and 2 mph. I let them get up and walk around the van. Hannah even sat on Drew's lap for awhile. Leah got in my seat and I went to the back of the van and cleaned it so I didn't go stir crazy. When we started to move faster I buckled them back in and they both fell asleep not long after.

Finally about the 60 mile mark traffic got normal. It was glorious. We were home in less than an hour from that point.

I actually cried when we got off the interstate. My babies were sound asleep. It was 10ish. We put them in bed, took a long hot shower, and I was asleep the moment I got in bed. Drew said he was all wound up and watched TV for awhile. He was amazing at the driving. He's so careful with all his girls in the vehicle with him. Gotta love that about him!

And I gotta love that just the day before he'd bought us 4 new tires. If we'd hit those roads on our old tires. Oy. That would not have been good.

There you have it. The hideous trip.

I don't want to leave town again for awhile, okay? Thanks.

For a little happy - Here are some pictures of the girls during our walmart trip. They were both in footie jammies.

Leah said: Let’s pretend to take a nap now…. I’m fooled. How ‘bout you?

Fabulous week

On Sunday Leah & I left town with my mom and went to Denver. It was a fantastic trip! We had so much fun.

Monday - we got up early and went to the zoo. We stayed there until 12:30 or so. Leah loved it of course. Then we had lunch and went to see the movie Julie & Julia - which I positively loved! Then we shopped at the mall.

Tuesday - we shopped from beginning to end. We were EXHAUSTED. It was wonderful. lol

Wednesday - we packed up all our stuff from the hotel room, ran a few left over errands from the day before and then we headed off to meet a highschool friend (Nathalie - I hadn't seen her since highschool. I was so great to see her!) and then we headed home.

Now. The food on this trip. Maybe to everyone the making or breaking of a vacation/trip isn't about the food... but to me? It's all about the food. Sure it can be fun without it - good company, good fun - BUT the food! Ya. Anyway.

So Monday at lunch we were in the mall waiting for the movie and we checked the "food court" (not really a food court in this mall - more like a restaurant row). Anyway, we went into a panda express and I see a sign that says "Honey Walnut Shrimp" and a picture of it. I got so excited. See - there was this dish at a Vietnamese place in Boise - Crunchy Walnut Shrimp they called it. I don't have any family in Boise anymore and I thought I would never have that dish again. But here it was! In a panda express! I walk up and the woman didn't even ask - she just stabbed a piece with a tooth pick and handed it to me & mom. And ya - it was it. It was delicious!! We ordered and then went next door to Sbarro's to get Leah a piece of pepperoni pizza. Oh and earlier in the day we passed a Starbucks and got to have creme blended frappes. :)

Monday night we were driving up & down the street our hotel is on deciding where to eat - and I saw... a Schlotzky's!!! Mom & I both love the place. We were so ridiculously excited that mom says "We're going to have to contain ourselves before we go in or it's going to be embarrassing." hehe. After we got food for us from there we went to the KFC/Arby's across the street to get Leah something (she still won't eat sandwiches) and I got to order cheese curds there too! Schlotzsky's AND cheese curds. I was one happy woman.

Tuesday after we'd been shopping all that time already, we decided we wanted to sit to have lunch and rest and we tried a new place... Kona Grill. Kona Grill is now my new favorite restaurant. It was so good. So yummy. So fantastic. The first thing we ate there was an appetizer that was a fried wonton, laid flat, when a very thin slice of pan seared tuna, and a wasabi aioli drizzled all over it.... I can't even explain. One of the yummiest things I've ever put in my mouth. Seriously. We also ordered a dish to split and some sushi. All of which was just fantastic.

We didn't get hungry again until pretty late and decided to order food from the Mexican place across the street. Again - fabulous! Who knew?!? It was all delicious. All these yummy sauces and perfect tortillas.

Wednesday for lunch we decided to hit Kona Grill again. It was that good. Really. We ordered most if it to go because we were in a hurry to get to where I was meeting Nathalie. We were 30 minutes late meeting her as it was. (I'm lame) After having fun with her we went to a Krispy Kreme!

Seriously. The food on this trip. It was perfection.

I suppose maybe if I lived somewhere that had good restaurants and all the choices in the world - like in the middle of Denver - perhaps I wouldn't feel this way about eating great food on vacation. But alas.

I love food.

We also got to shop in a Whole Foods grocery store. I bought all kinds of yummy foods. It'll be fun for awhile to have all these unusual things to eat that I'm loving.

And it gives me lots of ideas - for things I can make myself.

Good thing I love to cook too!

There. Now you know how mental I am about food.

But seriously - if you live anywhere near a Kona Grill - go. now. :)