Category Archives: Sarah

Road Trip, Day 3

Frozen custard at Freddy’s in Missoula.

We continued our journey across Montana today. Not much to note about the drive, though we did stop for frozen custard along the way. The day ended, however, with the worst camping experience of our trip.

Our original destination was the Trout Creek Campground in the Lolo National Forest. When we arrived, however, the site was deserted and there were signs posted that the water had been turned off due to high bacteria counts. In retrospect, we wish we had simply camped there… it was remote, quiet, and beautiful, and we could have purchased a few gallons of water in town. At the time, however, it felt a bit creepy being completely deserted. The creek, too, was running high and fast, with no safe swimming spots, so it seemed unnecessarily risky for the kids. The Lolo forest is large, so we figured other campgrounds would be similarly lovely with safe drinking water.

Day 3 Driving Route

We proceeded to the Slowey Campground, described on the forest service website as “a great place to rest after floating the Clark Fork River or just sit and enjoy the river go by… There’s much to like about this campground near the river’s edge with open areas beneath the big pines.” We knew it would be close to the highway, not nearly as remote as Trout Creek, but after our lovely experience along Hyalite Creek at Langohr, we figured the Clark Fork River might create pleasant white noise. Wrong! Not only was the river silent, but there were freight train tracks on the other bank. These rails were heavily used all night, and the acoustics of the area made it feel like the trains were barrelling right through our tents. Because of an at-grade crossing, too, each train was preceded by the bells warning of the gate closures and nearly constant air horn blasts from the locomotive. Trains came just about every hour, so it was a night of very little sleep for the parents.

Griffin’s question suggests just how often the trains came through: “Is it just going around and around in a circle?”

At sunrise we introduced the children to an authentic ethical dilemma: we left camp without paying.

Road Trip, Day 2

We left the Day’s Inn bright and early and headed west across Montana. We found a wonderful campsite in the Langohr Campground in Gallatin National Forest south of Bozeman. It was an ideal day without too much driving. We arrived early enough to set up camp, cook a delicious dinner (pasta with sausages), and get to bed on time. We pitched our tents next to a turbulent brook that cooled the air and made it especially easy to sleep.

Griffin befriended a neighboring camper from North Carolina who was an avid fisher. He and Griffin spent a lot of time in the evening and morning fishing, whether wading in the brook, standing on the bridge, or walking along the bank. Although they didn’t manage to catch any fish, they had a great time trying. (Griffin points out that they didn’t have any worms, which may have had something to do with it.)

Road Trip, Day 1

This is the first post in a series about our summer road trip from Minnesota to Washington and Oregon, passing through the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.


Starting odometer: 144,354

We aimed to depart at 9:00 AM and were under way by 9:45—this was amazingly good timing for us. With young kids in the car, our general goal was to drive for only six-ish hours per day, leaving room for plenty of pit stops, slow starts, and time in the evening to set up camp and explore before bed. On the first day, however, we decided to shoot for Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a little over eight hours away. We loved camping at this relatively obscure park during our 2014 road trip to California, and we figured that we could push hard on our first day.

Imagine our surprise when we rolled into the park to discover that the campground, largely empty in 2014, was entirely booked! Not only that, but every nearby campground was also booked. Apparently there was a wildly popular vintage car show going on over the weekend. Doh! [Note for our next road trip: camping reservations are a good idea.]

We looked ahead on the map and found Makoshika State Park in Montana. This would get us a few hours ahead and the park looked incredible. We went for it, racing to get there before sunset. The park was as beautiful as advertised and the campgrounds were fantastic. Campsites were spread out around gorgeous canyons with plenty of privacy. Alas, even this 11,000 acre park was fully occupied. We enjoyed watching the magnificent sunset from the bluffs and then accepted defeat, tucking our tails between our legs and “camping” at the Days Inn in Glendive. Dinner consisted of granola bars since we couldn’t use our camp stove to cook a proper meal.

It was not the best start. On the bright side, all three kids were awesome in the car for a very long driving day. Admittedly, the older two watched movies for most of the day, but Oliver was surprisingly easy going about being strapped into his carseat for 10+ hours. The driving felt relatively easy, even though it ran long and ended in disappointment.

A few innovations we implemented for this trip:

  • We gave the kids their snacks each morning and let them decide when to eat them throughout the day. Seems like such a simple thing, but on past trips we would centrally manage the food and it was a constant source of conflict. This time they each had a labeled ziplock with all of their options. Sarah even organized things so that they could refill the bag each morning from the big food bin in the rear. They had a list of things that they should put in (e.g., 2 Lara bars, 1 popcorn, 2 trail mixes, etc.). They loved it and we avoided all of the arguments and cries of imminent starvation.
  • Sarah purchased small items as daily gifts. Each was wrapped and the kids looked forward to receiving them. Examples included fidget spinners, card games, activity books, etc. (Technically, Sarah came up with this idea for the 2014 trip and we continued it this time.)
  • Storage baskets for Griffin and Maggie mounted on the seats in front of them. They held books, art supplies, etc. (Despite this, however, the back seats were usually an appalling mess by the end of the day.)

 

Memorial Day at the Cabin

We enjoyed a few days with away from the end-of-school rush at the cabin over Memorial Day weekend. Our friends Jess, Murray, and Olive joined us. (Sadly, Kevin couldn’t make it this year.)

The trip included a number of notable events:

  • Oliver’s first trip to the cabin, including relatively long drives, unfamiliar sleeping arrangements, and a wacky schedule. He was quite flexible, though he did complain that we were letting him freeze during the first night (temps dropped steeply after dark). We nailed it on the second night.
  • Oliver’s first kayak trip.
  • Maggie’s first time paddling the canoe and sitting on a proper bench.
  • Griffin and Murray’s first time being largely independent in the kayaks. This was not exactly our intent, but they got them in the water before the rest of us were ready and before we knew it they were across the lake, exploring the island. (Definitely wearing life jackets!)
  • Griffin caught a frog.
  • Relatively close encounter with a pileated woodpecker on a birch by the cabin. The photos, at the end of the set below, are blurry phone pics, but this sucker was huge.
  • Two new eggs in the loon nest. We weren’t sure if they would use the same nest site for a second year running. Last year one egg did not hatch. We’ll be checking back on the nest at our next visit.
  • Thunderstorms and hail kept us inside on Sunday afternoon, which allowed for a smashing D&D game. (Griffin’s elf wizard was nearly killed by an evil skeleton, but Maggie gave him one of her healing potions.)

Vocabulary Lesson

Andrew and I were talking after dinner about my experience with why girls or young women might be sitting on the sidelines of pick-up sports games, and Maggie was seemingly not listening, singing *loudly*, next to us. She kept getting louder, so my voice kept getting louder as we talked. I said, “You know? I just didn’t want to play with guys who were being all macho and major douchebags!”

Without skipping a beat, Maggie yells out, “DOUCHEBAGS! Yeah, they’re douchebags! D O U C H E B A G S!”

Thus we added another word to the, “don’t call anyone this” and “don’t say this outside our house” list.

Good Morning

I live for these moments of Zen: I overslept (because baby wakes up a lot still, and apparently when I get a chance, I am a log) and walked downstairs to my two oldest reading, one on the couch, one on a chair, baby bouncing in the bouncer, Regina Spektor on the stereo, and greeted with “Good morning Mama!”

Doors

Andrew, going nuclear: “If you two don’t knock it off and go to bed, I’m going to take a screwdriver and take that door right off and throw it away.”
<large pause>
Maggie: “You can’t even do that!”
Andrew: “Oh yes I can!”

I’m downstairs giggling even though I shouldn’t be. Giggling, that is.