More Washington

Pictures:Lemurs at the Tacoma Zoo, Space Needle in Seattle, Our feet touching the Sand on the Pacific Coast, The sunset over the Pacific, Gabe's big drop in.

From Mt. Rainier to Seattle was a short rainy drive. We hoped that the weather would at least give us some relief from the rain even though the northwest is known for this type of weather.
Our first day here we decided to visit the Zoo/Aquarium in Tacoma. It was a full days worth of exploring. The Sea Otters and Walrus get the award for our favorite animals. The weather so far here has been cool and quite nice. We have had the heat on almost every night as it gets that cold.
After the Zoo we hit a local skatepark in a town called Seatac. Home to one of the many Boeing locations. We thought about touring the Boeing factory but it would have cost us almost $300 for our family of five. I guess they are trying to make up for their loss in gas prices.
Seattle was a really cool city. The first day there we hit the Space Needle and Seattle Center. This part of the city is really quite amazing with a lot to see and do. The views from the Space Needle were far and wide. We could even see Mt Rainier. Bowen says it looks like a painting. We explained how God is the ultimate artist. We visited another skatepark near Seattle. Gabe found out how brave he was by dropping in from a 12 foot wall (a concrete bowl). It was a little scary to watch but he got a bunch of board slaps from other skaters for this accomplishment (skater lingo).
We decided to stay another day in the area and visited the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. Let me just say this place was insane. We could barely walk through the market it was so packed with people. They were selling everything from fish to flowers and everything in between. Walking through Seattle was similar to New York City in that it had a lot of the same upscale stores and eccentric people.
After the city we headed to Alki Beach. The kids and I enjoyed the Puget Sound while John attempted to find a place to park. After over an hour of driving around he never did find a parking place so we jetted out of there. Seattle has a lot to offer and would be a cool place to live were it not for the weather.
While here we went for an ultrasound to check if we were having twins as so many people have predicted. Indeed it is just one baby in there and to our delight and much surprise it is another BOY. God Bless Jadon with three brothers.
From Seattle we decided we wanted to see the ocean and skipped out on visiting Mt Olympia. We stayed two nights in Ocean City Washington which was located right on the Pacific Ocean. We were amazed at how long the beach is here and how much bigger the waves are than the Atlantic Ocean.
The cool thing about the beach here is that we get to drive right onto it. They actually allow cars to just cruise along where ever you like. We drove onto the beach at night to watch the sunset as it sets into the ocean here. The kids also discovered a dead sea lion-yuck. It was enormous and smelly. I hope while we are on the west coast to see at least one live sea lion. We also took some time to clean up trash while on the beach. Unfortunately there was a lot of trash. We assume the majority of which washes ashore.
Now we are currently in Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon. It was magical to finally get to this state. This was where we wanted to be when we traveled 15 years ago. Dreams do come true and for us it is more special to share this journey with our three kids.
This area of the Pacific Ocean is known as the Graveyard of the Pacific for the immense number of shipwrecks that have occurred here. Over 2000 since 1792. We went on to the beach yesterday and there is a shipwreck there that went ashore in 1906. Pretty cool to see. There is a lot to discover in this area and we will be here until Friday. After that we will be going to Multnomah Falls which is east of Portland. We forgot about it being Labor Day weekend so we are hoping someplace will have at least one campsite open.

Washington

Pictures of the kids in the snow on Mt Rainier, the mountain stands alone and some elk roadside.

We stayed for several days in Spokane where the riverfront park provided some fun with it's huge water fountain and rides. It was hot here at 100 degrees. I had no idea the weather was so blistering in Washington. I found out however that the eastern part of the state gets very little rain and is almost desert like. Something about being in the rain shadow of the mountains.
John and Gabe went to a MX park and enjoyed riding in the heat. This park gets the "best so far" award by both of them. The skatepark in Spokane was really cool as well.
Our next stop was Mt Rainier which lies in the middle of the state. We finally got to see how Washington weather can be. It has been raining off and on for four days. The mountain afforded us a beautiful view and a chance to hike at a strenuous pace. It was very foggy on Mt Rainier and had we not hiked up past the lodge we would not have gotten to see the immense glaciers that cover this volcano. It was spectacular and the kids really seemed to enjoy the work it took to get there. Jadon said it made her feel strong. They got to play in snow and Bowen even slid on his belly like a penguin.
On our way home from the park we saw at least 100 elk at different places along the road. The were enormous and very at home here in Washington.
Yesterday we drove to our current location just south of Seattle. We are looking forward to checking out this trendy city.
Sending our love to our family who is riding out the storm in Florida

Montana

Pictures are Gabe at the skatepark in Great Falls, the kids dressing like Lewis and Clark, a glacier at glacier park, all of us at a snow bank in Glacier and John as our boat Captain.

From Livingston MO we drove to Great Falls. This was a neat place with a river and an awesome skatepark and waterpark. The KOA campground we stayed at was the very first KOA in America. At night we got to listen to the sounds of a man and his wife playing all sorts of western songs while we all sang along. Between Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire and You are My Sunshine it was a highlight of our trip. The guy was a great story teller and hilarious.

We visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center on our way out of town. We all learned a lot about these amazing American explorers. We have a new appreciation for how we get to see American vs. how they did.

At 21 weeks pregnant I was able to see a midwife in Great Falls. She informed us that all is well and that she thinks we should only expect one baby. A relief to John. From here we headed to Missoula, MO. This is one of the larger cities in Montana. We again visited a skatepark. This one was just as fantastic as the one in Great Falls. Bowen is really learning to move on his board. Watching his brother keeps him on his toes.

We left Missoula after two days for Glacier National Park. This is located in the Northwest corner of the state. The campground here proved to be one of the nicest we have stayed at. We also met a really great family that are also fulltiming. They have been living this life for almost three years with their two children. Gabe made instant friends with their son, as they both were skaters. Jadon and their daughter didn't get together until our last night there unfortunately.

Glacier park was gorgeous with it's glacial lakes, mountains and wildlife. The Going-to-the-Sun road is one for the books. It is an engineering marvel. Again we got to see a bear, this time a black bear.

In Glacier we took a motorboat out on Lake McDonald with John at the helm. The kids loved this as their daddy flew like the wind. All the kids earned their Jr. Ranger Badges at the park and got sworn in by a really nice ranger. The park named for it's abundance of glaciers once had 150 and now only has 26. They say this is due to global warming.

Each night the campground had fires so we got to burn some marshmallows and talk with some interesting people. The kids loved the huge paved hills in the campground which proved great for riding bikes and skateboards at 100 MPH. All of them have skinned knees as trophies.

Yesterday we left Montana, which John said was his favorite state so far, for Idaho. This too is a beautiful and rugged state. We are not staying to explore however and will be in Spokane WA later today.

We have been on the road for 50 days and driven over 4600 miles. It feels like we left just yesterday.

Pictures

Pictures of Bowen getting saddled up. Gabe and Jadon on the trail. Some Buffalo in Yellowstone. All of the kiddies. At a petting zoo in Montana.

Yellowstone

Pictures are of Bowen on his horse, Mickey. Bowen with his new lasso. The lower and upper falls at Yellowstone. Gabe and his creation on Yellowstone Lake. Old Faithful erupting, a lovely hot spring and Tower falls in Yellowstone.

Before we left Cody, WY we got the chance to see a reenacted gun fight with Buffalo Bill Cody, Wyatt Earp and a few other historic cowboys . The kids really enjoyed seeing that with all the loud guns and fighting. We also visited a skatepark in Cody, this was even better than the last. It was huge and all of the kids and John loved riding it. Our final adventure for Cody was horseback riding. Yes this 5 month pregnant chic got her butt on a horse proudly named preacher. I must admit it was a bit nerve racking as even Bowen had his own horse. None of our kids have ever been on horses outside of a pony ride at the fair. The trail was steep and rugged. The baby was bouncing around inside me like a washing machine. All in all it was fun and we got to see some wildlife and made a really cool memory. Jadon seems to think she wants a horse now though.
We headed west from there to Yellowstone. Once again a really amazing drive into the National Park. We stayed there for four nights. We had no cell or computer service so that is why so late on getting things posted here. We saw huge wildfires on the way into the park. Fires were a part of our stay there all week. It was a little eerie seeing fire so close to us but we later understood the importance fire plays in maintaining the habitats of the park.
We saw so many buffalo we lost count. They would just hang out on the road causing people to lose their minds and act all crazy with desire to get one more picture. It was almost like buffalo anarchy John said. People would drive all over the road like they were the only ones there. It was a neat experience to be where the "buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play",that also became the theme song for the week.
We had to do a ton of driving in the park as it just enormous. You can fit both Delaware and Rhode Island in Yellowstone. So in order to see everything involves hours of truck time. We saw geysers and hot springs and mud pots. The diversity of this park is unprecedented in what it offers one to see and do. Yellowstone lake became a favorite of ours as it was beachy and even had small waves. The kids swam in this lake that was frozen until mid-June, to give you an idea how cold it was. Gabe said once you were in for three minutes you went numb. No thanks.
We witnessed Old Faithful erupt several times and showed the kids the same waterfalls that we had taken a picture of 15 years before. They had a hard time believing that one.
Mammoth hot springs was a bit disappointing this time as it was so dry there was no spring to be seen but on the long drive there Gabe saw a Grizzly bear so that was worth it. The kids were also able to earn their Jr. Ranger badges so they learned a lot here in addition to having fun.
I know I have said this before but Yellowstone is remarkable. It is worth the trip at least once in your life. Wyoming in general has to be one of the most stunning places to see. We talked about how nice it would be to live here would it not be for the 15 feet of snow they get in the Winter-yuck.
We left Yellowstone yesterday and are now currently in Livingston, Montana. Last night we went into town and visited the Park County Fair. Talk about small town fun. We even got to listen to a cowboy play the steel guitar along with another small rodeo. I love these unexpected treasures God blesses us with along the way. We have the huge snow covered mountains out our front window and the Yellowstone river to the south of us.
Headed north to Great Falls to see a midwife then on the Glacier.