Housing Update

Well, as many of you may have guessed, since we haven't posted any information on our new house, since moving to Bismarck there have been some changes in our housing plans.  When we bought our lot back in the Spring, the plan was to be able to begin construction in the Summer.  However, building in Bismarck is a bit of a wild card these days, and the city decided to change their plans for putting in water and electrical lines in our new subdivision yet again.  The first change was from late summer to late fall.  Now; however, it doesn't look like the lines will be going in until the Spring.  I'm not sure how we are going to survive in this apartment for another year, but it looks like we are going to have to find a way, or else find a way to persuade the city to make us a higher priority.  Since I think the latter in unlikely, we had better start coming up with a coping strategy, and quick.  Yikes!  Why can't life ever go as planned?!

Madison's First Piano Recital

The Great RV Trip!

Well, after years of listening to his begging, I finally gave in and let Nick have his way.  It doesn't happen very often, so it's definitely worth documenting when it does.  And what was this life-long dream that he persisted in pleading for?  Well, I think the title of the post gave it away.  Yep, you read it right--an RV trip.  A Great RV Trip!  It was crazy, but I did it!  We all did it!  We rented an RV and decided to try our hand at "Cruising America."  It was definitely an adventure, but it was also definitely a trip we will never forget.

 

Day 1:  Billings, Montana--Missoula, Montana

 

(We did some sight seeing in North Dakota first, and then picked up the RV in Billings, Montana.)

 

Beginning our adventure......

 



 

stop-over for lunch......

 

 

getting ready for bed.

 



 

Day 2: Missoula, Montana--Moses Lake, Washington

 

Touring University of Montana Campus...

 

view from the campus...

 

 

stop-over in Coeur d'Alene. 

Nick had looked at a job in Couer d'Alene for months and had been convinced this was to be our new home.  We waited and waited for an offer from the hospital there, but got impatient and finally accepted the job in Bismarck without getting any closure from the small Idaho group.   To this day he claims he would still jump at an offer from them, but I'm not so sure.  Consequently, Nick insisted on making a several hour stop-over here so that we could see what we were missing out on having accepted the position in Bismarck.

 



 

We hung out in Couer d'Alene all day, and it was beautiful, to say the least.  As evening came, we made our favorite white bean chili at one of the local campgrounds, and then Nick insisted we press forward for a few more hours so that we could check out Spokane (another potential job location) before dark.  Nick was slightly depressed as we drove out of town, but none of the rest of us shed any tears.  His depression seemed only to deepen though, as we made our way through Spokane, and eventually he determined to keep on driving to try to soothe his troubled mind. After a half an hour or so; however, my mom finally requested that he pull over for the night.  She had turned down my offer to sleep over the cab where things weren't quite so bumpy (she has SLIGHT clastrophobia!) and instead made a valient attempt to go to sleep with the kids in the back of the RV. Little did she know how bad the bumping would be!  There were multiple times I startled the kids by bursting out laughing after watching her petite body bounce over a foot in the air!  Nick wasn't the most sympathetic--it wasn't until his Dad was with us over a week later that he finally got the chance to make his own attempt at the same feat and discovered the joys backseat RV-ing compete with complimentary acid-reflux!--but finally he found a truck stop near Moses Lake, Washington and we all called it a night.

 

 

Day 3: Moses Lake, Washington--Port Angeles, Washington

We all took it easy the next morning so Nick could catch a few extra hours sleep....

 



and then we made our way further into the beautiful state of Washington.

 

The kids colored their Washington coloring sheets as we drove across the state, (a tradition of ours upon entering a new state)

and then when we finally reached the coast we stopped to hunt for sea shells on the

famous Puget Sound.

Afterwards, we drove into Olympic National Park and spent the rest of the day enjoying all of the scenic views on the drive to the top of Hurricane Ridge. 

 

 

 

We snapped a few photos at the top; however, it wasn't long before our sightseeing was cut short and we found out first hand how the place got it's name.   A huge rainstorm hit and we all held our breath as we tried to navigate our way back down the narrow mountain roads with the blinding rain pounding on the windows.  We were all relieved when we finally pulled into the campsite at Port Angeles and celebrated our night "in" with Wendy's frosties and a movie.  Any guess as to what we watched?  I might could have gone for a Twilight movie since the setting seemed right, but instead Nick insisted on torturing us all with this old hit. 

 

 

I don't think I would have liked it much had I seen it at home--it has terribly bad language--but under the circumstances, I actually had to wipe away a few tears from laughing so hard. Our RV adventure had several striking similarities--falling dishes, depserately looking for a dump site, failing to secure the waste lines when the dump site was finally located!! (That last one we didn't experience until a little later in our journey--otherwise it might not have been so funny at the time!)

Day 4: Port Angeles, Washington--Aberdeen, Washington

We woke up early this morning and set out on one of the best days of our great RV adventure.  The kids played at the camp site,

and then we made a brief stop-over at the tide pools of the Salt Creek County Park to hunt for sea urchins and such.  Our timing wasn't the best, but the kids still loved being so close to the ocean. 

 

By mid morning; however, we had left the salty air and gently rolling waves of the ocean and found ourselves on a rain forest hike to remember.  Who knew such a place existed in the United States!  Nikc and I felt like we were right back in the Australian Daintree. 

We hiked for hours in the rain forest,

stopped for lunch in this old petrified tree,  (The kids thought it looked like a castle and pronounced it the perfect place to eat.)

and took some pictures at the Marymere Falls.

 

After hiking back to the RV, we drove over to Lake Crescent on some of the parks' back roads,

 

and then decided to try our luck at spotting some salmon at the Salmon Cascades.  We were technically a little too late in the season, but to our delight, there were several desperate fish who hadn't given up their efforts to make it up the falls.  It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life, and we were transfixed there for over an hour as we cheered on the struggling salmon.

 

 

The salmon made this stop-over in Forks seem anticlimatic, but we stopped nonetheless so that I could snap this photo for my good friend Buffy.  (Yes, this one's for you crazy woman!)

Then we left the park and headed out to Ruby Beach to watch the sun set over the ocean. 

It was lovely, and we capped off the night with roasted hot dogs and marshmellows.

 

Afterwards, we spent some time considering our options for the rest of the night.   We had six hours to get back over to the Seattle Airport, where we needed to drop my mom off in the early morning.  We could backtrack and go back to Seattle via the Pudget Sound, or we could continue south and loop all the way around through Tacoma and Olympia.  Eventually we voted for the southern route.  The driving was slow, but this time my mother and I opted to stay awake instead of enjoying our dinner multiple times over.  Before long; however, the threat of animals on the road became too great and we were too tired to continue on.  Unfortunately, there was no good place to pull over and sleep.  Finally, in the small town of Aberdeen, Washington, we found ourselves doing what scores of RV-ers before us have done--camping in the Walmart parking lot!  Nick pulled up to what was clearly the overnight parking area, and was asleep before my mom and I even made it into our jammies.  Upon crawling into bed; however, my mother realized that we were parked directly under one of the Walmart street lights--so much so that it shown like the sun right through the RV skylight.  She was too polite to make Nick move, but I don't think we'll ever live down our sleepless night in the Walmart parking lot. 

 

 

 

Day 5: Aberdeen, Washington--Mossy Rock Park, Washington

I told her it was all her fault for insisting on flying home a day early, but that we would forgive her on one condition--that she accept our copy of RV as a parting gift.  I didn't want the bad language in my movie collection, and I knew she would want to cherrish her memories of RV-ing with us for the rest of her life!

After dropping her off at the airport, we embarked on my second favorite day of the trip.  This time we made our way deep into the heart of the Cascade Mountain Range.  We had already been to the ocean and the rainforest, now it was time for a jaunt into the mountatins.  Consequently, we began our tour of the Cascade Mountains with a hike on the beautiful Mt. Rainier. I had never been to this part of Washington, and again found myself amazed beyond belief.  It was easily as breathtaking as any of the scenerey I had seen in other parts of the world.  It even rivaled my favorite memories in the Austrian Tyrol or the majestic Swiss Alps.

 

The glaciers creeping down the mountain were pretty amazing,

 

but nothing could compare to the Fall colors we found as we hiked up the mountain.  Our timing was absolutely perfect!

There was a perfect combination of fall colors and poetically placed patches of early snowflakes.  It was stunning!!  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day!  My mom really should have stayed that extra night!

 

 

Our camp site for the night was also beautiful, and after having spent more than one night driving it was a relief to get in early enought to really enjoy the full effect of RV-ing.

 

 

Day 6: Mossy Lake Park, Washington--Crown Point State Park, Oregon

 

Today we woke early and after getting showered and fed we made our way to one of the most famous mountains in the Cascade Range--Mt. St. Helen's.   

 

The kids were fascinated by the video of the eruption and enjoyed the hike to the picture points, but were anxious to get away from the mountains once they realized they were all active volcanoes!  Nick and I didn't objecct to the rush.  Within a few hours of Mt. St. Helen's was the Washington/Oregon state line, and the finish line for our long time race to make it to all fifty states.   How Orgeon worked out to be the last, I'll never know, but as soon as we crossed the state line we pulled over and all had a celebration. 

 

Finally--all fifty states! Thank you Oregon for making it all possible. And thank you North Dakota--number 49 on the list. Since North Dakota is now our home for the unforseeable future, it would have made a better story if it was the other way around, but hey, 49 is pretty close to fifty.

 

Day 7:  Crown Point State Park, Oregon--Idaho Falls, Idaho

 

Drivng all day today.

 

Day 8: Idaho Falls, Idaho--Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

 

We arrived back in familiar territory today and picked up a few extra travelors to top it all off.

 

 

The kids were ecstatic to have some company in our RV again, and their cousins Harrison and Isebella seemed willing participants in all our adventures.  (Grandma and Grandpa Hoskins were with us as well, though they followed in their truck until we got to the entrance of

Yellowstone National Park.)

 

Once we were all in the RV; however. the kids played up in the loft,

 

watched for wildlife out the windows,

 

 

 

 

 

hiked the trails at the mud pots and hot springs,

 

 

 

watched Old Faithful erupt,

 

 

and sipped hot chocolate before finally

 

turning in for the night.  It was a full RV that night as we camped in the heart of the park. 

 

 

Day 9: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming--Livingston, Montana

 

The next morning we played on Yellowstone Lake,

 

 

hiked to the various falls,

and finally sent Grandma and Grandpa Hoskins and our cousins on their way back home.

Then we made our way out the north entrance of the park and to our last camp site in Livingston, Montana.

 Day 10: Livingston, Montana--Bismarck, North Dakota

 

When we woke up on the last morming of our trip we were relieved to find the water lines still miraculously unfrozen.  It had been a close call a few times, but somehow we managed to make it through the trip without having to winterize our house on wheels.  For that we were very grateful, and we were equally grateful to get back into our own beds when we finally pulled into the driveway late that night.  3200 miles might be a little much for our next RV trip, but nevertheless, there will definitely be a next trip.  Maybe even an annual trip.  One winter cruise; one fall RV trip.  Then throw in a nice summer vacation and cap off our ten weeks off with a few side trips here and there. When it's all said and done I think we'll manange our new home of Bismarck just fine.