U.S Roadtrip: Cheyenne, WY

On the road again, heading to Cheyenne, Wyoming. About a 7h drive for us. Kids got a candy treat during the drive, which was a beautiful drive. Arrived to a very kind couple in whose house we spent the night and they had arranged bbq at night with us and some other guests. Kids had a lot of fun with their ATV :-) I enjoyed watching the antelopes right next to their house.

Colorado here we come!

U.S Roadtrip: WY is for Wyoming (Grand Tetons National Park)

As mentioned, we arrived late to our stop in Star Valley, Wyoming. We got to park and hook up outside a church where we also had access to proper showers and bathrooms :-) After getting a good night sleep we drove to the Grand Tetons National Park. Picked up some pizza on the way and ate it by Snake River, watching white water rafter going down the river.

Ski resort!!! :-)

 The weather got crummier and crummier as the day went by and we really were not dressed for it so we had to stay in the car as much as possible, when we arrived to the Great Tetons, to avoid getting soaking wet and cold.

Speech for Alex in the evening and leaving again in the morning.

U.S. Roadtrip: Challis, ID

So we arrived to our destination in Ihaho, Living waters Ranch. Another absolutely beautiful place! We got to camp at the ranch/conference center in the mountains where they had lots of fun stuff for me and kids while Alex worked. However, this place was a full day conference so we could attend the conference, too, and listen to the other speakers. It was interesting, and the kids took the chance to sell paintings to the participants, which gave them more money than they deserved ;-)

The day ended with a very nice dinner at a restaurant down town Challis (a very small town) and breakfast together the next morning, at the same restaurant. The organizers, a couple who lives close by, took us to their own mine on our second day and we got to mine for precious stones. It was such a fun and educating adventure!! We had to drive on a small small and steep road to get up to the mine, on the top of the mountain.

Beautiful drive

Hummingbird by their house

Getting a quick lesson about what we were about to do

A machine to break the rocks in smaller pieces

Driving up the mountain...

An outhouse with a view!

We did not have time to stay very long because we had to drive to our next stop that same night, in Wyoming. We left their house in the afternoon and managed to get a flat tire on the way back to the camper. This time it was the car and not on the camper and we had to get the spare tire out. To do that you have to open the trunk and somehow (I am not completely sure how this works) unscrew in from inside. The tire is under the car. Since our trunk could not open anymore (handle had broken a while ago) it was extra hard for Alex to get the spare tire out and replace the broken one. But of course he happily fixed it and we were back on the road very soon. However... we had never used the spare tire and we realized that it was smaller than the other tires on the car... and it was Sunday... and we were in the middle of nowhere... But as always, things work out in the end and on soon after we were back on the road we saw a guy working in his garage and he happened to have a tire shop!!! We went to see him and he was so nice! He was not working but he offered to help us and ones again our tires were good to go again! So grateful! 

Unscrewing the spare tire from inside the trunk...

Outside the closed tire shop with the helpful owner!

Because of our previous blow out we had missed the trip to a ghost town and the kids, especially Marlee, was very sad about that. So, when we on the way back to our trailer, passed by a ghost town, we decided to make a quick stop. It was closed... But Alex found a worker there and he said that it was okay for us to sneak under the gate, so we did... :-) It would probably have been more fun if it was open but at least we got to see one now.

We eventually got back to our trailer, hooked it up and left for Star Valley, WY, where we arrived a little bit after midnight.

#TBT is for ThrowbackThursday (December 5, 2018)

I don't normally do this but I had a very good reason this time... When we were in Vienna, Austria, last December, I took some cute videos of the kids. By the time I updated the blog, which was waaaaay later, I had accidentally lost the videos. I had the videos posted on Instagram but I just could not figure out how to get them off. Sounds like a simple thing and but I just could not get them downloaded. Until today!!! I found another app that could do it (the third one I tried) and Voila!! I had the videos again :-D

They are both from the museum House of Illusions in Vienna. The boys loved it and never wanted to leave! Unfortunately neither video has sound because I posted them on Instagram without sounds.

The "bridge" that they are standing on is actually not moving, only the walls (and the camera, which I am turning while I film).

U.S. Roadtrip: ID is for Idaho

The tire shop fixed our tire while we had breakfast in a near by park, and we were back on the road again. The plan had been to go to a ghost town and some mines today but the tire changed our plans and we ended up getting a great drive and see something we otherwise would not have seen - Craters of the moon. We just drove passed it and thought it looked pretty cool. Since we were already late to our next (planned) stop we did not have much time but this was an exciting park/reserve that we had never heard about before.

Never ending road in Nevada...

Preparing lunch in the middle of nowhere...

Eating the lunch...

Discovered Craters of the Moon

There was snow down in the craters

We would have climbed this hill if we had more time...

We continued our drive...

Bathroom stop...

Cool nature

Graduation Mountain in Arco (look it up)

We made it to Challis finally, one day late but still in time for Alex to do his speech and for us to enjoy the beautiful place where we camped, Living Waters Ranch.