Wyoming

Similarities in temperament

It took a lot of encouragement to get those little twins to stand in fron of this monster for a photo.

Yesterday we started out in Bozeman and made it as far as Cody, Wyoming, where we filled our first few Ziploc bags with barf.  We walked it off with a visit to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which was amazing.  Even my cynical fourteen year-old boy loved it. There was something for everyone, a gun museum, native american displays, pioneers, the Wild West, and tons of  taxidermied animals.  Olivia really loved the art gallery and could have spent the whole day gazing at the paintings of horses.  Henry and Jack spent a fair amount of time in the gun museum, which is where having two parents comes in handy, because, BORING.  Grace loved the Native American exhibits best of all, because of all the CUTE! Baby moccasins!  And CUTE! Papooses! And CUTE! Beaded dolls!

CUTE! It's eating a little woodland creature!

Not too far from the truth.  Just add Ziploc bags.

 

We ended up spending the whole day there, but decided to put a few miles behind us, so we made tracks for Sheridan, Wyoming. On the map, it didn't look that far. Four hours later, we arrived. We drove through the Bighorn National Forest, which was breathtaking, but did require more Ziploc bags. Red rock canyons with the Black Hills rising above them.  I even saw a real live moose, just casually eating grass by the side of the road. I was able to see this amazing creature because I wasn't playing a video game on the laptop or watching a DVD, or even playing with my Nintendo DS.

 We finally got settled into our hotel in Sheridan, where we ordered pizza for the kids.  Mitch and I went to the restaurant downstairs for dinner after Olivia proclaimed she wasn't going to put one more bite in her mouth that wasn't cooked by me. (Not including pizza.  Obviously.) We both ordered local beef (Mitch's third meal of beef that day. Love you Montana and Wyoming! Sorry arteries!) It was so good, though.  I really could have cut it with the side of my fork.  One strange thing about Montana and Wyoming is that meals don't come with salad, you have to order them separately, and then, of course, it's iceberg lettuce, which Jack has discovered he loves.  Swimming marathon in the hotel pool, and straight to bed for another day of driving. We are learning that ending every day with a swim and a cup of hot cocoa erases the memories of vomiting and sore butts from driving all day, because each night, a couple of the kids thank us for taking them on this awesome trip (not including Jack, obviously.  The most we can get out of him, is 'it doesn't suck').