Home Sweet Home

We just returned home from a road trip.  We left Portland early Sunday morning and started our drive to Meridian, Idaho (or "hideaho" as Munchkin calls it).  Hubby had to go out there for work and we decided that we would go with him and then drive up to Joseph, OR for a few days. 

A beautiful scenic drive

That little blue sign says "Welcome to Idaho"

 As expected, this took a lot longer with two kids than it did if we had been by ourselves. It was four days of messed up schedules, no nap times, several meltdowns and lots of fun.

Hanging out in the hotel while daddy was working.

Hubby and Squishy in the pool. (Sorry ladies, he's taken)

Getting ready for bed in the hotel.

 Monday afternoon we left Meridian and headed through Hell's Canyon to Joseph, Oregon.  Most of the trip was pretty uneventful until Munchkin decided to get car sick.  Luckily I saw she was about to get sick and we were able to pull over and avoid a huge mess.  We got cleaned up, changed her clothes and were able to continue on.  But then of course, Squishy woke up and was hungry, so we found a safe place to stop where Munchkin could get out and run around while I took care of feeding Squishy.  We made it in five hours, which was only one hour longer than mapquest told me it was going to be, not too bad.
As we drove into Joseph we had the most amazing view.  The clouds had opened up right over the city and made for a great photo op.

We got into town, had dinner and then went to our motel (the same one we stayed at on our honeymoon) to relax for the night.  Getting ready for bed was going well until we realized we left Munchkin's monkey slippers in Idaho.  She wears these things to bed every night, so she wasn't not too happy about it.  We managed to convince her it was OK and she fell asleep in my bed.  (Still pretty jealous that Hubby got a whole queen size bed to himself both nights, while I shared mine with both girls).

Early the next morning we headed up to the tram at Wallowa Lake to take us to the top of Mount Howard.  Munchkin wasn't too sure about the gondola at first, but she had fun once we got to the top.

In the gondola on the way up Mt Howard

Hubby and Munchkin at the top!

Feeding the "chipmonkies"

Squishy was trying to grab them and was laughing hysterically
every time she touched one.

The amazing view from the top!

We had lunch then went back to the motel to relax.  We walked around town for a bit, headed to the lake to play in the water for awhile, then went back and changed clothes and went out for dinner. 

After dinner we went to bed early because we were planning on leaving first thing in the morning.  Hubby was up at 6:30 and being in a small room all together meant that all of us were up by 7.  We were on the road by 8 and headed home.  We stopped for breakfast in a tiny little town called Elgin at a place where everyone knew each other.  It was like something on the Andy Griffith Show.  Someone would walk in and the waitress/cook would say "Hey (insert name here)!" And immediately pour them a cup of coffee without being asked to.  The place filled up quick and the conversation turned to bull riding and the movie '8 seconds'.

We left and continued our journey home.  The rest of the trip was pretty boring, all of us girls fell asleep and left Hubby to drive in peace and quite.  We didn't make another stop until just after the John Day Dam when we crossed the river into Washing to stop at Maryhill Winery to pick up a couple bottles of my favorite wine that is only sold there.  We went to the museum/park and had lunch while Munchkin ran around.

There's a little bird on the other side of the hose thing that Munchkin was feeding crackers to.

After lunch, back in the car and our next stop was home!  It was so nice to be back home even though we all had a lot of fun.  Our next big trip is to Spokane in September for a wedding...another 6 or 7 hours of driving...at least we know we can make it!  :)