3 states, 2000+ miles, 2 hotel stays, gallons of coffee= a great vacation

Whew! A fast week, lots of ground covered, and caught up with several important people along the way. Aria and I started out August 1 to Dillon, MT. We spent the night there on our way down to see my Gramma in Twin Falls, ID. Montana's first territorial capital and very well preserved ghost town, Bannack, is just a half hour away from Dillon. Being the mining history/ghost town fanatic I am, I had to go. My mother and father-in-law also happened to be RVing in the area, so Debbie came along with. Many of the buildings are standing still, and were in pretty good shape structurally. It was fun walking on the boardwalk, imagining life back in the early 1900's here. Some of my favorite shots are below.


I love the glass in this church!


Beautiful bar! Drinks on Debbie:)


Mead Motel... the inside was impressive. Grand staircase, nearly floor to ceiling windows, and the over sized kitchen oven even creaked and groaned for us! Nice touch!


Aria in our hotel room that evening in Dillon. Get some sleep Pookie; more driving tomorrow!


We arrived in Twin Falls on Aug. 2. We spent the next 2 days with my Gramma. Aunt Ardele also was there the 2nd day. I heard lots of stories of my dad growing up, enjoyed old family pix, and just hung out as Aria would say. I am so glad we were able to see her. I wasn't able to be around my relatives very much as a kid (cuz we lived far away from them) so it is good to have that family connection with her. Plus, Gramma has the funniest personality to me. It means a lot to me for Aria to have some kind of memory of her great gramma and get to know her too. Love you, Gramma!


Aug. 4, we drove to Green River WY to visit a very good friend of mine, Amy. She has 2 kids I had never met and I was anxious to meet them. Amy also is a gifted photographer, so I thought I'd have her get some shots of Aria. Her kids are delightful! We hung out that afternoon in a local park. Green River is a neat little town and the best part, other than seeing Amy, was the tunnel entering the town. I totally was having a Batman moment and was wishing I could climb the wall and drive on the ceiling of it! Way cool! Aria wasn't the most cooperative subject, but Amy got some pix of Aria that were just amazing. Most important, I was able to catch up with her and spend quality time with her family. While a bit more out of the way than I had thought, I'd make this stop over and over again. A worth while detour for sure!


Josiah and Gennie. I wanted to scoop them up and take them home with me! :)


Gennie and Aria inspecting some of Amy's pix.


After the afternoon in Green River, I planned to drive to Billings that evening to visit with Paul and the rest of the family, since he just got home from Iraq. I drove to Casper, WY and got lost! So about 10pm and with the encouragement of Tony, we stayed over night in Casper. Eastern WY makes eastern Montana look like paradise. Once you get to the Montana/Wyoming border, just north of Sheridan WY, the landscape changes drastically and is quite lovely. Then the final stop in Billings for 2 days. Paul is glad to be home. Mom and Dad had just gotten home from a trip to Minnesota to see the Emmel clan. It was so good to see Paul and the rest. Big news from trip is Mom chopped off her hair for locks of love. She now sports a bob-like cut and it is cute! It's big news cuz the last time Mom cut her hair significantly is when Paul was a baby. Then was home in Joplin Aug. 8. Aria was a great road companion and traveled great! Thanks goodness we put the miles on the Cobama-mobile and not my car! (more on the Cobama car later). I over packed, but what else is new.

So how was the trip, Pookie?


Yah, thumbs up for me too!