On our drive to Gillette (a reasonable sized town for Wyoming), we passed through Upton, Wyoming, population 1100 (or less). The welcome sign coming into town boasted the slogan, "The best town on earth." Unfortunately, Upton seems to have fallen on hard times - buildings were in disrepair or seemed abandoned, stores were in short supply, and even the school was run-down. From this point on, we compared all the small towns we drove through to Upton. It was a nice distraction from the monotony of long drive days. We found quite a few more worthy of the "Best town on earth" distinction.
On Monday I surprised the kids with a no-drive day. Instead, we checked out the "water park" attached to our hotel. I put water park in quotes because it was pretty small and run-down, but we mostly had the place to ourselves all day, so no complaints.
All of us (except Nellie) tried the water slides at least once. Bryce fell off his tube the first time down, so he wasn't a big fan afterwards. Nellie preferred to swim in the pool that did not have any currents.
Thane and Graham teamed up and did nothing but the water slides for hours on end. It was nice to have a slow day after the drama of the weekend.
Tuesday morning we made our way further west to Thermopolis, Wyoming. As we steadily climbed in elevation, I felt grateful for Ruby; I doubt the old van could have handled the exertion. As we wound our way through beautiful mountain scenes, Aubree whispered from the backseat, "Mom." I was in the middle of a conversation, so I put my finger up to signal just a minute. She spoke more urgently, "Mom!" I turned around to see the tell-tale whitish-green face that meant car sickness had found her. We pulled over, she got herself some fresh air and Dramamine (I had Bryce take some too, just in case), and when she felt better, we continued on our way. Soon the roads straightened out, and there was thankfully no puking. Impressively, it was the only time she got carsick on the trip even though she often read books on her ipod.
Thermopolis, despite not really being close to anything, has a lot of cool things to do. For starters, they have the largest mineral hot springs in the world (I did not verify that claim, but that's what they told us). We explored around the hot springs and hiked across a neat swinging bridge. Aubree and Bryce complained it was too hot (it was only in the low 80's, they'd just been spoiled with mild weather the previous few weeks). It was too warm for us to want to soak in the hot spring pools, and the water was running too swift and high to safely play in the river, so we didn't stay too long at the hot springs. We did drive up and see their small bison herd though.
After checking into our hotel/cabin (not a lot of accommodation options in Thermopolis), we swung over to the Dinosaur Museum. They had a tour leaving right after we arrived to see and learn about live, on-going dinosaur digs, so we decided to pay the extra money and take advantage of the opportunity.
It really was fascinating to see the fossils in the ground and learn more about how the process works. I can't say we're huge dinosaur fans at our house, so we probably didn't appreciate it as much as others might have, but it was a worthwhile and memorable experience.
Since we hopped on the tour bus right after arriving, we didn't get to explore the museum until after we got back. Again, we found the museum moderately interesting, but after making a quick round, we were ready to go. Maybe I've failed as a parent since none of my kids care about dinosaurs? I don't think any of them are on a trajectory to become paleontologists.
The highlight of the day came when we met up with one of my graduate school friends, Dave, and his wife and daughters. Before we had kids, Mark, Dave, Jenn, and I (and Alec and Jen) spent uncountable weekends together playing Settlers of Catan. Dave and Jenn had their first child, Bethany, just one month before Aubree was born. It was so much fun to see them again and catch up.
They treated us to a delicious dinner, and we chatted while the kids played in their huge backyard and enjoyed a night of perfect weather.
When it was time to go (we put off leaving as long as possible), Aubree suggested we re-create a picture from the last time we all got together, in Florida in 2010.
The girls have grown just a little bit, eh?
It's been a long time since I've been in the thick of the School Psychology world. It was fun to have a few moments to talk about related issues and experiences, since Dave is still doing what we were trained to do. On the one hand, if I went back into the schools, I think I'd now be way better able to assist kids and teachers with my experience as a mom and a homeschooler. On the other hand, it boggles my mind to realize just how much I've forgotten!
No comments:
Post a Comment