Hawaii

I think I am going to need to break this into a couple of post. There are just so many pictures and things to talk about with our trip. Sorry if it ends up being so boring but I guess I think that some people with care ;) So we took 3 legs of flights to get there. The longest being from LA to Hawaii. Jane actually did pretty well on all of them. Luckily, my mom was on the last leg of the flight with us, so that was fun. (not so fun for her because she had spent 2 days in airports trying to get out there because she flies standby) We had spent all day traveling and by the time we got to the place we were staying it was like 2 am our time. So we decided to take it easy the next day. We slept in some and then hit the beach.

This beach was literally right across the street from the condo we were staying in. It was a good beach. It was Jane's first beach experience and she wasn't havin the sand. We had to sit her on the towel. She also didn't like the water at first. I don't know if the sound of the waves scared her or what. After about an hour, I walked into the water with her and she didn't mind. We then put her into a floaty thing and she was happy to just hang out there.
That night we went to a taco place for dinner. The only reason that this is significant is that it was the first time Jeff had fish tacos that he said could rival the ones I make. Believe me, it is significant, because he has tried a lot of fish tacos.
The next day we caught an early sacrament meeting and then headed to the road to Hana. Hana is actually a little town that you have to drive to on this really windy road. It is very scenic and you are often driving along the coast. Sadly, I did get a little car sick. That is unusual for me and so that just tell you how windy it really was.

You can't tell that well but there is a little town down there. There is only one road that goes to it.

There were a bunch of these bridges along that road that were for only one car at a time. They were often on a curve too so you had to stop and make sure no one else was coming.

There were some waterfalls just along the side of the road. There is usually more but we were there in the drier season, unfortunately.

So we got to Hana and one of the things that makes the town so unique is the 'black' sand beaches. It wasn't really black, just dark. It was pretty though.

We stopped there for lunch and then headed back on the really windy road. I didn't get as sick on the way back, thank goodness. The last thing for the day is that we stopped at some waterfalls. We were able to fulfill a dream of Jeff's to swim in a waterfall. It was pretty exciting. There were two falls but only  one was deep enough to actually swim in.

My mom and Jane watching the action. So exciting. Oh my goodness, so many pictures and this was only 2 days of our trip. I will try to make it a little shorter next time. Stay tuned for some snorkeling and a  crater.

Drive PT 2

It has taken way too long for me to get this up but here we are. So we made our way to West Yellowstone. We had a few stops along the way and the drive was very pretty. We also saw this. 

A real cowboy herding his cattle along the road. It is not very often that you see this. I have to say thought that I felt really super touristy taking this pic. We stayed in the town of West Yellowstone that night and woke up early to take in as much of Yellowstone as we could. Here are some of the highlights. 

This is Old Faithful. It was only steam really that we saw because it was just cool enough that steam covered up the water.

Lower Falls

Upper Falls

This is the majority of the things we saw here. It was really nice. Again the fall colors made it all the more beautiful. We didn't really see much wildlife though which was disappointing. We might have seen a buffalo from a distance but that is it. 

On our way out of the park we stopped at another lake to eat before we drove a couple of hours. 

We had some complications on our drive after we left the park. We looked at the map and picked a town that was a couple hours a way that would be good to stop at and get Jane to sleep. Well we arrived at the town and there was nothing there. I don't know if you could call it a town even. I mean there was a gas station and maybe a bar. So we hadn't eaten, it was time to get Jane to bed and we don't know what to do. So we look at the map and the next closest place on our way is Casper. So we decide to drive two hours to Casper. It was kind of a pain but we finally made it and got to bed. 

The next day we only had about 4 and a half hours left. That was the only nice thing about driving to Casper the night before. So we just drove and drove. We pulled into our house about 2 pm on Tuesday. We spent the rest of the night unloading and moving furniture back upstairs. Thanks for James and Camille for helping us so much. I just have to say that we are so happy to be home. Sometimes it is good to get away so you can really appreciate what you have. I do have a new appreciation for things. I am sure that as time goes on that it will wear off but I hope not too soon. 

The long long drive pt 1

I decided that I should break this into two posts because we took so many pictures. So let's get started. We finally got on the road on Friday about 3 o'clock. I decided to load the trailer myself (bad idea) and have Jeff go to work. It took me way longer than I thought it would to load and the loading only happened thanks to my friend Amy. What a life saver she is. Anyway that is why we left so late that day because the original plan was to leave at noon. So we stopped briefly in Cardston. Saw the temple and got some food. Luckily, it did not take us very long at the border. We were worried that they would stop and search us but they didn't. I guess we look trustworthy. We then drove on to outside of Glacier National Park. We stayed in a little tiny town that had most of it's hotels closed down already for the season. I think there was only one other person staying that the motel we found.
The next day we went and saw some things in Glacier. Here are some pics of the day.

I don't really remember the names of some of these places but it was really pretty. It was especially pretty with all of the colors changing. One of the most popular things to do in Glacier is something called The  Road to the Sun. They were doing construction on it so that we could only go half way up it. Sadly, most of the day in Glacier was raining and so we didn't get out and do any hikes or things like that.
We left Glacier in the early evening and drove to Great Falls MT. Most of that day was just time in the car. We drove towards Yellowstone. I have never been to Montana and was amazed at how pretty it was just driving along the freeway. I guess I thought it would be more like Wyoming and if you have ever driven in Wyoming it is not too fun.
At lunch time we decided to get out so that Jane could crawl around. He was not loving being in the car for such a long time. We found a little lake and thought that having a scenic picnic spot would be better.

Jeff took this last picture because he wanted one of the car pulling the trailer. It was pretty here but really windy. We had some minor mishaps at lunch in which Jane poked her eye with a stick and Jeff ate paper. That last one was kind of funny. We got back into the car and headed to West Yellowstone. That is up next.

Goodbye and Hello

Well we finally made the long trip back to Denver. It was quite the adventure (I will post about that in a couple of day). I wanted to just talk about our last week or so in Calgary. Our friend Jacqui said that we couldn't leave Calgary without seeing elbow falls. So the last weekend we were there we all took a trip up there. It was pretty and all but it mostly fun just hanging out with the friends we have made.

The falls

Jeff, Graham and Brennan getting a little too close

Audrey practicing her poses. Oh they start so young

We hiked down past the falls to a calm part of the river with big rock the people sometimes jump off. The water was really cold but Jane liked it. 

Rocks are just the funnest toys.

Oh the days of innocence.

Graham slid down the river on a rock that is kind of like a slide. He is a little crazy, like I said, it was really cold.

It is interesting that some of the best weather days we had in Calgary were the week or two before we left. It was nice because it lent to lots of going outside and exploring.
The following Monday we had the Cartwrights over for some Ethopian food. I made ways too much and we couldn't have left overs around. Then the following Wednesdays we had them over again with the Harkers and made grilled pizza. The packing and loading and we were off on Friday.
Overall we had a really good experience being in Calgary. Even though we complained at times we are so happy that we did it. Of course, we will mostly miss these friends we made. Thanks for making our time in Calgary so fun and memorable. You guys make it so that I would want to come back and visit there :) Oh and I will miss nanaimo bars. They are so so delicious. I am going to have to find a good recipe.