Are we CraZy????

Our trip to Las Vegas spurred an idea to drive past our original destination of Rapid City and head to Yellowstone.

One of my favorite things to do in Las Vegas is to walk around and be a part of the crowd. This picture was taken in the original heart of Vegas, close to the Golden Nugget. It's called Fremont Street. Looking forward to going back...may have to be an every two year thing!

Well, this next week should be an interesting one! On Wednesday, my two kids and husband and I are leaving our four cats alone at home and driving to Rapid City. By the following Wednesday, we will have hopefully made it to Yellowstone National Park and then back home safely via Cody and Rapid City again.

My kids, who are 7 and 4, do not always get along well. Some days, I can get five minutes out of them and some days they can be best buds the entire day. Lately, it's been closer to the five minute one. So how do I solve that???? Put them in a car together for eight days in a row! We'll see how THAT works. We do have a DVD player in the SUV and lots and lots of movies to play.

We have books, toys, coloring books, crayons, markers, and games. Then after a while, we'll have scenery. We may be crazy, but I think we'll be ok in that department. We'd better be anyway.

Andy can't read in the car without getting nauseated, so he will be doing most of the driving. Which leads me to my next concern....Andy driving in the mountains. Ok, given his great track record we should be fine. But just yesterday, on our way to drop something off at our friend's house, he missed the turn to their neighborhood because we were talking about something. What happens when there's MOUNTAINS to look at and curvy roads with no room for error? Should the boys and I refrain from saying "look at that!" or I just sit with the boys in back and whisper to them so he doesn't get distracted, drive off the curve, and we plummet into a gorge twelve billion feet below? What do we do? No, really, I trust Andy and his driving, but just think that maybe I need to pay attention to what HE is doing and be a very good passenger: NO pointing across his face, NO sudden outbursts "WATCH OUT!!!!", "OMG, LOOK AT THAT STEEP SLOPE WE'RE 12 INCHES FROM!", "STEP ON IT, THERE'S A BEAR FOLLOWING US", or things like that. I should probably also not offer him a snack during the mountain switchbacks either. And if I drive, which I plan to some, I should probaby not drive in the mountains because, knowing my "love" of heights, I would use the lane closest to the mountain and furthest from the drop whether it's the correct lane or not. That could lead us into another notebook of issues, so I think I'll just let Andy drive most of the time. I also wouldn't want to have to pull over and let him barf from reading the map in a moving vehicle. And I don't want to be reading the map WHILE driving either.

Besides being a little nervous about the cold nights while camping, yes CAMPING in Yellowstone, I am very confident we will figure this trip out. We had originally planned to take the kids to see the "big heads" at Mt. Rushmore only. Then as Andy and I flew over the mountains on our way to Las Vegas, I got the crazy idea (Andy can now verify that the five scariest words that I can say are: "Honey, I have an idea!") to just keep driving and take them to Yellowstone and the REAL mountains. So he took a few extra days off, we figured out our agenda, and figured the only way we could make it happen is to camp because of the high price of hotels. One night in a hotel is about as much as the seven days of camping, so we're pretty happy about that. We don't really have an agenda except for where we are going to spend each night. We are bringing plenty of bedding, clothes, and some food. We'll have to get some while we're there to grill and I know we'll eat at restaurants while there. We plan to be very laid back, see the sights, and just be together.

We've had a lot of feedback from others and have been told how fun it will be and that we'll create some wonderful and priceless memories. I hope it will be good! That is why I am going to blog every day with our adventures or misadventures, however the chips may play out. If I can't get wifi, I will post two or three days in one day.

Anyway, just check it out Wednesday night, probably late, or Thursday morning. I'm hoping to provide some entertainment, and maybe even spur ideas of your own for vacation fun!

Yeeeee Haaawwwww!