I will never be the type of woman to say that family vacations are boring or perfect. Not true, never true, never can be true. If you say it is I'll go out on a limb and call you a liar. With so many dynamics and personalities the individuals that make up families create what looks like on occasion conformed chaos lol. But we all know, no.
Was a tearful goodbye for all of us. I really miss my home, the smells, the sights, my family and friends. My children are still very much attached to Alberta and wish that they could stay. My parents who now live so far away from us value, as do we, our time together as a family. That feeling you get when everyone is together, everyone is happy and healthy, it's a great feeling of peace and joy. Who wouldn't want to feel that as often as possible? All our gear packed up, was a chilly morning due to the wind. There's always an ere or excitement and sadness when you go back home, the party's over.
It was an enjoyable drive to the border staring at the mountains in the background with canola fields in front. So beautiful. At the border (Coutts)we finally get to go through the East Germany looking building which I still can't help but giggle at when I see it I'm sorry but it's funny to me our paranoid societies have reasons and I get that but I guess I figure it's gonna happen anyways so this building makes me giggle. The border guard we met with was awesome a great and wonderful example of the US. He was direct but very kind and practical. Unlike this other woman at the other border nearby (Del Bonita) who is anything but normal I'd ask if that was a pickle or a stick but I'm sure she'd detain me all day long just for spite sooooooo, we'll stick with this guy.
Once in the States a feeling of relief and missing take hold of me. Glad to be back in the States but sad to leave my home. We stopped in Great Falls at the local market for breakfast and to fill up, which to me is also just like home I've been there so many times, and then off we went. About a half hour drive out of Great Falls you could smell it. Campfire smell. We purposefully didn't drive down to Utah partially for that reason. Wildfires. You could see where it had ravaged these hills taking homes and fences and other buildings with it. There were hummers and tents sprawled out for miles with people looking at maps and talking on the phone. The trees and grasses were stills smoking as we drove through. The closer we got to Billings the thicker the smoke started to become and we knew there was going to be a lot more of this driving to come. It was like driving through red air. Usually you have a good visual of Devil's Tower from the interstate in Wyoming but the smoke was so unbelievably thick you could barely see to the end of the hills right beside you. Great for an asthmatic! ( no I forgot my inhaler Mom but I was ok)
We decided to hoof it on our first day and make it as near to Rapid City,SD as we could. Also knowing that we were doing the longest part of our journey I made reservations at a hotel for the night so that I could shower and crash. So happy I chose that! Setting up camp when you're exhausted just doesn't work all that well. Like most people we find ourselves fighting over stupid crap, the pole goes here no it goes there, well how about I take this pole and.....you get the picture.
It definitely was not like in the brochure lol. Scary when we say that right? A little smaller and dingier especially next to the Comfort Inn Suites across the parking lot. Was like looking at a hallelujah hotel that I wouldn't be staying at and turned to our hotel where you can hear the crickets. Didn't care as long as the bedding was clean lol. They had a small but deeper pool and hot tub at this hotel which my kids planned on going into the second we walked in the door and they could smell the chlorine. My kids do that at EVERY single hotel we go to. Mom and Dad tired from traveling, kids smell chlorine and automatically assume they must put on their gear the second we open the door to our room. Even though they're older, today was no exception. I opted to read and allow them to take their baby sister into the pool who is anything but careful which is why I read maybe 4 lines of my book the entire 2 hours I was there.
Finally everyone munching and putting pajamas on, watching old movies and one by one we dropped like flies. Literally. Not one of us was tucked into bed. Nate fell asleep on the floor listening to music(he was stretching out his back), I was asleep face down on the foot of the bed (drooling), and the kids were sprawled out on the bed next to us lightly snoring already. The only one who looked comfy was our toddler girl who was sleeping beside Mommy tucked into her blanket so I got up and moved her to the crib provided by the hotel, pulled down the bed for the kids, tapped the hubby to get up here it's better to sleep in and went back to blissful sleep. No one at this hotel was noisy, no talking loud, no loud tv, no slamming doors. I decided that I really liked this hotel after all.
Morning comes and you can still smell a little smoke but the rain is taking that away. Wait, the rain? We're camping tonight. Hopefully it's just local. Goodbye Spearfish, we've enjoyed our stay, hello boring paved roads filled with I'm too cool for school old man drivers with their convertibles wishing they was twenty again. Worst drivers ever! I always thought old men with hats, but nope I stand corrected after this trip.
About 2-3 hours into driving we notice something. Something awful. Our baby has swollen tonsils. The way we found out? Our 12 year old son was making faces with her in the back seat and noticed her tongue and throat looked "weird". I asked baby girl to look at Mom and make that face, Dad was glancing in the rear view and could see what I saw. Swollen tonsils. Now at this point some of you are oh no how awful but let me quickly explain tonsils to you. I promise you that at more times than one in your life without any serious infection associated with it you yourselves have had swollen tonsils on occasion. As long as the patient isn't complaining about a sore throat and is eating and drinking just fine you do NOTHING. The body can and will take care of it. I called our doctor back home and let her know we were on our way home but wouldn't be there until the next day. But I also made sure she understood our baby girl wasn't complaining and seemed perfectly happy. She said what I thought she'd say. Do nothing and come in if she complains. I love my doctor. I love having small town doctor mom who doesn't worry she just matter of factly puts stuff out there. Sooooo my kinda person.
We notice after lunch that it's getting hotter and hotter every time we stop. By the time we had lunch we were basically through South Dakota and heading south on I-29 to our campsite near Omaha. When we finally stopped for gas and to find something to take to our campsite for dinner it was about 39 C and humid. Just great when you have a baby. Just peachy! We get to our campsite and are almost immediately greeted with a man with a beer in his hand asking if we know who the guy that's supposed to be camping next to us is. Seriously? This is an amazingly beautiful campground by the way. We are right on the lake. Lapping waves are gonna rock me to sleep. Maybe....
We had the most eventful night I think I've had in years that night. While we were setting up camp and the sun is setting it is now 43 C and humid. Sweat is pouring off of us as we set up our tents and air mattresses. So much so that by the time it's dusk we need to change our clothes because we are soaked. I already explained the whole grumpy fighting over stupid stuff right? Only this time it's not with each other. We see fireworks in the distance over the lake so beautiful and quiet. They are far enough away that you can't hear them but you see all the amazing colors. We figure we should probably turn in even though it's this hot and there's only the tiniest breeze ( please bring more wind please please). Our 'neighbors' have other plans. And on top of that the down the site from us people have other plans too. There is a park ranger that literally goes around reminding everyone that 10pm is the campgrounds quiet time. They have a no noise ordinance in that camp ground from 10pm-7am it's a State Park. Don't think any of our neighbors except that woman across from us got it.
The 'neighbors' down the way are getting louder and louder as time goes on. Drunker, less clothing, even yelling at cheering by 11pm. Our 'neighbors' right beside us are getting edgier and drunker and more aggressive as time passes. Hubby wanders over to the down the way peeps and asks if they can keep it down we have children trying to sleep ( especially our toddler in this heat )they are rude, abusive and don't seem to care. I tried calling the park they have no after hours line, something they need to fix because most State Parks do. Then while I'm doing that a fight breaks out right beside the kids tent. At this point I'm dialing 911. I explain to dispatch where I am they patch me through the police are sent we wait about 40 mins for him to show up. In that time Hubby has asked the peeps next to us to please settle down we have kids here again thanks to beer abusive comments. I state loud enough for them to hear it's ok honey I already called the police. Utter silence. They START setting up their tent ( almost midnight) and trying not to yell at each other because they can't see.
When the policeman arrives at this point I'm so hot and sweaty and tired I just long for some sleep. He was extremely polite and kind to me it must have shown how tired I was. I explained we had traveled from Spearfish, SD that day with 3 kids and one of them is 2 years old. I explained in detail the two instances but told him the ones beside us had calmed down. He said he'd take care of it, you have a good night sweetheart ( awww so sweet ) and then proceeded to drive towards our down the way 'neighbors'. He immediately puts a spotlight on them, yells and whistles at them to 'get out here'. Asked them roughly if they were being obnoxious and causing trouble for 'this nice family behind me'. They denied it, he yelled at them again. Then they said hubby was rude to them asking them to be quiet. Policeman laughs and reminds them of the ordinance they're breaking and warns them if he has to come out again they'll spend the night in jail. Ahhhhhh, peace and satisfaction. Now if only I could get a breeze!
Hubby of course is now nervous in case all these people turn on us in our sleep. I am not nervous at all and fall asleep.
In the morning both neighbors apologized profusely to us especially me. I was more than happy to accept their apologies and suggest that maybe those ones set up their tent sooner and make sure their girlfriends want to camp in the first place and to the others you can't just act like this is party central with all these families around here. He takes a minute to look around and sees all the kids. That'll do it.
Home again home again to excessive heat! Tree's leaves everywhere it's a mess. House is still standing and pillow is beckoning. At least I can say now that's a family vacation!
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