Wild West Day Six

Triplets are famous...more on that later...

I can’t honestly say how we got on the road. I’m assuming we more or less abided by "the system"


--Prior to leaving, Matt and I had worked out a plan regarding division of driving and parenting responsibilities. Matt drives, Martha parents. Upon arrival Matt passes out, Martha gets kids settled, showers, and gets everything ready to go before going to bed herself. Matt wakes up first and packs the car. We stumble into car. Matt drives some more. And flexibility in all aspects of this plan. Why this plan? Matt loves to drive, I think driving is ok. I enjoy being a passenger in a Matt driven car, he tends to get car sick/paternal when I drive which neither of us enjoy. I am a patient if occasionally neglectful navigator. While in many ways our division of driving duties is mutually beneficial (and irritatingly conforms with traditional gender roles), I acknowledge I get spoiled. I also am solidly a "night" person so staying up later to get things set isn’t too much of a struggle for me. Mornings ARE a struggle for me under the best of circumstances. Matt isn't a morning person either but he does enjoy packing up the car. Arranging our belongings in the most space efficient manner while also ensuring ease of access is an art in his mind. I have on many occasions been asked to observe with awe the packing achievement most recently accomplished.--


So our evening/morning probably resembled the above with the addition of rushing/irritability.

The vista from the road was freshly beautiful. We had traded in rocky, desert mountains for lush green forest mountains and blue, blue, blue sky. Below is a friend we did not meet but wish we could have probably somewhere near NE Oregon. Yes, that dog is wearing goggles!





Yakima




We were able to get quite a stretch in before lunch which we did in Yakima. We stopped at a hipster hotdog place called Winey Dogs and it did not disappoint. There were some fun characters and intimidating dogs amongst the customers. The kids were happy to get out of the car and they showed it by talking up the restaurant owner who later featured them on her FB page @wineydogs  https://www.facebook.com/WineyDogs/! And now the Trips are famous by those who frequent the Yakima Winey Dogs Insta (see aforementioned brush with celebrity). Also the food was fun and tasty and the beer even moreso. There was even some funky antiquing around the corner.

She's talking about us!

How on earth did she get them to pose this well in pictures?

This conversation with Winey Dogs owner reminded me of something. -----Warning this is gonna be a tangent, scroll down to next picture if you want to avoid------






Communicating to new people the fact that my children are triplets has been a challenging, fun, and ultimately fascinating phenomenon to be a part of. When they were younger (when their triplet status was more obvious) I almost never started the conversation but was often asked. I then had to negotiate questions ranging from interested to intrusive about boys/girls, identical/non identical, how do you do it? do multiples run in your family? you've got your hands full, did you plan them? are they natural? All parents of multiples have similar experiences. I usually had a pretty good attitude about it, sometimes was stressed and wished we weren't drawing as much attention to ourselves, but ultimately tried to take it as validation that we were doing a difficult thing and a compliment that my kids were the most cute and special in the history of the world.-- I am rarely a part of this conversation any more. Now that they are older the conversation comes up by kind folks asking how old they are or who is the oldest. I get to watch them navigate the ensuing conversation. I watch the tentative smiles and side glances as they nonverbally decide who is going to say it and how (usually by saying Eva is the "oldest" or "we're all in 3rd grade"). Then more smiles watching the puzzled faces transform in to understanding and surprise. Then giggles, pride, and almost "gotcha!". As though the person asking what grade they are in should just know they are triplets and are silly for not realizing it right away. I assume the internal thought process is something like "I'm only a kid and I've known I'm a triplet my whole life and you are a grown up and it didn't even occur to you, ha!".  Right now they usually like the attention that they get and love answering questions. They have their birth order memorized and like to point out that being oldest and being biggest do not always go hand in hand. I will be fascinated to watch how this phenomenon changes over time. --------


End of tangent.

Accurate

Farthest from home....





We finally made it to our half-way point! University Heights, WA! Becknikovs. Our hosts for the next 3 days are another dear, dear friend from Graduate School, T, her generous hubby B, daughter T, and son K. This was my first time meeting 6 month-old K. I've met 5-year-old Little T at least a handful of times and the kids had met her once but they were 3 and she was 1 so it was definitely more like meeting a new friend. Little T was excited to show them her brother's bed and her impressive collection of my little ponies and her almost life sized ridable pony and they were fast friends. I had billed this part of vacation "Little  T's house which will have a ton of toys" - to help the trips get pumped and it worked! It took the kids awhile to get to bed due to excitement, different sleeping arrangements, and time changes. Little T graciously allowed the triplets to stay in her room, but that required some relocation of some precious stuffed animals for the evening.The adults stayed up a couple minutes after we finally got the kids settled for a little catching up and reminiscing but after almost falling asleep in our beer, made our way to bed pretty quickly. And good thing because the next couple days were EPIC!

Wild West Day Five

Matt and I got to sleep in a huge comfortable bed at our Airbnb in Moab. An Eva in it makes it look ridiculous and adorable.
Got a slightly later start than we were hoping out of Moab. It was nice to know we’d see Anna and Co again soon in Montana.



Sleepy mountain town along the highway. Lucy started having serious car sickness. Realized all the games had suddenly disappeared from the kids’ tablet and spotty cell reception. This day was the first day that felt challenging.



We had a LONG way to go from Moab to Boise. We had identified several stops along the way but many required significant detours. We made do, listened to a LOT of Harry Potter on tape. We almost ran into our next door neighbors who in part inspired this trip. They have 3 kids similar ages and had made versions of this trip successfully a couple of times.Thanks for the push K family!


We finally made a decision to stop at a "national historic site". Chance to stretch, kids could earn a badge.  What we didn’t realize was this stop was in the middle of nowhere in the desert nothing around except weird campuses that looked like defense contract facilities. We were so off the beaten path I grew weary there wouldn't be any staff at the site. Many of the signs along the way were full of bullet holes. It was creepy you guys.


(Below: top secret government defense facility?)



Miraculously when we arrived there were more than a couple cars and a few staff. Golden Spike is a monument dedicating the place where the transpacific and central pacific railroads met to connect the west coast with the midwest. It was a feat of engineering, cartography, physical labor, etc. There was a peanuts cartoon that explained it all. There is a small museum. The kids dutifully completed their worksheets and got another junior ranger badge. There was a re-enactment of the train making the inaugural trip out of the station.



Review: meh. The snoopy video was the highlight.   For every coolish looking thing there was a sign telling kids not to have fun on it. They weren’t allowed to touch or play on the actual trains (they get too hot in the desert apparently) they aren’t allowed to walk on the wooden bleachers where they give the lecture, they are even discouraged from turning the crank on the swish a penny machine. Also, the golden spike isn’t actually there, it’s in Stanford. The first replica isn’t there either as it went on one of the space shuttles. The railroad doesn't even go through here anymore. The only railroad is a small bit of track that they use for the re-enactments. The actual railway was moved to a more populous locale. The other highlight was that Lucy turned a corner and finished her Gatorade.


We made one other stop in Idaho near the Shoshone Falls. It looked amazing but the kids were so done with sight seeing by then that they didn't even really want to get out of the car. We will try again some day. During dinner they changed into pjs so we could roll into bed at the next hotel. 


Here is the view of those last 100 miles.


 Listening to Jim dale read Harry Potter. Tired but content. These parts of the trip were relaxing and calm. I was really proud of them hanging in there on a not so exciting day.



I have no memory of this hotel room. It was really nice to sleep.

Wild West Day Four

Straight away lets get to pictures. 

Arches National Park, UT

Balanced Rock

Teeny tiny triplets climbed way up high.

We stayed low.

"Slow congested area"

Windows

More climbing.

Lucy enjoyed finding "Lucy sized crevices"

Wild Life

Doin their junior ranger thing.

He was one of my favorite rangers so far. Was totally chill while the triplets barraged him with questions.

So I did myself some learnin’ at the visitor’s center. As we drove around the park the red rocks were prominent. I also noticed these blue green rocks. Against the red rocks they really stand out. It turns out it is made by volcanic ash that was exposed to an alcoline lake.

Back to cute pictures of the kids. We ate at atomic grill (delicious). They had bandannas as napkins, pictured here styled by Lucy.

The weather started climbing after lunch, like 101 degrees hot. So we took shelter back in the condo and swam in the pool. 

After yummy steak, salad, and Pasta dinner. Matt and I we t back out to watch the sunset. Thanks Anna and Daniel for playing with the kids!

The light changing and red rocks does something special. What that is, I’m not totally sure. But we enjoyed looking at it.

 Beginning of sunset the rocks glow.

Here closer to the end you can really see the purple mountains majesty.

Is it crows or a black panther?

Getting a little artsy fartsy.

Aaaah, chooo!

Theme of the trip.

This place is bonkers beautiful. It was hard to leave. But we will be back someday!