Wyoming June Visit Part 1

Grandpa was in St. George, right after Mother's day in May, and he convinced me that I should come up and visit for a while.  Sounded like fun.  Get haircuts and Chinese food with the boys, go boating and fishing, jump on the new trampoline, maybe head to Yellowstone to see the wolves, have some time with my Lander friends, ride horses, go to the movies, etc.  I loaded up the boys for a spring Lander visit - with my head filled with all the fun-filled "grandpa time" things we would be doing. 

What I experienced on my trip was totally different than the one I'd envisioned. 

Wednesday Morning (June 5th)
I packed my two little boys in the car at 6 o'clock in the morning.  We drove North East.  We stopped for an hour in Provo to visit my Aunt Betty - and I'm glad we did.  The boys ran and ran and played in the front yard, while Aunt Betty and I talked. Nathan was shy about doing his Spanish ABC's, but Ashton suddenly was very willing to sing the English version.  Twice.   We left at noon - and ate our packed picnic lunch in the car as we went.  At 5 o'clock PM we pulled into Lander, after the awe inspiring view of Red Canyon.  ELEVEN hours from point A to point B.

This road trip is NOT for the faint of heart!  We watched the Last Unicorn twice, Hotel Transylvania twice, the Bubble Guppies once and I think something else too, but I don't remember exactly.  Neither child decided to nap during the looooong journey.

Promptly after bringing in luggage,  we reloaded to have dinner with Grandpa and the Travis and Amy Barney family at Pizza Hut.  After dinner Travis, Amy, the kids and I enjoyed the nice evening together at Pop's House to let the kids run amok and so we could visit.

Then, severely exhausted we headed to sleep.

Thursday Morning (June 5th)
Grandpa left the next day. He had some things to do in Utah.

The boys and I, (alone, as Travis and Amy were packing their house preparing to move) went up the Canyon to see the Sinks and feed the fish!  A MUST when you are in Lander!

The cave where the water disappears underground

The rise, downstream, where the water reappears after hours of 'missing'

fish feeders

Later, after naps and some quite time, I called to see if the Barney family would be willing to have some Petty time.  Luckily, they agreed!!  We went to the city park and did the 'nature trial' on the other side of the river and then picked up some tasty grub at Dairy Land.  Again, one MUST have at least one cheesewheel a year while visiting Lander!

Mud from the river!

The kids found puppies

The puppies found kids!

Happy hikers!

Beautiful Evening at Pops House.

Enjoying the Dairy Land Feast!

CUTENESS!!

 Friday, June 7 = FLOWER/ Cabin / South Pass City / Julie Adventure Day!!

Because the Flower were so EXTRAORDINARY at Red Canyon, Amy and I decided that we MUST take some glorious photos of them. We decided that the best time to do this was early in the morning.  I woke, automatically, at 5 a.m. the next morning and loaded the kids.  We journeyed to Lyons Valley, to once again steal away the Barney Family to join us on this adventure.

Devlin, NOT happy with the early hours

AMAZING display of flowers this year! SO BEAUTIFUL!

After several minutes (maybe 30 or so) of picture taking (this is a SMALL sample of what I got) we decided we were hungry.  It was time for breakfast.  The closest place for breakfast was Trapper Park! As we drove in we saw five or so elk up on the hillside across from the cabin.  We made up some pancakes, and some questionable eggs with cheese.  (Nathan and Ashton BOTH had pretty bad bums later in the day... Okay, SO DID I - ALL NIGHT LONG!)

After breakfast we played at the cabin - the kids enjoyed the playground and wildlife!

I LOVE these cousins! 

Ashton 'fishing' by the Tee Pee's

Devlin's ouchie

The rescued caterpillar

 Since we've been up the mountain for a while - it's about time to think about lunch - Travis suggests an Atlantic City restaurant!  For FUN!  Therefore, we head into South Pass City first, to work up a good appetite! My boys were THRILLED to be touring a 'ghost town.'

 At Lunch, Ashton totally zonked out and slept flat across two chairs.  And Nathan's good humor was completely over.  Travis signed us up for a tour of the Carissa Mine for Sunday at 2:00.  We reserved extra spots for Julie and Grandpa, as we figured they also enjoy seeing the old Gold Mine that is in the process of restoration.

We visited briefly with Pop on the phone who was at Ream's with Aunt Lavon picking out groceries for home.  He was planning on leaving after that to come home.

We head down the Mountain and await Julie (Nelson's) arrival for a visit!  We dine on some delicious Mac 'n Cheese, grapes and carrots.  A super fancy meal. ;)  Julie and I stay up until nearly midnight visiting. I wish I could say I then slept like a rock.  But I did not.  I ended up sick in and out of the bathroom until about 3 in the morning.  Ugh.  SOMETHING didn't agree with me.  I was up for nearly 22 hours - and it threw me the next day.

Saturday, June 8
Nonetheless, I had Julie with me and after consuming another stellar meal, this time of cold cereal, we hunted down Lynnden.  We badgered Jake for a few minutes and then it was revealed that Lynnden was at her Grandma's House.  We had such a fun visit with Carol and Denise! Lynnden promised to join us later, after yard duty.  Julie wanted pizza - so to Tony's for lunch! Kids needed naps (as did I.) We stuck around the Lander house for visits.  My ornery kids were not well rested - the gals stole away to pick up Chinese food to bring back for more visiting.  As Julie had prior commitments, she headed back to Rock Springs. But not before we all agreed to meet later in the summer with Lisa in Salt Lake for a ladies weekend! (How I look forward to this!!)

Pop hadn't come back yet, so I called Aunt Lavon to see if she'd heard from him.  She hadn't.  I calmed her the best I could - she was INSISTANT that something was wrong, as he'd left yesterday with a car full of perishable groceries.

Sunday, June 9

We were up for church and even arrived early, after finally catching up on some sleep, thanks to the aid of some Benadryl.  Ashton loved nursery, as always, and Nathan was BEAMING post his class experience.  He had all sorts of candy and candy wrappers to show how many times he'd been rewarded for good behavior.

After church we moved quickly to get lunch and pick up the Barney's for our Carissa Gold Mine Tour.  We were now down two members of our reservation.  Julie wasn't able to stay - and Still NO ONE had heard from Grandpa.

The MINE TOUR was so cool!!
The mine is being restored and will even be running machinery this summer!  The tour included the mine shaft, the cable system, the coal cars and bridge to the mill, and the fascinating  gold extraction processes that were used to mine gold.  They have shaker tables, ore hammers, tumblers, gold froth system, gold sinking system and even an arsenic gold solvent process!  I would love to do the tour again another time when I'm not trying to keep children from falling to their doom down shafts, steep step climbs or other various hole falling hazards.

Amy's face is SO grand in this pic.

It so happens that by the time we arrived in South Pass, we were out of gas. Literally.  Not just a little bit low, but actually OUT of gas.  Our very kind guide lent us about 5 gallons. Travis graciously donated a pile of quarters to the 'tip box' for the restoration project. I put the Armada in nuetral and coasted down the mountain to the gas station, not wanting to test our gas mileage capacity.  Back to Pops house for some fancy grilled cheese sandwich dinner.

We put a movie on (Flushed Away - about mice in England, very fitting, I thought)  and barely had it started when Brooke calls.  She hasn't heard from Grandpa either and is starting to get worried.  She's talked to Betty, who's talked to Lavon and Russ and Myrle.  Even the Shepherds have been questioned whether they've heard from him.  After a few minutes, we all sort of realize that this could be pretty serious.  For the next several hours we're calling highway patrol.  Shane has texted his boss and is starting to pack to leave first thing in the morning for the man hunt.  We try to track down his last known whereabouts and look for the VIN number of his car so we can also contact On Star for GPS location.

Just as the Barney's are about to leave for the evening, doing all that we could do at that point, I received a phone message from Brooke saying that she had heard from Grandpa and that he was in Farson on his way home.  About an hour later I call the Trapper Park Cabin number to confirm that he has arrived.

He stays the night there, unlikely unaware  of the panic that he has caused.

(To continue the Story stay tuned for Wyoming June Visit Part 2.)