The Journey to Alaska {Days 7-9}

Day #7 brought us from Bozeman, Montana to Kalispell, Montana. On our way to Kalispell, we had a picnic lunch in Helena. {Hooray for a park directly on our route...such a blessing!} We were all very delighted by this location as Helena is a city on the map/board of the game Ticket to Ride that our family plays on the regular. It was fun to get to see something that we've only ever seen in a board game come to life. Another highlight from our pitstop in Helena was that they happened to be demolishing a dilapidated building adjacent to the park we were picnicking at, so it was a lunch with built-in entertainment! 

Once we made it to Kalispell & settled into our hotel, we drove out to Glacier National Park. We didn't have time to see much as the sun was quickly setting, but we were thankful to see what we did!

On our way back to Kalispell from the national park, we picked up Chick-fil-a and Panera to bring back to our hotel for dinner. This was our very last chance to eat at either of these restaurants, and we weren't about to pass up the opportunity! I even got a chicken biscuit for breakfast the next morning before we hit the road!

Day #8 was a big one as we finally crossed the border into Canada! There was a big horned sheep standing on the side of the road as we made our way to the gate, and we joked that that the goat was the send-off party for us. Also, I was really looking forward to a "Welcome to Canada" from the Border Patrol agent, but I received no pleasantries whatsoever. ;) 

Once we were on Canadian soil, "rest areas" were plentiful...but they were essentially just little pull-offs with a few parking spaces & an outhouse. No running water and not even a picnic table. Thankfully we had loaded up on food/snacks at Wal-Mart before leaving Kalispell, so our lunch on this day was eaten on the ground at one of these glamorous rest areas. 

We arrived in Banff that evening. We were so excited to see a Safeway grocery store, which Derek & I shopped at regularly when we lived in Northern Virginia. But we soon discovered that an American Safeway & a Canadian Safeway are not quite the same thing. It was so weird to see products/brands we were accustomed to but with different packaging or other caveats. We were also taken aback by all of the signage in both English and French. Obviously, we knew that some people in Canada spoke French, but we didn't expect the French signage to be so prevalent. The kids were thrilled to see Canadian money!

We stayed at an Airbnb in Banff that was set up like a townhouse, and the kids were so happy to have stairs & feel like they were in a "real house" again {their words!} as opposed to a different hotel every night. And my favorite part of the Airbnb was a washer & dryer in our unit...hallelujah! Another highlight was the kids were all able to sleep in one bedroom, and Derek & I were able to have our own room for the first time since we'd left San Antonio. This felt so luxurious.

Day #9 was our second "down day" without any traveling. We hiked Johnston Canyon, which was beautiful but sooo crowded.  There was a restaurant & ice cream shop right inside the national park near the trailhead, which seemed so bizarre to us. We also tried to visit Lake Louise, but it was so crowded & trafficky that we decided to pass. They had people directing traffic, it was absolutely surreal! After our hike, we explored the town of Banff which was the most quaint, picturesque place you've ever seen! 

The Journey to Alaska {Days 4-6}

Day #4 of our drive to Alaska took us from Denver, Colorado to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was a long day of driving. We were so happy to see when we arrived that they had Albertson's & Smith's grocery stores there, so we felt like we had a little piece of Vegas welcoming us into town. We stopped at Albertson's on our way into town to get provisions for dinner & the next day because Day #5 was a scheduled "rest day" for us to explore Grand Tetons National Park & get a break from driving!

{stopping at a small town post office along on our route to mail post cards}

We stayed at an Airbnb just outside the gate to Grand Tetons. After checking in & eating a quick dinner, we went out for a short walk. There was a huge field in front of our building for the kids to run/play in & a paved trail directly across the street at the National Elk Refuge.

The picture below is on the trail of the Elk Refuge, just steps from our Airbnb. The picture doesn't do it justice. but we have never seen dandelions like this before! They were enormous!

Our "rest day" was so perfectly timed (again, Derek knocked it out of the park planning this trip for us!), and it was just what we needed. We went for a hike in Grand Tetons to Taggart Lake, trimmed the kids' fingernails (real like doesn't stop when you're on the road), LAUNDRY!!, the kids wrote more post cards to friends & started a comic together (it was so nice for them to get to play & do things together..aka not be strapped in seat belts and car seats all day), and we strolled around downtown Jackson Hole a bit & got ice cream for dessert! Such a good day.

Day #6 took us from Jackson Hole to Yellowstone National Park, and then we ended the day in Bozeman, Montana. While driving through Yellowstone, we saw countless signs to watch out for wildlife. It kind of became a running joke amongst us because we hadn't seen a single animal! Well, that all changed on this day. We saw a herd of buffalo running across the street right in front of us! It was so amazing to watch this unfold before our eyes. It was definitely a first for us to see buffalo running. This stretch of the drive was also noteworthy because Shelby pulled a loose tooth out while we were driving. We were also surprised by how hot it was there. Every single time we got out of the car, we expected to find the "cooler" temperatures...but it wasn't here! 

{Brady isn't pictured here because he had fallen asleep, and there was no way we were waking up for a quick photo op!}

The pictures below are from Grand Prismatic Springs...the colors were amazing! 

{picnic lunch at Yellowstone Lake & the view did not disappoint!}

We made our way through the park to find Old Faithful, which was amazing to see in person. However, this part of Yellowstone was way too touristy/crowded for my personal preference. We also thought it was interesting how the times it will erupt are estimations, and there were lots of "false starts" before the big eruption.

From Yellowstone, we continued our drive to Bozeman, Montana..which may have been one of the most gorgeous parts of our entire drive! Simply stunning. We stopped at an Olive Garden for dinner before checking into our hotel room that evening, and breadsticks never tasted so good!

And it's shocking that I don't have a single picture of this because we literally used these all day every day on this journey, but walkie talkies were one of the best things we bought for this trip. After just the first day of driving we quickly realized how annoying/frustrating it was to not be able to communicate between cars when we were out of cell phone range {we had no idea how thankful we'd be in the days to come on the AlCan}, so we made a pit stop at Wal-Mart to pick some up. They were so, so helpful to us throughout the entire trip.

The Journey to Alaska Begins!

On July 12th, we loaded up our cars and began our trek to Alaska! Derek had this trip planned to a T, and by the grace of God everything went as smoothly as possible. On the morning of the 12th, we had to finish cleaning out our house (all of our air mattresses/pillows/blankets, last minute things in the fridge/bathrooms) and load our cars. By the time we had all of that done, it was already lunchtime. So we made our last visit to our local Chick-fil-a before hitting the road to Lubbock. Hadley and I both shed a few tears as we drove away from San Antonio.

The drive to Lubbock is about 6 hours. We saw countless windmill farms and oil derricks along the way. Rice krispie treats dropped off by sweet friends from school the day before made for a great pick-me-up mid-afternoon. :)

Clean & all snuggled in at our first hotel with her new Squishmallow from her BFF. We realized quickly that nightly showers/bedtime routine took a reallllyy time with one bathroom for five people who were all ready to go to bed at the same time. ;)

Day 2 of our journey was 7 hours of driving took us from Lubbock, Texas to Colorado Springs. We crossed the New Mexico state line, and even though we've driven this stretch of the road before we were still taken aback by how instantaneously the architecture & topography changed with the state lines. So many plateaus to see in New Mexico! Then we crossed into Colorado, and all of the sudden everything was green & mountainous! Over the course of this travel day, we saw lots of farm land. One of the highlights was seeing a crop duster in action!

I almost deleted the picture below, but then I decided to keep it in the post because it was very telling of our pit stops along the way. Growing up in Georgia, almost all of our road trips were north to St. Louis or south to Florida. Along the way, there were lots of rest areas, especially Welcome Centers at the state lines. Maybe rest areas are an Eastern thing?! Over the course of our 16 travel days from Texas to Alaska, we saw not one single traditional rest area. There were definitely gas stations & fast food restaurants, but when you're traveling for that long fast food gets old quickly. So we had planned to eat the continental breakfast in our hotel each morning and then pack a cooler/bag of food to have picnic lunches along the way. What we did not account for was how hard it would be to find places to stop to eat at. This was a random picnic area off the side of the road, so we were able to eat at a table for lunch and then drove a bit afterwards to find a gas station to fill up our tanks & use the bathroom.

We were excited to see the train in the picture below. The caboose was orange, which is Brady's favorite color. We ended up seeing lots of trains with orange cabooses on this trip! 

{Hadley started crocheting this scarf on our road trip and added to it a bit each day!}

We stopped for dinner at Chili's in Colorado Springs before checking into our hotel for the night. Then we started Day #3 with a quick visit to the Air Force Academy, which was just minutes from our hotel. The grounds were beautifully maintained. We were so glad we got a chance to see it in person!

From the Air Force Academy, we headed to Denver to check into our hotel. This was a super short day of driving {only about 1.5 hours} for us because we had big plans to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park that afternoon & then take the kids to the Dude Perfect tour that evening! It was a super fun day and a great way to break up the driving. We still ended up being in the car a good bit driving back & forth from the DP Tour & in/out of the national park, but it was so nice to all be in the same car together again! And insert praise hands here, I was able to sleep in the passenger seat! Hallelujah! 

July 2022 {Our Last Days in Texas}

Over Fourth of July weekend, Jenny & Bret were in Del Rio so they were able to come to SA for a quick visit! It is always so good to see them, and we pick up right where we left off like no time has passed at all. It is not lost on us what a rare blessing it is to have friends that have known you and loved you through it all and just get it--high school, college, and every wonky stage of this military journey! With our life on the brink of such a big, unexpected change, time with them was just what we needed! And what an added bonus to have our kids become friends, too!

This next bunch of pictures was all taken on the Fourth of July. Jenny & Bret headed back to Del Rio that day around lunch time, and then it was time for us to start prepping for the move. (Brady's birthday was the 5th, and the packers were scheduled to arrive on the 6th.) We spent some time purging/organizing, and then Derek cut the grass and we did smores, swimming, and fireworks in the backyard! One of our favorite things about our backyard was being able to see all of our neighbors' fireworks from our pool.

{crocheting poolside}

Then things started to get really real, really fast!

Derek had our route/travel plan completely mapped out before we even knew this move was official. He randomly brought these maps home one day, and they essentially lived on our countertop for weeks. The kids would look at them almost every single day and talk about the trip, where we would go, and what we would see. It got them so excited for the adventure and really helped them grasp what was about to happen. 

The night before our last night in Texas, we had a family date night to one of our very favorite places--Cheesecake Factory! {Restaurants aren't exactly plentiful in Anchorage, so I'm so glad we went when we had the chance!} 

And we spent our very last night in Texas doing our very favorite thing!

Our last morning waking up in Helotes before hitting the road!

I'm literally tearing up looking at that last photo. So many memories in that sweet house. And so surreal to think that as I sit and type these words, it is September 12th. We took that picture on July 12th. Whew. A lot of life has happened in these past two months. Just thinking about it all is enough to make my head spin. It wasn't always easy, but we did it. I'm so proud of us.