Story #4 - What Was One of Your Best Trips

Let me begin this with...

*ahem - Hey Mom - you are falling behind!

I miss reading your stories!!
(Notice I am only on #4)

We should be on Story #6 I think.....

No time like the present to catch up!

So...

What was one of your most memorable trips?

What made is so special?

Obviously my most epic was the family

trip to Salt Lake and then backwards up the

Mormon Trail.

There are so many snatches of memories

from that one!

Nancy doing cart wheels and ending up on crutches.

Rozann getting baptized in Nauvoo.

All of us getting SUN BURNED the day before

and having water blisters on our shoulders,

so every time a well meaning member patted

us on our shoulders in welcome or congratulations,

it popped another blister and we got wet.

But here's a blast from the past!

I was having one of those "random thought / 

rabbit trail" moments yesterday during my

drive home from school.

You don't WANT to know where it started.

Or where it ended.

But somewhere in the middle (ok, I was 

thinking about some of the weird and 

absolutely NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT

names we used to call things...) I thought

about Kentucky Fried being Barney's Chicken.

Why? Because it was Barney's!

And we're Canadian - we don't even know 

where Kentucky IS!

(And the street goes both ways...)

Which brought to mind this particular memory

from this particular trip.

We were getting gas in the Chrysler 

(with ELECTRIC WINDOWS Y'ALL!)

and the guy pumping gas looked at our

license plates and said to Dad

(I SWEAR this is true)

"Huh, Alberta.  What state is THAT in?"

Dad was absolutely disgusted.

I'm pretty sure I heard him muttering that 

phrase over and over for the next

couple of miles.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ok, enough of that.

I also remember Adam On Di Omen

*or however that is spelled...

It was HOT HOT HOT.

Mom and Dad wanted to walk the trail

alone. Can't imagine why!

Amazing they thought 4 noisy, whiny,

hot, sweaty girls might detract from the

spirit in any way.

So they left us there at the trail head

and went on alone.

And then tried to justify it later as 

"You didn't miss anything, all we saw

was a really hot rabbit panting in the trail."

Or the time we stopped at a 

creek / lake / river / water source

and we all wrote our names on rocks

with crayons and then tossed them in.

Then , back in the car,

Sondra said, "Imagine in the future,

someone will find that stone and be all like,

Wow, Sondra, what an amazing name!"

And then Nancy chimed in,

and Rozann.

And I, the master of dramatic pauses,

waited for what seemed like FOR EVER

and yelled WAIT!!!!!!

Which caused Dad to slam on the brakes.

I, oblivious to Dad's distress, of course,

(all wrapped up in my dramatic pause)

yelled

THIS ONE SAYS COLLETTE.

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL NAME OF ALL!

I got quite a scolding for that one.

And of course there were the epic 

"Pockets" that mom seeded with small

goodies each day.

(And sometimes after gas / lunch stops.)

And the months of FHE preparation we did

prior to the trip, complete with book reports

on the various states we would be going through,

and the various church history sites we would 

be visiting.

The metal stars on the outsides of the buildings

to hold them together.

The thickness of the walls.

The tininess of the houses.

Sleeping in the tent trailer at night.

(And whoever was sleeping on the edge

inevitably barfing in the night...)

(insert Mom's sigh here...)

Oooooooooooh,

and who can forget Hair Ice Massages!

Wow.

THAT was an epic trip.

Thanks for giving up your extra bathroom

for that one Mom and Dad!

It was totally worth it.