Washington Vacation - Day 9 - Home Stretch on a Holiday

The ninth day of our vacation was Saturday, July 4th. Read about Day Eight Here.

Our stay at the Clover Island Inn in Kennewick Washington was wonderful. It was so nice to have somewhere comfortable to rest and relax after having been on the move for over a week. Breakfast the next morning was also very nice.

One of the reasons we'd booked this hotel was because it offered a continental breakfast. But with everything happening with COVID I wasn't sure the breakfast would still be available. I'd checked with the hotel about it the day before. They said that yes, they still had breakfast, but that we'd have to eat it in our rooms. 

So in the morning I took Derrick and Veronica upstairs to the 4th floor where the breakfast was being served. The staff handed up a list of breakfast options and we could circle what we wanted. Then they prepared the plates for us and gave us a big tray to carry them up to our rooms. Here Derrick and Veronica waiting at the table for our food. You can see the marina out the window.

We came back to the room and found places for the kids to sit while they ate.

It was so nice to have breakfast prepared for us.

Brandon took Lydia up (Charlotte was still asleep) and got their food.  Later he took Charlotte up too.

Derrick was a little antsy so I had him help carry stuff down to the car with me. Then we stood on a little balcony and looked at the Columbia River.

Here's the view of the bridge. 

We went back upstairs and the kids watched some cartoon on the Disney Channel while Brandon and I got the last of the stuff together.

We left a nice tip for the hotel staff and filled out the comment card with glowing reviews. We'd had such a nice stay.

When the kids show was over we all went downstairs, got in the car and started driving home.  We drove south into Oregon and then got on the I-86 and stayed on that all the way to Twin Falls.

The drive home was pretty uneventful. The kids watched movies on the DVD player the whole time.  We stopped for gas and bathroom breaks a few times. When we stopped at a gas station in Boise it was kind of strange to see people not wearing masks inside the building. What's even stranger is that while I was in line for the women's restroom I looked over at a guy in line for the men's room. He wasn't wearing a mask or SHOES.  He was just standing in line barefoot. Oh Idaho. 

As we drove closer to Twin Falls I told Brandon, "We did it. We went on vacation and made it back. And the Honda didn't have any problems!"  Our Honda has passed 230,000 miles so I was a little worried about taking it on such a long trip. But it did marvelously.  Sadly this may be our last big road trip with the Honda. It's still running well, but the kids are outgrowing it.  Derrick is getting way too big for the backseat. And it's not like we have any smaller kids he could switch places with. I think we'll have to buy another car before our next long road trip. But in the meantime I'm so proud of how well the Honda did. 

We made it to Twin Falls around 4:00.  We made a quick stop at the house so I could grab the envelope of cash I'd stashed for Marcia's babysitter (I hadn't wanted to spend it on accident during our trip.) Then we drove over to Hannah's house to pick up Marcia. Brandon had put away his phone, but was having trouble remembering how to get to Hannah's house. He missed the turn for her street and I had to tell him where to go.  Then he drove right past her house.  I guess he was having trouble adjusting to life without the GPS.

The kids were so so so so so so happy to see Marcia again. They'd missed her on our trip. 

We drove back home. The first thing I did was head to the backyard to check on my garden.  Everything had done really well. Our sprinkler system reaches most of the plants, but I'd been worried about the Sunflowers because the water doesn't reach them. They were fine and getting tall. 

Here's Charlotte showing how long our grass was. It hadn't been mowed in 2 wees.

The garden was looking great.

The pumkins had exploded. I started wrapping them and securing them to the trellis right away.

The tomatoes were also getting big. I went through and took off a lot of suckers.

The peas were amazing looking. Veronica and I had picked every thick pea pod off the plants before we left. Now there were even more peas that were ready to be picked.

There were even a few peas that had grown super tall.

The beans were starting to climb their trellis.

the strawberries had several ripe berries.

They tasted so sweet.

After taking care of my neglected garden I started on ALL the laundry.  Over the next few days I got all the sleeping bags, clothes, and towels washed, dried, and put away.

Meanwhile this happened to be July 4th and so we had a few things ready for an Independence Day Celebration. Before our trip I'd put together a box with things we'd want on this day.  It had rootbear, cute plates and napkins, glowsticks, and cute patriotic clothes.

I had red white and blue cookies waiting for us in the freezer as well as chicken tenders and tater tots. Making dinner was just a simple matter of popping food in the oven.

After dinner the kids got into their patriotic clothes. A friend had given these shirts sometime last year and I'd saved them for this day.

Here's one where even Veronica is holding still.  And no, Derrick is not really 4 inches taller than Charlotte and Lydia.  He's standing on his tip toes. (And Yes, Charlotte is wearing her shirt backwards, but she said she liked being able to see the bows.)

Brandon took a nap and the kids watched a movie - I think. I'm pretty certain I was taking a nap too. Around 8:30 we got in the car and headed over to the College of Southern Idaho's Campus for the firework show that would happen there.  I'd been wondering if this show would get cancelled like so many others had been. I honestly couldn't understand how this show was still happening.  But as soon as we got to the campus it made sense.  There was plenty of room to spread out and keep away from other groups of people. I asked another group of people if this would be a good spot to see the fireworks and they said, "You can see them anywhere on this campus."  So that's how the show was still happening.

We set up our area and the kids dug out the long anticipated rootbeer and cookies.

Brandon took this picture of me.

Here are the cookies.

Brandon brought a Frisbee and we had a lot of fun playing with that. 

It started getting dark so it was time to get out the glowsticks. 

The dollar store hadn't had many glow sticks when I went there a few weeks before the 4th. I was only able to get about 4 packages. But it was just enough for the kids to have fun with.

Here are the kids running around and goofing off.

The kids settled down for more rootbeer. 

And then went back to running around.

The firework show started and we realized there were a few trees in front of us.  So we moved a little to the left and could see fine. We couldn't hear any music.  I don't know if that's because there wasn't any or if we were just too far away.  But it was still a pretty good show. (Charlotte and Lydia told me they missed the Bannock County Show. I told them that it had been canceled and we were lucky to have any show this year.)

This was the very first firework show Derrick has ever been awake for. In previous years he's been freaked out by the crowds and went catatonic and then fell asleep before the show even started. Last year he'd been fine with the crowds, but had still fallen asleep before the show started.  Well this year he was wide awake and loving the show.

The show finished and we went back to the car to wait until the traffic died down.  People were setting off areal fireworks in all the neighborhoods around the campus so we were treated to a second show.  The moon also rose and Brandon had fun taking a picture of it. 

We made it home and found Marcia freaked out in the basement. (She'd pooped on the rug because she was so scared of the fireworks.)  We all went to bed, but I think it took a while for everyone to go to sleep because there were so many fireworks going off. It was like Beirut or something.

The next day was technically not part of our vacation, but it was still the weekend so it felt like an extension of the vacation. It was Sunday and normally we would have had an in home sacrament meeting. But we were just so tired from everything.  The living room was messy and it just seemed like too much to try to clean it up to get it ready.  So we skipped home church for the week. We spent the day doing laundry and watching movies.

So was it all worth it?

YES

Going on our road trip was exactly the reset I needed in my life. I felt like I was falling apart during the early part of June. I was so tired and so indecisive.  Now I have more energy and I've been able to make some really crucial decisions.  (Spoiler Alert: We're probably home schooling this year.)  Before the trip I was feeling a little trapped by my house. Now I'm so happy to be back home and we've been rearranging and have finished unpacking the last of the moving boxes.


So what's next?

In a non-COVID world I'd love to recreate our Southern Utah Road Trip that we did pre-kids in 2010. We've also started talking about going to San Diego and seeing Whales at Sea World. (Yes, I know there's an ethical debate about Seaworld, but try telling Derrick that.) We could also stop at the San Diego Zoo. Plus we could stay at San Elijo beach and sleep by the ocean again.

But those plans probably wont happen next year. I think next year we'll just stick around Idaho.  There are a lot of really cool things in the middle of Idaho I'd like to see.

One thing is for sure, we will continue to do these crazy road trips.  They are what I live for.


Thanks for coming on the journey!