Road Trip Return

We had a wonderful visit to Wisconsin.  I'll fill in the blanks with some of our exciting happenings soon.   Thankfully, our return road trip was equally smooth sailing.  Annabel road so well, even in her car seat where she is reaching the limits.  She still seemed quite comfortable and slept slightly more than a normal day.  Towards the end of the second day (13 hours day one, 9 hours day two...including rests), she was crying a bit when she didn't want to sit in the seat again, but calmed quickly and off we went again.
 

 
We entertained ourselves with the license plate game, finding 16 states and provinces.  Eric also was doing an alphabet IPod game to choose the next artist (Adele, Beatles, Cory Chisel, Deep Dark Woods, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Grace Potter, etc).  This drive is mind-numbing...we have to do something!  In the past we have also done scavenger hunts.  We did, however, pass through the complete center point of North America, Rugby, ND, so that is something most people can not say they have done, right?!  We also saw a double rainbow so another win. 

At the mall in Fargo, Annabel spotted this and pointed to get in it.  She was so cute hanging onto the sides or driving the steering wheel.

She thought this was the greatest thing!!  Maybe this would be fun any day, but I suppose it was especially better than her car seat on this day.

After a stop in Menomonie for coffee, bathroom break near St. Cloud, lunch at Culvers in Alexandria, visit to the Fargo mall, and a roadside, standing diaper change somewhere in ND, we arrived in Minot very late Monday evening.  We noticed the pool was open until 11pm so at 1050pm we quickly put on our suits and headed in.  Annabel was so cute crawling around the kiddie pool.  The water was up to her shoulders and she was working hard!  Eric and I each dipped (for about a minute each!) in the hot tub.  We all wished we had more time but it was closing and we needed to get to bed.

This sign at our hotel in Minot showed the water level of the flood of 2011. 

We took off a little late in the morning, stopped at Target to check out their travel strollers and get a few items we can't find in Canada (like sliced black olives and packaged tuna, ha ha) and arrived in Saskatoon about 7:30pm.  So thankful for good driving conditions and safe travels.  The night after our return, we had a cook-out at Eric's department head's house and tonight we are having a couple friends over for burgers for Canada Day weekend celebration.  Good opportunities to continue to be surrounded by others, like we were in Wisconsin.

Road Trip!!

Saskatoon to Wisconsin. Just shy of 1,000 miles.

We decided to take the most direct route to Wisconsin this trip, stopping in Bismarck, ND and Highway 94 the rest of the way.  We’ve gone east across Canada and we’ve taken Minot to Duluth in the past.  Seems like any route we take there is not much to see or, depending on how you look at it, there is lots to see with nothing to block your view.  We were fortunate with clear roads, minimal construction, and fair weather.  We hit light to moderate rain the entire first day, but it was manageable. Second day just a couple hours of light rain.  We didn't see a lot of wildlife on the way; just a couple herons and a bald eagle as we came close to Colfax.  But, we did see the country's ugliest state capital building in ND.

 

Annabel took an hour nap in the morning and a two hour nap in the afternoon both days.  For entertainment, I bought one new book to go along with 7 familiar books (Eric questioned while packing if that was too many books, but I asked him if he wanted to read the same three books to her over and over) and some musical shakers.  The shakers were a big hit.  I bought them as a novel road trip item, but Eric was excited about them and got them out the day before we left.  Annabel crawled everywhere with them in hand and even ate three meals holding onto one.  Luckily she still thinks they are cool on the trip.  I also got a cheap harmonica, but Annabel is frightened by it.  It took a little while to figure out why, wondering if it was too loud.  But the person playing it looks like a monster; it looks like they no longer have a mouth.  I don’t blame her for being scared.  Eric figured out that if you play it how it is supposed to be played (by covering the outside with your hand) it is less scary.  

 

Sunday night, the day before we left.

We sang a lot of songs until Annabel literally covered her ears to make me stop singing!!!  Rhymes, books, and a few toys have kept her fairly busy.  She became restless a couple times, but thankfully no long stretches of crying, and we've made sure to stop and rest before she got upset.  Overall, Annabel managed the trip better than expected.  We ate at Buffalo Wild Wings in Bismarck, which allowed a little stretch, but we had a hyper baby once we arrived at the hotel.  We took advantage of the late pool hours and went swimming at 9:45.  Annabel loved it, playing with a ball and splashing and kicking.  It was a perfect way to wear her out. 

This toy was nice to have along.  It's a soft elephant that holds about 20 small toys.  She enjoyed taking them out one by one.  We did this multiple times until towards the end of the trip when she looked at me like "don't you dare show me that elephant one more time."

Normally I don’t walk barefoot or even put my suitcase on the floor at a hotel, but there we were having Annabel crawling around and emptying out suitcases, so most of our belonging ended up on the hotel floor at one point.  After a 12 hour day, we had to let her loose.

 

Bathroom stop for Annabel and a break to look at some cows. If you couldn't tell by the topography, this is in Saskatchewan.

We took our time in the morning, not hitting the road until 10 am.  We tried to keep in mind that we are not in a race and to just enjoy our ride.  We arrived Tuesday evening, making good time (for traveling with a baby), at 7:30.

It was 75 and sunny when we left and it had been for a couple weeks.  We never thought we'd need to bring our winter coat to Wisconsin in June.  Every day we've worn the one pair of pants and socks and sweatshirt we brought.  Who knew we were traveling to colder temperatures?

Since then, it's been a busy couple days visiting in Ridgeland and a shopping trip to Eau Claire.  Eric is traveling to Las Vegas and Atlanta for a few conferences, but Annabel and I are staying back to see family and friends.  We are so thankful to have this opportunity.

Now, off to our first fish fry!