Wanderlust

Dear Baby Waider + Little Brother Too,

Long before I knew of the world "wanderlust" it was something I felt. The word means, "a strong desire to travel." I've felt this especially the past 20 years. It is also true that I am an extreme homebody and often right after I leave my house I long to go home. What can I say? It's not the only time I'm a contradiction of terms. 

As I've conveyed through previous posts I have always loved to travel and go on adventures. Your Aunt Katie and I went on a good many road trips and saw some amazing things. I also went lots of cool places with Grandma and Grandpa Halter. However, once I met your dad I really began to have the opportunity to travel. We love to go on adventures and it was something that was very important for us to pass down to you two. Today I am feeling pretty reflective upon our journeys from last summer along with the hope of some travel this coming summer. I also could just be sad that I've been cold for what seems like three months straight so that has me longing for summer in general. We took three pretty significant trips last summer. The North Dakota Badlands, The Great Sand Dunes, and Yellowstone all in one summer. The actual stats of our summer travel was approximately 3500 miles, camped for 25 nights, went to 6 states, 3 national parks, and made about a billion memories. 

Here's a breakdown in pictures and a few anecdotes. 

Badlands

I love to chase sunsets. It's generally the first thing I like to do in a new park. In fact I scour the park newspaper for a good place to view sunsets. This is where the park paper sent us. It is called the Wind Canyon Trail and it was magnificent. We also had an amazing drive up to Medora because you traveled like troopers and did not even get on a device once! You loved your activity books and snoozes. 

 Sunset views:
 This quote was amazing in the visitor's center. It really spoke to me in light of current events. 

We also went to Medora. It was an absolute HOOT! We loved everything about it. We got to eat a fun dinner before and watched a fantastic show. We will definitely be going back again soon. 

 The day after Medora dad had to work so we took some time to tour the town on our bikes. It was HOT, but we managed to have some taffy, ice cream, shopping, and FUN! We took the loop on the way back once dad met back up with us and you both fell fast asleep!

 The purpose of going to North Dakota was meeting up with the Harringtons so they could pick up their camper. We went to Buffalo River State Park where we had quite an interesting encounter. After a long day of travel and trying to get to the Harringtons in time we arrived at the campsite to find someone in our spot. We could not locate the guy who took our spot so we ended up having to move the next day so we could have the correct spot. It was a little bit of a rocky start for the Harringtons, but we ended up having fun and loved hanging out in Fargo at the giant, indoor ferris wheel, geocaching, hiking, and hiding out from HUGE North Dakota thunderstorms. 

April, Grandma, and Grandpa met us in Aberdeen where we went to Storybook Land and stayed at beautiful Richmond Lake. Storybook Land was AMAZING. We loved the references to the Wizard of OZ and generally had a blast. 

 Fortunately we caught a beautiful sunset! Richmond Lake really was a slice of heaven. 

The Great Sand Dunes:

 The Great Sand Dunes are arguably the most amazing place I've ever been. We hiked, hiked, and hiked, and obviously took pictures of the dunes.

 Enjoying the sunshine with my girl. 

 Unbelievable views.

 We experienced pretty much everything that The Great Sand Dunes had to offer including a trip up to Zapata Falls. Of everything it was probably the most difficult hike and the most underwhelming. But we had an adventure nonetheless. 

 Probably our biggest accomplishment was tackling Great Dune. A 650 ft. hike and you were troopers. It was worth the hike and the view was completely amazing. 

 Pointing to where we were. 

Finally we have some accomplishments of the trip. Both of you  became junior rangers, we took in incredible views, and took some amazing hikes!

No trip is without learning a few lessons. This trip was full of lessons. Let me list them. 

1. Leave on time. That means if you plan to leave by 5:00 AM you need to be out the door at 5:00AM. Not 9:00AM. Otherwise you will arrive to your destination when it is dark. That means that you could accidentally back into a tree and put a giant hole in your camper and push the fridge into the kitchen. Also, by the time you get to your campground you could have yet another person in your spot. Yes. If you're wondering this did happen to us. Yes we were both very grouchy about it. But we did learn the importance of leaving on time.

Here's our camper all bandaged up. 

2. BE SPONTANEOUS! We had a tight plan where we went from The Great Sand Dunes to Denver and then to Rocky Mountain National Park. Once we had a giant hole in the back of our camper we decided it would be best if we stuck around the dunes a little longer and skipped all of the other travel. Plus lots of rain was predicted for the Rocky Mountains and the risk didn't seem worth it since we'd been there a year before. We ended up having the most relaxing and rejuvenating time there. Sometimes it pays to slow down and enjoy the view. 

3. Don't travel at night. Ever. We stopped by Denver on our way home from The Sand Dunes. We did some shopping and ate lunch before we headed back up north. Unfortunately we were on the road after dark and the trailer lights stopped working. On a road that we couldn't stop on. In the middle of Nebraska. It was pretty unnerving. I could tell even dad was getting a tad nervous. Thankfully we made it to Chadron, got some gas, and dad did some problem solving that got the lights working again. I will say this. Your dad is a genius. He really can fix anything on the fly, but if you can read this you already know that. We made it home super late, but we made it home. 

Yellowstone:
I think I've told the story before that my love for National Parks started with Yellowstone. Grandpa and Grandma Halter took us when I was maybe 10 or 11? I can't exactly remember, but it was amazing and this summer I am fairly certain that you, Finn, and Kitt all loved the mysterious place full of geysers, mud pots, wild animals, and that huge lake. 

 This hike was awesome. It was on an old road to what was called the Natural Bridge.

 Beautiful morning at Fishing Bridge.

 The pictures are out of order in this, but Yellowstone is a place full of beauty and mystery, but also extreme danger. There are giant mammals like the grizzly bear that was actually around a trail so they had to close the trail down. There are also tons of buffalo that people will not stay away from. Pair that with scalding water, looming cliffs, and rushing water it is a little terrifying to bring your children there. That being said we only had one pretty significant brush with danger and that was on the hike to Lone Star Geyser. 

 As I've mentioned before each trip teaches you a lesson. The big lesson for this trip: Don't hike at high elevations late in the afternoon. We already knew this, but we still left a bit too late on our hike to see Lone Star Geyser. It was such a beautiful morning we never would have suspected a thunderstorm complete with hail and heavy rain shortly after we ate lunch. Thankfully we had a thermal sun blanket (not sure that's what it's called) and towels that we could build a shelter of sorts from. We all huddled under the shelter we built for what seemed like a long time. Once the storm past the geyser went off and wasn't too impressive. The hike and the experience was pretty impressive. Another thunderstorm was behind that one so we had to run most of the two miles back to the truck. Lauryn was the unsung hero of that trip because she set a fast pace we all followed and made it back safely. 

 I loved this trip because Aunt Katie and her family were able to come. It was so much fun to be on an adventure with her and her family now that we're all grown up. 

We got to chase a sunset at Yellowstone Lake our first night there. 

 So many cool things to see and do! We got to watch the sunrise over the mountains pretty much every day. 

 Another sunset.

Travel can be really fun, but it can also be really stressful. These trips taught me that no matter how much you plan, make an itinerary, read books, and prepare no trip is going to be perfect. Sometimes the magic is in the mess ups and the mistakes. 

I am already so excited for camping and adventures this summer. I can hardly wait. The best part is you're excited too. <3

Love, 
Mom

😂