Skateparcation Across the Nation: June 2021

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Monday June 28, 2021 Travel Day to Billings Montana

Today is a travel day!!

Before we left, but after we packed up the trailer, the kids and I went to town just one last time!!

Our first stop was to the Sweet Palace. We had to get some yummies one last time from there.

Happy Sunday!!

Today we joined a small branch here in Philipsburg for church. The members of this branch travel from other towns to run the meetings. They said that visitors usually make up the most part of their numbers. Just like all the other wards we have visited, the meetings were wonderful and the spirit was there. They asked Asher to help pass the sacrament. I love going to church with no masks on and I love shaking hands with people!!

Saturday June 26, 2021 - Family day at Gem Mountain

Today is the day!! As a family, we all went to find some gems!!! We bought three buckets today!! With six people, the three buckets actually went by pretty fast. Everyone found great finds! Lots of sapphires of all colors today. The difference between today and the last two days of gem finding, was that we made an appointment to get our gems evaluated! They look at each sapphire and tell you which ones are good to heat and cut and which ones are not. We found 15 good ones that can be heated and cut. Then, we found a ton of sapphires that have a few flaws but can still be heated and cut. The largest pile that we found were sapphires that had way too many flaws to heat so we can do something fun with these.

This morning, Asher and Graham didn't wake up. So, I took Pepper and Taj to the local ice cream shop!! This place makes it's own ice cream in house. The owner showed us how she makes their ice cream.

The original itinerary for our trip had us in Canada during this week and next. With Covid, the Prime Minister hasn't opened the borders yet, so I had to re-route us for the two weeks. I asked my RV Lifestyle group on Facebook where we should go. A lady recommended coming here to Philipsburg. The next few stops that we will make are all part of the "re-route" part of our trip!!!

Philipsburg is a small, cute, 1900's mining town. They have one main road that has all the shops on it. We found interest in their candy shop, bakery and their Gem Mine!!!

Wednesday June 23, 2021 - Travel Day to Philipsburg, Montana

Today is a travel day for us. But first, I really wanted to ride up to Logans Pass. Scotty wanted me to ride up there too so we came up with a plan to ride, then be back on time to check out by 11 AM! We had to get up at 4:30AM and leave by 5 AM. The sun was already out. We were on the road by 5:45AM riding up the Going to the Sun Road to Logans Pass. Oh man! I feel so blessed that we were able to do this ride. It was fantasitc. Having no cars on the road was wonderful!! The climb wasn't hard, just steady. We saw mountain goats, deer and lots of critters. No bears :( I wanted to see a bear. The vistas from the road were just breath taking. I literally rode with my phone in my hand so I was ready to take a picture at any moment. We summited around 7:15 AM and were the very first ones on bikes up the mountain for the day. The down hill was fast and smooth;)). Scotty and I rolled into our campground around 9 AM with plenty of time to shower and get out by 11AM. We are so blessed to be able to visit these wonderful national parks. I love them so much.

White Water Rafting is a BLAST!!!

Today's adventure

Glacier National Park Kayaking in Apgar!!!

Seriously, look at the scenery! And the color of the water!!! This place!!!!!!

Sunday June 20, 2021 - Happy Fathers Day!!!

We love Father's Day because we love our fathers!!! We love our daddy Scotty! We love our grandpa's Bob and Joe. We love our Great Grandpa Papa Roland and we love our Heavenly Father. What a great day to celebrate the most amazing men in our lives!

This morning we made Scotty his favorite omelet and gave him Glacier NP gifts!! I searched and searched, but there wasn't a ward to go to that was close enough. So, we did church on our own today! No picture, oops.

Saturday June 19, 2021 More East Glacier!!

Scotty and I got up and rode our bikes into Glacier this morning. Biking is a perfect way to take in the beauty of Glacier. And. . We got a "bike date" out of it:)))

We are on the East side of Glacier National Park. This side isn't visited as much as the West side is. I think it's because East Glacier is on the Blackfeet Reservation. There aren't a lot of shops and touristy things to do. They keep this place on the Down Low that's for sure. I'm here to say, it's magnificent!!! East Glacier is worth the extra driving time to visit.

Thursday June 17, 2021 - Travel Day to St. Mary KOA - Glacier National Park

Well, here it is. Montana was the last "new" state that we will travel in for the rest of our trip. We did it. We have gone to all the states that were planned. When Pepper scratched off Montana, we were a bit in shock that that's it. No more states to add to our list. That makes 46 states plus D.C. I LOVE OUR TRIP!! We missed Nebraska, Oklahoma, Vermont and Alaska.

This morning before we left, the kids had to get some play time in with Walker. We sure are going to miss him entertaining the kids:))

This morning Taj woke up and helped Arlene wash dishes. Then he helped her make a towel hanger for the bathroom. Arlene was so patient and their conversations were so funny.

Monday June 14, 2021 - Travel Day to Corvallis, Montana

At 5 AM, my alarm went off and Scotty and I woke up. We left very early because we wanted to arrive at our next stop ASAP. Guess who we traveled to see?? The Williams Family!! Wayne and Arlene Williams were our friends back in our ward in Simi Valley. While we were on our trip, they moved from California to Montana. Since we couldn't say goodbye, we had to add them as a stop in our trip!!

The ward today started at 1 PM. That meant that we had a ton of time this morning!! We got up and made our own McGriddles!! Pancakes with eggs, bacon and cheese!! Yummy!! We had plenty of time to do our Come Follow Me and to dress for church. I love relaxing Sunday mornings. And, we still managed to be 5 minutes late for church Hahahahaha

My sweet Scotty got up super early with me today to ride with me while I ran. This October I have a marathon in St. George so I need to start getting ready. Today I ran 14 miles and it felt SO good!!! I love running!! It was even better because Scotty was there with me. My two favorite things!!

Welcome to stunning Coeur d'Alene or (CDA)! These are pictures I took on my run this morning with Asher. Our campground is fabulous. It is right on Lake CDA. The campground has kayaks and canoes that you can take out on the water. Asher and I ran up around the lake and were very impressed!!!

Thursday June 10, 2021 - Travel Day to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

We left Winthrop this morning around 11 AM. Then we drove two hours and had to pull over for Scotty's video calls. Luckily, we found a park to pull over at. The park had a mini skatepark, some swings and a lake. We were there waiting Scotty for about 3 hours. It was long but we made through the three hours. When Scotty was done working, we drove all the way into Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Many people have told me that they love CDA. I am excited to see if it is everything that everyone has made it out to be;))

I found some really great places to run while we were here. I stand by what I said earlier in the trip, my favorite way to get to know an area is to run around it!!

Today is Asher's 17th birthday!! He is the only one in the family that has two birthdays on the trip. Which is really funny considering he was the least excited to do the trip in the first place. Hahahaha. Asher hasn't had a phone for a long time. For his birthday, we got him a new phone with three months worth of service paid by us. After that, he has to take over the payments:)). Lucky him.

Monday June 7, 2021- Travel Day to Winthrop Washington

After packing up, we left wonderful Port Angeles to head to Winthrop, Washington. Winthrop is very close to North Cascades National Park (we thought it was). We are excited to see all the cascades.

Sunday June 6, 2021 - Church and the Kiddle Family

We joined the 9 AM ward here in Port Angeles. This was the right ward to go to . Know why??? Because we met the Kiddle family. Instant friends!!! After church Matt Kiddle started talking to me about our trip. Then his wife Amanda came over and started talking to us. Then she told me that she is in the process of writing a book called Covid is Stupid and I knew we needed to be friends. They were so sweet and invited us over to their house for dinner and a family bike ride. They are a huge biking family just like us:)))

Today was the day!! We finally got to head up and see Olympic National Park. So apparently, this national park is really spread out. You have to drive all over the place to see the whole park. We narrowed our day trip down to Hurricane Ridge which is just one part of the park. From Port Angeles, we drove about an hour and some up the mountain to Hurricane Ridge. The temperature dropped down to 40 degrees and snow covered the hills. But oh man, this place is stunning.

RV life anyone?? Isn't this paradise?? I love this picture. Homie looks so amazing;)).

Thursday June 3, 2021 Travel Day to Port Angeles Washington

We woke up early today and waved goodbye :(.

Today was our last day to play with Mark, Kim and the kids. Scotty, Mark and Kim had to work today so I took the kids out of the house to the Omsi. The Omsi is a science museum in Portland, Oregon. They had an amazing dinosaur display up. Eva and Kyler were so much fun to have along with my kids. Cousins really are the best.

Tuesday June 1, 2021 - Strawberries and Salmon Creek Park

STRAWBERRIES!

Scotty and the boys met up with John Ohran for a ride!! No one came home broken!!!! Looks like they had a great time riding!!

Happy Sunday!!!

We were blessed to go to church in the local ward here. One of the talks, was on the history of Memorial Day. The brother that gave the talk has been in the National Guard and is almost retired. I loved his talk and his love for our country. He honored all the people who have died in wars and I felt the spirit. While he was talking, I was able to remember all the Civil War spots that we visited and his words sunk deep into my heart.

God Bless America!!

Saturday May 29, 2021 Skate Park, Astoria and Long Beach

We had a full day today. Marks family and my family left the house around 9 AM , and we didn't get back home until 11 PM. Oh man, we had a blast today. Mark and Kim sure know how to have a fun time!!! The Washington, Oregon area is so green and lush. At one time, we were driving down to Astoria and I looked up and counted 6 bald eagles flying over us. There was an Eagle sanctuary there. I've never seen so many bald eagles in the wild all together. Stunning!!

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Sunday, June 27, 2021

Thursday, June 24, 2021

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Monday, June 21, 2021

Friday, June 18, 2021

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Saturday, June 12, 2021

Wednesday, June 9, 2021

Monday, June 7, 2021

Sunday, June 6, 2021

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

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