Christmas 2009/ New Years 2010

12/24/09 - 1/3/10 Christmas/ New Years Adventure Stats:

• adventure days=10.5
• vacation days off of work=2.5
  
• highway miles=2,300
• Off-highway miles=5
• hiking miles=0
• total lodging costs(3 nights)=$125
• average lodging cost per paid night=$42.00
• average lodging cost per total nights=$12.50

Yes. We know. Christmas and New Years were nearly 3 months ago now. But there are some great pictures we took on our little trip that we've been promising some of you for several weeks that we would get up on the blog ASAP. So here they are. Let's do pix first and long boring narration at the last. That way you aren't forced to scroll down several screens to get to the good stuff ;)

Christmas Eve drive


Christmas with the Penroses


Visiting Grandpa Whitney


Visiting Lacey Ann at the mall in the Tri-Cities


Eating at the Milk Bottle with Grandma


Taking a break at the mall in Butte (click on the "movie screen" icon on the last picture for a fun video)


New Years Eve in Jackson


Grand Teton National Park


Jackson, WY


National Elk Refuge


Snow tubing


Taking a break on the drive home at a gas station parking lot


Taking advantage of work Holidays for Christmas Day and New Year's Day, add to that 2 free days earned at work for meeting a performance goal, and we ended up with a full 10 1/2 days of travel and fun while Ron only had to take 2 1/2 days of vacation time from work!

Now to the travelogue:

• Thu 12/24: 10 hours of travel to Missoula, MT - Christmas Eve dinner was at the McDonald's playland in Idaho Falls, ID (including opening up Christmas Eve gifts)
  
• Fri 12/25: Christmas in Missoula w/ the Penroses - kids had a blast!
  
• Sat 12/26: Hang in Missoula w/ the Penroses - went to the mall playland, went swimming, more fun...
  
• Sun 12/27: Half a day in Missoula then half a day traveling to Spokane to visit Grandma Whitney!
• Mon 12/28: Hang in Spokane w/ Grandma Whitney - went to Grandpa's grave - went to "The Milk Jug" - went to the mall playground - the kids spent hours trying to catch a glimpse of the cuckoo bird in Grandma's cuckoo clock (man that little guy is quick, turn your head for 2 seconds and he does his business and gets back inside before you can look)
  
• Tue 12/29: Day trip to the Tri-Cities to visit with Lacey Ann for a few hours (halfway point to her home in Portland) - met at the mall playground - then back to Spokane for dinner at Aunt Faith's house
  
• Wed 12/30: Hang in Spokane w/ Grandma Whitney - went to the park (yes it was well below freezing, the frost- covered slides were extra-slick) - relaxed
  
• Thu 12/31: Left Spokane @ 5AMish - followed by a very snowy 12 hour drive to Jackson, WY (including an hour long break at the mall playland in Butte, MT) - arrived in Jackson just in time for New Years Eve festivities at the town Ski Resort including a "Torchlight Parade" and fireworks which they do at 6pm; perfect for families with small children who have been traveling all day and don't have the ambition to hold out until midnight.
  
• Fri 1/1/10: 12:00am, alarm goes off, Ron and Lacey creep outside to listen for celebrations, head back to bed - later...Hang in Jackson - Day trip to Grand Teton National Park - the kids were too young for the $5 ranger guided snow shoe tour - so we just drove around a bit and checked out the movie at the visitors center - hung out in the town square at night
  
• Sat 1/2/10: Hang in Jackson - went snow tubing - Day trip to the National Elf Refuge (saw more big horned sheep then elk, but there was plenty of both) - another Day trip to Grand Teton National Park (explored some back roads, only got the Jeep stuck in the snow once, and only for 15 minutes!) - hung out in the town square at night
  
• Sun 1/3/10: 6 hours of travel to get home - can't remember anything about the drive, must have been pretty uneventful - Oh, we did stop at the Utah Welcome Center rest stop on I-80 just as you cross over from Wyoming, they have the most complete library of Utah travel related brochures, maps, videos, and displays that I have ever seen; we might have to make a trip back up there someday just to look through everything and get some ideas for fun weekend adventures (as though our must-do list needed any stimulation)

Final thoughts? We normally make this kind of a trip in the Summer where we keep a lookout for city parks and forest service picnic areas in addition to highway rest stops: all necessary sanity restorers for those traveling with children. However, this trip we became extremely dependent on mall playlands (as well as McDonald's playland). When the weather's bad, a mall playland is a great place to let the kids get out the wiggles, let one parent sit and relax and let another parent go wander aimlessly for a bit. Thank heavens for "text google" in helping us find them all.