Travel day...
We left Rossland, BC today and headed to Redmond, Washington.We are visiting our good friends the Reynold's.We are spending a couple of days in the Seattle area before we start back to Mississauga.
Monday, August 22 2005
Tuesday, August 23 2005
Shopping in Seattle
Today we took the bus into Seattle. It was an accordion bus and the kids had a great time sitting in the middle where it bends.
Claudia, Sarah and Angela.
David and Gillian
Our first stop was the Pike Place Market.
We had a great time watching them throw the fish and crabs around at Pike Place Fish Co.. When ever someone bought a fish or a crab, one guy in front would toss it to a guy behind the counter to wrap it up. Somebody bought 8 dungeness crabs, if you look close you can see one mid-air.
A close-up of the Dungeness crabs on ice.
When we first got there they were throwing the big fish on the left around.
A close-up of a Monk fish.
The kids sitting on the Rachel the Pig.
After the market we walked down to Chinatown, here we are in front of the library.
It was long walk and the kids were good, our final destination was Uwajimaya, it is a Japanese store.
Some of the light standards have dragons wrapped around them.
A view of Seattle while we waited for the bus back to Redmond.
Thursday, August 25 2005
Wagon's east!
We started our drive back east this morning. We made it as far as Missoula, Montana. We lost an hour today as we crossed over the border from Idaho to Montana.
We left the Reynold's after a couple of days of relaxing. The kids had a good time playing together.
Here is a picture of the house they are in.
Not sure what was up with the uniform?
The only tourist stop we made today was in Vantage, Washington. We stopped to look at the Wild Horses Monument. We didn't have the time or energy to climb up to see them.
The view from the parking area was nice.
The girls were trying to catch grasshoppers.
Another family photo op.
We'll be seeing lots of this in the days to come.
Friday, August 26 2005
Day 28
Today was our longest day on the road so far. We went from Missoula, Montana to Spearfish, South Dakota.
We have been following the I-90 across, the roads have been good, not too much construction and 75mph speed limits.
Claudia picking flowers at one of the rest areas.
The girls are still traveling well.
Some of the Montana scenery.
One of the stops we made today was at the Little Bighorn Battlefield. This was the site of Custer's last stand on June 26, 1876. This was a path up to the actual site.
The black marker in the middle is where Custer fell.
There is a memorial monument that was built in 1881. Some of the cavalry soldiers remains are buried under it, but Custer is interred at West Point.
Claudia was off picking flowers again.
Then we showed her the sign.
This is the view Custer would have had.
The girls trying to catch grasshoppers again.
There is also a National Cemetery on the site.
There are soldiers from all of the different wars.
Usually we have checked into a hotel for the night before the sun goes down. Today we were still driving and we saw our first sunset. Angela was frantically trying to find an orange crayon so she could draw the sunset. I pulled off at an exit to take some pictures.
A Wyoming sunset.
Angela after finding her orange crayon.
Saturday, August 27 2005
Still in South Dakota...
Today we traveled from Spearfish, SD to Sioux Falls, SD. We made a few detours along the way to see some of the sights.
Our first stop was Mount Rushmore in Keystone, SD.
It is quite impressive and the sky was so blue.
Some more photos of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln
Susan started with one on her back.
And ended up with three.
After Mount Rushmore we headed to Wall, SD and stopped for some free ice water at Wall Drug.
In the backyard they have some pretty neat things. All the girls took a turn on the bronco.
Claudia posing as a squaw.
Posing with a prospector.
Angela checking out the T-rex.
Me and the ladies!
Enjoying their free ice water.
After Wall Drug, we headed on the 240 and did the Badlands National Park drive.
There were a whole bunch of mountain sheep just inside the park by the side of the road.
The drive was awesome, you could spend a lot of time in this area of South Dakota.
It doesn't really show in the pictures but the colours are great.
The front view.
Then we drove around it and here is the rear view.
One final view of the badlands.
Sunday, August 28 2005
Into the home stretch
After yesterday's touring, today was a driving day. We went from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to St. Joseph, Michigan. We lost another hour as we crossed over from Indiana to Michigan. We drove through all or parts of South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.
Highlights for today are slim since we were in the car more than out of it. Minnesota has some nice rest stops, this one had a kids playground.
The girls on day 30 of our epic.
We crossed the Mississippi River today.
And now the river.
Going around Chicago wasn't too bad, going westbound was worse. We passed 2 accidents and a car fire that was still blazing. There is a lot of construction but since it was Sunday we didn't get bogged down. Tomorrow we complete our trip, after 31 days on the road it will be good to be home.
Monday, August 29 2005
Home Sweet Home!
Day 31, we can't believe we've been gone for 31 days. We left St. Joseph, Michigan
this morning and only stopped once en route to home.
We crossed over at Port Huron into Sarnia. The sign for Canada.
Cost a Toonie to cross the bridge.
Back in Ontario! It must be Ontario, there was construction as soon as we crossed over.
Cheers from the back.
More cheers from the very back.
Last exit. We're almost there.
Gas was 83.4 when we left on July 30th, it is 16.3 cents higher.
We started and ended with a picture of the girls in the van, so I have put both here, see if you can guess which is which.
I asked the girls to write about one of their favourite things on the trip. I will transcribe them and post them soon. I also plan to do a little summary.
One last thank you to our neighbours, Sue, Sarah and Christina for looking after Carla the Cat while we were gone. And to Carolyn, Alex and Emi for their visits to Carla.
Follow "The Tanabe's" as we travel back to Ontario from British Columbia this summer. This blog format will hopefully be quicker and easier to update as we make our journey.
Archive
2005/07/29 - 2005/08/052005/08/06 - 2005/08/12
2005/08/13 - 2005/08/21
2005/08/22 - 2005/08/29
2005/08/30 : epilogue