The Trip

We spent an amazing week in Utah for my grandpa's funeral.  We were planning on leaving on Monday, but the weather on Snoqualamie Pass was looking really bad.  So Derek hunted down some chains (WE LOVE LYNNWOOD HONDA because they ended up giving us a set when we couldn't find any to fit our run flat tires).  Anyway, I don't do spontaneous.  Usually I take 3 or 4 days to pack for a trip.  But once he found the chains, we packed in about 2 hours and hit the road.  We had to chain up to get over the pass, so it was slow going.  But we made it!  (I even sort of learned to put on chains.)  We stayed in Pendleton on the way to UT.  Sarah loves to tell everyone that we stayed in the Red Lion Hotel.

The next day we made our way to SLC in true Norton road trip tradition.  This means we stopped often and for longish periods of time.  The funniest stop was when we were at a rest stop.  Ben had just gone #1 in the potty.  He was so excited.  He was jumping around in the lobby when all of a sudden he stopped and said in a very concerned way, "I pooped on my shoe!"  Indeed, he had exploded out of his diaper (he was on antibiotics) and a single drip of poop had reached his shoe.  Massive cleanup ensued and we got back on the road.

Derek and I like to listen to books as we drive.  But, for the second trip in a row, we have gotten so into the book that we have forgotten to get gas.  This time when the gas light came on, we thought we were sunk. Thank goodness for SUBLETT ID.  There seems to be nothing there but a gas station where you can also feed the alpaca and donkey.  But it was heaven sent for us this trip.  

The books we listened to were Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt.  I LOVE his writing style.  It was amazing, and quite sad too.  I like Schmidt's other books better.  Then we listened to Tom Clancy's Locked On.  Derek had never read any Tom Clancy before.  I hadn't read anything recent, so it was pretty fun.  Actually pretty intense. I maybe wasn't the sweetest parent during the drive home as we listened to a book that intense.  But the drive home was much faster as we powered through from Rexburg (snowing), the rest of ID (raining), and OR passes (snow covered) and back into WA where traction tires were advised on Snoqualamie.  Whew.  Glad to be home.  

The view from our balcony

Stopping in Twin Falls.  That place is AMAZING!

Libby's favorite part of the trip was this guy, founder of Twin Falls or something.