Still in WY

Today we drove from Cheyenne to Sheridan, WY. It was about 330 miles.
We've learned that 300 miles a day is as much as the kids can
tolerate. Anymore than that and they start getting stir crazy. They
need to get out and run, swim, play, ride bikes, whatever gets them
moving.

We arrived here at about 3:30. We were able to get in a short swim
before it started raining. The rain lasted just long enough to make
the mosqitos come out in full force!

We hung out at the campground tonight. The boys played mini golf and I
finally decorated the their vacation journals. Blake & Taylor watched
Spongebob and played with my paper scraps.

Blake did go outside and "talk" to our neighbor for a little bit. I
could see the look on the man's face that clearly said "I have no idea
what you are saying or even what language you are speaking!" So I
stuck my head out the window and explained that Blake has a speech
delay and he's trying to talk about a yellow airplane, his favorite
subject. The man is from Switzerland so he really had no clue what
Blake was trying to say! I thought there was something different
about him when I saw him wearing capris. Generally speaking, American
striaght men don't wear capris. I'm pretty sure they were his because
his wife/girlfriend looked too small to wear them. At least he is "man
enough to wear girly pants;)" (that was for you Linda & Paul!)

Tomorrow we will be in Forsyth, MT. We'll get to see my brother and
sister-in-law, nieces and nephew, my Uncle Dale and an old middle/high
school friend. I can't wait!

Wyoming

> We made it to Cheyenne, WY today. We would have like to have gone
> further but it took us longer to get down the mountain in CO than we
> thought it would. There was construction going on that caused
> delays and then Chase and our friend, Emma, got altitude sickness.
> We were at the Alpine Visitors Center, almost 12,000 feet high, when
> it hit Chase. He felt terrible! He was emotional, lightheaded,
> nauseated and had a bloody nose. He looked terrible too! We decided
> to say a quick goodbye to our friends and head down the mountain so
> Chase could get to feeling better. By the time we got to Estes Park
> (about 7,500 feet high) he was perking up. Shortly after that he
> was much better.

The drive down Trail Ridge Road is beautiful and intimidating. It's
the highest continuous highway in the U.S. I can't get over the fact
that they don't have guard rails on the edge of the cliffs. There is
NOTHING to keep you from tumbling down a 12,000 foot mountain! Some
of those twists & turns are quite tight! I guess eventually you'd hit
trees and that would probably stop you. But, there are no trees at
12,000 feet high! The trees don't appear until closer to 10,500 feet
high! Scary!!! Again, glad I got to drive seperately and wasn't in
the motorhome.

>
>
>

Monday

We started out the day with a fantastic breakfast of bacon & eggs made
by Ty!

We took a short drive to the town of Grand Lake. Just past there is a
short hiking trail called "Adam's Falls." It was very pretty! There
were some little water falls and beautiful scenery. The hike was so
short & easy even the kids could do it without any problems. In fact,
they were constantly a few steps ahead of us!

We went back to Grand Lake and stopped at a little gift shop thinking
maybe they would have a yellow airplane for Blake. They did. But, it
wasn't a J-3 Piper Cub so he wasn't interested. He just wants to talk/
whine about the yellow airplane at home. I think what he's doing is
called "stimming." It's self-stimulation that some autistic children
do to show excitement (good or bad) or to calm themselves. I think
he's trying to calm himself because we are so far out of his routine
and so far away from everything that is familiar to him back home. Or,
he could be expressing some excitement/anger that he's too
uncomfortable with being this far away from home. Anyway, it's not
easy to deal with and sometimes it sucks the life out of me. Mostly
because I don't know what to do about it.

After the gift shop meltdown we had a nice lunch on the lake shore in
town. The kids played in the ice cold water for a little bit and then
enjoyed some ice cream. These seemed to calm Blake down for a while.

After lunch, Ty & Linda took us to Monarch Lake. It was gorgeous! We
walked a little trail to the part where you see the kids' pictures
below. We would have liked to have gone further and stayed longer but
the mosquitos were THICK! We still enjoyed it and didn't let them
ruin the afternoon.

After that busy day we headed back to camp. The big kids rode bikes,
while the little ones and I colored. Ty & Linda made some delicious
chicken burritos for dinner. They were so good! It kind of reminded
me of Q'Dobas but better. Luckily they gave us the left overs for when
we hit the road again. Thanks guys!!!

After dinner we watched the movie "RV." It's funny and worth a rental
if you'd been wanting to see it. We had to show it to them because it
takes place in Colorado.

After all that we sat around the campfire and made s'mores and
visited. It was a good day full of beautiful scenery and great friends!

Tommorrow we start heading towards MT. We plan to get there
Wednesday. I'm hoping for a somewhat peaceful drive !

Brandy