Our 18 day road-trip comes to a close as we travel back into our home state.

Our final night of travels was spent in Pasco, Washington where we enjoyed a delicious meal of chili-dogs & talked about our most memorable moments of the trip.

James set up a store and we all were invited one at a time to come buy things from him. He has a great imagination and sold many things – none of them rocks.

The last stretch of our trip took us so close to our Alma mater, Eastern Washington University, Josh & Abbie decided we should take a quick trip down memory lane. Wow, how things have grown!

Here is where Nana & Granddad would camp when they came up to visit. It still looks the same.

The city has a new & much improved sign. The University must be doing quite well ~

Here are some fun photos from the remainder of the drive home:

The “Fishing Game” a favorite game of the kids on the trip!

Once I left the Northwest, I had trouble finding a Starbucks… so I found these at the gas stations along the way… they are my new favorite!

A super-fun-filled trip! Glad to be out of the motor home though.

For many years I have been looking forward to this day! I have always wanted to see Mt. Rushmore. I have high expectations and I was shocked to say, I was not let down… rather, blown-away by the beauty, the skill it took to build,  the size of this giganormous monument. It was truly breath-taking.

We all had to take turns posing -

on the walk up to the opening of the viewing area are the flags of all 50 states. I got a little sentimental and had to take a picture of our home states:

We stayed at a KOA the night before and the cowboy poet by night and pancake artist by morning, John, made these Rushmore cakes for the kids – he said, “you don’t go to Disneyland without Mickeymouse cakes, so you don’t come to Rushmore without these!” The kids giggled and happily ate their breakfast.

Lots of amazing sites to see as you drive through the Black Hills – we were in a hurry to head home, but look forward to a return trip in the future.

It was on this day, I found Max & Ruby starting to snuggle!

Our drive the next day was short as we planned to spend the day playing at an indoor water-park in Rapid City, SD

James was loving the water, but nervous about the slides at first

Once he went down with Abbie, he realized just how exciting the slides could be!

and he was off to slide and slide and slide

The kids all played Leap Frog

and then the girls discovered a ride called The Toilet Bowl where they spent the rest of the day running up and down the stairs to spin and spin until they were pulled down the drain!

James finally worked up the courage to go down with Josh

and convinced me that because he was 5 and went down, I should go too. It didn’t end well & I wasn’t pushed to ride anymore slides. James & I somehow went down backwards and plunged underwater, where we both inhaled water through our nose, mouth, & eyes.

Even with the extra gallon of water inhaled, we all ended up having a fun day!

The next day we spent the majority of our time looking at this:

and doing this:

We said good-bye to Minnesota and hello to South Dakota

We stayed the night near Chamberlain, SD on the Missouri River

and ate Josh’s famous grilled chicken quesadillas for dinner

We eagerly agreed to power-drive to Minnesota. We weren’t so eager to get home though, so we made a few stops along the way making each day’s drive worth our while!

The first day we drove through Minneapolis/St. Paul

on our way to Mall of America

Once inside, the kids went straight to the Nickelodeon Amusement Park,

where we told them they were welcome to go on as many rides as they wanted. They were thrilled – until they realized we meant they had to use the “trip$$” we gave each of them… all of a sudden, $20 for 5 rides seemed expensive and the rides didn’t look so appealing!

Together, we decided Underwater Adventures looked worthwhile-fun-&-educational!

The girls hanging out near a beaver dam (just like the one Jim showed the kids on the lake!).

Entering the shark zone!

There were lots of other sea creatures as well

We learned lots about the Seahorse Family –  many different types & sizes.

I loved that the exhibits were all at a kid-friendly level. James was able to enjoy it all the more!

The Jelly Fish exhibit was by far the best!

We learned a ton about these tiny creatures – I told the girls they should definitely study jelly fish if ever given the opportunity. I am hoping James studies them in Primary School!

We learned one type of jelly fish is immortal -

We really enjoyed this underwater adventure!

We ended up skipping our plans of Chicken Quesadillas in the motor home & opted for a tasty dinner in the Mall.

We happily said farewell to Montana and looked forward to the sights and landscapes of a new state.

North Dakota was especially exciting as we looked forward to seeing some sights from our book, “The Great American Road Trip”. From our turtle-speed in the motor home, we saw the world’s largest cow – a tribute to dairy farmers of North Dakota – signs for the Enchanted Highway, and we made a much needed stop in Jamestown to see:

It was quirky fun to see something so large and wonder, why??? But we did it, the tourist trap – and we loved it!

The wind was blowing so hard & fast, we had to hold onto James as we feared he might fly away!

On our walk out to the Biggest Buffalo we had the opportunity to cruise through an old-time town!

The kids in front of the original Jamestown school, they were amazed at how tiny it was.

Pretending to be locked up in the old-fashioned jail

Josh and his buddy Max at the Saloon -

Louis L’Amour was born and did his writing here in Jamestown and they had the actual shack he wrote in… I thought of Granddad because he loves those western stories!

On our way out of the old western town, we had to be a little bit silly!

We enjoyed the break from driving and were ready for the long haul… Our goal was to make it to Cook, Minnesota before nightfall!

We left the hail and weather behind us as we headed toward Big Timber, Montana.

By the time we arrived, there were only minutes left until the pool closed… it turned out the pool was not suitable to swim in, so the kids opted for the Bounce Pillow instead!

Big Timber, Montana was home to many mosquitoes. Abbie didn’t tolerate these little creatures well…

It seemed as if this state would never end – but the next morning we would enter North Dakota…

We left Oregon a little later than anticipated, but made up for it with a LONG day of travel! We drove straight through Idaho in the blink of an eye…

Through the heat of the day, we drove & drove. The girls kept themselves busy making the cutest little friendship bracelets… we are all wearing them now!

Up Look Out Pass and into Montana!

Many signs welcomed us into this interesting state, in addition to the one below – we were invited to a testicle festival?! Hmmm…

We pulled into Missoula just before a lightning & thunder storm gave us an amazing show! Josh finished bbq-ing our dinner in the hail and rain mix.

We camped at Jellystone Park. The kids swam in the pool had a chance to get some outside time.

Another photo op:

We enjoyed the evening relaxing and playing board games!

Our goal for day 3 – Billings, Montana