Hamilton!

You may remember, back in May we gave Kaitee tickets to see Hamilton -- in July. June was a very long month, filled with anticipation.

 

Finally the day arrived. Kaitee and I left early in the day for downtown Chicago. We listened to the Hamilton Sound Track on the way. Stopping only for a quick breakfast/lunch. We found the parking garage and walked the few blocks to the CIBC Theater.

 

Before we crossed the final street, we took a few pictures. The pictures don't capture the full excitement, Kate was in Heaven.

Becki probably won't want me to share the following on the blog, but it played a significant part of the day, so...

 

There's a story to the smart phone Kaitee is holding. It belongs to Becki. I'm a very proud owner of an old flip phone, and have ZERO interest in ever switching. Needless to say Hamilton discriminates against those of us 'lessers' (or as Becki says, "losers" lol) in not sending out an Email with a QR code to print, you HAVE to show them the QR code on your smart phone. I called the ticket office, I called Ticketmaster, I called the theater...no luck. Spend money for the tickets, and then if you don't have the right kind of phone, guess you're out of luck.

 

SO, Becki gave us her phone - leaving herself without a phone for the day. I didn't understand the thing, but Kaitee did. Here she is taking a couple of selfies -- I tried to get into the second one.

Once inside, Kaitee loved all the detail and architecture. I've been in a few theaters in my lifetime, but this was Kate's first experience. I loved seeing things through her eyes.

 

Kaitee asked if she could take a picture that is a "tradition" on social media. You sitting in your seat with the Playbill and stage in frame. She took the next picture with Becki's phone, and I took the second picture with our nice camera.

Kaitee and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire production. The cast did a fantastic job!! I'm glad that we could pull this off and give Kaitee a present that she would truly remember for her 16th Birthday. I'm so glad that I got to enjoy the day with her.

Afterwards, we left the Windy City and headed home. We had time to look for a couple of letterboxes and have a nice dinner together. It was a lovely day.

Yellowstone Trip - Days 10 & 11 (Regina, SK - Fargo, ND - HOME!)

Day 10 - We left our hotel in Regina and hit the road - next stop, Brandon, Manitoba. We were looking forward to seeing the McMillan family!

A few hours later, we were finally in Branden. The McMillan family came to Davenport (across the river from our home) a few years back so Stewart could attend Palmer Chiropractic College. We were in the same small group at church - what a fun family. They love God and love people! We have missed them! As we planned this trip, we quickly realized we would be very close to Brandon and would get to see them! Unfortunately, our time was very limited but we still REALLY enjoyed the time that we did have together with them.

We swung by Stewart's office on the way out of town. If ever in Brandon and in need of an adjustment... : )

From Brandon, we drove an hour south to the US/Canada border crossing. We stopped in Boissevain before getting to the crossing. Who could resist these sweet little turtles (and crazy looking bear)!!

Luckily, no issues getting back in to America!

Finally - we have NORTH DAKOTA under our belt!!  Matt's third to last state to visit (only needs South Carolina and Alaska)!

We continued to head south to Rugby, ND - the Geographical Center of North America.

Our last stop was in Jamestown to see the World's Largest Buffalo (and to find a few quick letterboxes!)

We parked near this play set - as soon as we walked back from the large buffalo, the kids jumped on the horses. Then, I had an idea! We set up the tri-pod and had some fun.

We grabbed a late dinner and then started our 1.5 hour drive to Fargo for our last night's stay. We were SOOO ready to be home and in our own beds.

Day 11 - Fargo to Home! We woke up to rain - lots of rain! Luckily, the majority of the storm line had already passed us. It sucks to pack up your vehicle in pouring rain!

We left the hotel and started heading home. We only had one stop planned for the day...Ottertail, MN. Hindsight, this was a long ways out of our way - especially for the last (very full) day of driving. It was beautiful country - lots of resort type towns that we drove through. However, this stop ended up adding a big chunk of time to our day. The extra time was worth it when Kaitee saw the otter...

We arrived home that evening - we were toast. This trip definitely kicked us (and then kicked us again while we were still down!!!). There was a lot of driving - 4800 miles in 11 days. We visited/drove through 8 US States and 4 Canadian Provinces. We saw family & friends and share many memories/moments to remember for a lifetime. And when we lose our memories - we have over 10,000 pictures to help us remember! We stayed in 9 hotels (unloading and reloading every night/morning). There was bickering and there was laughter. We were blessed by God's Beauty - displayed in many forms throughout America and Canada! An amazing trip - it just may take us a bit longer to recover from this one!

Yellowstone Trip - Day 8 & 9 (Calgary, AB - Regina, SK)

Our finish to Day 8 was driving from Banff to Calgary (to spend the night).

We got in to Calgary around dinner time - we made a stop at Canada Olympic Park, which was the venue for some of the 1988 Winter Olympics. We knew that we wouldn't be doing any activities here, but wanted to get some pictures.

This bobsled is the original sled used in the making of the movie "Cool Runnings", which was based on the Jamaican bobsled team who debuted in the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympics.

Poor Alex - just out of the medal podium.  No one likes a sore loser, Alex. Notice Kaitee in the next picture - leaning over and signing "L" on her forehead. All 4 had fun with this picture.

Can't believe we all fit in here! Photo Scavenger Hunt Item

We've been to Canada twice now - each time we've eaten at Denny's. Not sure why...but it has worked out that way! We left Olympic Park and stopped at the Denny's just down the road. We got talking with our waiter and we told him we were visited Canada - from Illinois. His first response, "Oh, are you here for Stampede?" We told him no - asking, What is Stampede? Wow, evidently Stampede is a big thing in Calgary...well, in all of Canada! It is nicknamed, "The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth"! So yeah, we were in Calgary, the same time as Stampede was going on. I am very thankful that we were able to reserve a hotel room!

As we left dinner, we noticed that Canada definitely loves their maple leaf! Pretty cool how it is incorporated into many business names.

 Next stop - Hart House.  Matt loved this stop - he was a huge WWF fan growing up and he knew the Hart name and their legendary house (mansion). It was a special moment for him to see the house (from the street, it's a private residence) and get pictures by the sign.

As we drove downtown, our last planned stop of the day was Calgary Tower. Unfortunately, the second picture is the closest we got to the tower. We drove around the block 5-6 times, looking for a parking spot with no luck. We were willing to walk a ways too...but downtown was crazy busy (remember that whole Stampede thing?). It was also a beautiful Saturday evening and everyone was out enjoying the night. We were carrying the Thule on top of our van too so we weren't able to use the parking garages. I will say that we saw our share of cowboy hats and boots though!

We found our hotel and crashed for the night. We were very thankful for a big hotel room where we could relax for the remainder of the evening.

Day 9 - We slept in a bit and hit the road around 8:30. Our plan for the day was to head east to Regina for the night. It would be another full day in the van - 8 hours of driving.  We had three planned stops on the day.

Stop 1 - Province Sign (Saskatchewan). I love this picture angle - it is exactly how I imagined Saskatchewan to look!

Stop 2 - Moose Jaw to get a picture with Mac the Moose - World's Largest Moose Statue!

When we stopped in Moose Jaw, Matt & I were getting pretty excited about our 3rd stop, which was a surprise for the kids. Many years ago, Matt & I came across a TV show called "Corner Gas". We fell in love with the show after only one episode and quickly bought all of the seasons on DVD. Fast forward a few years and now our kids love the show! They actually brought a few of the DVDs to watch while we were driving. As soon as we hit the Saskatchewan border, the kids immediately recognized it. They even asked if Dog River (fictitious town from the show) was a real city. When we pulled in to Moose Jaw to see Mac - the kids continued to talk about the show (Moose Jaw is mentioned throughout the show).  Matt & I couldn't wait for the surprise that was literally just down the road! We turned south and headed to Rouleau - AKA Dog River!

As we pulled in to town, the kids were quick to notice the Dog River Grain Elevator.

Unfortunately, the town tore down the Corner Gas/Ruby set in 2016. We were so bummed to have missed seeing that, but still excited to see many local businesses that were used as store fronts in the tv show.

We laughed at the face cutouts...

We threw eggs at the Howler windows (okay, not really)

This video is a portion of one of the episodes. If you watch closely, you will see the motel/bar, police station and grain elevator. This particular show had the "pothole" story line.

The pothole/speed bump in Dog River

I can almost hear Hank (Kaitee) asking Officer Davis (Matt) if he can borrow his gun for a little while. Haha!

Dog River Police Station

Oscar & Emma's House - No ladder in sight, but there were gnomes next door!

Dog River - Main Street

 After walking around the town, we drove back to the grain elevator/tv set area. We took a few pictures there and then waved goodbye to Dog River. It was a great stop!

Kaitee even found a surveillance bush!

Side note - we spotted these yellow fields all week long as we drove through Canada. We didn't have a clue what the crop was, but the fields were vibrant and beautiful! Such a stark contrast against the blue sky and white clouds. We stopped to take some pictures - but the pictures don't do it justice! We found out later (when we visited our friends on Day 10) that the crop was canola. We also found out that the crops only flower for a few weeks - fully blooming in mid July, generally. What an amazing blessing to see that in person!

We left Rouleau / AKA Dog River behind and headed to our hotel in Regina. When I made our hotel reservations, I made a note that this hotel didn't have a swimming pool. The kids were bummed, but I warned them early on in the day so they didn't anticipate swimming that night! As we pulled in to our hotel parking lot, we see a big sign on the side of the building - Water Park! Oh my goodness - what a nice surprise!!!

Once checked in (by far the nicest hotel we have stayed in, in a very long time!!), I took the kids to the pool area to swim. It was a nice water park area with a water slide and some spray stuff. The nicest part - we were by ourselves the whole time (with the exception of a few people using the hot tub)!

From the hotel's website...

While we swam, Matt went to get gas and pizza. It worked out perfectly! Definitely a great finish to a fun, memory filled day!