For now, just a summary, with pictures to follow. (Have a little patience, Mom.)
We survived vacation. It was a strange one, lots of little mishaps. Jacob got airsick on the first flight (to Austin or San Antonio, can't remember) just as we were landing. Lots of turbulance. Then on the second leg into Denver, he got airsick again and we had been rerouted down to Arizona to avoid storms, so we were almost 2 hours late in landing. We finally got our car and headed to dinner with Rick's family. After that we drove down to Colorado Springs and then on to Cripple Creek to stay the night. During that drive, Jacob got carsick and literally sprayed the entire backseat of the rental car. It was not pleasant. There we were on the side of the road, trying to wipe down Jacob and the car enough to continue on. We made it into the hotel room at midnight, with me trying to fight naseau, as well. Rick went down to the casino for a little bit but didn't really win anything.
The next morning he and Randy drove out to the scout camp and picked up Brandon bright and early. He had a good time and earned 5 merit badges (Leatherwork, Basketry, Geology, something that is escaping my mind, and Fingerprinting). It apparently rained quite a bit there and was a little chilly. One of the nights got down to 40 degrees. He's camped in that before, but he still said that part was not fun. We drove a little bit before stopping for brunch and mopping out the rental car. I guess I should say that Rick mopped out the car while I supervised Jacob and wondered if I was coming down with something.
Rick napped in the car a little bit while the rest of us explored Breckinridge. The boys half-heartedly panned for gold, picked out some sourvenirs, and got ice cream. It was then that I noticed that Brandon was looking a little...sickly. I made the call to cancel dinner with a friend from college, since I wasn't completely sure if Jacob was 100% better, Brandon was feeling warm, and I still was a bit off. Since she was heading to a family reunion the following week...I didn't want to infect an entire party. We slowly made our way up to Longmont and finally found our hotel. By then, Brandon was pretty out of it and had a fever and collapsed, shivering, into bed. This was not a good start to our vacation.
The next morning we headed out to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was nice, and we made stops for pictures. The altitude killed me; I didn't expect that. Brandon still wasn't 100%, so he mostly ignored everything to play his Gameboy. We tried not to react to his constant complaints of being bored, and I know the altitude bothered his ears, but it was hard not to gripe back at him, especially when I wasn't feeling well, either. We stayed the night in Grand Lake, where Randy almost hit a moose when he and Betty went for a ride around the lake, in his brand new car. Rick and I kind of figured that was our chance to see a moose this trip.
Monday saw us driving north into Wyoming. Brandon did enjoy climbing Independence Rock. Jacob wanted to climb it, but he's a lot more cautious than he used to be. Rick, Randy and Brandon climbed over the top and met Jacob and I on the other side, which was when Jacob decided he wanted to climb. We slowly made our way to Thermopolis, with Brandon doing his usual job of letting us know he had to use the bathroom immediately after passing through a town. After dinner, Randy, Brandon and I played some minigolf. Brandon loves minigolf, and he used to be really good at it, but now he doesn't even aim but gets upset that he misses. We can't quite get him to understand the correlation.
Tuesday we let ourselves get a late start before heading out to the Legend Rock Petroglyph site. Brandon was in heaven, because Rick let him sit on his lap and drive the car on the little side road to get to the site. And then he got to drive the car 30 feet completely by himself. Sigh, my little guy is growing up. After a suitable wait for lunch to settle we headed to the boys' favorite--Star Plunge hot pools. I think Brandon would live there if we let him. Jacob spent a good deal of time dragging Rick up the hill to ride down the big outdoor slide, and even more time making him climb the stairs to the indoor slide. I went down the big slide once. That was enough. I went down the indoor slide once the last time we were there and I refuse to get in there again. No way, no how. After that, we went out to my parents' house in Kirby before heading over to a local restaurant there for dinner. Ok, what wrong with this picture: I had a hamburger and Brandon had a ribeye. Darn spoiled kids. Afterwards, we all drove back into Thermop for ice cream and more minigolf. This time it was Rick playing with them, and it ended with Brandon in tears, simply because he asked Rick for advice but got upset when Rick actually tried to give it to him.
The next day we suited up and got ready for our rafting trip up the Wind River. I knew when I booked the trip that there was a chance that I wouldn't get to go on it, because if Jacob wouldn't wear the life jacket or helmet, or balked at getting in the boat, he and I would have to stay back (and it would have to be me, because this trip was a mom trip, as in he wouldn't get more than 5 feet away from me without crying). He did fine with the jacket, but he wasn't putting on the chin strap for nothing. So he and I were out, so my mom dropped out to keep us company. Everyone else said it was a really good trip, with Class 2, 3, and even a 4 rapid. The only bad part was that the company didn't charge their camera beforehand and only managed to get one far off shot of the raft. After letting them warm up and eat some lunch, Rick, the boys and I met Mom and Dad out at the Boison Resevoir boat ramp for a little lake fun. Brandon got to drive the boat with Grandpa, and fish a little, and Jacob got to lean over the edge of the boat and put his hands in the water spray. They both seemed happy. That night we went out to Kirby again for a bbq and cake for Jacob's birthday. He could not have cared less, however, because they had a vcr and Grandma Betty had given him some "vidweos".
Thursday we were up early and out to Sunshine Resevoir outside of Meteetsee for some more fishing for Brandon. He was a little upset that it wasn't actual mountain fishing, but he still tried to have some fun. He kept everyone entertained with his trash talking...to the pelicans...in a southern accent. As we were eating lunch, Jacob finally decided to get out of the car and into the water. That entertained him for a while and we had to finally drag him out of the water so that we could get going. We drove up to the Medicine Wheel historical site. I should say, we drove up to the trail for Medicine Wheel . We walked the 1.5 miles up to it and 1 mile back. Jacob was so slow that Randy took pity on us and got the ranger's permission to come up and get us (certain people can drive up there). Rick and I enjoyed the stop, Brandon not so much, and unfortunately for him, he chose the wrong way to express that. I'm pretty sure that Rick and Brandon were contemplating throwing each other over the edge of the path. Jacob was mad we wouldn't let him go play with the marmets. We stayed at Bear Lodge at Burgess Junction, which was pretty cool.
Leaving the next morning, we saw some moose! Yay, happy day. Brandon was bored and refused to even look out the window. We drove into our third state, Montana, and headed to the Little Bighorn Battlefiled. Rick is really into Old West history, so that was really cool for him. Jacob refused to go on one of the longer walks (I think he was having flashbacks to the previous day's hike) so he and I spent some time hanging out in the car while everyone else finished up the sites. After a really tasty Indian taco, Randy and Betty headed back to North Dakota, and we headed down to Casper. I was really starting to not feel well again and it seemed like the day dragged on. I didn't end up meeting my friend for dinner, but he came and hung out at the hotel for an hour to catch up. That was nice. Rick and Jacob took advantage of the hotel pool, but Brandon delcared that that was boring. I'm sensing the upcoming teenage years will be fun.
Saturdays drive back to Colorado...was not fun. It kind of made me question the whole family vacation thing. Jacob would just not cooperate, got car sick again, and spent more than an hour crying "the end!" Not that I really blame him, because I was ready to cry at that point. Brandon...we just won't even discuss Brandon. We got to Denver a little earlier than we expected, so we did some stops at stores to keep the kids occupied. Rick took the rental car back (with an extra 1885 miles on it), after vacuuming it and spraying it down with Febreeze. Apparently, the rental car lady thought the car smelled very nice. What she doesn't know won't hurt her, right?
Sunday was actually an ok day. We got to the airport ok, and other than the security screener yelling at Jacob for being autistic and not understanding his instructions, getting on the plane and getting home was noneventful. Thank God, because we really needed something to go right.
