We are officially back home after a trip of a lifetime! What a magnificent experience it has been, and such a privilege to have the opportunity to take our family on such a wonderful trip. The event began years ago with my aunts and uncles organizing a family reunion to celebrate my Grandma Eileen Eggl's 95th birthday in Cando, North Dakota. Of course when I met Franz and we got engaged, I let him know that this was an upcoming event and we had to begin to strategize on how we we ever would manage to get us and 5 kids to Cando - no small undertaking in itself.

After our most wonderful wedding, we started to plan in earnest (after getting letters from Aunt Margaret and emails from Uncle Jack and Aunt Diane). We had also recieved an invitation to come out to Franz's sister Laura's cabin in Seattle, Washington. What to do? In consideration of the fact that we have two rising seniors (17 years old) that probably will be off to college next summer, we concluded that this was the year for our major family adventure and that we should consider combining both invitations into a Mega-Trip to humble all - drive all the way from coast to coast with everyone!!!!

So the plans were made, renting a van, reserving rooms (only some, the others were on-the-fly) and planning family get-togethers on the way, along with what sights to see, what routes to drive, what to bring, and especially how were we ever going to pull this off? Of course along the way of planning lots of discouragement with rising gas prices and changes with airline rules (no we aren't completely nuts - we did fly home in the end!), but the drive-then-fly presented it's own set of challenges, and so packing would be a special project in and of itself!

We left on Sunday morning, June 22nd after going to pickup our rental van - a 12-seater Ford E350 that hopefully wouldn't bankrupt us in gas, but perhaps giving everyone enough real estate to keep us from losing our minds. We had such an experience at the rental place, meeting Stan, the friendly agent who kept everyone else in line waiting while he described all of his family travels back to 1969, meanwhile stopping with a tilt of his head to describe us as "the most endearing couple!" That earned him fame on our trip, as we all voted to name our travel gnome mascot "Stan" in his honor! The kids enjoyed spotting Stan photo opps all throughout the trip . . .

The miles melted away with reading, music headphones, eating our sandwiches, sleeping and sightseeing through the windows. North Carolina's mountains gave way to Tennessee, then Kentucky's horse farms and rolling hills, and finally Indiana, where we stumbled into our first hotel. Air mattresses, travel pillows and blankets, but all of us in one room - we all quickly worked out a system to get in, set up and get ready for bed, then get up and ready and out and back on the road - there should be an award! We did so well in driving, that we were able to make some scenic drive choices. We found the mighty Mississippi to be a beautiful guide from Wisconsin, through Winona (my college town) and up to the Twin Cities. It was so much fun to show my family my old stomping grounds!

No visit with teenage girls would be complete to MN without a stop at Mall of America, so we started right out with shopping. Zach & Madison's aunts and cousins were able to meet us there (Mary and Reid from Minneapolis, and Sara and her daughters who happened to be visiting from Alabama). My sister Theresa and mom and dad met us there also after we enjoyed a fun lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. Then off to pick up Jolynn and Simon at the airport (from NY) and back to Theresa's for a bang-up barbeque picnic arranged for our family to visit with many old neighbors and family friends. My Uncle Mark and Aunt Marilyn from Texas happened to also be in the Twin Cities and we were so happy to spend time with them too! Our timing was good!What a great time we had - good food and great visiting. Good job Theresa!

The next day we took advantage of having a tour bus and piled everyone in for an old-fashioned field trip - starting with the Oakdale side of town - elementary school, high school, Stillwater Way neighborhood, then on to the first house on Jordan street, Grandpa Klinge's house, the Cottage Grove cemetary, and finally on to Bayport for another great picnic on the St. Croix river where we finally got to meet up with my sister Sara, and cousins Kate and Mary. Lots of photos and visiting and then on to Stillwater where we had the world's largest (I'm sure they are!) ice cream cone's at Nelson's. You would think we packed enough in, but we then headed back for a swim/birthday party at the hotel where we caught up on everyone's bdays and then had pizza. Wow - this is just the first few days of our trip!!

Roadtripping to North Dakota brought views of incredibly broad skys and beautiful rolling farmlands. We stopped for famous chocolate "chippers" (chocolate dipped potato chips) at Widman's in Grand Forks, right next to the flood-prone Red River and finally arrived in Cando to discover many relatives already in town, easy to find with a quick drive down the short main street (the joys of small towns!).

Now what I didn't realize growing up, was what a special family I truly have; I didn't realize how rare and special it was to have so many aunts, uncles and cousins that got together so often and especially how caring - I thought every family was like ours. I know now how truly blessed we are! In true Eggl fashion, everyone hugged and loved onto Franz and the kids as if they had just seen them yesterday, bonding them so easily into the ongoing loving of the family. Lots of visiting, new experiences (trap shooting with Uncle Lennie on the farm, seeing the Milky Way in the sky for the first time) and lots of great food (homeade pies!) along with lots of pictures of an evergrowing group with Grandma Eileen as the smiling matriarch of them all.

Three days and time to say goodbye, but with such smiles! Onward to Medora, North Dakota and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. We bagged our first buffalo shot (photo) in the overlook parking lot and many more the next day, as well as wild horses and prairie dogs. Such a cute, old west town to enjoy our lunch (buffalo burgers of course!). Onward thru to South Dakota, through Deadwood (what happened to those trees?) and ending the day in the sacred Black Hills at Mount Rushmore, in time for the evening lighting ceremony. We stayed in Keystone and could actually see the monument heads clearly right from our parking lot!

Now anxiety sets in as we realize how many more miles we have left to drive - through the mountains too. We had seen so much already, but still were not prepared for the majestic and rugged beauty of Wyoming and Montana. With nothing but rolling hills of grassland as far as the eye can see for miles and miles and miles and hour upon hour, no trees, you only begin to understand the difficulty the pioneers and Indians had living in this land, and even now the tough souls that choose this place to exist. And then you come to the Rocky Mountains! Such grandeur and beauty, we were all speechless often as we would round bends and see a sight more breathtaking than the last. So many wonderful conversations we had that day, since it was almost impossible to do anything but watch out the window as God's creation was on display.

We stayed in Butte in view of snowcapped mountain crests, and dressed warmly to continue our drive on through Montana, Idaho and Washington, seeing moose, bald eagles, whitewater rivers, more breathtaking vistas and lots of snow! We stopped in the old fashioned german-style village of Leavenworth to enjoy the european mountain flavor, and some brats with sauerkraut for dinner. It wouldn't be Washington if we didn't have a little rain, and as we drove the last miles of mountain roads, the rain pounded down through the cedars and ferns and the kids did sing-a-longs (all books by now long-finished). Only a two-hour wait for the ferry and we finally stumbled into bed at Laura and Terry's new cabin, too tired to see!

Sleep does wonders and we rose to view our fantastic landing spot - a home overlooking Puget Sound set on a slice of virgin forest bluff, full of cedars, ferns and foxglove. Nancy (Terry's sister) had blackberry pie for us for breakfast (blackberries grow wild all over the island) and we immediately asked for the tour of the new place. Laura and Nancy (Nancy and Doug live there full time until Laura and Terry retire) are very creative and have filled the house with many beautiful artistic touches. June (Franz's mom) was there also, and together we enjoyed a number of days, recovering from our many miles, celebrating the Fourth of July, cooking fresh seafood, visiting island towns and parks, flying kites and even making it to Seattle's Space Needle and Pike Market (yes they really do throw fish!)

But vacations end and our last day was full from beginning to end, returning the van, breakfast with my Aunt Virginia and Uncle Pat and a visit to their house and nearby beach, and finally the long flight back - we even got to have an exciting run at midnight to our connecting flight - everyone made it with only 9 minutes between flights! Collapsing into bed, and now the week of adjusting to the time change. We all are in disbelief that it really all happened, but the photos are proof and we are all a better family for the experience!

I hope you have enjoyed our story - feel free to add your comments to this blog post - any stories you would like to share will be fun!

Pictures are available at Snapfish - warning there are lots!
(http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=235600633/a=111176349/t_=111176349)