Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming

Miles: 715 (and only 1 u-turn today!)

High Temperature: 96

Low Temperature: 54

We left Washington this morning on our way to Yellowstone! We drove through some beautiful country, saw lots of deer and antelope and even some really funny billboards! We drove from Washington, through Idaho, Montana and we are now on the border of Montana and Wyoming.

It was a very peaceful drive today and about 12 hours long. During one of our first stops for gas in Spokane, Washington we saw something that actually made me turn my head not only once, but twice. Standing on the corner was a man and a woman who were hitchhiking, they each had a bag with them and then laying in between them was a white tiger with black stripes. I seriously had to look twice because the first time I thought that I was seeing something. Ok, let's seriously think about this... now a days the likelihood of getting picked up while you are hitchhiking is fairly poor, we have all seen the Dateline specials... but DO YOU SERIOUSLY think you are going to get picked up with a TIGER????

We are very excited about our drive through Yellowstone tomorrow. We are going to do the upper loop tomorrow and leave the hotel around 6:30 pm (which is in about 6 hours from now). The upper loop is where we will see bear, moose, deer and such! Then Monday we are going to do the lower loop where there are more bison, moose, deer and other wildlife! I am really exited to see a bear because I have been watching for them our entire trip!!! So cross your fingers for us that we see a lot of wildlife tomorrow!!!

Have a wonderful night and I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from today!!!

Welcome to Idaho! Some of Justin's family is from Idaho so I did think about them while we drive through!!! For those of you that don't know, Idaho is actually one of my favorite states! It is one of the greenest states, the water is so clear and blue and it is just so peaceful!

We spent the majority of our drive in Montana today. Montana is beautiful and has a fantastic speed limit of 75!!!

Okay so I told you that I saw a funny billboard - well this is it! I actually had to call Justin to see if I had read the billboard correctly! Hilarious!

The rocky mountains in Montana were a treat to see! Some of the mountains that are covered in rock just take your breath away. This is a picture just as we were entering into the mountains. The elevation today took us to over 6400 feet as we crossed over the Continental Divide.

There were quite a few large cloud formations and some thunderheads during our drive but we only got a few sprinkles!
I stated to get a little headache from the elevation so I thought that a little caffeine would do the trick. Look at how cute this little drive us espresso shop is! And honestly one of the best frozen coffees I have ever had! Grandpa had a strawberry smoothie and LOVED it!

We are in Yellowstone! This was one of the only restaurants open for dinner after 10pm. It was very good, very quick and very much in the spirit of Yellowstone!

Well, we will see you tomorrow - off to bed! Have a wonderful night and again, cross your fingers for us..... bears, moose and more!!!

Love,

Christie and Grandpa

Day 2 With the Caton Family!!!

From Left to Right: Billie, Bob (sitting), Jim, Charlotte and Grandpa all goofing off!!

We spent the day with the Caton's here in Yakima, Washington! What a fun group of people!! In the afternoon we headed back over to Bob and Billie's house where we met up with Jim and Charlotte. Jim and Charlotte wanted to take us up to see their landfill and all of their land. Their landfill and some of their land is at the top of this hill which overlooks Yakima, a couple of other towns and also a river. It is beautiful country and there are orchards all over, primarily apple and cherry. Charlotte was telling us that the largest apple grower in Washington's orchard is their neighbor, and I believe if you look into their front yard, the orchard across the way is his also.

After we went to the landfill they had planned to take Grandpa up to the cemetery so he could see where two of his brothers were buried. Again, remember Grandpa is the youngest of 19! Below are his brothers Milo and Ovie's headstones. I learned a lot about Milo and Ovie from the stories everyone was telling. When Grandpa was born Milo was 17 years old and Ovie was 19 years old.

We actually spent a lot of time at the cemetery and everyone had a lot of questions for Grandpa about cemeteries since he worked for a cemetery for over 30 years. Today Grandpa told a lot of stories about his time in the Navy, his Mom, his brothers and his family. It was a lot of fun to learn about his brothers and sisters, and also hearing the stories from Jim and Bob.

After a great dinner we went back to Jim and Charlotte's house which was about 20 minutes from Bob and Billies and up in the country. I believe she said their home is on 100 acres and is so quiet! They wanted to bring us up there before the sun went down because she had a little surprise for us. She had all of us come and sit down on the deck and she told us to "just watch"... and out of this big tree next to their house flocked about 8 hummingbirds and they started flying over to the deck to drink out of the hummingbird feeders. They stayed around for about 15 minutes and then went back into the trees. It was awesome to see, I told them the story about whenever my nephews Trevor and Ryan see a hummingbird they say "there is Grandpa checking in on us". Well, tonight I think that Dad brought a few more friends and family to see us.

Here are some pictures from today!



The past two days have been awesome! It's too bad that we all live so far from each other because I could really see myself spending a lot of time with Bob & Billie and Jim & Charlotte!

Tomorrow we are heading to Yellowstone. The drive is about 11 hours and we are leaving bright and early in the morning... so I am heading to bed and I look forward to seeing the road before us tomorrow!

Love,
Christie and Grandpa

Yakima, Washington

In the picture from left to right: Bob, Charlotte, Grandpa, Billie and Jim

Today we drove to Yakima, Washington to visit with Grandpa's nephews, Bob and Jim and their wives Billie and Charlotte. The drive from Battle Ground took us about 3 hours because there was a lot of construction driving around Mt. Rainer. What a beautiful drive! We saw what had to be millions and millions of trees just climbing the mountains. Everywhere we looked there were lakes, rivers and bridges. Just over half way though our driver we passed another Elk just eating on the side of the road. We missed taking a picture of it so we turned around and by the time we got back to take a picture another Elk was crossing the road so instead of taking a picture of one Elk... there were two!!!

We arrived in Yakima, a beautiful town, at about 1:30 pm and met Bob and Billie for lunch. After lunch we went to their home to visit and to wait for Jim and Charlotte. Around 3:00 they arrived and everyone started telling stories about their past and stories about Grandpa and his brother Milo, who is Bob and Jim's father. We all laughed for hours and then went our for dinner, after dinner we returned back to Bob and Billies house for more stories and laughing until about 11:00 pm. Grandpa and I headed back to the hotel and got some much needed sleep. Tomorrow we are heading to the Caton Landfill, a landfill that Jim and Charlotte own which is about 18 miles from here.

I have heard so much about Bob & Billie and Jim & Charlotte, but having the opportunity to meet them was amazing and one I will never forget. The Caton's are a wonderful family who have a lot of stories, laugh a lot and are just overall GREAT people. I truly am proud to be a part of such a wonderful family!

Well off to bed.... big day tomorrow!

Love,

Christie and Grandpa

Surprise! Happy 91st Birthday Nola

Miles: 25
Weather Today in Battle Ground, WA: 66

What a wonderful day today! Our game plan was to leave the hotel this morning and drive to Nola's house to surprise her for her 91st Birthday. Grandpa had practiced what he wanted to do and how he was going to surprise her. We were going to pull into her driveway and then give her a call and ask her if she had breakfast already and if she had not then we were going to take her out for breakfast.

We left the hotel pretty close to 8am and walked outside and well... we had a flat tire. So we called AAA and the two truck was here literally within 10 minutes... one of the bonus features of a small town. The tow truck driver was awesome as he taught me quite a lot about my truck. He put some air in the tire and gave us directions to the nearest tire shop - which was 4 doors down from where we were staying. Two hours later we had a fixed tire and even better they did not even charge us for fixing the tire! There were a lot of people in there today with flats which got me to thinking.... do you think tire shops drive around at night time and drop nails and screws in the roads to ensure they have business the next day?

Off to Nola's! It took us a few minutes to find her home and then when we pulled up we were greeted by Brenda and Dale (Nola's son) who showed us to Nola's house. Grandpa was like a little boy in a candy shop! Ooh speaking of candy shop we stopped to ask for directions (yes, I know we said we weren't going to but my navigation wasn't picking up the little country roads) at this little market and the candy was only 30 cents for a candy bar... so of course we had to get one!

When we opened the door Nola was sitting in the dining room watching Maury and enjoying her birthday morning. Grandpa and Nola started talking like no time had passed, reminiscing about their childhood, their parents, siblings and just good old memories. I sat across from the table thinking, how often is someone able to just sit and listen to two people share stories from 91 years ago. Nola even mentioned that she remembered the day Grandpa was born and how his little feet were sticking out of the doctors bag. Did they actually put the babies in the doctors bags 84 years ago?

I continued to listen to them talk and started taking some notes from their conversation. It might have appeared as if I was just writing a grocery list or doodling on a paper - but I thought it would be really cool if I could share some of their conversation with you...

"She was not happy unless she had one on her lap, one by her side, and one in her stomach" Nola speaking about her Mother. For those of you who don't know my Grandpa was the 19th child in their family. Nola was the 5th youngest and out of 19 children they are the only two still living. They all had the same mother and father, there was 2 sets of twins and 1 triplets, the rest were all single births. They were all born about 2 years apart. Their mother died of Uterine Cancer at the young age of 59. You could tell how much they both loved their mother and how they think of her as an "angel" and upstairs looking over everyone for an eternity.

"I never think negative, only positive...you have to believe in what you say" Nola speaking to Grandpa about life and how she has made it for 91 years. She says she will make it to 100, and I don't doubt that she will. Grandpa of course said he will make it to 101 just to be the longest living Caton! You can tell they were funny and competitive growing up!

"In 1990 I prayed to God and told him that I did not want to smoke anymore. I woke up the next morning and did not have even a craving for a cigarette. If you don't have willpower you will never change. Some people say they want to quit smoking but then they go and get the patch. They are not ready to stop smoking, they don't believe in what they are saying." Nola telling the story about how she quit smoking and how praying made a difference in her life.

"I don't really like to eat fish anymore. When I was younger all of the boys would go out and catch the fish and then bring them home and the girls had to clean all of the fish and cook them. I just got tired of cleaning all of the fish." Grandpa wanted to take Nola to lunch but she is unable to walk so he kept asking her what she wanted for lunch and he brought up fish and she started telling us this story.

These are Nola's two dogs, Patches the Shitzu and Buddy the Palmarian.

This is their home. Dale and Brenda live in the front house and Carol and Nola live in the back house on the second floor.

Cousin Carol and I visited for a couple of hours, just visiting about life! We had a great conversation!

3rd Cousins (I think) Damien and his son Devin who is 2 1/2 and thinks his name is Peter Parker! He was so cute!!!

We went the the local bar (I also think the only bar in their small town) for lunch which they own. The food was delicious and we were very grateful for them for treating us to lunch!

Nola is a funny, witty and beautiful woman. She is full of love and thinks of her family first. It was such a treat to watch Grandpa and Nola interact and share stories. Now, for those of you who really know my Grandpa you know he is a kidder and has a "routine". Nola is on her game at 91 years old and went right back at Grandpa with some of his jokes, and I have to say that I think she even got him on a few.

Today is a day I will never forget. I met my Great Aunt Nola and a lot of cousins. Tomorrow we are heading to Yakima, Washington to see Charlotte, Jim, Bob and Billie! More family for the next couple of day! We are both looking forward to seeing them soon!!

Love,

Christie and Grandpa

Eureka to Battle Ground, Washington

Total Miles: 489

High Temperature: 94 (Small town.... don't remember the name)

Low Temperature: 49 (Eureka)

Hello Everyone and Good Evening from Battle Ground, Washington!!!

Before we start here are just a couple of pictures of the pretty garden we woke up to this morning from our hotel this morning. We stayed at this Best Western in Eureka - since everything else was sold out and it ended up being this wonderful little hidden gem. The room was gorgeous and had two separate rooms with plasma tv's, and a shower made for an entire family! It was awesome!

Today we traveled up the coast of California, Oregon and Washington. We went through The Redwoods, saw the beautiful Pacific Ocean, saw quite a bit of wildlife!

We stopped on Highway 101 for a delicious lunch of Clam Chowder and Fish & Chips! You can see Grandpa sitting on the benches outside. The food was great, the staff was friendly and we enjoyed our lunch on the coast!

The Redwoods were simply breathtaking! Driving through the forest was awesome and something that I don't think I have ever experienced before (or remember). Now we have also prepared a little surprise for my husband Justin. He made a comment when we were in Yosemite that we were suppose to stand in front of the redwoods so you could see how big the trees actually are! So... here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

Did you see a monkey in the tree??? Justin can make a comment about why there is a picture of a monkey!!!

Here are some pictures from one of our stops at the edge of California and Oregon!

Grandpa and I are always watching for wildlife.... I keep watch for bears and Grandpa keeps watch for deer, elk, antelope, squirrels and pretty much anything else that moves! Well.... we saw this sign that said "Elk Crossing 2 Miles".... and then about 10 seconds later there was this little house and a sign in front which read "Elk Viewing Area"... and there was a beautiful Elk just standing by the sign, posing for pictures!

Below are some more pictures from our drive today! I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed our drive!

Grandpa is really excited to surprise Nola tomorrow. Nola is my Grandpa's sister who is turning 91 years old tomorrow and she has no clue that we are coming! Should be a great surprise!!!

Well I am sure I will have lots of family photos for you tomorrow!!! Have a great night!!!

Love, Christie and Grandpa