You don’t have to feel sorry for me, really you don’t, but here is the story of my last couple of weeks.  We planned a great road trip that turned to the unpleasant. Visiting good friends in Wydaho ( border between Idaho and Wyoming) seemed like the perfect end of summer vacation trip for the Ahrenskeaff’s ( Erik, Cora, and I) but things took a turn towards the unpleasant…

First of all, I had all four of my impacted wisdom teeth removed a few days before the departure date. When we did leave I was still on pretty heavy painkillers, and because of this we did not fully communicate with our friends on the directions to their house. They had assured us it would take 8 ½ hours of driving, but we took the scenic route which ended up being an 11 ½  hour drive.

We left Monday evening and pulled into beautiful (if we could have seen it) Irish Canyon campground in northern Colorado at 1:30 in the morning and put up our brand new tent. Yes, we received a new tent from Mountain Equipment Coop. Our old tent’s zipper broke (see May story) and they could not repair it so they sent us a new one. It is the most spacious two person tent you could want for car camping.  It is kind of heavy, but Cora loved it and it was so easy to put up. Thank you MEC for backing us up!

We arrived at our friends’ house the next day around dinner time.  At this point Cora was ecstatic to see her two best friends and her favorite adults Susan and Smith.  The whole trip was fabulous for Cora; she loves to be with this other family and fits right in to their life.  Susan, Smith, and the twins Owen and Wally lived here in Colorado.  We would spend a lot of time together baking bread, playing, and even grocery shopping. They moved just a few months ago.  I on the other hand was feeling pretty tired from the surgery and could not really eat.   During our four day stay I caught a 48 hour stomach flu and a bad cold. I was not in good shape.  Erik took really good care of Cora and our friends made the best of our pitiful visit.  They were also sick but seemed much more energetic.

We managed to still visit Grand Teton National park and swim at a beautiful String lake.  It is always interesting to visit National Parks. All four adults discussed the positive  and negative aspects of visiting such a contained outdoor environment ( see future writing on this topic).  We also went to a local park in Victor, Idaho and played along the stream. Cora got to play at least three hours every day in our friends’ farm-like two acre back yard.  It was great to see all three toddlers having such a good time with each other and reconnecting.   On the last day we went on a toddler hike near a stream. The toddlers hiked about I mile both ways with parents in tow. It took forever but they had fun exploring rocks, dirt, pins, and the sound of the river.  I was so weak I could not walk with them so I laid down in the shade by the water.   Susan made sure everyone was well fed and taken care of.

For our ride back smith made sure that we had an I-pod full of new music and different episodes of This American Life. We then got better directions and headed home.  We also got to drive by Cora, Wyoming. We camped just outside of Pinedale on the Shore of Fremont Lake. It was a beautiful campground near the Wind River Range where Erik and I did a three week hike in 2002.

I am still feeling pretty weak and not very energetic.  I really enjoyed visiting friends but I wish I could have been more active.  We ended up enjoying the outdoors together but I could not fully be involved.