Thursday, August 28, 2014

Into the Montana Wilderness


Last week my family packed ourselves in our 7 passenger van, punched our destination into our not-so-trusty GPS (it ended up quitting on us a while later) and set off to the Montana wilderness.  My sister decided to spend a year studying at Montana Wilderness School of the Bible, and since we're all so selfless, we decided to move her out as a family and get acquainted with where she's going to be spending the next two semesters.  I would be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous to be stuck in cramped conditions with my dear family for the drive, but it actually turned out quite nice.


(Obviously our first stop.)



Getting in touch with our 1880s style.


A nice reminder in the gas station bathroom stall.


Of course we had to see where National Treasure was shot.



Peeping on George.



A side trip through Sturgis...obviously not the only ones to have this idea...


The sibs.


Our album cover in case we ever come out with a CD.



We "rock."  (Badoom-CH)



"Insta-Max."



(I was trying to take a picture of these buttercups and they would NOT STOP MOVING.  I promise you I don't usually strangle innocent flowers...)




This awesome waterfall we happened upon right before our brake pads died in the middle of Wyoming.



Our last stop:  bison-watching in Yellowstone National Park.

We had fun.  The only down side was that when I was packing for the trip and I was looking at the weather for "Augusta, MO."  If you are smarter than me, you've probably already realized that "MO" is in fact NOT Montana, but Missouri (which apparently is fantastic this time of year).  I unfortunately did not realize this until I was in August, MT and I was freezing my patookas off (I'm not quite sure what "patookas" are, but whatever they are, they were freezing).  It was so cold it almost snowed the night we were there.  And lucky for us, the century-old hotel we were staying at didn't have central heat.  Yay for Montana!  Needless to say, we survived the night.

After getting Dani unpacked and settled and blubbering our way through tearful goodbyes, we turned around and began the trek home.  Max and I quickly became accustomed to our new lives as "only children" and bonded over multiple games of Phase 10 and F'real milkshakes (which are our new favorite things).  With the help of a Starbucks espresso shot and two 5 Hour energies (never again) , I drove through the night and made it all the way to Chicago before my dad took over and I crashed in the backseat.  Yes, I am still recovering.   



 How did we do it? 

There is only one reason (besides the sovereign grace of God) that we all made it through this trip alive...


I kid you not.  Without these magical liquids we would've been at each others throats within the first hour.  I used my handy car diffuser to diffuse Thieves and Purification to keep illness away and purify the air, and I did a handy trick where you put oils on clothespins and stick them in your car vents.  I switched out my "clothespin diffusers" with Peppermint for clarity for the driver, and Orange to promote happy feelings.  Each morning I would pass around Joy and Stress Away, and when people were getting grumpy I would give them more and a few minutes later we'd be holding hands and loving each others company once again.  (Shout out to Isaac Jenkins for this wonderful image!) 

Thank God for adventure, family, and oils.


No comments:

Post a Comment