On Friday, March 1st, bright and early (6 AM), we left our boys with my friend, Andrea Tracey, and headed to the airport. We went on an interview to Glendive, Montana for the weekend, and Emily came with us. We left from Cleveland and had a connection in Denver. We took a small plane from Denver to Dickinson, North Dakota. As we were about to board our plane to Dickinson I realized that I had forgot my coat on the previous plane. There was no way of getting it without missing our flight. On the plane to Dickinson there were a total of 13 people, including us, so Emily got her own seat...
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| Emily enjoying the back row of the plane. |
In Dickinson we picked up our rental car and started our 1 1/2 hour drive to Glendive. I also called United to let them know that I left my coat on the plane, I filled out a report and they said they would be in contact with me, I wasn't going to hold my breath! On the way to Glendive (in Medora, North Dakota) is the Theodore Roosevelt Nathanial Park and Visitor's Center, so we stopped to look around.
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| De Mores Packing Plant |
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| Theodore Roosevelt's Cabin |
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| Statue of Theodore Roosevelt |
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| This is what the statue is made out of |
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| Emily in front of a fossilized tree |
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| Entrance to the Theodore Roosevelt National Forest |
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| coyote |
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Prairie Dog Mounds
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| Buffalo |
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| River Woodland |
After we drove through the park we headed to Glendive where we met Ryan and Krystin Coburn, the owners of the dental office that we were looking at. They took us out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant where we met with the office manager and his family. The next morning, Saturday, Krystin took me around town to see what there was while Ryan took Ryan (yes it is confusing) around to see the different areas, housing, and the dental office.
After we saw the town we headed out to "horseshoe" to go four-wheeling. It was a really nice day, sunny and in the 40's. The area is full of trails and buttes to ride, there were quite a few bikes out. Maybe if we decide to move to Glendive my brothers might come visit :)
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| Emily as cute as ever! |
The office manager also came with their daughter, who is 2, and they brought a trike.
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| Emily riding on the back of the trike |
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| Ryan and Ryan going for a ride |
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| Ryan taking me for a ride, I swear he tried to kill me! |
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| I took Ryan for a ride, needless to say I scared both of us :) |
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| The "horseshoe" |
After riding we headed back to the Coburn's house for dinner, they made hamburgers made from buffalo meat and hamburger. They were really good. Krystin made homemade buns and they were really good.
On Sunday we woke up and got ready for Church and drove around for a little while we waited for Church to start. The ward was really friendly and they hoped that we would return.
After Church we drove around town and took pictures...
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| This is the Bed and Breakfast that we stayed in |
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| The Charley Montana |
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| Yellowstone River |
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| The dental office, Sandcreek Dental |
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| Our Chevy Sonic |
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| Old church that will be turned into a vintage furniture store |
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| old silos |
There were many Churches in the area...
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| The post office |
After driving around town we drove to the Makoshika State Park. There is a Frisbee golf course in the park, it looks like it would be challenging, the goals are on little bluffs so if you miss you have to climb down and try to find your Frisbee. We think it would be fun to hike around the park.
The landscape of the park was amazing!
After the park we headed to the cemetery. The cemetery was on top of a hill and was really nice.
My favorite part of the cemetery was on the East side of the cemetery. They had these small white headstones for anyone who served in the military that was from Glendive. There were some from our most recent war and some from World War 1.
This is the view of the city from the cemetery...
After driving around we headed over to David and Heather's house for dinner. He is the office manager. I liked Heather when I first met her but I really liked her after I found out that she collects frogs too! We had a nice Sunday roast and talked for a long time. During the evening we slipped away for a few minutes to look at at rental in the area.
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| Emily and Mommy in matching jammies |
Monday morning Ryan went to the dental office to shadow and to see how things were ran. I came to get him to head home. We decided to call the airport to make sure that our flight wasn't cancelled due to the blizzard. They told us that it wasn't yet so we braved the weather. Ryan hadn't ate breakfast so I drove while he ate. We had been driving for about 45-60 minutes at an average of 30 mph when we get a phone call saying that the airport is closed due to the weather. We were about 1/2 way to Dickinson, but decided to turn around and head back to Glendive, driving an average of 20 mph. We called Andrea to tell her the news that we wouldn't be home that day. She was great and said it wasn't a problem. I am so glad that we left our kids with someone who we really trust. It made things so much better knowing that I didn't have to worry about the boys and they were happy to stay a little longer. I also had Andrea let everyone know that I would have to cancel preschool for Tuesday. Ryan also had to cancel his patients for Tuesday, one of them just happened to be a competency.
I took Ryan back to the office and I parked on the street while Emily and I took a little nap. I also cried a little. After Emily woke up I headed over to the Coburns and helped Krystin clean her kitchen. Later we found out that the roads were so bad that they closed the highway.
That evening Krystin and I went to a movie while Ryan and Ryan stayed home with the kids.
The next morning we made our way to Dickinson and started our journey home. Little did we know what that adventure was to hold.
We checked into Dickinson and were told that there was a fee charged to our account of over $900 because of the change in our tickets. The people at the counter knew that it was a mistake and were trying to fix it. They work for Great Lakes Airlines and, unfortunately, it was caused by United Airlines and they couldn't' fix it. They called United to have them fix it and somehow when they "fixed" it they added $1000 to the balance. After about 40 minutes it was finally taken care of. We would be flying to Denver, then to Chicago, then to Cleveland. The people in Dickinson were so nice! I miss having customer service! When we first landed in Dickinson I saw them unload our luggage into a pickup truck and from there they took it to the airport for us to pick up, I thought it was great! I wished I would have taken a picture so when we took off I made sure to take one....
After we boarded the plane that was supposed to take us to Denver we found out that we would first be headed to Willliston, North Dakota. Apparently, the airline was trying to get as many people to Denver as possible after the airports were closed the previous day. We arrived in Denver around 4 PM, 1 hour after our flight to Chicago had already left. We went and talked to United and the earliest direct flight to Cleveland was the next night at 7 PM. We did NOT want to stay another day in the airport the lady said that the earliest she could get us into Cleveland would be 8:30 the next morning if we flew to Newark first. We decided to take a plane at midnight to Newark just so we could get home. I was completely frazzled at this point and just wanted to get home! We called Andrea once again to let her know that once again we would be delayed. I had her call to cancel preschool once again. Have I said how grateful I am to Andrea? Well she is my lifesaver! After I had a few hours to cool off I went back to the United help desk to ask about my coat. They told me that if they did have it that it had been shipped to Houston (that is their central location) and that I would have to call there to find it. I have decided that I DO NOT LIKE UNITED AIRLINES!!!
Here is what we did at the Denver airport to entertain ourselves: we ate a BIG juicy hamburger, it was worth every calorie, we walked around and looked at the little shops that they had, and we let Emily run around. While we were waiting a bird kept coming and landing in the drinking fountain where we were sitting...
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| Emily is looking for the bird after she chased it away |
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| This is how happy she is that she saw a bird |
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| Around 9 we tried to get Emily to go to sleep |
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| Ryan was listening to The Hobbit on the ipod |
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| Ryan and Emily fell asleep (I wish I could sleep in public) |
While Ryan and Emily were sleeping the bird came back for the 4th time and I was able to get a picture of it...
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| Bird on the floor |
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| bird in the drinking fountain |
Just before midnight we boarded our plane to Newark. It was a long flight, Emily slept the whole way and Ryan slept for a while too. When we arrived in Newark we found out that our flight to Cleveland was going to be delayed by an hour. We found some breakfast and boarded the plane and were finally on our way home!
When we got home Ryan had time to take a 5 minute shower before I drove him to school for the day. The kids were happy to see me when I went to pick them up. They even showed me how much they missed me by fighting before I even turned onto our street.
Our trip was good (if you don't count the fact that it took us two days to get home), Emily was the best, she earned the traveler of the year award!
