Life With Boys: Things I learned on a trip with my mom

For over a year, maybe longer my mom has wanted to go to Twin Falls Idaho. Years ago, her extended family owned Dierkes Lake there. She has wonderful memories of visiting there with her family. She had so much fun and loved her time there. I told her to save her money, and I would do the same and we would go. My calendar for the summer is already filling up. So I picked a week I had a 4-day weekend, I then took an extra day off. We were off. We got up early and we headed out. We only knew one thing for sure, Twin Falls Idaho. Everything else was up for discussion and decision when/where we wanted to go.

We ended up making a big circle through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, back through Idaho and then landed in Washington again.

*It's always a good idea to have an emergency kit in your car. Mine has a raincoat and gloves. I had my muck boots in the car. I thought I had my Winter coat, but the boys had used my car and it had been brought in to the house. More on this later.

*Make sure you have maps for where you might be headed. Good info to have.

*You might want to try on your swimsuit before you pack if you want to swim.

*High-top tennis shoes will work for boots in a pinch.

*Sometimes the memories you have are better than the new reality.

We had such a good time. We talked, we were quiet. We loved the scenery. It SNOWED every FLIPPEN day! The first day we headed south, then west then south again. We went over a pass named Dead Mans. It was snowing some and snow all around us. It wasn't a big deal though. We went to Pendelton. Mom had never been to the Wool Mill there. We went in and shopped and looked around. Then mom wanted to see the Pendelton Rodeo grounds. It's right in town. That part was weird to me. BUT, the town might have grown up around it, I don't know. We ended up in Boise. That night. We woke up to 3 to 5 inches of snow! THAT was not part of the plan. At all. I knew I had my boots and gloves in the car. Mom only had cloth flats. Not going to work in the snow, especially if you don't move very fast. My lovely Blister was born in Mountain Home. We found a sign for a picture. While we were there we found a Walmart and I went in to see if they had a postcard or magnet with Mountain home on it. NOTHING. Just Idaho. Not what I was looking for. Anyway while I was in there I bought mom a pair of high top shoes. I was hoping they had a pair of clearance boots. It's ok, they worked.

We then headed to Twin Falls. We stopped at the visitor center and got some information. They had a good bridge coming into town. It had nothing on Deception Pass bridge. Oh well. We were disappointed that they had nothing about the history of the lake or how it came to be a park. We both found that odd. And sad. It was blowing sideways snow. It wasn't sticking to the ground though. We trudged on. We went out to Shoshone Falls. They were beautiful! I wanted to hike around but the sideways snow and wind changed my mind. So beautiful. We then went up to the lake. My mom was so sad. It didn't look the same at all. The house was gone. It's been made into a park with a swimming area. It's a beautiful area but changed. Her memories are so much better. So if you have good memories, maybe they should be enough. Not sure though. It could have been even better. It just wasn't. We stayed in Twin Falls for the night. No rushing, it was a short day.

We woke up to sunshine, no snow. We had no plans. We sat and looked at a map and decided which way to go. We headed East, then North. We went over a huge pass with so much snow! Where we had lunch was kind of the last place for a while. It was good and they were so very nice. He also informed us that a winter storm watch was coming. We said our good byes and thank you and headed out. We passed over the continental divided. Mom wanted a picture of it. I had to pull over a way up and walk back. I jogged part of the way and walked. They wind was blowing like nuts. I have elbow length hair; it was up all over. I think I looked like Broomhilda. You get the idea. But I got the picture. We saw elk and antelope. We went into Dillon. As we were driving around, I saw a group of guys marching. A van was following them. I was pleased, it was the same program as Bugs did only Montana's version. MYCA. I recommend it if you have a kid struggling to graduate on time. There is 40 programs in 28 states. Washington's is Washington Youth Challenge Academy. A great program. We got to and stayed in Butte that night. We drove around in the morning looking for interesting things. Most of what we wanted to see is covered in snow. So we saw a few things and then hit the road. Homeward bound.

We had lunch in Missoula. We saw mountain goats. And then we hit snow, again! We went over a pass that was having a blizzard. I had no issues whatsoever. Mom didn't like it. At all. There were truckers putting chains on and there was a jackknifed truck going the other way. It wasn't pretty but it was just fine. There was another pass and it had nothing but flakes. So weird. We got back to mom's just fine. It was good to be not moving for a bit. I had to get up Sunday and head home. Mom and I traveled 1347 miles. I traveled 1951 miles.