Like the cloud coming over the Grand…these are the tides of change…yes..cheesy…it’s like the old Days of our Lives opening…”like the sands through the hour glass…”…Geeezzzz…how in the world do I know that???

Well, so much going on since the last time I wrote!  As always, Jackson is incredible!  But, it seems the universe had much different plans for me/us this year!

During our drive out here…our house in Atlanta has SOLD!!  YAY!!  Here’s to downsizing and more travel!  Ummmm….dang…I need to pack and get the renovations going on the new house!  Oh crap…there is a lot to do…and very very hard to do from here.  Then, no biggie….close date is end of July…I can do that and manage some stuff from here, right?  WRONG!!  Our close date is now moved up to mid July…and the girls and I are headed home 2 weeks early.   I was devastated at first…but, then, my wonderful husband (as usual) reminded me to look at the big picture!  Big picture:  Less house, more travel, retire earlier, spend a bunch of time together!  Gotta love that man…and I do!

So, the other thing the universe threw at me….a pretty disturbing health scare…girls and I were biking, hiking and generally hanging out outside….no big deal, right?  Well, one day after a long bike ride, one wrist was hurting.  It was weird.  Got worse.  So, off to urgent care.  This was diagnosed as some tendonitis thing I had in the other wrist 12 YEARS AGO!!  But, no biggie…until….

By the afternoon, I hurt all over, I had cankles, and I don’t even have a word for what my arms and wrists looked like.  Just swollen and hurt like hell.  So, I go to bed..wake up about midnight and can barely move.  Elbows, hips, ankles, knees, wrists, fingers, toes and neck…AWFUL!!  No fever. (weird)…It takes me a bit to get out of bed.  (if there were a camera, looking back, I bet it was hysterical!). Finally make it to the bathroom..another interesting thing!  I somehow get sweatpants on and a sweatshirt…and decide to drive myself to the ER…yup..drive myself…Allison can’t drive…and I wasn’t waking the girls up…they would have flipped.  Luckily, it’s a pretty straight shot to the ER.  And, being a town of just over 9000 people,  ER was not busy!!!

Long story short…they were stumped…completely baffled..no fever, severe pain…yes, I almost punched the nurse when she tried to get my sweatshirt off…and I looked like the pillsbury doughboy…Gave me some fluids, some Tylenol and sent me on my way to follow up on Monday…ok…whatever..Sunday sucked.  As did Monday….until I was smart and called Dr. Jeff..I will not reveal his last name and I would very much like to keep him to myself!  He is the best ER doc in Atlanta…the kindest, smartest, caring person I have met.  And I am not just saying that because he has healed me on several occasions!  I explain everything and by golly, he fixed me!  yay!  After 2 days of medication..I could move again!!  woohoo!!

Now, that is good since Allison had a friend come in and so did I!  And, we packed as much in to a week as possible..well, until the rain stopped us..boo…

And, we left my favorite town today.    I am sad, but, I can’t complain.  We are blessed enough to spend 6 months out here starting January 2019….so, you will be inundated with blog posts often as it will be totally different!

Next post will be a lot pics!  Esp. now that I can move my wrists and actually type!

Happy Trails!

 

 

Check it out!!  Day 5 and my children are still smiling..ok..well, one…the other one…well, not so much!  But, that’s OK!!  We had a 5 hour drive to get “home”!  But, lord…it seemed like the longest day.  Ya know how you are just so anxious to get there…so it just seems each mile took forever!  And, it could be that I actually had to drive 55….where everywhere between South Dakota and Wyoming was 80–80mph!!  YES!!  I guess you can do that when there isn’t hardly anyone on the road!!

So, we hit the Bridger -Teton National Forest…trucking down the Togowatee Pass…and low and behold…it’s snowing….yup, June 1st…it’s snowing!  I WAS IN HEAVEN!!!!  The temp on the car read 37.  Yup…my heart sang a little tune, as my Allison moaned.  ( I then inwardly laughed…but, thought to keep it to myself!)

We then start heading down…the temp starts to go up, but, not above 44…at least not until  we were in town!  And, then only to 51

 

And, then..FINALLY….

So, at this point…the girls were over the pictures…so, I just got the sign.  And, that’s OK!  We are home!

The adventures will continue for the month…then, stay tuned, these Road Trippin Riley’s will be spending 6months here in the amazing town of Jackson Hole…January-June of 2019…Not sure if we will be called Road Trippin Riley’s–since we are staying put for 6 months…or just “hey, you have lost your minds Riley’s”!!  Either way…the adventures continue!

Stay tuned—

Cheers!

As my brother likes to say “Wy-freaking-oming”!!  And, yes!  It is Freaking Beautiful!  Today wasn’t as busy as day 3…but, still very fun.  Except, I must admit…my girls were not as excited about Devil’s Tower as I was!  And, I get it…almost 15 and 12…BUT…I just hope that one day they appreciate this…I think they will…but, just not now!  Which is ok…because…I STILL had a blast!!

This was absolutely fascinating to me!  But, the girls were way more interested climbing the boulders….kind of funny!  But, still super cute.

 

Frankly, their favorite part was watching the prairie dogs!!  SOOOO CUTE!!  I haven’t uploaded the pictures from my good camera, but, Allison took some really cool shots.  I hope to get some up soon.

They were all very talkative!  I swear…I need a farm…I just want tons of animals!

Well…this was all we did!  Then we stayed in Casper…since it was the biggest town between Devils Tower and Jackson.

We are almost there!

Happy Trails!

As you can see from this picture..Allison is just about over my pictures!  And, apparently so is Maggie!  BUT–what does the annoying mother do???  Why, take MORE of course!!

Day 3 was a very very busy day…and FUN!  Today was the day (actually yesterday since we had no wifi–more about that later!)…that we finally started checking things out!  Our first 2 days were very long driving days.  But, I have to say, South Dakota is BEAUTIFUL!!  We stayed in Sioux Falls, SD Tuesday night..and started Wednesday early and hit some truly interesting things…

First….there is a legit CORN PALACE in South Dakota…and it was really cool…the murals are CORN cobs!

 

Well, that was pretty cool…who would have thought??  And, there were SEVERAL tour buses!  Ya just never know!

Next, some beautiful Grasslands and the VERY FAMOUS Wall Drug, in Wall, South Dakota…

Well..I forgot to get gas…so down the road I found a tiny place..population 66…and I found this!  My brother would LOVE THIS!!

Then…drum roll please!!!  Mount Rushmore!!!!!!  Finally!!!

 

It was absolutely incredible to me.  The sheer talent it took to carve this.  One of the rock carvers was in the gift shop..he worked on Mount Rushmore from 1938-1940…I was so blown away..I bought the book…not to mention he was such a sweet old man..and his wife was hysterical!  It was one of those things that gave me goose bumps!

I know you all are getting sick of this now…but, I have a few more pictures!  We stayed off the Needles Highway at Sylvan Lake.  We stayed in a little cabin by the lake and it was spectacular.  NO WIFI!!  And, guess what???  The kids SURVIVED!!  Crazy, right??  We walked around the lake after dinner, played a couple of games..read and went to sleep…it was magical.  (ok, ok…there was A LOT of complaining..BUT..they did it!!). Check out this pictures…

 

 

 

So, this morning, I took a walk around the lake…I love being outside so much and I saw some beautiful animals, my favorite marmot, and geese with their babies…I must say…the geese hissed at me…I tried to give them a wide angle, but there wasn’t a lot of room.

 

 

I have to say…I wish I had more time on the Needles Highway.  I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to.  So, I told Chris, we will do that when we start RVing around the country!  I highly recommend Custer State Park!  Incredible!

I am off to bed…finally…today was busy as well.  And, tomorrow we will pull into Jackson and see my favorite mountains!  I hope to update again soon…Until then…

Happy Trails!