Road trip to Grandma's

   My mom and I decided that once the school year was over we were going to drive up to my grandma's house! I was very excited, I hadn't been on a road trip in a very long time. 

   While it wasn't as long as our 11 state road trip we did when I was little, it was still good. We were going to drive 3 days through 5 states with 3 dogs! Yes, 3 dogs! But before we could leave I had to take my ACT test and I had a interview with the March of Dimes for a video they were making about my family since we are the Ambassador Family for their Signature Chef Event. Both of those were on June 13, so we picked the date June 14 to leave.

   It was good to have that week and a half between when I got out of school and when we left, because I had to pack up my room since we are moving to a new house when we return in August. I also had to pack for Montana, but had to leave some stuff out that I needed for the interview. It got confusing! 

   The ACT was boring and long. As soon as I finished it I went back home to meet with the March of Dimes and start the interview! I was nervous, but it was a very cool experience! I talked about how and why I support the March of Dimes, and the difficulties I still have from being born premature - such my Hydrocephalus. As soon as that was over my mom and I did our last minute packing for the next day. I was so busy on the 13th that it was actually kinda nice because I wasn't just sitting there thinking "I just want it to be tomorrow!" The day went by fast. 

March of Dimes interview.

DAY 1  

   We LEFT Denton by 6:30 am - I didn't feel tired though. The dogs did great! We went through Amarillo, TX, since we had never been that way before. We drove through the Palo Duro Canyon, which I really wanted to see and we went to Cadillac Ranch, another place I really wanted to see also! We got into my uncle's house in Denver at 10:30 pm! We also drove through some crazy storms!

Cadillac Ranch

Bonnie fast asleep!

Clyde being an annoying brother, squishing Bonnie.

Clyde looking out the window.

Palo Duro Canyon.

Crazy clouds on the way to Denver!

DAY 2 

   We left about the same time.  We drove through Wind River Canyon on our way to Worland, Wyoming. My Grandpa grew up in Worland and my mom wanted to show me his house and the town. Bonnie and Clyde pretty much slept or entertained themselves the whole day.  About half way through the day Dolly discovered COWS and barked at EACH one, as if she was counting. It was kinda cute...in the beginning.  After many hours of that noise we made it to my other uncle's ranch in Montana at about 7 or 8 pm. We drove through more storms this day too.

   Just as we were going to bed in the log cabin (my favorite place on the ranch), we let the dogs out. My mom said not to worry about putting Dolly's leash on (even though the pups had theirs on) so I didn't.  Dolly wandered a little out of my sight and I was thinking "Dolly get back here it smells like a skunk - this is gross." So I call her and the smell just gets worse and she comes in the cabin. The smell is just awful!! I've never smelled anything worse!! Ah, it was so bad!

   My mom and I are trying to figure out what happened, keep her from rubbing on the furniture, and the pups from getting near her while we figure out what to do at midnight in the cabin which was also 48 degrees. So we opened the windows and put her in one of the 2 bedrooms, turned on the essential oil diffuser we had just bought, and covered Dolly in lavender hand sanitizer. Then we felt bad, because she was going to be cold so we brought her bed in, opened the door and made a little barrier. We had a little space heater and we wanted the air to get to her too. Then my mom, the pups and I went to bed in the other room. 

Dolly "counting" the cows.

I thought this looked pretty.

An old school house.

Ayres Natural Bridge

Another crazy storm on the way to the ranch and a double rainbow!

 DAY 3

   We woke up and we were going to hike with my uncle and my cousin, but my head felt terrible. Hydrocephalus, always getting in the way. I was OK with staying at the ranch since I hadn't been there in 4 or 5 years! So we took the dogs by the horses and turns out Clyde is obsessed with the horses! So much so that he ran his way into the corral!! Yes, Clyde the dog who is afraid of everything! He loves the horses, and the horses seemed very interested in Clyde too.  My uncle got him out of the corral and he was fine. Bonnie wasn't so sure about he horses, she made her ugly face at them and they left her alone.

Clyde checking out the horses.

   My uncle and my cousin took us around the ranch on the ATV and I got a lot of cool photos! After that we went to the Fishtail General Store and got lunch. Then we went across the street to a little rock shop that I always go to when I am in town. I really like rocks, and the people that own the store are super friendly.

The part of the ranch where the log cabin is.

   After that we drove back to what I call the Big House. It is where my uncle and his family stay (and usually guests too). We had dinner and then went back down to the log cabin for a bonfire with friends from a neighboring ranch. Dolly and Clyde loved rolling in the grass and scratching their bellies in the grass. We don't have nice grass at home, like they do in Montana. Bonnie liked the grass too, but since there was a lot of grass, there were a lot of bugs in the grass for her to watch. That's why she liked it. Clyde was still crazy about those horses and tried to go see them any chance he could. Dolly smelled better so we think we walked through a place that had been recently sprayed, or what we did worked! 

    My uncle dumped a container of wood into the fire, and along with it came about 50 mice. They all started to scatter and Dolly actually caught about 5 of them! She would've caught more but we didn't let her. The guy from the neighboring ranch has 10 dogs that are the same breed as Dolly and he uses his dogs for mountain lion tracking. (So that he and my uncle can take pictures!) Anyway, he was really proud of Dolly's mice hunting skills!

Bonnie

DAY 4 

   We left around the same time for grandma's house with a slightly stinky dog and a slightly upset dog who still wanted to run with the horses. We stopped back at the rock shop and got breakfast. Dolly continued to bark at EVERY SINGLE COW SHE SAW. I don't get it, because in Texas we drive by Longhorns alllll the timeee and she either doesn't even acknowledge them, or when she does, she's scared of them! We made it to my grandma's around 6 pm and she was very, very surprised... she was the only one who didn't know we were coming this early, we had wanted to surprise her. And we did!

(video)? 

Bonnie, Dolly and I.