Lenz Montana Trip 2015

Here's the map from our epic August road trip with John's parents. John's dad, uncles, and John run a wheat farm in Montana so every July/August they drive out to help with the harvest and do some of the business operations. This year John and I were able to go along after missing last year (and the year before too, for me). John's family used to go to Edmonton fairly regularly on this trip but hadn't been for years so we decided to go that way this year. It was an awesome trip!

Here's the synopsis:
Sunday, August 2, 2015: John and I took the Greyhound bus to Oshkosh (with a layover in Milwaukee). We caught a lot of slack from John's family for taking Greyhound...but I didn't think anything of it! It was by far the cheapest one-way option...and a pleasant experience.

Monday, August 3, 2015: We spent the day in Oshkosh getting ready for the trip.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015: Picnic lunch in Hudson, Wisconsin. Dinner at McDonald's in Grand Forks, North Dakota. International Peace Garden on the border of North Dakota and Manitoba. Spent the night at a "luxury for less" motel in Brandon, Manitoba.

International Peace Garden

Wednesday, August 5, 2015: Breakfast at Tim Horton's, my mother-in-law's favorite. Picnic lunch in Saskatoon, Saskatchewon. Dinner at the Cactus Club, another of my mother-in-law's favorites, in Edmonton, Alberta. The Cactus Club is delicious! Stayed at the Matrix Hotel.

Saskatoon

Kathy with her lettuce wraps at the Cactus Club in Edmonton

 

Thursday, August 6, 2015: Day in Edmonton. John and I went for a run. The four of us walked around a lot. My father-in-law found a farmer's market-type event that turned out to be a bust...but we found a good pizza and beer restaurant on the way back to the hotel so it ended up OK. Plus, we got a good tour of the city!

Edmonton

Alberta Legislature

My favorite road sign of the whole trip!

Friday, August 7, 2015: Day at West Edmonton Mall. We shopped a little, rode an awesome roller coaster in the theme park area, and spent a few hours in the waterpark. They had waterslides where you started locked in a little chamber and the floor dropped out. We did not ride any of those...but rode almost all the rest of the waterslides! Early dinner at the Cactus Club before heading to the mountains. Spent the night in Hinton, Alberta.

The roller coaster we rode had 3 loops!

Saturday, August 8, 2015: Drove to Lake Louise through Jasper and the Columbia Ice Field. John, his dad, and I hiked in Jasper and went out on the Glacier Skywalk. We all hiked out to see the glacier. Stayed at the Lake Louise Inn.

On our hike in Jasper

Kathy and John

On the Glacier Skywalk

Sunday, August 9, 2015: Our 7th anniversary! We hiked to the Lake Agnes Tea House, had lunch at Chateau Lake Louise (a counter-service place not one of the super fancy restaurants), canoed around Lake Louise, and then had ice cream before heading back to get ready for dinner. Dinner at The Station Restaurant.

On the way up to the Lake Agnes Tea House

 

Monday, August 10, 2015: Drove through Banff with a stop at Tim Horton's for breakfast (our last chance...or so we thought). Stopped at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump on our way to Chester, Montana, the location of the wheat farm. Had lunch at Tim Horton's (ha!) in the next town after HSIBJ. Cookout at the farm for dinner then to the hotel in Fort Benton.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Tuesday, August 11, 2015: I spent the day in Fort Benton with John's mom, aunt, and cousin Journey while he went back to Chester with his dad and uncle. We had breakfast at the adorable Wake Cup Coffee House, perused the shops in town and spent the afternoon at the pool. 8-year-old Journey and I had a blast going off the diving boards! Late dinner at the Union Grill Restaurant.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015: A second breakfast at Wake Cup and then we were off to Jackson, Wyoming. We didn't have a plan until that morning but looked up available hotel rooms while at breakfast and decided on Jackson Hole. Picnic lunch somewhere in southwestern Montana. Ice cream break in West Yellowstone. The drive to Jackson was beautiful! Dinner at Merry Piglets then John and his dad had beer at Snake River Brewing...I was too full for beer! Stayed at the Lexington.

Earthquake Lake

Above Jackson Hole

Thursday, August 13, 2015: John and I took a quick run/hike about halfway up Snow King Mountain to get a view of the Grand Tetons. We slept in longer than we planned so didn't have enough time to go all the way to the top. Stayed in Kearney, Nebraska.

Snow King Mountain

Friday, August 14, 2015: Breakfast at our hotel in Kearney, lunch at Panera in Des Moines, Iowa, a stop at the World's Largest Truck Stop in Walcott, Iowa, and then we were home in Chicago! John's parents stayed with us that night so they could rest up before getting back to Oshkosh on Saturday. We got caught in a pretty heavy rainstorm on our way back from dinner at the Berghoff, the first time that happened the whole trip!

Next year it sounds like one of John's cousin's will be getting married in Oregon around the time of the Montana trip so we'll have a new route to take. Then, maybe the next year, we'll head over to Sun Valley, Idaho to see it in the summertime. Fun stuff!

Distance: 3737 miles, according to travellerspoint.com
States/provinces: 12 - Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Manitoba, Saskatchewon, Alberta, Montana, Idaho (just a bit), Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa
Read: 10 Sports Illustrated magazines, The Alloy of Law, The Giver, and listened to Dave Isay's TED Talk about Story Corps

Book Report: The Giver

I had a hard time finding books for my Nook. I didn't want to take along too many heavy books so I loaded up my Nook with ebooks I had that I thought would be interesting. For some reason, The Giver caught my eye and I just had to read it again.

I remembered it being somewhat disturbing when I read it in elementary school or junior high and I was right. It's a good reminder that what seems perfect probably isn't and that in order to live life you have to experience the bad along with the good. The writing is so great though. I absolutely adore Jonas, his relationship with the Giver, and his relationship with Gabriel.

I just found out from Wikipedia that there are three more books making up The Giver Quartet. I'm especially excited to read that the unresolved ending of The Giver is resolved in Messenger. Now I know what's next on my reading list (after the 741 pages of Miles Errant).

Title: The Giver
Author: Lois Lowry
Genre: Young adult fiction
Pages: 105 pages (according to my Nook version)
Stars (Out of 5): *****

Book Report: The Alloy of Law

One of the best things about the annual Lenz Montana Trip is that there's a lot of time to read in the car...and the roads are generally flat enough that I don't get carsick and the scenery is boring enough that I'm not missing out on anything else. I finished Miles, Mystery & Mayhem just before our trip so I wanted to read something else before I started the next Omnibus in the Vorkosigan Saga. I decided I would finally read another Brandon Sanderson book as I hadn't read any of his books since finishing The Wheel of Time.

It has been quite a few years since I read the Mistborn trilogy but the world came back to me easily. I really, really enjoyed this book. It was shorter than the books I've been reading lately and seemed to go by so quickly. In fact, I read some magazines instead when I was getting towards the end because I didn't want it to end so soon!

The mystery of the story was great and Wax was an easy character to like. Brandon Sanderson doesn't disappoint!

Title: The Alloy of Law
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Science fiction, fantasy
Pages: 325 pages
Stars (Out of 5): *****

Update: Unexplained infertility

We're onto our second round of fertility treatments...and it's going better than the first round so far so that's reassuring!

I wasn't really sure what to expect of the treatments. I didn't do any research about the medicines, I just listened to what the nurses told me and read the information from the pharmacy. I was super emotional during the first round of Clomid. Every little thing made me cry. I questioned every little thing John did. It was pretty terrible, especially since I'm not usually like that! Luckily it only lasted a few days...but still!

I made John go along to the second ultrasound appointment at 7am on a Friday morning. He wasn't super impressed but came (probably so I wouldn't cry...ha). The follicles were not as big as they needed to be for the Ovidrel injection that day so the nurse asked if I would be able to give myself the injection the next day. Of course I could give it to myself...but I was really nervous about it! I'm really awesome at giving shots though (it hurt way less than when the nurse gave it to me today)!

We had the BTN Big10K and 5K the next day and I really wanted to run it so I was so glad the timing worked out the way it did. Though that meant we were up early three days in a row...Friday for the ultrasound, Saturday for the race, and Sunday for the IUI. I wasn't sure what to expect of the IUI either. It hurt more than I thought it would but only for a few minutes.

Unfortunately, the first round did not do the trick. Again, the nurse reminded me that it usually takes 3 to 4 rounds so this was not unusual. We were out of town when I was supposed to start the next round of treatment but luckily there's a little leeway in the schedule. This time around I started my Clomid on Day 5 and had my first ultrasound on Day 6. I'm not sure if it was the change in timing or because I knew what to expect, but the Clomid was not nearly as unpleasant this time around. I didn't cry once! Today I went back for the second ultrasound and I have three mature follicles so the nurse gave me the Ovidrel in the office. We go back tomorrow for the IUI and then we wait. Keep your fingers and toes crossed and send lots of good thoughts, vibes, and prayers!

 * * *

Speaking of prayers, Laura sent me the Novena of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to pray for nine days in a row. I had never even heard of that type of prayer before. I pray before bed every night...Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep and a request to bless my family, friends, and anyone I know who is having a hard time. I've done that for as long as I can remember. Even though I haven't gone to church regularly in years, it's my time to reconnect with something much bigger than myself.

I finished the novena a few days before we left for vacation. I found another one that I'm planning to start tomorrow. In the meantime, I found the following prayer and have been praying it every night. 

 

This prayer is so simple and so sweet...and so absolutely true. Here's to good news sometime very soon!

Book Report: Miles, Mystery & Mayhem

A couple nights ago I finished reading Miles, Mystery & Mayhem, the next omnibus in the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. This was my favorite omnibus of the series so far!

Unlike the other two books, this one hooked me in right away. The three chronicles in this omnibus were Cetaganda, Ethan of Athos, and the short story "Labyrinth." Also unlike the other two books, the different parts of this book were unrelated (at least so far). The second story in particular introduced completely new main characters. All three contained mysteries to be solved and kept my attention all the way through.

We're leaving for Montana via Canada with John's parents on Tuesday. I'm really looking forward to lots of time to read on the drive. I have a bunch of e-books loaded on my Nook plus a couple of actual books...and lots and lots of magazines that I'm behind on.

Title: Miles, Mystery & Mayhem
Author: Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Science fiction
Pages: 556
Stars (Out of 5): ****