ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

After consulting this year's all important Bucket List , we decided it was time to roll up our sleeves and get muddy! Man vs. Mud in Cache Valley, UT was our chance. We headed down there early in the morning and got ready for our unorthodox 5K. Standing at the starting line (which actually was a slip and slide), the announcer read off the team names, which included things like Skid Marks, Moms-and-Morons, Clear as Mud, Dirty Dames and the Gross Gents, Four Score and Seven Blisters Ago, and of course, our team, the Dirty Boosh. For whatever reason, we both got a little nervous at the starting line, probably for fear of the unknown, or something like that. As the race went on and on, we got dirtier and dirtier, kind of clean, then dirty again. We were able to make a video as we went around, make sure you watch it, but there are a few things we need to express. Man vs. Mud brought smiles to our faces. It isn't easy to run in mud. Sometimes it is easier to try and ...

You probably recall that we first visited Yellowstone together in 2011. Well, we went back. We basically did the same route as last time (even though variation would have been smarter). Either way, Yellowstone is always a cool place to go. We love the colors of the pits, forest, and all of that. It really is a pretty place. If we ever get really into photography, this would be a great place to come back to. Everything is pretty picturesque, and the photos don't really do it justice. We went with Doug and Emily. It was their first time going so that was cool to be the experts of the group. As usual, Laleinia loved sharing her knowledge with us all. She is really into geology, which is quite odd, but she loves it. I like listening to her explain geothermal activity and other interesting things that have slipped my mind! Enjoy the pictures!

Saturday's come and go. We try to make the most of them in the summer! For this reason, and because it is on our yearly bucket list, we went Canoeing with Doug and Emily. We didn't really plan it out, we just parked one car at Beaver Dick park, drove a little ways to what we hoped was upstream of the same river, and got to work! Some of us jumped off the bridge to get into the water, which was fun. We didn't realize it until now, but the trip was quite the trek! Google taught us that the trip was 9.98 miles, which might not sound too bad downstream, however a great deal of the journey was in pretty much still water! For the most part, the water was crystal clear, and the scenery was beautiful all the way down. Can you spot the Moose in this picture? One of the more exciting parts of the trip was seeing a Moose. Laleinia and Emily hid behind the Canoe for the entire time that the Moose was visible, meanwhile Alastair and Doug were much braver, although held bac...

Delicate Arch Part of the genius of the road trip was that we did not really have a plan. As we were on the way back west, we decided that we might as well stop by Arches National Park in Moab, UT, and we are so glad that we did. It reminded me of the Copper Mine in Bingham that we went to last year, which is currently closed due to a landslide. It was just so cool to see incredible rock formations, spread over such a vast area. Balanced Rock We saw the rocks that had been nicknamed Three Gossips, Park Avenue, etc., but our favorite ones were the more iconic Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch. I, Alastair, and Connor hiked up to Delicate Arch and hung around up there for a while. Three Gossips  We climbed on some other rocks around the arch and got some good photographs. It is definitely a place that I would love to go back to. We left right as a storm was beginning, perfect timing! Park Avenue

After the Nauvoo Pageant, it was back on the road for us and on to Missouri. We drove through the night and arrived at our first stop, Adam-Ondi-Ahman at who knows what time of the night/morning. Either way, we slept in the car once again and got some shut eye to prepare for the next day. Adam-Ondi-Ahman is a really interesting area for the church, research it and you will find it intriguing. There was no visitors center there, but we were able to drive around and see what it was like. It is a really beautiful part of the mid-west, but we didn't end up staying too long. Missouri was going to be a detour anyways, so we couldn't spend as much time there as we would have liked. On to Far West. Far West is where the mormons were going to build a temple before being driven out of the area. The corner stones are laid, but apart from that, nothing. We were able to walk around on the Far West temple site for a little while, but after reading the plaques scattered around, it was...

Minimizing our expenses has been a key element in our cross-country road trip. As such, when being away from family and loved ones, we have not had the luxury of a bed. We have been staying in our Dodge INNtrepid, and stayed in our tent in Minnesota. It has been a challenge to get a shower. A challenge that we have only beat once at a truck stop in Ohio. Between visiting the Carthage jail and Nauvoo pageant, Alastair and Connor had the novel idea to bathe in the Mississippi river. Armed with only their swimming shorts and Irish Spring 2-in-1 hair/body wash, they lathered themselves and basked in the rays of the setting sun. It must be said that this is one of the many highlights of the trip. Believe it or not, they came out cleaner than they went in.

After seeing sites in New York and Ohio, we headed back to Illinois to go to Nauvoo. The little town was restored in a way to resemble the lifestyle of how the early Church members lived. We only had a day to walk around and get a few of the tours, so we really didn't have much time. Some people say they've spent days there, but we just didn't have that kind of time. Luckily, we came on the last day of pageant, so we reserved a little spot on the grass to watch it later at night. We spent the next few hours walking around Nauvoo and learning about some of the buildings and we were able to see the graveyard where Joseph, Hyrum, Emma, and other members of the Smith family were buried. It was a great experience to learn about the people and how much effort they spent into creating a beautiful place! After visiting Nauvoo, we drove up to Carthage jail, where Joseph and Hyrum were martyred. We toured the jail and were just in awe of what had happened in that same roo...

After leaving Niagara Falls, we ended up crashing by a lake in south-western New York. And when I say crashing, I don't mean that we had a car crash. I mean that we were so dog-tired that we pulled over and passed out for the night. At some point, a policeman came up to our car, knocked on the window, and then left us alone. Laleinia and I try to piece together our conversation with the policeman, but we were so tired that we can't really remember it well. Although we do recall him saying "Goodnight." He probably saw the Idaho license plates and realized that we were traveling. Good guy. Well the next morning we drove to Kirtland, OH, and went straight to the temple. Lots of people say that since it is owned by the Community of Christ that they can't feel the spirit there, but I don't buy into that. There was a special feeling there, and we really had a great time as we were shown around. The tour guides were great and were even able to answer some of our...

Even though Alastair had been to Niagara Falls in four separate occasions, he was never able to do the two things that everyone raves about: Maid of the Mist and Canada. This time, both would be accomplished. No time was wasted as the trio headed to Maid of the Mist. We grabbed our complimentary ponchos and stood first in line for the next boat tour. We went straight to the front of the boat. Alastair and Connor expected to have a blast, but it was even better than they had anticipated. The spray of the falls got heavier as they got closer to the iconic Horseshoe Falls. As they looked back, they saw a beautiful rainbow. Drenched is not the word, we were literally soaked to the bone! But it was worth it as the boat tried to go as close as it can. As the boat pulled back, we were all smiles as we talked about how that was one of the greatest experiences of this trip. After the boat tour, we walked up to the side of the American Falls. A little Asian boy said to us “it is like a b...