July Finale ~ A Road Trip

They say it is not about the destination...

it is about the journey.

I say it is about both!

Our destination was a family reunion in Manitoba,

but the journey there was mostly on roads we had never travelled before.

We decided to drive east through the USA on Highway 2...

sometimes called 'the great northern road'.

It is stretches for over 4000 kms from coast to coast.

We were told it was a very boring drive through Montana and North Dakota.

We never found that! 

We also had the best campsites along the way.

We spent the first night in Colville, eastern WA with our good friends Ellen and Greg.

They have a lovely 'RV park'...

and cooked up a feast for us.

We had a fantastic steak dinner...

with huckleberry crepes for dessert.

It was the first time I had huckleberries. So tasty!

We had coffee together in the morning and then rolled on down the road.

Until next time!

We were soon in Idaho...

and spent the next night with my cousin Janice and her husband Joe.

It's always nice to catch up!

Not far away is Sandpoint, Idaho.

Our next stop.

We walked along the white sand beach in the city park...

...and watched a fisherman fishing from the end of the pier.

Who knew there was a second Statue of Liberty in Idaho?

We walked through their very busy famer's market...

and then carried on down the road.

Our next stop was at Kootenai Falls...

near Libby, Montana.

We hiked to the falls...

the largest undammed waterfall in the state.

The Kootenai River river is a beautiful wild mountain river...

...which we crossed on the swinging bridge.

We camped near Glacier National Park that night...

with intentions of taking the shuttle into the park the following day.

After driving an hour up the windy road to catch the shuttle...

we had a change of heart.

Spending a day in a cramped shuttle on winding roads in a sweltering heat wave...

 no longer seemed that appealing!

We carried on east through Montana...

and on into North Dakota.

We stopped in Rugby...

the geographical centre of North America.

My brother and his family from Iowa were camped at the state park on Devil's Lake.

We decided to join them there for a few days.

It's a beautiful lake...

with a long causeway leading to the  campground on Graham Island. 

It was great to spend a few days with all my American nieces and nephews and their kiddos.

From there we all drove north to Manitoba.

We crossed at a remote border crossing in Gretna.

The officer wanted to know why we were at this particular crossing.

We said we were just following GPS. 

He seemed to think GPS had made a mistake.

No worries.

Right or wrong...

GPS took us through some lovely farmlands!

We had to stop and 'smell the flowers'.

We got to Steinbach where we met up with friends for dinner.

And then...

on to Killarney for a weekend get-together with all my siblings, nieces and nephews and their families.

Jim and Kathy (my sister and her husband) hosted all sixty of us...

together with my niece Gillian and her husband Chad who live nearby.

It was a lot of fun and games for all ages...

...from checking out the goats, the donkey and the cattle

...to hours spent playing ball.

Whatever your skill level...

you were included.

In the end...

the two teams that went head-to-head all left the ball field happy!

A few ATV's shuttled everyone around...

between farms or to the far fields to see the cattle.

We played games with fantastic prizes.

There is quite an incentive to be a winner when the prize is a handmade quilt by Kathy!

(pictured ~ Kathy with the four winners of Baerg Bingo)

Though I never won any games...

I still came home with a coveted prize. 

Kathy gave me a belated 70th birthday gift...a beautiful quilt.

On Sunday we had our own church service...

led by my Thomas and Robyn (my nephew and his wife).

Their daughter who is ten years old volunteered to give us the message.

She is a gifted speaker...

and not shy about sharing her love for Jesus.

We wrapped up the evenings with campfires and glowsticks.  

We owe a big thanks to Kathy and Gillian for planning and prepping all the meals for four days.

That is no small feat for a crowd our size...

especially when they are no grocery stores within a half-hour drive. 

We missed my dad and my sister Bev...

but Dad would be so thrilled to know that the tradition of having a family reunion every three years has carried on.

After four wonderful days together

we all parted ways.

We celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary in Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

That just happened to be where we camped beside a river that night.

We spent the next night with friends near Medicine Hat...

...and then stopped at Canyon Hot-springs for our final night on the road. 

Making memories...

one road trip at a time!

(If you missed July ~ Part 1 click here.)