Family Reunion - Idaho Style

You know you're good friends with someone when, after spending 24/7 with them for 31 days, seeing each other every minute and going to bed with them each night, you would willingly get into a car with them for a 20 hour road trip! That's my girl Jill. She valiantly offered up her car (vs. my gas guzzling SUV), company and road-trip-singing-voice for the whirl-wind trip to Idaho to meet up with my mama and sister.

We passed the 10-hour drive each way by singing, gossiping about boys, planning future Those Girls trips, taking pictures out the window of the car, puppy-walking breaks and, more singing. I think the highlight of the trip down was finding ourselves in the middle of a Friday afternoon Game Day parade in the town of Conrad, Montana. Go Grizzlies! It took us a minute to realize that we were not under attack as the town police, fire engine and ambulance led the parade of honking and shouting vehicles (all sporting GO GRIZ! paraphernelia) down the main street of town.

Once we arrived in the lovely middle-American town of Idaho Falls we settled into our hotel suite with Mama and Kelli. The room was equipped with a full kitchenette, which us girls on a budget proceeded to take full advantage of! Go out to dinner? Nah, we'll stay in and eat cheese and chips and salsa! We had a fabulous, albeit short, visit jammed with a scenic 5km walk of downtown Idaho, the Snake River and what we believe are the Idaho Falls, some shopping (hello Target!) and lots and lots of game playing in the hotel room. We also discovered (and drank quite a few bottles of!) a lovely local cider.

Then we were off, back to Canadia (that's how you say Canada in Canadian, right Jill?). It wouldn't have been a trip to the States without a stop in Montana to eat some Mexican food, sip on a coupe of (strong!) margaritas and plug our last couple (literally) American dollars into a smoky casino slot machine. With no line at the border, and no puppy to have to make frequent dog-walking breaks for, we made pretty good time getting out tired and car-weary butts home.

Despite the short time frame and not-so-tropical destination, we realized that even a teeny road trip is better than no trip at all AND that we can make pretty much any adventure fun! And hey, at least we got to use our passports!

Check out the video of Jill's Rocky Mountain High revelation and rendition..