Road Trip Insanity

Dan's 30th High School reunion started Friday, August 6th. When we first received information about the reunion we marked our calendars and started talking about how great it would be to attend. As the dates for his audit were announced we still discussed attending the reunion too. Dan even talked to his boss about taking off as soon as the audit ended and then using PTO the first part of the following week for us to take a vacation and visit our families.

As the audit drew closer, Dan decided we couldn't make it to the reunion. For several weeks we settled on the idea of not attending. I was surprised since Dan often talks about how important and helpful his 20th reunion was for him.

On the Thursday night of his audit he said he really would like to go and left the decision up to me. I woke up Friday morning knowing that we'd be driving to Pocatello over the weekend. Since we hadn't planned on going until the last minute both of us had to be back for work on Monday so it would be a very quick trip. While Dan was at work I packed everything up that we'd need and only forgot the checkbook.

When he came out on his lunch break I asked him what he wanted me to wear to his reunion. He asked, "We're going then?" And I said we were and that I'd already started packing for us.

He was home only a few minutes before we headed out the door and drove 5-1/2 hours to Boise for the night arriving shortly before midnight. Andy (Dan's brother) was still up so we had a few minutes visit with him before all turning in for the night.

The next morning we had a few minutes with Angela (Dan's sister-in-law) before she left to attend the tournament their oldest was playing in. They had a babysitter there for the younger children and we had more time with the children than their parents.

Saturday morning we left Boise and headed to Pocatello and arrived there about 4:00 in the afternoon. We visited with Ann (Dan's sister not to be confused with my sister Ann) and some of her children before it was time to leave for the reunion.

What a shock when we walked in! No one expected us to show up, since we'd said we couldn't come, and everyone was thrilled that Danny Horrocks was able to make it.

 

It was a late night. Before we left our nephew Matt (blogged about here-his pictures at Mark and Amy's house on this same trip) asked what time we'd be home Saturday night. Dan answered it most likely wouldn't be Saturday night but early Sunday morning. (We almost always play a game or two with Matt and Neal when we visit and he was hoping this trip wasn't an exception. Sadly it was.) We strolled in between 12:00 and 1:00 am. Several who attended the reunion Friday night didn't make it in until 3:00 am!

Sunday we enjoyed breakfast with the Lovelands then got ready for church.

Before we left we found out that Mark and Amy's (Dan's brother and sister-in-law) son was being ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood at 2:00 pm Sunday. We discussed it and decided to stay for the ordination and attend church meetings with Mark, Amy, and their family; however, we didn't tell them we were in town. It was so great when Amy looked over and saw the 4 of us (Matt and Neal joined us at church) in the pew next to them. She couldn't believe her eyes and made sure Mark and Gideon knew we were there. Amy and Mark both said they didn't let us know about Gideon's ordination because they figured we wouldn't be able to make it. We sure surprised them! And we're both glad we were able to be there in support of Gideon.

(After Amy saw us and gave us both hugs Matt said he thought Amy was more excited to see me than to see Dan. Did I mention that I love Matt?)

After church ended we went to Mark and Amy's house for a little visiting and something to eat before heading home. The kids all ran their separate ways. Suddenly their youngest, Aidan, came upstairs announcing, "I'm Big Foot."

We left Mark and Amy's to begin our 8-1/2 hour drive home. By the time we reached Boise we were hungry again and ready for dinner. We stopped at Cracker Barrel. Neither of us had been there before so we thought we'd give it a try. It seemed like a good place to stop for a Sunday meal. As we were paying I looked over and saw this sign: 

I couldn't believe it! That's my maiden name and I've never seen anything along these lines before. I guess somewhere there's a Broadbent family who grow corn. I even asked the employee if she knew where they found the sign, sadly she didn't.

Of course I had to make sure there was a picture with me and the sign:

A new sight for me.

Unfortunately the stop in Boise was for dinner only and we had to get back on the road. Further down the road I became anxious to be out of the car and be done driving but we still had 2-3 hours to go! Thankfully we were chasing the sunset so I was able to focus on that for awhile.

I discovered a sunset setting on my camera. I have to remember that setting in the future.

We finally arrived home around 11:00 pm. Not too bad but we were both exhausted!

It was a whirlwind trip. We are glad to be home but hope our next trip will permit longer visits with our family members.