The Vacation Diaries, Part 3

Day Four: “Tuesday, Bloody Tuesday”

The night in the big freaky hotel room was not our best ever. How anyone could think this is a suitable place for a family with small children to stay is beyond me. The room is too large to feel cozy, and no one gets a good night’s sleep.

We wake up and notice that during the night Jak-El had a rather spectacular nosebleed all over his pillow. And, there’s a spot of dried blood on Dan-El’s pillow as well, and in his ear. His ear??? Oh, joy.

At 6 a.m., Wyoming time, I call our pediatrician, hoping to speak to the on-call doctor for advice. Nope, they have no one available, so I’m instructed to call back when the office opens in a half hour (8:30 a.m. EST). ::grumble, grumble::

I call back and talk to a nurse, who tells me this sort of thing is common when little kids drive through the mountains. Dan-El will need ear drops to take care of his punctured ear drum, so I’m to call them back with the phone number of a local pharmacy and they’ll phone in the prescription.

We pack up and switch to a standard room with two double beds. It looks like your average, run of the mill motel room, and this is extremely comforting. Even Jak-El comments that this is much, much nicer.

I call my mom on her cell and ask for directions to my cousin’s house, which none of the numerous adults there can provide. We decide to rough it with the vague map I printed off Mapquest, call in the doctor after getting the local pharmacy number and head off to my cousin’s place.

We drive down a dirt road and I can immediately tell which is his place. It’s the house with (a) the van bearing the logo of the baseball team he coaches, the Powell Pioneers, and (b) the one with the huge motor home in the driveway, that the cousins from Oregon made the trip in.

Hugs all around. I see several first cousins I haven’t seen in years, and numerous second cousins, including one from Scotland I haven’t seen in 33 years, since he was a wee lad of age 1. He made the trip with his wife and their four kids, who are the cutest thing ever. Let me tell you, nothing ramps up the cute factor of a cute kid more than when they talk with a Scottish accent.

We hang out for a bit and get reacquainted. I call the doctor to confirm that they got the message I left on their answering machine. Apparently, no one checks the machine, so I gave them the pharmacy info again and they assure me they’ll call in the ear drops pronto.

The decision is made to eat lunch in a local diner. Oh whoopee…lunch out with the kids in public. I sense this will not go well, and I’m right. The other seven or so little kids in tow are well behaved, as is Jak-El. Dan-El, meanwhile, just wants to run around like a goon, climbing on things and being a menace.

The husband decided to take him back to the motel for a nap. Jak-El and I stay for lunch, and my uncle and my mom (both visiting from Rhode Island) take us back to the motel.

Since Dan-El is napping peacefully, Jak-El and I run down to the drug store to get the prescription, which was never called in. Arrragh!!!! I call the doctor’s office, which of course closed early, because tomorrow is July 4.

I call the after-hours service and am told I’ll get a call back in about 20 minutes. Jak-El and I head over to McDonald’s, since they have a playground he can kill time in. And, since he didn’t bother to eat earlier, he can have something now.

I spend the next 90 minutes back and forth on the phone, trying to reach the doctor so we can get the medicine before the pharmacy closes for the holiday. Finally, we get the drops and head back to the hotel.

I call my cousin’s house and find out everyone has gone to see his team play a doubleheader. (They won the first game, lost the second by one run.) During the five minute drive to the ball field, Jak-El falls asleep and upon arrival, refuses to get out of the car.

The husband drives Jak-El and I back to the motel, and he and Dan-El go back to watch the game. We settle down and watch some TV (a “Gilmore Girls” rerun for me, a “Batman” cartoon DVD for him). It’s quiet, and I’m eating Cheetos. Life is good.

Day Five: “$1300? Really???”

It’s July 4, and we spend the entire day at the cousin’s house. The kids have lots of fun in the wading pools, and shooting everyone with squirt guns.

As the day wears on, the drinking begins, of course. I notice the most white trash Norman Rockwell moment ever, when all the little kids are gathered around the keg, eating ice chips. It’s a little wrong, but cute.



Interestingly, the more we drink, the more the Americans are starting to talk with Scottish accents. “Ah, do you have a torch? I want ta’ take the wee one out in the pram.”

Around 10 pm, my cousins set off about $1,300 worth of fireworks (you get a 10% discount if you spend over $1,000, so they had to, right? ). It’s a great display, and a neat way to end what is the best day of the trip. Jak-El falls asleep midway through the show, while Dan-El looked up at the sky excitedly as each blast started, and then ran to the nearest parent and buried his head in their chest when the big boom went off. Of course, he’d then turn his head to peek and see what happened.

Day Six: “What’s that Smell?”


We sleep in and then make the drive into Cody, the nearest “big” town, to play tourists. The only problem is a lot of the touristy stuff is a little too much for young kids. We know, for example, that they would care less about the Buffalo Bill museum. Frankly, we’re not sure if we care about the Buffalo Bill museum.

Instead, we opt to walk around downtown Cody, and buy some souvenirs. The whole thing is very low key—it’s too hot to do much running around.

Later, we stop back at my cousin’s place and hang out for a bit, deciding to go back to the motel when everyone heads off for another baseball game. We have Chinese food for dinner, and Dan-El spills a container of it on the floor. I don’t think the smell of soy sauce will ever leave that room.

Next: On the road again…