My niece asked me a couple of weeks ago "What's paradise?" My answer to her sweet and inocent question:
Paradise is another name for heaven. Some people also call very beautiful places on earth paradise.
I'm not sure if that is the answer her parents would have given her, but it's all I could come up with. I don't think I was that far off. I hope.
Her question came on the first of an almost 2-week road trip we (Pinky, my parents, my sister and her family and I) took through Montana, the pan handle of Idaho, and into central Washington. For those of you who know me, you know that we visited some of my favorite places along the way. . . In fact, I've probably been known to call some of them paradise.
Here's a look at some of my favorite moments from our trip:
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| Playing with cousins in Billings. |
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| Almost to Coeur d'Alene!!! |
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| Stretching our legs along the way. |
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| Car d'Lane - My dad found a few he would have liked to take home! |
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| Down town Cd'A |
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| View of the Boardwalk from Tubs Hill. |
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| Some of my favorite kids in the world! |
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| Plaid Day! |
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| My Pinky Pie and my Flower Girl! <3 |
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| Happy Father's Day, Grandpa! |
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| Enjoying a quiet spot to skip rocks have some snacks! |
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| Luau in Moses Lake WA |
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Pavillion Park, Liberty Lake, WA - One of my favorite spots when I lived in WA!
(Memories include concerts, movies, Easter Egg hunts, yoga, and picnics) |
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| View of Montana from the back seat! |
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| Pinky's view of Montana from the back seat! HA! |
You can imagine we consumed and enjoyed lots of car snacks, complete with a road trip taste test. Our car liked Red Vines better than Twizzlers and Tootsie pops better than Blow Pops. We couldn't come to a consensus when comparing M&Ms, Doritos, Twinkies/Zingers, Slim Jims/Jerky or Oreos/Nutter Butters, but that couldn't have anything to do with the picky eaters in the car! :)
We had a great trip! We were mostly impressed and entertained by our 2-year-old traveling partner who was a real trooper along the way! The night owl that she is, had NO problem adjusting to Pacific time. She talked and sang and giggled and enjoyed seeing the cows, horses, trees, airplanes, lakes, and mountains along the way. I think we would all agree that we were most impressed by her rendition of the "Holy Pokey".
But, the best of all was Pinky's face when she saw her daddy after being away almost 2 weeks. She squeeled and laughed with delight. She couldn't get out of the car and into his arms fast enough~
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| ~Paradise~ |
