1 week to go

So its Friday and exactly 1 week til we leave on our adventure to the West.  Final destination : Yellowstone.  Along the way we are scheduled to stay in a campground 5 minutes from Mt Rushmore and attend a well known nightly rodeo in Cody,WY before we step foot in Yellowstone.

Among the usual sightings at Yellowstone, on one very special day - My Birthday, we are planning to drive down to the Tetons in Jackson Hole.  I have heard by many that they would go back to the Tetons again. With neither of us ever being west of Minnesota, we are all really looking forward to it all.  The kiddos and me too, are excited to cross off some more states that we can say we have been in.  We will pass through Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana by time we are back home.  We are all set to play the license plate game along the long, long way.

For us to go on this trip and make it least costly and fun(?!?!?), we decided to camp.  The girls are still young and will think its cool!  So, Yup we are official campers.  Or at least we have all the camping gear that we think we need.

We had to purchase the following bigger items:

2 mummy sleeping bags
1 large /double sleeping bag
1 queen size air mattress
1 full size air mattress
1 small propane grill
1 tent
1 cooler

And since we are now "campers" we plan on going back to camp around South Dakota next year (that state looks pretty cool, but according to Jimmy we don't  have a lot of time to spend there this time.)

We purchased rain coats for us and I picked up pink ponchos for the girls.  Jimmy says is ALWAYS rains when you camp.

So with a week to go, this is what my piles of vacation stuff look like:

this pile includes 2 new backpacks, towels, a broom for the tent, flashlights, first aid, shower shoes, a binder or kid activties I have assembled, head lamps, toilet paper, handwipes, hats, toiletries, ponchos, raincoats, paper plates, napkins, plastic utensils

Here is our HUGE AWESOME sleeping bag in the corner, the kids mummy bags and air mattresses along with an extension cord, tent, pump, water jug (thanks Jeff) and latern (thanks Kim)

And the garage has our new tarp, cooler and chairs.

Am I missing anything?  Please let me know if you have any suggestions, though I did not mention EVERYTHING I have set to pack.

I have yet to pack clothes for any of us, that will begin soon.  

 We are not doing much of the usual camping basics - cooking breakfast at camp, sitting and relaxing, ...instead we will be on the road often exploring many of the sites Yellowstone has to offer early in the morning hoping to miss a lot of the traffic and hopefully see some animals along the way.

yup, I copied Jeff's most recent blog post regarding the trip he and my niece Mackenzie are taking this week. Check out his blog and he blogs along the way.