Wedding Break!

Wednesday was our first long drive with over 12 hours of driving to get us from Spokane to Casper, WY. The first part of the drive was fairly uneventful, other than some rain off and on. Nostalgically waved at Butte as we drove through, although couldn't think of anything we could actually want to stop at on the way through! Our Lady of the Rockies didn't disappoint and creepily overlooked our passage through the town. 

We stopped in Bozeman for a classy lunch at Costco and refueling. The rain from this point never really let up and we had an impressive thunderstorm escort us through the rest of Montana and into Wyoming. Luckily Tyler kept us on the road despite some impressive downpours trying to make our heavily ladened vehicle hydroplane and we enjoyed a spectacular light show over the hills. 

Our dinner plans were thwarted when the first gas station and food sign ended up at a tiny stop where the Subway had closed 10 minutes prior (at 7pm!) and it was another hour until we reached another exit with services. Apparently these rural cattle farmers don't depend on fast food for sustenance. Finally we landed at our Motel 6 in Casper and were the last to check in for the night at almost 11pm. We were pleasantly surprised though with the revamped rooms and settled in for the night before heading out for Colorado in the morning. 

Thursday we finished up with Wyoming, finally seeing it in the daylight without the covering of rain clouds and lightening. Only one little blip when we had to pull over to wrap our new cargo carrier in some rope as I noticed it intermittently gaping open while we drove. Luckily no major harm occurred other than popping the carrier revealed a disturbingly robust bug graveyard inside. 

Colorado brought with it a lot of construction and city traffic and the time we had budgeted for taking the dogs to the park was quickly gone. But we made it to our next Motel 6 and settled the animals and attempted to spruce ourselves up before heading out to Aaron & Jordan's wedding. 

It was a beautiful wedding, with a brief ceremony and delicious food and well organized entertainment. Not to mention the gorgeous bride and groom! I'll have to gather some photos from family who were better coordinated than myself! We had a lot of fun catching up with people and I met a few new family members, and then we said some of our final goodbyes to our Washington family and hurried out for our geriatric bedtime to get ready for the next day.