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We're back from our trip.

It was cool and fun. We didn't sleep in the car once. We saw some amazing things. The pictures are all on T's laptop and he's resistant to moving them over, but I was able to scrounge two.


This one is a buffalo that was just strolling along the street as we were driving through Yellowstone. You see he has not a care in the world. He's just trying to get to where he's going and this road was the easiest way to get there. The photo may be blurry because we were in a moving car at the time this photo was taken.



The next photo is just some cool geo-thermal stuff bubbling and spilling and building up to make a big mineral formation. Just so pretty and neat. Yellowstone was cool. But I can't wait to show some pictures of the Badlands. That was my favorite. But here is said rock.

We saw an amazing thunderstorm while in Spearfish, SD. It's so flat there you can see lightning for miles. It was incredible. We also stopped in Jackson Hole, WY where we had a wonderful

It all went pretty well until we passed Boise, ID. We were only about 30 miles from Oregon and 400 miles from our destination when there was an accident. I was driving on I-84W and a pickup towing a camping trailer was driving east on I-84. The pickup's driver's side rear wheel came off. The wheel, luckily, rolled along side the pickup and didn't go into traffic, but the brake assembly (we think) which looks like a tire assembly only without the tire on it rolled across two lanes of traffic, across the median and smack dab into the passenger side front bumper. We rolled over it and it made a big bump. I pulled over to the median and the damage was pretty bad. T said his arm was hurting and I realized that the side airbag had deployed and hit him in the shoulder. The front bumper was torn off and hanging, the passenger side door was dented, the tire had been scratched and it was a pretty sad sight. Luckily neither T nor I was hurt (aside from the airbag) and the people who lost a wheel were also fine. The ID state police came and we got all the insurance information we needed. The car seemed perfectly drivable. The roadside assistance guy wired up the bumper and we were on our way. We were a little shaken up, and we were trying to be thankful that no one was hurt and that though there was damage the car was still drivable. But it was difficult since the whole reason we were driving out there was to give the car to my MIL.

But we submitted a claim and insurance should take care of it MIL is beside herself with excitement over the car, which makes us feel good. She needed it and as it's a hybrid she will be getting just about twice the gas mileage she was getting before which will save her not an insignificant amount of money. Hopefully the increase in her car insurance won't be higher than the cost of the gas. But she was just giddy like a schoolgirl with the new car.

Our trip to the coast was nice. The wedding was tiny but nice. It was at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, OR which is a great aquarium and I recommend it to anyone who is in the area. It was good that MIL came along with us because it gave us more time together. MIL drives me a little nuts, but we don't see her that often and it was good that we had a bit of quality time.

So, we go to work tomorrow for a one day week. We will see fireworks on Friday night and spend the weekend recovering some more from our trip. Then it's back to life as usual.

Our homestudy social worker gave us a call and wants to set up our first meeting. I have a doctor's appointment today to get our medical forms completed. T's Dr is in the same office. We have all the official documents to submit now -- CORI check, Sex Offender list, and letters of reference -- that kind of stuff. That application was just the beginning of this process.

But it is good to be home with the cats and our bed and I appreciate what a luxury it was to be able to drive across this country and see so many beautiful things.