Salmon Tolman Fam: Travel and Transportation

Thursday, June 27, 2019

Travel and Transportation

[The FIFTH and FINAL blog post of the trip I took back east with the twins over Spring Break]

Day 6 (Saturday March 30) was our final day of vacation, and it was spent traveling back home to Salmon, Idaho. Our flight didn't leave Washington DC until 1:00, so we slept in (which was nice!) and left Lisa's house about 10:30. We said goodbye to their dogs (they had 3: Amos--the big one, Jack--the older one, and Ricky--the small one that's their foster dog. The twins got along really well with Jack and Ricky; in fact, one day I walked in the front door to see both of the dogs laying on their backs while each of the twins was scratching their tummies! It was so funny!

Quinn had just gotten a new bow/arrow set in the mail,

so he had the twins try them out with him that morning

while we were hanging out waiting to go.

Jack and Ricky. Ricky looks like a mini Jack!

Lisa drove us to the DC airport. We followed several skiddy-wompus directions from the navigation system on her phone, but we finally made it! She accidentally drove us through some of her "old stomping grounds" on the way and pointed out stuff to us from her and Mack's past, so that was fun! It was so nice to stay with Lisa and Quinn that week. We enjoyed spending time with them, and being with them at their house was wonderful. I was so grateful for Lisa for taking time off work and being our gracious host and tour guide all week! I don't get to spend enough time with my older sister, and I was so grateful for this opportunity! Likewise, Jonah and Micah were glad to spend time with their cousin (they don't have many boy cousins their age). They absolutely loved hanging out with Quinn and enjoyed his lighthearted, comical nature. We were sad to say goodbye to them!

While we waited at the airport, we got some food at Five Guys and their fries were made with potatoes from St. Anthony, Idaho which I thought was cool. The flight from DCA to Dallas/Fort Worth was our first connection, and the flight was so full that they made us check in our bags because we were one of the last ones to load. We didn't have seats by each other, either. I was hoping to catch a glimpse out the window of the kite festival in DC on our way out, but no such luck. We arrived in Texas around 3:40, and our next connecting flight to Salt Lake City was at 4:30, so we had less than an hour to make it. The terminals were clear across the airport from each other, but thankfully they had a skyrail, so we jumped on that and had plenty of time to catch our flight. The next flight wasn't as crowded, so after we all loaded, the boys moved around so they had more space! Unfortunately, I wasn't as smart, and I stayed in my original seat that had a family right behind me with two little girls and super impatient parents. The girls were tired after being in Disney World all week, and apparently their parents were too: the girls were whiny, and the parents were both constantly snapping at them. It was my least favorite flight, and I was so happy to land in SLC. We got there around 6:15, and had to wait to pick up our luggage that was checked in that morning. Tabbi came to the airport and picked us up, which was so nice! She drove us to her house, we ate a quick dinner (thanks again, Tabbi!), and then started the drive home to Salmon. After a couple of gas stops, and a 5-hour energy drink, we finally made it safely home at about 1:00am!! I was SO glad to sleep in my own bed again!

Checking out the NCAA quarterfinals basketball game of

Gonzaga vs. Texas Tech while we waited to get our luggage.

One of the reasons I like to take my children on trips when they're freshmen (other than because I like to travel and their dad doesn't, so I'm happy to take my children with me instead!) is to have them experience various methods of transportation that they don't have exposure to where we live in Idaho. That way, when they're older and on their own, they'll already have an idea of what to do and how to navigate different modes of transportation when they encounter them.

Even though we did a TON of walking on this trip, the twins were able to try a lot of new ways to travel. I was happy that we got to experience so many different of transportation on this particular vacation (even more than when I went with Ammon a few years prior):

Commercial Airliner