In the Beginning - Part 2

It's amazing how fast a summer can fill with an event here and an event there, despite being a half a year away.

We found ourselves needing to accommodate a family wedding, a family reunion, an epic solar eclipse and last but not least, the kids ever extending school year.   Snow days can create havoc in the future too it seems.

Then there was conflict over where specifically to go.   I longed to go to Yosemite as it had been over a decade and the kids had never been there. Scott pointed out we had already been there.  Sage wanted to go to Yellowstone to see a geyser.  Scott pointed out we had been to Yellowstone several times and Sage had been once.    Sage called him out on that one.  She doesn't remember that trip.  Which seems accurate, since she was 2.
Scott wanted to go to Glacier, where none of us had ever been.   We all would like to go to Glacier but there's a reason we hadn't been there before.  It's by nothing else.
'Lil Scout just looked at us like we'd lost our minds.  Apparently when you are six, you don't really care where you go.  As long as there is fun and more importantly, smores.

Then as if there wasn't enough places to go, opinions about what was more important and a limited amount of time and money, another idea popped up and practically screamed, "What about me?!?"

Canada.  Oh, Canada.

It's the 150th anniversary of Canada's National Parks and they are offering free admission to everyone.  You know how I said that Glacier is not close to anything?   It's close to Canada.  In fact, it shares a park with Canada.   Waterton -Glacier International Peace Park.

Things started to sort themselves out, slowly but surely.   Along the way there were ideas that didn't work out.   Then there were concessions and ideas for compromise.   The biggest help in this whole planning and negotiation was a good look at Scott's actual sabbatical and vacation hours.   The man likes to work.   The work likes the man and so the benefits, including PTO, are good.

A separate trip to Yosemite that wouldn't hinder our big loop?   Why, yes.   When it comes to Yosemite that answer is always yes, unless you're trying to get a camp site.

The final determination was to take a separate week long trip to central California, to see Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks (NP).  Then swing back up through the City by the Bay and hit Redwoods State and National Park before heading on home.  
Secondly, we would leave after the family reunion in Bend the first week of August and be gone the whole month.  First Canada, then Glacier, then our beloved Idaho for the eclipse, then to Utah for the Big 5 and some other parks and a visit with my family as we swung back up towards home.

Phew.  The hardest part was done.  Or so I thought.   I hadn't started the process of booking the campsites.


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