After a tearful goodbye in Virginia Beach, the boys and I traveled to Franklin, Indiana to visit my sister's family. After a fun filled visit with our favorite cousins, we picked Henry up at the Indianapolis airport and began our journey.
On day 1, we managed to get through Indiana and Illinois, which was pretty uneventful. Once we entered Iowa, the scenery began to change (see pic below), and we decided to call it a night! We woke up on day 2 in Marshalltown, Iowa to a temperature of 6 below 0, and a windchill of -31 degrees!!
On day 2, we skirted the border of Nebraska, and while passing through Sioux Falls, witnessed the most amazing sunset. Inspired by the beauty of miles and miles of vast desolation, we pushed through until we reached Rapid City, South Dakota, where we camped out for the night.
Day 3 welcomed us with snowy but sunny skies, and knowing that a national monument was only 30 minutes out of our way, we decided we had to visit Mount Rushmore! Although covered with a light dusting of snow, it truly was an amazing sight to behold. And so were we, being the only crazy patrons there in the dead of winter!
We left South Dakota feeling awestruck and upbeat, and suddenly found ourselves driving through Wyoming in blizzard like, near white-out conditions! Henry insisted (despite my begging and pleading!) that we continue on, now feeling justified for spending an outrageous amount of money on new winter tires for the car!
Once we broke through the storm, we had the Rockies in view, and continued on a beautiful drive towards Montana.
On day 4, we woke in Billings, Montana, and soon found ourselves driving through some very scary, winding mountain roads. We knew the west had been getting some snow, but the welcome sign to Idaho summed it up best: 
(can't read it? exactly....neither could we!)
After a long day, we finally arrived in Spokane, Washington. Hurray....almost there! 
After enjoying a night being back in civilization, we piled back in the car for one more long leg across the state of Washington. Day 5 afforded us good weather, beautiful views, and a glimpse into what our new area had to offer. Welcome home, Rendon's!!
Wow, Tisha - you all get the most beautiful places to go in the Navy! All the places you have lived are places I would rather be than Texas - Washington State is one of my favorites - your view is beautiful and I know that you all will soon make new friends comparable to the view - Your boys have REALLY grown...no pics of you, I note!! (actually, I might rather be anywhere other than Texas exept maybe Kansas and Oklahoma...May you settle in quickly and stay safe and happy. I am going to see a doctor in Colorado monday, and then on to Indiana for a conference with Dennis - the conference I look forward to, but not the doctor. Take care - I love and miss you and am sorry I didn't get my little Christmas box mailed this year!! Love, "Aunt" Suzi (see Hope's blog at www.life-with-Patrick.blogspot.com)
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