It all started when our Pastor preached a sermon some weeks ago about standing firm. He illustrated his point with a picture he had taken while on a hike in Idaho. It was picture of a rocky high point in White Bird Canyon. In the 1877 Battle of White Bird Canyon, one man, Sargent Michael M. McCarthy, stood his ground on a high rocky crag against the Nez Perce. The rest of the soldiers retreated and one third were killed by the Nez Perce. McCarthy survived and was given the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery. The sermon really impacted our family. Pastor reminded us that as Christians, we are strategically placed in this time and place and that we are to stand firm.
Matt decided we should visit the White Bird Canyon Battlefield and follow the Nez Perce trail (at least the parts in Idaho) for our family vacation. He found a century old cabin for us to rent--one that would sleep us all and allow us to bring the dog. He booked a reservation.
These two fell asleep within twenty minutes of leaving our house
Elizabeth and I busied ourselves with preparing and freezing our meals for the four days we would be gone. The days leading up to the trip were insanely busy for our family and I will admit that the day before the trip, when we still hadn't packed or finished food preparations, I began to panic. However, the kids really dug in and helped. We got ourselves out the door and on the road the following morning only thirty minutes past our desired departure time.
We enjoyed the beautiful drive, seeing parts of our great country that we'd never seen. We stopped and ate our picnic lunch at a park in a small town and then headed down the road once again, By late afternoon, we arrived at our first planned stop on the Nez Perce trail. The Nez Perce National Historic Park has a visitor center in Spalding, Idaho. While there, we watched a film on the Nez Perce. In it, current Nez Perce tribal members describe their side of the Nez Perce Indian War and its aftermath. It was very well done, though we didn't agree with some of theology that was presented.
After we saw the film and the artifacts in the museum, we wandered around the grounds. Some original buildings still stand, including a Presbyterian Church started by a missionary named Spalding in the late 1830's. A general store, though empty, is also still on the property.
Jude beside a big tree in the Nez Perce National Historical Park. That's a little bunch of mushrooms inside the tree. I tried to get Joseph to sit in the hole for a picture--no dice.
After the kids and the dog released some pent-up energy, we got back in the van to head to our rental cabin. No cell service meant Matt relied on map memory to get us there. It took us longer than we anticipated (Idaho roads are very curvy), but when arrived at the Tall Pines Cabin, the owner greeted us warmly. While the family unloaded the van, I put our dinner together.
We then settled in for the night. The kids were ecstatic to be able to sleep in bunk beds. I was dismayed to learn the only bathroom was all the way downstairs in the furthest location possible from the master bedroom. After eight kids, my bladder can't pull an all-nighter, but Matt outfitted me with a flashlight and I survived. Poor Rachel, however, did not fare as well. She followed me down the stairs one night in the pitch black, lost her footing and tumbled all the way to the bottom. She was afraid to go down the stairs for the rest of our time there. Rachel's other vacation mishap occurred when Paul took her for an early morning walk. She came back with hundreds of thistles stuck in her fur. We spent the better part of two hours removing all of them.
The next day, we got up, ate breakfast, cycled through showers (only one bathroom!) and packed our picnic lunch and snacks for a day trip. We stopped at a couple of different small towns, ate our lunch at a park in one of the towns and then headed to White Bird Canyon.
Picture taken at the bottom of White Bird Canyon
Once we arrived, we realized the hike was a little more than we had bargained for with littles and a dog, but since we drove all that way, we decided to go for it. It was 86 degrees that day, so we started sweating early on. Matt carried Joseph on his shoulders much of the way. The older kids and the dog took the lead. I brought up the back with Lydia, who was quite sure she wouldn't make it. I told her what my Grandpa Paul used to tell me, "It's the work you do after you're already tired that makes you stronger." "Besides," I said, "We don't want to go home and tell Pastor we couldn't do it." So we persevered, read each sign about the different parts of the battle as we reached them and made it to the top.
Anyway, the hike down was a lot easier. We rewarded the kids with huckleberry ice cream cones at the little tourist trap at the bottom of the canyon. Rachel drank her weight in water, as we had forgotten to take water for her on the hike. She sacked out on the cool concrete while the kids ate their cones.
We then started back to the cabin, taking an alternate route that Matt thought would save us some time. It was a lovely drive through lots of farm land. Then we passed a sign that read, "Pavement Ends." The road turned to gravel. Then we passed a sign that read, "Trucks must be in low gear." I got a little nervous, but not terribly so--until we started going down. Very steeply down. With lots of tight curves down. With sheer drop offs on the left side of the vehicle and no guard rails down. I gripped my arm rest and put my foot on the brake of my side of the car. Thirty minutes later, we reached the bottom and then a few minutes after that, we reached our cabin. Whew!
Overlooking the Dworshak Dam Reservoir
The next day, we visited the Dworshak Dam. I waited in the van with the dog and worked on my Bible study. The kids and Daddy went inside and got the star treatment, as they were the only visitors. One advantage of homeschooling is that we are able to visit places in the off-season and avoid the crowds. The docent at the dam gave the kids the grand tour, plus lots of goodies, including frisbees for each of them. Frisbees are a hot commodity around here because Rachel likes to chew on them, rendering them useless. Joel was so excited by the frisbee that he told the docent, "You're the nicest woman I've ever met!"
Rachel the Kangaroo waiting in the van at the dam--no doggies allowed. Despite it all, Rachel had really great time with us on our vacation. She was a very good girl, too.
After the dam, we visited all the stops along the Nez Perce trail that we had yet to see. Many of the stops on the trail are just signs with a brief paragraph our two explaining the spot and its significance in history. After all of our studying about Lewis and Clark, it was neat to finally see the Clearwater River as we drove on the road that runs beside it.
We stopped at The Heart of the Monster. Once you reach the rock, you can push a button and listen to the Nez Perce legend explaining the landmark. The kids enjoyed listening to the story, although they weren't sure of its veracity. We all got a good amount of exercise as we walked the park trails.
Along the trail, Joel asked me, "Who was right and who was wrong in the Nez Perce Indian War?" I told him that all men are sinners and both sides did very bad and wrong things.
On the way back to the cabin, we stopped at a small town grocery store. I did a much better job of packing the food for this trip than I did on our last big trip, but I needed to get a loaf of French bread and a head of lettuce to round out that night's dinner. I think I ran into Mountain Man more than once in that store.
When we got back to the cabin, Grace volunteered to get dinner cooking and to watch the babies (Rachel and Joseph) while the rest of us visited the little museum in town. It was a very well done museum. Before we headed back to the cabin, we decided to check out the canoe camp (and here) where Lewis and Clark worked with the Nez Perce Indians to make canoes to use for the remainder of their journey to the Pacific Ocean. When we got back to the cabin, Liz and I helped Grace finish up dinner and we all hit the hay early. Vacation can be really exhausting.
We woke up the next morning, Matt and I said, "Happy Anniversary!" to each other, then we all pitched in to get breakfast served and to get all of our stuff back into the van for the ride home. We stopped at a thrift store along the way. Grace decided she MUST HAVE the vintage suitcases for an upcoming photo shoot. I told her, "You get to tell Dad." I could tell that Daddy was not pleased when we got back to the van with the suitcases (since we had so much extra room), but he handled it well. Grace reconfigured the way the van was packed and got those buggars in there. I recused myself from the whole affair and buried my nose in my e-mail.
We then wandered around looking for a good picnic spot. That one has no bathrooms. That one has an entry fee. That one has no parking. Big suitcases + crabby kids + no place to eat lunch = stressed parents.
We finally found a suitable park, although it was full of goose poop, which Rachel tried to eat and the kids could not avoid stepping in. Happy Anniversary, Honey! Joseph LOVED the playground horsie there, though. He's really into horses right now. He refused to get off of the thing when it was time to leave. When I went to lift him off of the horse, his little hands gripped the handles with all their might. Tears ensued.
We made one more stop on the way home. We stopped at a small town museum that was closed the day we traveled through it. Once again, the kids got a personally guided tour by the docent there. She had a blast and so did they.
We made it home safe and sound, albeit a little rough around the edges. I wanted to call it a day, but Matt insisted he take me to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I never could have guessed on our wedding day that twenty two years later we'd be celebrating our wedding anniversary on a road trip in a big van with eight kids and a dog. God is good and He is faithful.
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