Quist World Tour

Ah, motherhood. For a long time it felt like my children would be young forever. And then they were suddenly almost-grownups. I always thought I would enjoy it all a lot more if I could time travel between ages—a few days of babyhood, a week of teenagers, then a couple of days of toddlers and then a week of tweens. Scattered in between should be a good number of travels back to being childless and forward to the time they are on their own. It seems like I would appreciate it all so much more if it weren’t so constant. But of course it doesn’t work that way, and I’m always in the here and now, knowing that the sweet little golden heads holding my hands are not coming back, and one of them is heading out to college next year. Knowing all that, I still manage to be annoyed that they need me so much. Still can’t get in the shower or go to the bathroom without someone calling “Mo-om?” outside my door. Why would that bother me now, when I can plainly see that it will be short-lived? B...

Driving from Michigan to Florida during early April is like driving through spring in fast forward. When we left on Friday morning, you could see a crocus here and there, and the hyacinths were just beginning to poke their heads out, checking to see if the coast was clear. The trees didn’t show any signs of waking up yet, other than a bucket hanging from a random tapped maple in town. In southern Ohio, we noticed there were some small, white flowering trees along the roadside, mixed in with larger trees that were showing signs of budding. Kentucky and Tennessee were a time-lapse; first there were the redbuds, then the hazy hues of gold, green, yellow, red and pink that look like a rainbow-colored peach fuzz. Then we hit Georgia and Florida, and the green leaves unfurled around us so that by the time we hit Bradenton, we were into full-blown June. Some of you know that my father-in-law had a ruptured brain aneurysm in late February. I couldn’t help but think of him as I watched ...

Glacier National Park is not as big as Yellowstone or Banff, but it is not lacking in any other way. It is a gem. On Thursday morning we got a good start to the day and headed to Going-to-the-Sun road. This is the road that is only open halfway through the park due to the wildfire. I can’t imagine what it was like for people who were on this winding mountain road and were suddenly evacuated earlier this summer. Some were forced to leave their vehicles on the road. It must have been chaotic and frightening. The farthest we could go was Logan Pass at the top of the road. We figured that the earlier we got there the better, since that is where lots of people would go, and the parking lot would fill up. The drive up through the valley and up the side of the mountains is breathtaking. Glaciers, waterfalls, rivers, and trees dot the mountains looming over us. When we got to Logan Pass we went to the visitor’s center to get some suggestions. We decided on a hike on Highline trail. W...

Tuesday morning came around and there were a few unspoken understandings in the air. First off, very few of us were interested in returning to our tents as the predictions for our upcoming stay at Glacier National Park showed nights in the 30s again. Also, there was still a wildfire at Glacier, and it was affecting the area just west of St Mary Campground, where we had reservations. The road going across the park was closed from St Mary to the top of the mountain pass, so our movement would be quite restricted. I ended up scouring VRBO, Homeaway and Airbnb for a place to rent somewhere near Glacier. There was one house available in our price range in Whitefish, Montana, about 30 minutes from the West Glacier entrance. We decided to rent it. I called the phone number, the woman who answered was very gracious, and our Wednesday-Saturday itinerary were the only open dates she had. Second, no one wanted to pack sandwiches today. Plus Katy had a bunch of canned goods and mac & che...

So we woke up in Canmore, Alberta. Brian and I had one bedroom, Kurt and Katy had the other, all four girls were sleeping in the den, and the two boys were sprawled in the living room. Not luxury, but oh so sheltered. Canmore is only about 10 minutes from Banff (the town) which is just one small speck in Banff (the national park). It is packed with ski condo complexes that are quite a bit cheaper than the rentals in the actual national park. The financial reward was worth what we were losing in convenience. We decided to start our explorations by heading to Lake Louise, because we’d heard so much about it. Lake Louise (the town) is the home of the gorgeous Lake Louise (the lake), and it’s about an hour from Canmore.  First we had to enter the national park, and there were long, long lines to buy entry tickets. A certain unnamed friend of ours accidentally got in the wrong lane, the lane for people who already have passes. As he cruised forward in the wrong direction, ...

Only one of us was sad to finish up our tent time at Yellowstone. Most of us were very much looking forward to sleeping under a roof again. However, Brian, who had conceded to the cold by wearing a t-shirt, nylon zip-off pants, and a hat to bed, was really the only one who slept very well. Most of us had a much better night that last night, but that did not make the rest of us feel premature nostalgia. Packing up the tent and gear is always a fun way to start your day, especially since it generally begins around 6 am when the rest of the campground is peacefully sleeping. That way the hissing and angry whispers among family members can really resonate best, making the most of the situation. When that fun was over, we packed into the van again and set off for Calgary, where we would spend the night before moving on to Banff National Park in Alberta. The nice part of this was that we took a different route out of the park, and we got to see some new views. All jokes about ca...