"Take me home, country road..."

Well, this trip is finally coming to an end. FINALLY. I am not kidding when I say I feel like we have been on the road for weeks, maybe even months. And the trip is ending the way it began - eating McDonald's in the car (for the last time in my entire life, I swear - if I ever see an Egg McMuffin again I am going to vomit).

I know I skipped a post yesterday, but I had absolutely zero energy when we finally made it to New Ulm. So here's what you missed:

North Dakota proved to be everything I thought it would be: flat, brown, and boring. If I never set foot (or a tire) in it again, I will be perfectly content. Sorry ND...I tried to be nice, just like you told me to on your billboards. But it's the end of a long road trip and nice just isn't my first priority at this point.

After we made a quick stop in Fargo yesterday to fuel up - and I saw a grown @ss man wearing pants with Cookie Monster all over them, not lying - we said good bye to North Dakota and charged on into Minnesota. A couple of hours into MN and we were STARVING. And Olivia was losing her mind, screaming about how much her bottom hurt. We finally found a place to stop in a town called Lake Henry - the place was barely lit and was the sort of restaurant that doesn't actually have menus, just a board on a wall, even though it's a sit down restaurant. I was very skeptical of eating anything other than peanuts from this joint, but you know what? The food was KILLER. I got a Philly cheesesteak sandwich and Pat got a burger, and they both blew us away. So if you're ever in Lake Henry, MN, stop at the Sportsman's Den and grab a bite. It's worth it.

After another hour and a half, we had finally made it to our last destination before home - New Ulm. Pat cleaned the RV out while Olivia and I went shopping downtown. We went to Lambrecht's, one of my favorite stores in New Ulm...and one of the worst to bring a toddler to. It's a store full of all sorts of beautiful glass home decor items. 10 minutes in and Olivia broke a glass ornament. Oops. We said hello to our friend Lisa and then hightailed it outta there before she broke something else.  My SIL brought over BLTs for dinner and we chatted until it was time for Olivia to go to bed. You know what I hate about summer? And especially summers in the north? The fact that it stays light out until 10:00 p.m. Growing up, I thought this was awesome. Now that I am a parent I wish it was pitch black outside at 6:00. Every single night of this trip has been a battle to get Olivia to fall asleep, even though she's absolutely exhausted, and a lot of it has to do with the fact that she can still see what's going on around her. Last night was no different. But after she finally went down, Pat and I hung out with Uncle Mike for a bit before retiring to our camper for the LAST TIME.

We woke up late this morning because Pat forgot to charge his phone overnight, threw the last of our junk in our truck and took off, St Louis-bound. As I'm typing this, we passed an RV on the road and Pat pointed at them and laughed and said, "Suckers!" So I think he's ready to get home too. 

(Me and my pup snuggling for the last time in the RV)

(Yeah, she dressed herself)

(I am only smiling because the trip is almost over)

Tomorrow I will wrap this blog up with a "by-the-numbers" summary of the trip. How many times did I shave my legs in the past 10 days? Stay tuned to find out!