Broken Ankle

Sunday morning we left Wendy's home at 7:30 so that we would have time to meet Nadia's pen pal, Stella, at a Dunkin' Donut on our way to Wisconsin. Stella's mom is pregnant with their eighth child; Stella's dad brought Stella and her nine-year-old brother to Dunkin. Her brother chatted with Ian and Oliver, and Paul chatted with Stella's dad while the girls visited in person for the first time. After spending an hour there, we continued driving to a dairy farm that was just over the border in southern Wisconsin. The owner of the dairy farm, who was our tour guide, is named Yvonne! We saw how she milks her cows and met a wide variety of the animals on her farm - chickens, goats, donkeys, peacocks, cats, dogs, etc. The kids were able to bottle feed a calf. One of the calves was less than 24 hours old! Originally I had thought we'd visit a science museum in Milwaukee or Madison, but then I decided a dairy farm would be a good choice for a state known for making cheese.

We spent time in 4 different states that day - Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Our third stop was Effigy Mounds, a National Park just over the border of Iowa. Unfortunately it rained some during our 3 mile hike there, and on the way down I slipped on some mud as the path was turning a bend. The path wasn't smooth, and my right foot landed in a little hole. The initial pain so extreme I couldn't even think of moving. Paul and the boys had been ahead of Nadia and I on the trail. They came back when they heard me scream. Eventually I leaned on Paul and used him to stand up. I could tell immediately that I either broke my ankle or had a very bad sprain. It took me FOREVER to get down the rest of the trail. It seemed like the Visitor's Center was miles away, but Paul said that part of the trial was about 1/3 of a mile. I was leaning on Paul and trying to use my right foot as little as possible was it was very painful. Paul carried me part of the way, but I was too worried about both of us ending up injured to let him carry me very far. When we got to the Visitor's Center, we found out they didn't have a wheelchair (many National Park sites do have them). I had to hobble to the bathroom. They did let Paul drive the van really close to the front door of the building to pick me up. We crossed the Mississippi River once more to return to Wisconsin as that was where the nearest urgent care was located. I was there for a little less than 2 hours. They were hoping it was only sprained and thought that might be the case given how swollen my ankle was, but the x-ray showed I had fractured a bone. Thankfully I don't need surgery. They gave me crutches and a boot and said I could return later that week to be splinted. We explained we wouldn't be in the area later in the week. So I was told to stop somewhere else along the way if necessary and to definitely have a follow-up appointment once we were back at home. 

We crossed the Mississippi River for the third time that day to drive across Iowa and into Minnesota. We arrived at the the Econo Lodge much later than planned due to the trip to the ER and backtracking back to Wisconsin. We arrived after the indoor pool was closed and went straight to bed. We drove 548 miles that day, the kids earned one Junior Ranger badge, and we added two states to the list of states the kids have done something in (Wisconsin and Iowa). I didn't sleep that well because of how much pain I was in, but I was very impressed with the mattress I was sleeping on. My back rarely likes mattresses, but that one was exceptional! I was also impressed that they served a hot breakfast after having had a pathetic one at  a Comfort Inn in Michigan the first two mornings of our trip. 

Most of our itinerary has remained the same despite my injury. I have to spend a lot more time sitting in the van while Paul and the kids are doing things I can't do with a broken ankle. On Tuesday I suggested we skip our trip into North Dakota, but they didn't want to eliminate that stop. I had suggested it because Paul has now had to do all of the driving. I'll write about what we did this week from Monday through Thursday tomorrow morning. I will have time to do so because we decided to cancel our plans to tour Timpanogos Cave tomorrow morning. Paul was really struggling today, and I thought that even though we paid $50 for our tour tickets (and missed the cancellation window by a couple of hours when I made the decision), it will be good to have a leisurely start to our day tomorrow. Nadia was disappointed because she is all about earning as many Junior Ranger badges as possible, but I think even she will enjoy sleeping in tomorrow. I had to cancel my reservations for several things in light of my injury. I was able to get a refund for the horseback riding and slot canyon tour. I need to cancel my ticket for Mammoth Cave as that also will be impossible on crutches. Being on crutches has also limited my ability to take  pictures, but I have taken some, and Paul and Nadia have also taken pictures with my phone or DSLR. I will try to add more pictures to tomorrow's post. I'm too tired to do so tonight!