On a Sunday afternoon I find myself sitting in my home office sorting through pictures of our latest family adventure. It's taken me a week to catch up to home life, work, and home projects that have occupied my mind. Alone in the house (because the rest of the family is not home yet) I am enjoying the peaceful bliss of silence, broken now by the sound of my keyboard. I've decided it's time to blog and let everyone know what my clan has done for the first part of the summer. I think it will take a few posts to adequately cover the events of the past few weeks, so here's the first installment...
We found out in February that Heather's sister, Michele, was engaged to be married in the Columbia, South Carolina temple. Heather insisted that she wanted to spend some quality time in SC with her family. This seemed like a good idea and almost too convenient - the kids would be out of school, she could make the wedding cake as a gift, and could stay some extra time to see her other siblings. Aside from the wedding and seeing Heather's family (the obvious reason for going), I had one agenda on my mind - get to the beach! I arranged to have two weeks off at work, something that I haven't ever done since entering in to the workforce, and we began to plan a trip that some might compare to the Griswolds in one of their National Lampoon excursions.
A number of factors went into the travel plans, and we decided that it would be best for us to drive. After a couple months of preparations, lists, and planning, we finally loaded up the Grand Caravan with luggage, food, and entertainment for the kids and left Utah valley at about 4:30pm on Friday, June 4. Less than an hour on the road, we had to pull off for a potty break. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with the prospect of stopping every hour.
We got back on the road and then everything seemed to click. There was no major road construction in Wyoming. The kids didn't need the frequent potty breaks. The weather was clear, and I was feeling good behind the wheel. We stopped for a late dinner at dusk and got back on the road. Crossing into Nebraska at nighttime, we could see storms in the distance. As the night got later, the storm turned into one of the most fantastic displays of lightning I have ever seen. The storm lit up the sky continuously like a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. I tracked the storm's time for at least a half hour before the road turned enough to remove my view.
It was about 3:30am before I was tired enough to have Heather drive. She drove for a few hours until the sun came up. She got us to the corner of Iowa before I took the wheel again. We stopped for breakfast in St. Joseph, MO and then made our way to Kirksville to stay the night with my grandparents.
Kirksville is one of those towns that doesn't seem to change very much. Granny's house was very much the same as I have always remembered it. Different colors inside, but the same. We were all happy to be there after being in the car for so long. We spent the afternoon visiting and the kids went exploring around the porch. There was a light rain when we got there and the kids were fascinated by the buckets that caught the water.
We found out in February that Heather's sister, Michele, was engaged to be married in the Columbia, South Carolina temple. Heather insisted that she wanted to spend some quality time in SC with her family. This seemed like a good idea and almost too convenient - the kids would be out of school, she could make the wedding cake as a gift, and could stay some extra time to see her other siblings. Aside from the wedding and seeing Heather's family (the obvious reason for going), I had one agenda on my mind - get to the beach! I arranged to have two weeks off at work, something that I haven't ever done since entering in to the workforce, and we began to plan a trip that some might compare to the Griswolds in one of their National Lampoon excursions.
A number of factors went into the travel plans, and we decided that it would be best for us to drive. After a couple months of preparations, lists, and planning, we finally loaded up the Grand Caravan with luggage, food, and entertainment for the kids and left Utah valley at about 4:30pm on Friday, June 4. Less than an hour on the road, we had to pull off for a potty break. Needless to say, I was not thrilled with the prospect of stopping every hour.
We got back on the road and then everything seemed to click. There was no major road construction in Wyoming. The kids didn't need the frequent potty breaks. The weather was clear, and I was feeling good behind the wheel. We stopped for a late dinner at dusk and got back on the road. Crossing into Nebraska at nighttime, we could see storms in the distance. As the night got later, the storm turned into one of the most fantastic displays of lightning I have ever seen. The storm lit up the sky continuously like a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. I tracked the storm's time for at least a half hour before the road turned enough to remove my view.
It was about 3:30am before I was tired enough to have Heather drive. She drove for a few hours until the sun came up. She got us to the corner of Iowa before I took the wheel again. We stopped for breakfast in St. Joseph, MO and then made our way to Kirksville to stay the night with my grandparents.
Kirksville is one of those towns that doesn't seem to change very much. Granny's house was very much the same as I have always remembered it. Different colors inside, but the same. We were all happy to be there after being in the car for so long. We spent the afternoon visiting and the kids went exploring around the porch. There was a light rain when we got there and the kids were fascinated by the buckets that caught the water.
We got there in time for lunch - dog sandwiches. Heather was a little confused and asked what a dog sandwich was - was it a cut up hot dog? For those who are uninformed, "dog" in this case is actually Grandpa's word for bologna. We all had a good laugh about that one.
After lunch we found the porch swing.
After lunch we found the porch swing.
Sara enjoyed walking around, however she wouldn't let go of her blanket. I wasn't going to argue. It got washed that night.
And as a special treat, Granny made brownies to go with some ice cream after our nice roast and veggies for dinner.
Gina and Dennis joined us for dinner and Sammie and Joe came over a little later. It was a good visit and was fun to catch up with aunts and uncles I haven't seen for a couple years.
At bedtime, everyone was exhausted. I laid Sara down on a bed and about 5 minutes later she was out - didn't even turn over to her stomach like she usually does. The next morning it was still evident that everyone was tired. I woke up with the sun shining into the bedroom, but everyone else was pulling the covers up to get as much sleep as possible.
At bedtime, everyone was exhausted. I laid Sara down on a bed and about 5 minutes later she was out - didn't even turn over to her stomach like she usually does. The next morning it was still evident that everyone was tired. I woke up with the sun shining into the bedroom, but everyone else was pulling the covers up to get as much sleep as possible.
After a country breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and orange juice (my and Bryant's favorite) we took some pictures and loaded up again to make the second half of the drive.
We left about 9:30am on Sunday. It was another uneventful drive across MO, into IL, KY, TN, NC, and finally to our first destination in SC. We arrived at midnight eastern time at Heather's brother Aarron's house.
With that, I'll summarize a few things for this post.
With that, I'll summarize a few things for this post.
- Car DVD players, iPods, Nintendo DSi, music and audiobooks make this type of travel much more fun and enjoyable.
- Gas prices in Utah were at $2.97. The cheapest we saw gas was $2.37. Average price in Wyoming was $2.69, and from Missouri to the east the average was $2.49.
Relatively speaking, we had a pretty good time and pretty easy travel across the US. We live in a beautiful country and it was fun to see the scenery change from mountains to plains and hills, desert to fields and trees, and everything in between.
2 comments:
Nice to document these things. Nice pictures. I'm glad that you understand the importance of family and your efforts to stay connected with the Kirksville bunch!
Hurray for family vacation. It looks like all is well with family in MO. Thanks for taking pictures there.
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