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It’s that time again! Road Trip!

We are embarking on our last huge cross country road trip with the girls. The sad reality is that in two summers Ry will be heading to college…and in three summers off Bree will go! Needless to say, this is our last drive across the country with our little girls! There is no telling where life may take them or us, so we are gonna cherish this time!!!

And what a better send off than to achieve Alan’s 50th state! Years ago in 2015 when I was headed to my 50th state the girls and I traveled through a huge portion of Idaho on our way to Washington state. I was riding shotgun with my dad, not Alan. He was back in Georgia working and would fly to meet us in Washington. So that’s how the girls hit Idaho and he didn’t.

Not this time! This time I am riding shotgun with my man and we have an amazing trip planned with tons of fun planned in Idaho!

I’ve been trying a new tactic with vacations, don’t stress about leaving at a certain time. It has been a game changer, the peacefulness that happens in our family when we pack up to leave now is amazing. Ry said to me today, I think this is the calmest it has ever been before a trip! Yes! Mission accomplished! It doesn’t help anything to get angry and irritated right before a family vacation, especially one where you are gonna spend about 7,000 miles in a car together!

So, there we were at about 6pm packing up for a 30 day trip around the country!

I produced matching shirts for us all and got our photo shoot on! I mean did it really happen if you don’t have pictures and matching T-shirts???

Our first official stop was of course Buccees! We know all the good places to stop and visit when it comes to travel plazas and Buccees is by far the best!

After a quick stop for restrooms and snacks we were back in the car!

Our original plan was Nashville, just get a few hours down the road to make the next two days not as long, but come to find out, NASCAR is in Nashville this weekend and hotels are booked up or extremely expensive. So, here we are headed about an hour further to a cheaper hotel!

Fun Fact: Tennessee is actually Alan’s first state!! 😜

Travel is the only thing you buy, that makes you richer!

We woke up in Indiana and headed through Indianapolis to Ohio! We are headed to the Cincinnati zoo to see Fiona the Hippo, I have followed them on Instagram since she was born premature! I was so excited to see her…yep was, this is 2020 right?? No moose, no northern lights, no Fiona!

We arrived early enough to see the animals before the Festival of lights started. It wasn’t your typical zoo visit, a lot of the animals were in for the winter, but we actually had some really cool experiences with some of the animals in their indoor enclosures.

First though, we headed to see Fiona…at this point I didn’t realize it had to be sunny for her to be out and three degrees warmer than it was.

Out first stop was the elephants, they were training them which was neat, one was actually playing fetch with the trainer!

Then off to the giraffes, Ry’s favorite. They have a baby giraffe she wanted to see, Theo!

We got to see them up close because for the most part they were indoors! Our next stop was at the painted dogs. The zoo keeper was placing raw meat around the yard so we waited for them to come out and it was so cool. They ran all over some even fought for the meat!

We also visited the orangutan indoors, he swung all over, all around and stopped for pics and everything! It was crazy! We usually just see them sitting around, this guy was huge over 6 ft tall and his name was Henry!

Fiona was up next and I was so excited…we were finding little Fiona fairies and everything…then we came to her water hole and there was nothing!!! I was so so bummed 😭 they didn’t even have a sign explaining where they were. At least the fairies were cute!

Next stop was the Rhino’s they have a 3 month old Rhino…he better be there!!!!

He was!!! Ajani Joe was having the best time, he was running around, kicking up dirt, and playing with toys. He was so much fun to watch! And he was absolutely adorable!!

We headed off to different areas searching for animals! In the indoor monkey enclosure there was a chimp that was fist bumping Ryanna against the glass! In a nocturnal area there was an active aardvark that was digging at and playing with Bree’s hand against the glass. It even flopped over on the ground digging at her hand! It was so neat!The penguins also interacted with Ry’s hand. It was so fun we’ve never seen animals respond to us quite like this!

And then there was Samantha! The 50yr. Old gorilla! It was pretty neat! I thought oh I can take a pic with her! We found one sleeping rather gracefully so we thought for sure it was her, and snapped a pic!

Surprise…it’s a silverback male gorilla…🤦🏻‍♀️ ugh…no Samantha either!

We ended our animal hunting with Samantha, time for the Festival of lights! It was getting dark and the zoo looked amazing with all the lights!

We walked the entire zoo again looking at all the beautiful lights and paper animal lanterns everywhere! No words can do it justice so enjoy all the pics!

Oh! But we found some northern lights! Maybe not the exact ones we were looking for, but we loved them!

We had such a good time, it was a great way to end our trip!

Tomorrow we make the last leg home!

After leaving Minnesota we headed to Wisconsin for the night. We woke the next morning early and headed out for Chicago!

It is still cold in Wisconsin, waking up to 28°! 🥶

We are pros at road travel and always have lots to do, we have about 20hrs. Of driving time to home. This morning, Daddy surprised the girls with rocks he had taken from Lake Superior and paints so they could paint rocks in the car!

We arrived in Chicago and hit the ground running! We came in from the north and saw Wrigley field…which the girls could care less about 🤣. We parked in Grant Park North and were right at the Cloud Gate/Bean I wanted the girls to see! We brought them here when Bree was 9 months old and Ry was 2, it was like 15° and the coldest week Chicago had seen. It was cold today but nothing like that and now they actually have a memory of Chicago! 🤣

Everything is different with COVID we couldn’t walk up to the bean and public restrooms were a challenge to find! 😳 but we made the mist of it and saw the river walk and walked all over downtown!

We even managed to find strangers kind enough to take our pic, although Alan has definitely mastered family selfies on this trip I was grateful for her!

We of course found a Starbucks so I could get my souvenir cup and some warm beverages…and not half a block away there was a dunkin (Ry’s fave) Alan we t to get the car a d then we drove around finding some cool places in downtown!

The riverwalk was beautiful too, the wind was whipping through there!

We headed out and towards Indiana, we spent another dinner in our hotel room, although I believe in Indiana we could have gone out but in our Pj’s, watching Hallmark movies has become a favorite of ours on this trip…except Alan, his PJ’s weren’t warm enough he said!

Lake Superior has been so beautiful every day we have seen it, but today took the cake! It was so clear and pretty and actually a little warm! 🤣 It was only 30° today!

We have really enjoyed the North Shore, it has that small town feel and everything moves slower. Perfect vacation spot!

The sun rising over the lake is pretty spectacular too! We loved our little cabin on the lake! The view could not be beat! We were able to see the sun set off to the right and then it would rise right out our window.

Before we left, we played around on the rocks outside our room and got some good pics of our little family. Alan and Ry couldn’t help climbing some rocks and Bree played in the ice.

We had one more place to explore before we officially head south towards home. Temperance State Park is right by our resort so we headed there. The trails around here go everywhere so we parked the car and headed out. Sometimes we were on a paved path, other times it was a small snow covered trail in the forest. It was a lot of fun! We found frozen waterfalls, and lakes we even were able to walk on, though some of us were very hesitant!

We had snow ball fights, looked for animals and even rock climbed a bit when we didn’t realize there were stairs leading right to where we climbed too 🤦🏻‍♀️

Bree didn’t want anything to do with the frozen lake, after everyone had done it Alan said if you don’t you’ll be the only one who won’t be able to say you walked on a frozen lake, so she conceded. Then Alan proceeded to take her out much farther than Ry and I went. Mommy was very nervous but Daddy knew and it was all good! The ice was over 6 inches thick at one point!

After trekking all over the upstream waterfall portion we wanted to go further only to discover an orange warning sign saying it was hunting season and they did not advise hikers any further up the trail! 😳

So, we decided to go downstream to the mouth of the river where it emptied into Lake Superior.

The girls collected icicles, mommy laid out on the beach and daddy got great family pictures!

It has been such a great trip! We are headed towards home now, one stop to visit Chicago and then home!

My sweet hubby made one more stop in Duluth for me at my favorite coffee spot ☕️and then we left Minnesota!

It’s good to have an end to journey towards, but it’s the journey that matters in the end!

Day 2 in Tofte started when the sun came up, 7:30am. The days are short here so we want to get the most out of our day!

The day started with pastries, and Uncle Josh!

My brother in laws have back to back birthdays and it was fun to Facetime Josh, he is usually always colder than we are, but today we were 19° and he was 39°! He said it was his birthday gift, some warm weather!

After breakfast and birthday calls we headed out. We read up on sighting moose and read that the Gunflint Trail was a sure fire bet to see moose. So we headed out. It is a 57 mile paved road through the heart of Minnesota Wilderness.

It was absolutely stunning!! As we headed out of town and up the trail more and more snow appeared. It was breathtaking, we found lake after lake frozen solid or have frozen half running. We soon realized why Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes they are everywhere.

The girls loved the snow at all the lookouts. Right across the lake was Canada that is how far up North we were. We continued our search for the elusive moose all the way to the end of the trail.

We hoped to see some on our way back down the trail, but alas we did not. Though it was a bummer to not see any moose we had the best time!!! We played, we talked, we laughed, we enjoyed God’s creation with no phones, no iPads, no interruptions, no service!

It is definitely worth seeing, I am so glad we came in the winter!

After completing the trail and were back in town we decided to head to the Canadian border, maybe we would see a moose! On our way we did see a National Monument about the fur traders from Canada. The girls just happened to be studying that in school so we made a detour!

Then we made it to the border, the sign when we came into Minnesota was under construction so Alan got his 49th state pic at the Canadian border!

After that we ran across the street to a 1/2 mile hike to a waterfall Alan read about! We were now racing the sun that was setting so we booked it to the falls and it was so worth it! So beautiful!

High Falls, US/Canada border on the pigeon river

Seeing the 1/2 frozen water around here is so cool!!! The noise of the ice, the roar of the falls. These pictures do not do it justice! Plus the freezing cold…add that in and it is magical!! 🥶

We headed back to our hotel after this, we knew the place at our hotel had take out so we enjoyed dinner on the floor of the hotel with another Hallmark movie!

In a little bit we headed out to a fire pit and were able to roast marshmallows and enjoy s’mores! COVID has taken away all the activities of our resort, so this was nice to be able to enjoy! We also were able to get hot chocolate!

We hung around for a bit then headed out to search the skies for the Northern lights! We again were not able to see what we were searching for. The giant full moon made it almost impossible to see the lights, plus the probability was only at 50%, but the stars…they were everywhere. Being in a very dark area with only the moon to light up makes the sky almost light up with stars. and thanks to that incredibly bright moon we were able to even get pics on our phones they were so vibrant!

Ready to seek out the northern lights!

Orion, The big dipper, and Cassiopeia

It was a very full day we saw and did so much! Even though we didn’t see anything we searched for, we found so much more we didn’t even realize was out there!

Lastly, as we headed back to the hotel a little fox came running down the road! The perfect end to the day!

🦊

What a morning!!! It is so cold here in Duluth it is unbelievable! We got up and got ready, bundled up and headed down to Park Point an island out in the middle of Duluth harbor where the kids go to the beach!

First off though my sweet southern kids found patches of snow and played and played!

We walked a little over a mile down the beach finding patches of snow a d fun things. On the way back my legs were stinging they were so cold, I was the only one without long johns on!

We headed back to the town after our beach time, and found my favorite coffee shop! I was so excited to find it and share it with Ry. She is becoming quite the coffee lover! ☕️

We decided to head up to Enger Tower to see a panoramic view of Duluth! We pulled in and parked on a small hill that was icy, Alan got out to check and the car started sliding backwards!! I was freaking out!!! So we decided not to park and just drive around. We saw some beautiful views of the town below!

We also found some real snow for Bree, she has been wanting snow since we left Georgia!! We stumbled on two frozen lakes and lots of snow!!

After grabbing lunch we headed more north up the north shore of Lake Superior! It was such a beautiful drive! We are headed to Tofte, 60 miles from Canada! It sits on the 47th parallel, higher than our relatives in Quebec, Canada!

It does not disappoint! It is a beautiful place!

Our hotel is right on the lake, and our room overlooks the lake!!

We got here right as the sun was setting, which is relatively early, around 4pm so we were able to see a gorgeous sunset! The girls enjoyed cracking the ice on the rocks as we watched the waves break and splash!

After dark we headed to a slightly bigger town even further north for dinner. When we got there almost everything was closed! Covid has really shut everything down. We were happy to find a pizza place still open. It has been making pizzas here since 1981, as old as I am!! We ran to a grocery store for some salad fixings and had a delicious pizza and salad dinner in the car!

We headed back to our rooms and got cozy watching more Hallmark movies and the Muppet Christmas Carol!

More exploring tomorrow!!

Water park time!! We arrived too late the night before to use the water park so we are packing the car then doing the waterpark. They let you use the waterpark until 3 the day you check out!

There was hardly anyone in the waterpark, so we got to ride everything!! The girls loved it all! Alan and the girls rode alot together then he talked me into going to the adults only hot tub which was awesome!

He managed to get me on two tides also! After that they all decided they wanted to try the flow rider which they all had great success at! Ryanna did great, Bree too then Alan got on and was able to even do a few tricks the guy showed him!

By this time, we had ridden everything we had wanted and were ready to hit the amusement park! We did a quick change and off we went!

We rode and did everything we wanted there too! We rode go carts, did the treetop course again, rock climbed, rode the ferris wheel…it was so much fun and we got to do everything!

We headed out of the Dells late, headed north to Duluth, Minnesota.

While we were driving we went right through a snow storm! We were barely in it, but Bree was so excited to get to see falling snow!

The girls could not leave Wisconsin without cheese curds so we grabbed some at the border! We made it to Duluth in the nick of time to be able to see the Bentleyville lights! My dearest friend and honorary big sister is from Duluth and she told us it would be so fun and she was right! Usually it is a walk through and they serve food and it’s cold and lots of fun. This year thanks to covid it was drive through but we enjoyed it!

We went back to our hotel after a quick bite to eat and did laundry, watched a Hallmark movie and went to sleep! Everything closes early up here because it gets dark so soon, but we will be up tomorrow to explore!

Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge

Here we go! We found the cold! 🥶 We woke up this morning to 26 degrees!!! It was very cold!

We have a very busy day today!! We are going to visit friends from college, then head to Wisconsin!! It’s only about 6 hrs but it will take all day!!

First stop Indiana and the Bowmans!

Rachelle was one of my first friends in college, and it has been 21 years since we became friends! It was great to see her and her family again.

We enjoyed talking about our kids and out lives, but soon it was time to head out to see another set of friends!

On our way we realized we were passing right by Shipshewana!!! An Amish town, I am absolutely enthralled by the Amish. I texted Rachelle about where we were going and she said the Amish in the area had a lot of COVID so instead of getting out we just drove around and found buggies and people. It was so much fun!

After that brief detour we headed put again. We enjoyed some Cheese from Frankenmuth and the sites around us as we drove.

Next Stop, Cherrye!!

Cherrye was my maid of honor in our wedding. It was so nice to see her again, it has been quite a long time since we have seen each other.

We picked up right where we left off, it is amazing the friends you have who that works with. You never miss a beat, no lull in the conversations, it was such a good visit!

I had grand plans to leave at a certain time, and get to out final destination at a reasonable hour, but it didn’t happen. We talked so much, that we left almost at dark.

We had a fee more hours of driving so we bypassed Chicago and headed straight for Wisconsin!

Alan’s 48th state! He is ticking them off one by one!

Our final destination is Kalahari resort in the Wisconsin Dells! We arrived around 8:30, grabbed dinner from Sprecher’s a place Cherrye recommended with hand crafted sodas! Then got settled in our room and off to the amusement park!! We had one hour before it closed and we were gonna make the best of it!

They were able to the tree top ropes course and ride the twisty bounce ride before it closed, then we were off to watch Elf in front of the fire!

The best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear!

Here we go again! Covid has really messed with our travel plans. This summer we had originally planned to visit California for Alan’s 40th. We had a whole thing planned and were so excited, then Covid happened and everything changed. So I asked Alan what he wanted to do for his birthday, I threw out ideas and he replied I wanna just sit by a lake on a porch and whittle, that would be the perfect vacation. So I threw out the plans for heading west and started looking at lake front properties…I guess Alan should have specified a temperature range for which he wanted to whittle in because soon enough I found a resort with a porch on Lake Superior in northern Minnesota! I decided it would be so awesome to see some northern states in the winter, and Alan has never set foot in three of those states, so why not chunk some states off his list in the process!

So here we go!!!!

 

Since we were already in Cleveland we started from there! First stop, Alan’s 47th state, Michigan!

Alan’s Papa retired from Ford after 30+ years with them. Alan really wanted to see the Ford Headquarters in Michigan.

After we checked this off the list we headed to Frankenmuth! A little Bavarian town!!

We went to the world’s largest Christmas store and spent over an hour checking out all the Christmas goodies! It was such a fun store!

When we came outside it was dark enough that all the lights in the town had come on!

We made sure to visit the cheese house too!

Our next stop was the musical Christmas tree in the center of town! It plays Christmas carols and the lights dance to the music! It was so neat!

Next up, dinner. Michigan is closed down so we had to order to go from the famous Chicken place! Note to others…the chicken was nothing to write home about! 🤣

We enjoyed dinner, then headed out on a drive thru light hunt. We had a map and some clues to help us find all 26 spots. It was so fun!!!

It was a great day and we enjoyed beautiful Michigan!

Frankenmuth, a total Hallmark Christmas movie town!

What a week we have had!!!
We left Georgia on Ryanna’s 15th birthday! She was fresh off her first time driving and we headed out.

We headed north to Ohio. We are spending this week with Alan’s family. We will miss Josh and Sarah but are thankful to be with family.
Laura and Travis have just purchased their first home and we are going to help them get it ready for moving day and celebrate Thanksgiving with them!
We arrived late Saturday night and were so excited to see each other. After getting situated and ready for bed I asked Alan to put some cortisone on some bug bites on my back I had…when he lifted my shirt he said, “Woah…um it has spread and totally looks like shingles.” I couldn’t believe it. The next morning we had a doctor’s appointment and it was confirmed. Shingles…

Needless to say I was not ready to be totally out of commission while here. The pain was not fun, the itching was ridiculous, and the body aches were rough, but I’ve made it through the worst now it seems and I was very blessed in the shingles department and so thankful it didn’t take me totally out of the fun! I am also thankful that due to vaccinations and previous chicken pox I was still able to be around my whole family and not have to worry about infecting anyone.
First up was celebrating Ry’s 15th birthday! Henry had decorated, and Auntie Laura had made Brookie Ice Cream sandwiches!!!

The next few days we had some homeschooling/cousin time, we worked on the house and spent so much time together!

Thanksgiving time!! 🦃

We cooked our dinner and had lunch together, then the rest of the adults headed to the new house again and Aunt Sami got to take care of the kiddos! We took a walk and saw 15 deer it was so neat, did crafts, had dinner, read books…it was the things great memories are made of!

The week went by so quick but we enjoyed every minute of it and were so glad we were able to come and help them!

Until next time!