Big Trip Day 31: Albuquerque to Orem

The kids can't wait to get home. They miss the dogs terribly. I don't:)

Stats: 10 hours, 584 miles.

Lunch in Mancos Colorado, the Ellis family Mecca.

Big Trip Day 30: Austin to Albuquerque

Church at 9 in Austin. A bit of a walk down memory lane for Ruth, I spent years 0-3 here. Then on the road. Stats: 12 hours, 261 miles. Ugh.

Big Trip Day 30: New Orleans to Austin, Texas

Stats: 11.5 hours and 550 miles (hit some traffic)

I was hoping to spend the morning in the French Quarter but it was a torrential downpour so we just drove away. Jared and Elena got soaked as they loaded the car. Elena has been in charge of loading the bins on the hitch tray. She has done a great job. Doug had the kids watch Apollo 13 in preparation for our last surprise...the Space Center in Houston. It was fun but the traffic stole our time and we were rushed. The kids had a blast, all except Elena who thought it was all childish.

Big Trip Day 29: Orlando to New Orleans

Today we drove from Orlando to New Orleans Louisiana. Stats: 9 hours and 610 miles. As Jared prayed for us to have a safe drive he said something like "bless us to get safely away from this forsaken place." He was literally dripping with sweat after putting on and loading the car top carrier. He has been pretty awesome about that.

Big Trip Day 28: Hogsmead

Today we went to the Universal Studios that houses the Harry Potter village of Hogsmead. I have to say this was a HUGE highlight for me. All you Harry Potter lovers, save your money and plan a trip. I lo

ved EVERY minute of it; Hogwarts Express, Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes, Zonkos, Gringotts ATM:), Moaning Myrtle in the womens' lavatory, Ollivanders, and more. Universal doesn't have fast pass so we waited 2 hours for the big adventure ride. It was well worth it, honestly. Best ride I have ever been on. I felt like I was IN the movie. The village was so fun. As we went to Ollivanders, the kids all begged for wands. Doug gulped and, not wanting to disappoint them or mar the day, consented. He says his souvenir for the day was when he realized he could get a discount with our AAA card:)

big Trip Day 27: Magic Kingdom

Before

I wish I could get the video upload to work. The happy screaming as well pulled up to the gates of the Magic Kingdom would be great to share. We did some fast passing and walked and rode and drank Tom Sawyer swamp water….well it tasted like swamp water… from the fountains. We had to work to stay hydrated. We brought in pizzas and stored them in a locker to save money. They really mark up the food prices. We would rather spend that money on souvenirs for the kids. We stayed to the very end at 1:00 a.m. Splash Mountain was broken much of the day and we kept hoping we could get a family picture on it. We would have filled up an entire log. Would have been great. We didn't wait long for ANY rides with fast pass and good planning.

After

Big Trip Day 26: St. Anastasia Beach

After researching beaches Maren found a lovely beach called St. Anastasia on the east coast of Florida. The Hyers drove 2.5 hours with us to St. Anastasia and we played all afternoon and evening on the beach. It was my favorite beach experience ever because the water was warm. There was no shock to the system, at all. It was positively lovely. The kids got braver and braver which means they went deeper and deeper. They all got their fill, which was great. In fact, when we stopped at Wendy's for dinner they were wary of the french fries with sea salt. Both Jared and Mary said they had had enough sea salt for the day:) We had a GREAT visit with the Hyers and bid them a tearful farewell. We drove on to Orlando. The kids were mostly asleep which was a good because they didn't see any of the signs for …..:)

Big Trip Day 25: Swamp Day

We went to two different swamps today. They were beautiful, draped with moss and filled with the sounds of the local wildlife. We had too many snappy people of our own to see much in the way of gators. I'm sure they scattered long before we could spot them. We did get to see my nephew Joel's Eagle Scout Project, which was a boardwalk through one of the swamp areas. Elena took some beautiful pictures of the still water and mangrove trees (I think).

Between the swamps we had some back yard swimming, Hyer Famliy Band, Harry Potter watching and seriously yummy peach eating.

Big Trip Day 24: Church and Friends

We went to church with the Hyers. My kids reported they couldn't even understand some of the talks:)

The best part of Sunday was the chance to reconnect (in person) with a school friend of mine, Tamara Hardesty, and her family (husband Howard Hsu, children Hudson and Delancey). They live here also. Crazy, right? We talked and talked and laughed and laughed. It was so great to see her in her new life as a wife and mother. She said "How do make a liberal into a conservative?" I said I don't know. She said "Make them a parent." She was commenting on her own shifts in life. As she drove away in her mini-van, a very happy and devoted family woman, I imagined sowing her this future while in conservatory. She wouldn't have believed it.

Big Trip Day 23: Lovely Nothing

This day we rested, did a little food shopping, and spent time together. It was lovely and perfect. It was raining with lightening and thunder so the kids were sorely disappointed they couldn't play in the pool. They took it to the Lord and he provided them about a two-hour window in which to play. The farmers are praying for rain, after all. We also watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I. I realized my little ones don't remember the story, which will be essential to enjoying a certain Wizarding Adventure one day later this week. Got to get a little mini-marathon going here to get the prepped.

Big Trip Day 22: Mount Vernon and DRIVING

I had really wanted to experience Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate. It was outside the city and on our way South. We spent several hours there and wished we could spend more. I loved seeing his home an his work ethic, care and concerns evidenced there. He was an exceptional man. I have always been sad he died only two years after he resigned what could have been his Kingship. The two most impressive things I saw there were : 1) the site maps in over 10 languages, 2) the key to the recently destroyed Bastille prison that Lafayette and sent to Washington as a tribute. They are both evidence of the world-wide, generation-bridging impact George Washington had on the earth.

Jared is pictured on a 'ha-ha wall.' Ingenious George built them around the property as kind of fences so the animals couldn't get close to the house. They suppose they are named so because people couldn't see them fell down, "ha, ha." We are sitting in front of the mansion. They were greatly hospitable people. They hosted 607 people the year after his last term.

Next we gritted our teeth, cancelled our Richmond VA hotel reservation, and drove through the night to get to my sister Maren's home in Georgia. With traffic and stops we arrived at 5:30 a.m. and were promptly put to bed.

Big Trip Day 21: DC in a Day

Our hotel is frightening. Seriously, it has a bullet proof front desk. They didn't give us the rooms we paid for. Instead we had two smoking rooms with a King size bed each. Going to raise some @#$% about that one.

As we got into town it became clear that the children had reached a saturation point with touring. They were so naughty we decided to see what we could see in a day and leave early. Here is what we squeezed in: Archives (Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc.), White House Visitors Center, Air & Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Washington Monument, Lincoln Monument. We were dragging to be sure but we were also done enough to move on.

A few funny pix, Jared and Enoch outside the FBI office and Arlene singing and dancing on the "stage" she found. She said , "oh, a stage!" and commenced a performance:)

Big Trip Day 20: Sights and Lion King

We started with a long anticipated ......ride in a taxi. The kids have seen it so much in the movies and longed to have that experience. We had to comply. We cabbed from the parking garage to have a picnic lunch in Central Park. I wanted the kids to see it is beautiful and not the scary place the movies paint it to be. We walked down through Colombus Circle, past Radio City Music Hall, to Rockefeller Center. We had a very short visit with my former Rockfeller & Co. friends and then marched on to a surprise adventure.

As we were walking I started to give the kids clues or point out billboards so by the time we got to the theatre a bunch of the had figured it out. We had been listening to the cd in the car as a preparation. The show was amazing. The kids loved it and cheered in all the right places. As we finished up and started to leave I burst into tears again. I am tied to this place and....I'm not done here.

We went home to Josh and Jill's (she is out of town at her family reunion) to eat a quick dinner and delicious sugar free strawberry ice cream he was kind enough to make us. As you can see, we completely filled-up there apartment to the rim. Then, it was on to DC.