Back home again

7:23 a.m. - An early morning, and FATHER'S DAY!!!

We love this man, and are so grateful to him for everything he does for us--including driving halfway across the country so he can take us on great vacations!

8:08 a.m. - hitting Kentucky!

10:24 a.m. - Newport, KY

Bridges make cool pictures!  Google Photos helped me out with this one a little.

10:25 a.m. - Crossing the Ohio River into Cincinnati, Ohio

12:34 p.m. - We stopped for lunch at Culver's in Brownsburg, Indiana.

1:02 p.m. - back in the Land of Lincoln

2:10 p.m. - There's our little village!

I washed up all the shells I collected this morning...

And my souvenir mugs...

This one was "free" with a coupon.

I got this mug at Duck Donuts, and some wonderful loose leaf teas from The Spice and Tea Exchange in Duck as well--Rooiboos Chai, and Peppermint Basil.

It's good to go on adventures, but there's no place like home!  So glad to be back!

On the road

We are on the road and heading for the coast!  After leaving Greenville early this afternoon...

3:54pm - zzzzzzzzz...

...by 4:10, we were heading through the beautiful Hoosier National Forest!

4:43pm - New Albany, IN

4:44pm - heading into Louisville, KY

6:32pm - still along I-64 in Kentucky...

So pretty...

8:31pm - Cattletsburg, KY Oil Refinery

Giant flame shooting into the sky repeatedly...

8:34pm - entering WEST VIRGINIA

8:45pm - We arrived in Huntington, WV.  We were a little nervous to stay here--both because we've read/heard about the opioid crisis in this city, and because the Super8 hotel we were planning to stay at was on the edge of a cliff!

We got checked in, and this was the view out one window of our room...

Sylvia and me, waiting for everyone to get refreshed before going to get some supper at the only place still open near us--Wendy's.

It was difficult for me to get a picture that showed how scary it was that this hotel was on the edge of a cliff!  This is looking up at the hotel (beyond the restaurant in the foreground) from the parking lot of the Wendy's down below...

Going home

It was a lovely morning in Franklin.

When we woke up and looked out the window, we saw Centennial High School.  It looks very nice.  The kids noticed they have a separate building for fine arts! 

We had a nice breakfast at the hotel, then headed up to Opry Mills Mall in Nashville. We arrived quite a bit before the mall opened, so we sat in the car for a while, then went in to walk around a bit, got some Starbucks, and then split up.  We had come here 2 years ago with Larry and Ruth, and the girls were on a mission to get some new Converse for school. 

Caeden and I hit the LEGO store.

 

Happy shoppers.  They are all set for going back to school now!

We hit Kentucky just after noon.

And caught sight of the big cross in Effingham, Illinois by 4:45.

Oak Ridge Boys got us to 6:15.

Gettin' a little slap-happy going into Gibson City to pick up pizza around 6:45.

Even through our dirty windshield, we were happy to see those windmills outside of Saybrook, because they meant we were close to home.

Home sweet home.

What sweet memories and blessings. Thankful heart here tonight.

On the road home

 Caeden was up fairly early having engineering discussions with Larry.  He showed him CAD drawings he's working on for a garage and a guitar.  He and Ruth have encouraged Caeden so much in the short time we've been with them on our stops through, and it has had such an impact!

Checking out the awesome microwave drawer...

Caeden had fun playing ball with Otis.  He is kind of like a seal with that beach ball!  (Otis, that is--not Caeden.)

Otis is ready for his morning walk!

WE are so grateful to Larry and Ruth for allowing us to stay with them!  It was a wonderful part of our trip!

We were out the door about 9am, and stopped shortly down the road to get another taste at WAFFLE HOUSE.  (They are all over in the south, but we don't have them in Illinois. Gotta make the most of it while we can!)

Our server Kendall was great at his job and very nice.  We enjoyed hearing him call off our order for the cooks.

Mmmmm!

That was a super quick stop--less than half an hour!  Back on the road, our GPS says we still have a ways to go...

Heading into Nashville...Ruth told us to look for the "Batman building."  It's actually the AT&T building, but it does look like batman.

 We took a different way home this time, because we wanted to avoid construction we saw on the interstates on our way down.  We took the Pennyrile Parkway for a while.  I just thought it sounded cool!

 

Crofton, Kentucky

Around noon, Jeremy asked where we wanted to eat lunch.  I was quite full from all the waffles and said I just wanted a salad.  Annah drew one for me.

Big smoke stacks coming into the industrial area of Sebree and Robards, Kentucky...

Cool bridges in Henderson...

We hit the Indiana line around 2pm.

 It's not a great picture, but we were in awe of this high school building in Scott, Indiana.

It has been fun to see a tiny bit more of our country.  This is near Charleston, Illinois.

We didn't get all of the states in our license plate game, but we did get a lot.  We were really surprised to see Alaska and Hawaii plates!  AND we plates from Guam, 2 from Mexico, and 2 from Canada.

 We listened to some iTunes radio--a variety of stations, some For King and Country, Rend Collective,  Crowder, and one of the kids' favorites right now...

When we hit Bellflower, we realized we were behind friends!

Almost there...and still smiling!

Well, most of us are smiling.  

Heading into Saybrook!

Getting a little stir-crazy less than 10 miles from home when Daddy stops to buy milk...

 God bless this man for driving all those miles!!! 

Home sweet home...

Coming into Arrowsmith...

About 5:30pm

Best. Road. Trip. Ever.

After we unload the car, the girls dug into their shopping spoils and took tags and stickers off things so I could start laundry.

This guy went straight for the Legos.  Of course.

And Jeremy mowed the lawn.

We all loved the trip and the fun of the surprise and the traveling and the beach and the ocean and the shopping and the eating and the friends and the time together and all the blessings.  We are thankful and grateful and will never forget it!