Giant Road Trip of 2013 -- Part Three (**Revised**)

**Somehow this posted with just pictures 
and not all the content I wrote. 

Grr...... 

Let's see if I can recreate what I wrote.**

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When the end of a vacation approaches I tend to have mixed feelings. Part of me is looking forward to getting home and sleeping in my own bed, the other part hates the thought of getting home and facing a mountain of laundry and Hubby back at work and I don't get to see my friends and family any more.

But then there's this blog where I get to drag out my posts about the trip and re-live the whole thing.

You're welcome

We left the beach house on Friday morning. I was glad all the Little Ones were awake so I could give them all kisses good-bye.

We took a different route on our trip back home so we could squeeze in a few more visits.

Our stop on Friday was to visit my cousins who live in Eastern Tennessee. (Loudon.) I hadn't been there to see them for 34 years (I've seen them at family events over the years). Hubby never had been to that part of Tennessee.

My aunt and uncle farmed there on an old farm.  My uncle passed away 24 years ago. (My aunt remarried a few years ago at age 82 (!) and lives in Florida.) My cousins live in this house.

The house was built in 1845. There are a couple of chunks out of the bricks around the front porch that happened during a Civil War battle.

My relatives have lived here since 1957. But just think that before they lived there, there had been over 100 years of history there already! Mind boggling.

The views from the house are breathtaking. (It was beginning to get dark and had been raining, so the pictures are a little dull.)

A very, very long time ago, this building was slave quarters.

A cherished photo of my sweet cousins and me. These two have an older sister who is the oldest cousin on my dad's side of the family. I am the youngest. I am so blessed to be related to these two Southern Ladies.

We enjoyed a few hours of talking, looking at a few pictures, and laughing.  We shared memories, family stories and had fun talking about our grandparents.



(As we were planning our vacation, this stop was all Hubby's idea. He gets a Gold Star for that!)

The next day we stopped in Nashville for a long lunch with some friends. We know them from the previous Minnesota town we lived in. It was good to spend time with them at catch up on each others lives. We miss our friends.

We were delayed getting into Nashville because of slow traffic. (You know -- one of those traffic jams that when it finally breaks up, there is no obvious reason for the slow down.) So, because of that delay, we were just a smidge too late for a stop later in the day at The National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky. (I was wanting to look around in the gift shop some.) It closed at 5pm and we got there at 5:05pm. Phooey. I was sad.

Saturday night was in St. Louis, then Sunday morning, we drove through northeast Missouri on up into Iowa. Sunday afternoon was a quick stop at my in-law's house. They are getting ready to sell their house and move into an apartment. (More on that later.) We picked up a few things, had a nice visit, then finished our last leg home.

It was a wonderful vacation. I was worried I would be stressed with having to get up early to get on the road so many mornings, but I really wasn't. (Maybe it helped that we were seeing friends or family at the end of most days?) We passed the time in the car listening to a couple of audio books. One book I really liked (a John Grishan novel) the other not so much (about WW2 battles). We also took notice of the license plates on the cars around us and wrote down all the different states. We found 43 states and The District of Columbia and 2 Canadian provinces. (Remember doing that as a kid?)

Ten days. 3,301 miles. Thirteen States. Five hotels. Good memories.

Giant Road Trip of 2013 -- Part Two

For Part One of our Giant Road Trip of 2013 click here.

Before we left the Raleigh area, we strategically spent the night near a mall I wanted to shop at on Monday morning. You know me, living in a small town, I take advantage of shopping whenever I can!

We needed to pick up a gift for a sweet little girl (my niece's little girl) who was turning three in a few days. We picked her up some LEGOS. She smiled when she opened it and said "thank you!" very sweetly. 

Hubby captured a great series of pictures of the new three year old trying to blow out her birthday candle. I made a little collage of the series. You can see the flame flickering and her little cousin trying to help.

I just love her face in the last picture when she realized there was victory! 

The next several days we hung out at the beach with the majority of my family in this house::

With views on the outside like this:

And views on the inside like this:

It was very difficult to get a good picture of these three great-nieces of mine when we were playing together. They were wiggly and being tickled by their great-uncle and therefore -- blurry photos! :)

There were three babies in addition to these three. After we left somehow they managed to get all Six of The Littles on a couch for a photo:

(The two babies on either side of the girl in the purple shirt are twins.) (Photo credit: my niece. She graciously let me "borrow" this photo and the next.)

While I think the photo of The Six Littles is adorable, this photo is hilarious:

 (My niece calls this one, The Paparazzi.) (It looks like a twin is getting her diaper changed on the left there.) (The quilt on the floor is one of two I made for my sister.)

We had really good food while we were at the beach house: grilled tuna steaks, roasted broccoli, a shrimp boil., went out for shrimp burgers and my brother made these amazing wings on the 4th of July:

One more post to warp up our trip.....

Giant Road Trip of 2013 -- Part One

Sunday night Hubby and I returned from what I dubbed Giant Road Trip of 2013.

3,301 miles and thirteen states to be exact. I think that qualifies as Giant, don't you?

Our destination was the beach in North Carolina. My sister and brother-in-law own a house on the beach and my extended family was gathering there for parts of the first two weeks of July. We debated about flying out there, but decided on driving and stopping to see friends along the way.

As I look through my list of Facebook friends, sometimes I have to stop and think about which "life" do I know that person from. Was it College? Childhood? Family? When we lived in Iowa? Kansas? Missouri? Singapore? Minnesota? Needless to say, we have friends and family spread out all over the country.

Hubby mapped out a few possible routes, we thought about who we knew where and sent out emails to college friends, family and old friends. Only one visit didn't work out because of a special family outing they had planned for their special needs son. (We thought it was best to let the family have their time with him.)

So the last Friday in June, we hit the road and drove until quite late that night. We "waved" at our parents as we drove through their towns (we'd see them later), and made a stop at my (other) sister's house to use the clean non-public bathroom. ;)

Saturday we were up at at 'em and on the road to our destination to western Pennsylvania to visit our best friends from college whom we hadn't seen for 10 years. He was Hubby's roommate and a groomsman in our wedding and she was a very close friend and my personal attendant for our wedding. We were all four very good friends in college.

I can't even describe how good it was to see these people! So encouraging to see how God has built our marriages, how our faith has grown and what our kids are up to.

After a delicious dinner, we said goodbye way too soon and headed on down the road for our second night in a hotel.

The next day took us through Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia and North Carolina. This mid-westerner finds it a little crazy to drive through so many states in one day. And can I say that the traffic through the DC area is more than a bit nuts? We were thankful to have GPS that kept us up to date on the traffic patterns. We also spent time listening to one of our favorite CDs that is full of hymns. Selah - Greatest Hymns. So appropriate for a Sunday on the road.

In order to maximize our time on the road and to avoid fast food, we packed a cooler full of sandwich fixings and snacks. That worked out very well. I must say, Hubby is a master at driving and munching on a sandwich.

That evening we ended up in the Raleigh, NC area to see some friends from the town we lived in before here. These friends moved away seven years ago and five years ago their beloved daughter was killed in a car accident. We have longed to see them for such a long time. They treated us to yummy North Carolina barbecue. We were so encouraged to be with them and to hear about the journey they have been on. 

Sadly, we forgot all about getting a picture of all of us. 

Trip story to be continued....

Babies

I've been busy watching,  holding and playing with babies and toddlers.  Such fun!

The Last Day

One last day at sea.

I don't know about the rest of my family, but when I woke up that last day of the cruise, I felt quite sad. Sad to have to go home to the cold. Sad to not have my bathroom cleaned for me a couple of times a day. Sad to have to cook my own food. Sad to say goodbye to the good times with my family.

I decided I didn't want to be in the sun at all. Hubby and I had breakfast with my mom and dad, then found places around the ship to read. We even tried to win a five carat sapphire. Grin. (We didn't win, of course. I never win anything.) We saw the movie Argo in the big theater on the ship.  (Missed the first fifteen minutes because of the aforementioned effort to win jewelry.) We both enjoyed the movie. We were college students when those events (American hostages in Iran) unfolded. We remembered bits and pieces of it, but mostly we were oblivious college students.

At our last dinner together, the wait staff honored my mom and dad's anniversary with a yummy piece of cake. (Mom and Dad passed it around for us all to get a taste.)

I just loved the smiles on my parents' face all week long!

Allan, our waiter, posing for a picture.

The fancy dessert for that night was Baked Alaska. The waitstaff made a big production of bringing the Baked Alaskas into the dining room. (I didn't get a decent photo of that so I won't subject you to the blurriness.) (Your welcome.)

Hubby joked about getting the half a cake that was left over and Allan, the waiter, jokingly put the serving plate in front of him. We had a good laugh.

After dinner we all went to the show in the big theater. The entertainer was an impressionist and was quite funny.

Most of us spent the rest of the evening getting our bags repacked. The cruise people collected the luggage from the hallway overnight so we didn't have to drag them off the ship. We claimed them in a warehouse after we disembarked. We were given colored-coded tags to put on the luggage. The luggage is then arranged in the warehouse according to color. Makes it pretty simple to find the luggage!

Once off the ship and through customs, we waited for a shuttle to take us to the airport. It was sunny and pretty warm (hello Florida). I was dressed in jeans (because I knew what I was flying back to) and wanted to wait in the shade. Hubby stood in the sun and motioned for me when the shuttle came.

Once off the shuttle came the usual: find the right line at the airport, get your boarding pass, pay a stupid amount for luggage (Hello -- who would travel with no luggage? I find that fee ridiculous), hold you breath as they weigh your luggage (we sneaked by with only two or three pounds to spare), figure out where the security check point is, stand in line, undress (well almost) to go through the metal detector, be annoyed with TSA, find your gate, then wait.

(Good grief! No wonder flying stresses me out!)

I sat down to drink some (stupidly expensive) water and call my son and Hubby went to get us some pizza. As I was talking, I saw my brother-in-law walk by! He and my sister were flying back to central Illinois. We sat and talked with them until it was time for us to board.

Once at the proper altitude, I plugged into my iPod and listened to one of my favorites: Christy Nockles. Hubby was laughing at me because I was lip-syncing to beat the band. ;) (At least I wasn't singing out loud!)

I had the shade on my window down most of the flight but opened it as I felt the plane descending into Minneapolis. Hubby and I looked out and groaned. We saw snow everywhere. What a let down!

We had a fabulous week and have both stated that we think my parents' were genius to come up with this idea of all of us helping them celebrate their 60 years of marriage by inviting all of us to go on a cruise with them.

THANKS MOM AND DAD!

The Anniversary Day

The last two days of the cruise we were at sea making our way back to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

Thursday

Thursday we enjoyed a yummy breakfast in one of the sit-down restaurant on the ship with my sister, brother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law. We breakfast in that dining room the last three mornings on the ship. Different family members joined us. The food was outstanding and the service was even better. I loved the waiters walking around saying "Morning!" so cheerfully and offering muffins or pastries from their trays. The food was plentiful and made me want to eat a light lunch. (Which was actually quite doable at the buffet. I would fill my plate up 2/3 with lettuce and veggies.)

(The first morning we went to this dining room, it was just me and the hubby.  The hostess asked if we wanted to join a table or be seated by ourselves. We said by ourselves. This introverted-not-morning-person had a mini panic attack at the thought of eating breakfast with strangers and having to make conversation. So glad we had the option!) (ha)

Thursday late morning, Hubby and I  donned our suits and headed for one of the pools. This ship had several. On went the sunscreen and out came the book/Kindle. We both took a dip in the pool. So refreshing! I think I lasted all of one hour. I get bored laying in the sun and I am way past wanting to have a tan.

My sister is in this photo.

Hubby was sweet and got me a couple of glasses of water to keep me hydrated.

After lunch, (where we ran into more family members!) I showered and took a lovely nap. Hubby went back to the pool and read a bunch.

That evening was a formal night for dinner. Which means we had to dress up all fancy like. It was neat that one of the formal nights coincided with the actual date of my parents' 60th anniversary! Dad asked us all to meet early so we could have some photos taken of us. (You wouldn't believed all the photographers that are all over the place on a cruise: When you get on the ship, getiing off the ship at the ports of call, before dinner, during dinner...)

This was a perfect opportunity to have a professional photo taken of all of us. We were all together and we were all dressed up.

(I was reminded of my grandma and how she always wanted to take a picture of us grandkids when we were dressed up for church. She would beg for us to wait and change out of our Sunday clothes until she could get a picture of us.)

I scanned into my computer the photos we ended up buying. This one is of my two sister, my brother, my parents and me.

I don't think my parents look like they've been married for 60 years. They were a mere 21 on their wedding day!

Here's a picture of us all with our spouses:

Aren't we fancy? :)

We had dinner that night in a very nice Italian restaurant on the ship. Such a fun evening we all had!

We are waiting outside the restaurant

Sister, Mom, Sister-in-law, Brother

Dad

I took a  picture of the appetizers on the menu because there was Calamari on it and I though the description  was humorous. "Baby Squid in a Cone."

Interestingly, we were given these as a complimentary treat. I tried it and even liked it! (The only other time I have had calamari was in Singapore and it was very chewy and not very good. Our Singaporean friend called it Chinese Chewing Gum. ha.)

And now, I have just got to get some food photos in here.

Nine out of ten of us ordered this Lobster dish. So funny!

In keeping with the theme of a cruise that you don't have to do anything for your self, the waiters took the lobster out of the shell for us.

The waiter saw me taking a picture and decided to ham it up for the photo.

My dessert. A citrus tart. YUM!

Here's Mom and Sister checking out the M&Ms we gave everyone. (I posted about those here.)

The wait staff brought Mom and Dad a piece of chocolate cake and sang to them:::

I just love the huge smile my mom has on her face. :D

After dinner we changed into comfy clothes (come on -- we can only pretend to be fancy for a while before we go back to our "normal" selves!) , and we all converged on my mom and dad's stateroom. It was cozy for sure to have ten of us crammed in there.

We shared cards and notes and talked for a while. Dad shared how the two of them becoming Christians made a huge difference in their dating relationship. This verse describes why:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:The old has gone, the new is here! 

2 Corinthians 5:17

Because of Christ, they have a marriage that has lasted 60 years.

I have seen this verse displayed in their house, but until last week, I didn't know why it is significant to my parents.

One more post about the cruise to come.....

One Happy Island

Wednesday of the cruise was spent in Aruba. The motto for Aruba is One Happy Island. I think it would be difficult to not be happy while you are there. It is one beautiful place!

See how excited Hubby is for our day? He's checking out the map.

We traveled around on a bus and were able to see quite a bit of the island.  It was a pretty hot day and the bus we were on didn't have a very good working air conditioner. Thankfully the driver made arrangements for us to switch buses for one that was much cooler. I still was pretty darn hot and sweaty by the time I got back to the ship. (But I still say it beats the cold dreary winter weather of the Not So Great White North.

Our driver was quite chatty and took us all over the place to see rock formations....

Hi Hubby!

 the north shore...

 an old light house...

It was so flipping bright when we were at the lighthouse, I couldn't see what the screen on the back of my camera was showing. One photo was a bit crooked:

Aruba is considered a dessert island. I was surprised to hear that. But there were cactus all over the place:

 I think my favorist (is that a word?) stop for the day was at an ostrich and emu farm.

Two toes.

Ostriches sure are odd creatures. I tell ya, God has quite the imagination!

I think this guy was in time out. He never left the corner. All the other ostriches were very curious and came to look at whoever was nearby.

My only disappointment for the day was that we really didn't have time for shopping. Our excursion was supposed to include that, but there just wasn't time.

(And I need to throw in here something I want to remember when I read back through this someday down the road.)
As the bus driver was making his way back to the cruise ship, I was watching out the window and spotted something that made me very excited. So much so I smacked Hubby and said, "Look! Look!" There was a restaurant called Delifrance. This was a restaurant that was in Singapore. We have a joke in our family about Delifrance. One Christmas when we were living in Singapore, I was out shopping for a present for Hubby. He called me at lunchtime and asked where I was. I thought that if I told him which mall I was in, he would guess what I was shopping for. I happened to be eating lunch at a Delifrance and was looking at the paper place-mat that listed all of the outlets on the island (of which there were more than 40) So I told him I was at Delifrance, knowing he would have no idea where exactly I was. To this day when one of us is somewhere we don't want anyone else to know (likely because of shopping for a gift) we just tell others we are at Delifrance, which is code for none-of-your-business.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled program....

After dinner we wandered around the ship and looked in some shops. We went to a show in the big theater on board. We did that several nights and heard a comedian and a couple of different impressionists. After the show, we ended up in a lounge listening to a piano player and entertainer. He was quite good. One of my sisters and her hubby were in the same lounge. Still kind of interesting how, on such a big ship, we could run into family unplanned.


More to come...