Westward Ho!
Time to try catching up a bit, although I suspect it will take a while to do so - we're already on the fourth day of trying to get this posted!
In case you haven't figured it out yet, we had a long summer vacation. It was long in both duration (almost a month) and distance (about 7,000 miles). It also consisted of many long days, but they were all worth it. We started off bright and early one Monday morning, meeting the Scouts at the church at 4:15 AM, to make sure they got off to Scout Camp okay. Wayne was actually disappointed he couldn't go with them, but a son's wedding trumps Scout Camp.
Because we were going camping as part of our adventure, we took the big van. That meant Steven and Michelle got to travel in comfort, each with their own bench seat.
First stop was the Lodge Factory Outlet outside Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's a fun place to visit, although this time the clearance section was pretty bare. Smith & Edwards was a better excursion, but more on that later.
There were plenty of other stops as well, and our handy-dandy picnic supplies served us well. We also discovered that planning ahead and finding a Little Caesar's around dinner-time is a very frugal dinner option for when you're tired of ham sandwiches. 
Instead of making the trip all in one chunk, like we did last year, we actually had a couple of overnight stops. First was at a hotel that not only included breakfast in the price, but dinner as well. (Wayne's a good bargain hunter.) Even at that, Michelle just wanted her own cup-a-soup, because she wasn't feeling well enough for egg rolls and chicken wings. She was feeling well enough, however, to check Facebook on the computer in the lobby! The second night we stayed with Wayne's brother and his family. Steven and Michelle joined their cousins at Mutual that evening and learned how to play Water Softball - a great activity for a hot summer night.
That's it for now, but there's plenty more to come :)
In case you haven't figured it out yet, we had a long summer vacation. It was long in both duration (almost a month) and distance (about 7,000 miles). It also consisted of many long days, but they were all worth it. We started off bright and early one Monday morning, meeting the Scouts at the church at 4:15 AM, to make sure they got off to Scout Camp okay. Wayne was actually disappointed he couldn't go with them, but a son's wedding trumps Scout Camp.
Because we were going camping as part of our adventure, we took the big van. That meant Steven and Michelle got to travel in comfort, each with their own bench seat.First stop was the Lodge Factory Outlet outside Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's a fun place to visit, although this time the clearance section was pretty bare. Smith & Edwards was a better excursion, but more on that later.There were plenty of other stops as well, and our handy-dandy picnic supplies served us well. We also discovered that planning ahead and finding a Little Caesar's around dinner-time is a very frugal dinner option for when you're tired of ham sandwiches. Instead of making the trip all in one chunk, like we did last year, we actually had a couple of overnight stops. First was at a hotel that not only included breakfast in the price, but dinner as well. (Wayne's a good bargain hunter.) Even at that, Michelle just wanted her own cup-a-soup, because she wasn't feeling well enough for egg rolls and chicken wings. She was feeling well enough, however, to check Facebook on the computer in the lobby! The second night we stayed with Wayne's brother and his family. Steven and Michelle joined their cousins at Mutual that evening and learned how to play Water Softball - a great activity for a hot summer night.Someone likes driving until the gas light comes on. That gives you the opportunity to find obscure little gas stations out in the middle of nowhere - like this one in Kansas.
We had to do some major convincing, but when we left Park, Michelle was driving. She had a chance to set a personal land/speed record, making it all the way to 70 MPH before pulling into the next rest area 40 miles down the road. She did great, but was in no hurry to try it again.
Steven had a turn to drive as well, and enjoyed navigating us through this long tunnel in Colorado.
The drive was long, but made enjoyable by the beautiful scenery.
And we made it to Utah!
We had to do some major convincing, but when we left Park, Michelle was driving. She had a chance to set a personal land/speed record, making it all the way to 70 MPH before pulling into the next rest area 40 miles down the road. She did great, but was in no hurry to try it again.
Steven had a turn to drive as well, and enjoyed navigating us through this long tunnel in Colorado.
The drive was long, but made enjoyable by the beautiful scenery.
And we made it to Utah!
That's it for now, but there's plenty more to come :)
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