The Mother of All Trips

Over the course of 2 1/2 weeks, we (by 'we' I mean me, my mom, and the 6 kids) visited 19 states, drove 6,365 miles, visited lots of wonderful old friends, saw over a dozen historical sites, and generally just had a fabulous experience.

Beware that just reading this post will probably be exhausting, though.. :)

First stop: Denver, CO, with a visit to our old house, "Sam-and-Ben's park" (complete with Sam and Ben!), Dinner and bedtime stories with the Smith's (thank you!), and a visit with our dear friends the Tillemann-Dick's.









Then we drove straight through to Washington, DC - over 2400 miles from home! We went on a tour of the Capitol, a visit to the White House, the National Archives, the Smithsonian (and of course the carousel), and a visit to my aunt Teri in Virginia.



















We left Grandma in DC for her work conference and headed to New York City. All summer long while Jason was working in Manhattan, Micaela wanted desperately to go to the Statue of Liberty. So we took the ferry from the Jersey side and had the craziest 4 hours of the trip. I'm glad we did it, but I probably wouldn't do it again without additional adults and multiple strollers.. But the kids loved it, and security didn't kick us out. What more can you ask for?

















We took a wrong turn coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel and got to see the Empire State Building up close!



Then it was straight up to New Hampshire to stay with the wonderful Jones family, who seriously should be officially sainted for hosting us for 4 days and nights! (Thank you!) The kids had a blast together - we played in leaves, went apple picking/pumpkin jumping.. :) and back to the old Sachem playground. The last time Micaela was there, she was 3 years old! While we were in New Hampshire, we were so happy to be able to see the Wards (we were just in time for Hadlie's birthday!) and the Kemps (thank you, too!), the Joseph Smith Memorial, Dartmouth campus, and some of our old stomping grounds.



























Still hanging in there? We're about half done! :)
We said a fond farewell to our dear friends in New Hampshire and drove down to meet Grandma in Pennsylvania. We had a fun and very educational time there - this stop alone counts for at least a few months of American history homeschooling! We visited Valley Forge and got to be revolutionary war soldiers for the day, then marched over to downtown Philadelphia to visit the Betsy Ross house, the Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.

























Next we drove through NYC for the third time and I took this picture on the GW bridge - isn't it weird?



Just thought I'd throw that in there. Anyway, our next stop was Cape Cod and the Plimoth Plantation. Since our Bradford family hails from William Bradford and all those Mayflower types, we went to meet our long-lost ancestor (played by some unsuspecting Bostonian who didn't know he was about to meet his namesake 14 generations hence.. William Bradford met William Bradford Merrill. They were both very impressed..) :) We climbed aboard the Mayflower II, saw the oh-so-exciting Plymouth Rock, then got some clam chowder and took it to the beach. After all the hours in the car and trying to be on their best manners at historical sites (notice I said 'trying'), the kids were ecstatic to be running free around the beach, splashing in the freezing water and chasing sea gulls. Oh, and I love this picture of William pushing big brother Andrew..















Since we couldn't get much farther east than Cape Cod, we decided it was time to start heading west again. Most of the return trip was spent doing a church history tour. Our stop in Palmyra, NY, was amazing. We visited the Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove, and took a tour of Joseph Smith's family home. We also got to know the Palmyra police dept since I locked my keys in the car with Joseph and Andrew inside. Nice one. Aside from our run-in with the kind people of the Palmyra PD, we had a spiritually uplifting visit.. :)









Brave Grandma - we love you!















Then of course we had to go to Niagara Falls!





Safety's always our top concern..


By this point we were ready to drive straight home, but we stopped in Nauvoo and Winter Quarters to get the full church history experience, and we're so glad we did. In Nauvoo we got to ride a real covered wagon, oxen and all, and see the rebuilt Nauvoo Temple. Winter Quarters has an amazing monument, with a small temple built on the same plot as the cemetery where the early pioneers are buried. The visitors center there has great things for the kids to do - dress up as pioneers, pull a handcart, the works.













We stayed in at least a dozen hotels..


We saw amazing stretches of our country, complete with beautiful sunsets..


and lots of these - the kids were fascinated with them..


This guy


and this little guy


were both angels, which really made the trip enjoyable for all. Thank you, thank you, Grandma for making this trip possible for all of us! And thank you to all our dear friends who housed us, fed us, put up with our chaos, and still loved us when we left! If you ever have the chance to take a 7000 mile trip back and forth across this great country of ours, I highly recommend it. :)