Road Trip Overview!

One way to judge how well a road trip went is to see how much everybody likes each other after it is over. I had never gone on a long road trip before this month. I had gone on one or two days trips, but this was an 18 day trip from Washington to Washington, D.C. Technically it is not quite over for Hubby and me as we have yet to return to our own little home. We are currently spending a couple of days at his parents' home and then we are head to my parents' home for a bit. This part of the trip is definitely more relaxing, at least for me. Well, enough babbling about the present! I will be writing about each day more in depth, but I need to outline it just to remember what all we did! We did so much that it was starting to blur together! Here is the outline:

Day 1: Drive to my aunt's house in northern Idaho.

Day 2: Play in my aunt's studio, then head to Washington to pick up Ru and go on a double date.

Day 3: Spend day playing with Hubby's nieces and nephews, watch funny Youtube videos with Hubby's sisters and brother-in-law.

Day4: Leave early in the morning and drive to Utah to pick up B.

Day 5: Pack up the car and start heading east

Day 6: Arrive in Kirtland, Ohio. Get back in car and drive to Niagara Falls. Spend the night in New York at a stranger's house.

Day 7:Go to church and meet B's future brother-in-law. Get back in car. Drive to Palmyra, New York to visit church history sites. Get back in car. Drive to my former roommate's house outside of Boston. Sleep.

Day 8: Go to Boston. Walk the Freedom Trail and wear out feet. Get back in car. Drive to Lexington. See the Lexington Green and visitor center. Get back in car. Drive to Concord. Fall in love with the beautiful country full of historical and literary importance. Get in car. Drive through NYC. Panic! Get lost! Find way after driving through town told to avoid by Jersey friend. Arrive safely at friend's house in Jersey. Eat. Sleep.

Day 9: Wake up. Eat Breakfast. Borrow GPS and follow friend's dad into NYC. Arrive a parking garage. Go with friend to Central Park, Columbus Square, Times Square, and about town. Part ways with friend. Get on subway, make acquaintance with a nice French woman and her two young boys, go to Battery Park, eat hotdogs, go to Wall Street, World Trade Center Site, get map at the Hilton, go to seaport, see Brooklyn Bridge, then go to chinatown. Worn out and tired return to car, start driving back to friend's house in New Jersey, run out of gas, get ice cream while waiting to be rescued, get rescued, eat dinner, go to bed.

Day 10: Wake up, eat breakfast, and get back in car. Drive to Philedelphia. Visit Edgar Allen Poe's house; take creepy ghost pictures in creepy cellar. Go to Liberty Bell, eat a philly cheese steak sandwich, walk past Independence Hall, go to old Quaker meeting house, walk past Benjamin Franklin's grave, go to U.S. Mint, Betty Ross's house, Irish immigrant memorial, see submarine at sea harbor, forget where parked, find car, drive to Hubby's cousin's house. Sleep.

Day 11: Wake up, eat breakfast. Get back in car, drive to Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. Explore the fort. Get in car, stop for lunch and grocery stor deli, drive to Hubby's sister's sister-in-law's house in Virginia. Visit, sleep.

Day 12: Wake up. Eat breakfast burritos, borrow GPS, get in car, drive to metro. Ride metro into D.C., arrive one hour early for tour of the capital, wait, tour Capital Building, go to Holocaust Museum, eat lunch/dinner, go to WWII memorial, soak feet. Get back on metro, get lost in the parking garage, finally find the correct exit out of the garage, head back to R family house, do laundry, visit, sleep.

Day 13: Wake up, eat bagels, borrow GPS, go to metro station, ride metro into D.C., make acquaintances with a history buff, his father, and his little boy, have an interesting conversation about the Free Masons, get off metro, Go to the Natural History Smithsonian, meet up with Hubby's cousin at the Air and Space Smithsonian. Get on metro to go get some lunch, make friends with a Philippine woman who helped us get to the right station. Eat lunch. Get on metro, run into our new Philippine friend. Go back to Museum of Natural History, get kicked out when museum closes, go to Lincoln Memorial and Vietnam War Memorial. Get on metro, ask what is everyone's favorite kind of pie, make some new acquaintances, ride next to a drunk, get off metro, go bake to R's house, visit, go to bed.

Day 14: Wake up, go to church, head to Gettysburg, get sunburned, return back to R's house, visit, go to sleep.


Day 15: Wake up, eat bagels, head to D.C. for the last day, split up to park car and get tickets for the Washington Monument, meet up at the Smithsonian of American History, go to lunch, return to American History Smithsonian, get kicked out when in closed, get ice cream and hotdogs in the park, go up to the top on the Washington Monument, ask the park rangers and elevator operators what their favorite kinds of pie are,run into recent acquaintances from the metro, ask for biking tour guide for directions to nearest metro station and receive bad directions, ask directions again, get to metro station, get on metro, find out the favorite kinds of pies of the different people on the metro, find out we are on the wrong metro, get off, wait for what seems forever for the correct metro, go back to R's house, sleep.


Day 16: Wake up, pack up, eat bagels, get in car, drive


Day 17: Still driving, stop for nap, wake up, get McDonald's for breakfast, drive to Carthage, Illinois. Visit church sites there, get in car, drive to Nauvoo, Illinois. Go on a wagon ride, go to the Red Brick Store, go the the land and records office, get information on ancestors, go the brick makers, go to the blacksmith, go to the bakery, head to campground, set up tent and eat PB sandwiches from the hood of the car, go up to temple to see the sunset, return to camp, see a large toad, cram 4 people in a 3 person tent, go to sleep.

Day 18: Wake up, eat cold cereal, go to Nauvoo LDS temple and do some temple work. Go back to camp, pack up tent, get in car, drive

Day 19: still driving, arrive at Hubby's parent's house, eat breakfast, run some errands, fight technology, visit, and go to sleep.

Day 20: B and Ru and R pack up and move to their college apartments, Hubby goes to help his dad fix a swather, I order textbooks, do some homework for my online class, and write this.

Day 21: Go to church, get in car, visit my parents' home

Day 22: Spend the day with my mom and dad

Day 23: Arrive back at our own apartment! YAY!!!! Unpack, Sleep

Day 24: Recover, blog, and try new recipe