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Isaac wanted to stay on a lake in Canada. I originally thought Banff and the other Canadian Rocky Mountain National parks would be perfect, until I realized how expensive it would be to actually stay right on a lake there. So as much as I look forward to eventually visiting Banff, that trip will be saved for a couple's vacation at another time. I found Harrison Hot Springs literally by looking at a google map, finding a lake, and then researching the town. It is about an hour east of Vancouver, sits on Harrison Lake in the Fraser Valley, surrounded by the Cascade Mountains. We booked two rooms, and Matthew, Isaac and his girlfriend and I had planned a 4-day long weekend to the lake town. We had originally planned to fly into Vancouver, but flights were extremely expensive, so we booked into Seattle, rented a car and drove to Harrison Hot Springs. Doing so added a couple hours of drive time but saved us almost $1500 on flights. About two weeks prior to our vacation, Isaac and his girlfriend decided not to come due to a pretty serious surgery her mother had scheduled at the same time we'd be gone. So, it ended up just being Matthew and me, which was fine by us! Day 1: Travel Day We had a morning flight and were in the air by 9:30am, gaining 2 hours with the time difference. We landed in Seattle before noon and grabbed our car to start the drive north toward Canada. The drive was relatively uneventful. We stopped to eat at a Red Robin on the way. You could see the Cascade Mountains to the east, but there wasn't anything close enough to stop and enjoy. We stopped a couple times to stretch our legs. GPS took us on a ton of backroads when we got closer to the border, and the border patrol crossing point was very slow, taking at least 45 minutes to get through. Our 3.25-hour drive from Seattle ended up taking us close to 5.5 hours with our stops and delays. We checked into our hotel at 5:30pm. I had a room booked at The Harrison Grand Motel. It is right across the street from the lake. The accommodations were very small, but we enjoyed the location immensely and with what little time we spent in our room, it was perfect. The bed leaned slightly at the head, so it wasn't the most comfortable stay. The managers at the property were very friendly and eager to help with anything we may have needed. I will note, there is a small ice cream bar right next to the hotel. It may be affiliated, but I can't say so for sure. We never tried the ice cream here, and I highly recommend avoiding it. While sitting outside during our stay, we watched the gentleman working in the ice cream shop walk into the restroom wearing gloves. The same disposable gloves he was wearing when we walked from The Ice Cream Bar. He then came out of the restroom, still wearing the gloves and walked back to The Ice Cream Bar. It was enough to make us not consider getting anything from them during our stay. Once we checked in and dropped our luggage, we walked to the lake and admired the views. It was around 6pm at this time and the beach was extremely busy. We walked for a short time and then went to find dinner. The main road in Harrison Hot Springs has many restaurants to choose from. I have been on a wheat free diet for a couple of months now, but we had no problem finding items at all of the restaurants, so it wasn't an issue at all. Our first dinner was at a German Restaurant called Black Forest Restaurant. The food and service were both amazing. We each ordered a schnitzel (which we've never tried before) and sat outside enjoying the pleasant weather. After dinner we walked down the main street to check out where the trails we had planned to hike the next day began. We found the beginning and then turned around, spent a few minutes admiring the sunset over the lake, then went back to our room for the night. We were both exhausted from our long travel day. Day 2: Harrison Hot Springs Because we had a relatively early night the evening before, and we are used to a 2-hour time difference, we woke very early. Harrison Hot Springs sleeps in! The street were empty and everything was closed. The earliest we could get coffee was 7am, and there were only two options at this time. One was a restaurant and one a small coffee shop within Harrison Hot Springs Resort. We went to the coffee shop, called Miss Margaret's. We both ordered a coffee, and Matthew had a breakfast sandwich. Harrison Hot Springs Resort is at the far end of the main street. After their parking lot, the walking trail starts. Our plan was to take the Sandy Cove trail to Sandy Cove beach. You follow a gravel path along the lake which brings you to the hot spring source. You can't go in the hot springs here, because the temperatures vary and can reach dangerously high temperatures. However, you can see in a building filled with steam, which is where they pipe it into a community pool in the town from. There was a broken pipe which was in the process of being repaired when we visited. This resulted in hot spring water to be pooling pretty significantly, and we did walk by a woman lying in the hot springs. The trail to Sandy Cove is extremely hard to see but is just past the hot spring source. The start of the trail is basically a bunch of switchbacks up the side of a hill; with the only trail marker we saw on a tree around 15 feet up the hill. The trail is very rocky with a ton of roots. The beginning was a little strenuous, but once up, it levels off and the walk is pretty enjoyable. We didn't see a single other person on this trail. It  was beautiful, with dense forest growing on top of rocky cliffs on one side, and peaks of the lake on the other. There were ferns covering the ground and moss on the ground, trees and rocks.  You don't have the best views of the lake from the trail, but there are several areas that you can walk to, and the clearing is enough to see it. There is also a wastewater treatment that you can look down and see right from this trail. It was weird to have the treatment basically right on the lake like that. Once the elevation starts to decline, the trail splits. There are no trail markers, but if you continue straight and slightly left, you continue on to Whippoorwill Point. If you go right, you end up at Sandy Cove Beach. Or at least I think we ended up at Sandy Cove Beach. We guessed at whether or not to go right based on the direction of the lake, but again there is absolutely no sign markers. We made it to a beach regardless. It was a small sandy beach with dense forest completely surrounding it. We sat here for quite a while, enjoying the peaceful views. We were the only people here, though there were a couple of kayakers floating nearby in the water, and another couple did come to the beach just before we left. We walked in the water - it was so cold. The water temperature was only around 60 degrees when we looked it up. We walked back to the trail and talked about doing the Whippoorwill Point trail as well but decided to head back because there were other trails we wanted to do yet this day. The incline back up to the trail was worse going back, because it wasn't switchbacks, just straight up. It isn't terribly far but you can definitely feel a burn in your legs and lungs on the way up. When we passed the hot spring again, our curiosity got the best of us, and we stopped to touch the water. We didn't go in like the lady we saw lying in it, but we dipped our hands in. It wasn't unbearably hot to the point it burned us, but it was definitely warmer than would be comfortable sitting in. Our second trail of the day was Miami Bridges Trail. The map we had showed that we could start this at the Qwolts Park, which was on our way back into town. The trail is behind the Harrison Hot Springs Resort. When we arrived at the Qwolts Park everything was blocked off. So, we walked back past the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and walked around to the back of it. We could not find any trail, or even anywhere that a trail would make sense. I pulled up my phone and mapped it to the trailhead. GPS took us to an RV Park. It said it was private, but we decided to walk in and see if we could find the trail anyway. I was going to stop at the office and ask them, but it was closed, so we walked around the entire RV park and found no trail. We could see a bridge in the distance, but no idea how to reach it. We gave up on this trail and walked to the Sasquatch Museum. This is also the visitor's center. The museum has a few artifacts and a video explaining the Sasquatch Legend and where it came from as well as the history of Harrison Hot Springs. I asked the woman working in the visitor's center if she knew how we could access Miami Bridges Trail, and she informed us it was closed due to bridge integrity. We did a little souvenir shopping and then walked back to our hotel to change our shoes. I bought new hiking shoes, which I didn't allow any time to break in, and my feet were paying for it. We had lunch at Basecamp Burger Joint. The service here was really good. We arrived around 11:40, and they don't start service lunch until 12:00, so I ordered a coffee and we waited until we could order lunch. After we ate, we decided to drive to Bridal Veil Falls Provincial Park and walk the Bridal Veil Falls Trail. It is only a 20-minute drive to the parking area where the trailhead is located. This area was really busy. The trail itself is an easy walk on a well-maintained gravel trail. It is all an uphill incline on the way to the falls but was not difficult. Once you reach the viewing point you can look up at the gorgeous cascading waterfall. There are signs everywhere saying not to climb up the rocks closer to the fall, but a ton of people were, so we decided we would as well. The climb up after the trail ended was much more strenuous. Matthew actually had to help a woman that was struggling to get her footing on the way down. The incline was extremely steep, and the rock was loose making it easy to slip. But the view of the waterfall from here was worth the climb. It was magical being so close. After Bridal Veil Falls we drove back to Harrison Hot Springs and parked at the Spirit Trail Trailhead Parking area. Spirit Trail is located in the East Sector Lands area of Harrison Hot Spring. The trail is an easy loop, and connects to a longer Bridle Trail. We only walked Spriit Trail. A local artist has placed clay masks and other clay figures on trees throughout the trail. It was fun spotting the different faces, insects and animals we found along the way. We counted 71 total that we found along the trail, but there is no way to know if we found them all or possibly saw any twice, accidently duplicating their count. When Spirit Trail was completed, we drove back to our motel and put our bathing suits out. We decided to take a dip in the public mineral pool. Matthew is not a public pool, or any pool really, person. But even he enjoyed the experience. The pool is filled with hot spring water, pumped for the hot spring we saw on our walk, and then cooled to100 degrees. The facility itself isn't anything fancy, but it only cost $16/person to use the pool. Because of the Sulphur in the mineral water coming from the hot spring, and the higher temperature, it is recommended you soak for 10 minutes, then get out for at least 10 minutes. Sitting in the pool does make you feel a little drained. We went in twice and then decided it was enough. Once we left the mineral pool, we walked directly across the street and jumped in the cold lake. Because it was such a significant temperature difference, we just went for it, diving under to cool off. We didn't stay in long, it was a quick dip and then out. We went to our motel to shower, then walked to dinner at Old Settler Pub. The food here was ok, it wasn't great but not bad. The service was ok though, and we were able to sit outside again enjoying the nice evening. We found Sasquatch on our way back to our motel and swung into Picnic Cafe for some ice cream and mochas. Day 3: Hell's Gate and Hope This was the day we had originally planned to drive into Vancouver. After looking at different visitor guides and maps of the area, we decided to go east instead and visit recommended areas in the Fraser Valley. Vancouver would have been a wonderful visit, but we were in nature mode and didn't want to waste a day in a big city. We started with breakfast at Basecamp, then began our drive east toward Hell's Gate. It took us over an hour to get to Hell's Gate, with one stop at rest area in Yale. The drive out is beautiful. You pass through several tunnels through the mountains on the highway to Boston Bar. Hell's Gate actually refers to a narrowing on the Fraser River. It is located downstream from Boston Bar, a town we didn't make it to. You can't exit to the left off the highway, so you have to go past the tram and turn around. We didn't realize this is what GPS was having us do, or we would have turned around at a pull off, so instead we turned around at Tuckkwiowhum Heritage Village. The Hell's Gate Air Tram takes you across the river to a little tourist spot. It is a little cheesy, but it was still fun. You ride down into the canyon across the river. Once you get off there is a museum, gift store, restaurant, candy store and different signs with history of the area. The views of the river from here were great and you could walk a bridge across the river as well. We walked around for a bit and bought some candy and souvenirs and then took the tram back up to our car. We stopped back in Yale at the Historic Church and Museum. The church here is the 2nd oldest in British Columbia. Next, we made our way to Hope. Hope is a cute town with wood carvings displayed throughout. We walked around spotting the different carvings, then went to lunch at Sharron's Deli. The food at Sharron's Deli was really good. It was simple sandwiches and soups, but it definitely hit the spot. After lunch we drove to the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park. We walked the Othello Tunnels Trail. This trail was once a railway system, and you can walk through the old railway tunnels through the mountains. Unfortunately, the trail was partially closed, so we couldn't walk the full loop, but we loved this walk for the portion we were able to do. At the start of the trail, you can walk down to the river and balance on the rocks enjoying the jagged rocks lining the water. The first tunnel was insanely dark when you walked through. You could see, but it was long and you could see the light at the end, but not much while you were walking until you got close to the entrances. The second tunnel was short, and open on the one side so you could peak out, with the mountainous rock on the other. It was closed off beyond this spot, so we turned around and walked back. When we complete Othello Tunnels Trail, we drove back to Harrison Hot Springs. We walked to Milos Greek Taverna. We were seated by the open windows and had great views of the lake while we enjoyed a wonderful dinner. Our waitress was a little spacy, but the food was amazing. We stopped at the Picnic again for ice cream. This time we chose the fresh fruit ice cream, and it was delicious! Day 4: Harrison Hot Springs This was our final day in Harrison Hot Springs and was also Matthew's Birthday! We were up early again, before breakfast opened, so we spent some time at the beach admiring the quiet views. Breakfast was at Belle Vista Restaurant. The service here wasn't the best, and the food was just ok. My plan this day was to do bumper boats at Harrison Water Sports, followed by couples' massages which were booked at 12:15pm. We arrived at Harrison Water Sports to check in for our bumper boats and were told that they don't open the bumper boats until closer to 11:30. It was only a 30-minute booking, but we didn't want to risk being late for our massages, which stated we needed to check in by 12:00, so we decided we'd come back later. We walked around and did some shopping until it was time for our massages. We had considered paying the extra to use the mineral pools at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort, where our massages were booked. It would have cost an additional $50/person, and the receptionist at the spa said it really wasn't worth it. We asked about the pools, and she confirmed it was the pools we passed on our walk to the spa, which were completely packed with a ton of kids. So, she talked us into saving our money. We had 60-minute relaxing massages booked. Since I booked the couples package, we were in the same room. Both of us enjoyed the massages, Matthew even fell asleep. It was a nice treat after a pretty active couple of days. We went straight to Harrison Watersports after our massages. Harrison Watersports offers a huge inflatable waterpark right on the lake, jet ski rentals and bumper boats. As fun as the waterpark looked, it was crazy packed, and I felt I was too old to jump around with all those kids. We got on our bumper boats and were required to keep track of time for ourselves. There was on other family floating in the area, but basically just Matthew and I were at war. The boats didn't go very fast, but it was fun to float around and they had water guns attached that you could spray. Mine pointed basically perfectly to hit Matthew in the face every time. His shot over my head unless I was pretty far away. So, he got soaked and couldn't do anything about it! After bumper boats we walked to Muddy Waters Cafe and ordered a coffee and then got ice cream at the Baskin Robins next door. We were struggling to find souvenirs, so we walked through all the gift shops again to get our kiddos shirts. Then we went back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner. We had reservations at Morgans for 6pm. We took our time getting ready, and relaxed in our room for a bit, then went to eat. Morgan's was a cute restaurant and the food was amazing. Service wasn't the greatest, but the chef made up for it. Matthew had a lamb shank, and I had a chicken dish, and we both loved our meal. We had Creme Brule for dessert as well. We walked along the beach trail after dinner and sat to watch the sunset after dinner. Day 5: Travel Day Our flight wasn't until 6:30pm. We took our time packing up in the morning, and walked to Muddy Waters Cafe for coffee, but it wasn't open yet. So, we found The Green Star Cafe instead, and this was the best specialty coffee we had on this trip. We ordered Carmel Lattes and a Carmel Mocha, and it was the only time it was mixed enough to taste the caramel all week. Matthew ordered a breakfast burrito for the road as well. We went back to our room, loaded up the car and started our drive back toward Seattle. We stopped a few times on the way to stretch our legs. Since our flight was later, we met my niece Lexi and her boyfriend Amos for lunch. We met at 2pm at Chinook's in the Fisherman's Center in Seattle. I hate seafood. I actually hate anything that lived in the water. But the others enjoyed their meals, and I had an ok Ceasar salad. I never got a picture of the 4 of us, which makes me really sad. Once we finished our meal, our vacation was officially at an end. We made our way back to the airport. We were on a Sun Country flight, and this was the first time I've even been shuttled out to board my plane. Small thing, but it was kind of fun.

Matthew and I went to Yellowstone in 2020, for our honeymoon. We loved exploring the park. I never had Yellowstone on my bucket list before our visit, but I fell in love, and it made me want to see as many national parks as possible. As I began planning our 50-state journey, it was clear we had to go back to Wyoming to see the Grand Tetons. To celebrate our 5-year anniversary, we planned a trip back to Yellowstone with the goal of visiting Tetons and Glacier at the same time, adding Montana to our list of states visited. This was an aggressive goal, as all three of these parks are packed with incredible experiences, and most recommend a week in each. Originally, I had planned this to be a family vacation for 9-10 days. Whitney had a camp the same week and it was too late to cancel, so we actually reduced our days to only 7. To do this, we cut out time in Yellowstone, since we had already visited. Our final itinerary included flying into Bozeman and renting a car, then driving to Yellowstone to stay for 3 nights, followed by 3 nights in Glacier.  Since we had already been to Yellowstone and had limited time, we agreed to hit our favorites again as time allowed, focusing on the Grand Tetons and Glacier. Day 1: Travel Day We flew into Bozeman Airport on a Sunday, landing in the early afternoon. As we exited the plan, Matthew asked the pilot if he had any trading cards, and the pilot was all too eager to not only give him a card but let him into the cockpit for a photo! Bozeman is a very small airport and was incredibly busy. The lines for car rental extended all the way into baggage, but luckily, we were able to bypass the lines and head straight to the National Car Rental kiosk and only waited a few minutes for our vehicle. I booked lodging at The Lake Lodge cabins, right on Yellowstone Lake in the southeast area of Yellowstone National Park. Since we were entering at the north entrance, it was about a 3-hour drive to get to our accommodation. It was right around 3:30pm when we entered the parks north entrance, and I was surprised at how few cars (meaning basically none) were entering the park, and at how many were already exiting the park. We stopped at the Mammoth Hot Springs to use a restroom. We thought about finding food in the area also, but opted to wait until after we checked into our cabin. We did snap a few pictures of the calcium terraces before heading on our way. Our next stop was at The Sulphur Caldron. We spent a few minutes walking along, trying to hold our breaths from the overwhelming smell of Sulphur. The heat and steam coming from the pools, paired with the sound of the water groaning makes this area feel almost eerie. Even though we only stopped at two places for short amounts of time, we had been in the park for several hours already. We went to Lake Village to check in and it was 7pm by the time we got to our cabin. While checking in I booked a reservation at the Lake Hotel Dining Room for the next evening. We found our cabin, and dropped our bags, then walked back to the main lodge to grab dinner at the Lake Lodge Cafeteria. This is similar to fast food style dining, but the food was decent, and it has great views of the lake. After dinner we walked down to the lake shore and enjoyed the sunset. We passed a deer grazing in the field as we walked back to our cabin. The cabin we rented was connected to several others but was very spacious and had a nice porch area with chairs. It was pretty far back from the lake, so the views were other cabins, but we definitely enjoyed staying here. Day 2: Grand Tetons and Grand Prismatic Spring We woke up early, grabbed a quick breakfast and drove toward the Grand Tetons National Park. Yellowstone and Grand Tetons are basically connected, but you have to drive pretty far to get to attractions in either. It took about 2.5 hours of driving before we reached our first destination. Fortunately, the drive is pretty scenic. The plan for the day was to walk a couple trails and check out some popular viewpoints in the Grand Tetons National Park. It was right around 7am when we started our drive, and there were a few other vehicles on the road with us, but a ton coming into Yellowstone already. Everyone says to get to Yellowstone early if you want to see the popular areas due to crowds, but I highly recommend saving the more popular points of interest to later in the day. We saw elk on the side of the road and a bison walking close to the lake on our way out of the park. We stopped for bear spray at Coulter Bay Village, and then stopped at the Grand Tetons sign to snap a picture. I wanted to start at Jenny Lake and hike to Inspiration Point and Hidden Falls. Jenny Lake was already completely full by the time we arrived, and parking was a mile up the main road. So, I continued on past Jenny Lake and took the first turn onto Lupine Meadows Rd. I followed this, turning off onto a dirt road that just basically ended. It wasn't a parking lot, but there were several cars parked here, so we joined them, and we found a trail that connected to Jenny Lake Trail. Once we found Jenny Lake Trail, we weren't sure where we wanted to go. Skipping the Visitor's Center threw us off, as we didn't bring a trail map with us. We went right and as we passed a few groups hiking were told that we were heading toward the marina and visitor center. We walked until we found an area with a trail down to the lake and stopped there for beautiful views of the lake. When we got back to the trail, we went back the way we had come, passing our parking area and continuing on toward Hidden Falls. Not far past our parking area is the trail to Moose Pond. There was a ranger led group here, and the ranger informed us that we would reach inspiration point if we continued on Jenny Lake Trail for about a mile, and we were likely to see moose on the way. So, we decided to skip Moose Pond Trail for now and would decide if we wanted to walk it on our way back. We didn't plan to walk the full Jenny Lake Trail, so we would pass it again on our way back. Just a short walk past the Moose Pond Trailhead, up a short hill, there is an overlook where you can see Moose Pond. Coming down a hill toward the pond was a Moose Cow and a young moose! They were walking toward the water, then stopped to drink. We admired these incredible animals for several minutes, then continued on the trail. Jenny Lake Trail isn't strenuous, but there are definite areas that get your heart pumping. Lots of elevation changes, rocks and roots lining the trail. It was warm and the trail was busy, but it was a lovely hike. At one point Matthew found a giant rock coming out from the edge of the lake and hopped up on top for a picture. In doing so, my water bottle fell from his backpack and landed in the lake. We contemplated how we would get it back as we watched it bobbing in the water about 20 feet out from shore. We continued walking with the intention of grabbing it from the shore on our way back. When we started our walk, the ranger said it is about a mile walk to Inspiration Point. We checked GPS after what felt like hiking forever, and it was still another mile to our destination. It was hot and not having water made my hiking less enjoyable. We continued on until we reached the bottom of hidden falls. The elevation gain past this point was pretty significant. We chose to turn around rather than continuing to Inspiration Point. On our way back we did find my water bottle floating under the branches of a fallen tree in the water, and Matthew was able to fish it out with a stick. We stopped again at the overlook to Moose Pond, and there was another moose standing in the water. Was such a fun sight, and this was the only spot we saw moose on the entire trip. We made our way back to the car and decided to find lunch. We drove to Jackson and had a quick meal, then made our way back north toward Yellowstone. We stopped at Mormon Row first. You aren't able to walk up to the buildings but we did walk and see them from a distance, and the mountain peeks in the background were beautiful. Next we stopped at Schwabacher Landing, followed by The Snake River Overlook and Oxbow Bend. We had dinner reservations at 8pm, and it was right around 2:30, so we decided to check out a few areas in Yellowstone. We stopped at Lewis Falls overlook, and it started to rain almost immediately, so we didn't explore the area, but we did get to see the waterfall from the parking area. Since everything is so incredibly far apart, we went to our cabin to change, then headed toward The Grand Prismatic Spring. This was one destination in Yellowstone we absolutely wanted to make sure we saw again. We had 3.5 hours before dinner, which sounds like a ton of time, but Grand Prismatic Spring was an hour from our cabin. On the way we stopped at the Continental Divide. We saw some ducks floating in the water, and watched the ducklings walk across the lily pads. They were so cute, and we watched for longer than we should have. The Grand Prismatic Springs was busy, but we were able to find parking in the parking lot. This is why I say visit in the evening. Crowds clear out, and there is still so much daylight at this time of year. It was around 6:30pm when we arrived. We walked the boardwalks and came to the Excelsior Geyser first. It was windy and as the breeze moved the steam from the geyser over us, we became completely enveloped within it. It was thick, warm and made it difficult to breath until it would clear. You couldn't see the water very well within the geyser, just steam, but when it would clear it was an amazing sight. The Grand Prismatic Spring was similar, with steam blocking the view, but we did get some great pictures of the orange surrounding the spring and the steam rising up. If we ever make it back to Yellowstone, I definitely want to do the trail to the overlook to see the spring from above. Once we finished at the Grand Prismatic Spring, we had just over an hour to get back for our reservation, so we went straight there. We were a little early, so we enjoyed the lake view from the parking area before heading in. The Lake Hotel Dining Room was completely packed, even with our late reservation. We were at a table in the back of the restaurant so we didn't have great views, and it was loud with so many people talking in one area. The food was good, but service was slow, and we were underwhelmed with how expensive and hard to get into the restaurant it is. Day 3: Jackson Hole and Grand Canyon of Yellowstone We woke early again and made the drive to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. We purchased tickets for the Aerial Tram and Gondola and decided to get there when the Tram started running, so we were on the road at 6:30am. As we were leaving the Lake Lodge, we saw three elk right on the side of the road. The drive out of Yellowstone was just as gorgeous as the day before. We arrived at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort just before 9am. Parking here is very easy, and the area is super cute with shops and restaurants right at the base of the mountains. We were in line a few minutes prior to when the tram started running and were surprised that the line was not very long. We were able to get on the first tram to the Rendezvous Mountain Summit. The tram ride was standing room only for most, with just a handful of seats but was a relatively smooth ride. The panoramic views on the way up were magnificent. When you started to approach the top, it felt very much like we weren't going to clear the peaks. Once we got off the tram we walked to Grand Teton Skywalk to admire the views and then went in to use the restroom at Corbet's Cabin. We didn't get any waffles, because I was on a wheat free diet. Next, we started our hike. We decided to take the Cirque Trail down to the Bridger Gondola. We aren't in the best shape, so walking down felt better than hiking up the mountain. We struggled to find the beginning of the trail. The markers weren't the best, and we are pretty sure the start of this hike was closed off. So, we began by walking on North Ridge Trail, and eventually made our way onto Cirque Trail, though there were never any signs pointing to the start, just eventually a sign on the trail later. We were so surprised that there weren't others on the trail. We had assumed it would be extremely busy. The entire trail, which was just over 2 miles from the top to the end, including the added time on a connecting trail, we only passed 3 groups total. The Cirque Trail is considered a difficult trail, but it was very manageable for us, walking down as we were. It is definitely rocky, and there are a few difficult elevation gains, but the trail itself wasn't terribly hard to navigate. It is full of switchbacks and there is a section of it that is on the side of the mountain and a little narrow. We didn't see any wildlife on our hike, but we did see many wildflowers and amazing views in all directions. Once we reached the Bridger Gonola, we used the restroom and took the gondola back down to Teton Village. We grabbed lunch at The Tram Dock. The food was good here and we were able to sit outside and enjoy the views of the mountains and watch bikers on a trail. After lunch we went to Cowboy Coffee Co, then stopped in a souvenir shop. Once we were done, we drove back to Yellowstone. We both agreed that we didn't want to miss the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, so we made our way there next. We stopped for gas at Coulter Bay Village on our way out of the Grand Teton. After driving in Yellowstone for awhile, we pulled over at a pull off close to Yellowstone Lake and walked the shore for a bit to stretch our legs. We were able to get a few pictures of bison as we drove through Hidden Valley, but we didn't stop for very long here because the wind picked up and a crazy storm rolled through, though luckily it was quick and only rained for a few minutes. We arrived at Artist Point around 4:30pm. This is such a remarkable area of the park. The waterfall surrounded by canyon walls makes for breathtaking photos. We enjoyed Artist Point viewing the canyon and waterfall and then made it to other viewpoints and overlooks in the area. As we made our way back toward our cabin we stopped at Mud Volcano and walked the boardwalk to see all the hot springs. We arrived back at the Lake Lodge around 7pm, and grabbed a quick dinner, then packed our suitcases. We had decided to add on Bear Tooth Pass to our drive the next day, which meant we were adding at least 3 hours, and would start our day extremely early. So, it was early to bed this night. Day 4: Bear Tooth Pass and St. Mary Village We awoke at 3:15am. The sky was pitch black and we were able to see the Milky Way! I had never seen the Milky Way in person before, and the new moon creating an extra dark sky and very little light pollution made it possible. We were on the road by 4am and making our way north. Our first trip to Yellowstone had road closures leading to Lamar Valley, so I was excited to see this area, even if it was going to be very early. The drive to Lamar Valley was pitch black, with only a couple of cars passed along the way. It was a more mountainous area of the park and a little nerve wracking in the dark with curvy roads and on the lookout for animals. We only saw one elk on the road, but the possibility of more made me nervous. I can imagine this drive is incredibly beautiful in the daylight, and I do wish we'd had more time so we could have had the full experience. We arrived in Lamar Valley right around 5:30am. And there was just enough light peeking out from behind the mountains to see herds of buffalo. We stopped at several pull offs, hoping to see additional animals, but we were only lucky enough to see the bison. Continuing on our drive, we made it to the base of Bear Tooth Pass at 6:15am. This drive was stunning! Almost immediately the views of mountains and foothills, with slivers of light mixed with shadows took your breath away. We stopped at almost every viewpoint, watched yellow bellied marmots play, and enjoyed this scenic road we had almost completely to ourselves. The Montana welcome sign is used as target practice, and we snapped a picture as we drove by. We stopped at Rock Creek Vista at the end of Bear Tooth Pass, then stopped for coffee in Rock Creek at a coffee truck on the side of the road. It was amazing, and I wish I took a picture of the place so I could remember the name. We continued on to Red Lodge where we stopped and ate breakfast. The rest of this day was spent driving. We still had almost 7 hours of driving to reach St. Mary Village. The drive was pretty boring. You could see mountains in the distance occasionally, but most of it was flat and uninspiring. It rained heavily several times through the drive. We stopped to stretch a couple of times and finally arrived at our base for Glacier National Park around 6:30pm. We booked a room at St. Mary Village West Motel. The room was cute and comfortable, with decent views around the area. The main lodge was located right across the street, and the hotel had great food with no reservations needed. We checked in, dropped our bags, and had dinner, then bed. Day 5: Two Medicine and Many Glacier I woke early and walked across the street to get coffee at Triple Divide Coffee. It was just after 6am, and the sun coming up behind the mountains created a red glow across the peaks. It was a wonderful start to our first day in Glacier National Park. We had a boat reservation in Many Glacier at 2pm, so we started our day in Two Medicine. The drive here was very scenic. We saw wild horses on the side of the road and drove on a very narrow mountain road. It is only 30 miles but takes about an hour to get here from St. Mary Village. Since it was very early and we had a lot of time, we were going to drive to Goat Lick Overlook to see if we could spot Mountain Goats before visiting Two Medicine. It was only about 30 miles further, and we figured we had plenty of time. Miles and time are very different in the park. There was major road construction, causing significant delays waiting to be lead down one lane traffic, and we ended up turning around after wasting over an hour. The Two Medicine area of the park is not very busy. There was ample parking in the lot, and very few people on the trails. We walked along the lakeshore for a while, then took a short hike to Paradise Point. We were basically the only people on this trail, only passing two couples on the way back. We walked through the visitor center and gift shop, then went to Running Eagle Falls. Running Eagle Falls is a very easy trail, and less than a mile there and back. The waterfall has a tall cascading fall coming over the cliff along with a lower fall coming through the rock. It was a nice short walk to a beautiful waterfall. After our time at Two Medicine, we started our drive to Many Glacier. We stopped at the famous Kyiyo Mercantile for coffee and snacks on our way out of Two Medicine. The drive took around 1.5 hours. Normally you need a road pass to go to Many Glacier, or a booked excursion such as a boat ride or kayaking reservation. This year however, there is road construction in the area, so they do not issue road passes. You need a reservation or you have to take the shuttle, which is extremely difficult to get a pass for. Luckily, we had a reservation and were able to drive through to Many Glacier Hotel. There was no one else driving on the road, but there were many cars parked in shuttle pickup areas along the way. We arrived at Many Glacier Hotel early and had lunch and ice cream, and walked around the historic hotel and hotel grounds. We saw mountain goats walking down the side of the mountain, but they weren't close enough to see well. We boarded our boat at 1:45 and left the dock at 2pm. The boat takes you across Swift Current Lake followed by a 1/2-mile hike up then down, to Lake Josephine, where you board another boat and cross Lake Josephine. Along the way they talk about the lakes, the area, and you enjoy incredible views. I did spot two bears on the edge of the second lake, but the distance was too great, and they moved too quickly to get a picture. I was very happy that I at least saw bear though! After we got off the boat, we started the hike to Grinnell Lake. I really wish we would have done the Grinnell Glacier Trail, but it's a pretty strenuous hike and we decided not to. We loved the hike we did, but if I ever go back, I want to do the other. Once again, we felt alone on our hike. We only saw a handful of other people. The trail to Grinnell Lake is just over 2 miles out and back, and is a fairly easy trail. It is dense forest on either side of you, so thick you can barely see in. Along the way there are toilets just out there in the middle of nowhere. The outhouses themselves were clean enough, but they don't offer toilet paper. I will say it was a relief to see them though. Around 3/4 of a mile you come to Cataract Creek. The trail to Hidden Falls is to the left, up a decent hill. The falls are pretty, but the viewing deck was full of bees, so we didn't stay very long. Back at the Grinnell Lake Trail, there is a rope bridge to cross the creek. You can only cross one at a time, and it did sway quite a bit. Once across the creek, it is up hill as you continue on the trail. You start to see glimpses of the bright blue waters of Lake Grinnell pretty quickly after you get up the hill, then it opens up and you end up right on the shore of the lake. Grinnell Creek runs into Grinnell Lake, and it is a decent flow. We took off our shoes and walked across the creek to a rocky area where we could more easily walk out into the lake without the flow of water pushing us. Crossing the creek was almost knee-deep water and the current was strong enough you had to work to stay upright. The water was cold! Extremely cold. And crystal clear with colorful rocks and water a Caribbean blue-green color. The backdrop of lush green embedded in gray rocky formation and Mt. Grinnell was truly more beautiful than pictures can capture. We hung out here for quite a while, enjoying the calm, watching storm clouds blow in and somehow pass by us without unleashing the rains they held and admiring a chipmunk playing under the boardwalk we were sitting on. On our way back to the boat, we were once again very much alone on the trail. After we crossed back over Cataract Creek, there was a couple in front of us for just a short time, but that was it for most of the walk. We had a deer come out of the forest right in front of us and walked ahead for probably 1/4 mile. We never heard it approach; it just suddenly appeared. It didn't seem scared at all and made for a fun stretch of trail. Once we reached Lake Josephine, we had to sign up for our return ride back to Many Glacier Hotel. Luckily, we were pretty early on the list, because the crowd grew quickly. While we waited, we sat by the lake and enjoyed the blue waters and the bees that thought they were friends. When we got back to the hotel, we checked out the gift shop and walked around for a short time, then had dinner at the Many Glacier Hotel Restaurant, which is called Ptarmigan Dining Hall. The food and service here were wonderful. After dinner we made our way back to St. Mary Village. Since it wasn't terribly late, we drove onto Going to the Sun Road and stopped at the visitor center. It was already closed, so we drove a little further up the road and pulled into a pull off and walked down to sit by St. Mary Lake for awhile, before heading back to our hotel for the night. Day 6: Going to the Sun Road We had a 9am kayaking reservation on Lake McDonald, departing from Apgar, which is the west end of Going to the Sun Road. Since we were staying on the east side of Going to the Sun Road, we had to leave early. We started with coffee again, and then we were on the road by 7am. Traffic was not bad at all heading west. We did stop at a couple of overlooks, but mostly just drove straight through. Even though it was early, it did get busy once you got to Logan Pass, and stayed busy the rest of the way, but it was busy in parking areas and traffic heading east, not driving west as we were. We got to Apgar early, so we did some shopping and walked around before checking in for our kayak. The lake is gorgeous even just looking from the shoreline. We rented a tandem kayak, and I wish we would have gotten individual kayaks. We kayak often, but this was our first experience with tandem. They are much harder to steer and a lot more work to even move. Regardless, the two hours on the lake were incredible. The views were better than you see in pictures. When we got off the lake, we went to eat lunch. By this time the town of Apgar was getting busy. Parking was limited and traffic was thick. We ate at a small cafe, which I do not recall the name for. We walked along shopping for a bit after lunch. When we left Apgar, our plan was to drive Going to the Sun Road back to St. Mary Village, and to stop at all the overlooks, hike to Avalanche Lake or find a trail at Logan Pass depending on parking, and basically spend the day admiring Glacier National Park. However, we couldn't get back on Going to the Sun Road. You need a road pass to enter Going to the Sun Road from the west, unless you have a reservation on the road. I took this to mean that since we were staying at St. Mary Village, which is literally on Going to the Sun Road, we could drive it from the west. This is not the case, however. So, we had to drive around. The drive around the park on the Montana Scenic Loop was beautiful. It only takes a few minutes longer than driving across on Going to the Sun Road, and we enjoyed the views immensely. We made it to Goat Lick Overlook, though we didn't see any goats, and we stopped at several viewpoints. Once we got back to St. Mary Village, we went straight back to Going to the Sun Road and drove to Logan's Pass. The parking lot was beyond full, so we made this our furthest destination and turned around. We stopped at an overlook and saw Long Horned Sheep! They were close enough to get decent pictures and stayed in the area for a long time. We drove through the famous tunnel. And made our way back to St. Mary Lake, where we stopped again to walk the shoreline. We looked for cool rocks and enjoyed the lakeside. Then we pulled off to take a short walk to the first ranger station in Glacier National Park. We stopped at the visitor center and did some souvenir shopping, then went to St. Mary Hotel restaurant for dinner. Day 7: Travel Day This was our final day, and we had a late afternoon flight. Our drive back to the Bozeman Airport was around 4.5 hours. We stopped in Helena for lunch and really enjoyed our short time in this city. It is a small, quaint city, and we had an incredible lunch. Bozeman Airport was even busier when we left. The lines for those waiting for cars was insanely long. They had to have waited hours. Luckily security for those taking flights out was quick. If I were to redo this vacation I would have kept it as originally planned with an additional 3 days. We had an incredible time, and I loved every minute, but one more day in Glacier and one full day in Yellowstone would have made it even better. We only added one new state on this trip, but a thousand new memories!

What better way to spend a long weekend than split between a beautiful historic city and gorgeous sandy beaches. This vacation included Whitney, Whitney's friend Sophia, Matthew and me. Day 1: River Street We flew into Savannah early on a Wednesday and landed just after 2pm. Our hotel check-in was 3pm, so the timing was perfect after grabbing our rental car. We stayed at the River Street Inn, right on River Street. Whitney and I visited Savannah in 2022, and we loved this hotel so much, I booked it again. The location is perfect with easy access to River Street and Bay Street, and the hotel itself is really cute with nice rooms and views of the river. I did not over plan this trip, which is very unlike me. We checked into the hotel, dropped our bags, and then went to explore River Street. We did a little shopping, had an early dinner, enjoyed some ice cream and sat by the river people watching and checking out the different monuments and sculptures along the walkway. We stayed to watch the sunset over the bridge. Day 2: Savannah When we woke up Thursday morning our first mission was to find coffee. Matthew and I went out to a cafe right next to our hotel, but they weren't open. We are early risers, so it was disappointing, but we did see the City Hall lit up and the alleys under the street hit different in the dark. Once the girls were up and ready, we bought a Hop on Hop off trolley pass. This is a perfect way to hear the history of the city and easily get around to areas you want to explore. The trolley stop was just a few blocks up from our hotel entrance on River Street, stop #11 of 15. We rode for a few stops hearing about the history of the cotton warehouses converted to hotels and restaurants on River Street, the story of the Waving Girl Statue, the historical family homes in the historic district, and hopped off at Colonial Park Cemetery. We decided to find breakfast before actually walking through the cemetery. We walked just a couple blocks to The Collins Quarter. The food here was good, and the service was wonderful. It was a warm day, and even though it was early, it was already over 90 degrees. We decided to wait for the trolley that was right on the corner of the restaurant, and to get off later in the tour to see the cemetery, rather than walking back. The trolley stop is right outside of the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Museum. We didn't go in, but we snapped a few pictures from outside. We rode the trolley for a few more stops until we had to get off at stop #1 The Savannah Visitor Center. We grabbed a couple of waters and checked out the visitor center, then decided to walk to stop #8 Old Town Trolley Barn, because the wait to get on a trolley was incredibly long at the visitor center. We only rode the trolley one stop to City Market. We spent about an hour or so at City Market, shopping for souvenirs and enjoying the different shops. Next, we walked to stop #3 so we could get back to the cemetery by getting off again at stop #7 Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. When we got off, there was a service in session at the cathedral, so we walked over to the cemetery first. This cemetery is very old, with many gravestones hard to read. It is beautiful with live oak trees draped with Spanish moss. After the cemetery we went into the Cathedral. This Cathedral is gorgeous. There was a tour group there so we listened in for a minute, took a few pictures and then went back out to catch the next trolley. We rode the trolley for the rest of the tour, taking in the beautiful buildings and listening to the retelling of Savannah's history and the people that helped build it. Once our tour was over, we went back to our hotel to rest and cool off for a while before dinner. Whitney snuck in a nap, while Matthew, Sophia and I went to Wet Willie's, the restaurant attached to our hotel. We sat outside overlooking the river and the food and service were good. After our bellies were full, we went to wake Whitney up, then walked to Clary's Cafe to meet our group for our Sixth Sense Ghost Tour. Our tour guide was very odd...and our tour was extra cheesy. The stories were really interesting, and we did see several different allegedly haunted sites, but I do wish they would have done a better job of making it creepy vs cheesy. After the tour ended, we walked back to the hotel, with a quick stop at a gas station for some drinks. Day 3: Hilton Head Island We woke around 8:00am, and packed our things then checked out of The River Street Inn and said our goodbyes to Savannah. Hilton Head Island is only about an hour from Savannah, so we didn't have a long drive. We couldn't check into our VRBO until 4pm, so we planned to go straight to the beach. Coligny Beach is a huge beach with nice restrooms and a ton of shops and restaurants within walking distance. There is a free public parking lot right across the street. When we arrived, I was starving so the girls went to the beach while Matthew and I went to find breakfast. We walked along peaking into shops and found Skillets Cafe and Grill. We enjoyed a decent breakfast and then joined the girls at the beach. The waves here were very mild. I love bouncing in the waves in the ocean, but they really weren't even big enough to bounce in. Matthew looked it up and apparently it is very shallow for several miles out from shore, averaging around 10 feet deep, which keeps the waves small. We still enjoyed laying on the beach, reading, and cooling off in the Atlantic. The weather was perfect, and the sun felt amazing. We went to our VRBO just after 4pm. I typed in the address, and it was just up the road from Coligny Beach. We stopped our van, grabbed our bags and walked up the stairs and tried the code on the lock. And it didn't work. So I called the host and as we were standing there trying to figure out what the issue was, saw a bunch of bags through the window. That is when we realized we were at the wrong house! Luckily no one witnessed our embarrassment, and we hopped back in the car and drove the complete opposite way of the beach and eventually found our rental. We stayed in a VRBO in an community called Seascape Villas. Our rental had a kitchen, living area, dining area and a walk out to a deck on the first level. The deck overlooked a little pond area. We were all the way at the end, so right next to a bridge that crossed the pond. Upstairs there were two nice sized bedrooms and two bathrooms. It was perfect for our group. The property also has two pools, but we never made our way to check them out. You also have access to private beach access, but it is across the street and through another resort, and it looked like a really long walk. So, we didn't take advantage of it. We were all a little sunburned and tired from our day at the beach, so we relaxed for a bit. Whitney and Sophia spent the next few hours getting ready for dinner. They were excited to take photos on the beach so they went all out. Matthew and I watch some TV and sat on the deck looking at turtles and trying to spot alligators. We had dinner at One Hot Mama's BBQ. The food was pretty good. I think this might be a chain restaurant because we did see several while looking for restaurants, but it was new to us. After dinner we went back to Coligny Beach to watch the sunset. We walked along the water, took so many photos and enjoyed a beautiful evening. Day 4: Hilton Head Island We started our day by driving to The Sea Pines Forest Preserve. You have to pay to enter this area, which is expected, but we didn't realize we had to pay to go to the towns on this part of the island, not just the preserve area. We only got a one day pass and should've opted for 2 days to save a few bucks. There wasn't a ton we wanted to see in the preserve, we were really just looking for alligators. Sophia had never seen one and it was nice to see some nature on our trip. We drove into the preserve area and parked and walked along Lake Joe for a short while. We did see an alligator pretty quickly out in the lake, but it was out quite a bit so we didn't have the best view of it. It was still fun to see it swimming across the lake. After a short walk along the lake, we drove the van to the end of Lake Joe and took a short trail to Shell Ring. There were a ton of leaves on the ground completely covering the shells, so it was pretty underwhelming, but we read the signs and learned the history and importance of the site. When we walked back to the parking area we walked on the docks and across the bridge and scoped out the water looking for signs of more alligators. Sophia spotted one in a shallow area just on our side of the bridge. It was close and we had plenty of time to watch it swim. I wanted to check out South Beach after the preserve, so we followed GPS to where South Beach should be and saw a bunch of houses and resorts and a sign that said no public access. We drove around, attempting to find parking, and eventually got frustrated and drove to Coligny Beach. I'm sure there is a way to check out South Beach, but a beach is a beach and Coligny was fine. We dropped the girls at the beach while Matthew and I went to have lunch. We chose a restaurant right next to the beach access at Flatbread Grill and Bar. The kitchen didn't open until 11:30, so we sat at the bar and had some fruity iced drinks while we waited. The service here is not great, but the bar tender was friendly. Our drinks were good and went down easy, so I ended up having a second before our meal ended. After lunch we made our way to the beach, and I was a little tipsy. We laid out our chairs and lathered up with sunscreen and just lounged for a bit. The beach was absolutely packed. I tried to read but I got a headache pretty quickly and ended up falling asleep. I alternated the afternoon between sleeping and dipping in the ocean to cool off. By the time we left we were all fried. You could clearly see the strips of skin where sunscreen was missed. We went back to our townhome pretty early and took naps and showered. We ate dinner at Stellini Italian Restaurant. The food was great here and the restaurant was quaint. We sat by windows where we saw racoons and deer, which they feed. Day 5: Harbour Town This was our final day. We were flying home on a later flight, so we didn't have to leave the island until 3pm. Checkout was 10am, so we got ready and packed everything up. We all decided we'd had enough sun for the week, so we went into Harbour Town to explore. We had to pay the entrance fee again and then made our way to find breakfast. This area is so cute. Everyone is out walking and riding bikes, there are golf courses, beach homes, resorts and little shops all along the drive. We found a parking lot right across from Harbour Town Bakery & Cafe which is where we ended up eating. This restaurant was PACKED. There was a line out the door all the way to the sidewalk. You order inside and then they bring you your food to your table, which are all set up outside. The girls went and snagged us a place to sit while Matthew and I ordered food and coffee for everyone. The food was ok, and the coffee was pretty good. After breakfast we strolled along checking out the shops, bought a few souvenirs and checked out the lighthouse. Sophia and Whitney decided to go up into the lighthouse, and Matthew and I found ice cream. We walked along the beach looking for shark's teeth and cool shells. Whitney and Sophia found a crab they were fascinated by, and we watched storm clouds rolling in across the water. We left just as it started to rain. I tried to find other areas we could check out before leaving the island, and did stop at another park, but it was raining hard enough that we didn't stop long. As we made our way off the island back toward Savannah, the sky opened up and dumped a steady stream of rain on us. It was difficult to see and there was so much water on the road so quickly it was a little scary driving back. There were times when I couldn't see anything in front of me. We still had plenty of time before we had to be to the airport, even with the slow drive, so we googled a plantation that was only around 15 minutes further. When we got there, the gates were closed, and we couldn't even see anything from the road. We arrived at the airport, as the rain got heavy again, and flash flood warnings sounded on our phones, so we weren't too disappointed that we were earlier than originally planned. This was a fun vacation. It was the perfect long weekend with a mix of history and relaxation, and even with the rain the last day, we lucked out on weather.

In the spring of 2024, at the music Jamboree at my daughter's school, they announced that their band and choir trip in 2025 would be to Greece. I decided instantly that my daughter had to go on this trip. As information continued to be shared, I found out that there was a Friends and Family option to travel basically on the same itinerary, but separately from the students. Even after hearing this, I wasn't convinced that I would want to join on a school trip with 100 high school students, but the more I read and researched the more I was convinced that we needed to go. So, I signed Whitney up for the school trip, Matthew and myself up for the Friends and Family trip, and told Galytea that if she wanted to go, I would pay half, so she and Ben joined us as well. With the exception of Whitney, none of us had been outside of North America (USA, Canada and Mexico). We were extremely nervous about the flight, which had 2 layovers and was a full day of travel, and having to stick to a schedule that we didn't really control. I have to admit that it was better than I expected, even with the long travel and a few hiccups along the way. There were 104 students and chaperones, and another 34 Friends and Family in total for this trip. Day 1: Travel Day Our flight left MSP at 6:40pm. There were two flight groups because so many signed up, and we ended up on the second flight group, but Whitney and her friend Sophia also flew on our flight because they grouped anyone with Friends and Family together. Whitney had to ride the bus to the airport from school, so Matthew, Galytea, Ben and I drove to the airport without her. There was no issue at MSP and our first layover was in Chicago at O'Hare International. We actually arrived at O'Hare a little early, but they didn't have an available gate for us, and we ended up waiting almost an hour. We only had an hour layover, so they ended up holding our plane for us since there were so many delayed. The flight from O'Hare to Munich was also pretty uneventful. We were on a Lufthansa flight, and the seats were not the best, but it wasn't as bad as I had expected. I am a good plane sleeper, so other than being pretty sore from the long flight there aren't many complaints. The meals they serve were not good, the entertainment options were pretty good. Once we landed in Munich, we were already delayed from our Chicago delay, so our 2-hour layover turned into a 1-hour layover. We exited the plane and walked through the point of no return, then we realized we didn't have our roller bag! We had left it in the overhead compartment on the plane. We went straight to the service desk, and they sent us to another. The next service desk sent us to another, and by the time we got there and were told to go to yet another, we had to make a decision to wait to figure out our bag or get on the next flight without it. We chose the latter. The bag only had a couple of outfits that Matthew and I each packed in case they lost our checked bags. The irony, right? We did end up getting our bag back a few days after we returned to Minnesota, but I highly recommend putting a tag on every piece of luggage, not just checked bags. The flight from Munich to Athens was just over two hours, and with daylight now it was a beautiful flight. We flew over the alps and enjoyed watching the different geography on the way. We landed in Athens around 6:30pm, claimed our bags and met our Travel Guide Gabriella and bus driver Spirro. We loaded our awaiting motorcoach and started our drive to Nafplio, where we would stay the first two nights. Nafplio is approximately 2 hours from the airport, but traffic added time. It was dark on our drive, so we couldn't really see the landscape, but we did detour for a minute to see the Corinth Canal. Even though it was dark it was interesting to view the canal from the bus. We arrived at the Amalia Hotel in Nafplio just before 10pm. We dropped our bags and went for a late dinner. All of our dinners and breakfasts were included in our vacation package and were buffet style meals. The food was good but did tend to be pretty similar every day without a lot of variety. Our hotel was pretty nice. We had a room on the 3rd floor with a balcony overlooking a small courtyard with a glimpse of the mountains in the background. The "queen rooms" had two twin beds pushed together - at all of our accommodations - which was pretty weird for us. The blankets and sheets were separate, but the beds pushed together. After the extremely long travel day, and the 8-hour time difference, we went to bed pretty quickly after dinner. Day 2: Mycenae and Nafplio We were up by 7am for breakfast and loaded onto the bus at 9am to start our day. We were visiting Mycenae this day. All of our tours were included in our vacation, so our guide had our tickets for us to all museums, archeological sites, etc. which was very convenient. Our first stop was at the Treasure of Atreus. This was a tomb built into the mountain with a large open room and then a smaller one off the side. Apparently, they found no human remains in the tomb. The way they built it was basically stacking bricks and then shaving them down to create the illusion of arched walls. Technically I guess it was arched, or rounded, but the bricks were actually not stacked in a slanted or curved way but carved to make it that way. Across the street is the Archeological Site of Mycenae. This fortress is estimated to have originated in the 1300s BC! We started at the museum. We went to several museums on this vacation, and it was so hard to wrap my head around how we were looking at artifacts that are 2000+ years old. Some of the items have so much detail and were so well preserved. The explanation for this is the sites were buried for centuries, covering them and protecting them from the elements, so when they were extracted many of them were in decent shape for the age. After the museum we walked the archeological site. The views from here were incredible. Walking wasn't terribly difficult to navigate but there was a slight grade. There are tunnels running under the ruins, but they are not open to the public, so we just peeked where we could. Our next tour was the sanctuary at Epidaurus. This was believed to be the birthplace of Asclepius, the god of healing, and included a bath house used for spa healing treatments. There is an amphitheater at the site, which is still used today. We walked to the top, only stopping to catch our breath once. Next was where the ruins of the bath houses used for healing were located. Once we were done at the archeological sites, we drove into the town of Nafplio. It is a beautifully picturesque seaside town. We ate lunch and did some shopping. Nafplio has several ancient fortresses, one in the water and one that you can hike to up a pretty impressive hill. Whitney decided to join some other students and climbed to the fortress, and the rest of us stayed in town. The water was extremely cold, but I did dip my feet into the Aegean Sea. We ended our day with dinner at the hotel. Day 3: Olympia We packed up and loaded our luggage onto the bus at 8am and started our drive to Olympia. Our drive was around 3 hours through the Greek countryside, with olive groves and the occasional small town dotting the landscape. We drove on a major highway for part of the drive, but most of it was country roads that I was glad I didn't have to navigate the bus through. We did stop at a bakery on the way. We arrived at the Ancient Olympia Museum and Archeological Site right around 11:00am, starting at the museum again. The artifacts, sculptures and stories were fascinating. It was hard to imagine the same sculptures and ornaments we were looking at were likely at the first Olympic Games in Greece in 776BC. The actual site of the first Olympic Games, at the Altis, or the sanctuary to the gods, was overwhelming. You really had to imagine what it looked like when it was the center of religious festivals and dedication to the Mythological gods. There was active excavation happening when we visited, and while the columns and many of the temples were semi erected, it wasn't together enough to feel like you were experiencing it as they did 2500 years ago. The Temples of Zeus and Hera are the most famous at the site, and there are the remains of the athletic buildings, bath houses and the actual stadium which is really a dirt "track" with hills on each side where spectators would have sat to watch with concrete starting points. We posed on the starting line of the track and walked the entire length. When we finished our tour, we only had around 30 minutes to walk through the town of Olympia before returning to our bus and then checked into our hotel. We had lunch at the hotel, and then had a few hours to relax and settle in. The students stayed at a different hotel than we did. Our group was at another Amalia Hotel, and it was really nice again. We had dinner at The Touris Club, which offers a buffet and traditional Greek folk dancing. The dancers were very engaging. We had a lot of fun this evening, and every one of us got up to join in the dancing, even on tables! Day 4: Delphi After our one evening in Olympia, we were on the road to Delphi at 9am. We stopped at another bakery to use the restroom and buy some drinks and snacks. There was a great spot across the street where we took pictures of the gorgeous Rio-Antirrio Bridge, before arriving in another seaside town called Nafpaktos. We had several hours to explore Nafpaktos, shop and eat. Because Whitney was at a different hotel and on a different bus, it was nice to have these opportunities to check in and spend some time with her. She met us almost immediately off the bus and we found lunch first, then spent the rest of our time shopping and admiring the town and the sea bordering it. We reloaded our bus and made our way to Delphi. The students were spending this night in the town of Itea, which was right on the water, and we were staying in Delphi, which was up into the mountain. The drive up the mountainside was pretty curvy, and Gal ended up with some motion sickness, but the scenery was worth it. We stayed at another Amalia hotel, which again was a great hotel, but this one had the worst view from our balcony. Being up in the mountain, we were hoping for amazing landscape down to the sea, but we had a small courtyard and more hotel to look at. There were better views from the common areas of the hotel, including a patio that wrapped the front of the hotel. We arrived quite a while before dinner, so Matthew and I walked into the town to shop a little and experience what we could in the area. Everywhere you walked seemed to be uphill, so it wasn't a nice relaxing walk by any means, but we did find beautiful views, a nice church and several small shops. The town of Delphi is known more for winter tourists who enjoy skiing, so it wasn't very busy being off season for winter sports and summer travelers. We sat on the patio enjoying the evening until we had dinner at the hotel. Day 5: Delphi and Athens After our one-night stay in Delphi, we packed up and loaded onto our bus at 9am. We started our day at the Delphi Archeological Site, which was just a few minutes from our hotel. Beginning at the museum again, we saw more incredibly preserved statues and artifacts from thousands of years ago. The archeological site in Delphi has sanctuaries dedicated to Apollo and Athena, as well as athlete training areas, an amphitheater and a stadium. This site was the most physically demanding, with everything being built into the side of the mountain, to reach the stadium the trail had several switchbacks and a decent incline. We did enjoy it, and the walk itself didn't take terribly long. After our tour we started our drive back to Athens. Just a few minutes of driving from Delphi, we reached the town of Arachova, which is a charming town right off the road in the mountain, and then stopped just past it so we could get pictures. A short distance further we stopped for lunch at Aggelos House and Restaurant. This was probably my favorite meal of the week. It felt like speed eating, they brought you one appetizer, and then the next, and then the next, and the food kept coming. It was one item at a time, but was so good, and there wasn't an item that I didn't enjoy. I believe we had 4 appetizers, several side items and meat. Our drive to Athens took several more hours, with traffic adding time. We stayed at the Hotel Divani Caravel. This is a really nice hotel, but it is a little outside of the Plaka area, with less right around for us to enjoy. The students stayed at a hotel that was just a few blocks outside of the Plaka, and we were around 5 miles from them. Once we checked into our hotel, we walked a few blocks to see the area close to us, but didn't have a lot of luck finding anything we wanted to do. We did get a coffee at Starbucks and enjoyed walking until it started to rain. We went back to our hotel for dinner and then bed. Day 6: Athens We started our day with a timed entry at The Acropolis at 9am. Even though it was early, it was extremely busy. We had amazing views of the city in addition to seeing all of the incredible remains of the Parthenon and all of the other temples. After our tour we walked as a group to the Plaka, with Gabriella pointing out interesting sites along the way. We met up with Whitney and found a place for lunch. We spent the rest of our day enjoying shopping, cafes, people watching and admiring the busy bustle of the city. Matthew was determined to try the subway - or metro as they call it in Athens - so we texted Gabriella and let her know we wouldn't be on the bus. We made our way to the Metro Station and paid our 5 Euro fare. It was impressive how clean it was in the metro station. We received instructions on how to get to where we needed, which was honestly extremely simple. We had to get on the red train and ride it one stop, then get off and board the blue train for one stop. Then we walked a few blocks to our hotel. When we were leaving the station, Ben had someone feel up his back pocket, and was pretty sure he was trying to pickpocket him. Luckily, he had everything in his front pocket, but he was either felt up or someone tried to get some money. We had some time before dinner, so we changed and went to Bistro 46, which was a bar right by our hotel. We each had a drink and then went back to our hotel to catch the bus for our ride to dinner. We had dinner at Zafiro Experience Greek Show this evening. Zafiro's was similar to the Touris Club, with a meal and traditional Greek dance. Before we were seated, we had a quick tour of the facility. They own olive groves and showed us some of the equipment used to make the oils. They also gave us samples of bread and olive oils when we went into the restaurant. There was a definite push to sell their product, but it was really good so I did buy some oil. The restaurant is located overlooking Athens, and seeing the city lit up at night was really cool. Dinner was good, and the dancing was fun to watch. Most of the students danced, and more had the opportunity to break plates. Ben was selected to "compete" in a sweeping competition after many plates were broken during the dancing. He won, and they crowned him a demigod. He then changed into traditional Greek clothing and danced. This was a late night, and we had an early morning, but it was a highlight with Ben being the center of attention. Day 7: Aegina Island We had to be on the bus by 7am. We were at Port Piraeus early, to catch the ferry to Aegina Island. Our buses also were taking the ferry. I had never been on a ferry that was as nice as the one we took to the island. I've been on small ferries on Lake Superior to Madeline Island, and in Lake Heron to Mackinaw Island. This Ferry was huge, with nice table and couches, decent restrooms and a snack counter. It wasn't fancy, but it was nice. We started by sitting on the second deck outside so we could enjoy the view. The view was foggy and hazy. It took us around an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the island, and we did stay outside for the majority of it. Eventually, we were damp and cold, so we went below and inside. Once we arrived at the port on the Island, we walked for a few minutes while waiting for the buses to get of the ferry. The Holy Church of Saint Nectarius is right there on the dock, so we checked that out, and Matthew even lit a candle. We drove around the island, with Gabriella telling us about the history of the area, and pointing out many pistachio groves, the main crop on the island. We stopped at the Chapel of St. Nicholas. This is such a beautiful church with gorgeous ceiling murals, stain glass windows and a lovely terrace. After our bus tour of the island, we were dropped off back by the port and walked to our restaurant for lunch. We were eating lunch as a group this day at a nice restaurant with table set up right on the beach. We had a couple hours after lunch to enjoy the town, so we walked, shopped for pistachios and pistachio infused treats, and spent a few minutes at the beach, stepping into The Saronic Gulf on the Aegean Sean. Before we went back to meet our group at the port, we had a drink at a restaurant close to the port and enjoyed the open air next to the sea. While we waited for our group at the port, we saw several sea urchins on the rocks below. Once we loaded the ferry and started our ride back from the island, we found a spot inside to relax. We were all a little tired after our late evening and early morning, so were thankful to have a place to sit. After we arrived at the port, we made our way back to our hotel. Gabriella said goodbye, as our tour was officially over. We discussed taking the subway back to the Plaka, but decided against it. Whitney did end up going to the Plaka with friends, while Ben, Gal, Matthew and I went to Bistro 46 for drinks. We were all pretty exhausted, so it was an early night, with one quick detour to a corner market for energy drinks. Day 8: Travel Day Spiro picked our group up at 9:30am for our ride to the airport, our week in Greece coming to a close. Our travel home was pretty smooth, with just a slight delay out of Athens. We are used to busy vacations, I like to see as much as I can while I am traveling. I don't want to miss anything if I can help it. This was definitely a busy week, but it didn't feel overly rushed because we did have down time to explore on our own, and riding on the bus rather than driving ourselves gave us some needed relaxing time. With that said, it would have been nice to have another day or two on our own after the tour ended rather than flying out the next morning. This was an incredible vacation and I feel so blessed that we got to do this with our kids. It makes me even more excited for our continued international travel in the future!

We finally made it to New England! This was a vacation we were most excited about, and we had an incredible time. When I planned this vacation, I researched when to visit for the best chance for peak leaf change, and it paid off with gorgeous drives through the White Mountains. Matthew was getting over a respiratory illness as we started our vacation, and Whitney started feeling sick within the first couple of days, but both were troopers, and it didn't disrupt our plans too much. Day 1: Boston We flew into Boston, early on a Wednesday, landing around 10am. I booked a room close to Boston Common at The Revere Hotel Boston Common, and check-in wasn't until 4pm. So, we rented our car and went to visit a few historical sites prior to going into downtown Boston. Our first stop was Minute Man National Historic Park in Lincoln, MA. We detoured into the town for lunch at Town Meeting Bistro in Lexington before going to the site. This restaurant is located inside the Inn at Hastings Park. I am not a seafood fan, but Matthew had clam chowder which he said was incredible, and the rest of the food was good as well. It was a little fancier than we expected, but I would recommend it as a decent place to eat. After lunch, we made our way to the Minute Man National Historic Park Visitor Center. We parked and walked a path to reach the building and explored the small display areas and found a map of the park. Our objective was to see the actual Minute Man Statue and after looking at the trails realized it would be quite the walk to reach it. The ranger on site gave us an address to map our drive to the statue. I was surprised that it wasn't in the Historic Park, but in the town. This site is where the American Revolution began, and it is incredible to realize the first "skirmish", as the signs state, happened on the same grounds we were standing on. Our next destination was to Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site. They offer tours of the house, but they weren't open when we visited so we walked the grounds and garden and then headed to stop three, John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site, the birthplace of John F Kennedy. Again, it was closed so we snapped a picture and moved on. The last stop before we drove into Boston was the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. This looked to be a really cool tour, but again was closed so we just walked where we could and took a few pictures from outside. We parked at the hotel ramp for $42/night, which was on the cheaper side for parking in Boston. We checked into our room and Whitney decided to stay back and do homework, while Matthew and I walked the Public Garden and Boston Common. Whitney is the pickiest eater to ever exist, so I checked out menus of restaurants in the area and found a place with grilled cheese. I called her and she met us in the lobby of our hotel, and we walked to the Back Deck for dinner. Once we were seated and looked at the menus, we saw that there was no grilled cheese option and were told they only offer it for lunch. So, Whitney didn't eat, and Matthew and I both ordered the Andouille Mac & Cheese. It was good, but the portions were very small for the price we paid. I had a Snicker Sundae for dessert, which they put walnuts in instead of peanuts, but it was still good, and Matthew ordered a Boston Cream Pie which was delicious. After we ate, we tried to find something for Whitney, but she was stubborn and insisted she wasn't hungry, so we went back to our room and to bed. Day 2: Boston Thursday morning, we woke up much later than normal, likely because of the time change. We got up around 8am, and my girlfriend Kim, who lives about an hour outside of Boston, was meeting us at 9am. We got ready, and after Kim arrived walked to The Friendly Toast for breakfast. Once we were fueled for the day we walked toward the start of The Freedom Trail. There was light rain on and off in the morning, but not enough to completely ruin our day. We stopped by Cheers, snapped a picture of the iconic sign and visited the gift shop. Then we made our way to the first stop of The Freedom Trail, walking through Boston Common. Our goal was to complete the entire trail, which isn't terribly far of a walk, but Kim was a little less optimistic than we were. The trail itself is only around 2.5 miles. I had a map printed out and was worried we would lose our way, but there is a red brick trail the entire way, which made it so much easier than I expected. We didn't start at the "starting point" marker but walked through Boston Common to The Massachusetts State House. Many of the sites had tours you could join to walk through the buildings, but we chose not to do so, other than the cemeteries where you could walk through for free, instead just admiring the buildings. Our next stop was Park Street Church, followed by the Granary Burial Ground and Kings Chapel. We walked through the burial grounds. Then we got a little confused. We saw the Old State House, and Old South Meeting House, but couldn't find the Old Corner Bookstore. We did find a placard on the sidewalk marking the Freedom Trail, but no sign anywhere for the bookstore. We found a Chipotle where it appeared it should be. We later asked someone at Faneuil Hall, and they said that it is now a Chipotle, so not sure if it is or not, but we count that as good enough! We found the Boston Massacre site and then made our way to Faneil Hall and Quincy Market. Here we stopped for a while, walking through quickly then finding restrooms, and we sat for a bit while Whitney had ice cream. After we felt adequately rested, we made our way back on the trail to the Paul Rever House, Paul Revere Mall and Old North Church. The last stop before we crossed the Charlestown Bridge was Copp's Hill Burying Ground, which has the narrowest house I've ever seen right across the street. The walk across the bridge was pretty cool, with decent views of the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge and the Charles River. We were getting tired by this time, but we only had two more stops. The area across the bridge was much hillier than in downtown, so that did make it a little less enjoyable walking, and the last two sites weren't very close to each other. I felt they were the best sites to see on the trail, so I am glad we decided to cross the bridge. If we weren't going to finish the trail, those would have been the ones we would have skipped. We chose to go to the Bunker Hill Monument first. I had no idea how large this monument was going to be, and it was incredible to see up close. You can climb to the top of it up 295 steps on a spiral staircase. Had we started our walk here, we likely would have climbed to the top, but my legs weren't feeling it at this point. Kim promised to go back sometime and head to the top, so we will see if she makes good on her word. The last stop on the Freedom Trail was the USS Constitution. We didn't walk through the visitor center, but we did walk through the ship, which is free to tour. Matthew and I visited the USS Kidd in Baton Rouge when we were there, and we were surprised how different the two ships are. The USS Constitution is the oldest war ship still afloat. It was built and launched in 1797. There were several Navy Officers on board answering questions. When you go below deck, the ceilings are extremely low, and Matthew had to walk hunched over so he didn't hit his head. We completed the Freedom Trail! And we were tired and hungry, so we walked back across the bridge to the North End to find an Italian restaurant for an early dinner. The North End is unofficially known as Boston's "Little Italy" and has so many restaurants to choose from. After browsing menus, we decided on Beneventos. It was still early for dinner, but we skipped lunch, and eating early meant we were the only party in the restaurant. The food was excellent, service was ok, but they did forget to put Matthew's meal in, so he had to wait for his well after the rest of us had our food. When we finished eating, we walked down the block to Bova's Bakery for some dessert. We bought a variety of specialty cannoli and made our way back to our hotel, swinging by the African American National Historical Site on the way. We walked through Boston Common and saw the Embrace Memorial on our walk through. Kim broke off and went to her car, and we went to our hotel room. It started pouring as soon as we were back, so the timing worked out well. The skyline looked eerie with the rain shadowing the tops of buildings. As I said, The Freedom Tail is only 2.5 miles, but our fitness apps logged over 10 miles walked this day, which is a lot for our sedentary bodies. We went to bed early after the long day. Day 3: Salem, MA and Portland, ME We woke up fairly early and started our drive north. We stopped at Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, and walked through the buildings, before finding breakfast. Saugus Iron Works is a reconstruction of the first successful iron works in the United States. Next, we went to Salem. We didn't want to miss the opportunity to visit since we were so close, but we didn't plan to spend a lot of time here. Salem was pretty packed and I'm guessing not even a fraction of as busy as it gets closer to Halloween. We found a place to park and walked to the house of Seven Gables and then to the Salem Maritime National Historic Site. Then we walked to Essex Street and enjoyed people watching and checking out a few shops. We managed to find a few souvenirs, snapped some pictures with Pennywise, located the Bewitched Statue and then had lunch at The Tavern. We walked to the Witch Trials Memorial and saw the gravestones of executed "witches" and their judges. While in Salem, I realized that I didn't have my credit card. I typically use only credit cards while on vacation, so I don't have to worry about my bank account being compromised. I did have several other cards with me just in case, but the one I had planned to use for the trip was missing. I went back and forth on if I should just call it in and cancel it. I ended up calling the restaurant from the night before in Boston, and they confirmed I had left it. So, we detoured back to Boston to pick it up before driving north to Portland, ME. We actually stayed in Scarborough, just outside of Portland at the Residence Inn. The hotel wasn't fancy but was clean, and we had a room with a bedroom and a pull-out couch, so Whitney had some privacy. Once we were checked in, we went into Portland for dinner. Portland is a really cute city. We went to the Old Port Area as a recommendation from the hotel staff and ate at Rosies Restaurant & Pub. We sat outside and enjoyed the fall weather. Our food was good and when we finished, we walked to Beal's Old Fashioned Ice Cream and we each got a cone. We walked down by the harbor enjoying the fresh air while we finished our ice cream before going back to our hotel for the night. Day 4: Bar Harbor We got up relatively early again with a decent drive planned for the day. We started our day at Tandem Coffee Roosters for breakfast and a latte. We were actually here before they opened, so we had to wait for around 15 minutes. They had unique breakfast items which we enjoyed very much, and the coffee hit the spot. We drove Hwy 1 the entire day and saw several cute little coastal towns on our drive. Our first stop was at the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in New Harbor, ME. They do allow tours inside to the top of the lighthouse, but we were too early and didn't want to wait the hour and a half. We did walk through their museum and the grounds and enjoyed walking on the rocky shoreline. We stopped for at Moody's Diner for lunch. It is a cute diner, packed with customers and the food was good. The rest of our drive was uneventful. We saw a ton of porcupine roadkill on our drive, and all through Maine. This wasn't something we expected, it was like racoons back home. We enjoyed watching for leaves that were just starting to turn, cute coastal towns and the occasional peak of the ocean. We stopped to admire The Fort Knox State Historic Site bridge, but didn't go to the actual site. I booked a cabin for two nights at Bar Harbor Cottages. We absolutely loved our cabin. It had a small kitchenette area, a little living area, two bedrooms and a bathroom, and a screened in porch. It was small, but nice. Check in was a breeze, we didn't even have to see anyone, they called and gave us the instructions earlier that day. There wasn't any access to the water from our cabin, but we could see the ocean across the street right outside our front door. After we unloaded our bags, we drove into the town of Bar Harbor. This was an extremely busy area and a very walkable town. You have to pay for parking everywhere here, but they do have kiosks pretty frequently along the sidewalks, so it is fairly easy to do. We were on a mission here to find souvenirs, so we went into quite a few shops looking for Bar Harbor, Acadia or Maine gear. Then we walked to Agamont Park and watched sailboats and enjoyed the ocean views. We grabbed a quick dinner at Langosta, a Mexican restaurant with amazing burrito bowls, then back to our cabin for an early night. Day 5: Acadia National Park Our morning started at 4:30am so we could watch sunrise on Cadillac Mountain. This is supposed to be the first place to see the sunris e in the United States, but I have found other sites in Maine that also claim to be the first to see the sun rise, so I'm not completely sure. Regardless, we wanted the experience. You have to reserve a vehicle pass to drive the Cadillac Summit Rd, in addition to paying the park pass. They only issue so many vehicle passes and we were lucky enough to get one for sunrise. The drive up to Cadillac Mountain was in the dark, but we did see a couple of deer. Once you park you basically follow the crowd to find a place to sit and wait for sunrise. We were pretty early so we were able to find a nice place on the rocks and set up our camera. It was chilly as we waited but once the sky started to light up, it was worth it. We stayed until the sun was completely above the horizon and the color changes as it rose was mesmerizing. The plan for the day was to drive through Acadia National Park, but Whitney was cold and tired and wanted to nap a while first. She wasn't feeling the best, so Matthew and I dropped her back off at our cabin and we went to breakfast at The Looking Glass. This restaurant has phenomenal views of the ocean, and the food and service were good as well. We drove to Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. It was all closed up, but we were able to walk up to the lighthouse and snap a few pictures and we saw a couple of sealions just off shore swimming in the ocean! After we saw the actual lighthouse, we walked a trail that led to a rock cliff area where we could walk out and sit and enjoy the ocean for a bit, then we went back to collect Whitney. We decided to drive Park Loop Road and see what we could find to do. We started at Hulls Cove Visitor Center. You have to walk up quite a few steps to reach the actual building and there really isn't much there. We left the visitor center and just started driving. We pulled off at a few scenic pull offs and then turned into Jordan Pond. There was absolutely no parking here, so we just drove through and back onto Park Loop Road. We found a parking area with trails, so we decided to walk it. It was the Bubble Rock Trail. This was a nice hike, with some pretty steep areas as you walk to the summit. The trail markers are a little hard to follow and we never actually made it to the Bubble Rock but found amazing views of Jordan Pond as well as a few areas where the colors were peeking out in the leaves. We continued to drive and ended up completing the loop without seeing much. Whitney did not want to walk any more trails, and the park was so incredibly busy, we decided to drive a bit outside of the loop and stopped to walk a couple beaches as we made our way back to Bar Harbor. We parked and walked Bar Harbor again and bought a few more souvenirs and then had dinner at the Thirsty Whale. When we got back to our car, we had a parking ticket! We looked at the ticket and our parking receipt and saw that we literally got a ticket as we were walking to a kiosk to pay! I was super annoyed and since it was Sunday, we had to wait until the morning to figure out what to do about it. We went back to our cabin and relaxed a while before going to bed. Day 6: Gorham, New Hampshire Monday morning, we packed up our stuff and drove into Bar Harbor for coffee and to fight a parking ticket. Whitney stayed back at the cabin so she could get ready, but we were at the Municipal Building before they opened at 8am. Once we were there, we were told that they can take a payment, but we couldn't fight the ticket there. They did direct us on how to file a dispute online. It was actually really easy, and my ticket was dismissed within a couple of hours. We found coffee and then went back to pick Whitney up and start the next leg of our journey. Once we checked out, we started toward our first stop, The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation, Stephen King's former home, in Bangor, ME. The house itself is incredible. You can't actually go on the grounds, but it is a Victorian mansion with wrought-iron fence and gate around it. There are spiders and bats on the actual gate. Our next stop was The Sunday River Bridge in Newry, ME. We got out and walked in the covered bridge and admired the river for a bit, then went to our hotel in Gorham, NH. We stayed at The Top Notch Inn in Gorham, and as soon as we checked in, we ran back out the door. We realized that the Mt. Washington Auto Road stops letting vehicle in at 4pm, which changed from 5pm on the day we visited. We arrived at the gates at 3:50pm, with strict instructions that we had to be on our way back down no later than 4:45, and if we didn't make it down before the gates closed there would be a $50 fee to open them. The drive up was a little sketchy in places but overall, not terrible. It was 6 miles to the summit, and it did take us a good 20 minutes or so to reach the top. Once we arrived the views were magical. There was decent cloud coverage when we first got to the top, that changed to full blankets of clouds right before we left making it impossible to see anything at all in certain directions. You could see different mountainous hills in the distance, and the leaves were much closer to peak here than they had been in Maine. We enjoyed the views for a while, then walked through a gift shop before making our way back down the mountain. The way down was pretty intense. There are pull offs all over to cool your brakes and you are supposed to put your vehicle in low gear. We did put it in low gear, but it didn't help slow us down at all, and when we pulled off a couple of times the brakes were literally smoking. When we finally made it to the bottom, the check engine light was on in our rental, luckily it did go off a few days later. Day 7: Kancamagus Highway and Stowe, VT We were taking the scenic route today. The leaves were gorgeous, with bright red, orange and yellow popping though the greens. We were on high alert looking for Moose, with Moose Crossing signs prominent, but we weren't lucky enough to see any on our trip. We started our day with breakfast at Sweet Maple Cafe in Conway, NH. This was a really cute cafe, and the food and coffee were excellent. Our hope for New Hampshire and Vermont was to see gorgeous leaf colors and we were not disappointed. The Kancamagus Highway is a highly recommended drive during the fall foliage change and it is clear as to why. The highway runs from Conway to Lincoln along the Swift River, with many pull offs to walk trails and enjoy the scenery. I do not know what the individual pull offs are called, but we did stop at several. The first stop was at the Lower Falls area. We walked on rocks along and over the river and enjoyed the amazing colors. The rocks here were low enough you could walk pretty far into the river. I believe the next pull off was the Rocky Gorge. We climbed on the rocks and walked across a trail bridge. As we continued, we found the Upper Falls area, where Matthew and I walked a short trail to see the waterfall. Whitney was feeling pretty sick, and was exhausted, so she chose to stay in the car for this trail. We continued on the highway absorbing the beauty of the colorful hills and stopped again at a few overlooks as we made our way to Lincoln. Once in Lincoln, we decided to check out Franconia Notch State Park. We pulled into a lot and found many trailheads, but with Whitney not feeling well, decided to drive to Old Man of the Mountain, rather than doing multiple trails. We pulled into the New England Ski Museum parking area and found a souvenir store that we explored for a few minutes, and then drove down to the Old Man of the Mountains parking lot. Again, Whitney decided not to join us, but Matthew and I walked this easy, paved trail with lovely views of the hills around us, a lake and found the rocky protrusion that is where Old Man of the Mountains profile could be seen. Over time, weather impact had caused the formation to collapse, so we were disappointed to not actually see anything, but the walk itself was still really pretty. We then started toward our hotel, the Commodores Inn in Stowe, VT. The drive was all backroad highways and an absolutely incredible drive. Once we got into Stowe it was crazy with how many cars and people were enjoying this tiny mountain town. We didn't actually spend time in the town, but I do wish I would have booked more time here. If we ever go back, we will stay at least two nights and explore Stowe more thoroughly. We checked into our hotel and then we drove to The Ben and Jerry's Factory. We saw 3 bear cubs on the side of the road on the drive! We weren't able to do a tour of the factory because they had sold out of tickets, but we walked the flavor graveyard and enjoyed some ice cream. We skipped lunch this day, so we were all pretty hungry once we finished at Ben and Jerry's. Because Stowe was so busy we went to Waterbury Village Historic District, and had dinner at McGillicuddy's Pub. Day 8: Lenox, MA We let ourselves sleep in a little this day but were still on the road by 9am. We stopped to see Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park first. We walked into the visitor center first, and bought some souvenirs, then walked up to the Rockefeller House. Whitney isn't a fan of museums, but I do think walking the museum and touring the farm would have been fun. There are trails that will take you to lookout points where you can see Woodstock below, but because Whitney was still not feeling well, we didn't take any trails, but instead just walked the areas right by the parking lot and then drove to Woodstock. Woodstock is another cute little mountain town, with various shops and a covered bridge. We found some Vermont souvenirs at the General Store and walked the streets enjoying the small town. We stopped at Mass MoCA next. This is a really cool complex. There are several buildings, and it looks like it was converted from old warehouses or something. I read that they have great food here, so we planned to have lunch and walk through the museum. Our food was terrible! It was bland and heavy, and we didn't feel great after eating. We decided not to walk through the museum because Whitney was not feeling it, so we admired everything from outside and then drove to Lenox. Lenox is a town in Western Massachusetts in the Berkshires area. We stayed at the Yankee. You can access your rooms from inside like a typical hotel, but they also have doors that lead straight outside which was a nice feature, but we did manage to lock ourselves out within the first 10 minutes. The rooms were large and comfortable. Whitney decided to nap while Matthew and I drove to Old Lenox. We walked the town looking at old mansions converted to B&Bs and resorts, and then drove to The Mount. The Mount itself was closed, but the grounds stay open until sunset, so we walked the property and saw the mansion. There are all kinds of quirky sculptures along the yard as you walk to the house. Day 9: Mystic, CT, Newport, RI and Cape Cod This was our longest drive of our vacation. We visited Connecticut and Rhode Island on our way to Cape Cod. I didn't do the best job of researching what to do in Connecticut, so our only plan was to have lunch at Mystic Pizza. I wanted to just see what we found, but I find it really hard to explore without having a plan, and this stop proved it. We arrived just after they opened, and we had an enjoyable meal here. The restaurant is filled with pictures of celebrities and a lot of memorabilia from the movie Mystic Pizza. After lunch we walked for a while, then had ice cream at Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream, before leaving Mystic. We had hoped to drive the coast a bit and find a gift shop to buy a magnet of Connecticut but ended up in Rhode Island faster than expected. So, Matthew wanted to buy a magnet online, but I didn't think that counted, so we routed ourselves back to Connecticut and found a small town and bought a pretty lame magnet to represent Connecticut. Our only plan for Rhode Island was to walk the Cliff Walk Trail. Whitney was still feeling pretty awful, so she was not overly thrilled about the walk. We parked at Easton's Beach and walked the first part of the trail, seeing the Chanler and Forty Steps, and great views of the ocean and cliffs. There was a detour at Forty Steps, and we walked around the block to start the next section, and Whitney had had enough by the time we reached Vinland Estate, so we turned around and went back to our car. As we were driving out of Newport, we saw a car museum, and Whitney said she wanted to go, so we pulled off and walked through the museum. There were 7 areas with classic cars, new cars, foreign and domestic. The museum is the owner's personal collection, and it is incredible how many he owns. We enjoyed this unexpected stop quite a bit. The drive from Newport to Cape Cod was fairly quick. We made one more stop in New Bedford to see the New Bedford Whaling Historic Site, which was closed. We stayed in Truro, just before you reach Provincetown, and I had no idea how far that is down the cape. When we crossed the bridge to Cape Cod, we still had almost two hours to get to our cabin. We found a rest area just off the highway to use the bathroom. We stayed at Truro Cabins and had another cute little 2-bedroom cabin for the next two nights. The check in here was very similar to Bar Harbor, where we received a code for the keys and just let ourselves in. The resort had a community deck with BBQ grills and a walkway down to the beach. We dropped our stuff and drove into Provincetown to find dinner. We were here in the off-season, so most of the restaurants closed earlier than normal. We realized this when we walked to a restaurant we had looked up, to find their hours weren't updated online, and they were closed when we arrived. We found a bar/restaurant called The Squealing Pig that was open, and we ate here. It was after 8pm, and Provincetown after dark is pretty wild. Many groups of men dressed very risqué and overly sexualized. It wasn't exactly our scene, but during the day it is much more family friendly. By the time we finished eating it was late, and we had a long day, so we went back to our cabin and to bed. Day 10: Provincetown Whitney was exhausted and sick, so she had no desire to wake up and explore with Matthew and me. She stayed in bed while Matthew and I went in search of breakfast. Parking in Provincetown is horrible. The roads are narrow and packed, and there are very limited public parking lots. We went to Liz's Cafe, which has a parking lot adjoined, but you can't actually park there as it is owned by the gym across the street. It sounds like there is some friction between the restaurant and the gym over this. We had to move our car but were able to find parking on a side street luckily. We had coffee and breakfast, and the staff here was great, and the food was excellent. Next, we drove to Pilgrim Monument. We found a public parking area a block from the elevator to the monument. When we walked up, we saw that they were not open until 10am, so we walked down toward the Warf to kill about 45 minutes. We found a huge parking area at the Warf, which alleviated that as a concern later in the day. There are a bunch of little stands on the dock, but only about half were open. There were whale watching tours and we considered going on one, but they only had 2 tours, one at 10am and one at 2pm. The 2pm was sold out, and we wouldn't have had time to get Whitney before the 10am, so we just walked the area and people watched and saw the interesting art choices around the city. We walked back to Pilgrim Monument and rode the incline elevator up to the monument. Our tickets gave us access to walk up to the top of the monument, the museum and to the elevator for the day. We were the first visitors of the day, so Matthew and I had the luxury of walking up to the top of the monument without anyone around to worry about. The climb up with intense, but it was ramps with a step up at each corner, so not as bad as just steps. The sights from the top were worth the climb. We went to the museum to get our sticker for making it to the top and started to walk through. There was no airflow, and it was hot and stuffy, so we bought some water and a magnet and skipped the museum. We decided to head back to our cabin and check on Whitney. She was still sleeping when we got there, but she got up and Matthew and I walked down to the beach to relax while she got ready. The beach here was quiet, with sandy shoreline as far as you can see. You could look out and see the lighthouse at the very tip of Provincetown, and the city as well. The water was very cold and there was a ton of seaweed in the water and on the shoreline. The sun was shining, and we enjoyed sitting and listening to the waves for an hour. Once Whitney was ready, we went back to Provincetown and parked at the Warf. We walked the docks again and went into the Shark Museum. The museum was very educational and a quick walk through. After, we walked the streets and found shops to purchase souvenirs. Then we went to have a late lunch/early dinner at The Mayflower. Matthew finally got a full lobster here, and Whitney and I also enjoyed a great meal. We went back to our cabin after we ate so we could watch the sunset on the beach. We still had a couple of hours, but we grabbed chairs and went to sit on the beach. It was much cooler as the sun crept lower in the sky, so Whitney didn't last long, and we went in the cabin to warm up and then back out once. When the sun finally made its way toward the horizon the colors in the sky were the best I've ever seen. Bright yellows and pink completely illuminated the clouds. We watched seagulls splashing on the shore, dropping shellfish and digging out the meat within. It was an incredible evening. Once it was dark, we went back to the cabin and finished packing our stuff for our flight out the next day. Then Matthew and Whitney decided they were hungry again, so we went back to Provincetown and to the Grilled Cheese Gallery for a sandwich. This is a quirky diner with a unicorn theme, and every kind of grilled cheese you can imagine. Whitney stuck with the classic, I had a Cowgirl Grilled Cheese which had chicken and macaroni on it, and Matthew had the Cowboy with brisket and macaroni. All of the sandwiches came with a small cup of tomato soup, and we ordered fries to share. It was really good, and the staff here was great. Day 11: Airport We left our cabin at 7:30am, to drive to the airport. We had a 2.5-hour drive and an 11:40 flight, plus we had to drop our car off at the rental center and a quick stop for coffee. Once we exited the cape, it was quick. We had a late breakfast at the airport, and our vacation was officially over. We added 6 new states, and a hundred new memories Day 1: Boston Minute Man National Historic Park Town Meeting Bistro Minute Man Statue Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site The Revere Hotel Boston Common Public Garden Boston Common The Back Deck Day 2: Boston The Friendly Toast Cheers Boston Common The Freedom Trail Beneventos Bova's Bakery Day 3: Salem, MA and Portland, ME Saugus Iron Works Salem The Residence Inn Old Port Portland, ME Rosie's Restaurant & Pub Beal's Old Fashioned Ice Cream Day 4: Bar Harbor Tandem Coffee Roosters Pemaquid Point Lighthouse Moody's Diner Fort Knox State Historic Site bridge Bar Harbor Cottages Bar Harbor Agamont Park Langosta Day 5: Acadia National Park Cadillac Mountain Summit The Looking Glass Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse Bass Harbor Head Hulls Cove Visitor Center Park Loop Road Bubble Rock Rail Jordon Pond Bar Harbor Thirsty Whale Day 6: Gorham, New Hampshire Bar Harbor Municipal Building The Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation Sunday River Bridge The Top Notch Inn Mt. Washington Auto Road Mt. Washington Summit Day 7: Stowe, VT Sweet Maple Cafe Kancamagus Highway Franconia Notch Old Man of the Mountains Commodores Inn The Ben and Jerry's Factory Waterbury Village Historic District McGillicuddy's Pub Day 8: Lenox, MA Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park Woodstock, VT Mass MoCA The Yankee Old Lenox The Mount Day 9: Cape Cod Mystic, CT Mystic Pizza Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream Newport, RI Cliff Walk Trail Newport Car Museum New Bedford New Bedford Whaling Historic Site Cape Cod Truro Cabins Provincetown The Squealing Pig Day 10: Cape Cod Provincetown Liz's Cafe Pilgrim Monument Provincetown Warf The Shark Museum The Mayflower Grilled Cheese Factory Day 11: Travel Day

Michigan is the furthest trip we've taken with our camper. I booked a campsite at J.W. Wells State Park, just across the Wisconsin border in the Upper Peninsula. Most of the trip was camping but we did take the time to venture out a couple of times. When I booked this, I knew Michigan was in the eastern time zone. I didn't realize that where we stayed was actually in the central time zone. This did make it a little difficult because the places we visited were different time zones, which meant earlier wake up times, but we managed through it. My original plan was to visit Pictured Rocks on Monday and Sault Ste. Marie Thursday. After seeing a ton of positive reviews of Mackinac Island we scrapped Sault Ste. Marie and visited the island instead. JW. Wells State Park is not the type of campground we generally visit. I like very wooded camping with as much privacy as possible, and it is very open with campsites right on top of each other. The site I booked was on the last loop at the end of the campground, with woods behind us, so we were more secluded than most sites and we ended up really enjoying our site. We were further from the lake than we would like to have been, but none of the sites had easy lake access anyway so it wasn't that big of a deal. There were restrooms and showers in the middle of the campground, a couple of playgrounds and an area with horseshoes. We left on a Saturday and were completely packed and ready to head out by 6am. It took us just under 7 hours to drive to the campground, filling up on gas on our way out and stopping once more along the way. This was the weekend before July 4th so the campground was packed, but cleared out considerably after the 4th. Once we were done unhooking our camper and setting up camp (and moving the camper two times to get it positioned right and level), we went straight to the beach. It was close to 2pm and the sun was hot. We were sweaty and ready for a rinse in the lake! We could have walked to the beach, but since we were pretty far back in the campground we drove. The parking area for the beach is huge and there are multiple paths through the woods from the parking lot to the water. We were on Green Bay (which Matthew continued to remind me and insist that we weren't technically on Lake Michigan). The beach area was really amazing. It was all sand as far as you could see and a nice sandy bottom when in the lake. There was an actual beach area with buoys defining the area. Bathrooms, picnic tables and volleyball nets were set just behind the beach area. We set up our towels just down from the beach area. The water was extremely shallow, and you could walk out forever and be able to touch. Matthew walked out and fished for a while, and Whitney and I alternated between tanning and dipping in to cool off in the water. After the beach we went to the campground office and bought firewood. Firewood tends to be what we spend the most money on while camping, but if you bought 3 bundles it was only $5 each here. Back at camp we started a fire, cooked some hotdogs and relaxed. We went to bed early after a long travel day and early start. Our second day was another relaxing day. We hung out at our site until we were hot enough to hit the beach and we brought kayaks with us this time. Dragging the kayaks was kind of a pain due to the fact that we drove and walked the path from the parking lot, but it was fun to take them out. Matthew was able to fish a little from the kayak, but with how shallow the water was so far out it wasn't great fishing. We did drive up the road to Ceder River State Harbor so Matthew could fish off the dock, but he didn't have any luck here either. Every day the campground had activities planned. Nature walks, educational classes, etc. They were all geared towards little kids so we didn't partake in anything, but on Sunday the kids did a bike parade where they decorated their bikes with flags and streamers for the 4th of July. A firetruck led the way as they biked though the campground and it was the cutest thing. Monday, we got up early and left camp at 8am to head to Munising. I had booked a Pictured Rocks boat cruise for 2pm. Munising is a 2-hour drive from J.W. Wells State Park, and we lost an hour with the time change. It is a super cute little town. We walked around and visited a few gift shops and ate lunch. Then we had ice cream at Miner's Pasties and Ice Cream. The ice cream was delicious, but we had no idea what a pastie was before we came here. Since we had just had lunch we decided we would come back after our cruise to try one. The boat cruise was spectacular. I would have loved to spend a day exploring the trails around Pictured Rocks or doing the kayak tour, but with how long the drive was we figured the cruise was the best way to enjoy this area with limited time. And we saw the most amazing rocky coastline we could have imagined. We booked the Spray Falls Cruise with Pictured Rock Cruises. The first thing we saw was the Grand Island as we pulled away from Munising and out of the South Bay into Lake Superior. Grand Island is over 13,000 acres and is a National Recreation Area. There are two natural lakes on the island. Our captain said that most of the cabins/houses on the island do not have electricity, and even less have running water, so this is definitely a more primitive area to visit. I'm going to do my best to recap our tour and remember all of the names of the sites that were pointed out. First was Miners Castle Rock, a beautiful rock formation resembling a Castle. This is one of the few areas along Pictured Rocks Lakeshore where you can easily access it by land so there were quite a few people assembled on the viewing platform as we went by. The next section was gorgeous. We saw cliffs with all the beautiful colors dripping down like they were running into the water. The cliffs are sandstone, and over time the water and wind have created caves. The colors that we saw are caused by different minerals transported within groundwater seeping out of cracks in the rock and deposited as stains on the sandstone. Reds and oranges are from iron, the blues and green are caused by copper, brown and black by manganese and the white is limonite. The Caves of all Colors have a gruesome story attached. Apparently Native American's believed them to be a place of execution by early Indigenous Tribes, with the vermillion coloring thought to be the blood of victims within the caves. Lover's Leap is a beautiful arch. The water surrounding this formation is a lovely green/blue where it is only approximately 3 feet deep (so the captain made sure to tell us leaping from Lover's Leap is a very bad idea), then moving into a darker blue as it gets deeper further from the arch. Rainbow Cave is another lovely backdrop against water resembling the Caribbean beaches. The cave has all the wonderful colors dripping from the sandstone. This is the largest cave along the Pictured Rocks shoreline and a favorite for kayakers. Indian Head Rock is a formation resembling the profile of a Native American Chief. Next is Grand Portal. This is the highest rock formation along Pictured Rocks, reaching over 200 feet high. At one time you could take a small boat through the archway here but a rock collapsing 25 years ago blocked the passageway. Battleship Rock was one of the coolest things we saw on our cruise. The rock itself resembles a battleship sitting on the water. As our captain moved our boat past Battleship Rock, Battleship Row slowly came into view, revealing several rock formations jetting out into the water mimicking a line of battleships. Flower Vase Rock and Indian Drum came next. Two very distinct formations that perfectly resemble that of their names. As we came to Chapel Cove our captain steered and positioned our boat right into the cove. There were only a few feet on either side of our cruise boat before the giant cliffs began. Chapel beach is next to the cove and it was filled with people enjoying the beautiful day. When I researched Pictured Rocks, this was the destination I had considered visiting by land. There is a trailhead where you can park and walk 3 miles to the beach. From there you can continue on a loop for a total of 10 miles, or you can walk the 3 miles back. The loop will take you along the cliffs and from what I read it is the best way to see the actual cliffs by land. Chapel Rock is a wonderous formation with a tree growing directly on top of it. The tree cannot sustain itself atop the rock, so the roots suspend across to the main land area behind Chapel Rock. At one time there was an arch supporting the roots, but this has fallen and now the roots suspend across the vacant space. Spray Falls was the furthest destination on our cruise. This is the only waterfall that continuously flows all summer long. There are many other waterfalls along the lakeshore which flow abundantly in the late winter and early spring when the snow melts, but dry up during the summer. On our way back to Munising we saw the Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse. The lighthouse is on private property and was built in the 1860s. The lighthouse is made of wood and has been restored over the years. It was only operational until the early 1900s. As soon as we stepped off the boat Whitney went to wade in Lake Superior. After our cruise we went back to Miners Pasties and Ice Cream. We wanted to try these amazing meat and veggie pockets. When we ordered they only had the Yooper Pastie available, but assured us that was the best one anyway. Whitney ate another ice cream cone and we sat and enjoyed our dinner. The Yooper Pastie was really good, filled with pork, beef, potatoes, rutabaga, onion and carrots. All this goodness is wrapped in a flaky crust and you can pick it up and eat it like a sandwich. It was delicious. As we left Munising to head back to our campground we stopped at the Wagner Falls Scenic Site. This is a very short walk to view a waterfall. Tuesday was July 4th. We had planned to find a spot close to the campground to drive and see fireworks. As we looked at the weather for the next few days, we decided to move our daytrip to Mackinac Island to Wednesday from Thursday to avoid the rain coming Thursday. Mackinac Island was a 3-hour drive from J.W. Wells State Park plus an hour lost with time change, so we planned to be on the road by 6am. Whitney was ok with skipping fireworks, so we stayed at the camp all day. The beach was great this day, with temps in the 80s and nothing but sun. We spent most of our time at the beach, going back to camp to eat and then back to the beach. We floated, kayaked and laid on the beach tanning. That evening we played horseshoes, had a fire, ate our first s'mores of the trip, showered and went to bed early. Wednesday, we woke up at 5am to get ready to go to Mackinac Island. We drove the 3 hours along Highway 2 to St. Ignace to catch our ferry. It started to rain approximately 30 minutes into our drive. And by rain, I mean downpour. Sheets of rain, lines of traffic, limited visibility. Some lightning and thunder. We arrived at St. Ignace just after 10am ready to take the 10:30 ferry to the island. The schedule usually has a ferry leaving every 30 minutes, but on this day, there was a bridge tour, so we had to wait until 10:50. The rain started to subside right around the time we left, which was a relief. We moved our island visit to avoid the rain and didn't want to be drenched all day. I booked our ferry and a carriage ride through Mackinac Ferry (Star Line). The ferry ride to the island was approximately 20 minutes. As we approached the island you could see adorable houses lining the cliffs along the water's edge. The sky was still cloudy and hazy so we couldn't see the Mackinac Bridge. Once we got off the ferry, we went straight to the Mackinac Island Carriage Tours. I wasn't sure if we had to reserve a time or not, as the tickets I purchased in advance were not for a specified date or time. After checking in we went straight into a line and boarded a carriage tour. The carriage was pulled by two horses. We started down main street which is an adorable area with all kinds of shops and restaurants. It is very touristy and a little crowded, but the fact that there are no cars somehow adds to the charm. Out of the main street area we headed up the hill and approached the Grand Hotel. This hotel was built in only 93 days in the late 1880s. It is magnificent and has a very old-world charm. Our guides taught us a lot on this tour. Mackinac Island was the 2nd National Park in the United States, with the 1st being Yellowstone. The park was upkept by the soldiers at Fort Mackinac and when the military decided to close the fort, the State of Michigan stepped in to take care of the park. This is why it became a Michigan State Park after it was originally a National Park. There are no cars allowed on the island. The only transportation is by horse, bike or on foot. Ambulance and Fire is the only exception to this. Even the police officers patrol on bike. The speed limit here is 25mph. If you go faster than 25mph on a bike or horse, you will be fined $100. They have only 1 doctor on the island. They have 5 veterinarians on the island. Horses greatly outnumber the permanent residents on the island. In the winter they have special shoes with spikes for the horses, resembling that of ice cleats you wear over boots. They salt their streets with a horse drawn salt spreader. The horses work 1/2 days and then get a full 24 hours off. The guides on our tour are required to take care of their horses as well as lead the tours. They bathe, brush, bridle, etc. their horses each day. A lot of the workers on the island are college students. Most of the employers provide housing to their workers so they aren't dependent on ferry schedules. Their days begin before the ferry starts running in a lot of cases. The cemetery here is very unique. It is separated by religious denomination. It has multiple sections for religion as well as one section for military service. In order to be buried on the island you have to own land there. Our tour started on Main Street as I said, and once we reached the horse stables, we changed to a larger carriage. At the horse stables there was a guest center with restrooms, a few shops, donuts, Wings of Mackinac-a butterfly house you can walk through (which we skipped) and a place where you can build your own knife as a souvenir (also skipped). We boarded a new carriage pulled by 3 horses this time, which can seat up to 35 people. This is where we started touring more of the state park and learning more about the history of the island including where we saw the Mackinac Island Cemetery. We also stopped at Arch Rock. Our guide on this part dropped some off at Fort Mackinac and the rest of us off at the Governor's Residence where we could walk back down to Main Street. We walked to the Grand Hotel once we were off the carriage. It cost $10 to enter if you aren't staying at the hotel. We walked through and viewed all of the historic public areas and walked on the grand porch. I had planned to have lunch at the Grand Hotel but the buffet was the only thing serving anything besides bar appetizers, and the cost was $75 each, so we just walked through and then headed back to Main Street for food. The Gate House was the first restaurant we saw on our walk back down the hill, and this restaurant is actually a part of the Grand Hotel. Matthew and I enjoyed a burger and Whitney had a grilled cheese. After eating we walked Main Street. We went into a bunch of gift shops and purchased some souvenirs, Whitney got some ice cream, and we bought fudge from one of the many fudge shops on the island. Once we were done, we went to catch the ferry back to St. Ignace. The sky was clearer on the way back, so we did see decent views of the bridge from Lake Huron. After our afternoon on the Island, we drove across the Mackinac Bridge to find a good spot to get pictures. Plus, we now get to say we crossed the longest suspension bridge in the United States. Just across the bridge on the main-land of Michigan is Mackinaw City. I don't understand the same pronunciation and different spelling of the city and island, but I looked it up and it is definitely a different spelling. We stopped at Alexander Henry Park and walked to the shore of Lake Huron. Here we had fabulous views of the bridge even through a hazy sky, and got to step into the lake for awhile. Once we were done we started our drive back to our camp. I stopped at a rest area on our way back so that we could step into the water and officially step into 3 great lakes on this trip (since Green Bay didn't count in Matthew's opinion). We got back just after 7pm and sat by the fire and read until we were tired enough to go to bed. Thursday and Friday were spent relaxing at the campground. We kayaked, laid at the beach, enjoyed sitting by the fire, watched a couple of movies in the evening and played card games. We also went back to the harbor to fish again. We all got sunburned throughout the week. I finished 3 books on this trip, which is rare for any of our vacations to allow enough time to just sit and unwind, but it was such a needed relief. Friday morning we set our alarms for 4:30 so we could watch the sun rise. The sunrise at this time was 5:08am. Friday evening we burned our remaining wood and had s'mores again. We packed up everything we had outside of the camper before going to bed this evening. The only thing we had to worry about packing was inside the camper and our kayaks. Saturday morning we woke to rain, so our decision to pack up the night before made our morning a lot more pleasant. We had our coffee and then secured everything inside the camper. We were hooked up and pulling out around 8am Saturday morning to start our drive home. One quick stop at the dump station and to drop our garbage in the trash containers and we were on our way home. This was a wonderful week in Michigan. A nice mix of exploring and relaxing, with plenty of sunshine and beach time.

We took our much-anticipated camping road trip from Minnesota to Niagara Falls. Staying in Indiana, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. When planning this trip, we knew we would have several long drives, so we stayed 2 nights in 3 of the locations to break it up a bit. Matthew, Whitney and I drove in the truck pulling the camper and Galytea and Ben followed behind us in the Terrain. We were packed and ready to hit the road at 7am on Friday morning. I had originally planned to stop for a night in Wisconsin and drive further into Indiana or Ohio for our second night, but Matthew thought we should just go and get closer to New York, so the first leg was calculated at 7 hours of driving not counting stops. Traffic in Chicago added around 3 hours to our drive, so with gas and bathroom stops, plus traffic delays we drove for 11 hours day 1. This is definitely more than we want to drive in one day, we were all exhausted by the time we arrived. The wind on this vacation was also a factor. Pulling our travel trailer is already a little anxiety inducing, but adding windy conditions makes it worse. There wasn't anything severe, just enough to make it uncomfortable to pull. I booked us a campsite at Michigan City Campground in Michigan City, IN. We've already been to Indiana, so this stop was just to sleep. The campground was a nice typical RV campground. It had full hookups, pull through sites, a pool, basketball court, and a general store. We made a quick dinner and played a few card games before going to bed. Saturday morning, we were up and on the road again by 9am. The drive was mapped to take just over 6 hours, and we made it in about 8 hours. We were also crossing into the eastern time zone, so we arrived right around 6pm. We stayed at Lake Erie State Park for two nights. This campground was nice as well but lacked privacy. The campground overlooks Lake Erie, but the lake isn't accessible from any of the sites. You can walk down to a small beach area easily. The campground has showers and restrooms, electric hookups, several playgrounds, disc golf and of course the lake. When we arrived, we set up and made a quick dinner. Then we walked to the lake to dip our toes into our fourth Great Lake (for Whitney and myself). After, we showered and played games before going to bed. Sunday was our Niagara Falls day. We wanted to be there when they light up the falls, so we opted to leave a little later, close to 10am. Ben didn't get his passport in time for this trip, so Galytea and Ben drove to Niagara Falls, NY, stopping in Buffalo for brunch and a state park along the way. Matthew, Whitney and I cut up to Canada to see the falls from that side, which we'd heard has better views. Customs took us awhile to get through, but it wasn't terrible. We went straight to Niagara Falls and it was chaos. The Canada side is what Matthew calls Vegas for kids. The streets are lined people and tourist activities. We didn't stop to walk these streets, but instead found parking relatively close to the falls. You have to walk downhill quite a bit to reach the falls viewing areas, and we walked through a wooded area that was nice and shaded. Once we reached the viewing area, we were able to see the falls perfectly! While the views were amazing as expected, you are pretty far away. We did sit and admire them for a while and snapped a few pictures, then walked back up the hill to find lunch. Our parking was right outside the Skylon Tower, so we went inside to use the restroom, and shopped at their gift shops. We checked out the menu for the restaurant here, but Whitney wouldn't have eaten anything on the menu, and it was pretty expensive. Since we were going to eat quick and then go meet up with Ben and Gal, we wanted something close and easy. We walked to an IHOP at a hotel a block from our parking area. When we arrived, we were told that it wasn't open to the public, so I found another spot that was only another block up. We ate at Shoeless Joe's Sports Grill. The food was good, the service was ok. After lunch we walked back to our car and crossed over the Rainbow Bridge back into New York. Parking isn't cheap here, but you do only pay once and can reenter any of the State Park parking lots, which we took advantage of several times as we drove to different areas. We met Gal and Ben on Goat Island and decided to do the Cave of the Winds attraction first. You have to purchase tickets at the gate, you can't do in advanced, but when I bought them, we only had a 20-minute wait to enter. By this time of the day, it was hot, and we were all sweaty, starting to sunburn and a little miserable. While we waited, we walked in the park to find the Niagara Falls State Park sign and get a picture, and then we went back to the Cave of the Winds entrance and were able to walk right in a few minutes early. You take an elevator down 175 feet to the series of decks where you walk basically right under the Bridal Veil Fall. They issue ponchos, but we were still soaked. You are sprayed with water from the fall as you walk, and some of the decks have water rushing at your feet. This was an experience I am glad I didn't miss. You can feel and hear the power of the falls up close and personal, and it cooled us down nicely as we were soaked from the spray. After Cave of the Wind, we drove to the Maid of the Mist area. I pre-purchased tickets for this ride, but there are no times assigned, you can go whenever it is running during the season. Once we made our way to the entrance we saw the line, which was likely an hour wait. With the sun beating on us and our skin already pretty pink, we decided to drive north to hit up Lake Ontario and come back later. It was around 5pm at this time, and we had to be back before 8pm to get on the Maid of the Mist. Fort Niagara State Park was approximately a 30-minute drive north of Niagara Falls. It was much cooler here. We walked on a really nice beach and stepped foot in our fifth and final Great Lake, Lake Ontario. You could see Toronto skyline across the lake here. We didn't stay long before heading back to Niagara Falls. We did detour to get Whitney McDonald's, as she hadn't eaten all day. Once back to the Niagara Falls State Park, we walked back to Maid of the Mist and the line was completely gone! Not only were we able to walk right in, but the boat was almost empty making it extremely easy to find good viewing areas as the boat moved along and turned by the falls. We got on the boat around 6:30pm, and the crew said earlier in the day they had almost 600 people on at a time. The decision to leave and come back definitely paid off. They issue ponchos as you board Maid of the Mist, and you do get wet as they turn the boat around at the bottom of Horseshoe Falls, but the ponchos did keep us dry this time. It wasn't as intense as Cave of the Winds, but definitely worth doing. We saw a double rainbow over Bridal Veil Falls, and you get right up under Horseshoe. When the boat docked, we drove back to Goat Island and parked. We walked to the Horseshoe Falls viewing deck so we could see the falls once they light up. It was just before 8pm, and the lights were supposed to go on at 8:30pm. We sat waiting until 9:30pm, only to realize that the lights shine from the Canada side onto the falls, there aren't actually lights behind the falls. So, we couldn't see anything at all. Maybe if we had waited until later when it was darker it would have been like you see in pictures, but we were tired and done with the Falls. My guess is you have to see it from the Canada side to get the full effect anyway. We got back to camp after 11pm, with a detour for gas that was not anything I'd like to remember. It was basically straight to bed after a long day. Monday morning we woke up and made a bigger breakfast. Checkout was 11am, and we couldn't check in at our next destination until 3pm. The drive was 3 hours, so we had an hour we had to kill on the way. On this drive, I missed a turn. We were on a back highway, and the road jogged left and I went straight. GPS rerouted and I ended up on a one car width, curvy, hilly dirt road. It was scary enough pulling the camper on the road, but we came up on a utility truck that was laying gravel. Luckily where we met the other vehicle the road was slightly wider, and the side he was on was flat enough he could pull off a little and we were able to pass. The shoulder on our side went straight down so we would have been stuck. Eventually we made it back onto our route the rest of the way without incident. The roads became very hilly which was slightly nerve-wracking with the trailer. I am used to driving on flat ground and with the hills and the wind the camper definitely handled differently. As we approached Racoon Creek State Park there was a 10mph double curve uphill, and my truck did struggle a little. Coming down when we left was worse though! I booked the next two nights at Racoon Creek State Park Campground. This campground was very secluded with huge sites. We were on the end of a loop, just before the bathrooms, so we only had neighbors on one side, and behind us was all woods. The campground is spread out with 5 separate loops of campsites. There was no one at the entrance the entire time we were here, and the visitor center was not part of the campground. The campground has showers and restrooms, electric sites, and we were able to fill our water tank with potable water. I refused to use the showers because they weren't the cleanest, and I don't want to shower with bugs or spiders, but Matthew did and said they were fine. Our goal for Pennsylvania was to just relax a bit. It was hot, around 98 degrees, and we were tired from our travels and day at Niagara. When we arrived, we set up badminton, had a fire and relaxed at our campsite. The site had plenty of trees and a slight breeze so it was tolerable outside even with the heat, but the humidity certainly affected us when we played badminton. We drove to the boat launch, which is privately owned, and purchased firewood and campground sticker. Just as we were leaving the wind picked up and a storm moved in. It didn't start raining until we made it back to our site, so we did have time to put chairs and everything away before they were soaked. We spent the evening playing games. Tuesday was beach day! We went to the lake within the park and spent several hours just lounging. We laid in the sun and cooled off in the water, enjoyed some ice cream and passed most of our day. After returning to the campsite we played more badminton, sat by a fire, and relaxed. Matthew and I drove to the Wildflower Reserve and walked an uninspiring trail to a lookout that had views of basically nothing but trees. It was still nice to get out and it was an easy, shaded trail. Afterward we went to the visitor center, then back to camp. We spent the rest of the evening around the fire, playing badminton and playing games. We had a racoon visit our site, watched lightning bugs and enjoyed the lazy evening. Wednesday, we had a longer drive as we made our way to Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. This was not my favorite drive. It was super hilly winding roads, and it was all backroad highways. We stayed at Top O' the Caves Campground right within the park. The Campground was nice, but the sites were small. They had electric and water hookups, and we didn't have neighbors on either side of us, so it wasn't too bad with our smaller site. The campground also has a laundromat, an arcade room, showers, and a general store. It was hot here too with temps in the mid 90s. Once we set up camp, we ate quick and then went to Ash Cave Trail. This is an easy trail with most of it being handicap accessible. At the end of the paved trail there is a series of steps that you can climb for gorgeous views. The trail is only a 1/2 mile and is in and back out. After Ash Cave we walked Cedar Falls Trail. This is also a 1/2-mile one way trail, but a little more strenuous than Ash Cave Trail. It wasn't very difficult, but you are walking on a dirt path with tree roots, rocks and elevation changes. Our vacation was in June, so the falls weren't flowing, but you could see where water does run off when it rains. Once we finished Cedar Falls Trail, we went back to our camp. It was pretty warm and humid, and we all went to shower. After we were clean, we ate and then checked out the arcade. We played pool, air hockey and other arcade games, spent a bunch of money playing for tickets that you can turn in for cheap toys, and enjoyed the evening. As soon as it started to get dark, we drove to John Glenn Astronomy Park. This is supposed to be a perfect place to view the stars and you can see the Milkyway clearly here with little light pollution. Unfortunately, the moon was almost full, so the sky didn't get very dark, but it was still a really cool place. Thursday morning Matthew and I started our day at the visitor's center, then to Conkle's Hollow Reserve and walked Conkle's Hollow Trail while the kids slept in. We walked the Gorge Trail, which was another handicap accessible trail and 3/4 miles. It was cool in the gorge, and nicely shaded with trees lining the path and large cliffs on either side. It was a nice walk and once the pavement ended you could walk a short dirt trail to a cave and beautiful rock formations. After our walk we went back to get the kids and then drove to Old Man's Cave. This trail starts at the visitor center and is a 1-mile loop trail. This isn't a difficult hike but does have areas that are elevated and many stairs. It is a beautiful walk with several bridges, water, and rock formations. Here there was a small trickle of water, but waterfalls were dry. Once we finished Old Man's Cave Trail, we went to the visitor center. We purchased souvenirs and read the walls lined with facts about the park. When we left the visitor center, we decided to stop at John Glenn Astronomy Park again so we could see it in the daylight before starting another hike. We were all hot and a little tired after our hiking so decided to go back to Conkle's Hollow so the kids could walk that trail, knowing it is easy and shaded. Then we went to our campsite to eat lunch. I had a headache and laid down for an hour, and when I woke up, Matthew was determined to hike Whispering Cave Trail. I had tried to talk everyone out of this trail because it was rated "difficult" and my legs and feet were swelling from the heat and humidity paired with all the walking. I relented and we drove to the Lodge to start the trail, Whitney staying behind, and Ben reluctantly joining us. This trail is only 1/2 a mile but has significant elevation changes, steep inclines, stairs and several narrow sections on a dirt trail. It started pretty elevated, so it wasn't as cool or shaded as the other trails we had walked. The hike was pretty, and the cave was fun to see. By the time we completed the trail, we all agreed we were done. We returned to camp and showered, made s'mores and had dinner. Then played cards until we went to bed. Friday was another long drive, as we made our way to Champaign, IL. Interstate 70 in Indiana was the worst road we traveled on with the camper. It is super uneven with a ton of patch work, paired with the wind it kept us going much slower than we otherwise could've. We had to detour due to a car fire closing all lanes of the highway. We stayed at D&W Lake RV Campground. The campground was a typical RV park with pull through sites, full hookups and a shower house. It was clean and well-kept, and the owners were very friendly. We had no plans for Illinois. We hung out at camp, played badminton, enjoyed a fire and played cards. It was a nice relaxing, no agenda evening. Saturday, we left camp around 10am and started our drive home. There were storms in the forecast at several points in our 9-hour drive, but we missed most of them and only saw some short patches of rain. This vacation exceeded expectations. Niagara Falls and Hocking Hills were both incredible experiences. I am unsure if we will alter our future camping road trip, as the wind, lack of ability to explore along driving routes and uncertainty with backroads made the long distances less enjoyable.

While we didn't add a new state on this trip, it was still really fun to have the time to explore New Orleans. This was our second visit to the city, but the first time we stayed in Mississippi, and only visited New Orleans for two half days. The first of those days was the day we landed, and we basically ate and drove to our hotel in Mississippi. The second day ended up rainy and cold. We spent the morning and early afternoon walking in the rain before heading to Baton Rouge for the evening. So, when my son's vacation request was to go back it didn't take too much persuading. We booked a long weekend, leaving Wednesday morning and coming home Saturday afternoon. This time the weather was perfect staying in the upper 70s to lower 80s the entire time and the sky was clear and rain free. Our flight landed around 1pm on Wednesday. I rented a car and drove to find our hotel (which was actually an apartment) but because we arrived early, we couldn't check in right away. We went to the French Quarter and walked by the River near Jackson Square. We found lunch at Landry's Seafood House. After lunch we went to check into our hotel. We stayed at Sonder The Schaeffer. It is located on Rampart and Canal, so outside of the craziness of French Quarter, but only by about a block or so. We had a 3 bedroom, 2 bath apartment which was plenty of room for the three of us. The room was clean and comfortable. None of the bedrooms had windows which did creep us out a little, but we got used to it. I would definitely stay here again. Once we checked into the room, Isaac was tired. He stayed back while Matthew and I went out to explore. We walked aimlessly admiring buildings and dipping in and out of stores. Thursday morning, we woke up and walked to breakfast at The Ruby Slipper. We ate at this restaurant in Mobile on our visit in 2022 (Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama on that trip), and it was Isaac's favorite so we figured we would try it again. It certainly didn't disappoint, and the service was the best of any restaurant we dined at this trip. After breakfast we began our drive to Lafitte for our scheduled air boat ride. I really wanted to do this when we visited Mississippi in 2022, but we were late in the season, and they weren't operating when we tried to book one. I reserved a tour at noon with Airboat Adventures. It was about a 30-minute drive from New Orleans, and we had hoped to find a place to explore in the area while we waited for our tour to begin. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot in the immediate area. We did pull over by a levy where we were told there was a walking path, which turned out to be more of ruts from vehicles driving which ended at around 1/4 mile at some concrete barriers. We walked and admired the stagnant water filled with debris and climbed over the barriers following what we decided would serve as a trail for a short walk along a swamp. I'm glad we did this walk because it was the only glimpse we had of what I imagined a Louisiana swamp to be. Green marshy water, trees and moss growing out of the water as far as you can see. We didn't see any wildlife of the walk, but it was a stunning view of endless swampland. After our walk we checked in for our airboat tour. We scanned the small gift shop area finding a magnet to add to our collection, then waited on the deck for our boat to board. We were on a larger airboat that seated 32 people and it was almost full. Smaller boats are able to go deeper into the bayou, but I don't think that any from this tour really did. We saw plenty of alligators even though a cold snap just passed so the guide said they are less active. Even though we weren't able to navigate through narrow passages under overhanging snake filled trees like you see in movies, we did see really amazing foliage, moss filled trees, turtles and gators. It was really enjoyable way to spend our afternoon. Once our tour ended, we drove back to New Orleans, stopping for lunch on the way at Creole BLEU Cafe. The food was ok, I wouldn't call it great, but the service was good and the restaurant itself was cute. When we returned Isaac needed a nap, so he went back to our apartment. Matthew and I went out to explore more of the French Quarter. We found ourselves enjoying watching eccentric people and viewing eclectic buildings. We decided to head back toward our apartment to wake Isaac up but wanted to check out a cemetery on our way. We were able to find one you could only visit it if you had a reservation with a tour guide, so we started walking back to our apartment. On the way, just a few blocks from where we were staying, we found Louis Armstrong Park. We chose to walk through quick and loved it. This park has all kinds of statues, flowers and a bridge overlooking a little lazy river filled with ducks. We were almost done exploring Louis Armstrong Park when Isaac called saying he was hungry. So, we went back to the apartment, and he joined us as we headed back to the French Quarter. We walked all the way down to Jackson Square and stopped for frog legs and beignets at Bon's New Orleans Street Food. Isaac decided that he wasn't quite hungry enough for dinner yet, but wanted to snack a bit. After our snacks we walked along the riverfront watching the sun set and admiring St. Louis Cathedral. Then we walked over to Cafe Du Monde for coffee and more beignets. We didn't realize that it was cash only at the Cafe, but luckily their prices are very reasonable, and we had enough cash on hand to cover it. Somehow Isaac was still hungry at this point, so we went to Muriel's for dinner. Matthew and I weren't overly hungry, so we ordered light, but still managed to eat until we were stuffed. The food here was excellent. After our bellies were full, we called it a night. Walking several blocks back to our apartment, past Bourbon Street taking in the vibe and watching people as we went. The next morning, we were Baton Rouge bound. We had tickets for the LSU vs Vanderbilt baseball game for 7pm and planned to spend the day in the city. On the way we stopped at small BBQ restaurant called Wayne Jacobs Smokehouse in LaPlace. The brisket was fabulous, and Isaac got some BBQ sauce to bring home with him. Our first stop in Baton Rouge was the USS KIDD Veterans Museum. This is located on the Mississippi River, and has a nice park area, several planes and memorials outside and a large museum you can walk through, before boarding the USS KIDD to tour the ship. We really enjoyed this entire area and spent quite a bit of time walking through everything. After our time at the museum, we decided we would drive around and just see the city, looking mostly for old homes and different architecture. We enjoyed doing this for most of the rest of the day, then went to see the Louisiana State Capital building. We ate dinner at Cocha. This restaurant celebrates locally sourced food with global influence. Their menu is small, and the flavors are huge. This may have been the best food we had our entire trip. After dinner we were rushing to the main event: the LSU game at Alex Box Stadium. This is the reason we visited Louisiana. Isaac doesn't love the vacations I plan because they are pretty busy. To ensure he doesn't feel completely left out missing most of our family trips, I let him pick something he would enjoy, and his choice was to go back to see a game. Last time we were here we saw LSU Football beat Alabama in the final regular game of the season. This year he chose to watch baseball. Unfortunately, we didn't see LSU win this time. The weather was perfect and we had fun regardless. Saturday we were flying home, but our flight was late afternoon, so we had time to enjoy the morning in New Orleans. We had breakfast at Cafe Maspero and then walked. We had to vacate our parking spot by 11am, so we drove down closer to the river and parked there. After about an hour of walking we decided we had seen everything we needed to see and opted to drive north and see some plantation homes before heading to the airport. We didn't have time to do full tours so we just drove and viewed from outside. As usual I wish we would have had one more day to explore outside of the city. I would have loved to walk through the plantation homes and seen a little more of rural Louisiana. Our flight was at 4pm, so we made our way to the airport to return home. Day 1: Sonder The Schaeffer French Quarter Landry's Seafood House Jackson Square Day 2: The Ruby Slipper Airboat Adventures, Lafitte Louis Armstrong Park Bon's New Orleans Street Food Cafe Du Monde Muriel's Day 3: Baton Rouge USS KIDD Veterans Museum Cocha's Alex Box Stadium, LSU Game Day 4: Cafe Maspero French Quarter Oak Alley Plantation St. Joseph Plantation

Our trip to Charlotte was an add on vacation. Our last adventure (other than a camping weekend or trip to visit family) was in July of 2023, and our next big road trip isn't until June of 2024. That is much too long for me between experiences, so we decided to add a long weekend. When choosing Charlotte, we wanted to visit a new state, and Charlotte is recommended for a nice city to spend a weekend in. Since we visited in February the weather was mild to chilly, and with Minnesota having an unusually warm winter we didn't get the warmup we'd hoped for visiting a southern state. My first impression of Charlotte was that it felt safe and is extremely clean. We saw signs saying "what's with Charlotte's rats" and looked it up learning that it is one of the country's rattiest cities, which honestly surprised us because we didn't see or smell the usual trash you see in other cities. We didn't see any rats luckily! Another thing that was a little unusual was that it wasn't very busy. When we walked the city, it never felt crowded. I know that it isn't the warm time of year, but you see more people walking in sub-zero downtown Minneapolis than we did when the temps were in the mid 50s. I booked our trip to leave on Thursday and return home on Monday, over President's Day weekend. After booking, I found out that I had to be in Chicago for work Thursday and Friday, so Matthew and Whitney went to Charlotte Thursday, and I flew out to meet them Friday evening after my meetings. We stayed at the Hilton Charlotte Uptown. The hotel is very nice, and we were on the 21st floor so had a decent view of the Charlotte Skyline. Our bed could have used an upgrade but other than that it was a really nice stay. It is located right downtown so walking to various attractions was a breeze. We did rent a car as well and they have parking onsite for an additional charge. On Thursday, when Matthew and Whitney arrived, they checked into the hotel and explored the area around the hotel. They visited the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts & Culture, which Whitney really enjoyed. They also found smoothies, some hot chicken and visited the Green. When I arrived on Friday, my flight didn't land until after 7:00pm and I was exhausted after having meetings all day and then traveling. They picked me up and we went to the hotel. Whitney stayed in the room doing homework while Matthew walked me around to show me a few blocks close to the hotel on our way to CVS to buy some deodorant and Q-Tips before we went to bed. Saturday, we woke up early and I was ready to start exploring. We started by searching for coffee only to find that the coffee shop next to our hotel in the Wells Fargo building isn't open on weekends. After a quick search we also learned that the coffee shops in the area didn't open before 8am. I ended up getting a cup of coffee at our hotel restaurant which was ok but not great. Whitney wanted a smoothie from Smoothie King (we fell in love with their smoothies when we went to Louisiana), but the one by us was also closed on weekends. We walked to Am é lie's for coffee which is a short walk up the block from our hotel, then to Famous Toastery for breakfast. The food was good and the servers very friendly. I purchased a CLT pass for the weekend, which included admission to several museums and the Carolina Raptor Center. Our plan for Saturday was to visit museums and walk the downtown area of Charlotte. We started at the Museum of Illusions. This was a blast but was the busiest place we encountered the entire weekend. After we had our fill of brain teasers, we went to the Nascar Hall of Fame. None of us are Nascar fans but heard that this is a must do in Charlotte, and we were glad we went. It was a fun experience pretending to broadcast a race, driving a simulated race, learning the history of how the sport began. Next, we went to the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. This was not our type of museum. The art was mostly paintings that weren't overly inspiring, and hardly anything on display. We walked through in less than 10 minutes. The Mint Museum was the last included in our pass. Actually, there are two Mint Museums, both of which we had admission tickets to. We visited the one in uptown, leaving the other for Sunday. This museum was where Whitney decided she hates museums. I thought it was pretty cool. By the time we finished at the Mint Museum, it was late afternoon. Whitney wanted a nap and Matthew and I were ready to sit and relax a bit. We headed back to our hotel, crossing through The Green on our way. The Green is a park located right in the middle of downtown Charlotte and is the most charming park I've ever seen. It has stacks of books at the entrance with "pages" placed to look like they've blown around the park. If I lived close, I would spend warm days reading in this park. Once we got back to the hotel, we rested for a bit then hopped in the car and drove to Dilworth. We found a Smoothie King that was open and walked through a gift shop. When researching what to do in Charlotte, I found a list of neighborhoods on the Charlotte's Got a Lot page (where I bought my city pass from), and I envisioned it to be similar to Seattle, where we could drive to the neighborhood and walk around enjoying the neighborhood culture. We did not find that here. We'd drive to neighborhoods, find houses and maybe a few businesses, but not a nice grouping of shops or anything like that. After the gift shop, we drove to Freedom Park where Matthew and I walked for a bit and Whitney waited in the car. This is a nice park with trails, a creek, a lake, playground, basketball court, volleyball court, baseball fields, and likely more that I missed. It was a little cold and windy, but the short walk was wonderful. Once we were done at Freedom Park we went back to the hotel, where Whitney decided she wasn't hungry and stayed in the Hotel Room while Matthew and I went to the Coastal Kitchen and Bar, the restaurant within the Hilton. Our food was good but expensive for what it was. During the time we ate, Whitney decided she was in fact hungry and I DoorDashed her McDonald's since she wouldn't eat anything from the restaurant. After dinner we called it a night and went to bed. Sunday Matthew walked up to Starbucks to get us coffee and we got croissants and a burrito from Am é lie's. Then we drove to the Carolina Raptor Center. We really enjoyed walking through this center, reading about and seeing the different birds. When we finished at the center we drove to Davidson and Cornelius. Both were said to be charming little lake towns, and both underwhelmed us. Davidson had a cute main street, but when we actually walked it there wasn't a lot to do. I am sure it is a much different experience during the summer when you can enjoy the lake, but we ended up driving back into the city after this. The next plan was to visit NoDa, but again we drove the area and didn't find anything walkable to just explore. Since we didn't plan anything out of the city area and it was already late afternoon by this time, we didn't really know what to do. We ended up driving to South End where there is a mall and found Roots Cafe to eat a late lunch. Our food was excellent. The mall area was a typical mall, so not anything we needed to do on vacation, though Whitney did talk me into stopping at Sophora to get a couple items. We decided to go to the second Mint Museum on Randolph after lunch. Whitney reluctantly joined us as a bribe for buying her makeup. This was my favorite museum. The displays were unique and super fun to look at. The one issue here was that the lady at the front desk insisted that my pass was just a discount and wanted me to pay for admission, even though my pass included the cost. Eventually she let us in but I am pretty sure she was tired of arguing with me and didn't actually believe that I had admission passes. After the museum we drove back to the hotel and walked to Romare Bearden Park where we found gorgeous views of the city. We walked a bit and stopped for coffee before heading back to the hotel for the night. Whitney and I were still full from our lunch so Matthew ordered a burger from the Coastal Kitchen, and Whitney and I each had a dessert. Monday was our travel home day. We went to Starbucks again because the coffee place in the Wells Fargo building wasn't open again, likely due to President's Day. Then we grabbed a smoothie from Smoothie King for breakfast. We didn't leave the hotel until around 10:30am, and our flight was at 3:30pm. We drove to see St. Patrick's Cathedral. You weren't allowed to visit inside the church, so we just snapped a picture from the street. We drove to Noble Smoke and had phenomenal BBQ. This was a recommended BBQ restaurant, and it did not disappoint. I had the brisket sandwich, Matthew had brisket and pork and we shared Hush Puppies, Brussels Sprouts and Slaw. Whitney had a grilled cheese. After lunch we went to the airport. If I planned this again, I would have planned one day in the city and one to drive out further and find another location in North Carolina to enjoy. We will be back to the state in a few years to enjoy the coast.

This was our first big, multi state camping trip. We stayed in 6 states, adding 5 new states visited to our list. Planning a camping trip with multiple stops is not easy. You have to balance a lot of different things like travel time between stops, check in times at campgrounds, activities in each area. I tried to limit our drive time to 7 hours, and pick campgrounds that offer at least electricity, full hookups when possible. We learned that a road trip camping vacation is much different than setting up in one place for a week. I planned out meals for each day, yet we came back with a lot of leftover food. There was a heat wave that hit the country while we were gone, bringing temperatures to around 100 degrees everywhere we went, and the humidity levels were in the 90s. There was a lot of road construction, and traffic affected our drives considerably, especially between Indiana and Kentucky. There is an app that shows the best RV routes, which we may consider using next time. We are at the mercy of Google Maps, and when it detours you to save time, you often end up on sketchy roads with no shoulder, pulling a 30' trailer and causing a train of cars to form behind you. Not ideal, but luckily, we didn't get detoured anywhere with a low bridge. We worked Friday, and hit the road late afternoon, leaving around 3:30pm. Our first stop was at William G. Lunney Lake Farm County Park in Madison, WI. We arrived here just after 8:30. We visit Wisconsin often, so we didn't plan anything in the area, and camped here just as a break in driving on our way to the next destination. The campground itself was nice, very much a typical RV park with little privacy. Our site was a pull through, and each site has a picnic table and fire ring, plus electric hookups. We didn't even fully unhook here, so we slept and left after breakfast the next morning. Saturday, we stayed at Lakeshore RV Resort and Campground in Portage, IN. Our drive here was just under 4 hours, but with traffic and construction through the Chicago area, it took us just over 4 hours. We arrived around 1:30pm, and check in time wasn't until 3. Luckily this campground allows you to check in early for a fee of $5/hour. This was not our favorite campground. When booking, I did plan on staying at RV campgrounds for more amenities and easier stops, knowing we were just here to sleep, even though I prefer more wooded camping. This one however was beyond a typical pull in RV camp. There was a mix of permanent campers and trailers, and a handful of daily campers here. The place was packed, and set up relatively well, but maneuvering in here was difficult pulling a camper. The resort has a private lake, which allows you to fish without a license, a couple pools, game rooms, laundry, showers and restrooms sprinkled throughout, and full hookups. Our site was on the end, right next to the main road, which helped when we parked because we just drove through the grass from the road and didn't have to back in around trees, fire hydrants and other vehicles. We had full hook ups here, but the concrete pad where we parked was cracked and sinking, and the site in general was extremely uneven, so we didn't hook up the sewer. Even with leveling our camper and lifting up one side quite a bit, we were lower than the sewer hookup. We chose to just use the dump station when we left. After we got everything set up and leveled, we had a quick lunch and headed out to Indiana Dunes National Park. It was extremely hot out, and this park was packed. So much so that parking lots were closed and marked full. Traffic was insane. We found a pull off area with 15-minute parking and walked down to the beach in this area. The water was gorgeous bright blue/green. The beach was busy and we regretted not bringing our bathing suits with to enjoy the water. After walking and admiring the lake for a few minutes, we went back to the car and routed ourselves to the visitor center, which we never made it to, but did find signs for the Indiana Dunes State Park along the way. The road into the entrance here was backed up so far it took us over an hour to get in. The cost was $12 for nonresidents, and you had access for the day. There were park rangers waving you through a roundabout just past the pay booth, and we blindly followed to a large beach parking area. There was a pretty massive dune just off the parking lot that people were climbing and gliding down and a beach as far as you could see. There were tents, grills, chairs and tables set up everywhere. Music blasting all around and just a fun party vibe, but family friendly with lots of kids. We walked the beach for a few minutes and went to a large building to check out what was here. There was a general store, restaurant and a lifeguard station, nothing of interest to us at the moment. Next, we went back to the roundabout and the ranger frantically waving vehicles into the beach parking and asked if we could go the other way. He confirmed that we could which brought us to a much quieter area of the park. Here there was a campground, visitor center (which closed at 4 so we couldn't go in) and the 3 Dune Challenge trailhead. When I researched what to do here this was one of the main things that came up, so we had always planned to do the challenge. The challenge is not easy. I don't regret doing it, but if I would have known how hard it would be I might have decided to skip it. On the inside I feel like I am active and 20 years old. In reality, I am 42 and sit most of my life. I love the experience, but my body hates me afterward. The trail is only 1.5 miles, but it is up and down 3 separate dunes and 552 vertical feet of climbing. Somehow, we looked at the map upside down, so thought we were starting at one Dune but actually going the complete opposite way. By the time we reached the first dune, I thought we were on our second, but the markers on the top of each clued us into our mistake pretty quickly. The first dune is Mt. Jackson, reaching 176' with a 31-degree slope angle. When we reached Mt. Jackson, I was sure it was the second dune and almost cried when we saw it wasn't. I started to convince myself it must be the last dune if it wasn't the second, because we already climbed two. Climbing in sand is a specific kind of torture. It takes forever as you step and slide backward. My calves burned so bad it felt like they were splitting open. We rested for a few minutes at the top and got some pictures of the views here, then walked on. The second dune was Mt. Holden sitting at 184' with a slope angle of 32 degrees. This one was hardest on me. My calves were screaming, my heart was racing, the sun blazing on us had me sweating and my head was throbbing. I tried walking slowly but every step hurt my calves so bad the speed was irrelevant. I tried walking with my feet sideways pointing out (like a crab walk maybe?), attempted walking sideways, and backwards. Walking backwards relieved the burning of my calves but I felt like I wasn't moving up the dune at all. About halfway up I dropped to all 4 and just crawled up the dune. Pathetic I know, and other than the video my daughter so kindly recorded, no one had to know, but I feel no shame. This was hard, and I'm ok admitting how much of a baby I was on this trail. When we finally reached the top of this dune, the views were amazing. You could see the lake here. I sat contemplating how I was going to get through the last half of the trail. We rested, took in the views and I decided that I was going to take a cut through trail back to the visitor center and Matthew and Whitney could continue on and meet me at the truck when they were done. Of course, they refused that suggestion saying they would cut across with me, and I felt guilted into completing the entire trail. My stubbornness fueled me and when I began to climb the next sand hill I walked at a slow steady pace and made it up without incident. This hill was not the next dune, but it was still steep and difficult. The trail became easier, because it was a stretch of mild inclines and declines in elevation. Finally, we came to stairs. I can't express the relief I felt when those stairs came into view. Mt. Tom is 192 feet of elevation and around 100 steps, which are difficult after walking the trail, but much easier than the sand. There is a platform at the top of the dune where you can see the lake again, and there are signs explaining the history of the dunes. From here you can take a trail to the beach or continue on the trail to go to the campground and back to the visitor center. If we had bathing suits, I would have gone to the beach to rinse off the sand and sweat I accumulated on this short but tedious trail, but since we didn't, we continued on and went back to our vehicle. After we completed the challenge, I will admit that I am glad I finished it. It was not easy, but I didn't quit even when I thought I might not be able to continue. I wish the visitor center was open because you can get souvenirs, but we did go online and order from their official website, so we will have something to show for our efforts. After we completed the 3 Dune Challenge, we were done in the Indiana Dune's Parks so we headed back to our campsite and had dinner. We showered, played games and watched a movie, then to bed. On Sunday morning we hooked up our camper and started our drive to Kentucky. This was the worst drive of our trip. We estimated it would take us around 5 1/2 hours, but it ended up taking us over 7 hours. The traffic was awful with a lot of congestion as well as construction pretty consistently along our route. We were staying two nights at Cave Country RV Campground in Cave City, KY. We had a cave tour booked for Monday, so Sunday was mostly just a travel day. We arrived at our campground right around 4pm. This resort had pull through sites, full hook ups, fire pits and picnic tables. At the main building there are showers and restrooms, a pool and a game room. It was a decent place to stay with the only complaint being that the sewer hook ups for our neighbors were pretty close to our fire pit. With how hot it was we only had a fire to cook hotdogs for lunch, and there were no issues, it was just knowing that their tank was emptying so close to us. Something that was consistent at most of the campgrounds we stayed is there are not cooking grates on the fire rings. This surprised us as we usually cook some of our meals over the fire when camping. I assume it is because we mostly stayed at RV resorts and not the traditional campgrounds that we are used to. The heat on this trip had us cooking quick meals and we rarely had a fire at all so it ended up not being an issue, but it was something we will keep in mind for future trip planning. Sunday evening, we had dinner, showered, played a few games, watched some movies and went to bed. This was our typical evening on this trip. Normally when camping we like to sit around a fire and relax outside in the evening, but the A/C was very much welcomed this time. Monday morning, we had breakfast and left camp at 7:30am. We decided that we wanted to visit Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park before our cave tour. The visitor center here opened at 9am, and it was a 40-minute drive from our campsite. There is a time zone change which is what enabled us to squeeze this in, arriving at 9:15am EST 8:15am CST. We started at the visitor center. We had around 45 minutes to explore here so we purchased a few souvenirs and then walked to the monument, which was the highlight of the park. There is a replica of the cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born within the monument. The monument itself is beautiful so we took a few pictures from the steps leading up to it. There are several cabins and an historic inn located on the property, which we admired from afar as we walked back to our vehicle as we left. There is a lot more in the area that we would have liked to visit if we had more time. Next, we went to Mammoth Cave National Park. Our tour was booked for 10:30am. I had wanted to do the Niagara Falls Tour, but it wasn't offered because of some maintenance being done in this cave. The one I booked was actually not part of Mammoth Cave and I didn't realize when I booked it so was a little disappointed, but it was still an awesome cave to see. Our tour was called the Wondering Woods Tour. We took a short bus ride from the visitor center to this cave. Mammoth Cave is a cold, dry cave. The Wondering Woods Cave is a cold, wet cave. This means we saw a beautiful display of stalagmites and stalactites. The ranger did a nice job of talking about the cave, the history of the cave and cave systems in Mammoth Cave National Park, the history of the park itself and the ecosystem. When we got back to the visitor center, we had to walk across a pad with soapy water to clean our shoes. This is to help stop the spread of White-Nose Syndrome, which is a fungus that affects bats and is actually fatal for them. It doesn't affect humans or most other creatures but is extremely dangerous for bats. White-Nose Syndrome is confirmed to be present at Mammoth Cave. I remember hearing of the risk to bats when we visited Lava Beds National Monument, but there we had to fill out a questionnaire and they talked about how to ensure you don't spread the fungus. We didn't have to do this at Mammoth Cave which is interesting with how much busier it is, but may be because Lava Beds does not have White-Nose Syndrome present, so they are more cautious to ensure it doesn't spread there. I had several trails planned for our afternoon. I can't emphasize enough how hot and miserable the weather was for us on this trip. It was over 100 degrees this day and humid. I had 3 trails planned, but we decided we would just pick one to do, which was located just behind the visitor center. The trail was only 1/2 mile long, and it was a very easy walk on a paved walkway initially, then a gravel trail. The walk there was all downhill, so anticipating the walk back up was constantly in my head. When we arrived at the point of interest on the trail, Sunset Point, it was closed off for maintenance. So, we didn't see anything cool here, and we opted to walk back up to the visitor center and head out rather than add to our uphill walk back. On our way back to our camper we stopped at several little souvenir shops, some pretty creepy actually like what you'd see in a horror movie, none had anything that we wanted to purchase. It was still early when we got back to camp. We had lunch and then Whitney decided to stay at the camper and enjoy the air conditioning while Matthew and I went out in search of Kentucky souvenirs and to visit Fort Williams Civil War Battlefield in Glasgow. Glasgow was a 20-minute drive from our campground. We followed GPS to the battlefield and found what looked like a typical cemetery. There were old areas and new, but we didn't see anything signifying that it was a historical battlefield. We drove around to find souvenir shops and we didn't have any luck! I have a tradition of getting a magnet and coffee mug everywhere we travel. I like to get one of the state or cities we visit, plus at least a magnet from any tourist attractions we chose to do. We also add a sticker to our camper to document our travels, usually of the campground if we can find one but sometimes of the state or city instead if there isn't a specific campground sticker available. This trip proved hard to find anything. Kentucky being the hardest. After driving to Glasgow and not finding any shops we headed back toward Cave City. We stopped at Crystal Cave on our way back, still looking to see if we could find any fun Kentucky souvenirs. We didn't tour the cave but did walk around and snap a few pictures of the quirky items here, like aliens and animals. The souvenirs here were all Crystal Cave, nothing of just Kentucky, so we walked around and then left. We stopped at a travel center to fuel up and did find a magnet here, so we were satisfied enough to give up and go back to camp for the night. Once again, we played games, watched movies, ate dinner and went to bed. The next morning, we stayed until checkout at 11. Our drive this day was less than 2 hours, and check in time wasn't until 3pm at our next stop. We had breakfast burritos and took our time packing up. Traffic wasn't as bad leaving Kentucky, but road construction was still present. I tried calling our campground to see if we could check in early but didn't reach anyone, so we crossed our fingers and just went. Pulling a camper, it is hard to know where you can pull off and explore so we didn't want to risk getting in a sticky situation. I booked a site at Anderson Road Campground in Nashville, TN for Tuesday and Wednesday night. The campground is literally right in a residential area, next to condos that overlook the lake. When we arrived at the guard shack at the entrance, there was no one there and the sign showed that they are not on site on Tuesdays. Lucky us, as we were 2 hours early and no one was there to tell us we couldn't set up early! The sites here were actually really nice. Even though there are residential properties just on the other side of a fence, all around us was wooded and we had nice views of J Percy Priest Reservoir. The site itself had electric and water hookups (which was a nice surprise because when I booked it only showed electric), a picnic table, a fire ring with a cooking grate, and a charcoal grill. There is a boat launch, a shower and restroom house and a dump station. There were sites that appeared to be host sites, but we never saw a host or anywhere to buy ice or wood. It was still ridiculously hot, so we set up camp, and started a fire to grill hotdogs with the plan to cool off in the lake after lunch. While Matthew started the fire, I inflated a couple of floaties for Whitney and me to use. The fire took forever to start, likely due to the humidity, or possibly the lack of effort we put forth in the heat. Regardless, Whitney and I went swimming while we waited for the wood to burn enough to cook over. The lake, or reservoir, was rocky and the water was warm. Warm enough that Matthew wouldn't go in. It wasn't the cool refreshing relief we had hoped for, but still nice to rinse off and it did cool you off slightly. We floated for a while and had a family of ducks join us before we got out of the water. After we ate, we sat outside under our canopy and just relaxed. It was a nice low-key afternoon. For dinner this night we made cavatappi with pine nuts and asparagus. One of my favorite meals, to celebrate the fact that it was Matthew and my 3-year anniversary. The sunset here was really pretty. Whitney walked down to the water and fed the ducks, and we enjoyed the beautiful sky. The next day we headed into Nashville. We booked a hop on hop off tour with Old Town Trolleys, which is my favorite way to see a city. I had been to Nashville before this, but Matthew and Whitney had never been. We started our tour at the 10th stop, which was the Belmont Mansion. I chose this location so we weren't in downtown and with the assumption parking would be easier, which it was relatively easy so I will say I was right. The Belmont Mansion was gorgeous, and the Belmont University grounds were as well. After wandering for a bit, we hopped on our trolley. The trolleys here are set up perfectly for sightseeing. They have stadium seating so you can see from anywhere you end up sitting. The tour has 13 stops where you can choose to get off or you can keep riding. With the heat advisory, the breeze while riding on the trolley was a really nice relief. We rode the trolley until stop 13, where we got off at the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Bridgestone Arena is across the street as well as the Walk of Fame Park. We strolled for a while and then walked to Broadway. It was extremely hot and muggy, and Whitney couldn't go into the bars even with the time of day because she isn't 21. Both Matthew and Whitney were a little irritable with the heat, so neither of them had any opinion of what they'd like to do. We stopped for ice cream for Whitney and then went into the National Museum of African American Music. We had planned to walk through the museum, but it would have cost almost $100 for the three of us, so we looked at the gift shop and then left. Just across the street was stop #2 for the trolley tour at the back side of the Ryman Auditorium. We waited here and got back on the trolley since no one had anything they wanted to do in the area. We rode the trolley taking pictures of the different areas of Nashville and listening to the guide talk about the history and celebrities that frequented the streets. We got off again at stop 5, The Farmers' Market. Here we walked over to the Tennessee State Museum. This museum is free and is really interesting to walk through, plus it was very well air conditioned. There are several exhibits here that flow into the next, which is set up in a way that you are walking through the history of Tennessee. Starting with the First Peoples exhibit, walking through the Civil War, Industrial Era, Great Depression, etc. It was a really fun museum to walk through. Next, we walked to the Farmers' Market and went into the restaurant area. Here Matthew tried Nashville Hot Chicken from Lilly's Hot Chicken and I had a beef crepe and a dessert crepe. After lunch, we hopped back on the trolley. We hopped back off at stop 7 Marathon Motor Works, walked through a gift shop and then right back on a trolley that was waiting at the curb when we got out. We stayed on the trolley until we reach stop 10 again, where we got off and went to our truck. It wasn't very late by the time we finished our Nashville tour, so we drove to the Grand Ole Opry. At the Opry we took a few pictures of the historic area but decided against walking over to the hotel. The hotel is magnificent to see, which I have on a previous trip, but it is also a bit of a walk, and everyone was too hot. We went back to our campground after we saw the Opry and enjoyed a relaxing evening. We did sit outside for a while, under the canopy of the camper, and then played games and watched movies. Thursday morning, we left around 9am and started our drive to Missouri. I had a campsite booked at Hawn State Park in New Offenburg, MO and it took us around 6 hours to get here. This was a nice campground, and we were surprised to find you don't need a state park pass to visit anywhere in Missouri. The campground had electric hookups, a shower and restroom building, and the hosts sold firewood and ice. The sites were large with some shade, fire rings with grates and picnic tables. Just behind our site there was a trail to the amphitheater which we walk, and I sang to Whitney and Matthew while they laughed at me and took video. We decided to eat and then shower before we went to St. Louis. I had a 6:40pm reservation to take the tram to the top of the arch at Gateway Arch National Park. The traffic in St. Louis was crazy because there was a Cardinals game at the same time we were going to the park. The park itself is set behind an industrial area with really awesome graffiti work along the route. Being up close to the arch is pretty spectacular. I've seen it in the past from a distance but being right under it was a whole different experience. We took pictures from outside, then rushed to get to the tram entrance. Going up in the tram is interesting. You are in a small pod that seats 5 people very close to each other, and it is not a smooth ride. Whitney was pretty anxious going up but it is a quick 4 minute ride so not terrible. You have around 10 minutes once you get out at the top. The views from here are incredible. You get amazing skyline scenes on one side and the river on the other. We could see into the Cardinal's stadium and the game that was in progress. Once our tour was done, we had 15 minutes to visit the gift shop and buy some goodies. Since we hadn't had the best luck with souvenirs so far, we purchased shirts, a magnet and coffee mug here. Whitney also got a bracelet, which is what she buys wherever she can on our vacations. Then we walked back down to our vehicle, snapping a few more pictures on our way. The Gateway Arch National Park is about 40 minutes from where we camped, and after the long day of driving, I was exhausted on our way back. We had a few snacks, played a game and then crashed. We planned to leave early the next day for Iowa, our longest drive of the trip. We did not leave early Friday morning. It was around 8:30 before we pulled out of our campsite. Our estimated drive this day was 6 hours, plus stops for gas and restroom. We arrived at the Waterloo KOA right around 4pm. The KOA had a lake, showers and restrooms, a gas station with convenience store which also sold hot food to order (like burgers and hotdogs, cheese curds, etc.). The staff was not happy to be working is the vibe we got. They were not friendly and borderline rude. Our site had full hookups, a fire ring and picnic table. The temperature was over 100 and we were under a thunderstorm watch. After setting up we tried to cool down in the camper, which took forever for the A/C to take the humidity out of the air. Because we were so hot and miserable, we opted to order dinner from the store on site. About an hour after we were set up, the thunderstorm watch turned into a thunderstorm warning, with a brief blip of a tornado warning as well. The sky was gray and ominous, heightening our anxiety levels. Luckily, it did pass relatively quickly with only scary clouds and some rain, thunder and lightning. After the rain stopped, we walked around the campground admiring the amazing sky and sunset snapping a few pictures. We spent the rest of the evening playing games and watching movies. Saturday morning, we were heading home. We had around a 4-hour drive and slept in a little, leaving around 10am. We decided we would stop at a travel plaza on the way home to have breakfast so did add some time to our trip. We were home before 4pm. This was a great trip and pretty smooth considering it was the first camping road trip I had planned. We did discuss planning our vacations in the spring and fall vs right in the heart of summer. The heat wave we endured the entire trip made exploring less appealing, but overall, we had a wonderful adventure. Day 1: Camp at William G. Lunney Lake Farm County Park in Madison, WI. Day 2: Camp at Lakeshore RV Resort in Portage, IN Indiana Dunes National Park Indiana Dunes State Park 3 Dune Challenge Day 3: Camp at Cave Country RV Campground in Cave City, KY Day 4: Camp at Cave Country RV Campground in Cave City, KY Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park Mammoth Cave National Park Day 5: Camp at Anderson Road Campground in Nashville, TN Day 6: Camp at Anderson Road Campground in Nashville, TN Hop on/Hop off Trolley Nashville Grand Ole Opry Day 7: Camp at Hawn State Park Campground in New Offenburg, MO Gateway Arch National Park Day 8: Camp at Waterloo KOA in Waterloo, IA

August 2022 – Kauai Hawaii Destinations: Kapa’a Hanalei Napali Coast Smith’s Garden Breakaway Fishing Tours Lihue Waimea Canyon State Park Koke’e State Park Poipu Kauai Coffee Koloa My aunt and uncle own a timeshare on Kauai Island, HI. They’ve mentioned many times that if we ever want to use it for a week, to let them know and we can pay the management fee and it is ours. When planning a family vacation for the year, we discussed where we should go, prompting me to reach out to them. They had already booked their weeks, but let me buy one of them, meaning we were going to Hawaii in 2022! Our vacation was the very end of August, so perfect before kids started back at school. Hawaii had always been a dream, but one I didn’t imagine to actually happen. Since we decided to go for it, we went big. I knew this was likely the only time we’d go, or at least the only time we’d all go, so we went all out. Our goal was to see the entire Island in a week, and we came extremely close. I booked 4 excursions for this trip. Deep Sea Fishing, Napali Coast Tour and Snorkeling, a Luau, and an ATV tour. All were exceptional and allowed us to really experience the island and see so much of it. There was definitely sea sickness involved in the fishing excursion, but we did catch two 50-pound yellow tuna! Matthew decided cruises were not in our future, and like Vegas we can say we experienced a fishing excursion and never have to do it again. Much of our time was spent just exploring different areas of the island. We enjoyed traveling to the canyons and the views of the park. Our favorite beach spot was in the north. I saw every sunrise on this trip, and each was beautiful. This is a rainy island, but we only had two days where rain affected us, and we were still able to enjoy the days. Day 1: we literally arrived, drove to our condo, checked in, walked to see where the ocean was in comparison to where we were, and went to bed. We stayed on the east side of the island in the town of Kapa’a at Pono Kai Resort. The resort itself is older, but very nice, and our condo was right on the beach. This isn’t the type of resort that has everything on site. There isn’t a restaurant or shopping. It does have a pool though, nice accommodations and a lovely courtyard. We were warned but still surprised to see all the chickens. They are everywhere and roam freely. From what we learned on excursions throughout the week, hurricanes throughout the years had destroyed chicken coups freeing these birds. Kauai does not have any natural predators that would hunt the chickens, so they’ve thrived throughout the years. Day 2: we started by shopping for food. Our plan was to eat as much as possible at the condo, rather than eating out. However, I would not recommend this plan unless the plan is to relax at your resort. There is so much to do, and you don’t get around very quickly on the island. We ended up throwing a lot of food away because it was too hard to go back to the condo for meals. After shopping and breakfast we headed north to explore. We stopped and saw the Kilauea Lighthouse in Kilauea, and went swimming at Anini Beach. This beach was extremely calm. Too calm in fact for the kids, as they wanted to enjoy bouncing in some waves. We didn’t stay long, and continued further to the north, ending up at Hanalei Beach. This was our favorite beach, and we spent a lot of time here enjoying the crashing waves. There is also a cave across from the beach parking that we were able to walk in and explore. We went to the town of Hanalei and walked through some shops and had lunch. Day 3: was our first excursion – our ATV tour at Kipu Ranch Adventures. This was a ton of fun. We did get dirty! This tour takes you through a cattle ranch, and you end up with amazing views of both mountains and the coast. They do a nice job of highlighting the history of both the island and the ranch, and point out several areas that you can recognize in movies. After our tour we mapped our way to a couple of waterfalls, which could be seen right from a parking lot, but from a distance. Then back to the resort for dinner and relaxing by the pool. We were all pretty tired already. Being 5 hours behind our home time zone is hard to adjust to, and had an early excursion the next day. Day 4: was a NaPali Coast tour. This tour was located at Port Allen Pier in Eleele, on the south part of the island. The crew on the boat was really good. The views of the jagged rocky coast on this tour were fantastic. The catamaran we were on was nice, but Matthew did start to feel nauseous after awhile. The rest of us weren’t phased. We saw dolphins and sea turtles while on the tour, both coming right up to our boat. We stopped to snorkel, which I was not a fan of. I envisioned thousands of bright colorful fish, and plants and reef. There were fish, but mostly just right around the boat, and the floor of the ocean where we were was just black lava rock. I also really struggled with having my face in the water and breathing through the snorkel. I’m not sure why but it made me panic. Our boat had a waterslide which we used during this time, and we floated and swam for awhile. Our trip back to the pier was really rough. The waves splashed well over the sides of the boat, drenching us. That evening we enjoyed dinner at Taps and Hops Eatery in Kapa'a. We were pleasantly surprised with how good the food was here. Day 5 – We had no excursions planned on this day. We decided to explore the south part of the island. We started at Poipu Beach, which was by far the busiest beach we’d encountered. It was a nice beach area, with a boulder breakwater that keeps the area very calm. Even with the breakwater, there were some waves large enough they broke over the wall of rock into the protected areas. It was rocky as you entered the water, so a little hard on our feet. We saw a sea turtle swimming right through the swimming area and a sea lion both swimming and sunning on the sand. We stayed for awhile here, then went to the town of Koloa for some shopping and lunch. After lunch we made our way to the Waimea Canyon – known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. There is a vehicle fee to visit this area, but one pass allows access to Waimea Canyon State Park, as well as Koke’e State Park. We didn’t do any trails on our trip through the parks, sticking to the lookout points. The views of the gorge were so spectacular, pictures can’t do justice to the beauty. The weather we encountered was the first time rain really affected us, with a steady drizzle that would subside and then start again. With the rain, we did have a cloud coverage that would temporarily block our views but waiting just a few minutes allowed them to pass and expose the magnificent images of the canyon. Koke’e Valley was the final lookout, which was the most obstructed by cloud coverage. But when they cleared, we had rainbows accenting the beautiful valley, with rocky landscapes, lush green growth and the coast of the pacific all wrapped into a gorgeous package for us to enjoy. Day 6 – Deep Sea Fishing and Luau. Our day started very early. We were at the Small Boat Harbor in Lihue before sunrise to meet captain Jeff. I opted to book a private 4 hour charter, as the price was actually less this way, and we had the entire experience to ourselves. We do not fish. This was booked just for the experience of it. Traveling out of the harbor to our destination was pretty cool. The water wasn’t terribly rough at first, and we sat at the back looking out to the island watching the sun rise. Once we were out of the harbor, the waves were much more intense, and our boat was small. Matthew was feeling queasy pretty quickly. We had lines out to troll on the way to a buoy which is where we would stop. Once we arrived at the buoy and Captain Jeff stopped the boat, the waves were real. The boat rocked and pitched side to side and moving about was extremely difficult. He switched out our lines and almost instantly one took off. I had the pleasure of learning how to fish at this moment. I would reel in the line until the fish pulled, then let the line go. This cycle went on for what seemed like forever. Twice the fish pulled and swam off, meaning the cycle started all over. My arm was numb from reeling, the boat was pitching. The adrenalin rush of fighting with this fish kept me from noticing the fact that everyone else in my party was sick, two were throwing up. On the second attempt to get the fish in the boat, Captain Jeff pulled out a hook. I would reel as the boat went down with a wave, and hold when we’d go back up. He had the hook, could just barely see the fish below the surface and it took off again. I felt like crying. I was exhausted, both arms numb – one from reeling, the other from holding onto my reel to stabilize myself. I looked around hoping to pass it over in defeat and have someone else finish. And no one could. They were all sick. So I had no choice but to finish this. After what felt like hours, but may have been as little as 10 minutes or as much as 30, I honestly have no clue, the fish was at the surface and Jeff was able to hook it and get it into the boat. It was huge! A 50 pound yellow tuna! Something that none of us realized when we booked the trip is the fish is gutted right on the boat. Apparently Tuna meat is “sensitive” and he had to do this and get it on ice quickly to preserve the quality of the meat. As I sat down after catching my fish, the nausea overwhelmed me. The adrenalin no longer there, I was sick. I joined the others and started throwing up almost instantly, as our captain is gutting the fish I just caught, blood covering the floor of the boat. At this point Captain Jeff asked what we wanted to do. This experience was supposed to be fun and we were all miserable. He would take us back in if we wanted or we could continue. The kids decided they wanted to catch something, so we continued. Our captain walked around dumping puke buckets while we continued to fish. He was an absolute saint. A line went out pretty quickly after he put the rest back in the water. Charlee took this one, and it was a smaller fish (though still bigger than anything I’ve caught on a lake) and she was able to reel it in pretty quickly. Another line went out shortly after, and this was another fighter. Whitney did most of the reeling, but at one point switched off with Gal for a few moments to rest her arm. This was another 50 pound yellow tuna! After the 3rd fish, we were done. The ride back to the harbor was much easier than the way out. It was calmer and we were traveling faster, so the waves didn’t seem as rough. As soon as the boat started moving again, my nausea subsided. Matthew on the other hand was still a mess. Once we docked, our captain took out our fish again so we could get more pictures. This was awesome for him to do, as you can imagine it wasn’t very easy on the boat to hold up these huge fish and get a decent picture. We opted not to take any meat back with us, we just wanted to go. We were very grateful for the excursion but will never do it again. The captain was great, catching fish was exciting, we just can’t handle the nausea and subsequent vomiting associated with being on the open water like that. We decided to head back to our condo and took naps. We had our luau later this evening, and even though once we were off the boat our nausea subsided, we were exhausted and felt gross. That evening we dressed up and went to Smith Family Garden Luau. This was our favorite excursion booked. When we arrived, we were brought to sprawling gardens, where you can either ride a tram or walk on your own. They sell feed for the chickens and peacocks roaming around, so we opted to walk and feed birds on our way forgoing the tram. The gardens were lush with so many different plants, flowers and trees. We had so much fun walking through and took hundreds of pictures in this beautiful paradise. Before dinner, they have a ceremony around lifting the pig out of the ground. It was hard to hear, but we got the gist of it. The food was buffet style, and the options were endless. During dinner there was hula dancing and the emcee was entertaining, telling jokes, explaining hula dance and singing. After dinner the show began. We walked to the outdoor theater and watched a show that had dancing, fire, lights. It was really fun and they did a good job of explaining the history and where each style of dance originated. Day 7 – relax. Our trip was packed full of many adventures, and this was our last full day on the island. We had no agenda. We decided we wanted to relax at the beach and take it easy. We headed north again, to our favorite beach Hanalei Beach. We laid on the beach and bounced in the waves. Skipped rocks, got knocked over by waves. At one point it started to rain, and we went into the town of Hanalei to eat and did a little more shopping while we waiting for the rain to pass. After lunch we went back to beach and remained here until sunset. It was the perfect relaxing day. We remained until the colors lit up the sky then headed back to our hotel. I will note that as we were driving, reds and pinks streaked the sky behind us so I wish we would have waited a little longer before heading back to our condo for the night. Day 8 – our flight home wasn’t until after 9pm this night. We spent the day really just driving and looking for anything we may have missed. We stopped at the Poipu Beach again, visited Kauai Coffee, and just explored by car. My aunt and uncle who own the timeshare we used were flying in this day to start their vacation. We were able to meet up for lunch at Duke's Canoe in Lihue, their favorite restaurant. After lunch we were beat, as were they. They headed to get settled into the condo, we went to the airport. Our week in paradise had come to an end. Itinerary summary: Day 1 - Arrived on island and settled into hotel Day 2 - Explore north end of island - Hanalei, Hanalei Beach, Anini Beach, Kilauea Lighthouse Day 3 - Kipu Ranch Adventures ATV Tour Day 4 - Napali Coast Tour Day 5 - Poipu Beach, Waimea Canyon State Park, Koke'e State Park, Koloa Day 6 - Breakaway Fishing Tours, Smith Family Garden Luau Day 7 - Back to favorite Hanalei Beach and town of Hanalei Day 8 - Kauai Coffee and Lihue Another picture on our map!

Once I had my heart set on visiting all 50 states I had to put a plan together. I am the type that likes to know what to expect. To have control over the outcome. But how exactly do you visit 50 states? At first it was overwhelming. However, once I started putting together a game plan, I couldn't stop. To start, I downloaded a blank map of the United States, and dropped it into PowerPoint. That may seem like a weird program to use but I know it and it's comfortable for me. Once I had my map, I placed a star into the states we've already visited. If you read the backstory you'll know that any state we've travel to since Matthew and I started dating in 2018 counted as a state visited. All vacations prior were obsolete in our plan. After realizing we had 8 states checked off our list, my map looked pitifully empty. 8 states. Out of 50. That is 42 states that I had to group together and plan to visit. My goal was to have everything done by 2029. That is 11 total years to see each state, but 2021 we didn't travel so it can be done in 10 years. My next step was to add in the states that I already had booked for 2022. Once that was done I looked at what we could realistically complete on a camping road trip within 10 days. After I had my camping states identified, it was much easier to see what states could be grouped together. I started by doing those that looked relatively easy to get through. For example, the upper northeast has many small states that are easily traveled between. Once I had a tentative plan, I went online and researched. I looked at a lot of blogs. Looked up must sees in every state. And started mapping it out in google maps. How long would it take? How many nights would I need to stay? It was a process but eventually I had every state outlined (and as you can see color coded). Now is where the fun really began. After I had my outline and mapped out what year we will visit each state, I started planning each trip. When I made each plan I spent a ton of time reading through reviews, vacation blogs, and tried really hard to ensure we were truly going to be able to experience the states we visited. The plans I am showing are not actually going to be our exact trips. When booking hotels and campgrounds, I've already found it difficult to book exactly where I had expected. Challenges with what is available depending on the time of year we go is also a factor. 2022 Completed Trips: Georgia - I didn't have individual trip slides when I took this trip but you can read about it here See our Hawaii vacation here See this vacation by clicking the link below 2023 Planned Trips: March - Washington, Oregon, California Destinations: Seattle · Chihuly Garden · Kelly Park · Olympic Sculpture Park · Waterfront Park · Pikes Place Market · Underground Streets Olympic National Park · Port Angeles · Hurricane Ridge · Lake Crescent · Sol Duc Falls · Hoh Rainforest · Ruby Beach · Kalaloch Coast Astoria · Cape Disappointment · Goonies House · Oregon Film Museum · Flavel House Museum · Lower Columbia Bowl Oregon Coast · Cannon Beach · 3 Capes Scenic route · Otter Crest & Devils Punchbowl · Heceta Head & Sea Lion Caves · Oregon Dunes Crescent City · Samuel H Boardman Scenic Corridor · Jedediah Redwoods State Park · Prairie Creek Trail Lava Beds National Monument Crater Lake Mt. Ranier · Reflection Lake · Nisqually Vista Trail · Myrtle Falls · Ruby Falls · Narada Falls · Christine Falls · Crystal Mountain Gondola · Tipsoo Lake · Sunrise Point I will start by admitting that I learned that I have to research weather a little better prior to booking my vacations. I booked this vacation for March during spring break. Being from Minnesota, I guess I just assume that everywhere else is warmer than here in March. After looking at details for places we planned to visit, we realized several key factors. 1. March is still very much winter. This is obvious at home, but I didn’t realize that it would affect us on a coastal trip. 2. Mountains are snowy. Duh right? Who would’ve guessed that the snow hangs on until July though? 3. Snow chains are required in the National Parks through May. Because we are flying there and then renting a car, we will have to purchase these somewhere prior to entering Olympic National Park 4. Crater Lake receives an average of 43 feet of snow a year, and the roads around the lake do not open until June or July 5. Mt. Ranier has limited roads open into the park in Winter, and even those that open are limited to weekends (luckily the day we will be at Ranier is a weekend) All of these fun facts are part of the experience, and just pivoted my planning slightly. I ordered snow shoes, snow pants, and good snow boots. Yes, being from Minnesota I did already own snow gear but I don’t do a ton of outdoor hiking in the winter, so I invested in extra warm waterproof clothing. My niece, Matthew and I will be going on this trip, so I ordered these items for all three of us. We have to get in shape for more hiking, in snowshoes and less access via car. The fact that a lot of areas will not be open during this time of the year helped me narrow down our destinations considerably, which honestly was a blessing. The only places that I had to alter are the Olympic National Park, Crater Lake and Mt. Ranier. We do still plan to do most of what we would have in Olympic National Park, but we will do less hiking at Lake Crescent and Hurricane Ridge, and hopefully spend more time at Hoh Rainforest. Crater Lake is basically all on foot now. You can still drive to the park, and see the lake from the visitor center, but the roads that go around the lake are completely closed. Our plan is to drive in to the park and snowshoe a short 1.4 mile one way to a lookout. Mt. Ranier destinations are all tentative, but we hope to see as much as possible in Longmire and Paradise, and potentially join a ranger led snowshoe tour. Knowing that snow is still a major factor in all three of these destinations, we will have to be flexible and let the weather dictate those parts of our journey. That looks crazy right? Who plans a vacation with that many itineraries? Again, these are guides. The times were entered so I was able to map and make sure I was being realistic in what I hope to be able to do at each place. We very well may miss some of our planned points of interest, and that is ok. I look forward to seeing how my plans work out or if I need to change my approach. See how our Pacific Northwest Vacation turned out! July Camping – Michigan Upper Peninsula Destinations: Pictured Rocks Sault Ste. Marie Castle Rock The plan for Michigan is to mostly just enjoy the lake and camping. We will be going the week of July 4th, which means we will find somewhere to watch fireworks that evening. I booked a campground at Wells State Park, just barely across the Wisconsin/Michigan border in the UP on Lake Michigan. We will for sure visit the Pictured Rocks for a day, which is where I had originally hoped to find a campground that would work for this trip. I also tentatively planned a full day outing to head to Sault Ste. Marie on the far eastern side of the peninsula. ***Click below to see how our Michigan Vacation turned out! July Camping- Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa Destinations: Dane County – Wisconsin Dunes National Park - Indiana Mammoth Caves - Kentucky J. Percy Priest Lake - Tennessee Hawn State Park – Missouri Waterloo KOA - Iowa This will be our very first multistate, thousand mile road trip with our camper. Planning a multiple destination camping trip is much harder than a trip to a state staying in hotels and renting a car. 1. Many campgrounds have a minimum of 2 night stays. This doesn’t work when you are stopping to camp on your way to your next destination. Wisconsin was my most difficult place to find a campground, and we were close to just scrapping the stop and driving straight to Indiana (which would have been a full day of just driving) 2. Campgrounds in each state vary on release times for reservations. Some allow you to book a year in advance, some 6 months, some far less. There are campgrounds with first come first serve only option, and that will not work for my sanity for a trip like this. 3. Amenities vary greatly, and each website is laid out differently, so making sure our camper length will work, they have amenities we will need, etc. takes much more time to determine than a hotel would. 4. Driving times are a bigger consideration. Driving and exploring in a car is vastly different than exploring while pulling a 30ft trailer. Planning this trip had to include arriving at the campground, then allowing time to explore the areas and visiting our desired destination. We didn’t plan anything on route between destinations. See how we did on our first camping road trip by clicking below! Future Trips: Now I wasn't kidding when I said I have every state tentatively mapped out. And I am going to post the rest below. I obviously don't have the same detail as those I've already had to book. Hopefully this guide that I've spent countless hours putting together is helpful to someone other than myself. It feels a waste to spend so much time obsessing over my plans not to share it. Each slide has tentative destinations and the drive time between stops listed. Check out how our trip turned out!