As I mentioned in the last post we have been traveling fools this spring. Starting in the end of March we went on a vacation / road trip that kept us away from home until the end of May! In eight weeks and one day we managed to put on over 9,000 miles!!! Because of the length and breadth and width of this trip I could use thousands of words to describe it but instead I think I’ll just use pictures.
This was our framework, we hit 18 states and took many a tangent off this route. (link for the geeks: http://goo.gl/CLpRQ)
This is what we looked like for about 8 days of our trip; all packed up with a lot of places to go!
One of the major advantages of homeschooling, schooling goes with you!
It was a blessing getting to spend Easter Sunday with my parents!
Only a couple days after we got to my parents house my sister and her family (The cousins!) showed up.
With all the family at my folks house we were able to sneak away to The Gospel Coalition 2013 Conference in Orlando. While we were there we met the Davies from Wasilla Bible church. It was fun to get to know fellow Alaskans!
We visited the Naples Zoo! (I can’t believe that tiger didn’t try to bite the girls…)
I managed to find a couple trails to stretch my legs on!
The Merkes’ were very generous and took us boating a couple times!
After a couple weeks it was time for the cousins and grandparents to leave, but not the hobos (us). We stuck around for more fun!
A couple days after the family left we had the opportunity to meet up with some long lost AK friends, the Strief clan!
This is what we all look like after a hard day at Busch Gardens!
After the Strief’s left we managed to squeeze in a trip to see Shamu at Sea World! The last 30 minutes turned into a downpour, hence the garbage bags… 🙂
From Florida we hit the road again and made a stop in Durango, CO. They say it’s almost always sunny in Colorado but along with great views we managed to find some rain.
I love the mountains surrounding Durango. Everywhere you go there are amazing views, even from the playgrounds!
From Durango we headed west again and made it to Zion Canyon National Park. One word: Stunning!
While in southern Utah we had the opportunity to meet up with Niki’s dad, step-mom and brother!
The girls touching the sky with uncle Tony (Niki’s 1/2 brother).
Elli and I getting a little R&R…
Then we were on to Bryce Canyon!
There really is something inspiring about inspiration point…
At this point in the trip we had planned to try to surprise some other family in Utah but we received some news that put the rest of our trip under some time constraints and caused us to start heading home. We would have just gone straight back to Michigan but since we had left many things at my parents house in Florida we had to go back there first!
Being back in Florida we had to take advantage of Busch Gardens again!
Once we had our things gathered we hit the road again and headed north.
Our last stop of the trip was in Savannah, GA where we had the privilege of meeting up with the Godfrey family! It was a blast to catch up with them and swap eerily similar stories of what God has been doing in our lives over the last two years.
And that wraps up what we’ve been doing (well, at least part of it). It was an amazing two months with enough memories to last us for years. We loved every step of the journey and especially the people along the way.
Stay tuned for more on what caused us to cut our time in Utah short, there is surely change in the air…