Family Road Trip 2024

 Stats: 

Miles Traveled: 4109.5

Hours driven: 74:37

Countries seen: US & Canada

Number of States seen:  19 (NY, PA, OH, KY, IL, MO, AR, TN, MS, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, MD, CT, MA)

Number of States stayed in: 6 (PA, KY, MO, MS, FL, SC)

The short summary is we had a wonderful time together as a family and praise God for safe travels and many amazing moments.

We have never done a two week vacation with our kids before.  This trip was amazing; so many miles traveled, states seen, memories made and fun facts learned.  I want to get it all recorded while it is fresh in my mind.  For those, like me, who love to read travel stories; I hope you enjoy this overview of our trip! 

Day 1: Home to Erie, PA

We headed out earlyish morning.  The oldest two knew that we were stopping in Niagara falls for a few hours but the other kids had no idea.  A couple of the kids have been asking, for a few years, to see the falls.  We recently got them all passports so we thought it would be a fun surprise.  As we were crossing the bridge into Canada we asked "hey, do you guys want to go to Canada?" they said "yes.  Wait!  You mean today?" we then told them that yes, we were currently headed to the border crossing.  It was a one of many funny memories. 

The falls were a great stop; the last time we had been was over 20 years ago so it was nice to experience them with the kids.  Fun fact: More than 44 million gallons of water go over horseshoe falls every minute during "peak flow". 

 After seeing the falls and grabbing dinner we crossed back over the border.  We stopped in Erie, PA for the night.

Day 2: Erie, PA to Shelbyville, KY

One of the beauties of this trip was the flexibility and spontaneity we were able to have.  We had originally planned to stop at the Cincinnati Zoo; however, we realized the timing wasn't going to work. Instead we headed to the Columbus Zoo.  On the way there we noticed that if we got off the highway for a bit we could make a stop at Lake Erie.  We found a cute park to stop at; it was fun to see one of the great lakes and the kids thought it was pretty neat how that it does feel a bit like the ocean because of the water going to the horizon without any trees or land in sight. 

 After stopping at the lake we continued on to the Columbus Zoo.  We were able to spend the afternoon walking the zoo.  We always enjoy going to different zoos and the Columbus zoo did not disappoint.  The highlights were definitely getting to pet and feed the stingrays, the closeup view of the cheetah, seeing a Tasmanian devil and watching the adorable koalas sleeping in their tree.  This little guy was holding his tree just snoozing away.

 We left the zoo at closing and just decided to drive until it got late enough that we wanted to stop.  This put us in Shelbyville, KY for the night.

Day 3: Shelbyville, KY to Poplar Bluff, MO

While we were making it up a bit as we went; we knew that Mammoth Cave was a definite stop.  Since we had the younger kids (and some kiddos who aren't huge fans of caves) we took the basic cave tour. This tour is a little over an hour long.  It was very interesting learning about the history and importance of the cave; and it really is Mammoth.  We only saw a tiny portion. This was one of the rooms we saw.

The other "must stop" was at Buc-ees.  We had never been before and our oldest daughter (who had been once) wanted us to stop.  It was a fun, chaotic experience.  We grabbed some t-shirts for souvenirs and some lunch.  The pulled brisket sandwich was one of the best I've had.  The one we stopped at had this fun artwork on the barn next to the store.

One of the benefits of having some time flexibility, is that we were able to change our route as desired.  When we left Buc-ees my husband suggested we see how many states we could hit without adding too much time to our route (we did have a deadline for college drop off #1).  We figured out that by getting off the highway we could head a bit northwest and hit Illinois and then dip into Missouri before heading on to Arkansas and Tennessee.  

We put our oldest girl in charge of finding interesting things to see along the way.  There was a roadside attraction called Turtle Rock; I would post a picture but we didn't get one.  It was two rocks painted to look like a Turtle and much smaller than we expected.  It was so funny!  

One challenge of not being on the highway was bathroom stops.  The next roadside attraction she found was the Jefferson Davis Monument.  This is an obelisk in a park with a small visitor's center. We used the restrooms and talked a bit about who Jefferson Davis was and some Civil war history.  

Next up was a drive through Cairo, IL. This little town sits at the point where the Mississippi and Ohio rivers merge.  It was very neat to see this point but the town sadly isn't in great shape.  There is still some beautiful architecture and we were curious what had happened as it was clear that at one point it had been a thriving town. It's a sad and fascinating story of how changes in transportation and industry affect a town.  Here is the wikipedia article for those interested. 

We continued on to Poplar Bluff, MO and spent the night there.

Day 4: Poplar Bluff, MO to Tupelo, MS

This day was another day that didn't go as we had "planned".  We originally planned to drop off our oldest daughter at school and then spend the night in town.  We drove to the college and got her settled (a bonus was seeing our niece who is attending the same school!).  We then surprised one of our other daughters with a lunch of fried pies.  We had discovered fried pies on another adults vacation, and our daughter had wanted to try them.  

We realized that we had a long trip the next day and it didn't make sense to stay in town so we said goodbye to our girl and headed further south.  We drove as far as Tupelo, MS and stayed the night there. 

Day 5: Tupelo, MS to Pensacola Beach, FL

The next morning we got up and headed to our week-long destination of Pensacola Beach, FL.  We were all looking forward to reaching the condo and having a "home-base" for a few days.  As we drove we discussed the poverty and health issues that plague Mississippi.  It was another interesting dive into internet research.  For more information on Mississippi's history you can check out it's wikipedia page  

We checked into our rental, did some grocery shopping and settled in for the night.

 

Day 6 - Day 12: Pensacola Beach, FL 

Over the next week we spent a lot of time just relaxing.  Our rental unit was right next to the pool so we were in and out of the pool.  We took many walks down to the beach.  Unfortunately, on our first dip into the beautiful warm waters; one of our daughters was stung by a jellyfish.  We were fortunate that our unit was on the beach; we googled how to treat it and followed the recommendations from the mayo clinic website.  We also got some cream from the pharmacy; it's very common there for jellyfish bites so they have something called "sting kill" that works very well. 

After that experience we mostly stuck to the pool for swimming and the beach for walking.   

Later in the week we went to the Naval Aviation Museum.  This is a free museum and has some great old planes.  We arrived just as a guided tour was starting so we joined in and learned a lot about the planes they have there at the museum.  Since the Museum is on a naval base, and is where the blue angels are stationed, they often host ceremonies.  This atrium is the venue for those.

While we were away a friend came over to our home to feed our cat and koi fish.  We wanted to get a little something for her as a thank you.  While looking up things to do I found a link for the Palafox Market.  It is a cross between a craft fair and a farmer's market with many local artisans and food places each having a booth.  We found some great local honey, local coffee, and some handmade jewelry.  There were a lot of other very fun things; if we had wanted to spend more money!  One booth in particular was very interesting. It's called the Graffiti Bridge and they have some very fun jewelry.

Day 13: Pensacola Beach, FL to Sumter, SC

As much as we wanted to stay in Florida; alas, vacation had to end.  Once again we changed up our original plans.  I have always wanted to visit Savannah, GA; so my hubby suggested that rather than heading north right away, that we head east and then north; making a quick stop in Savannah.  We ended up only having about a half hour there but it was a great place to stop, stretch our legs and use the restroom.  Forsythe Park was beautiful and the houses surrounding the park have some gorgeous architecture. 

After our break in Savannah we continued on to South Carolina and spent the night with family.

Day 14: Sumter, SC to Home

We had a lovely visit with some family members that we only see once or twice a year.  It was a great time of fellowship!  The next morning we were discussing our route home; we mentioned that we really didn't want to go up interstate 95.  The suggestion to go route 77 was made so we headed that direction.  Before getting to the interstate we drove through some beautiful areas of South Carolina.  One town was Camden, SC.  Camden is the steeplechase "capitol" of the U.S.  It was the site of revolutionary war battles and also hosts the Carolina Cup.  It's a pretty little town and was fun to drive through.  

Along the way we enjoyed the farmland vistas of Western Virginia, the state of West Virginia, Western Maryland and Western Pennsylvania; all while reading about the industries in those areas.  The history of mining and that the top industries are food processing and manufacturing.

We drove through the night and made it home at 3am in the morning.  The following day the kids here started school.  So, it has been a whirlwind since we got home but we are so thankful we were able to make this trip.