Day #3...almost to PA!

Day #3

We stayed in Iowa the 2nd night and drove into Illinois the next morning.

The funny thing is...when driving into Illinois we went through our very first Toll Bridge, and there was a note on the window that says "free today". We were a little sad that at our very first toll we didn't even have to pay, but now that the trip is over I am so grateful that one was free, we paid so many tolls we stopped keeping track of how much they cost. It was crazy!

We went to Nauvoo, Illinois first.

 The Nauvoo temple is beautiful!

 This bronze statue is in front of the temple, Joesph and Hyrum Smith.

 They have a great visitors center there that reminds me a lot of Temple square. They show a lot of the same movies and have a lot of the same kind of displays.

 This is the cemetery where Joseph, Emma, and Hyrum are buried. It is actually owned by The Community of Christ church.

Then we drove to the Carthage Jail. They also have a movie they show and a little presentation. We skipped that part and just took the tour of the jail due to the fact we still had 11 hours of driving to do that day/night.

They play an audio tape of the martyrdom. The spirit was so strong.
Here is a picture of the door that was shot through at 2 different times.

The window Joesph Smith fell from.

 Family picture at the spot Joseph Smith died.


And we are off...to drive...and drive...and drive. We had planned on driving as far as we could and maybe getting a hotel room. We had to be in Erie, PA by 10:00 am the next day. But the time change gets ya!! The kids were doing really well. We stopped every few hours and got gas, had potty brakes, and made the kids run around the car a few times. We did snacks in the car and drive thru for dinner. By the time we were trying to figure out if we were going to stop or not our van clock said 10:00 pm. we were still going strong, but EST  it was midnight! We figured by the time we stopped, got everything unloaded and got kids in to the hotel room it would be after 1:00 am and we still had 3 hours to drive. So did we want to spend $120 for a hotel room that we would only sleep in for 4 hours then get up, try to get the kids out of bed and keep driving. We decided to press forward! By then it was 2:00 am EST and all the kids found their second wind. We had walkie talkies so we could communicate with Shelley's family. We were telling "yo mama" jokes and laughing so hard we thought we might have a pee accident! But it got us through Cleveland and into Pennsylvania. We made it to my brothers house at 3:30 am safe and sound!

The vacation continues...

After waking up Shawn, Shelley and I went for a run. I was in training for a half marathon and needed to keep up with my running schedule. It was beautiful! The black hills make for an amazing place to run. Then we were off towards Nauvoo, Illinois.

As we were driving across South Dakota we kept seeing advertisements for a place called "Wall Drug". Seriously every half mile there was a sign that would say "free ice cold water" "Coffee only $0.05" "Fresh doughnuts" "Pan for Gold" and they went on and on for about 50 miles. So of course we had to stop. From what I understand it was a ghost town turned into a huge tourist stop. It is in the middle of nowhere, it was the perfect place to get out and stretch our legs.

um...yeah there were a lot of photo ops :)

 Then it was back in the car with 6 more hours of driving to go.

We saw this cool windmill with my maiden name on it...so I took a picture.

 And then we were in Iowa!

The longest vacation this family has EVER taken...day by day.

Day #1

 The first day...look how happy we all seem :)

We left at 5:30 am on July 1st and drove to Green River, Wyoming where we met up with my sister and her family. 

We thought it would be fun to take a picture in front of all of the "State" signs we passed along the way. We soon found out that some states are LAME and have their signs hanging over a bridge...or over the Highway...not cool :(

They had a visitors center in Green River...so we went in and took pictures...cuz that is what we do!

(Shelley, Kristy...and the photo bomber is Kylan)

(Kambree)

 (Austin and Kylan)

(Scott, Noah, and Shawn)

They were tired already!

And before you know it, we were back on the road.

We stopped to fill up the van with gas...often. This is a funny sign we saw at a gas station called "The Loaf n Jug", and you all know me...I do enjoy a good funny photo op :) And NO we didn't take advantage of the buy 9 get 1 free, but next time we are in Wyoming we might.

Wyoming really didn't hold much adventure for us. We only made one stop and that was at Martin's Cove. My brother-in-laws parents are serving a mission there. We stopped and visited for a few minutes, had lunch, and let the kids pull the hand carts around a little.

 Seriously...how could I NOT take a picture of this? It was a sign that was in the girls restroom at Martin's Cove. It made us all laugh :)

Then we left for South Dakota...this is what we saw...windmills...and more windmills.

 Yeah finally South Dakota!

 We were torn between going to see the laser show at, Crazy Horse, State park or going to, Mount Rushmore, and watching the flag ceremony. Mount Rushmore won, so we stopped at Crazy Horse and took a picture or two.

Off to Mount Rushmore

 We just happened to get the back of this guys shirt in the picture...it is so funny. It reads "I am a Bomb Technician if you see me running try to keep up".

Austin had to do this famous, "I am picking the President's nose" picture.

 Sitting in the amphitheater waiting for the flag ceremony to begin.

This picture was taken after we saw the flag ceremony. It was amazing!

That night we stayed at the Econo Lodge...do not recommend this place!! We reserved a room with 2 queen beds, one for Shawn and me, one for the 3 girls to sleep in together and then we brought a blow up mattress for Austin to sleep on the floor. When we got there, there was only 1 double bed and a pull out couch that had a single bed in it. They were sold out so there was no other room to move to. Here are a few funny pictures of that room...it sure made for good memories. 

  (Austin and Kam in the single, pull out couch, bed)

 Oh and if you had the mattress blown all of the way up you couldn't fit them on the small floor...or open the door to the bathroom...or open the door to get out of the room!!

The girls decided to deflate the mattress a little and kind of scrunched up on the floor. It was AWESOME!!

All in all it was a great first day. The only down side was that Austin was having a flare. His hips and knees were hurting so bad that he could barely walk. When we were at Mount Rushmore all of the kids were running up and down the amphitheater stairs, running up and down the trails that they have that go half way up to the monuments. He was a little depressed not to be able to join in the cousinly fun. They had elevators, but it was still hard. A few times we just ended up carrying him on our backs. I was freaking out ...just a little...we still had 10 days of our trip left. We contemplated calling his Dr. to see if we could get new meds, but in the end we decided to give it a few more days and see if the treatments he was already on would kick in.

Day #2...coming soon :)