Road Trip 2014- Week 2

Day 8 was relaxing. We went to church with Grammy & Pop then spent the afternoon with Casey & crew and Mitchell & crew.

 Ryan had so much fun playing with his cousins. And Oliver helped Pop try to fix a broken mower belt and tried to help mow Hope Cemetery. Ryan also played Sorry with whoever would sit with him and attempted to learn Dutch Blitz. The joy of old games that we don't have in our house so they are new to him.

Day 9 we were planning on driving to Chicago but I was too tired and the idea of driving 6 hours round trip made me even more tired. So instead we went to a park and got some Kastle Kreme where #2 food item was an orange and vanilla  twist cone. Yay. Then we had family home evening with Grammy that night and tried to figure out our plans for the rest of the week.
Day 10 we drove south to Nauvoo for a little while. Food item #3-turtle pretzel rods...Mmm...I bought two and Oliver made me save the second one for a couple days because I would be too sad when it was all gone. I was sad. But they were so good. Ryan and I wandered through the Women's Statue Garden at the visitors center and then went to the blacksmith shop before heading south to Quincy.

Replication of a wedding photo. This is where Ollie proposed.

Our awesome photographer child.

Casey met us and we went for a swim at the Kroc Center with her and Trevor and then had fun with them and Alexia and Kimo the rest of the night. Thanks Alexia and Kara for letting us sleep in your room.
Day 11 we said good bye to the kids and began our journey back west. We drove into Missouri and south to find the Missouri state high point.

This high point has the smallest view-just more trees. Taum Sauk Mountain has a nice paved walkway to it and if you drive a little bit away from the actual high point there is another viewing area that shows a variety of mountains around you.

The downside...somehow I got a tick...on my belly. I was very disturbed...partly because I didn't discover it until I took a shower the next morning. Boo. Anyway. We had talked about camping near Taum Sauk, but we had arrived early in the afternoon and Oliver didn't want to stop driving yet. So instead we went and explored Elephant Rocks State Park, walked along its Braille Trail and then found a hotel near Rolla, MO.

Day 12 we drove north to Columbia and had lunch with Neal & Denean at Shakespeare's Pizza (a local Columbia restaurant) and got a little tour of one of the fire stations before heading west to Excelsior Springs to visit Jo & family. Ryan had a great time here as well where Grace and Mikayla catered to his every whim. They played the games he made up and drove him around on the golf cart and then let him play all their video games. He loved it.

Day 13 we left Jo at lunchtime and got my food item #4-Steak 'n' Shake. Then we drove west into Kansas. We found Aunt Betty and Uncle Dennis and my cousin Clint and family. We also watched some cars drive up and down the strip while we played soccer outside. Ryan convinced Betty and Daddy to play Don't Break the Ice a couple times before bed plus got two servings of strawberry cake.

Day 14 we left bright and early after a delicious breakfast to find the Kansas state high point. This was the first moment during the entire trip that Evan started to show dislike for the amount of time in the car. He had loved the trip up to this point, and even got into the van eagerly. But 15 minutes into the driving, he was very dissatisfied and showed it by hitting me and Ryan without restraint.

At our 3000 mile mark, we were heading south toward I-70 in Kansas.

There's Mt. Sunflower. Don't you see it?

Our awesome Peakbagger. #7 I believe.

Mt. Sunflower is off in the middle of nowhere like a mile east of the Colorado border. After reaching that high point we drove to Aurora, Colorado to spend some time with our old friends Amber & Brian and their happy children.

Again, Ryan was in heaven to be surrounded by kids. We went out to eat with them to a "Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives" place called Sam's No. 3. We had a VERY long wait, but at least the food was good in the end.
Day 15 was Father's Day! Oliver I love you and couldn't have done this trip without you nor half of the things I've done in my life since meeting you. Thank you for being the father to our children and my forever companion. We went to church with our fun friends where the men were honored by being served as many slices of pie as they wanted during the last 20 minutes of church. Then Amber and her friend organized a delicious lunch for their husbands and allowed us to eat and run. Our goal at this point: hit the Nebraska high point and then attempt to make it home...It would be a challenge because it'd be a long way to go, but I just wanted to get home and couldn't fight the draining that would happen to my energy if we tried to camp again that night. So we tried to follow the instructions that Google gave us that had a few slightly wrong street names but we did eventually find Panorama Point in Nebraska, Oliver's 8th state high point so far.

Road looking north

Road toward the high point

On the comfy bench they provided, looking not out toward the rest of Nebraska, but back toward Colorado.

Then we began the long drive across Wyoming. We realized that when we finally came across Rawlins that we had made a complete circle in our travels and were almost home. Oliver got us safely home at 2am on technically Day 16 where we all fell asleep happily in our own beds.

Our 4000 mile marker was hit as we were on the last stretch of road home.

Side note: apparently I didn't get any pictures of the family I was travelling so far to see. One of Pop and a few cousins, but none of my siblings and hardly any in Missouri except for the high point. Silly me. I still love them even if I am not visually acknowledging them.