On Our Way Home

We definately weren't ready for our vacation time to be over just like that. So we made our trip home just as exciting as our trip TO Maine. 

 

Sunday

We traveled a little over 700 miles to get to Kirtland, Ohio. We got there pretty late so we got to our hotel room and called it a night. The next morning we headed to the LDS visitor's center for Kirtland. There we saw so many places that we both had only just read about in church history.

 

Like...

 

The Whitney store where Newl K Whitney prayed for Joseph Smith to come. In this store there is also the..

The room where Joseph and Emma slept in. This is also the birthplace of one or some of their children.

 

 

And the School of the Prophets. This was a way special room to be in.

 

We also saw the original facsimiles from the Book of Abraham and the original  document that Joseph Smith wrote the Word of Wisdom on.

 

 

 

 

And the Kirtland Temple. We wanted to go in so badly but The Community of Christ Church closes it on Mondays... poopy

 

Then we drove to Chicago and decided we were going to be spontaneous and find a place to get some good Chicago pizza. So with the help from "Big Daddy and Mamma V" one of Judd's mission families. We found the perfect place. Giordano's!

 

 

 



Driving around in Chicago was an interesting experience for us. Of course we got to Chicago at rush hour and I was very grateful I wasn't driving. The view was cool though.

 

Funny story about our pizza adventure. So we were just following our trusty GPS to get us to the restaurant and as we were getting deeper into the more populated areas I think we just felt stressed about finding a place to park. There weren't any open spots on the street so we turned the corner and saw a parking garage. We said "What the hay" and went in thinking it couldn't be more than a few bucks. We pulled up to grab a ticket and saw

$19.00- Under one Hour

$24.00- 1-2 Hours

Judd's eyes about popped out of their sockets. Right then a Maserati pulls out of the parking lot.  By the time we registered what was going on there were cars behind us waiting so our only choice was to continue on. We find a spot and try to rush so that MAYBE we can save $5 and be under an hour. We get to the restaurant and are told its a 45-55 minute wait for our pizza after we order it. ha ha so much for that idea. When the pizza came all my worries of money went away. It was amazing! Every last bite!

 

We later found out that we parked in the parking lot for Luxury Apartment Complex Rent there is about $7,000 a month.  No wonder we saw a Maserati!

 

Before leaving Chicago I had to stop at a Bulgarian grocery store to get some things that I had been missing.

 

We finished our days trip in Wisconsin Dells, WI. Which is a WHOLE OTHER STORY!

 

 

We got into town pretty late. I was driving and getting sick of being in the car. I just wanted to find our hotel and go to sleep. But as we get into town all we can see is water parks, roller coasters, bright lights, and replicas of the Colosseum, The White House and dinosaurs, lots of them. We kept saying "Where the heck are we!!" We felt like we were in a mini Vegas. During the rest of our trip there we were planning on what we will do there for  our future family vacations.

 

I searched online for some pictures to share but there are too many good ones. You just have to Google Wisconsin Dells!

 

Yeah I know... you want to go with us huh??

 

The next day TUESDAY!

 

We drove around the town one last time. And then headed on home. By then we were both ready to call our road trip completed!

 

On our way home we went through

 

and ended up right back in good ol'

 







 



 

I never thought I would be so happy to see that sign. It goes to show, Home really is where your HEART is!

 

I'm so happy Judd and I were able to go on this trip. I knew that it would be the last time we could while it's just us two.

 

Thank you to the Millers for letting us crash at your place, to the Hursts for a wonderful week and to my lovely husband for being the best companion a girl could ask for!

 

The Road Trip of All Road Trips

We did it! We survived! 13 days of 100% vacation time. No working, no exercising, no calorie counting, nothing but good times.

 

Warning: No details will be spared

Thursday March 14th 9:00 AM

We set off on our journey. Our first stop was in Sioux Falls for one of our favorite places for lunch.

Pizza Ranch  

Thanks Jeanine and Lyman for the generous gift card that allowed up to eat all the soup, salad, pizza, dessert pizza, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried chicken, Jo Jo's and ice cream. My pregnant belly loved every second of it.

After grabbing some road snacks and filling up we continued on for our final destination for the day. Carthage, Illinois

This trip was really exciting for us because we went to 11 new states that I had never been to and 7 new ones for Judd. We had fun on the road staying entertained by playing some road trip games from my childhood like the "ABC's game" and "Guess What Jelly Belly I Put In Your Mouth" and taking pictures of the "Welcome to" signs at the state lines. I will most likely resort to Google images because my skills in photography haven't been developed quite yet.

 Day One We Started in South Dakota

Crossed the bridge to go to Nebraska for fun

Went through Iowa and ended in Illinois

 

 

 

Highlights Of The Day!!

 

Crossing an old double decker swing arm bridge in Fort Madison, Iowa. It was the first time we crossed the Mississippi river, it was dark and kinda creepy.

 

 And driving around Nauvoo

Of course the pictures we took of Nauvoo are on a camera that we can't find the cord for. ha ha I don't know why we ever stray from our camera phones.

 

We spent the night chatting with my Aunt JoAnna, Uncle David and their kids Katie Anna, Andrew, Trey and Sandra. It was so fun to just sit and talk with the Miller Family. They are hilarious and it was fun to reminisce about the days I used to babysit them in Othello, WA like 12 years ago.

 

Day Two:

Before leaving Carthage, Illinois we stopped by the jail

 that Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered in.

 

 

We drove through Illinois, Indiana

 

Ohio

             Pennsylvania

 

and we ended the day in Buffalo, New York

 

Day Two was by far the longest day of driving.

 

Day Three was one of my favoritest days on the road. We started the day with a "lovely" continental breakfast at Econo Lodge and then we set off for Niagara Falls

 

 

It seemed like everywhere we went we were fighting some wind but it didn't stop us one bit. We had a blast just watching the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rushing right in front of us. It was still cold enough for us to see parts of it still frozen.

 

I am now fascinated with learning about the history of it. Like did you know that in 1912 Niagra falls "froze over" which can't really happen, but tourists believe it did and tried walking across. In reality an ice bridge was created and because of the strong constant current underneath the ice broke through and carried three tourists to their death.

 

After Niagara Falls we headed to Palmyra, NY

Home of

 

The Hill Cumorah





 

The Palmyra Temple

 

 

 

 

The Old Original Smith Farm Land

 

And The Sacred Grove

 

 

I am so grateful that Judd and I were able to see these wonderful sites. They really strengthened my testimony that Joseph Smith really was a young man that God chose to restore His gospel on the Earth. Now that I've been to these places I get so much more when I read Doctrine and Covenants and the Joseph Smith History.

 

After Palmyra All we had to do was go through

 

Massachusetts

 

New Hampshire

 



 

And finally

 

We made it to Portland a little after 8pm but we were exhausted!! It was so good to finally be in the Hursts' Home!

 

Our week with the Hursts went like this....

 

Sunday

 

Church in a WARD!

Light Houses

 

 

St. Patty's Day Corned Beef and Cabbage Dinner

Sunday naps and Wreck It Ralph

A late game of Monopoly that Judd creamed us in

 

Monday

 

We headed out and walked around some cool areas in Portland. Commercial Street, Old Port, and Monument Square.

 

 Judd and I enjoyed being near the ocean and in a bigger city, you just get to see things that you wouldn't be able to in a small town like Miller. For example, it seems like on every street corner there is some sort of "Green" " Organic" "Gluten Free" establishment. We stopped in a cafe for some hot cocoa. The Cafe was totally hippee owned, too GREEN for me, for the hot cocoa was a perfect way to end our walk in the chilly wind.

 

That night Judd and Riley headed to Shawnee Peak for some snowboarding/skiing

 

 

As they were hitting the slopes Dest, Hinder, Vy and I had a MOVIE NIGHT

 

 

Tuesday

 

We headed to Freeport for some window shopping. LL Bean had a fun aquarium that we made sure to spend plenty of time at!

 

 

After some lunch and a trip to the Lindt Chocolate store we headed back towards Portland, but first we had to stop at DeLorme Largest Globe in the World.

 

 

 

And then we went to a matinee, Oz, The Great and Powerful!

 

Wednesday

 

Was the day I was dreaming about every since we first started talking about plans for this trip.

 

Shopping with Destry has always been on the top of the list of my favorite things to do. We've been doing it for many years. It started with our parents having to drive us for school shopping or weekend trips to the Tri Cities Mall

 

Then when we were in high school we could drive ourselves then..

 

When I went to college it was what I looked forward to, to get away from the boredom of classes. Trips to Idaho Falls, whether it was just to Winco or Target or Ross, It didn't matter it always ended the same, laughing, making fun of ugly clothes, venting about life, yummy lunch, getting tired and giggly in stores, and always a treat for the ride home.

 

This time it was all about maternity clothes shopping, finding cute deals for the kiddos and some good sister time with no husbands, no babies and no guilt :)

 

 

But because I'm still a little newly wed it was harder for me to be away from Judd for that long so when we came home Judd and I went on a date! We decided that there was no way that we could come all the way to Maine and not try Lobster, I had never tried it before so we went to the infamous

 

Becky's Diner for Lobster

 

 

We sat right by the Lobster tank and were able to watch the chef pick out which one he was going to cook for us... yikes.

 

When we got back the Monopoly board was out and it was time for a rematch.

 

I lost badly.. right away

 

Thursday

 

We packed a little picnic lunch, drove out to the Prouts Neck cliffs and went for a walk. It was so fun for me to watch Judd climb around and search for snail and other little critters with Hinder and Ri.

 

 The Fun Find for the day was this sign... it made us laugh

 

After our picnic lunch and a quick nap at home Judd and I took Hinder out for a little date.

 

 

 

H and I go by back and him moving to Maine has been a drag so it was IMPERATIVE that I got a little one on one time with him and that my favorite little man would get to know my favorite....... big man :) aka Judd.

 

H is so fun to be around . He is too smart for his own good. When you talk to him it's like you are talking to a teenager. I wish there was a tape recorder on him 24/7 because he says the funniest things.

 

This kid is in LOVE with animals so for our date we took him to a pet store, Cabellas to see all the stuffed animals and ended it with chicken nuggets and ice cream at  McDonalds Playplace.

 

While driving around I could tell H was trying so hard to stay awake for the date. I looked back once and his eyes were bright red and he just smiled at me.

 

I asked, "are you tired"

H- "ummm.... no"

"are you sure? You can go to sleep while we drive"

H- " okay.. yea..I'll sleep for alittle"

Poor boy was out in two seconds

 

Later when he woke up he looked around and asked

"why do you guys have such a big car when you don't got kids"

 

Judd laughed and said "we're working on it"

 

I explained that there was a baby in my tummy so we will have a kid soon.

 

He got all serious and mad and said "aggg we still haven't found a van yet. we really need to find one because I want to have a ton of kids"

 

I laughed and asked how many kids he wants to have he said

 

" I want to have a million kids so that we have to take turns using the stairs"

 

I don't know where he comes up with half the stuff he says but good luck Desty and Ri and the million kids.

 

It was so fun to spend time with such a well behaved boy! Thanks Hinder!

 

Friday

 

We did some shopping at the Christmas Tree Shops and Mardens which are some very random but awesome stores where you can get pretty much anything for pretty cheap. Then we spent most of the day at Old Orchard Beach. The boy spent the day smashing clams to feed the seagulls and Dest, Vy and I spend the day cuddled in blankets to hide from the wind and snacking on gummy hearts.

 

 

We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Great Wall Chinese Buffet.

Our Favorites

Sushi

General Tso Chicken

Banana Cream Pie

Crispy Peanut Chicken

and of course ice cream

 

Dest was brave and tried oysters... well she got it in her mouth for a second

 

 Saturday

 

Was our last full day in Portland. The week went by too fast!

We spent the day in a perfect way though. Maple Festivals!!

Hot maple on ice cream, Maple Whoopie pies, maple taffy, and pure maple syrup YUM YUM!

 

We ended the day with countless games of Rummikub (Destry winning 95% of the time) and Yahtzee. The one game I won that week.

 

We owe a HUGE thanks to Riley, Destry, Hinder and Vyla for letting us crash at your place. We had so much fun!

 

Every since I was a little girl I would think about the day that Dest and I would be both married so it means so much to me that Riley and Judd were able to meet and become good friends.

 

 

Coming Soon: The Last Three days of THE ROAD TRIP OF ALL ROAD TRIPS!