We arrived home from our first ever big family vacation VERY late last night.
Of course we took tons of pictures but the only ones I have to share are the ones from my phone. So here are some of the highlights and our destinations.
The above picture was taken after putting gas in the car and before we pulled out onto the highway. The car was not this clean and they did not look this happy and excited yesterday at the end of our trip. ;)
It didn't take long to get to......
About five hours later we were crossing the Mississippi River heading into Memphis. My least favorite city that we went through. But the river was pretty impressive!
I don't have pictures of the welcome centers for the other states we drove through that day, Mississippi and Alabama. We ended our day around 8pm or so just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. The next morning we were up bright and early to head to our first destination.
We drove through Georgia.
And finally made it to the state of our destination.
We made it just in the nick of time for this photo opportunity, our children seeing the ocean for the very first time. Just a short while after this, we headed down and they got to splash around in the water for a while and find a few sea shells.
We spent two days at Myrtle Beach. The first day we had perfect weather and waves. Just right for playing in the water and riding the waves into the beach. The second day the water was pretty rough!! The tide was VERY strong and the waves were too much to play in easily...and safely. We were able to ride some of the waves but mostly the girls and I spent time collecting shells.
On Friday of last week we loaded up again and headed to our second destination.
We spent two days in Washington D.C. We should have planned a third day. There is SO much to see there that you really need at least a week. Before we left we were already planning what we wanted to see if we ever have the chance to go back!
To get to The Mall we had to park a few miles from our hotel and ride the Metrorail.
Some of the highlights from our two days in D.C.......
This is the National Archives. I think it was my favorite of everything we saw in downtown D.C. And the "doors" at the top of the front steps were pretty amazing!!
On Monday we stopped by Arlington National Cemetery on our way out of town. I really wish we had had more time to spend at Arlington. The entire place is quite humbling and beautiful. We arrived at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier just in time to see a wreath laying ceremony. About ten minutes later we saw the changing of the guard. I am kicking myself now for not getting the ceremony on my camera's video camera.
From D.C. we went to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. No pictures from that location on my phone. We did take several pictures in the Smoky Mountain National Park, including a couple of bears that passed in front of and behind our car. Our time in Tennessee was to unwind and not do much of anything.
One of the best highlights was........
I budgeted money in our vacation fund specifically for Trader Joe's. :) There was a location just down the street from our hotel in the D.C. area so we made a stop there. Then we stopped again in Nashville on our way to Tennessee. Oh how I wish we had one in Oklahoma!!!
Our plan was to stop last night just outside of Memphis for the night. However, everyone was tired of being in the car and tired of sleeping in another bed (including the ones who had to sleep on the sofa beds). So we made the decision not far outside of Pigeon Forge to drive straight through to home. That meant a 14 hour trip. But the thought of ending up at home and in our own beds was enough motivation to drive and drive and drive and drive and drive.
So we did it. We survived our first ever big family vacation!!
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