First off, it's been a long time since the last blog, and it's not really Cody's fault, but he's going to get blamed anyway. So be it, I apologize. Second, this will be the last blog, since the trip is now over, and has been for a month. We had a beautiful drive through Tennessee, ending up in Pigeon Forge. We stayed at a hotel room (SOOO nice) and left early the next morning after our FREE pancake breakfast!! As we drove through the Great Smokies, some of the trees were just beginning to change color into bright reds and oranges. The rolling hills were really pretty, covered in trees and the blue haze they were named for. We drove up to the center of the park, which was at the border between Tennessee and North ... read more

One of the good things about being back east is being close to the majority of my family. Not only did we get to visit my Aunt Lori and cousin Dan in Michigan, we also made stops at my Great Aunts' houses in Mansfield, Ohio and Sharon, PA. Additionally, we made it to Pittsburgh, PA, and saw my Aunt Karen and cousin Christian, as well as my Aunt Mary Beth and cousins Sophie, Anne Marie, and Lucy. But, first things first. After the Henry Ford, we headed south to Toledo (specifically Waterville) to show Cody where I was born and our first house. While most of Waterville was the same, they had definitely built out. Where there used to be fields and farms down the street from our house, it was all houses and subdivisions. My ... read more

This one is out of chronological order, you still have Upper Peninsula and Mackinac Island, Michigan to come, but I wanted to put this one together now. For those of you who don't know, I have a thing for round rooms or turrets on houses. Someday it is my plan to have a house that has a super tall turret that I can turn into my library, with a huge ladder on wheels that I can wheel around the round room. Until then, I am constantly on the lookout. Mackinac Island was a fantastic place to get ideas for my future round room library (I think Cody had his fill of hiking the island for round rooms, however - he doesn't share in my over enthusiasm for them). This particular blog is basically for my own ... read more

One of the neat things about our trip so far is all of the suggestions we have gotten on places to visit. Traverse City is one of those places, thanks to my dad and the people he works with. We arrived in Traverse City on Friday, September 12, at night. Because it was dark, we decided that we would put off the sight seeing until Saturday morning, but we did make a quick stop at Pangaea's pizza, where we got our food and drinks to go. After mooching internet from a local restaurant, we found a KOA about 15 miles south. As it had been raining off and on, we decided to sleep in the car in order to avoid packing up a wet tent again the next morning. As has been the case, we utilized ... read more

Wall, South Dakota: gateway to the Badlands. More importantly, home of Wall Drug. To steal a saying from the 1000 Places to See book, "Like ZsaZsa Gabour, Wall Drug is famous for being famous." It all started way back in the Great Depression, when this small town drug store was struggling along with the rest of the country. In order to bring in more people, the owners got the bright idea to advertise along the nearby interstate that they had free ice water. Soon customers were flocking in, more than they could handle. So they expanded. They soon decided that more signs would bring in more customers. American GIs in Europe took signs with them, advertising the distance from wherever they were to Wall Drug. The tradition has continued to grow, leading them to give signs ... read more