Weather: sunny and 60s States: California Cities: San Francisco and Santa Cruz Miles: 70 miles Hours: 2 hrs and10 min Restaurant: Hula’s Island restaurant Hotel/Home: Movies: Audible: Escape From Alcatraz Today, we voluntarily went to prison. We walked where the infamous criminals walked. We met my sister, Heather down at Pier 33 to take a boat to the iconic Alcatraz. The skies, as blue as they could be. Weather in the 60 with a warm sun. We caught the 910 boat on the same waters of San Francisco Bay as those whose fate was sealed by their own felonious actions. It was a 20 minute boat ride to the island which is really a panoramic site to see from the Bridges to the city skyline to the island itself which was not as ominous as you’d ... read more

Instagram: @vangogh50states Weather: Sunny and 60s States: Utah and Nevada Miles: 519 Hours: 6 hrs and 56 min Capitals: Restaurant: The Olive Garden Hotel/Home: Residence Inn Reno Sparks Movies: Devil Wears Prada Audible: Escape From Alcatraz We opened the shades this morning to a panorama of beautiful snowcapped mountains surrounding Salt Lake City. We did not appreciate this beauty last night as we came in at dark unaware of them except for the declining switchback roads leading us into the city. The guide rails keep you from running into the mountain sides or off of their steep cliffs. Night makes this a little less unnerving to drive. We woke up, had breakfast and hit the road to Reno, Nevada. Our first plan was to drive through Yosemite on the way to San Francisco but the west ... read more

INSTAGRAM- @vangogh50states Weather: Sunny and 30s States: Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska Miles: 747 Hours: 10 hours and 22 minutes Capitals: Drove through Lansing University Campus:Creighton University Omaha Restaurant: Cottage Inn Pizza Hotel/Home: Springhill Suites Marriott Movies: Audible: A Phone call from Heaven by Mitch Albom Paul and I began the last hour before our departure with the usual scramble of gathering, shoving, remembering forgotten things, consoling shaking dogs that think we are abandoning them and cleaning up the house. Kind of like when you are moving to a new house. Except, our new (but temporary) home has four wheels, captain chairs with Sparty printed on the headrests and a 26 inch tv. We raced to grab a pizza (cheese pizza of course-Lent) on the way to pick the kids up at school. I had ... read more

This week has been a crazy one as we head into our next road trip adventure. My dad has been in and out of the hospital and is currently in. We don’t know what is wrong exactly. Ben has had his drivers test (he is an official driver now). Well, he still has to go to the Secretary of State but we don’t have time now. The other two have had drama and baseball after school. Ben has had some AP History test practices in the evenings. I am trying to wrap my mind around this trip and packing. Months ago, I booked all of our hotels being that it is spring break for many. I booked some of our activities like Alcatraz, Warner Brothers and the Pink Jeep tours. We have a house rented near ... read more

We packed up our site in Leelanau this morning. I am sure our neighbors were thrilled though they left every morning for the entire day and yesterday afternoon, we were gone until 9:30 PM. So, I don’t think it was as bad as they thought it would be. Anyway, we turned the camper around and dumped and filled it for our next camp since we only have electric in Muskegon. We arrived in Muskegon State Park around 2 PM. It is a much more rustic campground along Lake Michigan. Our campsite was huge. Their sites are double. Not that we needed one that big. Most people had multiple tents and vehicles on their lots. The tent thing...uh no. Though next summer we are going on a week long rafting trip with the Naperville Houseys but it ... read more