It’s All Numbers

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We are home! There are amazing things that come out of these trips. The learning moments discovered by fights/arguments, being in close quarters for a long time, learning about spending money, checking into hotels, solving problems, changing plans on a dime, being disappointed, seeing how others live in the same country, trying different kinds of foods and so much more. We are never sure if our kids get the impact of these trips and bonding as a family but Ben wrote a paper for school that I found in his stuff (he never showed us) which validated everything we hope for. See pictures below. Another amazing thing is how each stop we make feels like a whole different trip each time. Once we get and the car and drive, it feels like that last stop was a year ago. Very weird how that happens. Each of us often says, “Remember when we...?” and it was usually the day before. Magic bus. Yes we get irritated with each other once in a while but these are learning moments that teach them how to deal with their families someday. Another amazing thing, it’s like child-birth, you forget the fights and down times. When we are driving to each place, we never look back. We don’t get homesick until the last day home. Then we can’t wait. The food part of everything is the hardest. You really do get sick of eating out 3 meals a day for 12-16 days. The food is usually good and our kids are adventurous eaters but tiring. Now that the kids are older and great eaters, the bill has increased immensely. Elizabeth loves her shrimp and rack of lamb. We are ok with that though because we love to eat and we have made every effort to make them open eaters. Free breakfasts at hotels helps a lot. Making sandwiches when possible helps too.

So now, let’s look at the trip as numbers...

12 days 2255 miles approx.36 hrs 13 minutes driving5 new states (NC, SC, WV, VA and DC)



5 states left (NV, AZ, CA, HI and AK)



45 states total traveled1 Big City4 State Capitals (Charleston, WV, Raleigh, NC, Richmond, VA, Washington, DC)



1 Country Capital



5 College/University campuses



11 different attractions (Tower, Food Tour, Potted Potter, Duke Gardens, Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, White House, Capital, Pentagon, Lincoln Memorial)
20 different restaurants. 4 sand dollars

2 ginormous Madagascar cockroaches (museum)
10 PelicansLots of shells 9 stories high tower5 friends (Pat, Barb, Brian and Eric)

3 relatives (Jeff, Missy, Loretta)8 tanks of gas.



7 different beds per persons 4 Marriotts 1 beachhouse 1 church 3 Colonial Towns (Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown)4 home cooked meals 1 Ocean (Atlantic)2 sushi’s1 movies 140 bottle of water 5 sanity beverages 1 accents (southern)40 dollars in tolls 2 National Parks (DC and Williamsburg)3 iPhones 2 iPods 1 iPads 3 surface pros 15+ postcards 5 backpacks 5 nationalities of food (American, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Cuban and Japanese)

2 Pizzas

3 books

24 town squares (Savannah)
100s of hugs 100s of laughs Trip cost: we didn't keep track Memories: PRICELESS

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