Summer Vacation 2010: South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, Tennessee, Cincinnati, and home

After leaving Iowa, we visited Bear Country, USA, Mount Rushmore, Jewel Cave, and the Mammoth Site with Amy, Ethan and Caitlin. We then traveled back to stay a few days with Amy and family and visit with Uncle Jack and Aunt Anne (we'd last been through in 1999). Allison got her ears pierced as a surprise for dad, who we met up with in Idaho. Everyone met up in Boise, Idaho and we spent a few days in McCall at a cabin and at a camp site that lost cell service before we even left paved roads. Those roads give new meaning to "no shoulder". Then, we drove back....though Wyoming, Nebraska, to Tennessee (where we met up with our friends from Georgia!), and Cincinnati (where we saw mom's friend from college) before FINALLY getting home exactly 5 weeks after we left.

Summer 2010: Wisconsin & Iowa

Our first part of the summer trip, we visited Wisconsin and Iowa. Here are some of the pictures from our adventures. We went to the zoo, went to the Milwaukee County Museum, saw a Brewer's game at Miller Park, went to the Waukesha County fair, petted a sea lion,went to the Mitchell County Fair, petted a pig (which was on Matthew's bucket list), visited everyone we could, and then we kept going west.

Summer Vacation 2010

Well, we finally got back from our summer vacation. I'll post some pictures and stories in the next few days. In short, we went to Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and back through Tennessee and Ohio to New York. 5 weeks, 5500 miles of driving. Phew!

We still don't know exactly where we're moving yet (theoretically, we'll know in another month).

Philly and NYC

We took a trip to Philadelphia and NYC last week. Attached are many, many pictures.

We did ride the Philadelphia Ducks (yes, the one that got rammed by a barge yesterday). But, we obviously had a much better time than those people by NOT getting rammed by a barge.

NYC was really fun, very busy, and quite warm. We saw as much as we could in 2 1/2 days and didn't even come close to seeing all we wanted to see. Hopefully, we can take another trip there before we move.

One of the memorable quotes of the trip came from Matthew. After a long day of walking and getting dirtier than I ever thought possible, he decided to partake of our whirlpool tub (it was the only room they had left - and the kids thought it was awesome). After an unusual amount of giggling, I asked him what was so funny. He replied, "Whirlpools are great because you can fart and nobody will know!"