Family Vacation - Home Sweet Home!

Our original trip plan called for us to leave Holland on Saturday morning and drive north 7 hours over the Mackinac bridge into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were we would visit Pictured Rocks National Park, spending the night in nearby Munising and then driving 9 plus hours today to get home. While Nik and I where still very much up for the adventure, Chris, Alex and Catie were not too thrilled at the prospects of 16 hours in the car to spend a few hours at Pictured Rocks. So, being the flexible cat that I am, I agree to cut that part of our trip short, spend more time in Holland on Saturday and then drive the few short hours to Chicago. We spent the night at an Embassy Suites hotel which is how the family got Nik to buy in. We had a nice evening relaxing in the hot tub and watching movies. It was then a relatively painless 7 hours from Chicago to home, with us pulling into the driveway around 4pm. The trip allowed us to touch base with 3 of our long time family friends from our life in California, visit 8 new states for the kids, Geocache in 4 new states for me, visit a cool National Park (Mammoth Cave) and visit the home of a one time King (Elvis' Graceland). We are grateful for the hospitality we received along the way from our Friends Dan McMaster in Omaha, Jeff & Anita Porter in Ozark and Tom and Debbie Ayres in Holland. I took quite a few pictures on the trip, if you would like to see them, please feel free to visit our family web site.

I love the road trip, the feeling of being out on the open road, seeing and experiencing new things. Spending uninterrupted time with Chris and the kids, being reminded what a blessing my family is. I also love the feeling of coming home, tired from the road. It really makes me appreciate all that I have been blessed with. Thanks for sharing our adventure with us.