Day Twelve

Well our trip is about to end. Our friends, the Greys, brought the part to us from Portland. It's about a three hour drive to Pendleton. Brian had the part replaced fairly quickly. In fact, I was packing slowing because I figured we would be a while. Brian finished before I did. We headed down the road and in about 15 minutes we lost all our oil over the bus and the highway. It was quite a mess. We call Brad who had not left Pendleton yet and he brought the neccessary parts and oil and Brian got it fixed once again. We headed to the next gas station so Brian could check to make sure everything was working properly. After slurpees and beef jerky we were on our way again.

Everything went well after that. Multnomah Falls was a welcome sight. This is one of my favorite places in Oregon. I really love the beauty of our state.

Within an hour we were home. We had a fantastic trip. The only thing missing was Hannah. We all missed her, but she is a busy college student now. I found some new favorite places. I loved Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and South Dakota. I would love to go back to some of these places someday. We'll have to see what the Lord does. I could have never imagined this amazing opportunity in my wildest dreams.

Day Eleven

Day Eleven had us driving through Utah and Idaho. Again, we didn't do a lot of sightseeing. We were all looking forward to being home soon.

Just outside of Pendleton, Brian pulled off at a beautiful viewpoint. He then noticed we were leaking a lot of diesel. So we again prayed our way to make it to Pendleton. We pulled into the Walmart so Brian could decided what he wanted to do. We were also within sight of an auto parts store. Eventually, an eternity to Sarah, it was decided we would get a part delivered to us from Portland. We checked into the hotel that also happened to be in walking distance, isn't God good, had dinner and just relaxed.

Day Ten

Since the kids had so much fun in the water park, we decided to let them play again in the morning and not rush out to early. Again, we had it all to ourselves.

Then it was time to head west again. We did little stopping other than the obligatory rest stops, which were many.

We drove through Wyoming and headed south through Casper instead of the northernly route we originally wanted to take. Montana was predicting 5-6 inches of snow on the day we were driving . And that pretty much sums up day ten.

Day Nine

Day nine had us driving through South Dakota. We had a quick stop at Wall Drug. Sarah was not impressed. It did give everyone a chance to get out and stretch.

Then we headed to Rapid City. It was absolutely beautiful when we pulled up at Mount Rushmore. The sun was shining and there were very few visitors.

After many pictures and browsing the gift shop, we headed back to Rapid City. We really had a great time in this fun city, even though we didn't get to stay long. Brian found a cool dinosaur park, which the boys had a lot of fun at.

Then it was off to our hotel. It had an indoor water park that had a pirate theme. We were the only ones there, so the little guys had it all to themselves.

After some fun, it was time for bed. These pictures were taken about 10 minutes apart. I think we really wore them out today.

Day Eight

Day eight was full of fun for everyone. We went to the Mississippi River to take some pictures. The night before we crossed over it, all the boys were sleeping so we drove over it in the morning.

Next stop was the Mall of America. Wow! This place was huge.

We headed to the center of the mall to look around at the amusement park. Then went to the Lego Store.

Then we were off to the food court. They had some great food. We tried some resturants that I have never heard of. I had a hamburger from Johnny Rockets and the kids had some great Japanese food. Matt chose Chipotle over a burger.

Next we headed back to Nickolodeon Universe for some rides. I fit in some shopping in between all of this. Sarah and Danielle did some shopping then came back to watch the boys on the rides. It was Toddler Tuesday so we got more tickets than we had planned. It was a pretty good deal, plus the chaperone for Josiah got to get on for free.

Brian, Matt, and Danielle went on the big roller coaster. It was going to fast to get any good pictures, but they seemed to have a good time. Sarah is the only one who did want to go on any rides, but she did find a cute sweater.

Josiah would have stayed all day. He absolutely loved all the rides he went on. After getting an extra large smoothie to share, we headed for Sioux Falls.

Day Seven

On day seven, Brian headed over to repair a part on the bus. He accomplished that rather quickly and then we packed up. We had all been looking forward to having some deep dish pizza in Chicago, so we headed to Giordanos.

We ordered a deep dish pizza and a pepperoni pizza. We really enjoyed our pizza. It was so filling we packed up half of each pizza to be devoured later. Matt only had one piece of each and was full. That says a lot.

Then it was time to hit the road for another long day of driving. We wanted to make it to Bloomington, Minnesota for our next hotel. We did find some nice rest areas that had playgrounds. This was a fun time to get out and stretch for the boys.

Day Six

Day Six found us driving through Ohio and Indiana for most of the day. We stopped at every other service plaza, but other than that we drove and drove. When we got near Chicago, Brian noticed a small diesel leak. We were hoping to get to our hotel so Brian could look at it again. While going through Chicago, in crazy traffic, the check engine light came on. We prayed our way through the Chicago highway traffic and arrived at our hotel after about an hour.

Then we were able to attend church at Marquette Manor Baptist Church where our former assistant pastor is now the senior pastor. We enjoyed our time with them.

Day Five

Day Five saw us heading to Hershey Chocolate World. Originally I had crossed this off of my list. After adding the Atlantic Ocean, it put us near Hershey on our way to Gettysburg so we added it back in.

We took the virtual tour which the younger guys thought was great. I enjoyed the gift shop. They were overpriced, but it was fun to see things you can't get in the stores around here. Then Matt and Brian went to a car museum for a Shelby exhibit. Matt really enjoyed that and the boys played in a large grassy area while I made lunch in the bus.

Next it was off to Gettysburg. We walked around the visitor center, then did the driving tour. Again, it was a lot of area to cover. We saw where a lot of the fighting took place, the famous copse of trees near the high water mark, and the cemetary where Lincoln spoke. It was quite a somber experience.

Then we headed to the Ohio border to make as much time as we could to get to Chicago the next day.

Day Four

Day Four had us doing a lot of driving. First we went to a couple of stores, then headed to the Jersey Shore to see the Atlantic Ocean. Josiah especially enjoyed playing in the sand and running around.

Then we headed to Hamburg, Pennsylvania to visit with Brian's friend Mo, who happens to live near the Cabela's. We did some shopping at Cabela's and visited with them, then went back to their house to visit some more. It was great to see him and meet his family. I hadn't seen him since our wedding.

Then we drove to Hershey to check into our hotel for the night. I told you we did a lot of driving, but it was a fun day.

Day Three

Day Three had us up bright and early for a trip down to DC. The kids were pretty excited, especially Noah. He was really looking forward to this trip.

Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery. We went inside the visitor's center. It was quite a zoo. There were several school field trip groups coming and going. We picked up a map and them headed to the Marine Corps Memorial. This was Brian's first time to see it.

Then we, but mainly I, decided we were going to walk across the Potomac to the National Mall. The kids wanted to take the subway, but it was actually quicker to walk.

The next stop was the Lincoln Memorial. We went downstairs first, then up to the main area inside. I think Matt read the entire wall while I waited to take a picture.

Next stop was a little gift shop, then off to a food cart for polish dogs and pretzels. Then we were off to the White House.

After wearing myself out, we quickly went to the Washington Monument, The World War II Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial.

We get back in the bus and head to our hotel. Dinner at Ruby Tuesday tops off our day.

P.S. Never order a milkshake around Josiah if you aren't willing to share. This was actually Matt's milkshake.