bucket list: cross-country road trip

(*Indicates bucket list items, both longterm & last-minute)

Last summer, HippoDad said he wanted to attend his 10-year hs reunion. And he wanted all of us to be there. And he wanted us to drive there. California to Massachusetts. ... That was the beginning of this awesome, crazy, insane, fun plan! It wound up being so fun (and so challenging, with two kids in tow), and I got to do so many neat things I've never done.

By the time everything came together, we rented a van and spent 2-1/2 weeks on the road (*drive across the country). And I did the driving, since I get car sick and HippoDad is more patient with kids asking for the hundredth time, "Are we there, yet?" (*Literally, drive across the country)

We stayed in hotels and ate lunches and dinners along the road with food we'd brought. Note: when eating gluten-free, bring along breakfast, as hotels won't have many options.

We stopped several times to see cool things and cool people.

We pit stopped at my mom's, where aunts and uncles and nieces and nephews got to play together. 

(*See roses in my mom's garden that remind me of being a kid seeing roses in my grandma's garden)

We also celebrated HippoDad's birthday there, and I went with a bow tie theme.

We stopped to see dinosaur bones. (*Touch dinosaur bones)

And we stopped to gather dandelions after munching lunch. (*Stop randomly in middle of nowhere and enjoy the scenery) 

We also stopped to see a mountain with four faces on it. (*See Mount Rushmore)

(*Drive through a wildlife park)

We stopped to visit HippoDad's folks, and the kids had so much fun reconnecting with Grandma and Grandpa. (*Vacation at a lake-side house) And yes, that river is high. 

Their house is nicknamed The Library. 

The kids had a blast going for a row boat ride with Grandpa and seeing the old family homestead and original buildings. 

The kids also had their first amusement park experience(s) on the trip. Lizard liked the swings, bumper cars, and roller coaster.

Elephant was quite sad that he wasn't tall enough for the fun rides Lizard was going on, so HippoDad took him on a small roller coaster. Which they both loved. 

We enjoyed the beauties of Pennsylvania Dutch country and its farms and museums. (*Revel in PA Dutch country) Note: these next four photos might be my favorite of the trip.

We enjoyed another amusement park experience in Hershey. (*Go on a roller coaster)

The Gettysburg national park has a few more roads and a larger visitor center than when we were last here. But the ground, the land, is still as humbling and thought-provoking. (*Go back to Gettysburg)

Hello, New England. (*Visit Aquidneck Island and Boston)

And we flew home business class with frequent flyer miles accumulated from HippoDad's international travels. Which was a nice ending. After keeping our two kids entertained on iPads in the car and with family and sight-seeing for 2+ weeks, they were loving everything about the planes and sky, eating dinner, and sleeping in their seat-bunks. Traveling is so awesome, but it is a bit more work and a bit more tiring with small kids along. But I'm glad we could show them so many cool things and make some great family memories :-).

Now we're home and readjusting to life. And I'm back to baking. Of course. Chocolate Black Forest cake. Delicious.

Yay for awesome travels! And yay for being home! And yay that you made it all the way through reading this post!