Part 3 and final part of road trip 2011

 So our journey comes to a conclusion, not without having a true relaxing vacation.  We took for the hills one more time.  This time going down the Blue Ridge trail.  Not sure where we'll end up but enjoying the slow pace of 45 mph, very little traffic and scenery!!!  Enjoy these next pictures...

Heather, Emily, Hannah and Angie

Leap of faith...letting go and enjoying.

Mark was very impressed with the zoom I have on my camera....he would ask if I could see what was over "there"...LOL

Ethan, Emily, Heather, Karli (in back), Olivia (in front), Hannah and Angie holding Preston.  

Olivia

Angie and Preston

Angie

Making hot dogs .... AGAIN!!!

Emily on our netbook that we took along.  This campground had water and electricity!!!  Woohoo!!!  This was a deluxe camp site at the Fancy Gap, VA KOA.

LOL...we wanted to see how close we could get our tents...LOL

Beautiful site at this KOA and a covered shelter.

The start of our journey home...destination tonight, Indianapolis IN.

We thought the tunnels through the mountains were so cool.

Karlie being silly.

Karlie still being silly...what do you expect cooped up in a van for hours and miles...hehe

You know the travel game of watching for license plates???  We wished we would have kept count of the bridges we went over on this trip.  Each one unique.

Heather driving....

Hannah driving... We're starting to wonder if we should head straight home.  From what we could see on the radar bad weather was in our sites.  We knew that Indianapolis is 6 hours from our house so if we got there at a reasonable time we could make it.  

Just outside of Indianapolis we started seeing some extremely dark clouds.  Very scary looking and we're from the mid-west where we have weather like this...but safely at our house and NOT in a tent.  At this point we made the decision...we're going home.  A day early but regardless of where we would stop we'd have tornado warning/watches and everything in between.  I had asked an attendant at a rest area which way they were heading and she told us an alternative route...the slow as molasses route but we might go around the storm.

These clouds aren't looking good...

Severe thunderstorm warning for Remington county...looked at the map...we drove right into it.  We're in Remington county...

We had extreme  wind, hail, heavy down pours...but we kept going.

That wasn't the only storm we drove through...we hit 2 more severe thunderstorms on the way home.   Not as nasty as the one in Remington county but still severe.  

Ethan...went to sleep.

Karlie sleeping...we did get home at 12:15 a.m. May 23...the day we told everyone we'd be home.  :)  

After this trip we all agreed...limit ourselves to 1 big city.  So this concludes road trip 2011...I'm so glad we were able to find time to kick back and get away from everything.

Road Trip 2011 Part 2

Part 1 left off with us burning our maps and directions...where do we go from here?  As Angie wrote in our trip journal "The Grahn's are more antisocial than we all thought"...no more big cities!!! That was one thing we all agreed on.  So early on day 4 we packed up at the West Chester, PA KOA and headed for Gettysburg.  We LOVED Gettysburg!!!  The only thing that held us back now were the numerous school field trips.  Lines and lines of buses and kids running every which way.  But to stand where the Gettysburg address was spoken, to walk on the hallow ground that stands for so much in history was so heart warming and meaningful.  Enjoy the next few pictures that represent our stay here.

 When we finally left it rained so hard that we ended up soaked all the way through.  Then we drove to Harpers Ferry, WV.

Here in Harpers Ferry KOA laundry room.  We agreed that something stunk in the van...it might have been from the down pour we ran through or the 5 loads of laundry I did that night while the kids played on the bouncy pillow...don't ask and No we don't have pictures...hehe  The pictures here show the kids planning the next day and going to sleep on the idea of going to Washington DC tomorrow.  

Our site at the Harpers Ferry KOA

We slept on it and I told the kids that we were only an hour away...I was willing to drive, plus the monuments can be seen from the van if we can't find a parking space.  At first Mark drove until he couldn't take it anymore...then I took over and even did a "U" turn on Constitutional Avenue across 8 lanes of traffic.  

Well, we never did find a parking spot and the pictures we got are thanks to my daughters sitting in the back taking pictures along the way.  Thanks girls!   On to Mount Vernon!!!  Beautiful!!!  OMG another highlight on this trip!!!  To think in George Washington's day, a president had a day job...LOL  A song by Andrew McKnight called George Washington really fits these pictures.  I however can't find it on youtube.  

My camera has good zoom!!!  Do you see the baby birds in the nest???

 Part of todays thoughts were to drive to Virginia Beach via Richmond but that plan got yanked after we spent 2 1/2 hours in a traffic jam on I95...we only went 20 miles.  Scratch that so off the beaten path again and heading for the hills.  See where we spend the last of our trip in part 3...where do the Grahn's go next????

The darkest KOA we've been to...Madison, VA...the end of day 5.