Cross Country Drive

With Drew now being re-stationed to Fort Jackson in South Carolina we got to do a drive across the country to get there.  When I first thought of doing this with two little kids it seemed very daunting, and if you asked me to do it again I would feel the same way, but we did it and we did it without a ton of issues.  The biggest thing was that Alden got bored pretty quickly.  I can't say that I blame him because we were in the car for an average of 6 hours a day for 6 days.  We did make a lot of stops to get out and stretch our legs and look at different things but it was still long.

It was so nice that my mom offered to come with us on the drive so that we would have one extra driver to rotate with so that there could always be someone helping the kids while the other two people drove.  It would have been so much harder without my mom and I am so grateful for her help.

In the course of our drive we drove through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and then finally South Carolina.  We drove to Utah in two days before our trip to Hawaii and then when we got back to Utah we left from there and drove the rest of the way in 6 days.  We traveled through 14 states in three weeks.  It was definitely a lot of traveling but it was an interesting experience and I am glad that I got to drive all the way across the country at least once in my life.

We made sure to stop at a few interesting places along our drive including the Gateway Arch, Liberty Jail, Fort Bridger, and the Biltmore Estate.  We also stopped at a lot of rest stops and enjoyed the pools at a few of the hotels that we stayed at.  It was a memorable trip that ended up not being as bad as it could have been with how much driving we had to do.  Here are a few pictures from some of the stops along our drive.

This was a stop in Laramie, Wyoming that was freezing cold.  At one point this monument marked the highest point on the Lincoln Memorial Highway.

There was fresh snow all over and still very, very cold.  We hit a hail storm soon after we left this stop.

Anders was excited to get down for a little bit in the rest stop in Wyoming.

These are some pictures of the scenery along the highway in Wyoming.

Alden had tons to snack on and do while we were driving.

This was some of the very boring scenery from Nebraska.

One of the hotels we stayed at had a really nice pool with a blocked off shallow end.  The kids loved splashing around in the water and playing!

Almost every night of the drive Grandma would sit down and read a couple stories to the boys at the end of the day.

Alden enjoying breakfast at one of the hotels with his owl from Mimi.

Anders found a new favorite book on this drive that he liked having Grandma read to him.

Alden got tired and annoyed after a few days on the road and would hide under his blanket.  However, he was pretty well behaved considering how much driving we did.

We stopped at Liberty jail in Missouri one day and toured the site there.  It was really interesting and cool to visit such a special place.

We went to an Italian restaurant one night and the boys just wanted to eat the bread sticks.

Alden with his bread stick.

We drove past the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  We didn't have time to stop but it was cool to see it.

Driving over the Mississippi River.

We finally made it to Tennessee...Just 3 more states.

The night we stayed in Knoxville, TN Alden decided he wanted to have his own space and so he decided he wanted to sleep in the closet.  He was so excited to sleep there!

 Alden's headphones broke about half-way through the drive so we had to get him new ones.  Luckily, these penguin ones were on sale and he liked them.

Anders loves bath time but since we didn't have any toys we let him play with empty soda bottles.

We had a deck at our last hotel before we got to Columbia and the kids enjoyed sitting out there with Grandma in the morning.

I finally took a picture of Anders sleeping when we got to Columbia because I thought it was really cute and a little funny.

After we got to Columbia but before my mom left we decided to take her to a Southern Barbecue restaurant.  It was yummy and a good way to end our time (for now) with Grandma.  I am so glad that she was able to come help us drive across the country and that we all made it safely with no big mishaps.