Washington, D.C. {2017}

With what has now seemingly become a fun family tradition, we began our journey to Hubby's run in the Army Ten-Miler on Sunday with a trip up to D.C. for the weekend, much like years prior - 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016...

Since we now have a middle schooler, and we try not to miss any school at all if we can manage it, this year's trip was much more abbreviated than those of the past, also due to the fact that other than the first couple of trips, both the run date and the dates of our fall break have yet to match up again...

The kids attended a full day of school, and Hubby actually worked a full work day on Friday, as well.  That being said, we left after dinner and drove through the night.  Not the best race prep, but alas, you do what you gotta do, I guess!

After checking into our hotel early, taking a nap, grabbing some hot chocolate, and picking up race packets...

we headed over to my aunt and uncle's house to eat lunch and visit with them and some of my cousins (where this is the only photo I got!)...

From there, we headed straight over to visit with one of Hubby's college friends who, also a member of the S.C. National Guard, but currently stationed in D.C., was hosting all of the S.C. runners that we could round up for a little night-before-the-race get-together...

 {tired trio right there}

The next morning, was RACE DAY...

We couldn't get out of town without visiting at least ONE, teeny, tiny presidential site...

Sooo, here you go...

President Gerald Ford lived here, in suburban Alexandria, VA, for nearly 20 years.  More remarkably, he continued to live right here for the first week or so of his presidency, while the White House was being prepared for his family to move in and transitioned from the resignation of President Richard Nixon...

I love this photo by David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images that shows President Ford leaving this very house after a full week on the job as President of the United States...

With that, we headed straight home...  After all, school's in session tomorrow!

{Road Trip} Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

We covered a lot of ground last night, driving into the early hours of the morning, and stopping in Paducah, KY for the night...

 

This morning we visited the grave of Vice President Alben Barkley...

Alben Barkley served as the 35th Vice President of the United States under President Harry Truman.

From there, we travelled down a rural Kentucky highway in Christian County to the birthsite of Vice President Adlai Stevenson, where a school now stands...

Adlai Stevenson served as the 23rd Vice President of the United States during President Grover Cleveland's second term.

We made our final stop on this summer's road trip at the birthsite of the President of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis, a memorial obelisk...

and small museum in Fairview...

After exploring the museum, we rode the elevator up to the top of the monument...

and checked out the view from way up high...

A monumental end to a truly MONUMENTAL trip...



A few more hours down the road, we dropped Grandma off at home...

and crossed into our very favorite state by far, our HOME state...

These little ones have been the epitome of TROOPERS for the past 3 1/2 weeks...

 {one of the said "three" is obviously still (very smartly) asleep}

With that, we are thankful for another family adventure in the books!

And, no odometer pic this go...  We got a (much needed) oil change once we crossed back into the country in Washington, and sadly they reset everything on the dashboard...  Boo...

 

Until next summer...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri

{Road Trip} Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri

We started our day with a little trip to the middle of nowhere...because we hadn't yet hit up enough middle of nowhere stops on this trip to satisfy me...  You know, a couple of hours up a dirt highway, miles away from civilization (aka crossing the Arctic Circle), should've checked off that block for years to come, but that was already like A WHOLE WEEK AND A HALF AGO...

And, then there was that stop in Kansas in the middle of the lower 48 states, middle of nowhere...

but we're now on Day 22 of our road trip, and at this point I'm not even certain that I can remember my children's names (just kidding), so understandably, Day 20 is totally a blur...

Since we were close enough (read that as less than 4 hours) to another middle of nowhere stop, we just HAD to go...and to make it even better, the highlight of this stop was the grave of a guy that really wasn't even a president, but some people think he was, but you know...gotta cover all of our bases, in all of the middle of nowheres that we're kind of close to everywhere...

We first learned about David Rice Atchison last summer when we stopped at his birthsite in Kentucky...

So today, we came full circle...

visiting his grave in Plattsburg, about an hour north of Kansas City...

From Plattsburg, we turned around and headed back down toward Kansas City, and stopped east of the city in Independence where we stopped by more of the places where President Harry Truman once took a breath, I mean, lived, this time, as a young boy...

The man obviously moved A LOT before he settled here, in his wife's family home...

Can you believe that when we arrived at the office, they had just cancelled all afternoon tours???

The air conditioner broke...

Yep, us South Carolinians would've been just fine, but oh well, the tour will have to wait until the next time we're in Independence...

Thankfully, we WERE able to stop by the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum and pay our respects to the president's final resting spot...

before continuing on to Grandview to check out the Truman Family Farm where President Truman lived with his family as a young man, after returning from Kansas City...

Continuing on into Kentucky tonight.  More fun on tap for tomorrow...

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!

{Road Trip} Day Twenty-One - Good Bye, Kansas + Hello, Missouri!

From Abilene, we continued east to Topeka so a certain someone (and his sweet sidekicks) could run up the steps...

 

 

of his 40th set of state capitol steps...

 



 

From there, we made our way around both downtown Topeka and North Topeka, just across the Kansas River...

We stopped at the grave of Vice President Charles Curtis...

Charles Curtis served as the 31st Vice President of the United States under President Herbert Hoover.

He was born along the banks of the Kansas River near what is now the intersection of Curtis and Harrison Streets...

There's nothing there now but some empty green space along the river...

but, I am a "completist" to a fault...

From Topeka, we crossed over the border into Kansas City, MO where we drove past a lot of empty and overgrown lots where houses once stood where President Harry Truman once took a breath, I mean, lived as a young man when he was off and working on his own...

See?  Total "completist" to a fault...that'd be me over here...

We finally stopped at the Research Hospital and Medical Center where President Harry Truman died in 1972...

 

More of President Harry Truman and places where he once took a breath, I mean, lived, tomorrow...

 

More {Road Trip} 2017 Fun

Day One - A Presidential Start

Day Two - Getting Corny

Day Three - Oh, Canada! + Happy Birthday, Hubby

Day Four - Alaska Highway - Dawson Creek, BC to Muncho Lake, BC

Day Five - Alaska Highway - Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, YT

Day Six - Well, Hello ALASKA!

Day Seven - Icebergs, Glaciers, and Fjords, Oh My!

Day Eight - All Around Anchorage + the Parks Highway to Fairbanks

Day Nine - Denali National Park & Preserve + Go UAF Nanooks!
Day Ten - Into the Arctic
Day Eleven - JUNEAU
Days Twelve & Thirteen - Driving for Days
Day Fourteen - Hello, Seattle!
Day Fifteen - A Couple of Capital Cities with Capitol Steps to Climb
Day Sixteen - Out and About in the Portland Area
Day Seventeen - Idaho
Day Eighteen - Utah, and a Goodbye
Day Nineteen - From the Mountains to the Plains
Day Twenty - Canvasing Kansas
Day Twenty-Two - Finishing Up Truman's Missouri
Day Twenty-Three - Kicking It Through Kentucky and HOME!