Florida vacation part 1 - driving to Florida

The Holm-Hansen's are back from our two-week end-of-summer getaway. We crammed in lots of adventures, and took lots of pictures, so I'll spread out updates over a few posts.  I'm having trouble choosing a few best ones, so I apologize if this is too much information.

We've been planning our vacation for a few months.  In the spring, I asked Devon and Rylee to each suggest their top three "vacation wishes."  Devon's were somewhat coherent, as he wished for visits to Florida, Disney World, and the Harry Potter World at Universal Studios, Orlando. Rylee's three wishes were to see the ocean, climb a very tall tree, and help sick or injured animals, especially deer or chicks.  Little trickier, there. We ended up choosing Florida, and Rylee eagerly got on board with that.  We skipped Harry Potter World, thinking that it might be better when the kids are a little bit older. I also failed in my effort to find a good animal rescue for us to attend (an elephant sanctuary in Tennessee looked promising, but is not actually open for the public). We nixed the tree climbing altogether.

Scott's preference was to drive, so we made it a full two weeks adventure. This post highlights our adventures on the way to Florida. We spread the drive out over three days, making a variety of stops along the way.

A silly first stop - we saw that the Future Birthplace of Captain Kirk (of Star Trek fame) was on our route, and we decided this would be a good stop for a breakfast picnic



We also made a brief stop in Chesterfield, MO to see (and climb on) this cool giant statue.



Our main stop the first day was Saint Louis. We first visited the City Museum, which is a very cool museum to visit. The museum is housed in an old shoe factory, and it is built/decorated with a wide variety of salvaged and recycled materials. The whole place is decorated with cool mosaics and other artistic features. Everywhere you look, there are tunnels and slides and caves, etc. It was pretty crowded the day we were there, which made it a little bit tricky as the kids climbed ladders and disappeared into the ceiling with no idea where there would emerge. Here's a few photos, but I could easily fill an album with all of the things to see.

After the City Museum, we enjoyed a nice dinner. The kids eagerly jumped into a dance at a street party (enthusiastically learning the Cha Cha Slide). We capped off our time in Saint Louis with the obligatory trip to the arch. We rode up to the top...the kids enjoyed it, but it made Scott and I a little bit queasy.

Day 2 - We left Saint Louis and headed towards Nashville. We made a brief stop to stretch our legs in Metropolis, IL, the home of Superman.  We had an enjoyable afternoon and evening in Nashville with Scott's brother Andrew, his girlfriend Abigail, and their dogs.

Day 3 - This was our longest day of driving, but we managed to squeeze in one stop at Ruby Falls Cave, in Chattanooga, TN. The kids had never been in a cave before, but enjoyed the visit. It was an easy walk, not too claustrophobic, culminating in a cool underground waterfall.

 

 

Next up - theme parks, theme parks, theme parks.