After a relaxing morning (are we allowed that on a vacation?), we left our friend Becky’s home and drove through Pennsylvania, the Maryland panhandle, and through the mountains of West Virginia to our hotel in Charleston.
It rained a good bit as we drove and though the scenery was interesting, at no point did we stop for a view or to take a picture. We did have a momentous event occur as we drove through Gettysburg. Each summer on our vacation we try to find license plates for all 50 states. When we drove out west, we saw about 43 states or so. Last year when we went to Niagara Falls, we saw all but two: Wyoming and Hawaii. But this year we were feeling better about it because we spotted Hawaii parked in Washington, DC, and we had seen Wyoming somewhere early on the trip. About a week ago we had seen 49 states. South Dakota was seemingly staying home this summer. But as we passed through Gettysburg (without stopping), we saw what we were looking for. Everyone hopped out of the car (except Jonathan) and ran up and kissed the car. Ok, that’s not true. But we were happy and we did stop looking.
When we drove into West Virginia we hit another milestone. Now the kids have been to every state east of the Mississippi River. Altogether Luke has visited about 40 states, Mark has 39 and the girls may have about the same. I think we ‘re passing through about 18 states on this trip. I’ve not yet been to five states and 180 countries.
The only serious photos I took today were of the kids ‘ water balloon fight this morning. You can get a taste of the action below.
I’d say Mark is pretty excited about this sport.
Close, but I’d say this one is going to hit the ground.
Wet.
I’d say that’s a 90-mph fastball.
Thank you so much for sharing all of these wonderful pictures! I love seeing how much the kids have grown, and it is nice to see all the fun places you have visited.