Family Vacation 2008 - "The Road Trip"

This first slide show is from our road trips on our vacation July 20 - 30, both going to Mobile and returning home to Texas. We left Hamilton about 9:00 p.m. on 7/20 bound for Beaumont, TX. We had made a reservation there at a Holiday Inn so that we didn't have to drive all night. We had hoped to leave around 7:00 p.m., but my back had gone out on me and I really struggled to get everything packed and ready. We rolled into our Holiday Inn around 3:00 a.m. and believe me when I say I remember very little about that last hour on the road that night/morning. We didn't even unpack our bags. We just got out of the van hurried in and got into the bed in our riding clothes. I was very glad that even though the boys woke up, they went right back to sleep. I thank God for His very special gifts like these!
My pics start with the next morning in the hotel room as we are about to get on the road for the next 7 hours. The boys were excited! We were also all quite well rested as we did not get up early, but slept until about 11 a.m. and got on the road between 11:45 and noon. My next pics were of a really scenic bayou called the Atchafalaya Basin. You cross it by a bridge that spans for about 20 miles. It's just east of Lafayette, Louisiana. As we crossed the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, LA, (see pics) we were caught in a traffic jam. If you know me well, you know I don't like heights and I especially don't want to be stuck in the middle of the bridge that crosses the massive Mississippi! It didn't take too long, but we got stuck in the wrong lane and ended up going the wrong direction once we crossed it. We had to take a detour to turn around and so that's how I ended up with pics of the Louisiana State Capitol building and Governor's Mansion. The grounds there really were beautiful, although I thought the capitol bldg. was quite different -not at all like most domed capitol buildings you see. Lastly we stopped to stretch our legs among other things at the Mississippi Welcome Center just as you cross over the MS and LA state line. It's in Bay St. Louis, MS and you can actually park there and take a tour bus to NASA's Stennis Space Center located just up the road. We didn't take the tour, but the space craft in my pics is on sight there at the Welcome Center. I couldn't pass up the chance to take pictures to the shagrin of my wearied men! As Graham so "patiently" put it, "WE ARE NEVER GETTING OUT OF THIS VAN, ARE WE!" He was ready to see his grandaddy and grandmama!

I tried to get better pics of the Baton Rouge bridge over the Mississippi River on our return trip because the weather was rainy and foggy on our first crossing. Then as we got away from Mobile a little later than expected and due to traffic on I-10, we decided to stop again on our return trip to Texas. We got as far as just north of Huntsville, TX on I-45 and stopped to spend the night. We arose early, as indicative of my sunrise and fog pictures, to get back home about 10:00 a.m. Overall our roadtrips were good, just tiring and now that the boys are potty trained(ing), we make more stops than ever! Because I have been a road traveler since I was Wesley's age, I have always loved riding/driving only because my grandparents taught me to always look for the beauty on God's creation wherever I go! It is always good to get HOME, though!!!