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Home Β» Travel Β» Our Cross Country Adventure – The Journey Home

Our Cross Country Adventure – The Journey Home

September 3, 2014 by KC Coake 5 Comments

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As you may remember, my two girls and I took off on a 5 week cross-country road trip this summer. We had such a great trip! I’m so glad that we took a chance and decided to give a major road trip a try. We are in the planning stages of our next trip. Hopefully next summer, but if it takes an extra year to save up, then it will be two summers from now.

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the pics from our journey home. If you saw my earlier post, I showed you our journey out to Arizona(Our Cross Country Adventure). Today, I wanted to show you the fun we found on our journey home.

Our journey home involved I-40, a smaller freeway in Texas (don’t remember the number), I-20, I-85 and I-95. If you have plans to travel along those routes, I may be able to give you a fun idea or two for your own travel.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Before we left Phoenix, I got to try out a newer lens. My parents patio has 3 hummingbirds that frequent. I managed to get a great shot of this Ruby Throat Hummingbird with its mouth open!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

I was a little worried about packing the car to head home. We may have added a ‘few’ things on our journey. The car was more full, but it still worked! Whew!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Our first stop after saying goodbye to all our family, The Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. We enjoyed the drive through this National park making a few stops along the way. We didn’t stop a ton…gotta keep things moving to keep the kids engaged (and me too!).

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The petrified forest is amazing. So picturesque.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

While we enjoy the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert totally outshined. We entered the National Park from the South entrance. The Painted Desert was our last part of the drive. We would come over a hill or around a corner and all gasp in amazement at the beauty.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The colors and beauty go on for miles. It is hard to do the beauty justice with these pictures.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We stopped at each state line for pictures. Going from Arizona to New Mexico there was no good sign at the visitor center. We settled for this sign at the visitor center.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Santa Fe Target – The architecture of the SW even at a Target!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The clerk at our hotel suggested we visit downtown Santa Fe. It wasn’t on our plan, but we decided we wanted to see a few sites. We saw the oldest house in the USA. It dates to 1646.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The oldest house in the USA. It wasn’t open to the public, unless you called for an appointment. We were only spending 1 hour downtown, so we couldn’t add seeing the inside to our trip.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Next door to the oldest house is the oldest church structure. The San Miguel Mission/Church. It dates to 1610.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

I loved the sconces in the San Miguel.

Road Trip Part 2 (14 of 59)

This bell dates to the 1300’s and is in the San Miguel as well. They let my girls and myself ring the bell. πŸ™‚

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Loretta Chapel. This chapel has quite the story of this beautiful staircase. They call it the Miracle Staircase.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

I loved the pretty stained glass at the Loretta Chapel.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

After downtown Santa Fe, we headed to El Rancho de las Golondrinas – This is a living history museum. It is also where the pictures for the Josefina (American Girl Doll) books are from. This gate is the cover of the first book.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Entrance to a Rancho.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Ovens in the courtyard of the rancho.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Woven blanket in of the rooms in the rancho. This blanket is featured in the Josefina books.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

They use natural plants and flowers to dye the wool and make the yarn needed for all the rugs, etc. The volunteers do all of this at El Rancho de los Golondrinas.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

It was amazing all the colors of yarn they could make using natural materials!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Adobe at its finest.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Have I mentioned that I love taking pics of flowers? πŸ™‚

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

They had this fantastic teepee that we could go inside. This living museum was huge – as in on many many acres. The only thing that wasn’t my preference was that they covered multiple times of history. It seemed a little confusing. Yet we LOVED this living museum and would love to go back with more time to explore.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We enjoyed Santa Fe so much, we stayed until 4:30 pm. Makes for a late arrival at our hotel in Texas. Oh well…we had fun!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The following day we were on a smaller freeway in Texas. Driving from Amarillo to Dallas. It was a lot harder to find fun stops. We found this big arrow.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We found this big shoe…can’t you tell the kids are thrilled about it? lol!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

In Wichita Falls, Texas we did find a stop we liked. This is the world’s smallest skyscraper. It really is small! It was a fun find.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We met my husband in Dallas for one night. He was there for business. It was the only time we saw him in 6 or 7 weeks. They say everything is bigger in Texas…including the soft pretzels! This was at our dinner with my husband and my in-laws.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

First mug to add to my collection on the journey home. My girls talked me into buying the Starbucks You are Here Collection Mugs as a souvenir from all the places we went on our trip. Glad I listened. I’m happy to have them!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Off on a small road for our Louisiana border crossing. We were just 1 mile from our fun stop for the day.

Road Trip Part 2 (33 of 59)

Just barely in LA, we stopped at Gators & Friends. It was a bit of a pricey stop (especially since we only stayed for about an hour…it was nasty hot and humid). Loved this stop though and highly recommend it! Look at that gator getting its food!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Snowflake jumped right in to hold an Alligator…surprising this Mom!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Pumpkin held an alligator as well.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Gators & Friends had ALL kinds of other animals that you could see and feed. We bought one cup of food and easily could feed tons of animals. I liked this guy…though I was a bit intimidated to feed him.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We managed to cross into Mississippi just before dark. This was a perfect state line picture. Right on the Mississippi river…very pretty!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The Mississippi River

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The following day we made it to Alabama…making progress and getting to see family!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

My cousin and I traded Starbucks mugs. I gave her an Arizona and she gave me an Alabama. πŸ™‚

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We picked up a 3rd passenger in the backseat for the drive to Atlanta & the American Girl store. The girls watched the new AG Isabelle movie while I played chauffeur…like I hadn’t done that for a few thousand miles already. πŸ˜‰

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We picked up some extra smiling faces at the Georgia state line. These are my cousins who we stayed with one night and they came with us to Atlanta to the AG AND Lego store.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Another mug for my collection. I’m amassing quite the collection!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Our journey home was based on visiting my cousins and the Atlanta AG store. The girls and the dolls were very excited to see a different American Girl store and have some fun out of the car for the day!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Lunch at the bistro is a necessity when you have driven cross-country and half way back to get to this store…don’t you think? πŸ˜‰

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The following day was our last day (and a very long day). Our first state line came fairly quickly and made me think the day would be easy…ha ha!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

In downtown Greenville, SC was a super fun 1 hour break from our long day. It is called Mice on Main. There are 9 mice hidden on Main street to hunt for. It was fun to find them and find lunch to take in the car (if you go the Pita Pit is really yummy!)

More information about Mice on Main.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

The mice are small…keep a good watch out for them.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Just to give you perspective on the size of the mice. Can you find the mouse in this picture?

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

Another state down…again more thoughts that this day will not be so bad. Haha…it was a very long day of driving in which I almost gave up and had one more night at a hotel.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

I added two mugs in one stop in Charlotte. I had been to Charlotte for a blog convention and have been to North Carolina a few times so even though this was a drive through visit, I’m glad I got the mugs.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

In High Point, NC we stopped to see the World’s Largest Dresser. It was really big. I love the socks! There is also a house or something attached behind it.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We got a little lost going from High Point back to the freeway. Happy accident! We passed by Furniture Land. This is the World’s Largest High Boy…and more importantly…

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

We love watching the TV Show Tanked. This is one of the tanks they made. It is in FurnitureLand. They were closed, but my daughter asked the security guard and he was nice enough to take us in and show us the tank. Thank you!

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

What felt like an eternity of a day later, we made a late night state line picture in Virginia. Surprisingly with how many late days we had on the road, this was our only late night state line picture.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

One last mug for my collection. I ended with 10 total from our trip.

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

I drove 5,346 miles (I took this pic a little late) on our 5 week road trip. Pretty impressive to drive that many miles all myself…at least I think so. πŸ™‚

 

1 mom, 2 kids, 5346 mile road trip with all kinds of fun! Great ideas of places to stop! #Travel #RoadTrip

In all our travels, we found every license plate EXCEPT Vermont and Washington D.C.

 

We had a spectacular road trip. So many great memories for a lifetime. So many great times with my girls! Now if only I could get them to travel across town as well as they do across the country! πŸ˜‰ We are planning for another road trip next summer. This time the girls want to go to the NW. If you have done road tripping out that way, please leave your ideas of fun things to do along the way. We would LOVE β™₯ them!

What do you think….would you take off on our cross-country adventure? With your family? With your kids? By yourself?

 

More great posts you will love:

More to Enjoy! 😍

How to Pack Road Trip Snacks and What You Really Need
Fun Northeast Family Road Trip - Week 3

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Hi! I'm KC. I'm a single mom of 2 girls who loves all things creative. Whether it's making something crafty or tackling that DIY project, I'm gonna have some fun and stay organized in the process. 😊 Read More…

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Comments

  1. mickey wood says

    September 3, 2014 at 8:27 am

    That was so much fun to read anenjoy. Can’t wait for your next trip!

    Reply
    • KC Coake says

      September 3, 2014 at 7:05 pm

      I’m so glad you enjoyed reading it! I’m excited for our next trip as well. We were just looking at maps the other morning. Just hoping I can save up enough for us to go next summer. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  2. Lisa @ The Wellness Wife says

    September 3, 2014 at 10:00 am

    What an absolutely amazing trip! It is our dream to go across country when my husband retires. It’s great that you are showing your girls the country! You are creating a lifetime of memories in just 5 weeks!

    Reply
    • KC Coake says

      September 3, 2014 at 7:07 pm

      It sure was, Lisa! I’m sure you and your husband will love it when you travel cross-country. Just make it work for both of you in a way that is fun…whatever way that is. It will probably be different from what was fun to us. I totally agree with you on showing my girls the country. That is part of why I want to do another road trip next summer. There are so many great places to see. Driving affords us to see so many more than flying. Thanks so much for your sweet comment.

      Reply
  3. Cindi Cooper says

    September 8, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    What a fun trip!

    Reply

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