The trip of a Lifetime....

July 09, 2014

The trip of a Lifetime....

Matt had to go to DC for work during the month of June so we thought it would be a great idea to join him. We knew about the trip for awhile so we were able to plan lots of side trips in order to maximize our time spent on the East Coast. What I am basically saying is that my OCD- type A -neurotic planning tendencies really paid off on this trip! Somewhere in the planning process Matt convinced me that it would be a good idea to drive to DC so that we could see even more of the country. 16 states and 8 state capitals to be exact, according to my road trip crazy husband. So I said yes and began planning that portion of the trip as well. We set off on Thursday May 29th with our first of many 9 hour drives. We drove straight through Texas and right to Dallas. We packed lunch and hardly stopped at all. West Texas does not hold much of an allure for us so we decided to get right to the heart of it. Marriott had messed up our reservation so they offered us a second room as well as concierge level privileges, SCORE! Free appetizers, dessert, breakfast AND Matt and I got our own bathroom. We got our own room as well, but lets be honest, when traveling with 3 girls its all about having our own bathroom for sanity sake. After checking in we headed to the JFK Dealey Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository. It was kind of surreal to see the sight that you have seen so many times depicted in the famous film. After that we went to a fantastic dinner at Urban Taco. We went back to the hotel so that we could get that free concierge level privileged dessert. The next morning we feasted on breakfast (way better than the regular folks with the continental breakfast) and afterwords, we packed up the mini van and got busy driving to Little Rock Arkansas. We had planned to stop there for lunch and to visit the State Capital where the statue for the Little Rock nine is located. I had picked an awesome hamburger/milkshake restaurant for lunch as a little mid trip motivator. We ate lunch at the Big Orange Burger and it did not disappoint. We visited the Capital building and the Little Rock Nine Statue. It was awesome the way that the statue is oriented looking straight up the steps of the Capital Building. We were then inspired to go and see the actual Central High School where it all happened. It is still a functioning school but the school day had ended so we went over to check it out. We parked in front and had a look around. Matt and Emma walked up that famous side staircase you see in all of the footage from that day...the one that was lined with National Guard troops. After spending some time there looking around we loaded up and were on the road to Nashville. We had not planned to stop in Memphis but when we crossed the Mississippi we were so excited that we wanted to stop and snap photos of it and that led to us going to an Elvis Museum. After posing our best Elvis moves we decided to hit the road. Rachel then remembered that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis so we decided to visit the hotel where it happened and to also see the Civil Rights Museum located there. Again, such a surreal experience. They have left the hotel in almost the exact same manner as the day it happened. We learned a lot from all of the interpretive exhibits and left feeling a little humbled. Because of our extra time in Little Rock and the spontaneous side trip through Memphis, we were very behind schedule to get to Nashville at a decent time. In addition to that, we got stuck in a torrential down pour, Matt ran over an armadillo and we hit lots of road construction. The armadillo killing was quite sad actually. Unfortunately, road kill armadillo is about as common as our jack rabbit road kill in New Mexico. On a happy note we did see our first fireflys/lightning bugs of the trip as we traveled through Arkansas. Pretty cool. We got into Nashville around 12:30 am and lets just say the room left a lot to be desired. All Marriotts are not created equal and we sorely missed our concierge level privileges. We barely had enough room to squeeze our luggage in and Emma was relegated to a dilapidated roll away while the girls squished into a double sized pull out couch that had seen better days. Oh well, I can't always get the hotels right. We had brought along banana bread and yogurt for breakfast so we crammed that down the next morning and decided to take a quick drive around Nashville. It was cool but not really my cup of tea. We went to see all the famous music city sights and then made a bee line for the freeway. We were off to my one and only requested stop on the trip...Charlottsville Virginia. We made it in to Va in the afternoon and quickly made our way to down town Charlottsville. It was Awesome. I could so completely move there! We had dinner at a super yummy Thai restaurant located in a bungalow house called Monsoon. We picked our way around Charlottsville and loved every minute of it. The next morning we decided to check out the University of Virginia. The Rotunda is designated as a World Heritage sight. Thomas Jefferson's mark could be seen on all the campus buildings ...it was beautiful. Hannah is convinced she will be going to college there one day. we told her she better start playing the lottery. We were sad to leave but excited to get to our apartment in DC! We traveled through the scenic back country roads of Virginia and it was stunning. We also went through the Blue Ridge Parkway and were treated to awesome views. We made it to DC and survived our epic road trip. It was fantastic. All of us loved it and with the exception of Rachel's car sickness issues, we had a blast. Seeing so much was something I will never forget.