We had a nice visit with Jeff and Evy and the kids Saturday night and Sunday morning. We went to Sacrament Meeting with them in the morning, and then came home.
The kids played, and then we had a wonderful lunch. There was a ham, macaroni and cheese, broccoli, mushrooms, asparagus, salad, and more. Yummy!
We would have liked to stay longer, but we had to get going, and we left their house just before 2 pm. We filled up the van, and got on our way. Along the way, the kids watched lots of movies.
Here is the timeline:
- 1:56 left house. Arrival time was estimated at 9:28
- 2:16 done filling the van, on our way
- 2:35 Christine was very tired, and finally fell asleep
- 3:30 Christine woke up. We thought the nap would have helped her, but she was still pretty cranky.
- 4:10 – 4:26 stopped for bathroom break, top up the van, and get a milkshake (courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa)
- 4:47 reached the North Carolina/Virginia border
- As we drove through the mountains, the GPS showed the elevation peaking at around 2,700 ft
- 5:28 we went through the Big Walker Mountain Tunnel in the Jefferson National Forest. Later we went through the East River Mountain Tunnel.
- 5:54 reached the Virginia/West Virginia border
- 5:55-6:17 bathroom break and topped up the van
- 6:35 As we were driving, we kept going up. We passed a sign that said the elevation was 3,252
- 6:38 paid a $2 toll
- 6:53 paid a $0.40 toll
- 8:32 bathroom break
- 9:12 crossed the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border
- 10:35 reached the Econolodge just outside of Pittsburgh
The hotel was pretty basic, but had comfy beds, so we had a decent night’s sleep. We got up on Monday morning (our 14th anniversary) and had the continental breakfast at the hotel. We were done at the hotel by 8:30 or so and on our way back to Canada. Here is the timeline:
- 8:36 left hotel
- 8:51 filled up the van, bought a fuse for the cigarette/power port (we had blown one the night before). Arrival time is estimated at 12:35. Lisa was driving
- 9:00 we hit some very bad traffic. We listened to a local radio station and heard that there had been an earlier accident, and there was some “residual” traffic. Well, it took us until 9:47 before we were back up to the speed limit. Arrival time is estimated at 1:15
- 10:55-11:08 bathroom break at a Wal-Mart
- 11:40 we got on the I90
- 11:58 we reached the Pennsylvania/New York border
- 12:40-12:52 one last bathroom break
- 1:20 crossed the Peace Bridge. A the border the asked how long we were gone and how much we spent. We were through in just a couple of minutes
- 1:51 home at Dunvegan Rd
Along the way, we have also seen a few more license plates:
- Delaware
- Nebraska
- Vermont
- Utah
- We also saw a US Government DHS plate
We unloaded the van and Grandma and Grandpa got their care loaded up. We said our goodbye, and they were on their way.
The kids helped us unpack and get organized, and then Andrew and Matthew put together their new LEGO sets they got at Downtown Disney. Christine wanted to play Mario Kart Wii right away.
We had a fantastic 2 1/2 weeks, but it is nice to get back home.