Our Grand Adventure - Living History

Ready or not...here we go! My boys and I will be piling into the car in exactly 3 days. We'll be leaving Wednesday morning for our very first solo road trip. I say solo because Dad just got a new job as a LPN and he will most likely be starting his training this coming week. (by the way...we are so excited for him - new career in something that he loves!) We'll be talking to him every day and we will miss him for sure!

It was spur of the moment, but I think its going to be one of the best vacation we've ever had. We've not been on a real vacation..like out of state...ever. We've escaped up North to our old home town NJ during hurricane season one year, but this is for pure and simple fun/education.

My boys are learning American History (well at least my younger ones)..they'll be studying it for two years. This will give them a visual image of at the southeastern states and what it was like to move west. My children have never seen a mountain. Sad right? They've never seen a fall leaf. We'll be hitting the Smokey Mountains in the midst of Fall.

My friend Michelle has created a Mystery Trip Kit...that we'll be opening up during our trip...to keep it exciting. I don't have all the details yet, but as we go along I will be blogging details about our trip.

I've printed each boy a clipboard full of activities that should help in the car both on the way up and back.

We'll be going old school. I have 5 maps all highlighted, directions handwritten out but for a backup..we'll have the Garmin GPS. I will have the cutest most fun young superheros to keep me company in the car for our 13 hour trip up. We'll be going through all the Welcome Centers, taking our time and enjoying all the Kodak moment we can. Our plans are as follows...Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina..where we'll be spending the night! Then the next day we're hoping to have lunch with some friends of ours that live right here in Florida and will be camping in Tennessee.Then we will explore Cumberland Gap, famous for helping pave the way for early settlers to head west. We will walk in the footsteps of early pioneers and Native Americans, visit the ruins of fortifications used in the Civil War, experience the life of an early mountain community. Can you tell I'm a little excited..and we haven't even gotten to our destination yet?

Our good friends have mapped out our entire trip (they've made this trip several times)...including all the wonderfully educational places to stop and explore! Once we get up to Kentucky we'll be spending a week with my precious friend Karen! Oh how I love this woman. We miss our face time! Her and her girls have been generous enough to share their hospitality with my boys and I..and we are looking forward to every second. The weather will be chilly..but we're ready. While in Kentucky some of our plans are to visit Mammoth Cave, Shaker Village, and possibly the Creation Museum.

Not to mention sipping a Pumpkin Spice Latte on my friend's porch and running the hills of the quaint town of Wilmore, KY!

On the way home we'll be able to spend some time going through the center of Tennessee and have lunch in Nashville! We'll make our way south to Alabama where we'll see more friends and spend the night there. On our way home the next day we'll be seeing gorges, and military bases and of course...eventually our own beds again!

So..approximately a 10 day road trip. It will be a trip my boys and I will talk about for years and years! I've never driven more than 4 hours...so this should be interesting! Mostly, I'm looking forward to making memories and having some Mom and sons bonding time. I mean, I homeschool them and we have lots of time that way, but making memories like this is rare and special. We will miss Dad for sure. Especially when I'm exhausted from driving. But, we kind of feel like pioneers ourselves. Exploring land we've never seen before, doing things we've never done before, and just taking it all in! It will be a grand adventure for sure! So stop back and follow us as we begin our journey of living history!