Summer Road Trip '12 -- Part Five

The final leg of our trip was from Indiana back home, with a brief stop over in Memphis for the night. We didn't do much sightseeing on the way home, but we did manage to check out the Clinton Presidential Library. It was well worth the visit!

All in all, a pretty great trip.

Summer Road Trip '12 -- Part Four

After our quick jaunt to Ohio, we continued onto Indiana. We spent a few days in Bloomington, exploring a little, but mostly soaking up good times with friends.

We also celebrated Rhys's TENTH birthday while in Bloomington!  It was pretty special for him to spend his birthday with his best buddy.

The next day, we had to pack up and begin the trip home. After a photo shoot, some donuts, and some final farewells, we hit the road again.

Summer Road Trip '12 -- Part Three

After four nights of camping, we packed up and headed toward civilization -- and showers!  We drove straight through Tennessee (with only a short stop to see the University of Tennessee's baseball stadium) and Kentucky into Ohio, where we spent a night in Cincinnati. My good friend Lori and her family drove down from Columbus and we had such a nice time catching up. We haven't seen each other since Rhys and her son Jackson were about 18 months, but the kids didn't miss a beat!

The next day was the much anticipated BFF reunion. We arranged to meet in Cincinnati at a Reds game, and the sheer joy of the kids seeing each other from across the street was like something out of a movie.

The game seemed trivial compared to the reunion, but we really enjoyed the Reds experience.

Summer Road Trip '12 - Part Two

From Atlanta, we headed north toward the mountains. On our way, we made a spontaneous stop at the Tallulah Gorge Overlook in northern Georgia. It was amazing!

We took in the sights, had some cold Nehi sodas, and continued on our way. Finally, we arrived at the Smoky Mountains National Park. We didn't make it far into the park before screeching to a stop to take photos.

We did eventually make it to our campsite, and we hadn't even put up our tent before the kids were in the water that flowed behind our site.

The next four days were spent alternating between exploring, relaxing, reading, hiking, and wading.

And, oh, yeah! We saw a bear!

Summer Road Trip '12 - Part One

This summer, we planned to take a quiet trip to the Tennessee to camp in the Smoky Mountains, but after our good friends moved to Indiana in May, we knew we'd need to alter our vacation plans - at least a little. In the end, after making several additions to the trip, we ended up traveling 2600 miles and seeing ten states. We had such a wonderful time, though, and everyone agrees that the best part was the time we spent with our friends in Bloomington.

Loaded up and ready to head out.

We left bright and early on a Saturday morning, and drove straight through Louisiana to Mississippi.  

Griffin didn't take long to get comfortable.

After spending the night in Jackson, Mississippi, we continued on through Alabama (with a quick stop to check out the Alabama campus -- and, of course, baseball stadium) to Atlanta, Georgia.

We stayed in a hotel in downtown Atlanta and enjoyed seeing the city on foot.

Centennial Olympic Park.

World of Coke.

We took a tour of the CNN world headquarters, which was really cool!

And, of course, we just had to see a Braves game!

Obligatory Avery baseball park picture.