Awesome Road Trip

It's been TEN years since I last visited my Grandmother in person. That alone is enough to make me want to cry, because it's not like I didn't try over the years to get out there. Seems that everytime I planned a trip, something happened. I even had to forfeit purchased airline tickets one time.

Anyhoo....come hell or high water (which, ironically, I think both came to me around this trip!), we were going to head out to Indiana to visit Grandma, and also get to see the rest of the relatives out there. Mike stayed behind to take care of the animals and to continue his job search, so I loaded up the van and headed out on a Friday with just Christopher and I. Ten days and 1,720 miles later, we returned to NJ, safe and sound. But, what an adventure! Here are some of the highlights and a few pictures.

The best traveling companion...he spent a little time watching movies, but mostly he "enjoyed the ride" and watched out the windows and listened to music.

We hit storms for over half the way out.

Drove thru several mountain tunnels.

found some backroads

spectacular sunsets


drove through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and finally...reached Indiana!


on the lookout for a farmer's stand, we found a "self-serve" on your honor stand
we got corn, zuchinni and cucumbers


and finally, found who we were looking for all these years!

and then others came home, so we got to spend a lot of time laughing and playing with them also!
Uncle Bruce with their dog Tessie, a mighty fine dog, and the best traveler, Chris

Grandma Nickless

Aunt Suzie, the best 2nd grade teacher ever!


Aunt Jan, fantastic nurse!


cousin Mia

also arrived in time for Chris to attend the vacation bible camp for a couple hours for 3 nights. he loved it!

most of the participants for the camp

beautiful cousins: Deena, Crystal & Shandi

Aunt Jan & Grandma

three generations, wish it were four...next time!

Uncle Danny & Chris, eating an excellent dinner!

Jan, Bruce, Grandma, Aunt Suzie, good times!

ahh, the prankster leaned forward!

with cousin Monty's new puppy

relief from the hot and humid summer
young cousins Seth, Sam, Cheyenne, and Chris

my favorite, the mis-matched flip flops

okay, this is a maple tree in the middle of my cousin's (parents) property. it is HUGE! and magnificant! I hope no one ever cuts it down.

it's so big, I couldn't get it all in
Aunt Jan, Jessie, Mia, Maddox, Chris, Shandi, Dawson
if Melanie and Grandma were here, it would be a 5-generation pic! (Hint, hint...)


Kris' girlfriend, cousins Melanie & her son Kris, Aunt Jan, Christopher

Aunt Jan's kitty: Spanky


and here is one of his favorite places to "observe" the home activities

got some rain while there, and one night there was an incredible thunder and lightning storm that woke me up around 4 am. then, I heard hail, which did actually leave some pings on my car. couldn't resist, and went outside in the pouring rain to take a pic. this one is bigger than a quarter. some were bigger than that!

it started to melt right away, but you get the idea

relaxing before bedtime at Aunt Jan & Uncle Danny's house

singing at Grandma's after Sabbath on Saturday. my aunt and cousins go there every Saturday, which is a beautiful thing. once they started to sing, I remembered I had my music player, and recorded a few of their songs. Chris asked me to play them over and over on the way home, did I mention they did a beautiful job!


me, Crystal, Jan, Hali, Shandi-mommy-to-be, Samantha
Chris, Grandma, Mia
we visited Grandma at the nursing home every day while we were out there. one of her neighbors just fell in love with the little guy and kept telling him how handsome and cute he was! love her smile!

Sam, Mia and Chris, coloring while the others were singing

on the way home!

got to stop and see my very first and wonderful roommate, Sherry and her family, both on the way out and then on the way back. that part was also fantastic!


on the way home, we were able to stop at Dad's for a visit
unfortunately, the batteries in the camera died and all we had was the camera on the cell phone. he took us to the Chocolate Factory in Hershey Park, and that was a lot of fun. Chris loved the animated tour, especially the sets of singing cows. if you go there, you gotta check out the factory.


home again (the white house in the background, the window upstairs is Chris' room)


there's going to be a big Nickless family reunion out in Indiana next July, and we plan to make it, so we'll be doing this trip again. but, this time, it will be WITH Mike! I was so glad to get to see friends and family, and meet new family, but I was also glad to get back to my hubby and critters. I don't know where our "home" is, except that it is always, always with him and Christopher, Maya and the little piggies.
It's good to be home!