MO Trip - Summer 2017 - Day 1
Friday, June 23, 2017
Dad: Shelly's Granny sometimes took a log of her vacations, and I thought that might be a good idea. No idea if I'll continue these vacation logs, seems like a lot of work on a vacation, but here goes...
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Dad: We were woken up by Julie at 6:00 AM. She said her legs hurt, so I got up and gave
her children’s pain medicine. Our plan
was to sleep until at least 7:00 AM, so we are a little tired. We ate cereal, strawberries, and cinnamon
raisin bread for breakfast. Before we
left, we had to look for Collin’s fidget spinner. We could not find it. (Collin found it the day after we got back). We are all packed up and ready to travel to
our hotel in Paducah, KY. We left our house in Woodstock, GA at 9:00
AM. Driving in our newly leased, Dark Blue 2017 KIA Sedona minivan.
Julie: When we were about to leave our neighborhood mom
noticed that she forgot her tennis shoes and we went back home to get them.
After we said our prayers we listened to Kids Bop on our radio in the van. Then,
Collin and I played on our kindles for a long time.
Dad: We stopped in Manchester, TN for gas and lunch. Shelly and I ate at Burger King, but the kids decided they had to have McDonald's, so we stopped at both. Once we got through Nashville, it started raining really hard for a couple hours. We passed a very bad wreck. We saw an overturned semi truck, another truck off the road, and a smashed up car on the opposite side of the road. I hope and pray that everyone was OK.
Dad: We stopped at a unique rest area. It was a historical building.
Dad: Since we were going to arrive in Paducah before the 3:00 P.M. check-in time, we decided to first go to Metropolis, IL, which is a small city that boarders the Ohio River and is known as Superman's hometown. We walked downtown and took some pictures of the kids in front of the big Superman statue.
Dad: On the way back to Paducah, we stopped at Fort Massac State Park; Illinois' first State Park. I read about some of the history, while the others were walking around the grounds. We also stopped in the Visitor's Center, which was a small building that had some historical artifacts. There were lots of camping spots and some playgrounds. The kids wanted to play at the playgrounds, but they didn't play long since it was wet from the recent rain and Julie said it was 'boring' to her.
Dad: On our way to the hotel, we had to cross over the Ohio River. We drove on a narrow, blue bridge which we all thought was a little scary.
Dad: We arrived at the Paducah Hampton Inn Hotel and Suites, and shortly after we settled into our room decided that we were hungry. I wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings, and the others agreed. Everyone enjoyed their meals, but Collin saw paper hats that he really wanted. I asked our waitress if we could have two hats for the kids, and she obliged. Collin was really happy to have what he called a 'skunk hat'. While we were finishing up our meal, there was another downpour, but thankfully the rain stopped when we left although there were lots of big puddles in the parking lot.
Dad: Julie and Collin had fun in the pool. I got in for a while. Collin liked jumping in and having me catch him. He still wears floaties and is scared to go under water. We also spent a couple minutes in the hot tub, which the kids really enjoyed. It also seemed to help my neck and back, which was a little sore. When we got back to the room, we got baths and showers, and the kids watched an Ice Age movie. I read a couple chapters of my David Baldacci book. Now we are all exhausted and ready for bed. Day 1 was fun. Tomorrow we get to see more family, so we expect another great day tomorrow! Good night!
