The Time of Travel

When Tim and I got married, we both knew traveling was something important to us. We wanted to get out and see the world as much as we could. This last year we have been blessed to get the opportunity to take the time to do that! Here is a recap of some of the trips we have taken this past year:

• Branson, Missouri: We went here with my family (minus one of my brothers and his family) last summer. My family goes here every two years and always love it. We spend a lot of time out on Table Rock Lake and also some time exploring downtown Branson and hiking. We spent our first few days on Table Rock Lake this time as well. Some other notable things we did included: taking a scenic railway tour, riding the Branson Belle, a ride the ducks tour, riding the ferris wheel in downtown Branson (this was recently moved but was at Navy Pier in Chicago before this), and playing putt putt! We also toured Meramac Caverns on our way back.

Looking over Table Rock Lake

Inside the caverns

Playing with turtles on Table Rock Lake

On board the Branson Belle

Scenic Overlook

Riding the Ducks tour

• Washington, DC: We went here with Tim's family last summer. It was a lot of walking but also a lot of fun! We saw a lot in our short time there. We stayed just outside the city and took the metro in each day. Some of the notable things we saw: DC Zoo, Smithsonian museums, the US Capitol Building, White House, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial, WW2 Memorial, Mount Vernon, Vietnam Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Jefferson Memorial, Roosevelt Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, National Building Museum, and Ford Theatre (where Lincoln was shot) with the adjacent home where we was taken afterward. My favorite things were Ford's theatre, the Zoo, Arlington Cemetery, the Holocaust Museum, and seeing all the memorials. 

In front of the US Capitol Building

Washington Memorial

White House

WW2 Memorial

In front of the Reflecting Pool

Lincoln Memorial

Korean War Memorial

Mount Vernon

Grounds of Mount Vernon

Jefferson Memorial

Roosevelt Memorial

Arlington Cemetery

National Building Museum

Downtown DC - near Foggy Bottom

• Sawyer, Michigan

We went here for a brief weekend trip for our anniversary. When we got married someone suggested we go to a new state every year for our anniversary so that eventually we will have gone to all 50 states. The first year we went to St Louis Missouri and for our second we went to Michigan. We stayed in a tiny cabin. We went to the Dunes, local coffee shops, and drove up the coast to a couple more notable cities, including Holland, Michigan.

Windmill Island Gardens

Indiana Dunes

•  Disney World/Universal in Orlando, FL

We went with my aunt, cousins, and most of my immediate family back in October 2016. We spent a couple days at Disney and a couple days at Universal. I LOVED this trip - I am a Disney and Harry Potter girl at heart. Tim just mostly obliged my interests :) Here are a few pictures from our trip:

In front of Tower of Terror

Hollywood Studios

Epcot

In front of Hogwarts

Dr. Seuss Area of Universal

Universal - Islands of Adventure

Harry Potter World

Outside Hollywood Studios

Harry Potter World

Harry Potter World

Harry Potter World

Outside Harry Potter World

Epcot

Animal Kingdom

•  Las Vegas, NV: Tim had to be here for work briefly, so we decided to make a trip of it! I joined him for a long weekend over my birthday weekend and we made the most of our time. We spent some time in downtown Las Vegas walking around through all the cool hotels. We also drove up to the the Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire, and Zion National Park and hiked around. All are beautiful! It was also perfect weather while we were there.

•  Ft Myers, FL: We went here in February 2017 to visit Tim's parents who were living here for the first few months of the year to get away from Indiana's winters. We went over to Sanibel Island, toured the Ford and Edison homes, hung out on the Sanibel causeway beach and Ft Myers beach, went to the Everglades and took an airboat ride, and went to watch some Greyhound races at the race track. We fit a lot into the few days we were there and loved visiting them! Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Sanibel Causeway Bridge

Ford Home

Old pier off Edison Home

Edison Home

• Charleston, SC and Savannah GA (as described in my last post!)

We have recently been spending a lot of our time camping as summer is upon us! We went to McCormick's Creek State Park a few weeks ago and just this last weekend went to Spring Mill State Park.

At McCormick's Creek out favorite trails were the trails going to wolf cave and the trail going to the old quarry.

At Spring Mill, we love the Pioneer Village. We also walked to all of the caves and loved all of them! If you bring a headlamp you can even climb up into them and explore (just watch your step!). We even took the boat tour into Twin Caves for $3 which was really neat. Our pup, Ali, loved all the hiking! If you have time, downtown Mitchell is fun to explore and there is a memorial there for Gus Grissom (one of the pilots on a failed Apollo mission). There is also a museum in the park that is dedicated to Gus Grissom and has an Apollo capsule in it!

Those are all of our big trips from last summer to now. Here is to hoping this next year is filled with just as much adventuresome exploring for our family!