Summer Roadtrip 2018 (Part 3)

Cape Cod, our home away from home! Its always so amazing to settle in there and have a week with family in a place where we feel completely at ease. There's no rush there, not much in the way of "must do" (since we've pretty much done all of those already), and we get to really take it easy and play it by ear.

We spent days on the lake: kayaking, swimming, fishing, lounging on the beach...

We headed into Hyannis a few times to catch baseball games, eat, or just walk around...

We got some family pictures done one night, walked on the beach another...

And spent a fun day up in Provincetown!

We got to spend time with Trav's parents, his brother, sister-in-law, and our nephew, Wyatt...

And best of all we got to relax!

Once Cape Cod was over, it was time to start the 2,200 mile journey home.

We ate and walked around Harvard Square, then dropped Trav at the airport to fly home. That night we stayed with the Quads in Massachusetts, a fun visit before Maddy heads off to college! Then continued on for a long day to Ohio, to visit with my Aunt and Uncle.

Gwen and Chris had the best time doing crafts together! Then then next day it was time for another long day out to Missouri and Robertsville State Park. We camped that night on a really comfortable site.

From Missouri we headed towards Kansas, making a lunch stop in Kansas City to grab food with an old friend of mine from high school days; then continued on to Western Kansas and another night of camping.

Despite my rather disdainful feelings towards Kansas, the tiny town of Goodland was rather beautiful. 

The next day was our last on the road, a quick, easy 2.5 hour trip home... or so we thought.

The flat tire slowed us down a tad, and caused some frustration... but we got it taken care of with the help of the sweet firefighter who stopped to help me part way through the change. Almost 6,000 miles later we finally rolled into home!

This trip had its ups and downs. There was a moment when I saw a golf cart -- the preferred method of travel for the people who work at my apartment complex -- and I missed them, my Colorado "framily," so bad it was like a punch to the stomach. There were days when Gwen just couldn't spend one more moment in the car, and the panicked instance we realized we completely forgot to pack her any toys. But there was also times she literally squealed with delight, and her eyes lit up with excitement, over new places to explore and the people we got to see.  I will never take these trips for granted, and while I'm so grateful to be home right now, I'm already looking ahead to possible trip routes for next year. Another amazing adventure in the books and so many more to come!