There's no place quite like home

Going home isn't nearly as fun as driving to your vacation destination, but we still tried to enjoy it.  We were delayed several times for construction, car crashes, and wildfires, which made the drive even longer and more frustrating.  But hey..... what do you do?  Roll with it!

Can anyone explain to me why bilboards are sooooo high up in Georgia?  They're so high up they're often hard to read.  I wonder if these bilboard companies have a hard time recruiting workers to climb that high up to change the paper and light bulbs... ???

Now that's hawht!

Seriously... why so high?  It's silly.

We ended up taking a 90 minute detour off of I-75 northbound through the middle of Georgia because a semi-truck overheated and caught fire on the side of the road, and set the grass on fire.  (It was over a hundred degrees outside - go figure!)  So we got to see some of rural Georgia.  This nifty contraption caught my eye.  I call it "the mowercycle". Who needs a lawn mower AND a gym membership?  Not this guy! 

I look for poetry in pictures.  This scene really spoke to me.  Like a cross between the youth of spring and the ages of evolution, mixed with the human element of the aging barn, now past it's best days.  No matter how hard we try, time marches on.....

Welcome back to Atlanta!  Count those lanes of traffic: six in each direction! This time it wasn't rush hour traffic.  Not nearly as stressful this second time through.

 

Seven lanes at this point....

We were starting to see dusk just past Atlanta

So we bedded down for the night in Lenoir City, TN just south of Knoxville.  We were SO tired!  All I wanted to do was collapse in bed, but the kids were cranky and crabby and not cooperating.  We finally got the emotional mess straightened out at 11:00 pm and I passed out cold.  After a quick 8 hour power nap, we were back on the road...

Leaving the flat land and starting to see more hills, and Cracker Barrel restaraunts in every city and town.   Welcome to Tennessee!

What is it about the mountains that they never show up well in photos? This view was absolutely breathtaking - trust me!

Being back in the Smoky Mountains felt like going home again.  Matt and I absolutely loved living in Knoxville and driving through it again made us a wee bit 'homesick' for the mountains.  I will never tire of these beautiful views.

Hangin' in there!  Just eight more hours to go!

We stopped for a stretch and a snack at a really pretty vantage point just off of I-75 in northern Tennessee.  We were REALLY high up, and the view was straight down.

Welcome to Cincinatti, Ohio!

At this point I quit taking photos and took over driving through Ohio and into Michigan, though it was a LONG drive (4.5 hours to get through Ohio and 1 to get through SE Michigan to Tecumseh).  We dropped my parents off at their house in T-town and then headed back to our farm near Grand Raids (+2 hours).  When we pulled into the driveway yesterday evening, safe and sound after an amazing family vacation, I was so relieved.  Seeing that all of the animals had survived and thrived for a week and half without us, and feeling the comfort of my own bed was just so wonderful.  We all slept 9 to 10 hours that night.  The dogs were probably the most excited for the homecomeing, and after an hour-long happy dance they settled in for a 13 hour snooze on their fluffy little puppy pillows, content that their family was together again.

7 family members

3,000 miles traveled

10 days of vacation

6 states

500 photos

countless happy memories

one tired by thoroughly satisfied April.

Goodnight!