Friday and Saturday after Christmas we had this mix of packing like crazy, playing with new toys, and enjoying the break. After lunch on Saturday we had the van all packed and headed out.
We made it 4 hours before stopping for a break in St. Louis.
It was all planned and we met up with my Aunt and her partner at a great pizza placed called pi that we try to stop at whenever in St.Louis.
I don’t see any pictures but the food was great, I got myself stuffed and had a few beers so I was ready for a nap once we got back in the car.
We put on a movie for the kids, Heath took the wheel. I read a minute then went to sleep.
Heath drove a bunch of hours then figured she better get some sleep and woke me up and we swapped. I got my first coffee in weeks and took the wheel. I also started an audio book about a hunting guide in Montana on a bear hunt. This whole trip we didn’t really have a lot planned but we didn’t want to go all the way to convent without a night in a hotel with a pool. We decided to stop in Hershey. Once in town I found a nature center and we went there. It was not open for 15 min so we ate breakfast bars and everyone woke up. Then we went in and explored.
It was pretty great and we could see a nice boardwalk trail out back so once we explored all the inside we headed out.
It was cool out but not bad and it felt good to do some walking around. We got a few of the sillys out.
We were pretty hungry so found a brewery and headed to lunch.
We celebrated a good drive and start to a vacation with double chocolate stouts.
The beer and the food was great.
We got an early checkin at the hotel and checked in to catch up on some sleep. We got a great room.
with 2 sides
but no working toilet. It had one and it flushed but nothing went down. We didn’t discover that until later through. Once we figured that out they were out of big rooms and wanted to separate us into 2. Instead I borrowed the plunger, fixed the toilet and they gave us the room for $30.
Heath, the girls and I all took a great nap. Eventually we drug ourselves out of bed to swim and eat dinner. Then the hotel folks recomended a cheep pizza buffet that was okay. We hung out and watched tv a bit and my sister Kelly and her family were making the same drive and ended up checking into our hotel. Grant and Drake went to swim a bit more and then we all got some sleep.
At 9:30 Heath woke us all up.
They were shutting down breakfast and we had to go eat. We ate and then went to the pool with Drake.
We swam until it was time to check out then we got some lunch and headed to Hershey Chocolate World.
Most of it was riding these little cars around a pretend chocolate factory
It was dark and hard to take pictures but pretty interesting and Bean loved it.
After the tour we messed around in the store checking out all the cool stuff.
We bought some chocolate and then hit the road. We had just a couple hours until we got to the convent. By then it was dinner time so we dropped off our stuff and went out for New York style pizza. After dinner we got to hang out with Carri.
We visited until she had to go for the night. Kelly and her family went to their hotel and we got settled in our room at the convent.
