Vacation 2012

We left two days after school got out for a three-week road trip which was supposed to include activities in 9 states: Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Indiana.  We made it to everything we planned except the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana which closed about an hour before we arrived.  Oh well - guess we'll have to make that a Spring Break destination sometime :).  The highlight of our trip was a week in Florida experiencing all that Disney World has to offer.  I feel like we picked the exact right year to go as Jacob at 13 is right on the edge of not really liking this type of thing any more and Mary at age 6 is almost too young.  I think, considering the age gap for our kids, we timed it well.  Since returning, we've been asked many times how we liked Disney.  And let me be very clear - we loved it.  However, I never feel like our response is big enough for the person asking.  I mentioned this to David and he pointed out that we do great vacations every year.  And this was another great vacation - but since we love ALL of our vacations and love ALL of the places we visit, maybe Disney wasn't as big for us.  Here are some pictures from our trip.  They aren't in order, however, because they kept jumping around so this is the best I could do.

Civil War Museum - Columbia, South Carolina

Gateway Arch - St. Louis, Missouri

Russell Cave in Alabama

Rock City - Tennessee

Great Smoky Mountains National Park - Border of North Carolina & Tennessee

Churchill Downs - Kentucky

Stone Mountain - Georgia

Laurel on stage during the "Birds of Flight" show at Animal Kingdom

Air boat ride looking for gators in Lake Jesop

New Smyrna Beach

Universal Studios

Hollywood Studios

China at Epcot

Pinkies Up! at Cinderella's castle