Road Trip!! Part 1: southbound! 8/13-16

Catching up....

We had been planning a 2014 FL trip to the "homeland" for quite a few months. Countdowns and reservation planning etc. We have not been since 2011. Countdown shrunk down to 0 and away we went! However the trip down was as much fun as the adventure planned. :)  We planned with the Rissell family to have a stopover in NC to visit our MN friends that got out of the tundra. 

We spent the first day on the road and got to Louisville KY by the first night. 

Day 2 was to get to Rissels in NC by dinner. Beautiful drive through the mountains at high elevations. We have never done this route before so it was fun to see some new things. We even stopped for lunch at the very first KFC, Sanders Cafe where it all started. Kind of a little museum too. Like hitting unique places. 

We got to Rissells by dinner! So happy to see our good friends. They moved away 3 years ago and we haven't seen each other much but everyone seemed to pick right back up like hardly any time had passed. Had a nice dinner and just hung out and chatted. The kids got along well. Noah and Sophia are only 6 days apart for age and we all used to hang out with the kids in MN. 

The next day we had a fun day of hanging out and we drove around to see their new area and hit a fun little water park with some of their local friends. We got to see where Don and Terry and Mick live too. After Josh got home from work Don, Terry and Mick came over and brought yummy dinner and we all got to just hang out and catch up. Sophia gave us a little flute concert too...fun to see the musical progress. It has been fun getting to see Abigail more grown up too...she was so little when they lived in MN.  Very relaxing way to start our vacation! 

Saturday morning we all got up early and packed up to head out before Rissels headed for their service meeting. Another driving day ahead!  Thanks so much for the generous hospitality!!!  We love you all!

On the road we went from the high mountains to low sea level. Fun to see the variety. 

Next.., arrival at Disney!