Cross-Country Trip Day 16: Benton, AR to Austin, TX

Couldn't be happier to be out of Arkansas. Going home is nice, too.

Distance traveled today: 504 miles

Grand total for the whole cross-country trip: 4479 miles

Cross-Country Trip Day 15: Cookeville, TN to Benton, AR

Today's special stop was to the Nashville Zoo. It was just the perfect size for us; not too big and not too small. There was plenty to do and Aidan absolutely loved it. It also took a lot out of him, as he fell asleep in his daddy's arms...

We stopped for the night in Benton, Arkansas so we could go to Hot Springs in the morning. However, both Renee and I have a slight prejudice against Arkansas (neither of us have ever had a good time there; Renee once had to battle huge flying bugs...). Somehow the receptionist at the hotel was stayed at knew this and she accidently(?) put us in a smoking room.

Now, keep in mind I am telling this story with hindsight, which is 20/20. I know now that we were put in a smoking room. But we had explicitly asked for a non-smoking room. So when we entered our room, we were completely shocked. It smelled really bad. Everything had a film on it. There were odd little brown markings on almost everything (again, looking back at this, I can say it was probably burn marks)....

Needless to say, Renee and I weren't too thrilled. But neither one of us asked for another room. We just chalked it up to Arkansas being ... well ... nasty.

We traveled 469 miles today; we planned for an early as possible departure in the morning...

Cross-Country Trip Day 14: Lexington, VA to Cookeville, TN

OK. So maybe we should have visited Natural Bridge last night. We heard some fireworks going off as we had dinner, and later found out that they have a nice light show/fireworks display on most nights. So we missed that, which is sort of annoying. But to make matters worse: It's raining today. Hard. Really raining.

But we are undeterred and decide to hike through the park anyway. Aidan loves to ride in the hiking backpack and when it has the optional canopy on, he is fairly protected from the rain.

It was actually a good hike, and we got a chance to explore a lot of the place without too much interference from anyone else (i.e., no one else was silly enough to go hiking in a downpour). We had lunch at their cafeteria and then headed back out, finally stopping in Cookeville, Tennessee (about 409 miles from Lexington).

Cross-Country Trip Day 13: Toms River, NJ to Lexington, VA

We headed out early today, hoping to cover some miles before stopping in Virgina. Ultimately, we decide to stop in Lexington so we can go to Natural Bridge in the morning. We could have gone tonight, but we thought that it would be fun to spend a little more time there, and the sun was already setting by the time we stopped (and a pretty sunset it was, too).

We spent the evening at the hotel pool and went to bed early. After all the travelling that we've done, we're a little tired, but we are all very upbeat. There are still a lot of sights to see on our journey home. Can't wait to see Natural Bridge tomorrow.

Miles traveled: 419 miles

Cross-Country Trip Day 12: Manchester, CT to Toms River, NJ

One of the things that Renee and I were hoping to do on our trip was to have breakfast with my mom at Rein's Deli. We took care of that this morning. We were then going to head over to a little children's museum that Aidan may have liked, but he fell asleep on the way over there....

So, after catching up with my mom a little more, we were back on the road, this time on the return trip back to Austin, Tx. But first, a little stop over in New Jersey to catch up with some more family.

We got back to Toms River in the late afternoon. I wasn't feeling too well (something I ate didn't agree with me), so Aidan and Renee headed over to Jackson, NJ to visit with Baci (Renee's grandmother), Uncle Walter, Aunt Theresa, Renee's cousins Nicolas, Derek (he's also Renee's Godson), and Briana.

We covered about 240 miles....

Cross-Country Trip Day 11: Branford, CT to Manchester, CT

This morning we headed out to Middletown, Ct to meet up with my mom at Kid City. It was a very rainy day, so we ended up spending a lot of time indoors; a good thing an indoor activity was planned!

For lunch we headed over to Taj of India, which was some of the best service (and food) that we had on our trip.

After we had our fill of Kid City, we drove up to my mom's place in Manchester. All-in-all, a fairly restful day.

70 miles travelled today...

Cross-Country Trip Day 10: Branford, CT to Mystic, CT

Stephanie's mom, my Aunty Evvy, hosted a brunch today, which was very fun and gave us yet another chance to catch up with everyone.

Afterwards, we headed out to Mystic with Jody, Steve, Grandma Linda, and Grandpa Bob. We all went to the Mystic Aquarium and then headed to downtown Mystic for some Mystic Pizza!

We turned around and spent the night back in Branford: total round trip miles: 100

Cross-Country Trip Day 9: Glastonbury, CT to Branford, CT

Today is the whole reason for the trip: Stephanie's wedding. It was a wonderful ceremony and it was really wonderful to be able to catch up with a lot of people that we don't get to see often enough.

Congratulations Steph and Heath!

Travel distance: 50 miles

Cross-Country Trip Day 8: Day of Rest

Finally! A day of rest. We were going to try and go hiking today, but the weather isn't cooperating; lots of rain. My dad offered to watch Aidan for us, so Renee and I headed out to a little coffee shop (Daybreak Cafe) and then out to a movie (Matrix: Reloaded).

Virtually no miles travelled today!

Cross-Country Trip Day 7: Boston, MA to Glastonbury, CT

We spent the bulk of today in Boston with Grandpa and Grandma Deb. It was a little overcast and rainy, and a bit cold too. Most of our sightseeing was confined to the New England Aquarium (or, as some call it, the Museum of Fish), which Aidan adored.

For lunch, we headed over to Faneuil Hall, then back to finish off the Aquarium. We left for Connecticut sometime in the late afternoon and returned back to my Dad's house by dinner.

Another 110 miles down...

Cross-Country Trip Day 6: Glastonbury, CT to Boston, MA

We made our way up to Boston today with my Dad and Jackie to see the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway Park, a short 104 miles from Glastonbury. Grandpa and Grandma Deb joined us from New Jersey. We also met up with my cousin Brian, his girlfriend Katie, and the Ronan clan.

This was quite the pilgrimage for me, as I've been telling Renee about Fenway Park for about as long as I can remember. This was the first visit for her and for Aidan. Unfortunately, the home team lost, and Roger Clemens won his 299th career game ... But Nomar Garciaparra hit a two-run homer, which I called before it happened ...

Cross-Country Trip Day 5: Toms River, NJ to Glastonbury, CT

We got up relatively early today so we could get over to Renee's Dad's house and visit with them before they had to head out to work. But there was still plenty of time to wash the car and enjoy lunch with them.

We headed out a little before noon and arrived in Connecticut a little after 5p.m. we arrived at my Dad's house. Actually, we had a little stop over at the Meriden Square in search of some cool Red Sox gear for the three of us... Why? Because we are going to the Red Sox v. NYY game tomorrow!!!

We travelled a mere 218 miles today....

Cross-Country Trip Day 4: Pulaski, VA to Toms River, NJ

We're almost there. We drove through the beautiful countryside of Virgina for most of the day, and then hit the main-thouroughfares of Pennsylvania on our way to visit Renee's family in New Jersey.

So far, the trip has been very easy and low-stress. Aidan has been excellent and well-behaved the entire time.

We arrived in New Jersey a little after 6 p.m. and went straight to Renee's Mom's place for dinner. Finally, a home cooked meal! :)

We covered about 513 miles today.

Cross-Country Trip Day 3: Jackson, TN to Pulaski, VA

Today saw a little bit of rain. In fact, at one point it was coming down so hard I had decided that it would be safer to just stop and wait for it to pass us by, but just as I was about to pull over, we exited the rain, almost like we were pulling out of an automatic car wash.

But other than that, we were able to pretty much keep to our regular routine of eating at rest stops and letting Aidan run around to get some exercise.

Tonight's stop is in Pulaski, Virgina, which is about 518 miles from Jackson, Tennessee.

Cross-Country Trip Day 2: Dallas to Jackson, TN

We woke up early and headed out with complete ease. The weather is warm and overcast, but there's lots of storms reported ahead of us. Hopefully we don't catch up to them.

As part of our plan, we stop every couple of hours to allow for all of us to stretch out and run around. We stopped at the first rest stop in Arkansas (headed east out of Texas) for lunch, which was a pretty good place for Aidan to play with some toys and run after birds. We were there for a good two hours or so before we left, but it was a very refreshing stop for all of us.

Our journey today ended in Jackson, TN, about 560 miles from Dallas.

Cross-Country Trip Day 1: Austin to Dallas

We started our journey across the country. Our destination, ultimately, is to get to Connecticut in time for my cousin Stephanie's wedding.

The trek officially started this evening after everyone got home from work. We intentionally left after dinner, hoping that Aidan would have an easier time falling asleep in the car. Tonights destination is Dallas, TX. About half-way into our drive we stopped at the Czech Stop, a bakery that has very good Kolaches and is a usual stop for us on the way to points north....

Anyway, when we stopped, Aidan awoke, and became a little antsy. Luckily, it wasn't too much further to our hotel.

195 miles down; a whole lot more to go.