The first day, Father's Day, June 15th, we left after having brunch with Fundi's parents (after church). It was the perfect light get-you-on-the-road type breakfast. And, as many of you probably know, there were road closures throughout Wisconsin because of the terrible rains and floods we have been having here. Particularly in the Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton area... more on that later. We would have thought that we would have been a little further into Illinois, but as it was, we only made it to Rockford before we had to get a room and put the kids to sleep. It was by far the earliest we got a hotel the rest of the trip, but it was a good start. We were on the road for about 6 hours that day, and we only took photos of us on the road, so that is what you see here:
The following day, June 16th, we left Rockford and drove some more. And we drove, and we drove. Illinois is a VERY long state to travel from top to bottom, but that is what we did. We ended up going through Kentucky and ending up in Nashville, Tennessee that evening. We had requested a room with a divider so that we were able to put the kids to sleep and then hang out past 8:00 with the TV on. So, that is what we got. And it worked well. As a matter of fact, I think we got pretty spoiled while we were on the road. We were able to find great rooms at a really reasonable price, as long as we didn't hold out for the super beautiful hotels.
That day we spent about 12 hours on the road. We left by about 9am, after breakfast, and checked in about 9pm. It was a long day and the kids spent a lot of time in their car seats, but it was really great to finally wake up the next morning and be able to stay where we were going to be for two nights.
Nashville was a good time. We drove around near the Grand Old Opry the next morning before anything was open. Then we decided that we would find something to do. We went to the Nashville Zoo. It turned out to be the perfect place to take the kids and walk around and spend some of that energy the kids had from the days of being stuck in the van. When we entered the zoo we got a map, as is customary. After walking shaded paths for a while, we came to an opening. To the right of the opening there was this huge (66,000 square feet, I think) play area for the kids. The kids were able to run around and be free. There was even an area that was completely padded with mats for the little kids. Burbles just learning to walk really enjoyed this area. She was able to fall and lay down and giggle when she fell instead of being on a hard surface. The zoo continued to impress us through our whole visit. It was well layed out and broken up into manageable sections with facilities located in the center. The other thing that really impressed us was the great shaded areas. It made me feel better about having the kids outside in the fresh air without worrying about over exposing them to the sun. I'm happy to say that no one got too much sun on the entire trip. There was also a carousel that we were able to ride. It had beautiful animals and the kids had a good time. It was so cool to see the kids so very excited about the animals. The zoo and the animals themselves looked very well cared for and they seemed to have plenty of area to move around, which is something that makes going to a zoo better than seeing animals in cages.
After the zoo, we went and took a nap in the hotel. Then we went to the Aquarium restaurant for a splurge on dining. We had a really good time and had a great waitress. It was neat to watch the fish swimming by as we ate.
