After two weeks on the road, we were happy to return home to sleep in our own beds and play with our toys (Hunter AND Patrick). We saw many spectacular and interesting things along the way and were sometimes surprised by where the journey led us. Through the eyes of a toddler, some familiar favorites faded away and new traditions emerged. One of my favorite parts of the trip was the discovery of some incredible baked goods along the way! I also loved sharing the trip with my two favorite guys and experiencing everything new again through Hunter.

Emily

While many told us we were crazy for taking a two week road trip with a one year old, I wouldn’t have done it any differently. It was great to see the east coast of this great country and all of the history along the way. We saw many great things, ate some amazing food and created many lasting memories. I look forward to taking this trip again when Hunter is older (and maybe has a brother or sister to share it with) and relive some of the great times we had. For now I am happy to be back in my own bed and at my own home with my amazing family.

Patrick

 Hayesvision.com Road Trip Trivia Leaderboard

After 10 intense rounds of Hayesvision Road Trip Trivia, it all came down to the high-point, highly contested LAST ROUND.  Down by two going into round 10, Ian Aronson made a miraculous comeback to outscore our previous winners Drew and Fran Griffin and take the trophy!!!  Congratulations Ian… your late surge really made a difference!!!!  Thanks to everyone who played along with our game… we really enjoy the fierce competition.

A Huge Hayesvision.com Congratulations goes out to:

Ian Aronson

for winning the 2008 Hayesvision.com Trivia Contest!

Starting Location: Hilton Head Island, SC
Destination: Hilton Head Island, SC
Dining Locations: Tide Me Over, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, SC; Signals, Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, SC; Scott’s Fish Market, Hilton Head Island, SC
Travel Time: 0 min

We awoke to a beautiful, sunshiny morning on the last full day of our road trip. It is always amazing how at the beginning of these trips you have the whole world (or east coast) ahead of you and somehow two weeks seems to fly by in a day. But then when you look back at the photos you realize just how many things you really saw and did during that time. It has been a great two weeks, and we were very happy to be winding down this trip at Hilton Head Island.

We started our morning by having a quick bite to eat at the Tide Me Over quick service restaurant at the main building of the resort. It was perfectly positioned next to the Community Hall where our first morning activity was planned. Because this is a Disney Vacation Club Resort they plan a number of activities throughout the day for people of all ages. The first event that was planned was called Shadow’s Toy Box. This gave young kids a chance to sit in a room and play with toys in the event that you were unable to bring them from home. Although we were pretty well equipped with our own toys we thought it would be a great chance for Hunter to destroy someone else’s toys for a change. Hunter had a blast running around and watching all of the bigger kids play.

After toy time we decided to rent a couple bikes and a bike trailer for Hunter so we could all head to Disney’s Hilton Head Island Beach House. Since Hunter was fast asleep in the stroller we took the opportunity to get the bikes checked out and set up for our trip. It was about a 15 minute bike ride but by Emily’s response when we got there you would have thought that she just finished day 10 of the Tour de France. Needless to say she won’t be wearing the yellow shirt tomorrow. (Excuse me, tell the tough guy that next time he can pull the fifty pound trailer and 30 pound child and then throw stones from his glass hiz-ouse.)

It was getting to be around noon so we decided to grab a bite to eat at the quick service restaurant at the beach house called Signals. Emily and I got the Weight Watchers Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches and Hunter decided to mix it up with a grilled cheese sandwich. The food was pretty good and the beach atmosphere was fantastic. I have never seen Hunter take so long to eat a meal. He somehow was able to take 1500 bites of a half of a grilled cheese sandwich. If Grandma G. were here I think Hunter would have joined her for an after lunch coffee.

After Hunter ran out of steam at lunch we headed to the beach house pool and water play area where Hunter had an absolute blast. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do more – the water fountain or the pool – so he decided to run back and forth a hundred times. I got to swim with Hunter in the big pool for the first time which was a neat experience. Hunter seemed to like it for about 30 seconds at a time and then insisted to get “down.” Because it was so warm the pool was a perfect place to hang out for a bit. I don’t have any photos of this but Hunter is becoming a little ladies’ man. He was definitely spitting game today. Not sure where he gets it… probably from his Uncle Drew in conjunction with his new four letter vocabulary (just kidding).

After some pool time the two Pisces boys wanted to head out to the ocean to become one with their fish counterparts. We all had a blast and Emily took a bunch of photos. The water, weather, and atmosphere were all perfect (not including the plethora of stomachs racing for maximum expansion). The beach has always been one of my favorite places, and I was happy to be able to spend it there with the family.

After our time at the beach and Emily’s 30 minutes with the oxygen mask, we were ready to bike back to the resort. Hunter was cashed out and was battling to hold his head up in the bike trailer. When we arrived home, Emily and Hunter both decided nap time was far overdue. I took this opportunity to upload the final trivia questions as well as a few overdue journal entries.

When everyone awoke we headed across to a shopping and dining location where we grabbed some dinner from Scott’s Fish Market and brought it back to the hotel room. The food was ok and Hunter ate his normal 12.5 bites and decided he was done. After dinner we headed back to the shopping area so Emily could ensure she has seen every t-shirt and charm created in 2008. (I went in four stores and it took like twenty minutes total. Sheesh.) I believe this was accomplished during this trip. Mom picked up a few souvenirs, and Hunter and I took in a little entertainment in the square.

The last event of the night that we attended was the campfire at the resort. I believe this event happens once or twice a week, but many of the hotel guests attend this fun filled event. I won’t go into all the boring details, but there was one funny thing that happened. During one of the team contests our team needed to come up with a unique “freestyle” dance to compete against the other team. Long story short, but the group decided that to open the freestyle, Hunter would play the role of baby Simba and Preston, the campfire leader, would hold him up a la Rafiki and chant. Not sure if it was a “you had to be there” kinda thing, but Hunter was not nearly as amused as we were. It was really funny. After singing and dancing we grabbed our s’mores and called it a night.

Tomorrow we head back home but this trip has been an absolute blast. Thank you all for following along with our trip. We hope that we brought you some amusement along the way. Don’t forget to play trivia. Final answers are due by Sunday night at 5 PM Eastern.

Starting Location: Holly Springs, NC
Destination: Hilton Head, SC
Dining Locations: Cracker Barrel, (Location: TBD); Giuseppi’s Calzone Delivery, Hilton Head Island, SC
Travel Time: 5 hours

We awoke to another hot and beautiful day in Holly Springs. Hunter was clockwork as usual at 6:45 ready to pat Max on the nose a couple hundred more times. Hunter wanted to make sure we put a picture of his buddy in the journal. We said goodbye to Fran as she had to head to work for the day. We were able to get a picture of Uncle Drew and Aunt Fran in front of their beautiful home before she had to leave. Hunter said his goodbyes and headed back to hang out with his buddy Max. We ate some breakfast and then spent some time visiting with Uncle Drew. Hunter was ready for his morning nap at around 9:00 so we used this time to get ready and pack our things. After Hunter awoke we got our final belongings shoved into the car and said our sad goodbyes to Drew and Holly Springs.

We were back on the open road: destination Hilton Head Island. I would tell you the route we took but that might make the trivia too easy so let’s just say we headed southish. We were all craving Cracker Barrel so we found the next one on the GPS and set our targets on it. Hunter was enthralled with his Baby Road Trip City DVD so we tried to get every last minute of the silence before we pulled off. Lunch was delicious, and you might find this hard to believe, but Emily wanted to shop before we got back in the car. This gave Hunter and I a chance to sit in our rocking chairs on the front porch and soak up the ambiance. Mom came out with yet another bag (which I am not sure where we were able to fit it but she somehow was able to. I am sure she threw something of mine to the side of the road, but I won’t know that until I get home).

We got back on the road and made some pretty good time, but because the drive was a bit long and we were tired of traveling we needed to make one more stop before we arrived. Emily thought because it was so hot that we should stop at McDonald’s and get Hunter an ice cream cone (his first official one). To say he loved this thing is an understatement. (Click here to see the video) He was supposed to be sharing this with Emily, but after she took two bites, she would not be allowed near it again. It was really fun to watch.

After about 15 minutes and 200 napkins, Hunter had conquered the cone and we were back on the road. We ended up making one more stop at McDonald’s again to get Hunter a Happy Meal because we didn’t end up getting to the hotel until about 6:30 and he was hungry. He ended up eating on the road but he didn’t seem to mind.

We got to the Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort at 6:30 and checked in. Hunter saw his buddy Mickey (or hmm hmm as he likes to call him). We spent a bit of time visiting with the front desk cast members who gave Hunter a pin and some stickers. He seemed to enjoy the lobby very much. We then headed to our room which was an absolutely perfect way to end a very enjoyable vacation. The room and the grounds were just what we needed, quiet and beautiful. After I rolled the luggage into the room for the last time (my back couldn’t be happier) we decided it was time to get ourselves some grub. The only weird thing about this resort is that there is no restaurant that is open for dinner. This left us one option due to our laziness – order in. What better to order than some delicious calzones from Giuseppe’s. The calzones were delivered and devoured very quickly. They were quite good.

We spent a bit of time running around the room before it was bed time for Hunter. We put him down and relaxed on the couch while conjuring up some of our last trivia questions. It was another great day from the road and we are excited to explore the resort tomorrow.

Starting Location: Holly Springs, NC
Destination: Holly Springs, NC
Dining Locations: Chipotle, Cary, NC; Parker and Otis, Durham, NC; The Fractured Prune, Raleigh, NC
Travel Time: 0 hours (except for touring around the city)

We awoke to the relaxing comfort of casa de la Griffin in warm Holly Springs. Hunter again found the magic 6:45 am time to work on his pronunciation of the word “down”. After about 5 minutes of his panting (because he wanted to see his buddy Max), we got him and brought him down to see his pal. Max was only mildly excited to see Hunter because this meant that he would have to continually walk around the house for a while to shake the kid.

Fran left for work at 7:30 but we were informed by Drew that she was going to be able to work only a half day and hang out with all of us for the rest of the afternoon which we were very excited about. Until Fran’s arrival home, I spent time catching up with Drew. Hunter and Emily took this opportunity to catch some extra sleep by napping.

When Fran returned home, Emily and Fran were kind enough to head to Chipotle and pick us up some delicious tacos. Because of the Tomato Scare of 2008 we were unable to get their wonderful salsa, but we managed without. We all enjoyed our lunch and conversation while Hunter took his second nap of the day. Casa de la Griffin is really comfortable.

After Hunter woke up and consumed his cheese quesadilla, we headed to A Southern Season (a local fancy food store) to look around at all of the wonderful things they had. I know many of you are thinking this was my idea but, believe it or not, it was on Emily’s itinerary. While Emily shopped I ran the Indy 500 with Hunter around the wine selection trying to get him to take a 30 minute nap before dinner. Apparently I ran the course just right because I was successful.

After A Southern Season, we headed to another fancy grocery store/restaurant called Parker and Otis that Emily went to during her last Holly Springs visit. The place was fun and had some delicious sandwiches that we all enjoyed. Hunter had yet another grilled cheese sandwich. Being his fifth of the trip, I believe I can now say he has officially consumed a total of one collective sandwich. After we finished our food we sat around visiting and asking Hunter to show us his muscles, which is his newest circus trick. I have to say that I am a sucker for these kind of things. He tightens his face and neck much like the Hulk and raises his arms. I can’t really do it justice with the photo but the one above taken by Fran does a pretty good job.

We departed Parker and Otis and decided that we still needed more food for some reason. Fran had suggested a wonderful little donut shop that was close by called the Fractured Prune. They specialize in “hot always” cake donuts. It was well worth the trip because these things were freakin’ good. We all picked out a unique donut and went outside to enjoy them. Hunter got the kids meal that was served on a frisbee. I am so glad that we got one of those or else he wouldn’t have been able to throw it once and then lose interest. He has the focus of his dad.

We powered through our donuts and got in the car to head back to the house. Believe it or not, there was still one more stop that we needed to make. I am not sure if you have heard of this place but there is this local coffee shop called Starbucks that I was informed was a must see before we returned home. I am not sure if you know this but Hunter is now asking for a drink of Emily’s Iced Skinny Hazelnut Latte Crappucino drink thingy. I know he is only 15 months, but I think I am losing him to the Dark Side. Everyone downed their ever important caffeine before bed and we went home.

Before bed the ladies decided to give Hunter a rock star hairdo and photo shoot. He as always was a good sport and struck a few poses. Bed time did not come quickly this evening. Hunter decided he wanted to get back at Max for barking and screamed for a good 45 minutes before he demanded to come “DOWN!!!” Mom brought him down for one last visit with Uncle Drew and Aunt Fran. Fran was good enough to catch some great photos that she shared with us. He relaxed with Emily and Drew and then decided that it was time, and we put him to bed for the evening. We stayed up for a bit, chatted, and then called it an evening. Another great road trip day and an enjoyable visit with Drew, Fran and Max.

Starting Location: Hershey, PA
Destination: Holly Springs, NC
Dining Locations: Room Service, The Hershey Lodge, Hershey, PA; Glory Days Grill, Lorton, VA; Fran’s Bistro Chicken Pasta Salad, Holly Springs, NC
Travel Time: 7 hours (and 12 viewings of the road trip video)

After waking up to Hunter the rooster at his normal 6:45 calling, we were happy to find that Emily was feeling better from her Salmonella/food poisoning/stomach ulcer illness. I always love it when Emily is sick because she has her Web MD list of things that just must be wrong with her. Hunter and I did feel bad for her, however, and were both happy to see her back in action.

The goal of this morning was to get our crap together (at this point in the trip it is all crap!) and hit the road because we had 7 hours of travel time ahead of us. We amazingly were able to get all of our things packed and out the door by 9:29 which was a minute ahead of plan.

We said our goodbyes to the great city of Hershey and set the GPS to Holly Springs, NC. The road was pretty uneventful today. Hunter drifted between sleeping, eating, and watching his road trip DVD (and only the road trip DVD, btw). I gotta give the guy credit – he has been an amazing traveler for all that we have put him through. This is me crossing my fingers for another hour of napping… and it worked.

We decided to pull off for lunch right about the time that Hunter decided that it was time to pull over for lunch. We ended up at the Glory Days Grill. Unfortunately, we continued our stretch of poor dining experiences in the lovely town of Lorton, VA. Our food and drink barely met the standard for something that would require compensation for receiving. Our waiter (who shall remain nameless *CHRIS*) could not have had less zest for life. I am always amazed at the people who work in a service orientated business who don’t realize or care to recognize how their behavior is a direct correlation to the amount of nickels in their pocket at the end of the night. This clown would be lucky if he had any paper currency to has name at quitting time. But I digress.

We finished our meal and rejoined the cars on their way to who-knows-where. After a stretch on the highway we decided to pull off and stretch our legs at a rest stop. Luckily for Hunter, there was a dog that he ran after for a good 15 minutes. Being that it was about 100 degrees the dog was ready for Hunter to be back on the road. We tossed the ball around a bit and got back in the Murano because we wanted to get to Holly Springs ASAP to get settled in. We ended up arriving at about 6:30 and were welcomed by Drew and Fran. Fran had made my favorite Bistro Chicken Pasta Salad that we enjoyed immensely. We put Hunter to sleep and stayed up until about midnight catching up on our busy lives.

Another great day of travel and company.

Starting Location: Hershey, PA
Destination: Hershey, PA
Dining Locations: Kit Kat Cafe, Hershey, PA, Bear’s Den, Hershey, PA
Travel Time: 4 minutes to the park

I think I’ll call this one “Greetings from the Comfiest Bed on Earth” or “Greetings from the Town That Poisoned Me.” You decide after reading.

Emily here again. In an effort to catch up before the last leg of our trip, we are sharing journaling duties. I am actually typing from the bed in Hershey, as I have been poisoned tonight by one of two things: 1) tainted tomatoes on my earlier sub 2) too much Hershey’s chocolate. We went downstairs to dinner and I ordered some soup and then had to leave the table and return to the room as the poisoning took full effect. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today did not turn out like we expected. We intended to get up, head out early, revisit Hershey Park, then hit Chocolate World for the activities there. Well, by the time H graced us with his second awakening of the day (who can argue with a kid who wants to nap?), it was 11 before we got in the car. Since the fahrenheit had already hit the chilly temp of 95, we decided to reverse the order and hit Chocolate World before the park. Air conditioning versus sweltering, unshaded park… tough decision. We went inside and bought our tickets for the trolley that was conveniently boarding that minute. It was for a 45 minute tour of the town of Hershey guided by two “actors.” You will soon understand why I use quotation marks. We grabbed the tokens, headed out to the trolley, and sat down in our front row seats. Perfect! Well, until the driver flipped a switch and the trolley shut off. Flip. Flip. Turn key… nothing. Flip. Flip. Driver disembarks… comes back. Turns key. Nothing. Disembarks. Another trolley person comes on and tells us the manager is on his way and we will hopefully be on our way soon. Meanwhile, Hunter squirms on my lap, contributing to the sauna effect of the now-un-air-conditioned trolley. When the manager arrived, he politely explained that the trolley was broken (um, duh) and that we were all welcome to go in and get tokens for a different trolley time. We went back in, exchanged our tokens, and headed for the “factory tour.” Again with the quotation marks…

The factory tour, which apparently used to be an actual tour of an actual factory (novel), is now a ride similar to a Disney ride whereby you ride in a Spaceship Earth type vehicle and ride through a simulated factory experience. There are singing cows and lots of mocked up conveyor belts, but the whole thing took about 2 1/2 minutes total and did not contribute much to my overall knowledge of anything cacao related. After the tour, the nice lady gave us two candies each (even two for Hunter.. sweet!) and we were dumped into – what else – a gift shop. Chocolate and more chocolate. At one point I started to feel like it was Halloween and I was in overload… there comes a point when there are SO many sweets everywhere that they lose their luster. And if you know me and my penchant for really anything to eat, you know I do not say this lightly!

We decided to get some lunch before the tour and for that we passed up the dull-looking food court for the more fun sounding Kit Kat Cafe. Fun sounding… but to borrow a term from Patrick, I was averagely whelmed. It was not bad, not good… just there. And I was poisoned, possibly, by the tomatoes. So I’m really not a fan. There is not much to say about lunch except that it was overpriced. We did run into Ricky Reese’s Cup again, though, much to Hunter’s delight.

After lunch, it was time for the trolley again. We crossed our fingers and headed outdoors. We were unpopular in the crowded line due to Hunter’s insistence that I let him “DOWN,” and you could see these people thinking, “Oh, thanks for bringing your cranky baby on OUR trolley tour.” We ended up in the next to last row on the warmish trolley (Patrick’s FAVORITE environment, if you’ve been paying attention) and off we went. We were guided by Amanda and “Wilbur,” the “actors” who were going to tell us about Hershey. From what I could make out between the muffled microphones and patchy script, Hershey almost failed a buncha times and then made out big when he sold his “carmels” to England. Being of the camp who pronounces all the “a”s in her “caramels” I was having a hard time focusing on anything other than the word “carmels” and feel I may have missed some important history. There was talking and some singing and some hokey skits involving Wilbur getting on and off the trolley and coming back as different historical characters, but the best part for us was Hunter completely passing out in my lap. He was SO out… mouth open, drooling, sweating… it was priceless. He’s not much of a cuddler normally so I enjoyed my brief snuggly moment.

After the trolley, it was back to Chocolate World for dessert. Hunter had some vanilla ice cream (some = two bites), Patrick had a dark chocolate milkshake, and I had a piece of mini Reese’s Pieces cake (see: poisoning, Part II). After eating, there was some shopping to be done (of course), and then we decided to head back to the hotel. We wanted to give Hunter some time to run around and maybe nap again before we headed back to the park this evening. The nap plan worked and both he and I fell asleep (separately… see: not cuddly) for a good solid two hours. By the time I woke up at 5:30, it was time to get the show on the road if we were going to accomplish anything. This is where the night started to go downhill. Hunter woke up, got a change of clothes, and we headed for the elevator. I remarked that I felt weird… kinda dizzy and a little nauseous (again, not to be all Ashlee Simpson, but I know you’re all thinking, “Ooh, Hunter’s getting a new little brother or sister!” and I assure you 100% that is not the case). We got seated for dinner, and I continued to feel worse and worse. Before the food even hit the table, I told Patrick I was coming back to the room. Like the champ and great dad that he is, he managed his own dinner AND Hunter’s in the restaurant and then brought my soup back in a takeout container. My boys took good care of me when they returned. Well, Hunter crawled over my face a few hundred times and hurled his pacifier at me another few times, but he does it out of love.

So here we are. What about our return to Hershey Park, you ask? Not in the cards, I’m afraid. I felt so bad because Hunter had such a fun time there last night and we really wanted to see his face light up again. He was having a pretty fun time in the room, though, and who knows if he would have discovered the same joy in the park again tonight. We unfortunately will not know, as I have been ensconced in this cozy bed for the last three hours watching crap TV (aka my favorite kind) while Hunter sleeps in his “cozy cave.” Patrick being the genius “arcing” thinker that he is, realized in one hotel that those blackout curtains make great room dividers. We shove the pack-n-play in the corner, wrap the curtain around it, and voila… Hunter is immune to our laptops and TV watching, and we don’t have to live in a dark cave starting at 8 PM.

Tomorrow we head back to the road for our longest ride yet… Hershey to Holly Springs, to visit Drew and Fran in their amazing new house. It will be Patrick’s first time seeing it, and we are excited for Hunter to be reunited with their dachshund, Max, a super cool dog. Two nights there, then off to Hilton Head to finish up our trip in a place we have never been but is sure to feel a little like home… Disney’s Hilton Head Resort. We are excited for both of our next two stops and will report from the road!!

Starting Location: Tarrytown, NY
Destination: Hershey, PA
Dining Locations: Hot Bagels, Oakland, NJ; Red Robin, Hershey, PA
Travel Time: 4 hours (some bad turns in there)

After a beautiful night’s sleep for the three of us, we were excited to hit the road to Hershey, PA. We repacked our 12 bags, which has gotten to be the norm, and headed out the door just as Hunter was hitting his “I need some sleep” phase. Because we had not yet had breakfast we decided to look for a fun breakfast place along our route. We enjoyed our breakfast sandwich at the Tettambel household, so we decided that New Jersey would be a perfect place to look for a bagel shop. We are forever indebted to our GPS (Jeeves, as we like to call him) because he led us right to Hot Bagels and an absolutely heavenly breakfast sandwich. We devoured our sandwiches in our car before we got on the road. We got some strange looks from the cars next to us because of all of our groans of delight with each bite we took. Doesn’t take much to impress us.

After our delicious sandwiches (did I mention they were really good?), we got back on the road to Hershey. It was a beautiful day although it was about 95 degrees. Because it was a Sunday the drive was very smooth with little traffic. Along the way we decided to stop by a McDonalds to get some tea because we were sick of Diet Coke. We saw the golden arches sign and decided to pull off. Huge mistake. Apparently the sign was for the McDonalds in Texas because it took us about that long to get there. I swear I saw the Mexican Border patrol but that could have been due to lack of sleep. After we got our tea and two tanks of gas we were back on I-78 en route to Hershey.

We arrived in Hershey at about 2:00 pm and went on the never-ending quest to find our hotel. Jeeves made his first mistake of the trip and was unable to locate the hotel. He thought it was in downtown Hershey and insisted he was right. Turns out it was about 1 mile away from that. We forgave him, though, because we were still having happy thoughts of our bagel sandwiches. After locating the Hershey Lodge, we checked in, got our free Hershey bars, and went to the room. We unpacked our belongings and gave Hunter a chance to stretch his legs out and run around the room. Turns out he enjoyed that quite a bit. He was feeling a bit goofy and wanted to show off for the camera. The kid is a ham! This is his new face when you tell him to “SMILE!” for the camera.

After wearing a trail in the hotel room carpet, we felt it was time to explore the rest of the hotel. It turns out that they have “characters” that will do meet-and-greets in the lobby for all the kids. I wasn’t sure how much Hunter really cared about meeting a giant Hershey bar but who knows with this kid. When we got down to the lobby sure enough Ricky the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (or whatever his name was) was there to say hello to the guests. Move over Mickey! It turns out that Hunter has a new favorite animated character, the Reese’s thing-a-ma-jigger. He was literally standing on the stroller trying to get down and see this thing.

After the love fest with the chocolate cup guy we headed to a local eatery that Emily was craving, Red Robin, yummm. Hunter decided that he wanted to fall asleep in the three minutes that it took to get there so we ended up driving around a bit and then made some noise when we arrived to accidentally wake him up. Don’t tell me that you other parents out there have not employed this devious trick. We entered the establishment, consumed some incredibly mediocre food, got Hunter a balloon, and headed to the park.

Because we had already purchased tickets for the following day, we were allowed to enter the park 2.5 hours prior to closing the night before for a preview. Since Hunter was not ready for bed and we had nothing better to do, we decided to take them up on their offer. We paid our ten dollars (don’t get me started on this one), parked, and walked to the park. It was a warm evening but we were excited to see this new destination. The park was much like I imagined, some fun rides and lots of people from Pennsylvania. I know there are a few folks reading this journal that are from this fine part of our country so I will try to not offend. As I walked the park I decided that we are going to move here and open up a tank top and anklet shop and make an absolute fortune. There, I got that off my chest. We enjoyed our stroll around the park and Hunter could not stop sitting on the edge of his stroller taking it all in. It was really cute to watch him look and point at things. And of course you could always count on the “CHOO CHOO’s” when he saw the train. We made our lap around the park and decided to head back to the hotel to put Hunter down for the night.

All in all today was a really fun day. Just thought I would throw in one more cool photo from the park below.

Starting Location: Kennebunkport, ME
Destination: Tarrytown, NY
Dining Locations: Merriland Farms, Wells, ME; The Striped Bass, Tarrytown, NY
Travel Time: 4 very quiet hours

We awoke to a very strange sight outside our hotel window, the sun. That’s right, it started out and ended up being a beautiful day today. We awoke to the beautiful sound of our Hunter alarm clock at 5:30 am. Since we had nothing better to do, like sleep, we decided to get up and embrace the day. We enjoyed the delicious muffins that we had purchased at the grocery store yesterday. Emily would probably go on record saying that Dad and Hunter were pretty crabby this morning. Might have been due to lack of sleep.

After breakfast, getting ready, and packing the car, we decided to take a few fun pictures on one of the decks near our hotel. The idea was born from a photo of Emily as a child drinking a carton of milk near the Kennebunk Book Port. Well for those of you who have not been to KBP in a few years, the Book Port is a thing of the past. Not to worry though, you can now get flip flops in the same place. The exact location of the original picture was not apparent, but we found another spot that we thought we could use. Emily got dressed similarly to the original photo and we captured a bunch of cute pictures of both Emily and Hunter. It was a fun photo shoot. (Emily’s note: That pose makes me look like I am nine months pregnant… it was just the dress. One baby is plenty for now!!!)

After the photo shoot we finished up the shopping, which I was informed that we had not yet completed. A couple laps around the downtown area later, and we were ready to check out and be on our way. We said goodbye to Kennebunkport and headed to grab some lunch at the berry farm in Wells. This is a place that we stop at every time we are in the area because there is nothing like it back home. The restaurant is on a beautifully manicured par 3 golf course. The weather was perfect as was the food. The best part was after lunch Hunter was in a very playful mood so we ran around the grounds getting some fun photos. Because we had a long drive ahead and dinner plans with my cousin Paul, we needed to wrap up the photo shoot and be on our way. We enjoyed our time in Kennebunkport and look forward to a return in the future.

The drive to White Plains, NY, was one of the quietest of the trip so far. Hunter took a solid 2.5 hour nap and Emily joined him for about 45 minutes of it so it was just me and the open road. Gave me some time to get my thoughts straight and to not listen to the wonderful DVD music from Hunter’s new favorite video. I also have this thought every time I travel at just how amazing it was that people crossed this country in a covered wagon back in the day. We are traveling at 75 miles per hour with a McDonald’s and gas stations every 5 miles, and we feel inconvenienced when they are out of hash browns. We live in a different time. But I digress.

We arrived in Tarrytown, NY, at about 5:00 and got ready faster than we ever have so we could meet Paul and Sheri Langlois and their kids at the Striped Bass restaurant. We probably won’t remember this in 15 years, but we had to get ready so fast to be at the restaurant for post time of the Belmont Stakes horse race where Big Brown was going for the first Triple Crown in 30 years. As I said in the previous sentence, we won’t remember this because he did not win the race, and we all went on with our lives. We enjoyed a very nice dinner on the Hudson River overlooking the Tappan Zee Bridge. The dinner and company were both very enjoyable.

We wrapped up dinner around 8:00, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the room. As I mentioned in a previous post, Hunter has checked out of this vacation and made another plea this evening, sitting in the suitcase begging to be sent home to Grandma and Grandpa Griffin and his comfy crib. In all truthfulness, Hunter has handled this trip like an absolute champ. Now that we know the magic DVD to watch in the car and what his travel schedule is, we have found some common ground to meet upon. Stay tuned tomorrow for our trip to Hershey, PA!

Starting Location: Kennebunkport, ME
Destination: Kennebunkport, ME
Dining Locations: Henry VIII Carvery, Kennebunkport, ME; The Maine Diner, Wells, ME
Travel Time: None

Today was a continuation of the rainy weather that we have been experiencing the the last few days. Today it was paired with a bit colder weather as well. Being that my favorite days are cold, rainy and overcast, this was just perfect for me (not so much). Because Hunter and I were ready to get out of the room, we walked through the morning mist to pick up some breakfast for the room. We got some incredible chocolate croissants which were absolutely TDF. After inhaling mine in 3.7 bites without taking a breath, we finished getting ready and headed out into the rain.

Our first stop was one of our favorite grocery stores (or as my mom calls them food stores). There is a fun grocery store in Wells called Hannaford. It is amazing how much fun a grocery store can be when the weather outside is frightful. Emily kept commenting on how much better their selection was than back home. Did you know they have more jellies to choose from? I know, I couldn’t believe it either. (SEVEN KINDS, FOLKS! SEVEN! And that was just one brand!! Seedless strawberry Polaner’s??? I clearly need to speak to the Publix manager and tell him to step up his jelly game. — Emily) After picking up just the essentials (that always reminds me of one of the opening scenes of Dumb and Dumber. If you are a fan you know what I am talking about), we headed back to the room to put away our cold goods.

After staring at all of that delicious food we were hungry. Emily had a hankering for a sandwich, so we stopped at a place we had not eaten before, Henry VIII Carvery. They had delicious sandwiches and a very friendly staff. I would love to go into more detail but how many different ways can you say, “The subs were really good”? I am sure Emily can probably come up with a dozen – that’s why you are lucky you got me today! he he.

After lunch, Hunter wanted nothing to do with our hotel room, so we decided to head to the Trolley Museum and see some of the Choo Choos. We packed up the car and Hunter and headed that way. No sooner had we pulled out of the hotel parking lot and Hunter was fast asleep. This worked out perfectly because the museum was about 8 minutes away! Needless to say, we took a tour of the greater Kennebunkport area while he slept his little heart out. We passed by Walker’s Point, which is where George Bush goes to vacation when he is not teaching speech and grammar to second graders. As is the norm every time we go to visit the Point, it was equally covered in fog and secret service agents. Apparently we weren’t on the guest list this weekend and the gate was closed.

Hunter finally arose from his mighty nap so we made our way to the museum. We could tell we were getting close because of the increasing intensity of the mighty Hunter train call. The trolley museum was cool but you couldn’t help but feel a bit let down from the true potential of this place. This is the oldest museum of its kind in the world and it looks a bit like a run down trailer park. There are a ton of very old unique trolley cars that are just sitting in a field. If you get a chance I would suggest that you go but just be prepared to be averagely whelmed (not sure if those are even words but what the heck). After taking our trolley ride on an old New York trolley car from the 1940s, Emily was able to catch a scent and sniff out a gift shop. I am just lucky that they didn’t let us charge a trolley car to the Mastercard, or I would still be trying to force it into the back of the Murano.

We said our goodbyes to the trolley museum and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner with Scott, Terri, Alyssa, Kendall, and Marcel. Scott is Emily’s cousin and the rest of the folks are his amazing family (Except Marcel who is Alyssa’s friend). They were gracious enough to leave their quiet, peaceful lives and join us at one of the busiest places in town, the Maine Diner in Wells. There really isn’t anything easier than getting a table for 8 at 6:00 on a Friday night. The only thing we had going for us is that most of the place sat down for dinner at around 4:00. As to not offend any age group you can draw your own conclusions as to who those folks might have been. The dinner and company were absolutely amazing. Emily had this incredible lobster pie, and I had an awesome baked haddock. One of the best meals so far on this trip if you ask me. Five spoons I say. We wrapped up dinner and stayed outside and chatted for a bit in the 48 degree heat and called it a night.

Because of the previous night’s experience we decided to put Hunter in his pajamas and drive him to sleep before taking him to the room. I believe it worked like a charm. It was a great day and the Scott Schnathmanns, as they are called in the family, are always a wonderful family to spend time with when we are in Maine.

Till tomorrow.