To the Ohio Trip {Days 1 & 2}

Ever since Gregg's parents got their mission call to the Columbus Ohio mission, they've been saying that they'd love to have us come visit.  As the months went on and we heard more and more about the cool places they discovered and the even more awesome people that they met, we were getting antsy ourselves to make the trip.  (Plus we missed them!)  So we booked our flight and planned to spend a week with them in their apartment in Coshocton in May.  And then both Paul and Kim got sick.  And then Kim stayed sick.  Eventually they decided to end their mission early so Kim could rest and heal at home.  And that happened the last week of April.  But our trip was still scheduled for mid-May.  What to do?  No offense to Columbus, but we really only chose to visit there because of who was going to be there.  And now they were home.  Crazy enough, my sister Megan will be living in Columbus for the next three years while she attends PT school.  But she wouldn't be arriving in Ohio until a couple weeks later.  Talk about timing!  We went through all kinds of iterations in plans and finally settled on what you'll see in the next few posts.  And we were even able to convince Kim and Paul to come back for a few days (she was feeling much better after a few weeks at home to recoup!) to show us around and introduce us to their branch.  It turned out to be a fabulous trip.  We saw lots of great sites, visited with good friends, met wonderful people, and made many memories.

Day 1: Tuesday, 8 May 2018

SLC --> DEN

We had an evening flight from Salt Lake to Denver, where we stayed overnight and completed our flight to Ohio the next day.  Nothing too exciting to report, minus the extreme adorableness of the kiddos experiencing airports and airplanes for the first time in their memories.  It was great to have Grandpa and Grandma there to take care of our car and wrangle the kids while we got the bags and car seats and everything checked and ready to go.

We rode a lot of moving sidewalks while we
waited.

Gah!  I can't even handle this cuteness!

He was sooo excited!

We're ready!

Great Salt Lake sunset

The teeny tiny table made a nice bunk for
Miss Min.  :)

Day 2: Wednesday, 9 May 2018
DEN --> CMH
We stayed overnight in a Microtel near the airport, but had quite a bit of time to kill in the morning before our hotel shuttle was scheduled to get us back (all the earlier slots were full, so we took what we could get).  We ate a leisurely breakfast, attempted to walk to a park we found on google maps but turned back due to lack of sidewalks on a fairly busy road to get there, watched some TV, "napped", and finally got to leave.  We didn't have time to eat our McDonald's burgers before boarding, but I am grateful we got to buy them before boarding and eat them on the plane.  ;)  3/4 of us got a good nap while we flew.  Once we landed and got our rental car all situated, we headed out of Columbus and out of Ohio, stopping somewhere along the way at a Wendy's for dinner (great sunset, though!), and sleeping in a Quality Inn in Erie, PA.

Some of our morning entertainment = watching this nest
out our window in the hotel.

So tired.

Scenic back-of-the-car-in-Wendy's-lot bedtime
prep.

My attempt at a moving car shot of some of the vineyards
we passed.