Road trip 2012 - DC to PA

Monday night we had some pizza take-out from a highly rated local place. It was good. Then we said goodbye to Wendy and she disappeared in the early morning hours to go meet family starting to come into town in Pittsburgh.

Tuesday we had to pack up and leave this beloved city. But at least one of my most anticipated events was still to come. We got to go to 'my' temple. This is the temple where I was sealed to my parents when I was just 5 years old. I was completely giddy with excitement as we drove the 30 min from our hotel to this beautiful place.

It's so huge and wonderful. I don't remember much from my first visit, though.

Returning as an adult.

Temples are sacred places of worship for members of our faith . Read more about temples here.

While Strider and I went inside for a while, the kids hung out in the parking lot (aka with food) and in the visitors center nearby. They patiently waited for us.

We came out and the older boys got to go back in with Strider to do some proxy baptisms. They loved the experience of going to a temple other than ours at home.

In the early afternoon we hit the road, on a northern route this time. Bound for PA!

Even though I got made fun of time and time again for my endless photos of farms (Potter and Strider), I think they are delightful and beautiful. And a symbol of Pennsylvania. And I will continue to take pictures of them, thankyouverymuch.

State line!

Gettysburg wasn't too far out of our way, so we stopped here for the history teacher :)

The fam with Abe Lincoln

Coming straight from the temple and being in this region, Strider looked either 1) like a Jewish rabbi or 2) like a Mennonite preacher. We got lots of stares in the visitors center. I thought it was so funny.

There was a huge memorial near the battlefields where you can look out at the place where so many people fought for what they believed in so long ago.

Many houses in the area are registered as civil war hospitals. This is one of them.

Is it wrong if my favorite part of Gettysburg was this amazing fruit stand along the roadway?

Have you ever seen a bigger peach??

More farms. Shushh.

Getting closer!!

The sun setting over the Susquehanna River.

Kids being silly with the radio :)

We got to my brother's house in State College around 9pm and roasted marshmallows with him and had fun for a couple hours before crashing. I love, love, love PA and it was so cool to live here for the next week. More to come.