9/26-9/29: Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania was mainly about the people. My cousin lives near Harrisburg, so we went to visit her and her family! It was amazing to be able to spend time with them. :) 

Her daughter has Krabbe's disease which is a terminal disease that will likely take her life before she turns 2. This was the first time I was able to meet her...and it was such a joy! She is such a precious girl. <3 Time with her also made me even more passionate about advocating for newborn screening that can save children with this and other leukodystrophies! 

We had the chance to go to church with them. They had some visitor after church, so we hung out and talked! 

Truly, it was a special time of being together. 

*Photo credit: Lesa Brackbill

Gettysburg was our tourist destination for Pennsylvania. We were disappointed to find out that our National Parks pass wouldn't cover the museum...or even give us a discount. We opted for the free battleground! Our first and favorite stop was to the cemetery. There was something powerful and humbling about seeing the number of graves, especially those unknown. And these were only the graves of the Union soldiers!! We had an amazing talk with the volunteer ranger who was on location. He showed us the dent the bouncing cannon ball had made in the metal cannon and told us where we could see the grave for the only civilian lost during the battle (bullet went through the doors of her house and killed her from behind while she was baking bread :( ). He also pointed out the tree that witnessed the battle of Gettysburg and is still around! We then proceeded to tell him about our trip. He was very interested in our story--and we enjoyed telling him about it. :D If you are reading this, know that we greatly enjoyed our conversation!! Thank you for sharing your knowledge!

*Back there is the marker to honor the only civilian killed in the battle and the location where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address!

*it was haunting how many unknown graves there were!

Before we left, we (actually Alyssa) made delicious pumpkin muffins! :D

We left Pennsylvania with many memories! <3

9/23-9/26: Ohio

Our first day in Ohio was full of driving! The first stop was to meet up with one of Alyssa's friends who she knew in California. She treated us to an amazing lunch at a local restaurant in Columbus! We then walked around the city and caught up on life. It is fun to make reconnections along this journey!

Then we drove to meet up with Steve and LeeRoy from Needle2Square. Steve is on an amazing journey to bring funding to Uzima Outreach which is an amazing operation that his buddy started in Africa. They help kids whose parents have been addicted to drugs by giving them food and schooling. There is more to the story, so I encourage you to check it out at www.uzimaoutreach.org! To bring funding and awareness Steve is walking across the country with his goat LeeRoy and talking to people along the way. We spent an incredible 3 hours with him, talking about the journeys we are on. He was an amazing encouragement to both of us!! (Update as of now: LeeRoy passed away from some sort of illness; please pray for our brother in Christ as he has begun walking again with a grieving heart and a new goat named Miles.)

From there we drove across the state to Cleveland where we spent the next few nights. We stayed with the aunt of one of Nicole's friends. She had been a Facebook friend for quite awhile, but now became an real life friend along with her family! It was a delightful place to spend our Ohio time; we loved being a part of the family for a few days. :) 

Alyssa and I decided that going to a National Park sounded wonderful after a long stretch of not going. Cuyahoga National Park was only 30 minutes away from where they lived! We walked along the Ohio & Erie Canal and learned about the canal history. 

During our second full day there we went to the Cleveland Art Museum with the person we were staying with. The art was cool, but the guards were...interesting. They followed us everywhere. You couldn't even check your phone for the time without them coming closer! I've never felt so watched and mistrusted before in my entire life!

*The armory was the best part!

Following the rather uncomfortable visit to the art museum we went to a beach on Lake Erie to enjoy our lunch! It was beautiful.

Our last day we spent at Wigs for Kids. It was one of the highlights of the trip! We were sorting through ponytails that people had sent in. We made sure they were in good condition, long enough, not colored, and didn't have too much gray. Then we rubber banded them so that they would stay together when shipped to manufacturer who makes the custom wigs for kids with hairloss. The people who we were volunteering with were also a lot of fun! :) Great end to our time in Ohio!!!

9/18-9/23: Reroute

(This was written awhile ago, so some timing details are off!)

Our expected plan and our actual plan did not line up at all for these 4 nights! It is the biggest re-routing we had to do since the start of the trip. We were supposed to be at one of Nicole's good friend's house. However, the day before we were supposed to arrive, ringworm entered the picture. It had spread to more than one person/animal, so the risk of picking it up in the house had increased. Therefore, we decided that we should postpone the trip. 

However, that first night we had plans to attend her son's birthday party. We decided that keeping that commitments de sense, especially because it was outside the house. I am so glad we did! It was so fun to connect with everyone during the celebration. It meant getting in late to our night time stop, but it was 100% worth it!!

So instead of with friends as planned we ended up back in Illinois and Indiana. It's not all bad; we had the chance to catch up on things like post cards, blog posts (ha!), and other misc things. AND we had the chance to relax and play games. :) 

Tomorrow we get back on the road to continue adding to our state count!! 20 down. 30 to go! 

9/15-9/19: Michigan

The Our entrance into Michigan was inaugurated by a stop at Honda for an oil change and front brake replacement! Fun fun. 

The next two nights were spent with a stranger who quickly became a friend! All three of got along so well!! We are already talking about the next time we can get together. Here is us next to a concrete sculpture that you can write on! We found it during our walk one night. :)

*of course we grabbed some chalk and left our mark!!

One of the main focuses during our time in Michigan was going to see Alyssa's grandparents gravesites. We had an amazing time of reflecting while we saw the graves and the farmland where her grandpa grew up. We bought two roses to lay on the graves along with leaving 2 notes she had written to them. What a special time!

That afternoon Heather (our new friend), Alyssa, and I went to the Turner-Dodge House. We learned a lot of history about two powerful families during the founding of Michigan. The private tour of the house was a nice perk too (and free candy!). 

Then our stay there was over (leaving Heather with a strawberry stain to clean out of her carpet...sorry!) and we headed to the Upper Penninsula for a couple nights. 

On our way to the U.P. as it is called, we stopped by Bronner's which is a HUgE Christmas store. They even offer a map upon entrance! I loved looking at the Christmas villages and dreaming of one day having my own. :) They had so many ornaments too!!! It was mildly overwhelming. Outside they had a nativity and verses about the true meaning of Christmas. Love. 

The next day we toured around Marquette with our host couple as our tour guides. :) We learned about the history of mining there as well as seeing beautiful views of Lake Superior. My favorite moment was standing with my feet in the tan and black sand on the beach by the water! 

9/11-9/15: Indiana

I From Illinois we drove to Indianapolis to spend the night in the oldest Union Station in America which has been converted to a Crowne Plaza. We had a wonderful evening exploring the hotel. It was almost magical in the evening light. :) 

The next morning we followed a virtual tour of Indianapolis on our phones. This led to some fun exploration including eating lunch in a dome that is above one of the intersections of the city and climbing up 300 steps to the top of a monument!! Definitely memories to last a life time. 

After exploring to our hearts' content we drove to our next destination near Fort Wayne. The next day was Sunday, and we had the neat opportunity to share about our trip with a church. A few months ago we were on a podcast; the church we spoke at was his church. :) thanks for the opportunity, Adam! Following church we enjoyed the company of people from the church during lunch. Conversations were good, and the burger we ate was probably the best either of us have ever had...!!

Fort Wayne was having an explore your own town day so admission to various places around town was free. We stopped at the fort after which the town was named and walked around. Then we realized we were so tired and needed to go 'home' to relax!

Our last day in Indiana we spent relaxing by the lake! It was a wonderful day of planning, resting, and overall enjoying our time. :) A much needed day of refreshment. So grateful to our hosts for allowing us to stay in this cottage right on the lake!!!