First road trip of the year, leaving on New Years Eve and getting home 10 days later. Lots of stops starting with a night in Ripley, West Virginia, then visits with Stephanie and Steven, Steven’s parents in Virginia, Brian, Amy and Sammy and Chris, Lia and Emma and then back home.

So here is our route, over two thousand miles all told. The trip included a quick side trip to Gettysburg and Piney Fork (Mary’s mom’s birthplace) in Pennsylvania.

Was able to visit and see the piece of land that Stephanie and Steven have purchased for their new home in Van Wyck, SC:

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A quick stop in Gettysburg, which was open to the public (with limited service) despite the government shutdown. Will need to go back some day and spend a whole day there.

Then on to Lebanon to visit Brian, Amy and Sammy. We were able to see Sammy in a wrestling invitational in the morning and then with his all star choir group at the Hershey Bears minor league hockey game that night. Go Sammy!

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Then back through Ohio to visit Lia, Chris and Emma. Had a nice warm day on Tuesday in which we took a nice walk at the Battelle Darby Metro Park, with Buffalos!

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So it was a very good trip with lots of miles. The only children we didn’t get to see over the holidays was Stephen, Heidi and Noah who now live near Denver CO. That is a much longer hike and will require a separate trip sometime this year.