6 states...14.5 hours....finally home

I am currently recapping our 2018 family summer vacation to Indian Beach, North Carolina. To see the previous days please visit: 

Day 1: We went to Indian Beach, North Carolina again.

Day 2: Beach Time, HWY 55, Sorry and a Nighttime Walk

Day 3 (Part 1): North Carolina Aquarium, 4 Corners Diner, and pool time

Day 3 (Part 2): Fun on the beach and Stunning Skies

Day 4: Beach time, a funny story, pool time and ice cream

Day 5: Ben sick, Storms, Ice Cream, and the Pier

Day 6: Beach Time and Mini Golf

Day 7: Final Time on the Beach and in the Pool

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After packing everything up and getting everything ready to head back home and going to bed after 1 AM, my alarm went off at 6. Bill wanted to be on the road by 7. Funny story, when my alarm went off I thought it said it was 7 and I woke Bill up telling him that we overslept. Then realized my mistake. Oh vey. Bill went back to sleep, but I got up ready to get things done.

I took the trash out. I took everything done to the car and packed it up. Then I got the kids up and while they dressed I stripped their beds and then woke Bill up and stripped our bed. (We had to place all the linens in a bag by the door). I made sure that everything was were it should be. I took one more long look out at the horizon from the balcony. 

Then we headed out to the car and headed to the rental agency to return our keys. Then it was on the road to home. 

Note as we were going home, we decided to go a different route as there is MAJOR road construction the West Virginia turnpike and several people that we know who had traveled it that week said that traffic was gridlocked for hours. A friend who was coming home from the same area said that it added 2.5 hours onto their trip. So we decided to go up into Virginia and Maryland, across Maryland and then through West Virginia and Pennsylvania into Ohio. That way was SUPPOSED to be about an hour longer. Well, the GPS didn't take into account traffic on 95 where it splits off toward Baltimore, DC, New York, etc. We were in bumper to bumper traffic for a long time. ( A side note to that, AAA has announced a travel advisory for Ohioans coming home from the Carolinas as they have finally caught on to the extreme backups that are happening so they are suggesting an alternate route...just came a couple of weeks too late for us! LOL) Thankfully the kids slept off and on and there was no puking! YAY!

I will have to say that the scenery in Maryland was beautiful.

However, it seemed like we were in that state FOREVER! The kids were excited though since they had never been to Maryland and we stopped for dinner at McDonalds there. 

Finally, after 14.5 hours and being in 6 different states (North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio)we made it home around 10:30 that night. It felt great to be home relishing the memories of our week in the magical place that is Indian Beach North Carolina.