Our I-65 Pilgrimage- Part 3 The End.

After leaving Panama City Beach, we headed toward Montgomery, Al where Mary and Josh live. We made excellent time on the road and made it in about 3 hours... the kids were great little travelers again. We arrived at our hotel in Montgomery and rested for a little while and then we went and met Mary and Josh for Chick-Fil-A for dinner. The kids got to get some energy out on the playground and the adults got to chat. It was really good to catch up with them. After we ate, we headed over to Josh and Mary's apartment. It was a cute little place. We looked at their wedding photo album and took a tour of their apartment. The kids were getting tired, so we didn't stay too long. Here's a picture of the kiddos with Josh and Mary at their apartment.
The next morning, we got up early and headed to the Montgomery Zoo. Josh's friend works for the Zoo, so Josh hooked us up with free tickets, a free stroller, and free drinks at the zoo. We weren't expecting all that, so it was quite nice. I can't say enough about what a wonderful little zoo they have in Montgomery. It was a small zoo, but that made it nice, because you could see everything and even come back around to the animals who were sleeping when we saw them the first time. Also, it was almost like we had our own private zoo. We hardly saw anyone else there the whole day. It was such a nice day!


Emma's favorite animal was the rhino. When we first walked over to the rhino, he was just laying on the ground sunning himself, so we watched him for a few minutes and were about to leave. Then, Emma said, "Get up little rhino," and much to our surprise, the rhino got up. Then Emma said, "Come to your river." The rhino then walked over to his "watering hole" and took a drink. It was neat. We called Emma the "rhinoceros whisperer" the rest of the day! haha!! Emma just loved the zoo. It was funny to hear her "commentate" each exhibit at the zoo.
The baby white tiger cubs were so cute. Last summer at Cincinnati Zoo, we got to see a small glimpse of some tiger cubs, along with about 300 hundred other people trying to get a glimpse at the same time. So, it was so neat that the kids got to be right up against the glass and watch the cubs play.
Luke and Emma got to feed the giraffes. Emma got a little scared, so I ended up feeding the giraffe as well. Luke loved feeding the giraffe and he really made him work to get his food.
Another animal we got to see was the sloth bear. Emma got right up against the glass and then the sloth bear came right towards her, she jumped back and got kind of scared. Luke says the bear roared at her. :) It was funny. I am glad I was able to catch the moment on camera. We sat and watched the sloth bear for a while. It is funny, but the "sloth" bear was one of the most active animals we saw all day!
We took a train ride all around the zoo as well. I think Luke really enjoyed the train, but I think it made Emma a bit sleepy. We had a wonderful afternoon at the Montgomery Zoo, I highly recommend it if you are ever in the area.
After the zoo, we went back to the hotel and rested. Then we headed out with Mary and Josh. We headed to park by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.... what a beautiful place. While there we feed some ducks. We had hoped to see the black swans there, but they must've already flown south for the winter because we could not find them.
We walked outside around the place. It was just a gorgeous place to take photographs. We also saw a beautiful sunset over the water outside the museum.
After the park, we drove to Prattville to eat at Jim and Nick's BBQ. It was really good food... but the best was the dessert. Seriously, the best chocolate cream pie ever... it was delicious. Mary and Josh had the pie at their wedding a few weeks earlier and I'd been wanting more since then. Dinner and the conversation at dinner was great. On the way back into Montgomery, we got stuck in a traffic jam... road construction on the interstate. It probably added about a half hour to our drive, but it wasn't too bad. I know Luke loved having the extra time in the backseat playing games with his Aunt Mary.

The next day was Friday, driving day. We were headed from Montgomery to Nashville and then Nashville to Bowling Green. We left Montgomery around 10AM hoping to miss rush hours in both Montgomery and Nashville. When we got on the interstate we hit a traffic jam again. From about Prattville all the way to Birmingham we did not get above 35mph on the interstate. It was getting quite frustrating. It seems like we were constantly driving from one traffic jam to another. We finally arrived in Nashville around 4PM, which is just at the beginning of rush hour.... another traffic jam.

We finally made it to our stop in Nashville, at the Nashville Dominicans. We were stopping there to see Sister Mary Anthony. She's a gal who was in the DTS (the youth group Andy leads). We wanted to stop and see her and the Nashville Dominicans. Unfortunately, since we'd been driving in so much traffic, we got there quite later than we'd expected, so we only got to spend about 45 minutes with her. She showed us around the place. It was gorgeous. She invited us to stay for Vespers, but let's just say it wasn't the most "kid-friendly" place, so we didn't get to stay. The kids were a little wound up from all the driving.

From Nashville, we headed to Bowling Green where my Aunt Gayle and Uncle Mike live. They had fixed us a wonderful dinner. My Aunt Gayle's turkey chili is fabulous. I can't wait to have it again. The kids got to play some air hockey and some Wii and then we all hit the bed. The next morning Aunt Gayle fixed pancakes and bacon. We got to talk and catch up with them. It was a great way to end a great trip.

This trip was a different type of vacation, different than I've ever done. My trips aren't usually about the journey, but rather the destination. This trip was about a journey with my family. A journey together... seeing new places... and making new memories in old places.

I can't wait to do it all again... even the traffic jam part! What a wonderful journey!