There's nothing wrong with Ohio...except the the snow & the rain

So I am on a kick to find a song for every blog post of our trip. I know I failed with the last one being "relaxing in the smokies" but I am going to find something to replace it with : ) There was not much to choose from with Ohio so I settled on lyrics from Bowling for Soup's Come Back to Texas even though the portion of 50 Nifty United States that says "O-HIO" keeps coming to mind.

We left Gatlinburg & spent a good 8 hours on the road before reaching our next destination which was just outside of Dayton.  Let me back up a bit & explain why we were heading to Ohio.  About a year & a half ago a couple named Dean & LouSena starting coming to our church.  They were looking for a Life Group to join & said that even though they qualify by hair color to be in the over 50 group, Dean said that too much gray hair in one room is a bad thing. So they joined 3 other couples in their 20's & 30's & never looked back. We have so enjoyed their input in our group & their grandparenting : ) They are snowbirds & spend the winter with us in Florida & then head back north to Ohio for the summer. We miss them when they leave & countdown the days until they return.

They live on some land outside of the city in a beautiful, cozy home.  Their hospitality was greatly enjoyed by our family. We thoroughly enjoyed their homemade black raspberry jam on english muffins. The girls enjoyed all their fun kids cups they keep around for their grandchildren & the extra attention they got from Dean & LouSena. Robby enjoyed seeing Dean's "toys" which consisted of woodworking tools & a tractor. I could have spent hours in LouSena's sewing room looking at all her quilts & projects she is currently working on. They cooked wonderful meals for dinner both nights & we got to eat with their friends & family. It was a perfect two days in the middle of our trip....just relaxing & catching up.

The first morning we took a walk around the mile long path Dean cleared that circles their property.  He road on the tractor & we followed until the whining (from Charlotte) became unbearable & she & I jumped on the back.

This very well might be one of my favorite pictures from the entire vacation. I love their little hands holding on tight to Daddy's shirt. Sweet girls, Sweet daddy, Sweet moment.

We passed about a million restaurants called Skyline Chili in Kentucky & Ohio. We were curious so we were really excited when they took us there for lunch.  Their specialty is none other than Skyline Chili of course : ) It is spaghetti noodles covered in chili sauce & topped with mounds of shredded cheddar cheese. It is served 3-way (as listed previously) 4-way (+ beans) or 5-way (+beans & onions).  A few years ago I would have found that combination disgusting but thanks to my husband I have begun craving things like Indian food & now I have been thinking about how I could get me some more Skyline Chili.  It was yummy  & we finished up our meal with some funnel cake fries....oh yum!

That afternoon, we went on another walk & I attempted to get a couple pictures of the girls together.

And like the gypsies we were, we packed up again to get back on the road.  The camera took a group picture for us before we left : ) 

Our drive from Dayton area to Dearborn, Michigan was only about 3 hours but in true Valentine road trip style we moseyed along at a slower pace.  Elo took a quick snooze & awoke when we pulled up to the Neil Armstrong Air & Space Museum.

The museum was great & the truth is, I was pretty excited to say I had been to a city called Wapakoneta ; )

It was funny to explain to Charlotte that people have visited the moon.  We tried to tell her about Neil Armstrong & a little of the history of people in space.....I think it went WAY over her head.

a Gemini Capsule

There were lots of things to look at like Armstrong's spacesuit & a whole slew of newspaper articles from all of the activity with the Space Program. They girls got to practice landing a shuttle.  I would say at this point, they are not even be able to safely navigate our driveway in a little tikes car so you can imagine how the shuttle turned out ; )

Our little astronauts.....

Elo's face cracks me up....looking at Char like "you are happy about that?"

Outside the museum there is a memorial for all of the people who died aboard the Challenger, Apollo I, & Columbia.  Names that have gone down in history. 

On a lighter note, who could leave the Air & Space Museum without having a yummy treat?  We saw the Astronaut Ice Cream & couldn't resist as it seemed like a little blast from the past for me & Rob. Honestly, it was not as tasty as I remember. Charlotte loved it though. We also picked up a super cool place mat so we could learn about the planets.

One last family shot before getting back in the car to our final stop....