This summer, we've been trying to travel more. Little Dude has gotten to the point where he's self-sufficient enough that traveling isn't as hard. We're able to board Maya and have a good routine now. In this case, we wanted to visit Victoria's aunt Caroline in Pennsylvania. She is the minister who married us, and it's been a while since we've seen her.
The last time I was in Pennsylvania was in 2012. I mainly passed through it on my way to New York City. This time, I could take in some sights other than the interstate. We planned this trip over the Fourth of July weekend to maximize our vacation time.
We packed and hit the road. Our first stop was "Maya's Hotel," as Little Dude calls it. We dropped her off for boarding.
We then stopped at Einstein Bagels for breakfast.
After eating, I checked the radar. It looks like we might run into some storms.
The roads themselves seemed clear as we hit the Illinois Tollway.
We stopped at a rest stop to change Little Dude and let him run around a bit. I then sat in the back with him to keep him entertained.
The radar wasn't lying, and it started to cloud up a bit on the drive. Fortunately, we didn't encounter too much rain.
We then stopped at a gas station with a Burger King to get lunch and top off.
After lunch is Little Dude's nap time. I sat in the front as we drove through Illinois's cloudy, flat lands.
I've been trying to incorporate AI more into my travels. While Little Dude was sleeping, I used Perplexity to find rest stops along the way. We wanted to see how we could time things for when he woke up.
Before you know it, we were in Indiana at one of those rest stops.
We changed Little Dude and got a few things from the vending machine. I then sat in the back with him again.
A little more driving, and we were soon in Ohio.
The weather itself was looking a bit more threatening on both the radar and outside.
On family trips, I try to visit county courthouses while I can. It's not our first priority, but if there are convenient ones along the way, we'll visit them. In this case, we stopped in London, Ohio, where the Madison County Courthouse is.
This stop was convenient since we needed to stop for supper. Down the road from the courthouse was this awesome pizza joint called Ronettis. The food was amazing, and it was also super cheap.
London also seemed like a nice town overall. We were impressed with it. We soon made our way to our hotel in Columbus.
We want to try Home2 Suites to see if it better meets our needs. In many ways, this might become one of our go-to hotel chains. The room is spacious and has tons of amenities.
There was a lot of space to put our bags out of reach of Little Dude.
They also had a desk on wheels. You could move it around, which would be cool for one of my weekends away. I could set my monitors up and be productive while also enjoying the views out the window.
They also seemed to be environmentally friendly. Only a few hotels have a recycling bin. Most will greenwash and say they care about the environment. They only do this when they can shortchange you, like not washing your towels or skimping on other things. That saves them money. The true test is if they have a recycling bin. That takes more work on their part and is my test that they actually care about the environment.
Their free tier of internet had decent speeds.
There was also plenty of space for Little Dude's pack-and-play.
We put Little Dude to bed, and I went to work with more AI. I used ChatGPT to find all the courthouses along the way and how far they were from the interstate.
I then put the information into a spreadsheet I could reference the next day.
The following day, breakfast was really good. They had an excellent selection.
After we ate, we hit the road. We got gas and then headed to Downtown Columbus.
I then was able to visit the Franklin County Courthouse.
A little bit more of a drive, and we got to the Ohio State Capitol Building.
Our next stop was the Muskingum County Courthouse. ChatGPT seemed pretty accurate and said about the same out-of-the-way time as Google Maps.
We then drove until lunch. We stopped at a Dairy Queen, and I decided to get something lighter.
It was now nap time for Little Dude. We hit the road and let him sleep as we briefly went through West Virginia.
We were only in West Virginia for 15 minutes or so before crossing into Pennsylvania.
The interstate was super slow. A lot of the distance had a 55mph speed limit.
After what seemed like a lot of slow driving, we finally reached our Greensburg hotel.
Later that day, we met up with Caroline. We took Little Dude to the playground at Caroline's church.
Little Dude has proved to be a master climber. He was climbing on everything.
We went to Primanti Brothers for supper. A student of mine who lived in Pennsylvania recommended this place.
I got the PB Rueben. It even had fries on the sandwich!
We then returned to the hotel and settled in for the night. The next morning, we had breakfast there.
It was a bit cloudier as we drove to the Westmoreland County Courthouse.
We then headed to a playground to let Little Dude expel some energy.
I've heard a lot of good things about Sheetz gas stations. I haven't tried one until now. We got lunch from their made-to-order system. I'd say it was top-notch! I know where I'll stop if there's one in the area.
Later that night, we picked up Caroline and headed to Pittsburg. It's a very scenic city.
I hate visiting county courthouses in big cities. Fighting traffic and finding a parking spot are a pain. In this case, Victoria was able to drop me off. I told her to circle the block while I checked the Allegheny County Courthouse.
After that, we headed back to Greensburg. We stopped at Don Patron Mexican Grill for supper.
I got some shrimp tacos.
After that, we dropped Caroline off and headed to the hotel. We settled in and got ready for bed. The next morning was a bit cloudy, but it was going to be hot.
I decided to get creative for breakfast. I made myself a bagel sandwich.
After breakfast, we picked up Caroline. Since it was hot, we found an indoor play place for Little Dude to expel some energy.
They had a train to ride. I somehow wedged in the car with him.
For lunch, we got a pizza. It was really good!
When we got back, they had cleaned our room. I'm not sure where Little Dude had his Mickey, but they put it nicely on the bed for him.
That worked out perfectly, as he insisted he nap on the bed. We both took a nap next to each other.
After the nap, it was time to get ready for the Saturday service at Caroline's church. We'd be going to Harold Zion Lutheran Church in Greensburg.
Austin made it right before children's time and then got antsy. Victoria started taking him out to the other room. As she left, some of the parishioners told me to get him to bring him up to the front for children's time. Victoria was too far down the hallway, so I ended up sitting through the rest of the service myself.
I will say this congregation was super welcoming. A bunch of people talked to us after the service. I felt super welcomed there, and it was a great experience. The funny thing is, besides weddings, this was the first Lutheran service I had attended.
After the service, Caroline joined us for supper at Jaffre's Restaurant Bar & Six Pack. Since we were close enough to Philadelphia, I got a Philly Cheese Steak.
After that, we said goodbye to Caroline. We'd be hitting the road first thing the following day. We headed back to the hotel and tried to get some good rest. The next two days of driving back to Wisconsin would be long.
The next morning, I checked the radar. It looked like the remnants of Hurricane Beryl would pass through the area we'd be traveling. Luckily, it would be long after we were gone.
I then made another bagel sandwich for breakfast.
We packed our things, and Little Dude thought it would be fun to ride the luggage cart to the car.
After packing the car, we hit the road. We made a detour at a Sheetz for gas.
I wanted to get some local beer, but they only had some IPAs. I'm not a fan of IPAs, so I got Yuengling. I can't get that in Wisconsin.
Soon, we were on the road again. The sign had both of our planned courthouse stops.
The first stop was Washington County, Pennsylvania.
We were then in Ohio County, West Virginia.
We were soon leaving Ohio County, West Virginia, to enter the State of Ohio.
We initially stopped at a Steak 'n Shake, but it was busy. Taco Bell it is!
Down the road from Taco Bell was the Belmont County, Ohio Courthouse.
Now, it was time to high-tail it through Ohio. We ended up in London, Ohio, again at a Pilot for gas. It was interesting that Ohio doesn't allow beer to be sold on Sundays.
I had been riding in the backseat for a while. As we crossed into Indiana, my job was to keep the episodes of certain shows going.
We finally made it to the Indianapolis area. We stayed at another Home2 Suites, which was also top-notch.
For supper, we found a Steak 'n Shake. We had always been curious about trying one. It seems when you get to Missouri, they're at every exit. We had never tried it on past trips, but now was our time. Overall, it was pretty good. We'd definitely go back.
We returned to the hotel and settled in for the night. Upon waking, we got another great breakfast.
I rode in the back on the home stretch. Before you know it, we were in Illinois.
For lunch, we stopped at Love's and then went to Hardee's. This time, I opted for chicken instead of a burger.
A little more driving, and we were soon in Wisconsin. We took the two-lane highways to pick up Maya from her "hotel."
We were happy to see Maya and glad to get back into the village limits of Belleville!
The trip to Pennsylvania was nice. However, it was pretty hot and humid when we were there. I didn't realize how humid it is in that part of the country, so we were careful about going to parks outside.
It was cool to see Caroline again and also attend a Lutheran service where she was the minister. It'll be cool to return to Pennsylvania on a future county collecting trip. The area is beautiful, and there are a lot of cool things to see.