Kayla and I wanted to take a big family road trip for our 10 Year Wedding Anniversary.
We decided to visit her family in Pennsylvania and make many stops across 11 states and many cities. We drove through Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania and Delaware.
In this article I will highlight the stops, attractions, restaurants and other areas from our Big Family Road Trip.
Enjoy a video of our youngest son Cale dancing in front of some of the places we visited on this trip. Please Subscribe.
We will update periodically to include links to detailed articles about each one.
We like to plan a few things and leave room for random things. We had DC as our first official stop but we were up for any random places along the way.
Tennessee
Our first random stop was Nashville, Tennessee.
We stopped for dinner and some views around the city,
We decided to eat at Pucketts because it looked like a fun restaurant for the whole family and they even have live music most evenings.
I enjoyed a delicious chicken fried chicken.
You can find out all about Pucketts in our Foodie Article Here.
After lunch we stopped by the Parthenon.
The Nashville Parthenon is a full scale replica of the original in Greece and has a museum inside.
It was a little rainy but that didn’t stop us from enjoying Nashville.
We really want to spend more time in Nashville during a future trip. There is so much to see and do.
Virginia
After Nashville we continued our drive East to Roanoke, Virginia.
We stopped for dinner and a stroll downtown. We ate at Fork in the Market. They had delicious pizza.
After dinner we went to check out the Roanoke Star and Blue Cow Ice Cream Co.
You can find out our foodie experience at Fork in the Market in our Foodie Review Article Here.
The Roanoke Star is a giant star on a hilltop that lights up at night. We could see it from the Blue Cow Ice Ice Cream Co. shop.
Find out all about the delicious locally made ice cream in an article here.
Washington DC
After filling our bellies we drove to stay the night in Arlington before reaching our first officially planned stop in Washington DC.
Kayla and I loved seeing some monuments and Iconic landmarks with the family before having a day and evening to ourselves.
Check out the Best Fun Free things to see in DC in one day with Kids in our article here!
Our boys continued seeing the National mall landmarks with Maw Maw and Papa and Kayla and I headed to the Museum of the Bible.
We rented bikes through the Capital Bike Share system. It was the best way for us to get around town.
You can find out all about the Capital Bike Share in our article here.
The Museum of the Bible was an amazing experience. They had historical artifacts, interactive exhibits, walkthroughs, VR experiences, and more.
Learn more about it in our Museum of the Bible Article Here.
After our experience at the Museum of the Bible we checked into our hotel and got ready for our dinner date.
We ate on an Odyssey Dinner Cruise that took us around Washington DC through the Potomac River.
Article all about our dinner cruise is coming soon.
Pennsylvania
The next day we drove to Coatsville PA to spend time with family.
Monday we went to Hershey Park and stopped for some Duck Donuts in Hershey PA.
It was the best donut I ever had! Find out all about Duck Donuts in the article here. (Coming soon)
While in Hershey we spend most of the day at Hershey Amusement Park. We rode a ton of rides and 5 roller coasters.
Find out tips for visiting Hershey Park in my article here.
Delaware
The next day we drove to Delaware and spent the day at Rehoboth Beach.
It was so much fun, we enjoyed the beach, ocean, boardwalk and more. Check out our article all about it here. (Coming soon)
Pennsylvania
Wednesday we went to the Strasburg Railroad and rode a steam train across the Amish countryside.
It was a blast! The whole family enjoyed it and we had a picnic on our stop.
Find out all about the Strasburg railroad in an article coming soon.
After the train ride we went to explore the Amish areas and stores.
We shopped at the Kitchen Kettle Shopping Area in Intercourse, PA.
We ate dinner at Miller’s Smorgasbord. It was a unique buffet with a large variety of Dutch inspired food.
That evening we played golf at village greens mini golf .
It was a fun interactive golf course with moving obstacles and trick shots.
The next day we went to Pine View Dairy and ate delicious ice cream next to the cows that help produce it.
It was so adorable seeing the calf’s at the farm and very interesting seeing how they milk the cows.
We will have an article about our experience there soon.
After ice cream we went wine tasting in intercourse, Pennsylvania.
West Virginia
The next day we started our road home. We stopped and explored Harpers Ferry for a few hours.
It was amazing and we will have an article all about Harpers Ferry soon.
Maryland
After some more driving we stopped at Penn Alps restaurant and historic village.
The Food was amazing! Some of the best food we had on our entire trip!
This historic village was a bonus surprise. We got to tour an Amish house and saw many unique buildings.
We also walked across the Casselman Bridge. 6 presidents had walked across this famous bridge in Maryland. It’s even classified as a State Park.
Kentucky
The next day we continued driving and stopped at Cattleman’s Roadhouse in Kentucky for lunch.
Illinois
Later that evening we stopped in Mt. Vernon Illinois. We saw a historic village which was closed at the time but we were still able to see the buildings and outdoor exhibits.
That night we ordered some Faziolis Pizza. We had driven by some on our trip and were excited to try. We don’t have any Faziolis back home and we really enjoyed it.
Missouri
The next day we stopped in St. Louis to see the Gateway Arch and explore the free museum.
It was so great seeing the finished museum. It’s only been open for a few years now.
After St Louis we stopped at the Redmens Candy Factory. They had Ana amazing. Variety of candy and snacks and the cleanest fanciest restroom we’ve seen on the road.
That wraps up the highlights of our recent big family road trip!
I will continue updating and adding links to detailed articles about the individual attractions and destinations from this big family road trip.