Day 9: The Final Leg

We left Des Moines at about 10 am since we only had about 7 hours to travel. But first, Camden had to "wash hands" in the hotel sink about 20 times. It's another "me do it" thing that she wants to do when we are using the restroom.

We were traveling through Illinois near where Kevin grew up. We had talked about finding something to do along the route, and he realized we would be going past a park and lake that his family used to go to when he was a kid. It's called, "Lake of the Woods." It was a beautiful area. When we first drove in, we saw several deer grazing along the road. We got further into the park and found the old tower that Kevin and his brother Brian used to climb the stairs in and roll down the hill toward the lake. We got out, only to discover it was closed for repairs.

Not surprisingly, the trees had grown significantly (and many more had been planted)in the 30 years since he last came. You no longer could roll down the hill or even see the lake from the tower.

We walked over to a playground area. Kevin remembered these swings being there when he was little.

Next, we headed over to the lake and crossed the suspension bridge. Camden enjoyed making it sway back and forth.

Kevin really enjoyed revisiting his childhood and sharing those stories and memories with his kids. It was a great end to an amazing vacation.