This trip is taking almost as long to recount as it did to live through it. When last we left, we'd just finished up our last full day in Columbus, and as Friday dawned it was time to hit the road and head for home. Scott came with us to breakfast at a chain called "Fresh Start" or something like that which was very good and substantial enough to carry us through lunch. Then it was off to I-70 and the eastward trip to the general vicinity of Harrisburg, PA, the more-or-less halfway point. The kids movied out in the backseat, Beth was elbow-deep in yet another book (she had been looking for something diverting in a general girly sf/f way, so I had suggested Bujold's "Curse of Chalion", which she plough through on the way west, and then the sequel, "Paladin of Souls" on the way back. Since Paladin of Souls is next on my list as I slog through the Hugo nominees, it was advantageous for me too since she could remind me in as much detail as I needed what had happened in the first book). So we only needed to stop for gas and bathroom breaks before reaching York, PA around 5pm. Checked into a business-type Quality Suites hotel, much newer and nicer than the other flophouses we'd been parking at, and even found a Chi-Chi's for dinner, which doesn't sound that exciting but we don't have one in our area any more, so for us it was a treat.



During the day we'd picked up some tourist propaganda on the area and Beth found there was some sort of balloon festival going on just outside of York, so after dinner we managed to find our way there (not by looking for balloons in the air, since there weren't any at that point), out in some park in a small town just north of York. They were just getting going as it had been too hot during the day, so we got to see about 20 or so hot air balloons inflated pretty much one by one and take off. It tends to be a very photogenic sort of thing, so got lots of pictures and video.



The next morning we weren't in a big rush to head for home, so we detoured back west for half an hour to Gettysburg, as I kind of wanted to visit the battlefield which we hadn't been to since the pre-kid days in '92 or '93. Since it was Saturday, the visitor's center was hopping, and we didn't bother paying extra for the cyclorama or the electric map since we'd seen them before and the kids could care less. Justin had some passing interest in what he was looking at in the museum part, but Chloe was bored silly. Walked over to the cemetary but that was as far as we got in the battlefield itself. I knew ahead of time we'd only have a couple of hours, but I definitely want to get back there sometime soon and do it right.



So we piled back in the car and headed for home, stopping at Wendy's just south of Harrisburg for a late lunch, then made it back to the ranch in about 6 1/2 hours. The house was still standing and all the mail had been delivered that day in a big bundle and covered up with the doormat. And no cat to clean up after or collect, either.



It's great to have the tv option for the kids on these long trips, since it cuts down substantially on the amount of sniping and complaining coming from the backseat, but on a drive like this one through Pennsylvania where there's actually something to see, it's kind of a shame that they miss the whole thing. At one point Chloe's ears hurt from the headphones and she was tired of what Justin was watching, but she wasn't sure what to do instead, so I suggested she do what we used to do and look out the window, and say "look, there's a horse" or whatever. She ultimately decided having sore ears and watching more of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II was a better option.