By the numbers: one car, 12 days, eight states, and 3,378.3 miles

Our Key West family road trip came to a bittersweet ending when we arrived home on Tuesday, August 21, close to 8:00 pm, after a long drive of almost 480 miles from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

In comparison with the miles logged, this trip was not as impressive as our Grand Canyon or Yellowstone road trips. But the Key West road trip was nevertheless a smashing success and enjoyed by all of us. We traveled a total of 3,378.3 miles, through a total of eight states - Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. It was the first time that Clare and Conor had visited South Carolina and Georgia. Our longest driving day was the second from Ellicott City, Maryland, to Columbia, South Carolina, and our shortest driving day was from Islamorada, Florida, to Key West, Florida.

We visited two U.S. National Parks - Congaree National Park (27,000 acres) in South Carolina and Everglades National Park (1.5 million acres) in Florida. We saw two Southern cities with great historic preservation districts - Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina. We visited grand homes and estates from the Gilded Age, first on Jekyll Island, Georgia, and then in Palm Beach, Florida. We had some ultra fine dining (The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida, Ariete in Coconut Grove, Florida, and Atlantic's Edge at Cheeca Lodge), and one not so great dinner (Apollo Diner in Melbourne, Florida). We also hit up some classic "road food" places like Ray's Diner in Columbia, South Carolina, Love's Seafood in Savannah, Georgia, and Hominy Grill in Charleston, South Carolina. We did fit in some classic road trip stops, like Florida Southern College, whose campus has 13 buildings designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing in Ocala, Florida.

The highlight of the road trip, of course, was lazily driving the length of the Florida Keys, soaking up the beauty of the ocean on both sides, luxuriating in Islamorada at Cheeca Lodge, driving the seven-mile bridge across the ocean, and touring the paradise known as Key West. All in all, a fitting end to the summer.

Our Toyota Prius V, the little car that could!