What's the most important thing thats happened to you in the last year?

Staffer at Conner Prairie
The most important thing that happened to him in the last year was that he quit his corporate job after working in the insurance industry for 20 years and started working with the animals at Conner Prairie

waiter at a cafe in Westchester, PA
The most important thing... he woke up in Washington DC and didn't know how he got there. Lest you think it gave him pause, he was quite impressed with himself.

Guy in the grocery store in Foxboro, MA
He bought a new car... a Ford Taurus ES, he always wanted one.

Muhammed, NYC cab driver
His sister had her first baby. All of his family is back in Bangaladesh.

A guy on the National Mall in DC
The most important thing was he got a dog (an American Bulldog) and thats been life changing for him.

IMAX movie goer in DC, from Boulder Colorado
The most important thing that Has happened in the last year is that he started painting again. He paints with acrylics and watercolors.

Smithsonian Employee, from Adams Morgan, DC
The most important thing that happened to him in the last year was that he got a new job helping people and he loves it.

a friend in Christiansburg, VA
His wife reached her 2.5 year mark of being cancer free!

Patron at the Cracker Barrel outside of Nashville, TN
She commited her life to Christ after her husband had been nagging her to go to church for 30 years. She attended a retreat and it changed her life.

Man sitting at the gas station in Delight, AR
"The most important thing? I'm still here... thats important 'round here."

Customer at Frank's Grocery Gas & Cafe, Bokchito OK
She was 36, and her first grandchild was born to her unmarried 19 year old daughter.

Restaurant Patron at Don Jose's, Wichita Falls, TX
Her first grandchild was born.

Waiter at Don Jose's in Wichita Falls, TX
A student at Midwestern State studying business, said the most important thing this year was that he got all A's and B's in school, noteworthy for him since he's "on the 10 year plan."

Waitress at the Cookery in Amarillo, Tx
She got engaged this year

Lady pumping gas in Tijeras, NM
The most important thing that happened to her was that she came back to Christ after becoming a Christian in 1989 and drifting away.

High School girl from College Station, TX
(we met her on the shuttle bus in Grand Canyon Village) She said the most important thing that happened to her this year was that she hiked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. She realized that if she pushes herself, she can do anything!

Lou, Conductor on the Grand Canyon Railway
He said the most important thing that happened to him this year was he turned 76, and he's looking forward to 77.

Waitress at the Ludlow Cafe, Ludlow CA
Her 17 yo son taught himself to play guitar... someone told her he was really talented, so the most important thing that has happened to her this year is they got him a guitar teacher. They both hope he can make a career out of it.

Driving Home

Well, there seems to be a major storm in the Midwest and we are in the middle of it.  We can't go north into the snow, and we can't go south into the snow and wind. 

 

So we got up on Friday morning and checked the weather forecast and the highway conditions and hit the road.  It rained all the way to Springfield MO where we stopped for the night.  The weather was so bad that we waved to the Gateway Arch in St Louis and kept driving, worried about getting through the storm.  In Springfield, the campground was equipped with storm shelter, and so we told that if the storm sirens went off in the middle of the night, we would have shelter.  We were glad the ditch was no longer our only option.  We slept through the hail and rain and got up the next morning and checked the forecasts and conditions again and hit the road.

 

It stormed all the way into Oklahoma and Texas, where we saw fresh snow on the ground.  But by the time we stopped for the night in Amarillo, we seemed to have left the storm behind as it moved into the northeast and we moved west. In Oklahoma, things inside the car got a little dicey, mostly because the weather had been so bad that the girls couldn't run around outside when we stopped.  So we brought out the laptop and a harness we had brought along and got out the movies.  Ok, only 1 movie, Madagascar, which the girls watched 4 times in a row and we can all recite now.  Once we got to Texas, we promptly went to Walmart and bought out their $7 family DVD section.

 

Also in Texas, we ate near where we were staying at The Big Texan, a place that advertises a free 72 oz steak if you can eat it all in an hour.  The waitress told us that usually at least 1 person a day tries to eat one, but only 1 a month or so actually eats it all and gets it free.  The record is 12 minutes or so, by a 115 lb Cheerleader.  We didn't even try and were happy with our regular sized steaks.  They were really good too.  It was a fun place to eat, the walls were covered with game trophies and they had a shooting arcade that Mikaela and Madeline enjoyed.

 

We left Amarillo and headed west through New Mexico.  Around lunch time, we decided to take a detour and go north to Four Corners Monument, the only place in the US where four states meet:  Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.  It was a lot of fun, and we were so happy to be back in the sunshine and warm weather.  We didn't arrive at Four Corners, until about 6pm at night, and we were still 2-3 hours from a campground, in the middle of the Navajo Indian Reservation.  So, we ended up deciding to stay in a hotel in Kayenta.  The Holiday Inn there has family suites and kids eat free... sooooo.  We considered asking if we could just park overnight in their parking lot, but Dad started mumbling about showers and room service, so we took the room.

 

We had intended to sleep in, but the girls were up at 6... their body clocks all messed up from all the different times zones we had driven through.  So we had breakfast and got on the road.  It was a long day driving through Arizona, and we all cheered once we crossed the Colorado river into California.  We forgot about some apples we had bought back in Boston, and the inspectors confiscated them from us outside of Needles... oh well.

 

We thought we were home free coming over the Cajon Summit, only to see traffic at a standstill in the Cajon Pass.  While we waited for the traffic to clear, we all talked about our favorite things on the trip.  Mikaela liked Colonial Williamsburg best, while Maddie said she liked Mississippi the best.  Aislinn and Abby still were saying they liked the ship exhibit at Jamestown the best.  Kristian said he liked the Grand Canyon and Washington DC the best.  I said I liked Washington DC and Manhattan the best.  We then talked about the funniest thing on the trip... which by a majority votes was when Daddy retrieving his glasses from the river in PA.  The one dissenting vote was Daddy of course, who still wasn't sure that river swim was funny at all.  He said the funniest thing was the day before, when Abby was fussy and sleepy and tired of being in the car.  She thought that passing the time by kicking the seat in front of her was a good idea, while Daddy (who was sitting in front of her) disagreed.  She was reprimanded several times, until she (and we) was very angry.  She clenched her fists and set her jaws and said quite sternly that she was "very very very very very very mad."  With each "very" she pause at looked at one of us, and then looked at the other parent on the next "very."  It took every ounce of strength to keep our composure and tell her that we understood that she was mad, and were glad she was telling us, even though she still was not going to be allowed to kick the seat.  We were laughing so hard at those "verys" that I started to cry and Dad was choking.  We did not want to openly laugh, as we really did appreciate that she used her words instead of screeching and we didn't want to mock her since she really was mad.  I don't know if that description captures it, but I wholly agree with Dad that it was the second funniest thing on the whole trip.

 

Well, things cleared up fairly quickly in the pass and we were on our way.  We got home about 8:30 and after ordering pizza we all fell into bed.

 

Thanks for keeping up with us and sharing our adventurous journey!  We'd especially like to thank all the people at home who took care of things while we were away, especially Auntie Karen who took care of the house, and Mr and Mrs Leslie who took care of our bird.  Thanks!

Conner Prairie

Well, since it was snowing, we hung around the trailer during the morning and caught up on mundane things.  Then we decided to drive up to Conner Prairie about noon, since it seemed to have stopped snowing.  We figured we'd go into Indianapolis to the Children's Museum there if the weather turned bad.  But, although it was really cold, and there were occasional snow flurries, we made out all right.  After all, it wasn't as cold as Boston!  A huge plus was that just about everyone else stayed home and we practically had the museum and grounds to ourselves.

 

Conner Prairie is a living history museum about pioneer life in the early 19th century.  Indoors there were exhibits about the Indians in the area and about the pioneers moving west.  We learned about toys and dress and farming, and about making log cabins... the log cabins were such a huge hit (mostly with Daddy) that we bought our own set of Lincoln Logs in the museum shop.

 

Outdoors at Conner Prairie, we visited "Prairietown," an pioneer village set in the 1830's.  Like Williamsburg, the museum has actors working around the town and in the various buildings who do not break character and even asked the girls to help with chores.  The the Inn and Tavern we learned that they not only sold wine and whiskey, but they sold "spaces" in beds upstairs.  That's right, 2 or 3 people would sleep in each bed, and your spot was only 12 cents.  The innkeeper let the girls feed the chickens and then they helped sweep the porches.  We also visited the weaver's house, the schoolhouse, the Dr's house (which was by far the fanciest), the mercantile, and the potter's house.  At each stop the girls got to hear and see how people lived then, and got to help with chores, bringing firewood in, and sweeping up.  We learned that the children usually only attended school during the winter, because there was too much work to be done the rest of the time.  We learned in the mercantile that shoes were made uniformly (not right and left).

 

We also got to see the Conner House and farm, much as it was almost 200 years ago.  The barn was filled with animals and the girls got to pet and feed most of them.  They had a goat that was nursing a baby lamb that was the third in a set of triplet lambs.  They also had twin lambs, and some calves and a lot of baby chicks.  They were waiting for the piglets to be born any day. 

 

In all, even with the bad weather, we had a great time at Conner Prairie and were glad we added it to our plans.

On the way to Indiana

Well, we were supposed to go to Niagara Falls after Boston, but it just doesn't want to quit snowing there.  We don't really feel like pulling a 9000 lb 34 ft trailer through snow and ice, so on Tuesday we headed south again retracing our route through New England and across the Tappan Zee Bridge.  We went south through New Jersey and headed west into Pennsylvania.  We made it west of Harrisburg in a little town called Bedford, PA.  We had called ahead to a campground to see if they had space and they did, so we programmed the GPS to get us there.  Well, we followed the directions down a road that came to a one lane covered bridge.  What is it with PA and one lane bridges???  Well, we thought we met the height requirement, and so into the bridge we went.  We made it ok and we were just about over the excitement when the road we were on turned to gravel, and then dirt.  We checked the GPS and we were on the correct road.  Well we went a little further and got a little more nervous and found a spot we could turn around in, and so we did.  After studying the map some more, I found an alternate route and we found the campground.

 

It was beautiful, right between a small lake and the Juniata River.  As soon as we were set up, the ducks came to visit us, and so we gave them some stale bread and made friends.  Then we went for a walk down the other end of the dirt road that was supposed to connect with were we had been on the other side of the campground.  Well we walked around and for a while, it looked as if that dirt road did go all the way to the road and the covered bridge, until we came to a creek and couldn't find the road.  Well, it was very muddy, so Dad didn't want to cross the creek, but I really wanted to see if I could find the road on the other side, so I hopped over without event.  I did indeed find the road we had been on, but there was no place where it crossed the creek and so clearly we had been right to turn around.  So then I tried to rejoin everyone else on the other side of the creek, but I had walked a bit and wasn't in the same place and it was even muddier here.  I tried to jump it, but my foot sank down about 12 inches into the mud when I jumped and the muddy bank schlupped up my shoe right off my foot.  It did wrestle the shoe out of the mud, but it wasn't wearable and I still had to walk back to the campground.  I was wet and muddy and starting to get cold, but we were all laughing pretty hard.  I walked for a while with one shoe, but when the dirt road turned to gravel, I was having a rough time of it with no shoe on the gravel.  My knight in shining armor made me a shoe out of tree bark and vines, but it only lasted about 10 steps.  Then he valiantly took off his sweatshirt and tied it around my poor shoeless foot and we all walked back to camp.

 

PA waterways have not been kind to this poor family.

 

We got up early the next morning and got back on the turnpike towards Indiana.  I was snoozing and missed the welcome signs to West Virginia and Ohio.  It started raining pretty hard in Ohio and that wasn't much fun.  We made it to Indianapolis about mid afternoon just in time for thunderstorms and tornado warnings.  On the radio we heard that a tornado had touched down about 30 miles north of us.  The radio said people should get in their basements, and if they were in a mobile home or trailer they should find a tornado shelter or go outside and find a low place or ditch and lay down.  Well, I may only have one shoe, but I aint laying in no ditch, I'll take my chances with the munchkins on the yellow brick road.

 

All was well, and though a trailer in the campground lost an awning, we survived just fine.  We woke up on Thursday morning to find it snowing though, oh well.

Boston

OK, so its cold in Boston.  REALLY cold... in the 20's with the wind chill.  We drove to the T station, only to find out they weren't running all the trains into Boston because of the Easter Holiday.  So we took a bus to a different station where the T was running and went into Boston.  We arrived at Boston Common and were instantly miserable... we were freezing.  We were all covered up in coats and scarves and mittens and hats and yet when the wind blew our faces hurt.  So after standing around trying to work up the courage to walk the Freedom Trail, we finally became cheesy tourists and bought tickets for a trolley tour (translation: heated bus). 

 

We road around Boston and got to see some parts of the city we wouldn't have otherwise.  We got off at the Aquarium and went over to Quincy Market to have lunch and to look around the shops.  Then we got back on our trolley and went up to the USS Constitution (Ol' Ironsides).  The tour guide pointed out where Paul Revere was waiting and watching the Old North Church Steeple for the signal (1 if by land 2 if by sea) before his famous ride to Lexington and Concord.  We took a guided tour of the ship that was lots of fun, and heard all about the ship's role in the newly founded country.

 

Not being used to keeping track of hats and mittens, we had multiple losses and just kept buying new ones at the sidewalk vendors.  Aislinn lost a pink "Boston" hat on the first trolly ride and was really upset about it.  The Trolley manager felt so bad he went and got her a couple of pink hats to choose from, from one of his vendor friends.  She picked a New England Patriot's hat, and so we snapped a picture of Gillette Stadium on the way home.

 

On Monday, we decided to go back into Boston again.  We had thought maybe we'd head out to Plimouth Plantation, but the weather was warmer (in the 40's) and we wanted to walk the Freedom Trail and shop.  So back to the T station we went.  More trains were running, but they don't necessarily go as far as they say they will, I don't know how people figure out that system.  In DC and NYC, the trains follow the printed schedule and route.  In Boston, the train may go all the way the Govt Square like the schedule says, or it may stop at Park Station and one just crosses their fingers, I guess and gets off and waits for the next train if one must.  Whatever.

 

So walked the Freedom Trail and that was a big hit with the girls, they liked following the red brick line.  We saw the Old Meeting House where the colonists decided to dump all the tea overboard.  The Tea Party Ship and museum were closed while they redeveloped the docks there, so we didn't get to see that.  Then we went up to Paul Revere's house and were able to tour it.  Then up a few more blocks through little Italy to the Old North Church.  There are no pews, but only boxes, and the colonists were required to purchase their box, and furnish it themselves.  These days the church is still in use by the Episcopal Church and seating in the boxes is first come first served.

 

Then we got some advice from a local shopkeeper about a good Italian restaurant in Little Italy and ended up at Familia Georgios and had a great lunch.  Then we headed to the T station to take the train up to Cambridge.  Aislinn and Abby really wanted to see where Robby went to school and so we went and checked out the Coop (the MIT book store) and the twins are some proud owners of some MIT t-shirts.  Then we took the T back into Boston and went to Filene's Basement.  THAT was fun, and would have been a lot funner, if I didn't have whiney children and a whiney husband with me.  The whiney husband did find himself some shoes, to his credit.

 

Our 2cnd day in Boston it was so much warmer, that we were all wearing too many clothes and were having to haul around our jackets and trying to shove extra sweaters in Daddy's backpack.  Oh well. 

 

On our way back to the campground we saw a Mercedes 230 with the license plate "Larsen."  I was sure they were my real family, but Dad wouldn't follow them.  Whatever.

New England

After worrying about the weather forecasts calling for snow in New England, we woke to a partly cloudy sky and had a pleasant drive up to Boston.  We went slightly west to the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey to avoid the George Washington Bridge and the Bronx.  We went all the way up to the beautiful Tappen Zee Bridge (and her hefty toll, tyvm).  The weather was nice all the way up the Connecticut coast, and through Rhode Island.  We arrived in Foxborough, MA at Normandy Farms, a cool 4 season resort.  They had an indoor heated pool that was a big hit with the kids. 

 

For the first time on our trip, we were advised by the campground staff not to leave our water hose connected, but rather fill our holding tank and disconnect all hoses... because it was still freezing at night.

New York

Well, it started raining as we left Pennsylvania, and poured all the way to New Jersey!  We got to our campground in Jersey City about midday, so we went into the city to meet a friend.  The only way into the city is the PATH train, so we walked the 4 blocks in the pouring rain to the station, and into Manhattan we went.  After bad directions and poor cell service, we finally met up with our friend in midtown.  We went shopping for a while and then headed to Chinatown for dinner.  While looking for a restaurant, I was checking out the designer knockoff bags for sale in the tiny shops.  I ended up buying a "Prada" bag from a tiny room through a false door at the back of a tiny shop.  We had a great dinner at a Malasian restaurant, and then walked down the block to a bakery and had some dessert.  It was still rainy and cold, but we were having a great time.  We headed down to ground zero at the former World Trade Center site.  There is a temporary memorial there while they build the permanent one, and it was very sobering.  Then we took the PATH train back to Jersey for the night.

 

We were up early the next morning and went back into the city to the MET.  It was cold, but dry... at least until the snow flurries started.  The MET was great, but the twins didn't last long there.  It was hot and crowded inside.  We did buy a print of "The Kiss" by Klimt.  We headed over to Central Park and ate hot dogs from a street vendor and played in Central Park until the grown-ups were too cold to stand it anymore.  Then we took a cab to the Empire State Building, only to find out there was construction and only a few elevators were working.  We waited -forever- and then took an elevator up to the 80th floor, and then took the stairs up to the 86th floor and the Observation Deck.  The view was incredible, but the wind and the cold was a bit much for us lightweights.  We had dinner at a Chipotle nearby, and a local girl from Brooklyn told us it wasn't that popular in NYC.  What????  We did some more shopping on the way to the train back to Jersey.  We were having a great time, but Kristian was already started to talk about his, um, un-preference for the Big Apple.  The hospitality of the south definitely resonated more with him.

 

On Friday we headed back to Manhattan for one more day.  We started in Greenwich Village and checked out lots of little shops and boutiques.  We had lunch at John's Pizza... famous for its famous clientele.  Then we headed down to Wall street, and made our way to Battery Park.  We had intended to take the Staten Island Ferry and check out the view of the Statue of Liberty, but we ended up springing for the Liberty Island Ferry and stopped at Ellis Island to look through the museum there.  We headed back uo to the Village, hoping for some Thai food, but couldn't find a restaurant we had seen earlier.  Some friendly folks told us about a restaurant up in midtown, so we hopped back on the subway to Times Square and found a great Thai place a few blocks over.  Our dinner conversation was pretty interesting, since I was saying I could definitely live in Manhattan, and Kristian said he'd rather eat a box of nails before he would live there.  Ok then.

 

Overall, most of the time, we were freezing cold, but we had a great time anyway!

 

Next up... wearing my new Yankees cap in Boston....

 

**** added later

 

I forgot to explain the picture of the guy on the ferry... Aislinn dropped her mitten over the side of the ferry before it left the dock at Ellis Island.  She was very upset about it, as she could still see it laying on the ledge on the side of the ferry, near the water.  Dad asked a ferry guy if it could be retrieved, and he said it could.  Hanging on to the ropes on the side of the ferry, he inched out from the stern along the ledge and retrieved her mitten.  He wanted to return it himself, and so I snapped a picture.  Aislinn was so grateful, she kept track of her mittens for a couple of hours and promptly lost it again.  Oh well.

Canoes R Us

While in Philly, the girls really wanted to take a carriage ride around the city, but Daddy didn't want to, he said it was a waste of money.  But to compromise he said we could rent some canoes when we got back to camp and paddle up the river that runs by it.

 

So that what we did, but it was late in the day, and we had to have them back in an hour.  So we paddled along, having a grand time and a took a few photos.  Then I suggested to Kristian that we should put the canoes together so I could hand the camera to him, so he could take some pictures too.  Trust me, its not what you think.  We successfully made the pass off, and I paddled away.  Kristian tried to put the camera case over his neck, but he was wearing a life vest and had a bit of trouble... and knocked his glasses off into the river.

 

You may think the story ends there... but alas, no.  We paddle around and pretty soon, we spot them, laying there peacefully on the bottom of the riverbed.  At first we figure them for lost, because, after all, that water is COLD.  But after some reflection, we realize that Kristian can't drive at night without them, and so he decided they must be retrieved.  He paddles over to the bank, and Mikaela holds onto a tree branch to keep the canoe next to the bank.  Kristian strips down to his undies and jumps in the river.  He immediately thinks better of it and says that perhaps he was hasty and the glasses may have indeed found their new home at the bottom of the river.  The deal was, that water was COLD and the river, while only 6 ft deep or so, was about 30 feet wide.  It was slow moving, but did I mention it was COLD?  But Abby yells out from the canoe, "Don't worry Daddy, I believe in you!" and Daddy finds his resolve.  I was over near the glasses as we had marked their location (about 10 feet out from the second bush, etc).  So Kristian swims over, and once he's caught his breath, I mark the location again for him, and he gets fairly close and dives.... and retrieves those pesky glasses on the first try!

 

Needless to say, I don't have pictures of him in the water, after all, I had passed the camera bag over to his canoe.  I do have some of him afterwards, sitting in the canoe in his wet underwear, but for some reason he says I can't post those.  And of course, those of you that know Kristian well, know that he had to take 6 or 7 showers to get over the whole thing!  OK, he only took 1, but it was looooooong.

 

We made it to New York today, in the pouring rain... I'll post more about the Big Apple soon!

Philadelphia

We made our SEPTA train into Philly to see the sights.  First we stopped by the visitor's center to get tickets to tour Independence Hall.  Then we headed over to the Constitution Center where we learned about the delegates and the constitutional convention.  We also learned about our rights under the Constitution in many interactive exhibits.  It was really neat to learn more about the Constitution after we had just seen it in DC.

 

While we were standing in the Atrium discussing what to do next (eat or?) one of the staff asked us where we were from and once finding our we were from California, he told us were we could get a great Philly Cheesesteak and even drew us a little map.  We found the place alright, called Campos, and had probably the best sandwiches ever.  I don't know how we'll be able to eat at someplace like Subway again.

 

Then we head over to see the place where Ben Franklin's house stood, and the post office in front, the B Free Franklin Post Office (still in operation).  The house was torn down long ago, but you can still see parts of the foundation, especially in the kitchen area.   Then we headed over to see the Liberty Bell.  Once we'd seen it, it was time for our tour of Independence Hall.  This is where the govt met until the capitol was moved to DC.  Its also where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.  Again, it was really neat to see that room, and George Washington's chair, when we had just seen the original documents in DC.

 

Tomorrow, New York! 

Good Times in PA

So we set the alarm to get up pretty early because we were hoping to make an 8am train into Philly.  But when the alarm went off, we realized that, well, we were freezing.  A quick check confirmed that it was about 50 degrees in the trailer (still warmer than outside) and that we were out of propane.  We elected to stay in bed and not go into Philly in order to figure out where we could buy propane.  While we waited for the camp office to open, we made a fire to stand next to while we cooked on the camp stove.  No propane means no heater AND no stove inside.  Once the office was open we found they had propane and so we were all stocked up by 9am, so we all jumped in the car and drove out to Amish Country.  (We also found a Walmart and bought an electric heater so we can conserve propane in the future... after all we are already paying for electric hook-ups.)

 

After talking to some local people at camp, we took a photocopied map and ventured down some more country roads until we found one with more horse drawn buggies than cars.  It was really neat to see their farms and learn about their simple lifestyle.  We found a great little store a family had built in front of their house and bought all sorts of wonderful things, including homemade root beer and lemonade in jugs, and fresh pretzels...yum!  We looked longingly at the furniture, but having no way to get it home had to pass it up.  Since its spring, a lot of folks were using their mule teams to plow the fields, and the women were outside planting kitchen gardens.  In all it was a great day and we were glad to have an opportunity to spend some time in Amish country!

Gettysburg and more

We decided that instead of going through Baltimore (we would have had to go around anyway because of the tunnels), we drove up to Gettysburg, and then went east to West Chester where we were staying.

 

Well, it was raining hard when we entered Pennsylvania, and was pouring when we got to the Gettysburg Visitors Center.  We looked through the museum at all of the civil war relics found in the area, along with a large collection of period weapons.  The girls were particularly interested in the story of brothers who ended up fighting on different sides in the war.

 

After some time in the museum, the rain had stopped, so we were able to walk through the cemetery and see the various monuments.  Then we were on our way through Lancaster to find our campground. 

 

Well, our GPS routed us on some state roads, which really ended up being tiny two lane country highways, with no shoulders, hairpin turns down tiny canyons and sketchy low hanging trees.  At one point the highway turned, and we were supposed to continue straight to reach our destination, but we missed it, and so turned down another road to try and make our way back, but then saw the warning sign for the low bridge ahead and so ended up white-knuckled turning around in a tiny church parking lot.  Then we came to the 1 lane bridge with a weight limit.  It was pitched so high, that you couldn't really see if there was any traffic on the other side.  The campground was a KOA... fairly commercial, right?  No, not this one, with dirt roads, perched on the side of a hill above a river.  We made it though, and set up camp in no time. 

Washington DC

We left early from VA hoping to get camp set up in College Park, MD around lunch time so we could go into the city.  We took the bus from our camp ground to the metro station, and then took the metro to the National Mall.  We spent the afternoon in the Air and Space Museum which was a lot of fun.  In one of the galleries, there was a lot of hands on things the girls could try to learn about air flight and space exploration.  There was a historical section that had things unrelated to air and space, like Jefferson's desk, Washington's uniform, together with Seinfeld's puffy shirt and Dorothy's Ruby Slippers.  We had dinner in the coolest McDonalds, where you order at the cashier, who then tell you to go to one of 12 stations at the counter behind her where your order is ready to be picked up!

 

We stuck around to see the IMAX 3D film about walking on the moon and that was really cool.  We then had to take the metro and the bus back to camp, the girls loved riding the train.

 

Today, we went back into the city, switched trains, took another bus and found the Washington National Cathedral.  It was truly breathtaking and we were lucky enough to arrive just in time for the choir and orchestra rehearsal.  The music in that space was gorgeous.  We also got to see some of the smaller chapels, which were equally beautiful.

 

Then we took the bus and the trains back to the Mall and went to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial.  We found the inscription of David March, Kristian's friend killed in the line of duty in 2002.  The memorial contains the names of all officers in the US killed in the line of duty since they began keeping records in the 18th century.  The number of names was sobering.

 

Then we went to the National Archives and got to see the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  That was -really- cool.  You aren't allowed to take pictures with flash in the rotunda, so most of our pictures inside came out really dark.  After the Archives, we made our way to the Mall and were stunned by the amount of people there.  There were hundreds of people flying kites and picnicking on the grass.  We elbowed our way into the Natural History Museum so we could eat lunch in their cafe.  While making a purchase in the gift shop, I finally asked the clerk if the number of people was unusual, and she explained that this was actually the busiest day of the year for them.... the opening day of the Cherry Blossom Festival.  There were ceremonies and handmade Japanese kite flying contests and crafts for the kids, etc etc etc.  And a TON of people everywhere. 

 

We walked down the Mall to see the Smithsonian Castle, and the Washington Monument.  Looking back we could see the capitol bldg.  We walked ALL the way to the Lincoln memorial, and saw the WW2 memorial and the Vietnam memorial, and the Reflecting Pool on the way.  Then we went BACK to the White House, only to find we missed the visitors center; it had already closed.  A couple of Secret Service Agents got the bomb dog out of the car though and the girls loved getting to pet "Wade," a chocolate lab.

 

That was a lot of walking, lemme tell you.  We drug ourselves back to the train and then to the bus stop.  Mom and Dad were slumped against the bench while the girls ran circles around the bus stop shelter.

 

Tomorrow... Philadelphia!

Colonial Williamsburg For Reals

When I grow up, I want to be a Living History Actress at Colonial Williamsburg!  We started out early and parked at the Visitor's Center and took the shuttle over to the Governor's Palace.  There we watched a short play about Governor Dunsmore and his wife.  The carriage house and the wheelright at the Palace are actual working shops that make the carriages and wagons used in Colonial Williamsburg.  That was also true of the Blacksmiths shop, that actually makes items used to restore and replicate the buildings and implements of the times.

 

The Governor's Palace (inside) was actually closed for the filming of HBO's special on John Adams.  We wandered down the streets and spent a lot of time in the dressmaker's shop deciding whether or not to rent costumes for Mikaela and Madeline, or buy them.  We ended up deciding to buy and were glad we did.  The girls had such a great experience and will used their costumes to dress up at home too.

 

We then went to Lady Stith's house where we watched people dance traditional country dances from the time period, plus got to sing along with some patriot songs.  They took volunteers but the girls were too shy.  We had lunch in the Kings Arms Tavern, where the waitress told us that women and children would not have been allowed to eat.  After lunch we checked out the capitol building, the gunsmith (we waited for daddy a looooong time there), the Presbyterian Meeting House and the Gaol (jail).  By then it was time for the afternoon Revolutionary themed living history experience.... I don't know how else to explain it.  Basically we just wandered up and down the street interacting with living history actors who were moving in and out of more "organized" sketches.  We got to talk to slaves and indentured servants, rich people, regular folk, continental soldiers and local business people and elected officials.  We got to see the progression and response from the Virginians to the Boston Tea Party and the English's response of closing Boston Harbor.  The Governor of Virginia responded to the local response of support of Boston by disbanding the legislature.  In the end, the ousted officials declare that they will vote with the other colonies for independence should there be a call to vote.  It was all very exciting and really made us feel like a part of the whole process.  Mikaela and Madeline talked about English oppression and shouted "Huzzah!" with the rest when Patrick Henry spoke about Independence.

 

We -loved- Colonial Williamsburg... the costumes and the history and the way we felt like we took a part in supporting the "rebels" and calling for Independence.

Colonial Williamsburg

I owe a description of Colonial Williamsburg, but I'm plum tuckered out and going to bed... I posted pictures though!

Yorktown

After lunch we drove over to Yorktown and moved from the colonial period to the revolutionary period.  The most exciting thing was the cannon demonstration!  We got to look through the encampment and through the soldier's tents and talk to the camp surgeon (all I can say about the surgeon and doctoring in general during the war was EEWWWW!).  The kitchen was dug down into a trench in the dirt to keep the wind from the flames, and keep the flames from the tents.  A hole was dug into the side of the trench, and a chimney was dug from the top.  The pot was set over the chimney to cook whatever food there was (there often was none).

 

While sometimes errant soldiers were punished by being made to wear signs that advertised their offense, most often they were just lashed with a whip if they committed offenses.  We didn't test that out.

 

We then got to check out the Yorktown Tobacco farm, were the living history people actually work the farm and tend the flocks of chickens, turkeys, ducks and guineas.  If the farm was profitable enough, they had a separate kitchen and store house, where the food was kept and smoked, stored and prepared.  It was also where the female slaves slept.  The male slaves would have slept in the tobacco house. The lady farmer told us that if our girls lived on that farm, one of their jobs would have been picking the worms off the tobacco crop... they were the only pesticide.

 

Before heading back to camp, we drove down to where the York River meets Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic... we actually made it to the East Coast!

 

Tomorrow we will spend the day back in the colonial period in Colonial Williamsburg!

Jamestown

After Daddy cooked a fabulous pancake breakfast, we had to wait until the office opened at 10 to register (we got in too late last night). Then we drove down to Jamestown on the James River. The Vistors Center had all 50 state flags out front and the girls were excited to see the familiar California flag.

We walked through the museum galleries and learned more about English colonies and about Pocahontas. We also learned about the African slave trade. The real fun was outdoors in the Living History areas. We explored the Powhattan indian village and got to walk through their huts and touch just about everything, from cooking implements to beds, fishing equipment, and animal skins. The girls took turns grinding corn into meal, and helping to scrape the fur off an animal skin in preparation to make clothes.

Then we went down to the dock to walk through replica English ships, just like the ones that brought the colonists. The colonists were brought as "cargo" and therefore where not allowed on deck, much. They were crammed into the cargo hold most of the time, during the 4 month trip across the Atlantic. Even the captain's "spacious" cabin was cramped.

The girls got to take a turn making a canoe, the powhattan way that the colonists had to learn (the little boats that came with the ship soon returned with the ship back to England. They felled a tree and burned one side flat. Then they turned it over and, using mud on the rims to keep the fire on the inside, burn out the center. After burning it for a while, they used oyster shells to scrape out the charred wood.

Then we went into the Jamestown Fort. We got to try on armour and help with the laundry. Doing laundry meant boiling the clothes with lye soap and rubbing them on a rock to get stains out. We climbed up into the pulpit in the church, and Kristian did a great Kuiper impression. We had trouble getting Kristian out of the armory where all the weapons were stored. We got to see a musket demostration; it was very exciting and loud!

We had lunch in the cafe in the vistor's center and then headed off to Yorktown!

After Daddy cooked a fabulous pancake breakfast, we had to wait until the office opened at 10 to register (we got in too late last night). Then we drove down to Jamestown on the James River. The Vistors Center had all 50 state flags out front and the girls were excited to see the familiar California flag.

We walked through the museum galleries and learned more about English colonies and about Pocahontas. We also learned about the African slave trade. The real fun was outdoors in the Living History areas. We explored the Powhattan indian village and got to walk through their huts and touch just about everything, from cooking implements to beds, fishing equipment, and animal skins. The girls took turns grinding corn into meal, and helping to scrape the fur off an animal skin in preparation to make clothes.

Then we went down to the dock to walk through replica English ships, just like the ones that brought the colonists. The colonists were brought as "cargo" and therefore where not allowed on deck, much. They were crammed into the cargo hold most of the time, during the 4 month trip across the Atlantic. Even the captain's "spacious" cabin was cramped.

The girls got to take a turn making a canoe, the powhattan way that the colonists had to learn (the little boats that came with the ship soon returned with the ship back to England. They felled a tree and burned one side flat. Then they turned it over and, using mud on the rims to keep the fire on the inside, burn out the center. After burning it for a while, they used oyster shells to scrape out the charred wood.

Then we went into the Jamestown Fort. We got to try on armour and help with the laundry. Doing laundry meant boiling the clothes with lye soap and rubbing them on a rock to get stains out. We climbed up into the pulpit in the church, and Kristian did a great Kuiper impression. We had trouble getting Kristian out of the armory where all the weapons were stored. We got to see a musket demostration; it was very exciting and loud!

We had lunch in the cafe in the vistor's center and then headed off to Yorktown!

After Daddy cooked a fabulous pancake breakfast, we had to wait until the office opened at 10 to register (we got in too late last night). Then we drove down to Jamestown on the James River. The Vistors Center had all 50 state flags out front and the girls were excited to see the familiar California flag.

Driving To Virginia

On Monday we set out up the Natchez Trace at about 5:30am on our way to Virginia.  We had heard how gorgeous the Dogwood trees were up the Trace, but not at 5:30am in the pitch black dark!  Who planned this leg anyway....

 

It was light by the time we got to Alabama, and the Trace was indeed beautiful all the way into Tennessee.  We even saw two turkeys!  Once up into Nashville, we headed east, finally stopping for the night in Baileyton, TN, a very small town.  We visited a little grocery store where we bought fresh homemade jam and homemade black licorice for Grampa.  We ate dinner at Baileyton Restaurant, the only place in town besides the truck stop.  We met a retired Greene County Sheriff's Deputy and Kristian exchanged police uniform arm patches with him.  On our way back to the campground, we passed Baileyton Bar & Grill.  There were two old pick-up trucks, and a saddled horse tied to the hitching post.  I wish I'd snapped a picture!  After all, its bad to drink and drive, and the horse probably knows his way home! 

 

We started (not as early) the next day towards Virginia.  Once at the border, we stopped at the welcome center to take a break.  They had a big map of the US and encouraged people to put a pin on your hometown... we were the only lonely pin on the west coast!

 

We stopped in Christiansburg to meet a friend for lunch who lives not far from there.  We had a great time at Cracker Barrel.  It was the second time that we had eaten at Cracker Barrel, but we still forgot to take home the cute little syrup bottles... oh well.

 

After driving all afternoon, with a sketchy Richmond bypass (no one merges well in VA, and the freeway was worse than freeways in LA!  We need to see a Chiropractor after bouncing around so much, whew) we finally arrived in Williamsburg.  We were exhausted, so I found a grocery store to shop for the next few days, and also a pizza place called DaddyO's and brought back pizza for dinner.  We were all in bed early, we were so tired!

Our last few Tupelo days

On Saturday, we all went to Elvis Presley Lake for a fun afternoon.  Mark took people out in the boat a few at a time to fish, and some fished from a nearby dock.  The rest of the kids played in the sand and had a grand time.  Once again, Mikaela caught the most fish, and was dubbed forever after "Bass Girl."

 

Aislinn had a big afternoon, not only did she find a tiny baby turtle, but she nearly drowned... mom and dad are eternally grateful to Jordan for his quick sprint to rescue her.  The lake bottom drops off steeply not far from shore and she took one step too many.  She shook it off though and wasn't even upset, it took Tammy and I a little longer to recover.

 

After spending too much time trying to get a good picture of all 11 of us, it was our pleasure on Sunday morning to attend Lawndale Pres and meet so many people that have made the Kuipers feel welcome.  Its clear they are truly valued and loved and that was quite a joy to see.  We even went to "night church" as Jordan calls it and thoroughly enjoyed it all.  We spent the afternoon drinking lime tea and visiting with some friends from church that also have four girls, including a set of twins as their youngest.  The adults thought the second story might collapse with the sound of 9 little girls playing up there, they were having such a great time.

 

We are sorry to leave the Kuipers, but we had such a great visit and are grateful for their hospitality.  It was great to see them all settled in and enjoying their new home and this new season of their lives!

 

Haircuts, Buffalo & Catfish

Tammy had a hair cut appt and was able to add in the girls and so we all went off to the salon.  I had meant to get the girls' hair cut before we left but there was never time.   Aislinn had cut her own hair a month or so ago, and so we opted to shorten her and Abby's hair to their shoulders... much easier for summer.  Mikaela and Maddie got their long hair trimmed.  Incidentally, the salon was across the street from Tupelo Hardware... where Elvis bought his first guitar.  Thrilling.

 

Kristian was off shooting things with Mark, so I took the girls to Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo.  We had a great time getting up close to lots of animals.  We got to feed goats, ponies, donkeys and llamas, but the highlight was feeding Tall Boy, the tallest giraffe in captivity.  While the other animals prefer to nibble the feed out of your palm, Tall Boy prefers to wrap his tongue around your entire arm.  We also took the trolley tour through the fields to see the herd of buffalo, yaks, zebras, camels and donkeys.  We also saw one of the 5 white buffalos in the US.

 

Before we headed off to dinner we celebrated with Jordan whose report card came yesterday with a GPA high enough to earn the right the take his driver's test.  With his new license in hand he drove off alone for the first time to pick up his brother from football practice (yes football in the spring in Mississippi, of course).  In CA, parents take away football (not driving) if your grades aren't high enough, but taking away football in the south is an offense that can get you lynched in the south!

 

For dinner we headed to Malone's Catfish and Steak.  This was a very popular catfish house up a small road in what seemed like the middle of nowhere.  Since we had 10 people (Jordan was allowed to celebrate his new license with friends) they put us in a "party room."  When you get there, you sign the book with your name and number in your party in order to get a table.  The place wasn't fancy, folding tables and chairs, but it was filled to capacity.  There were mounts all over the walls... turkeys, ducks, deer, and caribou.  We all had catfish, including the twins, but not Mikaela and Madeline.  Sweet tea, catfish, hushpuppies and pie made a perfect meal.  Fish are usually safe from me, but that catfish was really good!

Fishing in Mississippi

After spending this morning catching up on laundry and washing the bugs off the car and trailer, we head over to Taylor Lake (private) to let the girls try some fishing.  Well it was a warm afternoon and the fish (large mouth bass) were definitely biting, the girls caught so many they never lost interest until we finally left for dinner 4 hours later.  The lake was gorgeous and had a beaver dam at one end, (though we never caught sight of the beavers) and a pair of Canadian geese.  We stopped counting fish since the girls caught something just about every time they threw in a line.  We had a fabulous time and I got a great picture of the sunset over the lake.

The Little Missouri River & Driving to Mississippi

The Little Missouri River

Before we left Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas, we hiked (1.6 mile round trip) to see the Little Missouri River.  It was a gorgeous hike through the Arkansas forest along a creek that ran into the river.

Driving to Mississippi

We got up early on day 7 and head to the interstate on our way to Mississippi.  Our route took us through some more of rural Arkansas before finding the interstate and passing through Memphis to get to Mississippi.  We stopped to get gas in a little town called Delight, AR where the attendant commented that we were “pretty durn far from home.”

Once on the interstate, we popped in an audio book, this time, Huckleberry Finn.  We were listening to Huck and Jim float down the Mississippi River as we crossed the mighty river itself.  We stopped for lunch in Memphis, where the gal serving our lunch had such a heavy drawl that I had to translate for Kristian, and she regularly referred to him as “baby.”  Then we headed southeast from Tennessee into Mississippi and down into Tupelo and arrived at our friends’ house by mid afternoon.

 

Crater of Diamonds State Park, AR

We decided on Monday to go north into Oklahoma and then to Arkansas instead of continuing through Texas.  The route from Oklahoma into Arkansas had bigger roads and since we felt we had done small-town Texas, we thought we'd check out small-town Oklahoma.

One of the first things we saw in Oklahoma was a convention center that was advertising the "Purina Coon Hunt."  I snapped a blurry picture out the window at Kristian's insistence.  We also passed a Wherehauser factory, several lumber factories and a Remington factory.  Much to his disappointment, Kristian drove past the Remington factory.

We stopped in Bokchito, OK for breakfast at Frank's Grocery, Gas & Cafe.  The girls wanted to know why their breakfast was served with biscuits and gravy.  The only other customers was a table of 6 farmers... who had to leave pretty soon to help Bobby Joe get his tractor out of the ditch.  After breakfast, we pulled up to the gas pump to fill the tank.  Kristian went inside to give the attendant (an older man who was wearing only overalls) our credit card.  "I'd like to fill up on pump 1..."  "Well go ahead then son..."  Apparently in rural OK, you pump FIRST and then pay... a novel idea for us poor city folk.

We arrived at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas just after lunch.  We were able to set up camp and then check out the visitor's center and the Diamond field.  I even drove back up into Murfreesboro to do some grocery shopping.  When I got to the store, the only town police officer was chewing tobacco outside the door.  Kristian grilled some steaks and we had a great dinner.  The girls were playing with some boys from the next campsite over in the surrounding woods and having a great time.  Eventually they heard we were from California and so came over to talk to Kristian.  They asked questions about how far we had come and where we were going next and living near the beach.  Then the 9 yo announced "We have 177 acres, how many acres yall got?"  Kristian just looked at him, and so he said "What? 1 acre?  Do yall know what an acre is?"  Kristian tried to explain that property in California isn’t really measured by the acre, but we don't think he understood. 

We got up early to be at the Diamond field when it opened.  The "crater" is really just a plowed field that contains limestone and volcanic ash from a long dormant volcano.  It also contains quartz, barite, jasper, amethyst and diamonds.  The trick is sifting through the dirt and finding the valuable stones.  The diamonds are supposed to shine in the sunlight.  People find about 5-7 diamonds a day, but only 4-5 diamonds a year are of a valuable weight.

We dug and sifted and sluiced (sluicing in basically washing the dirt off small bits of gravel and rock) and examined and dug and sifted and sluiced and ended up with some pretty jasper, and bits of quartz and barite and so around 4pm we gave up and went back to camp to get cleaned up.  One guy did find a 1.3 carat pink diamond that day though, but, no diamonds for us :(

 

Days 3 & 4

On Saturday morning, we left Williams Arizona bright and early and headed for New Mexico.  We intended to stay in Albuquerque, but the girls were all asleep when we drove through, so we kept on going.  We ended up staying in a tiny town called Santa Rosa, at the Santa Rosa Campground.  It was a lovely little place and we were glad to find it after driving over 470 miles from Arizona.  While trekking through New Mexico, we learned that some things are different than home… for instance; one can buy guns, knives and fireworks at the Dairy Queen off I40 near Grants, NM.  We also saw several billboards promoting abstinence, and several billboards advertising microsurgical vasectomy reversals.

On Sunday, we again started very early and headed for Texas.  We stopped in Amarillo for Breakfast, and then headed southeast to Wichita Falls.  We learned that in Texas, every small town has at least three steakhouses.  We even saw “Mary’s Book Shop & Steakhouse.”  So then we started a game in every little town:  Dad would call out “Hedley Muffler” and the girls would chorus “and Steakhouse.”  “Childress First Baptist Church… and Steakhouse,”  “Rolling Prairie Taxidermy… and Steakhouse.”

We arrived in Wichita Falls mid afternoon, and the campground host told us about a nearby park next to the Wichita River, with a short walk to see “Wichita Falls.”  The “Falls” turned out to be a man-made cascade of water falling into the Wichita River, but it was lovely.  Apparently the actual “Wichita Falls” was only about 5 feet and was washed away in a storm over 100 years ago.  We stopped at the playground and flew our kite for a while until dinner time.  Also on the campground host’s recommendation, we had dinner at Don Jose’s, a tex-mex place.  Everyone there knew each other, and while everyone was friendly, we had a hard time understanding their Texas Drawls and we had to keep asking them to repeat themselves. 

Tomorrow we head for Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas!

Day 1 & 2

Day 1 Driving to Arizona

Yes we actually did leave at (nearly) 4am!  We were actually on the road at about 4:15.  We had hoped the girls would sleep for a while to make the day's 8 hour drive a little easier, but they were too excited.  They did nap later though.  We Drove to Ludlow where we made a pit stop and had breakfast in the Ludlow Cafe.  Then we pressed on to the Arizona border and got our first glance of the Colorado River.  We snapped a quick picture of the "Welcome to Arizona" sign and were on our way.  We arrived in Williams, AZ at about 1:30pm and set up camp at the Grand Canyon Railway RV Park.  After a dip in the indoor heated pool, we went grocery shopping and BBQ'd hamburgers at the trailer for a tasty dinner.  After getting up so early, we were pretty tired and all went to bed early.

Day 2 The Grand Canyon

We caught a Wild West Show before boarding the Grand Canyon Railway for our 2 hour ride to the Grand Canyon.  The train was a lot of fun for the girls... there were traveling musicians that made the ride a lot of fun.  Mikaela announced that this was “the best train ride of (her) life!” 

Once at Grand Canyon Village we walked up from the train depot for our first real glimpse of the canyon.  It was really a great sight, we were all amazed at the colors and the depth of the canyon.  We could see hikers down on the Bright Angel Trail.  After eating lunch at the Bright Angel Lodge, we boarded the shuttle bus to take us to the Yavapai Observation Station.  From there, we hiked .75 miles along the Rim Trail to Mather Point.  The vistas were amazing and the weather was beautiful (about 75 and clear with a pleasant breeze), I feel sorry for all the folks who have to come in the summer heat!  Along the trail we saw bighorn sheep perched precariously on the edge.  We had wanted to spend time at the Visitor’s Center at Mather Point, but we had to catch the shuttle back to train depot to catch our 4pm train back to Williams.  

The train ride home was enough more fun:  A violin player let Aislinn play a tune (he helped a lot) and then after a visit to the café car, our train was robbed!  Cowboys on horseback boarded the train and held us all up!  One of them says they were also looking for a bride among the crowd… preferably one who could cook, so I was safe!  We also saw antelope and deer on the ride home which made it extra special.   

In all, we had a great time on the train and at the rim, and we all decided that when the girls are old enough we want to come back and ride burros down the canyon! 

We’re on the road again tomorrow, heading towards New Mexico, Texas and the Diamond Mine in Arkansas… stay tuned!

36 Hours To Go!

 

We have 36 hours to go!  Things are crazy here while we try to get everything ready.  The good news is we got our tax return done and our refund is on its way... the budget is officially back on track!  That's a good thing, considering gas prices have spiked to over $3 a gallon here.

 

The girls are REALLY excited and Mikaela and Madeline are already finished packing.  We've all been working to get the house scrubbed so when we come back everything won't be chaotic.  Daddy has a new pair of glasses, so he's ready to drive the over 6000 miles we have planned.  I finished the girl's notebooks.  I included maps of our route, pages on our destination, and information about geology and the geography we will be seeing.  Also, there are lots of activity pages and road trip games.  Mom has a notebook of her own filled with directions, maps, reservations, etc etc, heretofore after referred to as the Road Trip Bible.

 

What is the most important thing thats happened to you in the last year?

 

We decided to do our own mini sociology (anthropology?) report while we are on the road.  Mikaela and I came up with the idea to ask local people in all the places we stop the same question and then record their answers.  After much discussion and after asking just about everyone we know, we decided our question will be "What is the most important thing thats happened to you in the last year?"  We are hoping that the answers we receive will vary depending on where we are at, and we'll gain some insight into how life is different outside of Southern California.  Mikaela has agreed to ask the questions, while I diligently record the answers.  We are excited to see what this particular project brings!

 

See you on Day 1!

10 Days and Counting!

10 days to go!  We are excited and a little frenzied trying to get everything ready.  I've been making lists... lists for take along items, things to do before we leave, loose ends to tie up.  How soon is too soon to pack???  One more trip to Walmart, to the grocery store, to the bank... hahaha!  I've honed the itinerary until it can be honed no more.  Reservations are all set in our destination spots. 

 

I've been preparing notebooks for the girls to take along.  They have maps and activity pages, and pockets for saving things.  The older girls also have research information about geology, geography and our living history destinations.  They can earn money for souvenirs by reading extra books.

 

Well, we took the plunge and bought an Atwood 3500 Heavy Duty Power Jack!  It is really great and makes a huge difference in hitching and leveling the trailer.  There are a few more things I still need to figure out, trailer wise.  What, oh what shall we do with our laundry?  We anticipate having to do laundry every 3rd day or so. But in the meantime, where shall we put it?  Also, we'd like to get some stable tv tray type tables to add some surface area inside the trailer.

 

Overall, we cannot wait to hit the road!

Less Than a Month to Go!!!

     So with less than 30 days to go, we decide its time to get the Suburban serviced for the big trip.  We suspected we should invest in new tires, and we were right.  Unfortunately, there were some other big issues that couldn't be ignored.  So we spent a good chunk of our vacation budget bringing the truck up to optimum operation.  But, it should be good to go now!

     We're making final arrangements for our pets and the house.  I'm starting to make lists of things to bring, trying not to over-do it and carry extra weight.  We bought a new camera, and a new Coleman Road Trip Grill/Griddle.  We're still eyeing that electric tongue jack, but we need to stay in budget.

     The twins' passports came in the mail today, so hopefully the others will come by the end of the week.  That way if we decide to trek into Canada, it will be super easy.

     Only 23 days left!!!!!

Faria Beach

I think Faria Beach may be my new favorite campground!  It is run by the county of Ventura and is just south of Rincon Parkway.  It only has 42 spaces, 15 of which have full hookups.  Its a cozy little park and probably crowded in the summer time.  But in the off season its roomy and great!  We walked along the beach and found sand dollars and tons of shells and had a great time.  We even found a star fish on the beach which we carefully put back in the surf.  We examined the tide pools at low tide and saw sea snails and hermit crabs and sea anemones.  We watched dolphins play in the surf and even saw a seal.  I love staying so close to the water, and I love the sound of the waves crashing so close at high tide.  We will definitely be back!

Our First Nights in the Trailer

  We're just home from our shake-down trip!  We had a fabulous time at San Clemente State Beach.  The first night was windy, rainy and cold, but we were warm and cozy in our trailer.  We even celebrated a 7th birthday and I was so thrilled to be able to bake a cake in my RV!  On night number 2 I cooked a fantastic corn bread (Thanks Tammy!).  I love camping with an oven!  The beach was great, though windy and cold.  We were able to make a list of things we want to add to the trailer, from a butter dish to an electric tongue jack.  All the systems work great, and we had no issues with the trailer.  Next stop:  Rincon Parkway!