The Six Chiks On The Road!

Home Again

2009-07-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, we made the trip home through the Utah/Arizona/Nevada/California desert! We definately could have stayed longer, but we were glad to be home too. Everyone agreed the the second half of our trip that included the National Parks was the best part. Most of the girls liked Yellowstone the best, because of all the animals, and I liked the Tetons the best. Kristian enjoyed the mountain states and really would like to move there, though he admits he might feel differently in winter.

We have already decided that the must be a Road Trip 2011, to the midwest, conviently starting Zion. We'd like to see Mt Rushmore and the Badlands and fill in the blanks on our map. after that, we'll only have a few states in the south, and the three uppermost New England states, before we've seen them all. They will have to wait until 2013 :).

We're very grateful to Aunt Karen for feeding the cats and watching the house, thanks! We missed all of our friends and family, and are looking foward to getting caught up with everyone. Thanks for following our adventure!

Zion National Park

2009-07-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

After an overnight in Salt Lake City, we arrived at Zion National Park in southern Utah. We endured much rain and cold in the mountain states, and were nearly knocked over by the heat at Zion. We arrived mid-afternoon and after unhitching the trailer and setting up camp we were melting. For the first time in the almost 3 years we have owned this trailer, we actually turned the AC on. It works :). Then we decided to go drive through the Zion Mt Carmel tunnel.

The 1.1 mile Zion Mount Carmel Tunnel was finished in 1930. At that time it was the longest tunnel in the United States. It's got low clearance, plus it's curved on the sides. When we entered the park, we were told we had to hang a "No Tunnel" sign in our window, because our tow combo exceed the acceptable length (we meet the height requirement). Once we left the trailer at the campground, we were free to go through the tunnel. There are no lights in the tunnel, but there are cut outs to the canyon to provide some light. It was really cool! On the other side, there was Checkerboard Mesa and you can drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon from there.

After getting back to our sweltering camp, we decided to go check out the nearby virgin river that runs through the campground. The water was cool, but this was no glacier water like we had had up north. The river is swift in some places, and dh had fun moving rocks and creating a sort of swimmers rapids that the kids could coast down. The water was really deep in some places, and the girls had a great time.

The next day, we caught the Zion Shuttle bus up to the end of the canyon. Cars are not allowed in the canyon above the tunnel crossroad, because of the volume of park visitors. Before the shuttles were introduced, there were 3000 cars in the canyon vying for 400 parking spots. We got off at the Temple of Sinawava, to hike up the Riverside trail. This trail followed the river back into the canyon as it narrows, and ends when the canyon in so narrow, there is no more room for a trail. You can continue up the canyon, however, hiking in the river, assuming there is no flash flood warnings or danger. The canyon gets no narrow at some points, it's only 10 feet across. We hiked up the river until the water was over the twins' heads, and then we turned back. We all agreed we want to come back someday, and hike the whole thing.

Then we took the shuttle down to the trail to Weeping Rock. The sandstone cliffs of Zion absorb rain water, and then leak it out down the sides. This created "hanging gardens" of lush beautiful plants literally hanging to the sides of the cliffs in places. At Weeping Rock, water gushes out at a higher rate, and creates these gardens, as well as make the cliffs "weep."

After lunch at the Zion Lodge, we headed up the trail to Emerald pools. The lower pools is easily accessible, but the middle pool trail is considered "moderate" with sheer cliffs, warning to people afraid of heights and warnings about how people have fallen and died. The Upper pools trail is considered "strenuous" and no longer maintained by the park service. After reaching the lower pools, Mikaela and Madeline wanted to continue on, so DH took the twins back to the lodge for ice cream, and we headed up the stairs cut straight out of the sandstone cliff side. After reaching the middle pools, Mik and Mad wanted to continue on to the Upper pools, and so I sat down on a rock and tried to catch my breath, while they head up with the camera. Meanwhile, as I sat there, a deer wandered in from behind me. The girls got back just in time to snap some photos. They had diligently taken photos of each other at the Upper pool.

We head back towards the Lodge along the middle pools trails, and along the sheer face of the canyon walls. I admit portions of that trail even made me queasy. But the views up the canyon were gorgeous and it was mostly downhill back to the lodge, where we found dad and the twins eating ice cream on the grass. After our snack and our bus ride back to the campground, we all cooled off in the lovely Virgin River again. The older girls and I had hiked about 5 miles.

1 full day was NOT enough time in Zion Canyon. We all agreed that we need to come back, and soon!

Hiking in the Tetons

2009-06-30T21:41:00.000-07:00

After rafting in the morning, we set out to explore 2 miles of the Lakeshore trail. This trail actually connects to a small island via a dyke. The views of Jackson Lake and the Teton range were spectacular. We also saw lots of birds and wildflowers. Just as we were returning to the picnic area and the trail head, we finally saw one! The elusive moose! A solo female was crunching away in the trees near the shoreline. She eyed us, and we eyed her, and she mostly just kept crunching away. We were thrilled!

The next day it rained all morning, and we suspected hiking was going to be out of the question. We headed down to Jenny Lake just after lunch anyway, and sure enough it did clear up. While Mikaela and Madeline went on a ranger led (parent free) Jr Ranger hike, DH and the twins and I took the boat across the lake to the Hidden Falls trail head. We hiked a mile up and back on the moderate trail, right in the shadow of Grand Teton to the fantastic waterfall. Then we headed back across the Lake on the boat to meet up with Mikaela and Madeline again to hike another 2.6 miles around Moose Ponds. e didn't see moose there, but much to Mikaela's delight, we saw LOTS of snakes, and saw evidence of both moose and bears. Hiking in the shadow of Grand Teton Peak was very picturesque, and this was my favorite hike so far.

As we approached the trailhead, the clouds became dark and ominous, and a strong cold wind began to blow. Just as our feet found the parking lot, it began to hail! We ran for the car, and headed down to Moose, WY for dinner.

The next morning, we packed up to leave, and although we had hoped to sunrise photos of the mountains, the entire Jackson Hole Valley was socked in with fog. Oh Well! On to Salt Lake City, and then Zion!

Rafting the Snake River

2009-06-30T21:27:00.000-07:00

We got up bright and early and met our guide at 8am at the Teton Lodge for some rafting. We loaded up in vans and drove to the launch site about 10 minutes away. After the life jacket training, we donned said vest, and jumped in the raft (some of us more exuberantly than others- see photo of Kristian falling into the raft).

We were taking a scenic raft trip- so no whitewater for us. The raft traveled quite quickly though, and we learned that the Snake river is faster than the mighty Colorado. We saw lots of water fowl, plus bank swallows and a bald eagle. We desperately searched for moose, but saw none. Kristian spotted what he thought was a bear in the woods, but it turned out to be a large male bison, that jumped in the river just ahead of us. He got halfway across, and then changed his mind and turned and headed back for the bank. After several attempts he hefted himself back on the bank and we floated by. We also saw lots of pronghorn on the banks, all the while listening to history of the river from our guide.

The views of the mountain range were incredible, and a great time was had by all!

Leaving Yellowstone for the Grand Tetons

2009-06-27T23:11:00.000-07:00

We left our campground bright and early to get a head start on the road to the Tetons. Unfortunately, a herd a Bison was entirely unconcerned about our schedule, and picked this time to stand in the road and impede traffic. Good Times.

The drive to the Tetons was beautiful. After leaving Yellowstone's South Entrance, we spotted a Grizzly bear across the river in the meadow. There were also many hilarious signs about watching for wildlife in the road, including one funny poem that went something like: "We saw wildlife, from afar, until we hit them, with our car." Unlike the Roosevelt Arch, we did at least take a photo at the Yellowstone sign upon leaving the park.

At our first glimpse of the Teton Range, we were awestruck. Grand Teton Peak is not quite as tall as Mt Rainier, but its very dramatic none the less. We were glad to find space at Colter Bay Campground, and got busy at the visitor center planning our stay. After taking a look at the camp store prices, we drove down to Jackson to get supplies, and also saw the first of many Pronghorn Antelope along with Elk and Bison, which we were now bored with. We looked carefully for moose, but didn't spot any. Tomorrow, rafting on the Snake River!

Old Faithful and Grand Geyser

2009-06-27T22:57:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we took deep breaths, and braved the crowds at Old Faithful. It goes off ever 90 minutes or so, and we dutifully took our seats and waited with the crowd. It was great to see it, but we were ready to move on. We walked the geyser basin and got to see many of the famous hydrothermal features, as well as seeing the Riverside geyser go off. We had been told that the Grand Geyser was worth the wait, but it had a 4 hour window. After having passed it once, and realizing it had 2 hours to go, we decided to stick around and see if we could catch it. Some kids didn't make it (it was windy and COLD!), and DH took them back to the Lodge, but Mikaela, Abby and I stuck it out. In the meantime, an entire herd of Bison moved across the geyser area making people give up their seats to let them cross the boardwalk. Sure enough at the very end of its window, the Grand Geyser burst upwards in a spectacular show. As we left the Old Faithful area after dinner at the Lodge, we also saw the Castle Geyser do it's thing. The girls now know all about the four different kind of Hydrothermal features in Yellowstone, and what causes them.

PS There are a couple pictures with various people holding their noses: Most hydrothermal features are full of sulphur, which smells like rotten eggs. YUM.

Biking to our first Geyser & the Canyon

2009-06-27T22:44:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we put six bikes in the car somehow, and took them to the Lone Star Geyser. After taking pictures of the waterfall near the trail head, we rode off for the 2.4 mile ride to the geyser. The ride, along an abandoned freight road was gorgeous. Once at the geyser, we found folks who had been waiting 3 hours for it to go off, which it did within 15 minutes of our arrival. The 10 or so people who were there were much preferred over the hundreds we knew we would find at Old Faithful. The geyser was really cool, and we were glad for the 5 mile bike ride to work out the kinks from the 9 mile hike the day before.

We also stopped at a few more hydrothermal features on the way home, were we found more Bison in on and around the trails. We also went by Yellowstone Lake, and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, with the spectacular Lower Falls. Tomorrow, Old Faithful!

Yellowstone

2009-06-27T22:18:00.001-07:00

We made it to Missoula after a very long day driving from Washington. The next day we decided that since we were staying near the West Entrance of Yellowstone, that we would enter through the North Entrance, through the Roosevelt Arch, since we likely wouldn't be up that way again. The drive was gorgeous and we were so excited to enter the park, I didn't take a single picture of the Arch, the sign, nothing.

Sadly, there's one more reason we don't have pictures of the first few days... a terrible digital accident resulted in the loss of the pictures from the first 3 days (NEVER let my twins play with your camera. EVER.). So, you'll just have to imagine what the following looked like:

Within minutes of entering the park we saw a grizzly bear cross the road. He was the first of 4 wild grizzlies we saw (I do have photos of the last, for an upcoming post.). We also saw Bison, Elk, Coyotes, a fox, Bald Eagles and Osprey over the first few days. We got settled at Madison Campground, and attended a Ranger talk. The next day, we needed supplies, so we headed over to West Yellowstone (outside the park). After spending way woo much time and money in a book store, we went to the Grizzly Discovery Center. They have both Grizzly Bears and Wolves, sort of like a tiny zoo, with a museum. We had great fun there, and learned a lot about the Grizzlies and Wolves of Yellowstone. The girls got to play games, and even got to go into the habitat to hide food for the bears. Seriously.

The next day we spent at the Canyon Visitor's Center, learning about the volcanic caldera and the glaciers. We went on a short hike to Tower Falls, before heading up to Roosevelt Corral for our Chuckwagon Dinner. We rode out to a valley on a covered wagon and had a great steak dinner. The Percheron horses were incredible, and we learned that they buy them from the Amish. We learned more about the history of Yellowstone and had a great time.

On Saturday we learned the the park was free that weekend, so we looked around for something off the path (so to speak) with less people. Everyone voted to climb Mt Washburn, in hopes of seeing Big Horn Sheep. We parked at the trail head and hiked up. This hike is listed in the "Best Easy Day Hikes of Yellowstone" book. It seemed straight up the mountain to me. About halfway up, two male Bison popped up from a meadow and began walking up the trail. We were content to follow several hundred feet back, but then they decided they needed a rest and lay down right across the trail. We have been telling the girls to stay on the trail, we never leave the trail, always stay on marked trail. There is one exception: if bison are laying on your trail, you may go around. We all made it to the top of Mt Washburn (10,243 ft, tyvm), to a lookout tower there, with glorious 360 views of the entire park. It had rained a bit of the way up, but about halfway down, it really began to storm, and hail... a lot. We were soaked and miserable and cold. And the icing on the cake was when we got back to the car, I realized we weren't at the trail head. The road to the trail head was closed still (it will open later in summer) and we had hiked an extra 1.5 miles... each way. So our 6 mile hike was now a 9 mile hike. Yup.

So that was the first three days... and yep, not a picture to show for it. We all agreed though, we were there, it happened!

Animal Sightings

2009-06-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of the bald eagles, osprey (he looks angry) and blue heron. Also, the elk from Mt St Helens.

Washington

2009-06-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

We took 2 days to drive up to Millersylvania State Park, just south of Olympia Washington. The first night we spent at Valley of the Rogue State Park near Grant's Pass Oregon. The drive up was uneventful for the most part. The campground was really nice, and right on the river so there was more fishing to be had, and more ham and cheese to eat. There was a lovely riverside trail and so we all hiked a few miles that afternoon.

Once up in Millersylvania, we had a grand time. My family came to see us, and brought us dinner, no less! There was more fishing to be had in Deep Lake, where, believe or not, actual FISH were caught. Pictures of Mikaela kissing her fish follow, thanks to Anna K. long ago who started her on the tradition. There were also great bike trails and several family bike rides were had. We caught up on laundry and groceries (and I visited the best Yarn store in the Pacific NW) before we headed down to Ike Kinswa SP on Mayfield Lake.

We met my brother and his lovely wife and boys there; party of 10 please. The campground was really lovely, in the forest next to where the Cowlitz River runs into Mayfield Lake. The was lots more fishing to be had, but only Mikaela ever caught anything the 5 days we were there. Better yet, the lake, and the particular corner we were on, was home to Osprey, Bald Eagles and Blue Heron. We practically carried our binoculars with us 24/7, with eagle and osprey sightings becoming so frequent that we almost grew bored with it. Almost. We watched them fish, we watched them quarrel, and we watched them soar about majestically. I found an osprey perched above me on a snag during a short walk.

On Sunday, we all trekked to the Johnson Observatory at Mt St Helen's. On the drive up, it was very overcast, and I lamented what I expected to be a poor view of the mountain. But eventually, we drove up out of the clouds and the mountain suddenly appeared before us. The ranger told us it was the clearest day at the mountain they had had in weeks. We listened to the Ranger talk about the biology of the area before and after the 1980 blast, and we even saw Elk down on the pumice plateau. We watched a really interesting movie about the volcano, and looked at all the interactive exhibits. Then we drove back down to another visitor center and had a late lunch, and watched a helicopter take off for an aerial tour of the mountain. Back at camp, we made scone and had a lovely supper of strawberries and scones.

On Monday, my brother's family had to head home, so we reluctantly waved goodbye and headed over to Lewis and Clark state park. Except the cool trail through the old growth forest, Lewis and Clark was a bust. We packed everything up, to head east early the next morning, on our way to Yellowstone. Eastern WA aside, the drive was spectacular. We made it all the way to Missoula, MT, though the last bit wasn't that fun in the car. We happily discovered that MT has Cracker Barrel! So we've eaten, and caught up on laundry, ready to head down to Yellowstone!

Alcatraz

2009-06-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we took BART back into the city and went to Pier 33, to take the ferry to Alcatraz. After dosing DH and Maddie with Dramamine so we could keep all our clothes clean, we had a lovely ride over to the island.

The history of Alcatraz island is really interesting, and is way more involved than just the famous prison. We saw a movie, walked around the whole island, took an audio tour of the cell block, saw nesting snowy egrets, and nesting seagulls with baby chicks. The island supports a lot of nesting birds, because there are no predators. We learned about the island's history as a military installation, a prison, and its' indian occupation in the late 60's.

We spent the rest of our afternoon back at Pier 39, and then took our weary selves back to BART and Pacifica where our trailer was. We will be up at 5am tomorrow to start for Oregon!

San Fransisco

2009-06-17T00:36:00.000-07:00

So we were up early and drove to the Bart Station to go into the city. We could have taken a local bus to the BART station, but DH can only take so much public transportation.

We arrived at Powell and Market, into the tourist throng. We headed up to the Borders store at Union Square, where we were supposed to be able to pick up a brochure about the Barbary Coast Trail, a self guided walking tour of San Fransisco (think Freedom Trail in Boston). Well, they were out. Huh? So we ended up buying a local guide and making up our own tour, from what I could remember from a walking tour we did 10 years ago, and what was in our book.

First up, was Chinatown. We headed up Grant through the lion gate. We had fun looking in all the shops, and when we got hungry for lunch, we let ourselves be led UP a hill and down an alley to a great Chinese restaurant. After lunch, we continued to wander through Chinatown, and even bought ourselves some chopsticks and fresh fortune cookies. In a nearby park, there is a small monument to the first public school in California, which also happened to be near where the gold find on the American River was announced, sparking the Gold Rush.

Then we headed up through North Beach into the Italian section. We hopped on a bus up to telegraph hill and Coit Tower. Then we brilliantly thought we'd take the stairs down to the Embarcadero- how hard could down be? My calves cramp at the mere thought of those steep stairs straight down the longest hillside of my life! We jumped on a streetcar and headed for Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf. Once thoroughly amused by the Sea Lions and the shops (sourdough bread and chocolate, yum) we took the trolley back up to Powell and Market and hopped back on BART for our trailer.

On the way to San Francisco

2009-06-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

We left Folsom Lake SRA, after another unsuccesful fishing day. We headed west to San Francisco. Heavy traffic into Berkley and Oakland was interesting, as was crossing the Bay Bridge (and paying the toll). The day was beautiful though and the views from the bridge were really cool. We made it down to Pacifica, and successfully threaded the trailer into our narrow site. The views from the bluff of the Pacific, and the many hang gliders was spectacular. We hung out in the heated pool, before heading down to Nick's on Rockaway Beach for dinner. We watched whales spouting in the ocean while we ate, and stayed for the sunset. We even spotted a Forster's Tern diving for it's dinner (the picture doesnt do it justice). Tomorrow e'll head into the city on BART to walk the Barbary Coast Trail.

Sacramento

2009-06-07T08:30:00.001-07:00

We stayed at Folsom Lake SRA, because I couldn't find a park closer to Sacramento that had good reviews. The campground was nice, and nearly deserted mid-week which we really like. After spending the evening at a Laundromat, a super Walmart, and a CPK (yum), we set out the next morning on the light rail for Sacramento, from the Historic Folsom station. We met my sisters' friend Kelly G., who works in our state senator's office, who had arranged for a VIP tour of the Capitol. Our friendly tour guide Eric gave us a fantastic tour of the capitol building. We got to see the Assembly Chamber, and go on the floor of the Senate Chamber. He let us go into the historic Governor's office (yes, behind the rope!). While hanging around the Governor's office, we met a Sergeant at Arms, Jody, who then took us into the Sergeant at Arms office and shows us a door that leads to the old facade of the building. They ran out of room in the 70s and so the east wing was built (6 floors in the space of the 4 of the old portion). The external columns provided support for the old portion, so the left them and just built over the facade. Jody took us up the senator's elevator back to our senator's office, and Sen Bob Huff had now arrived. We talked for a few minutes about his pending legislation on education, and then snapped the obligatory photos.
The Governor's schedule of course was full, and tourists are normally allowed in the lobby of his office, but it was closed today because of his full schedule. But, our new best friend, Sgt at Arms Jody told us that we could attend the press conference the governor's press conference. The Governator, and Linda Adams from the EPA, joined Thomas Quinn the CEO of E-Fuel gave a press conference about a home micro fueler in development. It was very cool, and just by standing in the right place at the right time, we were invited to take seats and join the press conference.
After our thrilling morning at the capitol, we walked down to the Railroad museum. It was very cool, and had many interactive exhibits on the expansion of the railroad to California. Finally, we caught out light rail train home after a long day.

Coloma, the American River and Sutter's Mill

2009-06-06T20:51:00.000-07:00

After successfully crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, we held out breath as we took the 49 out of Placerville into Coloma. The road was narrow, with low hanging trees and switchbacks: in other words, not ideal for a 57 ft truck/trailer combo. We made it into Coloma and began looking for the Coloma Resort, where we were going to stay. The direction said "turn right and cross the narrow bridge, and the resort is on your right." Let's just say that "narrow bridge" hardly captures the scene (see photos- I know it looks like a footpath. But it was the road. Seriously. And we actually fit, but we did have to take the wheel off the bike). The campground was nice, and our site was right on the river, however there were people in it. So we had to park elsewhere while the campground sorted it out (turned out to be late check outs). We hung out at the pool and were just fine. Once we were in our site, we found out that the Internet they supposedly had, only worked up by the office, and then only sporadically. We were also dismayed that after 2 days by Mono lake with no cell reception, we still didn't have a signal. Dad took the girls biking while I drove 20 miles back towards Placerville (through Sleepy Hollow, see photo) for the nearest grocery store.
The next day, we rode our bikes across the bridge to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park. It was fun to see the sites and learn more about the gold rush. Later, we tried our hand at panning for gold in the river, and found a few specks to call our own. Also, there was much fishing to be had, but none for us... only weeds and old shoes and a broken pole to show for it.
We left Coloma, several mosquito bites richer, for Sacramento and points west.

Crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains

2009-06-04T20:25:00.000-07:00

We left again at 7am and headed north on the 395, which was incredibly scenic. We drove into Nevada to find a route over the mountains that was more suitable to towing. We stopped for breakfast at Hambone’s at 1269 Rt 395 in Gardenerville, NV. We highly recommend this place, the people were nice and the food was excellent. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it was well worth the stop.

Then we headed up into the mountains through Hope Valley until we reached Hwy 50 South of Lake Tahoe. Just as we arrived at the Hwy, a sudden thunderstorm descended on us, severely cutting visibility. As we began to climb again though, we left the thunderstorm behind us. The sheer cliffs and elevation made for some interesting driving, but we managed fine. The drive was beautiful with tall peaks and rushing rivers and waterfalls. We soon found ourselves in Placerville, on the 49 into Coloma, and on to our next stop on the American River near Sutter’s Mill.

Mono Lake

2009-06-04T20:19:00.000-07:00

We visited the Mono Lake Visitor’s Center, and watched the movie there about the lake, which was very interesting and informative. Mono Lake is a salt water lake, because the fresh water that flows in over volcanic rock into the lake has no outlet (no water flows out of Mno Lake) and so the mineral concentration is high. That’s also what causes the fascinating tufas to form underwater. Because the lake level is lower than ideal, many of the tufas are exposed on the southern side of the lake. On Saturday afternoon, we arrived at the South Tufas of Mono Lake, just in time for a ranger guided tour. We learned about the plants that can grow in the salt plain, and how and why tufas are formed. The girls also got to help him create tufa in a small jar by adding calcium rich fresh water to the water of Mono Lake. They also helped him catch Brine shrimp, which along with the weird flies that breed there are the only animals that live in the lake. He also took us to see some ospreys that nest at the top of the tufas. The ospreys, which eat fish, nest at Mono Lake, but fly up to the lakes on the June Lake Loop to find fish. They join many other birds that nest there, including 85% of California Gulls which breed there. We also went over to Navy Beach on Mono Lake, which has sand tufas.

The June Lake Loop

2009-06-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Tim T. might have been right. While driving the June Lake Loop, just south of Lee Vining, I did begin to wish we had opted to stay up there. Some of the most spectacular eastern Sierra country can be found there. On Saturday morning, we again joined our family to fish at Gull Lake. A fun time was had by all, and we caught enough fish to have ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. We could see large trout swimming just off shore, and eventually Maddie thought she might have better luck with a net instead of a fishing pole. The views were gorgeous, and the time spent relaxing lakeside were well worth it.

Goodbye God, I’m going to Bodie

2009-06-04T20:11:00.000-07:00

And now my comrades all are gone;
Naught remains to toast.
They have left me here in my misery,
Like some poor wandering ghost.

On Friday morning, we joined Gramma, Grampa and my sister’s family (staying nearby in June Lake) and headed up to Bodie State Historic Park. Bodie is literally in the middle of nowhere, up a dirt road, north east of Lee Vining near the Nevada border. But it is so worth it! Only about 5 percent of the buildings remain from when it was a booming mine town of the 1880’s. Among them are a church and a store, and several homes, complete with furniture left behind. The twins became junior rangers, after running around the park after clues and answering questions to complete their task. Also still standing is the Hydroelectric building and power substation. We learned that the first motor to be operated over long distance power lines was initiated in Bodie in 1892, and many of the lines and poles still stand (in a straight line, as it was thought electricity couldn’t turn corners).
In the museum, Mikaela found the Bodie book of curses, which recorded several ghost stories and curses meant for those who desecrated or stole from Bodie. Bodie had quite a reputation in its heyday of being a den of wild, wicked men, and murders were daily and common. The morgue was still there, complete inside with caskets left from long ago.
We thoroughly enjoyed Bodie, and the views of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains as we returned to Lee Vining.

Manzanar

2009-06-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

We continued north on the 395 and stopped again at Manzanar National Historic Site. This was a Japanese Internment Camp during World War II. Over 10,000 people of Japanese descent, most with American Citizenship, were forced to relocate here between 1942 and 1945. The museum was really well done and very interesting. The movie shown every half hour is worth the trip. The whole site is family and child friendly. It was very windy there that day, which we learned was typical of the Owens Valley, and meant that the meager barracks were frequently covered with dust and sand. We were glad to be there and learn about the people who lived there and help preserve the memories of the Japanese Americans, many of home fought in the European Theater while their families remained captive back home.

We continued on 395 north until we finally reached Lee Vining at Mono lake around 4pm, just in time for an afternoon thunderstorm that made unhitching the trailer lots of fun. We found the local market and threw together our dinner, ready for our first night on the road.

Randsburg

2009-06-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

We pulled out of our driveway at 7am on Thursday the 28th (happy 15th Anniversary Honey!), thrilled to be on the road. We headed over the Cajon Pass, and north on the 395. There’s not much to say about the drive, hey, it’s the high desert. We started listening to Jack London’s White Fang and really enjoyed it.

We reached Randsburg by 9:30 am or so and we relieved to learn we could get breakfast in the General Store. Randsburg boasts a population of 70. It’s not a true ghost town, since, well, live people live there. But it was once a booming mine town of over 4000- after the gold ran out, silver and tungsten have both been mined there. My internet sources said that the mine was still active and employed people there, but the lady in the general store said that mine had been closed long ago. We missed the small museum, since it was open only on weekends, but the main street still looks much like it did in 1895 when gold was discovered there. Grandma and Grampa joined us here for breakfast. The food was mediocre, but the company was the best.

Where Have You Been?

2009-06-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

It's been quiet here, despite my best promises to update frequently, eh? Well, we have spent the last 5 days in the smallest of small towns, where dependable internet and cell service are considered the luxuries of the big city folk. I have finally found a connection by bringing my laptop up to the host site of our current campground and begging 5 minutes of internet time.

Our lack of connection extends to all media as well: Kristian was begging the Laker score from shopkeepers, until he found that he could send text messages from his cell phone, though he couldn’t make a call. Sr. Bower came through with score updates by text message after that. I tried to buy a paper on Sunday morning, only to find that the most recent paper available was several days old. On Monday, I drove 20 miles to the nearest big town to leave messages for family and buy supplies and otherwise we resigned ourselves to the media blackout (It wasn‘t that hard, and rather welcome anyway!).

We should have regular internet access in Sacramento, and so pictures and more blog posts will have to wait until then, sorry!

What do you want to do today?

2009-05-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

As I finish up our final arrangements, I'm really excited about a few extra activities we've added as our budget allows. A lot of our destinations are self explanatory, and this trip will include 10+ visits to State or National Parks. For the most part, we try to limit expenses by looking for free, family friendly activities like self guided walking tours, hikes, and low cost or free museums. Here are some highlights:

Manzanar Relocation Camp

This Japanese relocation center was active between 1942 and 1945. It is located in Owens Valley, five miles south of Independence, on the west side of US 395. It was one of ten relocation centers in the Western United States established to house over 120,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry. Remains here include the two rock guardhouses, a large gymnasium, cemetery, and ruins of scores of other buildings. The site is on the National Register of Historic Places and is State Historic Landmark #850. In early 2004, the restored gymnasium opened as a site museum (Facts from Gary Speck's Ghost Town website). We're looking forward to stopping here on our way up to Lee Vining. We haven't covered 20th century history in our homeschool yet, but I couldn't pass this up. Best of all, it's free.

Bodie State Historic Park

Bodie SHP is 13 miles east of US 395, basically in the middle of nowhere. Back in 1878 when the gold was flowing, it was 10k people strong, but now its the best, most intact ghost town of that era. It was designated as a National Historic Site and a State Historic Park in 1962, and the remains of Bodie are being kept in a state of "arrested decay". The entrance fees are $5 for adults and $3 for kids.

Barbary Coast Trail

The Barbary Coast Trail is touted as San Fransisco's best historical walking tour. It's 3.8 miles long and begins at the Mint and winds through China Town and North Beach and then down to Fisherman's Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. The trail is marked by 170 bronze medallions and arrows embedded in the sidewalk. We'll improvise a bit and use a local bus (39) to get up Telegraph Hill, and use the Powell-Hyde cable car to head back up to Union Square. We'll look for a brochure about the Barbary Coast Trail in the Border's Book Store near Union square, and pay for public transportation, but otherwise the self guided walking tour is free.

We've also booked an Alcatraz Tour and a Cowboy Cookout (in Yellowstone), but both come with hefty price tags, in my opinion. But we've never been to Alcatraz, and I can't find a single bad review of the Cowboy Cookout, so we are splurging on those. We'll also visit Marshall Gold State Historic Park in CA, and Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument in WA.

Final Itinerary... and the lists begin!

2009-05-06T19:14:00.000-07:00

From Pictures

Here's a picture of our final(ish) itinerary. I still have some work to do on it, and I'm starting to feel behind, yikes! We have double reservations on some nights that I still need to clear up. In the meantime, its list time!

I admit it, I'm a list maker. I like to start each list with "make a list." Then I already have something check off! I'll be making all sorts of lists for this trip: clothing list, activity list, medications list, audiobook list (look for our title library we're bring with us in the sidebar!), locations information list, related schoolwork list. I'll probably even have a list of my lists (as if this wasn't it!)

There are several other things to check off the prep list. Our new car stereo arrived today, but still needs to be installed. The car has been cleaned and is ready to be detailed. I have ordered a bazillion (ok, slightly less) audiobooks, and recieved most. But, there is plenty left to do: wash and inventory the trailer, find and harrass pet sitters, beg people to check on the garden, have the mail held and tie up a few work loose ends. I also need to finish the girl's notebooks, and closer to depature: clean out the fridge (yum). Can't wait!

Five minutes with my Senator...

2009-04-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

So it turns out my sister knows a girl...

She's on my state senator's staff, and has offered to hook us up with a VIP tour in Sacramento when we are there. I am way toooo thrilled about this for a normal person. I am a natural advocate, and homeschooling has taken some knocks in the last year, and so I've been asking myself all day, what should I say in my five minutes with my legislator (who happens to be on the education committee no less)? What if my kids pick THAT five minutes to turn into wild children from the Lord of the Flies? What if I say something stupid, or worse, what if I say nothing at all, and then think of 15 wonderfully witty and brilliant things to say as soon as I leave? Clearly I have some time to think about it, and welcome all suggestions!

Planning for Road Trip 2009 is moving forward, despite some bumps. Dh's schedule has unexpectedly changed and that has thrown a wrench in plans for the first few days and the last few days. But, we are ironing out our options and determined to make the best of it.

The question of the question has also come up. During Road Trip 2007, the girls asked people in just about every stop the same question: "What was the most important thing that happened to you in the last year?" We recorded the answers and found them fascinating. So should we ask the same question again this trip? Should we come up with a new trip question? The Jury is still out.

And the details: we ordered a new car stereo, because the CD player on the old one broke (thanks baby A!). So I'm beefing up our audio book collection. We've had the car looked over and cleared for take off. All destination reservations have been made, though some need to be changed slightly. I still have some route research to do between Sacramento and San Fransisco. I still need to look for overnight options between destinations in a few places. Otherwise, ahem, we're ready to go!

Time to Catch Up!

2009-04-14T22:33:00.001-07:00

Well, it's that time again! I've been putting off planning the 2009 Trip (don't worry I DID make reservations for Yellowstone last summer) because I wasn't sure our budget could handle it. But, the loan we gave to the government got paid back (in the form of our tax return) and so, we're planning to go!

As always, I love the planning almost as much as the going. Pouring over the maps, researching the best places to stay, it's all great fun. I working on honing our itinerary, and of course trying to pack as much in as we can.

This year, we're sticking to the western portion of the country. Since I have a 3rd grader and a 5th grader, I thought it would be a good time to take a look at California state history. So we'll start off with a ghost town/gold rush tour.

We'll head north on the 395 to see the sites and smell (ahem) Mono Lake. We'll stay in Lee Vining for a few days (though I'm thinking about switching to June Lake?) and make a day trip up to see Bodie State Park. Its the ultimate ghost town, so they say. After that, we'll head up to Coloma, to see Sutter's Mill at Marshall State Park. We'll stay at the Coloma resort right on the American River. We'll mosey on over to Sacramento and (hopefully) get a VIP tour of the capitol building. I hear there's a cool Railroad musuem as well. Then on to San Fransisco because, well because it's there and Mikaela really wanted to go. Plus, fabulous cousin Hilary is there and hopefully we'll get to take a bite with her. I have done a walking tour of San Fransisco that included some trolley fair, so I bet we'll do that too. We'll stay at a resort in Pacifica, right on the ocean, which sounds really great.

Thats about as far as I've gotten, though I've made plans to see my brother in WA and then over to Yellowstone and down to Zion. More on those legs soon!

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

2007-04-20T22:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-13T22:03:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-08T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-04T21:58:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-03T21:57:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

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

2007-04-01T21:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

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

Yorktown

2007-03-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

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!

Driving To Virginia

2007-03-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-24T21:42:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-22T21:39:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-15T21:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-03-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-03-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2007-02-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-29T20:13:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

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!

Shakedown Trip - San Clemente State Beach

2006-12-29T19:09:00.000-08:00

We've made our plans for our shakedown trip! We're going to San Clemente State Beach (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=646).We have never been there before, but its on a bluff over the beach and has full hook ups, so it seems perfect. I still really want to go to Rincon, but I guess we'll save that for the next time since it has no hook ups.
So now we've got to stock the trailer. The master bedroom is almost done, with a new memory foam mattress topper, memory foam pillows and a new down comforter. We have not decided what to do with the bunks... whether or not to make them up with sheets and blankets or just use sleeping bags. For next weekend, sleeping bags seem ok, but for our Road Trip, 32 days seems too long to sleep in a sleeping bag. Then there is the kitchen. We have some stuff from the old trailer, pots and pans and dinner ware; some pantry staples. Its all a matter of putting things where they go and seeing what we still need. I love every minute of it!

More Reservations!

2006-12-27T19:06:00.000-08:00

From Map

Well, I made 3 more reservations today! It's so exciting to be making real plans! I have decided not to make reservations in our stop over places, just the destinations. That way, we can be a little more flexible in between. I made reservations today for Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro AR, American Heritage Park in Williamsburg, Va, and Cherry Hill in College Park, MD (for DC). Here is a new picture of our final route. We'll skip Oklahoma on the way east, instead staying in north Texas. It seems easier to get to the Crater of Diamonds this way. Also in our final itinerary, we've opted to drive hard the days we need to travel, starting early in the morning. This makes for long days of driving, but gives us more time at our destinations.

Closer to home... we are planning our maiden voyage in our trailer, in about a week. I want to go to the beach, not sure what campground yet, or whether or not to try and find hook-ups. I really like Rincon Parkway, maybe there will be hook up sites available at Hobson or Faria (doubt it!). The whales should be heading south, would be cool to see a pod!

And lastly... I'm off to put the new memory foam topper on the queen bed in the trailer... woo hooooooo!

Our Trailer is Home!

2006-12-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

DH and I went through a 3 hour PDI yesterday morning and brought our baby home! We diligently filmed most of the inspection so that when it comes time to remember whether or not we need the dehumidifier on the refrigerator we'll know the answer! We LOVE it! Some of my favorite features are the outside shower (no more sand in the trailer!) and the garage door storage in the bunk room. The fridge is huge! It comes with a range cover and sink covers. The interior design is called wine.
It is 32 ft (34 including the hitch assembly) but fits in our driveway. We had a sway control installed, and also a Prodigy brake control.
Over all we're very pleased with it, and with our dealer. Anyone need a referral?

I Made Our First Reservation!

2006-12-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

We know DH's schedule now for the next couple of months and it perfectly coincides with our vacation, so we will actually be leaving on March 15th!

I made our first reservation tonight, at the Grand Canyon Railway Rv Park in Williams, AZ. I also booked train tickets! We'll take the train up to the Grand Canyon, have a look around and then take the train back. Everything I have read says this is the thing to do when visiting with kids. The parks near the Grand Canyon either don't fit our rig or have really bad reviews, so I'm excited about staying in Williams and taking the train. The girls are going to love it! Here's the link to the Grand Canyon Railway: http://www.thetrain.com/home.cfm

Because we have an extra 5 days with DH's RDO's, we are adding the Diamond Mine back in our plans and the girls are really excited. We're also adding a day in Indianapolis to see a Pioneer farm/living museum.

TRAILER UPDATE

We have an appt at 9am on Friday to pick up our trailer!!! Its been at the dealership since last Friday, and I can't wait to see it. We will be doing our PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) and having our Suburban fitted with the correct wiring and we are having a brake controller installed. We hope to make our maiden voyage the first full weekend in January!

Our New Trailer

2006-11-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

We're counting down to the delivery of our new travel trailer! We expect it mid-December. We're getting a Fleetwood Wilderness 32dbhs. It sleeps 10! Don't worry, we still only need sleeping for 6, but we intend to hang on to this trailer for some time and this way the girls can bring friends, and maybe my sister will even bring the new baby (counting down to June 2007). There are quad bunks in the back, a full bathroom, a full kitchen and a separate master bedroom (see the floor plan picture below; click to enlarge it!). There is a slide, and the sofa contains a queen size pull out sofa-bed. The floor plan is what sold us, but the Wilderness is great on other levels as well. The chassis is enclosed, which makes cold weather camping easier. The tank sizes are huge, which makes dry camping easier. And... it has a stove!! I can't wait for hot cornbread and camp chili! The trailer is an ostentatious 32 feet long (nearly 34 with the hitch), but its still well below our our suburban's (454) towing capacity. We're having a sway control mechanism added for easier towing. I can't wait until its here and we can take it on our first test run before our Road Trip!

GPS is sooooo cool!

2006-11-25T17:10:00.000-08:00

So my GPS receiver and Microsoft Streets & Trips came in the mail today! Here's the first draft of our route (I've used the alternate route, though we still may end up adding the Diamond Crater back in, we're still in negotiations). Click on the photo to enlarge it. This software is soooo cool! I can't believe we ever found the end our our driveway without it! It gives drive time, in route fuel checkpoints, it will even add bathroom breaks and calculates fuel cost and drive time, etc etc etc. It was totally worth it. We need to check it out with the real time drive directions. Its supposed to have voice commands.

Alternate Itinerary

2006-11-21T17:08:00.000-08:00

Ok, here is an alternate itinerary. If we drive hard the first few days, skip the Grand Canyon (its close to home, we can do it later) and skip the Crater of Diamonds (ouch, I know), we can gain 3 days. Also, I think we can get to Williamsburg in 2 days instead of 3, and we gain gain a day there. This way, we can spend more time in the cities we want to see. The last week is still hard though.

Mar 18 674 mi Grant, NM

Mar 19 655 mi Oklahoma, OK

Mar 20 571 mi Tupelo, MS

4 days

Mar 25 392 mi Knoxville, TN

Mar 26 486 mi Williamsburg, VA

2 days

Mar 29 183 mi Washington DC

1 day

Mar 31 112 mi Philadelphia, PA

2 days

Apr 3 124 mi New York

2 days

Apr 6 234 mi Boston, MA

2 days

Apr 9 479 mi Niagara Falls

Apr 10 512 mi Indianapolis, IN

Apr 11 457 mi Springfield, MO

Apr 12 546 mi Amarillo, TX

Apr 13 518 mi Holbrook, AZ

Apr 14 530 mi home

6473

Preliminary Itinerary

2006-11-20T17:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here is the scoop. I've ordered Microsoft Streets and Trips, with a GPS locator and a power inverter. Yup, turning my laptop into one big GPS device. I can't wait until it arrives and I can hone my route. In the meantime, I'm working on our preliminary itinerary. There's a couple of things we'll need to keep in mind... back east there are a lot of tunnels... and they don't allow trailers carrying propane in them, so we'll have to route around them. I think this may only affect us in Baltimore; we'll see. Also, there are far more toll roads back east than there are in Southern California. I think we may end up on them anyway though, because time is of the essence. Will be a hefty toll, towing a trailer. Also, on the way back, we'll go south to avoid the Rockies in early April.

Mar 18, Grand Canyon. I think we'll either stay in Williams at a KOA or maybe Trailer Village closer to the South Rim.

Mar 19, Albuquerque NM. Staying at Albuquerque Central KOA

Mar 20, Elk City, OK. Staying at Elk City KOA

Mar 21, Murfreesboro, AR. Would like to stay at Crater of Diamonds State Park. We'll spend an extra day here, hoping to coax a diamond to come with us.

Mar 23, Tupelo, MS. We've got friends here, so will stay several days.

Mar 28, Trenton, GA. Would like to stay at Cloudland Canyon State Park
Mar 29, Radford, VA. Sportsman Campground, hopefully have dinner with some friends in Blacksburg.
Mar 30, Williamsburg, VA. May stay at the KOA, may stay at Anvil Campground. Will stay an extra day and check out Colonial Williamsburg, maybe Jamestown.
Apr 1, College Park, MD. Hope to stay at Cherry Hill. Will stay an extra day to check out Wash DC.

Apr 3, Coatesville, PA. Will stay at the KOA, spend an extra day checking out Philadelphia and maybe Amish country.

Apr 5, Jersey City, NJ. Hope to stay at Liberty Harbor. Will stay an extra day to check out Manhattan.

Apr 7, Middleboro, MA. Will stay at the KOA, spend an extra day checking out Plymouth and Boston.

Apr 9, Grand Island, NY... Niagara Falls

Apr 10, Columbus, OH, not sure where we'll stay, hope to have dinner with some friends in Grove City.

Apr 11, St Louis, MO. Still need to find a place to stay here, will have been a long day driving.

Apr 12, Tulsa, OK.

Apr 13, Tucumcari, NM

Apr 14, Holbrook, AZ

Apr 15 Needles, CA

Apr 16, home!

I still need to figure out where to stay after Niagara Falls, most of the cities have KOA's though. We also joined Passport America and will be getting their discount in a few campgrounds on the way.

The Planning Begins!

2006-11-09T16:55:00.000-08:00

Los Angeles to Boston and back in 4 weeks! Don’t laugh, I’m serious. Here’s all the places we’d like to see:

Grand Canyon

Crater of Diamonds

Tupelo

Colonial Williamsburg

Washington DC

Philadelphia

New York

Boston

Niagra Falls

I’ll post our itinerary soon!