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From Mobile to Virginia Beach

So after we leave the USS Alabama, we get off I-10 for the first time in a week. We head NE on I-65 to Montgomery, then I-85 to Atlanta. We had planned to visit the Coca-Cola World in Atlanta, but our hotel turned out to be on the opposite of town and a significant detour. We opted to continue on the next morning to Wytheville, VA via NW South Carolina and Gastonia, NC. Along the way, we saw a few interesting things, but mostly at that point we were destination driven and just wanted to get there. Here are the pictures. We did make a stop at a nice museum of natural science called the Schiele Museum in Gastonia.

A long day on the road. After the museum, we headed north on I-77 in Charlotte, NC all the way into Wytheville, Virginia. A nice hotel, warm pool, kids to play with, and the laundry got done.

A good night's sleep, and we're just a few hours from family!

Next stop is Skyline Drive for lunch, then Luray Caverns. Ted had been to the Caverns before, but didn't remember much, and Claire hadn't been at all, so she was excited. I've been a number of times in my life and always remember a line and an assigned tour time, so I was pleasantly surprised when we got there and the tour is now self-guided with a choice of audio tours. There was a high energy, informative kid's audio and a more refined (pinkies up everyone), slightly more detail oriented. You could go back and forth between the two at each station. I listened to both, and the kid's was much more fun!

After we left the caverns, we were only about 1 hour from Trish and Brad's in Marshall, VA. An uneventful drive to Marshall, and we were in place for a 2 night stay! Yipee! No moving the very next morning. Instead, we (Claire) got to play with Angel (the scaredy-dog), we (all) got to see the deer, hang out with Trish and Brad, have one person to a bed, eat good food, and sightsee in Washington, D.C. for two days. (see pictures) Thanks so much Trish and Brad!

Washington was hot and humid, but still a great place to see, learn, and experience. We were there for the shooting at the Holocaust Museum, too close for my liking, but stayed safe and still enjoyed ourselves immensely.

We left our second day in D.C. and headed to Midlothian, VA for the night to visit the Haines family. A too short visit for sure, but maybe we can get them to come to Arizona sometime? Thanks so much for having us though. A trip to Friendly's and a night at another comfy family home, and we were off to Virginia Beach!

Virginia Beach means family, fun, food, the beach, a birthday party for Claire, and friends. But first and foremost it means WE GET TO PICK UP DADDY AT THE AIRPORT!!!!! Yay for all of us. I get a break and the kids get to see their dad again, and I get adult company again. A win-win-win situation. Here are the pictures.

We were covered in bug bites, saw lots of rain, thunder, and lightning, but saw UP, ate ice cream, went to the beach, restaurants, and I had a pedicure with Julie to keep me company. Aaaah.

We'll take off for points north in the next blog.

Where did I leave us? Oh yes, Katy, TX.

After San Antonio, TX, we headed for our first stay with family in Katy (pictures). We stayed with Don, Mary, Ellen, and Lucy, as well as our beagle cousins, Basil and Mitzi. We got there mid-afternoon to find Ellen diligently studying for her last final exam. This was a theme for the next week or so. Whatever day we got there was the last day of finals. We chased the last day of school all the way through NJ. Anyway, we were only staying the night and visiting the next day. Back on the road after dinner. We had a great time just hanging out, went to a park where the kids got to scooter and run and play, played with the dogs, played WAR, and ate too much! It was so nice. And too short.

We hit the bayous of Texas on our way out at night and I think the bug population must triple at night. The next morning, when we looked at the car in the hotel parking lot, we couldn't believe the solid coating of insect carnage on the grill! The place that changed our oil in NJ was pretty surprised at the size of some of the bodies on the air filter when he changed it too.

From Lafayette (arrived too late to swim...too bad, the pool looked good), we continued our eastward trek through the Atchafalaya Swamp (the largest swamp in North America). The wonderfully nice ladies in the visitor's center heard me say something to Claire about it being her birthday and made a big ol' fuss over her. They found beads and pins and luggage tags under the counter and presented them to her. By the way, the visitor's center is worth a stop to learn about the swamp habitat and how its boundaries have changed with erosion and storms over the years.

Finally we got to New Orleans (pictures). The Big Easy was cloudy that day, and I'm glad. It was getting hotter as we headed east and definitely more humid. A nice cloudy day was perfect. Got to show the kids The French Quarter, Jackson Square, the Mississippi River, The Audobon Aquarium, had a portrait of the kids done for Father's Day, and celebrated Claire's birthday at lunch. Laissez les bons temps rollez~.

We headed across Lake Pontchartrain, and to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi to my old Air Force Keesler AFB stomping grounds. Toes were dabbled in the Gulf of Mexico, Katrina damage was witnessed, and a beautiful sunset was seen.

We got to Mobile, AL in time for bed, and an early start to the USS Alabama. We didn't realize until breakfast (watching CNN cover D-day), that it WAS D-Day and we were visiting a WWII ship. There were some big festivities going on there and it made the visit a little more special and us feel a little more patriotic. Side note: the "D" in D-Day doesn't mean anything you'd think it does...not debarkation or doom. It means day and is a way of marking time...d is the day something is to occur, the day before would be D minus 1 and the day after would be D plus 1. I had to look it up. Everyone I asked that day had a different answer, and they were all wrong.

There are lots of pictures of the USS Alabama, as well as a few from the Gulf Coast, plus the other picture links that were in the body of the blog.

Enjoy, and we'll pick up from here next time.

Continuing on down the road

So day one was to Las Cruces, NM and day two started with a ride to White Sands National Monument, NM. Day three was a not too long ride to Fort Stockton.

We stayed at White Sands hiking and sledding until after lunch then got on the road toward Fort Stockton, TX. The first hour or so was backtracking through Las Cruces again to get back to I-10, then it was a major traffic jam in El Paso (18-wheeler broken down in the middle of 5 lanes). They closed the lane he was stuck in for one mile before you got to him and 1/2 mile after, plus both lanes on either side of the one he was in. What a mess! But it gave us (the kids and me) a chance to discuss the differences in economy, politics, and lifestyle in Mexico vs. the USA. The kids could see first hand houses on one side of The Rio Grande and shacks on the other. They were surprised at what they saw.

Finally, the traffic broke and we were off again. Uneventful all the way to Fort Stockton.

We checked into our hotel, Quality Inn, and were disappointed in everything about it. Since I covered that in a previous post, I won't repeat myself. As a follow-up though, Choice Hotels did reply to my complaints with two letters I don't believe telling me how seriously they were taking my complaints...blah, blah, blah. Show me the money!

We slept and departed in the morning for San Antonio, TX and The Alamo! The road from Fort Stockton to San Antonio was very west Texas. Oil fields, wind fields, fairly barren, and then we hit trees and humidity again. We were happy to get off the road and to our hotel. The hotel was better than the last and we swam until dinner, ate, went to bed to get an early start downtown.

Now I've been to The Alamo before (basic training at Lackland's town pass). I even have some pictures somewhere to prove it, but I still don't remember all the lush vegetation! If you've never been, I can see your impression being brown, dusty, in the middle of the desert. The movies feed that myth. And myth it is. The Alamo is in the middle of San Antonio. San Antonio and The Alamo are in (according to the guide) a sub-tropical environment, and The Alamo's been there for hundreds of years so not only is there jungle type plantlife, it's BIG! And there's lots of it.

The famous front of The Alamo houses the Shrine to the lost and some historical displays. The actual mission rooms have been converted into a history museum with each room dedicated to some ascpect of the famous fight. The courtyard is just a luscious, green, garden. The centerpiece of which (for me) is a huge, rambling Live Oak. It's beautiful. The final building houses the expansive gift shop that also has some intricate dioramas.

After a brief Alamo walk-around, we got on our tour bus to go see some missions. There are six in the immediate S.A. area and the tour was supposed to include four. Ours only led us to three because the tour bus got behind schedule when a train blocked our path. Just as well. The kids had seen enough old church buildings with forts around them. So we headed back into the city proper and visited The Alamo a little more in depth. They now know who Davy Crockett was and who is credited with the Bowie knife.

Then it was off to Riverwalk. Riverwalk does follow the natural path of the San Antonio River, but the level and flow is controlled upstream to prevent flooding and provide consistency for the boat operators. It's a nice shady respite filled with shops and restaurants of all flavors. We chose Hard Rock Cafe for our lunch, then a local place for ice cream and it was off to visit the relatives in Katy, TX.

That's where I'll leave you today.

pictures of road to S.A., San Antonio, and The Alamo

Ahhhh, it's good to be home.

The laundry is done, the car is repaired (not to my satisfaction, but we're working on that), the pictures are loaded onto the Mac (not all labeled and edited, but well under way), and we're back into some sort of routine.  It's time to reflect.  I'll do it in small doses and add pictures as I go.

Overall, the trip was wonderful.  We saw more of the country (and Canada) in a little over a month than I would ever want to do again.  I started referring to it as "The Whitman's Sampler" road trip.  We discovered some places we'd love to see more of (Bryce Canyon, Wyoming, Colorado), places we don't care to see again (Fort Stockton), and places we saw fully and don't need to get back to (Mount Rushmore).  We found the kitschy (The Jolly Green Giant, Wall Drug, etc...), the historical (Washington, D.C., Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, et al) the humorous (unusual folks in New Orleans), the educational (USS Alabama, Schiele Museum), the relatives (too many to list), the beautiful (Niagara Falls, Luray Caverns, Zion, Bryce, etc...), the unexpected (the evacuation of The Holocaust Museum, locks and dams in operation on the Mississippi River), the fast (Shark Attack), and the relaxing (beaches, good company, friends and family, good food).  We traveled good roads and bad, saw all kinds of weather, met kind and helpful people, a few bad apples, had some bad luck with the car (but not as bad as it could have been), said prayers for patience, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers for departed stars and sick family members, prayers of gratitude (I guess I talked to God a LOT on this trip), and were blessed throughout.

The start from home was uneventful...just the way we like it.  And we had a good wireless connection and were able to blog right away.  Amazingly, as the trip went on, wireless became more unreliable and/or less available.  Plus our days on the road got longer.  The first day, there wasn't too much to see (except, of course, "The Thing"), and the driving was 6 hours/day or less.  By the end, we got up early, saw a sight for hours, drove for hours (seeing sights along the way), and sometimes even saw a sight once we arrived.  Long days didn't lend themselves to blogging when there was still unpacking, laundry, and sleeping to do.  I was upset with myself at first, then cut myself some slack.  It's getting done now, isn't it?  It's just a retrospective instead of a contemporaneous journal.

Day 1 pictures -home to Las Cruces, NM.

Day 2 pictures -Las Cruces (White Sands) to Fort Stockton, TX.

I labeled most of these with some sort of label, but if you have questions about a picture, please ask.

More in the coming days...I don't want to overwhelm anyone.  

Our nation's parks are wonderful!!!!

If you haven't done so in a while, please take any opportunity you get to visit our National Park Service facilities. We've now seen six of them (I think) and all have been fantastic. They are well kept, staffed with knowledgable, friendly staff (when staffed). They do a great job with the educational programs and the Junior Ranger as well.

We're almost through with our trip now. One more day in Utah (Bryce NP), then we'll go to Lake Powell area, sleep in Page, AZ, get up and head to Holbrook and the Petrified Forest National Park? Monument?, then home. Only 3 more hotel beds and sharing a single bathroom with my family of 4.

I'll try to post more from home when I can better organize my thoughts and the pictures. I just wanted you all to know what fun this has been and how great to support our National Parks.

Homeward bound now!

What was that about a break in the weather?

We're here in Rockford, IL, about an hour from O'Hare. It was a great weather start to the day. Cruised through Ohio, Indiana, and then, with the Sears Tower off in the distance, we see the thunderheads forming. Big, dark, ominous looking clouds that soon enough had lightning coming out of them. They called their friends and soon it was a whole front that we were heading into. We didn't sightsee in Chicago due to our late start in the morning. We got to the airport cell phone lot 45 minutes ahead of Mom's flight. Perfect timing. Except that once Mom landed, the lightning alert in the area prevented the crew from being allowed to unload the luggage from the plane. Mom's waiting time was 90 minutes. That was longer than the whole flight from Philadelphia took. We found out later that the storms we were waiting in (at least we weren't driving in them) were the worst in the country today. 65 mph winds, driving rain, lightning...we blamed Mom.

Our hotel is the finest we've stayed in so far. Nice pool, hot tub, free laundry, reception hour with free wine for Mom and hot dogs for the kids; very nice.

No new pictures today. Tomorrow is a driving day with little to stop and see, but we will stop a few times to break up the monotony. It's supposed to rain on us most of the time. Make it STOP!

We're having a great time, but the road is wearing on all of us. Fresh blood is a good thing. Thanks for coming Mom! Chip will join us in three days and Mom will be tired of us by then and ready to jump ship. My patience wears thinner than it should, but today I met a woman doing laundry who lost her whole house less than a week ago to fire. I can find the patience to enjoy myself. My life is wonderfully blessed.

I haven't posted in a week?!?!

I guess I've been busy. That's a good thing on a vacation. We've finally seen a stop to bad weather. We just had to leave the east coast to do it. We're still east of the Mississippi River, but from the time we drove into NY state, it stopped raining, and so far has been lovely since. Let's backtrack though...

In New Jersey, we went to an animal rescue zoo called Popcorn Park. It was small, but there were some beautiful peacocks there as well as an ancient camel, tigers, lionesses, pot-bellied pigs, and other animals that people have attempted to domesticate through the years and then realized they couldn't. People, some animals just don't make good pets.

We also got a chance to ride in Mom and Ron's boat (the Sydney Rose by the previous owner and never renamed) when the rain cleared in NJ one day. Each kid got to pilot the ship and we didn't wash up on shore after, so they had fun.

There was a cookout at my mom's on Saturday, so the kids went fishing with Grandad and Emilie in the morning (when it was still dry) and Amy, Mom, and I prepared for the festivities. I'm sure they were dry for a little while, but by the time they came home, they were soaked to the bone! Ted's shoes took two days to dry out enough to wear. The rain did stop for a little while when the burgers went on the grill and didn't start again until later, so at least everyone wasn't eating in the house. It was great to see everyone.

And the bugbites! All three of us are suffering terribly with swollen, bitten, itchy, and red calves and ankles. Nothing is stopping the itch either. After Bite, aloe, Calomine, benadryl, and zyrtec have all been used and only slightly reduce the itching.

So we leave NJ and head (in the rain) to upstate NY to visit Bud, Lynn, and Kate on our way to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Fabulous weather in all three of those places. The kids got the s'mores they wanted, and we really had an excellent visit with the Meighans.

Off to the Jell-O museum, then Niagara Falls, and Canada. see pictures of everything here. Don't worry, it's divided into little chunks.

Well, the kids woke up and want to swim before we hit the road to Chicago today, so I'll sign off for now and try to get caught up later!

Happy motoring!

Some pictures and the latest

Helps if I actually type something, so I'm editing this. I've used so many computers and internet connections in the past couple of weeks, it's mind boggling (for me).

Today we get a chance to regroup and enjoy the cool, slightly dreary weather. We did go to the boardwalk in OC (NJ not MD) and got to increase our cartop carrier's sticker collection. I will photograph that soon and post it. Back to the boardwalk. It was breezy, gray, but not raining, so we stayed and played mini-golf. Chip was the big winner. Then we strolled along gathering shoobie souvenirs and taking the requisite tourist photos. It was a great time. Grammy treated us to Kohr Bros. frozen custard....mmmmm. I had mine with Jimmies (that's sprinkles to non-Jersey-ites). Sadly, either due to weather, day of the week, or the fact that school isn't out yet, the rides weren't open. We will hope for some non-rainy days in the rest of the visit, but it's not looking good for the home team on that front.

We're experiencing the best and the worst of people on this trip. Best; the amazing scenery all over and the lushness of the greenery back east. Worst; all of West Texas and every bug that's bitten us (especially Claire who apparently is quite allergic). Best; visitor center ladies in Louisiana that gave Claire birthday bling. Worst; toll collector in Midlothian that basically called me a liar when I told her I put the change in the exact change basket and she wouldn't open the gate until I dropped in ANOTHER 70 cents. Best; all the people that offered to take our pictures together. Worst; parking ticket nazi lady at the Metro station ticketing people 30 seconds before the free parking time started (not Trish though). Best; the phone reps for Choice Hotels that easily change my reservations over to free rewards reservations and don't make me feel stupid for not being able to do it myself online. Worst; in person reps at Choice Hotels that do nothing to fix something wrong with your stay, DESPITE the sign at the desk saying "we fix it or it's free" AND the follow-up letters that don't fix OR free it either. Best; all the wildlife we've gotten to see. Worst; the frogs we couldn't spot frog hunting due to too much pollution in their place.

I guess we're pretty close to the halfway point, miles and timewise for this trip. I must say it's been a fabulous adventure so far. The good outweighs the bad in every category. The cost, the weather, the activities, the people we've gotten to see have all been bigger, better, friendlier, more than anticipated. We still have so much left to experience and from here on, most of it will be new to all of us. I can't wait!

I hope the new picture link is working. Let me know!

We'll see some more folks here in Jersey, maybe go to the movies (UP was super!), maybe bowl, definitely play some board games, and possibly swim IF it warms up. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks for hanging in there!

What is going on with the weather?

Now, I know that we've been in Arizona for a while, so maybe we've aclimated to the heat. But it's now downright COLD for mid-June. We rode the Cape May-Lewes Ferry yesterday and we all bought souvenir sweatshirts. There was a gale-force (maybe an exagerration) wind blowing and it was chilly. There were actually whitecaps in the protected cove at the dock! I was very concerned for the contents of my stomach. I paid good money for that food, and I wanted it to stay put. The solution for me was to play deck ornament and stay out with the wind beating my face the whole crossing. I worked, and I had a great ride. I saw dolphins, brown pelicans, gulls, terns, and Claire spotted a sea turtle! I thought it was a tire, but she was insistent that it wasn't. Then the tire raised its head, looked at me like I was a big dummy, and swam away.

We're off to Athena Diner to meet Dad after he gets home from work this morning to have a yummy breakfast.

More later!

Picture post site correction

I tried my own link from the blog today and it didn't work. It took me to the site where I (with my passoword) can add photos. That's not right, and if you've been getting frustrated, I apologize. Here's the RIGHT link. pictures

I sure hope that's better!

Having a great time in Virginia Beach. Pray for no rain today. Nancy and Lewis are having a BBQ here today. Nancy says the house's magic number (capacity) is 40 and the invited and RSVP'd guest list is greater than that!

Have been to the bay, the ocean, a frog hunt (no frogs), the movies (UP), eaten, gotten a pedicure, had fun visiting and catching up, and will get on with that until Tuesday.

Enjoy! We sure are.

photos and more

Hello everyone!

It's been a few days, but I'm posting a picture link. They're not all labeled properly, so feel free to ask where or what something is.

We're now in Virginia Beach with all the family there, enjoying some much needed off the road time. We've had great weather and good travels so far. Lots of excitement came in DC the other day. We were standing at a Tourmobile stop right in front of the Holocaust Memorial Museum when the events occured over there. We didn't know until later what had actually happened, we only knew that people were running out of the building and all the roads were blocked. We found out when we got back to the car what went on and we were really glad to be leaving. Time to go. It certainly didn't ruin our day, we just counted our blessings and were happy to be going on to visit friends and family.

A huge thank you to our family and friends who have housed and fed us along the way so far. It's been wonderful to catch up and visit. We love you all!

Since the last post, we've seen Skyline Drive, Luray Caverns, and the Nation's capitol. The kids loved Luray. Ted vaguely remembered seeing it years ago. It hasn't changed. The thing that did change was the way the tour is operated. It used to be a guided tour of groups of about 20-30 led by a ranger. Now, it's self-paced with an audio guide. The audio gives you a choice of either the energetic youth narration that sets up a scavenger hunt along with the geology and history lesson, or the dry, mature, history channel adult version. You can switch back and forth at any point, so I did both. The kid one was much more fun!

The trip along Skyline Drive was peaceful and beautiful. We got to see deer, a piliated woodpecker, lots of trees, interesting fungi, and squirrels. No, we don't have those where we are in Arizona. Some people will tell you that the squirrels are smarter than to live in the desert!

The two days in DC were both muggy, but day 2 was a little better than day1, being a little cooler. Claire finally got to see the Lincoln Memorial. I hope that since that was the thing she wanted to see most, that she's still interested in the rest of the trip. She can't go home yet.

By far, the most exciting thing that has happened since the last post has been getting Daddy at the airport. You'd have thought he was returning from war, the greeting they gave him! Nearly tackled him. It was great to see.

They're at the beach right now with cousin Rachel and later will be lots more fun and games to report.

Here's a link to the whole gallery of photos I've taken. Pick whichever albums you want to look at. Bridges' pictures.

Stay tuned!

Some pictures

Carry us back to ol virginny

We're in Virginia. Wytheville to be exact. Today started in Atlanta and the first stop was at a Cracker Barrel in Gaffney, SC. We failed to calculate how much time that would take given it was a Sunday morning in the south, at noon after church. But the wait wasn't too bad and the food was good. I finally found a meal to fill the growing 11 year old; Sunday's special, 2 fried chicken breasts, 2 veggies, and biscuits!

Our next stop was in Gastonia, NC to go to a nice little natural History Museum, The Schiele Museum and Planetarium. We spent 2 hours learning about evolution, wildlife, sealife, and the natural erosion process along the Outer Banks. The kids got to be out of the car, see stuff, learn stuff, and buy stuff in the gift shop. A perfect outing.

Then it was 2 and a half more hours to our hotel. Laundry (still in progress) and the pool were at the top of the list and now everyone is showered and in bed watching TV.

Tomorrow it's a early start so we can see the best of Skyline Drive.

Yawn, stretch, time for bed.

Finally in the eastern time zone

We're in Georgia and getting to bed earlier than usual. The pool was too cold for the kids to want to swim, so we showered, packed for tomorrow and are practicing violin (Ted), blogging (me), pretending to try to sleep (Claire).

We didn't realize it was D-day today until we saw it on the news while eating breakfast. For me, that made going to see the USS Alabama more exciting. There was a lot of activity there today...a car show, food vendors, exhibitors, plus the usual tours. We had a long day of driving ahead of us, so we stuck with the battleship tour. They really take you all over the ship. It took us a little over 2 hours, but I'd recommend it if you're in the area. A self-guided tour with more descriptions in the areas it directed us to than in the guide itself. It was a good history lesson for all of us.

The milestone of today's ride was passing the 2000 miles on the road mark. Somewhere around Montgomery, AL the trip odometer flipped another 1000 miles. We did a little in the car 25% of the miles are gone happy dance and called Chip.

We've been blessed with good weather and good health so far. We are all getting eaten by mosquitoes at every stop along the way since San Antonio. Claire has one on her leg that is getting bigger by the day. I wrapped it up tonight so she can't scratch it in her sleep.

Tomorrow was going to be World of Coca Cola, but we've decided to get out of town and hit the Natural History Museum in Gastonia, NC. That will break up the trip to Wytheville, VA. 3 hours before the break and 2.5 after. Then we'll be in Virginia! I'm seriously hoping for a laundry room at tomorrow's hotel. There wasn't one here, but we have two or three more days of clothes left. We'll be fine.

Tonight was our stay 3 nights, get the 4th free night. The next one of those will probably be Toledo or Denver. It's a little better than "you get what you pay for", but so far, Quality is my least favorite of the Choice Hotels we've stayed in.

I'm not adding new pictures tonight. I'll try tomorrow.

Back online and getting up to date

Well, I'm back on the blog. At least for tonight. The hotel internet has been spotty at times and last night it was just too late to do anything. Now I have to get you all caught up.

We visited relatives (Don, Mary, Ellen, and Lucy +Mitzi and Basil) in Katy, TX. We spent a day doing laundry, going to the park to release some physical energy, mini golfed, scootered, read, played video games, played with the doggies, and generally hung out and caught up.

We left Houston early evening Thursday and got to Lafayette, LA about midnight. We took and posted a picture of the bug carnage we created on the front of the car going through east Texas. Yuck! Claire wants to know how we're going to get it off since we can't go through a carwash with the cartop carrier on the car. Good question Claire! Got a mid-morning start to New Orleans (say "N'awlins").

It's Claire's birthday, so we wished her a happy birthday at the Louisiana visitor center on I-10 in the Atchafalaya (say "a-CHA-fa-LI-ya") Swamp (9th longest bridge in the world is I-10 through there) and the ladies there gave her all the trinkets they could muster. A Louisiana (say "loo-si-ANN-a") pin, beads with a large LA button, a luggage tag, and crawfish caviar (Red Hots, relabeled), and at lunch in The Big Easy, she had chocolate cake and our server sang to her.

The weather today was blissfully cloudy. The temps stayed in the high 70's, low 80's with a breeze. Got to walk along the Moon Walk along the levees by the Mississippi River. Took the kids to Jackson Square and Bourbon Street. Noticed lots of closed up businesses, but it's still loud on Bourbon St. Had the lunch, po boys and cheeseburgers, and then walked back to the Audubon Aquarium. Spent our last couple of hours there and boogied out of New Orleans before rush hour hit hard.

We then headed across the longest continuous bridge over water in the world, 2nd largest in the world over any terrain; the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. It looked like the low sections of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, but you couldn't see the far shore quite as soon.

When we got to Mississippi, we headed to the Gulf coast to wiggle our toes in the Gulf of Mexico and the white sand beaches. The kids really liked that. Mom of the Year, here I come! I showed them where I went to the beach when I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi. We checked out the major growth and the Katrina damage (still greatly evident). Due to dense population, New Orleans seemed to get the greater media coverage, but physical damage to seemingly secure structures was worse along the Gulf Coast. There were homes on stilts that the stilts remain, but the houses are gone. There were houses built on concrete pads that only have the front brick steps left. There's still a grounded fishing trawler between two casinos. It was moving for me. Of course, with all of the growth, I would hardly have recognized it anyway, but there were some beautiful mansions that are gone and won't be rebuilt.

We then continued the journey to Mobile, where I sit and type this as I wait for my photos to upload. I can't put the link in until I know the pictures are there, huh?

Tomorrow it's the USS Alabama then the 5-6 hour drive to Atlanta.

Pictures days 3-6.
Pictures Alamo and San Antonio.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

THE GOOD
Yesterday is over! First, we did get to WalMart to get Ted some cheap sneakers so he didn't walk the dunes in flip-flops. Then it was a long day on the road. White Sands NM was such a unique place. As you climb over the mountains to get there, you're looking straight down into the flat valley that is the White Sands Missile Range. There is a museum there, but we were headed for the National Monument and didn't mess with getting on the Post.

Once you go another 25 miles or so, the flat scrubland desert has a slight rise to the west that's white. You get closer, and the slow movement of the dunes is visible by the fact that some of the parks bordering fence is now completely "duned over". The dunes approach, but never reach the road at this point.

Before you actually get to the park entrance, you need to pass through a Homeland Security Checkpoint. Leave that, and you're at the park entrance in a mile. A nice visitor's center and gift shop are there. Usually we leave the shopping until the end of the visit so the kids can pick based on what they experienced, but I knew that this is where they sell the snow saucers for sledding down the dunes. We picked purple. It wasn't her favorite color or his, so it was fair.

At all the National Parks I now expect that manning will be at a minimum, but the lady in the gift shop said we'd get a map when we entered the main gate. When we got to the main gate, it was unmanned. No map. Luckily, I had researched it on the net beforehand and knew there was one loop road so we couldn't get lost.

The first stop was the 1 mile Dunes Nature Trail. One steep climb up the first dune and the rest was a mildly rising and falling loop trail on top of the dune following sign narration by Katy the Kit Fox. Well marked, signage appropriate for 7-12 year olds (lucky me), and we saw some unexpected vegetation. The sand is 90% gypsum and Ted decided that the consistency was more like flour than sand. Coarse flour. Claire thought it looked like salt. We saw stink beetles, flowers, lizards, birds, and great root formations, as well as the dunes.

When we finished there, we headed to the snowy dunes to sled. The clerk had advised us to soap, wax, or sunscreen our disc for the best slippage. Sunscreen it was. We had a snack and the kids climbed the closest dune for their first ride. It certainly wasn't as slick as snow, but they had a great time. They went up and down for 40 minutes. Steep climbing up, but since it packs more like flour than beach sand, it wasn't terrible for them. I exceeded the posted weight limit for the disc (150 lbs), so no freefall for me.

Then it was back in the car.

THE BAD
The first hour and a quarter in the car, sadly was a backtracking trip. We waved to our hotel again as we passed it and the real driving began. Soon we were in Texas, and traffic in El Paso added to our long drive. But at least there was stuff to look at. Things to count. After that, it was just west Texas, straight, occasional rock formations and hills, but not much else. So we won't dwell. It had to be done. At least the speed limit was 80.

THE UGLY
Our hotel. A Quality Inn in Fort Stewart, though I think they have some nerve keeping that in the name. How bad is it when you write your complaint email to Choice Hotels from the hotel room? Plumbing that doesn't drain properly, bulbs hanging out of fixtures, crooked loose headboards, a pool with brown algae on the bottom that you could see where someone had tried to vacuum the steps and 2 feet beyond (there were trails in the algae), but not much effort beyond that. The hot tub was 1 foot low so the jets just made a sucking sound. And a bunch of nit-picky stuff that isn't worth going into here. But the linens were clean, the staff friendly (even if unable to fix anything), and they had electricity to recharge all of our "stuff".

THE FUTURE
Today, it's off to San Antonio. 4 hours of driving (a relatively short day), but not too much along the way to see or do. Hopefully, we arrive in time to do laundry, then head to see the Alamo at night. Tomorrow will be Alamo sight seeing and a short drive to Katy.

See today's pictures.

Day 1, traversing the desert.

I'm sitting here safely and comfortably at our Comfort Suites in Las Cruces, NM, near the U of NM campus with one kid finally asleep and the other reading. We got a slightly later start than anticipated, but still were on the road by around 9:30 am. We hoped to refuel in Tucson and head to Las Cruces in time to see the "free" Natural History Museum there, but the Costco in Tucson was farther than I thought and we lost an hour due to that and roadwork. Big surprise, huh? Then we lost another hour as soon as we got to NM since AZ doesn't participate in Daylight Savings Time. The museum was closed.

It turned out alright anyway. Since we realized we wouldn't make the museum, we decided to stop anywhere we wanted. Our Tucson detour took us right through the aircraft boneyard at Davis Monthan AFB. We visited "The Thing" near Dragoon, AZ. Saw it on Roadsideamerica.com and figured, since it only cost $2.50 for all 3 of us to see it, we'd try it. No spoilers here. I'll never tell in my blog, but if you ask me (or the kids) in person, we'll spill the beans. Also saw some great rock formations in the Texas Canyon (Dragoon again). Then it was flat. Not quite pancake flat, but pretty darn flat.

Check out today's photos.

We're off to White Sands tomorrow. Ted forgot his sneakers (well not forgot; packed them then took them out to play ball and forgot to RE pack them) and only has flip flops, so we'll see how much walking we can do, but at least it will be amazing looking. We'll get to a Payless ASAP, but there aren't any open that early in the morning.

Hopefully more posting tomorrow.

Happy motoring.

Twas the night 'fore vacation

Twas the night 'fore vacation, and all through the house, everything was packed; the laptop, the mouse.

The suitcases were lined up by the doorway with care.
We hoped they'd all fit, but we didn't know where.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of tumbleweeds danced in their heads.

I couldn't sleep, which meant Chip couldn't either, so we packed up at midnight and then took a breather.

When back in the house we did go to bed, vision of mile markers danced in my head.

We woke the next morning and went straight to working. We loaded the kids up, and boy were they perking. They hooted and hollered and bounced up and down, waved "Good-bye" to Dad and started naming towns.

On to Tucson, Las Cruces, Fort Stockton, San Anton, the Alamo, Katy, Lafayette in week one.

There's Mobile, Atlanta, Virginia Beach too, don't forget D.C., Hilltop, then the Haines crew. But it doesn't end there, we're off to New Jersey where I'll finish this ode with another versey (I know, it's not a real word, but this is creative writing here).

Stay tuned for more chapters....

Who said patience is a virtue?

I suppose that IF you're able to patiently wait for something and remain calm, have an inner peace about your waiting, and not fret every little detail 10 times because you have time on your hands, then it is a virtue. And I lack it.

My waiting is not peaceful or calm, so maybe I'm NOT being patient; I'm just waiting. Waiting for people to get back to me about parts of the journey, waiting for packages that were ordered in plenty of time to arrive before we leave (but still haven't!), waiting for time zone changes so I can make phone calls, waiting for the kids to get up so we can do our "To Do" list, and finally, waiting for the day to leave. Deep breaths, prayer, meditation, exercise, and distraction are what I need!

The kids are on their best behavior. Minimal bickering, good moods, and helpful attitudes (voluntarily) prevail. I had to ask them what was up? They said they're just so happy the trip is right around the corner. They can't wait to see their grandparents. They want to go to Canada. "Who else are we seeing, Mom?", "What time do we leave?", "Where is our first stop again?", "How many of the hotels have swimming pools?". A litany of questions. I'm glad. I said I didn't want to do this trip if they weren't excited, and they sure are.

Well they're getting up now, so I'll get started on today's list. Pray for patience!

I can't wait!

As we sat on the back patio talking about the upcoming trip last evening, I decided I really don't want to wait to get going. Alas, leaving early to see more stuff, means more hotel rooms and far too much cost. BUT, we looked at it and decided that leaving one day early would give us a day to visit White Sands National Monument. 275 square miles of white gypsum sand. It seemed like an utterly amazing place to check out. And apparently, you can SLED down some of the dunes in the park! I think that's what cinched it for me. We're now leaving a day earlier.

Today is the first day of summer for us. Surprisingly for Arizona, it's cloudy, cool, even drizzly. A perfect first day out of school for the kids to get their wish. They told me that the first day off, they wanted to sleep in (Claire made it until 7, Ted 9) and watch cartoons all day. So far, they've been able to do that, plus some video games. I, on the other hand, have gotten all of our reservations printed and filed, tour plans printed, listed all the Costcos along our route that sell gas, printed airline reservations for Chip to join us (don't want to forget to pick HIM up), and for my mom to join us (Chicago to Denver), ordered our National Park Pass, and collected the phone numbers of folks we'll need to call along the way.

Claire lost a tooth yesterday afternoon and Grammy suggested that she write the Tooth Fairy a note asking her to leave Claire's tooth so she can take it on vacation to show her grandparents. She wrote the cutest note, and the Tooth Fairy did leave the tooth. Hopefully, she can find us on the east coast in a couple of weeks.

More later!

Just a little longer...

Well the kids' last day of school is Thursday, then a mere 10 days later, we're on the road!

If you're like me, before you go away, you like to have the house looking nice. The reasoning for me is morbid but simple...if I die on the vacation (wherever it is), I don't want anyone to see that I left a messy house. Stupid and illogical, I know, but there it is. Like they won't have other things on their minds! Some people don't want to come back to a messy house because it ruins the relaxed feeling the vacation created. Not me. I'm worried about what people will think of my housekeeping skills while I'm in the hereafter! I wish I cared that much while I'm still alive, but I don't. I digress.

My point was going to be how frustrated I am with my inability to get the house straight before this trip. The root of the messiness is this. The living room has become the staging area for the trip. There are piles scattered about for a variety of purposes. I've got a pile of "important papers", a pile of empty suitcases, one of AAA literature, an assortment of accordion folders holding the reservations, packing lists, and phone lists, a box for my portable kitchen (a paring knife, dish soap, scrubbies, straws, napkins, spoons, etc...), piles of kid stuff for them to sort through and thin out...we CAN'T take it all. I've done a "test" packing of the car to be sure the suitcases I've picked will fit IN the car (I don't want them on top), and they do, but there's got to be a limit. Maybe we'll settle down to finding it this weekend. Then I'll know that everything in the staging area will end up in the car and I can clean around it with peace of mind.

We've done the test drive with the Craig's list $35 cartop carrier to be sure the straps will hold (they did). I've purchased and returned the cooler that plugs into the car lighter. It took forever to get cold and never got cold enough for me to trust perishables in it. Plus, I could buy ice twice a day every day of the trip and still spend less than what the cooler cost. Not worth it. I've checked to make sure that the suitcases I've picked all have working wheels so the kids can drag them into the motel themselves (they didn't and I ended up replacing a broken one). We've made little gifts for the people we're staying with along the way (can't tell you what since it's supposed to be a surprise!). I feel like I've reached a standstill until I can actually start packing suitcases. I'm sure I'll create more work for myself before that (LOL)!

I'm still waiting for word on whether or not we get to go in the White House...cross your fingers!

Signing off for now. But I'll be back!

pre-trip pictures for perspective

I'm working on the best way to share photos, so as my guinea pigs, please let me know if this link works.

There are only 3 photos (why waste the effort for more if it doesn't work well). For now, I'm going with our apple site photo albums. I tried the picasa, but had some technical issues, sooooo, IF the known technology works, that's what I'll stick with.

The maps are for perspective. The first map is unmarked of the whole country. The second marks in yarn our planned route. I must admit, I am now a bit...hmmmm.....awestruck? by the size of what we are undertaking, but voyage on! The yarn travels through 25 states and Canada.

The box of toys is what we are referring to as our mobile entertainment center; physical activities that can let off some steam at rest areas and parks along the way. We still need to add a few items and we do have a box of "in the car" games. We're not doing portable dvd players this time. We're going to see if they (the kids) can handle actual interpersonal communication with each other and us.

Here's the link.. pre-trip pics

Making the arrangements.

It's official!  All of the reservations have been made for all of the hotels along the way.  We have a few relatives along the path that we can stay with too.  We've made some loose decisions about things to see, but everything is flexible.  If anyone's not feeling well, if we run out of time, if the weather doesn't cooperate, we can change it.  

I've been polling the kids occasionally and asking what they're most looking forward to.  Right now, Ted says just seeing all the different places we'll see is what he's looking forward to.  Claire wants to go to the beach.  I can't wait to see some of the places I've never seen, but also seeing the kids' reactions to places that are familiar to me.  Chip's bummed that he can't do the whole thing with us, but is looking forward to the last part of the trip to see new things.

We've tested the cartop carrier to be sure the straps are solid, and that I know how to tighten it up since I'll be the lone adult for so much of the trip.  Now, I'm working on checking my technology. Will the cameras connect to the laptop?  Do I have all the chargers and cables I need?  Do I know how to sign on to the sites I need to get to while on the road?  Do I have low-tech backup for everything?  Do I know how to use my gps?

I bought a couple of car power adapter splitters and chargers so I can keep things charged on the road.  We also bought a cooler we can plug in on the road.  We'll be staying in hotels with breakfast included and eating dinner out, so we're going to try to do picnic style lunches on the road.  The cooler will help with that.

Do you have any "have to have" items you like on road trips?  I'd love to hear some suggestions.

Time to plan!

There is some interest in our road trip this summer, so I thought I'd write a little note to describe/explain the plan.

We usually take a 2 week family trip in the summer to get back east. Most of the time it's to see family. Last year it was to visit New England, so this year we wanted to get back to family. It's an expensive proposition, no matter what mode of transportation you take. We really like getting back to see folks, but it's never simple, always expensive, sometimes inconvenient, and frequently stressful. All trips can be. Between making the plans, coordinating time off from jobs, navigating family obligations, figuring out how to fit it all into a short schedule, I decided to try a different approach this year.

I stopped working in January, so I no longer had to figure out my time off from work, just Chip's. It's limited since he's in a new job this past October, so driving was not an option for him. But I love to drive and travel, the kids do too, so we decided to see if they wanted to drive across country and back and Chip will join us by plane on the east coast and again later in the trip. No mad dash across the continent; we'd take a more leisurely stroll and see what we wanted to along the route. They were eager, so the planning went on.

We'll start here in Mesa, travel to El Paso, TX, then San Antonio. We'll sight see for a day there, then visit Don and Mary (and Lucy and Ellen) in Katy (outside Houston). From there, it's on to Lafayette, LA, Mobile, AL to see the battleships and the Gulf of Mexico. Off to Atlanta, GA, Wytheville, VA, Skyline Drive, Luray Caverns, my sister Trish in Hilltop, VA, and 2 days in DC. The kids want to see monuments...I know how to do that, plus we have tickets to see the capitol and Library of Congress (in the works), and possibly the White House. Then we visit Steph and Greg in Richmond, and on to family in Virginia Beach. This is where we pick Chip up.

This is like the halftime intermission. We get to settle for a few days in one place...catch up with friends and family, hit the beach, maybe see Big Daddy take the Neki Hoki to the strip. Then we head up Eastern Shore, take the Cape May Ferry to NJ for the second half of intermission. More family, beach, pool, friends, resting up before the journey back. We also say goodbye to Chip until Denver, CO.

The trip back starts with a visit to my sister Lynn outside of Rochester and Niagara Falls. Since I've gotten my passport, we'll do the day at the falls (both sides), stay in St. Catharines, Canada, then head to Toronto.  A few hours there, then through Canada to Port Huron, MI and Toledo.  From there it's off to Chicago to get Grammy and we'll stay in Rockford, IL.

We head to Rapid City, SD, spending the night in Albert Lea, MN. On our way, we'll see The Corn Palace and whatever odd sights we can come up with along the path.  RoadsideAmerica.com helped us find some of these.  In SD, we'll check out Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding parks. Then it's off to Denver. We'll drop off Mom for a side trip she's taking and pick up Chip for the remainder of the trip.

From Denver, we head to Moab, UT and Arches NP. The next day we leave for Zion NP and Bryce Canyon. Then it's off to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Page, AZ, Meteor Crater, and Holbrook. We'll spend part of the day in the Petrified Forest and then head home.

Our friends and family seem to be split in their opinions. Half think it sounds like a great time, the other half think I've utterly lost my mind. It might be a bit of the latter, but definitely more of the former, I think. I'll try to post updates and pictures as we go along.

Wish us luck and pray for a safe journey.