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!