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!