My top three stops on the trip were New York, NY. I liked NY because I got to go a play on Broadway and to a Yankees game. I liked New York because of the subways and the history and the places.
I also liked Montpelier, VT because I got to see my cousins. I also liked it because I got to see the Cabot factory and the Ben & Jerry's factory. I got to try their ice cream. I also got to go to a waterfall and swim in the river. The water was cold.
My last out of the top three is DC. We got to see all of the memorials and monuments. My favorite three memorials were FDR, Lincoln, and Korean War. We also went to 2 Smithsonian museums. In DC I also got to see my Nana and Papa and my Nana's sister. In DC I also was to Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was assassinated.
My favorite church was Fellowship Church. It was a really fun giant church. At the church I had to go to Sunday school. At Sunday school I got to compete against the 4th and 5th grade group. My class lost but we still got popsicles. I also watched videos.
In conclusion, I can't believe the summer. I enjoyed seeing friends and family along the way. It made the trip very rememberfull. It's amazing how much you can learn by visiting where everything happened, from the Shot Heard Round the World, to where Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, to where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus. We have seen it all. Not only did we see it all, but we did it all, from Cedar Point, to Disneyworld, to Hershey Park. From driving all day to seeing places the trip was crazy fun.
A travel blog following the exploits of the McLain family as we tour around Africa and portions of the Mid-East for three months during the summer of 2023.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Dagny's Essay
This is my essay about my trip. I hope you enjoy it.
I found a lot of bugs, beetles, bees, and ants. There were a lot of bugs in each state. I also caught grasshoppers and I got poked a lot by cacti. I love nature and I hope I can find a lot of it again.
I liked all the amusement parks and the water park, too. Addie hit her face at the Schlitterbahn. I poked a hole in my swimsuit. That is a sign of a good summer. We threw away my swimsuit after that.
The drive was long, it still was fun. Sometimes mom and dad got angry and mad. Sometimes we napped, sometimes we played board games. We played "family" too. I liked it when dad said, "hold on to your butts." We had tubs to store our stuff. We did puzzles, Monopoly, Candyland, and more. Dad always drive. Mom sits back with us. I slept above the cab and top bunk too. I liked sleeping with Maggie. I saw a lot of cars and not a lot of RVs. Addie and Alastair sit in the front seat. Mom helps us write and play.
I saw my cousins Joseph and Micah. We traveled up to Main with them and then Boston. I had a fun birthday at the Anthonys' because we went to the beach the day before. I liked my new friend, Braeden, because I got to play with him and his toys. I mainly played with him.
I was happy because I got to see most of my friends and family. I'm also happy because we brought most of our games and I got a lot of new presents. My sabbatical was fun. Hope you can do this some day too.
- Dagny
I found a lot of bugs, beetles, bees, and ants. There were a lot of bugs in each state. I also caught grasshoppers and I got poked a lot by cacti. I love nature and I hope I can find a lot of it again.
I liked all the amusement parks and the water park, too. Addie hit her face at the Schlitterbahn. I poked a hole in my swimsuit. That is a sign of a good summer. We threw away my swimsuit after that.
The drive was long, it still was fun. Sometimes mom and dad got angry and mad. Sometimes we napped, sometimes we played board games. We played "family" too. I liked it when dad said, "hold on to your butts." We had tubs to store our stuff. We did puzzles, Monopoly, Candyland, and more. Dad always drive. Mom sits back with us. I slept above the cab and top bunk too. I liked sleeping with Maggie. I saw a lot of cars and not a lot of RVs. Addie and Alastair sit in the front seat. Mom helps us write and play.
I saw my cousins Joseph and Micah. We traveled up to Main with them and then Boston. I had a fun birthday at the Anthonys' because we went to the beach the day before. I liked my new friend, Braeden, because I got to play with him and his toys. I mainly played with him.
I was happy because I got to see most of my friends and family. I'm also happy because we brought most of our games and I got a lot of new presents. My sabbatical was fun. Hope you can do this some day too.
- Dagny
Magnolia's Summer Review
On the start of the trip I really liked the campsites. One the second day I liked the playground. I like the activities we did while we were driving. Along the way I liked to buy stuff.
I liked to be with family and friends. Some of my favorite people to visit were Aunt Pam and Uncle David, the Clarks in Illinois, and I liked sleeping with Grandma in the hotel.
I liked playing with nature and ant hills, too. I liked to catch bugs with Dagny and Alastair.
I didn't like how we had to switch off beds in the motorhome. I liked to sleep with Addie, but I didn't like to sleep with Dagny or Alastair. My favorite place to sleep in the motorhome was the bottom bunk.
I really liked the pools we swam in. At each campground I liked their pool. No one had a diving board except Aunt Pam's. I really liked Jody's pond with the zip line, water slide, and jump rope.
I liked all the amusement parks and I liked the first one [Cedar Point] the most. I almost did all the rides. I liked all the roller coasters. I also liked the water park too because I like water. I like swimming, and it's always really hot.
I also liked about it that I could see mom the whole time. I'm glad I was able to do all of it.
The End.
I liked to be with family and friends. Some of my favorite people to visit were Aunt Pam and Uncle David, the Clarks in Illinois, and I liked sleeping with Grandma in the hotel.
I liked playing with nature and ant hills, too. I liked to catch bugs with Dagny and Alastair.
I didn't like how we had to switch off beds in the motorhome. I liked to sleep with Addie, but I didn't like to sleep with Dagny or Alastair. My favorite place to sleep in the motorhome was the bottom bunk.
I really liked the pools we swam in. At each campground I liked their pool. No one had a diving board except Aunt Pam's. I really liked Jody's pond with the zip line, water slide, and jump rope.
I liked all the amusement parks and I liked the first one [Cedar Point] the most. I almost did all the rides. I liked all the roller coasters. I also liked the water park too because I like water. I like swimming, and it's always really hot.
I also liked about it that I could see mom the whole time. I'm glad I was able to do all of it.
The End.
McLains on the Road: An Essay by Adelaide McLain
Wow, 74 days on the road and we actually made it. That was an adventure. Although I loved it I think it will be a while before I do that again. In this blog post, I am going to talk about the trip over all. Some of the things I will talk about are family, the RV, sites, and people.
One of the best things about the RV trip is hanging out with family both on the road and exploring a town. Although they are the ones that wake me up in the morning with their noise, I still would rather travel in an RV with them than fly everywhere. By the way, I plan on getting a lot more sleep now that I am home. It is fun playing with them on the road. Some of the games we played were Yatzee, Rummikub, and Monopoly. Yes we played Monopoly because, remember, we are on the road for a long time.
Well where do I start about the RV? I guess I'll start by saying it has become my home and that I will miss it. I remember cleaning it when we spent time hand washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, and moping the ground with Clorox wipes. Every morning you cook in the same tiny kitchen, eat at the same little table, and brush your teeth in the same little bathroom. What I am trying to say is the RV grows on you.
Oh my gosh, has it really come to sites? Well have I got a list for you. We saw so many things stretching from the civil war, to Taos Pueblo. Let's start from the beginning and I will name some of the things we saw: Lincoln's home and museum, Cedar Point (an amusement park in Ohio), light houses in Portland Maine, all that Boston has to offer, New York City and Broadway, Hershey, PA, Gettysburg, PA, Washington DC and all the sites there, New Orleans, Dallas, TX, Taos, NM. And to think that is only about 1/10 of the list. Oh, I forgot Schlitterbahn, the best waterpark in the world. It even has a water slide that goes uphill. I slipped and hit my face on the shower floor (and it still hurts).
People is my next topic so I'm going to tell you about a few of the people I visited. My Aunt Anne and Uncle Tom in Omaha where we had barbeque, my cousins Noah and EJ in Springfield, IL where we visited the Lincoln museum, my Great Grandma Wilma in Orland Park, IL where we played at her house, my cousins Joseph and Micah in Montpelier, VT and then we drove with them to Maine and then to Boston, my Uncle Bruce in Winston Salem where we played in his pool (he gave us model cars), my friends Dylan and Hayden in Punta Gorda where we zip-lined over their pond and Dagny's party. The last group of people I am going to talk about are the Hatfields where we went to caverns. I really enjoyed hanging out with people on the trip, so everyone that we met with, thank you for taking time to meet with us.
This was one of the best summers of my life and I will never forget it. I hope you get a chance to do this.
- Addie
One of the best things about the RV trip is hanging out with family both on the road and exploring a town. Although they are the ones that wake me up in the morning with their noise, I still would rather travel in an RV with them than fly everywhere. By the way, I plan on getting a lot more sleep now that I am home. It is fun playing with them on the road. Some of the games we played were Yatzee, Rummikub, and Monopoly. Yes we played Monopoly because, remember, we are on the road for a long time.
Well where do I start about the RV? I guess I'll start by saying it has become my home and that I will miss it. I remember cleaning it when we spent time hand washing the dishes, sweeping the floor, and moping the ground with Clorox wipes. Every morning you cook in the same tiny kitchen, eat at the same little table, and brush your teeth in the same little bathroom. What I am trying to say is the RV grows on you.
Oh my gosh, has it really come to sites? Well have I got a list for you. We saw so many things stretching from the civil war, to Taos Pueblo. Let's start from the beginning and I will name some of the things we saw: Lincoln's home and museum, Cedar Point (an amusement park in Ohio), light houses in Portland Maine, all that Boston has to offer, New York City and Broadway, Hershey, PA, Gettysburg, PA, Washington DC and all the sites there, New Orleans, Dallas, TX, Taos, NM. And to think that is only about 1/10 of the list. Oh, I forgot Schlitterbahn, the best waterpark in the world. It even has a water slide that goes uphill. I slipped and hit my face on the shower floor (and it still hurts).
People is my next topic so I'm going to tell you about a few of the people I visited. My Aunt Anne and Uncle Tom in Omaha where we had barbeque, my cousins Noah and EJ in Springfield, IL where we visited the Lincoln museum, my Great Grandma Wilma in Orland Park, IL where we played at her house, my cousins Joseph and Micah in Montpelier, VT and then we drove with them to Maine and then to Boston, my Uncle Bruce in Winston Salem where we played in his pool (he gave us model cars), my friends Dylan and Hayden in Punta Gorda where we zip-lined over their pond and Dagny's party. The last group of people I am going to talk about are the Hatfields where we went to caverns. I really enjoyed hanging out with people on the trip, so everyone that we met with, thank you for taking time to meet with us.
This was one of the best summers of my life and I will never forget it. I hope you get a chance to do this.
- Addie
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Taos, NM - The Last Hoorah
We had an uneventful start to the day, the kids ate muffins while Jll and I prepared to move from Santa Fe to Taos. We ran into some slow traffic along the way caused by a truck moving a double wide mobile home which partially came off of the trailer when the truck rounded a corner. We got settled into our new digs at about noon and grabbed a quick lunch at the Guadalajara Grill before heading to the Taos Pueblo. I don't know if it was because we've been on the road for so long or because the kids did not find it too interesting, but they really didn't seem to enjoy our visit too much. I found it fascinating that 150 people still live in the pueblo village. After the tour, Jll and I talked about it though and we wondered whether 150 people actually live there, without electricity and running water, or whether there are 150 who man shops within the homes at the pueblo village. We spent a few hours walking around the Taos Plaza, stopping into random art galleries and antique shops. At one point we were walking around a store that sells fossils and Dagny tipped over a sand picture which was sitting on top of a glass display case and Jll and I thought for sure the glass was about to break and the trip would get a lot more expensive. Luckily, nothing broke and we quickly left the store. At that point, we were all pretty well worn down and we headed back to the RV park. The kids played on the play ground, Jll talked with her mom who leaves for Europe tomorrow morning, and I enjoyed a cigar. We cleaned up and ate the rest of the Cooper's bar-b-que we brought from Llano. It is delicious even as a leftover.
The kids are now watching a movie in one of the bunk beds and I am sitting in the dark at the dinette, writing and watching the electrical storm outside. The rain reinforces the melancholy feeling brought on by reaching the end of the trip. We head home tomorrow and I can't say enough about how much I have enjoyed this time with my family. In looking at the summer we have spent, I am certain that the most precious thing any of us has is time. I am overjoyed that I have had the privilege and the honor of spending over two and a half months with my family, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Sure there have been some less than stellar days and bad behavior (on the part of the kids and on my part, I'm sure), but I would not trade this summer for the world. Being able to share this experience, all of the places we've visited and all of the people we've seen, has truly been a blessing. I am truly blessed.
- Dave
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Back in the Mountain Time Zone
Monday the 19th of August
Dave was extremely short on details yesterday for our very long drive through Texas. We each pass the time in the RV for long drives in different ways. For Dave, he drives, listens to the radio, and occasionally gets to have a conversation with Addie when she sits in the front seat. That is it! He has been such a champ and we have safely traversed 30 states. Thanks to Dave for keeping us safe and driving us almost 8000 miles.
I spend a good portion of my time with the kids. Yesterday I read an entire book out loud to them about Helen Keller. We play games like Connect 4, Yahtzee, Rumikub, and Monopoly. I make lunch and try to keep the foods from either falling out of the refrigerator or off of the counter. I get drinks and I make snacks. I act as playmate and occasionally get to rest if they are napping or if they are watching a movie which doesn't happen very often.
Addie often reads and spends some time working on her own trip journal. She has a page for each day and she fills in details about where we have been, what we ate, how many miles we travel, and how many states we traveled through in a day. Yesterday Addie conducted an art class and the kids painted and spent a good deal of time drawing. She provided a theme or some instruction and then graded their work upon completion of the assignment. I think they all received A's.
Right now Alastair is teaching himself cursive and spent a solid chunk of time working on his writing. Alastair is an artist and draws A LOT everyday. I think he likes cursive because it is artistic and he is good at it. He was tired yesterday and after lunch he was the first to fall asleep (along with Dagny and Magnolia). He is big on "squnches." He lays on the couch and puts his legs on me. I pinch and squnch his legs in a general massage type fashion and he is in heaven. He will take squnches on his head, shoulders, back and arms too. Sometimes I loose focus and start to tickle his arm or leg with my finger nails and he will stop to tell me that Addie is the one that likes tickles and he is the one that likes squnches. My bad. I get confused.
Yesterday D was very involved with her newest Barbie that she received for her birthday earlier this month. It is a Rapunzel Barbie and has long hair. Dagny must have spent a couple of hours braiding the dolls hair and then wrapping the braids around in a circle-type bun on top of Barbie's head. She perfected it on the doll and then we spent a bunch of time getting her own hair to braid and bun in the same fashion.
Magnolia still has to sit in her car seat and she spent a fair amount of time yesterday complaining about her "bucket butt" and trying to convince me to unclick her to move around for just a minute. She generally does whatever the kids are doing and is a tremendous sport to participate in all of it from her car seat. The others take turns at the table and at the couch and almost always get to lay down (while buckled up) to take naps. Maggie just stays clicked in and tips her poor head to the side to rest. She is amazing.
Tuesday, August 20th
The switch to mountain time has the kids off schedule a little bit. Alastair and Dagny were up at 6:15 and engaged in their morning battle over the covers. Currently they are sharing the top bunk over the cab and the bed is made with one set of sheets. In hind sight this was a mistake that was irritating all summer. If I had it to do over again I would make the bed with 2 separate sets of sheets so no sharing of blankets was involved. They make for bad bed buddies sometimes.
We have to do normal chores on the road like go grocery shopping. We needed to go for groceries a week ago and have managed to eat out or with friends for the past 7 days. Let's just say that the cupboards are bare and now that we are almost home I have put the thought of grocery shopping out of my mind. Yesterday at a truck stop I purchased some milk, a loaf of bread, and 4 bananas. This food is really all we needed as it turns out. Cereal was all they wanted this morning and we were on our way by 9am.
As it turns out the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe doesn't really get going until about 10am. We window shopped and poked around for a little while in the square.
We consulted our good friend, Stacey Walker (a native of Santa Fe), about what we should do today and she sent us out with our list of items to see. After the Plaza we headed over to the Loretto Chapel to view the miraculous staircase. The story of the staircase and its construction are miraculous. I have seen the stairs a few other times and they are amazing. What I find most amazing about them is that the original construction did not include any hand rails. Nutty.
We were all hungry for an early lunch and found a spot close by the Plaza and had some breakfast burritos for me and Dave and blintzes and French toast for the kids.
After lunch we visited the New Mexico History Museum for a very interesting exhibit on cowboys. The exhibit was interesting to us all and included a great hands-on section for the kids which included a section with dress-up clothes and the chance to rope their own pretend cow.
.
We walked across the courtyard to the Palace of the Governors and stumbled into a guided tour. I always find the personal explanations so beneficial and helpful in understanding. The kids listened and we talked a great deal about the many crucifix's which were on display. As Presbyterians we don't have them in our church and they are all over Santa Fe. Also, the Palace of the Governors has a huge collection of sculpted Saints. Again, not seen at our church back home. We talked about this some but need a lesson from Nana when we get home. I am thinking Saints 101.
We moved back across the courtyard to the New Mexico History Museum for a little more information this time specific information on WWII and the New Mexicans who fought as well as the Code Talkers. As part of one of the exhibits there were rotary dial phones on the wall. Holly cow if this wasn't the most intriguing part of the museum for the children. We had to teach them how to dial and then explain how the money was deposited and occasionally retrieved from the coin return. Too funny.
A short walk up the street and we were at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. A pretty little church and it gave us the opportunity to talk with the kids about the stations of the cross. Again, a lesson for the kids and a really great conversation as a family. There is a labyrinth outside of the church and the kids and I walked it and talked a bit about its purpose. Addie is reading a book that references a labyrinth. In her book she says that you are to think of a question and that by the time you reach the middle of the labyrinth you will have the answer to your question. Alastair was thinking of a math question and he didn't have the answer by the time he reached the middle. I think he was unimpressed with the labyrinth.
Afternoon snacks were found at the French Pastry Shop and Creperie. Dave, Magnolia and Dagny each had Nutella crepes and Adelaide had a Napoleon and Alastair a black forest dessert. All were delicious.
We took a drive up Canyon Road to admire the artwork. Dave would point out the giant sculptures he would like to bring home to Southmoor Park and place in our front yard. Good thing he was joking. We drove around the area to check out the neighborhood and area. Super expensive and hard to imagine paying a million dollars to live in such a cramped little area. To each his own.
One more stop at Trader Joe's before we went to dinner. My sister turned me onto some yummy soap sold there and I picked up a half a dozen bars and some muffins for the kids for breakfast. As previously mentioned, old Mother Hubbard's cupboards are bare.
We were lucky to claim time at dinner at the village pizza in Corrales, NM with Steve and Tammy Wheeler. Tamara is my first cousin and she and Steve have always been so much fun. I was the flower girl in their wedding (a long time ago) and it was so great to catch up with them. They own an acre in Corrales, including a vineyard, and we had lots of fun catching up with them. We hope to be with them again next summer for the Scates family reunion in July.
The kids are tucked in tight and Dave is playing with his iPad as he sometimes does in the evenings. Tomorrow we drive about 70 miles to Taos for our last full day of our vacation. We have been asked if we are exhausted and ready to go home or if we would keep going if we could. Dave and I would keep going for sure. We have seen so much of our country and the most amazing things. The kids would agree but they are anxious to return to their friends and to have a little space from one another. I am a little melancholy to have the trip coming to an end.
Dave was extremely short on details yesterday for our very long drive through Texas. We each pass the time in the RV for long drives in different ways. For Dave, he drives, listens to the radio, and occasionally gets to have a conversation with Addie when she sits in the front seat. That is it! He has been such a champ and we have safely traversed 30 states. Thanks to Dave for keeping us safe and driving us almost 8000 miles.
I spend a good portion of my time with the kids. Yesterday I read an entire book out loud to them about Helen Keller. We play games like Connect 4, Yahtzee, Rumikub, and Monopoly. I make lunch and try to keep the foods from either falling out of the refrigerator or off of the counter. I get drinks and I make snacks. I act as playmate and occasionally get to rest if they are napping or if they are watching a movie which doesn't happen very often.
Addie often reads and spends some time working on her own trip journal. She has a page for each day and she fills in details about where we have been, what we ate, how many miles we travel, and how many states we traveled through in a day. Yesterday Addie conducted an art class and the kids painted and spent a good deal of time drawing. She provided a theme or some instruction and then graded their work upon completion of the assignment. I think they all received A's.
Right now Alastair is teaching himself cursive and spent a solid chunk of time working on his writing. Alastair is an artist and draws A LOT everyday. I think he likes cursive because it is artistic and he is good at it. He was tired yesterday and after lunch he was the first to fall asleep (along with Dagny and Magnolia). He is big on "squnches." He lays on the couch and puts his legs on me. I pinch and squnch his legs in a general massage type fashion and he is in heaven. He will take squnches on his head, shoulders, back and arms too. Sometimes I loose focus and start to tickle his arm or leg with my finger nails and he will stop to tell me that Addie is the one that likes tickles and he is the one that likes squnches. My bad. I get confused.
Yesterday D was very involved with her newest Barbie that she received for her birthday earlier this month. It is a Rapunzel Barbie and has long hair. Dagny must have spent a couple of hours braiding the dolls hair and then wrapping the braids around in a circle-type bun on top of Barbie's head. She perfected it on the doll and then we spent a bunch of time getting her own hair to braid and bun in the same fashion.
Magnolia still has to sit in her car seat and she spent a fair amount of time yesterday complaining about her "bucket butt" and trying to convince me to unclick her to move around for just a minute. She generally does whatever the kids are doing and is a tremendous sport to participate in all of it from her car seat. The others take turns at the table and at the couch and almost always get to lay down (while buckled up) to take naps. Maggie just stays clicked in and tips her poor head to the side to rest. She is amazing.
Tuesday, August 20th
The switch to mountain time has the kids off schedule a little bit. Alastair and Dagny were up at 6:15 and engaged in their morning battle over the covers. Currently they are sharing the top bunk over the cab and the bed is made with one set of sheets. In hind sight this was a mistake that was irritating all summer. If I had it to do over again I would make the bed with 2 separate sets of sheets so no sharing of blankets was involved. They make for bad bed buddies sometimes.
We have to do normal chores on the road like go grocery shopping. We needed to go for groceries a week ago and have managed to eat out or with friends for the past 7 days. Let's just say that the cupboards are bare and now that we are almost home I have put the thought of grocery shopping out of my mind. Yesterday at a truck stop I purchased some milk, a loaf of bread, and 4 bananas. This food is really all we needed as it turns out. Cereal was all they wanted this morning and we were on our way by 9am.As it turns out the Plaza in downtown Santa Fe doesn't really get going until about 10am. We window shopped and poked around for a little while in the square.
We were all hungry for an early lunch and found a spot close by the Plaza and had some breakfast burritos for me and Dave and blintzes and French toast for the kids.
.
We walked across the courtyard to the Palace of the Governors and stumbled into a guided tour. I always find the personal explanations so beneficial and helpful in understanding. The kids listened and we talked a great deal about the many crucifix's which were on display. As Presbyterians we don't have them in our church and they are all over Santa Fe. Also, the Palace of the Governors has a huge collection of sculpted Saints. Again, not seen at our church back home. We talked about this some but need a lesson from Nana when we get home. I am thinking Saints 101.
We moved back across the courtyard to the New Mexico History Museum for a little more information this time specific information on WWII and the New Mexicans who fought as well as the Code Talkers. As part of one of the exhibits there were rotary dial phones on the wall. Holly cow if this wasn't the most intriguing part of the museum for the children. We had to teach them how to dial and then explain how the money was deposited and occasionally retrieved from the coin return. Too funny.
A short walk up the street and we were at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. A pretty little church and it gave us the opportunity to talk with the kids about the stations of the cross. Again, a lesson for the kids and a really great conversation as a family. There is a labyrinth outside of the church and the kids and I walked it and talked a bit about its purpose. Addie is reading a book that references a labyrinth. In her book she says that you are to think of a question and that by the time you reach the middle of the labyrinth you will have the answer to your question. Alastair was thinking of a math question and he didn't have the answer by the time he reached the middle. I think he was unimpressed with the labyrinth.
Afternoon snacks were found at the French Pastry Shop and Creperie. Dave, Magnolia and Dagny each had Nutella crepes and Adelaide had a Napoleon and Alastair a black forest dessert. All were delicious.
We took a drive up Canyon Road to admire the artwork. Dave would point out the giant sculptures he would like to bring home to Southmoor Park and place in our front yard. Good thing he was joking. We drove around the area to check out the neighborhood and area. Super expensive and hard to imagine paying a million dollars to live in such a cramped little area. To each his own.
One more stop at Trader Joe's before we went to dinner. My sister turned me onto some yummy soap sold there and I picked up a half a dozen bars and some muffins for the kids for breakfast. As previously mentioned, old Mother Hubbard's cupboards are bare.
The kids are tucked in tight and Dave is playing with his iPad as he sometimes does in the evenings. Tomorrow we drive about 70 miles to Taos for our last full day of our vacation. We have been asked if we are exhausted and ready to go home or if we would keep going if we could. Dave and I would keep going for sure. We have seen so much of our country and the most amazing things. The kids would agree but they are anxious to return to their friends and to have a little space from one another. I am a little melancholy to have the trip coming to an end.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
This is why you should update your blog more regularly.
I feel pretty good about only being five days behind on our blogging, given the last few days we've had. There was not much to report on Wednesday as we drove all day from New Orleans to New Braunfels, Texas. Our original plan had been to stop in Beaumont, Texas so that we did not have an overly long day in the car. Unfortunately, there is not much to see in Beaumont and Jll and I viewed that as a lost day, so we pushed on to New Braunfels, home of the country's best waterpark, the Schlitterbahn. By the time we found our campground and got settled in, I didn't feel much like unhooking the van so that we could go out for dinner and we settled for hot dogs and a movie in the RV before turning in for the night.
On Thursday we packed up early and drove the whole rig to the Schlitterbahn. The parking attendant saw us coming and pointed us to an auxiliary lot where we could take up a whole row of spaces on the end of a row where we would be able to pull straight out at the end of the day. We had a great day at the park, enjoying the lazy river/wave pool combination the most. I think my expectations were too high for a waterpark. I thought the rides would be more exhilarating than they turned out to be. I think it must be impossible to recreate a rollercoaster feel with a water ride. Adelaide and I did wait the hour it took to get onto the Mega Blaster, which is the country's first water coaster and its highest rated water ride. It was fun and it felt cool to be shot uphill with jets of water, but I don't think it was worth the hour's wait. The kids were a little upset with me because I had to take a work call in the middle of the day. Fortunately, this was the first scheduled call for which I had to interrupt our fun since June 9th. Luckily it turned out to be a short call and the kids enjoyed funnel cakes while worked. We ended the day taking ride after ride on the Downhill Racer until they closed the park at 8:00. Before leaving, Jll took the girls into shower house to get the girls cleaned up. Adelaide fell in the shower, landing on her face without having the chance to break her fall. We walked back to the RV serenaded by the sound of Adelaide's quiet sobs.
Everyone quickly fell asleep in the RV as we drove to Marble Falls. We parked in the driveway of the Hatfields' home and got the kids tucked into their son Braden's room and on the floor of the guest room. Jll and I went to college with Brad and Kari Hatfield. Brad and I were fraternity brothers at Colorado State University and became roommates during our first year of law school at the University of Denver. Brad and Kari were married during our second year of law school and moved to Texas after graduation. Jll and I used to come down fairly regularly to play in the Crawfish Open golf tournament in Brad's hometown of Llano or to waterski on Lake LBJ and Lake Travis. I don't think we have visited Brad and Kari since either of us had kids. It had been way too long. After getting the kids to bed on Thursday, we had the chance to stay up talking with Brad and Kari. It seemed like we hadn't missed a beat and it was just like old times.
On Friday Brad and I got out early to play golf with a friend of his at the Horseshoe Bay Golf Resort - Apple Rock. I played like crap but it was still fun to play golf with Brad. Looking back at law school, I think we averaged about four or five rounds of golf a week. While my game improved dramatically, it had a very detrimental impact on my grades. While we played golf, Jll, Kari, and our kids visited and had a breakfast of donuts and kolaches. At about lunch time, we all met back up at Turtle Beach at the Horseshoe Bay Resort. We grabbed a lunch on the beach and headed to the Yacht Club Pool for an afternoon of swimming and throwing kids in the pool. As we neared the evening, we got cleaned up and headed to dinner at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar B Que in Llano. We would frequently eat here during our past trips to visit the Hatfields because the food is amazing and it is a very unique experience. I can't think of any other restaurants that have loaves of white bread, Parkay spread, and jars of pickles sitting in the middle of the picnic tables in the dining hall. We lined up the kids to peer into the serving pit and pick out what delicious meats we would devour. The sausage, ribs, and sirloin were dipped into sauce and placed on a plastic tray that we took in to the folks working behind the counter. They weighed the meat, sliced it, wrapped it, and placed it in a tinfoil carrier. We ordered a few sides and checked out, which included us being issued our pieces of waxed butcher paper, which serve as the plates. We stuffed ourselves and yet found room for blueberry, apple, and peach cobblers for dessert. Another ritual in which we engaged was our post-Cooper's visit to Diane's house. Diane is Brad's mother and as with our previous visits, her driveway was filled with cars and her kitchen was filled with friends enjoying each other's company. It very much reminded me of visiting ten to fifteen years ago and some of the same people were still in the kitchen. It was great to see Diane, though we could only stay a short while. Just long enough, in fact, for Adelaide help make bananas foster and for me to try it. On our way out the kids spotted a few frogs and Dagny caught one. We looked at it for a little while and freed it before making the drive back to Marble Falls. A few of the kids fell asleep on the way back and we all hit the rack pretty early.
Yesterday was Jll's 40th birthday and we had the good fortune of celebrating her birthday in Marble Falls. We spent another morning enjoying donuts and kolaches, talking and watching the kids play in the back yard. Jll, Kari, and Kari's twin sister Shari, and their mother took all of the kids to the Longhorn Caverns while Brad and I stayed behind to prepare dinner. This involved us sitting on the back porch smoking cigars and talking until it was time to start the coals. Before our families returned we started the steaks, jalapeno poppers, and baked potatoes. We were joined by Shari's husband and had a great dinner. The Hatfields provided a birthday cake for Jll's birthday and we celebrated just a little more before leaving Marble Falls at about 7:30 for the drive to Dallas.
This morning we cleaned ourselves up and headed out for our last church service of the trip. We attended services this morning at the Fellowship Church - Grapevine Campus. If the interwebs are correct, this is the seventh largest congregation in the country with an average weekly attendance of 20,000. These folks have figured out how to welcome visitors. As we pulled into the parking lot, there were signs asking first time visitors to turn on their hazard lights. This is an indication to the parking attendants to direct visitors to the visitors parking section in the front of the lot. We were greeted at the car by two people who immediately welcomed us and engaged us in a conversation. As we headed to the church, we were handed off from the parking lot greeters to the front door greeters who again welcomed us and walked us to the visitors welcome kiosk, where we were handed off to the official visitor welcoming committee. These folks again welcomed us, asked our children if they would like a drink or a muffin (they said yes to both), asked us if our children would like to attend the children's services, explained where that was and how the check-in process worked, asked us to fill out a card with basic information about our family, provided us with a visitors bag which included a t-shirt, brochure, and CD containing a welcome message from the head pastor and a selection of the church's praise songs. The women from the visitor's kiosk then walked us down to the children's wing to assist us with checking in the children, then walked us back to the foyer where they walked us to the door of the sanctuary where we parted ways. Of all of the churches we've visited along the way, this one had the best visitor welcome wagon. The service was a little to much of a production for my liking, but it was a good sermon and the children very much enjoyed their time in the children's worship.
After church we enjoyed a family brunch at the Old West Café in Grapevine. It was a long wait but the food was worth it. The portions were so large that I think the leftovers may well serve as tomorrow's breakfast as well. Before leaving Grapevine, we stopped by the RV park to change into play clothes and we headed to Dallas to visit Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor Museum. The museum is located in the sixth floor of the book depository building, from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. I think this is an interesting museum and I'm glad the kids got to soak up some more modern history. After and hour and a half or two hours, we had had our fill of history for the day and we left Dallas.
We drove to Allen, TX to meet David Wang and his children for a few frames of bowling at Splittsville, followed by dinner at Silver Thai Cuisine. We have known David since high school, as he attended Thomas Jefferson High School with Jll. We have not seen David for some time, and we have never met his children, so it was definitely nice to catch up. We talked about camping trips that David and I took with Laird Crandall and Daren Turner and the Super Dave videos we used to make. I had to pull up some Super Dave Osborne clips on YouTube so that Alastair could get an idea of what we were talking about.
We made it back to the RV late again and everyone has turned in. We have enjoyed our time in Dallas and though we were not able to connect with my cousin Missy this time, we will be back. Tomorrow we will try to make it all the way to Sante Fe, so we will see how that goes.
Goodnight,
Dave
On Thursday we packed up early and drove the whole rig to the Schlitterbahn. The parking attendant saw us coming and pointed us to an auxiliary lot where we could take up a whole row of spaces on the end of a row where we would be able to pull straight out at the end of the day. We had a great day at the park, enjoying the lazy river/wave pool combination the most. I think my expectations were too high for a waterpark. I thought the rides would be more exhilarating than they turned out to be. I think it must be impossible to recreate a rollercoaster feel with a water ride. Adelaide and I did wait the hour it took to get onto the Mega Blaster, which is the country's first water coaster and its highest rated water ride. It was fun and it felt cool to be shot uphill with jets of water, but I don't think it was worth the hour's wait. The kids were a little upset with me because I had to take a work call in the middle of the day. Fortunately, this was the first scheduled call for which I had to interrupt our fun since June 9th. Luckily it turned out to be a short call and the kids enjoyed funnel cakes while worked. We ended the day taking ride after ride on the Downhill Racer until they closed the park at 8:00. Before leaving, Jll took the girls into shower house to get the girls cleaned up. Adelaide fell in the shower, landing on her face without having the chance to break her fall. We walked back to the RV serenaded by the sound of Adelaide's quiet sobs.
Everyone quickly fell asleep in the RV as we drove to Marble Falls. We parked in the driveway of the Hatfields' home and got the kids tucked into their son Braden's room and on the floor of the guest room. Jll and I went to college with Brad and Kari Hatfield. Brad and I were fraternity brothers at Colorado State University and became roommates during our first year of law school at the University of Denver. Brad and Kari were married during our second year of law school and moved to Texas after graduation. Jll and I used to come down fairly regularly to play in the Crawfish Open golf tournament in Brad's hometown of Llano or to waterski on Lake LBJ and Lake Travis. I don't think we have visited Brad and Kari since either of us had kids. It had been way too long. After getting the kids to bed on Thursday, we had the chance to stay up talking with Brad and Kari. It seemed like we hadn't missed a beat and it was just like old times.
On Friday Brad and I got out early to play golf with a friend of his at the Horseshoe Bay Golf Resort - Apple Rock. I played like crap but it was still fun to play golf with Brad. Looking back at law school, I think we averaged about four or five rounds of golf a week. While my game improved dramatically, it had a very detrimental impact on my grades. While we played golf, Jll, Kari, and our kids visited and had a breakfast of donuts and kolaches. At about lunch time, we all met back up at Turtle Beach at the Horseshoe Bay Resort. We grabbed a lunch on the beach and headed to the Yacht Club Pool for an afternoon of swimming and throwing kids in the pool. As we neared the evening, we got cleaned up and headed to dinner at Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar B Que in Llano. We would frequently eat here during our past trips to visit the Hatfields because the food is amazing and it is a very unique experience. I can't think of any other restaurants that have loaves of white bread, Parkay spread, and jars of pickles sitting in the middle of the picnic tables in the dining hall. We lined up the kids to peer into the serving pit and pick out what delicious meats we would devour. The sausage, ribs, and sirloin were dipped into sauce and placed on a plastic tray that we took in to the folks working behind the counter. They weighed the meat, sliced it, wrapped it, and placed it in a tinfoil carrier. We ordered a few sides and checked out, which included us being issued our pieces of waxed butcher paper, which serve as the plates. We stuffed ourselves and yet found room for blueberry, apple, and peach cobblers for dessert. Another ritual in which we engaged was our post-Cooper's visit to Diane's house. Diane is Brad's mother and as with our previous visits, her driveway was filled with cars and her kitchen was filled with friends enjoying each other's company. It very much reminded me of visiting ten to fifteen years ago and some of the same people were still in the kitchen. It was great to see Diane, though we could only stay a short while. Just long enough, in fact, for Adelaide help make bananas foster and for me to try it. On our way out the kids spotted a few frogs and Dagny caught one. We looked at it for a little while and freed it before making the drive back to Marble Falls. A few of the kids fell asleep on the way back and we all hit the rack pretty early.
This morning we cleaned ourselves up and headed out for our last church service of the trip. We attended services this morning at the Fellowship Church - Grapevine Campus. If the interwebs are correct, this is the seventh largest congregation in the country with an average weekly attendance of 20,000. These folks have figured out how to welcome visitors. As we pulled into the parking lot, there were signs asking first time visitors to turn on their hazard lights. This is an indication to the parking attendants to direct visitors to the visitors parking section in the front of the lot. We were greeted at the car by two people who immediately welcomed us and engaged us in a conversation. As we headed to the church, we were handed off from the parking lot greeters to the front door greeters who again welcomed us and walked us to the visitors welcome kiosk, where we were handed off to the official visitor welcoming committee. These folks again welcomed us, asked our children if they would like a drink or a muffin (they said yes to both), asked us if our children would like to attend the children's services, explained where that was and how the check-in process worked, asked us to fill out a card with basic information about our family, provided us with a visitors bag which included a t-shirt, brochure, and CD containing a welcome message from the head pastor and a selection of the church's praise songs. The women from the visitor's kiosk then walked us down to the children's wing to assist us with checking in the children, then walked us back to the foyer where they walked us to the door of the sanctuary where we parted ways. Of all of the churches we've visited along the way, this one had the best visitor welcome wagon. The service was a little to much of a production for my liking, but it was a good sermon and the children very much enjoyed their time in the children's worship.
We drove to Allen, TX to meet David Wang and his children for a few frames of bowling at Splittsville, followed by dinner at Silver Thai Cuisine. We have known David since high school, as he attended Thomas Jefferson High School with Jll. We have not seen David for some time, and we have never met his children, so it was definitely nice to catch up. We talked about camping trips that David and I took with Laird Crandall and Daren Turner and the Super Dave videos we used to make. I had to pull up some Super Dave Osborne clips on YouTube so that Alastair could get an idea of what we were talking about.We made it back to the RV late again and everyone has turned in. We have enjoyed our time in Dallas and though we were not able to connect with my cousin Missy this time, we will be back. Tomorrow we will try to make it all the way to Sante Fe, so we will see how that goes.
Goodnight,
Dave
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Another day down on the bayou.
Tuesday, August 13th
We had a really great day today. We met up with a long-time friend of David's from DU Law, Dennis Matta. Dennis is a native of Louisiana and has been a good friend to us both for a long time. Dennis joined the 6 of us for most of the day. Our first field trip was for a swamp tour with Airboat Adventures. The 7 of us were on a small air boat in Lafitte for about 2 hours of alligators, water snakes, birds, frogs, sunshine, and airboat fun. I loved it and I know the kids did too. They all held another baby gator. Last week we held them at Gatorama too, so now our confidence is growing. A super fun experience that cannot be recreated in Denver.
The sun and fun left us hungry so Dennis navigated us to Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar. We all ate a lot more seafood, jambalaya, etouffee, and red beans but decidedly agreed that the blackened alligator was the best. Adelaide struggles with the moral dilemma of enjoying eating alligator (and turtle soup) since they are so cute. Clearly she doesn't think all the cows, pigs, and chickens we eat are cute.
The Insectarium was on the top of our to do list for Dagny and the afternoon rains made it the perfect next stop. Comparable to Denver's Butterfly Pavilion but not exactly the same. Tons of great bugs on display and interactive exhibits all just right for kids ages 5-10. We learned a bunch and saw tons of cool bugs but the highlight for me was the culinary experience. Each day the Insectarium has samples of specially prepared insect offerings. The McLain children were not intimidated and happily chomped on cinnamon and spice meal worms, bbq crickets, and meal worm chips and salsa. I was shocked! I am pretty sure Alastair was the first to try any of it but it was hard to tell because all 4 of them were so readily reaching in for samples. Seriously disturbing. Had me thinking of the food challenges on Survivor.
Dennis had afternoon treats in mind so we followed him up the street a bit for the kid's first ever snowballs. Alastair and Dagny went with spearmint, Maggie had blue raspberry and Addie had strawberry cheesecake. I think the kids were as amused with their green, blue, and red mouths as they were with the taste of their treats. David went with a traditional praline and I made the best choice of all, some sort of delicious peanut butter bon bon.
We parted ways with Dennis just before dinner. We had plans to cross Lake Pontchartrain to meet up with Julie's boyfriend's family. Julie and Mike have been together for 6 years and we have never had the chance to meet his family. We met Mike's mom and dad, sister and brother-in-law and niece at the Rusty Pelican in Mandeville. We sat and talked for a couple of hours and now feel like a piece of the puzzle is complete. Mike is part of our family and it was so great to finally meet his.
This crew has a really long day on the road tomorrow. We are going to try to drive all the way to Austin in a day. Should be about 550 miles. Prayers for journey mercies are appreciated as we continue to traverse the country and have the best time. Love to all.
Jll
We had a really great day today. We met up with a long-time friend of David's from DU Law, Dennis Matta. Dennis is a native of Louisiana and has been a good friend to us both for a long time. Dennis joined the 6 of us for most of the day. Our first field trip was for a swamp tour with Airboat Adventures. The 7 of us were on a small air boat in Lafitte for about 2 hours of alligators, water snakes, birds, frogs, sunshine, and airboat fun. I loved it and I know the kids did too. They all held another baby gator. Last week we held them at Gatorama too, so now our confidence is growing. A super fun experience that cannot be recreated in Denver.
The sun and fun left us hungry so Dennis navigated us to Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar. We all ate a lot more seafood, jambalaya, etouffee, and red beans but decidedly agreed that the blackened alligator was the best. Adelaide struggles with the moral dilemma of enjoying eating alligator (and turtle soup) since they are so cute. Clearly she doesn't think all the cows, pigs, and chickens we eat are cute.
The Insectarium was on the top of our to do list for Dagny and the afternoon rains made it the perfect next stop. Comparable to Denver's Butterfly Pavilion but not exactly the same. Tons of great bugs on display and interactive exhibits all just right for kids ages 5-10. We learned a bunch and saw tons of cool bugs but the highlight for me was the culinary experience. Each day the Insectarium has samples of specially prepared insect offerings. The McLain children were not intimidated and happily chomped on cinnamon and spice meal worms, bbq crickets, and meal worm chips and salsa. I was shocked! I am pretty sure Alastair was the first to try any of it but it was hard to tell because all 4 of them were so readily reaching in for samples. Seriously disturbing. Had me thinking of the food challenges on Survivor.
Dennis had afternoon treats in mind so we followed him up the street a bit for the kid's first ever snowballs. Alastair and Dagny went with spearmint, Maggie had blue raspberry and Addie had strawberry cheesecake. I think the kids were as amused with their green, blue, and red mouths as they were with the taste of their treats. David went with a traditional praline and I made the best choice of all, some sort of delicious peanut butter bon bon.
This crew has a really long day on the road tomorrow. We are going to try to drive all the way to Austin in a day. Should be about 550 miles. Prayers for journey mercies are appreciated as we continue to traverse the country and have the best time. Love to all.
Jll
Monday, August 12, 2013
Fun and a wild goose chase
We started the day by heading to Café du Monde
for cafe au lait and beignets. We didn't give it much thought as we left the RV, but the kids were wearing clothes that were too dark to mask the amount of powdered sugar which coated them after eating. Luckily there was no line and we were able to walk right in and get two tables. We enjoyed our breakfast and then wandered through the French Quarter. We did a little window shopping and Alastair tried on a lot of hats, trying to find the right one.
Adelaide looked through the window of an antique store, M.S. Rau Antiques, so we walked in and started looking around. We got the reverse of the treatment received by Oprah Winfrey when she went purse shopping abroad. We were greated by Danielle, one of the sales associates, who spent at least an hour walking us through the store, giving us our own private tour. At one point Alastair asked if we were in a museum or a store. Danielle would describe the artwork and antiques and display everything for the children. At one point she even fired up the Violano Virtuoso by the Mills Novelty Company. The kids, upon seeing the 19th century Swiss gold bird box, decided that we should buy it for great-grandma Wilma. While it was beautiful, out budget did not allow the purchase. When Jll asked about fountain pens and we were shown a $550,000 pen, encrusted with jewels, I knew it was time of leave. It was hard to walk away from the original Thomas Chippendale desk, which I would have had shipped back to the office if I had had $350,000 in my wallet.
Our tour continued, carefully, for a few blocks down Bourbon Street and we ended up at the Court of Two Sisters for it's jazz brunch. We sat inside, which turned out to be a good choice once it started sprinkling a little bit. The kids wanted to get up and dance as we had done after dinner last night and we had to explain that these were two very different restaurants.
When we got back to the car after lunch we decided stopped by Meyer the Hatter's store to get Alastair his hat. This turned into a hat shopping adventure for everyone but me and Jll. This detour behind us, we went to try to view some of the parts of New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina. On our way to the Lower Ninth Ward and Lakeview it began to rain so hard that the storm sewer couldn't keep up and the pools through which we were driving we're getting deeper and deeper. Before the van stalled out we decided to head for higher ground and go the other way. With no rain contingency plan, we spent the next couple of hours visiting numerous RV dealerships, marine parts stores, and auto parts stores looking for a replacement lens for the side marker for the tail light of our car dolly, which did not show up in New Orleans with us. We were ultimately not able to find it, and I had to order one online and have it shipped ahead of us of to Texas.
We returned to the RV and got cleaned up while Adelaide made dinner. We cleaned that up and had a quiet night in playing Rummikub. Adelaide schooled us all twice, so we called it a night. Unfortunately it is no longer quiet as the dog in the RV next to us is barking loudly. Hopefully he will quiet down so we can get some sleep.
for cafe au lait and beignets. We didn't give it much thought as we left the RV, but the kids were wearing clothes that were too dark to mask the amount of powdered sugar which coated them after eating. Luckily there was no line and we were able to walk right in and get two tables. We enjoyed our breakfast and then wandered through the French Quarter. We did a little window shopping and Alastair tried on a lot of hats, trying to find the right one.
 |
| Danielle letting the kids touch the prehistoric fossilized dinosaur egg |
Adelaide looked through the window of an antique store, M.S. Rau Antiques, so we walked in and started looking around. We got the reverse of the treatment received by Oprah Winfrey when she went purse shopping abroad. We were greated by Danielle, one of the sales associates, who spent at least an hour walking us through the store, giving us our own private tour. At one point Alastair asked if we were in a museum or a store. Danielle would describe the artwork and antiques and display everything for the children. At one point she even fired up the Violano Virtuoso by the Mills Novelty Company. The kids, upon seeing the 19th century Swiss gold bird box, decided that we should buy it for great-grandma Wilma. While it was beautiful, out budget did not allow the purchase. When Jll asked about fountain pens and we were shown a $550,000 pen, encrusted with jewels, I knew it was time of leave. It was hard to walk away from the original Thomas Chippendale desk, which I would have had shipped back to the office if I had had $350,000 in my wallet.
Our tour continued, carefully, for a few blocks down Bourbon Street and we ended up at the Court of Two Sisters for it's jazz brunch. We sat inside, which turned out to be a good choice once it started sprinkling a little bit. The kids wanted to get up and dance as we had done after dinner last night and we had to explain that these were two very different restaurants.
When we got back to the car after lunch we decided stopped by Meyer the Hatter's store to get Alastair his hat. This turned into a hat shopping adventure for everyone but me and Jll. This detour behind us, we went to try to view some of the parts of New Orleans damaged by Hurricane Katrina. On our way to the Lower Ninth Ward and Lakeview it began to rain so hard that the storm sewer couldn't keep up and the pools through which we were driving we're getting deeper and deeper. Before the van stalled out we decided to head for higher ground and go the other way. With no rain contingency plan, we spent the next couple of hours visiting numerous RV dealerships, marine parts stores, and auto parts stores looking for a replacement lens for the side marker for the tail light of our car dolly, which did not show up in New Orleans with us. We were ultimately not able to find it, and I had to order one online and have it shipped ahead of us of to Texas.We returned to the RV and got cleaned up while Adelaide made dinner. We cleaned that up and had a quiet night in playing Rummikub. Adelaide schooled us all twice, so we called it a night. Unfortunately it is no longer quiet as the dog in the RV next to us is barking loudly. Hopefully he will quiet down so we can get some sleep.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bayou.
Saturday, August 10th started with a really nice morning with David's Aunt Pam and Uncle David. They have a beautiful home and it was so nice to stay in their house and escape the RV for a few days.
We spent the morning at the Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham. The kids pay really great attention and we work hard to spend time reading with them and explaining each of the exhibits. The kids were particularly interested in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church in 1963. The church is directly across the street from the museum and 4 little girls were killed in the bombing in 1963; one of the little girls was named Addie. These kinds of stories make this part of our US history "real" to the kids.
After the museum we drove a little bit up the hill to Vulcan Park. The Vulcan is the world's largest cast iron statue cast from iron. The statue is of the Roman god Vulcan; the god of fire and forge and is 56 feet tall. The kids didn't have a ton of patience for the Vulcan because we had pushed lunch to long and they were hangry. In case you are unfamiliar with the term, hangry is when you are so hungry you are angry.
We found a cute lunch spot called O'Carr's Delicatessen. I liked it a lot. The menu boasts two things. 1. they sell 2000 pounds of chicken salad a week and 2. they have the best milk shake in town. We had both. I thought they were both delicious.
Whenever we get in the car the kids want to know where we have programmed the car's gps to take us. Yesterday they just wanted it to take us back to their great aunt and uncles. So we spent the afternoon with uncle David and aunt Pam while the kids splashed in their pool for a couple of hours. They have a diving board so we worked on our back dives and Dagny practiced both her front and back flips.
About dinner time Ed and Liz McLain came over with their 3 boys again and the kids had a great time playing outside. David and Pam are very fun grandparents to the boys and have all kinds of great ride around toys including a motorized police car. My crew has never had the chance to drive one of these little cars, and while to big I am sure, they took turns driving all around the drive way and had a really good time.
Another fun feature are the tiny little frogs that live on the property. You guessed it, Dagny collected many and had a really good time caring for them while we were there. David and Pam continued to take great care of us and we all had a nice dinner together as a family. We are hopeful that we can convince them to come our way soon and allow us to take them all skiing in Colorado. It was great to be together and we would like to see them all more often.
For weeks Addie has been begging for uninterrupted sleep. The motorhome is not big and every morning she is awoken by her siblings. Last night she had her wish come true. She went to bed about 8:30 and we allowed her to sleep in this morning until 9:30. You could tell she needed it and she felt much better.
We had breakfast with David and Pam again this morning and said goodbye at about 11am to get back on the road. We needed to log over 5 hours to get to New Orleans. We are staying in the French Quarter RV Resort just a few blocks away from Canal and Bourbon Streets. Urban camping is really quite funny because it is bare bones concrete site with hook ups and not a lot more. This RV park is really nice because it is crazy clean and well cared for and perfect for us for the next 3 days. No pond, trees, mini golf or jumping pillow but it is steps from all we want to see in New Orleans.
We were approaching hangry again so we made our way to Mulate's for dinner. We picked it because we wanted Cajun food, zydeco music and a kid-friendly atmosphere. The band played stating at 7 and my kids LOVED it! There were enough adults there who clearly regularly dance there and some of them even took the kids out onto the dance floor and taught them a few dances. The kids had a great time on the dance floor, as did David and I, dancing with the family in countless different configurations.
We spent the morning at the Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham. The kids pay really great attention and we work hard to spend time reading with them and explaining each of the exhibits. The kids were particularly interested in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church in 1963. The church is directly across the street from the museum and 4 little girls were killed in the bombing in 1963; one of the little girls was named Addie. These kinds of stories make this part of our US history "real" to the kids.
After the museum we drove a little bit up the hill to Vulcan Park. The Vulcan is the world's largest cast iron statue cast from iron. The statue is of the Roman god Vulcan; the god of fire and forge and is 56 feet tall. The kids didn't have a ton of patience for the Vulcan because we had pushed lunch to long and they were hangry. In case you are unfamiliar with the term, hangry is when you are so hungry you are angry.
We found a cute lunch spot called O'Carr's Delicatessen. I liked it a lot. The menu boasts two things. 1. they sell 2000 pounds of chicken salad a week and 2. they have the best milk shake in town. We had both. I thought they were both delicious.
Whenever we get in the car the kids want to know where we have programmed the car's gps to take us. Yesterday they just wanted it to take us back to their great aunt and uncles. So we spent the afternoon with uncle David and aunt Pam while the kids splashed in their pool for a couple of hours. They have a diving board so we worked on our back dives and Dagny practiced both her front and back flips.
About dinner time Ed and Liz McLain came over with their 3 boys again and the kids had a great time playing outside. David and Pam are very fun grandparents to the boys and have all kinds of great ride around toys including a motorized police car. My crew has never had the chance to drive one of these little cars, and while to big I am sure, they took turns driving all around the drive way and had a really good time.
Another fun feature are the tiny little frogs that live on the property. You guessed it, Dagny collected many and had a really good time caring for them while we were there. David and Pam continued to take great care of us and we all had a nice dinner together as a family. We are hopeful that we can convince them to come our way soon and allow us to take them all skiing in Colorado. It was great to be together and we would like to see them all more often.
For weeks Addie has been begging for uninterrupted sleep. The motorhome is not big and every morning she is awoken by her siblings. Last night she had her wish come true. She went to bed about 8:30 and we allowed her to sleep in this morning until 9:30. You could tell she needed it and she felt much better.
We had breakfast with David and Pam again this morning and said goodbye at about 11am to get back on the road. We needed to log over 5 hours to get to New Orleans. We are staying in the French Quarter RV Resort just a few blocks away from Canal and Bourbon Streets. Urban camping is really quite funny because it is bare bones concrete site with hook ups and not a lot more. This RV park is really nice because it is crazy clean and well cared for and perfect for us for the next 3 days. No pond, trees, mini golf or jumping pillow but it is steps from all we want to see in New Orleans.
We were approaching hangry again so we made our way to Mulate's for dinner. We picked it because we wanted Cajun food, zydeco music and a kid-friendly atmosphere. The band played stating at 7 and my kids LOVED it! There were enough adults there who clearly regularly dance there and some of them even took the kids out onto the dance floor and taught them a few dances. The kids had a great time on the dance floor, as did David and I, dancing with the family in countless different configurations.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Montgomery was well worth eleven hours of driving yesterday.
- Dave
Jll's van has a drinking problem
One of the recurring events that makes me laugh is that every time we reach a new destination and unhook Jll's van, the GPS still thinks we are in the location we left. For example, yesterday we drove from Punta Gorda, Florida to Montgomery, Alabama. This morning when I unhooked the van to drive the three miles to the Rosa Parks Library & Museum, the GPS informed me it was 550 miles and ten hours and forty nine minutes away. It's like the van drank itself to blacking out while we were on the road and woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. Luckily this never happened to me. The worst I ever did was getting into Jeff Hunter's car at the Beta house in college and waking up in Wyoming on the way to Vegas for Rick Haussler's impromptu bachelor party.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Homeward Bound
Not much to report today, we bade farewell to the Anthonys so that they could get back to work and school. Jody had Dylan and Hayden out of school the last two days, and it was time for them to go back. We packed up our things and drove from Punta Gorda, Florida to Montgomery, Alabama. Even though we planned to drive only 350 miles today, to Adel, Georgia, we stretched it into about 580 miles so that we have fewer to travel tomorrow to Birmingham. Even though MapQuest says today's drive should have taken eight and a half hours, that doesn't account for the fact that we top out at about 60 miles per hour. Needless to say, it was a long day in the car. Also, I will not be having new shirts printed to reflect the correction.
Today's trip marks the first day of driving towards home. When I gassed up today, we had traveled just over 5,000 miles so far. The total trip will be on the order of 7,500 miles. Unfortunately this means that we covered two thirds of the trip in two months and we will cover the remaining third in just two weeks. In other words, we have many long days on the road ahead of us.
In other, not so interesting news, as of today's fuel stop, the RV has gone through 676 gallons of gas, averaging $3.65 per gallon and 7.53 miles per gallon. I haven't tracked what we've burned in the minivan. It's too depressing as it is.
Dave
Today's trip marks the first day of driving towards home. When I gassed up today, we had traveled just over 5,000 miles so far. The total trip will be on the order of 7,500 miles. Unfortunately this means that we covered two thirds of the trip in two months and we will cover the remaining third in just two weeks. In other words, we have many long days on the road ahead of us.
In other, not so interesting news, as of today's fuel stop, the RV has gone through 676 gallons of gas, averaging $3.65 per gallon and 7.53 miles per gallon. I haven't tracked what we've burned in the minivan. It's too depressing as it is.
Dave
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Something good.
We have had so much fun in Florida I am really behind on my blog posts. On Monday, August 5th, we had a gross breakfast at the Waffle House (Dave's choice) and packed up the RV to drive a little farther south to Punta Gorda (fat point) which is between Sarasota and Fort Meyers. Punta Gorda is the home of Jody and Dave Anthony. We haven't visited this area since their wedding in 2001. Jody and I have been friends since the 7th grade and she is like a sister to me so I have really been looking forward to this time at her house.
We arrived in time for dinner and a very fun swim in their pond. The Anthonys' pond has a zip line, rope swing, slide, and diving platform. Pond swimming is very fun for a bunch from Colorado. The kids have had so much fun together and they are whooped every night.
Tuesday, August 6th we split up for the first time in 2 months. David and Alastair went fishing all day with Dave and Hayden. Dave owns his own boat and all the requisite gear and the boys had a great day. They caught about 25 fish (snook, red fish, trout), and Dave caught a seagull. They had some fish in the live well to bring home for dinner but unfortunately an otter stole their fish while they were docked for lunch. Lame!
The girls (Addie, Dagny, Magnolia, Jody, Dylan and I) declared beach day. Jody took us to Boca Grand beach and it was AMAZING! It was the first day of school for that area of town and the beach was deserted. We might have seen a total of 10 other beach goers the entire day. We played in the surf and collected sea creatures all day long. We only took a break for lunch at a cute place just down the beach. It was so great to spend the day with Jody and Dylan and we had such a great day. I even spotted a manatee swimming close to us. We had to drag the girls back to the car at 4:30 so we could get home in time to meet the boys.
Last night we had our first baby sitter of our summer. Jody and Dave made plans for a sitter for the 6 kids so the 4 of us could go out for a grown-up evening. We enjoyed a drink from a roof-top bar near the water which was really pretty. We went to a yummy dinner at the Perfect Caper. By far the best calamari of the trip and everything else was super delicious too. We really enjoy time with Jody and Dave and it was good to be sans kids for the night.
All day today, Wednesday, August 7th, was all about Dagny Tess and her 7th birthday. Adelaide and Dylan made her a big happy birthday banner and card signed by the whole crew. She had a birthday muffin with a candle and singing this morning from us all to start the day. We took our time getting ready for the day and then drove to our second breakfast at Smoky's Smoke House to find David's biscuits and gravy. He has been talking about them for a few days so we needed to check it off of our list. They were delicious. Dagny had grits with butter and salt for her breakfast and I think she is a fan. I am sure she will find some more to eat in Alabama or Louisiana.
The big plans for the day were Gatorama. Yep, a field trip an hour inland toward the everglades to a place that houses hundreds of alligators and crocodiles. We arrived just in time for the "show." The gator lady spends about 15 minutes talking about the differences between crocs and gators all the while dangling pieces of cut up raw chicken over the tops of the animals encouraging them to lurch toward her to grab the raw poultry from her hand. Yep, that was what we expected and it was amusing. The kids also had special little croc biscuits they were allowed to toss through the fences to the crocs and watch them fight over them. Amusing also. In addition to gators and crocs Gatorama also had turtles, raccoons, peacocks, a leopard, bob cats, and parrots. All of the kids had a chance to hold a baby gator (as did I) and I think Dagny had a really good birthday field trip.
We spent a few more hours on the pond this afternoon. Dagny decided to learn how to do a front flip off of the diving platform today. So now she has tackled that life obstacle. While Magnolia can now swim we decided to put her in a life vest today so we didn't have to eagle eye her all day long. She bobbed around like a cork for hours. Dave and I even took turns on the zip line, rope swing, and water slide. We had lots of family fun until the rain rolled in.
The Anthonys put together a really great birthday dinner for Dagny. We had grilled steak (special request from Dagny), grilled tilapia, corn, water melon, and salad. We had fun party hats and horns and she loved all of the gifts. She is such a beautiful 7 year old and I think she will always think back on this birthday as a really great birthday. We concluded the evening with cake and ice cream and a final round of catching frogs and lizards. The Anthonys have hundreds on their property so Dagny has been in heaven.
We will begin our drive north in the morning and our children will need many quiet hours in the RV to rebound from our fun week in FL. We have had a blast and look forward to our next visit to Florida and to the Anthonys.
Jll
We arrived in time for dinner and a very fun swim in their pond. The Anthonys' pond has a zip line, rope swing, slide, and diving platform. Pond swimming is very fun for a bunch from Colorado. The kids have had so much fun together and they are whooped every night.Tuesday, August 6th we split up for the first time in 2 months. David and Alastair went fishing all day with Dave and Hayden. Dave owns his own boat and all the requisite gear and the boys had a great day. They caught about 25 fish (snook, red fish, trout), and Dave caught a seagull. They had some fish in the live well to bring home for dinner but unfortunately an otter stole their fish while they were docked for lunch. Lame!
The girls (Addie, Dagny, Magnolia, Jody, Dylan and I) declared beach day. Jody took us to Boca Grand beach and it was AMAZING! It was the first day of school for that area of town and the beach was deserted. We might have seen a total of 10 other beach goers the entire day. We played in the surf and collected sea creatures all day long. We only took a break for lunch at a cute place just down the beach. It was so great to spend the day with Jody and Dylan and we had such a great day. I even spotted a manatee swimming close to us. We had to drag the girls back to the car at 4:30 so we could get home in time to meet the boys.Last night we had our first baby sitter of our summer. Jody and Dave made plans for a sitter for the 6 kids so the 4 of us could go out for a grown-up evening. We enjoyed a drink from a roof-top bar near the water which was really pretty. We went to a yummy dinner at the Perfect Caper. By far the best calamari of the trip and everything else was super delicious too. We really enjoy time with Jody and Dave and it was good to be sans kids for the night.
All day today, Wednesday, August 7th, was all about Dagny Tess and her 7th birthday. Adelaide and Dylan made her a big happy birthday banner and card signed by the whole crew. She had a birthday muffin with a candle and singing this morning from us all to start the day. We took our time getting ready for the day and then drove to our second breakfast at Smoky's Smoke House to find David's biscuits and gravy. He has been talking about them for a few days so we needed to check it off of our list. They were delicious. Dagny had grits with butter and salt for her breakfast and I think she is a fan. I am sure she will find some more to eat in Alabama or Louisiana.
We spent a few more hours on the pond this afternoon. Dagny decided to learn how to do a front flip off of the diving platform today. So now she has tackled that life obstacle. While Magnolia can now swim we decided to put her in a life vest today so we didn't have to eagle eye her all day long. She bobbed around like a cork for hours. Dave and I even took turns on the zip line, rope swing, and water slide. We had lots of family fun until the rain rolled in.
The Anthonys put together a really great birthday dinner for Dagny. We had grilled steak (special request from Dagny), grilled tilapia, corn, water melon, and salad. We had fun party hats and horns and she loved all of the gifts. She is such a beautiful 7 year old and I think she will always think back on this birthday as a really great birthday. We concluded the evening with cake and ice cream and a final round of catching frogs and lizards. The Anthonys have hundreds on their property so Dagny has been in heaven.
We will begin our drive north in the morning and our children will need many quiet hours in the RV to rebound from our fun week in FL. We have had a blast and look forward to our next visit to Florida and to the Anthonys.
Jll
Monday, August 5, 2013
I've Been There
Hey this is Addie, again. Orlando was awesome. We did so many things. Now why did I title my blog post that? Well Magnolia always says that when we watch a Disney movie because in the beginning you see the Disney castle and Maggie says "I've been there" because she has been to Disnelyland and we say no, that is the Disneyworld castle. Now Maggie can say I've been there. Anyway about Orlando, the first park we went to was Universal Studios. We saw Toon Land, Marvel Land, Dr. Seuss Land, and best of all, Harry Potter Land. It was amazing. Some of the things we did were going on the Harry Potter ride, drinking butter beer, eating chocolate frogs, eating at the Three Broomsticks, but I thing I really liked was learning that I like roller coasters. That's right, Dad said he would buy me a chocolate frog if I went on a roller coaster that went upside down. I loved it!!! I realized I really don't hate roller coasters and then I wished I had noticed that before Cedar Point. Oh well. I promised myself I would buy dad and me tickets some day and we would go back. I can't wait until Schlitterbahn.
Goodbye,
Addie.
* We also went to Magic Kingdom. We did a lot of things there with the Anthony's and we stayed up late and saw the parade and fireworks. It was so fun.
Goodbye,
Addie.
* We also went to Magic Kingdom. We did a lot of things there with the Anthony's and we stayed up late and saw the parade and fireworks. It was so fun.
It's supposed to be the sunny state.
Hey this is Addie. Here we are, the farthest south this RV will go... Florida. We just left Orlando. It rains once or twice a day. It seems like on the trip we have been bringing on the bad weather. We have been hanging out with the Anthonys in Orlando, so we are going down to their house in Punta Gorda. I can't wait to see them again. At their house they have a pond. Just over the pond is a zip line that you can drop off and fall in the water. I can't wait. I get to sleep in my friend Dylan's room. I will blog about it when we do it.
Bye,
Addie
Bye,
Addie
Sunday, August 4, 2013
Fort Wilderness fun!
Saturday morning the 9 of us (Anthonys and McLains) managed to get ready for the day and have breakfast in a reasonably organized manner. We took the Disney ferry boat across the lake and joined the masses at The Magic Kingdom about 10am. We started the day with 2 trips down Splash Mountain which we all agree is a really great ride and lots of fun because all 9 of us could ride in the same log. Good times.We moved all around the park all day and hit all the oldies but goodies like the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Small World and the tea cups. That isn't entirely true. The 8 of them rode the tea cups. I took a pass because they make me want to barf. Not kidding.
After lunch we started our trek to Space Mountain. Poor Magnolia isn't allowed to ride it so she had to sit out 3 different times while the rest of us took turns riding. It is a great little coaster and the lines weren't too long (in Disney standards.) Dave treated her to an ice cream cone on the down low during the first miss so that worked out for her pretty well and she and I had a lovely ride on the people mover once and a spin around the arcade for the last. She is such a trooper but she still doesn't get why she can't ride with the big kids. She has the guts now she just needs to grow 4 more inches.
I guess it rains almost every afternoon here in Orlando which worked out OK. We found some fun rides that were inside and the rain managed to cool things off a bit. The kids were starting to drag from 3-5pm and I wasn't sure they were going to make it. An afternoon popsicle brought them back up to speed and we managed to power through the afternoon and early evening in good spirits.
Before we knew it we were back to Main Street and people were already lining the streets to save spots for the parade. Jody, Dagny, Maggie and I save some curb-side space while Dave and the bigs hustled to find dinner. We enjoyed cheese burgers on Walt's extra clean sidewalk and had our dinner cleaned up just in time for the parade. It was really fantastic and the kids had a great viewing spot. I am so glad we were able to stay and see it. Fun for us all.
After the parade we caught our ferry back to Fort Wilderness just in time for the 10pm fireworks to begin back at The Magic Kingdom. We felt like we made a good decision on timing because our view of the fireworks was great over the lake and we had the kids that much closer to showers and a very late bedtime. We were all wasted tired.
This morning was nice because we had no plans. A nice breakfast and coffee had us fueled and to the pool by 10. We swam for a solid 3 hours and had a really good time before the rain rolled in. The Anthonys needed to head back to Punta Gorda and my crew needed some down time. The rain kept up quiet and inside the motor home for lunch and a little afternoon TV time. It was good to sit still.
Tonight we wrapped up our Fort Wilderness vacation with s'mores, camp fire sing-a-long, and an outdoor movie with the kids. The campsite offers this every night and the kids have been begging to participate. I am glad the weather cooperated so we could do it. I sat with Maggie in front of me sitting on my lap and Alastair on my left leaning in on my shoulder and really thought about how precious this uninterrupted time is with my children and husband. I feel so blessed to be healthy and able to create this experience. We are so fortunate.
Tomorrow we drive our last leg of the trip south to Punta Gorda to the Anthony's home. After that we head north east and that will feel odd. That will mark the point in the trip where we are actually driving back in the direction of Denver and I think that will make me a little sad. I have really enjoyed this trip and I don't want it to end.
Jll
Friday, August 2, 2013
Fabulous Florida
Yesterday was a long travel day for us. I think we were on the road from 8-3. We were very anxious to arrive in the Sunshine State and leave the rain and clouds behind. We checked into Disney's Fort Wilderness and we were in our fabulous pool by 4. The kids had just enough time to splash and play before the rain started to fall again. Dave grilled steaks and the 6 of us had a very nice dinner as a family our first night in Florida.
It is worth mentioning that Magnolia has finally learned to swim on this trip. I believe she is disadvantaged by her tiny size and it has been a challenge for her to get it. Well, now that she has she is so fun to watch in the water. This campsite has a good water slide and she can go on it all by herself and clear the slide at the bottom without any help. I am very proud of her and she is quite proud of herself.
This morning we were to Universal Studios by 9am. The main priority for the day was to give Adelaide and Alastair a chance to ride the Harry Potter ride. I have no idea what it was like because Magnolia and Dagny are too short to ride it so we were doing our own thing but all reports were great and they loved everything about the whole HP section of the park.
Dave spent a day at Cedar Point begging Addie to ride coasters with him and a day at Hershey Park doing the same with no luck. As it turns out she just needed to be bribed with a chocolate frog. She rode the coaster, got the chocolate, and now she loves roller coasters. It was a fun, crowded, and hot day at Universal.
For dinner we were able to meet up with my cousin, Lance Sergio, and also Jody, Dylan and Hayden Anthony. Lance is the youngest of my Brazilian first cousins and it was really great to catch up with him. He and his wife Diana have lived here in Orlando for 13 years. He is my only Brazilian cousin that lives here in the U.S. but I am hoping we find more of them coming to the States soon. A very fun branch of my family tree.
The Anthony's are some of our favorite friends. Jody and I have been friends since 7th grade and her kids are good friends with mine now too. They are 9 and 7 and we see them a couple of times a year. We invited them to stay in the motor home with us for the next 2 nights so we are up to 9 bodies sleeping here tonight and bedtime was shockingly easy. I expected to have to use my mean mommy voice at least once or twice to get giggling kids to settle down but I did not. They fell asleep in a snap. Clearly they are worn out. :)
Tomorrow we head to the Magic Kingdom so we can experience the "real" Disney World. I am excited to spend more time with the Anthony's and hopefully keep the kids awake long enough for the parade and fireworks tomorrow night.
Nightie night.
Jll
It is worth mentioning that Magnolia has finally learned to swim on this trip. I believe she is disadvantaged by her tiny size and it has been a challenge for her to get it. Well, now that she has she is so fun to watch in the water. This campsite has a good water slide and she can go on it all by herself and clear the slide at the bottom without any help. I am very proud of her and she is quite proud of herself.
This morning we were to Universal Studios by 9am. The main priority for the day was to give Adelaide and Alastair a chance to ride the Harry Potter ride. I have no idea what it was like because Magnolia and Dagny are too short to ride it so we were doing our own thing but all reports were great and they loved everything about the whole HP section of the park.
Dave spent a day at Cedar Point begging Addie to ride coasters with him and a day at Hershey Park doing the same with no luck. As it turns out she just needed to be bribed with a chocolate frog. She rode the coaster, got the chocolate, and now she loves roller coasters. It was a fun, crowded, and hot day at Universal.
For dinner we were able to meet up with my cousin, Lance Sergio, and also Jody, Dylan and Hayden Anthony. Lance is the youngest of my Brazilian first cousins and it was really great to catch up with him. He and his wife Diana have lived here in Orlando for 13 years. He is my only Brazilian cousin that lives here in the U.S. but I am hoping we find more of them coming to the States soon. A very fun branch of my family tree.The Anthony's are some of our favorite friends. Jody and I have been friends since 7th grade and her kids are good friends with mine now too. They are 9 and 7 and we see them a couple of times a year. We invited them to stay in the motor home with us for the next 2 nights so we are up to 9 bodies sleeping here tonight and bedtime was shockingly easy. I expected to have to use my mean mommy voice at least once or twice to get giggling kids to settle down but I did not. They fell asleep in a snap. Clearly they are worn out. :)
Tomorrow we head to the Magic Kingdom so we can experience the "real" Disney World. I am excited to spend more time with the Anthony's and hopefully keep the kids awake long enough for the parade and fireworks tomorrow night.
Nightie night.
Jll
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Soaking up South Carolina
We woke up early to catch our 9:30 ferry ride to Fort Sumter. That is the one site that the kids added to the trip. It was Alastair that suggested that we visit Fort Sumter because he had learned that it was the location of the first shot of the Civil War. Upon seeing the fort, I think he was a little disappointed to learn that there is not much left of the Civil War fort due to the fact that it was shelled to rubble. There is about one story left of what had been a 55 foot high outer wall. We listened to the park ranger describe the history of the fort and the sieges which took place there and milled about the grounds for an hour or so before our ferry took us back to Charleston. We had a quick lunch at a local bar and grill and had about the worst waitress one could imagine. It was not busy and she seemed much more interested in flirting with a regular at the bar than in waiting on the McLains on the Road crew. We made it through lunch, annoyed but satisfied and visited the Old Slave Mart Museum, which had once been used as a sales room for the interstate slave trade. We learned that in the 70 years between the drafting of the U.S. Constitution and the Civil War, more than 1,000,000 American-born slaves were sold away from plantations in the upper South to work in the lower South. In Charleston, the customarily sold on the north side of the Old Exchange Building until a city ordinance in 1856 prohibited the sale of slaves in public. As a result, the Old Slave Mart was opened along with other sales rooms, yards, or marts. We have spent so much time learning about the civil war we felt it necessary to learn more about the atrocities of slavery and its role as a causative factor of the Civil War.
After the Old Slave Mart, we walked over to tour the Old Exchange Building & Provost Dungeon. We learned a little about the history of the building, its various uses over time and the famous people who had hallowed its halls, but we were mostly there to see the dungeon. It was not as scary as the kids hoped and we didn't hang around too long. We made it back to the RV as it started to rain and we settled in for the storm. The kids watched a movie, Jll and I did some laundry, and everyone is turning in early. We have a long drive to Orlando tomorrow and the kids want to get an early start.- Dave
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
A few days on the down low.
Today was relatively uneventful as we packed up our belongings and left North Carolina in the rear view mirror. We pulled in to Charleston at about dinner time and ran out to do some quick shopping. A downpour of rain squelched our plans to grill dinner, and we searched out the best barbeque we could find using the interwebs. We ended up at Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ. Jll left unimpressed by the brisket and the kids and I polished off a rack of ribs in nothing flat. We got back to the RV, got everyone cleaned up and tucked in for the night.
- Dave
Uncle Bruce
Hey this is Addie. The first night with my [Great] Uncle Bruce in NC we went out to a delicious dinner. The next day we played in his pool and we had a good lunch. And guess what? He even gave us each a miniature car from his collection. We saw his two pianos, slot machine, and his amazing house. I'm going to miss him. Goodnight, Addie
Monday, July 29, 2013
Goodbye Virginia, Hello North Carolina
After brunch we loaded back up for the drive to Winston-Salem.
It was fairly uneventful but for some schmo that decided he would use the gas
pump as a parking place while he ran in for lunch, leaving us waiting behind
him for 10 or 15 minutes until Jll went in to wrangle him. Our RV park in NC is the
worst one we’ve stayed in so far. Upon checking in, Jll was instructed by the
owner that if we could just keep our fireworks, firearms, liquor, and foul
language in check we’d get along fine. We unloaded quickly and got the hell out
of here to head into Uncle Bruce’s house. Uncle Bruce had set out a spread of
fruits and cheeses for us and he gave us a tour of his home before heading to
dinner at the Village Tavern. Apparently the restaurant has another located in
Broomfield, but I’ve never been there. We enjoyed dinner and were able to catch
up with Uncle Bruce. He invited us back to his house for pie, which we declined
so he loaded us up with peanut butter cookies for the ride home. Luckily we
didn’t hear any fireworks, firearms, or foul language last night and we all
slept well.
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Little mountain equals big fun
This morning my Z family hosted us for breakfast and more time together in Warrenton. They live on a former holly farm that has beautiful views and walking paths, some that lead to a protected wetland area. We had a really nice walk around the property looking for wildlife. We spotted one turtle but were also rewarded with wild raspberries and lots of butterflies.
I was so glad to have time with my aunt Joyce and uncle David and cousin Michelle. We have always lived pretty far apart and visits don't come as often as we would like. We had fun looking through old photos and laughing at old hair styles. I am glad the kids have solidified more memories of my Hull side of the family. I hope we have many more in the near future.
Michelle has gained some serious "cool cousin" points for gifting the kids with the most amazing toy called 20Q. If you haven't seen this thing you should Google it for sure. Essentially it is a little artificial intelligence computer that plays 20 questions with you and can actually identify the object you are thinking about in 20 questions. We are all fascinated by it and each of the kids promises to make it the first item they share at school during show and tell. Michelle, thanks for elevating my kid's status on the playground with this most amazing toy.
We said our goodbyes before noon which was hard because we also said goodbye to Grandma. She will stay with the Z's for a few more days. Without a doubt she will have fun but we have missed all of the grands this summer and it is sad to say goodbye again.
We logged a few more miles and are now outside of Charlottesville, VA. We spent 4 hours this afternoon at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. Monticello is old Italian for "little mountain" and 4 out of 4 McLain children think Monticello is better than Mount Vernon. So there you go! It is pretty fabulous. We LOVED the extensive gardens. Watch out aunt Julie, Addie is already devising a plan for all she wants in her garden next spring and she is going to hold you to your word to come to Denver to help her.
The mansion is beautiful and has such really cool European influence. Alcove beds are super fun. Addie wants one of these too (not likely to happen). My favorite items were the double facing clock at the front door that faces into the foyer and out to the front porch, the dumb waiter made just for wine to come up from the wine cellar and his 8 burner stove in his kitchen. I also really liked the special little revolving door between his servants and the dinning room so the trays of food were spun through a special passage to the butler. I would like one of those revolving doors and a butler.
We all find it very interesting that at Jefferson's death he was in terrible debt. Probably would equate to 2.5 million in today's dollars. His entire estate had to be liquidated to cover his debt. Also interesting that he opposed slavery and still owned hundreds of slaves and probably fathered 4 children with one of his slaves after Martha's death.
The children are asleep and David is busy plotting our activities for tomorrow. Hopefully a really fun new worship experience, some yummy food, and a nice visit with David's uncle Bruce in Winston-Salem, NC.
Jll
I was so glad to have time with my aunt Joyce and uncle David and cousin Michelle. We have always lived pretty far apart and visits don't come as often as we would like. We had fun looking through old photos and laughing at old hair styles. I am glad the kids have solidified more memories of my Hull side of the family. I hope we have many more in the near future.
Michelle has gained some serious "cool cousin" points for gifting the kids with the most amazing toy called 20Q. If you haven't seen this thing you should Google it for sure. Essentially it is a little artificial intelligence computer that plays 20 questions with you and can actually identify the object you are thinking about in 20 questions. We are all fascinated by it and each of the kids promises to make it the first item they share at school during show and tell. Michelle, thanks for elevating my kid's status on the playground with this most amazing toy.
We said our goodbyes before noon which was hard because we also said goodbye to Grandma. She will stay with the Z's for a few more days. Without a doubt she will have fun but we have missed all of the grands this summer and it is sad to say goodbye again.
We logged a few more miles and are now outside of Charlottesville, VA. We spent 4 hours this afternoon at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. Monticello is old Italian for "little mountain" and 4 out of 4 McLain children think Monticello is better than Mount Vernon. So there you go! It is pretty fabulous. We LOVED the extensive gardens. Watch out aunt Julie, Addie is already devising a plan for all she wants in her garden next spring and she is going to hold you to your word to come to Denver to help her.
We all find it very interesting that at Jefferson's death he was in terrible debt. Probably would equate to 2.5 million in today's dollars. His entire estate had to be liquidated to cover his debt. Also interesting that he opposed slavery and still owned hundreds of slaves and probably fathered 4 children with one of his slaves after Martha's death.
The children are asleep and David is busy plotting our activities for tomorrow. Hopefully a really fun new worship experience, some yummy food, and a nice visit with David's uncle Bruce in Winston-Salem, NC.
Jll
School
Hey this is Addie. Now I know it is a little early to be talking about school but I have been thinking about 5th grade constantly. I miss my friends and can't wait to see them. I'm sad that I am missing out on the pool with all my friends but I love the trip so much. People often ask my what is my favorite part of the trip so far and I say the historical sites. I like history like my teacher Mrs. Collins. In fact, I got Mrs. Collins a present. I also got my friend Stephanie a present at Yankee Stadium. (She likes the Yankees). When people ask me what the worst part of the trip is so far I say missing my friends. I only have 6 words to explain this blog post... I can't wait until 5th grade.
Goodnight,
Addie
Goodnight,
Addie
Friday, July 26, 2013
Bull Run was no picnic
We had a really simple and calm morning this morning which was so nice. Alastair received a new LEGO set from my mom yesterday of a space shuttle so he was busy working on it first thing this morning. Addie was busy cleaning up and making omelets for the family. Magnolia created a make-believe game where she served me two choices of pie, either peach or kiwi. Clearly the peach pie was much better.
Dagny and my mom had a very nice sleepover in the city and a fabulous breakfast at the hotel as well. They took the Metro to meet us in Springfield and we were quickly underway to our next destination.
This afternoon we visited the town of Manassas and the site of the two battles there at Bull Run. We always opt for the introductory movie at the visitor's center which highlights the main points of each of these historical sites. This movie was very good and the kids always seem to do so well to listen quietly. They are learning a lot but still get confused sometimes. During the movie Maggie leaned over to my mom to ask, "which ones are we rooting for?" We all agree the Civil War was a nasty time. We also discuss how both sides could have done a better job of "using their words."
One of the things that we found particularly interesting about the First Battle of Bull Run (or First Manassas) was that both the south and the north had townspeople pack picnic lunches and spread out blankets on the outlying hills to watch the battle. Everyone believed their side would win and the war would be over in a flash. I think the first battle had 5,000 casualties and a year later at the second battle there were 22,000 casualties. Terrible.
My aunt Joyce, uncle David Zelinsky, and my cousin Michelle all live in Warrenton, VA and we had a really nice dinner together at their home. My aunt and uncle have always been world travelers and their home is beautiful and full of such interesting items from around the world. We had a really nice evening together and a great dinner too. Today is our 16th anniversary and my aunt, uncle, and cousin surprised us with a giant cake, balloons, champagne, and singing. The kids loved it and so did we. It is hard to believe we have been married for 16 years and that so many wonderful things have happened to us during those years. I feel so fortunate to have my husband and healthy children and loving extended family. Our marriage is a gift and we still have so much fun. We are waiting for all of the kids to fall asleep so we can go have a second piece of cake. It is ours after all.
- Jll
Dagny and my mom had a very nice sleepover in the city and a fabulous breakfast at the hotel as well. They took the Metro to meet us in Springfield and we were quickly underway to our next destination.
One of the things that we found particularly interesting about the First Battle of Bull Run (or First Manassas) was that both the south and the north had townspeople pack picnic lunches and spread out blankets on the outlying hills to watch the battle. Everyone believed their side would win and the war would be over in a flash. I think the first battle had 5,000 casualties and a year later at the second battle there were 22,000 casualties. Terrible.
My aunt Joyce, uncle David Zelinsky, and my cousin Michelle all live in Warrenton, VA and we had a really nice dinner together at their home. My aunt and uncle have always been world travelers and their home is beautiful and full of such interesting items from around the world. We had a really nice evening together and a great dinner too. Today is our 16th anniversary and my aunt, uncle, and cousin surprised us with a giant cake, balloons, champagne, and singing. The kids loved it and so did we. It is hard to believe we have been married for 16 years and that so many wonderful things have happened to us during those years. I feel so fortunate to have my husband and healthy children and loving extended family. Our marriage is a gift and we still have so much fun. We are waiting for all of the kids to fall asleep so we can go have a second piece of cake. It is ours after all.- Jll
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Capitol with a capital C
This District of Columbia is fabulous and has worn out my little family. We have enjoyed it very much but it is clear to me we are ready to be finished with big cities for a while. Stacking up Boston, NYC, and DC has been pretty tiring.
While my mom is here in DC she is staying in a lovely hotel in the city. She has allowed each of the girls the opportunity for a sleepover with her. The first night was Addie's turn. So yesterday we drove to meet them at the hotel. We all took a quick drive over to the National Cathedral. It is a beautiful Cathedral and I am so glad we were able to see it. It was damaged in the recent earthquake and it was interesting to see the pieces that had broken off and fallen on display on the ground close by. They are working to restore the damage.
We also did a quick drive by American University where my dad, Tim Scates, attended Law School over 40 years ago. I know my mom was disappointed that the streets were so crowded and we didn't find an easy way to park and look around. She and I would have liked the chance to walk and talk without so much busy life going on around us. My sister was born here in DC so the 3 of us will need to repeat a trip here in the coming years so my mom can retrace all of those steps for us again.
We stopped for a quick picnic lunch before heading onto Washington's home, Mount Vernon. I loved it! In fact, I think we all did. It wasn't too hot and we had plenty of time to walk the property and the mansion and really get a feel for Martha and George's wealth and lifestyle. One fact that stood out was that in a single year the Washington's would have hosted over 600 house guests in a single year. Dave thinks that sounds awful but I think it sounds fantastic! The Washington's had several hundred people working for them on the property so I am thinking all we would have to do is talk, eat, drink, and play parlor games. I could do that for sure.
Of note, the day gave me and Maggie our very first opportunity to view a Magnolia tree and a blossom. Yep, beautiful. Just like my precious version 4.0.
Dagny liked the day because she was able to pet sheep, pick up leaves and flowers, save bugs from certain death in spider webs and she even found a snake skin. Each day reinforces her love of plants, animals, and insects. I am even more certain now that she should be a CSU Ram and pursue a degree in horticulture, biology, botany, or something in which the Aggie's specialize.
Lehigh and Delaney were able to be with us again so I think Addie and Alastair would have said that they liked playing on the grass on the Potomac side of the mansion with Delaney the most. They liked the ha-ha wall (a low brick wall that is tricky because you can't always see where it ends on a grassy hill so sometimes children fall off the wall making them laugh) and swinging each other around by the arms.
My mom and I both think Martha was pretty unattractive. A picture of her in her downstairs parlor was not so pretty. But Martha had as much wealth as General George, and frankly I don't think he was much of a looker either, so maybe they were a match made in heaven. Pretty cool that they are both buried right there on the property and that we have been able to learn so much about our Nation's number 1 President.
We said goodbye to Lehigh and Delaney and drove a little bit back to Becky's house to see Bill and Kris and Becky one last time. My mother-in-laws are amazing cooks and even when Kris doesn't cook she buys really yummy stuff. Last night we had an indoor picnic of yummy shrimp, olives, pate, breads, cheeses and my new most favorite food in the whole world. Some sort of blue cheese pecan pie filing apricot preserve deliciousness. Heaven! I am pretty sure I am making this when I go back to Denver.
Last night was Maggie's turn to sleep over with my mom and she was so excited. When you are 5, 6, and 10 you look forward to the following as it relates to hotel room stays with Grandma: a cab ride, room service, soft robes, bubble baths, and the fact that Grandma lets them watch TV before they fall asleep. I would have liked to have been invited for a sleepover too. That all sounds REALLY good to me too.
This morning the RV crew slept in really late. We are starting to have too many late nights pile up on each other and we are tired. Some mornings just start of badly and mine was not a great start. Silly little things like forgetting to pack things I needed in my bag and having to turn the car around to go back and get them. Making wrong turns and doing an overall bad job of driving. I put my skirt on inside out and had to ride the entire subway ride into the city with my skirt inside out (not kidding). Once we got to the Capitol half of the items in my day pack were considered hazardous items and I had to throw them out.
Good thing we had such an awesome tour. My mom managed to arrange a tour for us through Senator Michael Bennet's office. She knows him because of her career in DPS and a really lovely and knowledgeable intern from his office spent the afternoon with us educating us about the Capitol. She obtained passes for us to view both the Senate and House from the Galleries and I think that was very interesting as well. A great experience.
We walked about a mile to the Air and Space Museum. It has been on our list of places we didn't want to miss mostly because we thought Alastair would like it. It is a very good museum and has tons of great exhibits and hands-on activities. We sat in on an interactive demonstration about the international space station. It was fantastic! As usual, 2 out of 4 McLains were invited to participate in the demonstration. We all laugh at this phenomenon. We think it is because we sit front and center but we are pretty sure it is because we just have a greater chance of being selected because of the 4 kids. It happens all the time and it is funny. It really reinforces the kids love of learning because of the experiential element. Plus, it makes for good photos.
Oh yeah, guess who I ran into at the museum? Lehigh, Max, and Delaney. I have seen them more in the past 3 days then I have in the past 3 years. Giant kisses headed out to them again.
Tonight Dagny is having her sleepover with Grandma. Without a doubt I am sure they are having a great time. The rest of the crew is settling in and I hope they all sleep late and catch back up on some z's. Speaking of Z's, tomorrow we get to move south and have plans to meet up with the Zelinsky's (my mom's only sister and her family), We don't get to have enough visits with them so I am really looking forward to some time with them in their hometown.
Thanks Washington, D.C. for delivering. You are beautiful, educational, historical, and I am so glad we could spend these few days here learning more about why the U.S.A. is the greatest country in the entire world. Love it.
Jll
While my mom is here in DC she is staying in a lovely hotel in the city. She has allowed each of the girls the opportunity for a sleepover with her. The first night was Addie's turn. So yesterday we drove to meet them at the hotel. We all took a quick drive over to the National Cathedral. It is a beautiful Cathedral and I am so glad we were able to see it. It was damaged in the recent earthquake and it was interesting to see the pieces that had broken off and fallen on display on the ground close by. They are working to restore the damage.
We also did a quick drive by American University where my dad, Tim Scates, attended Law School over 40 years ago. I know my mom was disappointed that the streets were so crowded and we didn't find an easy way to park and look around. She and I would have liked the chance to walk and talk without so much busy life going on around us. My sister was born here in DC so the 3 of us will need to repeat a trip here in the coming years so my mom can retrace all of those steps for us again.
We stopped for a quick picnic lunch before heading onto Washington's home, Mount Vernon. I loved it! In fact, I think we all did. It wasn't too hot and we had plenty of time to walk the property and the mansion and really get a feel for Martha and George's wealth and lifestyle. One fact that stood out was that in a single year the Washington's would have hosted over 600 house guests in a single year. Dave thinks that sounds awful but I think it sounds fantastic! The Washington's had several hundred people working for them on the property so I am thinking all we would have to do is talk, eat, drink, and play parlor games. I could do that for sure.
Of note, the day gave me and Maggie our very first opportunity to view a Magnolia tree and a blossom. Yep, beautiful. Just like my precious version 4.0.
Dagny liked the day because she was able to pet sheep, pick up leaves and flowers, save bugs from certain death in spider webs and she even found a snake skin. Each day reinforces her love of plants, animals, and insects. I am even more certain now that she should be a CSU Ram and pursue a degree in horticulture, biology, botany, or something in which the Aggie's specialize.
Lehigh and Delaney were able to be with us again so I think Addie and Alastair would have said that they liked playing on the grass on the Potomac side of the mansion with Delaney the most. They liked the ha-ha wall (a low brick wall that is tricky because you can't always see where it ends on a grassy hill so sometimes children fall off the wall making them laugh) and swinging each other around by the arms.
My mom and I both think Martha was pretty unattractive. A picture of her in her downstairs parlor was not so pretty. But Martha had as much wealth as General George, and frankly I don't think he was much of a looker either, so maybe they were a match made in heaven. Pretty cool that they are both buried right there on the property and that we have been able to learn so much about our Nation's number 1 President.
We said goodbye to Lehigh and Delaney and drove a little bit back to Becky's house to see Bill and Kris and Becky one last time. My mother-in-laws are amazing cooks and even when Kris doesn't cook she buys really yummy stuff. Last night we had an indoor picnic of yummy shrimp, olives, pate, breads, cheeses and my new most favorite food in the whole world. Some sort of blue cheese pecan pie filing apricot preserve deliciousness. Heaven! I am pretty sure I am making this when I go back to Denver.
Last night was Maggie's turn to sleep over with my mom and she was so excited. When you are 5, 6, and 10 you look forward to the following as it relates to hotel room stays with Grandma: a cab ride, room service, soft robes, bubble baths, and the fact that Grandma lets them watch TV before they fall asleep. I would have liked to have been invited for a sleepover too. That all sounds REALLY good to me too.
This morning the RV crew slept in really late. We are starting to have too many late nights pile up on each other and we are tired. Some mornings just start of badly and mine was not a great start. Silly little things like forgetting to pack things I needed in my bag and having to turn the car around to go back and get them. Making wrong turns and doing an overall bad job of driving. I put my skirt on inside out and had to ride the entire subway ride into the city with my skirt inside out (not kidding). Once we got to the Capitol half of the items in my day pack were considered hazardous items and I had to throw them out.
Good thing we had such an awesome tour. My mom managed to arrange a tour for us through Senator Michael Bennet's office. She knows him because of her career in DPS and a really lovely and knowledgeable intern from his office spent the afternoon with us educating us about the Capitol. She obtained passes for us to view both the Senate and House from the Galleries and I think that was very interesting as well. A great experience.
We walked about a mile to the Air and Space Museum. It has been on our list of places we didn't want to miss mostly because we thought Alastair would like it. It is a very good museum and has tons of great exhibits and hands-on activities. We sat in on an interactive demonstration about the international space station. It was fantastic! As usual, 2 out of 4 McLains were invited to participate in the demonstration. We all laugh at this phenomenon. We think it is because we sit front and center but we are pretty sure it is because we just have a greater chance of being selected because of the 4 kids. It happens all the time and it is funny. It really reinforces the kids love of learning because of the experiential element. Plus, it makes for good photos.
Oh yeah, guess who I ran into at the museum? Lehigh, Max, and Delaney. I have seen them more in the past 3 days then I have in the past 3 years. Giant kisses headed out to them again.
Tonight Dagny is having her sleepover with Grandma. Without a doubt I am sure they are having a great time. The rest of the crew is settling in and I hope they all sleep late and catch back up on some z's. Speaking of Z's, tomorrow we get to move south and have plans to meet up with the Zelinsky's (my mom's only sister and her family), We don't get to have enough visits with them so I am really looking forward to some time with them in their hometown.
Thanks Washington, D.C. for delivering. You are beautiful, educational, historical, and I am so glad we could spend these few days here learning more about why the U.S.A. is the greatest country in the entire world. Love it.
Jll
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