We finally did our class presentations about a month ago. Michelle did an awesome job of organizing all of the materials and little memorabilia that we collected along the way. Both classes seemed to really enjoy everything, so all in all, it seemed a success.
The girls took their top 5 stops and I put together a video highlighting those stops. The video is 20 minutes, but still seems like we skipped through stuff pretty quickly.
Davis Family Trip of a Lifetime Presentation Video from Kevin Davis on Vimeo.
We drove another 500 miles today, pretty much straight through, and we made it home at around 7pm. We are so happy to be home, we really missed Montana, our home, and our family and friends.
What an awesome adventure we had! More than 11,000 miles, not including day trips, 33 states driven through and visited, and lots and lots of fuel burned. I'm so glad we were able to do it. We'll be doing some more posting on the impact of the trip soon.
Thanks for all that supported us and followed along with us on our adventures!
After a very long drive, we pulled into Rapid City late at night for basically a quick overnight stay, then we stopped by Mount Rushmore on our way home. At this point, we are ready to head home, so we aren't spending a lot of time sightseeing, as we've also already spend a couple of cumulative weeks here.
We did stop by Mitchell, South Dakota, which is home to the Corn Palace, one of those strange roadside attractions you see on TV. It's a building completely covered in corn of all types and colors. They were closed, so we didn't go inside, but we did get a good idea from the outside of the building.
We also discovered that late season and early morning visits to Mt. Rushmore have advantages...free parking and NO people. We basically had the whole place to ourselves. We took a look around, picked up some post cards, and we were off. The only downside is that the sculptor's studio was closed, but since we've been in there before, it wasn't a huge deal.
Photos:
 |
| Rapid City |
Video:
We made the long trek down from Chicago today to Jefferson, Iowa. Not exactly the center of activity, but we're here to visit with my friend Russ for a couple of days, so that's okay.
We'll be doing the Halloween thing here and just hanging out.
Update:
Not much to report from Jefferson, just a nice visit with Russ and family. We had a nice time as well doing some trick or treating, and the weather was great.
On the long drive to Rapid City, we saw, as you might expect, lots and lots of CORN...so we took some pictures along the way.
Photos:
 |
| Jefferson |
We arrived here outside of Chicago yesterday afternoon, and have been enjoying our time here. Campgrounds in the Chicago area are difficult to find in general, but this time of year (end of the season) is almost impossible. We're actually staying in Crete, IL, which is about an hour drive into the city.
On the way up here, we stopped by to visit Abraham Lincoln's home where he and his family lived before he became President. It was a neat little stop, free to the public, and the house tour was interesting. It was definitely worth the stop.
Today (Tuesday) was a good day, but not all that involved. Michelle, as those of you that know her will know, loves cake decorating, and used to teach the Wilton cake decorating classes. Just outside of Chicago in Darien, they have a Wilton school, which is part of a retail store, so we had to make sort of a pilgrimage there today. She actually got to see one of the authors of several of her favorite cake decorating books.
After the school, we went down into Chicago, and drove by the Sears Tower, which is the tallest building in the U.S. It was amazing to be at the bottom of it and look up to see just how far into the sky it reaches. We opted not to ride the elevator up to the sky deck since several of us suffer from a fear of heights and we didn't want to ruin our day!
After the tower we made a beeline for the American Girl Place, which evidently has a brand new store and is way cooler than the one in NYC. Peanut and I found a nice parking spot and hung out while the girls were in there. After the AGP, we went over to Millennium Park, which has a ton of cool artwork. One of the featured pieces is the Bean, a huge mirrored structure that looks like it's liquid metal, and it is really cool.
We actually got kicked out of the park, not noticing the miniscule "dogs not allowed" signs on the way in. Not a big deal, with parking at basically $5 per 20 minutes, we weren't staying long anyway.
After a quick stop for a post card, we were neck deep in traffic, and made it back here for dinner.
We are heading back to town tomorrow to yet another science museum, evidently one of the top 15 in the world, so it should be fun.
Wednesday Update:
If you read the blog from Pittsburgh, we had stated we thought that the Carnegie Science center was the best in the US. We were SOOO wrong. Today, we spent the entire day at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. This is definitely a must see if you are ever in the area, and is, by far, the best science museum we've visited. Pretty good for us since this will be the last of the trip. They had all kinds of exhibits, from aeronautics to DNA, to live dissection of cow eyeballs (the girls did this), and the story of Poop (the girls also participated in this.) It was lots of fun.
For reference, if you visit here, drive pass the museum parking and see if the main lot has any spaces. It's outdoors, but it'll save you $14 if you can find room. I discovered this AFTER we parked in the main lot, but nonetheless, the museum was great.
We finished up our day with some authentic deep dish stuffed pizza from Giordanos. Once piece will do you, and it was great. We figured we had to have some while we were here.
We're heading down to the big town of Jefferson, Iowa tomorrow to visit our old buddy Russ and his family. Not sure what sights there will be to see, but it'll be great to see them again.
Faith's blog:
Yesterday I went to the American Girl Place. It was really cool. It was also really, really big! It was way better than the one in New York City. I really loved it.
Kenzie's blog:
We had so much fun here! Again we saw the American Girl Place. There’s the Sears Tower, the Chicago pizza pie that we ate and Chicago’s famous. . . BEAN! That’s what I call it. It’s actually called Cloud Gate!! But I think it looks like a bean. We will be home in five days. I miss my home, my friends and, surprisingly, my school! Talk to you soon. Happy Halloween!
Photos:
 |
| From Chicago |
Video:
We're here now in St. Louis, Missouri after a relatively short drive of 5.5 hours. We're staying actually in East St. Louis, Missouri, just across the river from the arch. As we walk out the camper, we get a great view of the arch.
Friday Update:
Today was a relatively calm day, which was good. We slept in a little, then headed out to the mall for a matinee showing of High School Musical 3, every father's dream afternoon, I'll tell you.
Of course, I've already seen the other 2 films, and they are pretty entertaining for what they are, and this one didn't disappoint, complete with the most effeminate auto salvage yard scene ever (go Troy!). ;-> I hate to admit it, but overall, I enjoyed the movie, and I know the girls loved it.
The rest of the day included some errands and just some rest. We're heading out tomorrow night to Boo at the Zoo, a zoo based Halloween event. They do these all over the place, and we thought we'd give the St. Louis Zoo version a try.
Saturday Update:
Today was definitely a low-key day, and not one of our best, but still, it can always be worse.
We basically hung out in the camper for most of the day, taking a bit of a break from sightseeing. Our plan was to go to the Boo at the Zoo event that night, combining a bit of fun with seeing the animals.
The girls did a bit of homework, and we as a family made a pretty difficult decision. We had originally decided to keep the girls out until the beginning of January and try to do some more catch up work when we got back. It became very apparent to all of us yesterday that doing this might be a bad idea, and would likely cause them to be even more behind. I think we've decided that some families just aren't cut out for homeschooling. So, we've decided that the girls will be returning to school on the Monday after we get back, the 10th of November. This is a difficult choice for all of us, knowing that the remainder of the year could likely be quite stressful playing catch up. It will likely require additional homework, weekend work, lost recess time, etc. However, we think the girls will do better in the classroom environment and catching up there instead of at home with us. We've written to, and are waiting for a return note from the teachers. We'll keep you advised how it goes.
With that hard decision out of the way, we made it out to the zoo, with the girls in costume. Needless to say, we were underwhelmed by what we saw when we got there. We soon learned that the only ones not participating in the event were the animals. The entire zoo was basically blocked off. So, no animals. The event was also geared for kids in the under 5 age range. The highlight of the evening was some little 3 year old dressed as the evil Spiderman. He came up to us and took his attack pose, we acted scared and he stayed in character. Very cute, but not necessarily worth $20. ;->
Sunday we'll be doing a majority of the sightseeing. We'll be seeing downtown St. Louis, the arch, and the St. Louis science museum. We're hoping for a bit of a step up from Saturday...
Sunday Update:
Today was a much better day. We slept in a bit, since we didn't really have to be in a hurry to get going. Then, we went over to the arch, which is just a couple of minutes from our campground. This is simply an engineering marvel. I looked up some info on it. It measures 630 feet high, and 630 feet wide at the base. The construction is a isosceles triangle, with equal sides. The base measures 54 feet and the top (peak) measures 17 feet. You can take an elevator up to the observation room, but we elected not to do that.
One interesting fact is that they built the legs independently and simultaneously. They had to be within 1/64 of an inch tolerance in order to meet at the top. At the time they were trying to connect the last piece, the sun had heated one leg and they wouldn't connect. They had to use a firetruck to spray the heated leg down and get it into place as it cooled. Firemen are awesome, eh? I just thought that was cool.
We finished the day at the St. Louis Science Center, another great science museum. They had lots of exhibits including human anatomy, computers, and the girls had a chance to build and program lego robots. This was their favorite part, and they really enjoyed it. Our reciprocal museum passes we bought at Museum of the Rockies have really paid off. We've been to 8 or 9 museums now for free after we bought the membership. Well worth it.
We're heading out to Chicago in the morning, and we'll be stopping at Abe Lincoln's home in Springfield on the way. We're looking forward to another great stop, and we're also all looking forward to finally being home...
Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went to the Arch. The arch marks where Lewis and Clark ended their expedition to find land in the western part of the U.S.A. Me and my sister, Kenzie, touched both ends of the arch. It was really cool! I loved it!
Kenzie's blog:
We got to go to the Arch. It was like an illusion. We also went to a really cool science museum. They had a project with Legos where you built a Lego robot and programmed it to knock over all the Legos first. I named my robot Rodney. It’s too bad you can’t take them home! It was fun!
Photos:
 |
| St Louis |
Video:
We made the trip across WV, and most of OH today and landed just outside of Cincinnati. On the way, we dropped by a little cake/decorating shop that Michelle was interested in. She said it was a nice shop, but the staff kind of had that "if it weren't for all of these darned customers, my job would easy..." attitude, so she was a little disappointed, but still found some stuff she can't find easily anywhere else.
Our campground is another state-park type campground, and after one of the most irritating check in procedures I've ever seen, we found the campsite, and it's quite nice, but electric only, so we're on the trailer pump for water. Mid week and late in the season, we have the campground basically to ourselves, and the water is for the most part hot in the shower house, so I think we'll do fine.
We just found out that John McCain and Sarah Palin will both be doing a rally about 30 minutes from our campground, so we decided we might as well go to round out the political stuff, especially with McCain there. We'll get the tickets tomorrow, and the rally is Wednesday.
Tuesday Update:
Today was a fun day...we went down to Kentucky and visited the Creation Museum. It sounds like a long trip, but when you're in Cincinnati, you can go through several states in a matter of a 1/2 hour, so we were in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, all on the same drive.
The Creation Museum is a place that uses Biblical truths to explain the origins of the Earth and Universe. There is obviously a lot of controversy in our time about teaching of evolution, an intelligent designer, Creation, etc. The Creation Museum provides information based on the truths in the Bible, and as a Christian family, we found it quite educational and it really brought the information we've studied all of our lives to life.
I was pretty impressed with the overall quality of the museum, from the architecture to the displays and the multimedia experience. They even have what I call Disney quality 4d shows and animatronic characters. I was worried that this might fall into the "Christian knockoff" category we often see attempted, but no way, this is a very quality museum on par with any that we've seen. We really enjoyed our visit.
Wednesday Update:
Today was a very full day. We started out by heading down to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in downtown Cincinnati. We were really impressed with this museum. Although there was a ton of information to share, we loved that they had a very good balance between text, visual aids, and multimedia. We felt that the way they presented the information made it enjoyable and informative. The center traced the Underground Railroad as it assisted thousands of slaves as they escaped slavery to Mexico, Florida, and Canada. My favorite part was the multimedia presentation that put you right in the action and gave you a first-person experience of what it might have been like being on the run and getting assistance from the "conductors" of the Underground Railroad.
The 2nd half of the day was spent at the McCain/Palin rally. Being our second rally in a week, we pretty much knew how things would go, although this one was quite a bit longer than the Palin one, and it seemed that they were running a bit behind, which meant we stood around for a long time waiting for things to get going.
After a few local politicians, Gretchen Wilson, country star, performed one song. Seemed like a lot of effort for one song, but I think they were running behind schedule, so they cut her set short.
It was fun to see the planes fly in (we were in a hangar, so right at the airport), and they did a good job of building excitement. We ended up with great spots (it was standing room only), only about 20 feet from the stage. It was fun to see Sarah and Todd Palin as well as John and Cindy McCain. Mrs. Palin did basically the same speech as the last one we saw, and McCain did his "straight-talk" speech. It's a fun experience to be in, and with all of the people so excited for their candidate. I'm really glad we took part in the events, it really gave all of us a better sense of the whole process.
On the way to St. Louis for a few days.
Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went to the Creation Musuem. It was real cool. It was all about how different beliefs think differently about how the earth was created. I loved it!
Kenzie's blog:
We got to see McCain AND Palin at a rally! It was cool! That’s other than the fact that we waited for 2 hours to see them. And finally, when we were there, we couldn’t see a thing! We also got to see the Creation Museum. It was really cool! The coolest part was the ark exhibit. It was cool!
Photos:
 |
| Cincinnati, OH |
Video:
Wow, what a long drive yesterday. I'm writing this the day after as I couldn't find the energy to blog last night by the time we pulled into the campground and setup (in the dark).
Since part of the day was in Lancaster, I'll add that to a Saturday update on that entry, and this will just start with our stop in Gettysburg.
We started the day at the Sarah Palin rally (see yesterday's blog), then made a slight diversion from our original trip route to head down to Gettysburg. We figured since we were so close, we had to stop by. We also wanted to stop by to see the place where the temporary memorial to United 93 (9/11 4th plane that crashed in a field in PA), but we ran out of daylight and they closed at dusk.
The Gettysburg stop was a very quick one. You can spend 3-4 days seeing all of the battlefields, cemeteries, and memorials there, which are all quite interesting. We more or less spent a couple of hours, and concentrated our visit on the National Gettysburg Cemetery, which is where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. It's a very cool place, filled with monuments to the fallen soldiers. We'll have to plan to come back at some point in the future to see more of this historic place.
The rest of the day was spent trekking across PA. We drove through Pittsburgh at night, which was actually kind of pretty, and we made it to our campground in Raccoon Creek State park, NW of the city. It was pitch black, but we were able to get setup and off to bed.
We're heading into the city today to visit the Carnegie Science Museum. Today will be the only day we're here, as it was largely a stop over location.
Sunday Update:
Today was a single-destination day, the Carnegie Science Center. Of all the science museums we've visited (7+ including kids ones), this one is the best. It had 5 floors of fun, and even with 5 hours there, the girls weren't able to get through much of what the center had to offer. They'll write more in their journals, but needless to say, they had a wonderful time.
As you can see by the photos and videos, the center had a Halloween celebration today, with trick or treating, face painting, etc. and the girls were able to dress up in their costumes, Faith is Sharpay from High School Musical, and Kenzie is Disco Dolly.
I spent about an hour and a half inside, then Peanut and I went and visited the home of the Steelers, Heinz field, which is a cool place, and overlooks the water. We also spent some time just enjoying the beautiful sunny and crisp Fall Sunday afternoon.
We're heading down to Cincinnati tomorrow, which has the Creation Museum, which I've really been looking forward to.
Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went to the science center. It was really cool. My favorite part was the bungee jump. They did a trick or treat thing so I dressed up like Sharpay. It was fun. I loved it!
Kenzie's blog:
We went to a museum that was having a costume contest. They gave us candy, pop, ice cream and they painted our faces. There were activities too. My favorite part was the trampoline. It was fun!
Photos:
 |
| Gettysburg/Pittsburgh, PA |
Video:
Gettysburg:
Pittsburgh:
We arrived here after a pretty long drive today. There's really no easy way to get from Boston to this location, you either go back through NYC and pay $3000 worth of tolls, or you take the long way around. We chose the latter, and it took us about 8 hours to get here, including lots of stops. We'll be visiting the area and making a tour of the beautiful Lancaster County, as well as visiting Hershey, PA and the World of Chocolate. We're all looking forward to it.
Wednesday Update:
Today was a "sweet" day! ;-> We headed over about 45 miles to Hershey, PA and visited Chocolate World, which is a little like the World of Coke we saw in Atlanta, only a slightly less costly (and less extravagant) look at the way something is produced. In this case, the production is lots and lots of chocolate, so we were very interested.
We took a quick disney-type ride through an interactive look at the way chocolate gets made, from the cocoa beans to the finished products. Hershey produces lots of different types and brands of candy, not all of them chocolate based (ie: twizzlers, bubble gum, etc.)
After the tour, we took a look around the property, stopping to see part of Hershey Park, and the campus that comprises the Hershey property. We also looked around the town of Hershey, which is a quaint little planned community, originally built to provide a true "home" for workers at the Hershey plant.
We also ventured over to see the Milton Hershey school, which is a philanthropic boarding school, educating more than 1700 kids at this time, on it's way to more than 2100. It's a beautiful campus, and it's inspiring to see how generous the Hershey's were with their riches, doing such a service for these kids.
Tomorrow we'll be looking around the Lancaster County area and taking a closer look at the Amish lifestyle. We're very interested in learning more about this culture.
Thursday Update:
Another relatively low-key day of sightseeing here in Lancaster County. We started out by visiting a local shop featuring Amish items and other touristy stuff. We tasted and bought a shoo-fly pie, an Amish favorite, and yummy. We also picked up a few little trinkets.
The girls went into a neat little doll shop, featuring 5000+ dolls and doll clothes, including some that fit American Girl dolls. They were both bummed to learn that they will miss an AG party that's going on this weekend.
The highlight of the day for me was visiting the Mennonite/Amish information center. This little museum features a life-sized replica of the Tabernacle. This is the dwelling place of God that Abraham and the Israelites created from God's instructions (in Exodus/Leviticus) and took with them as they wandered the desert. The display is pretty cool, and really brought those difficult to understand scriptures to life.
The museum also featured a movie that explained the Amish in a personal way. Although it wasn't as detailed as what I would have hoped, a close up look at their lifestyle was quite interesting, and did answer some questions I had.
After the museum, we went to a pretzel factory. The factory is no longer in operation, but rather, this is a restored original factory that was first used back in the 1850s. It is the first and oldest pretzel factory in the world. We had an opportunity to learn how to make pretzels, and learned lots about the process.
We also picked up our tickets for the Sarah Palin rally that will happen on Saturday. We are excited to get the girls even more exposure into the political process by attending one of these events. We've been watching all of the debates together, and they've been learning about the political process and all of the stuff that's going on in our country right now, so some more hands-on experiences will hopefully add to the knowledge.
We had a good day today, and we're heading into another part of town to see more Amish lifestyle stuff. We'll be taking a buggy ride which takes you into a working farm, and we're looking forward to learning more about the culture.
Friday Update:
Today was a relatively low key day, but we enjoyed seeing more of the area up close and personally. We took an authentic Amish buggy ride this morning, and our driver was one of the 12% of Amish males that leave the faith. His story was interesting. It seems the Amish base their faith on works and the ability to live a good life, with the hope that this will lead to salvation. His story focused more on the Grace of God that we believe in, and thus he felt the Amish lifestyle wasn't in line with what he believed God and Christianity was all about. His story was actually both interesting and sad at the same time. The 30 minute ride took us through some Amish farm areas, and included some great insider commentary about the lifestyle and what they are all about.
We spent some time milling around in the more heavily Amish farming area, as well as some of the local shops, and I feel like we got a great feel for what Lancaster has to offer. We also stopped by a local fruit stand and picked up some local apples. We're confident they will be great, they sure look good.
Tomorrow we'll be attending the Sarah Palin rally here in Lancaster, then heading West towards Pittsburgh. We're likely to stop by Gettysburg on the way, but timing and interest might determine that.
Saturday Update:
This day spans a couple of blog entries, but I'll do the morning events here. We just happened to be in Lancaster on the day that Sarah Palin had a rally in the city. We were able to get some tickets from the GOP headquarters, and we had to get up nice and early to make sure we got there in time to get a seat.
I don't think I've ever seen lines as long as we saw at the event, outside of the turnstiles of Disney. We got there at about 7:45am, 45 minutes before the doors opened, and the line was literally 3 blocks long. By the time the doors actually opened, they were 5-6 blocks long, wrapping all the way around the event area. The security folks did a good job though, and got everyone through quickly.
The event itself featured Tracy Lawrence, a country singer, and a few local republican candidates and politicians. The wait for Mrs. Palin was actually shorter than I had expected, and the timing was pretty good. The speech was typical stuff, rah, rah us, and this is why you shouldn't vote for them, etc. Pretty much what I expected. I was happy to see the vitriol that had been described in the media was absent, and even the protesters out front were pretty calm and collected. It was a good experience for all of us to attend our first political rally, and I'm thankful we had the opportunity to go.
Faith's blog:
Two days ago we were in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We went into Hershey’s Chocolate World. In Hershey’s Chocolate World we went on a ride that showed how chocolate is made, which is what Hershey’s Chocolate World does. Now, yesterday, since there is a lot of Amish in the area, we took a buggy ride by someone with an Amish background. It was fun. I LOVE Pennsylvania!
Kenzie's blog:
This was really fun! We got to go to “The Doll Factory”, a candle shop that sells and hand makes candles, a place that has an actual sized replica of the tabernacle, the first pretzel factory/shop in the U.S.A. (they let us make our own soft pretzel), and my favorite, the buggy ride! We even got to drive! We had two towns we went to aside from here. The first one, Hershey. We got to go to Chocolate World. There we saw how chocolate is made and we got free samples! The other place, Gettysburg. We saw the spot where President Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. We also saw a cemetery where hundreds of soldiers are buried. Before we left we went and saw Sarah Palin speak! It was cool! I’ll talk to you soon!
Photos
 |
| Lancaster, PA |
Video:
Saturday Update:
I guess it's actually not an update since I didn't have much of a post on Friday when we got here, but nonetheless...
We spent a full day in Boston yesterday, and have a great time, as well as getting some pretty good exercise.
We did the Freedom Trail, which is a pretty cool walk through the heart of Boston from Boston Common all the way up to the site of the USS Constitution at the Navy Yard. It's 2.5 miles or so up, so the round trip is roughly 5 miles.
Since the FR guys took the time to write a concise summary of what it entails, I'll include it here:
The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally significant historic sites, every one an authentic American treasure. Preserved and dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1958, when the wrecking ball threatened, the Freedom Trail today is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond.
This was a great way to round out our early American History tour we've been on since getting to Charleston a couple of weeks ago. Michelle and I were reminded again, however, at our lack of historical information, but we made due, and it was good for all of us to be exposed to the area.
We saw Paul Revere's home, plus the "one if by land, two if by sea" North Church, as well as the place he rode from to warn the Americans. We took the advice of a local and had lunch at Umburto's, which was a great little Pizza joint...lots of food for $12.
The girls really enjoyed the USS Constitution museum, lots of hands on stuff, and they spent more than an hour inside learning and experiencing it. We took a walk-on tour of a WWII destroyer that had been destroyed, and I really liked seeing that. We chose not to wait for the USS Constitution tour since the trip through the line and security would likely take more than an hour.
Overall, it was cool to see all that the Freedom Trail had to offer, and to see the heart of Boston. For at least a short time, I think Michelle and I could get used to the weekend lifestyle you can enjoy in the big city...
We're going to head over to Harvard (Hahvad) Square this morning for the big Oktoberfest celebration. This is a big shopping area and park, and they have a parade, vendors, kids activities, and bands. Should be a fairly non-touristy way to see the area and enjoy a fall-time activity. We'll report back on that later.
Sunday Update:
Today was a fun, but interesting day...
As expected, we headed into Harvard Square this morning, which in itself was a bit of a challenge. Those who live in the big city would understand this, but it took us like an hour to find a place to park, and we ended up with about a mile walk. Not too bad, really, and we were fortunate that Sunday's have street-side parking for free, so it's all good, but it was a challenge.
The Oktoberfest celebration was pretty cool, and had a lot to offer. We looked around a bit and paid way too much for lunch, but found the booths cool to look at. There was a parade, that featured Click and Clack (the guys from Car Talk (NPR)) as the Grand Marshalls. Those of you that know me know that I'm a pretty staunch conservative, so being in ultra-liberal Boston already had my guards up, but when I realized we were watching a "green" parade, oh man...how much fun was that? ;-> It was supposed to be a parade celebrating alternative technologies, but from what I saw it was more of an anti-shaving/anti-bra/anti-George Bush extravaganza. Needless to say, we were a bit out of our element. It was great exposure for the girls though, and I celebrate these folks' right to hate our President and hold signs condemning our country. I may not agree with the premise, but am happy we live in a country where it's legal to disagree with the country.
We had our fill of Harvard Square, and headed over to the Children's Museum of Boston, which was really cool. The girls actually closed the place down with about 2.5 hours in there, and they didn't even finish it all. Lots and lots of interactive stuff there, and they loved it. Peanut and I enjoyed some time out on the boardwalk getting lots of attention for him, and enjoying an absolutely beautiful Fall day.
All in all, a great day was had by all.
Monday Update:
Today was a great day, we enjoyed some great time with our friends, the Giacometti's and they did a great job showing us the area where they live, the North Shore, up in Essex, MA. The coast line here and the little towns are simply stunning, as well as the beaches and little shops and restaurants. Michelle absolutely loved the area, and can't wait to get back.
We also took the opportunity to sample the local food, and we had a nice helping of fried clams and Chowdah. Good stuff, probably the best in the country.
We'll look forward to another visit in the North Mass area and hopefully up into Maine at some point. What a great area of the country!
Faith's blog:
Yesterday I went to Boston. I heard that they had a tea party, I also heard it wasn’t pleasant. Just joking. The Boston Tea Party was when the British came on boat to America with tons of tea on their boat which they were making the people of America pay tax for, so we threw all the tea in the ocean and left no tea. There was a lot of tea. Boston was cool. Tea anyone?
Kenzie's blog:
“Follow the yellow brick road!” But instead, it’s red! We got to follow the Freedom Trail. It’s a red brick line on the ground that runs all over Boston. It includes historic sites like Paul Revere’s house, the Old North Church, a few graveyards and my favorite . . . the U.S.S. Constitution! We didn’t actually get to go inside it but we got to go inside a really cool museum. First, you get to take a test on being a sailor. Then, you got to sleep, eat and work on a ship. It was really fun!
Photos
 |
| Boston, MA |
Video:
Today was officially the best day of the entire trip...thanks to the visit to Factory Five!
Actually, I'm more or less kidding, but that's what my family would expect me to say. Today we made the trip up the coast to Cape Cod, Bourne to be exact, which is the Upper Cape. On the way, we stopped by Factory Five Racing (www.factoryfive.com), which is the home of the replica kit car I'm planning on building (the Cobra roadster). We were able to see completed cars, other types of cars, and the entire production process. It was pretty cool, and even Michelle and the girls seemed to like it.
A funny "small world" type of thing happened in the laundry. I met a couple that is not only doing a similar family trip (we've been to very similar places, almost at the same time), but they also happen to be LA firefighters, which Michelle's dad was for 20 years. In addition, they are from Thousand Oaks, CA, and actually know a family friend of ours, Rick Massey. How cool is that?
Thursday Update:
Today was a full day in Cape Cod, and it was a good day, we enjoyed the beauty of the area, and since it's the off season, without all of the extra people.
We started off in Woods Hole, which, like most towns here, sits right on the water. We visited a research facility, whose team is part of the team that explored the Titanic wreckage, and the girls also had an opportunity to see Alvin, one of the deep-sea submarines.
We also visited a local aquarium, which had some interesting sea creatures, including some blue lobsters. Evidently, if they don't eat enough shellfish, they turn blue. Some of the color variations were also due to some genetic deviation.
After Woods Hole, we headed up the Cape and stopped by a local diner for lunch, complete with some Chowdah...very good.
On up the Cape to Hiannis to visit the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory, which is really just a long hallway in which you can see the operation and read signs. Still worth the trip though, you get free chips, yummy...
Continuing on, we made the trek to visit one of Cape Cod's many lighthouses. As you can see in the video, there are sandbars just off the coast, which, without a much needed lighthouse, would cause some serious problems for ships and boats.
We finished the day back at the camper with dinner there, and just a little bit of downtime. We're heading up to Boston tomorrow, and will stop by Plymouth Rock to see that area.
Friday Update:
Today is a dual-destination day. We stopped by Plymouth to see Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower II, and the Monument to the Forefathers. This is a very pretty area, and we were glad we made the diversion on our way to Boston.
The Mayflower II is a replica of the original Mayflower ship, and even made the original sea voyage back in 1957 when she was completed. It was an interesting ship.
Plymouth Rock itself was a bit underwhelming actually, but it's an interesting story. The original landing site was actually in Provincetown on the Cape, but in the 1800's at some point, they moved a portion of the original rock up to Plymouth, and over the years, the size has diminished due to weathering, vandalism, and souvenirs, and it's roughly 1/6th the original rock found on the Cape.
My personal favorite part of the area was the Monument to the Forefathers. This is an 81' statue that has the names of the passengers on the Mayflower. It is a really cool monument. The most striking thing to me was that Faith is found at the top of the monument, and there is an inscription talking about Jehovah. As we've taken this journey up the coast, I'm constantly reminded at the faith of the original founders of our country...what a contrast to the current movement in this great country to push God as far away from it as possible. I've found it quite striking.
We're in Boston now, and there are a plethora of things to do here to finish up our East Coast portion of the trip.
Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was cool. Cape Cod is basically an island. A bridge connects it to Massachusetts. Anyway, we went to the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory which I happen to be eating some right now. They are good, yummmmm. We also got to see one of the very many light houses that Cape Cod is famous for. And one of the many ones I’ve ever seen. Cape Cod was really cool.
Kenzie's blog:
We got to see a potato chip factory! It was cool! Also, we went to the American Oceanic Institute. They are the ones who discovered the one and only . . .Titanic. Last, but not least, we went to an aquarium type of place. We got to pet fish, a hermit crab, a lobster, lots of starfish and oysters. That was my favorite part!!!
Photos
 |
| Cape Cod, MA |
Video:
The first video is of Cape Cod, the second is of Plymouth.
Well, after a great day of visiting with family and friends, we hit a bit of a snag, the first real challenge of the trip.
Michelle discovered at about 5pm that she didn't have her purse. That began a feverish expedition to find it. We went back to the only store we visited yesterday, Target, and checked all over the store and with management, but no luck. We called all of our credit card companies to place holds on the accounts, and were somewhat surprised that no activity had been recorded. That's a good sign, we believe, but it might also mean a small time crook took the purse, dumped it and took the cash and camera inside.
So, now begins the fun of replacing cards, accounts, and protecting the identity with calls to credit reporting sources, etc. We're heading towards Cape Cod today, so we'll be working through this on the road. A big thanks to Tami Case (and Dave) for helping us out as we walk down this road. We're still hoping and praying it'll turn up.
Update:
Just a quick update as we stop for lunch. We made one last stop at Target this morning to do one more check. We figured out that at some point yesterday, Michelle's cart got switched with another one, either by mistake, or by the person who grabbed the purse.
After one more thorough search we found the purse stuffed in a cart in the back of the store, and thankfully, only the cash and camera were removed. We're assuming it's a small time crook or someone who was desperate for money. We're very thankful that this is the case as a true ID thief would have wreaked way more havoc. The cost to us was about $200 in cash and replacement camera (our third this trip now), so overall, not too bad, considering.
The irony is that we spent 2 weeks in DC, NYC, and Philly, much more "dangerous" cities, and this happened in upscale Connecticut. Who would have guessed? God is good though, and as we had hoped, it all worked out without a big tragedy, so we're thankful for that. Thanks for all the prayers during this short but traumatic time.
We had a non-sightseeing day today, just driving from Philly over to the NYC area. We're actually staying NW of White Plains, NY, in Croton-on-Hudson, which is pretty much the closest campground area to NYC.
Today was one of the worst travel days we've had, not in distance, but just aggravation. For those of you that haven't had the joys of towing a trailer on the East Coast, boy do those tolls add up. They charged us almost $20 just to cross the George Washington Bridge into NYC today. That was, after we waited in traffic for almost an hour due to a wreck at the toll plaza. Oh...how I've missed this traffic. ;-> Couple that with the dreaded "passenger cars only" signs on several highways we had planned on taking, and reprogramming the GPS to avoid them, you end up with a long day. For those that don't know, when these roads and bridges where built out here, they didn't have RV's, so the overpasses on some of the parkways are under 10' tall. I love convertibles, but I don't want my travel trailer to be one, so we went around.
The campground is pretty nice, rustic and very quiet. The weather is pretty cold, and with the humidity, it feels way colder to us Montanans.
We're heading up to New Fairfield to see Jerry and Jane Serfass's son, Josh marry his long time sweetheart Allison. It'll be fun to see old friends.
Saturday Update:
What a day! We just got back from a great time at Josh and Allison's wedding, and it was quite the event. We really had a good time at the wedding, and the girls had an outstanding time at the reception. They put on quite a show, the band was awesome, and the girls loved the dancing, of which they did about 4 hours worth.
The highlight of the night was watching Josh and his mom (Jane) do the jitterbug. It has to be my favorite all time wedding moment, only surpassed by that of watching my own bride walk down the aisle on our wedding day. They were so cute, and it was awesome to watch.
The only downside of the day was we had to drop off Peanut at the kennel, and because they are closed on Sunday, we're forced to leave him there for a few nights. We'll miss him, it's the first time we've not had him with us overnight since we picked him up.
We're off tomorrow to NYC to celebrate Faith's birthday (which is Monday). We'll do a few hours at American Girl Place, lunch, then off to see Wicked on broadway...should be a great day!
Sunday Update:
What a day! After a rough start (dead battery in the rain, crabby family, etc.) we ended up having a very good day. We started out at American Girl Place (well, the girls did, I become a 5 year old boy in the clothing department, with the strong urge to lay on the floor, so I went exploring), and the girls spent a couple of hours there. Then we met an old friend, Samantha, and a new one, Christy for lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner in Times Square. All of the wait staff sing, and since they are all aspiring Broadway talent, the songs were very good. They even sang to Faith for her birthday, and Flip did a great rendition of Celebration for her. It was great.
Just when we thought the day couldn't get any better, we went to our first Broadway show today. Thanks to Scott, my brother, we had wonderful seats to Wicked, an outstanding show based on the Wizard of Oz story. Kerry Ellis, the lead (the wicked witch) was simply unbelievable. I love the tone of her voice, her emotion, and just her presence on stage. The show was just great, and we loved every minute of it.
Monday Update:
Happy 9th Birthday FAITH! We made sure to celebrate her birthday as much as we could today, including a fun and good tasting birthday cake from a local bakery whose owner has authored a few books that Michelle owns.
Today, we made the trek back down to the city, starting with Battery Park which is where you catch the ferry over to Liberty and Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We were able to see both parks, and found both interesting.
We also took a short walk up to the World Trade Center area to see the site of the 9/11 tragedy. They have made pretty amazing progress with the project, and we were surprised to see that they are expecting to finish the new buildings by 2012. It's still a moving place to be near.
We're heading up to Hartford on our way to Cape Cod tomorrow, and we're looking forward to finishing up the East Coast in the next week or so.
Faith's blog:
I love New York. But what I like even more than New York is New York City which happens to be one of our stops. In New York we went to a Broadway show called Wicked. It was really good. Did I mention it was live? Well, anyway, it was awesome. The person who played Wicked played her in England as well. We also went to the American Girl Place. I went inside. You could tell it was for GIRLS ONLY, all the dads sat in the corner. I thought that was cool.
Kenzie's blog:
Today we got to see Wicked. It was the best Broadway show ever! We also got to go to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. It was pretty cool. Last, but not least, we went to a restaurant where waiters and waitresses sing live. Since it was Faith’s B-day, they sang two different songs to her. This was fun!
Photos
 |
| New York City, NY |
Video:
In continuing with our tour of Early America, we're here in Philadelphia for a couple of days. We don't have a lot of things planned here, but we'll be taking a trip into town tomorrow to visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, as well as Betsey Ross's house and the area surrounding both.
Thursday Update:
Today was a good day spent in Philadelphia seeing the sights. We weren't in a hurry so we slept in a bit and didn't get in a big hurry to get downtown. We started off at Independence Hall and visited the building where the first Continental Congress met and the Constitution was debated over and signed. This was a short 30 minute tour, but it was really interesting to see where Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and others had lengthy discussions that led to the structure of our country.
We took a walk and visited Christ Church's cemetery, where Benjamin Franklin is buried, as well as other signers of the Declaration of Independence. It's a neat old cemetery. We also visited the home of Betsy Ross (the woman who sewed the first American Flags). Michelle and the girls went inside, so they'll provide more details on that, Peanut and I hung out in the courtyard and played with acorns.
When you're in Philly, you have to have a Philly Cheese steak. We did just that for lunch, and were not disappointed by the combo at Sonny's.
After lunch, we headed back to the historic district and took turns (we had Peanut with us) visiting the Liberty Bell. It was smaller than Kenzie and I expected, but it was really cool to see such a living piece of our country's history up close and personal.
Tomorrow will be a sort of day off, we'll hang out here in Philly until mid morning, then head to Croton-on-Hudson, NW of New York City, which will be our home base for our NYC stop.
Michelle's blog:
Just wanted to give a little info on the Betsy Ross house. It was really neat to go inside this little house in the middle of this big city and see what Betsy Ross' home was like. It had very thin, winding stair cases. We saw her original furniture in her upstairs bedroom and the original upholstery shop she ran from the ground level. We also learned that she never actually owned this house, it was rented. Her grave sets outside of the house in the courtyard. In this courtyard there are also people dressed up like Betsy and other Revolutionary people who will answer questions and show you how Betsy appliquéd the 26 stars on the first flag (there were 26 because there were 13 on each side of the flag!)
Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went to Pennsylvania. We saw Independence Hall. That’s where the Declaration of Independence was signed. We also got to see the Liberty Bell. It was small though, but still cool. I liked Philadelphia.
Kenzie's blog:
We got to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It was cool. We also got to see Besty Ross’ house and Ben Franklin’s grave. Have you ever seen National Treasure? Except for Besty Ross’ home, all of these places were in this movie. My favorite part was getting a Philly cheesesteak. It was GOOD!
Photos:
 |
| Philadelphia, PA |
Video:
After a short drive last night, we arrived in Washington, DC. We're staying at a very nice campground in College Park, Maryland, which is close to the Metro train station, and also to our luxury pet resort (the only local one) that Peanut is staying at while we visit the sites in the City.
We had to do an "interview" at the kennel last night when we got here, to make sure Peanut had the social skills to stay in the "open play" kennel where the dogs all roam together. He passed, so we were good to go, but it made for a late night.
We're looking forward to a fun time here in DC, but also to some downtime since we'll be here for 7 nights, and will be hanging out and doing as little as possible over the weekend.
Thursday Update:
We arose early, dropped the P-dawg off at the "resort" and headed on the Metro for the White House. We had a tour scheduled at 9:15am, and made it just in time. It was a great tour, and although you don't have full access to the house, it was very interesting to see this house of Presidents. Again, we were in awe to walk the same steps as so many dignitaries and Presidents. Faith especially loved the Red Room, and my favorite was the dining hall, specifically the inscription which is actually a prayer from John Adams that is engraved on the mantle.
Expecting rain for a few days (it's pouring now), we headed to the National Zoo to beat it, and couldn't have timed it better. We spent the afternoon at the zoo, then headed back for a little R&R in the hot tub.
Friday Update:
Today was a great day! We started the day early with a tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, and saw where they print the paper money for our country (they also have a facility in Fort Worth, TX.) It's a pretty extensive process, and we learned a lot. The most interesting thing I learned was that they no longer print any denominations above $100, so if you have a $1000 bill laying around, one sold recently for $1.2M.
We had some time between tours and stopped over at the National Holocaust Museum. This was an interesting and harrowing experience. We were amazed to see the horrors that the Jewish people experienced, and saddened by what Hilter did to the world. The museum provides a great opportunity to learn what the Holocaust was all about.
The afternoon was spent on a staff-led tour of the US Capital (courtesy of Denny Rehberg's office), and it was another great experience. We got to see the "under belly" of the US Capital, and how the Members get from their offices to the House, we got a full tour of the US Capital (which is an awesome building, btw), and then we got to sit in the gallery of the House of Representatives, watching the proceedings. We also found this interesting, but also a little irritating watching our elected officials acting a little like kids at lunch. The Speaker was attempting to get things to order, and everyone more or less just ignored him and went about their visiting, talking on cell phones, etc. I was not impressed with the overall behavior, but it's possible I just don't know how it works. Despite this, though, we really enjoyed our time at the capital.
Our last stop was the Air and Space Museum. We didn't stay as long as we wanted, I had to get back for a conference call, but we're planning on returning on Sunday for another visit. The kids really liked the "what makes it fly" part of the museum, which is all hands on stuff. I liked that too actually.
We're taking tomorrow off from sightseeing, we'll be here at the camper. We've got some laundry and other stuff to do, and just don't want to get up to an alarm.
Tuesday Update:
We ended up changing our schedule a bit and taking both Saturday and Sunday off completely from sightseeing. We spent the weekend just hanging out, doing laundry, catching up, etc. We enjoyed it a lot, actually.
Monday was spent on a whirlwind tour of many of the monuments and memorials in DC. We visited the FDR Memorial, the WWII, Korea, Vietnam Memorials, the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, and the Washington Monument. We actually got to go up into the top of the Washington Monument, which was pretty cool, and high. You can feel it swaying when you're up at 500 feet. All of them are really interesting, but Michelle and I really liked the Korean War Memorial the best, it seems to be the most moving. We also visited Arlington National Cemetery and saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and JFK's grave. We were fortunate to see the changing of the guard as well, which is a very cool military exercise in precision. This was a free tour through the National Park Service, set up by our Congressman's office (thanks Denny!)
Tuesday was spent doing some "clean up" touring. We started at the National Archives and visited the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They have a huge interactive area in the Archives that you could spend all day in. We decided you really could spend a full day in each of the museums and areas. We headed over to the Museum of Natural History, which has some interesting exhibits, lots of cool animals to see there (ex-animals I guess I should say). The last stops were a second visit to the Air and Space Museum and the American Indian Museum. This was a full and long day, and we enjoyed it quite a bit.
Philly here we come!
Faith's blog:
This week we were in D.C. I had a great time. We got to go in the White House. That was my favorite part of D.C. It turned out that Bush, Obama and McCain were there as well. We didn’t seem them, though. I loved D.C. Bye!
Kenzie's blog:
We got to go in the White House!!! It is beautiful. Have you ever seen the “Portrait of George Washington”?We got to see the original! It was saved by Dolley Madison in 1814 when the White House burned down. We also got to go into the Capital Building! Almost all the representatives were there. We got to go into Denny Rehberg’s office. Too bad he wasn’t there.I liked going into the Washington Monument.We were at 500 feet.This stop was REALLY COOL!
Photos:
 |
| Washington, DC |
Video:
We took the longest drive of the trip today, and just arrived at the campground here in Williamsburg, Virginia. We're really looking forward to visiting the Colonial Williamsburg area and learning more about the lives of those that started this country. We expect it will be a little more exciting for the girls than Charleston, and more educational because of it.
Update:
We had a great time at Colonial Williamsburg, and we all learned a lot. The town itself offers an outstanding view of what life was like when our Founding Fathers walked the streets and occupied its buildings. It was pretty amazing to think that we were walking the same steps that men like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson walked.
A couple of highlights were the seeing re-enactments of key events leading up to the Revolutionary War, seeing how it all came to pass, and also the buildings like the Governor's Mansion and Payton Randolph house.
Something completely unexpected that happened was that the Today Show was filming a segment from Williamsburg. We had an opportunity to see Al Roker and Matt Lauer, and we were surprised to see Matt Lauer come over to where we were standing (a bit out of the way) and shake our hands. He seemed like a great guy, and pretty generous with his time. It was neat for all of us to see this backstage type scene on how the show is filmed.
The girls will have more to add to this. We've had several packed days, so I'll keep my entry brief. More to follow soon.
Photos:
 |
| Williamsburg, Virginia |
Video:
We drove a little over 400 miles today, up early and out of Disney before daylight. It's a strange thing, but the perspective on "long drive" has definitely changed after so many miles on the road. Today was almost 8 hours in the car, and surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. Monday will be just a tad longer, and it'll be the longest day of driving of the entire trip on our way to Williamsburg, VA.
The trip was relatively uneventful, other than a guy in front of us who forgot to tie down the couch in the back of his truck. A little factoid for those of you who don't tow trailers. It's substantially more difficult to avoid a couch in the middle of the highway at 60mph when you're towing 5000 pounds. On a good note, I didn't need to do any cardio today, my heart got all of the workout it needed in the span of about 10 seconds...
At any rate, we're here in Charleston for a couple of days. We'll be visiting a 400 year old plantation tomorrow, and just kind of hanging out. After 10 days in Disney, a little less activity is a nice thing, that place is crazy. With the weakness of the dollar, South America and Europe are well represented tourism-wise, I guessed probably 80% of the people we saw were non-English speaking foreign visitors.
Sunday Update:
We spent the day in Charleston, doing a quick overview of the area. We started at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, probably the most famous and oldest plantations in South Carolina. It's one of the top historical places on the registry.
It was an interesting place, and at over 350 years old, had some remarkable buildings and history to be seen. We felt like it was considerably overpriced, though, and the house "tour" was too brief to really be useful. I would have preferred a non-guided tour to look around at the house. The furnishings, and especially the 200 year old quilts were really cool. Everything was period authentic.
We also saw a slave house, and the extensive gardens (which the plantation is known for) throughout the 500 acre property. One highlight was the Biblical Garden, which featured all of the plants referenced in the Bible, complete with the reference verse. That was pretty cool.
We then headed downtown to the historic district to see the different buildings there, and also the original cobblestone streets. We saw a church cemetery with tombstones dating back pre-revolutionary war, plus a selection of very old buildings and architecture.
We enjoyed Charleston, despite the short time we were here. We're heading out tomorrow morning for Williamsburg, VA. It's our longest drive of the trip, so it should be interesting.
Faith's blog:
Yesterday we went to
Kenzie's blog:
We went to Magnolia Plantation. It is about 350 years old. There were 3 houses on the property. The first was struck by lightning and was burned. The second was hit by cannonballs and also burned. We got to tour the 3rd. The rugs in the house were over 100 years old! We also got to see the slave house. It was small with 3 beds. One for the adults and one for the kids and a tiny baby cradle. We saw alligators in the swampy gardens. That was my favorite part!
Photos:
 |
| Charleston, South Carolina |
Video:
Days 41-50 - Orlando, Florida - Disney World & Universal Studios
1 comments Posted by Kevin at 8:09 PMWe arrived at Ft. Wilderness Campground today at Walt Disney World! It's awesome here, and even with the rain today, we are loving being here.
The entire family (myself included) will be taking a real vacation for the next 10 days (through the 20th), so we will just be doing a little email and moderate blog updates throughout this portion of the trip.
Thursday Update:
Today was spent at the Magic Kingdom, and what a blast we had. It was hot for most of the day, then around 4pm or so, the sky opened up...torrential downpour galore. Thank God we had our little ponchos and umbrella with us, we were prepared, and other than some very soaked shoes (did you know you can dry shoes in the microwave?), we did okay, and stuck around until about 7:30pm or so, then back to the camper and picked up Peanut at the kennel.
It was a fun day, and we were glad to be here at Disney. We're heading over to Universal Studios tomorrow, and I hope I can escape without Kenzie scaring me to death on some thrill ride...dads are supposed to be tough, and all of that stuff.
Sunday Update:
We've had a couple of more days of fun here, so I thought I'd post a bit. We spent yesterday at Disney's Hollywood studios, and we had a good time. This park has mostly shows and sit down type attractions, but our favorite attractions were the Aerosmith RocknRoll Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. They're way fun, despite the blistering heat at the park.
We spent today over at Islands of Adventure, the "other" Universal Studios park. Lots of rides here, and most of them are water-related rides. These guys don't hold back on the wet-factor, and our favorite ride, perfect for another terribly hot day was the Popeye ride which features a circular raft. Getting wet would be an understatement, you get as wet as if you jumped in the pool. Luckily, we prepared and came to the park with Crocs and swimsuits. We loved the ride so much we did it 5 times.
We've decided we like the family atmosphere that Disney gives much more than Universal. It just seems like Disney is better suited for us, but that's okay, we still had fun at Universal, and might even go back before we leave Orlando.
Wednesday Update:
It's been a few days since our last update, and man, we've been busy...having fun, that is.
We spent Monday at Animal Kingdom, and this time of year, the guidebooks couldn't be more right...it's HOT. There are very few attractions to be enjoyed inside, so most of the day is spent outside. Combine that with the shear size of the park, and you can work up a pretty good sweat just enjoying the park. We had a good time though, and enjoyed the animals, Expedition to Mt. Everest (wild roller coaster), and other attractions. One day was enough there though.
Tuesday was spent at Epcot, and it was great, lots and lots to do at this park, including rides and shows, and interactive stuff for the kids. We didn't feel like we got enough done there, so we'll be returning to do a "clean up" run on Friday. My favorite ride was TestTrack, which is a GM-sponsored (everything is sponsored at DisneyWorld it seems) attraction about testing cars and taking them through the paces, including a 65mph speed run, which was big fun. We also liked the SpaceShip Earth attraction, very cool inside that big golf ball looking thing. ;->
We're heading back to Magic Kingdom tomorrow, and plan to make a full day of it. We'll finish up on Friday morning at Epcot again, then back to Universal (both parks) for the rest of the day. We plan on being back here in the evening where the girls will do the Ft. Wilderness campfire, and I'll get us road ready. We leave for Charleston on Saturday morning, and have quite the drive.
Friday Update:
Well, after a great day yesterday, it seems we are "theme parked out". The girls and I stayed late last night to watch the Light Parade and the Fireworks over the castle. It was awesome, and I'll post some pics and video later on. We had a full day from 8am to 10pm, so we were tired today.
We finished up our Disney adventure today with a few more hours at Epcot (doing some of the interactive stuff, plus one of our favorites, Soarin') and then headed over to Universal again for some more water fun. This, as it turns out, was one notch too many on the old "fun knob." We were all tired, and since it was a little cooler today, after the Popeye ride, we were a little miserable. We all decided to pack up and head "home" to the campground and relax by the pool. Mom and the girls then went to the campfire and a movie at the campground while I readied the camper. We're all hooked up and ready to leave Ft. Wilderness early in the morning.
A note I forgot to mention, Peanut got "pet of the week" at the Ft. Wilderness kennel, and received a nice little disney dog dish. Pretty funny, he's a good boy! ;->
Faith's blog:
This week we went to
Kenzie's blog:
This was the best! There are 4 parts of it. Animal Kingdom,
Photos:
 |
| Disney World and Universal Studios |
Video:
Today, we blasted off into the wonderful world of NASA! We spent the day at Kennedy Space Center, and we had a great time.
Michelle had always wanted to visit this complex, and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing the history of our space exploration agency and learning more about where we might be going later on as we continue look to the stars.
We saw an IMAX film on the International Space Station, which is being built currently and added to by 14 countries. We also experienced what a Space Shuttle launch is like in a huge simulator that shook, rattled, and rolled us through a launch sequence. We took a bus over to see the 2 launching pads and location of storage and build out for the space shuttle. The cool thing was that the 2 pads currently in use are the same ones they've been using since they sent the Saturn V rockets of the Apollo missions to the moon. We also saw the Saturn V itself, and I was surprise at how huge it was.
We learned about robots in space, Mars exploration, and the original struggles and triumphs faced in the "space race" and the Lunar missions. We also got to see the Space Shuttle Atlantis poised and ready for her October launch on launch pad B, and we saw the "crawler" coming back to it's home base after the delivery. These really are monster machines and amazing feats of technological advance.
I wasn't aware of this, but NASA is currently planning additional manned missions back to the moon (first since the Apollo program ended in 1972), plus manned missions to Mars and beyond. Pretty cool stuff.
It seems that our culture of high tech CGI in movies is less interested in the fact that we actually send people up into space and bring them back safely, but I was amazed at all that goes into making that happen.
If you get a chance, take a visit to the KSC.
We're so excited, on to see the MOUSE tomorrow! We've decided as a family to take a true vacation for the 10 days we're at Disney World/Universal, so I'll be limiting my work hours to email and maint stuff at night, and no school work for the kids. We'll keep the blog moderately updated as well, but won't re-engage fully until we're on our way to Charleston on the 20th.
Faith's blog:
Today we went to the
Kenzie's blog:
I loved seeing the
Photos:
 |
| Kennedy Space Center |
Video:
We're here in Daytona Beach, Florida for a couple of days of R&R.
Today we spent the afternoon playing on the beach, and the weather was very hot, but the water was awesome. We happened upon a bunch of manatees nearby who apparently were mating (we just saw them meandering about by themselves.) It was a cool site, and we were fortunate to see them.
We also saw some porpoises a little ways out from shore, dancing and playing. It was cool as well.
Monday Update:
Today was fairly low key, we did work and school work this morning after a nice brisk morning walk, then we headed into town to go to the beach. The girls and Peanut spent some time playing in the water while I worked from a nice shady spot.
We will be heading out early tomorrow for the Kennedy Space Center, and we're all looking forward to learning about our NASA program.
Faith's blog:
Today we went to
Kenzie's blog:
We had lots of fun at the beach! Me and Faith, my sister, collected seashells and oyster shells. Then we jumped waves (which really has no point to it!) and played a game where you have to sit in the water and try not to get washed up on shore by the strong waves. There were manatees in the swamps near by mating. It was really fun to play at the beach. To bad there’s none in
Photos:
 |
| Daytona Beach, FL |
Video:
Finally, Kenzie's most anticipated destination stop is here...Gainesville, Florida. Tomorrow, we'll be at Jungle Friends, the monkey sanctuary she's been waiting to see for months.
We'll be at Jungle Friends tomorrow for the day, then heading to Daytona on Sunday for a couple of days of relaxing by the beach (assuming Ike doesn't meet us there.)
Saturday Update:
What an awesome, sweaty, exhausting day! Kenzie will have her own perspective to write here, but as far as I'm concerned, today's visit to Jungle Friends met and exceeded our expectations. At 95 degrees and, oh, 130% humidity, I think I lost 10 pounds of water today, as we pulled weeds, planted plants and trees, washed monkey bowls, and cut up fruits and veggies for the monkeys. As volunteers, they really wanted us, specifically Kenzie, to get a real sense of what it's like care taking for these furry little friends.
We met some great young ladies whom are there to finish internships, volunteer, and work full time (some), and they all can work circles around us, often beginning at 6:30am and ending well after dark. I was impressed with all of their hard work and enthusiasm. They gave us some great information as well for Kenzie's potential educational and vocational paths.
The sanctuary is home to almost 120 monkeys, made up of rescued former pet monkeys (MONKEYS SHOULDN'T BE PETS, btw), retired lab monkeys, and other misc rescue monkeys from various back stories. Kenzie used her birthday present this year to adopt Chi Chi, a cute little Capuchin. Chi Chi is a former circus monkey, and was quite fun to watch. She does get a little handsy though, which Michelle learned by getting her pony-tail too close. It took help to get her loose.
One of my favorite parts was when Chi Chi's boyfriend, Jimmy Sr. got a little jealous of me being around, and began throwing stuff at me from behind the cage. He threw sticks, a plastic golf ball, leaves, but luckily...no poo! ;-> It was a fun game that got more fun when I pretended to "hit the deck" and cry...Jimmy absolutely went...I have to say it...APE! He was dancing around, squawking and crying and clapping. All the monkeys in the area joined in. It was a fun time.
Thank God for Blocker, an insect repellent. I had to make a run to town to pick this up, otherwise, my hot wife would have been reduced to one big bite. After applying the good stuff, though, we made it through the rest of the day without a 1000 different bites.
The girls spent the rest of the day at the pool, and just kicking back.
We had a great day, and the next time we're out this way, will definitely make a trip to see our friends (both furry and not so furry) again. Thanks Kari and Crew for a great time!
If you have a moment, please take a visit over at Jungle Friends, they do some great stuff for these little animals. They run off donations, so if you have some to spare, this would be a great place to give. They also sell art created by the monkeys and clothing too.
Faith's blog:
Today we went to Jungle Friends Sanctuary. We got to design/plant in a cage. It was fun. One of the monkeys dislikes men because a male took off some of his fingers but he was still funny. He threw stuff and when my dad ducked all the monkeys thought he was dead so they went crazy. I had a good time.
Kenzie's blog:
This time we got to go to Jungle Friends. It is a primate sanctuary. We got to fix up a cage for some of the monkeys. Although we sweated a lot, I loved it! Next, we cut up veggies to make “monkey soup”. I tore up broccoli and peppers .I then snapped peas. Finally, we washed the monkey dishes. It was all really hard work, but in the end…IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!!!!!
Photos:
 |
| Gainesville, Florida |
Video: