Tuscon and Mt. Lemmon

This is our campsite in Silver City Sunday morning just before we packed up and left.

Silver City, NM

After two and a half weeks at home, we're off again. This trip, we're heading west starting with a three day weekend camping with my brother and his family in New Mexico. We drove to El Paso Wednesday and spent the night in the road in from of Ms. Rosie's house, my sister-in-law's mother. 

Headed Home

We left Virginia Saturday to head home. In our original plans, we were going to see a couple of places on the way home, but we've been to the southern states many times, so we decided to just drive straight through. We were super excited to see Mommy and Jacob and the kids did not want to stop for anything.

This is our campsite at Chippokes Plantation State Park just before we headed out.

Jamestown

We left Harpers Ferry yesterday and headed to Chippokes Plantation State Park. It is directly across the river from Jamestown. I have to start planning these drives a little better and stop relying solely on the GPS system in the truck. As we approach the bridge that will cross the river, the GPS shows a picture of a little boat, which is, you guessed it, a ferry. RVs don't really fit on ferries.

So, after an hour detour to a bridge across the river, we arrived. It's a great site and park. It's quiet here, as there aren't a lot of campers this time of year and it's a Thursday.

This morning, we crossed that same ferry in the truck and headed to Jamestown.

Harpers Ferry

I've always wanted to visit all 50 states and I think that's probably a pretty typical aspiration. However, when looking at the map of our trip so far and the route we planned on taking home, there was a gaping hole in the center named West Virginia. It also seems like we should have figured out a way to clip Indiana, but I've been there before. We've also all been to Florida many times, so we weren't going to go out of our way to drive through it.

Washington, D.C. - Day 6

Today is our last in DC and the kids have been begging me since day one to go to the zoo, so that's where we head today. It is quite far on the subway with two transfers and then a little walk, so we didn't get there until lunch time. We stopped in a little grocery store on the way to get a picnic lunch and ate at a table just inside the zoo.

Washington, D.C. - Day 5

We took yesterday off as coming into town three days in a row is exhausting, for the kids at least. I thought I was supposed to be the old one.

Today was museum day and the kids most wanted to go to the Natural History Museum and I wanted to go to the Air and Space Museum, so we did both. Here is a barrage of pictures.

Washington, D.C. - Day 4

Today we headed to the National Archives and then Arlington National Cemetery. About six years ago, the National Archives changed their policy from "No Flash Photography" to "No Photography." They estimated that even with their prior policy, the documents were exposed to approximately 50,000 flashes per year.

The National Archives houses tons of stuff, but most famously the "Charters of Freedom," which are the Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. It also has a copy of the 1215 Magna Carta. As I explained in the post from Philly, there really isn't an original Declaration of Independence, but the one here was the one signed by almost all members of the Continental Congress.

Washington, D.C. - Day 3

We got a late start this morning and made our way to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing about lunch time. The line was short, but we realized this was because the next tour didn't start for over an hour, but we decided to wait anyway. It was a cool tour and the guide explained things well. The kids liked the gift shop the best.

I think the most interesting thing was that the bills are all printed from a master engraved plate that several master engravers make, each with a certain area of expertise so no one engraver could recreate the plate in its entirety. The engravers also go through a ten year apprenticeship.

Washington, D.C. - Day 2

I scheduled a U.S. Capitol tour with an intern in the office of our congressman at 2:00. We got into town early enough to go over to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to see if we could do a tour, but the line was an hour and a half long. They only take 40 people every 15 minutes and there were 220 people in line. So, we backtracked all the way to the Capitol. The kids were not thrilled about that. We did walk through this garden though, which the kids thought was really pretty.

Washington, D.C. - Day 1

It rained quite a bit Saturday, so we just hung around the RV. The kids did school work.

Sunday, we left Ronks, PA and headed to our campsite outside Washington, D.C., about a three hour drive. We are staying at Adventure Bound Campground, somewhere between DC and Annapolis. It's a full hookup site with a weekly rate of $374, which is a pretty good deal for being this close to a large city.

I looked up the metro stuff Sunday night and it looks pretty simple compared to NYC. Monday was also a federal holiday, so the train was practically empty and the city seemed the same, to some extent. This is about 10:00 in the morning, but I have a hard time believing that it would be this empty on a normal work day.

The Amish Farm and House

We wanted to do something "Amish" while we were here, but places all seem very touristy and fake. I found this place that seemed less like that and it was pretty inexpensive. We actually learned a lot about the Amish.

The Amish Farm and House is an old house built in 1805, I think, by a Quaker family that was purchased by an Amish family at some point in the 1900s. No lives there now. It is on a 15 acre farm that has now been surrounded by a Target shopping center. There is an Amish schoolhouse on site that isn't a real schoolhouse, but was built by the Amish just for showing tourists what they look like. There was an Amish school teacher (retired, I guess) there to answer questions but we missed her.

I think probably the biggest misconception about the Amish is that they live in the 1800s because most people know they use the horse and buggy and don't use power line electricity, but that's not exactly true. They use gas extensively, for example, they use gas stoves and ovens and use propane refrigerators like we have in the RV. Their houses often look just like ours, but the one in the pictures doesn't because it was built so long ago. The lights and electric items were put there after the Amish family left the house. Also, the Amish, at least here in Lancaster County, use power tools and equipment for farming if they run on gas. They'll also run power tools off inverters that are powered from batteries or gas power. So, they use ovens, stove tops, refrigerators, washing machines, sewing machines, etc. inside the home and power drills, air compressors, etc. outside.

Valley Forge

Valley Forge was the place where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777-1778 during the Revolutionary War. There were no battles fought there. Starvation and disease killed more than 2,500 soldiers by the end of February. The weary Army was poorly fed and ill-equipped. Only one-third of them even had shoes.

By January, things started to turn around when Congress sent a group of five Congressmen to examine the conditions. By February, adequate supplies were flowing throughout camp and Congress was fully supporting the supply lines monetarily.

Also, the varied units from the states all had different training which hampered their overall efficiency and made coordinated battle movements awkward and difficult. Continued drilling brought the Army together and improved their technique and cohesiveness greatly. George Washington said that the perseverance gained by the soldiers at Valley Forge was what made the Continental Army bind together even stronger and eventually win the war.

The park ranger asked the kids if they wanted to be "Junior Park Rangers," so they got these booklets they had to fill out. They were actually pretty excited about it. We started out at the visitor center with a 20 minute historical movie.

To Amish Country

We left New Jersey/Philadelphia and made our way to Lancaster County, PA, home of more than 30,000 Amish people. Someone told Stacey that we should visit, so we're staying here for a few days at Flory's Campground. We are backed up to an Amish farm and saw this the first day there.

Philadelphia

Saturday, we stayed home and took it easy. We went to Tim and Judi's house for dinner Saturday night, so I went to the grocery store to buy dessert and I bought this for Brady's birthday tomorrow!

New York City - Day 3

We took yesterday off after two days in the city and a late night Wednesday.

I asked the kids this morning if they would prefer to squeeze everything else in today or return to the city tomorrow and they all wanted to do everything today. Since it costs at least $50 every day we go in, I'm in favor of that as well. We still wanted to see the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Unfortunately, the weather today was not great. It was drizzling or raining all day long which wasn't a big deal, except the views from the Empire State Building and especially Rockefeller Center were really poor. I didn't take nearly as many pictures today because of the rain.

We went directly to the Empire State Building and made our way to the top. The kids thought it was cool and you could barely see downtown, but you could see nearby buildings. We also passed by the New York Public Library on the way.

New York City - Day 2

Same story...new day. The novelty of the train ride has worn off and the kids are already asking, in a slightly whiny voice, "How long will it take to get there?"

Today we were shooting to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and, if possible, the 9-11 memorial because it's within walking distance of the ferry. It turned out to be a long day.

The subway was actually simple. The most important aspect is whether you are going "downtown" or "uptown". You must know this. For the most part, anything south of you is downtown and north is uptown. As the ferry to the Statue of Liberty is at the southern most point of Manhattan (Battery Park), it was obviously downtown. It was also direct from Grand Central Station, so it was simple today.

After some research last night, I found this CityPass option. There was a lady in the museum yesterday yelling out for it and people that had it could skip the line. If you buy it, you can go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the American Natural History Museum, the 9-11 memorial and museum, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. These were all things we wanted to do anyway and with the CityPass you save about $50, so I bought it. We went to the Natural History Museum yesterday, but even considering that, we still save a little money.

When we got off the subway, we were in Battery Park, another rare green area in the city. We basically just bought tickets and made our way directly to the line for the ferry. I took almost 200 pictures today, so I'll try my best to prune out some.

New York City - Day 1

For all you noobs out there, let me give you an insider pro tip. New York City is big. I've been to Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Rome, Paris and, heck, I was just in Boston a few days ago. Nothing is even close. It's pretty absurd, when you think about it. There are more people in a single, mid-sized office building in mid-town Manhattan than there are in my entire home town. It's crazy to think about.

We scouted out the train station near our campsite yesterday evening and figured out where to buy the tickets. There are peak and off-peak trains. The off-peak trains are slightly cheaper and are basically those that arrive at Grand Central Station after 10:00 am. Brady and I are full price, but the girls are only a dollar each (12 years old is an adult). Even then, it costs about $50 for the four of us to take the train round-trip each day. Add another $20 for a subway round-trip somewhere else in the city and it's pretty pricey to do anything.

This morning we got up early enough to eat, drive over and park, buy our tickets, pay for parking over the phone and then get on the train about 15 minutes early. I overthink everything.

These are the things on our (my) must-see list while we are in NYC and in roughly this order:
1) The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
2) The 9-11 memorial and museum
3) The Empire State Building
4) The American Museum of Natural History
5) The Metropolitan Museum of Art
6) Central Park
7) Times Square
8) Rockefeller Center

Even Grand Central Station is a cool place. There are stars on the ceiling arranged into constellations.

To New York City

Saturday, we just stayed at the RV. I considered returning to Boston for a second day, but I'm not sure what we would have gone to see, which sounds ridiculous...there must be a hundred things we could do, but we have to take days off now and then. The kids woke up about 10:00 (yesterday was a long and tiring day), ate breakfast, and then went outside and played on the playground until I went and got them about 7:30 pm. Brady and Adria wandered in at some point to eat lunch, but Haley never came in. There were dozens of other kids playing, so they had a blast.

Yesterday, we went through our 11th and 12th states! I don't have any pictures of Rhode Island because there wasn't a good stopping point. We are staying in New York very near some friends who live in Sleepy Hollow (yes, THAT Sleepy Hollow), which is about a 45 minute train ride from Grand Central Station.

I think Adria had just gotten in trouble before I took this picture, hence her face :)

Boston

After transportation study, we decided to catch the 8:37 train at the Kingston stop, which we drove over and saw last night. I have to get there early enough to buy tickets, so I woke the kids up about 7:15, which is about an hour earlier than they have been getting up. I probably over thought it, because driving over there, parking, paying on the phone for the parking, buying the tickets, and getting on the train was very easy. They were excited to ride the train!

Cape Cod Potato Chips

So rather than rushing into Boston today, we decided (with Stacey's recommendation) to just hang out here and use the day to plan tomorrow. The kids did their school work early and then about mid-day, we took a trip out the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory which is about a 45 minute drive out on Cape Cod.

Along the way, we ate at a Friendly's, which we don't have around home, and it was pretty good. It strangely felt like a Denny's with less emphasis on breakfast and with the addition of ice cream.  Weird comparison, I guess, but that's what comes to mind.

So, the potato chip factory was not at all what I was expecting. The tour was self-guided, which meant that you walk down a straight hallway about 100 feet long which just dumps you into the gift shop. Along the hallway, there are windows where you can look onto the factory floor, but you don't really know what you're looking at, despite the signs. For example, there is a machine that is shaking raw potatoes, and the next station appears to be frying the sliced potatoes. Where were they cut??? I wanted to see a bad ass slicing machine, but too bad for me. No photography was allowed in the factory, so we'll settle for the signs outside. In hindsight, I would have driven five minutes to see it, but not an hour and a half round trip. We did all get tiny sample bags though, so not a complete waste of time.

Plymouth

Today we visited Plimoth Planation, the Mayflower II, and an old working grist mill. We went to the plantation first. As touristy as this stuff is, this place was actually educational, I thought.

At Plimoth Plantation, there is a winding trail that leads you to several points along the way. The first was the Wampanoag Homesite. This is a replica homesite of the way these people would have lived in the 17th century. The people there, however, are not "role-playing". They are actually Native American, but dressed in historical clothing. They talk to you about the history from a modern perspective. In contrast, the people in the English village role-play as if they were from that time.

I don't remember what this was, but there were toys on the ground that the kids got to pick up and play with. One had hollow bones attached to a string, which was attached to a stick and you swing the bones into the air and try to catch them on the stick. Brady was the only one to do it successfully!

To Boston

Yesterday, we ended up skipping Kennebunkport. I've heard it's a cute little town, but I just didn't want to drag the kids through it and I saw all I felt like I needed to of the Bush compound on Google images. We had plenty of work to catch up on anyway.

This morning, we headed off to Boston (actually, Plymouth is where we are staying). Robin left us a nice package of post cards on our step...so thoughtful! If you are in the southern Maine area, I highly recommend them (www.wassamkisprings.com).

We are in our tenth new state!

Portland, ME

Happy birthday Jacob!!!

At breakfast, the kids and I sent Jacob a short video saying happy birthday and he and Mommy sent this back. Not related to our travels, but he is just so cute even with donut all over his face.

Goodbye Acadia

Thursday and Friday we literally did nothing. Well, not literally. I think we went to the grocery store again, which was better (slightly) because we went at 10:30 in the morning.

The remainder of the days we just worked, caught up on school work, and watched this great TV channel they get up here called Create. It has a lot of cooking, woodworking shows, and similar things and the kids (and I) love them, especially the cooking shows. We have a few favorites: Project Smoke (all about smoking and grilling meats) and A Chef's Life (about a couple who open a restaurant). Pretty good stuff.

Saturday, sadly, we left Acadia. After packing up everything, hooking up HQ, and a trip to the dump station, I took a final picture of our vacant spot. Sniff, sniff. We've had a good time here.

Acadia National Park - Day 6, Cadillac Mountain

After breakfast and some school work, we decided to go see Cadillac Mountain this morning because there is rain in the forecast this afternoon/evening. You can drive all the way to the top and there is a relatively flat, paved half mile path that circles the top of the mountain with views of the entire area. On the way up the mountain, there's a scenic overlook with a pretty view of one of the lakes on the main island.

Acadia National Park - Day 5

Another slow day around here catching up on work. Our RV spot is so shaded that it seems pretty dark all morning and that, coupled with a later than usual bed time, kept the kids in bed until almost 10:00. I woke up at 7:00. When I walk in there, I find they are actually watching Netflix on their Kindles and Brady is just laying there.

Acadia National Park - Days 3 and 4

It was an early Sunday morning, but Jacob handled it like a champ. When I sat down in his bed to wake him up, he said, "I want to get up." Easy enough for me. We pretty much got dressed and headed out the door to the airport. He fell asleep in the car probably ten minutes before we arrived in typical kid fashion.

I don't have any pictures, but it went just as you'd expect. The Bar Harbor airport is tiny and probably only has five or six gates, so security was a breeze.

On my way home, I figured I'd need to get the other kids something to ease their pain. I didn't eat any, of course.

Acadia National Park - Day 2

Thanks to those wild blueberries that Jacob helped pick, we finally got to enjoy that maple syrup that we bought with some blueberry pancakes and they were amazing. Of course, Brady's had chocolate chips instead of blueberries.

This morning was much slower than usual. Stacey cooked breakfast (and cleaned it all up) while I did seemingly endless laundry at the little laundromat here at the campground. I met a lady in there from Lufkin, TX, so that was pretty cool. While doing laundry, Stacey took the kids swimming again.

We obviously have to try lobster while we're here, but no one except Haley and I like it, so we're going to go for a lobster roll instead. Someone (I don't remember who) recommended C-Ray Lobster which is nearby, so we headed there to try it. We only ordered one, which was $18, and split it up six ways. Haley and I liked it, Stacey and Adria liked it, but not as much as we did, and Brady didn't like it at all.  Jacob spit it out.

Acadia National Park - Day 1

Hold your horses...this post is long!

We woke up sort of early, excited I think, and decided to shoot to make the 8:33 shuttle that picks up at the front of our campground. I keep calling it a campground, but it's really an RV park with a sprinkling of tent sites. There's really no difference, I think, you just either have an RV or you put up your tent. Some people have both.

The shuttle that picks up here goes all over the island including the rinky-dink airport here in town and drops you off at the village center of Bar Harbor, a really awesome little town. From there, you catch other shuttles that take different routes throughout Acadia. Here are some pictures of the center of Bar Harbor.

To Acadia

320 miles today. It seems like a long way considering how much we've driven the past week and a half. Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, Canada, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Seems like a long way to me when you look at all the places we've been already.

It's very beautiful country side along the way. Here is a shot from a scenic overlook and I think that river is the border between Vermont and New Hampshire. We're still in Vermont at this point.

Quechee Gorge

This may be the best camping spot I've ever been in. It is gorgeous, quiet, pretty isolated from neighbors, and just serene.

On to Vermont

We tried for another early start and did OK I suppose, but it was a pretty late night last night. I forgot to take any pictures of our campsite near Niagara Falls, but there was a big lake about 20 feet behind HQ that had big bouncy things in the water that the kids desperately wanted to play on. Since we wanted to get an early start and you had to pay $15 if you checked out after 11:00, we told them they could swim in the morning. However, along our route to Acadia, there is an awesome swimming hole that Stacey found a few months ago (swimming hole pic), so we let them decide where they would rather swim: here at the lake or at the awesome, amazing swimming hole, which I was voting for. They decided on the swimming hole.

Niagara Falls

Today is our first attempt to drive somewhere and really see it in one day. Since Mommy and Jacob are with us, we want to squeeze as much in as we can. Niagara Falls is about 335 miles from Van Buren State Park, so we started pretty early again. Within minutes, we are in Michigan!

Toledo Zoo

Today was just the zoo all day. I took too many pictures, but you don't have to look at them all.

Going to see Mommy and Jacob!

We're in Kentucky!

Nashville

Turns out, Nashville's a really awesome city. We aren't hard core county music fans and the museums and similar things are really expensive, so we looked elsewhere for our entertainment.

Stacey has a friend/fellow teacher who used to live in Nashville who gave us some awesome suggestions (thanks Emily!) starting with The Pancake Pantry (www.thepancakepantry.com). As we drove by, this is what we saw, although in this picture, we are actually already in line and you can see the kids at the very back.

Headed to Nashville

We have 415 miles to drive today, so we got an early start. I forgot to mention before that the kids have been doing their school work in the truck and that has gone really well. On our first attempt, we put all the stuff in the truck at once, but it was too much. So, now we just grab one subject at a time and switch when we stop to get gas or eat lunch.

I also haven't really mentioned the plan here, but we are just trying to get up to Acadia National Park, in Maine. The stops in the meantime are just to break the trip up and see some things along the way, but most of the "trip" was to start in Acadia and stop at places along the way home. I thought that traveling everyday would be too much and the kids would mutiny, so we've been trying to find cool places to stop and then we spend one full day in each. Jellystone and Hot Springs were cool, but Nashville was really just a logical point to stop along the way. We got in about 8:00, so we just ate dinner and hung out before bed.

Hot Springs

We started this morning with pancakes, so we didn't start our hike until about 10:00, which, in hindsight, was a mistake. It got pretty hot and we were all sweating by the end. There was a nice trail from our campground directly into town just behind all the bathhouses. I think it was 0.5 miles, but I can't remember for sure. It was mostly uphill there and downhill coming back, so there was a lot of complaining, especially from Adria who apparently "hates" hiking.

Going to Hot Springs

We slept in a little before I packed up everything to hit the road. We're pretty excited to hit new states and hope to take pictures of state signs where we can.

Jellystone Park at Whispering Pines

Today started with school work which the kids were OK with. They've gotten ahead of schedule the past few weeks anticipating taking some days off, but this place doesn't qualify for a freebie day. After an hour or so in the morning, we met Yogi at the flag pole alone because it seems we ARE actually the only people in the park!

Departure Day

Many of you know our story about our plans for traveling this year. As expected in life, I suppose, things change and we are no longer traveling the U.S. for this entire year. Instead, I will be taking shorter trips with Brady, Haley, and Adria. Stacey and Jacob will join us when they can and, hopefully, we can all take a long trip to Alaska next summer.