Travels With Elsie

April 2-Back to the start

2007-04-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

We started from the farm on September 2, 2006, and here we are home again on April 2, 2007. Exactly seven months. It was the perfect second honeymoon and I completely recommend taking one. We loved the motorhome, the people we met, and the adventures we had. Now Gene is back to work, I'm trying to get our home unpacked, and Elsie is in heaven chasing geese at the farm. Quite a culture shock. We will probably just live in the motorhome for awhile until I get the house ready for us. I'm sure we'll be spending every free moment driving up and down I-5 to watch Caroline grow until we get to meet little Toy sometime in May. We will certainly drive Caroline and Marc crazy, but we are totally excited about our next adventure as Gramma and Grampa. Everyone keeps asking us what was our favorite spot...and that's a tough question to answer, but here are my votes:
Best beach: Topsail Hill State Park, Florida
Best town: Charleston, South Carolina
Best food: Dinner at Uncle Phil and Virginia's house
Worst food: Thelma's in Atlanta, Georgia
Best history: Little Bighorn, Montana & Gettysburg, Pennsylvania & Concord, Massachusetts
Best news from home: Caroline and Marc told us that they were "with child" on September 11 (only 9 days into the trip!) while we were in Williamsburg, Iowa.
Funniest drives: Smugglers Notch, V.T. & Manahattan, on a dark, rainy night.

April 1-Three Tree

2007-04-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Finally, our own beach...and it really is the best in the world. The best people too! Mom made us a wonderful welcome home dinner of salmon and asparagus (our absolute favorite), and Laura and Hank joined us. Its sad to be at the end of our adventure, but wonderful to have hugged the immediate family again.

March 31-Pacific Beach, WA

2007-04-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

Driving up I-5 was too much for Gene. I don't think either of us is ready for the trip to be over. So...we suddenly decided to head to our favorite ocean beach for one last night of fun. As always, Pacific Beach was beautiful. We love the long walks on the beach. Elsie runs around like she's never had such freedom. The digging is perfect and she leaves holes everywhere. I played with the new camera and the sunset was a wonderful test subject!

March 30-Goodbye Springfield

2007-04-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fabulous week with Caroline and Marc. Lots of yummy meals. Lots of tummy touching. We walked the dogs several times at Darby Ranch. Lots of mud! Lots of puppy washing!

March 26-Mt. Toy, Oregon

2007-03-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

Did you think we were lost? Sorry. We had an absolutely gorgeous drive across Oregon, from the far south-east corner to Bend. Beautiful sunny weather, billowy clouds in the sky, the Sisters and Mount Bachelor bright, clear, and snowcovered...getting bigger and bigger by the hour. We stopped to take pictures and the camera decided the trip was over. No lights came on and no matter how many buttons we pushed the poor thing just sat like a brick. I believe we actually wore it out! So, no beautiful skylines to share, but we have been shopping already, trying to find a replacement so never-fear! We got to Bend excited to rent ski equipment and hit the slopes (so that we wouldn't be skunked this year), but it turns out that its spring vacation in Oregon and the slopes are packed. I despise skiing in crowds so we just kept heading west. Made it to Mt. Toy (AKA Eugene) before Caroline even got home from her trip to Dallas. Mt. Toy is impressive, thats for sure. We couldn't wait to see all the family and get to hug Lentil...not to mention Caroline and Marc. We just came back from a party at Ken and Laura's with EVERYONE! Using a camera from Costco that I wanted to try out I was able to take some goofy pictures. Aren't the kids cute????? You can see why we had to keep driving west. They are all just as wonderful as ever and we have really missed them (K,L,K,E,C,&K too of course). Nice and rainy here so it feels just like home! The camera flunks so I'll try another before I settle on one.

March 22-"Magnificent Desolation"-Death Valley, CA

2007-03-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11, described the lunar surface as "magnificent desolation"...well, maybe they did film the moon walks at Death Valley! I thought this place would be flat, dry, hot, and dusty. Not so! Well, it is dry--they get less than 2 inches of rainfall a year. We had a lovely day, with a nice breeze so the temperature was only in the 80's (compared to Big Bend it was chilly). When you come into the park you drop from about 4,000 feet from the mountains that surround it to the desert floor. Most of the valley is below sea level, and at one spot its acutally 282 feet below. Its the lowest point in the western hemisphere. The colors of the valley, mountains, and sky are amazing...guess thats what they call "earth tones". All different browns, oranges, grays, even red and tourquoise. I thought of you Hank--you would need quite an artists palate to paint this place! We should have spent more time here because we didn't see the huge sand dunes that are to the north...but the urge to head west is still propelling us towards family and friends.

March 19 and 20- Lake Havasu and Bob!

2007-03-21T10:03:00.000-07:00

This lake is paradise in the middle of the desert. Bob certainly knows how to pick his homesites! He has a comfy condo here and the powers that be allowed us to park our RV practically outside his front door. Another free spot, yeah! We can even see the lake from our window. We toured Havasu City in Bob's '65 GTO and then spent the afternoon on the lake in his boat. Really heavenly! The clouds even rolled in just enough to cool the place off a bit...just for us! I could easily spend my days floating around the lake, reading silly novels. Elsie thought it was wonderful too as she has been irritated by the desert. She swam several times and enjoyed her normal barking and chasing sticks routine. Bob has been feeding us like the King and Queen too. Gene hasn't had a steak since Washington DC, so he attacked it with a vengance. We are just lounging around this morning and will take down the satelitte dish and head north before too long. Bob is about to start packing and moving the cars up to Osooyoos before too long. This is a WONDERFUL place to visit...thanks Bob!

March 17- Carlsbad Caverns, NM

2007-03-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

We’ve been underground all day! Walked about four miles inside the caverns…down to 850 feet below ground. We even ate lunch underground as they have a lunchroom where you can buy sandwiches and pop at 550 feet. We packed our own but it was pretty strange to sit at picnic tables in the dark and eat your bagel! It’s even darker when they turn out the lights (which they do on some of the tours). I took lots of photos, but it’s really hard to get good ones without a tripod. Hopefully mind won’t look blurry when they get to the blog. I’ve already deleted lots of them. We left the rig at Guadalupe National Park and drove the jeep up to Carlsbad (about 35 miles) so we will be heading out in the morning. The plan is to try to get to Cousin Bob’s before too long. At the moment Gene is watching the Cougars play against Vanderbilt in the NCAA tournament. Lots of screaming!

March 16-Guadalupe National Park, TX

2007-03-16T20:12:00.000-07:00

We had a little trouble with the rig overheating on our drive to Carlsbad Caverns so we lost a day on the road. Had to stop and pressure wash the radiator to get things to cool down. Too much dust in Texas I guess. We got fabulous views of El Capitan on the way into the park. We are now surrounded by the Guadalupe Mountains at a small campground inside the National Park. The mountains themselves were formed as an ancient marine fossil reef 260-270 million years ago. At that time a huge tropical ocean covered portions of Texas and New Mexico (that’s what formed CCaverns as well). Eventually the sea evaporated and the reef was buried in sediments and mineral salts, until it was uplifted forming the mountains. They are incredibly beautiful and go straight up three thousand feet, on three sides of our campground. Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8749 feet, is right in front of us. The campground itself is already at 5,700 feet so it’s nice and cool up here. Whew. If you hike the area I gather you can find fossilized evidence of the sea. I’ve been sitting here looking at the most incredible view writing a paper about cognitive development in young children instead of exploring…good thing I like my coursework! Carlsbad Caverns are only 35 miles away so we will drive up there tomorrow and leave the rig here (don’t want to push our luck with any more overheating).

We just returned from a short hike and the nature talk at the visitor center. Great talk with beautiful slides of the area at all different seasons. He explained all the plants and animals in the area. Very well done talk. Nice and dark when the talk was over so the walk back to the campground was amazing. The sky is REALLY dark in Texas so the stars really shine. The only constellations I remember are the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia…Dad would be ashamed of me! He would have loved this night sky though. A telescope would be wonderful up here.

March 13 and 14-Big Bend National Park, TX

2007-03-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

We tried to explore Big Bend in 2 days and we are pooped! It is an enormous park, just over 800,000 acres. It is in the southern tip of Texas bordered by the Rio Grande River. Across the river is Mexico. The Rio Grande isn’t too grand anymore as it is dammed a number of times (by both the US and Mexico) between it’s headwaters in Colorado and here. There are plenty of places where you could wade across without any trouble…but the border guards frown on it. Not too sparkly and clear either, it looks like chocolate milk it’s so full of silt. It’s beautiful territory though. Several gorgeous mountain ranges stick up from the Chihuahuan desert. Too hot for us as it was 95 today and can get up to 120-150 in the summer. We drove a lot and hiked as much as we could stand. Elsie hates it as she doesn’t like heat either. We had to leave her in the motorhome with the air conditioner on most of the time….poor puppy! Had a beautiful hike this afternoon up the Santa Elena Canyon. It’s a narrow canyon with sheer, steep, rock walls. People like to raft and kayak down it. We hiked along the US side (on our right in the pictures) and the other side of the canyon is Mexico. We are getting ready to move on in the morning...doing laundry and cooking a turkey! Nice to be plugged in so we have to take advantage of it!

March 12- Jo Momma's RV Park

2007-03-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

Tonight we are camped just outside Big Bend National Park in Texas at Jo Momma’s RV Park. It’s desert country with beautiful blue sky dotted with small puffy white clouds. We look right out at the Chisos Mountains that are inside the Park. The nearest town is called Terlinguas. It’s a bit warm outside but we’ve got just enough of a breeze through the rig to be comfortable. I gather it will get quite cold during the night and hot all day…I guess that’s what desert means! Prickly pear cactus, ocotillo, and what I think are creosote bush all around. We drove 5 hours to get here so I don’t think we’ll go into the park until tomorrow. I’m eager to hike a bit so I hope tennis shoes are OK in the desert…wish I had some boots! I hear that now Texas has been having tornados…well, they aren’t anywhere near us. No telephone connection here but Gene has the satellite dish up and the TV on. The neighbors tell us that at 5:00 everyone is going down to the local burger joint for 2 for 1 hamburgers (a regular Monday night event). Gene is a happy man.

March 10 - LBJ Ranch

2007-03-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

We rode bikes around President Johnson's ranch today. Gene discovered online that the National Park Service was going to host the first ever "friends of the ranch" bike ride. It only cost $10 so we signed up for the afternoon ride. Luci Baines Johnson (I don't recall her married name), LBJ's younger daughter led the ride and told great stories about her father, her family, and the ranch. LBJ gave 700 acres of the ranch to the park service before he died. It's a lovely spot, at least it was today. It was sunny and 75 degrees, and we had a nice breeze so riding was just about perfect. We rode by the house where the Pres was born as well as the larger house where LBJ's grandparents lived, that later became the Texas White House. Nothing fancy...very "down home." Obviously a wealthy family, but the house wasn't that big a deal. Huge pecan trees lined all the roads on the ranch. The family cemetery where LBJ is buried is shaded by enormous oak trees. We spoke a bit with Luci, and a bit more with her husband as we were riding along. About 1/2 way through the ride Luci got word that her mother was coming up to meet the group. Lady Bird is 94 years old and Luci had said that she was blind and couldn't speak but was generally in good health. Well, up drives a nice white car with two men in the front seat (a driver and secret service?) and Lady Bird and her nurse in the back! She stopped and shook hands with several people (the ride organizer, a state senator that was on the ride, and several others). She was smiling and waving and seemed to love the attention of our group of 75 riders. How Gene gets us involved in these things I'll never know! I kept thinking someone was going to start hitting us up for a big contribution, but it never came. No photos as my camera seems to have given out. It won't shut off unless you take the battery out. Really a nuisance since you have to take it out after every photo or the battery dies. We can still take pictures, it just takes more effort. We'll get it fixed ASAP!

March 9- Remember the Alamo

2007-03-09T19:10:00.000-08:00

We drove in to San Antonio today and wandered the Alamo for a bit. While I've heard the quote, "Remember the Alamo" forever, I really had no idea what it was all about. Evidently Texans all know as there were zillions of school kids visiting. The Alamo was origionally a home to missionaries and their Indian converts from 1724 to 1793. In 1835 though it played a critical role in the Texas Revolution. The battle between the Republic of Mexico and the rebel Texian forces (Anglos and ethnic Mexicans in Texas) took place during the Texian fight for independence. There was a 13 day siege that ended with the capture of the mission and the death of nearly all the Texian defenders. In spite of the loss, the holdout stalled the Mexican Army's progress. The Texian revolutionaries went on to win the war. Our next stop was the Riverwalk, which is right next door. Its an amazing feat of civil engineering. Evidently San Antonio used to flood but the riverwalk is just part of the project that protects the city now. There are lots of restaurants all along both sides as well as cute bridges and benches for relaxing. I felt like getting some exercise so I went speedwalking up and down several times. We drove on up to Fredericksburg afterwards so we'll be ready to explore President Johnson's ranch tomorrow.

March 8-West to TEXAS!

2007-03-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

We drove 500 miles today--due west. I'm posting these pictures to prove it. Sorry about the bugs on the windshield, but the sky was impressive. The computer screen is our GPS readout--the 271 degrees proves we are headed west--270 would be due west. Notice too that Elsie has to sit on the driver's side of the dashboard in order to be in the sunshine...not too safe, but cute! We drove right through Mississippi, Louisiana, and a little bit of Alabama again...didn't stop at all. Made it to San Antonio, Texas!

March 5-Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, FL

2007-03-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

We're down in the Florida panhandle and have driven along the coast. Evidently spring vacation is just beginning so it isn't as busy as we thought it might be. We managed to get lucky and find an empty campsite at this park. It's absolutely beautiful. FL state parks are all fancy so we have power, water, and sewer at our site. After dry camping at Walmarts this is heaven. We both took LONG showers and we've done several loads of laundry. We walked up and down the beach yesterday afternoon and watched the sunset. The sand is a lovely white and there aren't very many people. More walking today, then we'll move on tomorrow.

March 3-Plain and Americus, GA

2007-03-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

We stopped in Plains to see the Carter Historical sites---his boyhood home and the farm, his high school, his present home, and his headquarters in the train depot when he was running for President. We just quickly explored because Gene had called the Red Cross to see if there was anything we could do in Americus. Two people were killed in Americus yesterday when one of the tornados hit the town and its only hospital. We were told to leave the RV in Plains and drive to Americus to meet the Red Cross. Evidently they did need help moving beds and equipment out of the hospital that was destroyed to set up a temporary hospital in one of the larger churches. We found the Red Cross headquarters easily but things were pretty under control when we arrived. They had been really busy all day yesterday clearing the streets and making sure everyone was safe and had a place to stay. Nothing was happening at the moment because President Bush was due in town this afternoon. There were lots of people wandering taking pictures. We wandered too, but I couldn't take pictures...it just didn't feel right. It looks just like it does on TV. The hospital was destroyed, windows all blown out, curtains blowing in the wind, insulation everywhere. The tornado cut a 200 yard wide path right through town. Odd to see complete destruction on one side of the street and minor damage on the other side. A tornado can really twist steel and reduce a house to nothing. We didn't see the President, although we weren't really looking for him. He evidently did a lot of hand-shaking and was very friendly with the people who were hanging around. Not much "presidential" security that I could see (police, sheriff's deputies and state patrol everywhere!), he just walked up and down the street and went into the Red Cross office we'd been in about 1/2 hour earlier. We've had lots of chances to see politicians lately but haven't waited around for any of them! Obama and both Clintons were in Selma, Carter was teaching Sunday school in Plains, Bush was in Americus...and the Howes left them all behind and drove to the beach! We're now in the Florida panhandle picking up some mail. We didn't discover that it was spring vacation around here until we arrived. UGH. May not get to enjoy the beaches as we had hoped.

March 2-Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, AL

2007-03-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today dawned clear and beautiful with no signs of the nasty rain, thunder and lightning that we experienced yesterday. The local news of more tornado damage and death is horrible. Where we sit you would never know that anything happened at all. According to the news FEMA won’t be able to respond for another day but that local and statewide help has been pouring in. A real neighbor-helping-neighbor situation.
Since it was safe to travel again we went east (sorry) into Montgomery. We crossed the Pettus Bridge where the marchers were first confronted in the Voting Rights march and drove the road they walked, 51 miles into Montgomery to the steps of the capital. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s church is RIGHT in front of the capital. The present capital building was also the first White House of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The Parks museum was fascinating. Unlike the Voting Rights museum that was very small and run on a shoe-string budget, the Parks museum is high-tech multimedia, run by Troy State University. The museum itself is built on the exact corner where Parks was arrested. The presentation makes the bus ride itself practically come alive. There is a real bus with windows that must be TV screens, showing the movement, actions, and voices of the drivers and passengers. They made it look just like you were watching from outside the bus as the police were called, then came and took Mrs. Parks to jail. Her arrest was just the beginning of the story that they museum tells. It goes through the filing of the lawsuit. The lawsuit doesn’t ask for desegregation of the busses. It only asked for basic respect from the drivers. The first 5 rows of seats were still to be reserved for whites. You would have thought that since they weren’t asking for much the whole thing would have blown over easily. Well, it didn’t. It took 13 months of boycotting the bus system, organizing a complex system of cars and taxis to help blacks travel the city, and with King’s leadership a non-violent protest, to make the changes. During the boycott, the city was affected financially. Businesses suffered and the bus company was loosing lots of money. The finger pointing became heated, but the Blacks remained non-violent. Whites were even using scare tactics claiming that the NAACP was associated with the Communist Party. Even after the boycott of the busses, that were finally desegregated by the Supreme Court, the bus stops were STILL segregated as was just about everything else.
Interesting aside: We are driving to Plains, Georgia as I am writing this, and a mobile claims truck from Travelor’s Insurance just passed us on the interstate. Nice to know that the insurance companies are on the job…it’s Saturday after all!
We seem to be making even more friends in Alabama than we have elsewhere in the country. This is a friendly and open state. We haven’t actually asked our questions of anyone white, but we keep striking up long involved conversations with blacks. We talked a long time with a special education teacher (married to a principal) in Walmart, about civil rights, education, and religion (he is upset about reports that archaeologists have claimed that they’ve found the tomb of Jesus). Also got invited to dinner by the young woman that we chatted with at Fed Ex while mailing Marc’s birthday package (late of course). Had to decline as we were trying to get on the road before dark. The two women at the Voting Rights museum were friendly and long suffering as we asked ill-informed after naive question about history and the current state of affairs. We have two new friends from the Rosa Parks museum too—a couple traveling from Dallas, she is pregnant and due 2 days before Caroline! I almost got brave enough to ask her to let me rub her tummy, but not quite. We had already talked about her mother’s experiences with segregation as well as her own memory of moving to a mostly white neighborhood and the neighbor children being told not to play with her because she was from an “uppity n*** family”! She was about Laura’s age…its hard to comprehend.

March 1 Update-No More TORNADOS

2007-03-04T18:55:00.000-08:00

OK, now we’ve learned more than we ever wanted to know about tornados. They landed close by all afternoon and evening. We were parked outside Walmart waiting for everything to “blow by” so to speak. They have an informative system in Alabama. We were watching the National Weather Channel, and the local channel. Local was the best. The meteorologist was on the air constantly—they pre-empt all programming so that people can watch the progress of the weather. It was amazing to see how accurately they can track the travel of the nastiest weather. Unfortunately for the many people killed and injured as the tornados landed, it isn’t perfect. Everyone knew where the worst wind was headed and where the air was beginning to rotate…so they were warned to be in their shelters. We were advised to just keep watching the news and listening for the warning sirens. If it had gotten any closer we were supposed to go inside Walmart. The students that were killed when their high school was hit were all sitting in the hallways, locked down. It should have been a safe place but the tornado was stronger than the roof of the gymnasium and band rooms and students were trapped there. After the tornados (I think there were 13 different ones) passed over our area they landed again in Georgia and killed more people there, even doing a lot of damage to the local hospital. The pictures on the news are amazing but we are avoiding the damaged areas.

March 1-Selma, AL and “Bloody Sunday”

2007-03-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

It is POURING rain…thunder and lightning…tornado warnings RIGHT HERE. Evidently hot, humid air fires up tornados. A bit spooky but we’ll update the blog while we wait for clearer weather so we can drive on to Montgomery. The weather channel says the storm will keep up all afternoon. It’s much too wet to drive the motorhome.
We just got back from a VERY interesting morning at the Selma National Voting Rights Museum. There was a busload of kids looking around and listening to speakers. Again, we looked pretty pale. Gene stepped right in and listened to the speakers. I wandered around and looked at all the exhibits. There are some amazing things on display—some very unsettling. They have a real KKK white uniform (really creepy), and a uniform that a policeman wore as they confronted the marchers with baseball bats and night sticks. I had a long chat with a woman who was working at the museum about the fact that there are still many more instances of outright racism than I was aware of. She is in the process of trying to buy a piece of property from a “gentleman” who will not sell to a black. She has to have a white friend help her with the transaction. I had NO idea that this sort of thing still happens. How naive! The women that we talked to were great. We confessed ignorance and curiosity and they were happy to talk and explain. One of the women was 8 years old in 1965 when her Grandmother took her to the voting rights march that turned ugly. She was telling the children about hearing the people screaming, bones breaking from being hit, and the reasons why they called it Bloody Sunday. Obviously, Gene and I knew about these things happening, but it was surreal to meet someone my own age (pretty close) that actually lived it. She also spoke about being outside Carter’s Drugs (in Selma) and peering in the window, watching the white kids twirling on shiny stools at the soda counter eating ice cream. She couldn’t go inside of course. It’s still hard for me to believe that things aren’t better yet.
I didn’t realize that blacks had the right to vote after the Civil War but it was not protected by the constitution. The 15th amendment which forbids any government in the US from preventing a citizen from voting based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude (slavery) was ratified in 1870. One hundred years after the Civil War however, in many parts of the country the 15th amendment had been nullified by discriminatory laws, intimidation, violence, and fear which kept many blacks from the polls. The situation was particularly bad in Selma, where blacks made up more than half the population but only made up about 2% of the registered voters.
In January of 1963, Selma citizens organized a voter registration class for blacks and by February others were in Selma to assist with registration. During 1963 and 1964, although they brought potential voters by the hundreds to the registrar's office in the courthouse in Selma, they were unable to get them registered to vote. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Selma in January of 1965 to lead the drive for the vote. In January and February 1965, protests were held in Selma to bring attention to this violation of rights. The protests were met by violence by Sheriff James Clark and his deputies. On February 17, a small civil rights march ended in the shooting of Jimmy Lee Jackson who died from his wounds several days later. The civil rights activists decided to hold a memorial march from Selma to the state capitol in Montgomery on March. 7.
This is from Wikipedia: “Approximately 600 marchers started out on the march that Sunday morning. When the marchers crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the outskirts of Selma, they were met by about 200 state troopers, and Sheriff Clark and his deputies mounted on horseback, all armed with tear gas, night sticks and bull whips. The marchers were ordered to turn back. When they did not, they were attacked by the law enforcement officers. The air filled with tear gas and marchers were beaten, whipped and trampled by the horses. Finally, they turned around and returned to Selma. 17 marchers were hospitalized.
Dr. King and his supporters filed a federal lawsuit requesting to be permitted to proceed with the march. On March 21, the march began again, with federal troops protecting the marchers, and proceeded to Montgomery. In Montgomery, a rally was held on the steps of the state capitol. However, within hours of the end of the march, 4 Ku Klux Klan members shot and killed Viola Liuzzo, a white 39-year-old civil rights volunteer from Detroit, Michigan, who had come to support the Alabama African-Americans. President Lyndon Johnson said, "Mrs. Liuzzo went to Alabama to serve the struggle for justice. She was murdered by the enemies of justice who for decades have used the rope and the gun and the tar and the feather to terrorize their neighbors." In August, 1965, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act.
According to a report of the Bureau of the Census from 1982, in 1960 there were 22,000 African-Americans registered to vote in Mississippi, but in 1966 the number had risen to 175,000. Alabama went from 66,000 African-American registered voters in 1960 to 250,000 in 1966. South Carolina's African-American registered voters went from 58,000 to 191,000 in the same time period.” I have no idea how many blacks are registered now…but there certainly was an amazing increase.

Feb 27 Chickamauga and Chattanooga, TN

2007-03-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

I hated to leave Stone Mountain Campground. It was a beautiful spot with a lovely lake and sunshine everyday. I walked around the rock before we left…logging 6.6 miles. I’m trying to get ready for the Eugene ½ marathon, but our usual camping spots at Walmart don’t lend themselves to safe and interesting walking!

We’ve seen a lot of battlefields lately. We drove north to Chattanooga, Tennessee to see the first national military park dedicated in the US. Lookout Mountain Battlefield Park was interesting. The confederates were getting pushed south but wanted to defend Chattanooga so they built trenches and put their cannons up on Lookout Mt. I don’t know why the Union bothered to try and take the hill, but they did. The cannons on the mountain are still aimed right at Chattanooga and the surrounding area so the Confederates could defend the hill. Chattanooga was only a small town at the time…about 2,500 people. It wouldn’t have been important except that the railroads converged there and were critical to resupplying the south. There are amazing houses up there now, sitting right on the edge of the sharp cliffs. There is also a tourist trap spot where they claim you can see 7 states…but we were too cheap to pay up. We’ll just pretend that we stood on the spot! Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Battlefield Park is a bit west of the mountain. Lots of cannons and state monuments memorializing the soldiers killed there. We crossed into Central Time Zone on our way.

At the moment we are at Huntsville, Alabama trying to pick up our mail. Gene has gone to the Post Office for the second time. It wasn’t there last night, but hopefully we’ll be successful today so that we can move on. The “plan” (you know how bad we are at following our own plans) is to head south and explore Alabama…down to Pensacola, Florida. We want to drive along the coast for awhile. We’ll see!

Gene returned victorious...got the mail! Unfortunately, that meant that we had to answer the mail...and did you realize that the bill collectors can find you no matter where you hide? We pay most online, but they still send BILLS! Luckily no diesel bill in the pile...don't want to see that till we get home. After the bills were paid we drove on down to Selma, AL. We want to see the Civil Rights museums and the route of the Voters Rights march from Selma to Montomery. More about that after we see it. We are carefully watching the weather reports as it looks nasty all around. Thunder storms and heavy rain are forcast for Selma. Tornado's all around our area, but not right here thankfully. CK just flew home from Omaha and now they are getting "thunder-snow" at a rate of 2 inches per hour. Not THAT bad here...thankfully CK is home counting Holt's money and hugging Marc. Off to Selma. Thanks for all the messages on the blog...sorry Gene scolded you again. We do love notes, phone calls, emails, ANYTHING! Mom is seeing the hip doctor today for the first time since surgery...she'll be climbing Mt. Rainier soon I'm sure!

Feb 25- Westward Ho!!!

2007-02-25T08:49:00.000-08:00

Oh, no! Our friend Jeff sent us a photo to encourage our westward movement...we're TRYING!!!

Feb 24-The Carter Center, Atlanta,GA

2007-02-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

Made it back to the Carter Center today. Good thing we didn’t pay to go in yesterday because it did take us a long time to read everything and they would have had to kick us out yesterday. The exhibits are well done, but it’s quite different to read about a President that you actually voted for (at least I did). They have a film called The American Presidency that shows the growth of the powers of the president. Today, the office of President is much more powerful than it was when the real George W. was elected. One room is a reproduction of the Oval office just as it was when he was in office…he used the same desk that Kennedy used. I can’t think of much to tell you about Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter that you wouldn’t already know. He was born in 1924 (same year as Gramma). The best known events during his presidency were signing the Panama Canal treaties (giving operational control of the canal to Panama), getting Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to sign a peace treaty in 1979, signing SALT II treaty with the Soviet Union to limit nuclear proliferation, and establishing formal diplomatic relations with China. Oh, and freeing the American hostages in Iran in 1979…right after he left office (he lost to Reagan). It seems like Carter is more popular now than when he was in office. All his humanitarian work and Habitat for Humanity has been amazing. The State of Georgia is VERY proud.

Lunch was an event today, too. Atlanta has a drive-in called The Varsity. They claim it’s the biggest drive in restaurant in the world so we had to try it. It takes up 2 acres, so we had in mind that there would be rows and rows of places to get served in your car…like the Burgermaster in Bellevue. Nope. They did have spaces for about 20 cars, but most people went inside. It is enormous inside however, quite the busy place! I took the picture at about 2:30 so it doesn’t look all that busy, but it was earlier. They sell “more than two miles of hotdogs, 2,000 pounds (one ton) of onion rings, 2,500 pounds of fresh cut potatoes, and 5,000 homemade fried pies, daily”. They are the largest single restaurant outlet for Coca-Cola…only Gene would ask for a Pepsi. Hank—you would have loved it! I had a fried peach pie, which I have to say was delicious. Not quite like Thelma’s, but it was an experience.

The photos...flowers from the garden outside the Carter Center, it was 65 today by the way and Carter's Nobel Peace Prize medal.

2-23-07 Adventures in Atlanta and hiking up Stone Mountain

2007-02-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

We were busy today. We started out at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia. King was born in 1929 in a home on Auburn Avenue. The home and the neighborhood around it are now owned by the Park Service. We toured the home, Ebenezer Baptist Church (where he and his brother were co-pastors, his father and grandfather were pastors), Fire Station No. 6 (a museum that tells about the desegregation of Atlanta’s Fire Department), and Dr. and Mrs. Kings’ Tomb at the Coretta Scott King Center. Ex-slaves started this community after the Civil War and blacks prospered there. King’s grandfather purchased the family home in 1909. By 1929 when King Jr. was born the community had banks, insurance companies, real estate agencies, medical and law offices, a library, and a business college…all black owned or black operated. This tight community with blacks of wealth living together with black workers was a huge influence on King. The area was a symbol of prosperity for African Americans. Outside the community of course everything would have been segregated. The area isn’t so prosperous today. Except for what the park service owns it’s a bit run down.

We met a lovely woman at the church named Shirley. She was raised just down the street from the Kings and now works as the historian at Ebenezer Baptist Church. She had great stories. We were starving after chatting with her so we asked for a recommendation for a restaurant and she sent us to “Thelmas”—she says “four blocks down, real Southern cooking”. Perfect. We go walking down…feeling a bit pale for the neighborhood. We REALLY looked like tourists. You have to be adventurous to try eating at Thelmas… it’s a little, run-down shack, practically under I-75. Lots of men asking us for spare change. We stuck out of the crowd for sure. Gene had ribs, sweet potatoes, cornbread, and black-eyed peas. I had fried chicken (the specialty), sweet potatoes, and collard greens. We really enjoyed it, and I think the other diners got a kick out of us! We still aren’t hungry for dinner and it’s nearly 9:00…must have been a LOT of fat in that meal!

Our next stop was “the World of Coke”…Coca Cola was invented and is still manufactured in Atlanta. We thought the “fountain that shoots Coke to your glass from 20 feet away” sounded interesting so we gave it a try. It costs $9 each to get it! We couldn’t stand to pay to see their advertising so we walked right back out.

On to the Carter Library. The gardens and flowers were gorgeous but we didn’t have enough time to see all the exhibits so we saved it for tomorrow.

We are camped at Stone Mountain Campground, about 15 miles from downtown. We had left Elsie and the motorhome there. The campground is at the foot of the strangest mountain…it’s the largest, exposed, solid granite rock in the world. It’s just sitting there like a big potato. They’ve carved a drawing of President Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson into the side of it. The rock itself is five miles around, and has a 1 ½ mile hike up to the top. We parked the car and hiked up to the top as fast as we could to see the sunset. Got a bit dark on the way back down, but the sunset was worth it!

2-22-07 Ocmulgee National Monument

2007-02-23T18:08:00.000-08:00

Now this place is WAY out of my comfort zone as far as history goes. We mainly stopped because I wanted to have a good long walk before we drove on to Atlanta. Ocmulgee has an archeological exhibit that shows that people have lived in the area for 10,000 years, from Ice Age hunters to Creek Indians. "Between 900 and 1100BCE (before current era) a skilled farming people lived there". Interesting huge funeral mounds, prehistoric trenches, an earthlodge, and lots of ancient pots, tools, and beads. Even a fluted Clovis point, which is the evidence of the earliest people as it would have armed the spear of an Ice Age hunter 10,000 years ago. Oh, my. I had a good walk!

Confederate Flags

2007-02-23T18:05:00.000-08:00

We've been trying to figure out all the different flags that represented the Confederate States. Gene did some research and here you go! The pictures are from the Jefferson Davis Memorial. Gene speaks:

At the time of the Civil War (normally called the War Between the States in the South), the carrying of a flag into battle was very important. They were fighting for that flag, it would be carried into battle with pride, and was to be saved from peril at all costs. There were many occasions when the flag was picked up from a fallen bearer to continue into battle.

As the Southern States seceded and formed the Confederate States of America, it was paramount that they had their own flag to rally around and to fight for. Flag designs were chosen, made and used but problems seem to crop up with each one. In fact, Confederate government had to change flag designs several times due to these problems.

The first official flag of the Confederacy was call the “Stars and Bars” and was used from March 5, 1861 to May, 1863. The number of stars represented each of the Southern States that had seceded from the Union. However, it also caused too much confusion in the smoky, fields of battle because it looked so similar to the Unions “Stars and Stripes”.

The second official flag of the Confederacy corrected this problem by taking the well-known battle flag and placing it in the upper quarter of the new white flag. This flag was called the ‘Stainless Banner” and did correct the problem of the first flag, but, when a battlefields was windless this flag, when furled, would hide the quarter design and look more like a flag of truce or surrender!

This bad luck in flag design lasted almost the entire war. A third official flag was adopted on March 4, 1865, about a month before the fall of the Confederacy itself. A red vertical stripe was added to the end of the flag to counter the confusion with a flag of surrender, but wasn’t used very long!

If you’re like me, none of these flags are as recognizable as the fourth (but never official) flag of the Confederacy. The Navy Jack flag is the full sized “Southern Cross” ( it was a full-sized version of their battle flag). This flag was carried only by Confederate ships from 1863 to 1865. It was designed in hopes of becoming the first official flag but was rejected by the Confederate government. Today it is the most recognizable symbol of the South where it is called the “Rebel” or “Dixie” flag, in fact it has taken on the erroneous name of the “Stars and Bars” and was never considered an official flag of the Government. This flag is still visible throughout what we have seen of the South (lots at Daytona!), though I do notice that there are many flagpoles flying the Stars and Stripes above many homes during our State-crossing trips off of the Interstates.

Aside from Barb: Government offices are prohibited from flying the Southern Cross flag. At the Pres. Jefferson Davis Memorial Capture site however, there is a HUGE Southern Cross flying right outside the gate. Turns out that someone bought a small piece of property just so they could fly it. Evidently it is a bit embarrasing because when we mentioned it the Park Service Ranger was quick to explain that it didn't belong to the Park Service! Its on private property! He says that occasionally he'll see a TV crew pull up to film it and he has to run out and explain.

2-21-07 Jefferson Davis Memorial State Historic Site, GA

2007-02-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

Poor Gene. He stayed up late last night planning our route. We were rumbling down the highway on our way to Atlanta when I looked up from my book and saw a brown sign (state and national parks have brown signs). I read it aloud and said, “Aren’t we going there?”, and Gene’s plans go out the window. Fun stop though…it’s the spot where Jefferson Davis was captured. Jefferson Davis was President of the Confederacy (just in case history wasn’t your forte). The war ends at Appomattox, VA when Lee surrenders his army in April of 1865. Davis and a few of his remaining staff members crossed the Savannah River into Georgia on May 3, 1865. They were headed west where Davis planned to unite rebel forces and continue fighting for the “lost cause” as they called it. They camped at the site we visited, not knowing that pursuit was close behind. At dawn, Davis was surrounded by two independent groups of Union cavalry who were hunting for him, but also were not aware of the other group. Unfortunately, they started firing at each other (thinking, I suppose, that they had engaged Davis’ men). This “friendly fire” killed two Union cavalrymen. Davis was taken prisoner and held in a Virginia prison, without a trial, for two years. While he was in prison, his citizenship was stripped away for 111 years, until 1978 when President Jimmy Carter re-instated it.

Here’s an odd fact: Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln were both born in the same year, in Kentucky, and only 100 miles apart!

2-20-07 Way down upon the Suwannee River…GA

2007-02-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

We took a boat ride on the Okefenokee Swamp to the headwaters of the Suwannee River today. We stopped at the Stephen Foster State Park located on the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. Stephen Foster wrote Oh, Suzanna, My Old Kentucky Home, Old Folks at Home (Suwannee River), and several thousand other songs. He hadn’t even been to Georgia when he wrote the song…he was just trying to find the name of a southern river that would fit into it poetically. He and his brother found the Suwannee on the map. Now it’s the Florida state song. Aside from very orange/brown water, the swamp looked beautiful. Lily pads, warm clean air (no smell), cypress trees (no mangroves like in the Everglades), alligators, turkey vultures, ibis, and very few tourists. How do you like the photo of the Turkey-Vulture Love Birds? You haven’t seen or heard about Elsie lately so I’ll post a picture that proves we didn’t feed her to an alligator, at least not yet! It was a lovely stop on our first drive heading WEST! Now we are back to Wal-Marts again. We are just getting set up in Tifton, GA. Gene will be putting up the satellite dish and I’ll post this when he’s finished. It seems odd to be on the westward leg of our journey. As anxious as I am to get back home and see everyone, and to pat Caroline on the tummy, I’m sad to think that we are getting closer and closer to the end of our trip each day. Gene has a number of north, south, winding routes in mind…but our main direction is WEST!

Feb 18-The Great American Race!

2007-02-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

That was quite an experience! Two hundred laps of craziness. Luckily everyone involved survived...but there were a few crashes where I don't see how it was possible. Dale Earnhardt Jr was the only driver I'd heard of before so I was watching him most of the time and wouldn't you know he crashed right in front of us. Actually several crashes happened in the 4th turn--right where we were parked. It all happens so fast that its hard to tell whats going on, so everyone turns around and watches it on the huge screen that is right behind us. I don't think I'll become a big race fan, but it was tons of fun to do once. I'll post a few more pictures. If the cars are in focus in the photo it means that they were under a yellow caution flag...when they were racing my camera could only catch a blur!

Feb 18-Race day at Daytona

2007-02-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

Its almost time to climb up on the roof of the RV to watch the Daytona 500. Its sunny here but cool and really windy. You've all been asking for pictures so here are a few from yesterday. More to come.

Feb 16-Daytona International Speedway, FL

2007-02-17T07:23:00.000-08:00

Back to the blog! I flew home to check on Mom’s new hip and left Gene responsible for blogging Savannah and Charleston. Well, he flunks! As soon as I left he got antsy and decided that he wanted to see car racing at Daytona. He spent the whole week I was gone on eBay buying tickets to the Daytona 500. That’s were we are now…parked in the infield of the Daytona International Speedway! Mom’s new hip is just fine. She could get around on her own immediately (using a walker). A nasty bout of pneumonia was the only thing that slowed her down at all. The pneumonia left her with laryngitis, so I had a “quiet” week at home. She couldn’t talk at all—still can’t! More than a week of silence is torture for anyone from the Trenholme clan. I flew back to Gene and left her to fend for herself without a voice—bad daughter! Hopefully she can speak soon! Daytona is amazing. I woke up this morning to a symphony of generators. The entire infield is covered with motorhomes…everything from homemade jobs to an entire mile long row of shiny new Prevost multi-million dollar models. Gene and I have no idea what is going on. Last night there were truck races under the lights. We climbed on top of our rig all dressed in ski clothes. I snuggled into a sleeping bag too. We rented a computer thing from Nextel that shows you the TV camera of the race. You can switch to the cameras inside the cars too. Somehow you can change it to the radio and listen to the individual drivers talking to their pit crews. We listened to them for awhile but couldn’t figure out which driver was talking. For the trucks we just listened to the Nascar station calling the race, and that helped. All we know for sure is that the first one over the finish line wins, and they seem pretty determined to be first! They go about 185 mph and are 2 feet apart at the most—sometimes they are only inches apart. There were 40 or so trucks racing last night, so when they go by its pretty loud. We wear headphones. We are parked in the second row of motorhomes at the end of the 4th turn. We can see the entire 3rd and 4th turns on the track, then watch them on the computer till they come by again. It only takes 43-48 seconds for them to come around! There were lots of crashes last night, which I gather is normal for trucks. Nobody got hurt which is pretty amazing when you see what is left of the trucks after the crashes. As they get wrecked they get towed back to the pits right past us. The drivers are required to take an ambulance ride back to the hospital that’s in the middle of the infield, so they go right past us too. So far so good, because they all just hop out and walk back to the pits! They are about to start practicing for today and will be a 300 mile race in the lesser Busch Series at 2:00 PM. The real Daytona 500 (the Super Bowl of the sport they keep saying) is tomorrow. Hopefully we will have figured out a few cars and their drivers by then!

Feb 5-Savannah, GA

2007-02-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

Gene was supposed to write about Charleston and Savannah while I was in Seattle...he didn't, so I'm making him write them now that I'm back! I'm doing my homework. So, Gene speaks, and he's pretending to write it on time!:

Whereas Charleston got a whole day and a half of exploring time, Savannah, Georgia received probably the shortest visit to a city that we have mustered so far. We are not the earliest of risers. We are always the last to leave a parking area, usually around 10 AM. We could blame this on the effects of sleep, dog, breakfast, but it just easier to say that we are caressing the famous slowed-down and relaxed Southern way of life. I’d have to re-tool that excuse for the month of mornings in New England way back in October of last year!

It is now Monday and Barb flies out of Jacksonville, FL for her “early” 11 AM flight home to Seattle tomorrow. We are going to have to cover Savannah in just a couple of hours.

Hey! We had to drive the “whole length” of Georgia and find a spot to park the coach!! “Hey!, there’s a Wal-Mart, let’s park there!!” Extend the 3 slide-outs, level the coach, and --- we’re home again!!

We decided that the best way to learn something and to see as much as possible (but quickly!) was to buy a ticket on one of those orange trolleys that the real tourists take. It turned out to be what was needed: a quick, helpful, and informative tour of this beautiful city.

The one house that Barbara really wanted to see was Juliette Low’s house, the founder of the Girl Scouts of America. We were told that it was too far to walk to make it in time to complete the trolley run. After scurrying around to find the trolley station and get on, we then sat there long enough to get the house 4 minutes after its closing time! We sat down and ate an imaginary box of Girl Scout cookies (thin mints, of course), then hopped on the next trolley to finish the narrated tour. We were on the last trolley of the day so it was a shame that all the stores were closing as we traversed their famous riverfront shopping area.

A James Oglethorpe laid out the streets and public squares in 1733, and it remains today just as he drew it out. In this section of historic Savannah, there are a total of 24 historical public squares which are named after either an important person (from Franklin to Calhoun to Lafayette) or event in the history of the city. Monuments, statues, and an occasional gravesite or two can be found in most of these squares. The homes, churches, and buildings along these roads tell the tale of the Southern wealthy.

Oddly, during the trolley tour we received a call from Sister Caroline. She told us that Savannah was one of her very favorite cities to visit. We preferred Charleston, possibly because we did our usual walking tour, that it was right on a big beautiful harbor, and that the Disney staff seemed to go to work there every night. Maybe it’s because we didn’t eat in Savannah! We had to have some time to pack suitcases and enough time to drive the 2 hours back down to the Jacksonville airport.

I left the coach in the Savannah area (Home Depot parking lot) and explored the SW corner of Georgia on the way back, driving a bit north through the Okefenokee Swamp and on back to Savannah via some unknown pathway.

OK, we aren’t giving Savannah the coverage and props that it deserves, but we did see the historic area and were told about the city and a bit of its history. Savannah still has the beauty and charm, history and warmth that made General Sherman decide not to burn it down like everything else in the Union march to the sea. In a message to Abraham Lincoln, Gen. Sherman actually proclaimed the city as being worthy of being presented to the President as a Christmas gift from the Union Army!

Feb 3 and 4-Charleston, SC and Fort Sumter

2007-02-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

After limping to Jacksonville with my “repair” of a leaking air line, we spent the night in a true Florida storm, complete with thunder, lightning, heavy rain and wind heavy enough to leave our slide-outs shut tight. It was a night to batten down the hatches, try to point in to the wind, and basically be rocked to sleep with the winds buffeting against the motorhome. We woke to both a strange phenomenon and some very sad news.

We may have already mentioned before, but when the east coast gets a rainstorm, it is what I would call a deluge of 1 to 4 inches that is amazing in itself, but with the 4 or 5 storms we have been in it has always been clear and sunny the next morning. This is so different from what we have at home. It is no wonder that east-coasters, when they hear that it rains all the time is Seattle, think that it must be intolerable. I assume they are thinking that we get rain like they get rain. If that were the case, they would be right and the Pacific Northwest would be washed away.

The very sad news was that we witnessed the very outer border of a huge storm that crossed Florida just a bit further south of where we stayed in the Kissimmee area with Laura. I’m sure you have heard of the deadly tornado that crossed Florida as part of this storm. It traveled 20 miles south of the RV Park we staying with LJ, but hit directly at Melbourne along the coast where we stayed at the Canova Beach Wal-Mart 2 nights earlier.

This section of the trip from Disney World to Jacksonville was different than the rest in the fact that we drove for 2 whole days with the Atlantic a couple of hundred feet off of Barb’s side window and the Intercoastal Route a couple of hundred feet off of mine! We made stop after stop along the way to walk the beaches and let Elsie stretch her legs as you have already seen in Barb’s photos.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about this fantastic storm on our way up the coast. Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA were our two destinations to visit quickly before Barb flies home for a week.

We left Jacksonville with a keener eye on the gauges, especially the boost gauge that can tell me if there is a further problem with the air line leak and how it affects the exhaust brakes. The air tanks stay full while we are driving but still slowly bleed out while we are stopped for the night.

We drove through Jacksonville and traveled the quicker path up I-95, across this small coastal area of Georgia to the SE corner of South Carolina and the old city of Charleston. After my usual “interview” of innocent passers-by, I formed my plan to drive in to town so we could take a late night walk along the parks, ending up at South of Broad, the restaurant that my walking poll voted best 4-1. Of course we talked our way in without reservations on a Saturday night and we enjoyed dinners of local flavors. The building has been a landmark since the Revolutionary War. The walls are two foot thick brick and the balcony is adorned with an intricate detailed cast iron balcony. The site was originally a cotton exchange, later became a bagging factory and then Sailors’ Tavern, a popular local watering hole.

The dinner was great, but the long walk to the restaurant and then back to the Jeep definitely was the hit of the evening. We parked along the harbor in what is rightfully called the Battery, with its cannons pointed seaward. We walked in to town along an elevated stone bulkhead right above the water. After dinner we veered in to the oldest part of the city and walked along narrow cobble streets with street after street of houses dating back to the pre-Revolutionary War era.

The next day, Monday the 5th, we drove across their beautiful brand-new suspension bridge to visit Ft. Moultrie NM on Sullivan’s Island across the waterway from Charleston. This was another living example of a number of forts that protected harbors from invasions. Charleston has always been a very important seaport, which continues today, in competition with nearby sister city of Savannah as the 2nd largest shipping port on the east coast.

We then drove back across the bridge to catch the boat to Ft. Sumter, the site of the first action in the Civil War. The NPS, as usual, has a wonderful visitor center with all of the information one could ask for on that specific site. We bought the tickets for a short boat ride out to the fort and a great narrative from a Park Ranger that explained the entire story of the fort and the battle which signaled the start of the War Between the States – as it is normally referred to in the South.

The Fort and the man-made island on which is stood was Union-owned. While the fort was being built the Union forces were holed up at Ft. Moultrie but, in the dead of night, were transferred to the still unfinished fort called Sumter. Being on an island the idea was that it would provide more protection for the Union soldiers while both sides knew that it was a prime site to either protect Charleston or to cause mayhem to the ships coming into the harbor. The Confederates demanded that the Union abandon the fort in turn for a safe exit and passage back North. On April 12, 1861 the growing strife between the North and the South erupted when Confederate artillery opened cannon fire on the fort, definitely by an excited mistake! After a 34 hour barrage from both sides, the Union forces were forced to surrender the fort and head north. It then took the Union forces nearly 4 years to take it back.

A couple of interesting items concerning Ft. Sumter:

1. The island on which the fort was built was a shallow shoal. Ships sailed from New England (for 10 years!) with their holds filled with granite boulders used for ballast. The granite was dumped on this site which eventually made a rock-solid island in which to build the fort.
2. The Commander of the Union forces that were forced out of Ft. Sumter, as an item of surrender, was able to take the flag that flew over the fort with him. He was invited back fours years later to raise the same flag after the end of the war. That flag is on display there today. – But now for the 2 “biggies”:
3. Even with a 34 hour bombardment aimed at the fort, there was not one person killed in this initial skirmish. In fact, the only casualty of the entire affair occurred when the Confederates (actually!) gave a cannon “salute” to the Union forces as they sailed out of Charleston Harbor. A single cannon misfired and wounded a Confederate cannoneer/soldier, Daniel Howe. His right shoulder was removed from his body by the blast so he technically became the first casualty of the US Civil War. Leave it to a Howe to be in the wrong place at the right time! I, obviously, never knew this, but couldn’t help think that “could this be the real reason I’m left-handed”??
4. Now for the one that floored me (this NP Ranger was spectacular!): He explained that Abraham Lincoln, at the last minute, decided not to attend the flag-raising ceremony at Ft. Sumter just weeks after the end of the Civil War. He politely declined because he had tickets to Ford’s Theater that would “prevent his travel at this time”. Think about that for a while!

When we returned from Ft. Sumter we then walked, again, through the old streets that we walked the night before. We went inside the church that George Washington attended during a visit in 1791. Touching the square pew where Washington sat (again!) is just plain cool. He visited Charleston from May 2 through 7th, 1791. His popularity as our first President is very apparent wherever he visited. On his way out of town that day in May, many of the townspeople rode their horses to the city limits, a street aptly named Boundary Street. We walked to this street and back again on another just spectacular street bordered with beautiful old homes. Just like our first President that day, “our” next destination is Savannah, Georgia.

Charleston is everything I had imagined it to be. It’s beautiful harbor, old houses and buildings, fountains, the whole place dripping with history just as much as the more publicized Boston and other northern cities. As we were on our walks we made the remark that it appears that they clean the entire area just as Disney does at their parks. Everything was spotless, which was easily noticeable. Not bad for a quick 2 day adventure. Bye Charleston . . . On to Savannah!

January 31-Mom's new hip and our busted RV

2007-02-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn’t get very far. We had just left St. Augustine, driving up the coast and admiring the beautiful beaches when the rig just slowed down and stopped in the middle of the road. No power. Figures we’d be on a two lane road with no shoulders. Luckily we rolled along slowly just far enough to pull into a driveway to a really fancy condominium complex. Evidently professional golfer VJ Singh lives 4 doors behind us. Maybe he would see us an urban renewal project! Just down the road is the Sawgrass G&CC, a very fancy TPC golf course complex. I spent the day working on my homework and keeping tow trucks away from the rig. Gene did an amazing patch job (he’s getting to be quite a mechanic) and we limped to the nearest big parking lot—Costco in south Jacksonville! Here we sit, with our internet antenna up and TV on. Too bad the beach is too far away to walk. Gene is greasy again trying to figure out this latest problem. I've been hanging by the telephone waiting for news about Mom's new hip. Laura is handling all the details and it sounds like Mom is doing well. Hugs to Mom and thanks to Laura for filling in for me. Love you.

January 30-St. Augustine, FL

2007-02-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

Ready for more than you wanted to know? OK, you asked for it! Forget Plymouth. Forget Jamestown. Enter: St. Augustine, Florida. Not much public relations work has been done here, but according to the president of the St. Augustine Historical Society (whom we talked to for about an hour) and the history books that are written without the political pull of the publishing companies, St. Augustine is the oldest, continuously occupied, European settlement in North America. Even the historians have admitted to numerous other earlier settlements, but St. Augustine is the first continuously occupied. The reason we don’t learn about this spot in favor of Plymouth and the Pilgrims seems to be partly public relations (Plymouth wins there!) and partly because St. Augustine was founded by Spain instead of England.

According to the National Park Service:

“Traveling aboard the Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, 104 men landed in Virginia in 1607 at a place they named Jamestown. This was the first permanent English settlement in the New World.”
“Thirteen years later, 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts at a place they named Plymouth. With these two colonies, English settlement in North America was born.”
Well, that’s not the whole story, is it!?! Simply put in terms of time, we could say the children who helped found St. Augustine in 1565 were playing with their own grandchildren when the English stepped ashore in 1607 at what would become Jamestown!
Just a bit more, I promise: The earliest inhabitants of this area were Timucua Indians who predated the European “discovery” of the New World. One of the earliest European visitors to NE Florida was Spain’s Juan Ponce de Leon, who briefly landed between in 1513 (he was unsuccessfully searching for gold and the fountain of youth). In 1565, in response to the presence of a French Huguenot settlement on the NE Florida coast, Spanish naval commander Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles sailed for Florida to destroy the French colony at the mouth of the St. John. Menendez led his ships along Florida’s east coast, where he landed on September 8, 1565 (St. Augustine). He took possession of Florida in the name of Spain. Twelve days later, his force attacked the French colony and killed the occupants. If he hadn’t wiped them out we’d be talking about their settlement!
We’ve got a nasty history, don’t we! Disease brought by Europeans wiped out most of the Timucua…as it did with the native people all over North America.
Gene and I have been curious about this place for quite awhile. It’s a nice little town with lots of tourists. There are lovely art galleries, an amazing fort (Castillo de San Marcos), little tour trains, a beautiful harbor, and beaches with golden sand. It would be a good place to spend a vacation. We skipped the tourist stuff and found the Historical Society. We thought it was really interesting. I’m going to put a newspaper article on the blog for anyone who wants more…and so Gene and I can remember the details.

Newspaper article about St. Augustine, FL

2007-02-01T09:36:00.000-08:00

Facts mark our city’s singular place in history, by Susan Parker
Published in the St. Augustine Record, Feb 12, 2006

The English who planned and led the Jamestown settlement were well aware of our 42 year old town. The English settlement was located in response to the existence of St. Augustine. British historian Ralph Davis, a graduate of the London School of Economics, wrote that England’s King James told the Virginia settlers to keep well away from the Spanish in Florida. Davis asserted that the English would have preferred to settle farther south in a warmer climate with a longer growing season, but Spanish Florida and its capital of St. Augustine made that too risky.
The early settlers of St. Augustine were not the “lazy fellows” as foreigners accused. By 1607 they had built several church building and several forts in St. Augustine as well as churches in established Indian communities. After a fitful first seven years of settlement, St. A’s residents laid out the town and its streets that we still use today. They also kept records of the activities of officials and of the important events of ordinary lives. The oldest document of American origin in the US is the record in the books from the Cathedral of St. Augustine, of an infant baptism performed here in June 1594. The priests had recorded baptisms, marriages and burials of people of European and African ancestry and of Native Americans in earlier books that have been lost. The Cathedral Parish Records offer an almost continuous record of residents of our nation from that day in 1594 to the present.
The first “melting pot” in the United States took shape in St. A. Residents of all races, of many languages and from many places lived in this town. Spaniards had Indian wives. Blacks and Indians married each other. Indian laborers, shopkeepers and even prisoners-f-war walked St. A’s streets. Free and enslaved blacks had arrived on Menendez’s ships, and slaves were escaping from St. A to Indian towns before the establishment of Jamestown.
According to archivists at the Library of Congress, “the earliest engraving of any locality in the United States” is a map of St. A, published in London almost 20 years before the settling of Jamestown.
It is life’s irony that the map was generated by an attack in 1586 led by Englishman Francis Drake. It depicts building and cornfields before he burned them. Yes, the English of those days knew very well of the existence of St. Augustine.
In 1598, Florida’s governor established the oldest public space in the United States—our plaza. We still use this landmark common area for public ceremonies and celebrations. In the same year the governor established standard weights and measures to regulate the vendors in the plaza market. In 1599, a hospital was opened in St. A; in 1605 Franciscan friars started a seminary in St. A, the first school in today’s United States.
St. Augustine was the first to endure as a city and as a community and it still endures. But St. A was not the first at everything, so let us make our claims with caution and with knowledge.
Spaniards planted the settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape on the Georgia coast in 1526, almost 50 years before St. Augustine was founded. But it lasted only three months. Christian worship during both sad and glad times had been part of the doomed settlement. Spanish Pensacola hung on as a settlement for about 18 months following a disastrous beginning in 1559. Three years before the founding of St. A, the French established the settlement of Charlesfort on Parris Island in 1562 and then Fort Caroline in Jacksonville in 1564. But these settlements did not last. St. A did—and that endurance is what makes ours the oldest city.
The attention to history arising from the Jamestown commemoration presents an opportunity for St. Augustine to present itself to the nation.
We should do so on our own credentials, not as a response to Jamestown. Many factors contribute to our uphill struggle to get the historically correct recognition that St. Augustine merits. It is my belief that it is in the classrooms of the United States where our case must be made.
We must convince the textbook publishers to include St. Augustine and inform the teachers. I am too often astounded at how many well-educated adults will hold tight to what they learned about history in elementary school, even in the face of solid facts.
We also should take notice that 10 years ago Virginia’s then governor began the planning for the Jamestown anniversary with statewide participation and support. In a little less than 10 years---2015—St Augustine will celebrate its 450th birthday. We should be planning now.

Kennedy Space Center

2007-02-01T09:21:00.000-08:00

I promised more information about the Space Center. How about a test instead? See if you can remember the names of these astronauts! We had two good days at the complex. It’s huge. The buildings are huge. The rockets are huge. Looks just like it does on TV. It would have been a lot more interesting with a Space Shuttle ready to launch, but it’s up at the International Space Station at the moment. There are several really interesting movies to watch at the visitor center—one about walking on the moon, and one about the space station. Great bus tour too that takes you from the huge building where they work on the shuttle and the rockets, then out to the launch pad. Gene was in heaven in a place they call the rocket garden—lots of old rockets from Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions, including the Saturn 1B. We saw the Saturn 5 inside one of the buildings—it’s the biggest things we’ve sent up…2 football fields high (Statue of Liberty times 1 and ½).

Here's a cool timeline of the history of flight and our family:

1898-Gran was born

1903-First powered flight-Wilbur and Orville Wright

1926-First liquid powered rocket flight-Robert Goddard

1948 and 1953-Gene and I were born

1957-Sputnik-Russia orbits first space satellite

1961-First American in space-Alan B. Shepard, Jr.

1965-Gemini 6-first rendezvous and docking in space

1969-Apollo 11-First human to land on the moon-Neil A. Armstrong

1973-Skylab-First space station

1975-Apollo-Soyuz-First link up in space-Apollo-Soyuz test project

Look what happened during our lifetimes! Gran's lifetime really saw a lot of changes!

January 29-Ft. Flagler Beach

2007-01-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

All the beaches in Florida have these nasty signs. Today we woke up and it was cold and windy--40 degrees. There was NOBODY on the beach so we decided to risk the ticket and let Elsie play. She had a wonderful time chasing the birds and rolling in something stinky. We decided that she wasn't an animal--and she's helping keep those silly birds off their nice beach! We are on our way up to St. Augustine, FL, driving up the coast road that is right on the water. Had to get out coats and hats for our morning walk!

1-27-07 Finally on the road!

2007-01-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

Finally! Gene's work is done. My schoolwork is all caught up. We're pulling up the legs and heading off. We have no idea at the moment where we are going...except that we want to see more of Kennedy Space Center before we leave Florida. The weather here is lovely, it looks like a perfect fall day in Seattle-cool and clear. Evidently we are in the only pocket of decent weather in the area so we holed up an extra day or two to see where we should head. We spent one more day at Epcot Center. No rides this time as we didn't have Laura to encourage us. We did get to take test rides on Segways and go into the hydroponic greenhouses (those are regular pumpkins and squash in the photo!). We also explored the different country's exhibits and wandered through a few environmental exhibits. Fun...but not as stomach upsetting as when we went with Laura! We also spent one day at the Kennedy Space Center. We're going again this afternoon and I'll write about that once we finish the place. It's HUGE and interesting even though nothing is happening at the moment. No rockets or shuttles in view. I'm supposed to be vacuuming and cleaning before Gene gets the exterior washed. I'd better get to it but wanted to say hello before he takes down the satellite dish. Love to you all. Thanks for the messages!

Jan 21, 2007--Sad Day :(

2007-01-22T08:19:00.000-08:00

Laura flew home today. We had so much fun with her, and with Hank, that it will seem quiet for awhile. Gene has a ton of work to do for Issaquah Soccer Association (big client) so we are going to stay right where we are. I've got school work to do...and I'm a bit out of the swing. All Elsie wants to do is go outside and play with all the other dogs in this park. We haven't stayed in many real RV parks and it's a bit odd. Just like Lucy and Desi in The Longest Trailer...everybody puttering around their RVs...chatting with anyone who will talk...walking their dogs (all small). Lots of the RVs have funny pink flamingos and lighted palm trees in their "yards". Last night there were 5 tables of ladies playing bridge. There is even a shuffleboard area. Totally goofy. I don't think this is the retirement life I'd choose! The blog will be quiet for a few more days unless you want to hear about teaching English language learners how to read or how much it will cost to verti-drain the soccer fields. We haven't even decided where to go next because the weather is so horrible everywhere except south Florida! Its a bit overcast this morning, only 78 degrees. The forcast is for 80 and sunshine....can't be too tough to be a weatherman in this area. Sun...sun...sun...and more sun. I'm not complaining mind you, but it certainly doesn't seem like winter! Love to you all. B

1-18-07 Disney World

2007-01-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'll bet I'm in trouble with lots of you...I'm so sorry that I've been neglecting the blog. LJ and Hank wore us out every day! We don't usually stay up so late when we're by ourselves. Today LJ treated us to a day at DisneyWorld. For once she's the one who is tired. Gene is doing his email. I've been doing some school work and updating the blog. LJ is sound asleep with Elsie snuggled up with her. This time I guess we wore HER out!!! All 3 of us are still kids when it comes to Disney. We love the rides--in fact we rode on Space Mountain 5 times. Loved it every time. I didn't realize that Disney World is just like Disneyland in CA. The rides and layout are the same only bigger. Even the parade and fireworks at closing were bigger. LJ took all the pictures today so I'll get them from her in the morning and add them to this post. I hope I haven't lost all of you by being so neglectful. We really had fun with Hank and Laura, and get to enjoy Laura for a few more days before she heads home. I'll try to stay current though. We did think about Aunt B today as she had her back surgery--I trust everything went well. Love you Aunt B!

1-17-07 Florida's SW coast-Gulf of Mexico

2007-01-18T20:00:00.000-08:00

We spent today driving up the west coast of Florida, from our Walmart near Naples (on the west side of the Everglades) up the coast to Sarasota. From Sarasota we went out Longboat Key, across Tampa Bay, and up the coast some more. Laura is navigating so I can get caught up on the blog. Sorry to be so slow but we’ve been really busy. We only got to have Hank for 4 days so we couldn’t sit around at all! I’ll get this all written while we drive and post it as soon as we are online again. I swam at the most beautiful beach we’ve seen—Anna Maria Beach at the tip of Longboat Key (just a bit north and west of Sarasota). The sand was white and very fine, the water was warm, the sun was shining. It was a quick stop but the dip felt wonderful. I’m thinking about all of you in the snow and ice…sorry you aren’t all here! LJ and Gene passed on the swim. We checked out another beach on the north side of Tampa called North Beach. It was voted the Best Beach in the country in 2005. It was beautiful and went for miles—but I think Anna Maria Beach was better. We’re headed east now, over to Orlando. LJ wants to take us to Disney World tomorrow. I’m not at all sure when I’ll get to post this…sorry!

1-16-07 Hank flies home and Miami

2007-01-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

LJ and I drove Hank to the airport this morning. Sad to send him home so soon. It seemed odd to see him in long pants (he was HOT as it was 75 when we woke up at 7:00) and I’m sure he froze as soon as he got off the plane in Seattle. I haven’t cooked the whole time he was here as he kept taking us out to dinner. Sure is fun to have your kids pick up the bill!!!! Thanks Hank! LJ and I drove along Miami Beach on our way back to Shark Valley to meet Gene and the motorhome. We walked the beach a bit but it had tons of Portuguese Man of War all along it. No one else seemed concerned but it made us nervous. It is a beautiful beach though. We stopped for fun at Neiman Marcus…I can’t believe I went in there in grubby shorts and dirty tennis shoes—no make up—wind blown hair. We were way under dressed but LJ didn’t seem to care a bit. Lots of high priced brands…lots of REALLY expensive handbags to make LJ drool. She even checked out the lingerie department—so I think she should write off the trip as research for Nordstrom! We thought it was interesting that they only take American Express. The island Miami Beach is on is one pastel high-rise condominium (hotel?) after another. Each at least 30 stories and jammed side by side. You can’t see the beach except where there are public beaches. We drove through the art-deco district and across the bridge into Miami. Interesting but way too crowded for me. We managed to rendezvous with Gene with no trouble, hooked back up and we’re on our way up the west coast of Florida. The highlight of the day for Laura was probably sleeping in her first Walmart!

1-15-07 Snorkeling at Dry Tortugas National Park

2007-01-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

Gene and I have been to a lot of National Parks but this one was probably the most amazing. Key West Florida is the southernmost point in the continental United States. Dry Tortugas is 70 miles west of Key West. This puts it 90 miles from Cuba! It’s a tiny island that is 2/3 covered with Fort Jefferson that was built during the Civil War as a Union fort—think about that for a minute…a UNION fort in south Florida?!? It never really got used for much except to protect the Union ships that anchored around it to block supplies into the Gulf of Mexico. The most interesting thing the fort was for was when they took the conspirators that helped Booth shoot Lincoln out there. Now it’s a National Park. There is a boat that takes 100 people out there for a short trip. We decided we wanted a longer visit so we flew out in a seaplane. It was a great ride. It took about 35 minutes and we were the only ones in our little plane. The water was beautiful and he flew us over 2 ship wrecks. We were all staring down looking for sea life—but didn’t spot a thing. We all loved the ride and the best part was it got us to the island an hour and a half before the boat arrived so that we got to be the first ones to snorkel. Its about 75 degrees in southern Florida at the moment—never seems to change day or night. Must have been about that on Tortugas. The water wasn’t much colder either. We didn’t see as much while we were snorkeling as we have in Hawaii but it was still really beautiful. The coral is much different than I’ve seen before, kind of big and round instead of branches. It looked nice and soft but I didn’t touch it. The fish were gorgeous—and there were barracuda that looked pretty friendly. Hank had an underwater camera so we’ll see if he got any good pictures once he gets them developed. We all snorkeled a lot. The tour boat provides lunch on the beach, and since we were going home with them we decided that it was for us too. Good sandwiches, good tour of the fort, fun 2 hour ride home on the water. If any of you go, this is the way to do it—fly out on the first plane of the morning and take the boat back. Its more expensive this way but absolutely worth the expense.
After going in and out of the salt water several times and then air drying in the wind on the boat on the way home we looked wonderful. I just stuck my hat on top of the rats nest I call hair and we wandered around Key West some more. We finally found the main tourist square that everyone talks about and it was hopping with people. Lots of people selling jewelry and art, street performers, sunburned tourists—very good for people watching. Hank and Laura took us out to dinner (again) at Marguaritaville—Jimmy Buffet’s restaurant that is famous for “cheeseburger in paradise”. After a day in the sun the cheeseburger was WONDERFUL…Hank, Gene, and I all had one. LJ had a vegetable plate that looked delicious too. We looked at another restaurant called Sloppy Joes (evidently one of the first places to make sloppy joes and a favorite hangout of Hemmingways) but Marguaritaville was better by far. I’ll post a photo of us inside. Check my hair!
The next problem was how to get to our car which was way over at the airport (too far to walk, but not really all that far as Key West is pretty small). We put Gene in a taxi (the taxis charge by the person for some dumb reason) and he retrieved it while Hank, LJ, and I waited with the gear. We didn’t waste time waiting though—we zipped into the Raw Bar for dessert. I had Key Lime pie which is the big deal around here. LJ had molten lava cake. Hank had an oyster shooter and a beer—kind of funny because in Key West they fill the oyster shooter glass with vodka. Looked nasty but he threw it down with no trouble. Gene missed out on these extra calories and silliness, but we filled him in.

1-14-07 Fishing or no fishing?

2007-01-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

We stayed on Marathon Key all day today. Our plan was to play at the beach and then go fishing in the afternoon. We had the charter all organized. Unfortunately it was too windy at the beach to swim. We waded and explored though. There were strange small blue bags on the beach…I was pretty sure I knew what they were. Hank picked up a few to look closer. Yep—Portuguese Man of War jellyfish! The little bag part on top must not sting because they didn’t bother Hank at all…but I wouldn’t want to swim with them. I gather they are pretty nasty if you get stung. By the time we went to meet our charter it was really windy and they wouldn’t go out. There weren’t enough people signed up either but even the extra money we offered didn’t inspire them to take us out. We were bummed. Went hunting for Key Lime pie instead…which was really good but no consolation for a canceled fishing trip. Key Lime pie is a big deal around here. The key lime only grows in Florida. Did you know that they aren’t green? They are yellow, about the size of a golf ball, so real key lime pie is yellow, not green. Looks just like lemon meringue pie but it’s delicious. Sometimes with meringue, sometimes with whip cream, yummy every time. We had a good day—although kind of quiet and a bit disappointing. The highlight was dinner on the kids at a nice restaurant called Parrotdise. I had grouper breaded in coconut and deep fried. Really a heart healthy recipe! We tried conch fritters, tuna sashimi, snapper. Everything was yummy. Hank even snuck off and paid the bill which made it REALLY yummy! Good margaritas too.

1-13-07 Key West

2007-01-18T19:31:00.000-08:00

We checked out Key West today. It’s about 1 and 1/2 hours from Marathon. First you drive over the Seven Mile bridge where Arnold Schwarzenegger saves Jamie Lee Curtis in True Lies. It’s absolutely beautiful. The old train bridge that was built to bring tourists (before the road) is still there and people use it to fish. We walked part of it yesterday. There are bridges between each key…restaurants, marinas, tee shirt shops, snorkel and dive shops, RV parks, hotels, and fishing charters all the way. It’s actually a fun drive. Key West itself was one tee shirt shop after another with restaurants in between. Tourists everywhere. I liked our stop at Ernest Hemmingway’s house the best. He’s not one of my favorite authors but evidently Hank’s dad is a fan. Hemmingway led quite a life—a bit sordid. Lived in Key West for about 10 years with his second of 4 wives. Sounds like he put in a lot of bar time getting characters and stories for his books. Lots of 6 toed cats running around the grounds…I gather he raised hundreds of them and these were direct descendants.

1-12-07 Laura, Hank, and ALLIGATORS!

2007-01-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

The kids finally arrived! Gene and I got up REALLY early and drove from our campground in Marathon to the Fort Lauderdale airport to pick them up. It was wonderful to see them and to have company. They flew on the red-eye but didn’t seem any sleepier than we were…and as soon as we headed towards the Everglades we all woke up. We crossed the top of the National Parks, and through Big Cyprus National Refuge along a road they call Alligator Highway. I thought it was just a name, but they weren’t kidding! The road is bordered by the Everglades on both sides and there were alligators sleeping in the sun all along the opposite banks. They weren’t walking across the road or anything, but they could have! We shot hundreds of photos as we drove along. Gene and I had chatted with some folks from Alabama while we were wandering in Flamingo the other day who had recommended several interesting spots to stop along this road and boy were they right. At the first little pull out you can walk ½ mile to an “alligator hole”. Evidently alligators choose a spot and clear it out to make a hole, kind of like a nest. No sticks or anything but it was definitely a wide spot in glades. They do it to make hunting easier I think. The hole was full of fish, and they of course attracted birds. The hole was about 40 feet across and was teeming with life. At first all we saw was one sleeping alligator on the bank and 3 babies sleeping on a log in the sunshine. After awhile the fish started jumping like crazy and bubbles rose from the bottom—then up came an alligator. Totally cool. Eventually the babies woke up and went swimming too. The gator got pretty close to the little dock we were standing on. More photos of course…and unfortunately when you look at my pictures the baby alligators who were about 18 inches long and less look exactly like the huge ones. Nothing in the photos to use as a reference for size except a few leaves.
Hank and Laura had made reservations for us at Captain Doug’s Airboat Adventures. We found it (huge billboards made it impossible to miss) and the ride was just as good as advertised. The airboat looked just like on TV—and the captain took us on a wild ride through the Everglades. You wear big earphones to protect your ears as it’s a pretty loud machine. In one of the clearings we spotted an alligator in the water and got quite close. Another boat (from another company) swung by too and their captain threw a marshmallow into the water right beside his boat…it is illegal to feed the gators but evidently he didn’t care. The gator acted like he did this all the time because he jetted over to him and grabbed it. The guy was crazy—he put his hand in the water and pulled the alligator’s head up part way into the boat. I got a picture of this goofball. We didn’t let Hank try this trick although I think he was willing.
We had a couple more interesting stops, but the last one of the day was really amazing. We hopped out at a visitor center called Shark Valley (no sharks—its on the Shark River which feeds into the Gulf of Mexico and sharks are attracted to the water as it meets the river outflow). You’re supposed to walk down an asphalt path that looks like the Sammamish River Trail. Well, there were alligators sleeping all over it which made walking a bit difficult to say the least. They probably weren’t even noticing us, but we were a bit nervous walking so close. Hank wanted to pet one…LJ wasn’t having any of it! It was an amazing day. We didn’t get back to the rig until late and Elsie was waiting with a full bladder. What a dog—no accidents after a 14 ½ hour stay by herself. I was thrilled to arrive home with all Hanks fingers and toes!

Jan 9-The Everglades

2007-01-10T16:45:00.000-08:00

Well, that's a lot better. I just logged on to post and there are lots of fun messages! Thanks, and good to hear from RTC, QT, and Pickles (great name)! Aunt Ann, Mom, and Sue emailed. Good thing or no alligator pictures for you! After a ton of driving...three full days (yuck) we finally made it past Miami and into Florida City. We didn't stop and look at anything all the way so we'll have to head NORTH again after the kids leave. Goofy planning but we're so excited to see the kids that we don't care! The entrance to the Everglades National Park is within 10 miles of our lovely Walmart parking lot. There are LOTS of RVers camping for free with us! We've spent 2 days exploring the glades. Really an odd looking place. It's hot and humid (my hair looks like Phyllis Diller), about 75 degrees. We are both wearing shorts and tee shirts--scaring the natives with our odd white legs. I took almost 200 pictures of birds, fish, alligators, scenery. Lots were awful so they've been deleted but I'll post a few of the good ones. Most of the alligators were sound asleep in the sunshine, but one was swimming around and under the boardwalk while we were walking. Saw one crocodile too. The Everglades is the only place where alligators and crocodiles BOTH live. I thought the Everglades was a swamp--but it is actually a very slow and constant moving river. Southern Florida is totally flat. I think the highest point is 15 feet above sea level. Geologically speaking it's new territory. The whole area was a shallow sea only 100,000 years ago. Between 1,000 and 6,000 years ago the Everglades were formed when the land rose and the bottom half of the state was covered by a huge river (I think they said 50 miles wide and 80 miles long). The river was only a few feet deep. With the influx of people and development the water was diverted in canals and dumped into the ocean. A lot of the Everglades dried up. The park is still pretty big. It's the third largest in the lower 48 states. Please don't ask me the two largest...I suppose they are Yellowstone and Death Valley. *Gene just Googled this and it's right, only Death Valley is bigger than Yellowstone. The birds are beautiful although I haven't bothered to figure out what they are. The alligators are cool. You can get pretty close to them by walking around on boardwalks out into the glades.

Jan 6-Tornado watch over!

2007-01-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

Sue and Mom get prizes this morning for reading and posting to the blog...well, Mom actually emailed but she did check in. I guess we've been gone so long we're getting a bit lonely for home! Had a tornado watch alert for the county we slept in last night. Evidently one did land but it was back up in North Carolina...where we were a few days ago. We had a deluge of rain all night but now it's sunny and getting warm again. We'll be complaining that it's too hot soon! We actually did run the air conditioner yesterday. We'll be driving again today so there isn't much to add to the blog. I just wanted to say hello...and a special HELLO to Aunt B. We'll be thinking good thoughts for a speedy recovery for you. I did sit ups this morning in your honor. I don't want back problems ever! Love to everyone. Barb

January 5-Made it to Georgia!

2007-01-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

Nothing but driving. We drove right through what looked like interesting territory in North Carolina and South Carolina. We'll be driving right through Georgia tomorrow! After playing with the kids in Florida we may have to drive back up here and look around a bit. I hate to miss anything! It's been warm and sunny all the way but after we parked tonight the skies opened up and we've had quite a rainstorm. There is a tornado watch in this area so we've been watching the weather channel while we email and blog. I studied all the way down the road as I'm trying to get my work done before the kids arrive so that I can play 24/7 with them. I'm going to complain soon if nobody puts comments on this blog for us. We miss your messages. Caroline is the only one left chatting (not a big surprise, but thanks CK!). Florida here we come!

January 3-Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

2007-01-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

The town of Kitty Hawk, and the Wright Brothers National Memorial, are on Cape Hatteras, in North Carolina. It was a sunny, 65 degrees today and so we left our fleeces in favor of short sleeves! Cape Hatteras stretches north to south across three long, narrow islands off the coast, and shelters the mainland of NC creating offshore sounds. The Cape has a road or two down the center. There are lots of hotels and tourist spots, and houses built up on stilts so that the water can flow under them in a storm. It looks like an absolutely wonderful place to explore but we are running out of time and need to head to Florida to meet Laura and Hank. We spent today at the sight of thousands of glider test flights by the Wright brothers over a four year period. We have seen their bicycle shop and Huffman Field where they learned to steer their planes in Dayton, Ohio...we have seen the actual planes in the Smithsonian...and today we saw where the first powered flight took place (on December 17, 1903). Gene is thrilled, and I'll admit all these spots were pretty interesting! We both thought that they flew on the beach, but actually their flight path was right down the center of the island, in a spot that was all sandy and had steady winds of 25-30 miles an hour (thats what they needed for success). They flew into the wind for lift. On Dec 17th they took 4 flights. The first flight was 12 seconds long and went 120 feet (Gene likes to say that they could have flown inside a 747). The second and third flights were about the same. The final flight of the day was 59 seconds and went 852 feet. They took turns flying so Orville did flights 1 and 3. Wilbur flew the 2nd and 4th. I'll post a picture where you can see how far they flew...they took off at the big rock and flew to the 4 monuments--one is way in the distance. Elsie begged for a beach so we walked up and down the nearest one. It was beautiful as the sun went down over the land and the moon rose over the ocean. So odd not to have the sun setting over the ocean! Still haven't gotten used to being on the East coast! If you look closely in one of the photos you can see Elsie's dark head with a wave crashing over it. I guess she didn't see it coming in the dark. Tomorrow we are going to start a long drive down to Florida. The kids fly into Ft. Lauderdale on the 12th. We're very excited to have company to explore the Florida Keys. We'll be parked in Marathon, half way down the Keys. The next few days will be lots of driving!

January 1, 2007-Mt. Vernon, VA.

2007-01-02T19:06:00.000-08:00

It was POURING rain this morning so we got a slow start. Drove to Mt. Vernon to check out George and Martha's digs. They have a fabulous new education center on the grounds that opened 2 months ago and it took us about 4 hours to get through it. Barely made it up to the house for a fast run through! Had plenty of time to check out the tomb though and have a good laugh..."Duh, Caroline...they're just dust!" (That's what Laura said when Caroline didn't like the tomb when Mom and I took them to the east coast when they were little.) The education center replaces the old museum and is wonderful. Lots of paintings, artifacts, letters, 4 movies, and scientific recreations of what George looked like. His teeth are still there too...not wood...made from hippopotomus ivory and human teeth. No wonder he never smiled. I don't know why we still have it, but the original key to the Bastille is there too. You'd think we would have given it back to the French by now. The Marquis de Lafayette (he fought under GW, was a big fan, and a major player in the French Revolution) gave the key to Washington. I bought a dessert plate from Portugal just like the ones the Washingtons used for everyday china.

Dec 31-Manassas, VA.-the Battle of Bull Run

2007-01-02T17:48:00.001-08:00

We were up early this morning. Gene suddenly decided that he had to see the Shenandoah Mountains so we were off to check them out. The Skyline Drive right down the middle of them is probably beautiful. The pictures in all our guide books look spectacular. In the fall the trees and the views down to the farmland in the distance would have been incredible. Well, in the winter they aren't such a big deal. It was so foggy we could hardly see the road. Caught a few glimpses but thats it. There were lots of deer wandering across the road so we had to drive REALLY carefully. Elsie enjoyed it to no end--barking her head off every time she caught a glimpse of one.
After a disappointing drive we headed back to Manassas where we had left the motorhome. The battlefield at Manassas was a bit more interesting. In 1861 the states were divided, the two armies were ready to fight. Lincoln had been inaugurated. Fort Sumter, South Carolina had been bombed and the fort had surrendered. Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to strengthen the army. Viginia followed several other states and had seceeded. There had been several "engagements" at Philippi and Big Bethel, VA. On a warm day in July, the two armies of the divided nation clashed for the first time on the fields in Manassas, overlooking a stream called Bull Run. The young volunteers were excited to fight. Everyone thought it would be a one battle war so many women, children, and older men (congressmen) from both sides, brought wine and picnics and sat on the hills nearby watching with opera glasses and telescopes. The soldiers from both sides had brand new uniforms--lots of different ones depending on which unit they were from. There were lots of different flags flying too, most were some arrangement of stars and stripes in red, white, and blue. Assuming that after a few shots were fired, the other side would turn and run, soldiers on both sides were stunned by the violence and destruction that occured. After 10 hours of cannon and hand-to-hand fighting, nearly 900 men were dead in the first battle of the Civil War. We wandered around Henry Hill, the scene of most of the fighting. There is, of course, a display of guns, ammunition, and cannons to look at. The "Old Stone House" that was used as a Union hospital is still there. It's such a beautiful, peaceful place now that it's hard to believe anything ever happened there. The Northerners called the Civil War the War of the Rebellion. The Southerners called it the War Between the States. They named the battles differently too. The Northerners named the battles according to the nearest town...Manassas in this case. The Southerners named them by the nearest river or stream...thus the Battle of Bull Run. The tactics used in this battle were largely the same as those used during the Revolutionary War. There was more loss of life though because the guns and ammunition had improved. Now the guns were "rifled" and so were the cannons. I'll post a picture to show you the difference. A rifled cannon can shoot farther and more accuratly. The poor soldiers were standing quite close together when they fired at each other. Ugh. The visitor's center had a nasty film of what it all looked like. Although it's tough to say that anyone actually WON a battle like this, I should probably tell you that the Union had to retreat to Washington. The South won the first battle and protected their capital (Richmond) from this Union advance.

This was a pretty long day for us so we were a bit boring for New Year's Eve. Went to bed way before the "ball dropped'. We loved 2006 and expect that 2007 will be even better. We're particularly excited to be waiting for "Baby Boy Toy" to join us this year. We wish all of you the best year ever...and highly recommend taking a trip like this!

Dec 28-Almost done in DC

2006-12-28T17:14:00.000-08:00

Today we tried to finish up visiting all the memorials along the Mall. We walked a long ways in the process! We started at the Washington Monument, but all the tickets for the day had been given out before 9:30 am. Guess we'll skip that. All the flags in town are at 1/2 staff now out of respect for the passing of Gerald Ford. We visited the Jefferson Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial. After all that we had sore feet again and were ready for food. Too pooped to walk, we took our first taxi of the trip, up to Georgetown so that we could eat at Martin's Tavern. Caroline and Marc gave us a gift certificate for dinner there. Martins was built in 1933 and evidently lots of presidents have eaten there. We had the two dinners that they are famous for--Gene had a Delmonico steak, and I had crab "lumps" (nasty name for crab cakes). Both were delicious, thanks kids! We even sat in booth #3 -The Kennedy Booth-a.k.a. The Proposal Booth. The little sign on the booth read, "On Wednesday, June 24, 1953, having returned from covering the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth for the Washington Times Herald, Jacqueline Bouvier accepted John Kennedy's proposal of marriage" in this booth. No proposal tonight...but there is exciting news. The real excitement of the day came from Caroline and Marc...but I can't spill it here. You'll have to call them if you want to find out what I'm talking about. Suffice it to say its even better news than the free dinner on the kids! Gene and I are lucky folks! PS One of the pictures I posted was of me in front of a cherry tree in bloom. The weather in DC has been oddly warm and we've seen a few trees and even some daffodils in full bloom. Looks odd with the crunchy fall leaves underfoot!

Photo Gallery! Arlington and Ford's Theater

2006-12-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

Dec 27 Mr. Fix It

2006-12-27T17:31:00.000-08:00

Gene has been working all day on the toilet problem. First he rented two HUGE fans and a dehumidifier. We've had the heat up to 90 all day so its like a sauna in here! Looks like this is going to work, WHEW! Now he's got the toilet in pieces all over the floor. I keep running errands for him to pick up the parts he needs. I now know where Home Depot and the RV repair shop are. I've been cooking and cleaning all day...so I'm REALLY bored. Maybe I can get the blog up to date.

While I was gone Gene got some help from our House Representative's office so that we have been booked solid every day since I got back. Since September 11, you can't just wait in line to see certain things. You have to contact your Representative and give them security information at least 5 days in advance to have them arrange for your tour tickets. Thanks to Laura of Jay Inslee's office, we were given a fabulous tour of the Capital buildings, with her knowledge of everything being very informative. She took the two of us (that's right, just us!) through the tunnel from the offices of the Representatives, under Pennsylvania Avenue, and into the Capital. We really gave us the personal attention. She toured us through the Old Senate and House chambers, the Capitol rotunda, Statuary Hall, and then through some doors and right onto the floor of the House of Representatives. We sat right where the Supreme Court Justices sit for the State of the Union speech (maybe Jennifer will get to sit there someday). Gene mentioned that the first thing that came into his mind was FDR's speech of Dec 8, 1941 where he asked Congress to declare war on Japan...the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. There is an amazingly powerful feeling in the room even when its empty. We sat for quite awhile. Unfortunately, I noticed that under each seat there is a "evacuation hood" that is supposed to protect them in case of an attack. Spooky.

Inslee's office also got us White House tour tickets too. Aside from a little snag that our names weren't on the official list when we got there, it was great too. We just had to turn over our Social Security numbers, ID, and the letter and tickets from Inslee and, in about an hour, they let us in. The security here is VERY tight. You aren't allowed to take anything inside, no cameras, no purses, no stun-gun (there was a long list, and stun gun really was on it). The White House is magnificent as always--and really beautifully decorated for Christmas. It was a shorter tour than I remember but I assume that has to do with security as well.

Gene managed to somehow beg tickets to a production of "A Christmas Carol" at Ford's Theater. They were my Christmas present! The theater itself is amazing--we sat in the third row center, looking right up at the box where Lincoln was shot. The production was wonderful as well. Scrooge was fabulous, really nasty. Down in the basement under the theater is a National Park Service museum. They've got quite an exhibit of the assassination. The overcoat Lincoln was wearing, the gun Booth used, and Mary Lincoln's opera glass case that she dropped. Tons about the conspirators, the trial, and how they were tried and sentenced. Booth was killed when they caught up with him, a fire in a barn as I recall.

One night (I can't even remember what night it was), Gene and I were pooped and our feet hurt. We were on our way home but we wandered past the National Theater that had Billy Joel on the marquee. We love his songs and have seen him in concert so we wandered in to see if they had any tickets left over. Well, for $44 each, they did. We had to kill three hours before it started and after all that time we were REALLY pooped and our feet REALLY hurt. We couldn't wait to get to our seats and sit down. Funny thing was, the show was called Movin' Out (the name of one of his songs) and it turned out to be a musical using his songs--no Billy Joel at all! Totally funny. I did wonder why the tickets were so inexpensive, but it didn't click at all. I loved the show (I think Gene was nodding off). Some famous dancer (Tasha???) who danced with Baryshnikov (that may not be spelled correctly) choreographed this show that used 26 Billy Joel songs. The dancers were magnificent. Some ballet, some modern dance, some that looked more like gymnastics. Anyway, it wasn't what we were expecting, but it was great fun anyway.

We love the subways in DC. They are the cleanest and most efficient we've seen. Matt, I want one just like this in Seattle! No graffiti, no smoking allowed, no boom-boxes or cell phones. They are really well used. The train from our park to the Mall takes about 20 minutes. We counted the seats and figured that each train can hold 400 people sitting down...and a lot more with people standing. Most people are able to sit even during rush hour. The whole system is really easy to use. We just buy a ticket that lets us ride all day for $6.50, that way we can get on and off all day wherever we want.

We spent a day at Arlington National Cemetary too. Wandered all over, went into Robert E. Lee's home that is on the site. Actually it was his wife's home...he just got to live there! You can stand on their front porch and see right down to the White House and Capital which is all that would have been there when the house was built. Now you can see the Pentagon from there too. In fact, you can see the corner and side that were hit by the plane on 9/11. Spooky again. Watched the changing of the guard (Gene loved it), saw the Kennedy graves, the Challenger memorial, etc. It was starting to get dark when we headed over to see the Marine Memorial, the statue of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. I took this picture in the pitch black dark. No tripod so Gene and I stacked up all of our brochures, wallets, etc and layed down on our stomachs on the cold marble to get this photo. I hope you appreciate it!

Washington DC is truly wonderful. We've got a few more things to finish up our visit. We haven't seen the lecture at the Supreme Court (although we went in), we haven't been up the Washington monument, and we haven't been to Martin's Tavern where Caroline and Marc gave us gift certificates for Christmas. Thats my list...Gene probably has a longer one! We will probably be moving south soon as LJ and Hank may be coming to visit us in Florida so we have to get movin'. We have really loved it here though. Whew, I think that's about it. I'll try to choose a few of our best photos to post. Its been beautiful weather most of the time. Cold again today, but blue sky. We have been so lucky!

Elsie Speaks!

2006-12-27T08:33:00.000-08:00

Yo, doggie family! Mom showed me this picture and I'm impressed. Jak, you da man! Sorry Charley but little dogs rule. You two are my people so stay tight and don't really bite. I'll be back to keep the peace (yeah, right) this spring. I'm busy keeping the deer in line in some place called Greenbelt, Maryland. Look how angelic I am in our Christmas photo.

Dec 26- The Big Flood

2006-12-27T07:58:00.000-08:00

Things are all out of order on the blog...with both Gene and I posting we've gotten all confused. We'll just post everything and you can figure it out! We moved the RV from Greenbelt to a new (fancy) park yesterday. After we got set up we wandered the Mall again and finally finished the Archives. Whew! They have a wonderful exhibit right now that has first hand accounts of important events--some written by ordinary folks that witnessed the event, and some written by famous folks. Really incredible and even I wanted to read every one. I let Gene take me on the 10 minute tour of the Air and Space museum before we headed home, so I'm going to put up a few more pictures of the things that were interesting to me! This morning we are dealing with wet carpeting. When we walked into the rig last night the carpet was all wet and the toilet was flushing continuously. Yuck! Luckily the holding tank was empty so it was clean water. The toilet has been giving us trouble for the last month, but we thought we had it working. Guess not. It flushed so many times that it filled the holding tank (40 gallons) and then just spilled over onto the floor. The neighbors noticed the water runnng out under the door and turned the water off, but we were pretty wet. Its kind of a sauna this morning as we try to get dried out. Ooops. No photos of this event! Marc--the toy you gave Gene for Christmas made it to the Smithsonian! Evidently the Wright Brothers didn't invent it--someone gave them one as a gift when they were kids and it influenced their work. Cool. Gene has flown it inside the rig, but we need an open space to get the full effect!

Barb's Early Christmas in Seattle

2006-12-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

I'm back to DC! What a wonderful trip home I had…family and friends, shopping with LJ, Portland with CK et al, walking with the Wednesday Walkers, cool windstorm, Marc on the roof, presents in the dark, salmon barbeque for Christmas a la Hank, marshmallow gun fights with my boys. Total fun. Couldn’t have been better unless Gene had flown home with me. We missed having him with us, but after two hours on the phone while we opened gifts I think it felt as if he was there. I loved watching the girls as he read them Twas the Night Before Christmas from D.C. I keep smiling every time I think of Matt yelling "this is the best Christmas EVER!"

My flight home was quite an event. Only took me from 6:00AM to 3:30PM to get out of Sea- Tac. Gene met me on the Washington D.C. MetroRail and it’s been a tourist whirlwind since then. I’m glad to be back on the road with my partner…and Elsie too.

Dec 20: Barb’s Finally Back!

2006-12-26T20:02:00.000-08:00

Today was one of the best days of our adventure. I picked up Barbara at the airport for our return to normalcy – the trip continues!

The reunion was easy on my end. All I had to do was clean up the coach from 2 weeks of bachelorhood, fixing things, and scattering computer stuff all over the place – hence no pictures! Barbara, on the other hand, had to leave Seattle and make her own adventure in air travel. I’ll have her fill you in later, but suffice it to say that she had to change her (and my) plans quite a few times. I picked her up on the subway, and took her home for a nap while I went to Costco! We then went in to town and took a very quick buzz through the National Archives building which holds important papers, foremost being a couple of very big deal documents like the actual Declaration of Independence and the only ever original hand-written (on parchment) copy of the US Constitution, both in a very impressive display, in the safest building in Washington DC, guarded by many very serious people. I talked to all of them!! We closed the place up after going through a portion of additional displays an all sorts of historical events that we plan to revisit.

While Barbara was gone I had spent a major portion of a day making arrangements and getting tickets for the big “finale” to our Washington DC adventure. I will tell you all about these as we do them in the next couple of days.

The shortest days of the year truly are, especially when you live in a dense forest. We always get home in the darkest of dark to find to coach and Elsie patiently waiting for us for her walk. Our motorhome could use some automatic lights to come on when it gets dark to keep the traveling partner awake and happy. Oh, this roughing it is so rough.

We hope all is well with everyone and that your electricity is back on. How do you plan to read the blog without power??

Dec 17: Birthday Party with the Wright Brothers

2006-12-22T08:06:00.000-08:00

Ever since I can remember I have always felt a connection with my birthday and the first heavier-than-air flight of the brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on this date in 1903.

Though this trip has not (and really can not) have precise plans, I originally had the great idea of spending my birthday at that spot on those windy sand dunes of Kitty Hawk. Well, being way behind that schedule, I spent the day with the true star of the day, the actual Wright Flyer that made history at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.

Some facts on the first flight that I find of interest:
1. The first attempt on the 17th, at 10:35 AM, with Orville at the controls, the Flyer was launched from its rail and sailed 120 feet over the sand in 12 seconds. That flight could have been made inside of a Boeing 747!
2. They made 3 more flights that day of 175 feet, 200 feet and its final and most significant flight of the day of 852 feet in 59 seconds which proved that the Wright brothers were capable of sustained and controlled flight.
3. The Flyer was damaged after that final flight of the day, being tumbled around in the strong wind, not from flying.

We have already learned (and reported to you in the blog!) that they then spent the next two years refining, perfecting, and practicing with their invention at their home in Dayton, Ohio flying in controlled circular flights around Huffman Field outside of Dayton.

Touring through the Air & Space Museum just proves how rapidly the aviation industry progressed in such a very short time. Though the Wright Flyer (and the rest of the artifacts from the event) was the start and highlight of my day, going through the rest of both Museums (one on the National Mall, the other near Dulles Airport, west of Washington, DC) was an amazing tour through the rapid growth of aviation.

They have it all from the first aircraft (the Wright Flyer), to the first plane to cross the Atlantic (the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindberg at the controls), to the fastest plane ever made (the SR-71 Blackbird, to the Mercury capsule that carried John Glenn into orbit, the Gemini capsule that witnessed Ed White’s first American space walk, and the Apollo 11 Command Module that transported Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins to and from their first landing on the moon.

Other planes of (my) interest were (again, all actual real things!) the B-29 bomber named “Enola Gay” that not only dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, but also was the first to have many important improvements to airplanes, among them being a pressurized cabin. The original Boeing 707 (Dash 80) that changed how we now take airplane travel for granted was just sitting there with the memories of its antic over the hydroplane course in Seattle in 1955. Copy and Paste the following link to learn or re-live the event: http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=390

I was amazed, but not surprised, how often "Seattle" came up in the conversation in the progress of aviation.

The entire day was a perfect visit with history. If you were to visit either museum, I strongly suggest that you take the tours they have some real informative experts.

On the way back home I drove along the National Mall on this very dark but shirt-sleeve warm evening. I used a tripod to take some decent pictures of the Capitol and Washington Monument beautifully lighted. There were many people just strolling in the dark between these all sites, from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol building.

I left the motorhome at 9AM and returned at 10:30PM after celebrating a lot more than my birthday. It was a great day, except the getting older part!

A Great (Early) Family Christmas

2006-12-16T06:46:00.000-08:00

I should have written this last night but the early family Christmas in Seattle lasted until the cell phones gave out around 12:30 my time here in Washington, DC. Listening to the chatter of family at (our) Christmastime via phone is not quite like being there, but will suffice under the circumstances. Caroline and Marc traveled from Oregon for the weekend, and Laura and Hank escaped from work long enough to join Barbara and Peggy at a very darkened Three Tree. Why Marc would have had his headlamp with him is a good question, but it helped having it while opening presents. The continuous chatter around several candles and the fireplace sounded great. As always, we took turns opening gifts, Elsie and I included with packages delivered by the FedEx sleigh. We even had to put a stop the action while I took Elsie outside to bark at some deer.

We have had an early family Christmas for a couple of years now in order to get everyone together with their work and travel schedules. It is a far cry from our 10-day journey to Hare 6 at SunRiver, but everyone makes the day and night very special. Laura and Hank went, of course, to Hunters Tree Farm to select and decorate the tree for Three Trees living room. One thing is for rock-solid certain . . . I know that Laura and Caroline have learned the importance of all of the traditions and importance of a true family Christmas Holiday. "Barb, we did good!"

This year's family celebration had a different twist, with Lentil in the oven. The child is already spoiled at the ripe old age of -5 months old! Oh, what next years Holiday season will be like! Can't wait to see Peggy jogging with the new stroller, occupied . . . and maybe some electricity!

It was a great family night with more coming tonight, possibly for more sandwiches. What disappointment you must have had "saving" the mint tarts with the freezer warming up. Such sacrifice. The cell phone will be charged up again for tonight, even though you won't be able to read this until the power returns.

The gifts you sent to me last night are wonderful and appreciated. The presents I opened up were also perfect. Thank-you for everything and, as I read early this morning . . . “MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL (THANKS FOR) A GOOD NIGHT!”

Thursday Night Lights... and Lights Out!

2006-12-15T07:37:00.000-08:00

As per my previous post to the blog, Thursday was my first time onto the Washington DC subway and into the Capital area for a fairly quick look-see around. After a brisk walk on a very spring-like afternoon and a subway ride back in the dark, I got home to one of the darkest nights yet in the park.

I settled down all warm and snuggy to begin my blogging experience, to have some dinner with Elsie, and to watch the Seahawks on the NFL channel. As soon as I switched the channel, the evening became nothing more than flooded bubbles of floating plastic, a very poor showing from the home team, and the most naked of bootlegs since pee-wee football.

Fortunately for me most of the game time was spent trying to figure out this blogging thing, finally getting it posted around 11:30PM EST. No driving through "friday night" traffic during a dark Seattle monsoon for me or any sane person. Then I got the phone call interrupting the boredom of the game. Seems Caroline and Marc called asking for advise for a quick, safe, and managable route from the Seattle Center (at 5:30PM PST) to Bel-Square for a 6:00PM get together of real and near-real daughters. Everything was gridlocked and making a not-so-postive impression on Marc, I'm sure. At least, I figured, Laura had the sense to stay warm and dry at work (knowing she never leaves this time of year (Oprah, not Christmas!). that figure quickly vanished when I learned that Hank was given 2 tickets at the rainiest time to the hopeful game of the century. This must have been their last minute of sanity for the evening! Who would be so crazy to to give up their tickets on such a momentous night?

Just so you know that others had it bad too, Charlie and Kristine survived a big snowstorm, so big that he was chained so tight to his snowblower that he couldn't even discuss football stategy before the game! Of course, he also probably made himself a ski run in front of the house for Kloe.

I got up this morning to check in with the the Daily Evergreen, Seattle Times, KING, and KOMO to find out the entire region is laid to waste, everythings is flooded and, unless your batteries are charged, your not reading this anyway. I can only hope that things get back to normal quickly. Sounds like the utility crews might need some Christmas cookies and hot coffee to get the job done. Of course I can also only hope that the poplar trees blew down, but eastward.

Three Tree has stood up to many storms for a century now, but has hosted many, many more family events like this weekends "early" Christmas. Thanks to everyone for traveling to this family hub to enjoy the Season and each other. It felt right that I stay here to explore this vast unknown area, until right now. You'll have to celebrate the Birth with me in abstentia!

On closing:

1. Natural grass fields can get beat up and torn up, then repaired, but they never bubble up and attempt to float away.

2. Let's hope the Seahawks are better dressed for the next naked bootleg!

I hope everyone is still safe and secure . . . and, please, stay that way!

Finally, Washington…and I’m blogging solo!!

2006-12-14T20:18:00.000-08:00

December 14, 2006

First off, please understand that Barbara could say all of this in 5 sentences!

We hope that we haven’t lost all of our faithful audience with this delay. Barbara flew home on Tuesday (12/5) to get her teeth tightened and to do some shopping without me around whining. Elsie and I are hunkered down in beautiful Greenbelt National Park, just 12 miles from “the” White House.

I am the only one in the entire campground during the weekdays with a couple of others here on the weekends. There were 2 sites – in tents – last weekend with the night temperature around 22 degrees, so I know I have plenty to be thankful for, including the proverbial “warm puppy”!

The first 9 days were spent on some minor repairs, starting with our internet satellite dish mount that I need in order to visit with you. Any blogging on that would have been unreadable and I wasn’t in the mood for taking pictures doing the job, but it finally did turn out perfect. I got lucky on another repair to the motorhome rear furnace, not that I fixed it but I got the $150 controller board I will need for $34 on EBay! The rest of the time was an easy purchase of a new laptop, followed by the frustration of having to get all the information from the old one to the new one. What a hassle!

The original plan was to spend these 2 weeks exploring as many sites in the capital area as possible to spare Barbara the agony of seeing all of this for the 3rd time. Obviously, being my first time here, the menu is long and delicious. Now I will be filling the next several days trying to eat it all up, so stay tuned.

My first day, today, was spent getting my feet wet on the DC Metrorail system. After Boston and NYC, this one was as easy and a bit nicer. From the motorhome, a 2 miles drive by Jeep put me in the Metrorail parking lot and on to the Green Line, 30 minutes from the center of the capital. I ended up taking an immediate side trip to the National Cathedral on the Red Line (more on that later) before returning to the Washington Monument area. I didn’t know that the monument was on a hill, but you can see most everything from the base. Notice in the pictures that we are still lucky on the weather with today just another great spring day with the highs bit above 60 degrees. I only had enough time to walk from there to the front of the White House while the sun set. Then back to the train and my patiently waiting partner. As with all of our evening walks (boy, it gets real dark here in the forest at 5:30 PM), Elsie gets to bark at a big bunch of deer that roam the woods and crunch the 4-6” deep dry leaves in the campground. She pulls like a draft horse when she wants to play with the “big dogs”.

Anyway, I’m back in action and hope to provide you with some idea of what I’m doing and what I’m seeing. After the feedback I’ve heard from many of you concerning Barbara’s blog descriptions and pictures I know that my style will be somewhat different. Please rest assured that she will return to full time action next week. Finally, a special thank-you to those who kept Barbara busy during her visit, except for the few who forced her into more shopping!

December 7-Seattle!!!

2006-12-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

I'm home! Feels nice to see Mom, Laura, Hank...and Puget Sound. I've got a busy week planned visiting friends, shopping, and enjoying early Christmas with the family. Gene is in Washington DC, doing a few motorhome repairs. The first repair is on the DirectWay dish that we use for our internet connection. He has promised to blog as soon as he gets it fixed. Hopefully he'll get his work done and have time to visit some sites while I'm gone. Keep checking in! Love, Barb PS. The pictures that I posted for Gettysburg are a monument to General Lee, sitting on his horse Traveller. The other is a hole in a farmer's barn that was made by a cannonball!

Dec 2 and 3-Gettysburg, PA

2006-12-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

We had to switch gears historically-speaking, because we just spent two days at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Moving from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War took a bit of adjustment. We’re almost a hundred years later. The country is divided over states rights. The South wants to be left alone and have each state govern itself (and allow slavery of course). The North favors a central Federal government. I’m not a civil war expert, this is just what I gleaned from two days studying…so blog me if I make an error! I believe that the fight at Gettysburg takes place in more or less the middle of the war and that the Union (North) wasn’t doing so well. There wasn’t anything to fight over at this particular location, just farmland and a town of about 2,400 people. It just happened that the two armies met here for three days in July of 1863. The Southern army (Confederates) were led by General Robert E. Lee. They’d marched through Virginia, into Maryland and Pennsylvania. Lee’s cavalry (the do the scouting) was on a raid somewhere so he had no idea where the Union army was. It just so happens that they were behind him, led by Maj. General George G. Meade (Ulysses S. Grant was busy fighting somewhere else). The two armies touched by chance at Gettysburg on June 30th. The main battle started on July 1st, when the South attacked the North. The North was outnumbered, and was overpowered and pushed back to a place that’s called Cemetery Hill. There is a National Cemetery there now, and that’s where Abe Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. “Four score and seven years ago, our Fathers set forth on this Continent, a new nation…” But that doesn’t happen till later that year, November 19, 1863 when they finished burying the dead and were dedicating the cemetery.
Back to the battle! On the second day of fighting at Gettysburg, there were quite a few battles. One of the battles involved a fellow named Sickles, a Northern leader who was politically appointed and had no battlefield training. Sickles moved his troops without orders from Meade and left a huge gap in the Union line. Day two didn’t end any better for the Union than day one had. On day three though, Lee’s artillery let loose a two hour bombardment of the Union lines. Both sides had cannons at the time that could fire accurately at a distance of two miles. His plan was to finish them off the Union after 2 successful days of fighting. Lee (or an underling) then sent 12,000 confederate soldiers marching across an open field toward the hill where Meade and his army were. This was known as Pickett’s Charge and didn’t go well for the Confederacy. More than 5,000 soldiers became casualties in one hour. The Confederate army was overwhelmed and had to retreat to Virginia. The battle was over. Meade was criticized later for not pursuing Lee’s troops, but he is remembered as the man who won the Battle of Gettysburg. Gettysburg is called the “High Water Mark” of the Civil War because it is the northern-most battle of the war.
Whew! Probably more than you wanted to know! We hired a private tour guide at the National Park visitor center. We all hopped in our jeep and he toured us all over, explaining the battle along the way. It was a great way to get a feel for the battle. There are a few buildings with cannon damage that are still standing. I’ll post a picture of a barn with a hole in it. There are monuments everywhere. The guide said that there are between 1,300 and 1,400 monuments in the park. We even happened upon a marker for a soldier from Michigan named Howe! I may have to post this from Seattle as I will be flying home in the morning. Gene is staying to explore Washington DC and promises to keep posting. I’ll see some of you in a few days!

Nov 30-Hopewell Furnace

2006-11-30T17:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry, Elsie didn't mention that the monument in yesterday's photo was a memorial to the fallen soldiers and officers at Valley Forge. Sue's inquiring mind was asking. Today was a relax and enjoy the weather day. It was a bit gray, but at least 70 degrees. Really odd weather for around these parts. I did my homework, while Gene did laundry! We're parked in a beautiful PA State Park. It feels odd to be in the woods and not have a single green tree around. The trees are all deciduous so they are bare and gray. There isn't any underbrush, so the ground is covered with brown leaves. We realized the other day that we haven't seen a douglas fir tree since we left Washington (at least we don't think so). There are occasional hemlocks, pines, or nobles, but no good old Doug firs. I think it's true because I've been looking since Maine for a good fir cone for a project. We did wander down to see Hopewell Furnace National Park. Not terribly exciting, but it is one of only a few remaining examples of early ironworks. Built in 1771, they defied a British order banning ironworks in the Colonies, and cast wood stoves (furnaces), cannons, and ammunition. We also took a few Christmas pictures of ourselves. Aren't we cute???

Nov 29-Elsie at Valley Forge, PA

2006-11-30T08:58:00.000-08:00

Oh, my gosh! This is the coolest place, but Mom and Dad wouldn't let me out of the car! Can you believe it? There were acres and acres of long grass, and thousands of those big dogs--the ones people call "deer". Charley, have you seen these things? They are HUGE and run like big rabbits! I barked and barked and tried as hard as I could and nobody would let me outside...not even to go potty! They just locked me inside and went off on their bikes to have fun. If I just had opposable thumbs I could have had SO MUCH FUN!

Washington Crosses the Delaware

2006-11-28T07:22:00.000-08:00

I was pooped after trying to get Philadelphia on the blog, so Gene is taking a turn. I'll post his work and a picture or two. Gene Speaks! "Many times on our trips we can tell the historical importance of a site by who is in charge of a site: the National Park Service (NPS), a State Park, or a private venture. Of all the things we all learned in our history class is the story of General George Washington crossing the Delaware River on a freezing Christmas night, battling ice floes and the very cold. He led his 2,400 troops on to Trenton, NJ to a critical victory for the Continental Army over the Hessians. We left Philadelphia this morning for the short drive north to Pennsylvania’s state park, Washington Crossing. The park itself is huge with large grassy areas but no camping. The visitor’s center was closed on Mondays but the maps and information signs pointed out the information we needed. The bikes were perfect way to get to all the sites on this beautiful “spring” day (in the mid 60’s!), some up stream, and some across the bridge in New Jersey’s state park of the same name. Back in Pennsylvania there were several actual houses and other buildings, a couple of replicated boats that were used that night, and the appropriate monuments marking this historic night. The river was full and rushing, but there were no ice floes this day!"

Philly photos phinally!

2006-11-28T07:10:00.000-08:00

Everything but a Philly Cheesesteak!

2006-11-27T17:50:00.000-08:00

We have just spent two beautiful days in Philadelphia exploring what they call “the most historic square mile in America!”. The weather has cooperated perfectly. After a rainy Thanksgiving, the sun came out and we had blue sky. Saturday was really crowded (lots of families with bored children), but everyone was driving home on Sunday so it was quiet. Philadelphia played a huge part during the colonial era. After the Boston Tea Party in 1774, the British passed the Intolerable Acts and closed Boston harbor. The colonies all sent representatives to Philadelphia to plan a response…that was the First Continental Congress. This takes place in Carpenters' Hall. Then…shots are fired at Lexington and Concord Bridge in Massachusetts. The Second Continental Congress convenes, still in Philadelphia, this time in their State House (now Independence Hall) in 1775. They appoint George Washington as commander in chief of the Continental Army. While they are debating, the first big battle of the Revolution takes place at Bunker Hill in Boston. In 1776 the delegates sever all ties with Great Britain and sign the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. In 1777, the British are still pushing the Colonials west and British General HOWE and his troops occupy Philadelphia. Good ol’ Ben Franklin is over in France though, talking King Louis XVI and his Queen, Marie Antoinette into helping us defeat the British. The French send troops and supplies to help and it really turns the war around. There is still lots more fighting, but in 1783 the US and the Brits sign the Treaty of Paris to end the American Revolutionary War. It takes a while to figure out how to set up the new government, but in 1787, the delegates finish framing and finally sign the Constitution…in Independence Hall again! They had to figure out things like representation for the states, the House of Representatives with proportional representation and the Senate with each state represented equally. Philadelphia is the nation’s official capital from 1790-1800, while they build the new capital in Washington D.C.
We took all the tours and wandered in and out of all the historic buildings. All have been preserved amazingly well. Independence Hall is fully restored to look just as it did-- the right color paint and everything. The actual chair that George Washington sat in to sign the Constitution is there. It has a half-sun on the back – they call it the Rising Sun chair. Ben Franklin gave a speech the day they signed the Constitution—something about never knowing whether the sun was rising or setting…but with the signing he was sure it was a symbol of the sun rising over a new nation (or something like that!). The inkstand they used for signing the Declaration of Independence is also there. We saw it all, Old City Hall (where the first Supreme Court met-lots of pictures for Jennifer!), Carpenters’ Hall, The First Bank of the US, the Portrait Gallery, Congress Hall, the Liberty Bell Pavilion, all the churches, and Washington Square. The only thing we didn’t see was a decent place to eat a Philly Cheesesteak. One of my favorite stops was lunch at the City Tavern. It isn’t original like all the other buildings, but has been rebuilt to look exactly as it did in the 1770’s when the delegates met there to eat, drink, and argue. The staff is all in costume and the food is all authentic to the period. Martha Washington’s chicken pot pie, yummy! Sounds corny, but it wasn’t. Oh, almost forgot—the Liberty Bell. Yes, we saw it and took a zillion pictures like everyone else. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. Lots of history/lore about the bell that I didn’t really get into. Cool to see it though.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

We're stuffed! We turned on the generator in the Wal-mart parking lot and cooked a turkey. We had red potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts, AND homemade pumpkin pie! Yummy! The only thing we missed....and we REALLY missed...was family and friends. Kind of quiet here. We love all of you, and absolutely missed being together for this holiday. Next year I get to be the hostess (if Hank will help me with the turkey)! We talked to a lot of you, which helped, but I'm getting a little homesick! Love to you all.

Nov 20-21 Two quiet, Elsie days on the Jersey coast

2006-11-21T14:53:00.000-08:00

Elsie has been a great traveler, but she's had quite a few dull days lately. We decided she needed a beach day or two, so we headed down to the New Jersey coast. She ran all over Ortley Beach which seems to be on a long sand spit. The spit is pretty narrow but has about 4 blocks of houses and road right down the middle. Ortley is on the outside so it's a beautiful ocean beach. Not too many people as it's cold now so Elsie could be off her leash and play. Lots of digging, rolling in stinky stuff, barking, chasing, and swimming. Today we explored Atlantic City for about 10 minutes (lots of casinos and tourist traps) and spent the rest of the day on the beach again. Here's a picture of Elsie enjoying Trump's beach! New Jersey has pretty nice beaches.

Nov 18-Morristown

2006-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Another house, I know...and the historical timeline of this trip is certainly disjointed. Now we're back to 1779! The first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired back in Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts in 1775. We signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but we didn't really get the British out of town until 1782 when we signed the Treaty of Paris. There was a heck of a lot of fighting during that time-period. Morristown, New Jersey isn't a battlefield though. George Washington and his troops spent a nasty winter here in 1779. It was one of the worst winters the area ever had, and wouldn't you know, 10,000 men of the Continental Army had to stay here. They were cold, hungry, and sick (dysentery and yellow fever) and spent most of their time huddled in the 200 small cabins that they built. This was a tough time for Washington too--although he stayed in Morristown's finest house (it belonged to Jacob Ford's widow and her 4 kids). The troops were due to be discharged in the spring and he was worried that they'd all leave and the fight would be over. Luckily, the French get into action about then and send supplies to the Americans. We toured Ford's house, Fort Nonsense (which Washington supposedly had the troops build to keep them busy), and the Jockey Hollow Encampment area where the troops built the cabins and suffered all winter.

Nov 17--Another house (Thomas Edison), just for Laura!

2006-11-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry about this LJ, but we did stop by Thomas Edison's house in West Orange, NJ. His laboratory is right down the hill, but it was under re-construction so we couldn't go inside. The house wasn't too exciting, but I was interested to discover that Edison made himself quite a bit of money from his inventions. He actually didn't inherit a fortune like a lot of the famous men we've studied, he made it himself. He translated his new technologies into commercial products and marketed them. Inventing the phonograph and the first practical incandescent lamp allowed him to go on inventing. Edison wasn't formally educated and called the 200 scientists that worked for him in the lab "muckers", and called himself the "Chief Mucker". Sounds like he spent most of his time in the lab...not much family life up at the house. At the West Orange lab they invented the movie camera, improved the storage battery, the fluoroscope (whatever that is), rubber from the goldenrod plant, Edison Portland cement...and a ton of other things. Edison himself had 1,093 patents. He lived from 1847-1931 so he's doing all this at more or less the same time that the Wright Brothers were trying to figure out how to fly.

Time to answer a few questions!

2006-11-19T08:42:00.000-08:00

OK--I love all the responses to the blog. It's great to know that someone is actually reading all this! Sue's latest comment was that when she worked at Glenbrook in Tahoe they had a guest registry with Ulysses S. Grant's signature from when he stayed there! Cool. LJ is worried that we might actually have been foolish enough to take the motorhome through NYC---NO NO NO! We left the home in New Jersey and drove the Jeep. That was crazy enough, even for Gene! She also mentioned that we are going to too many people's houses. It's true, we are. The houses themselves aren't all that interesting, but the National Park Service rangers who lead the tours are fabulous. They each really bring their own part of history alive. You have to be here to enjoy them, sorry. I've had a few people mention that we've lost weight--thanks, but don't I wish! I think Gene has slimed down, but not me. I am thrilled to announce though that on the trip I've been able to taper completely OFF of prednisone. This is wonderful!!! It also probably accounts for my face being slimmer as prednisone makes you puff up. Hopefully I look like myself again...thanks for asking! A special note to Marc--the red "torch" I'm holding in the picture with the Statue of Liberty is the red cashmere hat you gave me a few years back...it is still my favorite! Special note to Hank--We haven't seen any Ninja's, but thanks for the warning (Elsie has been barking a lot, maybe she sees them?). We have also had some guesses about the Medal of Honor winners. Mom guessed Dwight and son John Eisenhower---nope. Sue guessed John and son John Quincy Adams---nope (though both were Presidents!). Medal of Honor is for bravery above and beyond the call...so Theodore Roosevelt and his father Theodore both won. The other father/son pair is Douglas MacArthur and his father Arthur MacArthur. All cleared up???? Keep posting!

Photos

2006-11-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

I'm having trouble getting my photos to come up on the blog...I want you to see these too!

Nov 16-Sagamore Hill

2006-11-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

Today we got brave. We wanted to drive out to Oyster Bay and tour Sagamore Hill, which was Teddy Roosevelt's home. To do that from where we are in New Jersey, you drive through the Holland Tunnel ($6 toll), cross downtown Manhattan, cross the Brooklyn Bridge, and drive halfway up Long Island. WE MADE IT! Wasn't nearly as bad as I'd imagined. It was worth the trip because Sagamore is just the way I thought it should be. It sits at the top of a hill (duh, Sagamore HILL), surrounded by apple orchards. You can't take pictures inside, but its FULL of interesting items that were gifts to TR from all over the world. Dark paneling with trophy heads of all kinds of rare animals hanging on the walls. He was quite a hunter...and environmentalist, which seems to conflict today, but didn't in his day. The Roosevelt's had a ton of money, so when TR was 26 he decided that he didn't want to live in the city--bought 150 acres on Long Island in what was then the wilderness. This is the home he had built...he lived there from 1885 until he died in 1919. He was the 26th president so Sagamore was the summer White House while he was in office. The furnishings are authentic and you really get a sense of the man when you visit. They have an impressive museum too. I didn't know that TR was a Medal of Honor reciepient for his command during the Spanish American War (San Juan Hill) AND a Nobel Peace Prize winner for negotiating peace talks during the Russo-Japanese war. TR and his father were both Medal of Honor winners, one of two father/son sets. Gene wants you to guess who the other two are...I'll tell you later if you can't get it.
The funniest part of the day was trying to get home. By the time we finished at Sagamore it was rush hour. We had a leisurely dinner in Oyster Bay...just long enough to get some of the cars home, and for it to get dark and the rain to start. Gene had been wanting to drive around in Manhattan so thats just what he did! We crossed the bridge back onto Manhattan and drove up and down several times. Up Park to Central Park, down Fifth (right past the Empire State Building), back up Third, down to WTC accidently (we missed the turn)...FINALLY through the Holland Tunnel again and HOME. He is CRAZY. It was dark (and pouring rain!)--people wearing black and carrying black umbrellas--taxi cabs flying all around--nobody cares about lanes or red lights--busses--Gene loved it! I'm sure it was the highlight of his trip to NYC. This morning he says, "did you take any pictures of driving home last night?". Yeah, right. Between reading the maps and fearing for my life (and the lives of all the pedestrians) I was supposed to take pictures. You get the picture!!

Nov 15-Teddy Roosevelt's birthplace and Grant's Tomb

2006-11-17T06:07:00.000-08:00

What a day. We rode seven different subway trains today and got caught in a rainstorm. When it rains on the east coast it really RAINS...not just showers like we have, but bone soaking RAIN! It doesn't last long, but its impressive. We started the day by going back in to the WTC area because we wanted to see more of St. Paul's Chapel. After we got home the other day we read more about it and decided that we'd have to visit again. Then got on the subway for a trip almost all the way up Manhatten to West Harlem. The General Grant Memorial--usually called Grant's Tomb is up there. Its really a mausoleum...HUGE (the biggest in north America), and his wife Julia is interned with him. Grant was the Union commander during the Civil War, and is credited with saving the country from dissolution. He obviously won lots of battles during the war, but I didn't know that he is also known for his humane treatment of Lee and other Confederate leaders. He threatened to resign his commission if Lee was tried for treason. He insisted on protecting the full political equality of former slaves. As the 18th president he approved the 15th amendment which states that no citizen can be denied the right to vote based on color. Really ugly monument. TR's birthplace is in downtown Manhattan so we rode back down. It's under re-construction so I didn't take any pictures. They've got a pretty good museum downstairs.

Nov 14-Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty

2006-11-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

Oh, dear...I've had several complaints that the blog isn't up to date! Sorry about that. By the time we get home at night I'm POOPED! Haven't walked this far since Sue and I did the 1/2 marathon. I'll start with Tuesday the 14th--which wasn't a big walking day, but quite interesting. We got up early (for us) and were all ready to meet the first ferry to Ellis Island at 8:00--unfortunately there isn't a boat until 9:30 at this time of year. Oh, well-we wandered around Liberty Park. Talked to a fellow that was fishing from the pier (yuck, can you imagine how polluted that water is?) about 9/11. He used to deliver packages to the 110th floor but had retired before the attack. He's the first one that we've asked any questions about that day. Very interesting. Finally got the ferry to Ellis. I think most people stop at Ellis for 1/2 hour or so...not Gene, he has to read EVERY sign in the museum. Took so long I thought we wouldn't make the Statue. I'll admit that all the information about the history of the island and about immigration was interesting, but really. The Statue is still beautiful, but I was disappointed that you can't go up inside it anymore. There are guards and security everywhere. I remember taking the girls up the spiral staircase to the crown and wanted to take Gene up. Now you can only get to the top of the pedestal, just below her feet. I'll post a few pictures, and one that Mom sent of the girls pretending to be Ms. Liberty in front of the NYC skyline. Note the WTC buildings in the background and how tall they were. By the time we were ready to leave we realized that we had forgotten to get the National Park stamp (we are collecting stamps in a National Park book) at Ellis Island. By then they weren't letting anyone off onto the island because it was closing time. We had to talk the deckhands into letting us jump off, run and get the stamp...got it, and managed to make the LAST boat back to the mainland. We've now got 36 stamps on the trip so far!

Nov 13-World Trade Center-St.Paul's Chapel-Federal Hall

2006-11-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

We walked our feet off again today! We took the PATH (subway) right into the World Trade Center site. They had to rebuild this part of the line and now it kind of wraps around where the buildings used to be. You come in below ground...inside the enormous hole. Its an impressive place. I couldn't seem to take any pictures...it seemed somehow disrespectful. We wandered all over lower Manhattan. Down to St. Paul's Chapel which is the oldest structure in NYC. George Washington was a regular visitor. All the buildings near the WTC site were damaged, their windows were blown out, etc. St. Paul's is really close, but it was somehow protected. Went inside Federal Hall which was the meeting place for the first US Congress and the site where George Washington took his oath of office as the first Presitient of the US on April 30, 1789. Down at Battery Park we explored Castle Clinton which was built to defend NY during the War of 1812. Not much NY shopping when you travel with Gene!

Nov 12-Day two in NYC--the Rockettes!

2006-11-12T16:02:00.000-08:00

Into NY early today to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. Lots of legs and good Christmas songs. They are amazing dancers. We practically sat in the orchestra so we didn't miss a sequin! Then down to Grand Central Station for lunch. Took the tour of the United Nations in the afternoon. We did get caught in a rainstorm on the way home from the UN, but managed to get underground on the subway, and stay there until we were within blocks of home. The glasses are at the Rockettes--they made it look like snow was falling right on our heads. I thought they were a good look for us!

Nov 11- First day in NY City

2006-11-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

We made it into town and back--piece of cake. We rode the Light Rail, the PATH (NJ underground), and the NY subway. Good fun and only $13.50 for transportation. Getting to the top of the Empire State Building is a lot harder than it used to be. We had to wait in line for 90 minutes. They check your bags just like at the airport too. Worth the wait though, and I took a zillion pictures of Gene and his map. The Veteran's Day Parade went by while we were out on the Observation Deck and we could hear the bands and see everything. If you look at the foggy picture--that's looking south to the Financial District. If you look at the right hand side across the river--see the tallest building? That's in Jersey City and our RV is parked right behind that building. Look again at the street that heads straight down to the south end of Manhattan. Its pointing just about where the World Trade Center buildings were. We wandered in and out of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, had ice cream at Trump Tower, and bought Lentil a stuffed Teddy Bear at FAO Schwartz. By then it was starting to get dark and we headed back to the rig. Gene is now gearing up for the Cougar game...wore his colors all day!

Nov 10-Driving to NYC

2006-11-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

Now THIS was an adventure! Gene found an RV park that is in Jersey City, just across from the Big Apple. He didn't look nervous but he should have been! We drove the New Jersey turnpike--paid tolls and everything. Now we are settled happily in our campground. Its about 1/2 block to the harbor on two sides of our park. I can see the Statue of Liberty from the couch while I'm typing this! It looks like we could just walk two blocks and be downtown, but there is water in the way. We'll take the light-rail into town in the morning and go exploring.

Nov 9-West Point

2006-11-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

West Point is just like any other small college (4,000 students), except the students are all in incredibly good shape and they wear uniforms of one kind or another. You can’t just wander the campus so we took the tour through Cadet’s Chapel, past all the sports fields, mess hall (meals together-everybody lines up and then they march in), cannon displays, statues, and beautiful views of the Hudson River. They also have a rather unsettling military museum. George Washington was convinced that controlling the Hudson was critical to winning the Revolutionary War, so he had a fort built at West Point, which is between Boston and New York. He even had them stretch a huge chain across the river to foul up any British ships that were trying to sneak by. Washington was afraid the British would be able to divide the colonists from Boston and New York. It was turned into a military (army) academy by Thomas Jefferson. Just about any famous military figure you’ve heard of went to West Point—Patton, MacArthur, Bradley, Eisenhower, Robert E. Lee…of the 95 major battles of the civil war, 90 of them were commanded by West Point graduates—on BOTH sides of the fight. Of the remaining 5 battles, one commander or the other was from here. The cadet that caught my interest though was James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Not sure what battle he fought in? Well, he excelled at drawing at West Point, but was kicked out when he flunked chemistry. He went on to make a rather nice portrait of his mother…got it yet? Whistler’s Mother!

Nov 7-Vanderbilt mansion

2006-11-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

Well here's a good example of the difference between "old money" and "new money". The Roosevelts were incredibly wealthy--old money and prestige from both sides of the family. Their homes were full of things they collected all over the world, but nothing outrageous. Val Kill in particular was very small and simple. No fancy dishes or china--a comfy home. The Vanderbilts on the other hand were newly wealthy during the "Gilded Age" and it was important to show off their wealth to gain prestige. The first 2 generations of Vanderbilts in this country earned all the money in the shipping business, and the 3rd generation spent it all on mansions and expensive tastes. The mansion here was built by just one of the six children from the 3rd generation (if you can follow that). Evidently all six kids built amazing homes around the east. This one is supposedly small by comparison to the Biltmore (in NC) or Breakers (in RI) homes. This one was too much for me! Gold and silver everywhere. China. Huge rooms with chairs that looked liked thrones. Looked totally uncomfortable and unpleasant. No thanks.

Nov 6-Hyde Park, New York

2006-11-09T07:17:00.000-08:00

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park in 1882. Except for his years in the White House he lived here for most of his life. The tour includes the home where he was born and raised, and the presidential library that he had built (and used as an office) while he was President. Its a pretty good museum of the life of our only 4 term president--the depression and WWII. Here's an interesting, but not very important fact: Eleanor was orphaned at 10 years old, so her Uncle Teddy gave her away when she married FDR. Back at Hoover's library we read a lot about the depression--and the fact that Hoover was blamed for most of it, somewhat unjustly. Well, on the other end, FDR was responsible for ending the depression and leading the Allies to victory in WWII. If Hoover gets a bad rap in a quick gloss-over of the facts, Roosevelt gets lots of extra credit for his role in instilling confidence and getting the country moving again. "Happy days are here again...", Little Orphan Annie and all that! I was most intrigued by FDR and Eleanor. Together they were an amazing team, and after his death Eleanor was appointed to the new United Nations (by Truman) and, as advocate for the common man and woman's rights, made her one of the most beloved people of the time. No wonder Gran was so enamored with her. Gran had lots of Eleanor's books and used to tell me about Eleanor when I lived with her in the apartment. We went through the Val Kill cottage that she and FDR built away from the main houses of Hyde Park. Eleanor was supposed to live there after she retired--but she was an incredibly busy lady traveling the world.

Nov 5-Rhode Island

2006-11-09T07:02:00.000-08:00

Elsie has been bummed lately so we had a day just for her. This is the longest beach in the smallest state. Good picnic spot...plenty of sticks for chasing and sand for digging. Happy dog.

Nov 2 and 3-Three presidents

2006-11-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

We love Boston. We've been staying in Quincy (south Boston) for four days, so this Walmart seems like home! We're about to take down the internet connection and move on so I'd better get you up to date before we leave. We spent the 2nd exploring the birthplaces and homes of Presidents John Adams (#2), and his son John Quincy Adams (#6). Even though they don't get a lot of print in our history books, the Adams family made huge political and intellectual contributions. John helped write the Massachusetts constitution which was used as a model for the US constitution. He was quite a reader and proposed many ideas that were ahead of his time, but have since become part of our government. He was in favor of over-riding Federal power instead of individual states rights for instance. We still debate a lot of what he wrote about. We spent yesterday at the Kennedy library even though we have a tough time getting our heads around Kennedy being "historical". The guide blew Gene away by telling him that only 50% of the Americans alive today were alive during his inauguration. We're feeling a bit OLD!

Nov 1- Commuter ferry to Boston for Chowdah

2006-11-01T16:28:00.000-08:00

Seattle really needs to figure out some mass transit. Boston's is so easy. We went into town by train from Concord, and by subway from Quincy. Both were a cinch. Today was even better. We spent a quiet morning doing homework and paying bills, then went into town one more time by commuter ferry. It was a gorgeous afternoon, sunny and 70 degrees. The ferry is just for walk-on passengers, but zooms you over to the airport, and then into town. It was absolutely beautiful to see the city from the water. We just wandered around and then had clam chowder at the Charthouse Restaurant. It is in a building that was built in 1763 as the customs house in Boston. A customs house is where ship captains and owners paid the taxes on goods brought into port. John Hancock (or should I say JOHN HANCOCK) was the customs agent at the time! Dad and I opened the safe that good ol' John would have used to keep the $$$$. Great building, good chowdah!

November 1-Happy Birthday Caroline!

2006-11-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Four cuties! One of them is celebrating her 29th birthday today....the one in the back of course! Happy Birthday CK. Have a great cousin's weekend ladies. Love you tons, Mom and Dad

Oct 31-Happy Halloween

2006-10-31T17:31:00.000-08:00

We rode the subway into Boston again today to see Harvard. Gene tried to enroll at the Philosophy Department, but got sent on his way. We did better on our tour of Fenway Park. The green monster is still green and the seats are SO close to the field that I'd be terrified!

Oct 30-Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower

2006-10-31T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'd been to these two re-creations before, but they're better as an adult. It took us awhile to get the hang of asking our questions so that the "role players" could answer us. Learned a bit more about Wampanoag history and culture than I had before. The Mayflower certainly looked grim, but on a beautiful sunny day like we had, the Colony was lovely! By 1627, the Colony was stable and flourishing. I'd always imagined that the Pilgrims were the only colony for years, but actually many more ships were arriving each year and starting new settlements. They argue a bit around here about who established the FIRST settlement. Plimoth (I know that looks like I've spelled it wrong, but that's right) was the earliest, BRITISH settlement that was continuously inhabited by the originial settlers. I'll check when we get to Jamestown to see what they think...evidently Jamestown was set up solely as an economic venture and the original inhabitants went back to England. There were also French and Spanish settlements around the same time, I believe.

Oct 29-Cape Cod

2006-10-31T16:54:00.000-08:00

When I say it was windy, I mean WINDY! We nearly got blown right off the beach by flying sand, but managed to run up and down a bit anyway. Had to carry Elsie as the sand really stung! She's still mad about not getting to swim. Climbed the Pilgrim Monument and it's even windier up there. We were the only tourists that stopped at Ben and Jerry's for ice cream that day. Gene needed chunky-monkey! I'll upload one old photo to welcome Aunt Ann to reading the blog! Hello Ann!

Oct 28-GO COUGS!!!

2006-10-29T05:59:00.000-08:00

We have been hunkered down waiting out a storm. Our campground is on Cape Cod Bay and the rain has been blowing sideways. It rained HARD all day yesterday so that we were surrounded by a giant 4 inch deep puddle! Even Elsie didn't want to go outside. The rain stopped EXACTLY at game time, so we were able to cheer on the Cougs. This morning it is sunny and beautiful, although the wind is still gusty. The plan is to drive out to the end of Cape Cod and enjoy the stormy beach.

Oct 26-MMMmmmm good. Boston Baked Beans!

2006-10-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

We just finished dinner after a LONG day in Boston. Baked beans (from a can) to go with dinner seemed just right. We rode the "T" into town today from our free parking spot in West Concord. We keep driving right past Concord Academy (one of Catherine's alma mater) every day, but still haven't explored. The train took us to North Station and we managed to wander the city from there. Up Beacon Hill to look at all the old homes, down to the Boston Common only to discover that they put the Swan Boats away for the season! After that disappointment we managed to find the Freedom Trail, a wide red line painted down the sidewalks for the tourists to follow. It was easy from there. We started at the Old Granary Burial Ground--which should have been solemn, but made me laugh more than anything because I remember my Dad trying to convince us that we were descendants of Ben Franklin. He insisted that we have our picture taken in front of Ben's father's monument. Lots of interesting folks buried there once you aren't giggling...including Paul Revere. On to Old City Hall which was beautiful, and Old South Meeting House where lots of important gatherings took place. The Old State House is where the Declaration of Independence was first read, and now the subway goes right under it (which is an odd sensation when the trains pass under). I believe that the Boston Massacre (which WAS in Boston, but wasn't really a massacre) took place on the street outside the front steps. Paul Revere's house is the oldest house in Boston and since he raised 16 children there you wouldn't think it would be in such good shape! Looked pretty authentic to me though, so it was interesting. On to Old North Church where Paul Revere asked the caretaker to hang the lanterns while he snuck across the Charles River to start his ride. It's an impressive church, really called Christ Church, and you can sit in the family boxes and listen to a talk about the big day. We wanted to see the Bunker Hill battlefield so we went speedwalking as it was getting late...across the bridge over the Charles and up the hill. Hustled all the way up to discover that it's under renovation and you can't even get close! Oh, well...back to the "T" station and home to West Concord without a hitch. No Swan Boats, and no Boston Tea Party ship like Mom and I did with the girls. I've got tired feet, but it was a fabulous day.

Oct 25-Concord, the North Bridge, and Battle Road

2006-10-26T17:43:00.000-07:00

Back to the story...after the shots in Lexington everyone is all fired up. Patriots from all over the surrounding farms made their way to Concord when they heard the news. Paul Revere and William Dawes met up with Samuel Prescott along the road. They filled him in on the approaching Redcoats and the three rode together toward Concord. Unfortunately, a British patrol caught them--they took Revere into custody, Dawes flees back to Lexington, and Prescott escapes and manages to warn Concord. That was the end of the road for Revere, he was taken back to Boston by the British. The Patriots in Concord knew that they would be outnumbered, so they withdrew from town across the North Bridge and up the hill. Eventually the British regiment of 400 men makes it to Concord and is split up; with some staying in town, some going on to hunt for the armaments, and 96 men guarding the Old North Bridge. The Patriots were watching the town from the hill and saw smoke...so they went to protect the town. Trouble at the bridge. Shots were fired. Two dead Patriots at the west end of the bridge. Two dead Brits at the east end. Emerson immortalized this battle--"the shot heard 'round the world". The bridge is new, but the monuments and statues are really interesting. We played Pooh sticks to lighten the mood! After our feet were tired, we hoped on our bikes and rode Battle Road, which is from Concord back to Lexington (actually all the way back to Boston I suppose). Most of the deaths occured along Battle Road as the Regulars tried to retreat to Boston and the Patriots, whose numbers were growing rapidly, ambushed them constantly. We checked out such lovely spots as "Miriam's Corner" and "Bloody Angle"!

Oct 24-Lexington

2006-10-26T16:51:00.000-07:00

Back to the history tour now that the leaves are fading! We began our day at the Minute Man Visitor Center that is between Lexington and Concord. They have a fabulous multi-media show that explains the historical significance of the area. We watched the show with about 75 kids on a school tour. Then off to Lexington. April 1775-the British had occupied Boston under General Gage for more than a year. There were rumors that the patriots had a cache of arms stored in Concord, so Gage sent a British regiment to find and capture them. They were also supposed to find John Hancock and Sam Adams and arrest them for insighting the resistance. Well, you know the story...April 18th, Paul Revere and Sam Dawes took off to warn everyone that the Regulars were coming. First, they got the caretaker at Christ Church (Old North Church) to put two lanterns in the steeple as a signal, then they took off on horseback. They evidently didn't yell "the Redcoats are coming" after all, but they did get the point across! They followed different routes but met up and managed to warn Lexington during the night. Revere and Dawes went on down the road to Concord, and got captured before they made it. At dawn on the 19th the British regulars had marched the sixteen miles from Boston to Lexington. The Patriots were supposedly just standing by, and weren't supposed to shoot unless they had to protect Lexington. The British were under orders not to shoot either. Well, somebody fired...and the British killed eight Patriots and wounded a few more. We checked out Buckman's Tavern, where the Lexington militia gathered that day...but we missed the bullet hole that was supposedly made by a British musket ball during the Battle. We saved the Battle Road and Concord for the next day and drove out to Princeton to see Uncle Phil and Virginia. I had heard that Virginia was a gourmet cook, but she REALLY is! We had a delicious dinner and super time. Uncle Phil even found a video tape he'd made of all of us when we were kids. Meg, Catherine, and Barb(ie) in matching red skirts at Christmas. ALL of us getting pajamas for Christmas--even Uncle Phil, Uncle Bill, and Dad in nightshirts...too funny! We had a wonderful time reminiscing. Hello to everyone from Phil and Virginia!

Oct 23-OOOooooooOOOOOooooo-Salem

2006-10-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

I thought Salem might be interesting, witch trials and all. Unfortunately, its a tourist trap. Skip it if you come-unless you're into witches. Gene thought the Salem Maritime National Historic Site was pretty good.

Oct 22-Manchester, NH

2006-10-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

After sleeping in and restocking the rig with food (Gene ate everything in sight while I was gone), we headed up to Manchester. I wanted to see the cannonballs at Stark Park that my Dad told me about. Evidently when he was a frat boy at the University of New Hampshire, he stole a ball--and rolled it down the hill. Naughty. I don't know the whole story, but he showed them to me when we were in the east with the kids. Saw the park, the statue of Gen. John Stark, the cannonballs, the house Marie and Grampa Steele lived in, and the Steele Market (now Maple Steet Market). Met the lady that lives in the house and she gave me the labels off a broken record she found in the basement. One is off a recording of Grampa Steele on the radio entitled "The Christian Science Program". The other is Lillian Steele! They are dated 1944. Too bad the record had been broken, but the labels are interesting too. Drove up to see the University of New Hampshire. It's beautiful, small....even looks a bit like WSU only not as hilly. Much greener but the buildings and bell tower reminded us of the Coug campus.

Sept 17-Sunrise at Acadia and the "far east"

2006-10-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

Gene speaks!!! Hi . . . wish I wasn't so shy!
I missed Barb so much that on Tuesday morning, 4:30AM, Elsie and I got up and drove back to Acadia NP in the dark and fog to drive to the top of Cadillac Mt. (the highest point in the area) to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic. It was a nippy 36 degrees but 40-50 others were there to witness the start of another day and shoot a lot of pixels. The morning colors of the trees, rocks, leaves, etc. were spectacular. Some coffee to thaw out helped me continue my quest for the unique. After visiting a nearly completed suspension bridge of a different design, I headed up north to Lubec, Maine and out to Quoddy Head Lighthouse (to the actual end of the road!) and the Eastern most point in the USA! I plotted that point on my datastorm map that most have mentioned to show you the spot! After taking some pictures of the Elsie barking her fool head off at a brass bell, we headed back to the coach, ending a long day at about 7PM. The north country of Maine is nothing but trees and lakes. You drive through a tunnel of trees and break out into openings that show off the vastness of this country. All must drive very carefully after dark as collisions with moose are very common up here. Alas, I left Maine to pick up Barbara in Boston without seeing a live moose . . . maybe a good thing!