Navarre, Florida

Good morning from the Florida panhandle. I’m sitting at the table looking out over a white sand beach at the Santa Rosa Sound. Our campsite here, compared to the muddy Tallahassee KOA the night before, is like night and day. When we called the Emerald Beach RV park with one day’s notice here in Navarre, they asked if we wanted a beach front site for the night. For only $55, we said sure (usually they are double that at most parks, if you can even find one). It is beautiful. The kids spent several hours on the beach behind the trailer digging in the sand after we arrived yesterday around 1 PM. It was also a pleasant surprise when we hit the central time zone while crossing the panhandle and gained an extra hour. I never realized how much the east coast drifts towards the west as you travel south, and we are now west of most of Michigan!

While the kids were digging in the sand enjoying the 70 degree weather, I washed the Tallahassee mud off the truck and trailer. This is one of the few RV parks we have stayed in that allows rig washing, and in fact has a separate well system to support it. It’s the first time we have washed the outside of the trailer since Brian accomplished the task in Helena! Rocky is the only one who doesn’t like this RV park – dogs aren’t allowed on the beach, and the palm trees have no squirrels!

We sampled some of the local cuisine yesterday. Nobody was too excited about the boiled peanuts, which take on the consistency of pinto beans. You eat them right out of the shell, which is rather messy with all the liquid inside. Teressa wanted to throw the rest of them away, but I made a last minute plea bargain. The Florida grapefruit and navel oranges weren’t anything to write home about either – you can find the same quality in your local grocery store!

The gulf got pounded with heavy rains last night, and we definitely have a leak somewhere in the front of the trailer. I bought patch material at Camping World in Tampa, and will give that a try when we get to New Orleans tonight. The weather is supposed to get colder with high winds today and tomorrow, but no rain.

Thanksgiving Day, Madeira Beach, Florida

We spent a quiet Thanksgiving day near our campground in St. Petersburg. The kids slept in before we headed for Madeira Beach, only a couple of miles from the KOA. With temperatures hovering around 70 and a cool breeze coming off the gulf, it was an ideal way to spend the afternoon. The kids dug a giant hole in the sand, fed the seagulls again, and collected shells. As you can see in the picture on the right, Laura also invented a new Yoga texting plan! ;-)

A quick stop back at the trailer to change clothes and walk Rocky, and we were off to Perkins for Thanksgiving dinner. For $11 a person we had Butterball turkey with all the trimmings including dessert (pumpkin or apple pie). We felt a little guilty not doing dishes afterwards, but got over it quickly and decided might never cook Thanksgiving dinner again! ;-)

We finished the evening back at the trailer with a rousing game of Scrabble – Laura’s first ever win in a highly contested battle where everyone finishing within 15 points of the lead! Another episode of North and South, and we were off to bed.

Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida

We spent Monday and Tuesday this week at Busch Gardens in Tampa. The combination ticket package (with SeaWorld in Orlando) the kids researched brought our daily cost below $20 per person, significantly cheaper than any of the Disney options. In the spirit of true roller coaster enthusiasts, we made the hour drive from our KOA campground in St. Petersburg to arrive just as the park opened each day. The weather was great except for one downpour early in the morning on the second day.

The park has a good combination of shows and rides, so there was something for each member of the family. Here is a quick summary of everyone’s favorite activities, in their own words:

Teressa – “For all those non-coaster people who fear amusement parks due to the shear fact that you will be the holder of backpacks, hats, coats, souveniers, sunglasses, cell phones, and loose change PLUS will be the designated picture-taker, there is hope. Busch Gardens has some wonderful animal exhibits and professional entertainment. One of the most enjoyable was the Christmas ice skating show which featured a US gold medalist and several pros from Russia and the Ukraine. It was an exhilarating half hour of dazzling costumes, exceptional skating and amazing acrobatics on ice. Oh, to be young again!”

Brian – “I find it rather amusing that one of my favorite coasters at Busch Gardens was everyone else's least favorite! Named "Gwazi" after a 2-headed African lion spirit, this roller coaster was composed of two separate tracks that ran at the same time; the construction was entirely wood. Wooden roller coasters have a reputation for being rickety, rough, and out of control (in contrast to the new steel ones today), so my sister and dad got jerked around quite a bit, but being the coaster enthusiast that I am, I've learned how to sit back and enjoy it without getting too shook-up. The seats were soft leather cushioned, probably some of the comfiest seats I've ever seen on a Roller Coaster! Had a good steep drop and wild twists and turns. Unfortunately my sister scratched herself on a seam in the leather as the coaster was storming through a part of the track, but I'm proud to say I got off happy and unharmed. The smoother and faster steel coasters are fun, but I love the rough and wild nature of a good wooden coaster.”

Laura – “The Roller Coaster rose up towards the sky until we were 200 feet in the air. We slowly turned right and started to go down. Once we were staring at the ground, the coaster stopped. We were looking down 200 feet below us at the tracks that dropped at a 90 degree slant. Then, suddenly, the ride shoots downwards leaving us breathless. At Busch Gardens, my favorite roller coaster in the park was SheiKra. The thrill that it gives you is unbelievable, and you feel as if you are free falling (well, with a little bit of a pull to get you started!) It shoots you down, loops you around and drops you again until you come to a stop. It had to be my 2nd favorite roller coaster ever (Millenium Force at Cedar Point being the first)! Busch Gardens had so many rides, like a wooden roller coaster, a smooth one, and a regular thrilling coaster, however SheiKra was the best in the park.”

I enjoyed SeaWorld in Orlando more than Busch Gardens – the marine animal shows and exhibits were outstanding there, although the African animals at Busch Gardens were impressive as well. Busch Gardens was more crowded, due to Thanksgiving week vacationers, but the lines were still manageable. Like Laura, my favorite ride was SheiKra – nothing like a 200 foot free fall to get your heart pounding! I feel extremely fortunate to have this quality family time, and that our children are developing such adventuresome spirits!

Fort DeSoto Park, St. Petersburg, Florida

The kids worked on homework most of the day yesterday, with Laura finishing up her Earth Science course and Brian completing Literature. Brian also completed his first chapter in pre calculus. The promise of visiting Busch Gardens Amusement Park later this week was a powerful motivator!

The man who owns the trailer parked next to us arrived via cab yesterday just after lunch. I could hear him talking to himself as he realized he didn’t have his keys to the trailer. A couple minutes later he had cornered Brian out by our truck and was enlisting his help to try to get into the trailer. I went outside to see what was going on, and was able to reach through one of the windows and unlock the deadbolt. But the main lock was set also, so the man ended up climbing through the window far enough to get his keys off the bed and open the trailer. He thanked us explained that the trailer was making him ill, so he was picking up his stuff and moving somewhere else! The ironic thing was he spent the next 30 minutes searching for the key to his bike lock so he could take his bike back with him in the taxi. He must have tried a dozen keys at least five times each. Finally the taxi driver determined that the chain wasn’t even around the bike frame, it had just been draped over the seat! The man said “Don’t you ever tell anyone!” Some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed!

Around 2:30 we headed for DeSoto County Park, at the tip of the peninsula on the north side of Tampa Bay. Our main objective was to visit North Beach, ranked the #1 Beach in the US back in 2005. After a 35 minute drive along the condos and hotels that line the Gulf of Mexico, we arrived at the park. A campground sits at the north end of the park, which was recommended by a couple we met in Vermont, but was completely booked for the week. The sites back right up to the beach, and would be great fun on a future visit. We drove a little further to North Beach, a beautiful white sand beach that stretches for miles in both directions. The kids dug in the fine white sand while Teressa and I strolled along the beach looking for shells. We also had fun bird watching – brown pelicans, sea gulls, white herons and sand pipers accompanied us. Teressa made the mistake of throwing a piece of popcorn to a seagull, and instantly we had clouds of gulls following our every move. The kids thought it was great fun, as you can see by the pictures.

Fort DeSoto has a rich and varied history. Named for the Spanish explorer that visited the area in the 1530s, the fort was used by the Union Army in the Civil war in the blockade of Tampa Bay. It was also used in the Spanish American War, and still has several vintage cannons from that era. More recently, the pilot that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima used the island for target practice before his mission, which explains some of the large “holes” in the sand flats around the island, which ironically now provide great fishing!

SeaWorld, Orlando, Florida

Yesterday we visited SeaWorld. The kids did a price performance analysis of the Disney parks versus SeaWorld (Orlando) and Busch Gardens (Tampa). They decided it was a better bargain to do the 14 day pass at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, as it cost less than half a similar Disney ticket. As you can see from Laura's write-up below, I think they made the right choice!

The large machine slowly made its way up the tracks. I looked down to see tiny little ants crawling down below us. One of the ants looks a lot like my mom… With Brian and Dad by my side, we start to descend down the tracks, and then… WHOOSH! We’re flying as we loop up into the sky and back down again. We soar past little people watching us as we sail past them. I can feel the water in my eyes leaving streaks against my skin from the amazing speed that we have reached. Then we make our way up a hill and start to slow down when suddenly we shoot downwards like a rocket. Again, we loop and drop and twirl through the crisp autumn air. Finally, our cart comes to a sudden stop, and the ride is over. We had just faced one of the top ten rollercoaster’s in the world: Kraken.

Yesterday at SeaWorld was one of the best days of the year. We started out by going directly to the Kraken without a second thought. As soon as we got there, we made our way through the empty waiting halls, until we came to the ride. There wasn’t a single person waiting in line, so we hopped onto the ride at least 3 times before we decided to go see the dolphin show. At the show, we made sure NOT to be in the splash zone (which was good thinking on our part) and watched as the lights flashed and the dolphins flipped as the music surrounded us with a beautiful melody. Then, we wanted to go try out a water ride near Kraken which looked pretty dry, for the most part. We wound our way through a dark and spooky tunnel until we saw some light from ahead. Then, without any notice, our boat soared downward, making a large tidal wave. Luckily, and amazingly, we didn’t get too wet, until someone decided to squirt us with a water gun. We thought the ride was over, but we were in for a surprise. Our boat went up another hill, and then we started to sail through another tunnel, going on rollercoaster tracks! It dropped us again into some water, but dad and I managed to stay dry. Brian on the other hand got his shoes soaking wet!

After that, we all were very hungry, so we went to a restaurant near the water. We were too late for the next show, so we decided to wait a while and go to the Pet show. The Pet show was very cute because ordinary animals like dogs, cats, and even rats were all in a cute little show. Plus, skunks, ducks, pigs, and much more were there too! Everything was like a domino effect, because as soon as one cat climbed up a ladder and into a window, a dog would come out and run to the other side of the stage, and so on.

When the Pet show was over, we had about 30 minutes to go look at the shark exhibit. They had a ton of sharks, and in one area, they had a moving sidewalk that had you in a hall surrounded by sharks. Some had large, sharp teeth, while some had noses like saws! There was so much to see, and tons of different kinds of sharks swimming around us! As we walked outside, we were looking into a little pool full of smaller sharks, when my dad pretended to grab me and push me in! Lucky for him, I let him off with a warning, but he’ll regret ever messing with Laura!

After the sharks, we went over to the show “Believe”, staring Shamu the whale. We were in the splash zone this time, but lucky for us we didn’t get wet! We had great seats though, so we got to see all of the people up close as they swam with the giant killer whales! It is truly amazing that people can swim with the greatest predators of the sea!

Once “Believe” was over, we quickly headed over to a Pirate show staring two Sea Lions! Before the show started, a mime came out to entertain the people who were there early. He was so disrespectful sometimes, you just had to laugh! The show was very entertaining, and the Sea Lions were simply brilliant! You could tell that the people just loved to do what they did. Once, the girl stuck her hand in a hole, and below her, someone else was supposed to stick their hand out of another hole. When that person did, they had a blue sleeve while the girl had a red sleeve. She looked down and started laughing. Finally she said, “You forgot to roll up your sleeve!” while holding back laughter! It was a great show, and very funny!

At the end, I made the family make a run for the Kraken before it closed. It still wasn’t very busy, so we went on at least three more times! We finally found where they took a picture of you on the ride, so we got some great pictures! Overall, it was a great day, and I’m hoping we can go to SeaWorld again!

Wet 'n Wild, Orlando, Florida

This definitely isn’t the mid Atlantic anymore. The fall colors in North and South Carolina have been replaced by palm trees, live oaks, and green grass. While Florida is currently experiencing a cold snap, with temperatures in the mid 60s during the day dipping into the mid 40s at night, there is abundant sunshine. The promise of amusement parks has provided the kids with ample incentive to get ahead in their homework. Brian is a week ahead on his plan, and Laura is even further ahead than that. Today we visited one of the famous water parks in Orlando, Wet 'n Wild. When we arrived at park at 10 AM it was 58 degrees. It reminded me of an early May trip to Canyon Ferry Reservoir in Montana – the initial exhilaration of practically having the entire place to yourself on a beautiful sunny, and then reality setting in as you smear sunscreen over goose bumps! Here is Brian’s account of the day:

I'm standing in an enclosed capsule on the top of a six story structure. I feel like a cartoon character from a futuristic society, standing in a tube waiting for it to blast him off to some strange location. I'm smiling, half in adrenaline, yet half in terror. A man outside the capsule calls: 'sir, I need you to stand behind the red line.' I look down; there is no red at all on the surface beneath my feet. I look up and begin to say, 'what red li--' *SHOOOOOM* A trap door falls beneath me. I attempt to let out a muffled scream as I plunge almost vertically downward, without enough time to even take a mental photograph of what was happening.

This was the scene today as I took on theme park Wet and Wild's tallest slide, a nearly 80-degree waterslide called the "Bomb Bay." Topped with a structure resembling the latter end of a missile or atomic bomb, you stand in the middle with your arms and legs crossed as the operator presses a button that lets you freefall down the slide into a watery explosion below.

We had a fantastic day at the water park here in Orlando. I commented a few times on how we seemed to rent the entire park for 40 bucks! There were literally only 100 other people there for the entire day. We never once had to wait in line for any of the slides, and we were some of the first people to enter the park. It's an odd scene, seeing an entire amusement park completely empty yet open at the same time. As one can imagine, we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

I'm trying to pick up some accents around here. I can almost use a southern accent, but usually only in a joke; in standard conversation I stick out as a Northerner as easily as you could distinguish fire from water. But I've been really happy with how friendly the folk are around here. Guess I'm being exposed to that good ol' southern hospitality.

Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, Florida

After leaving the campground in Brunswick, Georgia at 9:30, we stopped at a Flying J to fuel up. The cost of diesel is down to $2.89, almost half what we paid at the beginning of the trip. I have to take my hat off to the oil companies and OPEC for finding a way to cut their oil production costs in half in six months – they must be getting much more efficient getting the oil out of the ground these days! You don’t think there might have been a monopoly and they were just keeping all that profit for themselves before, do you? ;-)

We made one stop on the way down the Florida coast at St. Augustine. The city is the home of Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort and best preserved example of a Spanish colonial fortification in the continental United States. Shaped as a hollow square with diamond-shaped bastions, it stands as a memorial to the glory days of the Spanish empire. Completed in 1695, the fort is made from coquina, a limestone found on a nearby island. As you tour the fort you see all the tiny sea shells still intact in the original limestone. It proved to be an excellent material, as the cannon balls were absorbed without doing much damage. In fact it was such an outstanding design that the fort was never breeched in battle, including a 50 day siege by the British in 1702, even though the town of St. Augustine was burned to the ground.

The historic downtown area has a number of cute shops and small cobblestone streets that reminded us of a European city. We did a little window shopping, and then hoofed it back to the trailer and continued our journey to Orlando. Arriving at 4:30, we set up camp and got started on five loads of laundry. The office had just closed and we didn’t have enough quarters, so I went in search of a car wash with a change machine. Unfortunately all the car washes in Orlando use tokens instead of quarters, so after checking my fourth one, I bought groceries at a Target Superstore and got quarters there.

Brian barbecued chicken burgers while we finished the laundry. After dinner the girls watched Desperate Housewives, while Brian and I caught up on email.

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina

This morning we took a quick trip out to see some of the plantations near our campground. Having watched the beginning of the miniseries “North and South” the night before, we were hoping to catch a glimpse of the Boone Hall Plantation, where many of the outdoor scenes were filmed. As we pulled up to the stand that guards the entry road to the plantation, we found that it would be almost $20 per person to tour the plantation, and since we didn’t have much time, I told them we just wanted to drive in and look at the outside of the building. In a very polite southern accent the gate attendant said, “Sir, if you drive past this gate, it costs $20!”. We promptly turned the car around and drove back down the road to find the free National Park Service site honoring Charles Pinckney.

Charles Pinckney was a southern gentleman from Charleston, the youngest member of the South Carolina delegation that attended the Constitutional Convention of 1787. One of the first to speak out against the ineffective Articles of Confederation by which our country had been governed since 1781, he is credited with significantly shaping over 30 of the articles in our current constitution. Snee Farm, his country estate north of Charleston, has been preserved by the National Park Service. While none of the original buildings remain, archeological digs of the area have uncovered more than 150,000 artifacts dating back to the late 1700s. The existing house was built in 1820, after the farm had changed hands, and provides an example of early plantation life. Live oaks (the leaves never turn brown) covered with resurrection ferns and Spanish moss, surround the home. We watched the movie about Charles Pinckney in the visitor center in the house, the kids obtained stamps in their passport books, and then we returned to the campground to prepare for the drive south.

Charleston, South Carolina

We had a great day in Charleston today, in spite of locking my keys in the truck. Here is Teressa’s detailed account of the day from her journal:

Kids were up by 8 and studying by 8:30. Gary and I walked Rocky and prepared to go into town. It was short sleeve weather from the get-go and very humid. Around 10, we drove the 10 miles or so into Charleston. Along the way we passed many little, shabby stands where ladies were selling their West African baskets.

Our first stop was the visitor’s center in the historic district. We signed up for a 90 minute greyhound minibus tour of Charleston. Our guide was a native Charleston man with a very thick southern drawl and some strange and quirky mannerisms. Boy, did he know his history. He took us through the college of Charlestown which was a beautiful old campus. Their common area, where graduations take place, is a large grassy park with a pavilion at one end. At graduation, only the professors wear caps and gowns. The graduating girls wear white dresses and carry half a dozen roses and the men wear white tuxedos. The tradition began when the first girl to attend the school graduated and received roses from her father.

We cruised down King Street, past shops and churches. Charleston is known as the “holy city” because pre-revolutionary war they would allow anyone with 7 members to start their own church. Many people moved to Charleston to escape religious persecution by the Puritans and Evangelicals of the Northeast and elsewhere. We saw all of the main tourist attractions in historic Charleston. Cabbage Row, later named “Catfish Row” was the location of the Dubose Heyward story “Porgy”. This story later became the basis for George Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess”, a fictionalized glimpse of black life in Charleston during the 1920’s. The Battery is the area where many shipping businessmen lived and where Charlestonians watched the attack on Fort Sumter. Rainbow Row is a block of historical houses that were preserved but painted with bright colors. One thing we found interesting was that many of the homes had two front staircases—one going up from the right and one from the left, meeting at the top center. The ladies in their hoop skirts would walk up the right and the men went to the left so that they would not see the ladies’ ankles when they lifted their hoop skirts. These same women wore very low cut dresses with lots of bosom showing, but the ankles remained covered!

At the end of the tour, we walked to a Thai restaurant on King Street called Basil. It was just what we needed—healthy, great-tasting food. We then drove to a parking spot near the market area and Laura and I wandered through the multitude of vendor booths. A craft/art that comes from this area is coiled sweetgrass baskets. After talking with one of the black ladies who weaves the baskets, Laura and I learned what to look for in a quality basket. The skill has been passed down from Africa to the slaves and now to African American descendents of slaves. They are woven only in West Africa and South Carolina with most of the basket work being done in Mount Pleasant (which is where our KOA is). This is because the materials are only available in those locations. The baskets are made of sweetgrass, bulrush, pine needles and palmetto. After shopping around, we found a pretty basket that we liked and purchased it. Brian bought a crystal paperweight with the South Carolina palmetto tree etched inside of it.

Our last stop was the visitor center for Fort Sumter. We read the displays in the museum and Brian and Laura got their passports stamped. From the deck, we admired the bridge between Charleston and Mount Pleasant and looked out at Fort Sumter. When we arrived back at the truck, we discovered that the keys were inside. I had left my set of keys home to lighten the load of my purse. Fortunately AAA was able to send someone out in about 25 minutes. Laura and I took about a 12 block round trip walk and got a closeup look at some of the homes. The houses are built sideways. The side facing the street is very narrow and has just a few windows. The British used to tax people based on how many windows they had on the street side of their home. So, the southerners would build the house narrow but deep. Along the south side there was a porch the length of the house downstairs and a balcony the length of the house upstairs. Windows had shutters and could be opened up to allow the ocean breezes in during the summer time. Many of these homes fell into disrepair after an earthquake they had after the Civil War. To restore them so they could be used (since people didn’t have much money to rebuild) they inserted metal rods the length and width of the homes. At the end of the rod on the outsides of the home, they would place decorative end pieces. So we took some photos of those on our walk.

Back in the trailer we ate up our meatballs and potatoes and watched the first episode of the miniseries “North and South”. In the movie, the Mains’ home was actually the Boone Hall Plantation which is right down the road from the KOA. The Hazzard home was one of the mansions we saw today in Charleston.

Myrtle Beach, North Carolina

It was dark when we arrived at the KOA last night, so all we saw of Myrtle Beach were the golf courses and restaurants along the road on the drive in. Sometime in the middle of the night it started to rain, and when it rains in South Carolina, it pours! The main storm hit around 3AM. While lying in bed just before 6, I had the sensation that little drops of water were hitting the bottom of face. After convincing myself this was impossible, since gravity insures that water would fall down and strike the top of my face, I started wondering if Teressa was flicking something at me as a joke. I put my hand on the mattress between our pillows and found it was soaked. We sprang out of bed to find water dripping down the cabinet at the front of the bed. In looking at the roof of the RV as daybreak broke this morning, all I can figure is there must be a crack in the seal right along the top front. One more project for when we get to Orlando and it dries out.

After the rains stopped around 7:30, I took Rocky for his morning walk. There were puddles of water everywhere, and to Rocky’s delight, squirrels! We treed five of them before we were even 100 feet from the trailer (see the picture of our squirrel hunter on guard duty). The day was looking up! As we rounded the lake on the other side of the RV park, it sounded like a semi was approaching from the southwest. The semi turned out to be another tropical cloudburst. Initially we laughed as the warm rain drenched our bodies. Then Rocky started to whimper – either a flashback to when he was a stray, or stirrings of more recent memories at the groomer. Just as quickly as it started, it stopped, and we meandered back to the trailer. I’m sure the squirrels were laughing at him from the trees, as he now looked more like a drowned rat than a fierce Pomeranian.

When everyone was up and showered we jumped in the truck and went to a local pancake house for breakfast. I ordered grits so everyone could try them. Brian and Laura think it will also be the last time they ever try them. They don’t taste bad, in fact they don’t taste like much of anything, it’s more the consistency that is offensive. The rest of the food was excellent, and the waitress showered us with genuine southern hospitality which really impressed the kids. “She is like our new best friend”, Laura declared.

After filling the truck with diesel, we parked along the main drag in Myrtle Beach and walked down to the public beach access just as the clouds were breaking up. We understand that Myrtle Beach is a twenty mile long strip of sand, although we could only see a mile or so in either direction. Hotels, condos and restaurants line the entire length of the beach. The kids were thrilled to find a wide assortment of sea shells, some up to six inches across. A woman told us they were so plentiful because of the dredging and beach restoration project that is currently underway.

Duke Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina

Many of you know that my niece, Cece, has cystic fibrosis and recently underwent lung transplant surgery at Duke Medical Center. At 23 years of age she has endured more than most of us will in a lifetime. We were fortunate to be able to spend three days with her and my brother Dirk in Durham, and I'm pleased to report she is doing remarkably well, especially given what she has been through. It is fantastic to see her without an oxygen bottle or gasping for breath! Unfortunately she had to go back into the hospital for three days to treat an issue with lung rejection (apparently a common issue with transplants). She is obviously discouraged as this will likely push back their return trip to Helena, although in the grand scheme of things, appears to be a minor bump on her road to recovery.

We enjoyed playing multiple rousing games of “Catch Phrase”. I think the boys won more often than the girls, but somehow managed to lose the last battle for championship of the known universe. Oh well, there is still the unknown universe to play for. We also had a lengthy game of trivial pursuit. The questions were from the 1980s and 1990s, which apparently we all must have slept through! Finally the boys put an end to the agony.

We enjoyed eating out several times with Dirk (and once with Cece). The last evening we ate at Maggiano’s, an excellent Italian restaurant in the big Southpoint mall in Durham. By chance we met the manager of the restaurant, an Irish immigrant who has been in the US for 20 years. When he found out Dirk was from Montana we were immediately his new best friends! It turns out he spent a Saint Patrick’s Day in Butte a few years back, and thinks all Montanans are friendly folks. It was a great dinner and a great visit. We are really hoping that Dirk and Cece make it home to Montana to spend Christmas with the rest of their family (they have been in an apartment in Durham for six months).

Outer Banks, North Carolina

This morning we were up and on the road again by 9:30. Our first stop was the Bodie Island light house. The kids secured stamps in their National Park passport books before continuing on towards Fort Raleigh. While I quit running several years ago because of bad knees, we soon found ourselves in the middle of the Nags Head marathon! The course was laid out perfectly, so our delay was minimal. We took the back road into Fort Raleigh to explore the Lost Colony. In the late 1500s Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored a trip to send a group of English Settlers to Roanoke Island to help colonize the new world. Their leader came back to England a couple of years later to secure more supplies, but when he returned to Roanoke several years later, the settlers had all disappeared. The fate of the Lost Colony remains one of the great mysteries of our history.

The drive from the Outer Banks into Durham was uneventful except for the 40 minutes we spent on the bridge crossing the sound. Apparently the rotating draw bridge broke while letting several ships through, so we ate lunch in the trailer on the bridge in a line of cars that stretched for several miles. We arrived at the Birchwood campground by Duke with just enough time to park and get set up before it go dark

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

From Yorktown we headed southeast in Virginia towards the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Our first stop was the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk. While everyone learns in grade school that Orville and Wilbur Wright were the first to achieve self-powered sustained flight, the park service has done an excellent job preserving the exact location of that historic event. A 40 foot granite pylon sits atop Kill Devil Hill, the large sand dune where the flight originated, as a memorial to the ingenuity and determination of the two aviation pioneers. From the top of the hill you can see the entire path of the flight and get a sense for what it must have been like that day. The museum shows a documentary on early flight that helps put their accomplishments into the context of the time. There was a great race around the world to see who would be the first to achieve sustained flight. What struck me was just how far and fast we have come – less than 70 years after the Wright Brothers successfully piloted their wood and cloth plane for just over 850 feet, Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. In a special tribute to the contributions of the Wright Brothers, Armstrong carried a piece of their original glider in his pocket when he stepped onto the lunar surface!

Leaving Kitty Hawk we continued along the Outer Banks to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and our campground near Rodanthe. Straddling the Atlantic and the Pamlico Sound, Camp Hatteras is a large modern campground with paved sites and full hookups. Even though it was a Saturday night, the campground was less than a quarter full this November evening. The rain had stopped mid afternoon, and since it was getting dark as we approached the campground, we parked quickly and walked to the Atlantic beachfront. We had the 1000 foot campground beach to ourselves, which allowed Rocky to partake in his favorite pastime – running un-tethered in the sand. As he dashed back and forth along the edge of the pounding waves, we soaked our feet in the cool Atlantic waters.

Yorktown Battlefield, Virginia

We left the campground in Williamsburg at 9 this morning, just at the rain started to fall. By the time we reached the Yorktown Battlefield just south of Williamsburg, it was coming down pretty hard. Dashing into the visitor center in an attempt to stay dry, we watched the park service movie on the Yorktown battle that helped turn the tide and secure our country’s independence. With the help of the French navy and army commanded by Comte de Rochambeau, General Washington successfully secured the surrender of General Cornwallis and the British Army during the siege of Yorktown. The museum has several interesting artifacts from Yorktown, including the Lafayette cannon and Washington’s original wall tents. It was interesting to note that the Americans were the minority at Yorktown – both the French and the English had larger forces. I guess I’m going to have to stop bad mouthing the French! ;-)

Jamestown and Williamsburg, VI

Friday we went in search of the first permanent settlement in the US – Jamestown, Virginia. We have all heard the stories of John Smith and Pocahontas from grade school, but it was a whole different experience being on-site. When we left the campground at 10 after the kids had finished their studies, we thought we would briefly visit the National Park site at Jamestown and then spend the majority of the day at the Jamestown Settlement, a commercial facility that was rumored to have excellent movies, ships and artifacts. As it turns out, we spent almost the entire day at the NPS site.

When we arrived at the visitor center they indicated a park ranger was starting a tour in five minutes. We bolted out the back door, through a herd of grade school kids, and across the bridge to the oblique that marks the 300th anniversary of Jamestown (now over 100 years old). As typical for the park service, the ranger did a wonderful job of making the history of the site come alive. She described how three ships of 144 men and boys from England arrived on Jamestown Island in 1607, after brief nasty engagements with the local Powhatan Indians at other points along the James River. They should have guessed that something wasn’t right with the location when there were no signs of other inhabitants. It turned out to be a great location for docking ships, but the brackish water and disease infested swamps were not the best place to build a fort. Most of the early inhabitants perished in the first few years due to malnutrition and disease. Eventually with the help of Pocahontas (who married John Rolfe, not John Smith) and a new crop called tobacco, they persevered. When a boat load of 90 “maids” arrived in 1619, the rest was history.

Over the years the town gradually moved off the river towards present day Williamsburg. The only original structure that remains is the church tower that was built in the 1630s. The church has been reconstructed, and most experts believed that the original fort was under water, claimed by the James River through erosion over the years. But a local professor who had studied early documents of Jamestown began an excavation in 1994 and uncovered the original site of the fort right next to the church. To date, they have recovered all kinds of artifacts and several skeletons of the early pioneers, which are nicely displayed in a museum right next door (yes, even the skeletons).

It was a magnificent fall day, so we took the loop drive around the park when leaving the visitor center. As it turned out, we never made it to the Jamestown Settlement, which saved us significant greenbacks but left us wondering what wonders we had missed. We stopped on the way home briefly at Colonial Williamsburg. Sitting next to William and Mary college, the town is a replica of what the area looked like back in Revolutionary War times. We only had time to visit a few shops before coming to the realization that one could spend an entire week in this area and not see everything. This seems to be a common thread wherever we stop!

Upon returning to the KOA campground the kids and I headed for the jumping pillow, a giant trampoline structure we have come to love. It has provided the best aerobic exercise on the trip so far, which is sorely needed with the generous meals Teressa has been cooking up lately!

PS – A couple of things I forgot to mention yesterday – 1) when we were at Monticello the tour guide indicated that the average size of a home around 1800 was roughly the size of Jefferson’s sitting room, or ~350 square feet, and 2) when we were discussing the election results Laura indicated that I should run for some significant office. “Right now I have to tell my friends that my dad is unemployed and we live in a trailer”, she said with a grin! I prefer to think of us as explorers of history, traveling the land in our Colonial-sized cabin on wheels! ;-)

Monticello, Charlottesville, VA

On Thursday we awoke to warm temperatures and sunny skies at the KOA campground in Charlottesville. Located approximately ten miles south of town, the KOA is nestled in thick woods which were exhibiting bright fall colors. The kids worked on homework for an hour while I hooked up the trailer and dumped the tanks. At 10 AM we drove the 8 miles to Jefferson’s Monticello estate. Parking was a little bit of a challenge, but we were able to nestle in between a couple of school busses packed with local elementary students.

Monticello is just days from opening a new visitor center in the lower parking lot, and the grounds crew was busy making last minute landscape additions. We picked up our tickets and boarded the bus for the short trip up the mountain. Our tour of the house wasn’t until 11 AM, so we relaxed on the wooden benches and enjoyed the warm morning sun.

The more we study Jefferson, the more in awe we become. He loved books and had a passion for lifetime education. It helped that he taught himself to read in 8 different languages, and could speak both English and French fluently. Monticello was his design, which necessitated a crash course in Italian architecture. The home sits on top of a hill overlooking the town of Charlottesville in the valley below. It is designed with a large main house and two “L” shaped wings connected on both sides with walkways. The walkways extend the living space for the home, and provide stables, storage cellars, cooking space, and housing for the staff.

The main home has three floors, although it is designed so that the eye only views one. Jefferson designed all kinds of interesting gadgets for his home, including a weather vane, a clock that also tells the day of the week, shutters on the inside of the windows for privacy and heating efficiency, and a beautiful parquet floor. I’m enamored with most things Jeffersonian, but was really impressed with his library and collection of books. He even designed the book cases so they could be easily taken apart and accompany him on his travels. In addition, he has a set of elk antlers from 1806, sent back to him by Lewis and Clark (from Montana, I’m sure!). Brian was intrigued by the polygraph Jefferson used to write letters, allowing him to write with two pens at once, always making a permanent backup copy. The alcove bed in the Madison room was Laura’s favorite, and she already has ideas for her own bedroom. Teressa liked the cozy oval table in the breakfast nook, which apparently was Jefferson’s favorite place to write.

We walked away humbled by a man with so many diverse interests and passions. His literary skills are legendary, but there is a great deal more to the man. As we passed his grave site on our walk down the mountain, it was interesting to note that he left specific instructions to use his own words and nothing more on his epitaph:

Here was buried

Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of American Independence

of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom

& Father of the University of Virginia

Born April 2, 1741 O.S.

Died July 4, 1826

No mention of the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark expedition, or President of the United States – an interesting man!

Shenandoah Valley, VA

Greetings from Charlottesville, Virginia. We arrived at the KOA here ten miles south of town around 4:00 today find that two of the pins securing the 5th wheel hitch to the truck bed had come undone. I didn’t think this was possible, but upon examining the connectors, there is nothing to prevent them from twisting 90 degrees and popping out. The saving grace is that all four would have to be in perfect alignment for the whole thing to come off, but that’s not something I’m interested in seeing! Brian and I were able to use pieces of firewood as levers to move the hitch back into position and reset the pins. From here on out we’ll check them every time we stop to make sure they are set properly. I have never liked the way the hitch attaches, as it has approximately half an inch of play between the truck bed, which causes lots of the shaking we experience going over bumps. Live and learn!

We left Harpers Ferry at 10 this morning headed towards Front Royal and Shenandoah National Park. While the forecasted rain never made an appearance, Skyline Drive, the road that follows the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains through the park for 100 miles, was completely fogged in. We drove as far as the visitors center, watched the movie about the park, had lunch in the trailer, and then drove back down to Front Royal and around the east side of the Blue Ridge mountains to Charlottesville. The leaves are a little past peak, but were pretty none the less in the fall sunshine at lower elevations. Tomorrow we will tour Jefferson’s Monticello home before driving to Williamsburg.

Antietam, VA and Harpers Ferry, WV

We all stayed up way too late watching the historic election returns. This is the first year that the kids have been really engaged in the process (perhaps bordering on obsession!). It seems fitting that we are in Harpers Ferry as our nation elects its first black president – it was here in 1859 that John Brown was hung for trying to free slaves, which helped push the US closer towards Civil War. What a difference a 150 years makes! Here are the details of today's activities from Teressa's journal:

This morning we said goodbye to Cherry Hill RV park, our home for 15 days. Gary put air in the tires and I made lunches, and we took off through Virginia and Maryland for Antietam. The key players at Antietam were Generals Lee and Jackson for the south and General George McClellan for the north. The north outnumbered the south, but McClellan overestimated the south’s position. The Union came out of the north and the East Woods while the Confederates held the south and the west woods. Dunkers church was a battlefield marker by the west woods. It was badly shelled. The north attacked through the corn fields where north and south were mowed down and not a corn stalk was left standing.

Toward the south of the battlefield, the Confederates tried to hold an area now called Bloody Lane where, at the end, soldiers’ bodies covered the ground as far as the eye could see. Eventually the Confederates retreated to the south where Burnside and McClellan could have overcome them and likely ended the war. But, Burnside stopped for a couple of hours at the bridge to let the men rest and wait for more ammunition. In addition, McClellan kept 30,000 Union troops out of the fighting altogether, fearing that Lee had a superior force (Lincoln later commented that it wasn’t the Army of the Potomac, it was McClellan’s personal body guards!). Meantime, Abe Hill arrived from Harpers Ferry with another Confederate brigade, and pushed the Union back across the bridge. It was the single bloodiest day of the war, but likely could have been the last if the Union had pressed their advantage.

After Antietam, we drove to Harpers Ferry. This town, located where the Shenandoah River cuts through the Blue Ridge Mountains and joins the Potomac, has a rich history. It was a booming industrial town due to its access to water back in the mid 1800’s. Washington put the US Armory here to make guns and rifles for the country. During the Civil War the town switched “ownership” about 7 times which made it awfully hard for people to remain here. The town was flooded many many times over the years and continues to be concerned about that. According to the park ranger, “this is a permanent settlement where nature did not intend one to exist.” Today Harpers Ferry is a restored village. While the lower area—now the park—has to be mucked out occasionally, the real town is now located high up on the hill.

We grabbed a cup of coffee and some ice cream and headed home to watch the presidential returns. I fixed a stir fry for dinner which everyone liked. It’s nice when they like things with lots of veggies in it! We’ll do that again!!

We all stayed up long enough to hear McCain concede. Brian and I stayed up to hear Barack Obama give his acceptance speech.

Washington, Jefferson, and FDR Memorials -- Washington, DC

Teressa's journal entry for Monday: We drove to the subway at 10:30 to get to the Washington Monument by 11:45 for our noon entry time. Up the big elevator we went, to the top of the world. It has a fabulous 360 degree view of Washington. It was one of those things that is good to do once, just to say you did! Gary, Brian and Laura were ready to walk the 500 feet to the top, but the staircase was closed in 1976 due to corrosion, vandalism and too many heart attacks.

From there, we walked all the way over to the Jefferson Monument and on around the pond to the FDR monument. Jefferson’s is large and open and quite magnificent to honor the man, his deeds and inventions. He had such a gift with words. Amazing. Powerful. The FDR monument consisted of a series of water falls. Different areas within the monument grounds related to the vastly different problems he encountered and solutions he implemented: World War II, the Great Depression and the soup lines, and the returning of people to work on federal projects.

We caught a cab to the Portrait Gallery where, after lunch, I bought a couple of gifts. First we returned to Ella’s for their wonderful pizza and their chicken polenta dish. Here is how they told me the chef made it…I’ll have to experiment with measurements:

ELLA’S CHICKEN WITH POLENTA CAKES

Chicken thighs (not white meat like breasts…need the juiciness of thighs). Lightly bread the thighs and pan sear them.

Then bake them in the gravy: (Probably at least an 45 minutes.)

Chicken gravy with a little red wine added
Red and yellow peppers (fairly thin long slices)
Onion slices
Capers

Hmmm…I’d add a little pepper and top with a sprig of basil

Serve with a crusty bread and maybe some polenta or a good rice or rosemary potatoes. Oh--and a glass of good wine!

US Holocaust Memorial Museum, National Gallery of Art -- Washington, DC

Here is Teressa's journal entry for the day: The temperature took a dip into the 50’s, but it was a sunny dry day. We took the train to town again and got off near the Washington Monument (if anything is “near” anything in this town!) Gary had tickets for a noon entry time, but at the information desk we discovered that he inadvertently got tickets for tomorrow at noon. Tickets are free, but so many people want to go to the top of the monument that they require pre-requested tickets. The Washington Monument was awe-inspiring from the base so we admired it for a few minutes and then trucked on over to the Holocaust museum.

At the entrance to the exhibit, each of us got a data card about an actually person from the Holocaust and we were able to follow their life as we moved through the exhibit. There was so much there I would like to have read thoroughly, but it was quite crowded and fairly long, and Brian and Laura’s attention to detail isn’t as long. Nonetheless, we all had some new perspective into the horrors of the Nazi regime. We walked away wondering why people continue to repeat this hate pattern and how humanity can ever move to a higher level as a whole.

We grabbed lunch at the cafeterial next door to the the Holocaust museum, rested our feet and read awhile after eating. Then we walked to the Smithsonian Castle and watched a brief video about the Smithsonian. We have seen many of the things they showed, but it was a good presentation for making sure we hadn't missed anything important. The American History museum looked really interesting to all and it hadn’t been on our list. We were disappointed to find it closed for renovation, though, so made a quick detour into the National Gallery of Art. They have a “must see” list for those who only have an hour or so to see the museum, so we used that as our tour guide and viewed Rembrandt, Van Eyke (my favorite), Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne, and others.

Gary spent the evening planning for the next week. Kids did some studying, and I finished "A Thousand Spendid Suns" which Janine loaned me. It was sad, Janine, to read about what the Taliban and warlords in Afghanistan did. It fit right in with our holocaust day. It was very good though.

On Hallowed Ground -- Pentagon 9/11 Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia

Today we visited two memorials across the river in Virginia – the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon, and Arlington National Cemetery. Both are accessible via the Metro blue line. Our first stop was the Pentagon. On the train we met a woman from North Carolina who was trying to get to the same location. She was in DC attending a conference, and while her traveling companions wanted to sleep in, she really wanted to see the memorial. We decided we would all get lost together!

As it turned out, the 9/11 memorial was fairly easy to find. Exiting the subway at the Pentagon station, signs direct you through the parking lot to the back of the building. The memorial is tastefully done, with attractive angular benches and water features for each of those killed at the site. The names are inscribed on the end of the benches. Benches angling towards the building represent those killed on the plane, while benches angled away from the building represent those killed in the Pentagon. They are arranged in lines by year of birth. As it turned out, our new friend Lynn had been in New York on 9/11 also. In fact, she was on a USAir flight from Charlotte to LaGuardia, and was trying to land as the planes were striking the towers. Her plane ended up with smoke in the cabin from the first plane to hit the tower. When they were finally allowed to land, she was trapped on the island of Manhattan for 24 hours in a traffic jam before a firefighter got her through a bridge blockade so she could drive home to Charlotte.

We parted ways with our new friend and took the subway up to the Pentagon Mall for shopping and lunch. Laura bought some new clothes and then we jumped back on the subway and headed towards Arlington. By this time the temperature was pushing 70 degrees on a beautiful fall day. We walked through the cemetery to the graves of Robert and Jacqueline Kennedy, then on to the memorials for the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. From there we walked to the Tomb of the Unknowns and witnessed the changing of the guard. The kids were amazed by the precision and timing the guards exhibit during the ceremony. Afterwards, we trekked back to the subway and ultimately the campground just before dark.

The campground celebrated Halloween a day late with a tractor pulling a large wagon of trick or treaters around the facility. We enjoyed a campfire and greeted the costume clad kids using Brian’s and Laura’s pumpkin ablaze with candle light. They took the pumpkin down to the party at the community center at 9:00, and won third place in the carving competition!