Well, for someone that likes to document her life, I have been a little behind and I apologize!! But, I promise that I have been seeing lots of fun things and have been taking a LOT of pictures to share with you!!
Why the delay you may ask?
With a fair amount of embarassment, it is because I got a little behind on journaling and then when I went back to get caught up, I totally drew a blank on what I did and what day I did it - and for the life of me, I can't remember!! *.:EMBARASSING!!:.* Normally, I would go back and use Facebook or my camera to remind myself but conveniently, those two days? No photos and no Facebook!! EEK!
I know there was a graduation, a fun bbq, a bear, some fox, a grandmother, and a lake but where what goes where eludes me and I wanted to keep this as chronological as possible .:sigh:. BUT!! As I sit here and enjoy my meal at Friendly's, I think I may have figured it out and I am going to go with it! Just bear with me a little bit longer and I'll get you all caught up again!
Miss you all and I should be home soon! ... Unless I win the lottery in Ohio or New York ... someone ruined my chances in Michigan! =0p
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Rotterdam Jct., NY --> Cavendish, VT
Sabbatical Day 19 | June 15, 2011
Rotterdam Jct., NY --> Cavendish, VT
Today I got my computer back!
Matt and I spent the first part of the day relaxing (read: I spent most of the day dragging my feet because I was having a hard time leaving my grandmother's house). The computer guy finally called around 4:15 so I started getting packed up and we headed out to pick up my computer. Unfortunately, when we got there, I realized that I had left my debit card on the dresser at my grandmother's :0( and they didn't take personal checks. Thankfully, my husband was able to pay for it so that we didn't have to drive all the way back to my grandmother's to get my card (thanks honey!!). We made a quick pit stop at Spencer's again to pick up another Domo blanket for Karl where we had the pleasure of seeing some officers dealing with a shoplifter (tsk tsk!!). We grabbed the blanket (AND paid!) and headed back to my grandmother's where she had made us dinner (ugh - more food! .:groan!!:.). After eating, I finished packing and Matt loaded the car. Then it was time to head to VERMONT!
We had originally planned to be in Vermont by 7:30ish... we arrived around 9:30... whoops! Sorry dad!! But it's so stinkin' good to be back! I thought that the stars in Texas were gorgeous but I had apparently forgotten how amazing they are here too!
Rotterdam Jct., NY --> Cavendish, VT
Today I got my computer back!
Matt and I spent the first part of the day relaxing (read: I spent most of the day dragging my feet because I was having a hard time leaving my grandmother's house). The computer guy finally called around 4:15 so I started getting packed up and we headed out to pick up my computer. Unfortunately, when we got there, I realized that I had left my debit card on the dresser at my grandmother's :0( and they didn't take personal checks. Thankfully, my husband was able to pay for it so that we didn't have to drive all the way back to my grandmother's to get my card (thanks honey!!). We made a quick pit stop at Spencer's again to pick up another Domo blanket for Karl where we had the pleasure of seeing some officers dealing with a shoplifter (tsk tsk!!). We grabbed the blanket (AND paid!) and headed back to my grandmother's where she had made us dinner (ugh - more food! .:groan!!:.). After eating, I finished packing and Matt loaded the car. Then it was time to head to VERMONT!
We had originally planned to be in Vermont by 7:30ish... we arrived around 9:30... whoops! Sorry dad!! But it's so stinkin' good to be back! I thought that the stars in Texas were gorgeous but I had apparently forgotten how amazing they are here too!
June 14, 2011 - Rotterdam Jct., NY
Sabbatical Day 18 | June 14, 2011
Rotterdam Jct., NY
Laaaaaaaaazy day!! Absolutely nothing has been accomplished today other than taking my computer into the store to see if they can fix it. When we dropped it off, the guy said that it would take a few hours before he could take a look to see if it was something that he would be able to fix so we left it there and headed back to my grandmother's. We waited at her house for a while and then decided that we should just go get dinner so we made a family field trip to O'Leary's. Just as we were walking up to the restaurant, the computer store called and said that they could fix the computer but it would be a little pricey. It was a little more than we were planning on spending (basically they were going to charge us the same amount that Best Buy was going to charge us) but he would be able to have it done by the next afternoon - and to ME, paying that much to have it done overnight was worth it. Paying that much to have to wait 5 to 7 business days? Not so much. So, we told him to go ahead and work on it and we would pick it up tomorrow!
Rotterdam Jct., NY
Laaaaaaaaazy day!! Absolutely nothing has been accomplished today other than taking my computer into the store to see if they can fix it. When we dropped it off, the guy said that it would take a few hours before he could take a look to see if it was something that he would be able to fix so we left it there and headed back to my grandmother's. We waited at her house for a while and then decided that we should just go get dinner so we made a family field trip to O'Leary's. Just as we were walking up to the restaurant, the computer store called and said that they could fix the computer but it would be a little pricey. It was a little more than we were planning on spending (basically they were going to charge us the same amount that Best Buy was going to charge us) but he would be able to have it done by the next afternoon - and to ME, paying that much to have it done overnight was worth it. Paying that much to have to wait 5 to 7 business days? Not so much. So, we told him to go ahead and work on it and we would pick it up tomorrow!
June 13, 2011 - Rotterdam Jct., NY
Sabbatical Day 17 | June 13, 2011
Rotterdam Jct., NY
Today I got to sleep in a little bit which was way super nice. I got up and showered and then my cousin and her boyfriend came over to take me to the mall so that Julie and I could get pedicures (YAY!). It actually turned into a family field trip because we convinced my grandmother to come along, and Matt so that we could all go out to lunch. Since the whole gang was going, and since it was lunch time, we decided to eat first so we went to Ninety Nine (http://www.99restaurants.com/). I had the salmon ceasar salad and it was delicious! The salmon was so filling I could barely eat half the salad!
After lunch, Julie and I went to get our nails done and everyone else left to walk the mall. Once Julie and I finished, we joined them to browse the mall. While he was waiting for us, Matt found a computer shop in the mall that said that they would be willing to look at my computer and if they were able to fix it, they would either do it same day or guarantee to have it done by the next day (YAY) which is TONS better than the crap that Best Buy was telling me!! I also stopped into FYE where my grandmother decided to fuel my Domo obsession by pointing out all the Domo stuff to Matt - who, in turn, pointed it all out to me. My wallet officiallly wept. My Domo collection officially grew. Bwa ha ha ha We also stopped by the pet store where I got to fall in love with a bunch of dogs that Matt won't let me have and I got to pet some bunnies. And since I know that Spencer's Gifts likes to carry Domo items, we stopped in there too - and I found a fleece Domo blanket! Whooooo Hoooooooo!
We then headed home because my grandma needed to make sure Lily (her dog) got dinner and then we went out to Friendly's for supper. I still haven't ordered my usual Fishamajig... I think I am going to have to make my dad take me to Friendly's now... hmmm. I DID order a yummy Reese's Peanut Buttercup sundae which was GREAT! Now it's time to just flop around and enjoy the rest of the night!
Rotterdam Jct., NY
Today I got to sleep in a little bit which was way super nice. I got up and showered and then my cousin and her boyfriend came over to take me to the mall so that Julie and I could get pedicures (YAY!). It actually turned into a family field trip because we convinced my grandmother to come along, and Matt so that we could all go out to lunch. Since the whole gang was going, and since it was lunch time, we decided to eat first so we went to Ninety Nine (http://www.99restaurants.com/). I had the salmon ceasar salad and it was delicious! The salmon was so filling I could barely eat half the salad!
After lunch, Julie and I went to get our nails done and everyone else left to walk the mall. Once Julie and I finished, we joined them to browse the mall. While he was waiting for us, Matt found a computer shop in the mall that said that they would be willing to look at my computer and if they were able to fix it, they would either do it same day or guarantee to have it done by the next day (YAY) which is TONS better than the crap that Best Buy was telling me!! I also stopped into FYE where my grandmother decided to fuel my Domo obsession by pointing out all the Domo stuff to Matt - who, in turn, pointed it all out to me. My wallet officiallly wept. My Domo collection officially grew. Bwa ha ha ha We also stopped by the pet store where I got to fall in love with a bunch of dogs that Matt won't let me have and I got to pet some bunnies. And since I know that Spencer's Gifts likes to carry Domo items, we stopped in there too - and I found a fleece Domo blanket! Whooooo Hoooooooo!
We then headed home because my grandma needed to make sure Lily (her dog) got dinner and then we went out to Friendly's for supper. I still haven't ordered my usual Fishamajig... I think I am going to have to make my dad take me to Friendly's now... hmmm. I DID order a yummy Reese's Peanut Buttercup sundae which was GREAT! Now it's time to just flop around and enjoy the rest of the night!
June 12, 2011 - Rotterdam Jct., NY
Sabbatical Day 16 | June 12, 2011
Rotterdam Jct., NY
CONGRATULATIONS JULIE!!
This morning we got up way stinkin early and got ready for the day - it's graduation day!
We won't talk about the drive to, or from, graduation - let's just say that it wasn't pleasant. But let's DO talk about graduation!! It was nice to be there - so far I have been able to make it to the last 3 cousin college graduations! Christine's, I surprised my grandmother - she didn't know that I was coming out for it. David's I planned on being at, and for Julie's I didn't think that I would make it ... but I did!! Yay!! After graduation was over, we took some family pictures and then Jules went in to get her diploma. I then went into the bookstore to FINALLY get my Union College sweatshirt that I have been asking for for the last 8 years! lol Rumor has it that I just needed to wait until Christmas so if Santa wants to give me a second one, I'm totally fine with that!! ha ha ha We then headed to my grandmother's for lunch.
My Aunt and Uncle graciously invited Matt and I to join them at Julie's graduation dinner so we met them at A Taste of Europe in Cobleskill, NY (http://www.atasteofeuropeny.com/). We were also able to share the evening with my grandmother, Julie's other grandmother, David, and Julie's boyfriend Alex. Dinner was even more special because the restaurant is normally closed on Sundays but the owner is a close friend of my Uncle and they opened the restaurant just for Julie's dinner! AW!! And the food was divine! Pretty much everyone ordered something different and they were super cool enough to let me have a bite of each of their dinners. I love my family!! Oh my God and the desserts!! Mmmmmm YUM!! It was a looong dinner so we are pretty much going to bed now that we are back home.
Nighters!
Rotterdam Jct., NY
CONGRATULATIONS JULIE!!
This morning we got up way stinkin early and got ready for the day - it's graduation day!
We won't talk about the drive to, or from, graduation - let's just say that it wasn't pleasant. But let's DO talk about graduation!! It was nice to be there - so far I have been able to make it to the last 3 cousin college graduations! Christine's, I surprised my grandmother - she didn't know that I was coming out for it. David's I planned on being at, and for Julie's I didn't think that I would make it ... but I did!! Yay!! After graduation was over, we took some family pictures and then Jules went in to get her diploma. I then went into the bookstore to FINALLY get my Union College sweatshirt that I have been asking for for the last 8 years! lol Rumor has it that I just needed to wait until Christmas so if Santa wants to give me a second one, I'm totally fine with that!! ha ha ha We then headed to my grandmother's for lunch.
My Aunt and Uncle graciously invited Matt and I to join them at Julie's graduation dinner so we met them at A Taste of Europe in Cobleskill, NY (http://www.atasteofeuropeny.com/). We were also able to share the evening with my grandmother, Julie's other grandmother, David, and Julie's boyfriend Alex. Dinner was even more special because the restaurant is normally closed on Sundays but the owner is a close friend of my Uncle and they opened the restaurant just for Julie's dinner! AW!! And the food was divine! Pretty much everyone ordered something different and they were super cool enough to let me have a bite of each of their dinners. I love my family!! Oh my God and the desserts!! Mmmmmm YUM!! It was a looong dinner so we are pretty much going to bed now that we are back home.
Nighters!
Allentown, PA --> Rotterdam Jct., NY
Sabbatical Day 15 | June 11, 2011
Allentown, PA --> Rotterdam Jct., NY
Today was SUPPOSED to be a quick day - "supposed to" being the operant term here.
First on the agenda was the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA (http://www.crayola.com/factory/). When we got into town, it was a bit of a challenge to find a parking space. We finally found one and we walked over to Crayola. They were also holding their local Farmer's Market at the same time so in front of Crayola, they had built some amazing sand sculptures and used Crayola chalk to add some color to them. They were incredibly impressive!
Unfortunately, it was not the real manufacturing plant but more of an interactive/hands on center. After a lot of deliberation, we decided to check it out anyway. As we walked through, there were a lot of different activities that you could do using the different products that Crayola makes and they really didn't care that we were adults - we were welcome to do them too! They also had a 20 minute demonstration where they show you how they make crayons and markers. Crayola started to make crayons on June 10, 1903 (kinda fun that we were there on June 11!!) and a box of 8 originally sold for 5 cents! Now, they make up to 5 billion crayons a day!! I also learned that 2 gallons of wax makes 1200 crayons!! Crayola also uses only cornstarch and water to affix the labels to the crayons because they recognized that it should be safe for children. While making the crayons, any crayons that are not perfect after they are made and any unused wax is recycled and made into the next batch of crayons. Cool! Did you know that if a Crayola marker dries out due to the cap being left off, you should be able to bring it back to life? Just soak the tip in warm water for about 10 seconds and then put the cap back on - lay the marker on it's side for about 24 hours and it should then come back to life unless it has run out of ink! Neat!!
During the demonstration, they do make a small batch of crayons (1200) - so, it's not as cool and great as it would have been to see them make a HUGE batch of crayons in the manufacturing plant, but it was still cool to see them really make the crayons, just like they would in real life! Does that make sense? As a kid I just remember seeing them make crayons during the little video segment that they would show on Mr. Roger's and I wanted to see that so bad. So, it wasn't AS cool as seeing how they did it in the video - but, seeing it on the smaller scale was equally cool to me. It satisfied my childhood dream of seeing them make the crayons in person! Then we visited the Crayola shop and I now introduce to you the day's delay LOL
In the Crayola shop, they have the World's Largest Crayon that they made out of "Leftolas" (small bits of worn down crayons). It stands 15 feet tall and weighs 1,500 lbs. It was absolutely cool to see! They also had a LOT of fun Crayola products! Yeeeaaah - a long time and a parking ticket later (Matt's!! Apparently, in Pennsylvania, you are supposed to feed the meter on Saturdays too unlike the rest of the world. Oops!), we were finally back on the road!
From Crayola, we went to the Nay Aug Gorge treehouse (http://www.treehouses.org/projects/Nayaugpark.shtml). The treehouse was INCREDIBLE! You have to hike into the park a little bit but then you come up to the entrance to the treehouse. Then, you walk out to it and you don't really think about it but as you go, you realize that the pathway is built around the trees and it's actually a bridge. It's hard to describe but it's super super cool. Once you are out in the treehouse, you are just overcome by the gorgeous view. Looking down, you can also see the creek that runs below the treehouse... 150 feet down!! It was beautiful!
Then it was time to head into New York! Our last stop along the way was to find Blossom the Black Angus Bull (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/7574). We weren't originally able to find it but, after a little hunting, we were able to find it! Unfortunately, it had started to rain so the first few pictures I took were from the car. But, Matt thought that we should have a Domo/Blossom photo so he got out to help with that - it also gave me the opportunity to get a comparison photo to show you guys just how tall it was! While he was out playing n the rain, Matt checked out the Story Garden that was just across from the statue. After a few minutes he came to get me so I could check it out too. I'm glad that we did! The Story Garden is a Children's Interactive Garden on the grounds of The Discovery Center and it contains 13 different interactive areas, which focus on themes from children's literature. SO CUTE!! It was just super colorful (even with the rain) and it just had a really great vibe about it! I loved that they had books in there for kids to read (they were laminated so that they could withstand the elements) and they ENCOURAGED kids to interact with the garden and to have fun! There was also a little garden in there that was built around the Peter Rabbit theme and the herbs and vegetables that they grew in there were donated to the local food bank - but they used that area to teach the kids about gardening and compost, etc. My other favorite was the 'foot' bridge that was painted to look like a foot and just under the bridge, they had feet sticking out from under it like the Wicked Witch of the West's feet, and a few others. They also used different shoes as planters around the bridge. I liked the ski boot and the wellies that they used. It was an amazing place and I'm glad we took the extra time to check it out.
From Binghamton, we were going to stop to see a few other attractions but it was starting to get dark and we were already running late so I will try to catch them on my way back west. We did see a wild turkey though! At about 10 we decided we should probably get some dinner before it got much later so we stopped at Top's Diner which used to be one of my grandfather's favorite places to go. Apparently I haven't been there in a LONG time because they had totally remodeled the place! The food was good though so we ate quickly and then headed to my grandmother's house! Now, it is time to unwind and get caught up with my grandmother AND get to bed early because we have an early day tomorrow!!
Allentown, PA --> Rotterdam Jct., NY
Today was SUPPOSED to be a quick day - "supposed to" being the operant term here.
First on the agenda was the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA (http://www.crayola.com/factory/). When we got into town, it was a bit of a challenge to find a parking space. We finally found one and we walked over to Crayola. They were also holding their local Farmer's Market at the same time so in front of Crayola, they had built some amazing sand sculptures and used Crayola chalk to add some color to them. They were incredibly impressive!
Unfortunately, it was not the real manufacturing plant but more of an interactive/hands on center. After a lot of deliberation, we decided to check it out anyway. As we walked through, there were a lot of different activities that you could do using the different products that Crayola makes and they really didn't care that we were adults - we were welcome to do them too! They also had a 20 minute demonstration where they show you how they make crayons and markers. Crayola started to make crayons on June 10, 1903 (kinda fun that we were there on June 11!!) and a box of 8 originally sold for 5 cents! Now, they make up to 5 billion crayons a day!! I also learned that 2 gallons of wax makes 1200 crayons!! Crayola also uses only cornstarch and water to affix the labels to the crayons because they recognized that it should be safe for children. While making the crayons, any crayons that are not perfect after they are made and any unused wax is recycled and made into the next batch of crayons. Cool! Did you know that if a Crayola marker dries out due to the cap being left off, you should be able to bring it back to life? Just soak the tip in warm water for about 10 seconds and then put the cap back on - lay the marker on it's side for about 24 hours and it should then come back to life unless it has run out of ink! Neat!!
During the demonstration, they do make a small batch of crayons (1200) - so, it's not as cool and great as it would have been to see them make a HUGE batch of crayons in the manufacturing plant, but it was still cool to see them really make the crayons, just like they would in real life! Does that make sense? As a kid I just remember seeing them make crayons during the little video segment that they would show on Mr. Roger's and I wanted to see that so bad. So, it wasn't AS cool as seeing how they did it in the video - but, seeing it on the smaller scale was equally cool to me. It satisfied my childhood dream of seeing them make the crayons in person! Then we visited the Crayola shop and I now introduce to you the day's delay LOL
In the Crayola shop, they have the World's Largest Crayon that they made out of "Leftolas" (small bits of worn down crayons). It stands 15 feet tall and weighs 1,500 lbs. It was absolutely cool to see! They also had a LOT of fun Crayola products! Yeeeaaah - a long time and a parking ticket later (Matt's!! Apparently, in Pennsylvania, you are supposed to feed the meter on Saturdays too unlike the rest of the world. Oops!), we were finally back on the road!
From Crayola, we went to the Nay Aug Gorge treehouse (http://www.treehouses.org/projects/Nayaugpark.shtml). The treehouse was INCREDIBLE! You have to hike into the park a little bit but then you come up to the entrance to the treehouse. Then, you walk out to it and you don't really think about it but as you go, you realize that the pathway is built around the trees and it's actually a bridge. It's hard to describe but it's super super cool. Once you are out in the treehouse, you are just overcome by the gorgeous view. Looking down, you can also see the creek that runs below the treehouse... 150 feet down!! It was beautiful!
Then it was time to head into New York! Our last stop along the way was to find Blossom the Black Angus Bull (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/7574). We weren't originally able to find it but, after a little hunting, we were able to find it! Unfortunately, it had started to rain so the first few pictures I took were from the car. But, Matt thought that we should have a Domo/Blossom photo so he got out to help with that - it also gave me the opportunity to get a comparison photo to show you guys just how tall it was! While he was out playing n the rain, Matt checked out the Story Garden that was just across from the statue. After a few minutes he came to get me so I could check it out too. I'm glad that we did! The Story Garden is a Children's Interactive Garden on the grounds of The Discovery Center and it contains 13 different interactive areas, which focus on themes from children's literature. SO CUTE!! It was just super colorful (even with the rain) and it just had a really great vibe about it! I loved that they had books in there for kids to read (they were laminated so that they could withstand the elements) and they ENCOURAGED kids to interact with the garden and to have fun! There was also a little garden in there that was built around the Peter Rabbit theme and the herbs and vegetables that they grew in there were donated to the local food bank - but they used that area to teach the kids about gardening and compost, etc. My other favorite was the 'foot' bridge that was painted to look like a foot and just under the bridge, they had feet sticking out from under it like the Wicked Witch of the West's feet, and a few others. They also used different shoes as planters around the bridge. I liked the ski boot and the wellies that they used. It was an amazing place and I'm glad we took the extra time to check it out.
From Binghamton, we were going to stop to see a few other attractions but it was starting to get dark and we were already running late so I will try to catch them on my way back west. We did see a wild turkey though! At about 10 we decided we should probably get some dinner before it got much later so we stopped at Top's Diner which used to be one of my grandfather's favorite places to go. Apparently I haven't been there in a LONG time because they had totally remodeled the place! The food was good though so we ate quickly and then headed to my grandmother's house! Now, it is time to unwind and get caught up with my grandmother AND get to bed early because we have an early day tomorrow!!
Millersville, MD --> Allentown, PA
Sabbatical Day 14 | June 10, 2011
Millersville, MD --> Allentown, PA
Today was scheduled to be a pretty long driving day so we tried to head out as early as we could. If you look at a map, its only like a three hour drive, but Matt had us going the loooong way so that I got to see a few more states. Instead of going North from Maryland to Pennsylvania, we drove East through Delaware and New Jersey, and then Northwest into Pennsylvania. With the changes, we were scheduled to add like four more hours to our trip!! *phew!*
First on the agenda was the Tree Hugger Tree in Baltimore, MD. Basically, some of the locals have been knitting a "sweater" for one of the trees and putting it ON the tree. As the tree grows, they cut it off and make it a little bigger - or they will change it for the season. It was cute! Domo and I had a good time taking pictures and he even gave the tree a hug too! While I was taking pictures, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. I actually did answer the phone (I don't normally answer if I don't recognize the number) and it was the KOA that we had just left and they wanted to let us know that they had found Matt's driver's license. Whoopsie!! I reluctantly headed back to the car to let him know that we were going to be delayed a bit more since we had to go BACK to Millersville to get his ID before we could continue with our trip.
After retrieving his ID, we headed to Newark, DE to see the Huge Doctor's Bag with Stethoscope (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/18430) that is ... maybe, 14 feet tall? It was more of a fun to see, hop quick out of the car and get a picture kind of thing. We didn't dally much since it was so hot but Domo got his picture in and he was happy. From the doctor's bag, we went to see the 34 foot tall stainless steel Mary in front of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in New Castle, DE (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/12889). She was absolutely stunning! What made her even more impressive is that if you get up close, you find that she is made of individual pieces of steel that were all connected together. Each piece was probably the dimensions of a wooden ruler. I didn't see her face up close but I would imagine that it is individual pieces as well. All along the bottom of the statue are rosaries that people have left for her. I just couldn't get past her face! I tried and tried but I don't think my pictures do this statue the justice it deserves - her face is absolutely stunning and just resonated with me so much that I had to keep trying to get a good picture of her face so I could share it with you guys!
We then had a fun stop! We went to Haddonfield, NJ to Hadrosaurus Park where we visited the World's First Dinosaur Skeleton Discovery site. The Hadrosaurus foulkii was the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton found in October, 1858 and it was the first to be mounted for public display. The discovery of this skeleton sparked the start of the field of dinosaur paleontology. At the site, they have a small marker and a plaque. But, among the locals, there is an unspoken tradition of leaving toy dinosaurs at the site and if you take a dinosaur, they trust that you will leave one in it's place. It was cute to see all the toy dinosaurs randomly lying about!
And then it was time for Philly!! Our first stop was at the Magic Garden (http://www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org/) which is, what I thought, a 'garden' between two buildings that someone created using mortar and recycled glass, bottles, plates, metal bike rims, etc. and he made like a maze between th two buildings. Come to find out, it's not just between the two buildings! There is actually a shop/gallery that you can go into and then enter the actual 'garden' that is between the two buildings and this garden is just this huge maze that this guy built using these recycled materials. It really was quite amazing and there was just so much to see! You could spend days in there and still not see everything. I overheard one of the artists there giving an interview and he said that the guy that created this place works from 6am to 6pm, every day, working on his art. Since it is an outdoor exhibit, he does have to sometimes rebuild - especially after the winter. I really enjoyed walking through and seeing everything - the little girls from the other group that came in were running around trying to find one another and it was cute at first but then got kind of annoying since the walkways weren't very wide. Ah well.
At this point we were feeling hunger pangs, so of COURSE we had to find a Philly cheese steak sandwhich but where the heck to go?? God bless social media in these situations! I hopped on Facebook and we were guided to either Pat's, or Geno's (which, by the way, was literally kitty corner from Pat's!!) - thanks Andre and Matt!! We decided to try Pat's. Once we found the restaurant, we were fortunate enough to also find a parking spot, which apparently is ALSO a good thing since there was a home game!! I was nervous about ordering because I have never had a Philly cheese steak sandwich before (I know, it's a crime to be from New England and to never have one, but what can I say??) and based on the instructions next to the order window, you better not screw up! Thankfully, I was able to place my order incident free and my sandwhich was ready before I had even finished paying! We grabbed some drinks, napkins, found a table, and had lunch! It was marvelous! Totally worth the trip!
We then went on the hunt for the Board Game Art Park (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/22535) which is a plaza that has sculpted game pieces throughout. We were finally directed to it by the b$%^ and found that it was right across from City Hall which, including the statue, is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only .5 m (1 ft 8 in) shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin. However, Matt ended up having to let me out of the car so that I could get started on taking pictures while he tried to find a parking space. Unfortunately, he didn't drop me off in the right spot so I wasn't sure where to go. Conveniently, he did drop me off just outside of 'Love' park (http://www.fairmountpark.org/jfkplaza.asp). I took some pictures there and was able to find a local police officer to see if she could help me find the park. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure where it was either. As she was looking up the location for me, I spotted one of the 'Sorry' pieces across the street, thanked her for her time, and headed on my way! It was fun to see the oversized game pieces! There were chess pieces, pieces from Monopoly, a few Dominoes, some Bingo pieces, and some pieces from 'Sorry'. It was cool but I wish they had been maintained a bit better. Eh - no biggie!
You can't go to Philly without seeing the Rocky statue! However, I also recommend doing some research before undertaking such a task to make sure you know WHERE it is first because apparently they like to move him around! Matt had loaded in the address that he had for the statue but that ended up taking us to the baseball stadium which was super crazy because the game was just starting. However, he had been moved back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to the base of the stairs. So we headed over there and found a parking spot. We got out and took some pictures of the statue - we even egged a girl on into having her picture taken with her other friend whom she had egged on into posing like the statue for a picture. It was hilarious! We didn't run the stairs like I had originally wanted to do but Domo did and so we got a picture of that. By this time the sun was setting so we had to get a move on so that we didn't arrive to our KOA too terribly late.
From Philly, we headed to Quakertown, PA where we had dinner at John's Plain & Fancy (http://johnsplainandfancy.com/) where I had the BEST crab cakes EVAH! Oh. My. GOD they were good!! Unfortunately, they were also filling and I wasn't able to finish them :0( Technically, there was only one actual crab cake and two crab stuffed shrimp but in reality, there were 3 crab cakes with a butterflied shrimp under two of them lol! Oh, it was soooo good!! Sitting behind us, at the counter, were some of the regulars that come into the restaurant frequently (this tidbit of info was gleaned based on the fact that the waiter knew them by name and that they were comfortable enough to sit and watch a movie at the counter on a portable DVD player). One of the gentlemen was a larger man, but he had a voice that was so deep and rumbly and so spot on that I thought that it was the guy that was the voice of Jabba the Hut (a quick IMDB search proved that he was, sadly, not the actor). Even the laugh!! It totally made dinner a treat! I LOVED his laugh!!
After dinner, we went to find the giant dumbell (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/14052) which was supposed to be behind a local gym equipment store. The GPS didn't do such a great job getting there so we had to help her out a bit with Google maps. Good to find this out while I had Matt WITH me instead of while I am trying to find my way back to Utah! LOL We did eventually find it and I would say that it stood at about 9 feet tall maybe? It was definitely not designed to move at all! They were freaking HEAVY! We took a few photos and then it was off to find our KOA!
One of the great things that I like about being back on the East coast is that whenever you drive somewhere, it becomes a nature "treasure hunt". On the way to our KOA we saw a herd of about 6 or 7 deer grazing along side the road! Then, just as we were about to pull up to the main office of the KOA, we saw ANOTHER deer that had been standing in the road but was heading into the woods as we approached! THAT one was stinkin cool because the deer was right there in the camp ground! LOVED it! As we pulled up to our 'kabin', one of the KOA employees drove up in his cart to welcome us and to make sure everything was okay with our kabin. It was great and now we are just getting ready for bed - family time tomorrow!!
Millersville, MD --> Allentown, PA
Today was scheduled to be a pretty long driving day so we tried to head out as early as we could. If you look at a map, its only like a three hour drive, but Matt had us going the loooong way so that I got to see a few more states. Instead of going North from Maryland to Pennsylvania, we drove East through Delaware and New Jersey, and then Northwest into Pennsylvania. With the changes, we were scheduled to add like four more hours to our trip!! *phew!*
First on the agenda was the Tree Hugger Tree in Baltimore, MD. Basically, some of the locals have been knitting a "sweater" for one of the trees and putting it ON the tree. As the tree grows, they cut it off and make it a little bigger - or they will change it for the season. It was cute! Domo and I had a good time taking pictures and he even gave the tree a hug too! While I was taking pictures, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize. I actually did answer the phone (I don't normally answer if I don't recognize the number) and it was the KOA that we had just left and they wanted to let us know that they had found Matt's driver's license. Whoopsie!! I reluctantly headed back to the car to let him know that we were going to be delayed a bit more since we had to go BACK to Millersville to get his ID before we could continue with our trip.
After retrieving his ID, we headed to Newark, DE to see the Huge Doctor's Bag with Stethoscope (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/18430) that is ... maybe, 14 feet tall? It was more of a fun to see, hop quick out of the car and get a picture kind of thing. We didn't dally much since it was so hot but Domo got his picture in and he was happy. From the doctor's bag, we went to see the 34 foot tall stainless steel Mary in front of the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in New Castle, DE (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/12889). She was absolutely stunning! What made her even more impressive is that if you get up close, you find that she is made of individual pieces of steel that were all connected together. Each piece was probably the dimensions of a wooden ruler. I didn't see her face up close but I would imagine that it is individual pieces as well. All along the bottom of the statue are rosaries that people have left for her. I just couldn't get past her face! I tried and tried but I don't think my pictures do this statue the justice it deserves - her face is absolutely stunning and just resonated with me so much that I had to keep trying to get a good picture of her face so I could share it with you guys!
We then had a fun stop! We went to Haddonfield, NJ to Hadrosaurus Park where we visited the World's First Dinosaur Skeleton Discovery site. The Hadrosaurus foulkii was the first nearly complete dinosaur skeleton found in October, 1858 and it was the first to be mounted for public display. The discovery of this skeleton sparked the start of the field of dinosaur paleontology. At the site, they have a small marker and a plaque. But, among the locals, there is an unspoken tradition of leaving toy dinosaurs at the site and if you take a dinosaur, they trust that you will leave one in it's place. It was cute to see all the toy dinosaurs randomly lying about!
And then it was time for Philly!! Our first stop was at the Magic Garden (http://www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org/) which is, what I thought, a 'garden' between two buildings that someone created using mortar and recycled glass, bottles, plates, metal bike rims, etc. and he made like a maze between th two buildings. Come to find out, it's not just between the two buildings! There is actually a shop/gallery that you can go into and then enter the actual 'garden' that is between the two buildings and this garden is just this huge maze that this guy built using these recycled materials. It really was quite amazing and there was just so much to see! You could spend days in there and still not see everything. I overheard one of the artists there giving an interview and he said that the guy that created this place works from 6am to 6pm, every day, working on his art. Since it is an outdoor exhibit, he does have to sometimes rebuild - especially after the winter. I really enjoyed walking through and seeing everything - the little girls from the other group that came in were running around trying to find one another and it was cute at first but then got kind of annoying since the walkways weren't very wide. Ah well.
At this point we were feeling hunger pangs, so of COURSE we had to find a Philly cheese steak sandwhich but where the heck to go?? God bless social media in these situations! I hopped on Facebook and we were guided to either Pat's, or Geno's (which, by the way, was literally kitty corner from Pat's!!) - thanks Andre and Matt!! We decided to try Pat's. Once we found the restaurant, we were fortunate enough to also find a parking spot, which apparently is ALSO a good thing since there was a home game!! I was nervous about ordering because I have never had a Philly cheese steak sandwich before (I know, it's a crime to be from New England and to never have one, but what can I say??) and based on the instructions next to the order window, you better not screw up! Thankfully, I was able to place my order incident free and my sandwhich was ready before I had even finished paying! We grabbed some drinks, napkins, found a table, and had lunch! It was marvelous! Totally worth the trip!
We then went on the hunt for the Board Game Art Park (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/22535) which is a plaza that has sculpted game pieces throughout. We were finally directed to it by the b$%^ and found that it was right across from City Hall which, including the statue, is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only .5 m (1 ft 8 in) shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin. However, Matt ended up having to let me out of the car so that I could get started on taking pictures while he tried to find a parking space. Unfortunately, he didn't drop me off in the right spot so I wasn't sure where to go. Conveniently, he did drop me off just outside of 'Love' park (http://www.fairmountpark.org/jfkplaza.asp). I took some pictures there and was able to find a local police officer to see if she could help me find the park. Unfortunately, she wasn't sure where it was either. As she was looking up the location for me, I spotted one of the 'Sorry' pieces across the street, thanked her for her time, and headed on my way! It was fun to see the oversized game pieces! There were chess pieces, pieces from Monopoly, a few Dominoes, some Bingo pieces, and some pieces from 'Sorry'. It was cool but I wish they had been maintained a bit better. Eh - no biggie!
You can't go to Philly without seeing the Rocky statue! However, I also recommend doing some research before undertaking such a task to make sure you know WHERE it is first because apparently they like to move him around! Matt had loaded in the address that he had for the statue but that ended up taking us to the baseball stadium which was super crazy because the game was just starting. However, he had been moved back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, to the base of the stairs. So we headed over there and found a parking spot. We got out and took some pictures of the statue - we even egged a girl on into having her picture taken with her other friend whom she had egged on into posing like the statue for a picture. It was hilarious! We didn't run the stairs like I had originally wanted to do but Domo did and so we got a picture of that. By this time the sun was setting so we had to get a move on so that we didn't arrive to our KOA too terribly late.
From Philly, we headed to Quakertown, PA where we had dinner at John's Plain & Fancy (http://johnsplainandfancy.com/) where I had the BEST crab cakes EVAH! Oh. My. GOD they were good!! Unfortunately, they were also filling and I wasn't able to finish them :0( Technically, there was only one actual crab cake and two crab stuffed shrimp but in reality, there were 3 crab cakes with a butterflied shrimp under two of them lol! Oh, it was soooo good!! Sitting behind us, at the counter, were some of the regulars that come into the restaurant frequently (this tidbit of info was gleaned based on the fact that the waiter knew them by name and that they were comfortable enough to sit and watch a movie at the counter on a portable DVD player). One of the gentlemen was a larger man, but he had a voice that was so deep and rumbly and so spot on that I thought that it was the guy that was the voice of Jabba the Hut (a quick IMDB search proved that he was, sadly, not the actor). Even the laugh!! It totally made dinner a treat! I LOVED his laugh!!
After dinner, we went to find the giant dumbell (http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/14052) which was supposed to be behind a local gym equipment store. The GPS didn't do such a great job getting there so we had to help her out a bit with Google maps. Good to find this out while I had Matt WITH me instead of while I am trying to find my way back to Utah! LOL We did eventually find it and I would say that it stood at about 9 feet tall maybe? It was definitely not designed to move at all! They were freaking HEAVY! We took a few photos and then it was off to find our KOA!
One of the great things that I like about being back on the East coast is that whenever you drive somewhere, it becomes a nature "treasure hunt". On the way to our KOA we saw a herd of about 6 or 7 deer grazing along side the road! Then, just as we were about to pull up to the main office of the KOA, we saw ANOTHER deer that had been standing in the road but was heading into the woods as we approached! THAT one was stinkin cool because the deer was right there in the camp ground! LOVED it! As we pulled up to our 'kabin', one of the KOA employees drove up in his cart to welcome us and to make sure everything was okay with our kabin. It was great and now we are just getting ready for bed - family time tomorrow!!
Washington, D.C. (and the other nearby areas)
Sabbatical Days 12 & 13 | June 8 and 9, 2011
Washington, D.C. (and the other nearby areas)
Wednesday:
OH. MY. GOD!!! Can it BE any freaking hotter??? MIS-ER-A-BLE!!
When I woke up, I checked the Weather Channel app on my phone to get an idea of what we were facing for the day and discovered that a severe heat advisory had been issued for the urban DC area - EEP!! We decided to push through and head into the city anyway, so I got showered and we headed out. At first, it wasn't all that bad. We headed into New Carrolton, where we parked the car and picked up a pass for the Metro, which we then took into the city. This was actually a very lovely experience and we got to do some people watching. There are some absolutely gorgeous people in DC!
When we got off the train we first went to the Smithsonian Institution Building (i.e. the Castle) and had some lunch. While we were eating, we had to share a table and we got to meet some very pleasant people! The first couple was an older couple and they were almost done eating so we didn't get to talk to them very much but then we were joined by a very lovely couple from Australia that were on a 5 MONTH holiday and they were doing something very similar to what Matt and I are doing (taking a road trip to see the US) but they are doing it as part of a home exchange so they are branching out from a few main cities and taking little trips from there. It was really fun getting to know them! Theeen the day started to get interesting.
From the Castle we went to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and that is when it started to get hotter. We tried to stick to the shade as much as possible but that was a luxury that was few and far between. When we got to the museum, there were a few artifacts at the sides of the walkway as you started to head into the museum. We walked through some of the bigger exhibits and then sat down to watch a short movie that they were showing. It was a very nice building, but it was not set up very well to handle large amounts of people/tour groups. It has a lot of potential to be something great. There were a few times that we got stuck behind a tour group so we couldn't finish seeing what we were looking at, or we would have to navigate around them. Even then, it was like a maze to get through the different exhibits and you weren't sure if you were heading into a dead end, or if you were coming up to an emergency exit or what. And for a four story building, you would think there would be more to see. Essentially all the exhibits were on the 4th floor, the third floor was mostly classrooms/interactive exhibits, the second floor was the store and the bottom floor was mostly open - there were a few boats to see in the main entryway. But it wasn't all bad - as we were walking into the store, they had some beadwork up along the wall and one piece was the United States flag. But instead of stars, it was the abbreviations for each state and then in the stripes of the flag, they had worked in the pledge of allegiance. It was super cool.
After the American Indian museum, we decided that we were going to go to the Smithsonian American History Museum - which of COURSE was all the way back on the OTHER side of the National Mall and it very well may have been the longest walk in history due to the heat! On the way there, we passed through the outside garden of the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. There is a HUGE fountain in there that people were playing in and also a gigantic metal tree that was just happily shining in the sun. But the COOLEST was a house sculpture in there that seemed 3-D and it seemed to rotate with you as you walked past. However, it was a completely flat, un-moving piece! SUPER neat! After what seemed like a million years, we finally made it to th American History Museum and found a place to sit. Thankfully it was right near the water fountain because I am pretty sure I refilled that bottle at least 6 times!! I was literally melting!
Our first stop in the museum was Julia Childs' kitchen. It was so cool to see! But it was also packed! This was the kitchen that Julia used for almost 45 years and filmed many of her shows in - it was gifted to the Smithsonian in 2001 and it is set up exactly as it was in her home. I really enjoyed getting to see it in person and to see how she had her kitchen set up. They also had a lot of pictures of her up and some quotes as well. I'm glad we stopped to see it!
From there, we went to see the dresses of the First Ladies. It is a collection of gowns worn by the First Ladies either at a State Dinner or the Inaugural Ball. The featured dresses were Helen Taft's Inaugural Ball gown and Michelle Obama's Inaugural gown - both were absolutely stunning! I was really drawn to the dresses of Mary Lincoln Todd and Martha Washington. Ms. Todd had such a tiny waist!! and Ms. Washington was very short! If she were alive today and were to stand next to me, she MIGHT reach my shoulder. These are things that you just don't get from photos!
After the dresses, we passed through a few other smaller exhibits and then we headed for the Metro again. From there we headed to the Braddock Rd station where we stopped over at Grassroots restaurant for some water and then my cousin Christine and her husband, John, picked us up. We had the honor of meeting their beagle, Gizmo, who is abso-stinkin-lutely adorable and we got to see their new home as well! From there, we went to Ray's Hell Burger for dinner which is also a popular haunt for the President of the United States from time to time. Matt and I both had the Soul Burger (Yummy!) and John went on a more adventurous route and tried the burger with bone marrow on it (BARF!). He SAYS that it was decent but that he would probably not ever get it again... I totally give him major points for even trying it a first time! .:shudder:. Once we finished eating, John piloted us to see the Iwo Jima memorial which was breath taking at sunset! You never realize just how big something is until you are actually standing next to it and this memorial is HUGE! Every photo that I have seen of this memorial seem to make it seem smaller, or look as if the image is taken from a long distance away, but when we walked up to it it was absolutely awe inspiring. Words cannot express how glad I am to have had the chance to see it in person! From there, we went to see the Air Force Memorial and that was also neat to see. When you look at it, it looks just like the jet stream from 3 jets moving away from one another into 3 different directions. It's very simple. After talking to my friend, he said that it's more moving if you are out amongst the graves in the Arlington Cemetary and look back on it. I will definitely have to do that the next time that we go to Washington! After seeing some of the sites, John and Christine took us back to the Metro and we headed back to our kabin.
Thursday - the day that I won the "Idiot of the Day" award:
After some deliberation, we decided that it was just too freaking hot to try to tackle D.C. again, so once we got up, we had a little breakfast and headed to the pool!! Since there was one lifeguard, there was a posted rule that we had to get out of the pool every hour on the hour so that he could test the chemical levels and monitor the water temperature. During one of the breaks, I decided I should put sunscreen on my tattoo to keep it from fading. I seriously have no idea why I didn't even THINK to cover the REST of my body!! DUH!!! Needless to say, when you spend from 10:30am to 5pm in the pool - you best be wearing sunscreen!! After I got out of the pool at 5, I went into the shop in the KOA main building to get a t-shirt because I had run out of shirts that I was okay with wearing out to dinner (i.e. all the ones that I had left in my suitcase were related to Angry Birds lol). After getting ready, we were back on the run again.
Tonight was one of the nights that I have been waiting MONTHS for - I got to see my best friend again after what seems like forever! Have you ever had one of those friends where you can not see each other for however long but as soon as you see one another again, you can pretty much pick up where you left off? It seems cliche, but, the kind of friend that grounds you and reminds you who you are? That's this friend and I was so stinking excited to see him!! We decided to have dinner at Pussers Caribbean Grille (http://pussersusa.com/) in Annapolis, MD and Matt couldn't drive fast enough to get there! And then we couldn't find the place fast enough!! But, we finally did and we found my friend waiting for us at a table outside next to a little waterway where we could watch boats come in and out of the harbor. While we were eating, we watched the thunderstorm roll in over Annapolis - it was amazing how fast people bolted inside to get out of the storm and how fast the restaurant picked up the tables and chairs. But not us!! We decided to rough it and watch the storm. I'm glad we did though! It never did rain but we got to see some really neat lightning! After dinner and desserts, we walked Annapolis a little bit but then it was time to say good night. My visits with my friend are never long enough but this was undeniably WAY too short!! Hopefully next time we can spend a lot more time with one another!
Now, it is time to organize our stuff and get ready to head out in the morning to continue our journey! Night!!
Washington, D.C. (and the other nearby areas)
Wednesday:
OH. MY. GOD!!! Can it BE any freaking hotter??? MIS-ER-A-BLE!!
When I woke up, I checked the Weather Channel app on my phone to get an idea of what we were facing for the day and discovered that a severe heat advisory had been issued for the urban DC area - EEP!! We decided to push through and head into the city anyway, so I got showered and we headed out. At first, it wasn't all that bad. We headed into New Carrolton, where we parked the car and picked up a pass for the Metro, which we then took into the city. This was actually a very lovely experience and we got to do some people watching. There are some absolutely gorgeous people in DC!
When we got off the train we first went to the Smithsonian Institution Building (i.e. the Castle) and had some lunch. While we were eating, we had to share a table and we got to meet some very pleasant people! The first couple was an older couple and they were almost done eating so we didn't get to talk to them very much but then we were joined by a very lovely couple from Australia that were on a 5 MONTH holiday and they were doing something very similar to what Matt and I are doing (taking a road trip to see the US) but they are doing it as part of a home exchange so they are branching out from a few main cities and taking little trips from there. It was really fun getting to know them! Theeen the day started to get interesting.
From the Castle we went to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and that is when it started to get hotter. We tried to stick to the shade as much as possible but that was a luxury that was few and far between. When we got to the museum, there were a few artifacts at the sides of the walkway as you started to head into the museum. We walked through some of the bigger exhibits and then sat down to watch a short movie that they were showing. It was a very nice building, but it was not set up very well to handle large amounts of people/tour groups. It has a lot of potential to be something great. There were a few times that we got stuck behind a tour group so we couldn't finish seeing what we were looking at, or we would have to navigate around them. Even then, it was like a maze to get through the different exhibits and you weren't sure if you were heading into a dead end, or if you were coming up to an emergency exit or what. And for a four story building, you would think there would be more to see. Essentially all the exhibits were on the 4th floor, the third floor was mostly classrooms/interactive exhibits, the second floor was the store and the bottom floor was mostly open - there were a few boats to see in the main entryway. But it wasn't all bad - as we were walking into the store, they had some beadwork up along the wall and one piece was the United States flag. But instead of stars, it was the abbreviations for each state and then in the stripes of the flag, they had worked in the pledge of allegiance. It was super cool.
After the American Indian museum, we decided that we were going to go to the Smithsonian American History Museum - which of COURSE was all the way back on the OTHER side of the National Mall and it very well may have been the longest walk in history due to the heat! On the way there, we passed through the outside garden of the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. There is a HUGE fountain in there that people were playing in and also a gigantic metal tree that was just happily shining in the sun. But the COOLEST was a house sculpture in there that seemed 3-D and it seemed to rotate with you as you walked past. However, it was a completely flat, un-moving piece! SUPER neat! After what seemed like a million years, we finally made it to th American History Museum and found a place to sit. Thankfully it was right near the water fountain because I am pretty sure I refilled that bottle at least 6 times!! I was literally melting!
Our first stop in the museum was Julia Childs' kitchen. It was so cool to see! But it was also packed! This was the kitchen that Julia used for almost 45 years and filmed many of her shows in - it was gifted to the Smithsonian in 2001 and it is set up exactly as it was in her home. I really enjoyed getting to see it in person and to see how she had her kitchen set up. They also had a lot of pictures of her up and some quotes as well. I'm glad we stopped to see it!
From there, we went to see the dresses of the First Ladies. It is a collection of gowns worn by the First Ladies either at a State Dinner or the Inaugural Ball. The featured dresses were Helen Taft's Inaugural Ball gown and Michelle Obama's Inaugural gown - both were absolutely stunning! I was really drawn to the dresses of Mary Lincoln Todd and Martha Washington. Ms. Todd had such a tiny waist!! and Ms. Washington was very short! If she were alive today and were to stand next to me, she MIGHT reach my shoulder. These are things that you just don't get from photos!
After the dresses, we passed through a few other smaller exhibits and then we headed for the Metro again. From there we headed to the Braddock Rd station where we stopped over at Grassroots restaurant for some water and then my cousin Christine and her husband, John, picked us up. We had the honor of meeting their beagle, Gizmo, who is abso-stinkin-lutely adorable and we got to see their new home as well! From there, we went to Ray's Hell Burger for dinner which is also a popular haunt for the President of the United States from time to time. Matt and I both had the Soul Burger (Yummy!) and John went on a more adventurous route and tried the burger with bone marrow on it (BARF!). He SAYS that it was decent but that he would probably not ever get it again... I totally give him major points for even trying it a first time! .:shudder:. Once we finished eating, John piloted us to see the Iwo Jima memorial which was breath taking at sunset! You never realize just how big something is until you are actually standing next to it and this memorial is HUGE! Every photo that I have seen of this memorial seem to make it seem smaller, or look as if the image is taken from a long distance away, but when we walked up to it it was absolutely awe inspiring. Words cannot express how glad I am to have had the chance to see it in person! From there, we went to see the Air Force Memorial and that was also neat to see. When you look at it, it looks just like the jet stream from 3 jets moving away from one another into 3 different directions. It's very simple. After talking to my friend, he said that it's more moving if you are out amongst the graves in the Arlington Cemetary and look back on it. I will definitely have to do that the next time that we go to Washington! After seeing some of the sites, John and Christine took us back to the Metro and we headed back to our kabin.
Thursday - the day that I won the "Idiot of the Day" award:
After some deliberation, we decided that it was just too freaking hot to try to tackle D.C. again, so once we got up, we had a little breakfast and headed to the pool!! Since there was one lifeguard, there was a posted rule that we had to get out of the pool every hour on the hour so that he could test the chemical levels and monitor the water temperature. During one of the breaks, I decided I should put sunscreen on my tattoo to keep it from fading. I seriously have no idea why I didn't even THINK to cover the REST of my body!! DUH!!! Needless to say, when you spend from 10:30am to 5pm in the pool - you best be wearing sunscreen!! After I got out of the pool at 5, I went into the shop in the KOA main building to get a t-shirt because I had run out of shirts that I was okay with wearing out to dinner (i.e. all the ones that I had left in my suitcase were related to Angry Birds lol). After getting ready, we were back on the run again.
Tonight was one of the nights that I have been waiting MONTHS for - I got to see my best friend again after what seems like forever! Have you ever had one of those friends where you can not see each other for however long but as soon as you see one another again, you can pretty much pick up where you left off? It seems cliche, but, the kind of friend that grounds you and reminds you who you are? That's this friend and I was so stinking excited to see him!! We decided to have dinner at Pussers Caribbean Grille (http://pussersusa.com/) in Annapolis, MD and Matt couldn't drive fast enough to get there! And then we couldn't find the place fast enough!! But, we finally did and we found my friend waiting for us at a table outside next to a little waterway where we could watch boats come in and out of the harbor. While we were eating, we watched the thunderstorm roll in over Annapolis - it was amazing how fast people bolted inside to get out of the storm and how fast the restaurant picked up the tables and chairs. But not us!! We decided to rough it and watch the storm. I'm glad we did though! It never did rain but we got to see some really neat lightning! After dinner and desserts, we walked Annapolis a little bit but then it was time to say good night. My visits with my friend are never long enough but this was undeniably WAY too short!! Hopefully next time we can spend a lot more time with one another!
Now, it is time to organize our stuff and get ready to head out in the morning to continue our journey! Night!!
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Natural Bridge, VA --> Millersville, MD (Washington, D.C. area)
Sabbatical Day 11 | June 7, 2011
Natural Bridge, VA --> Millersville, MD (Washington, D.C. area)
I am so stinkin' excited I can barely contain myself!! I have butterflies in my tummy and I can feel my face literally light up with excitement every time I think about tomorrow!! I get to see my cousin and quite possibly one of my bestest friends in the whole world!! YAY!!!! Uncontainable JOY!!
Most of me is terribly excited to start seeing my friends and family that I haven't seen in a while, but then there is a small part of me that is sad that we have already reached this part of the trip - the slowing down. I have become quite fond of the gypsy vacation style that we have taken on so far - the get up, go see stuff, stay at a different location each night kind of vacationing. But now we are staying here a few nights, spending a night in Pennsylvania, staying at my grandmother's for a few nights and then Vermont for a few nights where Matt will leave from. Then for me, it's back to the gypsy thing but it will be different, since Matt won't be with me. It is totally going by way too fast. But, we have seen a lot of great stuff too though!
Today we tried to find Dinosaur Kingdom so that we could see dinosaurs trying to eat Union soldiers but, it was impossible to find so, we gave up and ended up having brunch at the Pink Cadillac Diner in Natural Bridge, VA. I had a really nice crock of French Onion soup and a side salad. Out in front of the diner, there was also a 14 foot, fiberglass, King Kong statue crushing an airplane in his hand. He was pretty fun! He was created by the same guy that made the dinosaurs that we couldn't find. It was a horrible tease. From the diner, we began our trek towards D.C..
On our way into Natural Bridge last night, Matt discovered that the headquarters for his fraternity were actually right down the road from where we were staying so he really wanted to stop there on our way to D.C.. So, that is where we headed to next. When we got there, we pulled up to this absolutely magnificent looking home. We took some pictures outside and then went in to see if we could get a tour. Todd came down and showed us around headquarters. It was really nice to hear a history of Matt's fraternity and see some of the older badges and pins that were given to pledges over the years. What I found really cool was that they had pieces of the original limestone rock from the parade grounds at Virginia Military Institute where the founders of Sigma Nu very first created the fraternity. They had the co-ordinates of the stone from when expansions were being made to the school and had it dug up so that they could hold onto that piece of their history. I absolutely loved it! It really meant a lot to Matt to get to see headquarters and then to go to the parade grounds and see where his fraternity was 'born'. I was really glad I got to share in that with him.
From there, we drove to Quicksburg, VA to see 'American Celebration on Parade' which is essentially a warehouse full of parade floats! A lot of the floats were from Rose Bowl parades, but there were also some inaugural parade floats and Mardi Gras floats as well. It was way super cool to see them up close and some of them are still used in parades today! It was neat to read how they will sometimes take bits and pieces of different floats to create a new one entirely and you never realize how HUGE the floats are until you stand next to one!! On one of the last floats you could also get into the driver's seat to see what it feels like to have to drive one of the floats and get an idea of the "visibility" on them. I say "visibility" because there isn't any and now I totally know why each float has people that walk along side them!
After seeing the floats we made our way to Millersville!! We checked in and started to get settled in. Since we are going to be here for a few days, we were able to bring in a bit more from the car and I hope to take a little time to get a bit consolidated so I don't have so many random bags in the back seat of my car. We then needed to find a place for dinner and we discovered that there is a Friendly's nearby!! We totally jumped at the chance!! It was divine and as good as we remembered. I think I am definitely glad that we are going to be walking around D.C. a lot tomorrow and that I brought my "butt shoes" (my Sketcher Shape Ups LOL). I may even have to add in a few laps around the campground too just for good measure!!
For now though, it's bed time so that I can at least appear rested when I see my cousin and (hopefully) my friend - however, I do know that the first thing we are going to need to do when we leave in the morning is hunt down one of those elusive Dunkin Donuts for a monstrously huge coffee!! Whoopie!!!
Night folks!!
Natural Bridge, VA --> Millersville, MD (Washington, D.C. area)
I am so stinkin' excited I can barely contain myself!! I have butterflies in my tummy and I can feel my face literally light up with excitement every time I think about tomorrow!! I get to see my cousin and quite possibly one of my bestest friends in the whole world!! YAY!!!! Uncontainable JOY!!
Most of me is terribly excited to start seeing my friends and family that I haven't seen in a while, but then there is a small part of me that is sad that we have already reached this part of the trip - the slowing down. I have become quite fond of the gypsy vacation style that we have taken on so far - the get up, go see stuff, stay at a different location each night kind of vacationing. But now we are staying here a few nights, spending a night in Pennsylvania, staying at my grandmother's for a few nights and then Vermont for a few nights where Matt will leave from. Then for me, it's back to the gypsy thing but it will be different, since Matt won't be with me. It is totally going by way too fast. But, we have seen a lot of great stuff too though!
Today we tried to find Dinosaur Kingdom so that we could see dinosaurs trying to eat Union soldiers but, it was impossible to find so, we gave up and ended up having brunch at the Pink Cadillac Diner in Natural Bridge, VA. I had a really nice crock of French Onion soup and a side salad. Out in front of the diner, there was also a 14 foot, fiberglass, King Kong statue crushing an airplane in his hand. He was pretty fun! He was created by the same guy that made the dinosaurs that we couldn't find. It was a horrible tease. From the diner, we began our trek towards D.C..
On our way into Natural Bridge last night, Matt discovered that the headquarters for his fraternity were actually right down the road from where we were staying so he really wanted to stop there on our way to D.C.. So, that is where we headed to next. When we got there, we pulled up to this absolutely magnificent looking home. We took some pictures outside and then went in to see if we could get a tour. Todd came down and showed us around headquarters. It was really nice to hear a history of Matt's fraternity and see some of the older badges and pins that were given to pledges over the years. What I found really cool was that they had pieces of the original limestone rock from the parade grounds at Virginia Military Institute where the founders of Sigma Nu very first created the fraternity. They had the co-ordinates of the stone from when expansions were being made to the school and had it dug up so that they could hold onto that piece of their history. I absolutely loved it! It really meant a lot to Matt to get to see headquarters and then to go to the parade grounds and see where his fraternity was 'born'. I was really glad I got to share in that with him.
From there, we drove to Quicksburg, VA to see 'American Celebration on Parade' which is essentially a warehouse full of parade floats! A lot of the floats were from Rose Bowl parades, but there were also some inaugural parade floats and Mardi Gras floats as well. It was way super cool to see them up close and some of them are still used in parades today! It was neat to read how they will sometimes take bits and pieces of different floats to create a new one entirely and you never realize how HUGE the floats are until you stand next to one!! On one of the last floats you could also get into the driver's seat to see what it feels like to have to drive one of the floats and get an idea of the "visibility" on them. I say "visibility" because there isn't any and now I totally know why each float has people that walk along side them!
After seeing the floats we made our way to Millersville!! We checked in and started to get settled in. Since we are going to be here for a few days, we were able to bring in a bit more from the car and I hope to take a little time to get a bit consolidated so I don't have so many random bags in the back seat of my car. We then needed to find a place for dinner and we discovered that there is a Friendly's nearby!! We totally jumped at the chance!! It was divine and as good as we remembered. I think I am definitely glad that we are going to be walking around D.C. a lot tomorrow and that I brought my "butt shoes" (my Sketcher Shape Ups LOL). I may even have to add in a few laps around the campground too just for good measure!!
For now though, it's bed time so that I can at least appear rested when I see my cousin and (hopefully) my friend - however, I do know that the first thing we are going to need to do when we leave in the morning is hunt down one of those elusive Dunkin Donuts for a monstrously huge coffee!! Whoopie!!!
Night folks!!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Shepherdsville, KY --> Natural Bridge, VA
Sabbatical Day 10 | June 6, 2011
Shepherdsville, KY --> Natural Bridge, VA
There is no better way to start your morning than with a shower. Right?? Yeah. Well - that's true unless you decided to take a shower using the one that I did this morning. It was the WORST! Okay - well it ties for the worst because I can think of two others that drive me bonkers as well. It literally took 25 minutes just to rinse out the shampoo and conditioner from my hair! I almost took the scissors to it myself if it would speed up that damn shower! GAH! So of COURSE that led to us running late - again. I am going to just start using a hose. Or get a buzz cut. Either option works for me.
So, we got some gas for the car and then headed to the Jim Beam distillery. Their next tour was 30 min after we got there so we wandered the gift shop for a while. And for a company as big as Jim Beam, you would expect a lot more from the tour. Jim Beam has been making bourbon whisky for over 200 years and out of 195 countries, Jim Beam distributes to 126 of them, making them the biggest bourbon whisky distributor in the world. They also maintain upwards of 1.8 million barrels of whiskey on the premise at any given time. I also learned that bourbon whiskey, by law, can only be made in the United States. If it is made anywhere else, it can only be called 'whiskey'. I also learned that the bark on the trees around the distillery are black (literally) due to the moisture given off from the distillery. That is how agents knew where to find distilleries during Prohibition - they would just look for trees that had turned black and they would know that someone was making moonshine/whiskey nearby! Cool huh??
However, that is about the extent of what we learned from the tour. You can't go into the actual distillery to see how the whiskey is made - that won't be available until 2012 and our tour guide seemed to be on a mission to make it the shortest tour possible. I could tell Matt was disappointed, which sucked because he was really looking forward to this stop on the trip. After the tour, we did get to try some Jim Beam Black and some Baker's. I liked the Baker's because it was more mild and had a vanilla flavor to it. Matt found it to be too sweet for whiskey. We picked up some souvenirs and then continued on our way.
Today was mostly a driving day. After Jim Beam, the only other thing that we had on the schedule was Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com), but we took a bit of a detour as I wanted to get a Kentucky snowglobe and shot glass. Who knew it would be such a challenge!? We passed signs for the state capitol and Kentucky History Museum - figured one or the other would work. After driving around the capitol building and annex, we finally found parking somewhere in eastern mongolia. The buildings were pretty, but it's way too hot here. We walked inside and the security guy told us that they don't have a gift shop anymore, and that the closest one is at the museum. He drew Matt a map and shooed us back out into the heat (jerk) and the long walk back to the car. Unfortunately, the museum is only open Wednesday - Saturday (you'd think he could have mentioned that). We drove to the visitors' center and the woman inside suggested the chocolate shop that gives tours. Sure - why didn't I think of that! I TOTALLY should have realized that the CANDY store would have snowglobes!! Funny enough, they actually did have a cute snowglobe and they are also the inventors of the bourbon ball, which is a delicious chocolate treat. I'll have to order some... just not sure if they'll get through the alcohol czars in Utard. .:giggle:.
So now that our lunch plan turned into a dinner plan (sorry Honey!), we finally headed on our way to our original first stop, Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com) - which was freaking AMAZING!
You pull up to this place and your first reaction is pure horror! It is the epitome of hillbilly. There are two school buses side by side that have been converted into dining areas, and then a bunch of shacks built around them that make up the restaurant, the men's room and the women's room, and then an ice cream stand. Did I mention the wall to wall CRAP that covers the place?? It is almost like every yard sale known to man barfed on these buildings, inside and out! It was horrifically amazing!!
You walk in and you are convinced that you are going to get food poisoning but at the same time, you just have to try the food. So we ordered a couple of hot dogs and gave it a try!
The first one that I tried was a UK Wildcat which was a hot dog covered with chili sauce (chili), onions and slaw, and I also tried Chuck's Junk Yard Dog which had their homemade chili sauce, mustard, onions, ketchup, mayo, relish, slaw, nacho cheese, jalapenos, and barbeque sauce! Holy crap was that one messy!! Then I ordered some garlic ranch cheese fries to share with Matt. Matt ordered a Hillbilly Dog which was a deep fried hot dog with homemade chili sauce, mustard & onions, and a Hound Dog (see the description below).
Once we finished, we were still a little hungry so I tried the Pizza Dog which was a hot dog with pizza sauce on it, melted cheddar cheese, and pepperoni. Matt then had the Hound Dog which had barbeque sauce, onions. mustard, and their chili sauce on it. Holy crap were these good hot dogs!! I wish we lived closer! Though, it may be a good thing that we don't if I plan on sticking to this Weight Watchers thing lol!! I was able to get some great pictures of the restaurant and then we headed out because we had another 3 hours of driving to do.
There was a brief moment when I thought that we may die in West Virginia. No lie. So, the "idiot light" came on in the car so we started to look for a gas station. Well the sign for it was literally in the middle of the exit so we didn't see it in time and then it was a million years until the next exit so we got off. Well there are apparently a ton of towns where there are just houses. Eventually we found this nice "kid" (He was like 15) walking down the road so Matt stopped and asked him where there was a gas station. The kid got really thoughtful for a second and he directed us to the one that he thought was closer (there was one to the right and one to the left of pretty equal distance but he was trying to decide which was closest - which was really thoughtful of him since we were literally running on fumes). We finally found the gas station but as we pulled in, the guy in the truck next to us totally gave me the stink eye. I had to giggle because it was so 'small town'ish. If you grew up in a small town, you know exactly what I am talking about! We did eventually find our way back to the freeway and lived to see another day lol.
Now we are in Natural Bridge, VA and from what I have seen of it, our camp site if very nice! There are LOTS of trees and I did see a bridge as we drove through. I can't wait to see it during the daylight! But, for now, it's time to go nuh-nights. Tomorrow we are going to go check out Sigma Nu headquarters, dinosaurs eating Union soldiers (tee hee), some parade floats and Washington D.C.!! Yay!!
Shepherdsville, KY --> Natural Bridge, VA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT'S DAD!!!
There is no better way to start your morning than with a shower. Right?? Yeah. Well - that's true unless you decided to take a shower using the one that I did this morning. It was the WORST! Okay - well it ties for the worst because I can think of two others that drive me bonkers as well. It literally took 25 minutes just to rinse out the shampoo and conditioner from my hair! I almost took the scissors to it myself if it would speed up that damn shower! GAH! So of COURSE that led to us running late - again. I am going to just start using a hose. Or get a buzz cut. Either option works for me.
So, we got some gas for the car and then headed to the Jim Beam distillery. Their next tour was 30 min after we got there so we wandered the gift shop for a while. And for a company as big as Jim Beam, you would expect a lot more from the tour. Jim Beam has been making bourbon whisky for over 200 years and out of 195 countries, Jim Beam distributes to 126 of them, making them the biggest bourbon whisky distributor in the world. They also maintain upwards of 1.8 million barrels of whiskey on the premise at any given time. I also learned that bourbon whiskey, by law, can only be made in the United States. If it is made anywhere else, it can only be called 'whiskey'. I also learned that the bark on the trees around the distillery are black (literally) due to the moisture given off from the distillery. That is how agents knew where to find distilleries during Prohibition - they would just look for trees that had turned black and they would know that someone was making moonshine/whiskey nearby! Cool huh??
However, that is about the extent of what we learned from the tour. You can't go into the actual distillery to see how the whiskey is made - that won't be available until 2012 and our tour guide seemed to be on a mission to make it the shortest tour possible. I could tell Matt was disappointed, which sucked because he was really looking forward to this stop on the trip. After the tour, we did get to try some Jim Beam Black and some Baker's. I liked the Baker's because it was more mild and had a vanilla flavor to it. Matt found it to be too sweet for whiskey. We picked up some souvenirs and then continued on our way.
Today was mostly a driving day. After Jim Beam, the only other thing that we had on the schedule was Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com), but we took a bit of a detour as I wanted to get a Kentucky snowglobe and shot glass. Who knew it would be such a challenge!? We passed signs for the state capitol and Kentucky History Museum - figured one or the other would work. After driving around the capitol building and annex, we finally found parking somewhere in eastern mongolia. The buildings were pretty, but it's way too hot here. We walked inside and the security guy told us that they don't have a gift shop anymore, and that the closest one is at the museum. He drew Matt a map and shooed us back out into the heat (jerk) and the long walk back to the car. Unfortunately, the museum is only open Wednesday - Saturday (you'd think he could have mentioned that). We drove to the visitors' center and the woman inside suggested the chocolate shop that gives tours. Sure - why didn't I think of that! I TOTALLY should have realized that the CANDY store would have snowglobes!! Funny enough, they actually did have a cute snowglobe and they are also the inventors of the bourbon ball, which is a delicious chocolate treat. I'll have to order some... just not sure if they'll get through the alcohol czars in Utard. .:giggle:.
So now that our lunch plan turned into a dinner plan (sorry Honey!), we finally headed on our way to our original first stop, Hillbilly Hot Dogs (http://www.hillbillyhotdogs.com) - which was freaking AMAZING!
You pull up to this place and your first reaction is pure horror! It is the epitome of hillbilly. There are two school buses side by side that have been converted into dining areas, and then a bunch of shacks built around them that make up the restaurant, the men's room and the women's room, and then an ice cream stand. Did I mention the wall to wall CRAP that covers the place?? It is almost like every yard sale known to man barfed on these buildings, inside and out! It was horrifically amazing!!
You walk in and you are convinced that you are going to get food poisoning but at the same time, you just have to try the food. So we ordered a couple of hot dogs and gave it a try!
The first one that I tried was a UK Wildcat which was a hot dog covered with chili sauce (chili), onions and slaw, and I also tried Chuck's Junk Yard Dog which had their homemade chili sauce, mustard, onions, ketchup, mayo, relish, slaw, nacho cheese, jalapenos, and barbeque sauce! Holy crap was that one messy!! Then I ordered some garlic ranch cheese fries to share with Matt. Matt ordered a Hillbilly Dog which was a deep fried hot dog with homemade chili sauce, mustard & onions, and a Hound Dog (see the description below).
Once we finished, we were still a little hungry so I tried the Pizza Dog which was a hot dog with pizza sauce on it, melted cheddar cheese, and pepperoni. Matt then had the Hound Dog which had barbeque sauce, onions. mustard, and their chili sauce on it. Holy crap were these good hot dogs!! I wish we lived closer! Though, it may be a good thing that we don't if I plan on sticking to this Weight Watchers thing lol!! I was able to get some great pictures of the restaurant and then we headed out because we had another 3 hours of driving to do.
There was a brief moment when I thought that we may die in West Virginia. No lie. So, the "idiot light" came on in the car so we started to look for a gas station. Well the sign for it was literally in the middle of the exit so we didn't see it in time and then it was a million years until the next exit so we got off. Well there are apparently a ton of towns where there are just houses. Eventually we found this nice "kid" (He was like 15) walking down the road so Matt stopped and asked him where there was a gas station. The kid got really thoughtful for a second and he directed us to the one that he thought was closer (there was one to the right and one to the left of pretty equal distance but he was trying to decide which was closest - which was really thoughtful of him since we were literally running on fumes). We finally found the gas station but as we pulled in, the guy in the truck next to us totally gave me the stink eye. I had to giggle because it was so 'small town'ish. If you grew up in a small town, you know exactly what I am talking about! We did eventually find our way back to the freeway and lived to see another day lol.
Now we are in Natural Bridge, VA and from what I have seen of it, our camp site if very nice! There are LOTS of trees and I did see a bridge as we drove through. I can't wait to see it during the daylight! But, for now, it's time to go nuh-nights. Tomorrow we are going to go check out Sigma Nu headquarters, dinosaurs eating Union soldiers (tee hee), some parade floats and Washington D.C.!! Yay!!
St. Louis, MO --> Shepherdsville, KY
Sabbatical Day 9 | June 5, 2011
St. Louis, MO --> Shepherdsville, KY
When we woke up today there were some showers at first and then it was kind of gray for the first half of the day. Unfortunately it made for some dark pictures at first. I tried to compensate but I think they look dismal. Eh. I'll figure it out someday!
We decided to delay the Jim Beam tour because of Kentucky's blue laws. In order to take the tour, we would have needed to arrive at the distillery between 1 and 4 but then there wouldn't be a taste test at the end. So, instead of rushing to get there, we decided to just do it on Monday as we headed out of Kentucky.
St. Louis, MO --> Shepherdsville, KY
When we woke up today there were some showers at first and then it was kind of gray for the first half of the day. Unfortunately it made for some dark pictures at first. I tried to compensate but I think they look dismal. Eh. I'll figure it out someday!
We decided to delay the Jim Beam tour because of Kentucky's blue laws. In order to take the tour, we would have needed to arrive at the distillery between 1 and 4 but then there wouldn't be a taste test at the end. So, instead of rushing to get there, we decided to just do it on Monday as we headed out of Kentucky.
Since we didn't have to rush, our first stop of the day was to see the Crossroads of America Roadside Art in Mt. Vernon, IL. It is literally a jumble of different road signs and a stop light all welded into a sculpture. It was crazy! Then, just down the road from that, was a miniature Washington Monument replica. Definitely smaller than the original but for a replica, it stands at least 100 feet tall. Impressive!
Matt and I then decided to celebrate Christmas in June.
Matt and I then decided to celebrate Christmas in June.
First, we went to Haubsadt, IN where we found the 32 foot tall Santa statue. Apparently, he is well loved by pigeons. They liked to land on his head and hand. Gives new meaning to "a bird in hand ...". I didn't see any bushes though. Sorry!
Then, we were off to Hipp Nursery to see the fiberglass animals that they had there. Unfortunately, it was Sunday and they were closed so we weren't able to go see all of them. However, I WAS able to see the one that I really wanted to see and that was the pink elephant drinking a martini - cute, right?! I loved it!
From the nursery, we went to.... wait for it..... wait for it......
SANTA CLAUS, IN!!!
I kid you not!! There is a town called SANTA CLAUS in Indiana and they have statues of Santa ALL OVER the place!! We stopped to check out the local museum and then we totally had to check out the Gift shop where I hoped I could find a snow globe for my collection. But did they have any?? NO!! Of ALL the stuff they had in that town/store, they MAYBE had a handful of stuff that ACTUALLY said "Santa Claus, ID". Ridiculous. I had to have something PERSONALIZED just to say it and even then, it looks ridiculous. I was disappointed. Matt wanted to see if he could get something post marked from the post office but of course that whole 'Sunday' thing got in the way.
From the nursery, we went to.... wait for it..... wait for it......
SANTA CLAUS, IN!!!
I kid you not!! There is a town called SANTA CLAUS in Indiana and they have statues of Santa ALL OVER the place!! We stopped to check out the local museum and then we totally had to check out the Gift shop where I hoped I could find a snow globe for my collection. But did they have any?? NO!! Of ALL the stuff they had in that town/store, they MAYBE had a handful of stuff that ACTUALLY said "Santa Claus, ID". Ridiculous. I had to have something PERSONALIZED just to say it and even then, it looks ridiculous. I was disappointed. Matt wanted to see if he could get something post marked from the post office but of course that whole 'Sunday' thing got in the way.
Then we headed over to Santa's Candy Castle where you could find stocking stuffers and other candies. They had different flavors of popcorn and they had this drink called 'Frozen Hot Cocoa' that they came up with which was PERFECT for a hot summer day!! They basically blended their hot cocoa mix with milk and ice until it was the consistency of a shake but tastes like hot cocoa! It was super tasty! Of course I had to pick up some of their cocoa flavors to try!!
From there we went into Clarksville, IN to see Colgate Clock (the second largest clock in the world) and then into Louisville, KY to see the World's Largest Bottle of Booze. Both were just photo opportunities so we headed to our KOA after seeing those.
This might be my second favorite KOA after Amarillo. This one has a mini golf course, a rec room with a pool table and some arcade games, a pool and hot tub and a pretty decent sized general store! The "street" names are also Kentucky Derby related - we are just off 'Winner's Circle" LOL!!
After we checked in, we went to see the World's Longest Go-Kart Track which is one and a half miles long. Once we got there, we decided against taking a lap but they apparently have a couple of different cars that you can take out on it - one being a "Thunderbolt" which requires a valid driver's license to use it. Right near by was a steak house (Triple Crown) so we stopped for dinner. I ordered a combo with steak and ribs - ribs were overcooked and steak was still mooing. Matt said his was a bit rare as well, but he ate it anyway. We were pretty tired after eating so we headed back to the cabin.
From there we went into Clarksville, IN to see Colgate Clock (the second largest clock in the world) and then into Louisville, KY to see the World's Largest Bottle of Booze. Both were just photo opportunities so we headed to our KOA after seeing those.
This might be my second favorite KOA after Amarillo. This one has a mini golf course, a rec room with a pool table and some arcade games, a pool and hot tub and a pretty decent sized general store! The "street" names are also Kentucky Derby related - we are just off 'Winner's Circle" LOL!!
After we checked in, we went to see the World's Longest Go-Kart Track which is one and a half miles long. Once we got there, we decided against taking a lap but they apparently have a couple of different cars that you can take out on it - one being a "Thunderbolt" which requires a valid driver's license to use it. Right near by was a steak house (Triple Crown) so we stopped for dinner. I ordered a combo with steak and ribs - ribs were overcooked and steak was still mooing. Matt said his was a bit rare as well, but he ate it anyway. We were pretty tired after eating so we headed back to the cabin.
Sadly, we didn't get to meet up with Tommy & Sue this trip :0( but I totally plan on coming back to Kentucky to see more of the sights and hopefully they will still be here so that I can meet up with them too!!
Nighters!!
Nighters!!
Branson, MO --> St. Louis, MO
Sabbatical Day 8 | June 4, 2011
Branson, MO --> St. Louis, MO
Last night my computer inherited a virus as we were trying to plan our day today. Each night, we have been plugging in the addresses into the GPS before going to bed and we were trying to decide if we wanted to go to the local animal park where you can drive through to see the animals. It sounded really cool and I thought that you could see big cats like lions and tigers on the tour so we pulled up the website to check it out before deciding. Yeah. So their website was infected. Yay. And of course I didn't have any protection on my computer *GRR*. So, Matt tried to fix it the best that we could but he gave in and we tried Best Buy. The first one told him that it was going to be expensive and that it was going to take 5 to 7 days to fix based on their workload. Matt popped. We left. We tried another Best Buy but he essentially told us the same
thing. However, he was also kind enough to share with us what our other options were, which I appreciated. We'll try it. Otherwise, I will have to wait until I get to Vermont and get it worked on there since I can stay there longer.... hopefully... lol I am sure my dad won't mind... too much.... lol
After the hunt for Best Buy, we got on with our day which actually included some traveling down Route 66. First was the World's Largest Rocking Chair in Fanning, MO. It stands over 42 feet tall on rockers that are 31.5 feet long and weigh a ton apiece. Apparently in August one of the local firetrucks stops by with an aerial bucket and will hoist people up so they can actually sit in the chair. Lucky.
Branson, MO --> St. Louis, MO
Last night my computer inherited a virus as we were trying to plan our day today. Each night, we have been plugging in the addresses into the GPS before going to bed and we were trying to decide if we wanted to go to the local animal park where you can drive through to see the animals. It sounded really cool and I thought that you could see big cats like lions and tigers on the tour so we pulled up the website to check it out before deciding. Yeah. So their website was infected. Yay. And of course I didn't have any protection on my computer *GRR*. So, Matt tried to fix it the best that we could but he gave in and we tried Best Buy. The first one told him that it was going to be expensive and that it was going to take 5 to 7 days to fix based on their workload. Matt popped. We left. We tried another Best Buy but he essentially told us the same
thing. However, he was also kind enough to share with us what our other options were, which I appreciated. We'll try it. Otherwise, I will have to wait until I get to Vermont and get it worked on there since I can stay there longer.... hopefully... lol I am sure my dad won't mind... too much.... lol
After the hunt for Best Buy, we got on with our day which actually included some traveling down Route 66. First was the World's Largest Rocking Chair in Fanning, MO. It stands over 42 feet tall on rockers that are 31.5 feet long and weigh a ton apiece. Apparently in August one of the local firetrucks stops by with an aerial bucket and will hoist people up so they can actually sit in the chair. Lucky.
From the rocking chair, we went to Bob's Gasoline Alley in Cuba, MO. While it was kind of fun to see all the old gas station signs and some old pumps that he collected, I was kind of disappointed by the 'Keep Out' signs that he also had up. It would have been really nice to be able to walk around and see each sign up close instead of standing along the side of the road and trusting that my zoom lens would allow me to get some good shots because apparently he has upwards of 300 different signs. After taking a few pictures, we headed back to the freeway and then stopped for lunch in Cuba. After eating we then went to find 'Mural City' which afforded us the opportunity to drive down Route 66 again. After some searching, we found 'Mural City' on Washington St. and it was nice - they painted murals on the side of some of the local businesses
- but I think that ultimately it was skip worthy. We drove by a few but then decided to continue on our way. We didn't really stop to look at many or to take many pictures.
On our way to St. Louis, we found the Hot/Cold water towers in St. Clair. They were visible from the freeway so I took a picture while Matt drove. Matt was pretty disappointed in them because they basically just painted 'Hot' and 'Cold' on two of the towers. He thought that they would do more with them like paint one red and one blue or something. It was fun to see either way. And then we were in St. Louis where we got to see a few different roadside attractions!
First we stopped at Laumeier Sculpture Park. Of notable mention, the cat sculpture that greeted us when we got out of the car. It was super fun!! I loved all the colors and the inside was lined with mirror pieces so it was sparkly and bright! Then, the eye. It is literally a big eyeball that just stares out across the field. It was neat! Freaky - but neat! Then we decided to walk around a bit and we found a sculpture of an egg.... I totally thought Lady Gaga was going to pop out of it and say "Ha! Gotcha!!" LOL and a few other modernistic pieces. From here we went to find the large shoe sculpture made out of ... shoes.
- but I think that ultimately it was skip worthy. We drove by a few but then decided to continue on our way. We didn't really stop to look at many or to take many pictures.
On our way to St. Louis, we found the Hot/Cold water towers in St. Clair. They were visible from the freeway so I took a picture while Matt drove. Matt was pretty disappointed in them because they basically just painted 'Hot' and 'Cold' on two of the towers. He thought that they would do more with them like paint one red and one blue or something. It was fun to see either way. And then we were in St. Louis where we got to see a few different roadside attractions!
First we stopped at Laumeier Sculpture Park. Of notable mention, the cat sculpture that greeted us when we got out of the car. It was super fun!! I loved all the colors and the inside was lined with mirror pieces so it was sparkly and bright! Then, the eye. It is literally a big eyeball that just stares out across the field. It was neat! Freaky - but neat! Then we decided to walk around a bit and we found a sculpture of an egg.... I totally thought Lady Gaga was going to pop out of it and say "Ha! Gotcha!!" LOL and a few other modernistic pieces. From here we went to find the large shoe sculpture made out of ... shoes.
On our way there, we actually passed by the St. Louis Arch so I took some pictures of that. We didn't go up in it though. It was magnificent though! We also stopped at the concrete turtle park which is a park of .. concrete turtles. They were HUGE and they are set up along a path so that you could climb up on them if you wanted to. Domo had great fun! Then, we found the shoe in Clayton, MO. It is a huge sculpture of a shoe that is 10 feet tall and made entirely out of high heel shoes that were all painted gray with silver glitter. It was right in front of the Brown Shoe Company's executive offices (Buster Brown's, etc). Matt says that the shoe sculpture was actually there from a different company but when they sold the building and Brown moved in, they decided to keep the sculpture. We took lots of fun pictures and then headed to our KOA which we actually arrived to early enough for me to hop in the pool! It was glorious!!!!!!!!!
I thought that I had only been in the pool for an hour but it turned out to be more like an hour and a half to two hours. Heh Heh. I rinsed off and then we went in search for dinner. One of the nice things about the south is that restaurants seem to be open pretty late. We found this little Italian restaurant (Ravanelli's) and at first, we kind of had our reservations because it was in a strip mall. However, once our food arrived, it was pure heaven and I am confident that my husband would eat there every night if we lived closer. It was THAT good! As we had walked in, I noticed that they had homemade pies (.:sigh:. I know. I know. I am SOOOO going back on Weight Watchers when we get back!!) and I totally needed to try one but I was soooo full from my dinner so I got a piece to go. I want to say that it was marionberry but I can't recall.
I thought that I had only been in the pool for an hour but it turned out to be more like an hour and a half to two hours. Heh Heh. I rinsed off and then we went in search for dinner. One of the nice things about the south is that restaurants seem to be open pretty late. We found this little Italian restaurant (Ravanelli's) and at first, we kind of had our reservations because it was in a strip mall. However, once our food arrived, it was pure heaven and I am confident that my husband would eat there every night if we lived closer. It was THAT good! As we had walked in, I noticed that they had homemade pies (.:sigh:. I know. I know. I am SOOOO going back on Weight Watchers when we get back!!) and I totally needed to try one but I was soooo full from my dinner so I got a piece to go. I want to say that it was marionberry but I can't recall.
Either way, it is totally breakfast in the morning!! On that note, I am stealing a bite and then going to sleeps! Night!!
Oklahoma City, OK --> Branson, MO
Sabbatical Day 7 | June 3, 2011
Oklahoma City, OK --> Branson, MO
Today was pretty epic!!
After the usual gas up the car/breakfast stop, we went out in search of the World's Largest Praying Hands. They looked just like a pair of hands. Whether or not they look like "praying" hands is debatable(sp?) in our car. I say yes, Matt says no. Either way, they are freakishly large hands.
Next we went in hunt of Chris Barbee's house and his bowling ball yard art. It was the funnest (yes, I used the word 'funnest') thing ever! He actually came out to talk to us as I was out taking pictures of his yard. Apparently he is retired, and started this about 5 years ago just after his wife died. He is always looking for new ideas and he is happy to take donations if any of you have any bowling balls lying around that you want to send to him. He said that right now he would love some red or blue ones to finish off the American Flag that he started. He also said that he has just under 1700 bowling balls in his yard in the different pieces that he has created. *phew!!* I was a personal fan of the pink ribbon that he made, the lady bugs, the Christmas tree (the ornaments were bowling balls) and the Lollipop Row. The fence that he built along the front of his yard contains 180 bowling balls alone!! I absolutely loved it and I loved that he came out to talk to us!! He was the cutest thing ever!!! BUT it truly was in the middle of nowhere!
We then went to see the USS Lapon which is a submarine surfacing out of the lawn of the VFW Post in Springfield, MO. Preeeetty funny!! After we left the VFW, we then went to see the World's Largest Fork! It was pretty cool - challenging to find, but cool. Domo and I had fun taking pictures there. From there, we met up with Matt's Uncle Dennis for dinner. We met up at the local tourist center and the followed him to Mountain Mike's (a steak place) which was directly next door to the Titanic Museum that we were going to go to after. We had a really great time at dinner (Thanks again!!) and getting caught up with Uncle Dennis - I loved hearing all the family stories since I haven't had a chance to hang out much with many of the McCauleys outside of Matt's parents & siblings. When we finished eating, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert and Uncle
Dennis said that we should go to this place called 'Andy's' and the waitress totally was all over that idea. The two of them raved over how good the frozen custard was at Andy's so Matt and I said that we would try it if they were open after the museum.
After dinner, we headed over to the Titanic Museum. Now, you may be saying: "Um, didn't you go to the one in Vegas?!" and the answer to that is, yes. However, this one is much much bigger, and I would dare say, better. They both follow the same premise that you get a boarding pass as you go in and you track your passenger as you go through, and then you can see if you live or die at the end (I survived both sinkings in case you were wondering). However, the one in Vegas is more centered around pieces and artifacts of the Titanic that they have been able to bring up from the bottom of the ocean. The exhibit in Branson is more centered around the survivors and the artifacts that were collected floating in the ocean when they picked up the survivors or the floating victims and artifacts that were donated from the survivors families. I think if they combined the two exhibits it would truly be the best in the world. When we paid and got our boarding passes, they also gave us a scratch off ticket to see if we got a discount or free dessert at ... you guessed it... Andy's.
I'm telling ya, this guy Andy must work magic or something!
Either way, again we couldn't take pictures but I really liked seeing all the pieces of the collection and then at the end was an interactive piece where you could experience the different angles of the deck as the boat was sinking, the temperature of the water that the passengers were in while waiting to be rescued, and the size of the life boats that were on board. What surprised me was that none of the boats were filled and many more could have been saved if they had been.
So, we ended up closing out the museum and didn't leave there until about 11pm. We figured there would be no way that Andy's would still be open but we decided to check just in case. Sure enough, not only was it open, but there was a huge crowd of people there! Of course we stopped and of course I couldn't decide so I tried their Blackberry Concrete (basically their custard with the blackberries mixed in) and a sundae with peanut butter and coconut - both were absolutely delicious! I am going to have to run for miles when I get back to Utah to work off all the food and desserts that I have been trying but so far it has been totally worth it!
We took our desserts back to the KOA and called it a night. And if I see another june bug/cicada whatever the hell it was, it will be none too soon. EW! These things are freaking HUGE and GROSS! Thankfully they don't bite but they are LOUD and clumsy and weird looking!! .:shudder:. They were all over the place when I went to get ready for bed. My skin crawls just thinking about it!!
Oklahoma City, OK --> Branson, MO
Today was pretty epic!!
After the usual gas up the car/breakfast stop, we went out in search of the World's Largest Praying Hands. They looked just like a pair of hands. Whether or not they look like "praying" hands is debatable(sp?) in our car. I say yes, Matt says no. Either way, they are freakishly large hands.
Next we went in hunt of Chris Barbee's house and his bowling ball yard art. It was the funnest (yes, I used the word 'funnest') thing ever! He actually came out to talk to us as I was out taking pictures of his yard. Apparently he is retired, and started this about 5 years ago just after his wife died. He is always looking for new ideas and he is happy to take donations if any of you have any bowling balls lying around that you want to send to him. He said that right now he would love some red or blue ones to finish off the American Flag that he started. He also said that he has just under 1700 bowling balls in his yard in the different pieces that he has created. *phew!!* I was a personal fan of the pink ribbon that he made, the lady bugs, the Christmas tree (the ornaments were bowling balls) and the Lollipop Row. The fence that he built along the front of his yard contains 180 bowling balls alone!! I absolutely loved it and I loved that he came out to talk to us!! He was the cutest thing ever!!! BUT it truly was in the middle of nowhere!
We then went to see the USS Lapon which is a submarine surfacing out of the lawn of the VFW Post in Springfield, MO. Preeeetty funny!! After we left the VFW, we then went to see the World's Largest Fork! It was pretty cool - challenging to find, but cool. Domo and I had fun taking pictures there. From there, we met up with Matt's Uncle Dennis for dinner. We met up at the local tourist center and the followed him to Mountain Mike's (a steak place) which was directly next door to the Titanic Museum that we were going to go to after. We had a really great time at dinner (Thanks again!!) and getting caught up with Uncle Dennis - I loved hearing all the family stories since I haven't had a chance to hang out much with many of the McCauleys outside of Matt's parents & siblings. When we finished eating, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert and Uncle
Dennis said that we should go to this place called 'Andy's' and the waitress totally was all over that idea. The two of them raved over how good the frozen custard was at Andy's so Matt and I said that we would try it if they were open after the museum.
After dinner, we headed over to the Titanic Museum. Now, you may be saying: "Um, didn't you go to the one in Vegas?!" and the answer to that is, yes. However, this one is much much bigger, and I would dare say, better. They both follow the same premise that you get a boarding pass as you go in and you track your passenger as you go through, and then you can see if you live or die at the end (I survived both sinkings in case you were wondering). However, the one in Vegas is more centered around pieces and artifacts of the Titanic that they have been able to bring up from the bottom of the ocean. The exhibit in Branson is more centered around the survivors and the artifacts that were collected floating in the ocean when they picked up the survivors or the floating victims and artifacts that were donated from the survivors families. I think if they combined the two exhibits it would truly be the best in the world. When we paid and got our boarding passes, they also gave us a scratch off ticket to see if we got a discount or free dessert at ... you guessed it... Andy's.
I'm telling ya, this guy Andy must work magic or something!
Either way, again we couldn't take pictures but I really liked seeing all the pieces of the collection and then at the end was an interactive piece where you could experience the different angles of the deck as the boat was sinking, the temperature of the water that the passengers were in while waiting to be rescued, and the size of the life boats that were on board. What surprised me was that none of the boats were filled and many more could have been saved if they had been.
So, we ended up closing out the museum and didn't leave there until about 11pm. We figured there would be no way that Andy's would still be open but we decided to check just in case. Sure enough, not only was it open, but there was a huge crowd of people there! Of course we stopped and of course I couldn't decide so I tried their Blackberry Concrete (basically their custard with the blackberries mixed in) and a sundae with peanut butter and coconut - both were absolutely delicious! I am going to have to run for miles when I get back to Utah to work off all the food and desserts that I have been trying but so far it has been totally worth it!
We took our desserts back to the KOA and called it a night. And if I see another june bug/cicada whatever the hell it was, it will be none too soon. EW! These things are freaking HUGE and GROSS! Thankfully they don't bite but they are LOUD and clumsy and weird looking!! .:shudder:. They were all over the place when I went to get ready for bed. My skin crawls just thinking about it!!
Amarillo, TX --> Oklahoma City, OK
Sabbatical Day 6 | June 2, 2011
Amarillo, TX --> Oklahoma City, OK
Today was, I guess you could say, a spiritual day.
Our first stop of the day was at the VW Slug Bug Ranch - which is the VW Bug version of Cadillac Ranch. Someone put up 5 Beetles (Beatles??) nose down in tribute to Cadillac Ranch and you can walk up and spray paint them. It was neat! I was able to get some great pictures! I also discovered that my husband and I refer to the game differently - I grew up calling it 'Punch Buggy' and he grew up playing 'Slug Bug'. Who is actually correct? Who knows - but either way it was a fun and quick stop on our journey today.
Up next was the second largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. It is 190 feet tall and can be seen from up to 20 miles away and it weighs 1,250 tons (or 2.5 million pounds). It took 8 months to complete and 10 million people pass by it each year and almost a thousand stop every day. If this was the second largest, the first has to be HUMONGOUS!
What made me giggle were the signs near it that just said 'Cross'. Um. DUH. If you can't see it and couldn't figure out what it was, you probably shouldn't be driving. As we were driving up, we kind of half expected it to just be one of those 'hop out of the car, take a picture, get back in the car' kind of things but it actually was more than that. There was a shop there and I am assuming a chapel, and then around the base of the cross, it also had near life sized depictions of the stations of the cross. Then, there was also a smaller building where they had a replica of the Shroud of Turin where you could go in and see a replica of the shroud and watch a video that gives you more of a background of the shroud and the different theories and tests about the shroud. What I found amazing is that the builder and proprieter of the cross is the father of Zach
Thomas (most recently of the Kansas City Chiefs). His dad went to him with this idea and Zach pretty much paid for it. It truly is a magnificent sight and I am way super glad that we stopped. Matt and I had some really great conversations after seeing the cross and it was nice to know that he and I are on the same page on a lot of different things.
We stopped for lunch in Shamrock, TX and went in search of their piece of the Blarney Stone. We also found a couple of buildings in town that were inspirations for different buildings in the movie Cars, We did find the piece of the Blarney Stone and sadly, it was kind of disappointing. However, Domo did kiss it so we will see how THAT turns out!
We then went to the National Route 66 Museum. Due to it being almost 5, we were only able to go into 2 of the museums. I hope to god that the rest of the museums were awesome because it was kind of lame. Eh. It was fun to see some of the old cars but that's really all that I can say about it. After the museum, we went to Lucille's Famous Route 66 Gas Station. It was a quick photo op - though it might be fun to buy something like that someday... in a state that isn't so infernally hot.... and windy... and.... hot.
Our last stop of the day was the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Unfortunately, I would have to say that I really don't remember this event happening :0( which made me realize that you don't really think about how selfish you are, or how absorbed in your own world you are when you are a teenager, until you go to something like this and then look back at that time in your life. It was a very peaceful site and it resonated with love. As you walk around, you can see remnants of the bombing that they purposely left behind as a reminder - along the side of the Journal Record building facing the bomb site, they left the blown out windows missing and filled them with black bricks. Where the wall separated due to the impact of the bomb (sections of it lifted up but did not hurt the building), they resealed the wall but you can see where they made the repairs. They also left the fire escape as it was after the bombing. On the other side of the site, where the Survivor Wall is, are the only remaining walls from the Murrah building. It was kind of surreal to see them after knowning what happened, and to touch them. And then there is the Survivor Tree - it is a 90 year old American Elm tree that was there when the bombing took place - and it survived, and it's still growing. The chairs that they put up in honor of those that died all face this tree across the reflecting pool. It was a very beautiful memorial and I am glad that we took the time to walk through and see it all.
After the memorial we headed to our 'kabin' - which was interesting. The bathroom/shower set up on this one was similar to something you would find at a TA truck stop. The bathrooms were like what you would expect or see in a restaurant or whatever. But then the showers were their own closets like you see at some of the truck stops. It was the weirdest thing ever! Not really a fan. BUT it was a shower and I could get cleaned up. (i.e. I will hate the shower passionately)
Amarillo, TX --> Oklahoma City, OK
Today was, I guess you could say, a spiritual day.
Our first stop of the day was at the VW Slug Bug Ranch - which is the VW Bug version of Cadillac Ranch. Someone put up 5 Beetles (Beatles??) nose down in tribute to Cadillac Ranch and you can walk up and spray paint them. It was neat! I was able to get some great pictures! I also discovered that my husband and I refer to the game differently - I grew up calling it 'Punch Buggy' and he grew up playing 'Slug Bug'. Who is actually correct? Who knows - but either way it was a fun and quick stop on our journey today.
Up next was the second largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. It is 190 feet tall and can be seen from up to 20 miles away and it weighs 1,250 tons (or 2.5 million pounds). It took 8 months to complete and 10 million people pass by it each year and almost a thousand stop every day. If this was the second largest, the first has to be HUMONGOUS!
What made me giggle were the signs near it that just said 'Cross'. Um. DUH. If you can't see it and couldn't figure out what it was, you probably shouldn't be driving. As we were driving up, we kind of half expected it to just be one of those 'hop out of the car, take a picture, get back in the car' kind of things but it actually was more than that. There was a shop there and I am assuming a chapel, and then around the base of the cross, it also had near life sized depictions of the stations of the cross. Then, there was also a smaller building where they had a replica of the Shroud of Turin where you could go in and see a replica of the shroud and watch a video that gives you more of a background of the shroud and the different theories and tests about the shroud. What I found amazing is that the builder and proprieter of the cross is the father of Zach
Thomas (most recently of the Kansas City Chiefs). His dad went to him with this idea and Zach pretty much paid for it. It truly is a magnificent sight and I am way super glad that we stopped. Matt and I had some really great conversations after seeing the cross and it was nice to know that he and I are on the same page on a lot of different things.
We stopped for lunch in Shamrock, TX and went in search of their piece of the Blarney Stone. We also found a couple of buildings in town that were inspirations for different buildings in the movie Cars, We did find the piece of the Blarney Stone and sadly, it was kind of disappointing. However, Domo did kiss it so we will see how THAT turns out!
We then went to the National Route 66 Museum. Due to it being almost 5, we were only able to go into 2 of the museums. I hope to god that the rest of the museums were awesome because it was kind of lame. Eh. It was fun to see some of the old cars but that's really all that I can say about it. After the museum, we went to Lucille's Famous Route 66 Gas Station. It was a quick photo op - though it might be fun to buy something like that someday... in a state that isn't so infernally hot.... and windy... and.... hot.
Our last stop of the day was the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Unfortunately, I would have to say that I really don't remember this event happening :0( which made me realize that you don't really think about how selfish you are, or how absorbed in your own world you are when you are a teenager, until you go to something like this and then look back at that time in your life. It was a very peaceful site and it resonated with love. As you walk around, you can see remnants of the bombing that they purposely left behind as a reminder - along the side of the Journal Record building facing the bomb site, they left the blown out windows missing and filled them with black bricks. Where the wall separated due to the impact of the bomb (sections of it lifted up but did not hurt the building), they resealed the wall but you can see where they made the repairs. They also left the fire escape as it was after the bombing. On the other side of the site, where the Survivor Wall is, are the only remaining walls from the Murrah building. It was kind of surreal to see them after knowning what happened, and to touch them. And then there is the Survivor Tree - it is a 90 year old American Elm tree that was there when the bombing took place - and it survived, and it's still growing. The chairs that they put up in honor of those that died all face this tree across the reflecting pool. It was a very beautiful memorial and I am glad that we took the time to walk through and see it all.
After the memorial we headed to our 'kabin' - which was interesting. The bathroom/shower set up on this one was similar to something you would find at a TA truck stop. The bathrooms were like what you would expect or see in a restaurant or whatever. But then the showers were their own closets like you see at some of the truck stops. It was the weirdest thing ever! Not really a fan. BUT it was a shower and I could get cleaned up. (i.e. I will hate the shower passionately)
Albuquerque, NM --> Amarillo, TX
Sabbatical Day 5 | June 1, 2011
Albuquerque, NM --> Amarillo, TX
The day that I have been waiting WEEKS for!!
So, I won't lie - last night was a little rough. We got into Albuquerque pretty late and found the KOA - after checking in, we went to our 'kabin' and my face fell - then we went inside and it fell further. Totally not what I was expecting - at all. It felt tiny - and cramped - and, life sucking. But then add in that I was tired, not feeling well and was hot - I melted. Matt was super amazingly patient and after my super meltdown, he got me to agree to try KOA one more night and then if I super hated it still, we could try to find some hotels.
We had a lighter driving day today so we were able to sleep in a little bit. After showering and packing up the car, we left in search of breakfast and found Clines Corners (http://www.clinescorners.com/) which is a truck stop-ish place just off I-40. It was originally built in 1934, at the intersection of then U.S. Highway 6 & 2 in the middle of New Mexico. However, he then had to build it again in 1937 when the highway moved slightly north and was renamed Route 66 & U.S. 285. And it's been in the same spot ever since! It's been through a few different owners since then but they just add on to it to make it more modern. It was pretty cool! We had breakfast and then wandered around to see all the fun nick knacks and such. I even got in a great call to my dad.
After food we then headed to see the Route 66 monument and Tucumcari. It was kind of sad to see how the change to I-40 impacted the towns that sprung up around Route 66 - there were a lot of closed down businesses and it it seemed kind of forgotten. Then we went to see the Midpoint Cafe. It's the direct center of Route 66 between Chicago and LA - and apparently the owner makes her own hours (picture coming). We were super disappointed because apparently she makes something called an 'ugly crust pie' and I totally wanted to check it out. From there, we drove 14 miles down Route 66 (Yay! I actually got to DRIVE Route 66!) to Adrian, TX to Dot's Mini Museum to see the Cowboy Boot Tree. Ya know how a lot of times you will see people's shoes slung over a telephone line or whatever? In this case, people add their cowboy boots to this tree. It was cool!
Then we headed to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo where they encourage you to bring your own spray paint. What I found funny is that there is a sign at the edge of the property that says that the property in front of the sign is city property and spray painting anything in front of the sign is illegal... but then you can see the Cadillacs in the background with people crawling all over them, spray painting them. LOL! They were super cool to see and tomorrow we should be seeing the Volkswagon Bug version. We took some pictures and had fun with taking Domo pictures with the different cars and then we left to check into our KOA.
I feared checking in - I won't lie. However, I was distracted by the landscaping out front and was taking pictures to share with you all while Matt did the actual checking in. Then, one of the groundskeepers told me that they were going to be doing a hay ride at 8pm - I was sold!! We went to our cabin and then I was definitely sold! We have a porch AND a porch swing out front and the inside is a TON different than the one in Albuquerque!! It's bright and, though probably the exact same size, it seems so airy and open - and the people that work here are super fantastically nice!! Aaaand there are bunny rabbits all over the place (wild) and jack rabbits that hang out out back. Aaaaand they just put in new bathrooms that are infinitely better than the ones last night! So OF COURSE we went on the hay ride - and it was amazing. The tractor driver was way super nice and HE even asked ME to take his picture with Domo when we were done!! Then we went to dinner at the Big Texan (http://www.bigtexan.com/) - which I have been waiting for FOR WEEKS!!
They came and picked us up IN A LIMO for FREE - and it totally had horns on the front by the way - and took us to the restaurant. After we ordered, I went to take pictures of the steak to share with you guys and saw that they were cooking one of the 72 ounce steaks - it was freaking HUGE! Come to find out, someone was going to take the challenge!! Basically, you pay $72 for this steak. If you eat it all (AND the two sides, AND a roll) in under an hour, they refund you for the dinner. SCORE! So I got a picture of his dinner and went back to the table. While he was working on that, ANOTHER guy decided to take the challenge!! Totally crazy! For those that are wondering, I only had a 12oz ribeye ;0) When the first guy had about 20 min left, I went to see how the two guys were doing - the first guy had about 12oz of steak left, the second guy had maybe 1.5 to 2 pounds left. Regrettably, when the first guy got to about 5 min remaining he .... lost some of his dinner.... and so he was disqualified. He was really disappointed.
However, that seemed to have also disenchanted the second guy and he walked away before his clock ran out too. So, no winners of free steak but my dinner was way super tasty so it was all good!! Then, we got a ride back to the KOA in another limo (YAY!) and now it is sleeps time!
So, I am pretty sure that I love Texas and the people are way super awesome - and I will keep giving KOA a chance. For now. lol
Albuquerque, NM --> Amarillo, TX
The day that I have been waiting WEEKS for!!
So, I won't lie - last night was a little rough. We got into Albuquerque pretty late and found the KOA - after checking in, we went to our 'kabin' and my face fell - then we went inside and it fell further. Totally not what I was expecting - at all. It felt tiny - and cramped - and, life sucking. But then add in that I was tired, not feeling well and was hot - I melted. Matt was super amazingly patient and after my super meltdown, he got me to agree to try KOA one more night and then if I super hated it still, we could try to find some hotels.
We had a lighter driving day today so we were able to sleep in a little bit. After showering and packing up the car, we left in search of breakfast and found Clines Corners (http://www.clinescorners.com/) which is a truck stop-ish place just off I-40. It was originally built in 1934, at the intersection of then U.S. Highway 6 & 2 in the middle of New Mexico. However, he then had to build it again in 1937 when the highway moved slightly north and was renamed Route 66 & U.S. 285. And it's been in the same spot ever since! It's been through a few different owners since then but they just add on to it to make it more modern. It was pretty cool! We had breakfast and then wandered around to see all the fun nick knacks and such. I even got in a great call to my dad.
After food we then headed to see the Route 66 monument and Tucumcari. It was kind of sad to see how the change to I-40 impacted the towns that sprung up around Route 66 - there were a lot of closed down businesses and it it seemed kind of forgotten. Then we went to see the Midpoint Cafe. It's the direct center of Route 66 between Chicago and LA - and apparently the owner makes her own hours (picture coming). We were super disappointed because apparently she makes something called an 'ugly crust pie' and I totally wanted to check it out. From there, we drove 14 miles down Route 66 (Yay! I actually got to DRIVE Route 66!) to Adrian, TX to Dot's Mini Museum to see the Cowboy Boot Tree. Ya know how a lot of times you will see people's shoes slung over a telephone line or whatever? In this case, people add their cowboy boots to this tree. It was cool!
Then we headed to Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo where they encourage you to bring your own spray paint. What I found funny is that there is a sign at the edge of the property that says that the property in front of the sign is city property and spray painting anything in front of the sign is illegal... but then you can see the Cadillacs in the background with people crawling all over them, spray painting them. LOL! They were super cool to see and tomorrow we should be seeing the Volkswagon Bug version. We took some pictures and had fun with taking Domo pictures with the different cars and then we left to check into our KOA.
I feared checking in - I won't lie. However, I was distracted by the landscaping out front and was taking pictures to share with you all while Matt did the actual checking in. Then, one of the groundskeepers told me that they were going to be doing a hay ride at 8pm - I was sold!! We went to our cabin and then I was definitely sold! We have a porch AND a porch swing out front and the inside is a TON different than the one in Albuquerque!! It's bright and, though probably the exact same size, it seems so airy and open - and the people that work here are super fantastically nice!! Aaaand there are bunny rabbits all over the place (wild) and jack rabbits that hang out out back. Aaaaand they just put in new bathrooms that are infinitely better than the ones last night! So OF COURSE we went on the hay ride - and it was amazing. The tractor driver was way super nice and HE even asked ME to take his picture with Domo when we were done!! Then we went to dinner at the Big Texan (http://www.bigtexan.com/) - which I have been waiting for FOR WEEKS!!
They came and picked us up IN A LIMO for FREE - and it totally had horns on the front by the way - and took us to the restaurant. After we ordered, I went to take pictures of the steak to share with you guys and saw that they were cooking one of the 72 ounce steaks - it was freaking HUGE! Come to find out, someone was going to take the challenge!! Basically, you pay $72 for this steak. If you eat it all (AND the two sides, AND a roll) in under an hour, they refund you for the dinner. SCORE! So I got a picture of his dinner and went back to the table. While he was working on that, ANOTHER guy decided to take the challenge!! Totally crazy! For those that are wondering, I only had a 12oz ribeye ;0) When the first guy had about 20 min left, I went to see how the two guys were doing - the first guy had about 12oz of steak left, the second guy had maybe 1.5 to 2 pounds left. Regrettably, when the first guy got to about 5 min remaining he .... lost some of his dinner.... and so he was disqualified. He was really disappointed.
However, that seemed to have also disenchanted the second guy and he walked away before his clock ran out too. So, no winners of free steak but my dinner was way super tasty so it was all good!! Then, we got a ride back to the KOA in another limo (YAY!) and now it is sleeps time!
So, I am pretty sure that I love Texas and the people are way super awesome - and I will keep giving KOA a chance. For now. lol
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Sedona, AZ --> Albuquerque, NM
**Pictures coming soon!!**
Sabbatical Day 4 | May 31, 2011
Sedona, AZ --> Albuquerque, NM
HOLY CRAP what an AMAZING day!!
First stop was to get some gas and I headed inside to see if I could find some cheapo flip flops for the shower (we'll be using communal camp ground showers from here on out) - didn't find the flip flops but I DID find prickly pear cactus candy! I have been looking forward to having some ever since high school! My Nana and Grandpa used to spend their winters in Arizona and I would look forward to when they would come back because that meant that they would bring Adrienne and I some of this candy! It's made with the juice of prickly pear cactus and look almost like jello jigglers but they have this sweet flavor to them. I was ECSTATIC and bought a few boxes.
Then we headed to Bearizona. BEYOND AWESOME!!!
Bearizona is a drive-thru wildlife park where you can see animals from your own car. Think Jurrasic Park only with wild animals that won't necessarily try to eat you ... unless you try to exit your vehicle or pet them ... LOL The first animals were burros - eh. It was cool to see how close to the car the animals were going to get though! If one of them had stuck his tongue out, he could have cleaned off the car for me! After the burros, we saw Dall sheep, wolves, Rocky Mountain big horned sheep, and then the bison! There were the regular brown bison - which we can see in Utah - but then they had WHITE ones!! Loved 'em! Some Rocky Mountain goats and then my mostest favoritest part EVER - the BEARS!!
When you first go through, you drive around a circle during which point we saw 4 bears. One was chillin' up against a tree, then there was the one walking around, one taking a nap with two paws on two trees, and then one just takin' a nap. I got a lot of great pictures and then made Matt drive around the circle again so I could take more LOL But - I'm glad we did because then we saw the bear that was apparently voted off Bear Island - he was just chillin in his little log lean-to. I convinced myself I had enough photos (HA!) and we moved on - and then discovered that there were even MORE bears!! I was beside myself with glee!! Hands down my favorite was the one sleeping in the middle of the road which we found odd at the time but the park person nearby said that this particular bear was actually the oldest in the park (33 which is 99 human years) and he likes to sleep there because the warm road soothes his hips ... totally made sense to me!! After the drive, there is also a walking section where you can see some other animals.
First they had some 5 month old bear cubs who were having a BLAST climbing a tree. When I went back later they had made it all the way to the top. In the next enclosure over were (or supposed to be) raccoons but they were taken off display for a little while because they were escaping from their enclosure - daily. LOL As soon as I heard that, all I could picture were the penguins in Madagascar! Then there were the yearling bear cubs - fer cute!!! The yearlings hang out there until they are about 3 or 4 and then they go out with the other bears in the drive-through park. There was a pig and some fox, and then bobcats (YAY!). They were pretty chill - until they spotted the peacock that was wondering the park. Matt said that they wouldn't go for it but sure enough, they did! You don't really think of animals in captivity as being truly wild until you see it stalk prey - it was great! Thankfully the peacock wasn't in the bobcat enclosure or it would have totally been dinner!!
After Bearizona we set out for Albuquerque. Along the way we stopped at Meteor Crater (http://www.meteorcrater.com/) which is the first confirmed, best preserved, meteor crater in the world. It is 2.4 miles around, over 550 feet deep and nearly a mile across. It doesn't sound very big until you go up to it and stare into it. It was HUGE! Matt later said that it is kind of awe inspiring to see something like that and know that it had a direct impact (ha ha) on why Arizona is the way that it is today, It was very cool. To put it into perspective, they put a cut out that looks like an astronaut in the bottom of the crater next to a 3'x5' US flag - it was astounding. I do have one pic that I will make sure to share that should give you an idea. Basically, the size of the rock in the picture is the same as you would see it if you were there in person. In reality? The rock is the size OF A HOUSE!
After the crater, we went to see the World's Largest Petrified Tree at the Geronimo Trading Post. Either the World's Largest Petrified Tree is short, or someone cut it up. But, either way, Domo had fun hanging out on it. We walked around the shop and then continued on our way! We pulled off onto Route 66 for a little while where I was able to get some pictures of some dinosaurs and then we had a late lunch/early dinner. I finally found a WalMart once we got into New Mexico a bit so I was able to find my cheapo flip flops and now we are on our way to our first KOA of the trip. It's dark so we can't see much but there is always tomorrow!! I am hoping the New Mexico stars are just as breathtaking as the Arizona ones were last night!! Until I can get out and check, I will just have to bide my time keeping a lookout to see if New Mexico has suicidal deer/elk too LOL
Sedona, AZ --> Albuquerque, NM
HOLY CRAP what an AMAZING day!!
First stop was to get some gas and I headed inside to see if I could find some cheapo flip flops for the shower (we'll be using communal camp ground showers from here on out) - didn't find the flip flops but I DID find prickly pear cactus candy! I have been looking forward to having some ever since high school! My Nana and Grandpa used to spend their winters in Arizona and I would look forward to when they would come back because that meant that they would bring Adrienne and I some of this candy! It's made with the juice of prickly pear cactus and look almost like jello jigglers but they have this sweet flavor to them. I was ECSTATIC and bought a few boxes.
Then we headed to Bearizona. BEYOND AWESOME!!!
Bearizona is a drive-thru wildlife park where you can see animals from your own car. Think Jurrasic Park only with wild animals that won't necessarily try to eat you ... unless you try to exit your vehicle or pet them ... LOL The first animals were burros - eh. It was cool to see how close to the car the animals were going to get though! If one of them had stuck his tongue out, he could have cleaned off the car for me! After the burros, we saw Dall sheep, wolves, Rocky Mountain big horned sheep, and then the bison! There were the regular brown bison - which we can see in Utah - but then they had WHITE ones!! Loved 'em! Some Rocky Mountain goats and then my mostest favoritest part EVER - the BEARS!!
When you first go through, you drive around a circle during which point we saw 4 bears. One was chillin' up against a tree, then there was the one walking around, one taking a nap with two paws on two trees, and then one just takin' a nap. I got a lot of great pictures and then made Matt drive around the circle again so I could take more LOL But - I'm glad we did because then we saw the bear that was apparently voted off Bear Island - he was just chillin in his little log lean-to. I convinced myself I had enough photos (HA!) and we moved on - and then discovered that there were even MORE bears!! I was beside myself with glee!! Hands down my favorite was the one sleeping in the middle of the road which we found odd at the time but the park person nearby said that this particular bear was actually the oldest in the park (33 which is 99 human years) and he likes to sleep there because the warm road soothes his hips ... totally made sense to me!! After the drive, there is also a walking section where you can see some other animals.
First they had some 5 month old bear cubs who were having a BLAST climbing a tree. When I went back later they had made it all the way to the top. In the next enclosure over were (or supposed to be) raccoons but they were taken off display for a little while because they were escaping from their enclosure - daily. LOL As soon as I heard that, all I could picture were the penguins in Madagascar! Then there were the yearling bear cubs - fer cute!!! The yearlings hang out there until they are about 3 or 4 and then they go out with the other bears in the drive-through park. There was a pig and some fox, and then bobcats (YAY!). They were pretty chill - until they spotted the peacock that was wondering the park. Matt said that they wouldn't go for it but sure enough, they did! You don't really think of animals in captivity as being truly wild until you see it stalk prey - it was great! Thankfully the peacock wasn't in the bobcat enclosure or it would have totally been dinner!!
After Bearizona we set out for Albuquerque. Along the way we stopped at Meteor Crater (http://www.meteorcrater.com/) which is the first confirmed, best preserved, meteor crater in the world. It is 2.4 miles around, over 550 feet deep and nearly a mile across. It doesn't sound very big until you go up to it and stare into it. It was HUGE! Matt later said that it is kind of awe inspiring to see something like that and know that it had a direct impact (ha ha) on why Arizona is the way that it is today, It was very cool. To put it into perspective, they put a cut out that looks like an astronaut in the bottom of the crater next to a 3'x5' US flag - it was astounding. I do have one pic that I will make sure to share that should give you an idea. Basically, the size of the rock in the picture is the same as you would see it if you were there in person. In reality? The rock is the size OF A HOUSE!
After the crater, we went to see the World's Largest Petrified Tree at the Geronimo Trading Post. Either the World's Largest Petrified Tree is short, or someone cut it up. But, either way, Domo had fun hanging out on it. We walked around the shop and then continued on our way! We pulled off onto Route 66 for a little while where I was able to get some pictures of some dinosaurs and then we had a late lunch/early dinner. I finally found a WalMart once we got into New Mexico a bit so I was able to find my cheapo flip flops and now we are on our way to our first KOA of the trip. It's dark so we can't see much but there is always tomorrow!! I am hoping the New Mexico stars are just as breathtaking as the Arizona ones were last night!! Until I can get out and check, I will just have to bide my time keeping a lookout to see if New Mexico has suicidal deer/elk too LOL
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