Friday, June 25, 2004

On the east coast

We made it to Connecticut last night at 11:30pm. Other than a 1 hour delay in Chicago the flights went very well. It was our first time flying Southwest air and our general impression was very good. We did get to preboard (Southwest doesn't assign seats), because of Kelly's age. That made it possible to get 6 seats across the plane. The kids mostly played games the first leg. We made a friend who was 12 and traveling alone. Betsy struck up a conversation with her mother in line in Seattle and she sat with the big girls for part of the flight.

Southwest has some nice snack packs that they give out instead of providing the usual bad airline food. We picked up stuff to go in Seattle and ate it in flight. Then of course the kids were already hungry in Chicago so they ate again. I think Heidi snacked her way across the US. The second leg the kids zoned out to 5 episodes of Totally Spies.

The family truckasaraus made it successfully to CT. Curtis power drove it and it arrived Thursday afternoon. The only damages were 1 rock ding to the windshield and a $100 speeding ticket Curtis got in Ohio. I have some pictures of the filthy bug covered beast that I'll post when I get time.

We spent today waking up late, power washing the car, getting its oil changed and going out for ice cream. Tonight Juanita brought Molly over so the kids could play with their cousin. Tomorrow we head to Wilbraham for the 50th anniversary party.

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Electronics for the trip

A list of electronic gadgets for the trip

a) portable DVD player (7" screen)
b) headphones (4)
c) headphone splitters
d) power transformer (cigarette lighter to plug)
e) laptop
f) batteries (8 AA and 4 AAA, NiMH with charger)
g) fm modulator (broadcast audio over car radio)
h) digital camera
i) Digital Video camera
k) MP3 player
l) gameboy advance sp
m) portable cd player

Toss in DVDs and CDs, memory cards and DV tapes, video games and more and we'll come pretty close to needing our own power plant. Suprisingly most of the stuff is small and light enough to carry without any issues.

An introduction

As you all know the family will be taking an extended vacation this year. The plan calls for us to head back east on June 24th. The itinerary is

1) Spend a few days honoring my parents 50th wedding anniversary
2) Off to Cape Cod for almost 2 weeks
3) Fly to Disneyworld for 5 days
4) Hop in the car and head cross country

On the cross country trek we hope to visit Washington DC, The baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown NY, Chicago for some time, Minneapolis, Mt Rushmore and places unknown.

Hopefully we'll find enough internet connections on route to let people know where we are and maybe post some pictures as we go. I'm also hoping that the older kids can contribute to the blog with their impressions of America.