whereisbetsy

Redmond, WA Aug 17

2004-08-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

Corvalis, OR Aug 16

2004-08-17T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sunriver, OR Aug 13 - 15

2004-08-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Boise, ID Aug 11-12

2004-08-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Got to Boise in early evening on Wednesday, checked into the hotel to find the Redmond North Little league team playing on ESPN2 for the right to go to the Little league world series. We ordered in pizza, watched the game and relaxed. We spent the day today at a water park a few miles from Boise. The temp hit 99 degrees so it was a good day to play in the water.

Off to Bend, OR tomorrow for 3 nights before heading home.

Kelly, Wy Aug 8-10

2004-08-12T19:29:00.000-07:00

Stayed with our friends Peter & Katie at their parents ranch in Kelly Wy (near Jackson). Everyone had a great time being on a beatiful range in the middle of wildlife. The kids loved horseback riding, I enjoyed a great day of golf with Pete and we all loved seeing the animals and scenery. We had great hosts and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I'll post some pictures of a herd of buffalo in the middle of mating season when I get access for an extended length of time.

Caspar, Wy Aug 7

2004-08-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Moved one state further west and made a side trip to Devil's Tower. We got some great pictures of climbers halfway up the structure. Once again by going off the beaten path we got to see some things not visible from the parking lot. One of things we got to see was the remnants of the original wooden ladder built up the side of the tower that allowed the first ascent. Even using that ladder there is no way I would attempt to climb up 530 feet of sheer rock. It's impressive geology and well worth the 30 minute detour (each way) off I-90, even if you do get stuck behind an RV. Drove through the least populated state in the Union for an additional 3 hours to reach Casper. It was nice to see mountains in the distance. Washington license plates are becoming more frequently spotted. We're still lacking Vermont, Mississippi and Hawaii on our hunt for every plate in the Union. I'm pretty sure we would have gotten Vt if we had started this game in New England, Hawaii I can understand not seeing but Mississippi? Does everyone from Miss. refuse to leave the state?

Rapid City, SD Aug 6

2004-08-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

O.k. The drive from Sioux Falls to Rapid City did get a little boring from a terrain perspective. There just isn't a lot of variety in South Dakota. We got up early because we knew it was going to be a long day. We made stops at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD as well as Wall Drug. The corn palace is a tourist site dreamed up by the fathers of Mitchell back in the late 1800's to combat the Grain Palace put up down the road. The Corn Palace is a structure where the external surface is made up of murals made of corn. The murals change every year. They are designed by a few local artists. You can find all the facts on their web site. Inside the palace is an arena for local meetings and events. They also have a ring of pictures of many of the past Corn Palaces. It's pretty cool and worth the stop.

Wall Drug is 3 hours further west. Three hours of billboards telling you how far to Wall Drug. It's a gigantic drug store filled with mostly cheap tourist stuff. It started out as an apothecary that gave away free water to travellers. Since then it's grown and grown into a tourist destination. They do have a "new" back yard filled with stuff for the kids to sit on. At least it gave us a chance to stretch our legs, add a few license plates to our list and see a lot of Harley Davidson motorcycles. Oh, I didn't mention that we arrived in Rapid City the same time as the annual Harley rally happens in Sturgis, SD a few towns over? I heard estimates of 100,000 to 500,000 riders converge on Sturgis on Harley week. We shared the highway from Sioux Fall to Rapid City with most of them. Big trains, single riders, RVs pulling trailers, trucks with bikes in the bed, you name it, we either passed them or they passed us. Our hotel had 24 hour security for the 100 or so bikes in the parking lot. It was a sight to see.

Since we got on the road so early we decided to see Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse before calling it a night. Both were spectacular. Rushmore for its completed (sort of) product and Crazy Horse for its audacity in scale. I was slightly miffed that the parking lot at Rushmore is run by a private concessionaire which meant that our national parks pass was worthless. What's the point in buying a pass if it doesn't include parking at the site? We took a walk along the trail that led to the artists studio. I was glad we did because it gave us several unique views of the mountain that you can't see from the visitors center. Inside the artists studio you can see a scale sculpture of how the artist intended the completed sculpture to look. Washington was to have a full coat, Lincoln was to have a completed head. I wish they had let him finish. We also met a nice couple that had been on the road since June 26th, travelling almost everywhere in the USA. From Florida, west through Texas to California, up the coast to oregon and back east through the midwest. Almost all of it was done on back roads until they reached SD. Crazy Horse is huge. The entire Mt Rushmore sculpture will fit in Crazy Horse's head. It's being done completely in the round and will be an amazing testimony when it is complete. It's an equally amazing testimony to xxxxxxx who started the project in 19xx, living in a tent, building himself a log cabin, hauling tons of lumber on his back to build the original staircase to the top of the mountain and beginning a project of scope that he knew would not be completed in his lifetime. We saw his wife while we were there, 7 of their 10 children have decided to continue on with their fathers dream. It's very impressive.

Sioux Falls, SD Aug 5

2004-08-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Made it to Sioux Falls after a 4 hour drive. Neither Betsy or I are finding the route boring or monotonous. We're both enjoying seeing the farms and open country. We experienced about 10 minutes of totally open road today (road in which we could see no other cars), but I'm not seeing the totaly empty highways of Minnesota and South Dakota I expected. There are lots of Harley riders heading for Sturgis, SD for motorcycle week next week.

Stopped for a picnic lunch in a park on route. We figured out that we'll be in Jackson, WY the same time as Pete, Katie, Jake and Zach so we're making plans on how to hook up. We're going to see a free LAZER light show tonight at a local park.

Took the kids to a nice laser light display at the Sioux City Falls park last night. They told the history of Sioux City. It's been cool to link up the various things we learned ove rthe course of the trip. Last night they talked about Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark in one of their segments. The falls are pretty, not spectacular (they don't really drop a lot) but unique and interesting to look at. In the last 30 years the city of Sioux Falls has done a lot of work restoring their older downtown historic buildings and it shows. For a city of a little over 100K it's got a lot going for it.

Now we're off to Rapid City with stops at all the tourist places on route. The Corn Palace and Wall Drug.

Updates...

2004-08-03T23:59:00.000-07:00

Added in content for Louisville, Chicago, Madison and Bloomington. Also added in links in the blog to a bunch of photos for those for places. Enjoy and please comment (click on the comments link) if you want to ask questions.

John

Bloomington, MN Aug 2-4

2004-08-03T19:13:00.000-07:00

Wisconsin Dells

On the ways to Bloomington our plan was to visit Noah's ark in the Wisconsin Dells. It's billed as the largest water park in the US. Unfortunately the day broke with big thunder clouds and a weather report of inch sized hail. We still pulled over in the Wisconsin Dells just to see what it was like. It's Wisconsin's verison of Ocean Shores based on a geology like the Snake River Canyon.

As we pulled off I noticed an indoor water park called Kalahari. After visiting Noah's Ark and watching the weather we decided to give the indoor park a shot. The girls were anticipating a fun day and I really didn't want to turn it into another car day. We were glad we did. Kalahari had around 8 large indoor slides, a kiddie park and some mid sized rides. One slide I'd never seen before was a mixing bowl, you go into the slide, it empties out into a large bowl, where you swirl around until your momentum is spent, then you drop through a holei n the bowl into a pool, very neat. We spent 3 hours indoors while the rain came down. Then presto, the sky turned sunny, it warmed up and we moved to the outdoor portion of the park. They have 4 more slides outdoors including a tube version of the mixing bowl. We left around 5:00 after a full day of fun. Sleeping kids made the drive to Bloomington an easy one.

Mall of America

Spent the first day in Bloomington sleeping in and catching up on laundry after a few weeks on the road. Most of the kids were out of underwear and socks. I guess they just haven't learned how to use them twice, like dear old dad. After lunch we headed over to the MOA (Mall of America) to check it out. It's a large shopping mall with a 7 acre theme park in the middle. These midwesterners sure know how to find ways to move fun activities indoors for the harsh winters. The theme park is called Camp Snoopy and it's run by the Knott's (of Knott's Berry Farm) folks. At first glance we weren't very impressed. Since we started the day so late wo told the kids the rides would have to wait until the next day and spent some time walking around the stores. The MOA has one of everything and multiple stores of some. It's 4 stories tall. Then we headed back to the suite for a "home" cooked dinner. It sure was nice to be able to get things ourselves for a change.

Wednesday we headed back to MOA to spend the day in Camp Snoopy. Originally Betsy and I both thought we'd bo done in a few ours. Nine and 1/2 hours later we headed home for the night. Camp Snoopy was a lot more fun than we thought it would be. It's a great mix of slightly scarier bigger kids rides combined with a bunch of toddler rides. It's not very crowded (we were able to do the best rides at least 2x each) and small enough that we could swap kids around every hour and meet up. We went to Bubba Gump Shrimp for dinner and enjoyed the staff and the food. It was an extremely fun day that we all enjoyed.

We left Bloomington refreshed and ready to start putting some real miles on the car.

Madison, WI Aug 1

2004-08-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

Hopped from Chicago to Madison Wisconsin on our State and National Capital tour. We made a detour outside of Madison to visit a National Historical Site called Cave of the Mounds. I'd promised the girls we'd see at least one cave on our trip and we'd already passed Howe's Caverns and some Kentucky cave sites without venturing in. I found this one on the internet and it sounded cool, so off we went...

Cave of the mounds was discovered in 1939 when the land owner was blasting for limestone in his quarry. They set off 8 bored holes full of black powder and when the debris settled they found out they had opened up an entrance to a limestone cave over 1/3rd of a mile long. Ever since then it's been a tourist location. It's very cool. Lots of stalagmites and stalagtites and calcium deposits in interesting colors. We all came to the conclusion that "caves are cool".

We spent the evening in Madison cruising the city in car and on foot. It's pretty dead in the summer as the UW Badgers are out of school and the state legislature is taking a break also. A benfactor has donated upwards of $150 million to put in a new performing arts center and restructure the downtown to make it more pedestrian friendly so there was a lot of construction going on.

Betsy and I both agree that the people we've met in Wisconsin seem to be very "real". The kids still seem to have that midwest corn fed friendlyness without having that need to express their uniqueness (the same way every one else is expressing theirs) through tatoos and piercings and such. The adults also seem to have skipped over the keeping up with the Jones materialism. I think I could live in Wisconsin.

Chicago, Il July 29-31

2004-07-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

I put in a bunch of links to photos in previous entries today. Go back and follow the links for shots from DC, Disney and other places.

Thanks Mike for the storage space.

We're currently in Chicago and had a great day at Navy Pier today. I'll write more about it later.

(Ed - 8-3-04, Chicago Experience)

This was my first proper visit to Chicago. We really enjoyed the city, There's a lot of fun stuff to do for both kids and adults. Our hotel was downtown, right next to the John Hancock Tower. We were 2 blocks away from the magnificent mile (high end shopping) and about a 15 minute walk from Navy Pier where most of the kid related tourist activities are located. Since the size of our family makes it tough to go anywhere by taxi we stayed within walking distance of the hotel. There was more than enough to keep us busy for the 3 days in walking range.

The first day we spent entirely at Navy Pier. We walked the pier, the older girls and Betsy went into the fun house, we took a 30 minute inner harbor cruise, went on the Ferris wheel, got free packs of disgusting strawberry chocolates gum, ate lunch at the "Cheezeborger, no fries, chips" place made famous on a Saturday night Live skit during the Belushi era and finished off with a few hours in the Children's museum. All in all an exhausting but fun filled day. After a free trolley ride that took us part way home, and a quick walk we ate dinner outside, then took a quick dip in the poll located inside the hotel, 30 floors above the ground.

The second day we cruised the magnificent mile. We made detours into the American Girl place and a Virgin Megestore to pick up some cheap DVD's for the car. We tried to eat at the original Pizzeria Uno's but the wait was over an hour and I was getting cranky for food. After lunch Kelly and I headed back to the hotel to nap while the big kids went with Betsy to an American Girl play. I predict that American Girl place will need to expand very soon. It was cool to see all the girls walking the streets of Chicago with their dolls. It's definitely a big destination event for the 6-13 age bracket.

After a nice nap we headed out, first to the 94 floor of the Hancock building to the observatory and then back to the pier. July 31 was Venetian Night in Chicago. There was a boat parade (which we didn't see) and some extraordinary fireworks that night. The fireworks were some of the best I've ever seen. They lasted at least 20 minutes and were timed to a great sound track that was blasted the length of the pier.

Betsy and I both agree that we could take a 4 day weekend in Chicago and fill it up very nicely with adult activities. Some of the areas we missed were the art museums, restaurants and theater. Frankly I'd rank Chicago higher than New York on my list of tourist cities. We'll definitely be back, even if it is only to catch a Cubs game at Wrigley field.

Louisville, KY July 28

2004-07-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

(Ed 8-3-04)

The trip from Charleston WV to Louisville was uneventful. We stopped in Lexington hoping to visit the University of Kentucky. We imagined it as a quaint campus where the kids could stretch their legs, we could get a bite to eat and everyone could unwind. Color us disappointed. UK is a land grant university which means it really has no central campus. Lexington appeared to be a gigantic strip mall. We took the opportunity to stop at Target (Target of all places?) to stock up on some snacks and get some pillows and thermarest mattress pads to augment the lousy sofa beds we're encountering.

Louisville was much better. We took the morning to visit the Churchill Downs museum and learn all the history surrounding the Kentucky Derby. We even got a tour of the track. The girls were excited to take a look at a thoroughbred horse and his mini friend. I didn't realize that Louisville University was so large. Since all I ever heard about the state of Kentucky was associated with either the derby or UK basketball I didn't realize that Louisville was as large as it was.

Charleston, WV

2004-07-28T19:30:00.000-07:00

We finally started making tracks westward after leaving DC early afternoon on Tuesday. Charleston WV is the capital of West Virginia where coal is still king. The theme from Deliverance kept running through my head. We tarried very little in WV opting to get on the road early to get as fast as we could out of Dodge.

Washington DC

2004-07-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

DC pictures

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We're currently in Washington DC. Actually we've changed hotels from inside DC to just outside the city in Chevy Chase MD. Tomorrow we head out westward to Charleston WV with a stop at Monticello. I'll enter more DC info once I get a chance to write it up. DC has been a lot of fun. We spent the first few days doing the monuments (Washington from the outside, WW II, Lincoln, Vietnam and Korean) and then several Smithsonian buldings ( US History, Natural History, Space and Flight). We also made a side trip to Ford's Theater and the house where Lincoln died. Today we head off to the International Spy Museum and the National Archives and then visit Arlington National Cemetary this afternoon.

ok we never made it to Monticello. We did do the Spy museum and the National Archives on Monday. The Spy museum was intersting and hokey at the same time. It's a private site and it isn't cheap ($13 for adults) but they do a decent job explaining espionage throughout the years. Since I just finished Cryptonomicon I would have liked to see more on code breaking but it was covered along with a lot on the cold war.

We hit arlington national cemetary on the way out. We saw the JFK burial site as well as the tomb of the unknowns and watched a changing of the guard. Then we made a quick visit to the Marine (Iowa Jima) memorial. Is it true that there are 13 hands in that sculpture even though only 6 soldiers are portrayed?

Washington DC is great. I encourage everyone, especially those that grew up on the West coast where large chunks of US history are easily ignored, to take a week and spend it in DC. They've got a great metro system and most everything is free to visit. If you've got kids aged 10 - 16 they'll be facinated.

Baltimore MD

2004-07-26T07:39:00.000-07:00

Baltimore Photo

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Baltimore was in ways very cool and other ways slightly disappointing. We hooked up with Randy, Sue and the boys at our hotel which was only a block away from Camden Yards. We walked down to the inner harbor area for dinner on Thursday night.

Friday we started early with a trip to Camden Yards to check it out during the day. I didn't know that the O's were in town. We were tempted to buy tickets for the night. Luckily we didn't because the evening was quite rainy and we weren't equipped for standing in the rain. I did get some good photos of the park, walking through an open gate that wasn't supposed to be open (as I was later informed).

We then walked to inner harbor and got on a water taxi to take us to Fells Point. It's a district that is currently being slowly renovated. Judging from the dress codes prominently displayed on the entrance to every bar it appears that Fells point has a gang problem they are addressing. After lunch in a park there we walked around and then hopped on another water taxi to Fort McHenry. Things started getting interesting now.

Fort McHenry is where the American forces withstood a 25 hour bombardment from the British during the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the star spangled banner on board a American ship stationed behind the bombarding British fleet after negotiating the freedom of an American prisoner. The fort then went on to have a colorful history serving as a prison during the Civil War and as a Hospital during WW I. It is the only place designated both a national landmark and a historic site.

All of the rangers were thorough in their knowledge of fort history and one of the older gentlemen has personally met 6 US Presidents because they often come to the fort on Flag day.

Then we grabbed a quick bite to eat before caravaning down to Washington DC.

Hershey PA, Gettysburg PA

2004-07-26T07:38:00.000-07:00

Hershey Picture

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We were going to spend a day at the amusement park in Hershey PA and then drive down to Baltimore to meet Sue's husband Randy who was already there on business. Instead we decied to skip the amusement park, make a short stop at Chocolate World in Hershey and then visit Gettysburg before continuing to Baltimore.

The drive to Hershey was less then enjoyable. So far route 81 from Scranton to Harrisburgh gets my vote for worst road and worst drivers. It's a 2 lane road in horrible condition, combined with the biggest truck to car ratio I've ever experienced. I'd say there was 3 semi trucks to every 2 cars. The truck are allowed to use the left lane and they do so without any regard for the car population. They attempt to pass uphill without any thought to speed ratio, hogging the left hand lane. We really needed a chocolate fix after that 2@ 1/2 hours. The direct quote from Holly when we parked was "move it people, this is important". Chocolate world was set up by the folks at hershey when their factory tour requests became overwhelming. There are a few free rides that explain how chocolate is made, some enlightening history about Milton Hershey and his wife, opportunities to watch a 3d movie or take a tour of the company town a decent food court and several enormous gift shops full of various size confections in every shape and size along with an enormous amount of merchandise that makes a Hershey's kiss rival Mickey Mouse in popularity. It was a pleasent way to spend a few hours. The amusement park looks cool also. It seems to have at least 6 roller coasters.

After Hershey we took a short diversion to Gettysburg. I remember going there as a kid during a reenactment week and being amazed. One of the reasons we took this trip we to expose our kids to some US history we feel is missing on the west coast and we thought Gettysburg was a good place to start. The visitors center exposed the kids to the background of the civil war and the importance of the battle of Gettysburg. I tried to fill in the gaps with my rememberances of the civil war up to that point in time. We toured the cemetary and latched on to a ranger tour who explained the battle and the aftermath and the creation of the cemetary. She also explained the importance of the Gettysburg address. How the North finally had a victory to quell the people who were ready to give in to the south and the enormouse size of the battle. We went into a building called the Cyclorama which houses a 360 degree painting of the battle, recreated after the war. It tooka team of 6 people 11 months to create and it told the entire story of the battle of Picket's charge in 1 painting. A 10 minute naration by Richard Dryfuss, combined with automated spotlight enhancement explained the painting. Lucky for us, we went now, the painting is scheduled for restoration this fall and the exhibit will be closed for several years. We got caught in a huge rainstorm as we left the building which prevented any future exploration of the battlefields but we'd already had a full day and needed to head on down to Baltimore to our hotel.

Pompton Lakes, PA

2004-07-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

From Cooperstown we drove a couple more hours to the Milford PA area to spend some time with Betsy's sister Sue and her two boys Ryan and Kyle. Since the boys were in 1/2 day camp we took the opportunity to stock up on some supplies in the morning and visit a really cool site called Child's Place near Dingman's Ferry. Child's place is walk through the woods along a river that has 5 or so small waterfalls. The walk is mostly dirt path and boardwalk going over several bridges and many sets of stairs. The kids enjoyed getting a chance to stretch their legs out (not knowing how much stretching they would be doing in DC in the days ahead). Then we spent an afternoon enjoying Gold Key Lake. We swam and took out the paddle boats then spent some time on the playground. That night we celebrated Kyle's 4th birthday with a cookout and some cake.

Cooperstown, NY

2004-07-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

Cooperstown Photo

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Drove from Wilbraham to Cooperstown to visit the baseball hall of fame. I'd never bene through the farmlands of upstate new york before. I was amazed at the low population density in the area. We went a back route to cooperstown and the last 20 miles was rolling hills of family farms, then poof, you reach cooperstown which is a fantastic old community. There are lots of old mansions that surround a 1940's style main street. Most of the businesses on main street live off the hall of fame. They either sell baseball memoribilia or they sell custom made bats or souveneirs. The town borders a pretty large lake that looks like it may have been quite the tourist destination spot in the 40's and 50's. We'd like to do some research on the town because both Betsy and I were befuddled on why a mini newport, RI community would spring up in Cooperstown NY.

The hall of fame itself was excellent. It was chock full of equipment used by the actual players in accomplishing various records. It also gave a history of the game through the world series winners from the eary 1900's onward. There was a special exhibition of Sports Illustrated covers throughout the years, several of them brought back memories. I used to devour each SI as it arrived at our house. They were eyeball onto the world of sports to a kid growing up in Western Mass. We showed up a week before Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersly were innagurated so the place was hopping. The plaque room was outstanding and I spent an hour there with the big girls reading names and the hilarious nicknames for many players and some history. Up the street you can watch some little league games at Doubleday Field where Abner Doubleday "invented" baseball. It's also where the annual Hall of Fame game is played each year.

There are lots of baseball camps in the area, the largest accepts applications from teams all over the country to play a weeklong tournament each week at the Dream Field complex. This keeps the merchants pretty well set with fresh consumers of memoribilia each week. All in all it was a great visit to a place I've always wanted to see. The town was equally facinating. The older girls really enjoyed themselves and the younger two had fun in the kids room and pushing buttons on any interactive exhibit they could find.

disney world

2004-07-26T07:34:00.000-07:00

Disney Photos

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Phases 1 & 2 Complete

2004-07-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

We're back from Disney World which completes phases 1 and 2 of the "big vacation". We spent 2 weeks at Cape Cod and then jetted down to Wally world for 5 days of fun filled adventures with Mickey and the gang. I'll try and post more details tonight and then some pictures once we land in a hotel with high speed internet.

Today we're off to Wilbraham for a last visit with my folks (we're currently in South Windsor Ct, undergoing the same ritual with Betsy's parents). Then on Monday we start the big road trip with the first leg being Cooperstown NY to visit the Baseball hall of fame and Howe's Caverns.

On the east coast

2004-06-25T18:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Electronics for the trip

2004-06-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

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

2004-06-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

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.