Road Trippin'

I have posted before about the joys of travelling with the family by car to far away places.  Once again, this summer we loaded up the van, strapped in the kids, and off we went to explore the Eastern part of the U.S.  What a wonderful 20 days!

We started out by driving to Little Rock, Arkansas the first day.  We had been there before so this was just a quick overnight stop.  (Last year we drove out to Wyoming and California and got so many hotel points that the hotesl on this trip were free.)  The kids love staying at hotels (who doesn't!)

The next day we drove two hours to Memphis and spent all morning at the Mud Island River Park which has an amazing half-mile scale model of the Mississippi River that the kids can wade in.  My favorite part is that it empties into a scale model of the Gulf of Mexico.  There are fountains and paddle boats.  The kids loved it!

After that, we did a quick stop at the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. 

They have turned the motel into a museum.  The kids did a quick tour of the gift shop and then we were off again to Nashville to have dinner with my husband's family.  What is normally a three-hour drive turned into a five-hour drive after a cement truck fell into a ditch and the emergency vehicles blocked two lanes of the three-lane highway.  Aaargh.  Then we ran into heavy rain and then we got lost.  Double Aaargh!  But we finally made it and had a wonderful time visiting with all the cousins in Tennessee.

On Day 3, we started the morning by letting the kids explore the grounds of our cousin's farm.  A creek runs through it, they have many gardens, and a wooded area.  Again, the kids were in heaven. 

After breakfast we drove to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to camp for the night.  We got there in the evening and the kids really enjoyed chasing the beautiful fireflies. 

The next morning, we hiked up to see the Laurel Falls early in the morning.  What a gorgeous area.  We bought a little brochure that explained what we would see on the hike and read it at different points along the trail.  The falls themselves were tiny and a little disappointing, but it's the journey that counts the most, right?

We had a great time hiking up to them and back.  After the hike, we packed up and headed to Shenandoah National Park for another night of camping.  We arrived so late (again!) that our camp neighbors were already using our table because they figured no one was going to camp there.  We set up the tent, built a fire, and read by the moonlight.  Perfect heaven, or so we thought.  At 3 a.m., the girls woke up screaming because the tent was flapping all over the place.  It was so windy that if felt as if we were going to fly off the mountain.  I ran out of the tent to get my husband to stake the flaps back down and he immediately told me to get back in the tent "before it flies off with the girls in it!"  (He and my son were sleeping outside the tent.)
Everyone moved back into the tent, but the wind kept howling and the tent flapping.  I was so exhausted that I couldn't keep my eyes open the next day.

On Day 5, we woke up early (really we didn't sleep all night) and went for a short-hike on the Appalachian Trail which ran just down from the campground where we were staying. 

It was all weedy and covered with poison ivy so we just picked berries (much to my chagrin, I kept asking my husband, "How do you know they are safe to eat?" They were blackberries.) 

We hiked a different trail that had amazing vistas of the mountains and had another chance to hike up a small section of the Appalachian Trail. 

It was an awesome morning despite the sleep deprivation!  After the hike, we drove up to Falls Church, Virginia where we were going to be for three days visiting friends and touring Washington, D.C.

On Day 6, we took the train into the city and spent all afternoon at the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of the American Indian. 

We also saw the Capitol, the Supreme Court where the kids got to participate in a demonstration against the death penaly.

The kids fell in love with the fountain outside the Library of Congress.  My son especially enjoyed the statue of Poseidon and his chariot being pulled by a a pair of  hippocampi. A hippocampus is a mythical creature that is half-horse, half-fish or dolphin.

The next day we drove into the city instead of taking the train (it cost us $60 to take the train in and only $18 to park. Where's the incentive to take the train?  Plus, traffic was a breeze...)  We got to visit the Library of Congress. They have a new Children's Reading Room that was outstanding. 

The girls really enjoyed story time there while the boys went to the Capitol with their gallery passes.  All, in all, a great morning.  After the library, we made our way back to the Air and Space Museum where Daniel was in pure heaven. 

After the museum, we hit more monuments, the White House, and the kids got to attend another demonstration. This time they helped the Sierra Club with their Freedom from Oil demonstration.  (The irony here as that we drove 2,000 miles to get there!)  :) 

On Day 8, we drove into the city again and finished doing the tour of the monuments.  We hit all the big ones, but we didn't make it to FDR's.  The kid's favorite was the Washington Monument. 

My husband loves the Korean War Memorial and my favorite is the Vietnam War Memorial.  After visiting the Jefferson Memorial, we made our way out of the city towards New York.  That evening we made a short stop in Philadelphia to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed and where the first American flag was unveiled, and Benjamin Franklin's grave. 

What a historical city!  It's too bad we got a parking ticket for $36 at 7pm at night or we would definitely put that city on our list of places to visit again. That night we arrived in New York City and stayed with my sister and her husband in the Upper East Side.

The next morning, thanks to the generosity of a friend, we moved into a beautiful apartment in Times Square.  We walked through Central Park and took the subway to Times Square.  After we were settled in, my husband took the older kids to see the Statue of Liberty while my baby and I walked to Rockefeller Plaza.

We got to see the Lego Store and discovered American Girl Place.  I thought I was going to have to use the jaws of death to extricate her from there. We spent three hours touring the store.  Thankfully, we didn't spend a dime.  She was happy just collecting the little paper cards which list every item they have for sale.  :)
That night my sister and her husband took the kids back to her apartment and my husband and I got to go to an Alejandro Escovedo album release concert and to dinner at City Winery in SoHo.  What a lovely evening!

On Day 10, we got in line early to get discount tickets so the older kids could go to a Broadway show.  We got tickets to Fela, a musical about a political activist in Nigeria. 

My sister and the kids met us for lunch.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them.  They all looked very stylish!  The girls were sportin' new shoes, purses, sunglasses, lip gloss, and nail polish. Thanks, Tia!

After lunch, the older kids and my husband went off to the show. We spent the afternoon just window-shopping on Madison and Fifth Avenue.  It was awesome!

The kids and my husband met up with us again at the apartment and we took everybody to FAO Schwarz, the most wonderful toy store ever!  We got to see a show on the Big Piano (which was in the move Big) and a Barbie Fashion Show.

My husband and my son left after the show and went to the Empire State Building. This is the view at sunset:

We all met up again in Times Square.  What a lively place to be at night!

Our final day in New York City started out with breakfast at a deli below the apartment, followed by another trip to American Girl Place where we finally gave up and bought the girls dolls.  They are adorable.  How can one resist?  My baby has curly hair so she picked up an African-American doll with curly hair.  So cute!

Even my son was enoying looking through their collection of historical dolls and furniture. (If they had an adventure boy figure like Kaya, I bet boys would buy it up!)  After shopping, we took my sister to Target. She and her husband are doing their residency in NYC and have no vehicle.  It was the longest Target visit ever!  We left her house at 12:30 and didn't finish unpacking her bags of groceries until 4:45 pm!!!  (The closest Target is in Harlem.)  At that point, it was time for dinner so we headed to the Candle Cafe on 74th St. 

I had been hoping to eat there. It is one of the most famous vegan restaurants in  New York and it did not disappoint.  My husband had the lasagna, the kids had protein shakes and edamame, and I had the crystal rolls and lentil soup.  The soup could've been more spicy, but everything else was fabulous.  Even the cookie (which was as hard as a hockey puck) tasted pretty good.  Finally we were off to Boston at 7pm. Crazy!  Did I mention this was also Fourth of July?  We had to stop in Providence to watch fireworks.  We originally stopped on the side of the freeway on a bridge but got booted out by the police, along with a whole bunch of other cars.  As we were U-turning to get back on the freeway we found another (illegal) spot but it was not on the bridge so the police didn't care!  I love watching fireworks and their reflection on the water.  Finally at 9pm we were back on the road to Boston.  We got in very late (it was a trend throughout the trip!)

Day 12:  Boston!  We stayed with our former neighbors in Milton and the kids got to see the house where they used to live when they were babies.  They loved that!  We also met up with other friends to hike the Freedom Trail that day and got to see Mother Goose's grave marker. 

The next day we met up with work friends and grad school friends and took the kids to Harvard Square.  Kids loved it! 

That night our very generous friends watched our kids so we could have our 14th wedding anniversary dinner at Himalayan Bistro in West Roxbury.  What wonderful food although we had to be very specific about being vegan.  The first bowl of soup they brought me had chicken broth in it eventhough I had specifically said we didn't eat meat.  Everything else was delicious!

On Day 14, we did a small hike up the Blue Hills with our neighbors and then headed out to Syracuse, NY to visit family.  His family lives in a beautiful house that abuts a beautiful park in Syracuse. (See picture to the left.) It feels like they live in a retreat.  They also have play structures, swings, a tree house, and a huge backyard. We all loved their home!  We stayed in Syracuse two nights.  Originally, we were supposed to camp in Lake Eerie, but rainstorms were predicted for that day so we changed our plans.  Our aunt took us to a gorgeous creek to play and swim and we got to visit other cousins.  We had a very relaxing stay!

On Day 16, we drove to Archbold, Ohio with a quick stop in Niagara Falls.  My husband and I had been there before late at night 13 years ago while were doing another road trip.  The falls look very different during the day!  They are gorgeous.  We took the elevator down and hiked up the steps half-way up to the falls.  The rain was pouring down, but the kids were having a blast! 

After Niagara, we drove to Archbold to visit family.  We spent three nights in Archbold. The kids got to swim in a pond, visit Sauder village, and meet lots of cousins.

The cousins we stayed with just built a beautiful home in the woods so this felt like staying at a retreat, too.  Their daughter lives on the same farm.  They have gardens, chickens, a tree house.  Once again, the kids were in heaven!

On Day 19, we started the drive home and got here in two days.

We were able to keep to our vegan diet by taking a cooler along with us and stopping at grocery stores to stock up on vegan food.  All in all, we had a great trip!

Rock all Night and Party Everyday

Inspired by my husband's cousin, Carrie, (or is it second cousin once-removed? she's actually the daughter of his first cousin...) and the writing workshop I attended a few weeks ago, I will start blogging as of today. 

This is really my second attempt at blogging.  I tried it a few months ago but could not manage to get interested or excited about writing in it.  I think I need to think of a topic or theme for the blog, but there are so many to choose from.  I guess I can start by telling you about our trip to Mexico this weekend.

We just got back from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico last night. We went to my niece's wedding.  I thought it would be a quick trip but the travel gods had other plans for us.  We were cruising along I-35 heading south when we came to a screeching halt just outside of San Antonio.  The whole freeway turned into a huge parking lot in a matter of seconds.  We were stuck in this traffic for more than hour.  Why you ask?  Because apparently the DOT thinks it is a good idea to repaint the lane markers on the road at 11a.m. on the Saturday of a holiday weekend.  Four lanes of highway were merged down to one!  

Then we hit another snag getting our car permit in Laredo.  There were no directions posted anywhere and no one seemed to know what we needed to get a permit and five people into Mexico.  They had us go through the same line three times and each time they kept forgetting to ask us for a copy of this document or that one.  One-hundred and forty dollars and one and a half hours later we were finally back on the road.  Unfortunately, we had one hour before the wedding was supposed to start.   Darn.

Once you cross the border, the drive down to Monterrey from Laredo is 145 miles.  (It's 225 from Austin to Laredo).  When we realized we were going to miss the actual wedding ceremony, we decided to just enjoy the drive.  Well, I decided that.  The kids and David had decided that the moment we left the house.  It was hard to enjoy the drive at first because the drive is not so pretty right out of Nuevo Laredo.  All you see in this segment are trucks parked on the side of the road, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, cardboard houses, stagnant water, and blown out tires.  The scenery changed dramatically once we were half-way to Monterrey. Breath-taking views of mountains and valleys appeared.  The dessert valley was covered in tall cacti and bushes with beautiful white blooms.  It was easy to relax in this gorgeous scenery.

I got nervous again as we approached the city because we had no map of the city of Monterrey. All we had was the address of the hotel, but due to a fortuitous alignment of the stars, the hotel was on the main highway we were on as was a Sam's Club and Church's Fried Chicken and many other American companies.  In some parts of the highway, it felt like we were back in the states.  It was sad and disappointing and I couldn't help but wonder why people in Monterrey would want to eat Church's fried chicken when there are so many other delicious Mexican foods to choose from?

By the time we got to the hotel, we had missed the wedding ceremony and we still had to change into our party clothes.  I thought we were going to miss the party, too, but I was SO wrong.  When the cab dropped us off at the beautiful ballroom an hour latear, they were just finishing up the civil ceremony. It was 10pm when the party finally started. We got to dance and have dinner - very late @ 11pm! - and enjoy ourselves until the wee hours of the night.  The kids napped during the early part of the reception and woke up in time to play with cousins and dance with us.  The dance ended at 3 a.m. but the party continued at my brother's house until 6a.m.   This last part of the party is called the torna boda and they serve menudo and tamales. Yum.  But we were so exhausted that we took the chartered bus to the hotel from the ballroom and went straight to bed.  We probably didn't fall asleep until 4:30a.m.  and we were up at 9a.m. the next morning.  After a leisurely brunch at my brother's house, we were ready to head back home around 2pm.  We tried a new bridge -- there are 3 in Laredo -- but it still took us 1 hour to cross it.  We got home at 10pm and we had parent teacher conferences this morning at 7a.m.  What was I thinking when I scheduled those so early in the morning?

Despite the lack of sleep, we had so much fun that we are thinking of driving to Veracruz for part of our Christmas break!