Road Trip 2013, Week 7

Greetings from Billings, Montana!  We have been here for a few days now, through no choice of our own, but I’ll get to that later.  I’ll pick up where I left off last week, with us heading south from Missouri to pick up the last states on our list.  On the 22^nd we drove through the Ozarks in Missouri (I thought they were in Arkansas, which they are, but they are also in Missouri).  We camped right outside of Joplin, the city that was hit by the devastating tornado in 2011.  It was a bit disconcerting being there as there were severe thunderstorm warnings for the area and the sky was black.  But lightning never strikes the same place twice, right?  Same goes for tornadoes I told myself.  We dropped off the trailer and crossed over into Kansas, my 49^th state!  We were able to drive a bit of the original Route 66 and we found a cool store(?) I’m not really sure what it was but it had Mater from “Cars” so the kids were thrilled.

From Kansas we crossed into Oklahoma.  I was so excited, it meant that Paul and I had now been to all 50 of our beautiful states!  What an accomplishment.  Paul said he put his hand up to the windshield so he would cross before me and get his 50^th state first.  I love that guy, but I insist it was a tie.  We drove a little in Oklahoma and found a pit stop, then returned to Missouri.  From there, we went south about a half hour so we could cross into Arkansas for Bree and Darcy, who will never remember a thing about it.  We managed to escape all storms that night and were back on the road headed north the next day.

 The 23^rd we thought would be a driving day.  Our main goal was to get the heck out of Missouri.  I had never been there before this trip but now I can say we have seen pretty much the whole state.  We drove the entire east side, across the south, and up the west.  That afternoon we made it to Iowa, where we left the trailer and drove over to Nebraska for Bree and Darcy again.  We found a Lewis and Clark interpretive center on the Missouri river there.  It was a pretty neat place.  It has been fun following Lewis and Clark’s trail from the beginning, knowing we live at the end.  That was quite an undertaking back then.  We have our difficulties and we are in an air conditioned SUV!  I am very thankful for all those who went before us and made our life as amazing, and easy, as it is today.  Our ancestors worked harder than I can even imagine and I am very grateful.  We went back to our camp site in the Loess Hills of Iowa (hills made by wind-piled hills of loose soil, China is the only other place with hills like this) and the kids scrounged enough twigs to have a campfire and roast hotdogs for dinner.  We took a walk on the trail along the ridge of the hills and Mason had a horrible bloody nose.  We didn’t have any Kleenex or anything with us so we collected some leaves, hoping they weren’t poisonous, to wipe his face with.  There were bloody leaves everywhere when we left and I probably should have moved them off the beaten path.  The next person to come upon them probably thought a murder was committed there.  The hills were pretty but I’m not sure they are worthy of being a tourist destination (we stumbled upon them).

 On the 24^th we drove north to South Dakota, with a minor jog east so we could go to Minnesota for Darcy and Bree J.  I loved South Dakota!  For some reason I think it was my favorite state.  The sites were all kitschy and fun, with awesome wildlife and the weather was perfect.  We camped in Mitchell, SD, where the only Corn Palace in the world resides.  It is a large convention center place where they play basketball games, rodeos, concerts, conventions, etc.  The outside, and inside in places, is covered in corn murals that they change out every year.  It was pretty amazing the pictures they came up with only using corn.  We had fun there and got back to our site where we realized we had another flat tire.  That’s 3 now if anyone is counting.

 July 25^th we toured the Badlands National Park.  I was there 12 years ago and I loved it then, just like I loved it this time.  It is a strange place and when I was there last, the only thing that would come in on my radio was Indian chants and it was a very cool experience.  I was looking forward to that again this time but alas, radio reception has improved and we got a million stations but no Indian chants.  I was disappointed.  But we like the Badlands and the kids liked to climb on the rock formations, even though there were rattle snake warning signs everywhere.  Eh, you only live once right?  We also got to see some workers chipping away at fossils, as the badlands are a hotbed for fossils.  The ranger said our own John Day fossil beds in Oregon are more impressive than theirs.  We will have to check that out sometime because Mason was very impressed with it all.

 After the Badlands we finally made it to world famous(?) Wall Drug!  A huge store full of junk in the middle of the tiny town of Wall, SD.  We had fun exploring the craziness of it all and topped it off with an ice cream cone.  That was kind of fun I guess.

 Here is Paul with a hottie he was looking to hook up with at Wall Drug.  Actually, I know without a doubt that Paul loves us all dearly.  How do I know?  Because he empties our sewer every single day.  That is unconditional love.

On the 26^th we went to Mt Rushmore!  I love that place.  Did I mention I love South Dakota?  The Black Hills are beautiful and I just love the whole area.  I doubt I would ever live there but I could go back to visit over and over.  The kids all loved Mt Rushmore too.  We took a trail and hiked a bit, but poor Paul was on his worst day of the cold he caught from Mason so he was kind of miserable.  That is a great place though, one every American should visit.  We also saw the Crazy Horse monument which was started in the 1940’s and still has centuries to go before completion I bet.  I don’t know why its taking so long but that probably would have been explained to us if we had paid the entrance fee to the monument. Instead, we are cheap remember, we took a picture of it from a distance on the highway.  It worked just as well.  The Sturgis motorcycle rally is in a week so we saw quite a few bikers in the area.  

 We left Mt Rushmore and headed south to Custer State Park where we were promised a herd of buffalo.  We decided to try Wind Cave National Park just south of that first.  At the cave people were breaking down and Paul felt terrible so we decided to skip it.  They only had guided tours and they lasted over an hour and we felt like no one could handle it so we left.  On our drive up to Custer we were treated to prairie dog towns all over the prairie.  They are so cute!  What fun little animals.

We found the promised buffalo at Custer SP, along with more prairie dogs, pronghorns, coyotes, and “friendly burros.”  These burros were begging from all the cars on the road.  A pretty white one approached our car and I guess Bree couldn’t see the burros from her window and she was also oblivious to our long and boisterous conversation about all the fun burros around the car, but when this white one all of a sudden stuck its head through her window she screamed and freaked out!  It was hilarious!  Poor Bree, she has been our best entertainment when it comes to animal interactions on this trip.  

 Saturday, July 25^th, we saw a bit of Wyoming, though we had all been there before, on our way into Montana.  We drove in southeast Montana, in the middle of nowhere for a few hours, and we finally made it to the freeway, where the Battle of Little Bighorn monument is.  I was impressed by the place.  We were able to stand at the top of the hill where Custer and his men made their last stand, and the black marker in the picture shows where his body was found after the battle.  It was a pretty sobering and scary place.  You are at the top of a bald hill, with rolling prairie all around you, and its easy to imagine the Indian “army” swarming up the hill from all sides.  Custer and his men never had a chance.  I can’t even imagine the horror of it all.  We missed the informational movie at the visitor center because they only play it at certain times during the day.  Even though its only 25 minutes.  And their theater room is tiny and is packed to overflowing with watchers.  Seems like a very easy solution to have the film play every half hour but what do I know?   I have all kinds of suggestions for all kinds of places we have visited to make them better J

After Little Bighorn we were trying to get past Billings and camp for the night.  Well, at the top of a hill on the freeway Max gave out again.  I thought (I hoped) it was a blown tire, but when Paul popped the hood we saw all the radiator fluid pouring out and knew it wasn’t good.  We called our third tow truck (UGH) and waited, and waited.  We were on the side of the road for 4 hours!  Crimony!  The driver was very safety conscious, which is good, and for some reason his cords couldn’t reach our trailer so we didn’t have tail lights and it was getting dark.  So we had to wait for his buddy to get there and tail us and act as our lights.  On the way I was complaining to the driver about the outrageous RV park prices in Billings.  Seriously, Billings is in the middle of nowhere and they charge sky-high prices!  Much more than we paid in D.C. or Stone Mountain, GA.  So our nice driver said we could stay at their tow lot, free of charge, with water and electricity.  So here we sit.  We have been here since Saturday night and it is now almost 11am on Tuesday the 30^th.  Max needs a new clutch fan and radiator and his work should be completed today.  No matter what time it is, we are out of here!  We need to find a sewage dump, its getting kind of ripe in here.  This last break down was pretty bad.  We had a great trip after our Texas breakdowns but this has kind of put a sour taste in our mouths.  Mason and I had no desire to get home before this, but now that we are so close and we can’t get there we just want to go home.  Hopefully we will be out of here soon.  We have had a Harry Potter marathon over the last few days, and yesterday we walked to Burger King for an ice cream cone but their machine was broken.  Bree decided to pee her pants on the toy equipment so we headed home dejected.  Did I mention Billings isn’t my favorite place?  We are planning to walk to McDonalds for lunch and free internet so I can post this in a few minutes.  Hopefully the next time I check in it will be from HOME!

Things I have learned this last week on the road:

1)       Missouri could save a ton of money if they didn’t have mile markers on their freeways every 2/10 of a mile.  Totally unnecessary and sooo annoying.

2)      Drew has a bloodhound-like tendency when it comes to cold water bottles.  She can somehow sense when one is about to be opened and she is right there on you, begging for a drink.  Not a sip, a long drink.  I shouldn't complain, before the trip she would never drink water.

3)      The best state welcome sign award goes to Minnesota.  It was a huge rock shaped like the state with Minnesota written in cursive fancy writing.  Much better than some of the signs we saw with stickers on them or falling off the road side.  Well done Minnesota.

4)      The best rest area award goes to Missouri.  If you are ever on I-44 around milepost 110, heading west, stop for a rest.  They had a cool welcome center with the map of Route 66 on the floor, and then outside they had a mini Route 66 running through the trees, with little false Route 66 store fronts with picnic tables inside.  Cool place.  Well done Missouri.

5)      NEVER buy a Ford Excursion again!

A list of our duties on the road:

Paul is the driver.  He is amazing!  He has done all the driving so far, except when I need to drive to the laundry facilities.  He also does all the hooking up of the trailer to Max.  He also gets the privilege of dumping all our waste water.  What a guy.  We use Mason’s birthday walkie-talkies and I direct Paul into our camping spots and also the hitch to the trailer.  The walkie-talkies have saved out marriage.  I hook up the power as soon as we stop, in order to get the AC running, and I also hook up and unhook the water hose when we arrive and depart.  Its also my job to put down the chock blocks and make sure we are level.  Its also my job to oversee the pushing of the buttons for the three slide-outs.  I say oversee because it can turn into a brawl.  At first Paul and I did it but we weren't careful enough and we caught a few cupboards and toys in the process, so Paul assigned the task to Drew, who is much more careful than we are.  She did so well at it that the others wanted to try and now its whoever gets there first, or cries the loudest, that gets to do it.  I also clean the car out every morning.  At first it was Drew and Mason’s job but I discovered I was much more efficient at it so I just do it now.  I also make sure we have cold drinks in the cooler and snacks in the bag.  The kids are responsible for their backpacks and keeping their room clean.  It is a system that has kept us sane for the last 50 days so I guess it works.

Sorry for the screwy format again!  I did what I could to get this posted :)

Road Trip 2013, Week 6

 Week 6 was a different week for us.  Instead of hitting as many sites as possible in as little amount of time as possible, we slowed down (slow for us I guess) and actually stayed for 3 nights in the same area in Michigan.  The first night we stayed in the driveway of Paul's Aunt Merrie and Uncle Arnie's home.  They have 50 acres of beautiful land.  Merrie is an amazing gardener and I was extremely jealous of her beautiful vegetable and flower gardens.  We had a great time visiting with them.  I think Merrie caught wind of Mason's love for camp fires so we had a fire and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for dinner.  Poor Uncle Arnie had Mason dogging his footsteps the entire time, talking his ear off.  He was thrilled to be there.  There was plenty of room to run, we played baseball, toured the land, Mason, Merrie, and Paul took a walk to visit a neighbor's herd of sheep, and we climbed trees.  I even climbed the tree and impressed my son.  He told me he didn't know I could do fun stuff like that.  Gee thanks, I'm not in my grave yet!  We were lucky enough to hit Michigan during that horrendous heat spell that was over the entire mid-west and east, and wouldn't you know it, every time we tried to turn on the AC it would trip the circuit breaker in the house, as we were plugged in to it, and shut everything down.  We spent the night with the windows open, stewing in our own juices.  Just reaffirms my love of Michigan.  I really do love the people there though!

 Uncle Arnie was great entertainment for the kids.  Darcy loved "Uncle Army," which is pretty cool since she doesn't like many men.  He was great.  He pulled the kids around in his own wagon from when he was a boy, and he took us all on a tour of the maple syrup making process he and Merrie are heavily involved in.  It was pretty cool.  I would love to go back there in March and help tap some trees!

 The 16th we drove about 1.5 hours north to the old family farm, where we stayed for 2 nights.  It was hot there too.  The first night we didn't run the AC because our extension cord was getting too hot, but we made it to Walmart to get a heavier duty one for night 2 and boy did we sleep well that night.  That was some rough weather.

 That evening of the 16th all the cousins from the area came over to the farm for a pot-luck dinner.  It was fun to see everyone again.  Paul has some really great family in Michigan.  They all have an open invitation to come visit us in Oregon whenever they get the chance.

 Here are Aunt Merrie and Uncle Arnie.  We love them a lot and sure appreciate all they did for us and the kids for those few days we were together.

 We had a great time at the farm.  Mason actually said it was the best day of his entire life.  On the 17th he lost his tooth, rode around on the 4-wheelers ALL DAY, caught his first (and second) fish, shot his great-grandpa's 22 for the first time, and we lit the sparklers we bought way back in North Carolina.  Wow, every 7 year old boy's dream I think.  He loved the farm.  All the kids did actually.  Drew and Mason climbed up the windmill.  I did that years ago and I think I freaked out Paul and his dad when they saw me at the top.  I didn't even think to ask if it was stable.  We drove around all day on the 4-wheelers in the field and all around the property.  The kids loved it, Paul loved it as you can see from the next picture, and I guess I loved it too.  I was more than willing to give another ride when someone asked for one.  If it wasn't for the swarms of bugs, the high humidity, no AC, no mountains, no internet access, and the unsettling feeling that I can never get my bearings there, it might be fun to live there.  Or not.  There is a reason I live where I live and when I live I guess.  I wasn't cut out to be a farmer.

 Darcy was content to lounge around with the helmet on, even though it was so hot and her face was a sweaty mess.  I guess things like that don't matter when you are having fun.

This is Mason's first catch.  I have no idea what kind of fish it is.  He caught 2 fish while his sisters didn't catch any.  We watched quite a few fish eat the worms off the hook though.  Maybe it had something to do with all the kids trying to fish in the exact same spot.  Or that Bree dipped her entire pole into the water, thinking that might work.  It didn't.  We had a great time at the farm and hope to get back there sometime soon for some more fun with family and all the great things to do there.

 We pulled up stakes on the 18th and headed south.  We were able to wade in Lake Michigan for a few minutes, though it would have been nice to stay a while and swim, it was so hot.  The water was almost too warm though, it didn't quite cool us off.  That's the third Great Lake we touched this trip.  We kept moving south, into Indiana and then Illinois.  I was greatly impressed with the corn fields in Illinois.  I knew Iowa was all corn, but not Illinois.  The fields were everywhere and never ending.  I'm pretty sure we won't be hurting for corn this year.  The fields are a beautiful dark green and it was just a neat experience to see all that work the local farmers went to to grow such magnificent crops.

 On the 19th we pulled in to Nauvoo, IL to visit more historic LDS church sites.  We camped at the State Park in town so we were close to everything.  That afternoon we toured Carthage Jail where Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred.  It was a very moving experience for me.  I hope the kids understood what it was they were experiencing.  On the way back to Nauvoo from Carthage, we crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa so Bree and Darcy could say they have been there.  We stayed on the Iowa side for a bit and found a great little park where we could get our feet in the river, and it also had an amazing view of the Nauvoo temple across the river.  What a beautiful temple it is and it has such a commanding presence sitting on the bluff.  Absolutely gorgeous.  We also saw the graves of Joseph, Hyrum, and Emma Smith that evening in Nauvoo.

 Saturday morning Paul got up early to get us tickets for events throughout the day in Nauvoo.  My parents said it was an all day place to visit and they weren't kidding.  We took a horse-drawn wagon ride through the historic part of the city and the kids loved the horses.  That was pretty fun.  We also toured some of the homes where there was an example of a school room from the 1840's, a post office, a brick making place where we got to take home a brick with "Nauvoo" stamped into it, a horse-drawn carriage ride through the countryside, and a tour of Browning's home and workshop where he made his famous rifles.  Pretty interesting, I didn't know he was a Mormon.  We also saw a musical play put on by performing missionaries about life there in the 1800's.  Darcy was thrilled with it.  I was having more fun watching her than the play I think. I was able to do a session at the Temple (AWESOME) while Paul made mac and cheese for the kids and bought souvenirs at the little store in town.  That evening we watched the Nauvoo Pageant.  It was smaller than the Hill Cumorah Pageant but I think we might have liked it better.  Well, the four oldest of us did.  The two little girls were asleep right after it started.  They had a long, hot, day and were beat.  Today we went to church at 8am (UGH) and then left town.  It was a great place to visit and I'm glad we were able to spend so much time there.

 We arrived in Missouri (my 48th state!) this afternoon, found a place to camp, dropped off the trailer, and headed to St. Louis.  We were able to ride the tram up to the top of the Arch and it was pretty cool.  I was surprised but happy that it felt quite stable at the top and wasn't blowing around in the wind.  That is the highest monument in the US.  All the kids enjoyed looking down through the little windows at the top, but it got pretty crowded so we only spent about 20 minutes up there, most of it in line to catch a tram back down.  Great experience though, and Paul made sure we crossed under the arch from the east to the west when we got back to the ground.  This is where we say goodbye to all the old brick historic looking cities and move west into prairie and all that stuff.  First though we will go south tomorrow so I can go to Kansas and Paul and I can cross into Oklahoma, finally hitting our 50th state.  I think its kind of cool that we both have the same one as our last.  Cute!

Things I have learned this week on the road:

1) The time zones are all messed up.  Paul is sick of hearing me complain about them, and I guess there is no perfect solution, but Michigan is in the eastern time zone and it doesn't get dark till well after 10 pm this time of year.  Meanwhile, Atlantic City, NJ is also in the eastern time zone and it was dark at 8:30.  Doesn't make any sense to me.  I think Michigan should be in the Central time zone.  Also, western Texas has no business being in the Central time zone, it should be in the Mountain time zone.  I guess you really don't see the disparity in it all when you stay in one place, but while traveling like we have it is easy to see what a mess it is.

2) Mason now is deciding on a new career path.  He no longer wants to be a Ranger or an astronaut.  He is now considering being either the President or a farmer.

3) As we drive by the beautiful corn and soybean fields of the midwest, with the quaint farmhouses and silos, it makes me think I could be a farmer out here too.  And then I see that it is only 8:30am and its already 86 degrees with 100% humidity, and I smile as I turn up the AC and drive on by.

4) I have learned not to sweat the small stuff.  If my "orange juice" (diet Sunkist) doesn't make it in the fridge the night before so it isn't cold for me in the morning, I just grab a Dr Pepper instead.  No reason to get worked up about it. 

I need to check a couple of my facts from my last post.  I have actually been in Michigan 4 times now and there is something wrong with the weld on the tires of the trailer that went flat.  Thanks Paul for keeping me honest.

Road Trip 2013, Week 5

My week 5 update, and I can hardly believe we have been at this for over 5 weeks now, starts with Darcy's 5th birthday on Monday the 8th.  We spent the night before in Hershey, Pennsylvania and woke up early on her birthday to start the party!  She picked out a stuffed fox at Smoky Mountain NP, a shell bracelet in Gulf Shore, Alabama, and we found some alligator Stompies at a Walmart in Atlanta so she had a southern birthday I guess.  We gave her her gifts and then headed to the park for a full day of fun.  This picture is of Darcy measuring herself to see which type of candy she is, which is her guide to which rides she could ride at the park.  She was tall enough to ride a few of the roller coasters, though she ended up not appreciating them very much.  I convinced her the Sooper Dooper Looper only had one upside down loop in it so she would ride with me, Drew, and Mason.  Luckily it did only have one, but I had no idea if that was true or not when I told her.  Bad mommy, but I wanted her to try it.  She did fine, though wasn't real thrilled with the roller coaster rides.  Mason was the only one who would go on all the roller coasters with me, even Drew wussed out after the coaster she took with Paul and Mason.  Paul is not at all a rides kind of guy, but I love them.  I even rode the Great Bear, where your feet are dangling and you go upside down I don't know how many times.  Drew was trying to talk me out of it but I did it and I was safe and I loved it!  Roller coasters are great, its the spinners that I don't appreciate much anymore.  We rode a bunch of rides and then planned to head back to the trailer for lunch and a rest.  It was perfect timing, as we reached our car in the parking lot the heavens opened and it poured down rain for about 2 hours.  Around 4 the sky was clear and warm so we headed back with our swimming suits on to try out the water park.  We also rode a few more rides as we waited for the weather all-clear to get into the water.  It was pretty fun but not quite as warm as we had hoped.  Bree started to get cold so we left around 8:30.  It was a full day of fun and a great way to spend a birthday.  What a lucky little 5 year old Darcy is, whether she thinks so or not.

The next day we spent exploring Philadelphia.  Well,  I should say the next afternoon.  It took a couple of hours to get to Philly and drop off the trailer, but  since we are so cheap, we set our GPS to avoid toll roads, and if you have ever been to Pennsylvania you know the best way to get around is a toll road.  Instead, we drove through some very unsavory parts of the city just to avoid what we later found out would have been a direct route into the city for a fee of $1.80.  Sometimes it doesn't pay to be cheap. On the way home that night in the dark we took the turnpike just to be safe and learned of our folly.

We got to the city in the late afternoon which turned out to be excellent timing because most of the tourists had gone for the day.  We were able to walk right up to see the Liberty Bell, which was awesome, and we caught the second to the last tour of Independence Hall.  What a great place to be.  Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed.  Pretty powerful place.  We toured the rooms where they were both signed and saw the original chair that George Washington sat in as he presided over the congress that created out constitution.  It is the chair in the middle of the picture below.  We also saw copies of the original documents that were made in the 1700's.  I love being in these incredible historic places.  I think Drew and Mason like these places too.  Especially because we like to watch "National Treasure" to recognize the places we just saw.  Whatever gets them interested I say.

We aren't very adventurous about trying the local delicacies in the different parts of the country but Paul did buy a Philly cheese-steak on the street right outside Independence Hall.  We all had a bite and it was pretty good I guess.

We found Ben Franklin's grave in Christ Church cemetery.  That was closed as we got there too late but his grave is right in the corner and they have it fenced in by bars right there so you can see it.  The pennies are thrown on the grave for luck I read somewhere.  It seems like an irreverent practice to me though.

We drove a bit around Philadelphia to see the temple there.  It was actually in the beginning stages of construction, right in the middle of the city.  It will be beautiful when it is completed.  We drove a bit further and came upon the art museum stairs that Rocky ran up!  Paul dropped Mason and I off and we ran up those stairs, along with a ton of other people, and you can see me in the picture on the right doing the bounce with my hands in the air.  Mason had no idea what we were doing there and I think my bouncing around kind of embarrassed him.

 While in Philadelphia we realized we were only an hour away from Atlantic City, NJ.  Well, I need to digress for a second.  GPS can be a great tool, or it can be your downfall.  I have my huge Rand-McNally atlas on my lap at all times during the trip, coming up with routes of my own, while Paul pays close attention to his GPS which I "affectionately" call Sloughfoot Sue.  Most of the time Sue has great directions, but she has been know to come up with some pretty ridiculous routes too.  Just enough that is makes me at least question her intelligence at times.  I don't know if Paul has the same problem with her.  He knows she has tried to send us down some dead end roads, but he still likes to trust her over me.  There have been maybe one or two times where he will go with what I say, but usually he follows Sue, and then he gets a small silent treatment from me, whether he realizes it or not.  Maybe he does realize it and that's exactly why he does it.  Seriously though, 9/10ths of this trip would have been very difficult without good old Sue.  So anyway, Atlantic City was supposedly only an hour away.  And it would have been if we had taken the toll road, or, and this is hard to admit, if we had listened to Sue over me.  The one time Paul chooses me over Sue I mess up.  In my defense though, the map I have is the large print version (a gift from Paul who I love dearly) which means states are chopped up into like 6 pages and its hard to find where you are from one to the next and not all road numbers are posted on every page.  So I got mixed up and I had us driving through a bunch of towns which meant numerous stop lights, instead of taking a different highway that would have gotten us there much sooner.  Oops.  I was big enough to admit my mistake though once I figured it out.  I doubt Paul will listen to me over Sue again.  We got to Atlantic City around 9:30 and we were able to walk a bit on the boardwalk and also wade in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was a very pretty city and it was fun to be there.  On the way back to our camping spot in PA we took the correct highway and got back much faster than before.

We left Pennsylvania the next day and made our way in to New York.  We saw New York City on our trip in 2007 so we skipped it this time.  We spent all of this day driving up towards Palmyra, near Lake Ontario.  We were able to see some of the Erie Canal on our way, and the picture to the left is of the canal.  It doesn't transport big "ships" anymore.  Mostly just pleasure boats.  Still cool to see!  We camped in Wolcott for 3 nights, waiting for the opening performance of the Hill Cumorah Pageant which is a pageant the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints puts on every summer, telling the stories found in the Book of Mormon.  We got there a day and a half early so the 11th we explored tiny Wolcott.  And we really did cover every inch of the place.  We woke up to another flat tire so we took it in to get fixed, only to find out that the same thing that happened to our first flat tire happened to this one too.  For some reason the tire is pulling away from the wheel and is unfixable.  The place was able to put a tube in the tire, along with our first flat, and we have been able to use it till we get to Paul's Aunt's house tomorrow where he had a spare tire delivered.  Always an adventure!  We went to a pizza joint in town while we waited for our laundry to get done, and it was advertised as "authentic New York style pizza."  And boy was it ever.  The whole experience was authentic New York!  We had Vinny and Sal waiting on us, and you couldn't find two more stereotypical Italian New Yorkers if you tried.  I bet we could have ordered a mob hit right along with our pizza.  They were awesome, their accent was awesome, and I suppose the pizza was awesome too.  What fun.  The only part that wasn't fun was the cigarette smoke wafting in from Vinny's smoking right in the doorway of the restaurant.  It seems the Surgeon General's warning has not reached northern New York.  Everyone there smokes I swear.  And they for sure don't follow any 50 foot from a building entrance rule.  It was a quaint town but it was a smokey town.  That afternoon we went to Chimney Bluff State Park on Lake Ontario.  Drew, Mason, and I took a mile hike along the bluffs of the lake and met the others at the other end of the park.  It was a really nice walk in the beautiful forest there.  New York and Pennsylvania along the lakes are absolutely beautiful.  I never knew it was such an agricultural area either.  Very beautiful place.  I asked Paul if we could retire there but there really isn't anything more to do there than admire the view.  Here is a picture of the kids in Lake Ontario.  It was pretty muddy looking and had a lot of seaweed by the shore.  Kind of gross.

July 12th was the day of the pageant.  We put down some blankets on chairs so we could save our seats for the performance that night at 9, and then we explored the historic church sites in the area.  We saw the Joseph Smith cabin, the Palmyra temple, The Sacred Grove (picture at left), and the visitor's center.  It was really great to be there and see it all.  Bree threw one of her epic fits at the grove so we weren't able to be there as long as we would have liked.  Since we got there so early to save our seats we had time to kill before the show so we went to Walmart to stock up on supplies and then we saw "Monsters University."  It was a fun change of pace and a cute movie.  We had dinner at Burger King, which is losing a ton of money on us this summer on their 50 cent ice cream cones.  Its a cheap way to provide dessert and make 4 little kids very happy.  We stop as often as we can!  And I'll digress again but we have done really well staying away from the fast food.  We only eat out maybe once every 3 or 4 days.  We're still only eating horrible junk like mac and cheese or PB&J sandwiches at the trailer but at least its cheap.  We'll eat vegetables again in a few weeks I guess.

The pageant was very neat.  Mason seemed to really enjoy it a lot which surprised me because I thought he would get bored since it was real people and not some cartoon or superhero.  He always surprises me.  That was a late night after a full day but it was a great experience for all of us.

On the 13th we said farewell to Wolcott and made our turn west toward Niagara Falls.  It was pretty much a zoo.  The falls are beautiful and we managed to squeeze ourselves up to the fence to see them, but we didn't hang around trying to do or see anything else because it was so busy.  Its kind of funny, the US side of the falls is a nice state park but the Canadian side is a party.  It has towering hotels, a hard rock cafe, and amusement park rides.  We didn't cross the border because we didn't want the hassle.

That night we camped right next to Lake Erie.  Drew and Mason have now played in three of the five Great Lakes.  They are only missing Huron and Superior.  Erie was much cleaner and a better place to play than Lake Ontario.

Today we made it to Ann Arbor, MI to visit the Michigan campus.  This was my third time here but I still love it.  I was a huge Michigan fan well before I met Paul (thanks to Chris Webber), who's family are all fans and his dad graduated from there.  It was just an added bonus when I married him to learn he was a fan too.  We weren't able to get in to the stadium this time but the kids pulled out their crazy poses again and we were able to see the tunnel the team walks out of onto the field.  We have been on the field before.  Its pretty cool in such a huge stadium.  We also stocked up on the merchandise!  Tomorrow we will visit Paul's Aunt and Uncle and then on to the family farm up north.  Try as I might, and I know I am going to get in trouble with some family here, but I just can't fall in love with the state of Michigan.  It actually bugs me.  It has very pretty deciduous trees everywhere, but it kind of freaks me out that there are no mountains and its too flat.  I have to tell myself there are mountains behind the clouds in order to keep myself sane.  Its kind of like claustrophobia, or maybe reverse-claustrophobia?  Whatever it is, Michigan isn't my favorite state.  Sorry family.

I can't think of anything I learned this week on the road.  Maybe my mind is going numb.  Quote of the week though:
Me: Is everyone having a good trip?
Darcy:  Sort of yes but a lot of no!
Sorry Darce, only 3 weeks to go!