The Long Way Home

Chicago

2009-10-11T11:23:00.001-07:00

It’s October 1st! We drove into downtown Chicago in the van and parked near Union Station. Ok, the bathrooms at the station officially get the top award for public restrooms on our trip. See pics below to see why.

We planned out our route for touring the city (thank you, Jeff, for your great suggestions) and boarded a water taxi to take us to the south end of the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Ave. We got some great views of the Sears Tower and other skyscrapers from the river. Walked to the ornate Water Tower – one of only two surviving buildings after the Great Chicago Fire. Adri had been wanting to get her ears pierced for awhile, and we let her get them done in the Water Tower Plaza. After that, we rode a very fast elevator to the top of the Hancock Building – 96th floor, I believe – and had coffee and snacks at the restaurant. The view from the women’s restroom is amazing, sorry guys.

We walked on down to Lake Michigan waterfront and walked and walked til we got to Millenium Park. There are some amazing sculptures and fountains to play around and we might have spent more time, but the rain was falling heavier by the minute. So, the guys left us at a Starbucks to warm up with lattes and hiked back to our van and then picked us up. We’ve made good use of Starbucks along our journey!

We drove out to Naperville outside the city to stay with Mike’s cousins, Jeff & Tracy and their little boy, Elias. So fun to see them again. They had bought Cubs t-shirts for all the kids to help them fit in for the game at Wrigley Field the next day. Jeff also treated us to Chicago-style pizza – yum!

The Cubs game was great in spite of their sad loss to the Diamondbacks. There is so much tradition in that stadium. We had Chicago dogs – hotdogs piled with grilled onions, tomatoes, peppers and mustard – as we watched them play. The weather was cold and rainy – more like football weather.

All in all we enjoyed Chicago and our time with Jeff & Tracy -- thanks a bunch, cousins!

Yes, automatic plastic seat covers...the reason Chicago's Union Station won the "Best Public Restroom" award on our trip!

The view from the women's restroom on the 96th floor of the Hancock

Newly pierced ears

The Water Tower

High-rise apartments and a fun public trasportation system

Ben & Elias

Pretty cool fountain in Millenium Park

Fun at the "Bean"

Niagara Falls

2009-10-10T13:51:00.000-07:00

After driving for a while next to the Erie Canal, we arrived in Buffalo, NY, in the evening of the 29th and drove around town looking for a place to have Buffalo wings. Found a great little hole-in-the-wall and chowed down about 60 delicious wings between all 8 of us!

Mom & Dad decided to find an RV park for the night and we opted for another parking lot. After we split up, we remembered that the falls were supposed to be lit at night and decided it would be fun to try to see it that way. It was well worth it! They are lit with alternating colors of lights and the beauty and power are incredibly impressive. In the morning, we viewed the falls with Mom & Dad and were awed once again. So much water falling off those cliffs. Some of our family kept being reminded of a Calvin & Hobbs cartoon having to do with Niagara Falls :). The weather had turned cold and we also were anxious to get headed for Chicago, so we chose not to do the boat ride close to the bottom of the falls. It would probably have been even more impressive from down there.

On our way out of town, we saw a sign for an old carousel and museum and stopped for a quick tour of the workshop and ride on the wooden ponies.

Hit the road and drove though Ohio, Indiana, a quick detour just across the Michigan state line, and arrived pretty tuckered out at our hotel outside of Chicago, Illinois, about midnight. We enjoyed driving in these farmland states. It amazed us how quickly it seemed we left the trees and hills of New England and upstate New York behind and entered the plains. Tomorrow we’ll sight-see in the windy city.

Beautiful, beautiful place

Yummy wings! Adri got a new bike in Niagara Falls as hers was falling apart.

The carousel factory

New England

2009-10-10T13:48:00.001-07:00

New England looks so “New England-ish”. As we drove up to New Hampshire, we noticed that nearly all the houses are colonial or cape cod in style and decorated so charmingly – window boxes, wreaths on doors, beautiful fall flowers. The trees were just beginning to change color – somewhat disappointing to us as we’d hoped to see the NE in all its splendor -- but it was still very pretty.

We arrived at Mike’s cousins – Peter & Sara Whitehouses – in the afternoon on Saturday. Mom and Dad and Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue were already there, and we all had lunch and dinner together. The kids started getting to know their cousins, Emma and Julia, right away and had such fun together for those couple days. We went to church with them on Sunday and had a relaxing day playing lots of games and watching the Patriots. Thank you, cousins, for such warm hospitality!

On Monday we drove the hour or so over to the Maine Coast. Our first stop was at Nubble Lighthouse – so picturesque atop a rock with waves crashing at the base. The day turned out to be beautiful and warm and we played and relaxed at Ogunquit Beach for a couple hours. Before we left Maine, we had a late lunch at Mike’s Clam Shack – amazing clam chowder & clam strips. We also bought two live lobsters to cook that evening – Yum! As we left to head back to New Hampshire, we realized that this was as far east as we would travel; that from here on the compass would mostly say West. We were heading home.

Very early Tuesday morning we pulled out with the hope to reach Niagara Falls by night. Mom & Dad took a different route for today as they hoped to meet up with one of Dad’s old Navy buddies. These northeast states are so small, we soon entered Vermont and climbed into some beautiful mountains. Near the top of the pass, we took a break at a lookout spot that boasted a 100 mile view of colorful hills and ridges. Found a couple places along the road to get some Vermont cheese and maple syrup. And though we looked hard in all the high swampy fields, we didn’t see a single moose.

The Mathews clan in New Hampshire

Playing on the Maine coast

Nubble Lighthouse

The 100 mile view in Vermont

Having fun with cousins Emma & Julia

Plymouth & Boston

2009-10-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Sept. 23rd we left NYC and started heading up towards Plymouth and Boston. Drove up the east coast and stopped at the little fishing village of Stonington, Connecticut, close to Mystic Seaport. We walked around the boats a little bit, visited with a couple locals, the kids got some energy out at a playground and we found some very fresh scallops to buy. Kept on driving and finally found a nice campsite on Cape Cod at Scusset Beach.

The next morning was Mom’s birthday. We made homemade doughnuts and scrambled eggs for her and then walked down to the beach. It was such a pretty day and the water was fairly warm for this far north. The kids really wanted to stay and play longer but we had plans to go to Plimouth Plantation and thought we shouldn't miss that experience. Promised them we'd try to get one more time to play in the Atlantic before we left it.

Had a wonderful afternoon at Plimouth Plantation which is a replica settlement of the original pilgrim village. It is so authentically done and they have actors dressed up in costume who know the historical person they are portraying in the village and stay in character as you talk with them. They do an amazing job. Elizabeth was thrilled when one pilgrim woman handed her a baby goat.

In the evening we drove into the town of Plymouth and saw the Plymouth rock -- kind of small and unimpressive, but we thought it's cool that this was right where the pilgrims landed. Celebrated Mom's birthday with dinner at nice seafood restaurant right on the water, and a few of us ordered lobster. The picture at the top tells you Luke's opinion of lobster. We've spoiled him forever. Mom and Adri weren't as impressed :). Our computer led us on a wild goose chase to find a campground for the night so we settled for a Wal-mart parking lot. Ate Mom's birthday cake at about 10pm and then we all crashed.

Friday morning dawned crisp and cool -- our first real taste of fall. We drove into Boston and were immediately impressed by how clean and quiet the city was, especially after New York. Liked all the old buildings interspersed with the new skyscrapers. The Freedom Trail was an awesome history walk. Got to see Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, the spot where the Boston massacre occurred, Faneuil Hall, Bunker Hill, and toured "Old Ironsides" -- we still are so thrilled by the history at our fingertips. Most of us made the steep climb to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument -- 294 steps -- and those less in shape paid for it with some pretty sore leg muscles the next few days. Took at ferry boat from the Charleston side back to the Boston side -- it was like doing Paul Revere's stealthy boat trip past the British ships in reverse. The Old North Church's steeple is still very visible from the water and you could just imagine seeing those two lanterns shine for a brief moment. Mom & Dad left us this evening for New Hampshire where Dad's brother, Doug, lives, and we ended up deciding a Marriott sounded pretty good verses another Wal-mart night.

The next morning we spent visiting Lexington Green and Concord. It was such a beautiful, blue-sky day and we would have loved to have more time here. Drove by Louisa May Alcott's home in Concord but didn't have time to stop. We dropped the kids and their bikes off on the road to Concord and they biked ahead of us for a mile or so past some of the actual farm homes and buildings that Paul Revere would have galloped near as he alerted the colonists, "The Regulars are out!". We walked across the north bridge in Concord where the "shot heard 'round the world" was fired.

All in all we loved the Boston area and agreed it would be a great place to come back to at some later date to experience more fully the history here.

Plymouth rock and a fishing boat in Stonington

Our Cape Cod camp and Mom's response to her trick birthday candles :)

Fun times at Plimouth Plantation

The Boston Massacre happened in front of this building

Paul Revere's house and his monument

"Old Ironsides" is still seaworthy

The Boston skyline with the Old North Church/Bunker Hill monument

New York City

2009-09-30T12:06:00.001-07:00

The Big Apple! We found this to be one city you have to experience to even remotely begin to comprehend. It’s been fun being on sensory overload the last two days!

We arrived north of the city on Saturday night (Sept 20th) and decided to stay in a hotel for our time here. We felt it was worth it to have good nights rests and hot breakfasts. A hotel room feels pretty spacious after the motorhome.

Sunday morning we went to a Baptist church here in Nanuet and it was good to worship and reflect. We all were tired and needed a day of rest so just stayed at the hotel, watched TV, worked on the blog, played games – it was wonderful.

Monday morning we drove into the city. Manhattan is so huge -- compared to Philadelphia, D.C. or Seattle – the downtown area is so much bigger. It just goes and goes and goes. High-rise after sky-scraping high-rise. The cabs, subways, noise, people, smells, lights – when you stand on a street corner and realize that everything you are seeing and sensing is being multiplied on hundreds of other street corners within the same downtown area, you have this feeling that it’s like a huge, multi-tiered anthill that never stops moving, crawling, producing, expending energy. We experienced Times Square on Monday and Tuesday nights and it was as bright as day and teeming with shoppers, business people and partiers. Hard to express what this city is like.

Some of our New York highlights – the Statue of Liberty and the beautiful views of the city from her pedestal; New York pizza; viewing the Twin Towers site and the Firefighter memorial at Station 10; Times Square at night; a picnic and carriage ride in Central Park; riding the NY subway and double-decker bus; sausage dogs from a sidewalk cart; watching outdoor chess and backgammon games; walking down Wall Street and shopping at Macy’s. Regrettably, we did not get to see a play – maybe next time.

Macy's, Empire State Bldg. and Wall Street

Times Square and our carriage ride in Central Park

NY Dogs and chess

Engine 10 and Ground Zero

Just kicking back for a day

Philadelphia

2009-09-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

After Amish country, we found a Marriott near Philadelphia for the night. Yay for Marriott hotels and a sister who can get us good rates! These periodic stops at hotels have been such a blessing on this trip, especially close to the big cities. Mom & Dad’s van has been a big blessing, too. Often we leave the motorhome at the hotel or park it somewhere outside the city and then all drive in the van. That’s been working out great.

Our history brains are getting full! It feels like all the early events of our country are right at our fingertips and we’re trying to grasp them all while we’re close. Philadelphia is really the cradle of many important aspects of our country and we got to tour the building where enlightened thoughts and ideas were hashed out – Independence Hall. Here the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were signed. George Washington sat in the chair with the rising sun, presiding over the Constitutional Convention, and the room still looks the same. The Liberty bell no longer hangs from the steeple, but is in a building right next door. We had watched “National Treasure” with the kids a few weeks ago, and they’ve had fun finding the different areas where the movie was filmed as we go to all these historic places.

We saw City Tavern where General Washington and others would hang out and where Paul Revere rode in with the news that the British had closed Boston Harbor. This building had burned at one time, so it’s been rebuilt exactly from old plans. We were in the courtyard of Betsy Ross’ house and talked for an hour with a lady who was in costume as Ben Franklin’s daughter. She gave us wonderful information on Betsy, Ben, and others in the town. Saw Ben Franklin’s grave and walked by Christ Church where George Washington worshipped. We couldn’t go inside as a wedding was taking place.

For lunch we found the original Philly cheese steak joint (Pat’s King of Steaks) in south Philly and stood in the line that wrapped around the building. We discovered it was worth the wait if you order it the local way – with cheese whiz. The restaurant was in a part of town with skinny streets lined with row houses. Had to walk several blocks so got a little feel for that kind of downtown living. So little green, so much concrete…it seems like it would be hard to be a kid here.

After spending the day in Philadelphia we drove on up to NYC, passing right by Princeton University. That’s a beautiful area. We stopped at an ice cream parlor called Friendlys because there had been a milkshake bet as to which car would see an Amish buggy first. The motorhome lost.

Independence Hall

Taking a break with Grandma & Grandpa/E. helping Luke with his Jr. Ranger project

Walking the streets of Philly to find Pat's Philly Steak sandwiches

Talking with Ben Franklin's "daughter" and the Franklins gravesite

Gettysburg & Amish Country

2009-09-26T09:14:00.001-07:00

Loie writing here – with a starting note about leaving Assateague Island – our last night there was VERY windy so Steve and I decided to sleep in the van instead of in our little tent. The wind was blowing so strongly we doubted that it would stay up through the night, or that we would be able to sleep with it flapping around us. Taking it down, in the dark, with the sand blowing stingingly, was a challenge, but probably laughable if you had been watching.

After driving just a couple of hours north to Gettysburg, we first watched a narrated diorama of the three days of the Battle of Gettysburg which took place in July 1863.
Then at the visitor center we hired a guide – a very knowledgeable and interesting older man named John – who drove us in our van around the whole battlefield (18 miles in all) explaining the strategies and movements of the union and confederate armies over the hills and valleys and farmsteads. Since the area is a National Historic Site, it looks much the same as it did 150 years ago – fences, stone walls, even a building with a cannonball embedded in a wall and a barn with a large cannonball-sized hole in it. There is a still-functioning Lutheran seminary whose buildings were used as a hospital during that terribly deadly battle (10,000 men lives lost; 60,000 casualties) Scattered over the several square mile area are 1300 different monuments commemorating various states, armies and leaders. Luke was impressed with how many cannons there were.

This is what they call a "Witness Tree" -- at Gettysburg during the Civil War

The fields over which "Pickett's Charge" occurred

NEXT DAY – AMISH COUNTRY
Camped that night at a beautiful, forested Pennsylvania State Park. Then the rest of the day we drove and wandered about the delightful little Amish town of Bird-in-Hand. A large farmers market featured lots of meats, cheeses, produce, baked goods, quilts and other sewn items, and handicrafts. Steve and I spent some time at the Mennonite Visitor Center where we learned the history of the Amish and Mennonites (both divisions of the Anabaptists originating during the Reformation) – very respectfully presented. We all enjoyed seeing the large prosperous well-kept farms, usually with full clotheslines, and the unique methods of transportation they use – bicycles, scooters, and of course one-horse buggies. I saw a boy mowing a large lawn with a pony-drawn mower. By a shop in town some of us watched a boy of about 10 and a younger boy – around 4 – back up a parked horse and buggy, hook a Radio Flyer-type wagon to the back , then both climbed into the buggy and the older boy went driving off down the busy street alongside cars. Mike, Anne & the kids drove around in the countryside and found a few roadside stands at Amish farms. They really enjoyed getting to visit with one mother and daughter in particular and bought fresh farm eggs, beets, sweet corn, tomatoes, and homemade root beer.

Sharing the road with horse-drawn transportation

Tabacco drying in an Amish barn

These farms are beautiful and the grass is mowed like this

This was my personal favorite :)

Assateague Island, Maryland

2009-09-24T03:58:00.001-07:00

From the kids’ viewpoints…

“After Williamsburg, we drove down and over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge which is 18 miles long. After we got on the island, it was late and we went to bed. Next morning we woke up to some ponies in our front yard! After that we went into town and got a boogie board and when we came back we played in some really big waves.” ~Ben

“It was very fun at Assateague Island. I like the horses.” ~Luke

“We arrived at Assateague Island on September 15th and got in late that night to a state park on the island. The next morning, we woke up to a family of three ponies in our camping area. It was fun to be able to get so close to them, but it was also sad that they weren’t as wild as they should be. There were signs up everywhere that said not to feed the ponies but it was obvious people had. One of the ponies even came up to Ben and nudged his hand. Another animal we saw there was an interesting crab. We found out they were called ghost crabs. We assumed this was because they were murky white and only came out at night.” ~Elizabeth

“We woke up the first morning to wild horses in the campground! It was so cool to see them just wandering around. We swam in the ocean both days we were there. Luke and I had fun playing in the small pools of water because the waves got to be too big for us. We also made a pile of sand and tried to keep it from being washed away by the little waves left over from the big ones. I had a great two days!” ~Adri

Horseshoe crab shell

Fun in the waves

The wild ponies of "Misty and Stormy" ancestry

Throwing our rock we took from the Pacific into the Atlantic

Sunrise over the Atlantic

Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown

2009-09-20T13:21:00.001-07:00

We left Washington, D.C. on Monday, Sept. 14th, and headed down to Williamsburg, Virginia, to step back in time. Mom and Dad decided to skip this part of the journey with us and went to Virginia Beach instead to visit some old friends. Our plan was to stay one day at the old colonial part of Williamsburg and then see Jamestown and Yorktown the next day.

Williamsburg -- now this was a treat to the senses. You truly do feel like you're in a time warp when you get into town and so many are dressed in costume, carriages and horses clop along the streets and many of the shops produce wares by 18th century means. Many of the town's homes and businesses were there when George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Thomas Jefferson walked the streets as Virginia delegates. We thought it was definitely worth paying the fee to go into the authentic shops and be part of the Revolutionary-era drama that takes place in the streets. Especially when we got in for an extremely reduced rate as it was "homeschool week" -- another blessing we didn't know in advance. We enjoyed touring a silversmith's home and learning about their family life. They lost everything by adjoining themselves to the patriot cause and refusing to import goods from England. Mike and the boys especially enjoyed visiting with a gunsmith who made muskets by hand. You can buy one for a measly $15,000.

We decided to eat dinner at a pub there in town, Chowning Tavern. It was delightful! The food was very good and English in style. A magician and a musician (both very talented) entertained us as we ate. We were loathe to leave at the end of the night and I really wished we had another day here to get to tour more of the shops and talk with the people.

We stayed again in a Wal-Mart parking lot overnight and then headed first thing over to Jamestown. We didn’t pay to go into the re-created town but went instead to the actual site of the fort which is a national park. Seeing the area where the first permanent English settlement began was interesting. Not a lot at this location, but we watched a short video in the visitor center and then walked around for a while imagining the hardships and struggles and looking at John Smith and Pocahontas’ statues. There’s a cordoned-off section where they’re doing an archeological dig of the fort.

Next we headed to Yorktown. All three of these towns/sites are within a 10-mile radius so that was nice. Again at Yorktown we opted to go to the original site instead of the re-created “Yorktown Victory Center”. Walking and driving around the still-standing earthworks that the British and Colonial armies dug and touching the cannons left there made this last battle of the Revolutionary War seem very real. In the evening we left Virginia and headed up to Maryland where we met up with Mom & Dad again.

Making candles

Drying tabacco/ a friendly red ox

A flintlock rifle and the Revolutionary drama

Our dinner entertainer and a new form of grounding :)

Jamestown

Yorktown

Washington, D.C. -- Part 2

2009-09-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Day 3 – We started with a tour of the National Archives. This day also happened to be my 40 birthday! My dear family all made a delicious breakfast and coffee for me and had decorated the motorhome with balloons and streamers while I was showering and yelled “surprise!” when I returned. It was fun!

Perhaps the most significant document in our country was right there before us, what started it all – the Declaration of Independence. Signed by 55 men, many to their own personal and financial ruin. We were all surprised at the very poor condition the original document is in. It is kept in a very dimly lit room to try to preserve it, but it is pretty hard to make out very many of the letters or signatures. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are in much better shape. Luke got to “sign” his name to the Declaration via computer technology and they printed a copy for us with his name added on the bottom.

Learning about the National Archives and the process they go through saving, cataloging and preserving anything with historic significance made me see myself as a kind of “archiver” of our family’s history – and wishing for a staff to help with all those piles of history!

This day we also took in the Natural History Museum. The Hope diamond resides here and Luke has been fascinated with jewels for a while so it was fun to see his expression. It’s just a ton of fun to go to all these free museums and see the absolute best, biggest, oldest, etc. of everything. The Natural History also has some wonderful animal exhibits, but was over-the-top evolutionary in their interpretations. Theory espoused completely as fact.

Having the ratio of 4 adults to 4 kids gives us some neat options for getting the most out of the museums as we can divide into smaller groups and see what interests more people. Today Luke, Adri and I stayed longer at this museum and the rest went to the American History Museum to spend an hour and came out realizing we all needed a lot more time there so we made plans to go back another day.

We went to dinner for my birthday at a seafood place on Chesapeake Bay called Thursdays. It was built on a dock and had good food and views. And then cake and ice cream back at camp -- 40 has been a very special birthday.

Day 4 – This morning we got to sleep in a little as our tour of the Capitol started at 11:30. This proved to be our least favorite tour due to the fact that the Capitol was very crowded and our tour group was quite large. We felt a bit like cattle being herded around. But the information on the House and Senate was good and our tour guide’s explanations of the artwork in the Capitol rotunda was interesting. In hindsight, we would go directly to our senator/congressman’s office when we got to D.C. and see if we could get a more intimate tour from an aide perhaps. We had hoped to see the Senate in session, but they had recessed for the day, and the House wasn’t meeting at all that day so, we didn’t get to see the process working.

After lunch, we headed to the Holocaust Memorial. It is hard but so essential to be reminded of the evil that is possible within people and also the amazing oppression that other people can bear. For ourselves and our kids, learning to deal with the vengeful thoughts those images raise was important.

This day ended up being a difficult one for us – whether from lack of sleep, weariness from the busy days, emotional & relational stress – compounded by the gray water tank filling up and backing up into the shower in the motorhome where we store our laundry -- yes, this was one of the harder evenings of our trip. Thank God for the grace He gives us to talk through things and forgive each other's grumpiness and selfishness.

Day 5 – We had to leave the campground at 5:45am as our first tour was an early one at the White House. Security was the tightest here – couldn’t even have a pen with you. A secret service agent gave us the tour and he was very knowledgeable and gave some neat insights into the rooms, artwork, furnishings, and president's lives as we walked through. We felt a kinship with the presidents when we saw we have a piece of artwork from the same artist as hangs over one of the White House mantles. Of course, theirs is original :).

This day was September 12th -- our 17th anniversary and the day of a very huge march in Washington D.C. as we discovered. It was fun to get to walk in and amongst those thousands of Americans who are trying to give President Obama a message about how he's choosing to spend taxpayers' money. The city was very crowded this day and we shared visiting the monuments with lots of other tourists/marchers. I think this was one of our favorite days in the city. Maybe we're getting used to all the walking. We got to see Ford's theater where President Lincoln was shot and walked through more exhibits in the American History Museum. Some of our favorites here -- the actual flag that inspired "the Star-Spangled Banner", the 1st Ladies gowns, and the war exhibits.

The monuments and memorials are awesome -- so huge, beautiful, thought-provoking. Our country has an amazing heritage. Sentences carved everywhere in this city bespeak our dependence on a Sovereign God and principles from his Word. We thoroughly enjoyed our 5 days here and would come back again to spend more hours in the museums and see a few missed sites.

Where Congress decides it all

That's one big rock! The Natural History Museum

Celebrating Anne's 40th

Clowning around at the monuments

WWII memorial and the Lincoln Monument

Abe and Us The Vietnam Memorial

The White House

Washington, D.C. -- Part 1

2009-09-17T07:02:00.001-07:00

The capitol city! We’re here at last. This week is pretty much smack-dab in the center of our trip and I think, for most of us, what we’ve been looking forward to the most. We started out getting situated in our campsite (about 30 miles from the city in Maryland) on Labor Day evening and Tuesday morning. We had heard the best way to do transportation to the city would be to ride the Metro train in and so Tuesday around noon we drove the van to the last stop on the line and bought day passes for all of us. $62.00 later we had our passes and decided we might look into other transportation options for the rest of the day trips to D.C. But it was fun to ride the subway, try to figure out which stops we wanted, and let the kids experience public transit a little.

Our 1st stop dropped us off right in the middle of the Mall, and we walked up and out to our first real-life view of the Capitol at the east end and the Washington Monument at the west. Wow – it was so cool to actually be there! We didn’t have any tours scheduled for this afternoon so we just started walking around, trying to get a grasp of where everything was. HUGE is a good word to describe D.C. The massive stone buildings, the distance between monuments and the monuments themselves, the level of security, the significance of all we were seeing, the amount of information in the museums, the grassy mall…Huge. As we were walking toward the Capitol, we had to stop at a street that was having all traffic held off it, and within a few minutes the President’s motorcade went by, siren’s blaring. Pretty impressive.

That first afternoon we also went out to Arlington National Cemetery. This is a good place to start experiencing D.C. – seeing in no uncertain terms the cost of our freedom. We had our subway passes and took advantage of not having to walk all the way out to the cemetery. The changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is so precise, dignified. We saw three Kennedy tombs, Audie Murphy’s grave, and a fresh, flower-wreathed mound amongst the all those thousands of white headstones. Sobering.

Day 2 – We started out with a tour of the Library of Congress. We had decided to drive all the way in, drop most of us off at whatever building was our first tour, and then have Mike park at Union Station and walk back to wherever we were. So, he got lots of extra exercise this week! That plan only cost $17 a day for parking.

So, the Library – it is gorgeous! The columns, the mosaics, paintings…all with specific significance. Our tour guide was really great and they had these hearing devices we all wore so we could hear all the information. We got to see the Gutenberg Bible and look down into the reading room everyone would recognize from “National Treasure”. If you’re at least 16, you can go into the room, request any books you want and they’ll be brought to your table within 30 minutes. Elizabeth was so disappointed to not be able to do this yet!

After the Library, we split up and Mom, Adri and I took in the National Botanic Garden and the rest went to the Air & Space Museum. The garden was really fun to see – it’s actually several atriums housing different environments or types of flowers – jungle, arid, a room of orchids, medicinal plants – really beautiful and interesting.

The Air & Space Museum was wonderful, too. We got to take in a detailed exhibit on the Wright Brothers which included the first Wright flyer. We ended the day driving out to Dulles Airport where another hanger houses the rest of the museum. There we got up close to a space shuttle, the Enola Gay, a concorde – this museum was a highlight for several in our group. Feet and legs were very tired after all that walking.

Seeing sites for 1st time and figuring out Metro

Air & Space Museum and an orchid at the Botanic Garden

The Library of Congress

Arlington

Tired kids

The President's motorcade

Tennessee & Kentucky

2009-09-08T02:57:00.001-07:00

For several days we got to hang out in this beautiful spot of creation. We always thought we'd like this area and we do! For 3 days we were in the Nashville area staying with the Kings families at Horton Haven Camp. We spent one day in Nashville and took in the sites. Went to the TN Museum and did a little history study of the area. Then walked around downtown by some of the music venues. Went on out to the Grand Ole Opry and Opryland Hotel but didn't get to take in a show as they weren't playing that night. But, wow --if you've never seen that hotel, it would be hard to imagine! Huge atriums with rivers, waterfalls and restaurants...amazing.

The time we spent at the camp and with the Kings was so relaxing -- thank you all! Kevin helped us do the camp's 45 ft. high/600 ft. long zipline which was a rush! Mom M. even did it -- we were so proud of her!! They have several horses so one day the girls and I got a little riding in. The setting of the camp is pastoral -- I'd wake up to see horses grazing in a pasture fringed with trees, some mornings accompanied by wild turkeys and deer. The kids and Mike got to see their first glimpse of fireflies one night. Really enjoyed the time with Dave & Teresa, Kevin & Christy and the kids. If it weren't so far away, I think we'd move to Tennessee.

Ben had been saving up to buy a mandolin on our trip and we were able to find an affordable one at a music store in Nashville. So, now we get to enjoy even more plinking as we drive :). Luke found a harmonica at the Gibson Guitar store in Nashville -- definitely the only thing we could afford there.

On Saturday, we headed up to Kentucky and, on the way to Lexington, stopped by Makers Mark bourbon distillery and took the tour. That was very interesting. Adri didn't care for the smell. In Lexington took in the Kentucky Horse Park which has a Museum of the Horse and got to watch a bit of show jumping and dressage. Such beautiful animals! The horse farms we drove by were unlike anything we see around home. Mile after mile of black-fenced pastures, barns and beautiful homes. Then we headed to the Creation Museum and spent a few hours -- well done exhibits. Bourbon, horses and creation -- interesting Kentucky combo :).

Sunday night started heading on down the road to Washington, D.C. and stayed in another Walmart parking lot when the drivers got tired. Sleep is a little hard in those due to the bright lights but at least it's a safe, easy stop-off for the night. Everyone is still healthy and travelling well. Learning patience in the tight living quarters, and I only get claustrophobic every once in a while and have to kick all the kids out of the motorhome :O.

Georgia, South Carolina & the Smokies

2009-09-04T11:27:00.000-07:00

I'm getting pretty behind in these blogs...sorry, y'all! We travelled to Georgia last Saturday and stayed at the home of some of my good friends from college, the Iversons. They graciously hosted us in their lovely home and we went to church with them on Sunday. So good to hang out again and meet their girls. The kids had a great time playing. We got to visit Phil's vet practice and help a little with a wild hawk he was treating. They drove us by the golf course where the Masters is played but the course is extremely secluded and you can barely see into it.

Then it was on to South Carolina. I should say a little blurb here what this country is like. We were amazed how flat and treed it is in Florida and Georgia. So green -- lots of pine & oak trees. Not the tall evergreens like in Washington, but a lot of trees. Didn't realize it would be like this. It's really very beautiful. Almost everyone in the south here is saying we are getting in on unseasonably cool weather (thank you, Lord). But it's still pretty hot and muggy to us.

In South Carolina we stayed at a state park in Greenville, and had dinner with Mike's cousins, Dan & Brenda & their boys. Such fun for all of us to connect again. We wished for more time, but it was a short, good visit with our kids enjoying air-softing and X-box with the boys. We spent some of Monday restocking groceries and doing laundry at a laundromat. Didn't really site-see much in this area. The state park we stayed in reminded us of home, actually. Heavily wooded and it was raining.

Next stop was the Great Smoky Mountains. These are at the south end of the Appalachian Mountains and the National park is partly in North Carolina and partly Tennessee. This country is so beautiful! We split up with Steve & Loie for the night (they headed to a small town nearby to see friends) and we drove to Gatlinburg, did a little walking around, and then on to Cades Cove for the night. Cades Cove is a charming cove (valley) in the Smokies where an 18th century farming community has been preserved. There are several old churches and farmsteads with outbuildings. We felt like we'd stepped back in time. We camped at the campground and then rode our bikes around about a 10-mile loop the next morning to see the area. We can see why families holed up in these mountain valleys -- so peaceful and picturesque. The layers of green hills rising higher to a purple-gray. We didn't see any bears which supposedly are abundant in the park (Mom & Dad did see one) but we saw some deer, wild turkeys, and a little rattlesnake coiled up in an old barn. That was exciting!

On a food note, we had another great BBQ meal at a place in North Carolina called Fat Buddies. We were all hungry and the ribs were even more delicious than the Texas BBQ -- oops, hope we don't offend anyone with that opinion. And we have all learned to like sweet tea. And boiled peanuts...ok, those aren't everyone's favorites, but we liked them a lot more than we imagined we would. Thank you, Aunt Emily, for introducing us to that southern comfort food.

The Sunshine State

2009-08-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

If I said the last few days of our trip have surpassed our highest expectations, I would be understating matters. You know, when God works little details and timings out so perfectly, you feel like He's giving you a gift tied with a silver bow and all you can do is just say, "Thank you, we don't deserve this."

On Wednesday the 26th, we drove to Panama City, Florida, with the idea of giving our kids a taste of the tropical, warm-water & white beach experience. One of Elizabeth's dreams was to swim with dolphins in the wild and we'd heard from friends that this was the area to attempt that. We found a great state park at the end of Panama City Beach called St. Andrews and set up camp. The next day we rented a pontoon boat and took it out into the lagoon to a place called Shell Island. It's kind of a peninsula between the Gulf and the lagoon so we got to play and snorkel on both sides. All of our kids got into snorkelling! The water is so warm and this amazing turquoise blue. I don't think the pictures do it justice.

On the way back from Shell Island, we encountered some dolphins. When we got close, they'd come up to our boat (I think looking for a handout which we didn't have) and some of us would jump in the water to try to get close to them. The last time, Mike and Elizabeth succeeded in getting one to interact! It was fun to watch and such a highlight experience for them. Mike got to touch it and Elizabeth was right there. They said it's a lot bigger than you'd think when you're right next to it. We all got a bit sunburnned, but it was worth it.

The next day, heading to the east side of Florida, we detoured to a large plantation just across the border in Georgia called Pebble Hill. It's open to the public as a museum and it was incredible to walk the grounds and marvel at the opulence of that era.

We got to the Kennedy Space Center about 8pm. I'll attach here some of Elizabeth's journaling of the event...

"How can I even find words for this?!! It's simply amazing! We actually got to see the space shuttle Discovery lanuch from Cape Canaveral last night at 11:59. Wow! God is so incredible! After being delayed twice, Discovery took off with no problems on a perfectly cloudless night. From the beginning of our trip and all the way up until Alabama, we hadn't even thought there would be any chance we would be able to see a launch. Well, it happened."

We all were amazed how bright and powerful and loud the experience was. Definitely something to try to see in person. Next stop...Georgia and South Carolina.

The South

2009-08-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's my turn to write a blogpost, giving Anne a little break.What a good time we're having! And Steve and I felt so honored to celebrate our 40th anniversary with Anne's parents in Baton Rouge, LA on Sunday. Her mom made a party of it - thank you Loralea. That was right after enjoying a warm southern welcome and wonderful old time hymn singing at their Baptist church.

Monday we drove the three hours (seemed so quick!) to Mobile, Alabama where we found a pretty state park right on Mobile Bay - complete with alligators (among the reeds), humidity, tiny ants, red, green, and blue dragonflies, and some very large (3 - 4 inch) black locusts. Luke fished for catfish or "reds" alongside some good ol' boys, with no luck - but it was fun anyway.

We all enjoyed a good southern welcome at the country home of Anne's sister-in-law Emily's parents Lisa and Jimmy...good food, lots of listening to stories, a bonfire, s'mores, fireworks - good people. Elizabeth is enjoying spending time with their 16-year-old, Scarlett. This evening Steve and I are relaxing at the campsite while the family is at Josh and Emily's for a barbecue and swim.

Tomorrow we're off to Panama City, Florida. We're keeping an eye on the news about the scheduled launch of the Space Shuttle from Kennedy Space Center - we may just try to dash over there to see or hear that. (It's a long dash, but who knows, maybe we'll time it just right.)

The Lone Star State

2009-08-22T16:48:00.000-07:00

Late Friday night we pulled into San Antonio after 18 hrs. on the road and found a Walmart parking lot for the night. Yay for Walmart parking lots! But we found that sleeping in the motorhome in San Antonio in the summer is a hot prospect. We ran the air conditioning for part of the night, but still we all had a hard time sleeping well. We're getting to practice having good attitudes when things get a little hard on the trip :). Our kids are pretty wimpy when it comes to heat with humidity...Mike and I aren't the cheeriest in it either.

We survived the night and went into the city the next morning to see the Alamo. We had listened to a radio drama the day before on the Battle of the Alamo so we were really anticipating touring it. Inside, Davey Crockett's rifle, Old Betsy, is on display along with Jim Bowie's knife. The past still lingers heavily within those walls and it is a fitting tribute to the courage of those brave Texans.

After the Alamo, we walked across the street and down to the Riverwalk...a most delightful respite in the over-100 heat. We wished we could have stayed for live music and dinner in one of the cafes by the water, but maybe another lifetime.

In our quest to experience the different flavors of the country, we decided for this area we wanted to sample some authentic Texas BBQ. Going off a tip from some good friends, we found a Rudy's BBQ to indulge our taste buds. Absolutely delicious! Just ask Elizabeth who polished off 9 baby back ribs.

Ok, just in case you were wondering...Texas is a REALLY big state. After lunch, we continued our trek east and at milepost 880 (yes, that's the number of miles we drove across Texas on I-10) we crossed into Louisanna and made it to Baton Rouge by 10pm Saturday night. Anne's parents had graciously checked us all into a hotel and we had a very good night's sleep thanks to a dip in the pool and AC. Planning to spend the next few days here and in Mobile, Alabama, hanging out with family. Thank you, God, for the many safe miles so far.

Grand Canyon

2009-08-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

We awakened Wednesday morning to a bull elk wandering through our camp site! Fun way to start the day. All of us were anxious to see the canyon, so we hastily grabbed a cup of coffee and a quick snack and drove the short drive to the rim. The morning light silhouetted the varied layers and crevices and shone brightly off other parts making the colors glow. This is an awe-inspiring place. A testimony to the marvelous work of God, as a placard on one of the old lookout buildings truly proclaims.

We had a delightful morning viewing the canyon, visiting with a ranger, enjoying ice cream, and shopping at the different shops. Several of these also act as museums of sorts and in the short time we were there we learned some interesting things about Native Americans and the early growth of tourism at the canyon.

At this point we split up from Steve and Loie -- they headed towards Albuquerque to get a jump on the big travel day on Friday, and we headed down to Phoenix to see my sister, Susan, and family. We had a very nice evening with them, cooled off in their pool and enjoyed a delicious dinner and conversation. On the way to their house, we had to take a short detour to indulge in our favorite burger joint -- In-n-Out!!

Started out again very early this morning with the hopes of making San Antonio. The computer is estimating it to be about 1,008 miles away. This is probably the longest leg of our trip.

We Left Our Hearts...in San Francisco

2009-08-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

Long before the rooster crowed, we pulled out from Gresham, OR with the hope of reaching San Francisco by late afternoon on Monday. The kids were sleepily excited and giddy as we tucked ourselves into the motorhome and Ben prayed for our safe travels.

We drove through the verdant Willamette Valley and up & down through the Siskiyou Mountains. Oregon is so beautiful! Mt. Shasta in northern CA is also stunning and near the lake we pulled off for Mike to catch a nap. The kids and I stretched our legs and did a short but steep hike down to one of the lake’s fingers to stick our toes in the cool water. Definitely driving towards the heat!

We made great time and pulled into Mike’s brother’s around 4:30. They live in Mill Valley in Marin County and we could see right away why people pay big bucks to live in that area. The seminary is on top of a hill and the views of the bay are amazing, as we discovered taking a walk around campus later that evening. Mom & Dad Mathews had left the day before and arrived just before us -- it’s so fun to be all together! Josh and Stacy had been saving up some very special news til we arrived – Hallel will be a big sister come next March!

On Tuesday we did a hike to Tennessee Beach and stuck our toes into the Pacific. Looking forward to doing the same in the Atlantic in a couple weeks! We ate yummy burritos from Grilli’s outside in the Mill Valley square. The weather is perfect here.

Later we drove to the Golden Gate Bridge and got out for the picture and to enjoy the views of the city across the bay and also Alcatraz. A thick marine fog hid half the bridge and gave it a surreal effect. We didn’t have time to take in Fisherman’s Wharf, but we did drive through the city (hair-raising adventure in the motorhome). We ended up in Hayward and had a wonderful dinner with Uncle Bob & Aunt Joanie & kids and grandkids. It was good to see them again and catch up.

Crashed for a few brief hours sleep, and then Dad & Mike were up, hooking up the trailer (and trying to fix some bum taillights) and we were off heading towards the Grand Canyon. Along the way, we drove through some very productive CA farmland.

Very hot going through the Mojave desert and this stretch seems to be taking forever. We chose to extend the day a bit by taking a slight detour through the tip of Nevada to be able to add it to our "states visited" list. Hopped onto historic Route 66 a couple times. Finally pulled into Grand Canyon around 9:30pm. Tired and thankful for the safe drive.

Leaving Home

2009-08-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

Our departure day was set for Tuesday, August 11, 2009. But it was not set in stone -- we knew ourselves well enough that we left it flexible as to when we'd actually pull out. The first leg of our journey was to be a camping trip with old friends and we didn't want to miss days of that, but what a job getting out of the house! Our to-do lists were HUGE. There were a thousand things, it seemed, to prepare for being gone for 2 months. Snowbirds must get used to this, but for us it was overwhelming. We accumulated all the things to be packed into the just-cleaned garage (wow - we actually got it cleaned!), and then worked hard on getting the house in shape. I honestly didn't think we'd make it out on Tuesday.

But at 8:05pm, we said goodbye to our house sitter, threw the last things into the motorhome, and rolled out. As we bounced down the road and our house faded from view, we began to realize just how long the way home was going to be. We were heading south and would be coming back from the north. The 11,000 mile loop had begun!

Our first 5 days were spent at Mayfield Lake, camping in atypical weather for Washington in August -- rainy (downpouring at times) and cold. But we still had a great time fellowshipping with friends and watching the kids play.
They managed to enjoy most of the camp activities, including lots of biking, occasional swimming, card games, and mafia by firelight, despite the chilly temps. We were just thankful one family had packed a mammoth blue tarp that the guys rigged up as our group shelter.

Today we are in Oregon at Mike's parents doing laundry and getting ready to leave early Monday morning for San Francisco. This seems like it will be the first real leg of our journey and the excitement is mounting!

Preparations

2009-08-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

It almost seems unreal...after 9 years of dreaming and planning we are one week away from our "big trip". Our epic journey around the states with our family. We truly are humbled and thankful that God has opened the doors for us to live this dream with our children.

This photo is of Luke displaying a 7-year-old's way of telling time. At the point this picture was taken we still had a month before D-day. But those days have quickly slipped by filled with appointments, organizing, cleaning, finding a house sitter, organizing some more, cleaning some more, doing the outside painting that can only be done in the summer here in WA, hanging out with family & friends (who we will miss tremendously while we're gone), trying to remember all we normally have to take care of during 2 months...yes, the days have flown by.

So, ready or not, we'll be heading out in a week. Our first stop is actually only about 80 miles from here at Ike Kinswa State Park on Mayfield Lake. We have camped each summer with old friends for too many years to count and just couldn't miss it. We'll spend a few nights and then head down to the Portland area. There we'll be joined by Mike's parents who we are delighted to have join us for some, if not all, of the trip.

Our tentative itinerary includes about 40 states and roughly 11,000 miles. You're welcome to join us virtually as we attempt to blog our journey (we're newbies at this, so please bear with us). Well, gotta run...panic is setting in...only 7 more days.