More Musings

More Musings….

*If I were to do this again, I would either shorten or lengthen the trip.  All the way across the country and back in 8 ½ weeks was a bit ambitious.  We are only 4 weeks in and I’m t.i.r.e.d.  Driving days are stressful and non driving days are FULL.   Shorter, closer to home trips or 4 months across the country would be preferable to the whirlwind tour we are doing.  I think.

*I wish there was a better system for navigation.  I have to double and triple check the GPS route against my atlas and bing and google just to ensure that our route is accurate.  I also wish I had a GPS that would tell you what lane to be in.  There’s nothing worse than trying to change lanes quickly in an RV.   

*I really, really enjoy visiting places that differ from what I'm use to.  Heck, I even love checking out the aisles in WalMart for all the different, local offerings.  I love trying new food and interacting with people who are part of a different regional culture than I am.  

*I think the next vacation (er, adventure) I embark on, I'll fly.  ;)

Colonial Williamsburg

Today, Easter Sunday, we visited Colonial Williamsburg.  The Governor's Palace was impressive and the Coffee House hot chocolate was delicious.

It was a gorgeous, albeit hot, day.  There were few people (compared to the Georgia Aquarium and Disney World) and that fact only added to our enjoyment.  We'd love to come back some day when we have more time.

North Carolina and Another Meet Up

Yesterday was a looonnng travel day due to our falling behind schedule back in Georgia.  We drove about 7 hours and stopped in North Carolina to meet with Susan.

We hung out in her beautiful new house (with very little furniture), she fed us Carolina BBQ Pork (YUM!) and let us park in her driveway for the night.  We had a great evening visiting with her and her family--she even, very thoughtfully, bought easter baskets for the kids and eggs to dye.  They had a great time.

Thanks Susan!  :)

More About the Georgia Aquarium

The Georgia Aquarium bills itself as the largest in the world.  It *is* large, but not well suited to large crowds.  The whole experience felt like a tourist trap.  A souvenir picture was taken before we even entered the building--everyone's picture was taken (as an aside, the picture came out really good and I ordered an 8x10).   The exit is through the the gift shop and one of the attractions dumps you out into the cafeteria.

The tunnel was neat, but we have the Newport Aquarium in Oregon that has a  walk through tunnel.  Perhaps that why we were a bit underwhelmed.

I'm glad we went and Jake was particularly happy--he loves aquariums.

It was tough to take pictures due to the crowds, but I'll share some of the ones I took. 

The Generosity of Strangers

For many of my homeschooling years I’ve used a Literature based curriculum, Sonlight, as the backbone of our schooling.  The company sponsors online forums for their customers to share tips and discuss homeschooling, curricula and well,  just life.

I’ve always been impressed at how this community comes together to support it’s members through births, deaths, marriages, divorce, ……….

And even RV trips.

I shared that my family and I were planning this RV adventure across the country and I’ve been blown away by the generosity of strangers.   Our whirlwind trip hasn’t allowed for all the stops I would have liked to make, but I appreciate each and every offer.

From feeding us dinner to allowing us to park at their house to offers to pick up supplies to tips on where to stay and eat to helping us with tickets at Disney World, well,  I’m just amazed and very, very thankful for the generosity of strangers.   :)

Georgia Aquarium

I have limited wifi right now, but we are currently south of Atlanta, GA in Jackson.  The RV park is horrible.  Everyone, and I mean *everyone* smokes everywhere--in the office, in the bathroom, on the grounds, in the shower.   ::shudder:::  We will be happy to leave the park.

We visited the Georgia Aquarium today. Right in the middle of downtown Atlanta.  Great aquarium (very expensive too) but waaaayyyy too many people.  There were some exhibits that you, literally, could not even move through.

I have some pictures, but will have to wait until we have better wifi to upload them.

Stuck in Valdosta, Georgia

About two hours into our trip today, a kind trucker signaled for us to pull over.  Our tire on our trailer was seized and smoking.  Sigh.

After about an hour wait, AAA showed up and towed us to a service center.  It appears that the ball bearings will need to be replaced.  We don't yet know how long this will take--fortunately, we have a few days of wiggle room, but we really want to visit the Georgia Aquarium and Colonial Williamsburg before stopping for a few days in Maryland.

Here's hoping for a quick (and not too expensive) fix......

In the meantime, we visited a buffet here in Voldosta.  I had some fried okra, some sort of mushy meat meal thing with gravy and some really spicy cucumber salad.  Yum.

The waiter appeared to be laughing at us a bit. I'm not sure if it was because we talked funny--or maybe because we sampled each, and every thing at the buffet.  We did thank him when he removed our plates and refilled our soda and he laughed then too.  I don't know, but I did enjoy the food.

St. Augustine, Florida

After the hectic three days at Disney, Keith and I decided to travel a bit out of our way and so we headed east, to the coast of Florida.  We landed in St. Augustine, FL at a neat RV park that is on a barrier island boarded by the intercoastal waterway on one end and the Atlantic on the other.

The beach was comprised of millions of shells.  Shells..everywhere.  It was really interesting.   It was nice to spend one last bit near the ocean.

While body surfing the waves, Keely felt something hit her hand--her middle finger is all swollen and we're pretty sure she got hit by a jellyfish----we found quite a few washed up on shore.

Poor thing--first her fingers get slammed in the door and now she gets stung.  At least it was her other hand.  

Disney World

We had three full days at Disney World.   It was a loong, three days.  We stayed at Fort Wilderness, Disney's campground.  It was very, very nice.  The pool was great, the showers were great, the site was great--the only downside was that there wasn't any wifi.  Really, though, who has time to go online when you're at Disney?!?!?

We went to Downtown Disney the day we arrived and ate at Wolfgang Puck's Express.  Yummy food.  The Lego store was under refurbishment, which was a bit of a disappointment for the kids.

Disney isn't Keith's cup o' tea, but he was a trooper and spent some time with us in the parks--all three days.

Our first day was at Epcot.   Epcot's Flower festival was happening, so there was plenty to see.  We ate that night at Teppen Edo in Japan.

Our 2nd day was in Magic Kingdom and it was crowded and hot.  Blech.  I didn't even take the camera out until night time when we returned to catch some rides, the fireworks and the 2nd Electrical parade, which started at 11 pm. We had a fantastic spot over by the Hall of Presidents.  I think we finally crawled into bed about 1 am.

Our last day was spent at Hollywood Studios, making sure we got to ride Midway Mania and heading back over to Epcot to catch Test Track one last time......

All in all, it was a good trip, with plenty of smiles and only a bit....

of grumpiness.....