Today was all about blazing a trail across California as quickly as possible. As much as we would have loved to have stopped and seen lots of sights and friends along the way (Allen, Dorie, Shelley, Lois, Marylynn...) the demands of our trip schedule, hotel reservations, and getting Olga back to work kept us on track. We need to make it to Arkansas by this weekend! And today was about getting Samantha down to Bakersfield to see her best friend Katie who moved from Fillmore to California this year. So even though we would have loved to have stopped to drive the van through a Giant Redwood, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, see Yosemite, and forge onto Los Angeles...sigh...next time I guess...we had to put on the blinders and drive hard today. There were several consolations to the process though! 1) Right after leaving this morning we ran into road construction and had to get off the main highway and drive along the "Avenue of the Giants" and drive through another amazing forest of the majestic redwoods. Olga and I are mesmerized by them! 2) As I mentioned yesterday, my cousin lined up two GREAT hotels for us last night and tonight and by driving intensely today to give Samantha maximum time with Katie, we got into this beautiful hotel early enough to enjoy the wonderful pool and to eat dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen (Tostada Pizza and Greek Pizza - both great!) And lastly 3) When we got into the hotel at about 6pm it was 110 degrees! By the time we went out to dinner it had cooled off to a balmy 101! So it was a great day to be by the pool and to let the hotel pay the a/c bill!
Today after 650 spectacular miles we bid goodbye to scenic Rte. 101 but not before enjoying the incredible sites of the Redwood Coast. What a drive! It was a little dull to be back on freeway driving after hugging the cliffs the past two days. Olga and I LOVED today's scenery, but Anthony announces "Today was kind of boring." That is teenager-ese for "I didn't see Molly all day." To the contrary, I thought today was grand; it concluded with one of my sweetest pleasures in life - when we got back to the hotel late after dinner, the boys and I went out and sat in the jacuzzi. The breeze had finally turned cool. There's hardly anything I enjoy more than that.
Tomorrow we will hang around and enjoy this beautiful hotel again until Samantha gets back around noon, and then we are going to start driving East to Las Vegas. I figured up today that right now we are the furthest from Fillmore that we will be, according to Google we are 2550 miles from home. Tomorrow we head East and begin to get closer to New York again. We will stop by Las Vegas tomorrow evening, just to say we've been there and then drive on down to Grand Canyon where we will spend the day on Thursday. I've uploaded some more pictures onto facebook if you'd like to check them out.
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Day 19: Bakersfield, CA--Williams, AZ
Naughty, bawdy, gaudy Las Vegas was on the docket for today, but not until after a relaxing morning of sleeping in for once! While we waited for Samantha to get back we had breakfast at the hotel and then I went swimming with the boys. (Anthony and I perfected our version of the--politically incorrect and banned in Ontario--sport of dwarf-tossing, by seeing how far we could chuck JonDavid into the air in the pool. Gimli: "No one tosses a dwarf!") After we checked out, Olga decided we had to do laundry, so we found a handy laundromat and she worked on clean clothes while JD and I went to a grocery store to replenish the depleted snack bin. We got some good snackage! So, ugh, it took forever to get started from California, and when we finally did, I realized that the clerk back at the grocery who had been so kind and helpful and signed me up for a shoppers club card which saved me $15 on my bill, had been so interested in hearing about our trip, that she forgot to give me the $40 cash back I had put on my debit card. We were an hour on our way by then and it was too late to turn back, so I gave Olga the receipt and she called the store. Well, the clerk remembered 1) our conversation and 2) that she had indeed forgotten to give me my cash back and so they credited back to my debit card! We thought that was remarkable, and such a relief!
Before we leave California I have to mention one other favorite memory of our long drive across that great expanse of state: the sound of JD in the back seat doing his Arnold Schwarzenegger impression! I had no idea that he even knew who the famed governor is, let alone knew how to mimic his Austrian accent!
It was another blistering hot day although happily we have been shielded from it by hotel and car air-conditioning. I glanced up at the thermometer this evening in the high desert in California before we crossed into Nevada and it was 115 degrees! By the time we got into the hotel in Arizona tonight it had cooled off to 80! Can you even believe the temperature dropping by 35 degrees and still being almost the hottest day of the summer back in New York?! (On the topic of weather - and I am probably jinxing myself by mentioning it, we have had rain ONCE since leaving New York three weeks ago...and we didn't even see that, it happened overnight in Chicago and we slept through it, and that storm was only because God was punishing Dave LeVan whose heart is black and full of sin. Just kidding--an old joke of Leslie's and mine from JBU)
So anyway, we crossed into Nevada, which is my 48th state--leaving only the two that are impossibly expensive to get to--and made our way to Las Vegas. It is basically on the way to the Grand Canyon anyway, so we had decided it would be interesting to see, and indeed it was. We found ourselves driving right down the strip. We parked and walked down to see the sights (quite a few of which are better left unseen!) But we got to see the amazing water fountain show at the Bellagio Hotel (where Oceans 11 was filmed) and walked through the lobby, then we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner and then headed out of town, stopping briefly at the Hoover Dam as we headed south to our hotel near the Grand Canyon. I probably wouldn't have made a special trip just to see Vegas, but since we were in the neighborhood anyway, it was definitely worth the detour. We will stay here in Williams both tonight and tomorrow night so that we can spend the full day tomorrow seeing the sights. If you didn't see them yet, I posted a few more pictures, mostly of Oregon, on facebook.
Before we leave California I have to mention one other favorite memory of our long drive across that great expanse of state: the sound of JD in the back seat doing his Arnold Schwarzenegger impression! I had no idea that he even knew who the famed governor is, let alone knew how to mimic his Austrian accent!
It was another blistering hot day although happily we have been shielded from it by hotel and car air-conditioning. I glanced up at the thermometer this evening in the high desert in California before we crossed into Nevada and it was 115 degrees! By the time we got into the hotel in Arizona tonight it had cooled off to 80! Can you even believe the temperature dropping by 35 degrees and still being almost the hottest day of the summer back in New York?! (On the topic of weather - and I am probably jinxing myself by mentioning it, we have had rain ONCE since leaving New York three weeks ago...and we didn't even see that, it happened overnight in Chicago and we slept through it, and that storm was only because God was punishing Dave LeVan whose heart is black and full of sin. Just kidding--an old joke of Leslie's and mine from JBU)
So anyway, we crossed into Nevada, which is my 48th state--leaving only the two that are impossibly expensive to get to--and made our way to Las Vegas. It is basically on the way to the Grand Canyon anyway, so we had decided it would be interesting to see, and indeed it was. We found ourselves driving right down the strip. We parked and walked down to see the sights (quite a few of which are better left unseen!) But we got to see the amazing water fountain show at the Bellagio Hotel (where Oceans 11 was filmed) and walked through the lobby, then we went to a Chinese buffet for dinner and then headed out of town, stopping briefly at the Hoover Dam as we headed south to our hotel near the Grand Canyon. I probably wouldn't have made a special trip just to see Vegas, but since we were in the neighborhood anyway, it was definitely worth the detour. We will stay here in Williams both tonight and tomorrow night so that we can spend the full day tomorrow seeing the sights. If you didn't see them yet, I posted a few more pictures, mostly of Oregon, on facebook.
Day 20 -- The Grand Canyon!
Get your kicks on Rte. 66! I’ll talk about the Grand Canyon in a minute, but first of all let me mention a great serendipitous event about our stay here. We ended up in Williams, AZ because I found a cheap motel here, and at the time I made a mental note that I liked the fact that it was on Rte. 66. We got in SO LATE from Las Vegas last night--Shut up Darren, I wasn’t gambling!...and I did not come home with a Vegas wife!--that we didn’t see the little town. But today we discovered this great little old fashioned Rte. 66 town with diners and souvenir shops and quaint motels – it really looks straight out of the 1950s, even with some classic cars and pick up trucks downtown. I love it!
So anyway, meanwhile, back at the Grand Canyon. After sleeping in a bit and having breakfast at the hotel, we made the drive up to the Grand Canyon. Some things like this that you’ve heard so much about—and actually we thought that Old Faithful somewhat fell into this category—end up seeming a little anti-climactic in real life; The Grand Canyon is quite the opposite: even bigger and better than you could have pictured. Even with all the pictures and movies I’ve seen which depict it, nothing really prepares you for its magnitude and grandeur. Once again words fail me to describe it. I realize of course that most people except me have already seen it, so maybe I don’t have to. Even though we scheduled a whole day here, we still didn’t end up with enough time to hike down to the canyon floor. Apparently you really need two days and reservations made a year in advance to get a cabin down below. (Oh sure, like I could really be that organized!) But really just walking all along the south rim was immensely satisfying for us. I think my camera would have exploded if I’d gone further! And by the time we got up to the Grand View Village for ice cream and watched the condors soaring overhead we all felt 1) sufficiently grand-canyoned for one day and 2) like we want to come back and stay longer, which is only about the 900th time we’ve said that on this trip!
So we rode the free air-conditioned shuttle (is this a great country or what?) back to our car and then drove back into Williams. We went downtown and had a great dinner at a restaurant down there. They had wonderful vegetarian sandwiches, homemade potato salad and 46 kinds of pie! (After an anguished decision making process I picked coconut crème – wish you had been there Min! It was big enough for both of us; not that that stopped me.) I thought I had died and gone to heaven. After dinner JD and I walked all over the quaint little town and enjoyed ourselves so much! And tonight Anthony’s cellphone even had a miraculous healing – so all in all it has been a great day. Tomorrow: On to the Four Corners which will be states 20, 21, and 22 on this trip. We’ll stay the night in Albuquerque and then on to Arkansas!! (By the way: Still no one from Delaware or Rhode Island here – do people from those states never travel anywhere?!)
So anyway, meanwhile, back at the Grand Canyon. After sleeping in a bit and having breakfast at the hotel, we made the drive up to the Grand Canyon. Some things like this that you’ve heard so much about—and actually we thought that Old Faithful somewhat fell into this category—end up seeming a little anti-climactic in real life; The Grand Canyon is quite the opposite: even bigger and better than you could have pictured. Even with all the pictures and movies I’ve seen which depict it, nothing really prepares you for its magnitude and grandeur. Once again words fail me to describe it. I realize of course that most people except me have already seen it, so maybe I don’t have to. Even though we scheduled a whole day here, we still didn’t end up with enough time to hike down to the canyon floor. Apparently you really need two days and reservations made a year in advance to get a cabin down below. (Oh sure, like I could really be that organized!) But really just walking all along the south rim was immensely satisfying for us. I think my camera would have exploded if I’d gone further! And by the time we got up to the Grand View Village for ice cream and watched the condors soaring overhead we all felt 1) sufficiently grand-canyoned for one day and 2) like we want to come back and stay longer, which is only about the 900th time we’ve said that on this trip!
So we rode the free air-conditioned shuttle (is this a great country or what?) back to our car and then drove back into Williams. We went downtown and had a great dinner at a restaurant down there. They had wonderful vegetarian sandwiches, homemade potato salad and 46 kinds of pie! (After an anguished decision making process I picked coconut crème – wish you had been there Min! It was big enough for both of us; not that that stopped me.) I thought I had died and gone to heaven. After dinner JD and I walked all over the quaint little town and enjoyed ourselves so much! And tonight Anthony’s cellphone even had a miraculous healing – so all in all it has been a great day. Tomorrow: On to the Four Corners which will be states 20, 21, and 22 on this trip. We’ll stay the night in Albuquerque and then on to Arkansas!! (By the way: Still no one from Delaware or Rhode Island here – do people from those states never travel anywhere?!)
Day 21: Williams, AZ--The Four Corners--Albuquerque, NM
Presumably this won't be too long tonight as 1) it was mostly a driving day and 2) JD is waiting for me to join him in the Ramada pool since no one else is up for a swim tonight! I'm sweating poolside because of my facebook addiction and working on my "blob" as my mother calls it. Charming! Two other quick comments on our Rte. 66 stayover. I forgot to mention to charming aspects. One is that the old Grand Canyon RR stops there and it really made me want to go for a train trip. The other is that while JD and I were doing the town there was a "Ghost Tour" showcasing all of the places in town that are rumored to be haunted! Today at the Four Corners we saw a spectacularly restored Corvette, I think it was an original '53 and it made me wish I could steal it and up Rte. 66!
So anyway, today....I got up before everyone else and went down and enjoyed the hot tub all to myself. After breakfast we hit the road for the Four Corners. The drive up there was surprisingly beautiful and remote! We saw Monument Valley and lots of interesting sights. It is the sort of road that you want to have a full tank of gas for as when you ask the GPS for fuel it says things like "69.8 miles BACK." But happily we made it there and then back to Shiprock, NM to gas up. Shiprock is named for this mysterious looking rock that looks like something out of movie set, a cross between a ship and a castle, that juts up all by itself on the New Mexico landscape. The whole drive today was another stunning example of the natural beauty of this country. Wow.... Oh, and by the way, the Four Corners was fun - Jan will be happy to know that as she has always suspected, my butt can be in four states at once (only today I had a good excuse) The Four Corners is actually in Navajo territory, and you have to pay $3 each to get in. It must be time to go home because we had to raid all of the compartments in the van and the kids suitcases to come up with $15 in cash! But we felt it was the least we could do to help the Navajo Nation!
We stopped at subway for dinner--very unimaginative, I know!--and then got into Albuquerque at about 9:00. This always makes me think of two things 1) I never know for sure how to spell it and 2) the home of Ethel Mae Potter (An I Love Lucy reference that my sister will get!) For JonDavid it has more modern connotations, he was watching eagerly out the windows for glimpses of the cast of High School Musical!
Oh wow, I just took a break to play in the pool with the boys and then got in the jacuzzi and this hotel wins the best jacuzzi on the trip award. It has really strong jets! So I think I will log off and go over and pickle myself in it until closing time. Tomorrow - on to that little piece of heaven on earth: Arkansas!
So anyway, today....I got up before everyone else and went down and enjoyed the hot tub all to myself. After breakfast we hit the road for the Four Corners. The drive up there was surprisingly beautiful and remote! We saw Monument Valley and lots of interesting sights. It is the sort of road that you want to have a full tank of gas for as when you ask the GPS for fuel it says things like "69.8 miles BACK." But happily we made it there and then back to Shiprock, NM to gas up. Shiprock is named for this mysterious looking rock that looks like something out of movie set, a cross between a ship and a castle, that juts up all by itself on the New Mexico landscape. The whole drive today was another stunning example of the natural beauty of this country. Wow.... Oh, and by the way, the Four Corners was fun - Jan will be happy to know that as she has always suspected, my butt can be in four states at once (only today I had a good excuse) The Four Corners is actually in Navajo territory, and you have to pay $3 each to get in. It must be time to go home because we had to raid all of the compartments in the van and the kids suitcases to come up with $15 in cash! But we felt it was the least we could do to help the Navajo Nation!
We stopped at subway for dinner--very unimaginative, I know!--and then got into Albuquerque at about 9:00. This always makes me think of two things 1) I never know for sure how to spell it and 2) the home of Ethel Mae Potter (An I Love Lucy reference that my sister will get!) For JonDavid it has more modern connotations, he was watching eagerly out the windows for glimpses of the cast of High School Musical!
Oh wow, I just took a break to play in the pool with the boys and then got in the jacuzzi and this hotel wins the best jacuzzi on the trip award. It has really strong jets! So I think I will log off and go over and pickle myself in it until closing time. Tomorrow - on to that little piece of heaven on earth: Arkansas!
Days 22, 23, and 24: Albuquerque, NM--Siloam Springs, AR--Indianapolis, IN
We had so much fun and so many friends to squeeze into a TOO SHORT visit to Arkansas that I didn’t even have time to update my blog, so I’ll try to summarize the past three days. 750 miles was how far we drove on Saturday – our longest travel day of the entire trip. We got up and packed, had breakfast, and were on the road by 6:30 that morning. The only reason Anthony didn’t kill us is because he was in a comatose state until about 11:30. But Olga and I were both very anxious to get to Elaine’s as soon as possible, so we drove long and hard all day with Chinese Fire Drill like stops for gas, snacks, meals, and restroom. (Is it politically incorrect to still talk about Chinese Fire Drills? If anyone is reading my blog in China please let me know) Once we left New Mexico the trip got to be considerably less scenic. Let’s just say that the constant picture-taking urge I’ve been experiencing for the past two weeks mysteriously subsided in the Texas panhandle. That makes me think of how patient dear Ann was with my Montana fixation! Once when we were caravanning somewhere she pulled over without my even asking and said “I knew you’d want a picture here!” (Ann, that’s what you get for living in Montana instead of Texas.) But speaking of favorite scenery, it is hard to beat the beautiful sight of driving across the Oklahoma border into Siloam Springs. Not because it is particularly breathtaking, but because both Olga and I have such a strong attachment to the place, even 20 years hence. Oh, and here is an amazing coincidence: We arrived there on Day 22 of the trip which was August 1, 2009. If I am remembering correctly, I believe I moved to JBU on August 1, 1984 – so Elaine and I were celebrating our 25th anniversary and didn’t even realize it until that night.
We started off with a quick drive through the JBU campus; Olga has not been back to Arkansas since 1997 and so many things have changed since then, we took a quick peek as we headed out to Sbanottos and then the next day Elaine and Stephen took us for a more deluxe campus tour. We were so happy to get to Pete and Elaine’s both because we miss them so much and because we’d been on the road so long! Her mom, who lives next door, was out of town and offered her beautiful house for us to use and that was so nice. Pete fixed us the most delicious dinner that night: Eggplant parmesan over pasta. Wow, all five of us ate like a tribe of starving banshees! Then after dinner we went out and sat on their porch and talked and laughed reminisced over sweet iced tea until late that night. Oh the sweet treasure of old friends – this whole trip has been such a precious reminder of that.
On Saturday Pete made pancakes for breakfast and I had told Anthony and Samantha that for once, they could sleep as long as they wanted that morning! So they took full advantage of it and got up about five minutes before noon! So Elaine and Stephen (her son who was two when I met her and is now 27!) took us on a town and campus tour. Siloam Springs has doubled in population since I left and there are so many nice changes. The whole area is really booming, largely because of Wal-Mart. JBU has put up so many nice new buildings and renovated old ones. (And torn down my beloved California Dorm, Grrrrrr!) We can hardly recognize the place! We drove by the Azzarito's old house which made me sad and I sure wished they could have been there too. We also stopped by to visit briefly with one of Olga’s favorite professors. Then we headed home because, true to form, Elaine had invited over everyone she could think of from Siloam Springs who still remembers us! She and Pete put on a big spread and a mob of people showed up! It was so much fun! It felt like we’d never been away. Even Lynette Harper, a good friend of both of ours drove over from Tulsa with her new husband and baby )and some heavenly chocolate chip cookies!) Amy and Steve Onnen, Amy’s parents: Wil and Donna Gardner, Ruth Abbey, Molly Orcutt Torres and her family, Pete and Laurie Eldridge and family, Jeff and Lorena Anglin and family, the Sbanotto boys: Michael and Stephen who are both all grown up now. It was like a Gaither Homecoming Video without the singing! (and with fewer beehive hairdos) Oh, we all enjoyed ourselves so much! And it sure made Olga and me miss Arkansas more than ever. And wow, you should have seen all the food!
When the party finally wound down about 9pm we sat down once again with Pete and Elaine--fat and happy, but sad that our brief visit was already over. We got up this morning and got ourselves pulled together and Elaine buzzed home from work about 9am to say goodbye to us. Now we are driving across Missouri en route to Indianapolis where we will stop for the night with Jim White’s Mother’s Apple Pie. (And yes, I just talked to Jim and he DID make an apple pie! If you’ve ever had my apple pie that I’ve made over the past 26 years, I got the recipe from Jim’s mom) Once again it will be a too brief visit with Jim and sadly no time to see the rest of our Indiana friends as we have to make it all the way home tomorrow for Olga to work on Wednesday and for Anthony to go to basketball practice. (Although I think that his undying commitment to Fillmore athletics centers much more on one of the cheerleaders than to summer BB workouts.)
I think I’ll write one last chapter for this on Tuesday night once we are all the way home.
We started off with a quick drive through the JBU campus; Olga has not been back to Arkansas since 1997 and so many things have changed since then, we took a quick peek as we headed out to Sbanottos and then the next day Elaine and Stephen took us for a more deluxe campus tour. We were so happy to get to Pete and Elaine’s both because we miss them so much and because we’d been on the road so long! Her mom, who lives next door, was out of town and offered her beautiful house for us to use and that was so nice. Pete fixed us the most delicious dinner that night: Eggplant parmesan over pasta. Wow, all five of us ate like a tribe of starving banshees! Then after dinner we went out and sat on their porch and talked and laughed reminisced over sweet iced tea until late that night. Oh the sweet treasure of old friends – this whole trip has been such a precious reminder of that.
On Saturday Pete made pancakes for breakfast and I had told Anthony and Samantha that for once, they could sleep as long as they wanted that morning! So they took full advantage of it and got up about five minutes before noon! So Elaine and Stephen (her son who was two when I met her and is now 27!) took us on a town and campus tour. Siloam Springs has doubled in population since I left and there are so many nice changes. The whole area is really booming, largely because of Wal-Mart. JBU has put up so many nice new buildings and renovated old ones. (And torn down my beloved California Dorm, Grrrrrr!) We can hardly recognize the place! We drove by the Azzarito's old house which made me sad and I sure wished they could have been there too. We also stopped by to visit briefly with one of Olga’s favorite professors. Then we headed home because, true to form, Elaine had invited over everyone she could think of from Siloam Springs who still remembers us! She and Pete put on a big spread and a mob of people showed up! It was so much fun! It felt like we’d never been away. Even Lynette Harper, a good friend of both of ours drove over from Tulsa with her new husband and baby )and some heavenly chocolate chip cookies!) Amy and Steve Onnen, Amy’s parents: Wil and Donna Gardner, Ruth Abbey, Molly Orcutt Torres and her family, Pete and Laurie Eldridge and family, Jeff and Lorena Anglin and family, the Sbanotto boys: Michael and Stephen who are both all grown up now. It was like a Gaither Homecoming Video without the singing! (and with fewer beehive hairdos) Oh, we all enjoyed ourselves so much! And it sure made Olga and me miss Arkansas more than ever. And wow, you should have seen all the food!
When the party finally wound down about 9pm we sat down once again with Pete and Elaine--fat and happy, but sad that our brief visit was already over. We got up this morning and got ourselves pulled together and Elaine buzzed home from work about 9am to say goodbye to us. Now we are driving across Missouri en route to Indianapolis where we will stop for the night with Jim White’s Mother’s Apple Pie. (And yes, I just talked to Jim and he DID make an apple pie! If you’ve ever had my apple pie that I’ve made over the past 26 years, I got the recipe from Jim’s mom) Once again it will be a too brief visit with Jim and sadly no time to see the rest of our Indiana friends as we have to make it all the way home tomorrow for Olga to work on Wednesday and for Anthony to go to basketball practice. (Although I think that his undying commitment to Fillmore athletics centers much more on one of the cheerleaders than to summer BB workouts.)
I think I’ll write one last chapter for this on Tuesday night once we are all the way home.
The Final Day: Indianapolis, IN -- Fillmore, NY
We spent last night in Indianapolis with my old LeTourneau/Western PA buddy Jim White (of Apple Pie fame) Jim is such a great guy and went out of his way to accommodate us - he had Apple Pie and Chocolate chip cookies ready when we got there (I was in hog heaven obviously!) Sadly we got in too late to visit as much as we'd have liked to, but still we had a really nice time. Then this morning Jim left for work, early and we left for New York, late...just in time to drive into another huge thunderstorm! We left in a thunderstorm 25 days ago, and then never saw another drop of rain until today! Sigh....back to the rainy Great Lakes region. So we drove hard to try to 1) get ahead of the storm and 2) get Anthony home in time to go to Molly's soccer game. The trip back was uneventful other than some impressive lightning and hail. We finally pulled into our driveway a little before 9pm, tired, satisfied, glad to get out of the van, and happy to see the pets. Even as happy as I am to be back, I'd gladly climb back into the van if it meant that we could have more time with every friend along the trip.
Tonight I uploaded some more trip pictures onto facebook and the kids, who until about four days ago were on Pacific time are having trouble winding down and getting to sleep, so they are still upstairs talking and planning a slumber party! Perhaps the sweetest part of the day was Anthony thanking me tonight for the trip and saying "It did turn out to be a good idea after all Dad." That really meant a lot as I know he was missing Molly a lot on the whole trip but he still enjoyed the experience, which was what I was hoping for. I was asking them tonight about their favorite aspects of the trip and while they all had particular favorites a few themes emerged: they all mentioned Glacier National Park as being the best sight, playing with their Spokane cousins, the Mall of America, deep-dish pizza & Tyler LeVan, Pete Sbanotto's eggplant parmesan, and they all loved Oregon. But the longer we talked, the more apparent it became that they'd really enjoyed all the different segments of the trip, if not the long car rides in between! I'm so, so grateful for this experience of a lifetime and thought I would conclude with a few last thank yous and reflections: Think of it as my Oscar acceptance speech!
Thanks to GOD - we prayed for safety and we had it in abundance!
Thanks to our old van - Eight years old, 145,000 miles, and not a speck of trouble on the whole trip, even driving over the Rocky Mountains and through the 115 degree desert!
Accomodations courtesy: The Ninakapolis, The Trudeau Hacienda, the White Trash of Charles IL: the LeVans, the Fabulous Foley Farm, the Judberger Ranch, the ERBoretum of Spokane, the Goodfellow-Goodcabin, the Sbanotto -Mussino Casino, and the White Inn of Indianapolis.
Trip made possible in part by grant from the Gail-Nichols-Peoples Foundation
Trip by the Numbers:
Miles on the van: 8191
States visited: 27
Number of new states for me: 5 bringing my total to 48!
Number of new states for the kids: 16 for Anthony - bringing his total to 43! 17 for Samantha and JonDavid
License Plates spotted: 48 - We still have not found Delaware or Rhode Island - TWO cars from Hawaii made it, but no one from Delaware or Rhode Island can even make it to Ohio?! Obviously I'm still bitter! I'm extending the deadline until the end of August!)
Calories Consumed/"Hey guys! Look at that!"/Vacation-Griswold Family References: Too Many to Count!
Even though I goaded the kids into picking favorites, I really loved every moment of the trip so much, that I don't know that I can narrow it down to any specific favorite. I did have these thoughts:
Things I’ll miss most about the trip:
Renewing old friendships
The Open Road
Having the kids always within five feet
Hotel Jacuzzis
Stopping for 64 oz. Diet Cokes
Things I won’t miss about the trip:
Stopping at every rest stop in America because of my addiction to 64 oz diet cokes
The smell from the back of the van (“Anthony?! Was that you?! No! It was JonDavid! No! I wasn’t me…”)
Goodbyes
Things I want to be sure and include on our next Western Trip: (I'm going to open this up for suggestions on facebook)
1) Bring Sabrina along!
2) Stay LONGER everywhere we went this time: Especially MN, Chicago, MT, OR, and AR!)
3) Add Yosemite and Sedona
4) Spend a full week in Glacier!
5) Always stay at Red Lion Inns!
6) Spend a full week in California visiting friends
7) Get a classic car and cruise Old Rte. 66
But if I did have to pick a broad category for my favorite experiences on the trip it would be this - watching all of these dear friends throughout all the chapters of my life interacting with my kids and being so sweet to them - whether it was watching them so comfortable and at home at the Trudeaus, or listening to Leslie LeVan laughing with them, or Dan Foley treating them to the rides and aquarium at MOA, or Ann Snowberger instructing them on the finer points of marriage, rafting, and rattlesnake hunting, or Sara Hall fixing blizzards for them on a hot afternoon, or perhaps my favorite: Pete Sbanotto hosting a Texas Hold'Em tournament for them while Elaine toured Olga and me around town! It has all been such a great reminder about what wonderful friends I have and how much I love all of them.
Now somehow I have to come back down to earth and resume my regularly scheduled program which this year isn't particularly one of my favorite episodes: "In Which Tim turns 50, loses his job, finds his first issue of the AARP magazine in the mailbox when he gets home from the trip, and has to go on a big fat diet to make up for a month of unbridled eating!"
Years ago Mindy sent me a greeting card that said "I've woven the memories of our times together into a patchwork quilt and when life gets hard or lonely or cold, I wrap up in that quilt to keep warm." That is what this trip has provided for me - a wonderful quilt of new memories with old friends. Thank you all...See you on facebook....
Tonight I uploaded some more trip pictures onto facebook and the kids, who until about four days ago were on Pacific time are having trouble winding down and getting to sleep, so they are still upstairs talking and planning a slumber party! Perhaps the sweetest part of the day was Anthony thanking me tonight for the trip and saying "It did turn out to be a good idea after all Dad." That really meant a lot as I know he was missing Molly a lot on the whole trip but he still enjoyed the experience, which was what I was hoping for. I was asking them tonight about their favorite aspects of the trip and while they all had particular favorites a few themes emerged: they all mentioned Glacier National Park as being the best sight, playing with their Spokane cousins, the Mall of America, deep-dish pizza & Tyler LeVan, Pete Sbanotto's eggplant parmesan, and they all loved Oregon. But the longer we talked, the more apparent it became that they'd really enjoyed all the different segments of the trip, if not the long car rides in between! I'm so, so grateful for this experience of a lifetime and thought I would conclude with a few last thank yous and reflections: Think of it as my Oscar acceptance speech!
Thanks to GOD - we prayed for safety and we had it in abundance!
Thanks to our old van - Eight years old, 145,000 miles, and not a speck of trouble on the whole trip, even driving over the Rocky Mountains and through the 115 degree desert!
Accomodations courtesy: The Ninakapolis, The Trudeau Hacienda, the White Trash of Charles IL: the LeVans, the Fabulous Foley Farm, the Judberger Ranch, the ERBoretum of Spokane, the Goodfellow-Goodcabin, the Sbanotto -Mussino Casino, and the White Inn of Indianapolis.
Trip made possible in part by grant from the Gail-Nichols-Peoples Foundation
Trip by the Numbers:
Miles on the van: 8191
States visited: 27
Number of new states for me: 5 bringing my total to 48!
Number of new states for the kids: 16 for Anthony - bringing his total to 43! 17 for Samantha and JonDavid
License Plates spotted: 48 - We still have not found Delaware or Rhode Island - TWO cars from Hawaii made it, but no one from Delaware or Rhode Island can even make it to Ohio?! Obviously I'm still bitter! I'm extending the deadline until the end of August!)
Calories Consumed/"Hey guys! Look at that!"/Vacation-Griswold Family References: Too Many to Count!
Even though I goaded the kids into picking favorites, I really loved every moment of the trip so much, that I don't know that I can narrow it down to any specific favorite. I did have these thoughts:
Things I’ll miss most about the trip:
Renewing old friendships
The Open Road
Having the kids always within five feet
Hotel Jacuzzis
Stopping for 64 oz. Diet Cokes
Things I won’t miss about the trip:
Stopping at every rest stop in America because of my addiction to 64 oz diet cokes
The smell from the back of the van (“Anthony?! Was that you?! No! It was JonDavid! No! I wasn’t me…”)
Goodbyes
Things I want to be sure and include on our next Western Trip: (I'm going to open this up for suggestions on facebook)
1) Bring Sabrina along!
2) Stay LONGER everywhere we went this time: Especially MN, Chicago, MT, OR, and AR!)
3) Add Yosemite and Sedona
4) Spend a full week in Glacier!
5) Always stay at Red Lion Inns!
6) Spend a full week in California visiting friends
7) Get a classic car and cruise Old Rte. 66
But if I did have to pick a broad category for my favorite experiences on the trip it would be this - watching all of these dear friends throughout all the chapters of my life interacting with my kids and being so sweet to them - whether it was watching them so comfortable and at home at the Trudeaus, or listening to Leslie LeVan laughing with them, or Dan Foley treating them to the rides and aquarium at MOA, or Ann Snowberger instructing them on the finer points of marriage, rafting, and rattlesnake hunting, or Sara Hall fixing blizzards for them on a hot afternoon, or perhaps my favorite: Pete Sbanotto hosting a Texas Hold'Em tournament for them while Elaine toured Olga and me around town! It has all been such a great reminder about what wonderful friends I have and how much I love all of them.
Now somehow I have to come back down to earth and resume my regularly scheduled program which this year isn't particularly one of my favorite episodes: "In Which Tim turns 50, loses his job, finds his first issue of the AARP magazine in the mailbox when he gets home from the trip, and has to go on a big fat diet to make up for a month of unbridled eating!"
Years ago Mindy sent me a greeting card that said "I've woven the memories of our times together into a patchwork quilt and when life gets hard or lonely or cold, I wrap up in that quilt to keep warm." That is what this trip has provided for me - a wonderful quilt of new memories with old friends. Thank you all...See you on facebook....
Tim's New Adventure
- I have had a number of friends, whose opinions I value (Lynette Cortez, Sue Azzarito, Jud McConnell, Kathie Brenneman, Mindy Wendell, among others) who have been encouraging me (to put it mildly) to start blogging. And since I have a lot of time on my hands these days (more on that later) I decided to give it a go. It will come as no surprise to any of us that the particular blogging challenge to me will be brevity. I never seem to say or write anything briefly. But heaven knows that none of us have much time for reading anymore. I believe that is why texting and tweeting have taken hold so firmly and so quickly: they accurately reflect the minimal commitment levels/attention spans of our lives these days. Am I sounding enough like an old fart yet? The other issue that I need to name upfront is that I lack the technical expertise to undertake blogging! I spent all afternoon just trying (unsuccessfully) to get my blog designed the way I want it to. So tomorrow's to do list includes making Greg Bish help me get it laid out properly. So with this rather inauspicious beginning, I am going to get started and see where this goes. Feel free to offer feedback and suggestions. Until such a time as I become massively rich and famous, I will respond!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)