Observations From Our Trip

Things we have noticed on this trip….
• We are a family of smart alecs.  There were constant remarks that were just incredibly funny.  My kids are fun to be with.
• There are extremely kind people everywhere and extremely rude people everywhere.  No city has a lock on either kind.  We are blessed to know many extremely kind people.
• We were amazed by all the alternative energy all over the south – thousands of wind turbines, huge solar panel “farms,” and many of the cities we visited are really trying to go green.
• Our country is huge, and there are vast amounts of wide-open space with beautiful, but rugged landscape.
• Each area we visited, though very different from each other, is beautiful in its own way.  We loved the busy cities, the stark cactus-strewn deserts of Arizona, and everything in between.
• Red RAV4s (the car we drove across the country) are extremely popular cars and our children are convinced that there is a secret head nod that the other RAV4 drivers will recognize.
• We were compelled to wave to the people in other cars with Virginia license plates that we saw in Texas and Arizona.
• Trash that is thrown along highways and in streams is awful.  What makes people think that doing that is okay???
• Historical markers on roads that have a 75 mph speed limit are difficult to read.
• Walgreens, Wal-Marts and Cracker Barrels are everywhere!
• Almost all of the truck weigh stations we passed for over 6000 miles were closed.  Why do they even have them?
• License plate covers make it hard to play the license plate game.
• Sunsets out west are gorgeous.
• Turning off the GPS and taking back roads is well worth the time.  There are some incredible sights to see that are not found on the interstates.
• We are very blessed to live as we do.  There are many people across this land living in extreme poverty.  I think our children had a reality check with some of the things they saw.
• There is no place like home.

Day 18-Fayetteville, NC to Home

This morning when we woke up, we knew we would be home before the day was over, and that was a great feeling for all of us.  We are tired, but it has been a wonderful trip.  Over dinner last night, we talked about our high points and our lows.  Seeing family and friends we hadn't seen in years was definitely a high point for everyone and we all loved the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.  James loved Nashville and Austin because of his love of music.  Claire loved the Parthenon in Nashville, but her favorite city was Santa Fe.  Peter liked Austin and San Antonio.  My favorite city was probably Santa Fe, but they were all wonderful.  We pretty much agreed that although the sights were interesting, Las Vegas and New Orleans were lowest on all of our lists, as there is just a different feeling in those cities than the others.  There are too many people looking for trouble there, and at times, we felt unsafe.  Maybe that was because we had kids with us, and it would be different if it were just Peter and I.  Still, none of us felt like those were places where we would want to return.
The ride up 95 was through some tobacco farms in North Carolina and the usual forests along the highway.  We made a stop in Richmond to see Katie’s new house.  It is perfect for her.  It is on a quiet street with big crepe myrtle trees growing in the median.  It will be great for her.  The rest of the trip was uneventful, but rainy.  As usual on a Sunday afternoon, traffic was backed up from Richmond to Fredericksburg, so we decided to get off and come up the back way through Warrenton.  I think we would still be sitting on 95 if we hadn’t.
This vacation will be memorable for all of us.  It was wonderful spending time as a family in so many different cities and situations, seeing friends and family across the nation, and visiting unique landscapes, cities and sights.  We will not soon forget this.

Tobacco field in North Carolina

Tobacco

Loved seeing this sign!

Richmond skyline

Katie's new house

Day 17-Valdosta, Georgia to Fayetteville, North Carolina

Today our trip would take us to Route I-95 North, a road we are very familiar with.  We had an eight-hour drive ahead so we wanted to get out early, but ended up taking our time instead.  It was tough saying goodbye to the kids; it was clear that James and Claire were going to be missed.  We said our goodbyes to Joe, Shannon, and the boys, and made our way east to 95, passing farms, towns and rivers on the way.  The area we passed through seemed very wet, with water lilies growing along the sides of the road, off and on for many miles.  In some areas, there seemed to be hundreds of them.  It was very pretty.  Some of the towns we passed through though had seen better days.  I guess the interstate highways passed them by, and the towns seem to have just died.
We were able to meet up with another niece, Hannah, for lunch.  We were so glad that we were able to see her.  We had a long, leisurely lunch with her and then headed to Fayetteville, NC, where we were spending the night.  The drive was straight up I-95, so it was nothing we haven't seen before-rain, more rain, and a million signs for "South of the Border," and then of course, "South of the Border!"  As we passed over the Marion/Santee lake area though, we were reminded of the fun vacations that we had with the kids when we stayed at Peter's parents' lake house there.  We were all tired when we got to the hotel, and as this trip draws to a close, we are all looking forward to getting home.

Raining again

South Carolina

North Carolina

South of the Border

Day 16-Valdosta, Georgia

Today we spent the morning just relaxing and talking while James, Matthew, and Cooper played together, wrestled, and threw a football around.  In the afternoon, Shannon and Claire took Matthew and Cooper to the pool, while Joe, Peter, James and I went for a drive.  We stopped at an orchard and bought some peaches and had some peach ice cream.  We were able to see some of the surrounding farms, towns, and some beautiful homes in the area.
For dinner, we all went out to Ray's Millpond Cafe.  It was out a ways and apparently is incredibly popular, as it was packed!  It is situated on a pond and while we were waiting, we walked out onto the bridge where an alligator was swimming around in the water.  It was quite large, too - the people around were estimating it to be 8-10 feet long.  The kids were thrilled to see it.  The food was typically southern - fried.  We tried the alligator tail, fried pickles and cheese grits.  Some we liked, others-not so much, but it was great going to a local, well-known restaurant.  We had a great time with Joe, Shannon, and their family and appreciate the southern hospitality that they afforded us.  All the family and friends we have visited have been generous, and we have enjoyed seeing all of them.

Spiderman Cooper

Matthew ready to ride his bike to the pool

Claire and Cooper ready to go to the pool!

Alligator approacing us at Ray's Millpond Cafe

Millpond

Alligator - up close and personal

Claire taking her first bite of alligator tail~she liked it

James' first bite of alligator tail~he liked it too!

Ella Grey

James, Matthew and Cooper wrestling

Day 15-New Orleans, LA to Valdosta, GA

We were on the road to Valdosta, Georgia relatively early.  We lost an hour in Georgia, so we wanted to get a jump on that.  Leaving New Orleans, we passed several neighborhoods where houses seemed empty, with some that you could see right through the windows to the other side.  In another area, two houses within about 5 houses of each other were burned.  Were these damaged and abandoned houses left over from Katrina?  Or were they due to more recent, economic conditions, or just bad luck?  It was difficult to tell.
Once on the road, we traveled over Lake Pontchartrain to the left and Lake Borgne to the right.  Combined, it is a huge body of water.   We got our daily dose of pouring rain in Mississippi, Mobile, Alabama, and again outside of Pensacola, Florida, so our little black cloud apparently isn’t going anywhere any time soon.  We saw pelicans on Mobile Bay, which was a real treat.
Florida was green and swampy, with a lot more trees along the way.  In Tallahassee, we started to see Spanish moss hanging from the trees, which we always find beautiful.  The lush swamps and forests are beautiful to see.  Heading into Georgia, we started to see pecan and peach orchards, and peanut and cotton farms.  We drove through small towns once we got off I-10 and headed north to Valdosta.  Thomasville had a quaint downtown and some beautiful homes.  We have really enjoyed seeing the different landscapes that this country has to offer.
We arrived in Valdosta to stay with my brother Joe’s family.  We were able to see our nieces, Patty, Sarah, and Amanda, our nephew Matthew, and great nephew, Cooper.  Plus, we got to meet our new grandniece, Ella Grey, who is so incredibly sweet!  James immediately became the center of attention for Matthew and Cooper who wanted to play video games with him, have him give them piggyback rides, and wrestle with him, and they fought over who would sit next to him at meals.  It was so cute!  James was very patient and kind to them.  A nice cookout and a night of relaxation, family stories, and laughs was exactly what we needed.  We are beginning to tire of travel.  Although we have loved all that we have seen and done, we are also looking forward to getting home now.

Lake Pontchartrain

Mobile, Alabama skyline

USS Alabama

Mobile Bay

Spanish moss on the trees

Pretty house in Thomasville, GA

Day 14-Austin to New Orleans

Today we left Austin to head to New Orleans.  It was a short drive compared to what we have been doing, so it was a little more relaxing.  We had rain off and on most of the way, but it was especially heavy in Houston and across the bayou of Louisiana.  The eastern part of Texas is green and lush because of the gulf waters, a strong contrast to the deserts of west Texas.  We noticed that Texas ranchers raise more than cattle at this end of Texas too.  We saw miniature horse farms, more deer, emus, several donkeys, buffalo, and goats.  

We crossed over Lake Charles, which is so big, that one cannot see an end to it from the bridge.  We saw sugarcane and more rice paddies growing in Louisiana.  As we crossed the Atchafalaya River, and again when we crossed the Mississippi River, we saw tugboats pushing large barges up and down the rivers.  We had hoped to continue our “Capitols of America” tour in Baton Rouge, but since it was pouring down (and we were in the wrong lane) the kids voted to forgo the Louisiana State Capitol tour.  I guess we will save that for another trip. 

            We arrived in New Orleans relatively early and passed by several cemeteries before reaching our hotel.  It is interesting to see only above-ground mausoleums in the cemeteries, as the water table is too high to bury people underground.  One of the cemeteries that we passed seemed to be in disrepair with holes in roofs and crumbling walls.  It looked like it could be the backdrop for a ghostly thriller movie.  Our hotel was in the French Quarter and within walking distance of all that that area offers.  We checked in and hit the streets.  The grillwork on the balconies is always beautiful, and just walking through the streets with the hanging baskets and beautiful flowers is a treat.  Like Las Vegas, there seemed to be an abundance of police officers out and about, and the streets were crowded with people, some who were clearly just visiting and enjoying the city, and others who were looking to panhandle and harass.  We tried to avoid them, but weren’t very successful. Some of the street musicians were pretty good, others, not so much, but it was interesting to see them all.  We walked through the streets, went into a few shops, and bought some pralines.  We bypassed several shops that catered to the voodoo traditions of the area; we found them very creepy even just to walk by.  We walked to the river and watched the paddleboats and barges traveling along, and then to the Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France, which overlooks Jackson Square.  Unfortunately, it was gated and locked, and we were unable to go inside.  That was a major disappointment for me.

            We had dinner in a restaurant on Market Square; Claire had jambalaya and liked it.  Peter and I both had shrimp, and James had a sandwich.  I have never been served shrimp with the head (and all that goes with that ~ eyes, antennae, etc.) still attached, so it was a little different.  We all enjoyed the meal and the band that was playing while we ate.  It was definitely a New Orleans experience.  We then walked back to Café Du Monde and had beignets.  They were fabulous!  The evening was getting late by then, so we strolled back to the hotel, avoiding the sections of Bourbon Street that our family did not need to see.  Visiting New Orleans is such a unique experience that we are glad that we didn’t pass it by, as we had originally planned.

Storm heading across the bayou 

Sugarcane

Our hotel courtyard

Lots of grillwork

Beautiful hanging plants

Blue heron on the bank of the Mississippi River

The Natchez Riverboat

Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis The King of France

Street musicians

Real gas lamps

Day 13 - Austin, Texas

Today, our plans were to spend the day in Austin, so we headed off to the Capitol to start our day.  It is a beautiful, domed Capitol building made of “Sunset Red” granite, which was donated to the state for the building.  We had to go through security here, something we have not had to do anywhere else on this trip.  (Maybe because of the protests lately?)  James set off the alarm (he said it was because of his belt), so he had to be “wanded.”  We enjoyed being able to go into the floor level of the House and Senate sides of the building, since we weren’t allowed to do that at the Santa Fe Capitol.  We also went upstairs to the visitor galleries.  It was a little difficult to get the 3rd floor while we were there, as Senator Davis was having a “photo op” at the railing of the rotunda, so we weren’t allowed to walk near there.  We had to walk down to the 2nd floor and then back up to the 3rd floor on a different staircase every time we wanted to access the other sides of the 3rd floor.  I guess it is the price we pay for democracy.  They have “class” pictures of each session’s representatives and senators in the various chambers, and it was interesting to see them.  I was impressed to see women in some of the earlier classes.  James noted that the “Republic of Texas” flag seemed to be more prominent and prolific than the United States flag, and therefore determined that they hang “The Republic of Texas flag and ‘that other flag’” which seemed to have a certain truth to it.  The Capitol sits on very nicely maintained grounds with several statues and beautiful gardens and trees.
From there we headed over to St. Mary Cathedral which is undergoing major renovations and is wrapped in scaffolding.  It too is pretty inside and has a beautiful dark blue ceiling with gold stars over the sanctuary.  The stained glass window over the entryway had been removed because of the construction, so we were unable to see that.  We drove through the campus of the University of Texas, saw the UT Austin Tower, the stadium, and much of the campus.  It is a pretty campus.  Next was a music store that Jan recommended and James wanted to go to.  It had old albums, current CDs and a bunch of music-related memorabilia, much like the ones we visited in Nashville.  He was able to find some of the music that he wanted, and he really enjoyed browsing through it.
We drove out to Travis Lake to see it and the area around it.  The lake is 58 feet below full, and the residents of Austin are on water-use restrictions.  Although our little rain cloud followed us here, and it has rained every day we have been here, they need so much more rain.  It was rather distressing to see so much of the land around the lake exposed and islands in the middle of it.  They are still in need of a lot more rain.  We had some drinks and snacks at Oasis at Travis Lake, which overlooks the lake.  It really was beautiful.  The hills around the lake are filled with incredible mansions!  Interesting to see all of that.
Back in Austin, we headed to a guitar store that was amazing, it was so big.  The had both new and used guitars and some very unique ones, such as one that was made from Legos that were all glued together.  James was able to find a ukelele that he has wanted for a long time, so we will now be serenaded from the back seat for the rest of the trip. 
Later that evening, we headed back downtown to see the bats!  We decided to view them from the bridge this time.  As second timers, we knew that we didn’t want to sit under them!  There are an estimated 1-3 million bats that “hang out” under the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, from March to November, and then they migrate to Mexico for the winter.  It is the largest urban bat colony in North America.  The Mexican free-tailed bats come out from under the bridge each night at sunset to begin feeding on insects for the night.  It is an amazing sight to see, as they stream out from under the bridge over the course of many minutes.  Many things on this trip have left us in awe of nature and the world around us, and this was definitely another one.  Many people gather each night to watch this.
Dinner at Shady Grove rounded out the day.  It is an interesting restaurant with a lot of outdoor seating, and they have bands play on Saturday night.  It was quite crowded on a Tuesday night, so I can’t imagine how crowded it is on Saturdays.  They had a big screen up too, and were playing the movie “Night at the Museum II” on it.  It was a lot of fun to sit outside, relax, enjoy the meal, and talk with Jan and the kids.  Perfect ending to our Austin portion of the trip.

Austin State Capitol

Rotunda

Dome

Senate Chamber

House Chamber

The Speaker's Committee Room

James and Claire in the Governor's Public Reception Room

Beautiful hinges on the doors

Ornate door knobs

St. Mary Cathedral

Sanctuary

Ceiling of Sanctuary

University of Texas stadium

UT Austin Tower

Beautiful roof on the UT buildings

Lake Travis

Homes on the hill above Lake Travis

Bats!

James at Shady Grove

Claire and Jan at Shady Grove