More D.C. & Time with Family

We've made it back to our friend's house in Milwaukee, WI. After leaving D.C., we journeyed north to my Aunt's house in New Jersey, spend a day in the Big Apple, camped in Pennsylvania, and then drove and spent 2 nights in Chicago. We've covered a lot of ground. We've been so busy that I haven't had the energy to update the blog or to report on knitting progress. I'll do a quick recap of our remaining time in D.C. & happily report I've finished 2 knitting projects (TWO!!) with a third just a bind-off away. I hope to get some breathing room in the next day or so for a quick photo shoot & then some posts. Knitters, stay tuned!

Our last couple of days in D.C. were spent visiting the capitol and spending time with my sister. Since she lives so far away from Anchorage (which we hope she'll fix, soon!), it was a nice treat just to hang out with her. (Who knew I'd say such a thing - I can remember wicked arguments when we were growing up) :0)

After reading Dan Brown's book, The Lost Symbol, I really wanted to go & see the capitol rotunda. So our first stop was the capitol building. Both the House & Senate had adjourned for the day (flags were not flying over their respective buildings). The Capitol building is magnificent. When you enter you have an opportunity to visit a museum of types to understand the history of congress and learn more about the capitol itself. However, if you want to venture further into the building, you either have to wait in a very long line to obtain tickets, or have an "insider" (say, your congressman/woman) escort you. We were not prepared for either, so I had to be satisfied with the mock-up of the painting on the capitol's dome. Oh well - perhaps another time. FYI: The dome is made from iron and can expand/contract as much as 4 inches in extreme weather conditions. Wow!


Our next stop on our whirlwind tour was the National Botanical Gardens. Not a big hit with the kids, but very pretty. It was on the way to the focus of the days' visit: The Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum.


Again - the Smithsonian outdoes themselves with so much cool artifacts of our nation. I was overwhelmed. Highlights of the Air & Space Museum were the lunar module from Apollo 11 and the Wright Brothers first plane. I particularly liked their exhibit for Eastern Airlines (now defunct) requirements for being a flight attendant:

• Female (check!)
• At least 2 years of college or a nursing degree (check!)
• Between 5' 2" and 5' 6" (check - barely!)
• Single (oops...)
• Weigh somewhere between 100 and 135 lbs (pushing it...)
• Be of adequate proportions, somewhere below "Hollywood Standards" (their words, not mine)

So - looks like back in the60's and 70's I would not have been able to make a career as a flight attendant (an earlier aspiration of mine...) Wade figured that mostly businessmen were flying, so the airlines wanted to provide a little "eye candy" while they were on board.

Does this image look familiar?
After the air & space museum, we hightailed it over to the Natural History museum - setting for the "Night at the Museum, part II" movie. During the summer the Smithsonian museums stay open until 7:30, so we took advantage of the time. Of course, we didn't arrive here until 6:30 pm, so it was a true zip,zip,zip tour of the museum. The docents and security guards were great about ushering everyone out of the building so that we wouldn't have to spend the night with creatures such as:

Ahh!! What a tasty snack!

Okay - I'm actually posting from our campsite in Nebraska (The Good Life!) & Wade is anxious to get back on the road for another 600+ mile day. Our goal is to arrive in Sacramento the night of the 10th (happy birthday to me!) so that we'll be able to watch the final game of the World Cup (Go Netherlands!!) on Sunday morning. Hopefully I'll find some energy to really update this blog of our journey & adventures.

Until then.. Ciao & Happy Travels!

Washington D.C. - Day 2

For lack of any title creativity, I figured I'd just stick with description.

Day 2: June 24, 2010 - We venture into the city...

Since we had just visited an air & space museum, I convinced the boys to visit a different themed museum & then we'd go to the air & space on our 3rd day.

Highlights of Day 3:

• Record heat for the D.C. area. It was well over 100°F with humidity. We greatly appreciated the air conditioning, but found the heat really drains you when you're walking between monuments.

The boys' first foray on the Metro. Since Springfield was the first stop on the blue line, we were able to get seats. This was not the case for our return trip as we boarded the Metro during peak rush hour & had to stand for most of the journey. This was not a big hit with an 8-year old who was hot, tired, and thirsty.

• The National Museum of American History was the first stop of our day. We spent most of our day here, as the museums are so large it's difficult to see all that D.C. has to offer. Due to the enormity of the museum, we concentrated our visit on personal interests:

Julia Child's Kitchen: After seeing the movie Julie & Julia w/my BKFF, I just had to check this out. It was very impressive - the collection of pots & pans, cookbooks, & custom fitted counter tops to accommodate Julia's above average height.

We spent some time within the inventions area of the museum & had that chance to see Stanford's entry into the DARPA challenge. A fully autonomous vehicle - pretty cool!


Inventions - Including Thomas Edison's light bulb & lab notebooks. However - I was on information overload at the moment, so I opted to visit an exhibit I thought the boys' wouldn't be too interested in: the First Ladies' exhibit. Mary Todd Lincoln's dress was amazing - such a tiny waist. It is now tradition that the First Lady donates the dress she wore at the inauguration to the Smithsonian. Michelle Obama's dress and Jimmy Choo shoes are prominently on display as she is the current first lady. I didn't take photos - so enjoy via the aforementioned link.

After spending several hours at the museum we decided to brave the heat & humidity and walk along the Mall to visit some of the memorials:

The Alaska pillar at the World War II Monument

At the end of the Mall we visited The Lincoln Memorial. My BKFF says I was to rub Lincoln's left foot for good luck. Couldn't do that as his statue was way up high & behind ropes. So - I hope good luck comes nonetheless.


Near the Lincoln Memorial is the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. This is a special place for me as my father was killed in Vietnam in December 1970. I have no memories of him as I was only an infant. Fortunately for me - my mother & step-father made sure I maintained a close relationship with my paternal grandparents & family. My father's sister is one of my favorite people in the world.

Grandchildren he never got to meet in person, although I'm sure he's smiling down on them. My oldest looks uncannily like his biological grandfather. I know he would be proud of these 2 boys.

Capt. James R. Heimbold, Dec. 4, 1970

By the time we'd finished walking the length of the Mall & visiting the Lincoln & Vietnam memorials, we were pooped & ready to head back to Virginia.

A good first day in our nation's capitol.

Ciao!

Houston, The Roaches Have Landed....

I thought it time to perhaps bring the blog up to "real-time" (or a close approximation) & then recount our days prior. After spending a few days with friends in Milwaukee & driving for a couple more days, we've finally reached our penultimate destination: our nation's capitol: Washington D.C.

My sister & her family live in northern Virginia & allowed us to use their home as a base for our trip. (Thanks Aurora, Brian, Sydney & Baby-to-come Bilbo Baggins) We would drive to the "nearby" Metro Station & take the blue line into the city.

I hadn't been to D.C. since my college roommate & I visited back in 1991. There are a few new memorials (Korean, World War II), but one thing certainly did not change - the oppressive heat & humidity. Oy-Vay! Fortunately our tax dollars are well at work providing "free" admission & adequate air conditioning in the major attractions & Metro.

Day 1: June 23

• After breakfast & yummy coffee we watched the nail-biting U.S. vs Nigeria game. Wow - I think I aged 30 years during that 90 minute match & thought my heart was going to leap out of my chest! We were very excited that the U.S. team was able to win their group & make it to the elimination Round of 16.

• Since we were getting a bit of a late start, rather than commute into the city which would take about an hour, we opted to visit the "nearby" Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Air & Space museum. This is the 'hanger' of the Air & Space museum & houses tons of aircraft that couldn't fit in the regular Air & Space museum off the Mall in D.C. Big named aircrafts that were on display included the "SR-71A blackbird", A Concorde, The Enola Gay, and a test space shuttle "Enterprise". It was pretty impressive & a big hit with two young boys.

SR-71A Blackbird

The Enterprise

An Interactive Flight Simulator - the boys actually went upside down!

The visit to the Udvar-Hazy was a nice way to begin our trip to D.C.

Day 9: Welcome to Wisconsin!

On June 17 we finally arrived in Wisconsin. As we were still a few hours away from Milwaukee, we decided to stop in the Wisconsin Dells area. We camped at "Rocky Arbor" state campground - a welcome change from the "campground/RV parks" we encountered off the highway in Saskatchewan & ND. Lots of trees, the ability to have a campfire, & limited highway noise.







As usual - the evening was very pleasant - clear skies & nice temperatures. However, sometime in the night that changed. I woke up to wind & water blowing into the van (we sleep with the back up so as to have fresh air - similar to a tent atmosphere; the boys sleep up top). I told Wade that rain was blowing in, to which he replied "Oh - it can't be that bad" (basically "suck it up"). He soon realized the wind was picking up & the rain turned into a downpour - complete with *you guessed it* thunder & lightening. So - my knight in shining armor got out of the van to shut the back. This entails a bit more work as you have to first swing the bike rack out of the way. Add to the scenario the torrential downpour & lightening & you have a recipe for a very irritated hubby. We had to speedily shut windows & zip up the "upstairs" vents to keep the water out. It was pretty amazing how quickly the storm came through. We were very happy to be in a vehicle & not in a tent.

Being "south" in the summer is very different from Alaska. For example - it gets dark here!


We chose to spend most of Day 10 visiting a popular attraction of the Wisconsin Dells - the water parks! We went to "Noah's Ark" which is apparently the largest water park in the U.S. No photos from that outing: digital cameras & water don't mix. We had a great time riding the waves - a nice break from the car & fun way to spend the day in the warm temperatures. After fun at the park, we loaded up the van & headed to our first major destination: Casa de Sivils in Milwaukee, WI

Ciao & Happy Travels!

Mileage Begin: 109,245
Mileage End: 109,778
Total Miles Day 9: 533 (finally - a 500 mile day!!)
Miles from home: 3,145
Tunes du Jour: "Prey" by Michael Crichton audiobook (oy-vay: lot's of "f-bombs!")
Knitting Project: More of Kiama
Gas Total: 32.342 gallons
Total Cost: $88.41 US

Day 7 - Day 8: Making Progress

I know - it's been a while since I've updated you on our cross-country journey, leaving many of you wondering "where are you"? Perhaps I really did decide to move to Edmonton & I'm now sitting inside the Muttart Conservatory sipping coffee.

Nah - it's just that once we left Edmonton, driving east through Canada didn't afford much blog fodder. Once we arrived in Wisconsin, we were busy enjoying the company of our friends & the luxury of unconfined space that I didn't update the blog. I'll remedy that now....


Day 7: Calgary to Regina, Saskatchewan

Highlights: Ummmm...... lots of flat, grassy, expanses of land. I think I saw a sign that said we were driving through the "Badlands" of Canada.

Our view for hundreds of miles...

Wildlife: (Besides the creatures in the backseat?) Prairie Dogs - lots of Prairie Dogs.


Mileage Begin: 108,256
Mileage End: 108,749
Total Miles Day 7: 493
Miles from home: 2,156
Tunes du Jour: "Enders Game" audio book
Knitting Project: More of Kiama & SeaLettuce Scarf
Gas Total: 31.74 gallons
mpg: 15.53 (??)
Total Cost: $116.24 (Canadian)

Day 8: Saskatchewan to Grand Forks, ND USA!

Highlights: Being able to skirt Winnepeg & it's crazy traffic. Having a perimeter highway around major cities is a brilliant idea! Crossing back into the US. The border station guards in North Dakota were quite nice. Views along the highway - much of the same: flat!


We drove as far as Grand Forks, ND & found a campground within the city limits. The evening was clear & nice, so we opted to disembark the bicycles & go for a bike ride along a long, flat, dirt road located next to the campground. Good thing we rode in the evening, because when we woke up it was pouring rain w/thunder & lightening - so much for a morning ride to the Starbucks that was close by. :0)

Mileage Begin: 108,749
Mileage End: 109,245
Total Miles Day 8: 496 (the 500 mile day alludes us again...)
Miles from home: 2,649
Tunes du Jour: "Enders Game" on audiobook
Knitting Project: Sea Lettuce Scarf
Gas Total: 17.78 gallons
Total Cost: $65.21 (Canadian)

Next stop: Wisconsin! Ciao & Happy Travels!

Day 6:Enjoying Edmonton

After blasting through most of the communities in the Yukon & northern BC, we decided to slow down a bit and enjoy Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta. Wade's always hesitant regarding big cities and being thrust into the masses of humanity, but I thought it'd be a shame to just blow on through this city. The Milepost had lots to say about Edmonton & vivid photos of some the major attractions, so we thought we'd stop.

Edmonton is home to the West Edmonton Mall - the largest mall in North America with over 800 stores. We had no desire to wander around stores that we can find in the U.S., so we decided to visit the Muttart Conservatory. This attraction piqued our interest because it's composed of four glass pyramids that reminded me of the glass pyramid entrance outside of the Louvre in Paris. Each of the glass pyramids showcase plants from different biomes of the world. Temperate, Arid, and Tropical plants are on display year round. The fourth pyramid was called the "Feature" pyramid whose display changes around five times each year. During our visit several species of geraniums were on display.

If I had a budget that would allow, I'd love to remodel my home so that part of it housed a glass pyramid with spectacular plant displays such as the ones we saw here. They were absolutely gorgeous. I think the temperate pyramid was my favorite as not only was it visually appealing, but pleased the olfactory senses as well. I told Orion that I was going to move to Edmonton & buy the house that was for sale across the street (the conservatory is located in a nice residential area with access to a large green park & the city's bike trails) & visit every morning while I drink my coffee. He was like "Are you serious, mom? You're going to move here?!?" I assured him I was not - it was just a statement on how peaceful and nifty the conservatory was.

Since Edmonton also has one of the largest series of Urban parks in North America (according to the Milepost it's 22 times larger than New York's Central Park) & we'd brought our bicycles, we thought a bike ride throughout the park would be a nice way to get some long sought after exercise. We only biked for about 30 minutes (hunger was taking hold), but it was great. Much of the trail reminded me of the Coastal Trail in Anchorage. What I really enjoyed was how dedicated the city was to pedestrians and cyclists - in addition to vehicular bridges, there were several bridges over the Saskatchewan river dedicated solely to pedestrians and bicycles.

We ended our visit by having a very late lunch/early dinner at an English pub located in the Strathmore historic district. It had great food & was dedicated to football. Flags, jerseys, and scarves from the English Premiere League decorated the wall. It was too late to watch any WC matches (they were over earlier in the day), so instead we watched a rugby match between the U.S. and England. Wade had played rugby while in high school, so was able to explain the convoluted rules. Did you know when you score in rugby it's called a "try". I find this hilarious - calling it a 'try" instead of a "do". :0)

A quick visit into a shop to stimulate Edmonton's economy (the boys each purchased a leather bound sketch book & I found a fun "Hello Kitty" metal lunch box proclaiming my love of Nerds) we hit the road to head south to Calgary. Since we'd spent some time in Calgary in 2007 & have visited the Calgary Tower, I think our plan will be to camp & then head out. We've decided to continue east through Canada on the TransCanada highway #1 rather than pop down into the U.S. in Montana. So - we'll be able to add a couple of more Canada provinces to our list!

Reporting to you from TransCanada Highway #1 - Ciao & Happy Travels....

Mileage Begin: 108,039
Mileage End: 108,276
Total Miles Day 6:
Miles from home:
Tunes du Jour: Pink Floyd, Richard Shindell
Knitting Project: More of Kiama
Gas Total:
mpg: Total Cost:

Tags: Road Trip 2010, Edmonton, Muttart Conservatory

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Day 5: Rolling into Edmonton, AB

We're just plugging away. We reached the official end/beginning (Milepost 0) of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC. Of course, we didn't stop for a photo - Wade swears we've stopped before (we haven't), but oh well.

We turned east to head towards Edmonton, Alberta. We decided not to continue southwest into Prince George & then through Jasper/Banff since we had driven that route back in 2007. Now that we've arrived in Edmonton, I can say that the route through Jasper/Banff is much, much more scenic. The highway is a pretty standard highway connecting Dawson Creek & Edmonton. Edmonton is about 363 miles from Dawson Creek & in another time zone (Mountain Time), so we 'lost' another hour as we traveled east. We took a brief stop in Grand Prairie so Wade (not me!) could have a little "pick-me-up" at Starbucks (I told you - the VW just knows where these places are) & I took the opportunity to download 3 podcasts that were related to the 2010 World Cup.

The downer is that there are very, very few provincial park campgrounds near Edmonton, so we're "camping" (use that term very loosely) at another RV park called "Glowing Embers" (sounds like a retirement home, doesn't it) and the source of WiFi for this post. While there are tons of RV/motorhomes, there are trees & it is surprisingly quiet. I wonder where all the people who own these rigs are? Do they just sit inside? Did they take their extra vehicle (we've noticed many RVs tow an additional, smaller car behind) into the city? Just curious....

Not much in the way of scenery or wildlife along the way with the exception of this:

A 15-ft tall Beaver perched on a log outside the visitor center of Beaverlodge, AB.

The journey reminded me of traveling along I-80 or I-70 through the midwestern states -flat with lots of green farmland. We did encounter a substantial rainstorm - complete with thunder & lightening. That added a little excitement & caused us to consider a motel/hotel should we pull into Edmonton during the storm. Fortunately we were able to get ahead of the storm & set up "camp" - so far there's a fair amount of wind, but no rain.

• Begin Mileage: 107, 634
• Ending Mileage: 108,039
• Total Miles Day 4: 405 miles
• Miles from home: 1, 939 miles
• Tunes du Jour: U2, Indigo Girls, RUSH, FIFA World Cup Today podcast (focus on US vs England match) , ESPN soccernet podcast, BBC News World Football podcast
  
• Knitting du Jour: Kiama - only 1 more repeat & about 3 inches left.
  
• Total Gas: 53.082 litres (14.02 gallons)
• mpg: 20.36
• Total Cost: $56.74 CD (gas is getting cheaper!!)

Tomorrow we hope to go & explore the city for a bit. No, we're not visiting the largest mall in the world. :0)

Ciao & Happy Travels!