Home! :)

We've arrived safely home! :)

I think we all have mixed feelings... somewhat disappointed that our adventure is over, relieved to be home, overwhelmed at the giant to-do list and responsibilities that await us (school, work, etc), thankful for the many blessings that we are coming home to, looking forward to seeing friends and family, etc!

Some interesting trip tallies:

Days: 74
States visited: 26
Countries visited: 2
Junior ranger badges earned by each girl: 19
Miles driven: 10,080
Flat tires: 2
Dead batteries: 1
Accidents: 0 (yay!)
Messages on home phone answering machine: 21

Looking back, it's been an amazing and wonderful adventure. We've seen, done, and learned much more than any of us had anticipated. We feel greatly enriched by these great experiences and are so thankful that we had this opportunity to explore our great country.

And it leaves just one question... "What's next?"

:) Connie

Visit with Pops and Family

We visited Pops (James' dad), Hope, Morgan, and Logan in West Virginia from July 29th through August 1st. James and Pops did some fishing and shooting and we all had some great family dinners. Anna and Jamie had a lot of fun playing with Morgan and Logan, too.

What a great visit! :) Connie

RV Cuisine

A lot of people ask us whether we eat at restaurants frequently while we're traveling in the RV. Actually, we probably ate out less than 10 times over the whole summer. This is for two main reasons 1) cost... there is no way we could afford to do all the fun things we've done this summer if we were spending lots of money on food, and 2) efficiency... we found that we actually saved a lot of time to do a quick pullover and have lunch in the camper rather than to find a restaurant and go in to eat, etc. Plus, the camper doesn't fit within the clearance of drive-throughs! So, we had to make good use of the TINY kitchen and LIMITED cabinet space in the camper for our meals.

Typical breakfasts: cereal, toast, bagels, English muffins, blueberry muffins, french toast, eggs, or pancakes.

Typical lunches: sandwiches, chips, cheese, crackers, salami or summer sausage, fruit/berries.

Typical dinners: Pasta or grilled hot dogs, steaks, chicken, Italian sausages with corn, beans, stuffing, mac&cheese, salad, or fruit.

It was a yummy summer... good thing we did all those hikes to burn off the calories! :) Connie

Family Time

Anna and Jamie got to play with Ariane and Madeline so much during our visit at Chris' house. They played dress-up and "princess ball" and jumped on the trampoline. They were also willing to pose for a few photos. :) - Connie

NYC, July 25

On Wednesday, we walked around Times Square, got lunch from street vendors, and took the girls to a huge Toys R Us store.

Then we headed to the New Amsterdam Theater for a matinee showing of Mary Poppins.

After the show (which was fantastic) we went to the "Top of the Rock" (Rockefeller Center) for some amazing views of the city.

After our fun (and exhausting) two days in the city, we headed back to my brother's house via the train... arriving at about 9:40 pm. The kids fell asleep in the car. :) Connie

NYC, July 24

We took the train into the city on Tuesday morning and stayed overnight into Wednesday. Chris and his girls went with us for the first day (they were very helpful in teaching us to navigate the city via subway). After depositing our bags at our hotel we headed to the waterfront and tried some *delicious* "pretzel croissants".

We were near the site of the 9/11 tragedy. In the photo below, there is a piece of artwork (formerly a perfect sphere) that used to stand in front of the World Trade Center towers. In the background you can see the two new towers being built. It was really emotional to be there.

Then we took the Staten Island ferry across the water and back, giving us some great views of the city and the Statue of Liberty.

Afterwards, we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of art, where they had a fantastic gallery of artifacts and artwork from ancient Egypt... mummies, marble statues, hieroglyphics, etc.

:) Connie

Cousins!

We arrived at my brother's house in NY on July 21st. The next day, we all headed down to my Uncle Bob and Aunt Ginny's house for a family picnic. Our girls had the chance to play with all of their first and second cousins on my side of the family. Here's a picture of the cousins in the pool:

From left to right: Julia (6), Ariane (almost 14), Anna (almost 6), Jamie (4), Madeline (almost 12), Georgia (2), Abby (9), and Emma (7).

So fun to see everyone! After spending the whole afternoon hanging out on the back deck, we had a campfire and made s'mores in the evening. :) Connie

Niagara Falls

We had heard that the view of Niagara Falls was better on the Canadian side of the falls, but we were concerned about bringing the camper across the US/Canadian border. Since you're not supposed to bring any food across the border, it would mean emptying out all of our cabinets, refrigerator, and freezer in the camper. When we arrived at the falls, we parked on the US side and walked to the horseshoe falls (the larger of the two major falls in the Niagara river). Although very impressive, you have to see the falls from the side, so you don't get the full view.

Fortunately, there was a trolley bus that took us to the Rainbow Bridge that crosses into Canada. We crossed on foot (playfully leaping over the border several times) and purchased an "Adventure Pass" in Canada. It gave us tickets to four attractions: 1) ride on Maid of the Mist boat up to the falls, 2) Journey Behind the Falls (a tunnel that allows you to go underneath the falls), 3) Niagara's Fury - Creation of the Falls (an interactive video ride with weather effects), and 4) White Water Walk (a walk on a boardwalk near the class 6 rapids downriver from the falls).

View from the Rainbow Bridge:

Looking up at horseshoe falls from the Maid of the Mist:

James and the girls in their blue rain ponchos:

We decided *not* to do the "over the falls in a barrel" tour!

Behind the falls:

The views and experiences were spectacular and well worth the walk across the bridge into Canada. :) Connie

Big Fish!

James has been fishing at lots of the rivers and ponds near the campgrounds throughout the summer. He hasn't had many bites... until he used some pieces of our leftover chicken dinner on the hook... then he caught this enormous fish within seconds!

:) Connie

Cedar Point

On July 16-17th, we stayed at the campground attached to Cedar Point ("the best amusement park in the country"). We had 2-day park passes for the main park and the water park. In addition to doing the rides, we saw two shows (one x-games trick show with half-pipes, skateboards, bikes, roller blades, acrobatics, etc, and the other one was a Peanuts themed ice show). We also had a lot of fun at the water park… wave pool, lazy river, sprayground, etc.

Sometimes we took turns watching the kids so Mommy and Daddy could ride the grownup rides (including a few black double-diamond 5-rated roller coasters!). Woohoo! :) Connie

Cheese! :)

While driving through Wisconsin, we stopped at the Mouse House cheese store for some yummies. We picked up cheese, crackers, summer sausage, and beer. We also snapped a few fun photos of the girls...

:) Connie

Anna's first Roller Coaster!

Anna had a blast!! She may look a little scared in this picture, but she couldn't wait to go again later with Mommy! Go Anna! :)

Mall of America

After a very long day in the Tioga (10 hours), we arrived at Bloomington, MN, home of the largest mall in the United States. The mall has over 500 stores and restaurants plus an indoor amusement park. Not just kiddie rides… real roller coasters and a ferris wheel, log flume, etc. We stayed for two nights in the Country Inn across the street from the mall and made three trips over to the mall to do a little shopping and take in the sights.

The enormous figures on top of the lego store were actually made of thousands of Legos... the blue robot was almost 3 stories high!

:) Connie