Carpool to the Colonies: Days 8 through Infinity (cause it's been that long since I blogged)

Day 8 (Washington, D.C.):

• Air and Space Museum (super crowded but we did see the Apollo exhibit, planets exhibit, and an IMAX about racing airplanes)
• ate awesome Indian food (We got extra Indian food to take home for the next day.)

Day 9 (driving in Pennsylvania):

• drove through Maryland and into Pennsylvania listening to The Logical Leap and arguing about induction and the history of science and listening to Over Sea Under Stone by Susan Cooper
• stopped in Bald Eagle State Park, hiked back to a gorgeous nature inn (which was sadly booked up), hiked along a butterfly trail (which should be called Bunny trail because we saw 14 bunnies on the trail)
• Livy and Aaron were tired enough and nice enough to wait for me at the car while I ran/hiked another trail in the same area. Sunsets over the mountains--gorgeous.
• We restocked our cooler at Walmart, got a hotel room, watched the end of Batman Begins and the beginning of The Dark Knight, and ate our leftover Indian food.

Day 10 (driving in Pennsylvania):

• Went to the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania (more formally called Pine Gorge) and looked at its gorgeous, glacier-carved depths from the overlook deck
• hiked down to a really pretty and less populous overlook of the gorge
• drove through lots of Pennsylvania listening to The Logical Leap and Over Sea Under Stone
• decided that PA is my favorite state
• stayed on the border of NY state

Day 11 (NYC):

• drove into Queens and checked into our hotel
• took the train into Manhattan and walked around near Times Square and the Empire State Building
• ate Thai food with Colleen and Travis and Alistair
• went back to their place in Brooklyn, had a beer, and chatted
• got confused riding home on the train because they switch them all up at night and ended up making transfers and shuttles and walking and riding trains for 3.25 hours
• drank several glasses of wine and passed out from exhaustion

Day 12 (NYC):

• ate Indian food for lunch that was pretty good, but not fabulous. I had chicken balti, but it wasn't London, that's for sure.
• went to the Top of the Rock and looked at the whole city. Livy much impressed by the Empire State Building, which was the main thing she wanted to see on this trip.
• rode the Staten Island Ferry. It was GREAT! We saw the Statue of Liberty very close, the Manhattan skyline, Ellis Island, a really pretty bridge, and an old fashioned sailing ship with several sails (maybe a sloop?). Livy loved it, and so did Aaron and I.
• ate Indian food for dinner at the best freaking restaurant! It was called Haveli, and it was mostly Pakistani. I had outstanding Kirahi, Aaron had Balti that was great, but not London, and Livy had Kurma that we all loved. We shared around and everyone enjoyed every dish. We hope to go back there one more time tomorrow before we leave.
• Now, we are back at the hotel, about to watch The Dark Knight.

Days 5, 6, and 7: Williamsburg Con't and D.C.

More stuff we did:

• finished a spy game at Williamsburg (Livy's favorite)
• toured the public gaol
• heard a reenactment of a Benedict Arnold speech trying to convince the people of Williamsburg to return to the loyalist cause
• walked through some colonial gardens
• saw the parish church of Williamsburg
• returned to the Wythe house to do more watercoloring
• watched a reenactment of General Washington reviewing the troops
• ate a local tavern
• drank amazing local beer "Old Stitch" (my favorite)
• Aaron went off by himself to the museum and saw a presentation on the British view of the Revolution (which he said was "meh") and a tour of some old maps (his favorite)
• drove to DC mostly listening to Susan Cooper's "Over Sea Under Stone"

Stuff we did in DC so far:

• grocery shopped to refill our cooler with half and half, ham, pepperjack cheese, Rainier cherries, pepperoni, yogurt, etc--we are picknicking all but one meal a day
• rode one of those big open-topped buses around the city to see the sights
• took a boat ride on the Potomac by the monuments (which was awesome and included beer)
• spent an afternoon in the Natural History Museum, where Livy was really into the galaxy exhibit with info on the birth and death of stars and how far away different galaxies are
• ate at IHOP (going to a breakfast place is always Aaron's big treat)
• ate at a cool Mexican tapas restaurant
• swam in the pool and sat in the hottub both nights

Days 3 and 4: Too happy to do any travel blogging

I was gonna write about our trip to Kitty Hawk on Monday and our day at Williamburg today. But I am too excited because I got my first accepted publication. It's only a small one, a chapter in a book about bring home experiences to bear on work in rhetoric and composition, but it's so exciting I can hardly think straight. My chapter will be about how being a parent and practicing positive discipline parentins has made me a better teacher and student. When I submitted my proposal, I did not dream in a million years that they would accept it. I am more than thrilled.

So, since I can't be bothered with writing about all our stuff, you are gonna just get a list.

• Drove down the Outer Banks almost to Rodanthe.
• Hiked a nature trail out in a marshy area in the sound.
• Saw bunches of turtles and water birds.
• Picnicked at a shady pavilion.
• Visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial Museum at Kill Devil Hills.
• Worked on a Junior Ranger badge about the Wright Brothers.
• Livy and I walked up the hill to see where the Wright brothers started their glider runs.
• Drove to Newport News, ate terrible Mexican food, saw The Amazing Spiderman.

In Williamsburg today, we:

• visited a blacksmith shop (Livy's favorite)
• visited a printing shop (Aaron's favorite)
• heard a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the courthouse steps and then heard the Fife and Drum Corp and then saw some guys fire muskets and then saw them shoot off 3 canons (my favorite)
• went to the Wythe house (signer of the Declaration, law prof at William and Mary, teacher of Jefferson, scientist)
• saw a renactment of slaves talking about being sold in the Palace Garden
• complete the first mission of a spy game
• Livy and I wrote our names with a quill pen.
• visited a silversmith
• visited a working tobacco farm with pigs and gardens and oxen and drying tobacco

After Williamsburg, we ate steak and then swam in the hotel pool. So the past two days have been amazing and wonderful, but the best thing to top it all off is this book chapter!

Days 1 and 2: In which we listen to and prove upon our own skins “The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas”

I woke up this morning, day 3 of our trip, in a tiny 1950s looking beach hotel in Nags Head, NC with turquoise blue faux-leather chairs that delighted me even at 11:30 p.m. when we managed to finally get settled into this hotel room.

We are extremely sunburned, enough to get me the bad mom of the year award, probably. But we’ve had 2 great days of swimming and driving.

We left Marietta on Saturday at the time we actually planned, 9:30 a.m., and those of you who know us will understand how amazing it is for us to both be on time and to be on time early in the morning. We listened to music, sang, and talked all the way to Charlotte, NC. We focused our efforts on Bloodhound Gang, They Might Be Giants, Waylon Jennings, and the soundtrack from O Brother Where Art Thou.

We spent the afternoon with a group of lovely friends at Cynthia Roeth’s pool. Cynthia was there and Faye and Tim and Henry Cheadle and David Baucom, basically the Charlotte ATLOSCon crew. We were sorry to miss Neil and the smaller Roeths, but they were on their own trip. Livy swam and swam, wetalked and talked, and we ate yummy burritos.

We left there at about 7 and made it nearly all the way to Wilmington, NC by 10:30. We dropped exhausted into our beds.

On Sunday morning, we made the rest of the trip to Wilmington to go to the beach with Aaron’s sister Lisa and her two kids, Theory and Marissa. It was a stellar beach day. The slope of the beach was very gentle, so Livy got to go much farther out that she had on our last beach trip, and, because there wasn’t a ginormous storm, the waves were much more fun for her to play in. She hardly got out of the water the whole 4 hours. Aaron and I played in the water, chatted with his sister, and watched the kids.

Apparently the amount of sunscreen I think is good enough is not good enough for a sunny day from 11:30-3:30 on the beach. We are cooked, especially Aaron who reapplied sunscreen a bunch of times. Burned though we are, we had a wonderful late lunch after the beach at a delicious seafood restaurant (where I got Mahi stuffed with a crab cake, Livy got shrimp scampi and spinach over pasta, and Aaron got a steak—it was all lovely) and then we drove toward Kitty Hawk, listening to Sherlock Holmes stories most of the way.

We wanted to spend the night on the mainland and drive out to the Outer Banks in the morning so we could see how pretty all the bridges and water were, but there was no room at any inn until we got out onto the island and up to Nags Head. By the time we finally got checked in, Livy was very tired and too sunburned to really sleep comfortably in the car, so we had much whining from her and from Aaron who is not used to sun and its effects. I got them rubbed down with aloe and tucked in, ate my delicious seafood leftovers, and went to bed myself.

Adios to our Colonial Carpool

Turns out there is this nasty thing called snow that falls out of the sky to plague us. There is a bunch of it in the yard right now. Rumor has it there is more of it spread all over the east coast. Williamsburg is on the east coast. Screw you, snow! Anyway, because of the big storm, we are changing our trip. I cried a bunch because I really had my heart set on Williamsburg, but we finally hit on a plan that makes me nearly as happy.

We are setting out tomorrow for the Alamo! What other name rings with so much adventure? We are going to drive into Texas by the northern route, through Birmingham, Meridian (we're staying tomorrow night with my mom), and Shreveport. We'll go through Dallas-Ft. Worth, down to Austin, and finally to San Antonio and the Alamo. Then, we'll come home by the southern route through Houston, Baton Rouge, and Mobile.

We haven't made many plans for what to do on the way, yet, but we will hunt up good adventures every night in the hotel. We are going to stop at Moundville, AL to see the Indian Mounds tomorrow. The day after tomorrow is still hazy with indecision, just the way I like it.

You'll hear from me on this blog as we travel, and Livy will be posting her pictures. Our new trip name is "Yo, Westward Ho to the Alamo." You have to imagine it with a little bit of a downtown ATL rapper sound; then you'll really understand it. :)

Carpool to the Colonies

Last year, right after Christmas, Livy and I went on Kelly and Livy's Excellent Adventure, a roadtrip through TN, KY, IN, MO, AL, and GA. I blogged all about our adventures on that trip, and I loved the Christmas tradition of getting out in the world and having them.

So, in the spirit of Christmas adventure, Livy, Aaron, and I are setting out again. This time our trip will be called Carpool to the Colonies, and we intend to drive from Atlanta to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown and then trek down the Outer Banks through Kitty Hawk and Roanoke Island. We will no doubt stop many places on the way and on the way back to hike (for Kelly), to play at playgrounds or children's museums (for Livy), and to admire the largest wad of gum in North Carolina or biggest junk yard (for Aaron).

I plan to blog our trip, and hopefully, Livy (who will be unwrapping a camera tomorrow for Christmas) will keep us supplied with photographs to share. And I will certainly tell you what we are reading or listening to as we drive; that's a big part of our trips too.

Hope you all are having a Merry Christmas!