Too Much History - Day 8

"The reluctance to put away childish things may be a requirement of genius."

-- Rebecca Pepper Sinkler

It has been a consistent struggle these past 2 days.  I often have the interests of a small child which takes us to places full of small children, but screaming children drive me nuts.  Therefore, I have decided life would be better if we treated children like pets.  Before they are allowed in public they need to pass an obedience test and all children under 8 must be on a leash or otherwise contained. 
I quite enjoy well behaved children, but most of them sadly don't fall into that category.  

However, since these laws are only in place for dogs and not children, John decided to take me to places that were less likely to have children which meant history overload.  I have learned that I have a narrow therapeutic range for history and after 2 days of it, I've reached toxic levels.

 

Pictures with a cannon were my one request of Gettysburg.

As a reward for surviving an entire morning of history, we went to chocolate world.  This was my idea of an important stop.

And of course we had to get ice cream!

And ride the Disney-style chocolate tour ride

Adventures in DC - Day 7

"I love history because when you strip away all the social and political aspects, it's really just a bunch of fun stories."

-- Duff Goldman

Trip Totals:

Walmart Trips Made: 6

McDonald's Diet Cokes Drank: 5

Horse Trailers Seen: 5

Itinerary Changes Made: 4

Times John Made Fun of Lauren's Navigation Abilities: 2 

 

Today's Itinerary: Explore Washington DC 

Leasons Learned: 

1.) Another day in DC, same weather, still HOT

2.) Lauren can only take so much history in one day.

3.) Lauren and John can only do 27,000 steps in the day before they are both tired of walking

What a busy day and we both can feel it in our tired feet, legs and backs. 27,000 steps in a day in the heat is quite the distance to cover. We hit all the major attractions, White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, US Capital and the National Mall in general. We covered a bunch of the museums as well, Smithsonian Air and Space, Natural History, American History, and Holocaust Memorial.  

We met up with one of my friends from Findlay for lunch and Lauren was kind enough to let us talk Warhammer 40k, while she enjoyed her Chinese food, Candy Crush and air conditioning.

Day 6

“The cement of this union is the heart-blood of every American.”
~Thomas Jefferson

Trip Totals:

Walmart Trips Made: 6

McDonald's Diet Cokes Drank: 5

Horse Trailers Seen: 3

Itinerary Changes Made: 4

Times John Made Fun of Lauren's Navigation Abilities: 2 

Today's Itinerary: Travel from Greenville, PA to Washington DC 

Leasons Learned: 

1.) It's summer and it's HOT

2.) John is responsible for getting everything ready, Lauren is responsible for getting Lauren ready.

3.) Still summer and it's still HOT

4.) Lauren gets a little green when she hasn't eaten much, is super hot and trapped inside a wobbly hot metro train.  She made it though.

5.) Yup still HOT

What a jammed pack day! And boy are we tired, the trend continues of packing way to much stuff into these days and not enough sleep. Looking forward to getting a chance to sleep in one of these days. However that won't be tomorrow as we have another busy day planned. 

Thanks to Lauren's sister's boyfriend (Ryan) we got to visit an amazing bakery shop with some very tasty donuts. This small detour let us drive on a very familiar highway, US 30. Which was a road we used when we traveled back and forth between Indiana and Ohio, we also used it when visiting Lauren's parents. So it was nice to see a familiar road with some new scenery. 

The (Original) Pie Shoppe

Along our way on US 30 towards Washington DC we came across 2 historic sites, one was Ft. Ligonier in Pennsylvania. I ran across the road and took a quick photo.  The other historic site we discovered, and this one we stopped and visited, was the Flight 93 National Memorial. An extremely moving and powerful memorial, reliving that event with the news clips through the news clips and audio recordings of passengers calling in from the phones on board is an experience we won't forget.

Ft. Ligonier

Panoramic view from Memorial observation deck

 Zoo time! We made it to Washington DC and headed off to the zoo to start our time here in the nation's capital. Breaking news! It's summer and it's HOT! We almost died... lol. We had limited time so we really hussled to see as much as we could in about the 2 hours we had before all of the indoor areas were closed. If we wanted to see the animals we had to make it to the indoor areas because the animals were smart enough to be in from the sun and heat, only us silly humans were running around in the heat.

Updated Itinerary and Map

Had a couple changes to our plan the last couple days.

Change number 1 happens tomorrow morning, thanks to Ryan (Lauren's sister's boyfriend), we plan on stopping at The Original Pie Shop (just outside of Pittsburgh) which according to Ryan's review has amazing donuts and cookies.

Change number 2 is on the way back from my parents in New York, we will be visiting Lauren's Mom and Aunt at a horse show at Center Hall. This is also an opportunity for Lauren to get a bit of her horse show fix. She won't have her horse there, but still should be fun to be in the atmosphere of horse show. 

PS: Funny scene going on while I'm writing this, Lauren is using Anti-Inch Cream almost like lotion to help with her bug bites.

Horses and Kayaks - Day 5

"Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life."
--Michael Palin

Although we have both been bit by the travel bug, I must be especially sweet because I have also been bitten by a boatload of mosquitoes.  I thought when it was raining last night I wouldn't have to worry about bug spray --- WRONG!!  I have about 20 bites on my lower legs and feet from walking in the grass last night in flip flops and capris, and the bites itch!!!!  My legs are polka dotted now. 

Oh well... In other news...

We were less than 1 hour late picking Mary up for breakfast. #goals  We had gotten back on schedule by lunch, but we behind again when we were almost an hour later going to ride than originally planned.  We decided we didn't plan enough sleeping time into this trip, and getting up in the morning has been difficult.  I guess we just need to plan more coffee stops into our travels.

Trip Totals:

Walmart Trips Made: 6

McDonald's Diet Cokes Drank: 5

Horse Trailers Seen: 3

Itinerary Changes Made:3

Times John Made Fun of Lauren's Navigation Abilities: 2 (This is still surprisingly low, but our hypothesis is that this will increase as we visit areas I'm not familiar with.)

We spent our time in PA eating, kayaking and going to the barn.  Of course we had to go to Breakfast at Tiffany's, which is our favorite place to eat, and get pancakes.  We will be stopping again next week on our way back through.

 

We had fun on the lake with Terri learning how to paddle board and kayak.

Paddle boarding is harder than it looks, and John was much better at it than me.

I didn't fall off, but I did crash land between a couple of boat docks once when I forgot how to turn.

We might be getting kayaks when we get to California.

We were both a little rusty and our tack was a little dusty, but Banjo and I went for a ride today :)

It's been 1 & 1/2 years since Banjo has been ridden with any consistency but he was fabulous when I pulled him out of the stall and climbed on with a fat snaffle and no spurs.  We only lasted for about 15 minutes though because we're both really out of shape.  Hopefully horse shows will be back in the cards in the next 6-8 months.

It wouldn't be a trip to PA without checking on the progress for my mom's new house.  Hopefully by the time we come back it will be finished.

We capped off the night with more smores and fireworks.  This time I remembered to use bug spray so my arms don't match my legs.

Tomorrow morning we start bright and early as we head off to D.C.

Happy 4th of July and day 4 of our trip!!

"Don't you wish you could take a single childhood memory and blow it up into a bubble and live inside it forever?"

-- Sarah Addison Allen

Trip Totals:

Walmart Trips Made - 4

Diet Cokes Drank - 4

Horse Trailers Seen - 3

Itinerary Changes Made - 1

Times John Made Fun of Lauren's Navigation Abilities - 1

Today's Itinerary: Traveling from Findlay, OH to Greenville, PA which is where I grew up

Lessons Learned:

1.) However long we decide it will take us to get ready, add 30 minutes to that

2.) Whatever time we plan to leave the house, add 1 hour to that

3.) I am responsible for packing all of our bathroom stuff even if it isn't mine.  John will be smelling flowery until we can make it to a store to get him his own deodorant. 

4.) Smores still taste good even when made in the rain

5.) Backyard fireworks still work in the rain

Spanish Lesson Progress: 

We can now introduce ourselves, discuss where we are from, our ability/inability to speak and understand Spanish, and greet people.  We can also ask others for this information about themselves.

Dino Enjoying Fireworks

I captured our favorite Dino taking in some Fireworks tonight.

And yes I took some normal fireworks photos too. 

Dino Sighting in Findlay, OH

There was a Dino sighting at a very important spot in Lauren's and my life today. On this historic bridge in the park I took Lauren to on our first date. It was also the spot I asked Lauren to marry me. 

Dino even chased Lauren a bit and threatened to eat me. 

Days 2 and 3

"Around here, we don't look backwards for very long... We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we're curious... and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths"

- Walt Disney

Trip Totals

Walmart Trips Made - 4

McDonald's Diet Cokes Drank - 3

Horse Trailers Seen - 2

Itinerary Changes Made - 1

John Making Fun of Lauren's Navigation Abilities (or lack thereof) - 1

And We're Off

"One day, you're 17 and you're planning for someday. And then quietly, without you ever really noticing, someday is today.  And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life." 

-- One Tree Hill

I can't believe today finally came.  We have been planning this move for months, and it didn't really sink in until I turned in my apartment keys that we are really doing this.  It was a long day, but we completely wrapped up life in Lafayette, IN and made it as far as Findlay, OH.  Let the adventure begin! 

With the drive only being 3.5 hours, it provided a good trial run for the animal travel accommodations.  Allie is pretty easy to please as she just needs a place to sleep, so a soft bed was all she needed.  The cats are a little more difficult.  Tink gets claustrophobic in a normal sized cat carrier and gets carsick.  Skittles is large enough that she doesn't fit very well in a normal sized cat carrier.  Therefore, John has spent the past month designing a luxury kitty condo to keep both cats comfortable throughout the trip.  The verdict is that the cats approve.  However, Tink still gets carsick, so there will medication in her future.  

The "kids" approve of their travel accommodations. The kitty condo is 2 levels and includes food, water, a litter box and a soft bed with both levels being cushioned. 

For getting our stuff across the country, we decided to move everything from Lafayette via U-haul and then load it into a Pod once we got to Findlay.  The Pod is leaving for Sacramento next week where is will await our arrival.  We initially were hoping to arrive in Findlay mid-afternoon, but it took all day to pack and clean in Lafayette so we didn't arrive until 9pm which made for a late night of moving everything into the Pod.  

When selecting a U-haul and Pod, John decided we needed the largest U-haul available to make sure everything would fit easily (despite the fact that there wasn't all that much stuff in Lafayette).  However, he was confident we could fit everything we own at both locations into a Pod that was smaller than the U-haul.  I think he forgot to use his math major problem solving skills because there is no way everything is getting into that Pod.  We will be ordering another one tomorrow, and depending on when it can be delivered, we may need to swing back through Findlay to load it.

John was very proud of the gigantic U-haul he got to drive and the much smaller Pod.

The next couple days will be filled with final packing and cleaning in Findlay as well as making sure to eat at our favorite places. But for now it is time to sleep.

Dinosaur Travel Photos

I was inspired by something I came across the internet, dinosaur travel photos! It's a fun way to make all those famous landmarks and natural wonders just a bit more exciting and fun.

Step 1: Buy Toy Dinosaur... Check
Step 2: Further enhance toy appearance with weathering the toy... Check (for those of you that know me I'm into Warhammer 40k and the standard paint job the toy came with just wouldn't do, but thats another post for another time, I may or may not do)
Step 3: Test Photo... Check

Say Cheese!

Step 4: Capture Amazing Moments Like These...

Not on Google Maps yet, but only a matter of time

I was doing some reading on how and when Google Maps updates their satellite images, because I was curious when our new home would be visible.  As it would turn out the process is kinda of mystery. What I did discover was that the images only get captured on so may days of the year as a satellite taking imagery isn't always overhead, which makes sense. The other major factor is the weather on those days, doesn't do any good for Google to update its map with a cloudy days images. With all this research I went to some other satellite companies websites and I discovered this little screen shot of an image I hope gets updated to Google soon... our house, or at least the neighborhood it will be in.

Last Monday in Indiana!

As we head into the final stretch before our trip, I thought it might be a good idea to start packing.  John has been suggesting this for weeks, but I didn't really feel the need to have all the boxes sitting around.  So yesterday we finally started packing with a vengeance.  John has everything packed except the bare necessities he needs this week.  I have most of my stuff packed with the exception of everything I could possibly need this week.  In other words it looks like I haven't packed much at all :) Despite my hesitation to pack, we still ended up with 2 closets full of boxes and a pile in the living room. 

In addition we worked on stocking up on things we will need for traveling such as a bed for Allie, a soft blanket for Tink, toys for Skittles, Gold Bond for John and Dramamine for me as well as a number of random other things I decided the animals "just couldn't live without". 

We are "Those" Travelers Officially

With all of the destinations we and tourist sites we plan on stopping at on this road trip some of which are at remote National Parks. We caved in and bought a selfie stick... Oh my. Can't believe we are "those people". Should be fun to laugh and remember the moments with anyway.

 

New York City Rough Draft

Did a little planning on what I would like to do on our day trip to New York City. My wife's friend Rachel is living in NYC currently and may have some better ideas or tweaks to what I have now, but this is our start anyway.

We will be once again using mass transit to get around, but this time we will be taking the transit train into Penn Station, and then from there we bounce around the city on the subway. There are a couple things I really want to do as I've only ever seen New York's Skyline from New Jersey and have never had the opportunity to really experience the city.

Central Park! I want to walk through it at least part of it, I find it truly amazing to have a park like that in one of the busiest places on earth. Areas of Central Park I'd like to explore include Bow Bridge, Bethesda Fountain & Gapstow Bridge.

I'd also like to visit the 9/11 Memorial and take a trip up to the One World Observatory and check out the city from the highest point building in the Western Hemisphere. Before we head back uptown to the Time Square area, being the financial guy that I am ,I'd like to stop the Charging Bull near Wall Street for a photo.

Depending on the view from One World Observatory of the Statue of Liberty a trip to Battery Park may also be on the itinerary.


The rest of the day is the biggest question mark, my wife's friend Rachel has some Broadway connections and there is a possibility she may be able to get us some show tickets at a reduced cost.  If those plans or options fall through just hanging out around the Time Square area may still be fun. Seeing places like Bryant Park, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral & Rockefeller Center.

Then its back to Penn Station to take the train back to our car.

Finger Lake Wineries and Waterfalls Rough Draft

After leaving DC we head north to visit my parents. No animals with us make this day trip to the Finger Lake Wineries and Waterfalls very easy.

There are a couple most stop favorite wineries, but for the most part we hit what we find along the road (this isn't our first time visiting this area).

The most have stops are Americana Winery, Swedish Hill Winery & Hazlett Winery. Other we have marked down to visit are Goose Watch Winery (amazing view), Penguin Bay, Chateau Lafayette Reneau, Atwater Estate Vineyard & Catharine Valley Winery.

As for the waterfalls some we will hit on our wine tour or when we just out and about the town of Ithaca. Those stops include Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls & Watkins Glen State Park. We have seen Buttermilk Falls in the Summer before but have only ever seen Taughannock in the fall and we've never been to Watkins Glen State Park.