Key West Day 1

Day 45 - Key West - Sunny mid 80's:

Ben got up early and took the ferry over to the mainland for a run. While he was gone I got up and retrieved our breakfast basket. They place it on your porch each morning with assorted warm muffins, fresh fruit, orange juice, and a newspaper. It was a real treat! Once Ben returned we headed out to the pool. The pool was outstanding. It had a waterfall and we also a zero degree entry which means it's just like walking from the beach into the water...there are no steps, you just walk right into the water. We laid out and enjoyed the sunshine until it was time for lunch. We had sandwiches and then headed to get the ferry to the mainland.

When we arrived back on land we headed right over to the Conch Tour Train. It was a great introduction to Key West. We were able to learn about the history and get a lay land without having to walk it all!

Things I learned:

1. The original custom's house is where the hearing about the USS Maine was held.
2. Key West has the second largest Banyan Tree to Hawaii.
3. Key West as more 19th Century architecture than the rest of Florida as a whole.
4. Sponging was one of the many million-dollar industries that Key West has seen come and go. (they actually have a sponge store where you can get REAL sponge).
5. There is a park in town that has a GORGEOUS Mahogany tree that was split in two by a hurricane. Rather than die the tree continues to grow in two directions.
6. The Meadows is an area of Key West where all of the houses were built by shipbuilders. This is clear due to how the area was constructed. All of the houses are very close together just like bunks on a ship. They were also built without nails so as to allow the houses to sway with the wind...clearly it worked as these houses are still standing in the face of Florida hurricanes. They also all have tin roofs so that they could collect rain water for drinking as well as protect from fire.
7. I wrote down that Key West was created in part by the Red Mangrove Tree. (I'm not sure how maybe this would be a good project for a student...I may be mistaken but I do know what Key West has increased in size though).
8. Key West did not have water piped in to them from the mainland of Florida until 1941.
9. The business of Shipwrecking made Key West one of the richest places per capita in the US at one point.
10. Key West is further south than Cairo by 287 miles.
11. The highest point in Key West is approximately 16ft above sea level.
12. There are no natural beaches in Key West due to the Coral Reef surounding the islands. Beaches need waves in order to be created and the reef causes the waves to crash too far out from the coast. Therefore all the beaches have sand shipped either from the Bahama area or the Miami area.
13. A large number of houses on the island are built from the remains of shipwrecks.
14. Most of the porches have blue ceilings. This is for two reasons. The first is that it is belived that it would trick evil spirits into thinking that it is the sky and not a house so they stay away. The second was that it tricks bees, hornets, and other bugs into thinking that it is sky and so they do not create nests there...it REALLY WORKS!

After we finished our tour we made our way over to watch the "sunset." Naturally there were too many clouds and so we didn't actually see the sunset. From there we head to B O's Fish Wagon. Becky had reccommended the fish sandwich there so Ben got that. He enjoyed it very much! We then spent time walking the famous Duval Street. We stopped in at a number of local spots to listen to the live music. I was amazed at how many different restaurants and bars had live music!! It was great.

Once we had enough of the streets we hopped back on the boat for another trip back to the island. Ben hit the pool and hot tub while I did some work on the computer in the room. We watched a bit of TV before heading to bed to rest for the next days adventures!!

Key Largo, Montigo, Baby Why Don't We Go...

Day 44 - Key Largo - Sunny and mid 80's:

We got up early and headed out of our wonderful home away from home in Miami to make our way to Key West. Our first stop along the way was in Key West. We had plans to do some snorkling while we were there. Our trip was AMAZING. We headed out of the canal into the big ocean at John Pennycamp State Park.

We made some quick friends with a family who are traveing the country as well. The kids were awesome and we had so much fun getting to know them. They kept Ben quite entertained. The kids were excited as this was their first trip snorkeling. They were wonderful and maybe we'll run into them again...in the meantime we are following their blog. You can check it out too, it's located here!

Back to the water...Ben has been SCUBA diving before but this was my first time being in the Ocean looking at all of the amazing sea life. We saw so many fish and jelly fish (ahhhh!). The water was a bit rough but as long as you were actually in the water you really didn't notice. Our first stop was in a more shallow area on the reef. I have never seen anything like it in my life. The fish were so beautiful. It did freak me out a bit when I would get close to the reef as we had been instructed not to touch the reef unless it was an EMERGENCY as it takes a year coral to grow 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. After about an hour we headed back to to the boat to move to a new location.

Our second stop was at a deeper location. This location wasn't quite as clear as the first location. Here we saw more fish and Ben was able to do some diving down deep to see more. We were able to see brain coral at this location. It take about 50 years for brain coral to reach the size of a basketball!! I didn't stay out quite as long as Ben this time because I was not interested in diving down deep and staying on the top didn't really provide a great view due to the rougher water and angle of the sun. After our second stop we headed back into the docks. It was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I confronted a few fears that I had and jumped in the water!

Once we were back on land we changed out of our swimsuits and hit the road for Key West. I was really looking forward to the beautiful drive BUT I fell asleep. Ben was able to see all the sights and the SEVEN MILE bridge. I was disappointed but figured I would see it on the way back. When we arrived we checked in at the hotel. We knew that we would be taking a ferry to a small island where our room would be located so we decided to grab dinner before getting on the boat. They took our luggage and brought it over to the room while we went to dinner. We headed to the Hog's Breath Saloon to grab a bite to eat.

After dinner we jumped on the ferry and headed over to our room. It was a short 10 minute boat ride. When we departed the concierge met us and gave us a tour of the property before bringing us to our room. It was AMAZING. We had a two-bedroom cottage right near the pool. Once we settled in we headed to the hot tub to relax before hitting the hay.

Pics Updated

We've updated the pictures including Ben's BIG fish! We will get caught up on our entries this week...PROMISE!

Welcome to Miami

Day 42 & 43 - Miami, FL - Sunny and upper 80's:

We headed out of Delray around 11:30am to make our way to Miami! We are fortunate that Christina (a friend for years) lives and Miami and was more than happy to have us stay with her and her cousin. She lives in a great spot overlooking the bay and just across the bridge from South Beach. Once we arrived we headed straight to the beach. It was a beautiful day. They were even doing a photo shoot on the beach which was neat to see. We returned to Christina's apartment to shower and wait for her boyfriend James to get home from work. Once he arrived we headed to P.F. Chang's for dinner. It was delicious and I want to let you know that when they call their dessert the "The Great Wall of Chocolate Cake" they aren't kidding. Once piece fed all of us!!

The next morning we slept in a bit before Ben and I headed back to South Beach. We walked around town visiting places like Miami Ink (the show on TLC), DASH (from Keeping up with the Kardashians), and Lincoln Ave (a no car shopping street that stretches for at least 6 blocks). We grabbed lunch at a little place called Paul's. It was DELICIOUS. We met up with Christina later that afternoon and headed back to lay on the beach. We saw another photo shoot. If I had to guess, it was for JCrew or a similar clothing line. It was a much bigger production than the shoot from yesterday. We again headed back to the apartment for showers before heading out to dinner. Christina, Tatiana (her cousin), Ben and I headed to Crazy Pianos a dueling piano restaurant. It was a great spot. The have two pianos set up and they play together all night. Different people play but the music never stops. They were very impressive musicians and if I lived in Miami I would definitely head back to this spot!

Christmas Spirit

Day 41 - Delray Beach - Overcast and Rainy mid 80's:

Following our fishing adventure, we took it easy for the day. I got up early and headed over to the hotel to use the gym. Ben was going to go for a run but I took his shoes with me to town. This is one of the downfalls of having everything in the car. Once I got back we headed into town for lunch. We walked the streets of Delray and grabbed lunch before making our way to Mark's office to watch the Holiday Parade. I was very bummed that I didn't manage to bring the camera...we tried to get back to get it but too many streets were blocked and we would have missed it completely. Erin did a great job passing out candy canes an spreading holiday cheer. The only downside was that as soon as the parade started, the rain started...oh well!

After the parade we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner. We went with Mark, Becky, Sean, Suzy, Jay...and a few other friends to Boston's. It was great!! I highly recommend it! Erin was at a holiday party so she was enjoying herself with a bunch of friends. We got home late and headed to bed...

Chillin' and Fishin'

Day 40 - Delray Beach, FL - Partly sunny and 80:

After our day in the sun, we had a new adventure planned. Heather woke up early to do some girly things at the spa and then it was off to our big adventure. Mark had arranged for him, Heather, Erin, Casey and I to go out fishing. It was a 65 foot fishing boat with all the bells and whistles. Our captain Nick got us out into the harbor by about 1:00 and KJ went to work setting up the two kites and six different fishing lines. It was an amazing set-up and we hooked onto our first fish within 20 minutes. I stepped up to the boat rail and started reeling. I continued to reel in my first Sail fish for the next 20-30 minutes with the fish "sailing out of the water." KJ and Nick thought it was about a 70 pound fish which is on the high side for a Sail fish. We never brought the fish into the boat because the oils from our hand would have harmed the slime on the fish and with Sport fishing you just have to reel the fish until you can touch the leader and it's considered a catch. We then went back to waiting and hooked onto two sharks and it was Heather's turn to reel them in. She unfortunately lost both of the sharks because they bit through the line and all we got to see was the fin. Then around 3:00 we started to take in the lines and head to shallower waters when Mark hooked a Mackerel and gave to pole back to Heather. This time she was able to reel the fish in and got her picture with it. Nick then took us in near the reef, so Erin and Casey could catch some fish. They started fishing and right away began catching Trigger fish left and right. Between the two of them they caught probably 28 fish over the next 45 minutes it was a lot of action. Then it was back to the inter-coastal to make to 4:00 bridge. It was an awesome afternoon of fishing and I will always remember catching my first Sail fish.

From the dock we raced back to Delray and then over to Sean's basketball game. He plays guard on the St Andrews JV team. They were playing an undefeated team and started of the game a bit slow but picked it up and in the second half and won by 10.

After the game we raced back to Delray again to see the boat parade at Mark's brother Mike's house. Every year residents light up their boats and travel down the canal through Delray and everybody parties and gets in the holiday spirit. After the parade finished one of the Yachts in the parade stopped by Mike's house and dropped off another 50 people and the party really got going. We met some great people from around the country. We were all tired from our exciting day, so we headed back to Mark and Becky's house for some much needed rest.

Day 39 - Delray Beach, FL - Sunny and 85:

After our long day of wrestling alligators in the Everglades we decided to relax and spend a day on the beach and pool at Mark and Becky's house. We though it would be a good idea to try and tan our white bodies so we wouldn't stick out so much. Later in the evening we took some time to go an visit the 100ft Christmas tree that Delray Beach puts up in the middle of town. You get a good idea of the size compared to Ben and I sitting in the big chair! After that we headed back to our guest house and made some dinner and watched a couple movies. It was a very relaxing day!

Still Alive

Hey All -

We're still alive. I'll post later. Lots of cool pictures.

Love!

Everglades...

Day 38 -Delray Beach, FL - Sunny and 90:

Today we hit the real heat. Don't get me wrong I love the sun and hot as much as anyone but today was ridiculous. It was almost 80˚ at 9 in the morning. We headed straight over to get an airboat ride through the Everglades (yes kids the same Everglades Ms. Feiss was talking about in class). It was a recommendation we are glad that we took! Our boat left at 11am and we headed out down the water. The airboat is very loud which I though would scare the animals. The driver told me that because the are not predators and have never hurt the animals they do not fear them. This was apparent as we passed alligators, Blue Heron, Egrets, turtles and other animals that didn't even flinch when we drove by. We learned about the Florida Sawgrass which is neat because if you rub your hand on it one way it is smooth but the other way it is like a saw that will cut you. Our tour guide gave us a DVD to watch which hopefully we'll do tonight! We got another one to send back to school!!

From the Everglades we headed back to the hotel for lunch and to pack up our stuff and move over to Mark and Becky's guest space. Once we moved we headed out to the pool for some sun. Ben took Maddy for a walk before he attempted to do some surfing. It was VERY windy but he couldn't seem to get any good waves.

Becky dropped Erin off from school and then headed out to Sean's basketball game. Erin, Ben, and I made dinner and COOKIES. They were pretty good....I do not recommend the Milk Chocolate Chips for cookies though. The three of us played a game of Clue (it was my first time) which I won and then a game of Apples to Apples (it was my first time) which Erin won. By that time it was late and we all headed to bed!

Tomorrow another day of sun. Hope the shoveling is going well in Maine!!

Sun and Fun

Day 37 - Delray Beach, FL - Sunny 85:

We awoke this morning just in time for breakfast and then made our way to Boynton Beach for an exciting morning at SEARS!! I know, I know. We needed to get our tires rotated and our oil changed and I think that Ben really wanted to get it taken care of. Unfortunately it took up most of our morning.

When we got back we made a quick lunch and then headed to the pool. We stayed out for a few hours before heading in for showers. It was then off to Palm Beach to see the CRAZY mansions. They are so enormous. The biggest being Donald Trump's Mar-a-Largo (that's a link that tells you all about it....KIDS you should read it...it's very interesting). We then headed back to Mark and Becky's for a pizza dinner. We didn't stay too long as both Erin and Shawn had homework to do and Becky had cupcakes to work on for the bake sale. It was another dinner full of fun and conversation...the fact that we like boats and Ben likes fishing was well established!! Tomorrow we're off to the Everglades for the morning. We should have pictures!!

The Sunshine State

Day 36 - Delray Beach, FL - Sunny 80's:

After a morning run in the gym at the hotel we made our way to Delray Beach. Once we arrived we found ourselves a parking space and headed straight to the beach. We ate lunch and laid in the sun for a bit before heading for a walk around town.

We checked into our hotel and made a quick trip to the grocery store. Once we had settled in we headed over to Mark and Becky's for dinner. It was so nice to see them. I didn't have a chance to see Shawn this summer and my has he grown! We spent the evening chatting and watching some football, it was so nice to catch up as I didn't really get a chance to visit this summer with the exception of a quick lunch date with Becky and Erin. We were also informed a number of times throughout the day from both friends here and family at home that we MUST go to Key West. No one was quite as adamant about it as Erin though. Let me tell you, she can relate anything to Key West and why we MUST go there. So I am pretty sure it's settled that we will be making a trip.

The Oldest City in the US

Day 35 - St. Augustine, FL - Cloudy mid-60's:

The hangover finally wore off from the Budweiser brewery and we made our way down the coast to St. Augustine. St Augustine was established in 1565 and is the oldest continuously occupied city in the continental US. The morning was very cold and cloudy so we so we drove around the city for a bit and saw where Ponce De Leon discovered the fountain of youth. We didn't pay to actually drink from the fountain because we heard the water's not very good and just a big tourist trap. We then drove by the oldest house in the town and walked around to explore the outside of the house. From here we made our way to the visitor information center to see what else there was to do in the city and watch the St. Augustine introduction video. We then made our way through the city gates which were once the only entrance to the city and headed to the Oldest Wood School House in the US. Heather wanted to apply for a teaching job but the building was just not in very good shape.

From here walked over to Flagler College to see their campus as it was once the Ponce De Leon Hotel and was a truly amazing site as you can see in the pictures. We then walked over to the Dr. Seuss Imaginarium Gallery which was an art gallery that features the work of Dr. Seuss. We found out Dr. Seuss had a personal collection of prints and paintings that weren't released until after his death. It was great to see some classic characters from the books and also see some of them come to life with actually taxidermy heads. After spending time with Dr. Suess qw went to the Castillo de San Marcos an old Spanish fort and explored the old building and got to see an actual 8 pound canon fired from the gun deck of the fort. It was a very well preserved fort and once had a 40 foot moat which they still have drawbridges for.

After we finished the tour we headed out of town and made out way to Port St Lucie for the night. On our way to the hotel we had one minor problem...we ran out of gas on the highway!! I have now learned that you actually do have to put gas in the car once the fuel light comes on. I wasn't paying close attention and when I would remember I kept saying to myself "I'll stop at the next exit" Well we didn't make it to the next exit and had to call AAA to the rescue. They brought us a couple gallons of gas and we did finally stop at the next exit. Later that night Heather was talking with Brawleigh on Skype and she tried to make me feel better by saying "Don't worry Ben it happens all the time." Somehow I believe that when it comes from Brawleigh!!

Budweiser Plant

Day 34 - Jacksonville, FL - Cloudy Mid-50's:

Today we headed out of Savannah and made our way to Jacksonville, FL. It wasn't too bad of a trip, about 2 hours. When we arrived we headed to the Anheuser-Busch Brewery to tour the factory. When we arrived we had planned to do the FREE tour however once Ben heard Beermaster Tour which allows you to go into the factory, there was no turning back. We met our tour leader Jack and he guided us through the 1 million square foot facility. He told us that the jobs at the factory are the most sought after in Jacksonville and are very difficult to come by as once people are hired they very rarely leave.

The tour was very interesting, and we learned a great deal about Adolphus Busch and Eberhard Anheuser.

History (a great deal of this is from the website...it was a lot to take in):

Anheuser had no experience in the brewing business, but his son-in-law did. Adolphus Busch, a successful German businessman, joined his father-in-law in the business in the 1860s...a little of the if you can't beat them join them here as Busch married Anheuser's daughter!!

In the early 1870s, Adolphus Busch became the first American brewer to use pasteurization (he pasteurized beer long before we pasteurized milk), this allowed beer to be shipped long distances without spoiling. By the mid 1870s and early 1880s, he introduced artificial refrigeration, refrigerated rail-cars and rail-side ice houses. He built cars with ice chambers on the side and the beer was stored in the middle and he was able to determine based on the time of year how long the ice would last. He then would build rail-side ice houses (many of these still exist as national historic sights) so the cars would stop and refill. Eventually these ice houses became the first distributors of beer. It's incredible to think that all of these were created for the use of shipping beer. It's also amazing that this man had such great innovation during his time. These technological innovations allowed the company to grow – now, it could distribute beer across the country. Oh and another thing. The Busch-Sulzer Bros. Deisel Engine Company was another of the enterprises founded by Adolphus Busch and carried on independently of the brewery operation. In 1897 Busch obtained the American rights to build Diesels. He retained the inventor as a consultant, and the company's first engine was installed in the Anheuser-Busch power plant in 1898. He retained the production for 12 years.

The brewery’s bleakest period began at midnight on Jan. 16, 1920, when national Prohibition became law. Rather than close its doors, as more than half of the nation’s breweries did, Anheuser-Busch diversified and remained in business. They actually stopped production of beer in 1918 so as to get a head start on creating their new entities.

Under the leadership of August Sr., the company marketed more than 25 different non-alcoholic products such as soft drinks, truck bodies and ice cream. In preparation for Prohibition, Anheuser-Busch released Bevo, a non-alcoholic cereal beverage, in 1916. On April 7, 1933, beer was re-legalized. The first trip by those famous Clydesdale's was taken within days of the legalization. It carried a wagon full of Bud directly to the White House!!

Recovery from Prohibition was slow but steady under Adolphus Busch III, who became president of the company in 1934, upon the death of his father, August Sr. In 1946, August A. Busch, Jr. became president of the company following the death of his brother, Adolphus III. Beginning with the opening of the Newark, N.J. facility in 1951, August Jr. created a national network of nine breweries.

Under his leadership, beer sales increased from 3 million barrels to more than 34 million barrels, and corporate diversification was extended to include family entertainment, industrial products, real estate and can manufacturing. In 1957, Anheuser-Busch became the leading U.S. brewer, a position it retains today.

August A. Busch III was elected president of Anheuser-Busch, Inc. in 1974, and the next year succeeded his father, August Jr., as chief executive officer, becoming the fourth generation of the family to lead Anheuser-Busch. August III led the company to build four additional breweries, expand the family entertainment business, and significantly strengthen the company’s horizontal and vertical integration.

In 2008, Anheuser-Busch and InBev combined to become Anheuser-Busch InBev. The new company is the world’s largest brewer and one of the top 5 consumer goods companies in the world.

Side Note: People wonder what Budweiser means...NOTHING. It was a word made up by Busch. He wanted something easy for Americans to say but that sounded German.

Once we had the history we were able to go down on the "kitchen" floor. This is where all the ingredients for the beer are put together. Beer is 90% water, beyond that it includes barley (there are two types used), rice (Anheuser-Busch is the only brewery that still uses rice...it is only used in Budweiser and Bud Light) or corn, and different combination of hops. First the barley and rice are added to the water and heated to 180˚ to create wort, it is heated in large tanks (each holds 20 thousand gallons...the average amount of water in a swimming pool) creating a specific amount of sugar from the barley and rice. This is then strained removing the rice and barley particles. At this point the special combination of hops (this is what gives the beer it's flavor) is added. This combination called wort-hops is again heated to the 180˚ temperature and mixed.

From there it is sent to be cooled. The cooling tanks each hold enough beer for 400,000 bottles...they have 372 of these tanks!!) The liquid is first cooled to 48˚ once this temperature is reached they add the yeast. This is what turns the sugars into alcohol. Regardless of how much yeast they add or how long they let it sit, the alcohol content will never rise above what it is predetermined because they have created the precise amount of sugar in the previous step. From here the beer goes into maturation tanks where they add more wort and beechwood (yes real wood but only in Bud and Bud Light) for a second fermentation. Once this is done the beer is moved into a final tank for bottling. Ben (as you can see in the pics) was able to drink beer directly from these holding tanks. The beer in the Bud tank was actually being used as he was filling his cup in the rooms below to fill cans that were being shipped that day.

After the beer drinking we headed to the bottling and packaging plant. Here we were able to see the pallets of empty bottles being prepared for filling. We were able to see cans being filled (with that beer Ben had been drinking). We watched the incredible speed with which a 24 pack is created and see it traverse the plant on its way to be shipped. We were also able to visit the keg area. They weren't working today but it was still neat to see all the machines that work to fill the kegs. From the time the truck pulls up with empty keg to the time the truck leaves no human hands will ever touch it!!

Interesting to note, the plant is incredibly conscious of their waste. All of their water that is not used in the final beer is filtered and used to water their fields in two locations. It is run by a network of pipes underground to these farms. All the barley and rice remains that are collected following the wort creation are taken to feed cows. Almost 166,000 tons a year. All packaging material and other scraps are recycled and reused. They use both solar power and methane gas from abandoned landfills to help power the plant. They are currently working with the University of Florida to try and find a way to use grass to produce ethanol!!

This concluded our tour and we were taken to the "Hospitality Suite" otherwise known as free beer tasting. Here we were given our certificates as Honorary Beermasters, a glass, a photo, and of course we were able to keep our hats!

It was only a 2 hour tour but we learned a great deal about the beer making process and Ben sure loved the tasting. Tomorrow we're off to St. Augustine!

Savannah...the land of the square!

Day 33 - Savannah, GA - Cloudy then Rain Upper 50's:

We left Dave and Kristin's house around 10am and made our way toward Savannah. We have heard great things about Savannah and seen some nice wedding pictures from Melissa and Tim...if anyone knows what square they got married in, I'd love to know. We arrived in Savannah around 1pm and headed to the visitors center. We spoke with a woman, who randomly enough is the sister-in-law of the owner of Rosie's in Portland, and she sent us in the right direction. We ended up purchasing a walking tour of Savannah guide just to give us an idea of where to head. We quickly discovered that Savannah is the land of the square. There are 24 to be exact and I'm pretty sure that our walking tour took us to all of them. Each square has it's own story and is generally surrounded by some incredible buildings and churches.

One of my favorite parts of the walk was going to the River Front. There are a bunch of shops, restaurants and CANDY stores lining the river. Ben and I made sure to stop in at a couple of the candy stores to make sure that the candy wasn't poisonous. After walking along the river we headed up to the city market. We walked by but did not stop in at Paula Dean's restaurant and store...Ben had never heard of Paula Dean...clearly he needs to watch more of the Food Network.

We finished up our walking tour and headed back to the visitors center to get the car. We then headed a bit out of town to visit a couple of store to finish our Christmas shopping. After that we headed back into town for dinner. Ben had been reading about this place called Walls BBQ in our Lonely Planet book. We arrived and to be honest were a little nervous as it was a bit sketchy looking. Instead of leaving (which we considered) we decided to check it out. It turned out to be GREAT! Ben had ribs and I had chopped(pulled) pork. As usual Ben didn't like the ribs as much as Gug's but he said they were good nonetheless. My pulled pork was excellent. I guess it goes to show that appearance isn't everything.

After dinner we made our way to our hotel, took a dip in the hot tub, and are now doing our computer duties. We are off to Jacksonville tomorrow! Finally in FLORIDA!

Talk to you all soon.

Charleston

Day 29 - Greenville, SC - Cloudy 60's:

On our way from Greenville to Charleston we made a pit stop at the BMW factory in Greer, SC. The last time we where in South Carolina the factory tour was sold out, so we decided to make the trip back and tour the factory. It was a great experience to see a fully automated car plant. We got to see how the BMW X5 and X6's are made, painted and hand assembled. Of course Heather's Christmas list was updated and now includes a 2010 BMW X5. I'll see if Santa has any available in the color she wants. From here we drove to Charleston to meet up with Heather's college roommate Kristin and her new husband Dave. We had visited them not too long ago and so we were looking forward to reconnecting!

Day 30 - Charleston, SC - Sunny 65:

Today was a beautiful day and we headed into downtown Charleston to explore the city. We decided to take a ferry over to Fort Sumter. The ferry didn't leave until 2:30, so we walked around the city and explored the old slave market, the exchange building and city hall. We caught the Ferry at 2:30 and took the 30 minute ride over to Fort Sumter. This was the spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. On the island 85 Union soldiers were able to hold off Confederate soldiers for 34 hours but had to surrender because their reinforcements could not make it into the harbor. The Fort was almost completely destroyed during the day and a half fight. It started as a 50 foot high wall almost 6 feet thick, and now only stands one story high. There are still many canons on site and even canon shells embedded into the Forts walls. We only had an hour on the island but it was neat to see something so old and historic. Once back on the mainland we headed back to North Charleston and had a great dinner (made by Kristin) with the new Mr. and Mrs.

After dinner they took us over to the James Island Holiday Festival of Lights. It was an amazing holiday light extravaganza, where the town turns the state park into many holiday light designs. Each lighting display is sponsored by a local company and they ranged from Christmas themed to animals to a golfing Santa. Many of the displays were constructed to look like they moved hence the golfing Santa...he actually had a back swing and you could see the golf ball fly through the air and land on the putting green. Some of the highlights where jumping dolphins in the water, a man fishing, Candyland, marching toy soldiers, sharks and many, many more. It was an amazing site and can tell you that the pictures don't really do it justice. After seeing all the lights we walked around a smaller section where we could roast marshmallows...they were delicious. We also managed to sneak away and get Dave a Grinch tree ornament that he really wanted.

Day 31 - Charleston, SC - Rainy and Cloudy 70's:

It rained all night and all morning in Charleston. Apparently they do not have a very good drainage system (it is an old city) and the whole downtown flooded to the point that Kristin couldn't even go to work. Fortunately, Heather went to school today and observed another classroom so we weren't heading into the city. This time she went to a high school with 3,300 students. After she got home, around lunch time, the rain stopped, so we decided to take a ride over to the Magnolia Plantation to explore the gardens and home. We got there and decided to take the nature tram around the plantation and see if we could see any alligators. The nature tram was great and we learned a lot about plantation living and how they made most of their money by exporting rice (not cotton, like most people think). We didn't see any alligators and not even much wildlife except for some birds that just migrated for the winter. We then made our way into the house for a tour to see a Southern Plantation. We learned that the current house was the third house to be built on the property. The first one burned down and the second one was destroyed by the Union soldiers during the civil war. Mr. Drayton returned form the civil war and was almost broke (he was land rich and money poor), so he sold off 1500 of his 2000 acres and moved the current house from a vacation spot down the James River and reassembled it here on the plantation. After the house tour we decided to call it a day because many of the employees where saying bad weather was on the way and even some tornadoes. We made it back to Kristin without any incidents and decided to head back to Magnolia the next day to explore their year-round gardens, petting zoo and horticulture maze.

Day 32 - Charleston, SC - Sunny and 60's:

The rain cleared up by the time we made it out of the house and so we headed back to Magnolia plantation. It turned out to be a great afternoon and we walked around the gardens and lakes to see the blooming flowers. It is a unique garden in that they have flowers that bloom in all seasons. They are all throughout the garden so that their claim to color year round holds true. Although there were blooming flowers, we are sure that it's truly amazing in the spring when everything is in bloom and coming to life. After lunch on the shores of the James River we made our way over to the maze to see if we could lose each other. It wasn't very hard and so we completed it very quickly, but it was fun anyway. Up next was the petting zoo. Heather wasn't very into the petting zoo because from the moment we made it though the gate a huge turkey was stocking her for food. Heather did last longer the I expected but once the duck started chasing her it was too much and she need out. I stayed a bit longer to check out the peacocks, deer, bobcats, foxes, ducks, and snakes. It was pretty cool to be able to actually pet a deer. As it was getting late we made our way back to Dave and Kristin's. They took us to a local chain restaurant where to Dave's delight they have a trash bucket set into the table. It was pretty neat just to be able to throw stuff away at the table...we had a great dinner before heading back to the house. We did a few Wii Competitions once we got back and got into the holiday spirit watching the Santa Clause 2. We said our goodbyes and headed to bed....

Our last days in Greenville

Day 26 - Greenville, SC - Sunny Mid 50's:

What a nice day! We slept in very late waking up just in time to see Eric off as he headed back to Charlotte for work. Peg, Andrea, and I went out for a nice walk along the rail trail while Ben and Dave bonded over a bike ride. Upon their return we hung out around the house until we headed downtown to visit the shops and see all the Christmas trees. They have this AMAZING display. After walking around town we headed to dinner. It was quite a decision but we finally settled on sushi/chinese. Peg and I had the chinese while the three daring eaters had sushi. It was a great dinner. We came back and watched The Santa Clause (one of my favorites) before heading off to bed. Another great day with family!!

Day 27 - Jones Gap State Park, SC - High 60's in the sun...Low 50's in the shade:

So in an effort to burn off some of our Thanksgiving dinner, Peg, Dave, Andrea, Ben and I headed out to Jones Gap State Park for a little hiking. We planned to head to out to find some waterfalls and we did just that. The hike turned out to be a bit more strenuous than we had planned and I am most certain that Peg wanted to kill us about half way up the mountain. She and Dave paused for lunch a little before the end while Ben, Andrea, and I finished the hike. We weren't sure if they would make it all the way to the end but Peg ROCKED and finished the whole thing. We ate lunch at the falls before heading back down. Andrea, Ben, and I moved a bit faster than Peg and Dave giving Ben enough time to do a small hike off the trail that he had hoped to do on the way up. We all reconvened at the bottom and headed home. We were quite worn out. After a quick trip to Wal-Mart and the shoe store, Dave and Ben headed into town to pick up pizza and wings!! We all enjoyed dinner before an early night to bed!!

Day 28 - Greenville, SC - Sunny and 70: (no photos)

What a beautiful day!! Not a whole lot to report. Ben washed the car and helped Dave hook up Christmas lights while I worked on Christmas presents. Peg and Andy headed to the Gaffney Outlets! Peg returned and Andrea went back to Charlotte (we'll see her in Nashville for New Years Eve!!). We had a great dinner of leftovers and pork...it was so delicious. Other than that we just hung out around the house on our last day here. It has been so nice to visit with family that we never get to see and to relax from all of our driving. We are off to Charleston tomorrow though to see Kristin!!

Pictures Updated....

All the pictures are now attached to the posts....

Turkey Day

Day 26 - Greenville, SC - Sunny 60's:

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! Ben and I just wanted to wish everyone a great day! We both realize how incredibly lucky we are to have this opportunity and we appreciate so very much those who have helped us and will help us along the way. We LOVE and MISS everyone back home and hope you have a wonderful THANKSGIVING!!

Love,
Ben and Heather

Relaxing...

Day 22 - Charlotte, NC - Cloudy/Rainy Upper 50's: No Pictures

Undoubtedly one of our more uneventful days yet. We slept in...I didn't get up until 10am (with the alarm) which was a nice change. I headed out to the gym and Wal-Mart while Ben went out for a run around Andrea and Eric's house. After lunch Eric took Ben to his local haircut spot for a desperately needed haircut....we were on the way to a mullet which is completely unacceptable!! Andrea got home from work around 5:30 and after she and Eric met with the window man we enjoyed a great new recipe that she got out of her new Rachel Ray Magazine. It was soooo nice to just be able to take a day and hang out, we've been to Charlotte twice recently and so we didn't feel like there was a ton of stuff we HAD to see and being with family made everything even better.

Day 23 - Charlotte, NC - Cloudy Upper 50's:

Another relatively uneventful day, I woke up a bit earlier and headed to the gym again while Ben stayed home and caught up on Nip/Tuck. After lunch we headed to the US National Whitewater Rafting Center. It is quite a place! They have mountain biking trails, whitewater rafting (all man made), rock climbing, zip lines, whitewater kayaking, and flat water kayaking. Unfortunately they were not running the rapids while we were there but we knew that ahead of time. We went just for the ZIP LINE!!! It wasn't too big but it was a lot of fun. We paid for a one time trip but the guys were nice enough to let us go twice. We weren't able to get any pictures in the air ourselves but hopefully we will have one emailed to us soon as another lady got one and offered to send it to us!! After our zip line experience we headed back to Eric and Andy's where I (with some assistance from Ben) made a chicken parmigiana for dinner. Andrea and I spent the night watching a little So You Think You Can Dance, Biggest Loser, and 18 Kids and Counting while Ben worked on reading The Lost Symbol!

Day 24 - Charlotte, NC/Gaffney, SC/Greenville, SC - Partly Cloudy Upper 60's: No pictures.

Another morning, another trip to the gym. Not exciting to most but to me it's great. The foot is holding up, I ran 2 miles on Monday and haven't been able to run much since. I tried today but traded out for the elliptical...another day of rest and we'll try again. Once we got back we packed up and headed toward Greenville to have our Happy Thanksgiving. Andrea and Eric weren't too far behind and we had planned to stop in Gaffney at the outlets so we anticipated arriving at the same time. We made it to the outlets and did a little more shopping than I had planned. I really needed a couple of things but mostly sneakers which I did not find!! We hit the road again and just a couple of miles away from Peg and Dave's, Ben spotted an Olympia Sports type store. We stopped in and they had my shoes and they were on SALE!!! So now I have new sneakers which will hopefully help my foot as well!!

When we arrived at the Setta home, Eric and Andy had just arrived. We all got settled and then Eric began his BRINE for the turkey. It was quite a process but the turkey is soaking now for the night. Once that was done the boys headed out to pick up their race packets. They are running an 8k in the morning so they wanted to get all their stuff tonight. Dave had kindly prepared dinner for us to put in the oven when we were ready...both he and Peg worked late. We ended up cooking late enough for Peg to join us. After dinner the girls hung out downstairs while the boys worked out with the Wii Fit! Dave arrived home later and we all caught up for a bit before he and Peg headed to bed...they have to work early tomorrow. Andrea and I rented My Sisters Keeper (TEAR JERKER ALERT) while the boys did other stuff. Now we're all in bed, we have an early morning for the race and then a day FULL of cooking and family time. Dinners around 6ish so that all can join us after work.

I LOVE FAMILY TIME!

NC here we come!

Day 19 - Richmond, VA - Sunny and 70:

Well after we dried out from our camping in the rain we made our way into Richmond, VA for the day. We started out on Monument Drive where we admired statues of Arthur Ash, Robert E. Lee and General "Stonewall" Jackson. It was a beautiful day out so we decided to take a walk and made our way down to the Canal Walk. It's a walking path that took us along the James River. It then took us over the James River via suspension foot bridge to Belle Isle island where we saw an old Civil War Union prison camp. At it's peak the prison held as many as 10,000 prisoners but many died there because of the continuous exposure to the weather. We saw an old hydro electric power station that was used to power the city's tram up until the 1950's. This is also the only spot in America where there is a Class IV rapid within a metropolitan area. It didn't look very fierce from the shore but then again it was nothing compared to the Kennebec on a good day.

From the river we made our way to the Virginia State Capitol for a tour. We learned the building was designed by Thomas Jefferson while he was in France as an ambassador for the US. The building was designed after a Roman building and has an internal dome. We got to walk through the Virginia State Senate and see how there governmental system works. We left Richmond around three and drove to Chapel Hill to meet Jim and Lynne.

We arrived at Jim and Lynne's around dinner time. Being the FABULOUS hosts that they were, they had ordered pizza for dinner, printed out things that might interest us, and had a room all ready. We were so excited to be staying with them!!

Day 20 - Durham, NC - Sunny in the low 60's:

We took Jim and Lynne's recommendation and made our way to the Weaver Street Market in Carrboro. This was a very organic community and they had a great health food store and many shops. We also visited the farmers market going on and bought some veggies to restock the cooler.

From there we went to the Washing Duke Homestead Museum, which is a old tobacco farm. We had a great guide on our tour that taught us all about how Washington Duke took his small tobacco farm and turned it into the largest tobacco company in the world. We also learned how tobacco is grown, harvested, cured, and dried before it can be sold or processed. It's one of the most labor intensive crops to grow and process. After returning from the civil war Washington Duke realized that he could grow the Golden Leaf Tobacco that was native to this part of North Carolina and sell it for a premium. He decided that selling tobacco was not profitable enough, so he transitioned into processing tobacco and sold his hand rolled cigarettes all over the country. Within a four year period his company had grown so fast that he had to build two different factories growing larger and larger. They soon moved into Durham and founded the American Tobacco Company which turned into the largest tobacco company in the world until the government broke it up. They were one of the first companies to produce machine rolled cigarettes and were the first tobacco company to really advertise. One of their first advertising methods was created by Washington's son "Buck". He decided to put scantily clad pictures of women on cards in the cigarette pack to appeal to men... but Washington being a devout Methodist didn't approve on this and told his son to stop, so instead Buck began putting pictures of baseball players into the packs...hence the beginning of BASEBALL CARDS! We then drove downtown to see the old tobacco factories and had lunch.

From there we went over to Duke University. We started by touring the Sarah P. Duke Garden's. The roses were still in bloom but most of the other plants were not blooming during this time of year. It's an amazing garden and surely must be beautiful in the spring. Next we made our way over to the campus and tried to tour the basketball arena but a there was a game that night and they wouldn't let us in. So, we walked over to the magnificent chapel and tried to look around but there was a private ceremony going on so we couldn't go inside. We could hear the organs from outside and they sound great. We walked around campus a bit more and noticed that everyone that goes to Duke has to wear Duke apparel all the time. I guess they have a lot of school spirit.

We drove back to Jim and Lynne's for a quick nap before dinner. We rode over to Pittsboro for dinner with Jim and Lynne at the Pittsboro General Store. It's a very unique place as all the decorations are from local artist and can be purchased. The Gravy Boys were planning for some dinner entertainment. They were a very southern style band with two guitars, a bass and a mandolin and reminded me of the band from the movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Day 21 - Chapel Hill, NC - Sunny and Mid 50's:

We departed our lovely hosts around 9:30am. We were sad to leave as they were outstanding and took GREAT care of us but we needed to finish up Chapel Hill and continue our journey.

After our day at Duke we had to tour the rival and much better (right Gretch and Lynne) UNC campus. We walked through the athletic fields and through the campus. It seems like a much newer and larger campus then Duke. After a couple hours walking around we jumped back into the car and headed to Charlotte to stay with Andrea and Eric for a couple days.

We got to the house in the early afternoon and spent a little time catching up. Eric was able to get us tickets to the Bobcat's game for tonight and watched the Bobcat's beat up on the Indiana Pacers. Very different atmosphere then a Celtics game but still very fun. There were a few special things while we were there. First we got to see Michael Jordan as he was there cheering on his team, there were a lot of UNC fans as Tyler Hansboro was playing for the Pacers, the UNC coach was in attendance, and there were some other former NBA players on hand. We grabbed some dinner after the game and headed back home to watch the Sunday night football game.

It's been a great few days and we are looking forward to some quality time with family in NC!

At Andrea's

Ben's turn....

VA is for Lovers...or at least that's what the t-shirts say....

Day 15 - Front Royal, VA / Skyline Drive - Hazy & Mid-50's:

So we got up fairly early to head out of DC and make the drive to Front Royal and the northern entrance of the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Forest. Heading out we had a couple of stops to make. First we ventured to a little known store in Maine LL BEAN! Ben needed to exchange some slippers and it turned out their is an LL Bean between DC and Front Royal. We were unimpressed when we arrived at 9:45am to find them closed. We felt as Maine residents we should be able to get in because it should be open 24 hours! From there we headed to the grocery store to stock up for our three days of camping. After that it was off to the drive. We arrived an started down Skyline. It is BEAUTIFUL. We had a less than perfect view as it was very hazy but let me tell you, that is the place to see foliage. It must be amazing because there are hardly any Evergreens leaving everything else to change colors. We made a quick stop at the Skyland "resort" to see if they had availability...Kris and Shana were meeting us on their way through to Florida. They did but we ended up recommending that they stay in Luray...closer to where we wanted to be in the morning and cheaper! After that Ben and I headed out for a hike. We did Stony Man followed by Little Stony Man Cliffs. It was a great hike but unfortunately the views at the top were not as spectacular as they could have been with the haze. Once we returned from our hike we headed into the campground....I think I've forgotten to mention the CRAZY number of deer. They were everywhere and completely unfazed by the people and cars. We would drive by and it was like we weren't even there. We stopped at the camp store for some firewood and then set up camp...I meant to take a picture but things got busy. We struggled with the fire as we are quite sure the wood the sold us was wet but we had a great steak dinner with potatoes and green beans nonetheless. We hit the tent early for some reading....it got quite chilly but we stayed warm with our sleeping bags and blankets.

Day 16 - Luray, VA / Skyline Drive - Cloudy 50's:

We woke up early and packed up the campsite...had a little breakfast at our picnic table before heading to Luray to meet Shana and Kris. We decided to shower in their room as it would be easier and more comfortable than the pay showers at the campground. Once we had all showered and packed lunches we headed over to the Luray Caverns. It had been told to us by Amy, Zach, Nicole, and Lonely Planet that we must see these. We were a bit hesitant but did it anyway. Let me say, they are a MUST see. It was incredible. I will post captions next to some of the photos but these pictures in no way do justice to what is like inside this nature made world. Some of these caverns are hundreds of thousand of years old and grow only centimeters every hundred years. It was just unbelievable and I recommend that everyone does it!! From there we headed back to Skyline Drive and pulled off to do a six mile hike that would take us to the highest waterfall in the park. These hikes can be deceiving. We hiked down almost the entire way to the waterfall because we started so high up...it was bizarre...nothing like Acadia. We then of course had to hike up to get back to the car. Unfortunately there weren't any great views for Kris and Shana to see but it was a wonderful hike and a good work out for all of us. After the hike we headed to drive to some of the outlooks for photos and even took a risk by standing in the tunnel that goes through the mountain...it was pretty cool. It's weird though because the tunnel feels like it's going to suck you in when you get close to it. After all our gallivanting we headed to Wal-Mart so Kris and Shana could get some dinner items and we headed back to the room. Ben cooked dinner for all of us out on the patio...a delicious dinner of chicken, rice, and salad. We ended up staying with Kris and Shana as it was just as cost effective as camping!

Day 17 - Skyline Drive / Crozet, VA - Foggy/Rainy Low 50's: (no photos)

We got up and headed into the hotel for our free continental breakfast before saying goodbye to Kris and Shana...we'll see them in Florida. Ben and I hung out in the hotel for a bit waiting for it to warm up before we headed hiking. We started down the Skyline Drive only to realize that hiking was not in the forecast. It was SO foggy, a BIT rainy, and VERY cold. On top of that Ben started not feeling to hot...he napped as I drove to the next exit from the Skyline Drive and headed toward Charlottesville, VA. We drove around the campus of the University of Virginia...started and designed by Thomas Jefferson before heading to our campsite. As we got closer to our site the fog started to be more of a drizzle. Still we checked the forecast and it said passing showers so we knew we'd be fine. We set up camp and did some accounting before cooking dinner. Tonight we shared a piece of chicken and a piece of steak with some corn and garlic toast. It could not have been better timing as no sooner did we finish than it began to rain. We started a movie in our tent before our computers died and then turned to our books before falling asleep. Now, about these "passing showers" they never stopped passing. It RAINED and RAINED all night. I was awoken on a number of occasions by the loud rain...fortunately our tent stayed dry!!

Day 18 - Monticello, VA - Rainy 60's:

We awoke to our tent being surrounded by a large puddle of water. We waited until it sounded like the rain was letting up and quickly packed up our site. We headed to the showers to clean up before heading to Monticello. This was the home and final resting place of Thomas Jefferson...the writer of the Declaration of Independence. His estate is AMAZING. Gug and Gramma you would LOVE the vegetable gardens and the flower beds. You can smell the veggies and herbs as soon as you walk near the garden. His home is a unique blend of architecture styles and is quite interesting. He started this as an eight room house only to expand it to twenty-one rooms once he returned from France as the US Ambassador. There was so much information given to us that at times it was difficult to keep up. We were not able to take photos in the house and most of the pictures outside are a bit fuzzy as it was raining. A neat feature...all the beds in the house are in alcoves. It was a french space saving technique that Jefferson really liked and so had all his beds built that way...Dolly Madison (wife of President James Madison) did not like it but did enjoy Jefferson's company and so would visit anyway. It was an interesting place to be knowing that the man who said "all men are created equal" had at one time or another 140 enslaved people on his property. In his life he only freed five of his slaves. It was apparently something that Jefferson struggled with but felt it was a battle that later generations would have to fight. Another interesting thing I learned was that there was great evidence that years after Martha Jefferson passed away Jefferson had a relationship with Sally Hemmings (a slave) and even fathered her children! Some will argue one way and others another. Either way I wouldn't be shocked. Monticello was an incredible place to visit even though it rained the entire time we were there. I hope to someday return in the spring. We can now check it off our list of eight places every American should see!!! We are now in a hotel (out of the rain) in Richmond, VA. We will do a bit of exploring here tomorrow before heading to Chapel Hill, NC to visit Gretchen's Mom!!

A Whole Lot of DC

Day 14 - Washington, DC - Sunny & 70:

SO I am going to recap what we have done in the last two days...it's a lot so if I get tired and write more later, forgive me.

We got up early on Saturday and headed to Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast before heading into town! We only had a few things on the agenda but they were GREAT!

Holocaust Memorial/Museum - I believe that everyone should visit this memorial/museum. It is incredibly overwhelming and takes an incredibly long time. We were there for 2.5 hours and there is no way that we saw everything. They do not allow photos so you won't find any here.

The Capitol Building - We were able to tour the Capitol which was really neat. I have done this once before but it was in 4th grade so getting a new perspective was nice. If you look at the pictures of the Rotundra painting look at the one with all the ladies. There is one man there...can you find him and do you know who he is. We were able to see/learn that on Inauguration Day there is a Marine helicopter waiting in the back of the capitol to take the departing President away. We were able to see the hall where the new President walks and is inaugurated. We went into the hall of statues where we stood in hot spots. Here you can whisper and someone across the room can hear you clear as day...it was so weird. Our tour guide was great as Zach and I have finished The Lost Symbol and Nicole is about to do so...she was sure to point out all the different features that are in the book for us!

The White House - You can't come to DC and not visit the White House. It is a beautiful home and looks even more impressive at night. Ben and I each got a view that we had never seen simply by walking around the building. Obama wasn't home but we could see a few people watching TV inside. We had attempted to get passes through Olympia Snowe's office to tour the White House but we didn't start the process early enough and were unable to go inside. Until next time I guess....

Five Guys - A great burger joint. They were DELICIOUS and all it was hyped to be by Nicole and Zach!

On Sunday we woke up to the smells of Nicole and Zach making us breakfast. We had egg sandwiches that were DELICIOUS. From the apartment we headed in for another day of exploring the history found here!

Smithsonian Museum of American History - Not quite as exciting as I remember it from my childhood but we did get to see the FIRST American Flag (no pictures allowed), Kermit the Frog and the Ruby Slippers! We toured Abraham Lincoln's life which was impressive as I'm sure you all know. We then headed to the basement to view Julia Child's Kitchen!! Gug can you believe that with all her money and fame she loved her $429 stove so much....We only had about an hour to spend here and so we didn't get to see it all. I would love to come back and devote an entire day to each museum.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History - Here we spent all of our time in the Gems/Stones/Mining exhibit. Again we only had about an hour to spend in the museum but it was well spent. They have some of the most amazing gems I have ever seen. I swear that I have been to this museum ever year of the Freedom Tour and have gone to the Hope Diamond every time but for some reason I never made it to the gems and stones section. Ben and I really want to get back here in the near future to futher explore this museum in particular.

STUDENTS - Visit this part of the museum, it is so cool to see how the gems grow!! Some of them look like hair, like columns, it's nothing like you would expect and yes even boys will appreciate the beautiful diamonds....they're ENORMOUS!

Washington Monument - This was something I have not done since I was in the 4th grade and I was so happy that we did it today. Rising up 500ft above Washington, DC is so impressive. The layout is beautiful and is not truly displayed in photographs. Inside the walls there are commemorative stones from different cities, states, and people who helped when the funding ran low during construction. They have done a great deal of work to make the monument a beautiful place for visitors. Be sure to get there early for tickets as they are FREE but often gone by 11am.

Memorials - From the Washington Monmument we made our way to the WWII, Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, Jefferson, and Franklin Roosevelt Memorials and Monuments. All of these are so moving and impressive to view first hand. The Lincoln, site of the MLK I Have A Dream Speech really makes you feel empowered. Looking out over the reflecting pool the Washington Monument and the Capitol truly shows what America stands for. Without question my favorite memorial is the FDR. It is beautiful and spread out with lots of fountains and quotes. Ben also enjoyed this very much!

Marine Corps Memorial - I never really had a grasp for what happened at Iwo Jima until I went on the Freedom Tour and listned as Joel and Phil (the tour directors) read this story. I then watched Flags of Our Fathers which I think everyone should watch before visiting this memorial. STUDENTS it is something that you should watch with your parents permission and company! This is an incredibly powerful memorial once you understand the true magnitude of what occurred.

Pentagon Memorial - We visited the Memorial to those who died at the Pentagon on September 11th. This includes those who were on the plane as well as those who were in the Pentagon. The memorial is incredibly unique and will likely not make sense if I explain it on here but I will try. The benches are in chronological order starting with the youngest victim to the oldest. The benches have the name of the victim on the end and face two directions. They name faces the building if they were killed on the plane, this is so when you look at the name you are looking at the direction the plane came from. Below the bench in the water will list who the victim was traveling with on the plane (they have their own bench as well). The names facing away from the Pentagon are those who were killed in the building so when you are looking at their names you are looking at the building. There is one victim who has a memorial at the Pentagon as well as in NYC this is because they were killed at the World Trade Center but in fact their office was at the Pentagon. It was a beautiful memorial representing each person individually but together as a mass.
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We are now back at the apartment. We made nachos and pulled pork sandwiches to watch the Patriots/Indy game. We have had amazing hosts for the last two days and are sad to leave them but tomorrow we are off to the Shenandoah National Forest for hiking and camping. We are supposed to have great weather for Monday and Tuesday so we should have a great time. We likely won't have internet again until Thursday so we'll catch up with you then.

Love!

We're off to see the President?

Day 13 - Washington, DC - Overcast & 60:

Blog to come...enjoy the pictures! Anna if you read this and have any advice on the blurry night photos we'd love to hear it!!

Headed to DC

Day 12 - Mt. Vernon - RAINY and 50's:

Hi Everyone -

We started the day in Greenbelt, MD and headed into Zach and Nicole's place to pick up passes to Mt. Vernon. They were gracious enough to share their passes so that we wouldn't have to pay to get into the grounds.

We had a great day exploring Mt. Vernon, the childhood and adult home of George Washington. We were able to explore his mansion, the grounds, the farm, view his original tomb and see his current resting place. We were even able to go into the basement of the mansion with the National Treasure 2 Tour. A small portion of the movie was filmed at Mt. Vernon. After lunch the rain let up a little we were able to get a better view of the grounds. The view from his porch was INCREDIBLE.

Once we finished at Mt. Vernon we headed back towards DC. We decided to visit Arlington National Cemetery as it is not far from Zach and Nicole's. We were able to visit the Kennedy Graves, the Space Shuttle Memorials, the Mast of the USS Maine, and the changing of the guard. Once the guard changing was done we were politely asked to leave as after 5pm the cemetery becomes a military area only.

We met up with Nicole and Zach at their apartment and headed out for some dinner and drinks. We are now back at the apartment watching some tv before hitting the hay. We've gotta be up early for our Capitol Building Tour.

Check Ya Lata!

Leaving Philadelphia...

Day 11 - Philadelphia - Rainy and low 50's:

No photos today! We spent the day walking the streets of Philadelphia (insert music here). We went into the Reading Terminal Market...so cool...and bought some fresh fruit and vegetables for our dinner.

Once we had our food we headed out for Greenbelt, MD. We made a quick pit stop at the Christina Mall in Newark, DE to visit April for a few minutes. She hung out with us at the mall until she had to go and get ready for work. It was a quick visit but as always nice to see a familiar face!

We are now in our hotel room at the Residence Inn in Greenbelt, MD. I am becoming a big fan of this style of hotel as it has a kitchen, FREE breakfast, and laundry. We are currently doing our laundry and just finished eating a DELICIOUS stir-fry made by Ben. Tomorrow we head into DC. Nicole and Zach have left their passes to Mt. Vernon so we can pick them up and head out there for a visit. Then it's back into the city and meet up with Nicole and Zach. We'll try to report tomorrow but it may be tough.

Talk to you later!

Philadelphia 11.11

Day 10 - Philadelphia - Cloudy and Showers - Mid 50s:

After seeing the weather report last night, we decided to have a bit of a rest day today and slept in and just lounged around the hotel room in the morning and made sandwiches for lunch. After lunch we headed out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to find the Rocky statue. The statue used to be at the top of the steps made famous during Rocky's training run in the movie but the "fine art fanatics" did not think the statue was worthy to be in front of their museum, so Rocky has been moved down to the bottom right part of the stairs. We then did our best Rocky impressions and ran up the steps to pose for victory pictures at the top. Then we walked to the Philadelphia City Hall and posed with the LOVE sculpture and the many board game pieces laid out about the square.

We then headed to the Reading Terminal Market which is a great indoor public market with lots of food vendors and fresh produce, it reminded me of the old Portland Public Market but about twice the size. We decided that we will head back to the market tomorrow to pick up some food for the next leg of our trip.

From here we walked about two and a half miles to the nearest movie theater and watched Michael Jackson's This Is It movie. Even though I'm not the biggest Michael Jackson fan it was a good movie and give us a glimpse of the music genius he really was. The whole movie goes through the different songs and rehearsals he was preparing for his London tour. I would suggest the movie to everyone even if your not a huge fan.

For dinner we headed over to the famous Jim's Steaks so I could get a Philly cheese steak. I have decided that they really are better in Philly.

Now back in the hotel packing up and getting ready for our next adventure in Washington, DC.

Take care everyone

Philadelphia 11.10

Day 9 - Philadelphia - Cloudy Near 65:

Day one in Philly. The day began with Ben heading out for a run and I headed to the hotel gym. Ben ran to the famous Rocky Steps!!! He ran up them and down them looking for the Rocky statue which he was not able to find...we're going to head back tomorrow to see what we can find. Once we both finished our workouts we ventured into the city.

Our first stop was the US Mint. It was clearly a slow money making day as it wasn't until the end of our self guided tour that we actually started to see THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of pennies being created. We were also able to see some special medals being created as the Philadelphia Mint makes many of the special medals for the US. We learned a great deal about money making. For example: It take 60 tons of pressure to create a quarter, 30 tons to make a penny, and 46 to make a dime. The Philadelphia branch also makes almost all of the pennies in the US. Lastly, at one point it took 3 years to make 1 million coins at the mint...today it takes 30 minutes.

From the Mint we headed over to the Federal Reserve building. Here we went through the Money In Motion exhibit. At any one time the Philadelphia Reserve has between 6-7 billion dollars in the vaults below where we were standing. Something interesting, the average one dollar bill stays in circulation an average of 21 months while the hundred dollar bill lasts 8 years. This begs the question what happens to the other dollar bills? They are shredded. The Reserve shreds on average one hundred million dollars each week! As a parting gift we were each given $100 dollars in shredded money. We considered gluing it back together but it just wasn't working!!

From there we headed over to see Benjamin Franklin's final resting place. He along with four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried within steps of where they signed that important document! Next we went to Independence Hall we were able to tour the actual building where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were signed. An interesting note, George Washington did not sign the Declaration of Independence because he was busy with the war at the time (think Valley Forge). Again as with Valley Forge, knowing that you are standing in a place where the great men who created our country truly stood is an awe inspiring feeling. We then headed over to the Liberty Bell. As you head toward the bell you are able to see the history of the bell and many neat artifacts from the years of history that have followed the bell.

Another side note you may have noticed a picture from Valley Forge that looked like the Liberty Bell. That was actually the Justice Bell. It is an exact replica of the Liberty Bell with the world Justice added. This traveled the country during the time that women were trying to get the right to vote. The bell never rang until the day women were granted that right.

After the bell we headed toward Franklin Court. We got side tracked for a minute at Carpenter's Hall where the US Congress first met. It was here that the first documents ever created by a US Congress were signed into law. We got back on track and took a tour of Benjamin Franklin's property. It is a neat sight because they have plexi-glass that looks down into the ground where you can see pieces of the original foundation of his home.

Our second to last stop of the day was the National Park Services Living History Center. Here you are able to see archeologist working on piecing together history. They have tons of small pieces of dishes/glasses/furntiure that they are putting back together. We learned that they do not generally dig for the sake of digging but rather they dig when new construction is beginning. Most of what they have are from a dig done when they were building the Constitution Center.

We ended our day at Washington Square viewing the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. While this is different from the one in Arlington, it is in memory of all the men buried below the park who fought during the Revolutionary War.

After Washington Square we made our way back to hotel room for a little rest before we headed out for dinner. We managed to find a nice sports bar where we ate and watched the Bruins game!!

We are now back in our room where we are getting ready for sleep!!!! Tomorrow who knows...

Thanks for reading!
Love.

Lancaster & Valley Forge 11.9

Day 8 - Lancaster & Valley Forge - Sunny Near 70

So we started our day in Lancaster County, PA. It was a beautiful sunny day and we ventured into Amish Country. We began with a horse and buggy ride through the country and stopped at a local Amish Farm. (While interesting, I do not reccommend this as it was more expensive than we anticpated and not quite worth it). Once we finished the tour, we took a beautiful car ride through the sprawling fields of farm land. It is amazing to see homes that have no power lines attached to them, where homes have clothes lines full of laundry, and where children play outside. I am jealous of their lifestyle in so many ways and then of course realize the luxuries I have and would not want to be without.

A few notes about the Amish.
1. There are two variations. Amish and Mennonite.
2. The Amish use no electricity, the Mennonite do.
3. The Amish drive gray buggies, the Mennonite black buggies.
4. The Amish have church in their homes, the Mennonite congregate a churches.
5. There are Amish and Mennonite who drive cars.

We finished our time in Amish Country with lunch at the Squireside Cafe. It was nothing special but good nonetheless.

Once we left Lancaster County we headed toward Philadelphia. I took a brief nap and awoke to Ben pulling off to visit Valley Forge National Park. He saw the sign and decided to stop. It turned out to be a great stop!

Valley Forge became famous during the Revolutionary War as the winter encampment for George Washington and the Continental Army. No battles were ever fought here but it was a turning point in the war without fighting. We were able to tour George Washington's home as he lived in it when he came here as Commander in Chief and the General of the Army. It was really special to know that as we walked up the stairs to the bedrooms we were touching the same banister (the exact same one) as George and Martha Washington, Benedict Arnold, and most likely Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and a host of other important historical fixtures. After our guided tour we headed out to tour the entire encampment. It wasn't a long trip but the mounds built for protection during the Revolutionary War are still there. *Side Note: There are an incredible number of deer. We probably saw 35 deer in the hour that we drove around the park.** After driving around we went to Washington's Church. The church is still in service today and has a congregation. As you can see in the pictures the pews have army men carved into them and Washington's name carved into his pew!

The church was our last top in Valley Forge and we actually used the parking lot as our repacking station. We got things organized so that when we got into Philadelphia we would be good to go. We arrived at the Latham Hotel (thanks to Joyce and Ashley). We made sandwiches in the room and watched a little t.v. before hitting the hay!

Enjoy the pictures!

The Battle of Gettysburg 11.08

Day 7 - Gettysburg - Sunny and 70

So, I guess I'm slacking by not posting on this blog the minute that anything happens on our trip. I'll try to be more on top of it so I don't keep all our fans waiting.

To re-cap we spent a glorious day at Gettysburg National Historic Park on Sunday. We started the day at the visitor center and debated on whether to take a bus tour or doing a CD guided auto tour. We decided to go with the CD auto tour because it would give us more freedom at the sites and enjoy some more time in the car together.

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought during July 1, 2 and 3 of 1863 and was one of the critical and bloodiest battles of the entire civil war. The Union army lost 23,000 men while the Confederate army lost 28,000 men over the course of the three day battle. We started the tour on McPherson's Ridge where the battle started and then moved onto the Eternal Light Peace Memorial which was dedicated in July of 1913 when 50,000 Union and Confederate men came back for the 50th anniversary of the battle. The monuments flame has burned since the dedication in 1913. We then made our back through town and over to the North Carolina and Virginia Memorials. Heather really had to use the bathroom, so we stopped for lunch at the amphitheater and had a nice picnic lunch out of the station wagon.

Once back on the road we stopped at the numerous monuments along the outer left edge of the battlefield and then made our way to Big Round Top which is the highest point in Gettysburg but not a great place to fight because it was a heavily wooded area. We stopped and hiked to the top where we saw the 16th Maine regiment. Heather of course wore sandals and her broken foot was not feeling that great from the hike. We head back to the car and onto Little Round Top where the famed 20th Maine regiment lead by Joshua Chamberlain fought and "held the line at all hazards." This was a turning point in the war because the were able to drive back the Confederate's and keep the left end of the battle intact. We then moved onto the Wheatfield which was the spot of the bloodiest fight over the course of the three days and it was said if you fell in this field you would fall onto the body of another soldier. It took almost four days for some of the wounded to be found and treated in this field. We then raced past the Peach Orchard and Plum Run to the Pennsylvania Memorial which is the largest monument in the park. There happened to be an Indian wedding taking pictures, so we got to see a different type of wedding with a lot of men and only the bride. We then lost some history steam and made our way over to the eastern part of the battlefield and Culps Hill. Finally we drove to the Angle and High Water Mark where the Union army defeated the Confederate army on July 3, 1863. That was then end of the CD auto tour and we learned a great deal about the battle and the historic national park.
Heather then lead us into town to the David Wills House where it's believed that Abraham Lincoln finished the Gettysburg Address and then to the Soldiers National Cemetery where Lincoln delivered his speech.

After a full four and a half hours of history we were tired and drove to Lancaster for dinner and the night.