The Magic of Disney

Day 10 -- 1/12/10

We spent the day in Epcot today.  The last time we were in Disney was 5 years ago and the kids were just 3 and 4 years old.  Needless to say we spent most of our time in the Magic Kingdom that go round.  This time we had the pleasure of seeing all the wonders of Epcot - or at least a few of the wonders of Epcot.  We could have spent at least 3 days there alone and have vowed to come back when we can do just that.  Two days at Disney is just tourture but we made the most of it.  My favorite thing in Epcot-- a ride called Soarin' where you virtually fly over some of the most beautiful land in the western U.S.  Kind of cool since we'll be seeing much of it from ground level in just a few weeks.  I also really enjoyed the different countries.  We waited to do that portion of Epcot until much too late in the day.  Next time that will be first on the agenda.  What a neat way to get a taste of the different cultures.  So fun.

I was happy to see a replica of the Terra Cotta Soldiers - it made missing the exhibit in D.C. not so bad.

 Japan - This woman was amazing -- sculpting any requested creatures from hot "candy" in about 2-3 mins. Her creations were incredible and much to the delite of the onlooking children (young and old alike).

Oh Boy!

Days 9 -- Monday 1/11/10 
We had such fun today revisiting Disney’s Magic Kingdom.  We spent the night with our friends (who live just minutes from the world of Mickey – quite convenient) and buzzed right over there this morning.  We had a great time riding rides, watching the parades and eating really expensive and unhealthy food. 

Kerby and Joelle taking the pirates' oath with Cap'n Jack Sparrow

 

 

Blast Off

Day 8 – Sunday 1/10/10
We headed over to the Kennedy Space Center today to check out our space program.  What an impressive place!  We had a blast (hee hee).  Actually we did do the Launch Experience (simulator) which they say is pretty realistic.  I can’t vouch for its authenticity, but I will say it was lots of fun.  The shuttle Endeavor was on the launch pad and while we couldn’t get a great look at it, it was pretty special just knowing it was out there and getting prepped for its launch on February 7.  It’s totally amazing all that goes into building, moving, launching and returning these things.  I never really appreciated it before now.  We learned a ton about the older rockets, the newer shuttles and the International Space Station.

I bit of trivia - apparently this flag on one of the NASA buildings is the largest flag in the world.  The stars on this flag each measure 6 ft. across. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/behindscenes/vab_flag.html

The Sunshine State

This would be a picture of my happy husband as he walks out of the Sun Coast RV store in Jacksonville with a new crank (only $10)!  Yea!

AARC moose coming into the big city of Orlando!

Day 5 - 1/7/10
Lovin’ it here in Orlando.  Somehow all the palms make it seem warmer than it is -- they just look warm.  The campground we’re staying in (Bill Frederick Park at Turkey Lake) is gorgeous and we hardly notice all of the gargantuan buses around us (not!).  Lemon, orange and Clementine trees are all around us and full of fruit that needs to be picked before it freezes (a dirty job but someone has to do it).  Beauty and free food - what more could we want?  Okay. . . maybe a little warm weather would be nice.

Me climbing in a clementine tree - just trying to rescue the fruit before it freezes.

Enjoying the fruits of my labor (tee hee)

Trying to stay warm takes lots of fleece

We’re one of two pop-ups in the whole campground.  Funny enough the other PUP houses a homeschool family as well.  I have to tell all my homeschool friends – this family homeschooled all 11 of their kids (nope, no typo there!) in New Hampshire before any of the schools even knew what to do with homeschoolers.   I bowed down to this mom (who looks not a day over 40).  She’s one of our pioneering moms who paved the way.  They have the same PUP as ours though it’s seen a little more action, understandably so.  They only have their “babies” with them on this trip – the three youngest – 19, 18, and 16.  I’m amazed at how sane and young the mother is – I promise to try and figure out her secrets.  Scott wants to interview them. . . . we’ll see.

We stopped briefly in St. Augustine on the way down to Orlando.  We didn't spend a lot of time because we didn't want to set up the PUP in the freezing dark - not fun.  But we were able to stroll down St. George Street and walk over to the oldest port in the U.S.  We even got to see the oldest wooden schoolhouse in the U.S.  (not much different from the pubic schools of today. . . just kidding).

Who's cranky now?

Day 4 - 1/6/10 
On the road to Orlando, having left Savannah.  Unfortunately we didn’t see much of Savannah.  I’m still trying to figure out how a 2 hour drive from Charleston to Savannah turned into 7 hours in the car. One cause – we realized as we pulled into the Savannah area that we had left something very important back in Charleston (no, it wasn’t the camper, but it’s close).  We realized that someone (who shall remain nameless) forgot to take the crank handle out of the back of the camper when he were done closing up.  Apparently it jiggled out and is laying somewhere on the highway between Charleston and Savannah.  To make things even more interesting we learned (after visiting and calling several RV dealers) that Fleetwood (who bought out Coleman) has now gone out of business so no one sells Fleetwood campers any longer and thus very few will have the crank that fits our pop-up.  Without the crank to raise the pop-up we’re pretty much stuck to hotels.  Luckily we had already planned to stay in a hotel last night since it’s so dang cold and it just didn’t seem worth the work of setting up for one night (especially when we’re freezing our booties off). 


So, we’re on the road to Orlando by way of Jacksonville where we think a guy has a crank that will work.  I’m sure he won’t charge us much since he knows we’re 600 miles from home and totally dependent on getting this crank.  Ha!


Scott just read an article on the AP about how this cold snap in Florida is lasting longer than they’ve seen in years and is threatening the crops.  Needless to say, we’re feeling a little irritated that the two weeks we’ll be in FL there’s going to be record lows the entire time.  At this point we’re starting to laugh though.  What are the odds, really?!? 

We’re enjoying the landscape – the beautiful live oaks covered in Spanish moss, the palm trees, the flowers.  We had a great dinner last night at my cousin’s house in a beautiful area of Savannah.  It was great spending the evening with them and catching up.  Their boys, Collin and Evan, were the perfect hosts and Kerby and Joelle enjoyed them immensely.

Okay, time to get some schoolwork done while I have them trapped in the car (insert evil laugh).  More later.

Day 1

We did it! We actually left Richmond and have officially embarked on our journey.  I can’t believe it’s truly here.  I’m totally psyched! 

It was 17 degrees this morning when we left. We kept hoping for warmer temps as we headed south but it never got above 40 even in the mid afternoon.  Needless to say, here we are, camping in Charleston, SC and it’s in the low 20s.  Our little heater is working hard but not exactly making things toasty in here. I’ve got on long johns, fleece pajamas, a hat and wool socks and I can tell it won’t be enough.  Scott has on a black ski mask (which makes him look like a ninja).  The kids are asleep under about 5 layers of fleece blankets.  Dang it’s cold! 

However, we had a nice surprise that warmed our hearts if not our toes.  The campground we’re in (James Island County Park) does a Festival of Lights every holiday season and tonight was the last night.  It was quite impressive.  We drove around and enjoyed the last of the festive holiday event.  This is a great campground.  We’ll definitely be back for a longer stay sometime in the future (during a warmer season!)

Day 2 - 1/4/10
Woke up to continuing freezing temps but the important thing is that we did wake up.  There was some doubt in my mind at several points during the night.

We went into downtown Charleston this morning, walked around, shopped in the market and then grabbed a bite to eat at Moe’s. Charleston has such an old time charm with all of its row houses, quaint restaurants, galleries and waterways.  I love it here.

Kerby decided to test out a wall-scaling tactic that he read about recently in the book “Crispin and the Cross of Lead” since he had access to some narrowly spaced brick walls. 

Not something you can see every day in Charleston – a water fountain that’s working on becoming a glacier.

We also took the kids to one of our favorite spots – a place we first (and last) saw 11.5 yrs ago on our honeymoon.  Angel Tree is a 300-400 yr old live oak that is now preserved and protected in a small park environment.  I wonder how many storms, people, animals and insects this tree has experienced in its lifetime.

We leave tomorrow a.m. for Savannah, GA to join my cousin for the evening.  They have two sons about Kerby and Joelle’s age.  Should be fun.

Cold Feet?

Brrrrrr!  I’m thinking about how cold it is out there and how nice and toasty it is in here by the fire.  Record low temperatures across the southern U.S. but, we won’t let it stop us. . . maybe delay us for a day or two. . . but not stop us!  We’ve all been feeling a little melancholy about leaving all of our friends, family and pets behind.  It’s been hard to say goodbye even though we know it’s just for a short while.  Friends and family have been so generous with gifts, visits, and hugs (not to mention, taking care of all of our pets while we’re gone).  We’ve gotten a great send-off.

The Christmas decorations are all put away.  The pets have all been delivered to their temporary homes.  We blasted off a few rockets at the Walsh's annual New Years Day Rocket Launch.  We’re mostly packed up at this point with only a few last minute items to be added.  It’s been an interesting exercise —figuring out what we “really need.”  Of course Kerby “needs” his Star Wars figures, Joelle “needs” her fingernail polish and 3,000 markers, Scott “needs” every electronic gadget we own and I “need” my 6 pairs of shoes and 4 knitting projects.  It’s amazing what we think we can’t live without.  I dare say we may not have room for food or people on this trip. Though I'll admit, it ain't easy to squeeze 4 month's worth of clothing into a 20"x15"x10" bin.  What's the old addage. . . 10 lbs. of ---- in a 5 lb. bag. If you want to challenge yourselves this New Years take a few minutes to create your own list.  What would you “really need” to feel secure when away from home for four months?  You might be surprised by the things that make the cut.  Of course, the things I thought I’d want to take 6 months ago are not at all the same things I find myself packing now that the moment is here. I hope I find that I didn’t need nearly as much “stuff” as I thought I did.  When did I become so attached to material things and comfort?  The funniest part of it is that we’re packing as if we were taking off to some remote and deserted corner of the earth when the truth is we’ll probably never be more than an hour away from a WalMart (sad but true). 

Another challenging task has been deciding what we’ll eat on this trip.  On top of limited space, we have a very limited budget and we’ve all agreed that we’d rather spend our money on fun instead of food (aren’t they really just one and the same?)  However, this of course excludes things like beignets at Café du Monde, fried peach pies in GA and authentic Mexican food in San Antonio (all worth-the-splurge according to my friend Kristi) but, beyond that, how does a family of four eat healthy while camping for 4 months?  To date, our camping menus have consisted mostly of hot dogs, hobo packs and s’mores – not exactly health food!  But I’m convinced it’s not impossible to produce healthy, and even tasty, food from a pop up.  The crock pot, Dutch oven, microwave and toaster oven should help a bit (smile). Who says you can’t have it all?

No cold feet here (not yet anyway).  We’re ready to go!   See ya on the road.