Trip with kids

I haven't been on here for quite a while, but too much trouble to bring my computer to work if I want to upload pics so this is just going to be a narrative.

We took Ashlyn and Colten camping for their spring break. We went to Lake Corpus Christi State Park from Sat. through Thur. Larry had been wanting to take Colten lake fishing and it is just too hot in the summer to do that so we went early this year. They didn't do any good on the jug lines, but Colten managed to get enough fish to fix for supper one evening so that made him very happy. Ashlyn and I hung out at the camp and took walks and bike rides and watched the birds at the bird feeder. Taught the kids to play "onsetzen" (straight dominoes) and they got really good at it and Colten wanted to play all the time. I thought that was pretty cute. Colten did say the cutest thing after Ashlyn started to complain how much Opie would stink from the bait. He told her that Opie didn't stink, he smelled like a good day fishing. Did I ever laugh. Then Ashlyn got Opie good when she told him to hoist the anchor and he forgot and then later on noticed that the anchor was still down. Ashlyn's comment was "Sure, don't listen to the teenager." They are sooooo entertaining.

Anyway, maybe some day it will be easier for me to post pics, but right now it is nothing but a pain so just try to picture us at the lake, in the boat, at the beach (and even though it was cold the kids just had to get in), eating at The Big Fisherman which is yummy and of course eating way too much icecream and candy because that is what the kids want to eat and if they are going to eat so are we :) Well that is about it for now. If I ever get high speed internet (hahahahaha) I will post pics.

Later.

These are pictures from Skyline Drive and we also drove just a short distance on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

This is me on the Appalachian trail. That is about as far as I could get. Maine seemed a really long way away.

The views from the ridges were incredible. This was our last day and night in Virginia. The next day we started the long trail back to Texas. We got home Sat. evening and unloaded a few things and then parked our butts in our recliners and were glad to not be moving anymore. Great trip and one we won't forget soon and a great visit with the kids (that was the best part). See you next time.

The following pics are from our jount to PA, ML, WV and back to VA. We went to Gettysburg and did an auto tour of the battlefields and then drove to WV to Harpers Ferry (the picture with the church). This is where the Shannadoah and Potomac rivers meet. The picture with Abe is at Gettysburg. Then of course there are more trees. I do love the colors of the trees.

Here is the confluence of the two rivers from the top of Jefferson's rock. One river comes in from the left and you can't really see it in this shot.

Here is Abe and us. Didn't know we were so tight did ya?

This is Larry and Clare. Clare is Cody and Lisa's cat and she weighs 14 lbs. She was only able to sit there because she is Lisa's pet. No other cat would have lasted that long. The next day we drove the skyline drive. Pics to follow.

Fall leaves

I only took one picture today and it was of the outside of the Holocost Museum. No pictures allowed inside, but I wouldn't have wanted to take any anyways. So instead I thought I would brighten up the blog with fall leaves. The colors are just unbelievable. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I have enjoyed looking at them here.

We are at Cody and Lisa's tonight and not sure yet what we are going to do tomorrow. On Thursday we want to slowly start heading south. We want to drive the Skyline Drive and then some of the Blue Ridge Parkway. And then of course the long, long, long, long drive home. Did I mention long? I don't think there will be any fall foliage up in the higher elevations, but maybe looking down into the valleys there may still be some color. We will see.

Having one-on-one time with the kids has been great. I feel we get to know them a little better this way and they are doing great here (much better than Larry and I would). I am thinking that we will be glad to be home with no one within a mile of us. There are way too many people here and they are all crowded into too small a space and all wanting to get to the same place at the same time. It is just crazy. Again, no one pays any attention to the speed limit signs, rain or no rain. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that it rained today and I guess that is why there were so many people at the Museum today. There was so much to see there and read that it would have taken us two or three days to go through it all. It was sad enough as it was, not sure that I could have handled reading everything.

Anyway, happy trails for tomorrow and no looking at something so tragic.

Mount Vernon and Pentagon Memorial

There are two blogs posted today so that I could get Mount Vernon and the Pentagon Memorial in along with our visit to Washington....so don't stop with this one.

Below is the view from the back of Mount Vernon. Talk about a prime piece of property. The next picture is of the front of the house. The inside was beautiful. The ceilings were very intricate (no pictures allowed) and so was the furniture. Can't even imagine living the way these people did (of course they did have to use an outhouse so maybe it wasn't so great).

The next pictures are of the Pentagon Memorial. It is kind of strange and I don't really understand the purpose of the benches with a little reflecting pool under it. They are all aimed in the same direction, even though some face one way and others the other way, which is the direction that the plane came from and they are put into rows according to the year they were born. The years went all the way from 1930 to 1998.

In the background (the three prongs pointing up) is the Airforce Memorial.

Keep reading. The next blog takes us to Arlington Cemetery and Washington D.C.

Arlington Cemetery,Washington D.C.

Okay, so Larry and I road the Metro today to Arlington Cemetary and Washington D.C. That was a whole new experiece for us. We have never been on a public train like this before. It was really strange, but no one made eye contact and no one talked. I guess no one wanted to be disturbed. Oh well. Drew and Marissa gave very good instructions and we had no problems finding the stops we needed.

Here is one of many pictures of Arlington Cemetery. This was a very humbling experience to know that so many people have died to keep us free. As they say "freedom is not free" and this really brings it home.
Next stop was the Mall in Washington D.C. We walked from the Metro stop to the Capital around the mall to the Washington Monument, past the World War II Memorial, up to the Lincoln Memorial and over to the Korean Memorial and back to the Metro stop. Needless to say Larry and my legs were sooooooooooooooo tired by the end of that, but it certainly was interesting.

The buildings were so beautiful and it really is a shame that they don't build them like that anymore.

As you can tell there were a few people visiting, but not nearly as many as there would be in the busy summer time.

What a very inspiring place to be. I just wish there was a little more common sense like ole Abe here had back in the day.

Ok, first of all Virginia......very, very, very long drive. Went through some pretty areas and the trees are beautiful. My pictures really do not do them justice. At first you couldn't see much from the interstate and then the countryside started to open up and there was farm land and cows. We did see some deer and some coyotes eating the leftovers of some critter, not pretty but I was surprised at how they were there in the daytime and didn't really seem real concerned about the cars coming by. Now as for the pictures you will have to look at them backwards because I forgot to put the newer ones first and the older ones last. (Will try to do better next time.) That is how good I am at this. Anyway, so far the trip has been really different than our usual trips. I USED to think that Texans ignored speed limit signs, but these people have this down to a fine science. EVERYBODY speeds including the cops. It is just incredible. Larry and I took turns driving and you just finally hit the cruise and kept up with the traffic and if the speed limit changed.....so what.

Saturday morning Marissa and Drew left for a craft show and we were in charge of Reagan until Cody and Lisa showed up to go to Mount Vernon. Larry and I were hungry and Reagan told us she knew where a Starbucks and a McDonalds were, but I told her he couldn't eat that and started talking about I-Hop and she said she knew where an I-Hop was. We were a little doubtful, but figured what the heck and put her in the car seat and told her to tell us where to go. She sat back there and would say "you need to go that way" and I would turn around and look which way she was pointing and tell Larry which way to turn. After a few turns and a few "keep following the highway" she said to turn and I looked back and told Larry right and then she said that way and it was left and we missed it because we were in the wrong lane and had to turn around and by golly there was an I-Hop. We were so amazed and just laughed and laughed that we took directions from a 5-year-old and actually made it to our destination. WOW.

After that Cody and Lisa and Reagan were in charge of us and we went to Mount Vernon (which Reagan repeatedly reminded us she had seen before). The setting for George Washington's home is just incredible overlooking the Potomac river. The first picture is of Reagan standing in front of a replica of the house that opens up to show rooms that are furnished. It was really neat and Reagan, Lisa and I put in an order with Larry and Drew for one for each of us.







This is Reagan in front of their house. The houses are attached, but you couldn't hear anything from next door. The house is really cute and they have it fixed up nice. It is three stories and Larry and I are in the bottom floor. You can see our window at ground level in the picture. The middle level was the living area and the top story was the bedrooms. I felt like we were in the Cosby show because that is how I remember those houses being.

Just a shot of Reagan before she gave us all the good directions.

Here are some of the shots of the trees. I hope to post a few more that look a little better. These were taken as "drive by shootings" and considering that we were traveling 70 miles an hour they turned out pretty good.

Anyway, today (Sunday) we got a private tour of the Pentagon. How neat is that? We got to see where Marissa works which entails going through a metal detector and a vault. That was pretty cool. I couldn't take any pictures from the outside or the inside without getting shot so I behaved myself and kept my camera in Marissa's purse. We also went to the Pentagon Memorial from the terrorist attack in 2001 and I will post some pics later of that, but it was very moving and very sad at the same time. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

That is all for now. Larry and I will be on our own tomorrow so we will be taking the Metro into Washington to tour the National Mall and see what we can see there. You all may never see us again (we won't have Reagan to show us the way).