Thanks and Lessons

So we've been home for almost a month.  It takes about that long for us to get through the laundry and stowing of camping gear, get back into a routine, and start missing the road again.  I was looking through some pictures from the trip yesterday and the beginning seems more like 6 months than 3. We might be changing up next year's summer trip plans.  Kinda spread out the fun a little bit.

My list of thanks is very similar to years past:

• Thank you first to Dave who works all the time to make these trips possible.  As grumpy as he gets while we are away I do believe he might be getting a tiny bit used to them.
• Thank you to Grammie for traveling along with us and making our adventures way better along the way.
• Thank you to the inventor of the stinky stick up.  I'm not sure it really made a big difference, but Dave did not complain when he got in the car the first time so possibly it did. 

• Thank you to all you readers checking in and keeping up to date on our adventures.  And thank you for all the comments, texts, and messages of advice, encouragement, and laughs.
• Thank you to all the children's authors out there as my kids devour books, especially on these trips!  This is a quick picture of some of what was read along the way not counting audio books and a few we donated to the libraries we visited!

I try to keep up with my lessons as I learn them along the way.  This can be difficult as I am (1) getting old and can't remember much so I have to write it down, (2) am driving on winding roads and cannot write, and (3) I ended up accidentally throwing away what I did write down.  Fortunately, I did remember some of the lessons and made sure to type them up as I wrote about our days.

• Fried food can cure a stomach that has been riding in the back of the car on winding back roads.
• Kentucky has some beautiful barns along the interstate.  So beautiful I bet there is a calendar.
• No on but me seemed to think it was strange that cows were galloping down the interstate in Alabama.
• The AT&T skyscraper in Nashville looks like Batman.
• Trader Joe's cookie butter is addictive.  Don't even try it.
• Illinois "county" roads should have a sign requiring 4 wheel drive.
• While gravel floors are terribly uncomfortable to sleep on, they drain rain exceptionally well!  Grass floors look so lush and inviting, but they are unforgiving when it comes to rain! 
• There are massive amounts of corn and soybeans grown in Illinois.
• Being on the border of time zone changes always seems to make me feel like I'm going to be an hour late somewhere.
• Putting in a cd of Brayden's music from last year's summer trip is guaranteed to get his head to pop out of a book and his hands clapping to the beat!
• Mastered the art of getting pants on in a wet shower and figured out the perfect angle to place flip flops outside the tent so I can step right in them when getting out.
• The military in the Keneewaw Peninsula could only grow potatoes in their garden.  Even our potato-loving Ryan said she would get tired of them after a week!
• The washboard in the 1850s was called the knuckle-buster.  
• Falling asleep next to the gentle waves of Lake Superior sounds very similar to those of the Gulf of Mexico.
• Copper miners only made about $1 a day for a 10 hour shift.  If their candle, which they had to buy themselves, went out they were to sit until another crew member or their supervisor came. If it was the supervisor, they would be docked their day of pay and still be expected to work the rest of their shift.  Ouch!
• It's so nice to be able to have conversations with another adult after being solely with your kids for almost 3 weeks!
• Most of my worries along the way were not even worth the attention I gave them.
• My kids will do just about anything with the promise of ice cream.
• People in the northwoods of Michigan mark their driveway with very interesting designs of reflectors and antiques.
• People in campgrounds in Canada mark their campsites with very interesting collections of reflectors, hand-carved signs and lots of Canadian flags.
• Canada highway boulders are filled with inukshuks along every ledge.
• Quiet nights and mornings by the fire while children sleep are better shared with your better half.
• If someone in the tent is about to get sick, don't let them be in charge of unzipping the door to get out.  And don't leave your keys by the tent door.
• A hummingbird has 1000 feathers and a swan has 25,000!
• There are bats that don't hibernate in caves.
• Laundry machines in Canada don't know the difference between American and Canadian quarters.
• The emerald ash borer is threatening a lot of forests across our continent.
• Given a 30-minute limit on wifi time, I can type REALLY fast!
• It is a refreshing change in Canada for every attraction not to be over commercialized. Except when Grammie would like to find a place to buy t-shirts for the kids!
• There are 44 types of orchids and 6 different varieties of ferns on the Bruce Peninsula.
• The ferry to Manatoulin Island is so large it looks like a small cruise ship!
• The call of the Northern Cardinal sounds like a Star Wars Fight.  Pew! Pew! Pew!
• The call of the Northern Cardinal at 4:45am can be quite annoying.
• A vulture projectile vomits when it's feeling threatened.
• Sometimes Ryan loses her pajama bottoms in the middle of the night in her sleeping bag.
• While trying to make our parks better by planting non-native trees, introducing non-native animals, damming lakes and completely preventing forest fires, man has had a large role in the extinction of some animal and plant species.
• Biologists and scientists are still learning and are struggling diligently to bring back severely threatened species of animals and plants as well as help forests and parks return to their more natural state.
• The world seems way bigger when your mom leaves.
• Climbing out of the tent in the morning right into a spider's web will make me do a funky dance!
• The Macinaw Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in the U.S.  There are 4 larger in the world in China, Japan and Denmark.
• Deer antlers are the fastest growing tissue on earth and can grow up to 1/2" per day!
• I am a little more apt to cave in on buying new t-shirts when we are needing to do laundry!
• I found where the Bonaroo festival is held in Tennessee.
• Road kill takes many shapes and forms.
• At first I was surprised that county fairs are held in July in Michigan and Wisconsin until I realized that having them in late October like ours wouldn't work there!
• An empty laundry bag and full clothes bag can feel almost as refreshing as a good night's sleep. Like I can do this for another month!
• Residents of Michigan and Ontario take their recreation seriously!  The campgrounds and comfort stations inside them are SO nice!  Private shower rooms that can easily fit a family and power at every site!  We were spoiled!
• Fresh skunk spray in the middle of the night can wake you from a deep sleep with choking breaths.
• Grammie gets the best parking spots and if I rub her arm before she leave I luck into them too!
• Once we're home, it's so nice not to have to remember to buy ice every time we get gas or groceries.
• At home, it's so nice not to have to scramble to find quarters for laundry.
• Once we're home we head to the library pretty quickly and I realize on the way home how much I miss that quiet with three kids' noses buried in books.

Thanks for traveling along with us and we'll see you next time!

Day 47....Home!

Even with as exhausted as we were from the long day before, I was up way early.  I guess my brain knew we wanted to get home before too late so it wouldn't let me sleep.  I also had quite a bit of things to get together for our long day in the car.  

Dave was up shortly after me helping pack up what we could without closing the tent on the sleeping kids.  After I had all the snacks and activities ready for the day he started dumping them out of their sleeping bags one by one.  Usually this would initiate grumpiness, but today was different for sure. Today was the day they would get to be back in their rooms, playing with their toys, and bugging the neighbor friends.

We were packed and ready to go by 7:30 and enjoying the winding road out of the park.  I decided to take the first leg of the trip so Dave could enjoy the view and take a few pictures. 

We said goodbye to all the wildlife, boring ice cream (we miss Michigan!), cool tunnels, and what I think is the Tuskagee River. We said goodbye to the waterfall and long hike, the fun rangers, and all the birds and bats. There were smiles all around as we all anticipated getting home and sleeping back in our own beds.







We reached Chattanooga before too long and tons of construction.  Our drive once we left the park today would be mostly interstate and I think Dave has early onset of the can't-drive-on-long-stretches-of-interstate-without-falling-asleep disease.  We must have switched driving three times before we got to Birmingham.

Birmingham was one of our planned stops as Ryan wanted to spend some of her money and we needed to grab some lunch.  Dave did some Zomato research and found us a delicious, somewhat fancy place where the kids loved the idea of a 3-course lunch!  Of course it was just fruit, grilled cheese, and a cookie, but presented in a fancy way it was certainly special!

The last time we'd been in Birmingham I'd had a beer that I instantly loved so we went in search of it only to find out the no-beer-on-Sunday-at-all-ever rule was in effect.  Dave and I would be headed back up through this way for a show in September so we decided to wait until then.

We got back on the road wide awake and ready for the last stretch home with Dave driving.  I think we may have made it 60 miles before we had to switch again.  I took over and settled in for driving the rest of the trip while the kids and Dave played and taught us all they were learning from the new books they were reading.  They also may have watched a few movies to pass the long day!

Over the years I've really appreciated the widening of the road between I-65 and Flomaton as well as the increased development of highway 29 but never more than today.  There were big yelps as we finally saw the Welcome to the Sunshine State sign and the kids all knew from our trips we'd be home within 45 minutes.  Brayden was bouncing in his chair he was so excited.  I have to admit I was as well!

Dave asked if I remembered how to get home.  The kids met Dave's dad with big hugs as we were unpacking the car.  He'd brought us dinner so we wouldn't have to scramble for something from the cooler!  It was good to be home.

Day 46

After our late night hike, we let the kids sleep in to make sure they would all be in relatively good moods during our long day.  I'd planned our stay in the Cades Cove area also because of the loop famous for viewing wildlife.  On Wednesday and Saturday mornings the loop is closed to auto traffic so when I made our reservations I was hoping we might be able to bike the loop.  After seeing it is 11 miles, we opted to be first in line once the loop opened at 10am.

While I got everything ready for the day Dave and the kids had a pretty lazy morning.  Ryan decided to be the assistant chef this morning making a delicious batch of french toast.  Once we'd eaten and cleaned up, we hopped in the car for near perfect timing of making the entrance exactly at 10am when the gates were opened.  

There were beautiful horses and the majority of the big mountain view on the driver's side of the car so I handed the camera to Brayden to see how he would do.  Let's just say this was the best picture of the bunch. 

Luckily the traffic was moving slow enough that I could hand the camera to Dave and he could stop for a few seconds to snap some shots.

And this was my view out my window.  We were surrounded by gorgeous mountains yet again!

We made it to the visitor's center by 11:00 to stamp the kids' passport books and buy the very last of our postcards. There were a bunch of historic buildings nearby so we took some time to explore them. The kids loved to see a mill at work grinding corn.  We've read several books where the author described building a mill or how a mill works and finally they could see one in action.

We also watched another blacksmith demonstration.  This apprentice was making a letter opener with a feather on the end. I'd be too nervous to make that with everyone watching me!

The kids were interested in a ranger program early in the afternoon so we decided to hang around for it.  The kids played in the refreshing cool water and Ryan built yet another bridge of rocks across the creek.

Shortly after we finished a quick lunch the ranger was ready to start the Animal Olympics program. The kids were excited to show just how much faster and stronger they are than animals.  Well, they didn't win a single event!  But they did have fun!

The kids recognized the rangers from our hike the night before.  You could tell he loves his job!

After the program was over we checked to see how far the trail head was to the water falls.  We'd prepared the kids for a long hike mentally most of the morning.  I'd jam packed their backpacks with snacks and water.  This was going to be their longest hike yet and we were ready!  They had easily walked this far at Disney World but hiking it was going to be quite a bit more difficult.

The ranger pointed us in the direction of easy spur trail to the trail head instead of the road so we headed back through this historic barn and toward the trail. We reached the beginning of the trail and were quested by a ranger to make sure we had enough water, time, bear knowledge, and strength to make it to the falls.  Yep, there had been bears sightings all around the area lately and they weren't really shying away from people.  I didn't tell the kids that though.  Or Dave.

There were tons of people on the trail which pleased my people-watching kids keeping their brains distracted from the climb.  Soon after we started on the trail we were reaching the top of a steep hill. One of the hikers returning from the falls told us this was the easy part.  Oh dear.  He said there were three hills then we'd be there.  We'd already just about made up one so I'm thinking how hard can it be?

I looked over the side and could barely see the stream down below.  We headed down the other side of the hill and made it all the way back down right next to the water.  Maybe this was going to be a struggle for those 6 little legs behind me.  And the other 2 big ones back there too.  Up one more hill and we'd be halfway I reminded everyone!  We played games, took a break, and talked a bunch.

At the top of the next hill the trail took a sharp turn through some rocks and back down the hill.  The more people we passed leaving, the more wet their clothes were so I just told everyone to concentrate on that.  We'd be swimming in just a few minutes!  And before too long we were!  

Brayden was adamant he would be jumping in and swimming around as soon as he got his shoes off.  He was asking who was going in with him becoming disappointed with each no answer.  Until he felt the water.  It was so very cold and so very refreshing at the same time! We all waded around up to our shorts and let our tired feet soak in the cold water.

The kids and I waded out to a couple of boulders in the middle of the river and enjoyed the sunshine for a little while now that we were cooled off.







Brayden even got up the courage to jump off a rock near the side of the waterfall down 30ft into the pool below.

Get up off the floor Grammie.  There is no way Brayden would ever have the courage to do something like that.  But for our resident daredevil girls, we did have the "Don't ever do something like that" conversation.  It kinda backfired though as we'd just told them about our experience of climbing up a waterfall in Costa Rica.  Yeah, but that was different.

After a quick snack, we all slipped our backpacks back on and hopped back on the trail.  My feet felt so much better after a break on the water.  Our hike back was pretty quiet as we all knew what we were expecting.  We chatted a bit and Ryan told us the play by play of what was next on the trail from what she remembered.  I was pretty surprised people were still headed down the trail as it was probably 6pm by now and not a whole bunch of daylight left for a 4 hour hike.

We made it to the trail head and had to take a picture!  The kids were happy to be here but ready to be back at the car that 1/2 mile away more.  We noticed all the things we'd spotted on the way in again and I took note of how much our moods had changed in the past few hours from when we were fresh and excited to tired, thirsty, and exhausted.  

Just as I turned around to talk to Ryan about something, she covered her mouth and her eyes were huge with excitement.  I turned around to see 2 beautiful deer not more than 10 feet in front of us crossing our path toward the field.  I knew if I moved too quick to grab the camera they'd be gone so we all just stood there watching them watch us as they walked by.  Definitely one of those "Don't ever forget this!" moments. 

I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a barn in my life as when we got back to our starting point.  It took us awhile to get back as the traffic had gotten much heavier, but we were all just happy to be off our feet for awhile.  At one point I was pegged in the head by a note from Ryan which made my whole day!

We were all very ready to end our last day with dinner, camp ball, a campfire, and s'mores with dad. Laney had her first rookie home run but it wasn't enough to beat Brayden and Ryan yet again.  

We'd made a point most of the day to whisper to the kids "last day" to made sure they soaked it all in and focused on where we were and what we were doing instead of silly arguments and such.  It was a great day.  It was a bittersweet day as we were ready to be home but it would also mean it was the end of an incredible trip, our longest and what seems like our fullest and most enjoyable yet.  

Day 45

Dave and I had both been semi-dreading our night the day before as our neighbors moved in all around us as well as in the middle of us!  Every since I first started camping as a child, there is a rule of a invisible boundary around campsites.  Apparently these three or four families decided that was not a rule at all!  At one point the kids even parked their bikes in our parking spot for the car!

There were quite a few kids, older teenagers, and adults in these two site so Dave and I looked at each other thinking the night was going to be quite loud.  We joked about finishing all the beers in the cooler just to have a good nights sleep.  We did share a few beers but our night was surprisingly quiet and we all slept quite well.  

The morning was chilly and Dave started on pancakes early so we could get on the road pretty quick. 

The kids were up with the delicious smell and we were packed up and on the road by 8 which is probably a record having a cooked breakfast.  It's nice having that guy around to share the load!

We decided on the first hour or so of backroads then we would stop for a stock up and drive on the highway for the rest.  We had about a 6 hour drive ahead of us so we wanted a least some of it to be enjoyable.  After about 45 minutes all the kids faces were turning green in the back and we had to stop.  Dave and I felt like we'd been on a roller coaster too!  The drive was beautiful though and we especially loved all the old barns and look what we ran into around a corner!

Dave and I switched driving so I could have some fun and Ryan decided to use Dave as a target.  We were back in an area where we had cell service so he was go through all his emails from the past few days.  Every 30 seconds or so we would be pegged in the head by taped up balls of paper!  Whatever keeps them smiling!

We stopped for a quick stock up on food for our last few days in the woods as well as a quick ice cream.  The kids and I had hit Smokey Mountain National Park last year on our way north so I knew it would be beautiful to share with Dave.  One of the parts of the park we'd missed was Cades Cove so I decided to have us camp there.  I knew it was going to be a fun drive when we still had 45 minutes and only 10 miles left!  The temperature was dropping about a degree each couple minutes too!

We checked in, grabbed some firewood, then set up our site.  Have I mentioned how nice it is to have Dave helping?  We're on our 3rd day of camping and everything takes about half as long with him around!  While I did our dishes from snacks in the car, the kids played target practice with their rubber band guns and lego guys.  

We decided on a hike of the nature trail nearby after a little while.  Every nature trail we'd ever done so far had been a flat, wide, accessible, winding path through native plants and trees.  I had everyone stay in flip flops.  I should have known better in the Smokey Mountains!   

We learned a lot about the native trees in the area as the kids read the interpretive signs along the trail.  The afternoon was beautiful  and we were getting a little relief from all the heat in the woods.

This girl is so happy to have Dave back.  She wouldn't let go of my hand the entire trip and now I haven't seen her for days!  The only way she holds my hand is if she's already holding his!

Once we got back to the site and all the groceries put away, Dave started cooking dinner.  He even had an assistant chef!  

After dinner and dishes all the kids wanted to throw the football with Dave.  I took the opportunity to get everything ready for the night.  The girls enjoyed teaching Dave about poison ivy as we've run into so many different varieties these past few years of trips.  

Our next night program was one Brayden was really looking forward to - a night hike!  We got dressed and headed over to the shelter to meet the park ranger and get on our way.  

Our park ranger was fun and he told stories at a few stops of the history of the park.  The kids really enjoyed learning about the Cherokee so we'll be sure to focus a little more time on that this year. While we were hiking there were rangers on the trail doing studies on bats we were seeing flying above us.  I was hoping they were going to take a minute to talk to us, but I guess not everything can be a learning opportunity!

We walked on a cut through road of the Cades Cove Loop back toward the park in the middle of one of the horse pastures.  There was a half moon so the sky wasn't all the dark, but it was absolutely darker than what we see at home.  The big dipper was hanging low in the sky and it looked so close as if you could grab it.  The kids were more impressed with the ranger's laser pointer as they've seen so many dark skies on this trip.  

The ranger ended the trip with a wonderful quote from President Lyndon Johnson played on a small tape recorder, "We must not only protect the country side and save it from destruction, we must restore what has been destroyed and salvage the beauty and charm of our cities … Once our natural splendor is destroyed, it can never be recaptured. And once man can no longer walk with beauty or wonder at nature, his spirit will wither and his sustenance be wasted."  The ranger then thanked us for his job which I thought was awesome and we thanked him for a wonderful hike. 

We were all asleep within minutes of zipping the tent closed.  We had a big, full day the next day as we would be trying to eek out every last minute of our last day.  

Day 44

I remember just talking about how well I was sleeping in the tent just a few days ago. I don't know if it's being in a bed for 6 days or our new sleeping partner, but I was up for most of the night.  I will say it was neat to watch all the stars out the windows of the tent. We were far enough away from any city here that the sky was pitch black with what look like thousands of pin holes of stars.

I'd made a mistake reserving our site at this campground.  In a hasty or tired effort to have a site with power, I'd reserved us a spot surrounded by giant rvs with only 20V power available.  While generators weren't allowed at night, I could still hear all the air conditioner units turn on and off all night long.  The kids usually slept pretty still all night but there was this new guy next to me flipping around too. Time to get used to sleeping in a tent again I guess!

It was chilly when we woke up so I grabbed a jacket and sat down to write. Once Ryan woke up Dave grabbed her to read since she'd missed out the night before.  The other two slept and slept the morning away.

After a delicious southern breakfast of cheese grits and toast, we headed to the visitors center to schedule our cave tour.  Unfortunately we had missed the kid's caving program so we ended up deciding on the Cascades Cave Tour.  I guess we'll be heading back to Mammoth Cave again this next year for the TROG kids experience!














We had about an hour until our tour so we set out to show Dave a natural bridge.  This was actually the longest bridge we had ever experienced around a long corner.  It was quite spectacular!










Laney spotted this intricate spider web as we hiked back to the visitor's center.  I wanted to tell her it looked like a record album but I knew she would just stare at me with a blank look on her face.  We settled on it looking like a cd instead.

We had just enough time to watch some sticks float down the river before our tour started.





















We drove to the cave trail and met our tour guide for the morning.  I will admit I do have a hard time judging age, but this guy looked like he was 16!  I wasn't sure just how much we'd be learning today!
It turns out I was very premature in my judgement as he spouted off facts the entire tour that were fascinating to me.  And he'd only been doing this tour for 3 weeks.  Color me impressed!

 We saw some amazing formations, an underground lake, bats (finally!), beautiful scenery, and a teeny tiny waterfall.  There were many features that were man-made or changed as originally these caves belonged to a couple families.  The hike was easy and it was very fun for the kids to finally experience a cave with Dave.

With my expert planning I had scheduled us to be a this state park during a popular pioneer week with activities scheduled all day.  Actually, we were just really lucky to be there and it was a pure accident.  Finally we weren't missing something by one day!

We took a walk around the pioneer village where people were milling about cooking, sewing, making tools, tending chickens.  The kids really enjoyed touching all the animal hides - a first for all of them today with a buffalo hide!  We stopped by a tree where one of the reenactors was skinning a deer hide.  As he scraped and explained the process to the kids it was all I could do to keep the snack I'd just eaten where it should be.  Deep breaths.  Once he mentioned something about using the brains I was out of there.

Next up was the much anticipated tomahawk throwing activity.  Dave and I sat by with the camera and video camera as the ranger taught the kids the steps to throw the tomahawk.  Not only did they need to worry about aim, but they also needed to think about the rotation and the power behind their throw - very complicated!

All the kids caught on pretty quickly and were hitting the target within a few tries just with the wrong end or side of the tomahawk.  I'll give you one guess who sunk it in the target first!

Yep, it's quite disgusting how easily she can pick up just about anything athletic!  She had the biggest grin for about 15 minutes!  We stopped back by the store one reenactor had set up to buy the coveted rubber band guns two of the kids wanted then headed to car, narrowly avoiding the deer skin guy.

This hike was one I was pretty excited about as it would show us some other beautiful features of the park.  It was only about a mile and although hot, the weather was beautiful.  The feature we first came upon was the wind tunnel.  There was a point I thought perhaps Laney had misread the trail markers as it was a pretty narrow passage.  

This is the kids' favorite kind of hiking!  They love scaling the rocks and squeezing around corners.  If only monkey bars and see saws were natural features, they would never leave!

Next we hit the box canyon with a beautiful wall almost all around us.  There were massive boulders everywhere and you could see the spot up above where they'd snapped off the wall.

We noticed how the canyon walls were painted much like Pictured Rocks in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I do believe the kids taught some 60ish year old men a little something about why they looked the way they did.  

Once we make it back to the campsite we had a little time to relax.  The kids scootered down to the playground and Dave and I shared a beer.  Fortunately for our location, an rv parked at the spot next to ours today adding quite a bit of shade lowering the temperature to what felt about 85. This heat is taking a bit to get used to!

Once the kids were all back we decided to head to the pool in the park.  It was quite chilly compared to our Florida pools but a welcome chill from the heat!  Our fingers were wrinkly after about 2 hours so we headed back to our site to cook dinner. 

The program tonight was a campfire story session by one of the reenactors.  The fire was nice as it was cooling down pretty quick.  We were mostly surrounded by woods and fireflies as he spun some tales to a captive audience.

We were all pretty tired after the long day so as the kids fell asleep Dave and I planned our route the next morning to make sure we got to our next site with plenty of time to enjoy the area as well as stock up on some much needed supplies and food.