Lessons

So yeah, this year's lessons are a little late. We seriously hit the ground running when we got home and have barely stopped to breathe! I miss being on the road exploring all the little towns and big towns. I miss learning something each and every day, sometimes every few minutes! I miss connecting with my kids and laughing so hard with them that my belly hurt.

I don't miss fighting kids. I don't miss the long miles on the road. I don't miss packing up camp. I don't miss hours in laundromats.  And I definitely don't miss days on end with only part of our family together.  And now on to the lessons....

• A child listening to their new music smiles wide and sings loudly.
• Listening to a headphone-wearing child belt out wacky lyrics to songs is guaranteed to make me laugh.
• Seeing a sign for an area of town called "Butt's Corner" is guaranteed to make all of us laugh.
• New music can keep a child entertained for hours.
• River otters have coverings for their eyes, noses, and ears for swimming.
• River otters can hold their breath for 8 minutes.
• River otters are known to be lazy by targeting the slower fish, taking over beaver dens instead of building their own, and playing most of the day.
• River otters do not know how to swim when they are born.
• The only building that was locked on a mountain farm was the smokehouse, which contained a families most prized possessions and precious food.
• A 60 degree night is a welcome end to a 95 degree day!
• Sitting in the middle of a beautiful park with 50-ft trees, it's hard to believe this area was once clear cut for lumber with no habitats for native animals.
• The Oconoluftee River is exceptionally cold.
• The woosh of the river at night is a much better lullaby than the cicadas and frogs.
• The best gas prices I found were in Georgia - $1.74 - I almost filled up again just on principle!
• A mink can hold it's breath underwater for up to 16 minutes!
• Moths are relentless trying to dive bomb a tent when they see light inside.
• Crawfish aren't only in Louisiana!
• My kids are obsessed with camp ball.
• The wildflowers in West Virginia are just beautiful along the roadside.
• Sometimes the air of Pennsylvania country roads smells like there is a cow in my passenger seat.
• Don't let Brayden be in charge of cleaning up snacks on the ground of our campsite.
• When the kids can try anything on a pretzel, I will be surprised what the end up liking.
• In the 1830s, coffee pots did not have filters. Eggshells and codfish scales were used to settle the coffee grounds to the bottom of the pot.
• A porcupine has 30,000 quills.
• There are 28 hospitals in Boston.
• I was surprised several times by the amount of information my kids actually remembered from history stories we'd read together!
• Hollyhocks used to be planted to discreetly guide visitors to the outhouse.
• The mosquitoes in Rhode Island are as big as house flies!
• When you had a kid a camera for a few minutes, there's no telling what crazy pictures you'll find they've taken.
• Boston's subway system is so much easier to understand and find than New York's.
• There is an unreal number of Dunkin Donuts in Boston. Seriously, on a map you are never more than 2 blocks from one!
• We need to learn more about Teddy Roosevelt. Some of his quotes are so inspirational!
• The Liberty Bell weighs 2,080 pounds.
• The only person to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution was Ben Franklin.
• I need to stop complaining about having to find $1 to go over the Pensacola Beach bridge as the Ben Franklin bridge into Pennsylvania costs $5!
• A ton of all kinds of math goes into animation.
• Amish children only go to school until 8th grade.
• Amish boys usually receive their own horse and buggy at 16 years old.
• A married Amish man starts growing a beard once he is married and does not trim or shave it.  He does not keep a mustache.
• You have to be born into the Amish culture. You cannot just choose to be Amish.
• The Washington Monument is 555 feet 5 inches tall.
• The Washington Monument sat unfinished for 20 years when the project ran out of money.
• The World War II Memorial has a few secret "Kilroy was here" cartoons on it.
• The Kennedys had another son that died when he was one.
• Abraham Lincoln is the only president to hold a patent.
• There are no direct living descendants of Abraham Lincoln.
• Robert Lincoln was eerily present at the assassinations of Presidents Garfield and McKinley.
• Americans throw away 300 million tons of plastic every year, much of it ending up in the oceans.
• An elephants height  at the shoulder is about twice the distance around its front footprint.
• We miss Michigan ice cream.
• There is quite possibly a Mattress Firm in every suburban city. And I thought there were a lot of Dollar Generals!
• While I miss communicating with my kids and listening to their audio books, there is something to be said for NPR undisturbed for hours.
• Every year as dusk comes and we see the first lightning bugs, we all point and run around like we've never seen them before. It's easy to forget about those little guys when we only see them a little each year.
• This year for some reason I was terrified of losing my keys so I used a lanyard. Best. Purchase. Ever. 
• Leaving the quiet woods for the city was startling each day.
• Rhode Island has the shortest stop lights on the planet.

While we learned SO much and enjoyed time in the cool museum buildings on our travels, I sincerely missed being in the woods this year. I think we only participated in a handful of programs and hikes which is usually the foundation of our trips.  

We will see you again here next year! Our plans are in the works....

Day 46

We woke this morning pretty early ready to get on the road to home. We'd had some rain overnight so the packing up wasn't the cleanest, but with all five of us pitching in it was relatively painless. After all the mud that had been on the tent and sand inside I knew I'd be cleaning them once we got home anyway. The weather up on the mountain was nice and cool and a refreshing peek into fall on the way I hoped.

Our first stop on the way home was just around the corner at Bald Rock. The kids and I had visited on our stay before and they wanted to show Dave. Brayden and I were surprised to find out after all our learning about the Civilian Conservation Corps, this was the first trail they ever built.

We enjoyed walking down the boardwalk together and the kids of course especially loved climbing over all the rocks. Ryan has been right next to me all trip taking pictures. I'm interested to see how her photos all turned out!

With some strategic camera rock placement, we even managed to get a picture of all of us!

After a quick stop at Cracker Barrel where we all found out we were not in fact, geniuses, we stopped into a shoe store for the kids' back-to-school shoes and Books-A-Million for a back-to-school book from Dave.  I think we were all pretty much ready to be home so the stops didn't take too terribly long.

Of course about 45 minutes into the drive Dave's sleepy-while-driving-straight issue creeped up so I drove the rest of the way home. I was so happy to see our home and our animals, but not so happy to see the mountain of all mountains of stuff that exploded from my car.

Thankfully we had dinner covered with a Santino's Pizza gift card from Grandpa Scott earlier in the summer. I was pretty sure we wouldn't be able to see the floor of the laundry room for a few days.

Day 45

We woke up to forecasts of rain for most of the next three days. We were scheduled to do some white water kayaking today before we camped at our last stop for three days in north Georgia. The predictions for the path of the storm were just east of where we would be but I was a little nervous of tornadoes spinning off.  Not good news in a tent.

I got to work canceling our reservations and making new ones west. Only problem was there weren't any open spots because it was Labor Day weekend! I inched further and further west until I found us a spot in Alabama where we started our trip the year before. So after a hotel breakfast that my kids adore and a load of laundry containing all our wet stuff from the night before, we got on the road to our kayak outfitters.

Way back on our way through North Carolina we'd seen white water rafting boats splashing down the river next to our highway and the kids would not stop asking me if we could do it until I convinced them we should wait to do it with Dave on the way home. He made us some reservations for kayaks on the Green River in South Carolina. I was a little nervous about kayaks with the kids' limited experience, but knew we would have fun and our guide would take care of us.

Tim was from Australia on work visa for 6 months as a guide. We were so lucky to have him as he was very funny, knowledgeable, and related to the kids so very well. Ryan jumped into a solo kayak while I hopped into a double with Laney and Dave in double with Brayden and before we knew it we were braving our first rapid!

Our guide would generally tell us to follow him and watch the line he took, but we all really ended up just figuring it out on our own. He had a little camera I spotted at each rapid for embarrassing or fun pictures of us. On the second or third rapid I looked back to check on the boats behind me and noticed a guy had already fallen out of his boat. Then I realized that guy was Dave! And Brayden was hanging out of the boat heading toward me! I'm not sure what happened, but hearing Dave's scream about the water temperature was extra motivation for me to stay in my boat for sure.

That is until the splashing started. The guide started by splashing Ryan. Then Laney. Then it was an all our war between everyone for the next 5 minutes until everyone was screaming about how cold the water was. Brayden had some splashing issues with his paddle so it was extra fun punishing him with water.

Laney and I got stuck on rocks a few times, but generally made it through all right. We stayed in our boat at least!  After about an hour we paddled up to a rope swing and all took turns jumping in. That was when we all experienced the coldest of cold water and had to get back to paddling just to get warm.

After one more rapid were reached the take out spot and were surprised with lovely PBR in a cooler. We were freezing cold, but it tasted so good. Lucky for us the van had a fantastic heater for our ride back to the office.  Once we changed and watched our pictures and videos we grabbed a Subway dinner and got on the road to our spot in Alabama. We had a four hour drive ahead of us and were hoping to make it there before dark. That was one thing I had successfully avoided in my five years of trips - setting up tents in the dark.

And we probably would have been find had we not been within a 100 mile radius of Atlanta. On a Friday evening. At one point I counted eight traffic accidents on our route alone. So we ended up at our campground at dark setting up tents by headlights.

But we were dry. And together. And going home two days early. So we were all content and looking foward to home.

Day 44

Finally we are back to some evening cool camping weather! We woke up this morning to a 65 degree morning with plenty of sunshine ahead.  We decided to have a fun day of exploring the area today so after a quick breakfast we hit the almost a loop trail at the top of the mountain. 

This area of the mountain was used 1000s of years of quarrying for rocks suitable for arrowheads axes, and knives.  All along the trail there were shards of rocks as if we were walking on a mountain of oyster shells in Apalachicola. The views were nice, but the company was even better. 

  

The hike was less than a mile and it was already hot.  At the end of the trail at the other end of the parking lot we saw the best view of the morning. I'm sure Dave thought we should have started there and quit!

If there is a museum nearby you know my kids have to go so that's exactly what we did to the natural history museum in the park. This tiny one-room museum was a bunch of fun showing how arrowheads can be made, how to pan for gold, the area animals and habitats, and the rocks of the region.

Our next stop was the Pee Dee lake. I don't really know why that name is so hilarious, but it makes my kids giggle every time they hear it! Ryan wanted to rent boats and float on the river so we did just that! Of course, I was the one voted to row us across the lake, but we did see a very neat dam around the bend.

By the time we made our way back to the boat house I was drenched and we were all pink-faced so we took a few minutes in the shade of the dock to eat some ice cream. Our cheapest ice cream yet! 

Once we were mostly full and cool off we hopped in the car headed for the Town Creek Indian Mound. We had such a great experience last year at the Serpent Mounds and we were hoping this place would be interesting as well. 

We were greeted and told of a movie and scavenger hunt in the museum first. This guys knew the secret to getting my kids excited! After the movie, in which they said "Pee Dee" about 47 times, we walked around the exhibits in the museum to mark off the scavenger hunt items.  

We learned a little more about the mound itself and the culture of the Pee Dee Native Americans. When the kids received their tattoos for finishing the hunt, the guide offered to do a weapons presentation for us he normally only did for school groups.  We'd been able to try the atlatl at the other mound last year, but had never seen a demonstration of a blow stick. This guy really knew his stuff and we learned so much about the history and progression of the weapons used by area Native Americans.

Next we toured the Indian Mound. The entrance was built to only allow one person through at a time to help them identify each person that was coming as well as guard from ambush from enemies.   

There were a few buildings set up that showed how they lived based on archaeological evidence they'd found about 80 years ago.  We learned about the burial custom and how the buildings were constructed. When we made our way back to the visitor's center the kids found the coldest water fountain! Of course they drank all the cold water by the time I got there so I only got a sip of the luke warm water.

   

When we were driving to the mound, Ryan spotted a fun playground so we just had to stop for some fun on the way back! After exploring all the paths around the structure, the kids decided on a lumberjack-style wobble competition. Laney beat everyone! We played a rousing game of hide and seek and I spun the kids until they were too dizzy to see straight. By that time we were all sweaty again and needing a little air conditioning.

On our way back to the campground it started raining pretty heavy so we decided to wait the storm out and have a picnic at the ranger station. I knew Hermine was supposed to be heading our way eventually, but I didn't think it would be quite this fast. We didn't have cell service in the park to check so once it didn't let up we headed into town to get some school shopping done. It has been a tradition ever since our first trip for Dave to take the kids shopping for a book, new shoes, and some clothes. We thought since it was raining this would be a good use of our time.

Dave's dad sent him a text shortly after we were finished telling him the storm was headed our way so we took a few minutes to figure out a new plan. The storm we were in was to be moving east over us and wouldn't be finished until early the next morning. The hurricane was supposed to be near us by the next day. We made the decision to pack up and check into a hotel a few hours away closer to where we were planning on being the next day.

I've been so very fortunate on all my trips so far. Yes we've had our fair share of rain for 15 days straight. Yes we've had some pretty intense wind and storms over the years. But until this night I have never had to pack up in the pouring rain. 

It was raining enough that Ryan, our storm watcher, was a little freaked out so once the girls had their stuff packed I had them jump in the car and just wait on us. Brayden was a trooper helping us as much as he could and Dave was a trooper helping as much as he knew how. I have a method that works for us that I haven't really shared so it can be difficult to help me pack up I admit!

Dave and I were muddy and completely soaked by the time we finished, but we had a hotel to look forward to so we were ok. We were not looking forward to the three hour drive beginning at 9pm however. I was actually very surprised my husband-that-falls-asleep-after-ten-minutes-of-driving ended up being good for about 2 hours! That last hour was tough though. I'm sure I looked like a zombie when I walked into the hotel lobby trying to check in. 

My two barefoot kids, my one flip flopped kid, damp and muddy husband, and I walked into the hotel aiming for the elevator to find the quickest route to a bed. I brought nothing except my phone and my laptop. Easiest check-in ever.

Day 43

I was not a bit thrilled when my alarm went off this morning, but I opted to start getting things packed and take a shower so I wouldn't stink Dave out of the car!

The kids were about half as thrilled as I was to wake up early, but before too long and after so much nagging, we were finally in the car with a five hours drive heading to the airport.  We were about one quarter of the way through our latest audio book that the kids were really enjoying so that was a good motivator for them to get going.

We only had about 15 minutes of wiggle room so unbeknownst to my backseat drivers I was speeding a little more than normal to get a few more minutes ahead. I've been known to miss a turn or three around those oh-so-confusing airports so I wanted to give us enough time to navigate the area. By the time we needed gas I'd gotten us about 15 extra minutes so we grabbed some smoothies and hopped back in the car for the last hour.

We made it to the airport with only about 10 minutes to spare after having to circle the airport once and trying to figure out how to get to the arrival area through all kinds of major construction. We finally made it with about 5 minutes to spare before Dave walked through security. He was attacked by kids with hugs once again!

With big sighs we hopped back into the car for the hour drive to the mountain where we'd be spending the next two nights. Upon check in we learned the Civilian Conservation Corps had built an Olympic size pool here so we were pretty excited to cool off.  Until we found out it had closed for the season because the life guards were back in school.

We had plenty of daylight to set up and play some card games though. With me handling all kinds of jobs on the road, we don't have too much time for games so it's so nice to be able to get back to our family games when Dave is with us.




After some delicious mexican rice bowls we headed down to the lake for a very exciting game of camp ball. We made some significant repairs to our camp balls with duct tape and Ryan and I proceeded to dominate the other three. Tempers were flaring by the time we left so we had to wrap up the game and head back to our campsite.

We read a few chapters of our book and everyone went to bed a little early. We were hoping for a cool night and a dark morning for a comfortable bunch of hours to snooze.

Day 42

The locals were launching boats early this morning so I was up before the sun. I decided today to venture down to the water for a few sunrise shots. Sunrises and water go together like peas and carrots.

Today was the day Laney had been waiting for the entire trip - Colonial Williamsburg! We loaded up with some oatmeal for lots of energy that would stick with us and got on our way to history.



After a few stops for games and learning we ended up at the Powell House for chores and activities. The kids took a few minutes to water the garden before they tried their hands at building a water tght roof. It was a good thing it was so hot outside as when they piled underneath they all got soaked! I don't think these three are future roofers.

Next they were supposed to help make the crust for the turkey pot pie. I do believe the kitchen with the fire was warmer than it was outside!

Now I'll have little people to help me make pies during apple, strawberry, and peach season!






Next up was some play time in the courtyard with table games and the stick and hoop game. Once she saw it, Laney remembered playing this game in a village a few years ago in Maine. I'd been trying to remind her but she couldn't imagine what I was describing I suppose. I think they're ready for trials in the field as they ran out of courtyard pretty quick!

The dress up area was next where we spent much of the next hour.

 






















There were dolls and games set up in the parlor and even though there wasn't any air conditioning, it was pleasant enough to be out of the sun for awhile.


We walked to the military encampment and were disappointed to find out it was closed for the season. We did stop by the native american encampment and learned a lot about how they made rope and about how they were treated by the settlers in the 1700s. 







We stopped by the cabinet maker's workshop for a few minutes and had an interesting learning opportunity playing a harpsichord.





By far the stop the kids enjoyed most was the brick maker's area. We briefly learned about the process of making bricks and then were invited to help mix up the clay with water. With our feet! I watched the kids for about two minutes until I couldn't stand it any more and joined them. It was an odd feeling but so much fun squishing around with them. By the time we were finished we had clay all the way up to our knees!

We made one last stop at the basket weaver's patio, then headed to put Brayden in the stocks. We looked around for some rotten tomatoes to throw at him but were unable to find any. Instead we headed back to the visitor's center for shade, water, and a quick trip to the gift shop.

After some swim time and a quick dinner we drove to Trader Joe's to stock up on some groceries before we picked Dave up for the rest of the trip. We'd driven by a gigantic park several times the past few days I'd told the kids we could drop by so that was our next stop. The kids had so much fun we ended up staying until bedtime. Zip lines are always fun!

I started making some room for Dave in the car when we got home then we all went to bed. We had quite a bit of packing up to do in the morning with a five hour drive ahead of us to pick him up so I set my alarm for way too early to make sure I could fit it all in. We were so ready to see him again!

Day 41

As I slipped out of the tent this morning I was excited to be able to catch a little sunrise from behind our campsite. The boats were already out fishing and the sun was fully up shortly after.

So I admit it's a little nutty. I was excited about breakfast this morning. When Dave and I traveled to England about five years ago I became slightly addicted to crumpets. When we first arrived back home I tried to find them but couldn't. I tried to make them and they flopped. So I actually squealed a little when I found them a Trader Joe's the day before. I was going to initiate my children in the wonderful work of crumpets for breakfast today.

I toasted them just so on the camp stove and slathered with butter and jelly. I added fruit to everyone's plate and waited patiently for their reactions. And that's where I usually go wrong with my kids. I have these expectations and they completely defy what I *think* they are going to do or say. I got nothing. I have to say they were a bit dry and not as chewy as I remember, but they were still good. Well, if you want to make me anything for my birthday, just make me some crumpets. Forget the kids.

We headed first to Jamestown Settlement today. As we were driving into town the day before I saw a sign for Yorktown as well so we made sure to buy the combo ticket for both places this day.  Yes they were about 150 years apart, but we were there so we might as well go see more history.

The docents had some furs for the kids to look at when we first walked in. They loved it when he told them to tell everyone at home they'd "caught a skunk" when he threw it to them.

After we took some time to watch the movie, we went upstairs to learn about bartering.  Once the kids earned the peace medal to show they understood everything, we headed to the Powhatan Village to begin their trading.  When the Powhatan saw their medals he gave them some corn to take to the colonial village for trading.

We stayed in the village for  a little while trying the different activities set up. The kids ground some corn and practiced hitting some targets. They also scraped some deer hide and tied some knots for a fishing net. We'd already done much of this at home or at other pioneer days so the kids were old pros showing other kids how to do things.

  

Our next stop was a quick tour of a recreation of one of the three ships that brought colonists over to Virginia in 1607, the Susan Constant. We couldn't believe how small the bunks were for all the sailors!

All the kids enjoyed trying their hands at steering the ship with the whipstaff.

After chatting with one of the guides we headed over to the colonial settlement for more exploring and a chance to trade. They all offered their corn for trade to the merchant and she gave them each a small bracelet in return. 

We also watched a musket demonstration as well as asked bunches of questions about the practice of medicine in the 1600s to the settlement doctor. He showed many of the tools they used and pretty much grossed all of us out to the point we were no longer hungry fr lunch. It was very interesting though!

We walked through most of the houses arranged like the settlers may have lived.  We had a hard time imagining a large family living in rooms the size of our living room for their entire house.

The kids had a ball trying on all the armor and finding the chickens too. It was blazing hot but there was enough shade, water, and shelter to keep us going.

I would have loved to spend a little more time inside as there were tons of exhibits set up in chronological order of Jamestown as well as what was happening in England at the time. The kids were way more interested in dressing up so I'll save that for another day. Ryan was having a bit of trouble keeping up her pants!

They had a great little display with some swords from the Revolutionary, British, and French armies. The difference in the weight of all of them was amazing! The French sword was unbelievably light.

We made our way through the gift shop and hopped in the car for sandwiches on the way to Yorktown. This museum was undergoing some big changes so much of the inside portion was closed and there was considerable construction going on outside in their transition to the American Revolution Museum. The plans for this place look awesome and we'll definitely have to make a trip there again.

 

They had a bunch of stations set up for the kids to experience life in the revolutionary times. The kids enjoyed carrying water (heavy!), ironing (annoying!), and washing dishes (takes too long!) among other things. 

We learned how they made linen thread, handled medical issues, and toured the military encampment.  Again we were amazed six soldiers shared these tents. No wonder these camps were rampant with disease!!

This was the size of George Washington's tent - much bigger!

To Ryan's dismay there were musket and canon demonstrations next. As long as I held her ears she was ok with the musket demonstration. This guide did a fantastic talk about the weapons as well as a detailed demonstration of what it took to fire the gun. It must have been at least ten instructions they followed from the commander to fire!

Next up was the cannon demonstration and there was no way Ryan was going near it so I handed off my camera to Laney and we hung out by the stockade. Ryan got in trouble in the few minutes we were there! The other two enjoyed the talk and we still held our ears as far away as we were!

And that's where our fun day ended. The kids decided to fight for the 4,278th time over silly stuff and I wasn't interested in hearing it anymore so we left without a visit to the gift shop, ice cream, and a trip to the pool. We headed to Barnes and Noble for some wifi time for me and they were left to read. It was the quietest they'd been in a month. I guess they figured out I was over it.

When we were getting in the parking lot Brayden spotted some planes flying over us. They were the Blue Angels!! It was awesome to see our guys up in the air again!

Once we made it back home it was time for us to read and go to bed. The next day was going to be Williamsburg and I knew we'd be spending the majority of the day there for sure!