Day 10

Our plan today was to hike and get some internet time so after breakfast and taking Dave to work at the library I got ready and filled all the backpacks with water and snacks. We were headed to the hiker shuttle by 10:30 ready to see some of the more popular trails in the park. The hikes were supposed to be relatively easy so we would have time to go to the Discovery Center by our campground too.

As we were walking toward the shuttle stop I realized I'd forgotten the camera in my car. I'd thrown it in the front seat when I'd assumed we'd be driving earlier. I didn't have my phone either since we were with Grammie and I debated that being enough but we both agreed it wouldn't put us back too far for me to run back to our site to grab it. I hadn't run much since February due to a heel issue, so I was hoping this wasn't going to be too painful. As I was running back I was checking out shortcuts for the way back. Since our campsite was on a loop I also debated just running out the other end of the loop to catch up.

After grabbing the camera I ran over the rocks and hill behind our campsite and was back on the road to the shuttle within a few minutes. I was hoping to make it to the stop shortly behind everyone so we didn't have to wait for the next shuttle. Just as I was running up to the stop the shuttle was pulling in - perfect timing! I hadn't seen my four hop on the bus, but there was a bush in the way. The bus driver was nice enough to wait a few seconds for me to catch up and as I jumped on the first step my stomach sunk as they weren't in any of the seats. I told the driver I was looking for my three kids and her face showed instant panic, but I let her know they were with my mom so they were safe so she calmed.

She continued her route and I sat down to wait for them and the next bus. I retraced my steps of the last few minutes trying to figure out how in the world I beat them to the stop. There was only one way they could have gone. And even if they'd stopped at the bathroom, I know Grammie would have stayed outside to watch for me. I thought I understood they were going to meet me at the stop. I kept going over our conversation and looking down the road where I'd come from in hopes I'd see them walking up. Once the next bus came I convinced myself they'd just gotten on the bus and headed to our trailhead so I got on and headed there too.

It didn't feel right but I couldn't imagine where else they could be! As our bus pulled into the area where we would need to transfer buses I searched around for the three colorful backpacks I knew the kids would be wearing. Nothing. I kept going back over my steps and our conversation then hopped on the bus to the trailhead. Once we made it to Bear Lake and they weren't there I became very worried. I went to the ranger station and asked if I could call, but their phone didn't work and all their cell phones didn't have service. I asked for the ranger to radio to our campground to see if they were still there or had seen them. No word at all.

I'd spoken with this bus driver and she was ready to leave so I hopped back on the bus to see if I'd missed them or they had made it to the place to change buses. As we were driving, the bus driver radioed some of the other bus drivers to see if they'd remembered picking them up. One of the bus drivers remembered them getting on her bus and she'd taken them to Bear Lake where I'd just left. I hopped off the bus at the next stop and waited for the next bus back to Bear Lake. I just knew they'd be standing there frustrated wondering where in the world I'd been. But no family.

I sat on the bench in the sun and watched 2 buses go by when I remembered Lola was in the RV and Grammie had left her keys in my locked in my car. I hopped on the next bus back to the campground to make sure she was ok and I would worry about the family after I confirmed she was ok. I kept looking at every bus as we crossed paths to see if I could see any of them but they were all pretty full and pretty much a blur as we passed. I'd left my group for the camera yet this was the only view of the afteroon!

As I got off the bus at our campground I ran back to our campsite imagining them again frustrated with me that I'd gotten separated from them. The afternoon dark cloud was moving in and I knew they would have no place to go if it started raining so I ran faster. As I rounded the corner by our site I realized they were not there at all. And that was when it started pouring.

I grabbed the keys from my car and ran up the hill and made it just inside when the hail started. Lola was very happy to see me and I just sat down extremely confused now as to where in the world they were! I'd grabbed my phone so I called Grammie but there was no answer. I sent her a few texts telling her where I was and that Lola was ok. I sent Dave a text asking if he'd heard from her so of course he was instantly confused and worried.

Once the rain settled a little bit I took Lola out for a walk and tried to figure out what to do next. The conversation with Dave had be more worried so I hopped in the car and drove up to the ranger station in our campground. The ranger recognized her name and told me they'd gotten on the bus around noon. More mystery as I'd gotten on the bus a little after 11.

As I was pulling away, another ranger ran out and said she'd radioed the Bear Lake rangers and they were safe and waiting on me there but were now getting on a bus to come back. All this time we'd been just barely missing eachother. I waited on them in my car by the shuttle stop still trying to unravel the mystery.

The kids bounced off the bus happy to see me and I finally found out what happened. As the kids were kicking a pine cone they'd accidentally turned back down the loop where our sites are instead of out the campground toward the shuttle. They'd also stopped for a little bit to watch a coyote sneak through all the sites. They didn't realize where they were until they were almost already back to our campsite. And that was probably about the time I got on the first bus. It was so good to see everyone after becoming so worried!


With so much relief, we headed to the Discovery Center to enjoy the rest of the afteroon. The theme of the day was water so most of the exhibits were related to how water affects the area. Our first stop was a demonstration of how snowmelt affects the flood plains and why dams are so important.

The kids all enjoyed creating mountains while I checked out the view. The girls made nature journals and we all learned about beavers, water flow, and pollution. The girls even enjoyed fishing for a little bit.

We shopped for post cards and a sticker for my car's roof carrier then we took Grammie back to the campground to hang out with Lola. The kids were excited to get on their Kindles at the library and check their email. I needed to update the blog and charge my phone. The children's area of this library rivaled our downtown library at home so once the kids were finished they grabbed a few books.











Once I had uploaded a day we headed back to the campsite to make campfire nachos. The ranger program tonight was an hour earlier so we had to cook quickly. I had a beer to settle my nerves after the day and we enjoyed a quick dinner. Dave's pile of food looked like some from his favorite restaurants. The best part was the easy cleanup into the garbage.








We headed to the program ready to learn more about the mountains. When we arrived the moderator asked us to form teams and grab white boards. Instantly Dave's ego was sparked and we joked with three young girls in front of us that we were going to beat them and feed them all the wrong answers. Team Marmot was going to win this!














Tonight's program was a trivia game about the Rocky Mountains and the Estes Park area. We definitely weren't prepared for this as we hadn't even made it to the movie or the interpretive hike! Each question it became apparent we were very unprepared as we were not getting a single point marked. We were 0 for 3 and it was time to make friends with the girls in front. Of course they denied us but we humored by the morons behind them. We did end up getting a few points. We may have received an extra point because I held up my white board twice as she was counting.

We ended up losing miserably but had a fantastic time and definitely learned a lot!  We walked back to our campsite much happier than we had been during the day and resolved to get a great night's sleep and have a fantastic day tomorrow!

Day 34

As we were all sitting around the table the night before we were talking about what New York food we'd had. The subject of bagels came up, practically Brayden's favorite food, and everyone was shocked we hadn't tried any New York bagels yet. Well, Joann made sure of that one too. When we were all up and ready for the day we came down to a spread of delicious bagels and fruit. Dave was not thrilled she's gotten me a garlic one, but I sure was!

Our first stop this day was Thomas Edison's laboratory and home. I am so fortunate enough to have little inventor's in my home (currently inventing daily in my car) so I thought this would be the perfect stop for them.

The house tour tickets were timed so we had about 20 minutes to watch part of a movie about him then we had to head over to the house about 5 minutes away. Apparently, he'd bought this house after it was forclosed on in 1877 for just $125,000. It has 29 rooms with 8 bedrooms.  And of course we were not allowed to take pictures so we settled for one outside.

The tour guide was very informative and especially good with questions all the kids on the tour could come up with. Once we were finished, we walked around a little bit around the beautiful grounds and found Mr & Mrs Edison's burial sites. Dave and Brayden walked down to the carriage house, which later Edison turned into a garage, to look at his antique car collection while the girls and I drove the wrong way down the short road to go get them - oops!

Once we were finished we went back to the laboratory to explore and you guessed it - work on junior ranger badge activities! I believe this was Edison's third lab location and it was huge. There were multiple buildings to explore, but we only had time for the main laboratory with our 2 hours.

My favorite room of the lab was definitely the 3-story library full of books from top to bottom. We'd learned before of his belief of research being the foundation of a new idea and this was no more evident that in this room.

The best part of the lab was Edison's roll-top desk. When he died his son closed and locked the desk and it remained that way until what would be his 100th birthday. There were cubbies labeled for many of his ideas and inventions and my favorite one was simply labeled "new things". Edison spent so many hours in this very room his wife added a bed to the library because of his tendency to fall asleep on his workbench.

There were rooms and rooms of all kinds of manufacturing equipment and testing facilities. There were rooms containing tons of bottles for chemistry experiments. There were drafting and engineering rooms for product design and refinement. This was one amazing facility!









    

The girls were excited to see a small dress up area - Laney as a young lady and Ryan as an inventor! Next there was a neat room set up with many versions of the phonograph. We took a few minutes to use the QR codes to listen to three of them. The looks on the kids faces were priceless at the old music that played, especially the "Yes, We Have No Bananas" hit song!

The last room we walked through was an awesome display of many of the actual inventions in cases. There were some that made sense, Christmas lights, and some that I had no idea about - electric pen and concrete houses? His cement company actually supplied the builders of Yankee Stadium.

Our last stop was the gift shop and junior ranger questions. This ranger quizzed the kids pretty hard as compared to others but since they were working as a team they passed with flying colors.

We hopped back into the car to head to another family meet up with Dave's aunts, uncles, and cousins. Dave's Aunt Donna, who the kids affectionately and accidentally call "Aunt Dottie", was hosting all the family while we were in town, most I'd never met. Dave hadn't been to New Jersey in about 30 years, so he hadn't seen many of them either. The kids took awhile to warm up but once they got in the pool they had a blast.

It was fun to hear so many stories I hadn't before about the generation of kids that are Dave's age. It sounded like they'd had so much fun growing up with the Clarke family. And there was definitely no shortage of food! The kids feasted until all their bellies were popping out and then feasted more once they saw dessert.  The chocolate chip cookies were the best!

We all had a wonderful time and headed home full and smiling. We spent the rest of the evening doing laundry and on the couch preparing for the trip to D.C. as the kids watched a movie. Even though Dave's time with us there would be short, we were trying to fit in the things we all most wanted to do with him.

Day 24

After 3 weeks on the road, I can't tell you how nice it is to be inside, have a kitchen, and have a bed. The girls were up early this morning to help us cook breakfast. They were excited to set a lovely table for all of us!

  

With all of us very rested, we decided to start out our stay in Philadelphia with a trip to the Franklin Institute. I'd heard wonderful things about the museum and we hadn't had time to get to it the last time we were here. Everyone was especially excited about the Pixar exhibit Grammie reserved for us first thing in the morning!

To say this exhibit was fun, interesting, and informative would be a gross understatement. I think we could have stayed in this area for hours! We learned about the entire process of animated movie making with help from Pixar employees then we were let loose to try some of those things ourselves! The kids learned about all the different stages of production as well as modeling, lighting, simulation, and animation. 

  

The kids were just about finished and I got through about half of the informational videos and demos I was interested in before an enormous summer camp group came in so we moved on. I want to work at Pixar!!

  

Next up was Brayden's favorite area in every museum we go to - sports. This area was pretty crowded but I think everyone ended up getting to the activities they wanted to do.

  

  

Next up was the simple machines area which we'll be studying more of next year. Laney just would not give up trying to lift some blocks with an excavator arm and she finally got it!

They definitely all had a bunch of fun at the domino exhibit not only because they're inherently fun, but also because it would record your domino toppling and add it to a stream of about 15 other videos to make a very long chain reaction.  They came up with some great ideas for their video additions!

Another exhibit Grammie had already reserved for us (she's so awesome!) was the Lost Egypt area. This was another exceptionally well done activity that we could have spent hours enjoying! We do some archaeology at home, but we learned quite a bit more here. The kids even planned an expedition and decided on the tools and supplies they would need to go including a budget and weight allowance. 

  

They even had a mummy of a teenage girl with very interesting notes about how they knew who she was physically and in society.

Since we'd been learning for about 5 hours we decided to take a break and have a snack. We found the historical memorial statue of Ben Franklin too!

Next up was the brain! This exhibit was huge and covered everything from neurons to memory to motor function. It even had a playground neuron climbing structure!

   

We tricked our brains for another hour in a very fun optical illusion area. The kids especially a room that had your brain thinking you were going upside down but actually were not. I acted like I was terrified the whole time and Laney loved it!  I was stumped for quite a while on this one so I asked Grammie to try it too. She got the same answer I did! Try it!

$5000 right?!  Nope - not the answer at all!

One of the kids favorite parts of this section was the driving with distraction activity. They all had to drive a friend around while she talked and asked them to text her mom. Brayden hit a soccer ball, a cat and a dog, Laney was in a multi-car accident, and Ryan went the wrong way into oncoming traffic.  I don't think we'll be going for driver's licenses any time soon! Even Grammie had some difficulty!

   

The last section we had the energy for was Laney's request - the heart. We learned all about cells, blood, healthy food, and even climbed all through the chambers of the heart the size the Statue of Liberty would have!

We were all starving by the time we were finished so I found Stella's Cafe very close by with vegetarian fare. I was thrilled to see a vegetarian philly cheesesteak on the menu! There were also some delicious veggie burgers Brayden and Laney loved. We need more places like this in Pensacola!!

We got home in time to watch some Olympic gymnastics and finish our rousing game of Pictionary. We even had time to Skype with Dave!  Grammie and Ryan came back from behind with an exciting win! We may have sampled some of our cannoli too.