Punxsutawney PA

Pennsylvania is much bigger than you would think. I thought I'd be through the whole state in a few hours but we just kept driving and driving and here we are still in Pennsylvania somewhere. The last sign I saw on the highway was for Punxsutawney . . . and there was no shadow to be seen today. IT RAINED AGAIN! I think I may be Charlie Brown . . . did you see the show where he looks up and the gray cloud is only over his head and it's only raining on him? Well that just might be me? Everywhere I go I hear it was beautiful yesterday and is going to be sunny tomorrow but when I look out the window there's lightening and thunder and tons of rain. The TV continues to say Severe Storms? . . . in every state I'm in! I was afraid if I stayed at Mike and Andrea's I might bring my bad weather to their big Saturday Night Party. I already experienced the micro burst . . . but today I may have experienced the macro burst too.

There was a horrible accident on 80 West and we were sitting completely stopped in our cars. Cole got out to walk up and see what had happened . . . probably not one of my smarter moves as I reflect now. But it did give me my big laugh of the day when I saw him sprinting faster than I've ever seen him run when all the cars started to move and he was a good quarter mile up the highway. We sat in our cars for close to an hour and everyone shut off their cars got out and started talking to each other in the middle of the highway????? A few people were walking their dogs, two guys were actually playing football across two lanes (kid you not) I thought the people in the camper next to me were going to light up their BBQ . . . and I tried to convince them to do so as their dog almost jumped into our car. So it was a huge tailgate party until the traffic started to go and the distressed look on Cole's face as he's running up the side of the highway. I send out some good wishes to the very unfortunate families who were in the accident and the poor trucker who went off the bend? stressful day driving!

Beach DAY in September

Jones Beach, Long Island!

We made a trip to Jones Beach, Long Island today. We pulled into Mike, Andrea & Emily's house last night in the middle of a storm . . . not a micro burst though! lots of rain and lightening!

Lunch in Rhode Island

Today we headed back home again. We packed up the car and pulled out of Candace & Larry's house and headed down 95 South. Stopped in Rhode Island to visit my very good friend Gary . . . once Andrea's very good friend. We had a great lunch at the deli . . . the best sandwiches you've ever had.

We also made some new friends . . . I'll write more tomorrow morning

moms

On our way down to New York we stopped by Connecticut and visited Johnny's mom for too short of a visit. And while in New York at Andy's house we finally had the chance to meet her mom, for also . . . too short of a visit. Love them both and so enjoyed the quick visits.

Where's Jane?

We tried to do a pop in at Jane's . . . We think she, Eric, Jake, & Abby were hiding in the basement. Sorry we missed them.

Leaving New England

Unbelievable just how long it takes us to repack that minivan! We spread out quickly and apparently make ourselves at home very easily . . . judging by the amount of stuff that is laced all over both Candace's and my parent's homes. We tried to gather it all up and made numerous trips to the car to pack and organize and then organize some more. Cole has filled the car with new tools that my father has given him and he found a way to pack them into this already PACKED car. We stopped by and picked up Johnny and allowed her a very small space to put a very small bag and was even able to clean out the passenger seat so she could sit. We tanked up and headed out of New England south to New York. We're officially on our way back home.

1000th VIEWER

Hey its Cole and I'd like to say Congratulations to the lucky 1,000th viewer. Thank you everyone for following our journey across country and for keeping updated on our daily posts. If you happen to have been the 1,000th viewer please comment on this post if not you can comment for the fun of it. Keep it up everyone.

Micro Burst . . . I looked it up for you!

Yesterday I experienced my first Micro Burst . . . never heard the word before and I didn't know I was in one until later while watching the news.
All I know is it was raining so hard that the wipers on high were not making a difference on my window . . . the lightening was incredible . . . the sun was no where to be found and in less than 8 miles the sky was blue and not a drop of rain to be found? WHAT . . . I thought it was a sign of the apocalypse.

packing again

Everything is a complete mess in the car and today we needed to just organize

Mini Golf with Johnny and Paul

Tonight Johnny and Paul brought us out to dinner and brought us to Kimballs for a round of mini-golf. The mini golf course is really beautiful probably the nicest looking one I've ever seen. It was nice to play golf without the Wii controller in my hand for a change.

Jacquelyn was trying to hit the ball over the stream and instead knocked it into the stream and Cole had to run around trying to save it for her. I thought for sure he was going into that stream but he was victorious and saved the golf ball . . . while staying completely dry. He did create a scene though look at all the people watching him . . . and you know they are all thinking he's going to slip in a minute. Thanks Johnny and Paul we really had a great time and fun visit . . . too short though. xoxo

Our day at Perkins Cove Maine

Today we took a small roadtrip up to Perkins Cove, Maine with my mom and dad. We had a great drive up into Maine and through the town of Ogunquit . . . I'm still not completely sure how to pronounce it but everyone says it so fast that you feel like you might be able to say it and sure enough when you try out loud it just doesn't sound the same . . . and you find yourself wincing wishing you has said it quietly to yourself instead.
The town is beautiful and the shore line is even nicer. There's a beautiful walkway that brings you around the shore line and around their rocky coast. Mom went on the walk with us around the rocks and out past the bay . . . dad found a perfect park bench and waited for us while we went on our walk and was instructed to keep an eye on the car if the parking meter ran out. I think we may have been driving him crazy at each turn-out . . . everytime we got to an opening I would wave and Cole and Jacquelyn would wave and we would try to get him to see us. Each time he would see us and wave back but we would go a little further out and go out on the rocks and try the whole waving senerio again . . . again he would wave. I kept instructing Jacquelyn to get him to wave again so I could get a picture with my telephoto. I know he must have been thinking "how many times are we going to go through this waving thing" . . . thanks Dad we had fun.

Car Wash!

I forgot to mention that the girl scouts gave me a free car wash yesterday. And they did a wonderful job.

Welcome, Today we left DD’s house and went back to Nana and Papas House for the next few nights. I was assigned the position of blogger today so I’m going to recap my top 5 favorite places from our trip with some pics I took.

Lava Tubes

The lava tubes were incredible! We had to ride down a small dirt road for miles to find a small road to turn down to an even smaller road into a more open dirt lot. We parked and walked threw some trees to find a small opening facing straight down into a dark hole and we got to explore the cave on our own and I had a great time.(Below are some pictures of what i could see in the cave)

Monument Park

We drove through miles of flat desert to eventually find monument park. Monument park has tall towering arches and rock formations out in the middle of this vast desert. It was cool because we got to stop and climb up the rocks and explore.

St Louis
In St. Louis we got to see the gateway arch in pictures and videos it appears to be a thin building but is surprisingly large. We went up a elevator like thing that went up the side of the building to an airplane like room at the top with small slit windows that u can look out of. It was incredible.

NYC
I loved our trip to New York City. We got to go up to the top of the Empire State Building and we also got to walk around the many streets of Times Square. New York is trying a new traffic technique so is closing certain roads for a few months. On these roads they put outdoor carpet and lawn chairs. So people can lay back in a chair in the middle of the streets of NYC.














Boston

Our trip to Boston was cool. We got to see the part where the Boston Massacre happened and we got to see Quincy Market, Fenway Park and walk around and see the Dunkin Donuts on every corner.

I’d like to make a shout out to my San Diego friends that I’ll be back in a week and there’s no place like home. P.S MOSQUITOS SUCK (literally haha)