Topic: travel
Using the same characters as yesterday's Alaska adventure, let us now journey west from Columbia, MD. Actually, before going west I went south and east. To Washington, DC and Rehoboth Beach, DE to be exact. Then we went west. The night before leaving Maryland there was a thunderstorm, and it rained hard in the mountains of West Virginia as well. It cleared up just as we entered Kentucky. We had dinner at a place on the Ohio River in Indiana and spent the night at my uncle's friend in Louisville.
Day 2 took us to St. Meinrad Monastery in Indiana, then St. Louis. I didn't go in the arch, but there's a Western Expansion Museum underneath it. We also did the Budweiser brewery tour (soda and snacks for the kids, O'Doull's for the adults) but the famous Clydesdales were on tour. Our first night of camping had us in Lawrence, Kansas.
Our Kansas welcome was a thunderstorm wake-up call. After decamping we hit the zoo in Topeka. Also of note that day: I saw a Speed Limit 13 sign. Later that day we were making camp again, this time in western Kansas, a little town called Wakeeney. Another thunderstorm wake-up, this time my uncle saw a funnel cloud. We stayed in the office at the campground for shelter until the storm passed. It was the first of three, a single day record that has since been tied twice.
The plan for the night was to camp at Cherry Creek State Park outside Denver, but storm number three blew our tents down as we were leaving to get dinner. We stayed in a hotel instead. We checked out Denver the next day, then stopped at Colorado National Monument before kabin kamping at a KOA. The next day our voyage took us through Utah, where the rocks are red and everywhere. In Kanab, the gas station was full of Japanese tourists taking pictures like they've never seen a gas station before.
We arrived at Grand Canyon's North Rim late that night and slept in the van. I got to see the sunrise over the canyon. Amazing. We spent a few days on the north side before driving 80 miles to get to the other side of the 10 mile wide canyon. Along the way we stopped at the Lake Powell Dam in Page a site at Navajo National Monument, where I got my introduction to the Indian paintbrush, my new favorite flower. Unfortunately, I was sleeping when we passed through Tuba City, a place I always thought sounded interesting.
At the South Rim we had a thunderstorm. That was cool. I also had one of the best days of my life. It involved petting the mules, which you're not supposed to do, and generally being without adult supervision much of the day. When you're 13 it doesn't get any better. There was a presentation about the Civil War amp who explored the canyon in the 1870's and a tram ride along the canyon where they explained some of the history of the canyon. And of course, there was some hiking involved.
After leaving the canyon we first went south to Flagstaff, then east to Albuquerque. We camped 2 nights there, and during the day took a side trip to Santa Fe. There's an art museum and an outdoor plaza. Go there sometime. Next stop was carlsbad Caverns, where the thousands of bats fly out every evening. I got to see that. Imagine how many bugs would be in the desert without those guys.
After going batty, we hoteled in El Paso, then walked across the border and explored Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. We all survived the Mexico experience and were allowed back in the States. After leaving El Paso, we camped in Fort Stockton, a little west Texas frontier post. The sky was the clearest I'd ever seen, free of trees, light, and pollution.
The next mornng we went to the Fort Stockton fort, but it was closed. Instead we drove east and went to a cave. There's a rock formation that looks like a butterfly. Then we camped in San Antonio. They were giving away ice cream there at the campground. They also had a concert and played "Old Yeller" outside at night. Oh, and the Alamo was cool too. I love San Antonio's Riverwalk. It's an urban hiking experience. There are a few old Spanish missions in the city too.
After leaving San Antone, we passed the Republican National Convention in Houston. Texas felt different somewhere that day. It was more humid, there were more trees, and there were rivers. As we got closer to Louisiana, they started to call them bayous. We stayed in a cabin in Lake Charles, Louisiana, our last stop before the Big Easy.
New Orleans is right up there with San Antonio as far as best cities on this trip. I had an outdoor breakfast of crepes at a little cafe. Wrought iron quickly became my favorite design element in architecture. I wish I had more time there. I wanted to do the cemetery tour, or a voodoo ghost walk. And now that I'm over 21 there's Bourbon Street after dark.
In Mississippi, we stopped at the beach in Gulfport/Biloxi. The water was knee high about a half mile out. At some point it really drops off, and I'm glad we didn't go that far. We drove past Jefferson Davis's house. After got to Mobile, Alabama we took a turn to the north and you could tell we were gaining elevation. Dinner was at the Cracker Barrel in Montgomery, then we crossed into Georgia and hit 100,000 miles on the van.
The next day we went to Stone Mountain. The mountain has a carving of Confederate heros (Lee, Davis, and Stonewall Jackson) that was done by the same guy who did Mount Rushmore. There's also a plantation there for folks to explore. We did this, in the rain. We were planning on going to Myrtle Beach next, but because of the rain went to Tennesee instead. Dinner in Chatanooga was at another Cracker Barrel, same table. I believe we also sat in the same seats too. I don't think we all ordered the same thing as before though.
While in Chatanooga, we visited Confederama, a Civil War museum. We made to Virginia after leaving Chatanooga, and spent the night in Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley. The Valley is one of my favorite places. We hit the Caverns of Luray and took Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park before getting back to my uncle's place in Maryland.
While we were running around all over America, my family spent some time at my uncle's place. They really liked riding the water taxi around Baltimore. Becca played with crab legs. The next day, we were all in the car (nothing new for me) headed north and it was all over.
