Friday, June 26, 2009

Enjoying Florida






We arrived in FL the night of June 12th. We have been enjoying the hospitality of Jack & Carol Doherty (Jackie's Parents). They are wonderful. The days are hot and humid we combat this by going to the pool at least once a day. Jackie and I have been walking down to the beach and back in the morning. Sara and Emily have joined us on a few of these walks. The ocean is only 1 mile from Jack & Carol's house. Jackie's sister Terry lives only 15 minutes away and we have spent time over at there house also. While here we have celebrated my birthday June 14th (39) and Jackie's birthday June 23 (25 and holding). We are relaxing and anticipating our cruise. Monday June 29 we set sail and head to the Bahamas. After 4 nights and 5 days on the cruise we will start our journey home. In the pictures of this post you see Sara, Emily, contrail of the lunar rocket we watched from the driveway, the host's name plate a palm tree and my uniform foot ware. I will have Jackie edit the spelling errors when she gets a chance.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Made it!

We are in Florida. Hoping to see a shuttle launch tomorrow. Will do a proper post then.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Another great day



Post from Kurt... It was a beautiful day all around. After watching the sun rise we got on the road. Stopped for breakfast at a place that had the motto "No grits no glory." none of us had glory. Next we stopped at a lighthouse and climbed to the top 280 or so steps. It was great fun. Then we drove on NC 12 going south. This road reminded me of the 2 lane highways back home. I started waving to everyone (not many waved back). My boy scout came out and I did my good turn by helping a couple from New Jersey get their car out of the sand on the side of the road. We spent most of the day in line to get on ferries then riding the ferries to finally end up at Quality Inn 3100 Arendell Street Morehead City NC 28557.

Dolphins at Daybreak



We don't usually post in the morning but we had such a nice start to our day. We woke up in time to watch the sunrise on the beach in North Carolina. The hotel was right on the beach so we didn't have to go far. The girls loved playing in the surf as the sun came up. We got a bonus when a school of dolphin decided to swim past about 75 ft. off the shore. I am not sure who squealed "Dolphins!" louder the girls or me.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

We made it to NC






We made two stops along the way today. We stopped in Norfolk, VA to visit Nauticus, a naval museum and science center. We found out the mermaid is the symbol of Virginia. The girls loved the different painted mermaids. We enjoyed trying to steer the simulated ships and shoot down attacking airplanes at Nauticus. We walked on the USS Wisconsin. It was fun to hear about the history of the ship from the retired Navy volunteers.

Next we head for Virginia Beach. It was very crowded but the beach was nice. We decided not to stay too long as we wanted to get to NC. We stopped for dinner in a town called Kill Devil Hills. The seafood buffet was excellent. We got a room in town right on the beach. We went down to the beach tonight and want to get up to see the sunrise so I will say goodnight. Hope to be in Florida in a couple of days.

Losing track of days






We did not have a wifi connection Tuesday so we didn't post. We checked out of the hotel and walked up to the National Zoo. We wanted to get on the road so we just picked a few things to see: the octopus, elephants, gorillas, and pandas.

The weather was stormy as we headed for Virginia. We got to Colonial Williamsburg just in time for dinner and to meet a few of the "residents". The girls couldn't resist the urge to dance when the fiddle began. The other diners seemed to enjoy the impromptu performance.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Day in D.C. Part 5-Washington Monument





After a quick trip back up to the Reagan for dinner ( I told you the food was good), we went back to the Washington Monument. We rode the elevator up to the top and took pictures out each window.

We took the metro back home and everyone is exhausted and have very sore feet. The girls want to go to the Zoo tomorrow before we leave D.C. I told them we will have to see if I can walk tomorrow. Right now it doesn't look promising.

Day in D.C. Part 4-Museum of American History






After leaving the Museum of Natural History, we head for the Smithsonian Castle and then the Museum of American History. We had to go see some of the things we had seen in the movie Night at the Museum 2 . We saw the ruby slippers, Oscar the Grouch, and the puffy shirt from Seinfeld.

We also liked the exhibit on all the wars the U.S. has been involved in- I think it was called The Path to Freedom. The girls burst into song in the Star Spangled Banner Exhibit. I think we need to work on the tune but it choked several people up. I didn't know the original still existed. It was very interesting to see but we couldn't take any pictures of it.

Day in D.C. Part 3-Museum of Natural History






So much to see at the Smithsonian. We started at the Museum of Natural History. We like the Insect Room, and Ocean Hall but Emily said her favorite was the Gem Room and the Hope Diamond. I feel sorry for the boy who decides to marry her. The people around us got a kick out of the unison "Oooh!" from both girls when they saw the Hope Diamond.

We also spent a lot of time in the Forensic lab with the real bones. We decided we will have to start CSI: Bluebell when we get home.

Day in D.C. Part 2



Next we went to the Vietnam Memorial. We took a picture of a name of someone Rush knew when he was in Vietnam.

We then walked to the north side of the White House. By this time we were all hot and thirsty so we walked to The Reagan building. The food is good and not too expensive but you have to go through a security check before going to the food court.

Next stop The Museum of Natural History.

Day in D.C. Part 1





We did so much today and took so many pictures we decided to break it into smaller posts. We started by taking the metro to the Smithsonian stop. We walked to the Washington Monument to get tickets to ride the elevator. We got tickets for 8 p.m.

Then we went to the WWII memorial. The pictures around the memorial depict the US entering WWII till the war was declared over. There were several water features also.

We walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial. The girls were impressed by the size.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Washington DC






We got to DC yesterday and couldn't post. We were too late to go to the zoo and didn't see much. Tomorrow we plan to go down town and see the sights. Today we saw the National Cathedral, and the Washington Temple. The chapel we found to attend our meetings didn't have anyone there but the other travelers. Must have been Stake Conference in another building. We will be here until Tuesday. Then we resume our travels to Florida.

Friday, June 5, 2009






Kurt's turn to post. Today we are coming to you from Middleburg Heights, OH 44130. We drove most of the day stopping for a time to eat and go see Lake Erie. We found a nice place to eat called Tony Packo's Cafe. We hope to be in DC tomorrow and have some clean laundry. Here are some pictures from yesterday morning and today. The girls did the rope course before the game of mini Golf and lazer tag. The watter in the background is Lake Erie.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Lost in Chicago

We finished off our stay at the Kalahari by playing laser tag and miniature golf. Kurt and the girls did the ropes course while I took pictures. Then we hit the road again. We were doing great until we got into Illinois. We hit rush hour just outside Chicago. I hate traffic and my stomach was in knots. It took us an hour and a half to go 20 miles. Then we missed our exit. I thought no problem we will just get off at the next exit. We ended up in a very bad area of Chicago. It was Kurt's turn to have his stomach in knots. His knuckles were white on the wheel the whole time. I told him we needed something to write for the blog anyway and to consider it an adventure. He was not amused! Anyway we finally made it back to the highway and to Indiana.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Hidden treasure in Wisconsin






I never would have thought of Wisconsin as a vacation destination but we have had such a good time here, we have already talked about coming again. We are staying at the Kalahari Resort. They have an indoor water park and an outdoor water park, a theme park with laser tag, miniature golf, go karts, etc. Included in our package was an hour long horseback ride. We did the horseback ride and water parks today and will do the theme park tomorrow. We played a trivia game at the place went to dinner and won( just bragging rights) and went to see UP. I will post pictures tomorrow. I am pooped!