I-95... #Forgetaboutit

They warned us! The weather was going to be bad and the traffic would be even worse. I'm starting to see a trend here. The two times we traveled the I-95 corridor between Boston and Virginia things did not go well.

After leaving South Carolina we made a short drive into Jacksonville, FL where we stored the camper for a few weeks as we made our way back to New England to spend the holidays with Family. We know a storm was coming so we left a day earlier to compensate for the extra traffic; and extra traffic we got.

I-95 is the most heavily traveled interstate in the country during the holidays. Add in a nasty winter rain storm and it is a traffic apocalypse from Washington, D.C. to Boston, MA. We drove from Jacksonville to Lillington, NC on Monday which was the possibly the best 400 miles I have driven. We then left first thing Tuesday morning to drive 750 miles to Cape Cod. What should have taken about 12 hours ended up taking just over 18 hours.

At one point we were on the New Jersey Turnpike and we moved 65 miles during a four hour period. Between the weather, holiday and rush hour traffic it was the traffic trifecta of the ages. I weaved in and out of back roads and even at one point finding myself driving right through the campus of Princeton University. At every turn we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic not moving more than 2 or 3 miles an hour.

After a long day, 750 miles, 45 gallons of fuel and 18 hours we arrived at our final destination of Cape Cod, MA.

This was what I-95 looked like for 500 miles. This is a view going over the Tappanzee Bridge from NJ into NY.

"Life is a highway, I (don't) want to ride it all night long"

-Tom Cochrane

South Carolina

South Carolina was one of the bigger surprises we had on the trip. We loved the people, beaches and the history that we experienced in South Carolina. We visited Myrtle Beach, Charleston and Hilton Head during our three weeks in the state, with a small detour to Georgia. I have always heard great things about Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head and this was my first visit to the area and the accolades I heard regarding these destinations certainly did them justice.

The biggest surprise for me was Charleston. The connection to history that we felt walking down the cobblestone streets was amazing. While walking down the cobblestone streets you could easily envision what it felt like for our forefathers to walk down the same streets 300 years ago. Additionally, the public trolley's in Charleston were all free and made a great way to easily get around the city on the cheap.

While visiting Hilton Head we stayed in a RV Park 15 miles to the south of the island and 15 miles north of Savannah Georgia so we made a trip to Savannah and visited Tybee Island/Beach which is a short drive outside of Savannah. The kids had a great time playing in the surf and Tristan and I spent some quality time fishing off the pier. My only reservation to the kids playing in the surf were the signs posted on the fishing pier notifying us that "All Sharks are catch and release". I didn't have a lot of comfort letting the kids swim in water where the local ordinance requires catch and release of All sharks!

Here are some of the pictures of our visit to South Carolina.

We walked the 1.5 miles to the top of the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge which leads into Charleston.

Just another night at the RV park. Tristan is playing chess with a new friend while I'm cooking dinner on the grill.

At the Pineapple Fountain in Charleston.

The Rainbow Row is one of the most photographed parts of Charleston. It consists of 13 colorful historic houses.

 

The kids and I at Angel Oak...a 300 year old tree located in Charleston.

At the base of Angel Oak.

 

 

Folly Beach just outside of Charleston.

Pretty sure this was a mandated hug for not getting along...these two are like oil and water.

 

 

Tristan fishing at Folly Beach with his stuffed animal "Yoti" in his side pocket.

The girls ready to hit the surf at Tybee Beach.

 

 

Sidney working on some dance moves at the beach.



That face is how I know the water is too cold for me!

  

Yeah, that's about how big it was. For real, the pole you see to the right of me belonged to an old man who asked me to watch his line while he went to the bathroom. A few minutes after he walked away there was a tug on the line. I grabbed the pole and there was something pretty big at the other end. It fought for about 1 minute and then the line broke so we'll never know...but it was 20 lb line so it must have been something pretty big!

Fun at the beach!

In Georgia - Where the trees are crossed, and they're covered in moss.

Arghhhhh - It's Sidney!

Hi, it is Sidney!

I'm going to tell you about the most amazing place with a so cool  show and the best meal in the world THE PIRATES VOYAGE CHRISTMAS in Myrtle Beach, SC!!!! It was awesome! First they sung some songs about what pirates do on Christmas and how they sing the songs on Christmas then they taught us how to talk like a pirate. Aye means yes, arghh means practically anything you want it to. They were jumping, singing and diving into the water. My favorite part was when they asked kids from the audience to be part of the show, like get in the boat. Helaina and I got picked for one of those things so we went to one side of the set and a pirate brought over a big present box and Helaina started freaking out she was like ''no I don't want to do it anymore'' with a shivering voice well that was before they told us what was in the box, there were geese in it! The pirate told us what to do so he opened the box we chased the geese down to the girl pirate asked us some questions like where are you from what is your favorite part and stuff like that so then she gave me and Helaina these golden medals and a book. After that they had some other kids ride in a boat while the parents pulled the boat. Then they got two dogs and through a ball in the water and which ever one past the finish line first won the red team lost two times.

What was really cool was they came around serving food they gave us half a chicken literally half a chicken it was really disturbing half a potato some pork and corn they also gave us soup and soda the guy refills your drink every time it looks a little empty every time he filled Helaina's drink she drank it in less than five seconds well the drink made her have to go to the bathroom but the bad thing was we were supposed to go on in one minute so my mom took her to the bathroom she made it just the right time the guy was just walking up.




The Family at Pirates Voyage, Myrtle Beach, SC



Sidney and Helaina on stage with the Pirates. Getting ready to chase the geese!

Love Ya!

Sidney






North Carolina!

We had an amazing time visiting North Carolina. We arrived in North Carolina in the early part of October which got us there with plenty of time to enjoy some beautiful southeastern fall weather. I've been to the state a few times before when traveling on business, and my wife lived outside of Charlotte up until she was in second grade before moving a handful of times and finally landing on Cape Cod. For as long as I have known my wife she has talked very fondly of North Carolina and always dreamed of going back to NC to live. We'll slap me silly and call me a dream maker, but I made that happen...for a month!

After visiting the "Tar Heel State" for almost 4 weeks I can certainly understand why people live here and so many others vacation here. Our base camp while we were in North Carolina was in Lillington where our great friends JD and Becca call home. They generously let us park the RV on the driveway next to their house for the month. We made the most of our time with a few weekend excursions to the beach, Charlotte and Duke University during our stay.

Our first adventure brought us to Carolina Beach, one of the more popular beaches along the southern coast of North Carolina. Here we were able to drive out onto the beach and park the truck for the day as the kids collected sea shells and splashed in the waves during the afternoon. We packed a cooler with drinks and lunch and spent the day just trolling around on the beach. This was my first experience driving in Sand. I thought it would be a simple task especially after growing up driving in snow and ice packed roads since the day I got my license. I'll be honest, sand driving was a whole new ballgame that I wasn't prepared for. I didn't get stuck, but came mighty close to it. Turns out there is a trick to driving in sand that I wasn't aware of until after the fact. You are suppose to let air our of your tires to flatten them to give more surface area. Oh well, live and learn.


Sidney, Tristan and Izabelle with a Starfish they caught.

This is a flying fish!



 Our next trip in North Carolina found us about 140 miles southwest of Lillington in Charlotte, home of the Charlotte speedway. We didn't pull the camper, to Charlotte, but instead thought it would be a good time to pull out the truck tent and rough it for the weekend. Thanks to an old friend in Charlotte the whole family was able to take in a NASCAR race at the speedway and enjoy a view from the premium club section. Thanks Tyler! The race was a blast and the kids had a great time, but the real excitement is the fan zone that is setup outside of the Speedway. We spent hours walking around and playing all sorts of games that resulted in the kids walking away with bags of prizes. We could hardly pull them away to catch the start of the race. Some of the pre-race activities also included a performance by the Goo Goo Dolls and a high-wire act by the famous Nik Wallenda and his sister.

Camping at a parking lot outside of the Charlotte Speedway

The view from our seats. You can see the crane for the high-wire act and the Goo Goo Dolls on the screen in the background.

Me and the kids at the Speedway. Bank of America 500

While we were in in the Raleigh/Durham area we thought it would also be fun to visit on of the local big name universities such as Duke or Chapel Hill. So we packed up the kids and headed to Durham for a day and spent the day hanging around at Duke University. It happened to be parents weekend so Katherine and I blended quite nicely with the older crowd that was also aimlessly wandering the campus. One of the bigger attractions at the university is the botanical gardens which could almost be a full day activity in itself just wandering through the various sections of the gardens.

At Duke University Botanical Garden

Helaina looking cute as a button.

Me, Izabelle and Helaina in front of the chapel on campus.

Izabelle in front of her Princess Tower (aka the chapel at Duke University).

 We left North Carolina a couple days after Halloween. Next stop..... Myrtle Beach, SC!

The kids all set for Halloween. The dog is in a bunny costume on Sidney's lap.

My little Cowgirls.



Tristan as a Zombie Surgeon.

Advice from the

OCEAN

Be Shore of Yourself

Come out of Your Shell

Take Time to Coast

Avoid Pier Pressure

Sea Life's Beauty

Don't Get Tide Down

Make Waves!

 

God Bless,

Seth and Katherine

If life grows you a tree, make a swing!

Another one of my amazing ideas came to life in Lillington while working in the camper.

A large tree on the Daniel's property in North Carolina where we parked the camper had a broken rope swing dangling from the tree. I connected a carabiner to the end of the rope and let the kids swing using an old rock climbing harness I bought in high school but hasn't fit since 1998. My wife always wondered why I carried it around...and now she knows!

This kept the kids occupied for hours on end which was great for us and a great time for them. Here are some pictures of the kids swinging away!

The Slimdown Cometh!

After the nerve racking drive from Boston to Virginia, we quickly settled into our tight parking quarters in the beautiful BlueGreen Resort in Gordonsville, VA and looked on to our next east coast adventure, Washington D.C.

After the long drive down the east coast we arrived at the resort around 1:00am on Sunday morning. Waking up on Sunday we knew the clock was ticking. There was already plenty of talk around the looming government shut down. We were not sold on driving into D.C. on Sunday after getting in late the night before. We were really hoping to have a recovery day before heading into the Capital city. With news of the shut down coming on Monday night we knew we didn't have much time.

Both Katherine and I have been to D.C. before (at separate times) and we knew that there was more to do in D.C than could be squeezed into a day or two so we piled the kids into the truck and made our way into the city. Before heading out on Sunday I talked to a local that was parked next to me at the resort to get the inside track on commuting into the city. He suggested driving in on Sunday and taking the subway during the weekday to stay out of the crazy rush hour traffic that D.C. has to offer.

Taking his advice we drove in on Sunday and found a parking spot right outside of the Library of Congress. Since parking is mostly free in the capital on Sunday's this worked out pretty well for us. We spent the day touring a couple of the Smithsonian museums, the Air and Space and Natural Science museums. If you have the opportunity to visit the Capital I would certainly recommend visiting on the weekend when traffic and the general ebb and flow of the city is pretty slow. It made for a nice visit. After spending a good part of the day in the Capital we headed back to base camp for the night in Virginia.

Day two was a much different experience getting into the city. We drove from the resort in VA to a subway station just about 15 miles outside of the city where we took the Metro into the city. All of the kids except Sidney enjoyed the experience. Sidney was a nervous wreck and didn't like when the subway went under ground. I could almost see her hold her breath every time the subway went below ground.

The second day we had a tour of the capital building that Katherine had setup in advance with our congressman Sam Graves. The tour was great, but the best part was the tour guide was an intern on her 3rd day of the job! She was great and did a wonderful job, but we did get lost a time or two in the maze of tunnels that criss-cross underneath the city. While we were standing in the rotunda a group of Democrats came parading through which including Nancy Pelosi. They were giving a press conference on the status of the budget negotiations with the republicans and trying to prevent a government shut down. If you were watching the press conference you would have seen me pass in the background behind Nancy at the 25 second mark. I'm the guy in the red shirt. Here is a link to the video. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CRCo

Since our time was limited and the slimdown was imminent our final activity in the capital was a tour on the Big Bus, a double-decker open top bus. The kids loved it and it gave us the best bang for our buck to see as much of the city as we could in a very short period of time.

Our Spot at the BlueGreen Resort in Gordonsville, VA.

The kids striking a pose in front of the Capital.

The kids on the porch of the Wright brothers house at the Air and Space Museum.

The kids first Subway ride!

At the museum of Natural History.

Best way to get from point A to point B in the capital! A little scary when they are weaving in and out of traffic.

In the capital building with the tour guide. I'm not sure what she is pointing at, but the tip of her finger was just fascinating to me!

Yep, a photo bomb by yours truly!

Standing on top of the tomb that was built for George Washington.

Checking in with our Congressman Sam Graves.

In front of the Capital.

The open top Big Bus Tour we went on.

The house across the street from Ford's Theatre where Lincoln died.



The White House


"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
-Abraham Lincoln



God Bless,
Seth and Katherine