Our American Adventure

The girls had an afternoon with our neighbors horse.   They took turns riding around on their horse Beau.

We spent the day at my mother-in-laws and played a game of Canasta.  I brought along some spinach dip for an appetizer and some cookies for dessert.

Just our cat, Oreo observing the deer from a distance.

It was the annual Lundgren Family reunion in Round Rock Texas. Lots of food, fun and water. Even some of the adults took in the water slide that they rented for the event. Here is a picture of the great-grandkids with Helen (Lundgren) Enders. More pictures of the reunion are here www.ouramericanadventure.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php

It was a beautiful brown one and I thought it was Gracie’s egg. I found it on Saturday evening and I forgot to check the nest boxes that morning. I found it in the seventh nest box. Our chicken was yelling when I took the egg out. Here is the picture of me and the egg from Saturday.

A chicken from our group of hens laid a brown egg. The chicken is called Gracie. We can’t wait for more eggs. I wanted to be the first to let everyone know. We have been cleaning up the front of our property of sticks so Dad can get the tractor and shred the grass.

Pictures of our family finally getting together for Christmas.
http://www.ouramericanadventure.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=24

This was a quick trip for us to Disney the last weekend of April. We left Wednesday afternoon with Scott taking the wheel the first couple of hours. I took over for about four hours midway through the trip. We had to stop for a rest in Florida for a few hours. We were supposed to check in at the Port Orleans hotel but found that they had overbooked and we got sent over to the Contemporary on Disney property. We were so exited since this was a monorail resort. We were able to get the same rate that we would have gotten at the Port Orleans resort. It took longer to check in but it was worth the wait. This would be our last trip for a while to Disney so this made it even more enjoyable. We went over to Magic Kingdom, Thursday evening and were able to watch the fireworks and take in a few rides. We went over to EPCOT on Friday morning and were able to get a table at the Garden Grill restaurant. Scott was able to pull some fastpasses for Soarin’ one of the most popular rides at EPCOT. It was somewhat crowded but we weren’t rushing like we have done in the past. We were able to ride test track two times, once with fastpasses. We rode a few other rides and decided to head back to the hotel even though we had just got our extra magic hours bands. We rode in the front of the monorail several times while we were there. We got to Magic Kingdom early on Saturday for park opening. It was a mad dash to get to Space Mountain but we managed to be one of the first to ride it. It really made a difference to get to the park early and we were able to get on peter pan before the crowds and pull some fastpasses to ride later on. We waited on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad after pulling some fastpasses for Splash Mountain. We got soaked on Splash Mountain all four of us. All before lunch at the Crystal Palace restaurant. We headed over to Hollywood Studios that afternoon to ride Allison’s favorite ride there the RocknRoller Coaster. The wait time was pretty long and we decided to get in the single rider line. It would be Allison and Kursten’s first time to ride with someone else. Scott would be waiting at the exit since we wouldn’t be on the same roller coaster. They still loved it. We did the Great Movie ride and the Star Tours. The park was hosting a cheerleading competition and it was full of lots of teens. We drove over to the Studios and decided to hit Downtown Disney before going back to the hotel. We were going to eat there but that was also full of teens. We found the Disney McDonalds and had a late dinner there. We left Sunday morning for a long drive home.

Check out our pictures from our Disney trip.  Click on the gallery link to view them.

December 8-19th at Ft Wilderness
We still wanted to get in our last road trip for the year and what way to do it than to go to Walt Disney World. We invited my mother in law to join us since she has her own travel trailer. She would also be bringing the girls cousin with her as a travel buddy. We got there a few days earlier than she did and stopped at a rest area for the night in Florida. When we arrived the next day we wanted to get to the park for a few hours. We went to Magic Kingdom and that would be a night they would be having a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. We went to guest relations to see about the Halloween party that was rained out and they gave us tickets to that evenings party. It made for a long day after driving but the parades and fireworks were well worth staying up a little late. We got to get on Spaceship Earth for a sneak peek and found that there were some really good improvements and not so good ones too. The only bad thing is that my mother in law didn’t get to see the new Spaceship Earth since they were limiting certain times that it would be open for a sneak peek. They still have time to get it done before they open it back up in Feburary. They were also going to be closing the Teacup ride at Magic Kingdom for refurbishment on the 15th so we were able to get in one last spin with my mother in law. The girls spun her so much that she wouldn’t get back on the ride with them again. We have that on video too. The first week we were there we took in the parks much like last time we were there and not be in a rush. There were a few times that Scott would take the girls while me and my mother in law would head back to the campers. He was very brave being with three girls at the parks. We made sure that when we went to Epcot with my mother in law that we would go around the world and show her some of the countries. We took the boat across the lake to get to the American Adventure show.

It actually got pretty cold there during the last weekend we were there. We were so used to wearing shorts and we had to bring out the jackets. It started to get crowded as the week progressed closer to Christmas and more schools would be out for vacation. We also decided that we were ready to head home a day earlier than we planned. This would give my mother in law and niece time to take in the parks without us.

This would be our last trip for a while for us. We made the decision to stay in Texas for a while and get back on track to being completely debt free which would allow us to better see America. We were financially set to being on the road for a while but our decision after being on the road for just a few months made it where we didn’t want to be somewhere and not have the ability to travel anymore. We already had some land in Texas and which seemed the logical solution for us in the long term.

December 8th-19th

This year we spent the day at Grammy and PawPaw’s house for Thanksgiving. We had been doing Thanksgiving at Scott’s brothers house but they just moved recently and wanted to make sure that the grandparents would be there. It was a surprise for them to have it at their house. I made peanut butter oatmeal and peanut butter cookies for dessert. I wasn’t sure of what I was going to be making since I have the camper oven. It took a little longer but they turned out just fine. This was a day of just relaxing and giving thanks to the things that mean the most to us.

We drove to New Braunfels for the weekend to stay with our friends, Bill and Angela.  We just couldn’t miss going to Wurstfest, the 10 day salute to sausage.  This would be the girls first time to go to the Wurstfest.  There was plenty of German food and music.  Friday we arrived at our friends house to unload our things and then headed over to the Wurstfest for some dinner.  We sat outside the big tent near the Comal River and listened to music from German bands.  Steak on a stick, sausage on a stick, corn on the cob, and Kartoufelpuffers (I hope I spelled that right, Potato Pancakes) was what we had that evening.  For dessert we had Zangos which is fried cheesecake.   Saturday afternoon we went to Landa Park in New Braunfels for a short hike along the Panther Canyon Nature Trail.   The girls got to see the natural springs in Landa Park that feed into the Comal River.  We went back to the Wurstfest that evening.   We headed home on Sunday.

We left Washington DC Sunday morning at about 11, a little later that we anticipated. The drive through Virginia wasn’t as bad as before since we had really clear skies this time. We reached a Walmart in Jackson Tennessee at 1am Monday morning, 13 hours of driving. We just wanted a place to park to rest for the night. Even though there were other RVs in the parking lot I went to see the manager and make sure that it was ok. He was fine with it and even suggested where to park so that the morning crew wouldn’t wake us at 7 am. We left about 8:30 to get on the road which would be about 11 hours on the road to get to our destination. We decided to stop at Sonny’s RV park in Lexington for the night to get some water and hook up for the night. We would be at our land in Thrall which has no water or electricity. We would be on generator for power when we need it and the propane would be for cooking and showers. We will be here for a while until we can really be on the road longer but we will update the adventures we have here since our RV is still home to us.

Thrall Texas is just east of Austin

We wanted to get the most out of our last day in Washington and went to see the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial and Thomas Jefferson Memorial. We had hoped to get on the bus at the campground early after lunch but missed the one that had just come by. We had to wait about another 45 minutes for the bus to arrive. Then we had to get on the subway to get to the Mall. We also had to transfer to another line which took some time. When we finally arrived at the Monument we found out that you had to have tickets to go up the monument. That was something you had to get early again. That was a disappointment for us. We got to at least touch it. It was a long walk to get to the Lincoln Memorial past the reflecting pool. It was amazing to see the Lincoln statue and read the words of the Emancipation Proclamation on the walls. We rested on the steps of the memorial to decide which memorial we would visit last. There are so many there but you really need to drive or take a tour bus to get to them. Walking would take several days to do. We decided to go see the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. It was another long walk along the Potomac River to get to but when we got there it was another amazing sight to see. It still was worth the trip to see them. We headed back to the campground for the evening to get ready to leave back to Texas for a while.

We went to the capitol yesterday and were able to get in the gallery of both the House and Senate. We got tickets to get in the gallery from our representative John Culberson. Then we had to wait in line to get through security. It was an interesting experience and something we will be able to say we did. We didn’t see many House members when we went in and they were still arguing the CHIP program. Found out later that they passed the bill but hopefully Bush will veto it like he said. In the Senate we got in just as they were voting on a amendment (not sure what it was), but they would come in and either vote yes or no on it and then walk back out. We saw our Senators from Texas and most of the others as they were voting. We weren’t allowed to take any electronic devices into the gallery so we don’t have any pictures from the day. We headed over to Tortilla Coast Tex-Mex restaurant for a late lunch and early dinner. They were recommended by the security personnel near the capitol that was close by and not too expensive. After dinner we headed back to the campground via subway then bus.
Today we just relaxed and the girls did some schoolwork. We didn’t do much since it has been raining all day long.

It was chilly and rained some when we left. We wanted to take the tour but went to sit in the gallery of the House and then the Senate. We went through a lot of metal detectors to get inside. We went for mexican food for dinner after visiting the capitol. We rode the subway back to the bus station and then back to the camper.

We went to visit some of the Smithsonian Museums today.  We  covered the Museum of Natural History and the Air and Space Museum.  The Museum of American History is being renovated and will not be open until next year.  Scott was disappointed we didn’t get to go there.  There is so much to see in just this area of Washington.  The capital tour is something we are going to try to get to but we need to be in line at 9 in the morning to get tickets.  They are first come first served.  We went by the White House to finish off the day after quite a bit of walking.  We took the metro subway system to get to the capital area and back to the bus station for our trip back to Cherry Hill campground.  We were pretty exhausted after the day but needed to get a few things from the store.  We tried to go by the Walmart here but they close at 10 and the Safeway was closed at 9.  We ended up at a store called Shoppers which wasn’t too bad of a store and it was close to the campground.

I first went to the National Mall.  I saw the capital today.  We went to see some animals at the Museum of Natural History.  I saw some crystals and diamonds in the gem and mineral gallery in that museum.   After lunch we went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence.   Then we headed over to the Air and Space Museum.   We saw lots of planes and watched Cosmic Collision in the planetarium.  We walked to the capital but the tours were already done for the day.  We then walked the National Mall to get to the White House.  We rode the subway back to the bus stop to get back to the camper.

Here for a week. Oct 22-28

We spent the day relaxing and just hanging out.  We went for a walk around the campground to get a few more pictures of the fall colors.  We decided that we are going to head to Washington D.C. for just a week instead of two and then head back to Texas.

We went to go hike at Kaaterskill Falls, in the Catskill Mountains. We drove for 20 minutes to get to the Kaaterskill Falls. First we took the short trail and looked down the falls. Then we took the long trail to see Kaaterskill Falls. It was my first time to see a waterfall. The trail was rough and bumpy but was worth it to see the falls. Then we went back to the camper. We ate dinner outside because it was cool. Then we went inside for the rest of the evening.

Staying at the KOA in Saugerties New York (near the Catskills) until Oct 22.

Yesterday we spent the day relaxing and went to the pool with the girls. We met another homeschooling family here and they got here the same day we did. They are Stephan, Gina and Wagner and we have their blog listed on our links as Rau Ramblngs. We only seem to meet up with them in the evenings at the pool. They are trying to get in sites as we are so we don’t get much of a chance to get together. We will meet up with them again in Washington D.C. in a few weeks and that will give us another chance to get together.
Today we decided to head over to Plymouth where the Mayflower made it’s first landing in America in 1620. We parked near the Jenney Grist Mill which was built in 1636 and made our way down the Town Brook path to the place where Plymouth Rock would be. We found the rock, which had been moved several times until they placed it where they say the first pilgrims landed the Mayflower. Next we headed over to Plymouth Bay where the Mayflower II, a replica of the original Mayflower built in 1957 would be.  We walked along the the pier of the Mayflower II to see it up close but decided not to go aboard the ship. Plymouth Bay was full of private boats that were also docked there and the city was more of a big tourist stop. We were a little disappointed with the trip and made our way back home to the camper after a few hours there. At least we got to see where the pilgrims landed.