Our American Adventure

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It was such a nice day for a drive that we went to Cape Cod.  We didn’t realize how long it would actually take us and we ended up there around 3:30.  We stopped at the Cape Cod national park visitors center and got information on the light houses and beaches there.   There was a tour for the Nauset Lighthouse still going on and we managed to make it.  It was a short tour and only 44 steps up to the top for a small narration by one of the lighthouse preservation society members.  This was my first time to see the Atlantic  Ocean and also this is the furthest north I have been.   We then headed up the coast to the town of Provincetown, the furthest town on the Cape.  The visitors center there was closed at the park but we were able to go up on the lookout to view the beaches, dunes and Provincetown.  The drive back took us even longer since there is only one road going in and off the island and everyone was trying to get off like us.  It took us about 3 hours to get back to the camper and we still needed to go to the grocery store.  UGH!!  No super Walmarts around here either and the grocery store are all like in Texas where you have to have a card to get the discount.  The clerk was nice enough to give us the discount thank goodness.
Lots of pictures from today at our gallery.  Click under our links under gallery on the right to view them.

What a difference to have this temperature here in October when we were so used to having mid 70’s in Houston. I needed to walk Doogan this morning and I actually had to bundle up. I then went to get some donuts since there seem to be a Dunkin Donuts about every 2 miles here. And every time we see one, “It’s time to make the donuts” is what we say when we head to someplace around this area and see one. We took it easy today and just relaxed. We went for a walk with Doogan around the campground finally and got to see what they had to offer. This place is really big and have alot of sites. They have a baseball field, basketball court, 3 outdoor swimming pools, and 2 playgrounds. This weekend seemed really busy for them and the girls got to play with a few of the kids that are staying here. We went back to the camper and sat outside and read some books while we had a fire going. Later after we ate dinner we went to their indoor pool for the girls and Scott and I took advantage of the hot tub. Nice end to a relaxing day.

After I took Doogan over to the local vet this morning, he needed a check up and we wanted to get him the bordatella vaccine in case we need to board him. We had some lunch before heading out to the Riverside subway station. Scott wanted to see the building used in St Elsewhere, which is an apartment building and was never used as a hospital, so we got on the same subway we took the other day. We were supposed to transfer to another subway to get to the street, but we didn’t know that they had that under construction. We found out that they were using buses for that route and had to get on a pretty packed bus. This was a good experience for the girls. When we got to the building it looked the same except that we weren’t able to get very many pictures because of the trees in the park in front of the building mostly block it. So we decided to get back on the bus back to the subway and see if we could make the Samuel Adams brewery tour. This subway to the brewery was on the orange line to another part of town. We made it, got to tour a the brewery and then we sampled 3 different brews of Samuel Adams, one was a new brew that won’t be out until Feburary. The girls got to have Root Beers which Allison really enjoyed. We also met a couple from New York at the area where we sampled the Samuel Adams. After the tour we needed to get back to the orange subway to take to downtown. Then get to the green subway that would take us back to the Riverside station. Another 40 minutes on the subway plus another 30 to get back home. Whew. Lots of riding today for us and learning the metro system in Boston.

We headed to Boston to the subway station at Riverside since it was recommended by our campground as the best place to park to get into the city. This would be the girls and I very first time on a subway. It was almost like what I had seen on television and the movies. It took us 40 minutes to get into town with a few stops to pick up passengers. Since we were headed around lunch time we thought we would hit something when we got into the city. We had no idea of where something good was at the time so we ended up eating a quick lunch at McDonalds. Oh well. We decided to walk the Freedom Trail which would take us to 16 historical sites in the city.
Our first stop was the Boston Common which is America’s first public park and was used as a common pasture for grazing cattle by the townspeople of Boston. It was later used as a training field for the militia and by the British Army camp during their occupation of Boston. We went by the State House which is the oldest building on Beacon Hill and is the seat of the Massachusetts state government built in 1798. We went by Benjamin Franklin’s statue which is the first portrait statue erected in the U.S. There were times we didn’t know where we were on the map and bypassed a couple of sites along the way. We managed to get to the statue of Samuel Adams a leader of the fight against British colonial rule and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His statue is in front of Faneuil Hall which was built in 1742. There we stopped to rest for a bit since this trail covers 2.5 miles. We then tried to find Paul Revere House but managed to go off on another street so we missed it. We did get to the Old North Church which displayed two lanterns used to warn Paul Revere and others of the British troop movements igniting the War for Independence. The church is still used today for services. Copp’s Hill Burying ground is along the way to the naval shipyards so we just stopped to take a few pictures. This is the final resting place of over 10,000 people and the gravestones were used for target practice by the British soldiers during the Revolution. Our last stop would be the naval shipyard in Charlestown where we would see the USS Constitution. Nicknamed “Old Ironsides” and is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. In the war of 1812 she was undefeated in battle because of cannonballs bouncing off her oak sides. We visited the museum after seeing the ship which was pretty amazing.
We left the naval shipyards to find a bus stop to return to the subway station. We really looked like tourist with our map and me carrying the camera. It was so much better than having to walk back another 2 miles. We got on the green line subway back to Riverside with the end of the day crowds so the girls got to see how it was on a busy subway. It was a long afternoon of walking but many interesting historical sites we saw.

We left the East Harrisburg campground around 9 this morning to head to Foxboro, MA. It took us 3 hours to reach the New York State line. We had just been on the road in New York that we had a mishap with the back bumper of the camper, the bike rack and tire weight on the bumper bouncing was too much that it bent and broke in the weld spots. A kind motorist waved us to stop before we did too much damage or for it to break off and hurt someone. It began to drag the bikes when it happened so we have to get 2 wheels replaced. One from my bike and the other from Scott’s. Whew that took the energy out of me and Scott as we hurried to get the bikes and the tire off on a major interstate highway. It didn’t take much longer for us to travel through that portion of New York and Connecticut. We arrived at the Normandy Farms Family Campground about 5. We set up and got the weather station up too. The weather was a lot cooler, 57 degrees when we arrived in shorts. Scott was at home in this weather.

After we moved the house to another site at the campground we went to Hershey Pennsylvania. We went to Hershey’s Chocolate World to see how they make chocolate in the Great American Chocolate Tour. We were a little disappointed that it wasn’t an actual factory tour. It was more like a ride like the imagination ride at epcot. Some animatronics and video of the actual process. We decided to take the tour of Hershey on a trolley bus which lasted an hour. We liked the historical part of how Milton Hershey founded the town and how he started his chocolate factory. There is also Hershey park which just celebrated it’s 100 years but it is already closed for the season and only open for special holidays the rest of the year. Milton Hershey also founded a school for orphan boys but is now open for financially needy children in the area and endowed the school his entire fortune of Hershey’s stock. His contributions to the town have left a legacy that is still apparent today.  This is just some of the history we learned from this tour today.

Click on the gallery link for more photos from our day at Hershey’s Chocolate World

Left Rocky top campground at 8:40 this morning. It began to rain before we left. The owners of the campground Sue and Joe were really great host and we would recommend them and hope to stay there again. Joe met us to help get out of the park since there was some steep hills and tight turns. We thanked them as we left and we were on our way. Most of the drive was through Virginia on our way to Harrisburg Pennsylvania for a few days. The first leg of the drive was a little harrowing with the hills and rain. Once we got out of the rain it made the drive better. We drove parallel to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. We went through West Virginia and stopped for a rest break and to stretch our legs, but we only were in the state for about 20 miles. Maryland was even a shorter distance to drive through on interstate 81. We got to the Pennsylvania state line at 3 o’clock. We finally arrived at the campground at about 4:30 in Harrisburg. We got there just in time before they were going to close. The bad thing is is that we have to move to another site in the morning since the one they had for us had an electrical problem that they should have fixed in the morning. We decided on eating out and found a Bob Evans restaurant nearby. We all had turkey dinner and came back to the campground for a walk with Doogan. The girls got to run around the playground and run off some energy wish I could say the same for me. Tomorrow we plan on seeing some sights around Harrisburg and Hershey (yum chocolate).

Along the road on Interstate 81 in Virginia.  Pictures are added to the gallery from todays trip.  www.ouramericanadventure.com/coppermine

I was up at 6:15 this morning to get lunch made for the trip. We save some by having our lunches on the road. I made sandwiches again. We left the rv park early to get a good start on the drive. It only took us 2 hours to reach alabama, but a little longer through Alabama. When we stopped for diesel it took longer than we anticipated. On this route towards Tennessee we were only in Georgia for about 20 minutes. The road goes through the corner up to Chattanooga. We could tell the difference in the terrain and landscape that we were getting into cooler weather. I noticed the trees are starting to change their colors and we were getting into more mountains. Stopped for a rest break after Knoxville to stretch and pit stop. When we went to walk Doogan and he got in a bush with stickers that clung to his fur. That was not too fun to have to get out. We reached our destination in Blountville Tennessee called Rocky Top Campground after 7. We were hoping to be here by 5 but we also forgot the time zone change here on this side of Tennessee. We set up house and checked in with the owners then went to have pancakes at the Cracker Barrel.

We headed out from the Woodlands this morning. It took us only 5 hours to get through Louisiana with one diesel stop and a break to stretch our legs. There are some stretches of road in Louisiana that I really dread we drive over. But I guess that could be the same with any other states. As we traveled on through Louisiana we saw the exact same fifth wheel and truck from Ontario as ours pass us in Louisiana. Scott gave the driver a thumbs up and he did the same back at us. We stopped at an RV Park in Hattiesburg, MS for the night. It is an ok park to stay overnight and they do have some trees. It looks like they are trying to still clean up their park after Hurricane Katrina. At least this stop gives us a chance to rest with the air conditioner and a nice shower than just stopping at a rest area. We are heading to Knoxville in the morning and may stay a few days there. More updates to follow.

We had dinner Wednesday evening with our moms.  We wanted to get together before we head out on the road on Sunday.   

Added more pictures from our Disney trip.

We were scheduled to meet with a princess at Magic Kingdom so we headed over a little earlier than what we had been.  We picked up our tickets to the Mickey’s not so scary halloween party(MNSSHP) for that evening.  We were told to meet at the Exposition hall at 12:30.  We had never been in that building before and were amazed with what was inside.  There were photographs of how the park used to look like.  We didn’t know which princess it would be until we got there.  It was Cinderella and while she talked to the girls, Scott took a few pictures.  We were able to get a family picture with her too.   As soon as that was over we headed over to the Haunted Mansion to see the new renovations.  We only had to wait 30 minutes, which didn’t seem that long with the way they set up their cue lines.  Disney sure knows how to make the wait more interesting.  We were really suprised with the new updates.  We decided to go go back to the camper for lunch and rest.  I was constantly checking the weather since Florida is known for it’s rain showers.  Nothing was showing on radar so we headed to Walmart for a few things for our trip back  and get diesel.

The girls got dressed up for the party, Kursten as Minnie Mouse and Allison as an Allie Cat.  We headed over to Magic Kingdom and got our wristbands.  This was considered a hard ticket event and separate from our annual park pass.  We took the train over to Toontown and they had candy stations to hand out to the guest but we still had to wait in lines.  We went through a couple of candy stations and were heading to see the villians show at the castle when the sky just opened up.  We ran to a covered area that we thought would be fine until the rain let up but it continued for the next hour.  That show ended up canceled and the parade that was to follow also was canceled.  We waited until Scott decided to go get some ponchos.  The bad part is we had ponchos back at the camper.   We needed to get somewhere and see if there was anything we could do.  Not really much since it continued to rain.  We were disappointed that there were only two counter services available for this party.  We ended up eating barbeque at Pecos Bills and waiting out the rain the next hour there.  We eventually waited for the Hallowishes fireworks show that was delayed as it continued to rain some throughout it.  The rain finally let up for the second parade but we didn’t get a very good view.  After the parade we headed back to the Haunted Mansion to ride it one more time.  At least the wait time was only 10 minutes, so we rode it two times.  We headed out and managed to get a small amount of candy.  It wasn’t the evening we were hoping for and we may not do another hard ticket event like that again.  We were soaked as we headed back to the camper.

We wanted to get back to Animal Kingdom to see the Festival of the Lion King. We had not had a chance to see that one before. I think it was based on the Broadway musical show. It was very fast paced but enjoyable. We only did one other attraction and then headed over to EPCOT for the rest of the evening. We wanted to see the new Canada 360 film with Martin Short narrating. He made the film so much more interesting and fun. We finally rode the monorail that evening and back to Fort Wilderness. We decided to see if the Trails End restaurant would take walk ups and it did. While we waited for our table we met a couple from England. They were there for a week and did more than Disney parks on their visit here. They were also heading back to England on Saturday. Amazing who you might meet waiting for something.

We relaxed most of the day since we would be going to the evening show at Downtown Disney. “La Nouba” is French for fun, to party, and to “live it up”. The show is performed with a live orchestra in two multilevel towers in the theater. The one act that stood out was Diablo involving four young Chinese girls. Their amazing ability to perform their act which involves holding two sticks linked by a string, they slide, juggle and toss a musical wooden spool while performing flips in the air, trying to outdo each other in dexterity. The rest of the show involved high wire act, flying trapeze, and balancing on chairs. And I won’t forget the clowns that were also part of the show.  That was an amazing show and worth the extra to go see.  It might be a while before we get to treat ourselves to something like that again.

She wanted to go to her favorite park which is Magic Kingdom. I picked up a birthday button from the Ft Wilderness concierge desk the day before. She wore it to the park and every Cast Member that saw it told her Happy Birthday. She was so excited to get to do that. We rode a few rides and on our way out to take our break for lunch we saw the characters Gideon and Fowlfellow from Pinocchio. They saw that it was Kursten’s birthday and danced with her for a few minutes . She got a little shy at that but enjoyed it. We went back to the camper for some rest, then had lunch and her birthday cake. I found out that part of the bottom of the cake got a little burnt. I might have had it too hot and so that was my first new learning experience with the oven. We went back to Magic Kingdom for a few more rides. We were on our way to Pirates of the Carribean ride and struck up a conversation with a dream cast member (they are the ones that hand out certain prizes at certain times of the day). Her name was Melody Mouse as they call her there. She showed us some Disney secrets from the pirates movies. Two props from the movies are located in the shop outside the ride. One of the medallions used in the first movie and the key to Davey Jones chest are located on separate shelves in the shop. I won’t say exactly where in case you want to look for yourself if you get to Disney. She also got the girls five minutes with a princess for Friday at 12:30. Sometimes it works out to take the time to talk to a cast member you never know what will happen. It also rained that evening before the fireworks and we managed to get in a VIP section since no one showed up. So the cast member that was there let us in for Kursten’s birthday.

We decided to not go to any parks today and just relax at the campground.  We did go around the campground in the evening to see the lights and decorations of the other RVs at the Ft.  I went ahead and made Kursten’s birthday cake for tomorrow.  This was my first time using the propane oven and to see if I could do it.   I hope that it turns out ok.

Don’t forget to check out the photo gallery for new pictures being added from our trip.