Category Archives: adventure

adventure, Attractions, Outdoors, Pennsylvania, Texas

Bridge Bats and River Walks

5 Comments

We traveled up to Austin, to see Zilker Gardens and the close-by Barton Springs, as well as the famous Congress Street bridge.  The night we returned to San Antonio, we met our guardian angel, Rebar.

But back to Austin. What are all these people doing, on a bridge at dusk on a weeknight? photo(25) An unintended consequence of a bridge improvement project years ago yielded a habitat ideal for migrating bats, that is now the largest urban bat population in the country.  The Bat Flight. From the end of March, locals and tourists gather for a dazzling natural display, as the bats take wing at dusk to feed.

On the advice of a camping friend from Michigan, we also dined at the Casa Riophoto(26) on the famous Riverwalk in San Antonio, accompanied by mariachi music, and hundreds of grackles and other birds, dive bombing for scraps! An enchanting setting in a jewel of a town!

We also caught up with a former Greenbelter and member of the Crescent-Ridge Playground Gang, Sherry.  She has made a life in San Antonio, and genuinely loves her adopted town.

Our car is now safely back with us, and seems to be running fine again.  Next stop, Carlsbad!

adventure, People, Texas

San Antonio, City of (At Least One) Angels

5 Comments

Last night we were on our way back from Austin, after watching a bat exodus (more to follow), and our Dodge Caravan overheated about three miles from our KOA in San Antonio.  What followed was a series of events alien to my grown-up life: summoning a tow truck, trying to locate a taxi, trying to figure out where we were at an unfamiliar exit ramp in an unfamiliar town, and this morning, trying to decipher the baffling code of a city bus schedule.

Enter Rebar.  Rebar (I checked the spelling) is a tow truck operator in San Antonio.  When he arrived on scene last night, first he made sure that we would get back to camp ok  . Us being me, Jen, our three boys, and Shadow, our faithful dog.  Rebar said if we needed a place to stay, we could crash at his apartment.  He offered the kids chips from a bag he had in the cab.

Sometimes it takes a burp in one’s plans to realize how much goodness there is in the world.  Rebar is four months in the country from Kurdistan.  He speaks four languages, and his formal English is much better than mine. He fled Iraq finally, where he’d worked as an English translator for the U.S. Army.  Something about extremely short career expectations.

Now he is in San Antonio, learning his way around, and grateful to be here.  And so, need I add, are we.  At this hour, I don’t know what will become of the work on the car.  Will we have to end the trip to pay for a new engine? Were we mistaken to tow our car? Will we have to drive it from now on, and try to sell a tow dolly?  I hope not.

But we met an angel last night, in the midst of trying and failing to find a cab to come to the part of town we’d broken down.  I had the sensation, talking to Rebar, of reading The Life of Pi, and wondering, at the end, how much of Piscene’s tale was true, and how much was fanciful fiction designed to weave a more exciting tale, and in the case of Rebar, to maybe reap a better tip.

I prefer to believe in angels. Rebar is one.  That’s what my kids remember about our cramped, late-night drive,  and there is more than enough danger in the world for me to worry that they’ll arrive as adults overly innocent.  So thanks, Angel Rebar.  Welcome to America, and I hope you continue to be yourself here, for our sake.

adventure, Attractions

In Dallas, Cowboys Out, Perot In!

We fervent Washington fans (and one rogue Vikings fan, a birth anomaly) actually looked into doing a tour of Texas Stadium in Dallas.  Officially known as AT&T Stadium, it is, apparently, the largest domed structure in the world.  What else would you expect in Texas? And ever since I read Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, I’ve had a morbid curiosity about seeing the inside of the Cowboys locker room.  That was my rationale. 

What tipped the scales was the price tag for the tours–$17.50 for adults, $14.50 for kids. For the self-guided tour.  Granted, it would have included access to the locker room.  The Cowboys organization made it easy to Just Say No.

Okay, the week was also blacked-out for tours of any kind.

Instead, we took advantage of the singular accomplishment of another towering Texan–the five-foot, five-inch Ross Perot.  Many of us know him as an unsuccessful, but compelling independent candidate for president in 1992 and 1996.

He is also the major benefactor of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in downtown Dallas.  Just opened at the end of 2012, this may be the single coolest museum we’ve ever seen.  Hiphoto 4(2)ghly interactive and geared to kids of all ages, the museum’s biggest challenge for us was to keep the kids moving through the four floors.  Each stop captured their attention and imagination, and wouldn’t let go!

We only had four hours to spend, and we could have easily stayed threphoto(19)e times as long.  The staff was helpful, and manned special-activity tables to entertain and educate.  What a gift–to educate while mesmerizing. Now I know why magicians loves schools! We dug for dinosaurs and raced cheetas and professional athletes in a footrace and built our own biphoto 5(3)rds!

We joined the Perot Museum to gain access to partner museums across the country. It also got us into their special Dinosaurs exhibit in advance of non-members!

In the museum’s Sportscenter, I stumbled across this–signed by Roger Staubach of the Dallas Cowboys, the man every ‘Skins fan loved to hate back in the day.  And we didn’t even have to tour Texas Stadium to see it!

 

adventure, Attractions, featured, Outdoors

No Fiery Diamonds in Hot Springs

6 Comments

Sunday we packed up after a great week in Hot Springs, AR at the Catherine’s Landing RV Resort on Lake Catherine.  It still felt like a campground in many respects, but there were some new twists–at least for us novices.

One one side of the complex is an open-air pavilion that covers probably two acres.  In addition to a bathhouse that takes up a small bit of one corner, it has a host of picnic tables, and some large fire pits.  Since we had rain pretty steady for several days, it turned out to be the perfect place for the kids to ride scooters and meet other kids.  The resort included a frisbee golf course, which the kids also loved!

One evening my youngest and I shared a campfire with the Walker family from southern Arkansas.  Mike is the principal at Star City High School, and gathered with wife Jennifer and kids Emily and Caleb for a spring break gathering with family.  My youngest developed his first crush, on Miss Emily.

Can you guess what the assembled are up to here on a field in Murfreesboro: The Hunt ? We journeyed on a day trip to Crater of Diamonds State Park to stake our forIMG_20140328_154734_736tune.  Midway through it rained,  hard, so happily we’d not done the week’s laundry yet.  When the boys got bored panning for diamond chips, they moshed in the 37 acres of muck.

We wandered through the Fordyce Bath House Visitors Center in Hot Springs National Park and “quaffed the elixir.” Touring the basement for some reason reminded me of scenes from the Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s The Shining.

On Saturday, the first sunny day, we loaded up the fishing gear and lunch on a pontoon boat out of Lake Catherine State Park.  Jen waphoto(14)s our captain, without complaint in the morning cold, until we realized she was frozen to the boat’s wheel.  Can you spot the turtle on the log behind Jen?

We are now in Dallas.  At 10:30 this morning, we are touring a place that I’ve known about since I was almost ten years old, but never seen in person: the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository.

 

 

adventure, Amusement Parks, Attractions, Outdoors

Dolled up in Dollywood

1 Comment

I come to this post a bit conflicted.  Dollywood was highly recommended by several of our friends, and it had its share of really cool things.  We loved eating at Miss Lillian’s, never suspecting we’d be serenaded by the grand lady herself.  photo(10)Miss Lillian is charming, funny, and worth the price of admission. The chicken was great too!

The Dollywood Express, an artifact from the Alaska-Canada Railroad, took us up into the Smoky Mountains–the real draw for us here in the region.

On the five-mile loop, there was perhaps a half-mile that could be reached by foot from a public area. I had the good sense to dphoto(12)rop my phone in one of these rare spots just after taking this photo. Once again, I prove there is a God watching out for fools.  And it was a pretty ride.

The Wings of America bird show was extremely entertaining, and easily rivaled Busch Gardens.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed both the information and the show.  One of those rare education-disguised-as-entertainment moments.photo(11) They even had a bird that collected donations in its beak! NPR may want to consider something like it. A line formed quickly to give dollar bills to the Foundation.

On the minus side, we are spoiled by Busch Gardens and Hershey Park, with online apps to show ride locations and wait times.  The park map was hard to decipher, and did not include show times and locations.  We stumbled upon a great Mother Africa show that reminded me so much of Gymkana on America’s Got Talent!

Finally, the trams.  Granted, it was opening day, and the place was packed.  A woman working the tram line assured us that, even for a day when everyone knew Dolly would be there, this was a crowd no one expected.  But to be herded into one more serpentine line just to get to our car….photo(13)I guess I am a whiner sometimes after all.

So we have four days in Hot Springs.  Your suggestions?

adventure, Attractions

Gatlinburg, Tennessee

4 Comments

Just a stone’s throw east of Pigeon Forge is the resort town of Gatlinburg. Both Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg have grown gangbusters since Franklyn Roosevelt designated the Great Smoky Mountains a park in 1940.  And both have attracted an astounding array of shops, attractions, and amusements to occupy every rainy day ’til the Rapture.

Speaking of rapture, The culture is a fascinating mix of overt Christian themes and symbols, and a reverence for all things Dukes of Hazzard.  In the midst of a grand log cabin facade on a row of shops is the message, Jesus Saves.  In Terry Evanswood’s Wonders of Magic at Wonderworks, he threatens jokingly at one point to lock the doors and preach for two hours.  (Read Jen’s and son 2’s review of the show here. )

Our kids delighted yesterday, returning from Gatlinburg’s very impressive Ripley’s Aquarium, in reading off the number of signs that advertised knives.  “Tobacco, beer, knives.” “Linens, moccasins, knives.” A dizzying array, including the selection for the discerning Christian: King James Knives. Open 24 hours. What do tourists do with all those knives?

For several wonderful hours yesterday we fished at Herbert Holt State Park outside of Gatlinburg, and our four-year-old made a steady stream of friends on the playground. IMG_6504Okay, we didn’t catch anything. But with the park rules limiting fishing to children only, nobody seemed to care much that fish weren’t biting.  It was a great spot for a picnic snack.

I expected the Ripley’s Aquarium to be, well, you know, two-headed sharks and blurred images of mermaids in grainy newsreels. Instead, I would have to say that while it lacked the grandeur of the National Aquarium,  the Japanese Crabs– about the size of a mastiff skeleton–were compelling, as was the exhibit devoted to slime in the natural world.

While twoIMG_1492 hours was probably enough, the collection is impressive, including a very cool feature that allowed the kids to control the sIMG_1527peed and direction of videos explaining the animals on display.  Nothing like watching a killer shark dismember a dolphin in slo-mo, then regurgitate the whole mammal, over and over!

adventure, Attractions

Pigeon Forge

4 Comments

We rolled into Pigeon Forge just before dark on Saturday.  Two days of rain have given way to cool, sunny skies.  The main drag of Pigeon Forge must look much like Las Vegas at its heart, or Ocean City, Maryland, on steroids.  So many miniature golf, live shows, and attractions to choose from! Not really what we were seeking, and so incongruous here on the western foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.IMG_6449

We are adjusting to motor home life.  Sunday, as my oldest and I considered how to raise the awning, I followed my son’s confused stare to a point behind me, where an older man was waving his arm’s in the international “stop what you’re doing before someone’s killed” sign.

Bill, from Ontario (do those Canadians loving driving or WHAT?), took a few minutes to set us right.  Since he didn’t seem to be in a hurry, i asked him about the secret workings of the hot water heater as well.  Now I can wash my dishes in hot water under the shade.  You never find this kind of friendly help at a Sheraton, I assure you.

IMG_6447We’ve done a couple day hikes, to commune with nature, and even taken in a couple of attractions . Each of the boys gets to choose one activity. Our youngest had to play miniature golf, and we had a great time at Gator Golf Putting Course.  

School’s starting soon, so see you after class!

 

 

 

 

adventure, Attractions

One Day to Float

5 Comments

To say we were unprepared for the final days of our home sale would be a monumental understatement.  What began as a steady, somewhat disciplined effort so many months ago ended in a cartoon-like scene of jettisoning anything not breathing to empty our mother ship. The morning of our home closing Friday, we found ourselves in a lifeboat 29 feet long, full of God-knows-what. Somewhere in the clutter, three kids, including our very sick youngest.

Hands had been extended, and we took one. Or several. The trip that had waited this long could wait one more day. So before we set out on points south and west, we rested and recovered in Mount Airy, MD, at Rich and Teresa”s.

Snow was on the way again, so we couldn’t wait too long. But that one day was priceless.

Long ago, standing on the side of some dusty exit ramp on another journey, I realized that the freedom to travel, at least for me, comes part and parcel with having an umbilical cord that connects me to a home. We are free, emotionally, to make this trip with our kids because we rest in the certain knowledge that if we fall, we will land in a safety net of love that extends further than we can ever drive, or sail, or walk.

As the magician Terry Evanswood said during his WonderWorks Magic Show last night in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, realizing how blessed we are is the real magic.  We left a house in Eldersburg last week.  We will always have a home.

This week we are in eastern Tennessee, at the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.  Suggestions, anyone?

Next, we discover Pigeon Forge, and the teacher learns valuable lessons while road schooling.

 

adventure

The Start of An Adventure

On Mother’s Day, 2013, Jen said, “Why do we have to go straight to Florida? Why don’t we take six months to get there? (Many times since then, she has said, with some exasperation, “I come up with a lot of ideas! They are just ideas! Why did you have to pick that one to run with?”) As a loving and supportive husband, my role is to nurture and uplift my wife in her goals and dreams, and so reluctantly I agreed to consider the prospect of a six-month trip to our new home.

Of course, if all this turns out to be a cosmic blunder, I will blame Jen. In a very loving and supportive manner. If you ever consider selling your home, quitting your job, and uprooting your family for an extended road trip, you may find, as we did, that there are a lot of moving parts, only a few of which can be glimpsed at the outset.

What makes all this bittersweet is that we—my wife and three guys and I—have found a wonderful, caring, close-knit, supportive community here in Eldersburg, MD. We run in a variety of circles, based on our individual and shared interests. We are surrounded by smiling, energetic friends who know our names and greet us seemingly everywhere we go here in town.  We have had great moments,  and sad moments.

We found a house that we could lovingly make over into something that now bears our untalented but earnest mark on every surface. We added to our family here, and have seen our kids off in first the kindergarten and then the middle school buses.

Eldersburg is our home.  We are sad to leave. But we are excited too, through our tears and fears. And we would like nothing more in all the world than to take you with us.

Welcome to our new adventure.

adventure, sale

Up for Sale

It is a cold, miserable and biting day here in Carroll County. We listed our home for sale on Friday, January 17. We had targeted February 1 to be on the road. Then, in December, Jen’s First Lego Robotics Team—including my two oldest kids—qualified (unbelievably, in the opinion of all the affected parents) for the Maryland State finals, to be held March 1, 2014.

This actually furnished a little breathing room in our miracle-driven schedule. We settled in to enjoy the holidays, and continued to ready the house for a sale in early 2014.

We have for some inexplicable reason had a stream of unseen clients banishing us from our home since the listing started, so they could inspect the grounds and the mansion. Kick the tires.

This morning we received an offer on our house. Sounds like a good offer. An offer that makes the sacrifices and fights and missed sleeping-in weekends nearly worthwhile.  If we accept it, we will go to closing as early as March 7. A Friday.

It is a little sad to begin putting things on our family schedule not just with an eye toward, “is there a conflict?” but with an eye toward, “Will we be here?”

And why write all this stuff down? I can’t speak for the rest of the crew. I hope fervently that they’ll be speaking for themselves periodically as things progress. They are a lot more interesting than me.  But as for my own motives, I like to blog in part because of an experience I had many years ago, listening to Ruth Carter Stapleton, sister of then-president Jimmie Carter. She said at the time, “we have this habit, when we have a life crisis, of withdrawing into our safe place, our cave, where nothing can touch us, while we are so vulnerable. Later, when the problem has sorted itself out, we emerge, to share our insights about our changed selves.

But isn’t it more risky to describe life in the midst of change? To tell a story when the end, or even the next chapter, is up in the air? Looking at my old journal, I came across a post from September 15, 1976: “Tomorrow’s gonna be interesting. For probably the first time in my life, I’ll be alone and having no idea where I’ll spend the night.“

While I won’t be hitchhiking this time, I am sure we are in for an interesting time!