![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLFMfADnhXV_DevpWZt9OVQpyDQXU8pVIt3_7nC_vFgO3oLjlMWRkJEHiIjUjkfd70F-Lw48IKritVmASM9aqxL4BDapvpXyDdHpLMJvo5XPcMrCyC7TEbhGqHv4o4f8xQeYPjwnijKFIb/s320/Missoula+Fire.jpg)
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Pictures from Montana and Northern Idaho
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Passing through Montana
The other thing is, we're starting to get antsy about finding "the place." I always said I'd home school if we didn't find the right place by fall, but holy cow, do kids ever find ways to make their parents crazy!! I'm not sure we'd survive a full year of togetherness!
So for today, we're on our way. Although I'm keeping my eyes open--this is a nice area and houses are CHEAP. Maybe we should consider Montana. Of course, I heard on the news last night that they've had 29 days THIS MONTH of over 100 degree weather!! I thought all these mountains are supposed to keep it cool. We're at 5000 feet for heaven's sake!
OK, off to have breakfast. Then on the road.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Back by the Great Salt Lake
Here's Max looking cool. Photo by Bridget.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
From Flagstaff to Panguitch, UT
http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=3x70wrv.2ib3b8ov&Uy=-hodsp7&Ux=0
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Grand Canyon
Monday, July 23, 2007
Fort Tuthill (& Flagstaff AZ)
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Saturday, July 21, 2007
A short stop in Gallup, New Mexico
Friday, July 20, 2007
Kirtland's Summer Bash
Albuquerque
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Back in the Land of Entrapment ; )
Chao!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Wichita Falls
Here are a couple photos from our tour of Tom's facility this morning. His squadron does all the entry level munitions training for the Air Force. This includes building bombs, as well as loading them on pallets and aircraft, so they have mock-ups or real aircraft of all types for practice. Above, you can see Bridget sitting in the cockpit of a real (although not operational) F-16. We also got to climb up in the cockpit of the B1 mockup.
Below you can see Tom with our kids (only Douglas's fingers are visible,) in front of Tom's B-52. You can see his name on it. Some people are buff, but very few have their own BUFF. How cool is that?
After the tour we loaded up Fezzik and headed for Amarillo, Texas. It is flat and hot and windy, but if you ever have to come here, the KOA is very nice.
Link to more pics at the Kodak Gallery: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=3x70wrv.53ahp8s7&Uy=-18vp3v&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=735817793809_386892660503
Friday, July 13, 2007
Rainy Texarkana
Tennessee
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Not Quite All Bliss
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Asheville, NC
I think I speak for Julia when I say, Boone/West Jefferson are on our list of possible places to settle. Cool mountain air, life a little slower than the city, and no shortage of scenery to see. According to the locals, schools are very good in this part of NC. The infrastructure is great--brand new in this area. We were surprised to learn West Jefferson was a town of a population of only 1100. Seems most homes up here are second homes to folks in Charlotte or Winston-Salem. The only thing we are having trouble with is the accent (and a few observed rednecks)...that twang is some'em to get used to!
The kids made new friends yet again. Bridget met a family of 7 adopted kids (2 white, 4 black, and 1 russian). Okay, I thought it was a little unusual. They had a great time spinning on the marry-go-round and feeding the goats. We took a forced march (for the kids) up the mountain across the road from the campsite to see a cemetery. They found some cool rocks in the road and some kindling for last night's fire.
Got to get back top my Stephen King's novel...reading is an important part of unwinding for me when I'm on vacation...D
Saturday, July 7, 2007
North Carolina (East)
Link to more pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=3x70wrv.3s0ca8dj&Uy=-ppkott&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Visiting Virginia/ Nearing North Carolina
Just a few words on Wal*Mart camping: it’s free but it sucks. We pulled in to the Chambersburg, PA, Wal*Mart at 9:30pm, waved at the guy parking his fifth wheel two rows away, and settled in for bed. The parking lot lights made the inside of Fezzik look like mid-day at a well-treed campground, so we hung beach towels and sleeping bags to darken the place. We slept great except the drag racers at 11:30, the street sweepers at 12:30 and the dumpster-emptying garbage trucks at 2:30. I can’t believe there are people who Wal*Mart camp on a regular basis.
On July 3rd we made our triumphant return to Dumfries, Virginia, taking up residence in the same camp site we had used just a few short weeks ago. After stopping at Five Guys for burgers and fries, and borrowing the Panera WiFi, we set up camp. We went to bed early (see the notes above.)
The Fourth started out clear and beautiful. The kids played at the playground and swam in the pool, then we headed for the Altobelli’s home about 5pm for their annual Fourth of July Festivities. Mary put on her usual amazing spread: burgers, hot dogs, bbq chicken, salads, fruit, fruit, fruit, and lots of great desserts. Plus most of our favorite Virginians were there. Unlike last year, the storm held off and we didn’t get drenched. Dan only had time to light about half of the huge pile of fireworks before the official ones started across the lake. The Altobelli’s house is right on the lake and they have a three-level deck with a spectacular view of both the lake and the fireworks.
This morning, the kids and I met my bowling/stamping/knitting/coffee buddies, Karen and Juliet, at Panera while David took the van to get inspected for its license renewal. Unfortunately, it didn’t pass the safety inspection and we had to get new tires. It’s done now and ready to sit, unused, in front of the Gately’s house until we find that perfect spot to call home and one of us flies back to retrieve it. (I’m lobbying for that to be me. The gals and I have a lot more coffee drinking/stamping/bowling/knitting to do!)
After our sad farewells, we’re off again, headed south towards Smithfield, North Carolina. We’re going to check out the Raleigh/Chapel Hills area, then head west towards Asheville. See y’all later.
Link to more Pics from the 4th:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=3x70wrv.bqbkv69j&Uy=e4ygsl&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0
And here's a 2 minute video of the Montclair VA fireworks on the 4th:
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Out of the Black
We're back in VA for the 4th! We’ve been incommunicado for a few days; apparently Connecticut should really be called not-Connected-cut. But we’ll get to that later. First, let me catch you up on everything since last you read.
On the drive down from Vermont, we stopped at what my good friend Nancy calls Mecca—the King Arthur Flour company store in Norwich, VT. It’s like walking right into the catalog. If you haven’t seen the King Arthur catalog, you’re really missing out. Well, if you’re a baker, that is. They’ve got anything and everything you could ever want to make cookies, cakes, pies, bread…including ingredients, pans, cookie cutters, rolling pins, even mixes if you don’t want to bake from scratch. There’s even a bakery right there in the store if you don’t feel like making your own. We picked up a few mixes that we wouldn’t normally buy (the catalog doesn’t list all the ingredients, and you know how I obsess about what the kids eat!) and some cookies for eating on the spot. Yum-Mee!
We pretty much blew through Massachusetts. I’d love to go see Boston and Cape Cod and Lexington and Concord and all that, but we just didn’t have time to see all that and get back to Virginia in time for the Fourth of July. So we’ll have to do another trip to BeanTown some day.
We spent two nights at the Nelson Family Campground in East Hampton, CT. They had a pool and pond for swimming and fishing (no fishing in the pool) and a lot of “seasonal” visitors. This means folks who bring in their trailer and leave it hooked up all summer. In fact, all three of the campgrounds we’ve stayed at in the North East have had a lot of seasonal campers. This is something I’ve never seen on the West coast or mid-West when camping as a kid. I talked to one older couple who kept dog biscuits on hand just in case a dog walker happened by. I guess that’s their way of luring people in to chat. They’ve been coming to the Nelson Family Campground for 19 years now. The funny thing is, they only live 12 miles away. They said they stay at the campground for 4 or 5 days, then drive home to check the mail and do the laundry. I don’t get it—must be an East Coast thing.
I can see why they drive home to do the laundry, however. The Laundromat in the campground had very nice high-efficiency washers, but charged $2.00 a load to use them! That’s about twice the usual rate. Those high efficiency-washers are great if you get the savings on water and electric, but don’t do much for you if you’re paying extra for them.
But anyway. Tonight’s big adventure is Wal*Mart camping,. I think David just wants to be able to say we’ve done it. In case you’ve never heard of this, apparently most Wal*Marts allow, and some even encourage, overnight camping in their parking lots. They consider it a good business practice. Just think how many people stumble in the front door at 0530, after being waked by the shift change, in search of coffee. I guess some people do most of their camping at Wal*Marts. I read on-line that some folks will stay for a week at a time, just moving their rig out of the parking lot during the day, and coming back each night. Me, I’d rather pay for a water/electric hook-up and a place for the kids to play.
We stopped at the WalMart in Wilkes-Barre, PA, but that is one that doesn’t allow overnight parking. We asked the manager at the Sam’s club if we could stay there and she said yes, and we should just tell the police we had permission if they happened to stop by….. Needless to say, we’re back on the road. We plan to stop at the Chambersburg, PA, WalMart, which, according to the Free Camping web site is camper-friendly. Don’t know if we’ll get a chance to post this before we hit Virginia, but I’ll sign off for now…J.
You can see more pics from this New England Leg of the trip at the following link:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=3x70wrv.1j7v1347&Uy=-1hzi27&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0