Story Aunt Gus & Little Bear's Great Adventure Book 1 (Complete)

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 13: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello

Weather: 83/61
Driving Route:

Wifi/Cell Signal: Good between Williamsburg and Richmond. Stayed decent on the interstate until we got near Monticello. It cut out for a while. Then it was decent on the grounds of Monticello, but I wouldn’t say great. Probably because of all the people using their phones to play the games the NPS have set up for people to learn on their smart devices.

April 13th
I considered staying for the Continental Breakfast at the Fife and Drum but it didn’t start until 8 am. I wanted to be at Monticello before it opened at 9:30 am and since it was a two-hour drive that meant leaving closer to seven in the morning. And despite my personal self-lecture last night I stopped at a Mickey D’s on the way out of town and got Benny a big breakfast (eggs, sausage, and hash brown) and I ate the biscuit that came with it to hold me until lunch. Not great nutrition for me but it kept anything from going to waste. What Benny really wanted was pancakes but that wasn’t happening. I should think about things that I can make and then freeze for future use. I know that the gluten-free pancakes I make will freeze, but it is finding the time to get them made. Going to have to work that into our schedule somehow.

Weather today was great! It got up into the 80s and I could wear a pair of shorts. Of course with those shorts came wearing bug spray. I didn’t mind, it was just nice to be warm. Of course the other consideration when wearing shorts was having to de-fur my legs. Penny always hated when I waxed my legs. She called it barbaric. Grandmother Barry is the one who taught me how when Dad kept refusing to let me shave, claiming I’d cut myself or something when he wasn’t around and bleed to death or something dorky like that. I took several inches of skin off the front of my shin the one time I tried to use a razor. Uh … nope. I’ll stick to grossing people out with the waxing strips.

I can remember the first time the crew found out that I waxed instead of shaved. We were at training camp and there was pop inspections every time you turned around. Charles was almost given a demerit because his stupid, shaggy goatee wouldn’t stop sprouting before he could shave it off morning, noon, and night. He was desperate and his electric razor died from overuse. The girls were hacked off at the guys for some ignorant comments and wouldn’t lend him a razor even though it meant our entire crew would lose points. Let’s just say the guys, Charles in particular, had a new appreciation for my level of pain resistance. A few of the females in our crew tried waxing after that but none of them kept it up. A few times a year I’ll use a cream depilatory if my preferred waxing strips aren’t available but I’m also just as likely to let the fur grow these days since I don’t have to go through dress uniform inspections. I don’t mind using the strips, especially in a low freshwater situation. Not to mention no one wants to have micro-cuts over a large surface of your body that germs and crap can get into. Ugh. Memories. Sometimes useful. Sometimes just a distraction.

My main personal gripe of the day was that food was a bit of a problem in Monticello. There’s no food or drinks permitted except for water on the grounds (none in the house) and the food at the café they have onsite at visitor center. You also can’t take bags or backpacks beyond the entry gate except for a see-through plastic bag no larger than a gallon-ziploc bag, and even that will hold you up at the entry as you have to have it inspected. I brought our Nalgene bottles and filled them up once we were inside the gate to keep from having to stand in the long security line. I had my cards and cash on me but in my wallet that fits in a security belt like I had to do when we’d go to the Base. No purse for me, I never even bothered with a diaper bag for Benny; when I carry it is a backpack or slingback bag. Sorry if anyone thinks that is too butch.

How the tours work is you can’t park at Monticello (the actual house) though people tell me there used to be a parking lot up there. Now you take a shuttle up and can walk down so that’s what Benny and I did after exploring the visitor center and watching the movie. Little Bear was disappointed that there wasn’t a Junior Ranger program; however there was a kids activity book that was similar. I told him if he completed most of the activities in the book, and behaved respectfully, I would see if there was a patch I could buy in the gift shop … but I wouldn’t just appease him without the work. Holy motivation Batman.

The tour of the first floor of the house took about 45 minutes. Can we say cool? There are things there that if I ever have a house of my own I’d like to incorporate. Jefferson’s bedroom is a good example. You could roll out of one side or the other of the bed and be in a room of your choice. The style is called an alcove bed, an idea he brought back from his time in France. The polygraph, an early version of a copy machine, was interesting as heck as well. How the house was cooled … like the Venetian porches … and the windows that could be doors and doors that could be windows were another interesting touch that could be used today. The stratically placed mirrors that could increase lighting even gives me an idea how to brighten my sleeping area without having to turn on the overhead lamp up there that can make the space even stuffier.

Even though we only got physically tour the first floor they now have virtual tours of the second and third floor. I hate to keep saying cool but … cool. After the house and gardens, we walked down to Jefferson’ gravesite and then back to the visitor center. Thankfully, Benny didn’t notice time passing because while I’d considered getting us something to eat in the café there, the prices and selection weren’t good for us. I took him downstairs so he could explore in the Discovery Center for a while, did manage to find him a patch as promised (and some postcards for Aunt Gus) and then we headed back to the van to grab some grub.

We quickly packed up and I headed to our latest free campsite that I had managed to book in Crozet, VA which is closer to Shenandoah National Park which is our next place to go. We are here now and the Ark is sharing space with some really ritzy RVs. Nice people though. Friendly. So much for my idea of keeping to ourselves. It was worth being polite and friendly though. They all gave me some tips and warnings about life on the road. Some I knew and some gave me stuff to think about, especially the location specific ones. Also found out you are expected to spend some money at the place you get the “free” campsite. Well I can’t buy wine but they did have a non-alcohol cider I purchased and I mentioned them in the blog, that’s going to have to do. Hmph. “Free,” with strings attached; still better than the full price at the local RV lots. And fewer people.

Next two days will be in Shenandoah NP and then it is off to Washington DC. I’ve always wanted to go to DC, and I’ve done a lot of reading on what can be done and what should be done. It was cool to see pictures of before the security walls went up. Grandfather Barry used to have a lot to say about things like that. He might have been a Captain in the Navy, but he wasn’t exactly shy when it came to sharing an opinion on the Commander in Chiefs and their behavior. When we get to DC I also have a favor to re-pay but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

Accumulative Fuel Expense: $1000
Accumulative Accommodation Expense: $443
Cumulative miles: 1800

Resources:
Thomas Jefferson's Monticello

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 14 – 15: Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Weather: 54/35
Driving Route:

Wifi/Cell Signal – free at the visitor centers which was good because there wasn’t any cell signal, despite the cell booster, most of the days.

April 14th and 15th
I am so pleasantly tired I’d love to spend a couple more days around here to get even more pleasantly tireder. LOL. Seriously though, instead of just two days it would be very easy to have spent 3, 4, 5, or more in this area. I’m not against coming back with Benny. He was a real trouper and fell asleep with a smile on his face … holding his newest Junior Ranger badge. I also managed to find a short walking stick someone had forgotten or tossed away and at the visitor center store I bought him a couple of walking stick medallions that corresponded to some of the hikes we did. Oh boy, he has found a new hobby. Kinda crazy for a five-year-old but he’s competitive just like Lawrence … and his Aunt Gus.

We got up from the winery and it was a quick drive with little traffic to the Rockfish Gap Entrance station. I was a little disconcerted at first. I didn’t realize just how much driving I would be doing from one end to the other, but it has been worth it because all of the stopping and hiking that offset it. I am very proud of Benny. Not one complaint, not one, and I heard some whining here and there in other families. I made sure to praise him like Dad and Lawrence used to do me when I acted correctly. Grandma Barry (what all the kids in town used to call her) used to make a point of doing it too. I need to remember this stuff. I may not be Benny’s mother but I’m his aunt and something more. I’m also all he really has, and I need to do the job right.

These are the hikes we did in order from South to North:

Marker Hike Miles/Difficulty
94.1 Turk Mountain 2.2 Easy
84.4 Black Rock Summit 1.0 Easy
79.5 Frazier Discovery Trail 1.2 Easy
62.7 South River Falls Point 2.6 Modrrate
56.4 Bearfence Viewpoint 1.1 Easy
52.8 Tanners Ridge/App. Trail 2.1 Easy
51.2 Big Meadows Campground - -
51 Story of the Forest 1.8 Easy
50.7 Dark Hollows Fall 1.4 Easy/Difficult
45.5 Hawksbill Summit Loop 2.9 Moderate
42.5 Millers Head 1.6 Easy
43 Limberlost/White Oak Canyon 3.3 Easy (with waterfalls)
32 Mary’s Rock Tunnel 0.0 Easy
22.1 Mathews Arms campground - -
10.4 Compton Peak 2.4 Moderate
10.4 Fort Windham Rocks 0.8 Easy
9.2 Lands Run Falls 1.3 Easy
4.6 Fox Hollow Trail 1.2 Easy

There are actually more hikes than what I listed but for the life of me I can’t find my notes on Little Stony Man Trail (it was only 1 mile long) and Powell Gap (barely half a mile roundtrip). There was some walking around at some of the turnouts as well. One of Benny’s funnies was that tonight before bed he said, “We really got the wiggles out here, huh Aunt Gus?” I laughed as I definitely agreed.

First night we camped at Big Meadows campground outside the Byrd Visitor Center at Mile Marker 50, about halfway along Skyline Drive which is 105 miles long. It seems longer because the speed limit is only 35 mph its entire length and they strictly enforce it, especially around the visitor centers and the more popular turnouts where it can go down to 25 mph. Saw a couple of people getting tickets so I’ve been careful, that’s all I need. Speaking of turnouts, there are seventy of them along the park road and I think we stopped at nearly half of them.

Had I been on my own I would have done a day hike or two. I really want to come back and do the Old Rag Mountain Hike. It is nearly 10 miles round trip and that is more than Benny can do right now. He thinks he can do more than he can, but he was so tired tonight that I was glad I skipped some of the things that Aunt Gus would have preferred. He fell asleep the first night while we were stargazing. I’m glad he was already in his jammies because I just picked him up and carried him to his bed.

Tonight we are at Mathews Arm Campground that is nearly to the north entrance of the park. We did more hiking, but I think our stamina is building. Could have been that I also fixed a huge breakfast omelet with gluten-free muffins. I also had us snacking all day instead of trying to fit in a quickie lunch. It is easier to graze on our active days. And not so much up and down with our energy level either.

I’m going to record for posterity another one of what I’ve started calling Benny’s Funnies. On one of our hikes today we practically ran into a Bear and its cub. Holy smokes. I wasn’t the only one on the trail that nearly had to change a Depends. We all stopped so fast you could hear our shoe rubber squeal. I immediately grabbed Benny and put him on my shoulders since we were closest to where the bears had come out of the trees and undergrowth. After giving it a good think and sniffing the air the bear grunted and told her kid to get a move on and she quickly followed. It was a moment before I could relax. I put Benny down and was giving it a think before we continued on the trail when Benny, being the Little Bear he is, said, “I bet that Momma Bear has APD too. She didn’t hear our jingle bear bells or she wouldn’t have looked so surprised when she saw us.” I swear he is fearless. On the other hand, I might have gotten my first gray hair. They don’t teach you about bears in the Navy. I’ve avoided more poisonous jellyfish than I even remember, done the stingray shuffle without realizing it, and I’ve even punched a couple of nosey sharks in the snouts. However, that momma bear kinda freaked me out. I’m definitely due a little more training on land animals.

With all the driving we’ve done, I’m glad to minimize the backtracking. Did a little bit this afternoon getting in the last couple of hikes, but it wasn’t too bad. It also makes me glad I filled up with fuel before getting into the park. Another thing that I ran into, when the campsite is covered with trees the solar charging system sucks. LOL. We didn’t run out of juice or anything because we were out during the day hiking, so the van was mostly parked in turnouts. However, I did hear some people mentioning the problem that parked their trailers in camp all day. In the morning we’ll head out the Front Royal entrance station and then head straight to DC from there.

We’ve been gone from “home” for two weeks now. I’ll give it until the end of the month to say we have the shakedown fully completed. I’ve rearranged a few areas in the van to make them more efficient. I’m still getting to know the electrical systems. There’s a few things that I’ve been glad to have like the mini shop vac for cleaning the van’s interior. There’s also a few things that I’m wishing I hadn’t spent the money on because they are still sitting in the box they came in … that expensive solar cooker and the Biolite camp stove. I am going to have to make the effort to use both of those but it isn’t going to be happening for a while.

Cumulative Fuel Expense: $1063
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $471
Cumulative miles: 1952

Resources:
Shenandoah National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

 

[moldy]

DH grew up in Crozet. Cool to see mentioned.

 

[nancy98]

Thanks Kathy! Great to see more chapters.

 

[Lake Lili]

Benny really liked the Glass Blowing at the 1608 Glasshouse. I liked that it warmed the air up a bit. Still not loving the cold. And yes, highs in the 60s is cold … to me. I’m looking around and seeing people in shorts, tank tops, and flip flops and I’m thinking they’ve lost their minds. When it drops below 70F I’m pulling on some layers and here those nuts were shucking out of everything but their skivvies, talking about how warm it was. Geez.

This had me in stiches... Here in Newfoundland we're in shorts by the time it hits the high 40F. The high 60s is a heatwave for us. A couple times a year it hits the mid 80s and we all die. But mostly our summers at in the high 60s/low 70s... perfect!

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 16 – 20: Washington DC (part 1)

Weather: 55/42 thru 64/52
Driving Route:

Wifi/Cell Signal: No problem with cell or wifi signal this week at all.

April 16th
First let me explain how we are staying at the DC Embassy Suites … essentially for free. A retired friend of Stella’s is a lifetime Hilton Honors Club member. Hilton owns Embassy Suites. This friend used to travel a lot for her business. As a result she has a freakton of points that she’d been saving up for her retirement. Problem is that now that she is retired she’s developed crippling arthritis that has made travel impossible. She barely leaves her house. She doesn’t have any kids or other family left either. I would go down to her place once or twice a week to see if she had anything that needed doing as it was only a few houses down from the BnB.

Time has come for her to sell her place and move to an assisted living facility in Naples, near where she and her husband lived before he was killed. All she wanted was that I go to the Vietnam Memorial and take pictures and find her brother’s and husband’s names and make a tracing of them. I told her I would do it without the help with the hotel, but Stella said the woman didn’t have any kids or other family and to let her feel useful. You just don’t say no to that sort of thing so here we are.

The room is beyond fantastic and is so convenient the van is going to stay parked almost the entire time we are in DC. It is like a vacation from the vacation almost. Mrs. Harden really got us the ritz.

“Don’t be ridiculous August. I could have put you up at one of the Hiltons, I simply thought you and Benny would be more comfortable there.” She always refuses to call me “Gus”. LOL

“The Hilton cannot have anything on this place,” I told her. “There’s a full breakfast in the mornings with stuff that Benny can eat. The room is on a corner and there’s a view of the city. I don’t have to bunk with a kid that is all knees and elbows. There’s an indoor swimming pool and exercise room. You got us free parking which is a blessing in and of itself. And I haven’t even started listing how close it is to all the things we can walk to. The Capitol is six-tenths of a mile away and the Air and Space Museum is only seven-tenths of a mile away. I mean … wow!”

She laughed but couldn’t stay on the phone long. Stella said even breathing and laughing is getting painful for the poor woman. I’ll dedicate our visit to the Vietnam Memorial to her and the memory of her husband and brother. Hopefully that will at least in part show her how appreciative we are for her generosity.

When I say the Embassy Suites is convenient I am not exaggerating but to start we spent most of the day in and out of the van until check-in. We made it to Arlington Cemetery just before 8 am. The gates were open when we got there so we started the self-guided tour I had found online. Instead of it taking us the nearly three hours predicted, it took us a little less than two because I skipped some things that Benny wouldn’t understand. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was painful for both of us. We stayed for the changing of the guard but we both had tears on our faces before it was over and Benny was leaning on me heavily. I picked him up and walked away but not before I heard the whispering when they saw Benny’s bracelet that he wears.

I put him down near the restrooms but they’ve got rules out the ying yang and I wasn’t going to let him go in by himself. Luckily Aunt Gus keeps handiwipes in her back pocket when backpacks aren’t allowed and I was cleaning his face and mine when a shadow fell over us. I turned, nearly had an attitude because it was a private moment but stopped when I saw the uniform. I stood up and she was surprised I was taller than her.

“Is there a problem?” she asked in a rigid voice. I was wondering just why this woman needed to butt into our private time but was trying not to let it show on my face. I might have worn a uniform at one point but I hope that I would never have sounded like this one did in front of me.

Then from beside me I hear, “Barrymore? Gus?”

I turn my head and there was another uniform. Not a national guard but an Army Corporal. The guy was familiar then I remembered. “Hammond? … Er, beg pardon. Corporal Hammond.”

He nodded. Then said, “At ease. I didn’t know if you would remember me.”

“Not remember the guy who helped me save one of my crew from losing their head when a guideline snapped on the bridge we were building? No chance. I never even got to thank you properly before your crew advanced. And you graduated that year.”

I stuck out the hand I wasn’t using to carry Benny and he stuck his out and we shook.

“I’m surprised you remember me. I was an underclassman.”

“Kinda hard to forget the girl that beat Orndorff. He was reigning champ three years in a row … and you were just a Freshman.”

“Long time ago.”

“Yeah it is.”

Quietly he pointed to Benny’s wrist, he was just lying limp in my arms. I explained, “Do you remembering my brother that day he nearly clocked one of the civilian trainers for letting the boys spy on the girls’ bathroom?”

“Yeah. He … oh.” He cleared his throat when he put the two and two together that I was trying to give him. “I’m sorry. He seemed like a stand up guy.”

“He was.” I sighed. “Look, I hope I didn’t cause a problem. My grandfather had always said this was something every citizen should see at least once. And then never forget. I just didn’t realize how hard this was going to hit Benny and I.”

“Recent?”

“About a year. And life hasn’t been easy since then. I better get us out of here before we draw any more attention.”

“Sometimes attention needs to be drawn. This isn’t just history. It’s today as well.”

I nodded thanks for his understanding and then, ignoring the NG female that still seemed to be staring daggers at me for some reason, carried Benny until he asked to be put down.

“I didn’t mean to cry.”

“Sometimes we cry Little Bear. Just make sure when you do it is for a good reason. And missing Lawrence … your dad … is a good reason.”

“Daddy wouldn’t want me to cry. He would want me to be a big boy.”

I gently corrected him and tried not to confuse him at the same time. “He wouldn’t want you to cry all the time. But crying sometimes is what a human does. The Creator built us to cry sometimes or we wouldn’t be able to do it. We just need to not let that be all we do.”

“How do we know when it is okay to cry?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe when it makes it hurt worse not to cry. Something like that anyway. We’ll figure it out together.”

And with a trust that scares me to death he said, “Okay.”

I was ready to leave the cemetery for a lot of reasons at that point, among them running from my own pain as much as Benny’s. Our next stop was Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial, where I was hoping a Junior Ranger program would distract Benny and get that hazy, not completely there look out of his eyes.

I was happy to find a kid-verse way of explaining about Robert E. Lee and the US Civil War without getting into it with some of the people that were listening with their big ol’ nosey self. I swear some people have no boundaries. Between whispering that I look pretty good for a transgender (because no girl is called Gus) to saying it was obvious I was a guy masquerading as a girl, to thinking I was too young to be a mother, to I didn’t know what I was talking about when I told Benny the Civil War wasn’t only about slavery … ugh.

People just need to stick to their own lives and stop putting their fingers in other people’s. First off, my sexuality is no one’s business but mine. It is my private business, and I am keeping it that way. And if they would read the original documents of the times they’d see that it was State’s Rights that started the war, not slavery which most northerners didn’t want to fight over until after the Gettysburg Address. And it is also amazing that so few people know that Lincoln’s intent was to win the war and send all black people back to a new country in Africa called Liberia that had been set up just for repatriating slaves whether they wanted to be or not. ‘Nuff said because it makes me cranky when people do too much assuming.

Arlington House - The Robert E. Lee Memorial - used to be known as the Custis-Lee Mansion. It served as a pre-Civil War residence of the Confederate Army General Robert E. Lee. It has been used as a plantation, a military headquarters, and was eventually taken over by the federal government in 1864 to serve as a burial site for Civil War soldiers. In part, the last was done so that General Lee would never be able to return to his home again. Even though it is part of the national cemetery which is administered by the US Department of the Army, Arlington House is administered by the National Park Service, which is a component of the United States Department of the Interior.

We had time for just a couple more things and one was the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. Also known as WIMSA, it is the only major national memorial established by the U.S. federal government to honor women who have served in and with the United States Armed Forces from the time of the American Revolution to the present. The memorial is located at the main entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. Although women did not officially serve in the U.S. military until the 20th century, the WIMSA memorial pays tribute to all females “whose devoted patriotism and bravery has become an integral part of America's national heritage, and ensures that their service to the country is never forgotten.”

The other was the Victims of Terrorist Attack on the Pentagon Memorial which commemorates the 184 lives lost on American Airlines Flight 77 and in the Pentagon building struck by al-Qaeda terrorists during the attacks on September 11, 2001. The memorial marks a group burial site at Arlington National Cemetery. Aluminum plaques, painted black, are inscribed with the names of the 184 victims of the terrorist attack. There are five plaques, one for each side of the marker. The names of those aboard Flight 77 are marked with a diamond in front of their name. The names of those for whom no remains could be identified are marked with a star in front of their name. The memorial covers an area of almost two acres.

I explained to Benny about the 9/11 tragedy. “Did you see it?” he asked.

“No. It happened before I was born. My dad and grandfather always insisted on honoring the day in some way though. They used to have a holiday called Patriots Day but then the Federal Government stopped recognizing it because they said it caused too many problems.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Because some people act too sensitive.”

“Am I too sensitive?”

“No. Definitely not. The kind of sensitive I’m talking about is when people get butthurt … er … pretend you didn’t hear that. Aunt Gus doesn’t want to ruin you for life.”

He giggled, “You said butt.”

“I did. Which wasn’t too smart of me. So, let’s talk about something else. ‘K?”

But like most little kids he couldn’t stop giggling when their adult person did something inappropriate. He finally got over it when we got back to the van and I gave him a pineapple jell-o (his favorite flavor) and some cheese and veggie straws to tame the hunger. I drank a protein drink because I really didn’t feel like eating. I don’t like letting my emotions out in public and was still feeling off from running into an old acquaintance and having to explain things.

I had to put my entire attention on driving because apparently the highways in DC are full of people that only use their brain for keeping their eyes from falling back into their skull. Drove partway on the George Washington Memorial Highway and from there we headed to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. It was even further outside the city center, just outside Dulles airport. According to the online reservations I made, the Udvar-Hazy Center is ground zero for anyone interested in airplanes, space travel, history, and seeing how far your voice can travel in an airplane hangar. That last was a bit of a joke but only a bit. It could get loud in that place with everyone talking at once.

The exhibits that stand out the most for me was The Enola Gay (the Boeing B-29 Superfortress that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan to end World War II), the Concorde (the one-time airliner that could fly passengers across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound. It could make the flight from Paris to New York in less than 3.5 hours), the Space Shuttle Discovery (flew 39 Earth-orbiting missions and traveled almost 150 million miles), and the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird (the fastest jet ever in the history of the world. Flown by the U.S. Air Force, it set a record after flying from Los Angeles to Washington DC in just 1 hour and 4 minutes).

I was getting a little anxious because traffic had been stacking up so decided to go check into the hotel to see if there was going to be a hang up due to the fact I wasn’t twenty-one. Okay, I admit I was a little intimidated. We aren’t talking Motel 6, but an expensive hotel right smack in downtown DC. Security is also important. I got the lecture that the lobby door’s get locked right at sundown and that could be sooner if there are protests.

“Protests?” I asked trying not to let my voice squeak.

“With the weather warming up they are already scheduling them, but they don’t usually start until after sundown.”

“You’re sure. Because I had planned to walk around The Mall area and places like that,” I said wondering if this had been a complete mistake.

“Just do it during the day and you won’t have a problem. If you stay out after nightfall just use reputable taxis or tour groups that provide transportation. I wouldn’t recommend the ghost tours for your little guy’s age, they’re primarily adult-level content. During the day if you stray away from The Mall too far you can run into some aggressive homeless people and panhandlers, but if you are going to any of the Smithsonians or the national park service locations you should be fine. These flyers might give you some ideas and we have a kiosk of other advertisements near the lobby doors. I can also help you arrange for some group tours.”

I thanked her, got our room card, and was heading for the elevator when a guy walked up beside me. “Want some advice?” I gave him a cautious look. He chuckled. “That’s good, keep thinking like that, but all I was going to say is plan your day out the night before. My wife thought we’d just be able to wing it when we got here, and we figured out after the first day that wouldn’t work especially when the kids get hungry.” I nodded my thanks and he headed towards where I knew the pool was located and we got on the elevator alone.

The room is great. Two beds. A frig and microwave. A separate living room with a tv and desk area. And the view is freaking unbelievable, like something out of an old Tom Clancy movie. There’s a safe to leave stuff in rather than leaving it in the van (except for you know what). The van won’t fit in their normal parking area, so we get to use the employee lot which has lot of security including a 24-hour guard and cameras. And they also have a launderette with the new quick wash/quick dry machines that uses tokens you “buy” at the concierge desk. The “special” that Mrs. Harden got for us because of her Elite Member status not only provides us free parking, and free WiFi, it came with two tokens per night which meant I could do five loads of laundry and dry them as well. I did most of our clothes tonight … a load of lights, a load of darks, and a load of towels … and one of the other nights I’ll do our bedding and our last night here I’ll wash our clothes from this week.

Benny and I went swimming which was a good way to get rid of the day’s tension. I’m a little worried because I’m getting the sense that Benny doesn’t know how to interact with his age group. Of course if the kids down at the pool are an example of his age group I can’t blame him. I took a turn in the whirlpool and he sat politely with his feet in (rather than his whole body) and didn’t make a fuss about anything, just wanted to know what Junior Ranger badges he’d get the chance to earn. As we were leaving I heard one woman snark something about a “Stepford Kid” and her friend snark back “the kid had been body snatched by aliens.” I could have said something but didn’t. People are just rude. It flew over Benny’s head thank goodness.

We’ve been back up in the room for a while. Benny got bored with the TV and asked if he could do some “virtle tours” on my iPad.

“You mean virtual tours?”

He nodded with big, puppy dog eyes. Good grief. Since I was using my laptop I said yes and he fell asleep looking at some of the places we’ve already been. I on the other hand have been making sure I have adequate plans for the rest of our days in DC. Another night I’ll work on our future road trip routes and such but for now I think I’m going to get Benny, put him to bed and then see if I can do something with my hair. I’m getting really, really tired of the frizzy mullet.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 16 – 20: Washington DC (part 2)

April 17th
Today I repaid Mrs. Harden and Stella said I made her cry. In a good way but I really hadn’t meant for her to cry.

We started our morning with breakfast at the Embassy Suites dining room. They even had gluten free bread for toast. I made sure we both ate a good breakfast because I was going to have to buy lunch while we were out and wasn’t sure yet how successful that was going to be. We were in and out of breakfast by 7:30 am and then hoofing it to the first point of interest, the Washington Monument.

You used to be able to ride to the top, but they closed the Washington Monument for security reasons before I was born. Now it is just an obelisk that most people take a picture of to say they were there, if that, then move along. I wanted Benny to have more of a sense of what it was originally meant to be.

The Washington Monument was built to honor George Washington, the first president of the US, and it symbolizes his importance to the country. The idea to raise the monument was first brought up in 1783 but it wasn’t until 1847 that a design was agreed upon and it is very different from the monument that stands today. The obelisk was to rise above a temple that would house artifacts of American presidents and heroes. Over the years that plan was dropped. The first cornerstone was laid in a Masonic ceremony on July 4, 1848. The same Masonic trowel that President Washington used to lay the cornerstone for the Capitol was used.

Work on the Washington Monument was slow and eventually stopped during the US Civil War. Work resumed in 1880, after changes were made to the design, and the capstone was finally placed December 6, 1884. The hollow shaft of the monument contains an elevator to the top, plus a staircase with 897 steps, neither of which are now accessible to the public. There are 188 carved blocks of stone to be viewed along the staircase, quarried of native stones brought from all the 50 states.

Next on the list was the WWII Memorial. It is a lot grander than Washington’s Monument to reflect a war that covered the entire globe. Two arches at either end of the memorial are symbolic of the Pacific and Atlantic areas of fighting and fifty-six pillars are arranged in two semicircles around both arches that represent the United States (48 states at the time of the war) the District of Columbia, plus the territories of Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Philippines. The walls between the arches and in front of the pillars depict scenes that were typical of the Pacific and European theaters of war. An engraving of the ubiquitous “Kilroy Was Here” is also included. On the west side sits the Freedom Wall that contains 4,048 gold stars each one representing 100 American soldiers who died (or remain missing) during WWII. Behind the Freedom Wall is the Reflecting Pool on the Mall. In front of the wall is the World War II Memorial Rainbow Pool and the stars reflect in the water. I’m telling you it choked me up. My great grandfather was injured and two of his brothers died in WW2. A sister died not long after the war of complications from a tropical disease she caught. Our family never recovered as far as the number of its members. My great grandfather was the only one to that lived to have kids. The news said the last veteran of WW2 died a while back. Sad, but they’ve been released from this life and I hope have found peace in their destination.

And then we went to the Vietnam Memorial. I actually wished we’d come to the site first. It was very busy and it was hard to get the photographs that I wanted for Mrs. Harden. But even with all of the people there you got a sense of the devastation this war caused. When most people think of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (VVM), they usually only envision the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. There are two other pieces of the memorial, however: The Vietnam Women’s Memorial and the Three Soldiers statue. All three pieces of the memorial are located in Constitution Gardens of the National Mall.

Reading to Benny off an informational plaque I told him: The U.S. involvement in Vietnam began in 1959. The last US serviceman died in Vietnam on May 15, 1975. Throughout this time the country had varying degrees of support for the war. One of the precepts of the VVM was to not let any of the controversy mar the honoring of the service men and women who served during that time. Even though the memorial itself has had some controversy, time is healing the wounds. The somber reflecting wall with all the names etched into stone lets visitors to the VVM focus on the sacrifice that has been made. There are currently 58,267 names listed on the wall of service personnel that was either killed or missing in action. There are no civilian names listed on The Wall. The Vietnam Women’s Memorial is situated just south of The Wall. It shows three uniformed women helping a wounded soldier. The women’s names are Faith, Hope, and Charity. A total of 67 women died during the Vietnam War – 8 were servicewomen, and 59 were civilians in a support role. The Three Soldiers portion of the VVM was created amid the controversy that surrounded The Wall. Some members of Congress wanted a more traditional memorial. The bronze statues of the service members depict soldiers wearing the common gear of the Vietnam War. They are positioned so they are looking at the names on The Wall.

Finding the names of Mrs. Harden’s husband and brother wasn’t difficult, it was making the etchings and getting the pictures. There were a lot of people there. A lot. And many of them were looking for loved ones that had been lost. Or people they knew. Or just looking. None of them were intentionally rude, they were just so involved in their own search that they forgot other people were searching as well.

Benny is an empathetic kid. I don’t know if that is going to be good in the long run or not. I guess I need to teach him coping skills so other people’s stuff doesn’t bleed all over him and destroy his peace of mind. We’d brought flowers to place at the base of the wall where the names were. Benny saw a woman there crying. She’d found her father’s name and it had really affected her. Benny took one of the flowers out of the bunch and walked over to her and handed it to her saying, “My Daddy went away too. But our Daddies wouldn’t want us to be sad all the time. They loved us bunches and bunches.” He handed her the daisy and I thought the woman was going to come apart.

“My father used to call me Daisy Jane. I remember that. I was so little, but I remember he used to call me that. I do.” Wasn’t a dry eye I’m telling you. But whatever had been riding the woman had been beaten back and she walked a lot lighter than she had a moment before. But she was sure holding on to that flower.

I wasn’t sure how to address what Benny had done but apparently I didn’t have to. He said, “She needed a flower. I bet these guys won’t mind. Next time I’ll ask first.”

“Yeah Little Bear. All I ask is you don’t run off like that again. ‘K? I don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t want to lose you either Aunt Gus. Can we go now?”

And we did.

The next place was even busier than where we’d left. The Lincoln Memorial is one of the most famous monuments and historical places in the United States. People see a picture of it and they recognize it even if they aren’t quite sure which memorial it is. It was built in honor of Abraham Lincoln, who was the 16th President of the US. The monument is a classic Greek Doric temple. Even the sculpture of the President is done in Olympic size fashion. Two well-known speeches of Lincoln are engraved there: the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.

After that crowd came another war memorial, this one honoring those who fought and died during the Korean Conflict. The Korean War Veterans Memorial is located in West Potomac Park The United States came to the aid of South Korea after it was invaded by North Korea at the request of the United Nations. The U.S. was divided about the war, and partly because of this, called it a conflict instead of a war. The Korean War was a hard-fought battle in brutal conditions. During the Chosin Reservoir battle, the temperature plummeted to -40F.

Benny did ask a question that took some careful wording from me. He wanted to know why people built monuments to dead people if they were all better off in Heaven. He wanted to know why we didn’t do it while they were still alive so they could see how much we cared. Sigh.

“Little Bear, that’s a question worth thinking about. And I’ve wondered it myself. Basically I think we aren’t building the monuments for the people who are dead but to remind those of us still living about what’s important, like how to act and how to be honorable, how to keep going when it would be a lot easier to stop, how not to whine and cry that life is hard. That sort of thing. Some people are better at doing that stuff than others. I think the monuments are there to remind and encourage us to at least try to be as good, or maybe even better, than the people we are using as an example.”

He gave it a thought then said, “They still shoulda built monuments to say thanks for setting a good example before the people went to Heaven. How are they going to hear thank you way up there?”

“Well, when you get to Heaven they say all your questions are answered. So if they don’t know we care by the time they get to Heaven they’ll definitely know by then.”

“You think Daddy knows we miss him and thank him?”

“Yes. But not in a sad way. There are no tears in Heaven. I don’t know exactly how that works out but that’s the way our Creator set it up. Heaven is a reward. Having a bunch of people sad and crying up in Heaven doesn’t seem to me to fit that description. Do you?”

“Are … are they going to know us?”

“Well, the way my grandmother explained it, they aren’t just going to know us they are waiting on us. But … and this is a big but … they also want us to live our life down here until whatever our purpose is is served. Meaning we gots things to do and they want us to live and do them and enjoy life before we head to our destination.”

“Why … why did Mommy decide to … to go there so soon?”

“That I don’t know Benny. Some people … they’ve got stuff …” I sighed. Stopped us. Pulled him to the side and bent down. “This isn’t going to sound nice Benny but I promised you that I would never lie to you. Remember that?” At his nod I said, “Some people are … sick … or they’ve got a weakness. Or they make bad choices. And they … leave us early because of that. Penny … your mother … wasn’t a bad person but she was … weak. Maybe she was weak because she was sick. But sometimes when we are sick we can do what it takes to get better. Your mother … she just couldn’t seem to … to …” I shook my head. “She loved you Little Bear. Sometimes that’s what we need to remember. That and try really hard not to make the same mistakes she did. Is that enough of an answer for now?”

“Will I understand better when I grow up?”

“We’ll both understand better one of these days.”

“Before we go to Heaven?”

“I’m not sure. But definitely at some point.”

That seemed to be enough for him. I have to be so careful. He’s a lot like Lawrence … and me. But he’s just a little boy and what his mother did has made him more vulnerable than he should have to be. I don’t want to be who or what makes him take after Penny too much. We’ve seen the path she chose. Someone has to stop the cycle. Penny chose the same path her mother did. I will do everything in my power to make sure that Benny doesn’t find that an acceptable alternative to dealing with life and the pain it sometimes brings.

Our last stop on this leg of our tour was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. The Memorial stands on the banks of the Potomac River and is one of the lesser visited memorials because of its location. It was certainly more quiet than the Lincoln Memorial had been, and more scenic as well. Under the memorial’s dome, there is a 19-foot tall bronze statue of President Jefferson. This is not the statue that was present at the dedication. Bronze was in short supply during the war effort and the original statue was made of plaster and painted to look bronze. The present statue was installed four years after the dedication. On the walls around the statue are inscriptions of Jefferson’s writings. An interesting fact for history buffs is the inscription of the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Jefferson wrote “inalienable rights” but in the final document it was “unalienable rights”. In the Jefferson Memorial, the inscription is as he wrote it.

Excluding stopping at Vietnam Memorial we had only been walking 2.4 miles and with stopping had spent 2.5 hours of our day. It was hard to believe it was only 10:30 and still the middle of the morning. I had wondered if we would have time for our next activity but I thought it was a perfect time to take a break. Benny was surprised and very happy; he loves the water as much as I do, and perhaps loves it because I do if that makes sense.

We rented a double kayak for two hours and paddled over to Roosevelt Island for a picnic … and so Benny could do a special Junior Ranger activity. Good grief, you’d think those badges are made of solid gold instead of plastic the way he treats them.

After we returned the kayak I had us hurrying along and Benny knew another surprise was coming. “Remember how well you like your discovery toys?”

“Aunt Gus are you playing a game?” he laughed.

“Sorta, but I think we’ll both like this next place.”

The International Spy Museum is a must-see as far as I’m concerned. Supposedly it is the only museum of its kind in America though the old-fashioned escape room places are making a comeback. When entering the museum, everyone is asked to assume an identity and enter the spy game. There are also some rules; no strollers; no photography or videography; no food, drink, gum, or smoking; and no use of phones of any kind. That was a lot harder than it sounds for some people. I kept wanting to grab my phone for pictures and had to keep slapping my hand which made Benny giggle.

In the museum are exhibits on buttonhole cameras, microdots, bugs and disguises. Stories about famous and not so famous spies are all part of the story. There are biographical sketches of Civil War spies and Cold War spies. And you also learn how to keep your cover and work with the tools of the spycraft trade. New gadgets are also discovered in the modern spy game called the Cyberspies. I almost went into that track during Naval Cadets but did better in search and rescue. I’m considering trying to have some kind of civilian career in that area but I have to figure how to pull it off and be responsible for Benny at the same time.

For older kids and adults there’s also some more difficult tasks and experiences in the museum that you can pay to do but Benny and I were more than satisfied with the basics. We were in and out in an hour so I thought we’d end the day with the National Museum of American History. Holy Smoke! What a labyrinth! It is three floors plus a lower level where the café is. The first floor seemed to be mostly under renovation though there was an area for “Americans on the Move” with cars, trains, and other odd or historical transportation items. There was also a cool area for money with and items that has been recognized as money like beads and pressed blocks of tea. The Star Spangled Banner exhibit was on the second floor along with more stuff than I can remember. The third floor had the famous ruby slippers from that ancient movie Wizard of Oz as well as the hall of First Ladies and their dresses, and the Presidents as well. Some of the really odd things I remember being in the museum are Abraham Lincoln’s top hat he used the night he was assassinated, Julia Child’s kitchen (I had to explain who that was to Benny), a chair that belonged to someone name Archie Bunker which was just weird, and this bizarre skeleton of a racehorse name Lexington that held the land speed record for twenty years when he ran four miles in a little over seven minutes.

I managed to get to the café before it closed and I bought some stuff for us to have for dinner so that we wouldn’t have to eat a restaurant, because as soon as the museum closed at 5:30 pm I had us hustle back to the hotel. The concierge hadn’t been kidding. As the sun went down the kooks came out. We still got to see The Mall but it was in a hurry and I’m glad we’ll get to see it again tomorrow.

After taking Benny to the pool so he and I could swim and then sit in the whirlpool and get the kinks out of our feet we came back up to our room (thank you housekeeping staff) and I put together the memorial page for Mrs. Harden – and then endured the embarrassment of the teary call – then got busy working on planning. Tomorrow I’m going to drop the etchings in the mail to her. The concierge helped get the postage and all I have to do is leave it in the hotel’s outgoing mail.

One of the things that Benny and I are going to do tomorrow is deliver a thank you letter to our Florida senator for making sure that Lawrence’s body came home to be buried. I didn’t find that out until I got the redacted paperwork but that much I could decipher. Benny doesn’t understand really, but I do. The man took the time to do something he didn’t have to, intervened in a way I don’t know how to quantify because we don’t have all the facts, but I feel the need to say thank you even if it isn’t personally.

 

[Lake Lili]

Thanks Kathy! Back in the late 1970s, we went to our capital city, Ottawa, as a part of a school trip in Grade 7. We were there over Rememberance Day and attended at the National War Memorial. It was intensely moving to watch the soldiers, both vetrans and active personnel march - there were still WWI soldiers marching at that time. They seemed impossibly old to us. In Grade 8, we went to Washington DC and went to Arlington. I remember the confusion we caused as 80 girls in our school uniform (kilts and blazers) stood at attention in lines of ten. Was not apparently what they expected from a girls school. We got to the Smithsonian too and it was amazing! Thanks for so many chapters! What a treat!

Lili

 

[nancy98]

Thanks you so much Kathy. I feel filled up now.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 16 – 20: Washington DC (part 3)

April 18th
Well, I hope that I’ve learned my lesson. If you have some mail to give to someone in government, don’t try and deliver it yourself. Luckily, the secretary on duty remembered our Senator getting involved with bringing Lawrence home for burial.

“Look, I didn’t find out until recently. All we got was a giant stack of redacted reports and what wasn’t redacted didn’t make a whole lot of sense. I’m not asking for any of the Senator’s time, he gifted us with enough and we didn’t even know it, I’m just … I want Benny to know that there was someone that cared, not because he had to but because he just did. And I want to set a good example for Benny. If, for whatever reason, you can’t give him the letter can you just tell him we stopped by and said thank you?”

Man oh man I was really glad to escape. They made you feel like a criminal just for wanting to see the Senator you helped to elect. And I wasn’t even looking to see the man, just his office so I could drop off a letter of appreciation for what he did.

The Capitol used to be so easy to go into and tour. Boy did I make the mistake of thinking that ancient history was over with. Nope. Despite tours now taking place, the security in the building still dog you and pull you out of line if you hold you mouth wrong.

The US Capitol stands at the opposite end of the National Mall from the Washington Monument. This huge complex of buildings is where the House of Representatives and Senate discuss and debate just about everything, but especially laws and national policy. There are 540 rooms, five floors and the Rotunda which is where important art and sculptures that depict events and figures from American history are displayed. After much arguing about the design, the Capitol cornerstone was laid by President Washington, who was dressed for the occasion in full Mason attire, on September 18, 1793. Completed in 1811, the Capitol was partially damaged in August 1814 during the burning of Washington during the War of 1812. The burnt down portions were rebuilt and the Rotunda was added in 1826. In the 1850s the Capitol was expanded further with a new cast-iron dome added to replace the original wooden Rotunda. Other renovations and expansions have been made. Among them is The Apotheosis of Washington fresco painted on the inside of the dome, visible through the oculus from the Rotunda floor.

Once upon a time the Capitol was open to the public with very little fanfare. Today you have to get tickets are a first come-first served basis. We got our tickets without a problem but before we could even enter the building we had to go through this crazy security check point, given everything but a colonoscopy to make sure we weren’t hiding any weapons, and then take a 30 minute orientation course during which time our electronics were given the same kind of security check as we had been. Finally we get our electronics back and we are allowed on the tour. Hah. Like I said, I’ll be a much more wary Gus from here on out. Had Congress been in session I’m pretty sure I would have been arrested. They seemed to have a hard time believing that I just walked in like I did. I just pushed a door open, followed the cleaning lady, and was dropping the letter in the mail slot when I got growled at and all the rest. Whew. Will never make that mistake again even when a security guard does hold the door open for me and Benny to come in.

The next two buildings we just stuck to the outside. The Library and Congress and the US Supreme Court Building. The US Supreme Court building didn’t have the security on it that the Capitol building had. Makes you go hmmmmm. But not where anyone else can hear you. I think I’m getting a little paranoid. I know Benny was out of sorts from the scare we’d gotten.

He got better though when I introduced him to the dinosaurs in the National Museum of Natural History. Wow, did he get wide-eyed and bushy tailed. LOL. The museum opened in 1910 under the administration of the Smithsonian. In its 325,000 square feet the museum features over 500 million species of plants, fossils, minerals, rocks, animals, meteorites and other artifacts. The Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals now has its own security process. So does the Hall of Paleobiology, the Ocean Hall and other temporary exhibitions. You have to walk through special scanners and send anything you are carrying through an x-ray machine. I read a couple of bloggers who said that everyone should go to DC once, but once is all it would take before you’d never want to go again. I’m kinda coming to understand what they meant. I doubt even the King of England and his Crown Jewels has to deal with this type of overbearing security.

What was cool is that The National Museum of Natural History incorporates the new 3D IMAX Theater and a fun Discovery Room on the first floor. Kids weren’t the only ones going gaga over it all. Its research facility employs more than 200 natural history scientists, which is the world's largest group of professionals dedicated to the study of natural and cultural history.

We were in there hours and then switched to the National Museum of the American Indians. That place was just as awe inspiring as the Natural History Museum was, only in a different way. The museum houses nearly a million items representing most of the indigenous populations from the Americas, spanning 12,000 years of history. Some of the artifacts are culturally sensitive and permission must be obtained from the appropriate Native American group to display them, or for the public to view them.

The building was a relief from some of the other buildings around Washington that seem to overpower you with lots of granite and concrete. This museum's building complements the area; in fact, even the amenities in this museum are different. While many of the other museums have cafes open to the public this museum as the Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe that explores native foods that would have been available from five different regions and offers them up in contemporary and traditional dishes. Can you guess that this is where Benny and I ate our main meal today. Choices include fry bread, corn totopos (a type of corn chip), and buffalo burgers. Oh my gosh it was so good, and I don’t think it was just because we’d been eating catch as catch can for the last week or so. Benny couldn’t have the fry bread but he could have most of all of the other offerings.

The next museum was the National Air and Space Museum. Aw geez. My brain was already overflowing with memories, as was my phone memory – and this just put me into overload. Benny wasn’t any better. At one point I threatened to put a rein on him if he didn’t whoa down. He just laughed but he did stick closer.

The Air and Space museum houses the largest collection of planes and spacecraft in the world. This is one of the most popular of the Smithsonian museums, and the crowds proved it. The original idea for the museum began in 1946, although some of the pieces in the museum originated from the 1876 Centennial Exposition. Originally the name of the museum was the National Air Museum. When man went to space the name changed to what it is today.

The Spirit of St. Louis that Charles Lindbergh flew over the Atlantic hangs in the museum as does the Wright Flyer that made its famous flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903. The Apollo 11 Command module is here too. The Bell X-1, Mercury Friendship 7, and SpaceShipOne are also on display. I’ve seen stuff at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida but seeing these was something else entirely. There’s more “conventional” aircrafts such as DC-3 and a 747. Even the USS Enterprise from Star Trek fame is here.

We made the basement where the café is just before closing and I grabbed a few of the items that were left, shoved it in my backpack and then we were out of there and racing back to the hotel. I’d heard from people in the museum that there was a rowdy crowd forming on the Mall and I saw it myself. No way did I want to be out in it, especially not with Benny.

We made it in right before they locked the doors all over the exterior of the hotel. I was going to take Benny straight up, making a game of it saying I was starving wasn’t he starving. The subterfuge worked except we weren’t the only ones wanting to get to our room and the elevators were crazy busy. They opened the evening reception and we got a few items to add to our stash and finally found the stairs and took them rather than wait on our turn in the elevator.

Benny has been content to play with his “crew” as they watched “virtle tours”. I was sponging chocolate milk out of Benny’s shirt when things got quiet. Too quiet. I stuck my head around the door to find that I stuck my head around the door to find that Little Bear had fallen asleep in the middle of a crayon portrait of the Washington Monument.

I gently rolled him off the sketch book so he wouldn’t drool on his picture, picked up the crayons and put them in his box, and then tucked him in. I’ve been taking care of Benny since he drew his first breath because Penny had such a difficult birth. Lawrence depended on me. Penny … I’m really not sure how she saw my place with Benny. I know she resented it on occasion but any time Benny did turn to her she would often freak out and get anxious. Other times she loved him so fiercely she nearly suffocated him. Then after Lawrence didn’t come home she would sometimes act like she forgot he existed, would leave him places. I never understood that. I tried so that I could help her but I just never could quite get that aspect of whatever her issues were. How can you truly love someone and just … get so self-involved you forget them someplace?

I know I will probably spend the rest of my life trying to be the best Aunt+ to Benny, I’ll doubt myself, and so on and so forth. I never want to take Penny away from him, or replace her, but I also want to be better than she was to him. I will never leave him. But one of these days he will doubtless leave me. It’s the nature of things. My job is to get him grown. And then it will be his job to be strong enough to keep going. Creator give me the strength to be able to let him do what he is supposed to.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 16 – 20: Washington DC (part 4)

April 19th
Started the day with a water taxi on the Potomic to George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Got there at 7:30 am to check in. It wasn’t a hardship to wait around as it was at the marina and Benny and I both enjoyed looking at the boats that were docked. Our wrist band had a gold star on it (for Gold Star Family) and people kept giving us looks. One little girl tried to make a fuss about wanting a gold star on hers. Her father told her to hush, but it took Benny saying, “You don’t want this gold star. It means my Daddy died wearing his uniform.”

I thought Benny was going to have a moment when he turned and leaned on me. It hits him hard sometimes. Once we were underway the father found us on the open deck and apologized for his daughter.

“Kids don’t understand. They see something they think is pretty and …” I shrugged. “They just don’t understand. And if you want to know the truth? I’m glad most of them don’t because too many of us do.”

Benny said quietly, “I didn’t mean to make her cry.”

The man said, “You didn’t son. Like you Mom said, she just didn’t understand.”

“She’s my Aunt Gus, not my mom,” Benny said holding onto me tight.

To answer the question on the man’s face I quietly explained, “His mother passed away recently as well. My brother raised me when our father died. I’m doing the same for my nephew.”

The guy looked like he was uncomfortable but curious as well but got called away by his wife that was struggling to control all four of their kids at the same time. One of them wasn’t much more than a newborn. I remember when Benny was that age and size. I barely juggled him and my own life, can’t imagine trying to add three more kids to the mix. Ugh.

The water taxi tried to think it was a cruise tour and they had a narrator going while we tootled down the Potomac. About three quarters of the people onboard were ignoring it and the rest of us could barely understand what was coming out of the speakers. Still, the scenery was nice so it was no problem just sitting on the deck and watching it go by.

Arrived just before Mount Vernon opened which was 9 am. Spent four hours at Mt. Vernon and could have easily turned it into an all-day tour. Started off with the self-guided audio tour using an app I downloaded onto my phone for Benny and I to share. Only the first floor of the mansion is open to visitors and it only takes about 10 minutes to do the tour, even if you drag your feet. The grounds around the mansion take much more time, about an hour. The museum is way-cool interesting and takes another hour at least, depending on the crowds and how long you spend at each exhibit. The crowds weren’t bad when we first got there but by lunch time they were fairly awful and I was honestly glad to escape.

One of the ways that Benny was able to get into Mount Vernon was the Adventure Booklet they gave him when we went in. It isn’t a Junior Ranger program, but it was what they call a high-interest educational activity for kids. By completing the booklet he got a surprise at the end … a patch. He was ecstatic. He also saw the little girl a couple of times and encouraged her and her brother to do theirs, kinda like a I found this did you kinda thing. The brother was getting into it, the little girl not so much. Finally figured out she was jealous of the baby. I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to juggle multiple kids, Benny is enough for me.

There were other things specifically for kids; an eye-spy game, reenactors, the farm and animals, a couple of easy walking trails, the discovery stations were a big hit, and I helped him place the “Spy 711” app where you got to be one of Washington’s spies. That one was a little old for him but since we were playing it together Benny didn’t mind when I gave him a little extra help. He received a “spy master bracelet” for that one, basically a plastic arm band but still something that is going into his keep sake box that we’ve started.

Another big hit was that I told him we were eating in the food court instead of out of the back pack. I had called ahead and asked if they had gluten-free options and they said yes. What they didn’t say was the only gluten-free options were salads and fruit cups. What I wound up doing was getting two salads, a fresh fruit cup, and a grilled chicken sandwich (sans bun). I cut the chicken up and put it on the salads and then we split the fruit cup for dessert. It wasn’t cheap for what it was, but better than rice cakes and raisins which is all I had in the back pack. Gotta do better than that from here on out Aunt Gus.

When it was our turn we took the route back on the water taxi and got back to the marina at a little after one o’clock. I decided to change things up a bit and instead of another museum we hopped the metro with a little help from someone from our tour group that was going to the same place and went to the National Zoo to see the Pandas and all the other animals. It was two o’clock before we got in, but we were able to see everything in two hours as for some weird reason it wasn’t crowded, probably because it was a school day and field trips were over for the year as it was time to be studying and prepping for final exams.

We took a quick cruise by the Washington Cathedral which was neat but beyond Benny’s age range and then hopped the metro line back to the hotel because five o’clock traffic was worse than Miami and people seemed edgy. And if they weren’t edgy they were acting dodgy. And the worst of them were acting both; not a good combination.

There was a Trader Joe’s near one of the exits on the metro so we hopped off, picked up some groceries that didn’t need refrigeration then headed a couple blocks further for the Whole Foods store. All the following were gluten free: Norwegian crisp bread, dehydrated sliced carrots, falafel mix, organic fruit and nut granola, yellow lentil & brown rice spaghetti, plant-based chorizo sausage, yellow corn tortillas, pumpkin bread and muffin mix, cornbread mix, nut butter bar mix, honey grahams, brownie mix, lasagna noodles, brown rice tortillas, condensed broths, Bob’s Red Mill oats and other flours and baking mixes. I could have bought more but I had to pack that stuff back to the hotel, but not up to the room. I took it straight to the van except for the two frozen dinners that I’d bought. Those came to the room for our dinner. We’d already eaten out once that day and the people were starting to creep me out.

Arrived back at the hotel to find that the Senator had received our thank you letter and arranged a surprise for us; tickets to see the Whitehouse. It is first thing in the morning so I’m glad we did the zoo today instead of trying to fit everything we have left to do tomorrow. This way we’ll have time to visit the White House and get Benny’s Junior Ranger badges completed and turned in. Plus, I might get to see the US Botanic Gardens and the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens which is something I didn’t think we were going to have time for.

Tomorrow is our last night in a hotel for a while … a long while if I’ve got it all planned out and no disasters occur. Knock on wood as Grandma Barry used to say.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Thank you for the chapters Mother Hen. I was thinking of looking into the season and bag limits for Muses.

 

[nancy98]

Oh a Senator...This should/could be exciting.
Thanks for the bonanza today Kathy.

 

[CGTech]

thank you Kathy!

 

[Smitty60]

Wow,that was a lot of chapters. Thanks so much.

 

[Mr Bill]

This is very cool

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 16 – 20: Washington DC (part 5)

April 20th
Wow.

The Whitehouse. I was told that if you didn’t get your booking far in advance with the help of your state’s Congressperson you weren’t getting in. But the Senator from Florida somehow pulled some strings to do just that. Not just the East Wing and Residence area that most people get to see, but we got to see some of the West Wing as well. You are allowed to take pictures with your phone or a very small camera but I only opted to take a few of Benny and Benny & I inside and more of the grounds. I wanted to be there, not just see it through my pictures later.

Prepping for the tour was kinda crazy. No bags, no cameras (but you could have a phone and use it as a camera), no food or water, and a lot of other prohibitions. And there are no storage facilities to hold those things while on the tour so don’t bring them or get turned away. Period. I left everything in the hotel room, except for my phone and my wallet. Not convenient, but necessary under the circumstances.

Security is crazy strict. You have to circle around South of the White House and enter the property behind the Treasury Department, to the Southeast of the White House. First you go through a check of your paperwork and IDs. Next comes a security screening in a room where you stand in a designated spot while dogs sniff from the other side of a fence. They never say what the dogs are sniffing for, but I presume it is chemicals of various kinds. Then there is another line into another room where you go through a more traditional metal detector. It took forty minutes to get through security before the tour even started and the “tour” only lasted about an hour, some people were out in forty-five minutes.

I expected a guide like in the movies, but it is actually all self-guided using an app they have you download on your phone that is basically a virtual guide. The tour is crowded so almost every picture we took had a stranger in it. I have an editing program that I might be able to remove the worst of the crowds out of but I’m not sure with what kind of clarity.

While the tour might be self-guided, I gotta say that there were enough secret service agents that you sometimes had to look around them to see what the app’s virtual guide was telling you to look at. And not a scrawny or paunchy one in the bunch; they all looked like linebackers or former linebackers.

The tour started in the foyer of the East Wing of the Whitehouse. From there you pass through an area called the East Colonnade and it honestly looks like a closed in porch area; the exterior wall is all windows which must suck for security even if the glass is supposedly bullet proof. From the Colonnade you enter the East Garden Room. Getting a hint yet? Nearly everything is “East” or “West” and the tour wasn’t going anywhere near anything called “West.”

The ground floor of the Whitehouse is a bit like a basement, not that I would know that firsthand. I heard it from a couple of other tourists that seemed a little shocked and disappointed at how “drab” it all was. It reminded me of the student services building at school. Whatever. If people want fancy they can head to Europe is what I was thinking. If the people’s money goes to pay for and keep this stuff up, then a little budgeting should be part of the management process.

You don’t actually go into many of the rooms. They are roped off so that you can look into them but that’s all. The china room was pretty wow, I know Grandmother Barry would have been in awe. Her one “vice” as she called it was that she collected antique China pieces. Grandfather Barry had “humored her” and one room in their house on the river was full of glassed-in shelves full of her collection. He didn’t mind her collection, but he required everything in the house to be neat and orderly at all times. Wonder where Benny and I got our OCD from. (snark) Of course Grandmother Barry wasn’t much different. They were like two peas in a pod about that sort of thing and the house always reflected it. Grandfather Barry was always happy to see me come visit (as opposed to some of the cousins who tended to grate on his nerves) because he knew that I’d follow the house rules and would help around the house as well. As long as I helped Grandmother, he was quite happy to teach me to kayak and do all the stuff that had me trained before I entered the Naval Cadets in high school after they all passed.

The library was another cool room. The shelving was all built-in and frankly I expected more of them for it to be called The Library but there were still plenty of books in there. Not sure when the last time any of the books were used though because some of them looked to be as hold as the Jefferson Collection that was the used to start the Library of Congress. I could hear the bindings crack just at the thought of being taken off the shelf and opened.

Next up was the “State Floor.” That’s where all the press conferences happen. It was like walking through a cow chute to go through the space as you could walk around the rooms but not in the center of them and people would get disgruntled if you stopped to pay more attention to something along the way. “Moooo. Mooooo!” Kept running through my head and I’m sure people thought I was snickering inappropriately at something.

From the East Room we moved into the Green Room. Not the kind of Green Room that media uses but a literal green room. The walls were emerald green silk and most of the accent pieces matched that shade as well. And what comes after the Green Room? Why the Blue Room of course. I think they must have decorated like this so that everyone, including the help, was able to figure their way through these old houses with all of their halls, rooms, and nooks and cranies. The best thing about the Blue Room was the view. You could see the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Monument all through the same window frame.

The Red Room was next and after that the State Dining Room, both impressive in their own way. I mean any room is impressive if you can fit 140 people in there for a formal meal without it being as crammed as the school cafeteria.

Last thing on the tour was a stop at the Presidential Seal where you could take a commemorative picture. An older couple offered to take our picture together if we returned the favor and we did. That’s where you leave by the front door. I was all set to go out when Benny and I were quietly pulled aside as the others in our group exited. We were told we were being given a special treat. Sorry, but after the incident in the Capitol the idea of a “special treat” gave me the willies and I held onto Benny’s hand tight enough for him to pick up on my nervousness. Bad auntie.

The “special treat”? A tour of the West Wing. My face must have been something to behold because the man who introduced himself as Agent Smith had a hard time not smirking.

“The Senator sends his compliments.”

Uh huh. Little warning would have been nice. I’m no coward but if Benny and I disappear into custody there really isn’t anyone to give a care or help us get our own representation. Spooky crap and I know for a fact it has happened before because I learned it in one of my history classes that covered the era of what is still called the January Capitol Riot. Some of the hundreds of people that were eventually arrested went down a black hole and weren’t heard from again until they agreed to plea deals or were released due to lack of prosecutorial evidence. And all of them were forever changed by the experience and that was definitely something I was not interested in happening to us.

But a little fear is what keeps you awake and alive on some occasions and in this case it is what had me as wide-eyed as Benny. Wouldn’t you be if you were walking down something called the Vice President’s Hallway? The Navy Mess was the fanciest “mess hall” I’d ever seen, looking more like something off the legendary RMS Titanic than something you would find on a ship today. The Situation Room made my stomach flutter bringing to mind my history lessons on the Bay of Pigs and the near nuclear war that could have engulfed the world. There were a couple of nondescript rooms and then the Rose Garden and South Lawn. Grandfather Barry would have approved of how painfully manicured that area is.

My mouth fell open when we were taken, not just to but inside the Cabinet Room. And the two men in the room had my spine snapping to involuntary attention. I’m under strict instructions not to record the meeting but if nothing else did, this told me that Lawrence had done our country, as well as the one where he was at the time, a service beyond measure.

It was challenging to act as if nothing exceptional had happened, but I did my best as ordered. One of these days I’ll explain things to Benny, but I got a sense that he understood that his father was important to other people and he did his best to be a “Big Boy” and make his father proud. Which I know for a fact that Lawrence is. He loved his son in this life, I can’t imagine how much bigger that love must be where he is at now.

We also got to see the Oval Office itself. Yeah, I know it might be corny to keep saying those rooms gave me a thrill, but they did. Just because you don’t always agree with the people working in those rooms doesn’t mean that they don’t symbolize something incredibly special, not just for this country but for history itself.

We also got to see the Roosevelt Room, the West Wing Lobby, the Upper Press Hallway, and the Brady Press Briefing Room where most of the important stuff is shared with the press and public. We were escorted back to the East Wing and then out the front door. We were also given a commemorative tour book, something not generally available to the pubic because it is reserved as a gift to visiting Heads of States and their staffs. We also got a few Whitehouse souvenir type gifts. I know most people would consider them just cheap tchotchkes but they mean a lot to Benny and I and if we can ever manage to find someplace permanent I’ll fix them up in a shadow box like Grandfather Barry had some of his special keepsakes in.

We also got a couple bottles of water and a sling backpack to carry everything in, as well as an umbrella and a couple of rain ponchos because, yep, it looked like rain. Some of the first we’ve seen in a while.

Both Benny and I were a little blasted and we were there longer than expected. As a result, lunch was staring us in the face and the bottled water wasn’t really going to carry a five-year-old much further. I was struggling to keep my head on straight, remain situationally aware, and deal with impending bad weather when I spotted a food cart on the way to Ford’s Theater. Believe it or not this thing had gluten free food. I got us an gluten-free, all-beef corn dog. Okay, it wasn’t super healthy but it tasted good and Benny was happy.

Ford’s Theater and Museum was interesting. I would have liked to have seen Petersen House where Lincoln was taken and spent his last house, but it was closed. There was a virtual tour you could take but Benny and I didn’t get to do that until tonight as we spent our time at the theater completing a Junior Ranger program, one not well advertised that was a nice surprise for Benny.

From the theater we went to the US Botanic Gardens & Kenilworth Park as well as the Aquatic Gardens. I know Grandmother Barry would have loved this place. Wowzer. Reading right off one of the sign-thingies at the entrance: More than 200 years ago, George Washington had a vision for the capital city of the United States that included a botanic garden that would demonstrate and promote the importance of plants to the young nation. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1820, the U.S. Botanic Garden is the oldest continuously operating botanic garden in the United States. Since 1934, it has been administered through the Architect of the Capitol.

We spent a few hours at the Botanic Gardens complex but I bet had I been alone, or with Grandmother Barry, we could have spent there all day. More and more I think of the possibilities of Benny and I having a home of our own and one of the things I would like to do is have flowers like my grandmother. They lived on the river but had acreage out to the highway. Around the house there were containers that she grew things in but out in the acreage, the only place that Grandfather Barry didn’t expect things to be constantly neat and tidy, she had planted flowering bushes, lots of native plants, and during certain times of year there were daylilies in bloom in every direction. Grandfather kept trails open and cleared through there so that Grandmother could walk with the cane she used after falling and nearly breaking her hip when I was in kindergarten.

I didn’t want to break my promise to allow Benny to finish some of his Junior Ranger badges (he’s earned fourteen or fifteen here in DC) so we headed to The Mall to take care of that, got a look at DuPont Circle, and then to the Carter G. Woodson National Historic site that was only fifteen minutes from the hotel.

I grabbed two more gluten-free, nukeable dinners on the way to eat in the hotel room and then it was time for some work. We packed everything but our ditty bags and tomorrow’s cloths down really well and carried it to the van tonight so we won’t have much to carry out in the morning. I did all the check out paperwork in advance as well and found out we’ve earned one free night at a Hilton-owned location and have six months to use it. I’m going to save it for an emergency. Benny and I got a good scrub down and while my hair dries I’ve been taking care of some online chores like the blog, responding to emails and sending a few out, logging receipts, and then finishing up by checking the next week of our itinerary.

Next stop … Acadia National Park in Maine, much farther away from home than I’ve ever been.


Cumulative Fuel Expense: $1063
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $471
Cumulative driving miles: 1952

Resources:
Junior Ranger Scavenger Hunt - National Mall and Memorial Parks (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
The White House Tour - President's Park (White House) (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Arlington Cemetery Self-Guiding Tour: Arlington Cemetery Self-Guided Tour - Google My Maps
Arlington Cemetery
https://www.nps.gov/arho/learn/kidsyouth/upload/FINAL-small-ARHO-Junior-Ranger-Booklet-2020-508.pdf
Anacostia Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Civil War Defenses of Washington (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
George Washington Memorial Parkway (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
National Mall and Memorial Parks (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
The White House Tour - President's Park (White House) (U.S. National Park Service)
NMAH | The Star-Spangled Banner: The Flag that Inspired the National Anthem (si.edu)
World War I Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
World War II Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Korean War Veterans Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
George Washington Memorial Parkway (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Great Falls Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Things To Do - Theodore Roosevelt Island (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
Home | National Museum of American History (si.edu)
George Washington's Mount Vernon
Ford's Theatre
Junior Ranger Programs
Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site: https://www.nps.gov/cawo/learn/kidsyouth/upload/CAWO-Jr-Ranger-Book.pdf
Civil War Defenses of Washington: https://www.nps.gov/cwdw/learn/kidsyouth/upload/Junior Ranger Booklet.pdf
Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site: Virtual Tour
Fort Washington Park: Be A Junior Ranger - George Washington Memorial Parkway (U.S. National Park Service)
Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens: https://www.nps.gov/keaq/learn/kidsyouth/upload/Whole Jr. Ranger.pdf
National Mall & Memorial Parks: Be A Junior Ranger - National Mall and Memorial Parks (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
President’s Park National Historic Site: https://www.nps.gov/whho/learn/kidsyouth/upload/JrRangerPP_Activity-proof4.pdf
https://www.nps.gov/stsp/learn/kidsyouth/upload/STSP-Junior-Ranger-508-compliant.pdf
Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine (U.S. National Park Service)
George Washington Memorial Parkway: https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/kidsyouth/upload/Fort-Hunt.pdf and https://www.nps.gov/gwmp/learn/kidsyouth/upload/Lets-Move-Virginia-District.pdf
Great Falls Park: https://www.nps.gov/grfa/learn/kidsyouth/upload/GRFA_Virtual_JR-2.pdf
Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial: https://www.nps.gov/this/learn/kidsyouth/upload/TRI.pdf and Kids in Parks | Get Unplugged. Get Outdoors. Get Cool Prizes.
Wayback Machine (archive.org) for the West Wing Tour Booklet
United States Botanic Garden (usbg.gov)
Take a Virtual Tour | United States Botanic Garden (Virtual Tour of US Botanic Gardens Conservatory)
Take a Virtual Tour | United States Botanic Garden

 

[Kathy in FL]

Wow,that was a lot of chapters. Thanks so much.

I need to get outside my head for a while. Stress is crazy and this is just the best way for me to do it.

 

[ReneeT]

Thank you, Kathy!

 

[moldy]

Thank you so much, Kathy. This will probably be the only way I see DC, except for virtual tours.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Thank you so much, Kathy. This will probably be the only way I see DC, except for virtual tours.

Almost every museum in DC ... as well as most of the national parks ... now offer virtual tours. You don't get to see everything and some of them can be a little clutzy to use, but if you can't go for whatever reason, this is the next best thing.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 21 – 25: Acadia National Park, Maine (part 1)

Park opens fully after April 15, but some parts are open year-round without services.
Weather: 46/24 thru 59/28
Driving Route:

April 21st
Early morning stop at Great Falls Park heading out of DC to avoid a traffic jam and to figure out a route around it. It was drizzling and the roads were wet which made it just all sorts of more fun. I was also trying to stop so that Benny could finish the last of the Junior Ranger activities. It was a good place to eat breakfast that I’d made from some of our supplies that were about to go over. I had cleaned out the frig when we hit DC and breakfast was the last of it. The frig is now full again because of another stop today but that was later. I gotta admit I feel a little disorganized in the food area. I am hoping since we will mostly be camping that my original plans for food will get back on track. I know I need to stay flexible, but I also need to stay in budget. We can’t operate without a budget or our money will run out before this trip is over and I don’t want to get into the funds I have set aside for our life after the road just because I nickled and dimed us to death.

I have a plan, just need to have confidence in it. I found out in leadership training school that when you have confidence it gives other people confidence. Can’t let Benny see how out of sorts I feel right now. It’s mostly because I failed to plan properly for this day. I hope to never have to drive another day like I did today. A little over 14 hours with stopping for gas and food for the eating machines … both me and Little Bear. One stop was for groceries as I didn’t want to risk getting into the park and not being able to find food. I made some assumptions and overestimated my ability. It wasn’t the driving per se, it was the length that the drive turned out to be and how much of my patience and experience it took to avoid some of the pitfalls along the way … not to mention how tired I was when we finally pulled in. I was up at 4 am, had Benny up and we were checked out by 5 am, it took until 5:30 am to finally get on the road and what happens? We run smack into our first traffic jam of the day.

I see a sign for Great Falls Park and pull over just to give the GPS a chance to catch up and to eat breakfast so I could drive with both hands on the wheel. Benny spotted his last activity from the bench we were sitting on, but I had to tell him the park rangers weren’t on duty yet.

“Can I mail it in Aunt Gus?”

“I’ll look in just a second Little Bear.”

I heard a chuckle and turned to see a female ranger starting to unlock the bathrooms. Benny smiled asked, “Can I say hello to the lady ranger? That’s another one of the activities.”

“Okay, but take it easy Buddy in case she hasn’t had her first cup of coffee yet.”

“Yes’m.”

He ran over that politely said, “My name is Benny and I am working on my junior ranger book. May I shake your hand good morning?”

“Why yes you may,” she said with a surprised smile. Then she saw the wrist band that Benny was still wearing and I saw her get a shade of pale I saw in the mirror too many times in the beginning.

“Thank you!” Benny said and then ran over. To me he asked, “Can we put it in the mail now Aunt Gus?”

The ranger walked over and made a motion with her wrist as a silent question. While Benny happily climbed back into the van to get a pre-stamped envelope I had brought for just in case I explained.

She said, “I … lost my first husband in Afghanistan. You … never forget but … you survive it.”

I nodded. “Because you have no choice. But I want Benny to more than survive. I want him to live … and thrive. That’s what this trip is about.”

When Benny came running back the lady ranger said, “You know what? I happen to have something in my pocket that I think you’re going to be interested in.”

That lady made Benny’s day by having picked up a badge some kid had left in the bathrooms the day before. I didn’t tell Benny it was a “used” badge because frankly I doubt he would have cared. The lady had a swearing in ceremony for him right there in the parking lot and then hurried off to get back on her schedule. Benny got up in his booster chair without complaint and was soon asleep with the pin affixed to his shirt.

And that was about the only good thing of the morning. Traffic sucked. And I had to stop for gas three times. The third time I had to call the bank and explain that I was on a road trip and they would see it if they looked because I notified them before we started because I didn’t want them cancelling my card when I needed it most. They wanted me to bump up my auto-debit to cover payments and I gave in just to get it over with. At that point I did something I didn’t normally do which was buy a six-pack of Cola for caffeine. I also tossed back a couple of Tylenol.

Lunch was whatever I could grab at fast food counter at one of the fuel stops. I should have gone to the truck stop across the road, but I was already behind schedule and the restaurant looked busy. The meat and beans on the nachos made both Benny and I a little gassy. He thought it was funny. Me? Not so much.

And then there was the stop for groceries. I had to drive a couple of miles out of my way to get to a store that was more than a minute market. I probably over bought but only some of it needs refrigeration and my guts are already missing their regular intake of bananas. I bought a box of prunes and may have to resort to that if the freeze-dried banana chips don’t work. Disgusting. It was right at eight o’clock pm when we pulled up to the gate and we were lucky that I had called ahead so someone knew to leave the gate open with our site number on the afterhours bulletin board.

Let me tell you something else, Toto we are not in Florida anymore. I was told that today’s high was 61F but that it was going to get down to 30F overnight and was only expected to get up to 39F and be “breezy” tomorrow. I’ve already dug out all our “cold clothes,” put extra blankets on the beds, emptied the black and gray water tanks and wrapped the freshwater tank in its own blanket … thank you, thank you Mr. Camp Monitor for taking pity on this poor Florida girl. Dad would have said that it is as dark as the inside of a black cat in the campground except for the light at the bathrooms. My Ship mates and other cadets would be laughing their butts off at me. What kind of wuss have I turned into? The Camp Monitor laughed at my ill-concealed horror and said that by the time we leave the daytime highs are predicted to be 70F. What planet are we on?! It is called Blackwoods Campground in Acadia National Park and we are getting it for $15/night without access discount. The plan is to stay here through the night of the 25th for a total of $75.

I’m not as horrified as I’m playing at being. Several of my Naval Sea Cadet training weeks were in the cold waters of the Atlantic. I was even on a ship in the northern Atlantic during a storm. I saw floating icebergs that same trip. But it has been almost four years and I’ve spent the last year in Key West where 70F would bring with it a freeze warning. LOL Oh well. It’s all part of the adventure. I’m playing up that aspect for Benny who is excited that we might see some snow left on the ground in places though I’m told probably not as it has been a dry winter.

It’s a good thing I phoned to let Groucho know we were going to be incommunicado for five or six days because the cell signal booster isn’t boosting the signal enough to reach beyond the ends of my toes. I might be able to get a signal in Bar Harbor but maybe not. Apparently connectivity is “capricious” according to the Camp Monitor.

The campground isn’t full, but it isn’t empty either. In the past they wouldn’t open the campgrounds until early May but demand is so high that a couple of years ago they started opening it earlier; however you must be in a hard sided vehicle. No pop-up campers or tents allowed until about May 7th. That’s not far off and they expect the park to get really busy by the second week of May and almost so busy you can’t breath in June, July, and August. It starts slowing down towards the end of September and the park closes all the access roads by the middle of November. When I was planning it was either start this direction or end here. I figured it was safer to start this way than have to worry about an early winter … whether it is dry or not.

Between the cold weather and the long drive Benny is already asleep inside his sleeping bag with some extra covers for just in case I’m wrong about how warm the sleeping bag is going to be. He is also disappointed that there is no Junior Ranger program for Acadia. Just like in Monticello I told him if he behaves and does any learning activities we find, I’ll find a patch or something to go with his Junior Ranger stuff.

April 22nd

First off, I was wrong. Yes Little Bear, there really is a Junior Ranger program in Acadia. You just can’t get the booklet before you get to the park. I think he was doing the Snoopy dance when a ranger told him at the Visitor Center but I’m not sure. It was either that or some weird fit. The Friends of Acadia also have a “quest” that anyone under the age of 18 can participate in with their family.

For our first day we head out on the Park Loop Road which takes you to all the major highlights and attractions in Acadia National Park. The 27-mile scenic loop begins at Hulls Cove Visitor Center and offers access to Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Otter Cliffs, Jordan Pond, and Cadillac Mountain. An entrance station is one mile north of Sand Beach on Park Loop Road. The Loop Road drive takes about 3-4 hours if you stop and go at all the attractions.

I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of driving this morning. I nearly did the Snoopy Dance last night when the Camp Monitor hooked me up with a trolley tour. We were lucky because this morning was the one day of the week they pick up for the Cadillac Mountain Sunrise program right at the campground. Benny and I took the last two seats so yay us. The trolley took us to the base of the mountain road, and we were then ferried to the top by smaller vehicles. I was thinking that was a lot of work in a lot of cold … and then we saw the sunrise. A sleepy and cold Benny woke up right as the rays of the sun came above the horizon. Wow. Gorgeous. I even managed to get it on time-lapse on my phone.

Benny and I are both morning people and appreciated the sunrise. What we didn’t appreciate was the crowds up there despite most of them being locals or near-locals. It is the first place to view the sunrise in the United States from October through March, and is a popular place early morning. And when I say popular I mean POP-U-LAR.

We were ferried down the same way we had come up and lucky for us were there for the Park Loop Bus that had just arrived. Then we headed out on the Park Loop Road to our next destination, Sand Beach & the Beehive Trail or the Ocean Path. Geez it was so cold. I had really thought that Benny and I would take our shoes off and walk in the ocean as one of our activities. I must have lost my mind to think that. I need to go over all our itinerary to make sure I haven’t made the same kind of error.

We got off the bus at the Sand Beach parking lot. We did walk out to the beach and we did a little beach scavenging but there was no putting our feet in. One the surf as a little rougher than I was comfortable with Benny fighting and two … cold, cold, cold.

We finished a snack and then headed first to the Ocean Path. It is an easy trail that gave us an oceanside stroll and ran parallel to Park Loop Road and the ocean 0.7 miles past Thunder Hole all the way to Otter Cliff and Otter Point (4miles one way). The Beehive Trail that we did after another fortifying snack break was a different type of trail. Most people looked at me disapprovingly for getting Benny on it and I wondered a couple of times myself. It was only after we came down that I found a sign (on the ground where it had fallen over) that said it wasn’t recommended for young children. We climbed metal rungs & fearlessly walked cliff edges. Great memories, great views, but maybe not using the best commonsense I had.

The line for the Trolley was long so we hung out at Sand Beach a little bit and explored the tidal pools. Then we got on the Trolley and got a different view of Thunder Hole which is a spectacular sight. Water is forced through a rock crevice and into a small cave. The noise is loudest 1-2 hours before high tide, or just after a storm. We also made a brief stop at Otter Point and walked a bit of Mount Desert Island.

For the afternoon we started at Jordan Pond House, but it wasn’t for lunch like most of the crowd there, it was for the hike. The Tea House is perched on a lawn overlooking the pond for which it is named, and glacier errants called “The Bubbles“. At least that is what one of the historical markers up there claim. The menu at the Tea House includes everything from local lobster and scallops, to stews, chowders and sandwiches, as well as popovers which they are famous for. The crowds were nuts and the menu pricey, not to mention loaded with gluten, even the seafood dishes. However Aunt Gus had come prepared, and we had two bento boxes full of things that Little Bear loved and could eat … cheese, chickpea salad, almonds, veggies and fresh peanut butter, some fruit, and broccoli with ranch dressing. I also brought turkey wraps and was glad to have them since we were both hungry. We had a picnic on a plastic tablecloth I spread out on the ground and I heard more than one person going by say, “We should have done that.”

The Jordan Pond Loop Trail is an easy 3.4 mile roundtrip hike which takes you around the pond. The last mile is over a raised wooden boardwalk along the wetlands which kept our feet from getting wet (and cold). Benny is used to walking everywhere with me so I wasn’t too concerned about adding in part of the loop called the South Bubble Trail. It took us to a balanced rock called “Bubble Rock.” There was a nice couple up there with their kids that helped us to take our personal version of the iconic photo where you look like you are trying to push the rock off the cliff edge.

Benny and I both slept well that night. Might have helped that we roasted marshmallows with some of the others in the camp at the ranger program. Benny had a blast. Marshmallows are some of his favorite treats. He asked if he could share his Peep Marshmallows with a little girl, the only other child at the ranger program, and I’m going to have to watch that boy. Between his big blue eyes and eyelashes … and his empathy … he’s going to be a lethal combination when he gets to that age.

Geez, don’t I sound … something or other. I know I sound older than most of my shipmates. I always felt a little older than they seemed to feel as well. They used to joke and call me “Auntie” sometimes. Maybe I am. Maybe this is what I was born to be. Everyone’s “Auntie”. If so, I’m not sure that I regret it. I’m … content. I guess that is the word for what I feel. If there is something more down the line then fine, but for now I’m content.

 

[Lake Lili]

Thanks Kathy!

Lili

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 21 – 25: Acadia National Park, Maine (Part 2)

April 23rd
Took the trolley into Bar Harbor this morning. It is what is called around here a bustling coastal town. Maybe I am used to Florida but to me this place was sleepy. Then again, not the primary tourist season either so that could make a difference. It is aslo the shopping, dining, and nightlife center of Mount Desert Island where Acadia National Park is located. I’d read that it has some of New England’s best restaurants and I took a chance and only carried a few snacks in hopes that we could find something reasonable that Benny could eat. I mean you can’t mess up seafood surely.

The Trolley dropped us off at the landbridge. From there we strolled to downtown Bar Harbor to visit the Abbe Museum and the Bar Island Path. On the island we found hiking trails, views of Bar Harbor and Frenchman Bay, but no bathroom facilities.

Once on Bar Island, the trail (an old road) heads up through the forest. At the first junction, right will take you to an old home site, the left will take you up to the highest point of the island. Both offer great views of Bar Harbor.

After Bar Island we headed back into Bar Harbor to walk the downtown area but instead decided to walk the Shore Path before it got too busy. We followed the half-mile walkway from Ellis Pier to Wayman Land where we saw those “must see” sites such as the old Bar Harbor Inn, the Porcupine Islands, Balance Rock, and Egg Rock Light. We ended up skipping the Abbe Museum due to the crowds and wait times as well. The term crowd is relative but there were still more people than we were interested in being around.

We still had some time before the afternoon activity that I had scheduled as a surprise for Benny when we both spotted it at the same time. Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium and on a sign right outside that read they had “Lobster Ice Cream.” Neither one of us could decide if it sounded delicious or disgusting. Which of course meant we had to try it to find out. Let’s just say it has a … unique … flavor and leave it at that. We picked up some homemade fudge (gluten-free) and a few other items as well that we didn’t need.

The girl behind the counter, after hearing that Benny is GS, directed me to one of the local shops that had lobster rolls with gluten free rolls. Yes ma’am! I was cautious because those “gluten free” rolls that some places sell are more like twice chewed packing peanuts but the one I got to share with Benny was so good we got a second one to share as we walked towards Diver Ed’s Dive-in Boat Cruise. We also picked up some Lobster Mac and Cheese and blueberry pie to have in camp with our dinner. Yeah. I know. I’m going to have to watch the budget, but we’d saved money up to this point and bipolar banker that I am, I decided that it wasn’t going to kill us to have a treat now and again.

The boat tour was already in the budget. It is billed as a unique and fun way to spend two hours. We boarded the “Starfish Enterprise,” and headed out on the water to a special diving spot. People on the boat watched a live video as Diver Ed descended to the bottom of Frenchman Bay. Knowing how close that water was nearly froze me to death. But I also had read what was coming and I couldn’t wait to see how Benny reacted. Diver Ed brought back a touch tank full of sea creatures that everyone who wanted could observe and handle. Benny was in heaven. There were sea cucumbers and star fish among other things and all the kids seemed to have a blast. The adults as well, and I include myself in that number.

I considered staying in town for a lobster dinner but it was crazy busy by then, nearly as bad as Key West when a cruise ship was in town. So now I get the term “bustling” because sleepy had sure gone away. Instead, we headed back to camp and Benny worked on his Junior Ranger papers and I worked on the blog though I didn’t post anything yet. We both made an early night of it because this kind of cold isn’t what we are used to.

April 24th
Today we explored the Carriage Road system and the Asticou Gardens. Benny was again persuaded that riding in the kid seat on my bike wasn’t a fate worse than death since we planned to bike most of the 45 miles that had been a gift to the state from the John D. Rockefeller Jr. family. Bike helmets? Check. Go pro? Check. Water and snacks? Check. Jackets? You are not kidding because even being the engine to Benny’s caboose I never warmed up enough to ignore how much colder we were than Florida.

The park carriage system was built between 1913 and 1940. It weaves its way through mountains, valleys, and woodland areas via seven stone bridges. No motors allowed except for natural ones. Hikers, bikers, horseback riders, and horse-drawn carriages share these roads, but no motor vehicles. We road all over those roads. It wasn’t a single loop but a lot of intersecting loops. Even with the guide posts I’m glad I had printed off a map ahead of time. Lucky for us the carriage rides hadn’t started up yet so we didn’t have to contend with them. I only saw a couple of horses. Mostly it was hikers and other bicyclists that we saw … and often had to pass on the left.

After we had biked our fill we visited Asticou Gardens. The Gardens were created in 1956 and financed by … you guessed it … John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The place was definitely peaceful. They were also free to enter though there was a suggested donation. The only thing blooming right now is what is called “Winter Heather.” The scientific name was erica carnea. Really cool looking plant, or should I say shrub or bush. Made me think of all the flowering plants that Grandma Barry planted around their house. I tried to plant pretty things around our house too but being right on the river they would often get flooded. Dad told me not to bother and just to enjoy the ones that Grandma Barry planted. Sometimes I wonder what the two places look like. Lawrence sold the house I grew up in. I understood the reasons when he explained them but part of me has always wished we’d been able to keep it too.

Back in camp I let Benny load the GoPro footage and watch it while I fixed dinner. Tonight it was Gluten Free Chili Beef Pasta[1]. We both needed something warm to combat the cool night. Benny needed a bath, we both did, but I was worried about how cool it was causing a cold. Washing up good was just going to have to be what happened. But if we don’t get a good bath soon, the sheets are going to need a wash desperately.


April 25th

Last day in Acadia National Park. Decided to do Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, Wonderland Trail & Ship Harbor Trail via a ranger led program. The western side of Acadia National Park is quieter, and less frequented than the parts we’d already seen. And to avoid having to move the van we signed up for a ranger program where they picked us up and took us to the three desired locations. We still had to bring our own lunch and water but that was okay.

The Wonderland and Ship Harbor Trails are located near the town of Bass Harbor on the southern tip of Mount Desert Island. Both of these trails are easy with mostly level terrain through pine forests, ending oceanside. Wonderland is a short, very easy trail that follows an old gravel road to rocky shoreline. The ranger led our small group on the 1.5-mile hike. As a bonus we got to spend a little time investigating the tide pools.

Ship Harbor Trail was also an easy 1.5-mile roundtrip hike to the ocean shore. For this one we brough our picnic lunch that I again packed in our Bento boxes. It was a little breezy but it caused more laughter than irritation, especially as it kept the seabirds off our backs.

After lunch we headed to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. It is one of the most famous and photographed landmarks of Acadia National Park. Built in 1876, the lighthouse is located at the southernmost tip of Mount Desert Island, even south of Bass Harbor. We couldn’t go into the lighthouse unfortunately, but we could explore around the grounds and one trail took us to a viewing platform that was a great place to take pictures of the rugged coastline with lighthouse in the background.

From there we headed back to camp and for Benny and I it was time to pack up and prepare to head out early in the morning. We went to our last ranger program which was another marshmallow roast. This time Benny was the only kid there, but he didn’t seem to mind because the Ranger made a big deal out of him earning his Junior Ranger badge.

Cumulative Fuel Expense: $1266
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $546
Cumulative miles: 2740

Resources:
Acadia Quest - Friends of Acadia
7 Firefly Lane — Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream (mdiic.com)

​

[1] Gluten-Free Chili Beef Pasta Recipe: How to Make It | Taste of Home

 

[9idrr]

I need to get outside my head for a while. Stress is crazy and this is just the best way for me to do it.

Hope you know how much this does for your readers' stress level, too. Thanks you.

 

[nancy98]

I need to get outside my head for a while. Stress is crazy and this is just the best way for me to do it.

Well none of us wish you stress but are glad we benefit from it......Hummmm? That doesn't sound right! LOL I hope you know what I mean. Love you bunches kiddo.

 

[Cuffo]

Holy cow Aunt Guss you need to slow down. DC to Maine in one day, There ain’t no zombies chasing you and there some fun stuff along the way. Save the long hauls for the West.

In any case it’s your trip, and I’m enjoying it, thanks for taking us along.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 26 – 29: Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio (part 1)

Weather: 47/41 (Boston), 47/34 (Syracuse), 66/50 (Cuyahoga)
Driving Route:

Wifi/Cell Signal: fantastic after we left Maine. Once we were on the interstate system we had four and five bars at all times.

April 26th
After my experience getting to Acadia NP there was no way I was going to make it on a 14+ hour (probably 16+ hour assuming no trouble) drive on my own. I mean it could be done but there was no good reason for me to actually do it that way. So on the 26th we left really early in the morning to avoid traffic and I drove from Acadia NP to Boston, MA … roughly 5 hours … and we did the historical trail that day and a Boston Tea Party thingie for Benny.

It was breezy and cold and never got out of the 40s all day. Brrr. It was warmer in Acadia when we left than in Boston when we arrived. Thank goodness we had layers to wear or we would have been hiding out in the van all day. We parked out near where the cruise ships come in, it was the only place I could find that was available to vehicles the size of the van. I hated to have to put Benny through the extra walking, but he didn’t seem to mind after finding out I had made both of us thermoses of hot chocolate.

I used the Freedom Trail as our guide and our first stop was Boston Commons. It was fun explaining the history to Benny. We also saw the Massachusetts State House. Then in approximate order we saw: Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King’s Chapel and Burying Ground, Benjamin Franklin Statue, Old Corner Bookstore (now a Chipotle), Old South Meeting House, Old State House, the Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, the USS Constitution, and the Bunker Hill Monument. As we headed back to our starting point we took a walk through Little Italy and dropped into a few bakeries just to look around include Mike’s Bakery[1] who, upon finding out that Benny was GS, showed us that they had gluten free whoopie pies and gluten free brownies. Oh my. Yes, Aunt Gus is a sucker. A giant sucker with a sweet tooth apparently. I bought at entire box of goodies, just asking them to put a piece of paper between the whoopie pies and brownies and the other items. They did better and gave us two separate boxes and tied them both together with the traditional string they used to tie all of their boxes shut with. So cool. And how very nice they all were despite how busy. I definitely talked them up on the blog.

There was one more place that I was going to stop and it was another fun history experience for Benny. Growing up I had always been fascinated with the Boston Tea Party for some unknown reason. Well there is a museum in Boston that basically reenacts that incident in history[2]. First there was the meeting house where we were introduced to our guides who were dressed in period clothing. Next we learned about the Sons of Liberty and “threw” tea into Boston Harbor. We explored a full-scale replica of an 18th century sailing vessel. We saw the Robinson Tea Chest, the only known tea chest from that night. Went into the Minuteman Theater to watch a movie on what happened. Then we went into Abigail’s Tea Room to taste five of the historic teas that were tossed overboard that night. Of course we weren’t going to get out of there without going into the gift shop. Benny didn’t ask for anything because he’d gotten a tricorn hat in Williamsburg. So okay, ten bucks for a hokey hat but it made Benny happy and reinforced everything he was seeing. I could do it then. I might not be able to do it tomorrow. I picked up a couple of post cards and then we needed to hustle to get back to the van … and avoid the homeless that were starting to take up space in doorways and alleys as the temperature started going down.

While in Boston I gave a shout out to Groucho et al and they were really happy to hear from us. I told them I would post pictures that night and that I’d call again soon. Then we drove outside Boston to a “Boondock” and overnighted in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. We got there after dark and got the last spot of five available. We looked puny next to the giant RVs but they also gave me some reassurance because I gotta tell you that I was a little uncomfortable just pulling into a commercial parking lot for the night. I had been even less comfortable with the spot we’d originally said was available in Boston which turned out to have a caravan of people my age only they were … let’s say they were a lot further down the Bohemian path and looked it. Cops were probably going to show up at some point if I had to make a guess. Some were obviously high or on their way to being drunk because they were wandering around with no shirt or shoes on.

Once parked at the Cracker Barrel, I worked on the blog for Acadia, did all the adulting things that had been put on hold while we were out of digital touch, responded to texts and emails, wrote another thank you to the Senator from Florida, and gave thanks for warmth because the RVs on either side of us blocked the wind that had picked up. I also went topside and put the cover over the solar panels when I heard on the weather channel that hail could be in the forecast. Ugh.

Even though I was sure we were safe, I still slept lightly that night.




April 27th


On the 27th we got up early and I put in a to-go order at Cracker Barrel and ran inside to pick it up so that Benny and I could use the restrooms. We’d had some hail overnight though I hadn’t heard it. The employees were certainly complaining. The stuff here was apparently little more than pea-sized but closer to Boston proper, the hail had been considerably larger. Made me thank the Creator that I hadn’t toughed it out with the “Bohemians.”

While inside I picked up several different old-fashioned sodas and a few other things to add to our stash of fun food. Benny ate while I drove first to Saratoga NHP, where we spent a couple of hours, then to Fort Stanwix National Monument, another hour, and overnighted at a farm outside of Syracuse, NY. This place I felt much more secure despite it still being a boondock location. The farmer was adamant in his ad that no permission, no boondocking. When he found out I was a young woman traveling with a child I had to meet the farmer’s wife before we were allowed to park for the night. I gave them the blog to prove I was legit. I guess child trafficking is getting to be a problem all over. The farmer’s wife insisted on meeting Benny who, despite not really being in the mood to meet a stranger, stood tall and said, “HowdoyoudomynameisBennyBarrymore.Thankyouverymuch.”

He was hiding behind me and at first I was worried he was picking up vibes I was missing, but it was more that he’d overheard them talking and he didn’t want to be separated from me and was holding on tight. I got him calmed down, explaining sotto voice to the wife Benny’s recent losses and his occasional insecurities and separation anxiety. It finally fell into place and she said she had a son in the military. I could see troubled thoughts behind her eyes that she was trying to hide when she looked at Benny.

They are a big dairy outfit and were so nice it was like being back home only better. Benny got to milk a cow which thrilled him and thawed him out. He also got the chance to drink fresh cow’s milk which was another huge success. They are part of a co-op that produces organic products to sell locally. I bought all the milk that would fit in the frig as well as some cream and fresh butter. With Benny and I drinking all we could hold it wouldn’t last all that long. Add a dozen fresh, unrefrigerated eggs and some grass-fed beef for the freezer and I was maxed out for fresh groceries. The wife also recommended that I stop at the stand that was right across from their front gate. Their neighbors are garlic farmers, and she gave me recipes for some gluten free gravy that she says I’ll want to pour over everything. It sounds delicious, I just need to find the time to make it.

I know some people with celiac disease can’t eat alliums (like onions and garlic) but that’s not Benny’s issue and he loves garlic and onions nearly as much as I do. I tell you we can stink up a house. Penny couldn’t stand the smell but that never stopped us. Yum. I got a bag of garlic at the stand. It will be great for flavoring rice among other things.

Sleep that night came easy but I woke up in the middle of it to catch Benny trying to sneak into my bed without waking me.

“Just for tonight. ‘K? You’re getting to be a big kid and I don’t want to worry that I’m treating you like a baby.”

He sighed happily and curled up and went straight to sleep. I caught him in the morning trying to hide his woobie back in the bench storage so I suspect he may have been more upset than I was understanding. I need to watch for that. It doesn’t happen as often as it used to, but it still happens.


April 28th
We got up early and drove six hours to Cuyahoga National Park which is outside of Cleveland, OH.

First thing we did was stop at the Boston Mill Visitor Center and picked up a Junior Ranger Program packet. Aside from the packet, the fact is you can’t visit a national park without stopping by the visitor center. That’s the place you get the best overview of the park, get recommendations from a park ranger or naturalist, have your passport stamped, and get to see some very interesting exhibits. Boston Mill is a newer visitor center. The old visitor center (Boston Store) is right next door and is now a Canal Building Museum since the town of Boston used to be a canal town.

Once outside the visitor center we started our first hikes. Blue Hen Falls and Brandywine Falls are the parks two waterfalls and are located on either side of the visitor center. That was convenient for us and a major reason the visitor center was built where it was. Blue Hen is a smaller, more fairy-like fall, with a short downhill hike on an old driveway. There’s a few benches along the way that you can sit at and enjoy the falls. To get to the Brandywine Falls you can either take the boardwalk down to the falls or take the Gorge trail to loop around and it’ll lead you to the boardwalk.

The ranger we spoke with recommend adding a few miles to our hike by taking the Stanford trail, which is connected to the Gorge. It leads to the Stanford House, one of the historical sites in the park and the trail is lightly trafficked most days which means we’d all but have it to ourselves and could go at Benny’s pace rather than worry about getting run over. We first headed down the stairs on the boardwalk to get the closest view of the falls and then we kept walking to the Gorge Trail to get a view from the top of the falls.

After our snack on the trail, neither one of us was ready for lunch so we headed to the Canal Exploration Center. Cuyahoga Valley and the river are known for being canal towns, specifically the cities of Peninsula and Boston. Canal locks are located all along the Towpath trail, some you can view from above and some you can walk in and get up close. At the Canal Exploration Center, we learned more about the canals and the history through interactive maps and games, and more. It was also a checkmark off for Benny’s Junior Ranger tasks.

After that we were definitely ready for lunch which we ate a picnic over at the Virginia Kendall Ledges. We also took the two-mile hike recommended by the visitor center. The ledges are huge and show the ripples of an ancient sea that used to cover Northeast Ohio. Also along the trail was Ice Box Cave. Once upon a time you could walk into the cave, but they have it permanently closed these days to help prevent the spread of White Nose Syndrome in the bats in the area, a fungal disease that causes the bats to die of starvation. Poor things. When I was a kid I used to love to watch the bats swooping around our property and over the river, eating tons of insects and especially mosquitos. At the end of the hike, there is an overlook which is one of the most popular spots in the state for sunsets. That’s where we met Mr. Howard and Mrs. Freida.

Mr. Howard and Mrs. Freida were desperate because their original plans had fallen through. Been there done that. I took a chance and decided to pay forward the help we’ve been given at various times. I told Benny it was our chance to be givers and not just takers on this road we were on. I offered to share our space at Heritage Lake Farm. What nice people. Mrs. Freida teared up. She was really upset about their plans falling through – they were supposed to see family but the kids were all sick so it had to be called off.

We overnighted at FarmStay, an RV place at Heritage Lake Farm. It was $60/night which was pricey, but Mr. Howard insisted on splitting it with us. The risk turned out to be well worth it as they gave me lots of tips, places to avoid, contacts in the RV community for just in case I was in an area, and lots more. And before anyone gets bent out of shape that two vehicles were cheating on a single campsite let me tell you about the location.

It is a secluded, 100-acre working farm. From their promotional materials: “When we accept your booking request, we block out your dates for all the other Listings, so you can have the entire property to yourself after check-in. That's what makes our Listings so special. What my wife Marilyn and I are offering is the ability to experience our farm as we do, almost like you own the place. That's why it may be a little on the high-end of the price range of listings, but we think you'll agree it's worth it.”

And you bet it was worth it. Heritage Lake Farm features the lake, a 2-acre spring-fed lake in the headwaters of Ohio's Grand River. With the lake comes fishing, swimming, a diving board, a trapeze swing, water slide, inner tube, floating raft and a rowboat. None of it Benny and I intended on using due to the time of year, but it is there and ready for those who are. You park just off the driveway south of the Host's main cabin for water, electric and sewer on property. It really is a pretty set up and the host had no problem with there being two of us instead of just the one as originally booked. They can host up to fifty people group per night and we were still in the slow season.

We were getting to know each other and Benny was talking about the places we’d been thus far as we ate together on a table that Mr. Howard pulled off the back of their RV. It was fun. I made shrimp and scallops kabobs from the freezer that needed to be used up and Mrs. Freida made baked potatoes and hush puppies. We roasted s’mores afterwards and the older couple laughed and said they hadn’t done it in years. Both of them have to watch their sugar because they are borderline diabetics but said that having one wouldn’t hurt after all of the hiking they’d done that day.

Benny kept on bringing things up and in the process mentioned that I played bugle and had played Taps at Fort Sumter. Mr. Howard asked if I would play it, so I got my bugle out and did just that. The notes always seem to carry forever in all directions and that night was no exception. It put a nice close to the day and we all headed to our respective vehicles to sleep.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 26 – 29: Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio (part 2)

April 29th
I had warned Mr. Howard that we were early risers and would be off before sunrise and he said they would be staying around the farm if we didn’t mind. Of course I didn’t and I asked if there was anything they needed before we came back. Mrs. Frieda said the offer was “sweet” but they’d just restocked and didn’t need a thing. We were just to enjoy ourselves and not worry about them. Nice people.
View attachment 274345
I managed to make it to the park and to a spot called Kendall Hills which looks out on meadow right before sunrise. I used to like to bike to the beach to watch the sun come up but didn’t do it nearly as much after Penny took the kayak out. Benny is a morning person like his Aunt Gus however, and I’m teaching him the beauty of sunrises. He draws them pretty frequently and I’m hoping that it is also metaphorical for him.

Afterward, we left the van parked and walked through the meadow and down to Kendall Lake. The lake is beautiful. It has a fishing pier and is surrounded by pine trees. We hiked the mile-long loop trail that goes around the lake. I had thought to hike the 4.5-mile Salt Run trail but heard from Mr. Howard that it was muddy in places due to the rain they’d had in the area a few days earlier. Instead, we headed to the town of Peninsula.

Peninsula is a little town with some shops and a few places to eat. Mrs. Freida called it “cute” and I agree. It is one of the primary boarding stations for the Scenic Railroad that runs during the summer. The Trailmix Store located in the town is the park’s gift shop. Shouldn’t have walked in but we were both curious. I spotted a hiking medallion and bought it to put on Benny’s walking stick which of course thrilled him. He’s been dragging it along on almost all of our hikes.

Also in town we decided to hike part of the historic Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath trail. This part of the Towpath leads to a few of the old canal locks, and runs along the entire park (and more) intersecting with many different trailheads.

The other trail we did was the Plateau trail. It is one of the more popular trails in the park and is about 4.5 miles long. After the hike we decided to eat our lunch and we did it near the Everett Road Covered Bridge. There was a dad there trying to scare his kids will the story of how the bridge is haunted. I had a hard time not rolling my eyes and even Benny looked and whispered, “That guy is being silly.” We walked a little way along the Furnace Run Trail, going beyond the stairs for a little bit then returning because I had promised Benny we would try and find some beavers.
View attachment 274346
There’s this place in the park called Beaver Marsh. It used to be filled with car parts and other junk but was transformed by humans and beavers into a thriving wetland area. We parked as out of the way as we could at the Ira trailhead and then walked the boardwalk around. Normally you don’t see the beavers and otters except around sunrise or sunset but with it still being cool and the powerful rains that had pushed through, the beavers were extra busy cleaning up the brush that had come down. When you say busy as a beaver, it isn’t an exaggeration.

We shared that evening with the Mrs. Freida and Mr. Howard again. They insisted on paying for the second night and we were also treated to a really cool ukulele musicale. Mr. Howard had been stationed in Hawaii when he and Mrs. Freida were first married and that’s where he learned. Mr. Howard asked me to play Taps again and this time the location’s host came out as well.

Before hitting the hay, Benny and I walked around camp to make sure everything was left better than we found it though that was pretty difficult to do. We picked up a few sticks was all we managed to do and stacked them with the free firewood. Now it is off to bed. Drive tomorrow shouldn’t be too bad, but they are expecting rain showers first thing in the morning which could prove to be a bummer if it spreads too far west.

Cumulative Fuel Expense: $1412
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $636
Cumulative miles: 3090

Resources:
Guide to Visiting Cuyahoga Valley National Park (aarp.org)
Saratoga National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

[1] Home of the Cannoli – North End, Harvard Square, Assembly Row – Boston, MA | Mike's Pastry (mikespastry.com)
[2] Best Museums In Boston | Relive The Boston Tea Party In 1773 (bostonteapartyship.com)

 

[nancy98]

My goodness Kathy! You are really treating us. Thank you.

 

[nancy98]

Holy cow Aunt Guss you need to slow down. DC to Maine in one day, There ain’t no zombies chasing you and there some fun stuff along the way. Save the long hauls for the West.

In any case it’s your trip, and I’m enjoying it, thanks for taking us along.

Knowing Kathy just give her some time. There's no question there will be a conflict sooner or later. Might be zombies and it might not be.

 

[Sportsman]

Thank you. Kathy, I hope writing this is as enjoyable for you is it for us. This is a great way to relive old travels and experience new ones.

There are some dead links in this last episode, at least for me.

 

[CGTech]

very nice indeed!

 

[Kathy in FL]

Apr 30 – May 3: Isle Royale National Park, Michigan

Weather: 46/37 (Mackinaw City) to 53/32 (Mackinac Island) to 60/40 (in just a couple of days)
Driving Route:

Wifi/Cell Signal: The further north I went into the mitten of Michigan the lower the signal strength got. The signal booster kept me connected but definitely not as strong as it has been.
Junior Ranger Program: No Junior Ranger Program

April 30th
I forgot to mention that Stella’s stepdaughter really came through. All I have to do is spotlight the KOA that we stay at on the blog and she got permission from her bosses to sign off on a 50% discount. It was cheaper than them buying space or time for a “commercial” and it benefitted Benny and I, so I didn’t mind talking each location up. I don’t plan on staying in many of them so we aren’t taking advantage of the connection, but every little bit helps the budget. I said so to Stella who told me to stop being naïve.

“Honestly Kiddo, just think of this as a business transaction. They’re ‘paying’ for advertising space. You get a pretty discount as part of the deal. We’ve done it for years to get into the auto and biker mags and a few of the main websites. You give, you get, and everyone makes a little moola as a reward.”

Have I ever mentioned just how “practical” Stella can be?

We were up at five and on the road by 5:30 leaving Cuyahoga. From there we made a 7-hour drive to Mackinaw City, MI and pulled into the KOA campground a little before 1 pm. We were expected and they had a fully equipped site reserved in my name. Basically, this was a “day off” that gave me time to do some necessary cleaning, review the next couple of weeks, double check some reservations, contact Groucho, and change the oil on the van after Groucho grouched that I needed to take care of the maintenance on the van with a little more … er … fervor.

Despite how cool it was I managed to get a lot accomplished. I probably would have gotten it done sooner if Benny hadn’t insisted he was big enough to help. LOL. I strung a clothesline and did a couple loads of laundry. I put the oil pan under the van and unplugged it so that it could drain out (with the camp attendant’s permission first). While the oil was draining I took Benny on the Northwestern Bike Trail for about an hour to give him a chance to ride his own bike and burn off some of the wiggles. When we got back to our site, I finished changing the oil and the oil filter as well as the air filter. I poured the old oil into the new oil’s bottles and was looking for an appropriate disposal location when the landscape attendant said to give it to him, that his brother had a couple miles of fence posts that he wanted to treat to prevent rot. That’s a new one on me but the guy says his brother swears by it. Whatever. It meant I didn’t have to pay a dump location to get rid of it.

Benny and I then walked the nature trail into Mackinaw City from the KOA (great location) and explored the Colonial Michilimackinac and Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse before returning to our site and refilling the freshwater tank (which I should have done earlier). It was time to clean the inside of the van while I fixed our dinner; Lasagna Soup[1].


Benny wound down pretty quickly after that and was playing quietly while I worked on the blog using the free WiFi. After that I managed to find a history documentary on the free cable hook-up that came with the site and veg’d out for another hour before deciding it was time to hit the hay.

May 1st
Today we took the ferry to Mackinac Island where we spent the entire day. What was cool was we used the KOA’s free shuttle service to the ferry and I was very grateful. Parking looked like a nightmare for regular sized vehicles and people in oversized vehicles had to park far away and walk in. I was glad to leave the van in place for another day and let the batteries re-charge.

Automobiles were banned from Mackinac Island in the 1800s. No. I’m not kidding. Someone started hating on cars before there was that many of them around to hate. Luckily the shuttle and ferry allowed us to bring my bike so that we’d have a means of transportation around the island. For whatever reason Benny didn’t fuss about not bringing his bike and having to use the “kid seat.” Hey, I took it and was grateful. And I was also smart enough to remember to bring the bike chain and lock for when we stopped.

And I came prepared in other ways as well. First, I had reserved the ferry tickets online early. They weren’t date specific, but it certainly saved time to do it that way. Second, I had read that there were large lockers near the ferry boarding area that you could rent. Bingo. We stored our lunch and extra layers of clothes and when we switched things out, we also stored our purchases for the day so we wouldn’t have to carry them everywhere we went. I could have found a way to shove everything in my saddlebags and backpack but it was a lot better to have the locker.

Some of the things we did in no particular order:

Took pictures of all the historical markers: Benny and I have started a project. We take pictures of all the markers we see and check them off a list we found online[2]. There were a ton on the island, and we enjoyed reading them and adding them to our “collection.”

Biked the perimeter of the island: The scenic perimeter is 8.3 miles around and was definitely worth the three to four hours of our time. It is a paved trail that offers great views of Lake Huron and the Mackinaw Bridge.

Visited Arch Rock: Per its name, this geologic formation is a natural limestone arch that stands 146 feet above Lake Huron’s shoreline. We climbed the 200 stairs leading to Arch Rock to get a closer look. And it wasn’t just for the arch. We got out of this world views of Lake Huron as a bonus.

Nicolet Watchtower: Very near Arch Rock is the Nicolet Watch Tower. It is a monument to John Nicolet who passed through the Straits of Mackinac in 1634 in a birch-bark canoe. After reading about the monument to Mr. Nicolet to Benny, we took a short hike to stretch our legs by walking along the Tranquil Bluff Trail. It is a wooded pathway located only a few steps from the Nicolet Watch Tower that “few” tourists know about. Few is a relative number I guess because there were a good handful on it at the same time as we were. It weaves through dense forests high above the crashing waves and leads to a spot called British Landing.

British Landing: According to the historical marker that was erected there, during the night of July 16-17, 1812, a small force of British regulars, along with several hundred voyageurs and Indian allies, landed and occupied a height that overlooked Fort Mackinac. They demanded its surrender. Lt. Porter Hanks, commander of the American garrison of 57 soldiers, had not known that war had been declared. Realizing that resistance was futile, Hanks capitulated without a fight. War on the British has been declared the month before so that tells you how slow communication could be back then. The war lasted 32 months, almost three years, and despite the British eventually burning DC we won and secured our independent status around the world.

Visited Fort Mackinac: Benny and I both had a blast (yes that was a pun) with cannon and rifle firing demonstrations at the Fort. They happen about every half hour so are impossible to miss. I saw many park employees wearing ear plugs and after a couple of demonstrations I understood why. The walking tour of the Fort taught us about the fort’s role in the War of 1812.

Hiked some of the interior: More than eighty percent of the island is protected as a state park. Not only is the coast gorgeous but we explored the island’s more rugged interior trails for a different perspective. Fort Holmes offered amazing views and is where we had our picnic lunch. Most of the interior trails are steep so we only did a few.

Hit a bunch of fudge shops: If you believe all of the tourist propaganda, Fudge and Mackinac Island are virtually synonymous; you can’t really have one without the other. Well, whether that is true or not Benny and I certainly visited almost every one we walked by. And yes, since most of the fudge shops make their own on-site I was able to find out the ingredients to determine which were gluten-free and which were not. Most of them were except for a few flavors like Cookie Dough and Birthday Cake.

I also purchased a jar of blueberry salsa after trying a sample of a brand called “Food for Thought” made with all-natural ingredients. Bought a large variety of all-natural preserves from the same location called Truly Natural. They offered to ship it (I wish) for a nominal fee, but I explained our situation. From the back of the store I heard, “Wait!” A guy hurried out and said, “You’re Aunt Gus?!”

“Er … yeah,” wondering if I should leave quickly or not.

“Bobby! Get out here! You’re not going to believe it.”

A woman a little older than I am came out looking at him like he was a few fries short of a happy meal and he started pointing at me. She looks at him and hisses, “Jeff. Knock it off.”

“But … she’s Aunt Gus!”

She gives me a startled look and then squeaks. “Oh … my … gawd! How cool is this?!”

“Uh …”

“My brother is totally going to flip out. He’s right down the street. Do you have a sec? Please?”

“Er …”

“Thanks!”

Okay, to make this a lot shorter than all my um’s and uh’s and er’s would make it, her brother is a park ranger out of Florida up visiting for the week. He’s gluten intolerant but similar to Benny in that he isn’t a celiac but his body just can’t process it properly and it affects his personality. It was so bad that his parents sent him to a military academy because they couldn’t handle him. The doctors at the military academy wound up changing his diet and exercise routine and eventually discovered his gluten intolerance. Instead of returning home he continued with the military academy (he had an uncle that was an administrator there and lived with him off-semester) but was unable to pass the physical to get into the military because his allergy is so extreme. His sister spreads TMI like you wouldn’t believe and I could tell the poor guy was embarrassed.

How I came into it was that a friend of a friend mentioned seeing my blog to his sister and his sister sent the link to him because of the Florida connection and the gluten-free stuff.

“Sorry for Bobby’s spillage. She’s normally not quite … er … so … uh …”

I had to laugh. “Not a problem. I know someone that can TMI you into running away way faster than she can … and sometimes does it on purpose. With the purest of motives of course.”

He smiled. “Of course.” To Benny he said, “I’ve heard about all of your Junior Ranger activities. That’s cool. Which one has been your favorite?” Then when he asked Benny how he was storing his badges and seemed to get the connection Benny revealed that he wanted to grow up and be a real Ranger.

“Actually Benny, you ARE a real ranger. You just happen to be a Junior Ranger. But, if you really want to be a ranger as a career when you become an adult, starting out as a Junior Ranger is a great way to go.”

Oh you would have thought Benny had just been told he could qualify for Harvard or something like that.

“It was nice meeting you Benny. Keep up the good work. Nice meeting you as well Gus.”

We shook hands. “Nice meeting you Rick.”

As I was about to leave sister Bobby came over and whispered, “If you are interested, the only thing he is married to is his job. But he certainly noticed you and that’s a freaking miracle so thanks. I was beginning to wonder if he would ever …”

Likely having a suspicion of what his sister was trying to do the poor guy comes over quickly and offers to show us the direction for our next activity. I nearly laughed having seen some of my friends get bulldozed by family members that way. We shook hands again with me telling him, “She cares. She cares A LOT.”

“She cares anymore I’m not going to survive.”

That made me laugh and add, “But you’ll die knowing you’re loved and cared for. That’s a reality to hope for.”

He scratched his nose showing a little embarrassment but smiled as well. We shook again then I got Benny and I going at a hustle to get to the ferry. It was getting cold even with our extra layers on.

Timing couldn’t have been much better and I’m thankful. We rode the ferry back to the mainland then caught the last free shuttle back to the KOA. Benny and I had been grazing all day out of my backpack so weren’t particularly hungry but I didn’t want to send him to bed with a completely empty stomach, so I popped some popcorn and we had it with a mug of tomato soup. We both gratefully went to bed a little early. Because the next morning I faced a six-hour drive.

Second night in the KOA ($15/night)

May 2nd
Had to get up early for the 6-hour drive from Mackinaw City to Copper Harbor. It was 313 miles and I did it on less than a full tank which means that my mileage continues to improve. I know in Florida part of the problem was all the extra weight we were pulling that I dumped in the storage locker. I’ve also been emptying my large bulk supplies but that probably wouldn’t make that big of a difference. My driving might be improving. I don’t know. All I can say for sure is that I now average closer to 350 miles per tank. Of course, that will probably go back down once I get back into the mountains.

Rather than take on too much, we stayed the remainder of the day at Fort Wilkins Historic State Park Campground for $18/night. That didn’t include the entrance fee but that was okay as we did a lot in the park though I couldn’t post any pictures because of their strict photography rules.

May 3rd

Isle Royale National Park. I still haven’t decided if this was a disappointment or not. It made for a short day and there were other things I wish we had done differently, but camping wasn’t really doable and the bugs were crazy bad as well even with our mosquito nets on our hats.

This morning we got up and headed to Copper Harbor. The Isle Royale Queen IV departs Copper Harbor at 8:00 am and takes a little over three hours to arrive at Rock Harbor. The ship then departs Rock Harbor at 2:45 pm EDT for Copper Harbor. The Isle Royale Queen IV makes the departure and return trip on the same day, allowing for both overnight and day-trip passengers. It was worse than the ferry to the Dry Tortugas. Six hours on the ferry for less than four hours in the park.

Our main focus while we were there were activities that helped Benny complete the Junior Ranger program. Short day hikes. We saw some moose which was cool. And it gave us both a special shiver to hear wolves howling and yipping in the wild. Rangers were getting people off that trail so it could be closed so there wouldn’t be any wolf/human interactions and I wasn’t exactly in disagreement though a few tourists were disappointed. They wanted to see them for real. Hearing them was enough for me.

Back in 1980 there were 50 wolves on the island but since then the wolf population has shrunk to as few as two but now appears to be stabilizing at 30 or so island born wolves at any given time. New wolves have to be artificially introduced on occasion to maintain genetic diversity. The population of the moose rises and shrinks depending on the wolf population though at times they can overpopulate and hunters are allowed to cull more than usual by special license.

Benny enjoyed himself but I know for me, I would have preferred to have paddled around the island. There were a lot of people doing it, that’s for sure. Don’t get me wrong, the island was beautiful, I just didn’t get as much out of it as I thought I was going to. And the small amount of time made it feel rushed as well. I’m going to need to watch that in the remainder of our locations. Kinda stuck right now though because of reservation issues.

Our time on the island was quickly over and Junior Badge earned. We rode the ferry back to the mainland and stayed another night at the state park ($18/night).

I am trying to do better with meal planning. I had such high hopes and it has kinda blown up on me. I’m better at getting breakfast and lunch ready the night before but I’m determined that our diets get better. I’m determined to be stricter about my exercise routine as well. Yes, all the hiking we do falls in the exercise category. Yes, I’m using the kettle bells to keep up my upper body strength. Yes, I continue to do sit ups and push ups though I do miss my pull up bar. I just feels like I’m missing something. Cohesion? Consistency? I don’t know but it is something I need to work on.

Dinner tonight I did better and I could tell that Benny was pleased. The kid rarely if ever complains but he does let me know in his own way when he likes something extra special well. Tonight I fixed instant-pot spaghetti[3], a recipe I used to fix weekly when we lived a stationary lifestyle. It isn’t just meat, sauce, and gluten-free noodles. There’s spinach and carrots in there as well.

Tomorrow we head out to go to the next park, this one in Minnesota. After that we head into “The West” and I gotta admit, I’m pretty excited about it.

Cumulative Fuel Expense: $1663
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $702
Cumulative miles: 3845

[1] Best Lasagna Soup Recipe: How to Make It | Taste of Home
[2] List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state - Wikipedia
[3] Gluten Free Instant Pot Spaghetti (Dairy Free Option) - Red's Reality (redsreality.com)

 

[Lake Lili]

Hmmm... hope they'll see Rick again. Gus deserves a life beyond only playing Auntie...
Thanks!

Lili

 

[Sportsman]

Thank you. Still bringing back memories of old travels.

 

[Griz3752]

Hmmm... hope they'll see Rick again. Gus deserves a life beyond only playing Auntie...
Thanks!

Lili

Been my experience those who do good things are usually rewarded in kind...
G.

 

[ydderf]

Wow and wow again thank you Kathy. My morning is shot now, but what a pleasant way to spend the morning. 11:40 am the temp here is 40C or 105F looks like we are on the way to set another record.

 

[Kathy in FL]

May 4 – 5: Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota (part 1)


Weather: 67F/40F
Driving Route:

Wifi/Cell Signal: Definitely hit or miss. The signal booster helped but it was still like running on the old DSL lines the library still had when Dad would take me to town with him.

May 4th
Drove almost eight hours. I think that is the longest that I should consider pushing myself. The van can be a beast to drive. Professional truck drivers are only supposed to drive 8 hours then they have to take a minimum of 30-minute break and can only drive a total of 14 hours in a 24-hour day, and no more than a total of 60 hours in a seven-day period/week. On the longer days I’m going to need to stop more and not just to pump gas or a bathroom break. And eating while I’m driving probably isn’t the smartest thing to do either. By the time we got to Voyageurs National Park it was like I’d been out on a boat for a long weekend and was trying to get my land legs back.

We boondocked near a waterfall. Even had permission from a ranger. Not because that had been our original plan but because somehow the reservation system for the new land-side camp had double-booked a few of the sites. I wasn’t fighting it out with anyone, not worth it in my opinion. The people that had gotten ours was an older couple in a full-sized fifth-wheel. I was still trying to figure out what had happened when a ranger approached me and asked for a moment.

He asked me, “How long is your van?”

“Twenty-two feet.”

“That’ll work.” He said before asking me to come to the station. I was within site of the van, but I wasn’t just going to lock Benny in there when there were too many cranky adults around. When I had Benny, I followed him over. “There’s a parking area near International Falls,” he explained while he showed me on a map. “You are only here for two nights?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Do you have to have water hook ups? Need access to a toilet?”

“No Sir. I have a freshwater tank and it is full minus a gallon or so. And a marine toilet in the van.”

“Alrighty then,” he said looking pleased. “I can offer you a spot in the employee parking lot if you keep it on the QT. All we need is about three more of you to accept the option and we can clean this mess up.”

“I’m fine with that,” I told him, grateful the itinerary hadn’t been completely putz’d up. “What are the rules.”

He looked at me approvingly. “No fires unfortunately. Nor are there grills or a picnic table since you are in a parking lot. No bathrooms. No bear boxes. You’ll need to keep everything locked up.” He looked around without making it obvious the added, “We also have a crew patrolling the Canadian Border that bunks at Headquarters on some nights. One of the guys is … zealous about child trafficking. Do you have papers for …” He nodded his head in Benny’s direction.

“Yes Sir. All I could need. Passport, birth certificate, my guardianship papers, our military IDs, they can check out the blog I post on to track where we’ve been; I’m fairly transparent except for using Benny’s name and likeness online.”

“Military IDs? You’re military?”

“No Sir.” Benny was involved in looking over his Junior Ranger booklet so I quietly explained. Then added, “Lawrence took care of all the legal stuff when his wife … whatever she had going on right after Benny was born. I was assigned guardianship responsibilities when he was deployed … he just didn’t come home.”

“You’re a Gold Star family?”

“Yes Sir. This is like a gap year for us before he starts school full time.”

The ranger nodded. “They’ll be able to check that and probably will. The guy is that type.”

I shrugged. “Our Senator from Florida already did that and got us a tour of the White House last month. I assume if the guy has that big of a commitment, he can contact the Senator’s office.”

The man coughed to hide a surprised chuckle. “I wouldn’t bet against it happening.”

He filled out some paperwork, including a refund receipt for our original two-night reservation, then gave us a map and instructions on who to ask for when we got to the parking lot. I was surprised that I was being allowed to essentially boondock for free inside a national park. Good deal, Lucille.

I was walking back to the van with Benny when he asked, “Are we in trouble?”

“Nope.”

And it was about that moment that Benny got knocked down by a couple of cretins, and those same grade A asshats nearly sent me down when I was covering him to keep him from being run over even more. CPO Gus Barrymore Jr., never far below the surface, decided she was not putting up with the crap being dished out.

I’m no Tinkerbelle and I’ve stayed in good shape. I got both men with roundhouse punches to the side of their heads. I grew up ambidextrous since I couldn’t decide which hand to write with, so it didn’t take long. One and done for each man. They weren’t out but they were down. “You jaw-me-down buncha chowder heads! Get your butts off the ground and clean this crap up! Now! And if you’ve hurt my nephew there’s not going to be a bend up Poseidon’s arse for you to hide in!” Let me add that my voice … let’s just say it carries … for miles according to some people. I’ve seen it make people standing too close to me wince.

“I’m gonna sue.”

“Your name is Sue you Gym Bunny,” I said because the guy is the type that obsessively works out and probably takes enhancement drugs given his wide upper body and scrawny legs. “You knocked down a five-year-old kid,” I added with emphasis as I checked Benny over and was totally hitting the rage all over again when I saw Benny’s hands were bleeding where he hit the gravel.

Some of it must have shown on my face but I didn’t get to do anything because the guys in uniform showed up … border guards. Great.

I wasn’t required to say anything but kept getting the stink eye from a couple of people. One of them was the Gym Bunny and he had my Bifi throwing out all sorts of static. Living in Key West you meet all sorts, and his sort was the type that lived for the drama. The other eyeball that kept looking me over was one of the Border Guards. I was not feeling the joy. Well I gave them the stink eye right back; especially because their raised voices were upsetting Benny all over again and because not only were his hands scraped up, so were his knees.

Then the Drama Queen tried to deflect his own felonies by trying to start with me directly bringing in that I was prejudice and had hit him. Bad choice.

“Look, you wanna be a Bear Chaser with campy dreams of being a breeder go right on ahead and do your thing. None of my business and I could care less. But your need to express yourself injured my nephew. You could have injured him a lot worse than you did if I hadn’t gotten in the way of your follow through. And by the way, you haven’t even apologized to him. So at least pretend you want to be one of the adults in the room and grow some behavioral boundaries. That freedom you are singing about comes with responsibilities.”

He tried to say something in retaliation when his Bear popped him in the back of the head. “That’s enough Francis.”

Oooo-kay then. That was the fastest neutering I’ve ever seen next to the time that Stella hit an “unhappy” customer’s gonads with a stun gun when he had started to break up the garage.

Things moved a lot faster after that, no arrests were made, “Francis” apologized and was sniveling worse than Benny had by the time he and his companion had gotten to their RV. Sounded like he was in for a butt whooping sooner rather than later for not using his indoor voice or something.

“That man was weird,” Benny told me with his “yuck” face on.

“Takes all kinds to make the world go ‘round Squirt. How do your knees feel?”

“They're going boom-boom-boom.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that Kiddo. Aunt Gus shoulda …”

I was interrupted by, “Excuse me Miss.”

I had to fight really hard not to roll my eyes. “May I help you?” I asked the Border Guard that was standing there with copies of my ID on his tablet screen. I didn’t even pretend not to see it, but just gave him “the look” that all my friends knew as a warning signal that my patience was wearing thin.

“Your ID checks.”

“Of course.”

He just stood there looking at me and I at him. I was waiting for the lecture. I was too young. Benny was too young. I was all alone. The world is a dangerous place. Yada, yada, yada. Instead he made a face and I realized he was trying really hard not to laugh. “A bear chaser with a breeder fantasy?”

“You aren’t going to ask me to explain are you?”

He shook his head. “Nope.” It was then I realized he was younger than I thought he was. “I just got off a tour in LA.”

“You have my sympathies. I hear the streets are rough out there.” Whoops. I’d given him an opening.

“Speaking of …”

“Look. I get it. And I appreciate the concern. I did a lot of investigating before we started. And I’ve got contacts along the route I’m taking.” That last was stretching the truth, but not an outright lie. “But …”

“It’s a waste of time for me to tell you to be careful.”

Trying not to sound like an ungrateful donkey’s backside I responded, “Not a waste of time, just something I’ve already committed to being for multiple reasons. But thank you for taking the time to be …”

“Nosey?”

“Human. Not a lot of that going around these days.” I held out my hand and he shook it trying not to be surprised yet again.

Finally Benny and I escaped, and followed the directions to Park Headquarters. By the time we got there and were assigned a spot for the next two nights it was too late to really get much done. And Benny’s knees were sore as well.

“Hey Buddy, you feeling up to taking a bike ride if I play engine?”

His sad face slowly turned into a grin. He knew that meant riding in the kid seat while I pedaled but it also meant doing something besides sitting in the van which he’d had enough of for the day. And maybe, just maybe he’d get to do a few things for his Junior Ranger booklet.

The Rainy Lake Recreation Trail is rated easy because it is flat and ADA accessible. It is about 1.75 miles one way and takes about 1.5 hours, round trip, if you are walking it. We weren’t. I rode it back and forth a couple of times to distract both of us from the fight. It had been since I’d had to deal with Mizzou’s loser friends since I’d really tussled and the fight didn’t really qualify but it could have. Even concentrating on the trail I still wondered if I’d set a bad example for Benny or not. The trail meanders along the park road, into the woods, and around rock outcrops where you are treated to views of the forest, lake, and marsh scenery.

The bugs are nefarious creatures, and I wasn’t the only one that wasn’t best pleased with them. I’m going through the bug spray faster than I did in Florida. There were three other small camper vans besides The Ark. One had kids about Benny’s age. One had teens almost my age. And one was an older couple and they turned out to be fun people. The younger kids were crying because of the mosquito bites. Geez I did not want to listen to that all night. I reached into my pocket then whistled at the Dad who caught the bottle of bug spray I tossed his direction. It is a kid-friendly formula called Buzz-Away that I bought by the gallon in Jacksonville though it was harder to find in Key West. The good thing about the Buzz-Away is that it is deet-free but still affective against ticks. I also have stock in Avon’s Skin-So-Soft for the same reason … and Stella’s insistance.

Twenty minutes later a woman comes over when I’m about to take the trash to the bear proof dumpster and dramatically says, “Thank you! I can’t believe how fast this works! God I hope I can find it when we get home.”

“Amazon.”

“Really?” she asked super happy. “Oh my gawd that’s fantastic! Jerry … my husband … loves shopping for camping stuff online.” She tried to hand it back to me but I shook my head. “Keep it. I’ve got another bottle.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

She trucked on back to her family and I trucked over to the dumpster only to stop dead in my tracks. A bear was pacing around it and then standing on its hind legs and trying to climb in with zero success. Then I heard it. There was either a sheep in there or a bear cub had done the stupid and fallen in. I was voting on the cub by the way the bear was acting.

“Crap.”

A ranger came over with one of the border patrol agents at a fast trot … the one that had tried to give me advice. They’d spotted the bear before I had and then run over when they saw me heading to the dumpster and wanted to stop me before I caught the bear’s attention.

Just then another ranger came over. “Keys to the shed are locked up. Can’t get to the ladders.”

“Just out of curiosity,” I asked. “How much do you think momma weighs.”

The ranger answered, “Black bear, young, scrawny. She might weight 200 – 230 pounds. Why?”

“Can she reach in and pull the cub out?”

“If she could get up there she could.”

“I got a ladder. Hang on.”

The Border Agent whose name turned out to be Paul Mendez followed me to the van.

A scared voice answered my checking on him with, “Aunt Gus? I … I heard a bear.”

“You heard a momma bear and she’s scared because her kid fell in the dumpster.”

“Oh no!”

“Relax. The rangers know what they are doing.”

He watched me open the back of the van, slide out the center storage, and pull out Groucho’s last addition to my “tool chest.”

“Can I help?” Benny asked.

“Sorry Little Bear, this is an adult project. But, you can go in van, shut the door, and watch from the window. ‘K?” Disappointed but happy he could watch, he complied and I carried over the telescoping ladder.

“You Mary Poppins with a bag full of tricks? First repellent and now a ladder.”

That let me know I was being watched. Creeped me out but then I spotted his ears and they weren’t red from a sunburn. Paul Mendez realized he’d given himself away.

“Let’s just say a friend of the family isn’t called Groucho because of his winning personality. And he also happens to be a heck of a good mechanic. He’s also Benny’s sorta kinda uncle.”

“Sorta kinda?”

“On his mother’s side. Step brother almost thirty years older than she was. Long story, not really up to telling it.” He grunted. When we got to the rangers I handed the one with the animal control patch the telescoping ladder and said, “It has a 250-pound weight limit. I’d like it back if possible.”

It worked. Momma climbed into the dumpster, boosted baby out, then climbed out and waddled away and I swear she swatted the cub’s behind a couple of times because he sure did skip a few steps and then cried.

But that was it for me, it was time to get back to Benny and make him some dinner. I was hungry myself and I planned on leftovers making a hearty lunch tomorrow. I fixed meatloaf in the Instant Pot[1]. While that was going, I gave the van a cursory clean up and washed some socks and hung them to dry on a camp clothes line I strung between the awning stabilizers. They wouldn’t be dry all the way before bed, but they would be dry enough that they wouldn’t sour when I strung them up inside the van to dry between the night and the next day. I also aired out a couple of t-shirts and our pillow cases to keep them from stinking things up.

After dinner I prepped our lunch … meatloaf sandwiches and Apple Slaw[2] along with some gluten-free pretzels and cheese. The recipe for the Apple Slaw makes a bunch so I planned on using the leftovers with dinner. I also fixed some cocoa that I could heat in the morning and pour into two travel mugs and mixed together the dry ingredients for the Rice Flour Drop Biscuits[3] I was going to make in the morning to go with the fried eggs I planned.


[1] Instant Pot® Meatloaf Recipe | Allrecipes
[2] Apple Cole Slaw - Recipe | Cooks.com
[3] Gluten Free Rice Flour Drop Biscuits - Recipe | Cooks.com

 

[Kathy in FL]

May 4 – 5: Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota (part 2)



May 5th
We accomplished seven trails today. I was so proud of Benny and told him so multiple times. These are the trails we did, just not necessarily in the order we did them in.

The Oberholtzer Trail is an easy 1.7 mile roundtrip. In the winter the trail is used for snowshoeing. The trailhead is just outside the Rainy Lake Visitor Center and the trail took us to two overlooks to see the diversity of forest and wetland types in the park.

Echo Bay Trail was another easy trail but longer as it was a 2.5-mile loop. It was a wide path that took us from aspens to pines as you pass through lowlands and rocky outcrops. The trail is used by a lot of bird watching enthusiasts. Hearing the aspens rustling in the wind was something I’d read about but now we’ve officially heard in. Lots different from the trees back in Florida.

The Ethno-botanical Garden Trail was very short, a quarter mile loop at most. It was a trail through a native plant garden and Ojibwe Indian encampment with educational signs about native and exotic flora and their mark on the park. The garden reflects the seasonal plants and the role they play in the life of the native peoples here.

Sullivan Bay Trail was an easy, 1.5 miles, round trip on an old road which is mostly flat with one small hill toward the end of the trail and a rewarding view of Sullivan Bay at the end. In the winter the trail is used for snowshoeing.

Beaver Pond Overlook was another very short trail but a little more difficult. Not much more but still not a completely easy trail. It was 0.2 mile, one way and took Benny and I thirty minutes to finish. It was the second trailhead on your left as you are driving to the Ash River Visitor Center. A short uphill hike leads to a rocky terrace high above an old beaver pond. Although beavers are no longer active at this pond, this trail provides great birding opportunities according to an older couple that were up there with telephoto lenses that looked like they could see a grain of sand on the backside of Mars.

Kabetogama Lake Overlook was the third pullout on our left as we drove to the Ash River Visitor Center. It is a short, accessible trail that took us to a wayside that looks west towards Kabetogama Lake. I had more trouble pronouncing the name of the lake than with the 20 minute walk on the trail.

Another easy trail was the Voyageurs Forest Overlook. It was a half-mile loop that only took us thirty minutes because I made Benny sit down and finish the apple he was eating rather than worry about him tripping and choking on a bite of it.

I didn’t really want to head back to camp when we were finished because all I would be doing was parking in a parking lot and there wouldn’t be anything for Benny to do, but I had some adulting to take care of as far as checking our bank accounts, checking the van, and checking for any bumps in our future plans. Not to mention there was the matter of making sure that Benny and I had some clean underwear for the next week. Having a minimal wardrobe was great in some respects and a problem in others. Outer wear can be sponge cleaned and worn more than once. The stuff you put next to your skin? Not so much. Especially when there is a lot of sweating going on. Kinda thinking that we need an extra week of what my grandmother would have called “foundation garments.”

We’re also being harder on our clothes than I expected. The knees of Benny’s pants that he was wearing when he got knocked down have a couple of small holes that I can see will get bigger in short order. And per usual I’ve got a place in the seam on the back of my right shoulder that is coming unraveled either from me exercising or from the backpack. Could be both. Washing the clothes by hand probably doesn’t help either. Auntie Gus thought she had it all going on. Auntie Gus is finding she still needs training wheels. Auntie Gus also needs to stop talking in third person before the men with the white coats come to take her away.

Cumulative Fuel Expense: $1843
Cumulative Accommodation Expense: $702
Cumulative miles: 4295