Summer Road Trip: Navarre Beach, Florida

We woke up early in Savannah with a goal to go "somewhere" in the panhandle of Florida. Thank goodness for our Wi Fi hotspot that we had in the car - we used the iPad to find a place in Navarre Beach, FL that had a condo available for the next three nights.

*I'll take a moment to say how grateful we were for technology on this road trip! We constantly used Yelp or Trip Advisor to find things to do and places to stay and eat. I was also able to email a friend of mine to get a recommendation for places to stay in Florida and that helped quite a bit. James still raves about the awesome Philly cheesesteak he ate at a restaurant  in a little town somewhere along the highway that we never would have found without Yelp.

Florida was beautiful, of course. We definitely want to go back to Navarre Beach!

Summer Road Trip: Mt. Vernon to Savannah

When we planned our road trip, we only made reservations in Tennessee and Washington, D.C. Since we had left the last few days of the trip open for exploring, we weren't on any kind of schedule which was very nice for a change. We decided to head down to Florida, but to take our time doing it. So, on our way out of Washington, D.C. we drove to Mt. Vernon and we were very glad we did! It turned out to be a highlight of our trip. I had always read that it was beautiful, but pictures don't do it justice. It's quite beautiful. The kids enjoyed it, too, especially seeing the actual furniture George Washington himself used to sit on!

After going over maps and a bit of discussion, we decided to head south on I 95 to Savannah, Georgia on our way to Florida. There were a few ways we could have gone, but some of the routes would have taken us into the same territory we had traveled already, so I 95 it was. It turned out to be very heavy traffic to Richmond, VA, and after that just one long, straight highway in the trees for hundreds of miles! But, we eventually made it to Savannah and found a place to stay for the evening. Like everywhere else we had been, it was in the midst of an extraordinary heat wave, but it was pretty nonetheless. I'd like to visit sometime when a leisurely stroll doesn't give me heat stroke!

Mt. Vernon

Mt. Vernon

Traffic on I95

Savannah, GA

Savannah, GA

Summer Road Trip: Air and Space Museum (Udvar-Hazy Center)

I think James' favorite part of the trip was visiting the Udvar-Hazy Center, which is an annex to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum located out near Dulles Airport. I think he could have spent several days there! The kids thought it was cool, but there is a limit to how much museum time we could subject them to. Some of the highlights are  pictured below...***

Space Shuttle Enterprise

Enola Gay (dropped "the bomb" on Hiroshima)

SR-71 Blackbird (flies 3 times the speed of sound)

Another view of the Enola Gay from the catwalk - this place is HUGE!

***Note: Interestingly enough, the same day I made this post I read that yesterday, the Space Shuttle Discovery was powered down for the last time and will replace the Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Udvar-Hazy museum. The Enterprise was only flown within the Earth's atmosphere to test landings, etc. and never actually went into space. The Discovery was in operation for 28 years and flew 39 missions! It will be displayed at Udvar-Hazy in April 2012 and the Enterprise will move to Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in NYC. I know that I and my friends and family in Houston were disappointed to hear that Houston wasn't going to get a shuttle to display! Anyway, we now have another reason to go back someday...to see the Discovery!

Almost forgot...we had some time left after our trip to Udvar-Hazy, so we took the subway over to the Capitol. It was too late in the day for a real tour, but we were allowed in on the last "photo tour" of the day, which basically means you can go to the rotunda real quick and take some pictures. That was fine for our needs, since the kids probably wouldn't have been up for a much longer tour! We were glad to at least be able to go inside.

Look at the wonder and joy on his face! ha.

Summer Road Trip: Washington, D.C.

Summer Road Trip: Washington DC

Leaving Pigeon Forge, we continued on our way to Washington, D.C. We took a detour to drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was very peaceful and beautiful! We arrived at our hotel late in the evening, so the first night in D.C. we just ate some pizza and then hit the hay.

The next day, we went on a walking tour of the sights. I should mention that the summer of 2011 was the hottest on record for many places in the country and it was HOT in D.C. (100+ degrees). Being from Austin, TX, we are used to it getting hot, but when we are at home we don't normally go out on long walks in the middle of the day! Just keep that in mind when looking at these pictures - most of the time we were dripping with sweat. Of course, that made the Smithsonian Museums all that more exciting, since they were air conditioned!

 The White House

James' and Aaron's facial expressions are funny.

The Lincoln Memorial - a family favorite

It's hard not to be moved going in there.

The kids were excited to ride the subway!

Isn't it a law or something that you have to take a picture of the T-Rex?

This photo is for Julie's parents since they met while working for Eastern Airlines!

Guns! Fun!

Aaron took a lot of these pictures - he liked being in charge of that.

Summer Road Trip: Pigeon Forge

When we first arrived in Pigeon Forge we were a bit shocked because we felt like maybe we had accidentally gone to Vegas instead! The main highway leading into Pigeon Forge is jam packed with all kinds of attractions: go karts, dinner theaters, zip lining and a Titanic Museum shaped like the Titanic just to name a few. The traffic was bumper to bumper and people were EVERYWHERE! We had to drive through Pigeon Forge, then go to Gatlinburg to get the keys to our cabin, and then drive back to Pigeon Forge (where our cabin was located).

Gatlinburg seemed a little more quaint - it was basically a ski town - and at first I was wishing we were staying there.  However, when we finally arrived at our cabin we were very happy! It was nowhere near the main highway and we were really out in the woods! The cabin was great. It was two story, with two bedrooms, two balconies and a hot tub. The kids had bumper pool and air hockey to play. They really loved the cabin.

We spent the night in the cabin and then the next day exploring Great Smoky National Park. We drove to Cades Cove and saw quite a few pre-Civil War log cabins - the kind built without nails, etc. It was interesting, but I think at least one of the kids kind of thought they all looked the same!



This is a view from our balcony - it's obvious why they are called the Great Smoky Mountains!



A view of our cabin from the front

On the balcony of our cabin

One of the many old cabins inside the park. This is in Cades Cove.

Cades Cove (Great Smoky Mountail Natl Park)

Visiting the working grist mill

Inside our cabin

Gorgeous view from the balcony of our cabin

A stop along the way during our drive through Great Smoky Mountain National Park

Bumper Pool!

Summer Road Trip 2011



Horses at Aunt Barbara's and Uncle Sam's
Lindale, TX



The kids in Little Rock with their cousin, Abby







This summer we went on a two week, 12 state, 3800 mile road trip.We started in Austin and stayed overnight in Lindale, TX, Little Rock, AR, two nights in Pigeon Forge, TN, three nights in Washington, D.C., one night in Savannah, GA, three nights in Navarre Beach, FL and one night in New Orleans, LA! Here is the first post documenting our adventure. 

The trip started out as a plan to visit Washington, D.C., but we wanted to stretch out the stops so we didn't have to just drive straight there. We figured this would be a perfect opportunity to drop by and see some family that we hadn't seen in quite some time.

Our first stop was Lindale, TX to visit James' aunt and uncle, Barbara and Sam. We had a delicous dinner and good conversation. The kids love visiting them- especially since there are some cute horses that Mia can feed and pet.

After staying one night with the Franklins, we headed to Little Rock, AR, to stay with Julie's Aunt Margaret and Uncle Charles. Charles and Margaret had arranged for lots of other aunts, uncles and cousins to drop by and say hello. Some of them drove two hours just to come and visit for less than an hour! That meant a lot to us! We only stayed in Little Rock one night and left early the next morning to we could make it to our next destination.

Up next.....Pigeon Forge, TN!

New Blog Post? What??

Mt. Vernon

Hello! I've been inspired to make another attempt at posting regularly on this blog.
Coming soon: The Road Trip of 2011!

Totally Current, Up to the Minute, Just happened 4 Months Ago Thanksgiving Post

Way back in November James and I went to Paris to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. The actual date of our anniversary is January 7th, but we found it much easier to go over the Thanksgiving holiday since things would be a little slow at work and the kids had the whole week of Thanksgiving off. We had both been to Paris before, but never together, so, we sent to kids to Houston to stay with my parents and headed to France!

View from the top of Notre Dame. Notre Dame is one of my absolute favorite places in Paris!

We rented an apartment right near Rue Cler (close to Les Invalides). Here's a view from our window. I recommend renting an apartment if you are staying in Paris more than a couple of days - not only did we have more space, we had a kitchen and it was all for a very reasonable price!

View from the Pompidou Center! I took this picture to compare it with a picture I already had at home that I took when I was 17 years old and visited my friend Leslie in Paris.

One of Monet's Water Lilies paintings (Musee de l'Orangerie - right by Jardin des Tuileries)

James in the Louvre standing underneath two of the Horses of Marly.

James and I love museums. We visited Musee D'Orsay, Musee de L'Armee, Musee du Louvre, and Musee de l'Orangerie. Plus the Pompidou. We spent the entire day in the Louvre and still weren't able to see everything. Really, we needed more than one day, but now we have a reason to go back!

More Louvre...

Self explanatory, right? By the way, it was very cold while we were there - it even snowed briefly. We were lucky that soon after we left Paris there was a blizzard in Western Europe that certainly would have delayed our flights. Our timing was perfect.

Stained glass in Notre Dame

Notre Dame

More Notre Dame (these pictures are all out of order)

More from the top of Notre Dame

Still at the top...

Inside the stairwell that takes you to the top of Notre Dame. LOTS of stairs! This was actually our first full day in Paris. We arrived in the morning and spent the first day getting our bearings. Since we were staying right around the corner from Rue Cler, we enjoyed a leisurely coffee, got a baguette and a few staples to take back to the apartment (wine, cheese and bread, duh!). The next day was spent walking/taking the Metro to a few different parts of Paris. (Notre Dame, Montmartre, Place de la Concorde, etc.) I really shouldn't have waited four months to post - I am already getting mixed up in the details and what order we did things. But the memories are there...I know we will be back again someday...