Years ago when our oldest daughter was a first grader, a
dream began to grow in the back of my mind and in my heart. A dream that would eventually become a
reality, but I'm getting ahead of myself.
At the end of kindergarten, I had decided to home school our daughter
and was very excited to teach and encourage her to learn through hands on
activities and experiences. This would
lead to many fun field trips and unit studies that made learning fun and
real. Eventually, we would add a younger
brother and a baby sister to our family and I would make a new friend with children
similar ages to my own. As girlfriends go we discovered that we had a
lot in common, especially a desire to help our children to learn from doing and
exploring. When it was time to take on
the subject of our state history, we decided to traverse our beautiful state of
California together, with our 6 young children, to learn about the diverse
cultures and history that make our state great.
Our little band of excited adventurers toured from Northern California
south to Monterey and all the way to San Diego, visiting along the way most of
the California Missions, forts, the Kings Highway, the San Diego Zoo, Old Town
San Diego, Solvang, and on separate outings the historic sites in Sacramento, San Francisco, and Fort Ross on the north
coast. A few years later, we would do a
similar trek a second time focused on the 3 younger kids.
As we conquered these trips, we began to talk of our similar
interest to teach our children USA history
by traveling. We both dreamed of
visiting Washington DC before our oldest children left for college. The trips throughout the state of California
had given us confidence that we could do it.
We decided to plan a 10 day RV trip with both of our families to the
Grand Canyon. Given the relative
closeness to California, it seemed like a logical choice. We traveled through the state of Nevada and
into Arizona, stopping in Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam along the way. It was a great trip where we made many fun memories,
hiked along the canyon rim, experienced
beautiful views, rafted the Colorado River, saw ancient drawings on the walls
of the cliffs, and laughed ourselves
silly at my husband and the 3 older children sleeping in a tent while it lightly
snowed!!
Where the seed had been planted before, the real dream was
born, to traverse our great country and learn as much American history along
the way. We would spend MANY hours
collaborating together to come up with a perfect plan for our ROAD TRIP EXTRAORDINAIRE!
During the next two summers, it was
amazing to see our adventure take shape as we sat on the beach at Tahoe with
our maps, atlases, iphones and trip binders.
We used AAA Trip Tik to plan our route and we would affectionately joke
that we were modeling this trip something
like "Around the World in 80 Days", one of our children's favorite
movies and book. We decided to shorten
it and make this fantastic trek around the USA in 75 days and as our plans became more fantastic, ours
and the kids excitement level grew. We
talked about it for so long that it sometimes felt like it was just a dream
that would continue to allude us.
Finally, we put a concrete date on our departure and all of sudden it
became a reality. We intended to travel
from mid March until May 31st, driving across the southern states and up the
east coast, making our way back across the midwest to safely arrive back in
California. Our trip would take us to 37
states, traversing 13,000 miles of mountains, beaches, plains and deserts. We planned to drive my friend's RV, stopping
along the way to stay with friends and relatives and visit every important
historical site we could find. As the
day of our departure grew closer, we made the final preparations, packed and
laid in food supplies. March 18, 2012
dawned early as we arose and excitedly pulled out of the driveway. We were so excited!! We rambled down the highway, 2 moms, 5
children and one packed to gills RV. Did
we have every we needed? Too late, we
would have to make do or stop at Walmart.....haha. Over the course of the next 10 weeks, we
would all grow closer, experience weather we have never imagined, see sites
that were beautiful, meet many interesting people, learn about our country, and
find real pleasure in the simple things in life (like clean bathrooms, full
size refrigerators, and being on time...ha-ha). We would get lost numerous times, close down
almost every site we visited (yes, I am serious), arrive after closing time at
almost every campground we stayed at, drive through scary lightning in Texas,
snow in New Mexico, torrential rain in Louisiana, heat in the Midwest, choking
smoke from fires in Colorado. Amazingly,
the only automotive trouble that we would encounter would be to get locked out
of the RV one time. We would see both
foreign countries and the four bodies of water that border our country. We experienced travel via RV, bikes, subways,
trains, planes, boats, horse drawn buggies, ferries and, of course, walking
many miles each day. Along the way, we
did our best to blog each day. In this
modern age, internet connections continually failed which taught us to just go
with the flow! Each day brought with it
new experiences, stress, laughter and FUN!
Our children learned more in this 10 week period of time than some people
learn in all of their years of schooling.
Some of our favorite experiences were Williamsburg, Annapolis,
Hershey, PA, Washington DC, Mt.
Rushmore, the Mule Trading Post in Missouri, getting a personal tour from a
state policeman at Niagara Falls and buffalo herds in Wyoming. At Antietam, scene of the most deadly Civil battle, we made
dinner in the RV while the kids climbed up a tower overlooking the Bloody Lane. They gazed over the serene countryside
imagining the battle that had occurred there.
In Philadelphia, we met Betsy Ross and ate at the restaurant that George
Washington had his inaugural ball at. In
Plymouth, we would walk in the footsteps of my ancestor, John Alden, who was
one of the pilgrims that arrived on the Mayflower. I felt great pride seeing Plymouth Rock,
knowing that my 9th great grandfather, John, was the first one of the pilgrims to touch
this rock as they came ashore. At Ellis island, I emotionally traced my hand
over the name of my grandfather that is on the wall of immigrants there. While touring DC, we stopped at the National
Archives.....what a feeling to stand in front of THE Declaration of
Independence! Walking under the earth
at Mammoth Cave in KY was amazing! In
Kansas, we were thrilled to meet family that we had never met before. We were blessed to visit and enjoy the
hospitality of friends and family in 8 states.
I know that I speak for us all when I say that I have been awed to walk
in history's footsteps. Our countries
story amazes me.
Our families enjoyed tasting many new culinary delights
including catfish, jambalaya, hush puppies and bread pudding in Louisiana, benets
from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, delicious bbq throughout the south, deep
fried peanuts and deep fried corn on the cob in Charleston, SC, homemade pretzels and authentic root beer
in Lancaster, PA, lots of chocolate in
Hershey, PA, NY cheesecake from Jrs. in NY, lobster rolls in Maine, real maple
syrup and fabulous cheeses in Vermont,
lobster tails and other pastries at Carlos Bakery in NJ and Mikes in
Boston, handmade candy at Hammonds candies and tea tasting at Celestial
Seasonings both in CO . Just thinking
about it makes me hungry!
We would celebrate the birthdays of my girlfriend and both of
her daughters, grieve the death of my father in law, and reconnect with relatives and old
friends. In truth, this trip was a
coming of age for us all as we lived in small spaces with 7-10 people (both
dads and her son would join us at different times) in a small RV and
experienced life on the road. For 10
weeks, time stood still yet raced ahead at break neck speed all at the same
time.
Our final historical site was the Promontory National
Historic Park where the golden spike was driven to connect the first
transcontinental railroad. As we exited
the park and began the final leg through Utah and Nevada, we all felt a sense
of finality. We would drive past the
Bonneville Salt Flats and then spend a day at Lake Tahoe before we finally made
it home. We all felt a strong sense that
we would never be at this exact place again.
Home and families awaited us but behind us lay the stuff that legends
are made of....the trip of a lifetime, memories not to be forgotten and the
words all parents love to hear, "Mom, when are we going on another trip?"
As we drove that final leg of our trip, a strange pall
settled over us. We made two final stops
in Fairfield at tour sites (Jellybelly and Budweiser) not wanting the trip to
be over. While we were excited to arrive
home, each one of us had feelings of sadness.
It was the end of something epic.
We reflected on the funny parts of the trip and each one of the kids
shared their favorite memories. Entering
the homestretch, my girlfriend turned on "Life is a Highway" and we
all sang the lyrics loudly . Awaiting us
as we entered the driveway and crossed the finish line, were welcome home
banners, race flags, friends and family, hugs, and a fabulous CAKE! Our husbands had arranged a welcome home
party. What a sweet way to end our
fabulous adventure!
One year later, as we celebrated The Trip Anniversary, we
gathered together and cooked some of the yummy things that we had sampled while
traveling. It was fun to have each
person comment on something that they fondly remembered from our
adventure. Good times, good
memories.
We are currently still working on the timeline and history
books that the kids are making. These
books include pictures, information, facts, and memories they have about our
momentous tour. Many of the 20,000 plus pictures that I took will make
their way into these books. I have
always enjoyed travelling and history is my favorite subject so it is only
natural that my enthusiastic travel companion and I have already begun to plan
for our next trip to see the North Western states that were not included in the
last adventure. The kids are looking
forward to it and so am I. We need some
new sweatshirts.......
No comments:
Post a Comment