This summer we planned another roadtrip with a destination in Virginia, then traveling to visit with family in New York, and see some of New York's sights. We planned to circle around and see Niagra Falls and The Ark on the way home so it would be an adventurouse endevour. We stayed at a resort in Virginia that Ken found which was great - there was tons of things to do and the kids had a blast. We got to see and experience some really neat things on this trip. We had a special guest with us as well - Chris and Lisa had an exchange student (Rie)for the school year so she was able to join us on the trip. She got a good taste of our summwe vacations I think :-)

Days othe trip: • Day 1 • Day 2 • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5 • Day 6 • Day 7 • Day 8 • Day 9 •

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Special Events: Our Horses • House Addition • Mustangs 2008/09 • Mustangs 2007/08 • Mustangs 2006/07 • Summer Vacation 2011 • Family Traditions

Day 1 was mostly driving - had to make tracks to get to Virginia. We did stop at the Arkansas Visitor center and the Visitor Center in Memphis TN though to take a break. It was good to see the King is still in Memphis. Further into Tennessee we stopped for the night somewhere around the Nashville area and got some dinner at a Pizza Hut. We checked into the hotel and the kids took a dip in the the pool before we called it a night. more driving tomorrow...

Again today, is more driving - we got into Virginia, stopped for lunch, and finished up the trek arriving in Massanutten VA the afternoon. We check into the resort and went to the condos which were really nice. This is a ski resort area during the winter so there was plenty of trees and such around the resort - and animals! Deer would come up to the back porch and there were ground hogs around the buildings as well. We settled in and planned what activities we wanted to give a try to tomorrow. Good part about these condos is a full kitchen - we can make our own dinners and don't have to go out all the time. We'll make use of them.

So today's activity was horse back riding. There's stables on the property and they provide horse back riding through part of the woods on the property. We all got helmets and assigned horses and loaded up. It was about a 45 min to an hour ride and it was cool. I think everyone enjoyed it. Have to admit though when we got off, my butt hurt - those saddles ain't too comfortable! In the afternoon we had a good rain shower hit while we were wandering around while the kids went to do tie-dye t-shirts. I have to admit, this place has some good things to do for kids. In the evening deer showed up again and were really close. Good first day at the resort!

Today in the resort we all went and did glass etching. Each of us picked out a pattern and what glass we wanted to etch on. You put a stencil map on the glass, and carfully remove the pieces of the map where you want things etched. We then delivered the pieces to the instructor who actually did the etching with some liquid material. They all turned out pretty cool. The people running this activity have a shop over in another town, and we may go over there to take lessons in glass etching - we'll see. After this we went into town and had some ice cream at a local shop, and then stopped at the park to play on the way back into the resort. In the afternoon we went to the pool to take a dip and then headed back to the condos for dinner. Again, the deer came around to see if they could get any goodies this evening.

Today we headed into Washington DC to meet up with Ken's friend Tom who lives in DC. We met Tom at a pizza shop called Joe's Place and got some pizza. Pizza was good, but Addie almost chocked on a hunk of pizza with cheese on it - Ken luckily saw it and give her the himlick maneavor and castastrophy was avoided. It was a little scary to say the least. We then proceeded to go seeing some of the memorials; The Lincoln Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Vietnam and Korean Ware memorials, the Washington Monument and the WWII Memorial. We also went through the Air and Space Museum on the mall and finished up at the Capital. Quite a day with A LOT of walking. In the early evening we went and had dinner at a place Tom picked out called Texas Jacks. It was quite ironic :-) Good food and it was nice to be able to eat out on the patio area. We covered a lot of ground today - Hope the kids remember all of it! I will remember the 20k + steps for the day, that's for sure!

On this day we headed over to Braithwaite Studios in Dayton, VA to do some more glass etching. This time though, it will be the real deal with sandblasting the etching on the glass. These are the same persons who were running the class at the resort earlier in the week. We visited their studio and most of us chose out another pattern and this time we did the etching using their sandblasting machines to do the etching - it was pretty cool. When we finished, we went to lunch at the Dayton Tavern - a neat old style eatery. After lunch we went and found an old grist mill in the Silver Lake area, which was interesting to see. The countryside was really nice and the Mill was picture perfect to say the least. Ken should do a painting from one of the pictures :-).

We head north today to see the Shenandoah caverns. We went underground to view the caverns and all the different formations formed over millions of years. Stalactites,stalagmites, and such everywhere - it was quite amazing to see. They have it lit up to really show off the different key things. Some formations are still forming from dripping water and minerals. Nature is pretty amazing. We then had lunch at the Cavern Cafe there, a 50's style diner. They make a mean burger I tell you. After lunch we proceeded to go check out American Celebration on Parade next, a collection of floats and memorabilia from past Presidential parades in Washington DC. A person from this area has historically helped coordinate presidential parades for quite some time from what we learned. Across the street was a building that housed old cars and other Americana memorabilia from days gone by - old tractors, motorcycles and cars and a bunch of other stuff that was interesting to look at. All in All, we saw some really interesting stuff today!

Charlie, Ken and I got up early today and found a place around the resort to try and paint some scenery. We brought all our painting materials so we wanted to put them to good use - finally. We spent a couple hours trying to reproduce an image of the mountains with all the trees, and ski paths, etc. Didn't finish them but we have pictures to try and work on it when we get home. We met back up with the rest of the crew - they had ventured to the activity center and were doing rock painting. I took a gander inside of the nature center while in there. For lunch we went out to a local BBQ place - Log Cabin BBQ. in the afternoon, we went back to the resort and played a round of 18 on the miniature golf course - which was fun. The kids rode go-carts, and played some tennis later in the day. A good way to close out this part of our adventure. Mom made friends with the deer feeding them some chips and nuts which I'm sure they enjoyed. Tomorrow we'll split up and go our separate ways - Ken and Hadie will be heading back to Texas and we'll head north for New York. This has been a good place to stay, thinking it wouldn't be bad to do again some time in the future.

So we went our seperate ways this morning, and we headed for Washington DC to see the WWI Memorial with Mom. Its an impressive monument, and one of the more popular ones I believe. We ran into Senator Bob Dole who was out on the grounds greeting veterans and persons walking by. He had an impressive run as a polititian for our country and its admirable to see him out continuing to recognize and honor those veterans that come by on tour on Saturdays. It was nice to get a picture with him. We also ran into actors portraying Patton and Eisenhower as well - couldn't pass up a photo op with any of these gentlemen.

We then continued north through Maryland and Deleware heading for New York. Our reservations were at a Mariott down in Manhattan near ground zero. We got near New York in the afternoon via New Jersey. Getting into the city and following the GPS was a challenge - all the bridges have tools and following the streets to find the hotel was intersting. I ended up getting on the wrong road at least twice and going over to Brooklyn and such and then having to turn around at least twice - great NY tolls. We finally found the hotel and got valet parking to take the car for our stay. I planned to be dependent on taxis to get around while we were staying.

After we checked in, there was a hamburger place in the hotel and we ate dinner there. After dinner we explored a little bit outside the hotel and found the 9/11 Memorial park down the street which was an experience. I think the designers did a good job with this. Its very moving to walk around the area, see all the names and see the outline of the towers with the water falls. Impressive. We headed in for the night to rest up and plan to meet up with Allie and Michael tomorrow.

Today was a busy day - we crammed in a lot of activities. We started the morning off meeting Allie and Michael at the Ferry building and jumped on a boat over to the Statue of Liberty. We toured around the statue and took in the museum which has some really neat artifacts and tells the complete history of the statue. The original torch light is in the museum and I remember when it went on a tour across the united states after being removed for upgrading to the current torch.

Next we hopped on a boat and went over to Ellis Island, the gateway to America. Again, so much history here to see. The tings that people went through to get over here is interesting, and the process we went through with immigration and such. I've done some genealogy but I've not been able to trace back far enough to find a relative that immigrated here. Maybe one day I'll find it, but my roots are way earlier than Ellis Island. After touring around the sights, we got back on a boat and headed back to Manhattan. We split up for the afternoon and planned to get together in the evening for a Bus Tour. We headed back to the hotel for a break. While taking a break, we did stop in to see the 9/11 Memorial during the day time. We found the museum as well so we'll do that tomorrow.

In the early evening, we met up with Michael and Allie again and hopped on a City Bus Tour. The Bus went around to all the major sites of NYC, which was really neat to see. We crossed a couple bridges, saw Times Square, Macy's, Financial District and many other places. By the end of the tour it was dark and we got to see some of the lights of the city as well. At the drop off point, there was a NY Pizza Parlor on the corner so of course, we had to try some NY pizza. Not too bad! we then caught a taxi and headed back to the hotel for the night - it was a good day!

Today's agenda was another adventure - this time we went to see the famous St Patrick's Cathedral. It was amazing. Unbelievable pipe organ, stained glass windows, statues of famous religious figures. I don't know that I've seen a church of this size and magnitude before. Once we finished, we planned to go to the Metropolitan Museum but the line was too long to get in so we we found a restaurant in the area and had lunch. We then went back to the hotel. Charlie and I headed over to the 9/11 Museum to check it out. Very humbling and well put together. The telling of the story of 9/11 and what took place there was well done in my opinion. You can see some of the remains of the twin tower foundation and relics from that day. I was a day that changed America and the world. We should never forget.

In the evening we met up with Michael and Allie again for dinner at Eataly, right close to the museum. Its a neat restaurant, with some really good Italian food and shopping. We had a good dinner and visited more - I'm glad we got to spend some time with Allie and Michael - haven't see them since their wedding so it was great to catch up.

Today's focus was Central Park. We wanted to explore and see what this place was like. We taxied over to the entrance near the Dakota Building and started walking around. We quickly ran across the John Lennon area (Imagine) since he was killed not far from her in front of the Dakota building back in the 80's. I still remember the night it came across the news channels. We continued venturing deeper in the park and found horse drawn carriages that tour around the park. This seemed like a good way to see things so we took them up on it. The ride around the park was great, got to see the sailing pond where kids float model boats and such, saw several dog walkers, saw the Alice in Wonderland statues, and some other notable things. Once we completed the tour, we ventured towards the front of the park and saw a very old carousel in the park which was neat. We also saw some statues, talked with some locals, and then headed out of the park to try and find a subway entrance. We came out of the park right across from the Trump Tower. A New Yorker gave us some advice on which train to get on down in the subway to get to our next destination - Gabby O'Hara's Pub where Allie works. We survived the Subway ride and got off and started to find our way around. We located Gabby's and went in and had "dunch?" I think. Good Pub food, and we were able to watch some of the women's world cup (I think).

Afterwards we wandered around a little and saw Macy's, famed location where the Thanksgiving Day Parade is centered at. Last stop for the trip was the Empire State Building - couldn't leave town without seeing this. We went up the observation deck and took in the whole city. What an amazing mass of humanity! You could see grass growing on building roofs, buildings as far as the eye could see. Its pretty amazing how many millions of people fit in this city. And that ended out NY Experience - we headed back to the hotel to pack and hit the road again in the morning to continue the adventure.

We started out early in the morning after rush hour traffic and took on the NY roads again. It seemed easier getting out of Manhattan this time, and we headed up the east side going through the Bronx and we drove right by the new Yankee Stadium. As we continued driving, things got greener with less buildings and more rural scenery. We headed for Hyde Park, famous area known for the Roosevelt's. We drove through some interesting roads and got to the Roosevelt home and the museum of Franklin D. Roosevelt. We took a tour of the house which was cool - this is the house where I believe he was born, and his mother and relatives all lived (not sure, but I think Teddy may have links to this area as well back to his generation). There are still some relics in the house from FDR (wheelchair and books, etc) so it was neat to see where they were all from. We walked around the grounds and saw the stables, the flower garden, and the burial sites for FDR and Elanor. Next we then toured the presidential museum for FDR which I really liked. I had to do a book report on FDR in 4th or 5th grade so I know a fair amount about his history but you always pick up new stuff when you go to these libraries.

After touring FDR's history, we continued north going through multiple older communities/towns that just seemed historical with the buildings and architecture. Much more rural with a lot of greenery and forests. Small 2 lane roadways most of the way north to Cooperstown - home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. We arrived late in the afternoon, and checked into the hotel - then headed into town to find somewhere to eat. I had no idea how small Cooperstown was - its really small. We did find a fish place open and stopped in for dinner. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to rest for tomorrow.

Today Charlie and I walked the hallowed halls of the Baseball HOF. The history of our national past-time full display, it was sooooo neat. Too much to describe in detail, but everyone should get a chance to visit and see all this. The high points of baseball on display, the low points (Black Sox and steroids) and all the colorful characters that have played the game. They have lockers for each of the teams that are updated regularly with the latest items from the current team or the last year's team. The Texas Ranger's locker had a bunch of stuff from Adrian Beltre since he just retired. There was stuff on Babe Ruth and all the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox and Ted Williams, the Negro Leagues. and so much more. The Bay Bridge series was noted as well and has a special mark for us - given we lived in San Jose and the World Series was interrupted by a severe earthquake right before one of the games. Finally we got to the actual Hall where all the plaques are displayed - impressive. To see all the players recognized through the decades for their achievements was very moving. Of course, there some missing that probably should be here - we'll see how time treats them and hopefully they will get enshrined here for their contributions. It was well worth the drive to see this. While we were in the hall, Melody and Mom walked the streets of Cooperstown shopping and sightseeing. They found a neat little corner bakery and we went there for lunch. Afterwards, we got back in the car and headed for Niagara Falls - our destination for tomorrow.

We got up in the morning and headed over to Niagara Falls on the US side, went into the park and found the ticket counter in the Visitor Center. We got in ling and boarded one of the Maid of the Mist boats to head out and see the falls up close. You denote which side of the border you came from by the color of the plastic slicker you wear to keep you dry. Red if you came from the Canadian side, Blue if you came from the US side. We went out and got pretty close to the horse shoe falls area - the more impressive falls which are actuall on the Candian side. We found out afterwards that our boat was the last one to be allowed to go out for the day - the conditions due to wind and rough waters caused a hold on letting more boats go out - so we were lucky to even get to see this. We walked aound some more to see different views of the US side of the falls, went through the gift shop and then headed to the car to head south. Quite a bit of driving to get to our next destination in KY.

We got to the Ark Encounter early in the morning - and this happened to be Father's Day. So I got in free - score! This exhibit is huge, and was built to the specs outlined in the Bible (I believe). Yes there are religious overtones all over the place but, the information is presented in a straight forward manner and addresses some of the obvious questions that people may have - they do show dinosaur related animals and how food and such would have been stored, grown, and harvested on the boat. I found it interesting to see and imagine what it may have been like. The ark is huge, and it took a couple hours to go through the whole thing. All in all, very though provoking. When we finished we went over to a buffet restaurant and a bite to eat which was pretty good. Then we loaded up in the car and headed for home.

The drive home was long one - but this whole trip was well worth it - we saw and did so many neat things and got to spend time with family along the way. What more can you ask for!