I just received a link from a FaceBook friend (a travel writer) running a contest asking "What's your best strategy for avoiding tourist traps and finding the authentic hidden-gem spots that only the locals seem to know about?" As I started pondering this (and considered recommending my sister-in-law’s web site www.tripsketch.com which is fabulous for finding what-to-do in a city), I realized that a huge part of avoiding the “tourist” thing is not where you go but when you go… I’ve always found the best time to visit most places is when it’s not “high” season. We just spent three weeks in Sun Valley, ID during what they call “slack” season – the time after Labor Day when people are afraid it’s too cold to go hiking, swimming and fishing (it wasn’t) and before there’s enough snow for skiing. And, not only did we feel more like locals than tourists (because we weren’t surrounded by tourists, and everyone spent more time chatting with us) but we saved money and had some memorable experiences that wouldn’t have happened amidst hundreds of other tourists – we were the only people walking along the snow-covered shore of Redfish Lake, we were able to read, without interruption, from “The Old Man and the Sea” while sitting at Hemingway’s gravesite, we got great deals at the local thrift shop (thrift stores in wealthy, resort communities almost always contain amazing bargains and would never be considered tourist traps). Many of the restaurants had “locals” specials so we were even able to eat out a few times without busting our budget.
Even better than visiting resort communities in the “off” seasons are visiting national parks outside of the peak season (which is almost always during the summer). Instead of jostling with the 500 people a day that clog the rim road around Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, our snowshoe tracks were the only evidence of visitation along the road (which closes to cars after the first heavy snowfall) on a recent sunny November afternoon. Visiting parks during the off season our kids, working through each park’s Junior Ranger packet, get as much attention and help as they wanted from real park rangers who are always happy to answer their questions and bestow numerous pearls of wisdom. On a weekday in late September (after Labor Day, but when the weather is still wonderful and the trees are starting to turn) we were the only people on a ranger-led hike through Rocky Mountain National park; having a naturalist as our family’s private guide was certainly a highlight of the visit to the park.
Even certified tourist traps can have their charm out of season. A few weeks ago we called up the Shoshone Ice Caves in Idaho, to find out when they were open, and Fred, the man who runs the cave explained they were closed for the winter but he’d be happy to give us a tour if we paid the summer prices. When we got there, he had opened up the store for us and gave us a personal tour. Fred’s family has been running the Ice Caves for the past 54 years, so having him guide us through cave and answer our questions, while slowing down the pace for our tired 7-year old, was well worth the $30 entrance fee. Of course, we couldn’t resist taking a family picture in front of the 30-foot tall dinosaur, and we were proud that both kids realized that the statue of the caveman riding on the dinosaur was historically inaccurate.
Avoiding tourist traps is not just about going places in the off-season; it’s also about not being a “tourist.” Traveling on a tight budget helps. While we were driving across South Dakota on I-80 it was pretty easy to pass up the overly commercialized pioneer/mining/ghost town re-creations that had admissions fees. On the other hand, we’ve been to Wall Drug twice in the past few months (an enterprise that would probably top most people’s list of certifiable tourist traps), and we had a blast both times. Not only did we enjoy the $.05 coffee (which is a better deal than almost any other place in the world), but we used the whole Hustead family story (how Wall Drug started out in the ‘30s by advertising free ice water to get tourists to stop in) as an opportunity to teach the kids about entrepreneurship. And, both kids loved having their photos taken on the giant Jack-a-lope. As long as you don’t spend money like a tourist, and instead spend time to discover what’s below the surface (and at Wall Drug, there’s a lot to look at), then you’ve avoided the trap and found the gem.
Thursday 19 November 2009
Wednesday 4 November 2009
Learning moments / People along the way
My favorite Mark Twain quote is “never let school get in the way of your education,” and that has been one of the driving forces in how Wendy and I have tried to envision and steer our adventure. It’s not that Josh and Simon have had bad school experiences -- on the contrary they’ve been blessed with amazing teachers and schools with abundant resources. However, we wanted to ensure that Josh and Simon were also grounded in reality and this trip has been wonderful for that.
There was a great NY Times (I think) article that talked about how the times that people remember best from vacations (and probably other aspects of their lives) are when things don’t go according to plan. Wendy and I will always remember our trip to Costa Rica when our tent was almost washed away (with us in it) while camping alongside the Pacuare river; and how everyone but Simon picked up an intestinal bug in Delhi; and having to walk when the Tube was on strike / broken down in London.
One of our goals for this trip has been for Josh and Simon (and, truth be told, me and Wendy) to learn from various friends, families and strangers along the way; for us to see people living rich and rewarding lives in vastly different circumstances from what we were used to in London and for us to also learn and appreciate from the bad and ugly that we encounter as well.
As the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for…” Below are some vignettes of “learning moments” that we’ve had throughout out trek
On the overnight train to Churchill, Manitoba, Josh and I were sleeping next to each other when we were rudely awakened by a very drunk man who leaned over into our faces to warn us about the impending end of the world in 2012. Happily, we had just pulled into his station (it was around 2am) and he disembarked without further incident (at least for us) but it left me and Josh shaken. The next day, Josh was so irate he wanted to call Canada Rail to demand they stop serving alcohol on their trains. The “learning moment” bell went off inside my head and I suggested he send an email to their customer service department. Josh’s email (and the wholly inadequate response) were posted on his blog a few weeks back. Would I ever choose to put my son in front of a rowdy alcoholic on a train? Of course not. Do I think that he will always remember and has learned from the experience? Absolutely.
As we were crossing back into the US from Canada, just south of Winnipeg, the US Border Patrol agent was asking us a lot of questions (we’ve learned to answer Vermont when officials ask “where are your from?” because the full answer is to confusing). And we told him about the trip, how we had been up to Churchill to see the polar bears, etc. Wendy asked him, “have you ever been as far North as Churchill,” to which he responded, “I’ve never been to Canada and I don’t have any plans to go.” Now that was a response that just floored all of us. I didn’t even have to get out the dictionary to explain to Simon the meaning of insular. Here was a perfectly normal-seeming man, working every day on the US-Canadian border, who never had visited (and wasn’t even curious / interested in visiting) the land 10 feet from his post. The good news, from a “learning moment” perspective is that we didn’t have to explain to Josh and Simon that this was unusual. They know plenty of wonderful government employees (starting with Uncle Rick) and citizens who are not narrow-minded and who appreciate the diversity and excitement that the broader world has to offer. Still, it helped remind us, even 9 months into the Obama administration, that there are isolationist elements within the US and not everyone shares our sense of adventure. This trip is also giving Josh and Simon much better insight into the different cultures, regions and styles across our country and I think they’re beginning to appreciate how people living in small towns can be adventurous and worldly and people who are in big cities (or on border posts, or ex-presidents) can be limited by blinders.
Of course, there have been an overwhelming number of positive experiences and role models as well. Last night, as we walked into a Japanese restaurant and sat at the sushi bar (it was Josh’s turn to pick the restaurant meal that we treat ourselves to each week) Josh asked loudly, “can I please have a root beer?” The sushi chef said, “root beer goes very well with Sushi” and gained a new friend / admirer rapidly. Of course, this was not your stereotypical sushi chef, and none of us had ever met an Idaho-native sushi chef with red hair (another one of our goals during the trip is to find some red-headed adults for Josh & Simon to meet), but the sushi was excellent and we had a great conversation with him about how a ski racer from Idaho ends up learning how to prepare sushi in France before ending up back in Sun Valley.
Another great stranger that we met along the way was Betty, our photography teacher/guide in Yellowstone park. Betty is a professional photographer who spends the winters traveling in her motor home and the summers at Yellowstone guiding photo safaris. She gave Josh and I some excellent pointers on how to improve our photo taking, and also helped teach us a tremendous amount about Yellowstone during the course of our six hours together.
I could wax on about all of the other strangers (or “unmet friends”) we have met along the way who have enriched our lives, especially all the National Park Service rangers who have taught us, guided us and inspired us, but I should probably leave that for the subject of another blog.
There was a great NY Times (I think) article that talked about how the times that people remember best from vacations (and probably other aspects of their lives) are when things don’t go according to plan. Wendy and I will always remember our trip to Costa Rica when our tent was almost washed away (with us in it) while camping alongside the Pacuare river; and how everyone but Simon picked up an intestinal bug in Delhi; and having to walk when the Tube was on strike / broken down in London.
One of our goals for this trip has been for Josh and Simon (and, truth be told, me and Wendy) to learn from various friends, families and strangers along the way; for us to see people living rich and rewarding lives in vastly different circumstances from what we were used to in London and for us to also learn and appreciate from the bad and ugly that we encounter as well.
As the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for…” Below are some vignettes of “learning moments” that we’ve had throughout out trek
On the overnight train to Churchill, Manitoba, Josh and I were sleeping next to each other when we were rudely awakened by a very drunk man who leaned over into our faces to warn us about the impending end of the world in 2012. Happily, we had just pulled into his station (it was around 2am) and he disembarked without further incident (at least for us) but it left me and Josh shaken. The next day, Josh was so irate he wanted to call Canada Rail to demand they stop serving alcohol on their trains. The “learning moment” bell went off inside my head and I suggested he send an email to their customer service department. Josh’s email (and the wholly inadequate response) were posted on his blog a few weeks back. Would I ever choose to put my son in front of a rowdy alcoholic on a train? Of course not. Do I think that he will always remember and has learned from the experience? Absolutely.
As we were crossing back into the US from Canada, just south of Winnipeg, the US Border Patrol agent was asking us a lot of questions (we’ve learned to answer Vermont when officials ask “where are your from?” because the full answer is to confusing). And we told him about the trip, how we had been up to Churchill to see the polar bears, etc. Wendy asked him, “have you ever been as far North as Churchill,” to which he responded, “I’ve never been to Canada and I don’t have any plans to go.” Now that was a response that just floored all of us. I didn’t even have to get out the dictionary to explain to Simon the meaning of insular. Here was a perfectly normal-seeming man, working every day on the US-Canadian border, who never had visited (and wasn’t even curious / interested in visiting) the land 10 feet from his post. The good news, from a “learning moment” perspective is that we didn’t have to explain to Josh and Simon that this was unusual. They know plenty of wonderful government employees (starting with Uncle Rick) and citizens who are not narrow-minded and who appreciate the diversity and excitement that the broader world has to offer. Still, it helped remind us, even 9 months into the Obama administration, that there are isolationist elements within the US and not everyone shares our sense of adventure. This trip is also giving Josh and Simon much better insight into the different cultures, regions and styles across our country and I think they’re beginning to appreciate how people living in small towns can be adventurous and worldly and people who are in big cities (or on border posts, or ex-presidents) can be limited by blinders.
Of course, there have been an overwhelming number of positive experiences and role models as well. Last night, as we walked into a Japanese restaurant and sat at the sushi bar (it was Josh’s turn to pick the restaurant meal that we treat ourselves to each week) Josh asked loudly, “can I please have a root beer?” The sushi chef said, “root beer goes very well with Sushi” and gained a new friend / admirer rapidly. Of course, this was not your stereotypical sushi chef, and none of us had ever met an Idaho-native sushi chef with red hair (another one of our goals during the trip is to find some red-headed adults for Josh & Simon to meet), but the sushi was excellent and we had a great conversation with him about how a ski racer from Idaho ends up learning how to prepare sushi in France before ending up back in Sun Valley.
Another great stranger that we met along the way was Betty, our photography teacher/guide in Yellowstone park. Betty is a professional photographer who spends the winters traveling in her motor home and the summers at Yellowstone guiding photo safaris. She gave Josh and I some excellent pointers on how to improve our photo taking, and also helped teach us a tremendous amount about Yellowstone during the course of our six hours together.
I could wax on about all of the other strangers (or “unmet friends”) we have met along the way who have enriched our lives, especially all the National Park Service rangers who have taught us, guided us and inspired us, but I should probably leave that for the subject of another blog.
Thursday 29 October 2009
Museums
The last few days have been filled up with driving and the few respites we’ve had have been at a series of interesting museums. I have always loved history and learning about the past, and the past couple of days have given me a new appreciation of the settling of the American West, the gold rush and the atrocious US policies that drove the Native Americans from their lands.
It’s amazing the number of towns / counties that have small museums with high quality and interesting collections. We’ve stopped by several on this trip, and below are some of the highlights from the past few days.
First, as we were leaving Chamberlain, SD (half-way across the state, along the Missouri river that divides the farming eastern half from the more rugged / badlands / black hills western half) we saw the South Dakota Hall of Fame as we were about to get back on I90. We stopped in for a few minutes and learned about a lot of great South Dakotans (Tom Brokaw, Sparky Anderson, Tom Daschle, and numerous others including Ted Hustead, the found of Wall Drug). After the SD Hall of Fame we headed west to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and had a chance to teach the kids about the cold war and learn about the START treaty.
Adams Museum – Deadwood, SD
Later, we decided to go to Deadwood, SD, because I knew it had an interesting history (and was the subject of one of my favorite Nanci Griffith songs) but didn’t remember what. For those whose memory is as bad as mine, Deadwood gained notoriety as part of the lawless Dakota territories (it was an illegal white settlement in Indian territory) where Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed. But, Deadwood also houses the Adams museum which has several great collections; everything from Dinosaur fossils and a cabinet of curiosities (see the double-headed calf, below) to a room honoring the “legends” of Deadwood such as Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Potato Creek Johnny, Poker Alice Tubbs, and Deadwood Dick. We also learned a lot about the early Jewish settlers of Deadwood who helped settle the city (Deadwood even had a few Jewish mayors in the 1870s and 1880s).
Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM) – Billings, MT
Billings Montana holds the Yellowstone Art Museum (YAM). The city itself is a bit of an oasis amidst a desert and the museum is also an oasis. Housing a small permanent collection of western art, the museum had two interesting temporary exhibitions when we visited the first was objects on loan from several local collectors and the second was called “Post Secret.” Post Secret is a traveling exhibition (more details at http://www.postsecret.com/) with a few hundred of the thousands of post cards that have been sent into the Post Secret project.
The project started several years back with a simple concept – have people artistically portray a secret on a postcard and then mail it anonymously. The results are happy, sad, scary, emotionally touching and cathartic as well.
I’ve included photos of the postcards below, and strongly recommend you see the exhibit if it comes to your town (or check out the Web site).
In conjunction with the Post Secrets exhibit they had a very humorous exhibit by a Japanese-born American artist named Gen Hayashida . Hayashida stretches the limits of the US Postal Service rules on what can be mailed (and how addresses are read) by creating what I can only describe as “mailing address art” – he creates very interesting post cards and then mails them (I’m assuming that some of his more innovative creations never make it there). One of my favorites was made using parts from a computer keyboard.
Another interesting one was made from a moveable piece puzzle.
The last one I’ll include here was a ransom-note like address.
The museum’s western art was also good, although for some strange reason they had a Raoul Dufy oil painting of boats in Deauville, France hanging next to all of the western art – it was definitely one of those “one of these things is not like the others” moments.
Museum of the Rockies – Bozeman, MT
A couple of hours west of Billings, in the town of Bozeman, is the University of Montana’s Museum of the Rockies, which hosts one of the best paleontology exhibits I’ve seen. Of course, having the largest T-Rex head ever found is always going to be a crowd pleaser, but the info graphics on all of the other dinosaurs were superb and we all learned a tremendous amount.
In addition to the paleontology, the museum has great exhibits on the settling of the west and of World War II. It also has an impressive looking planetarium that was closed for the day by the time we got there -- guess we'll have to stop by again next time we're in Bozeman.
Ciao for now,
Evan
PS – I’m writing this from the wonderful public library in Idaho Falls, ID. I could probably write a whole blog about how wonderful public libraries are and how we’ve come to appreciate the free WiFi, the reference books and the good working space they provide. But, if the blog never gets written, at least I’ve acknowledged them here.
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Our Polar Bear Adventure
After months of elaborate planning, we finally went out on the tundra today to see polar bears. And we weren’t disappointed. We woke up at around 6:30am in the Polar Inn, our home away from the RV while we’re in Churchill, Manitoba. After putting on our long underwear and other clothing usually reserved for skiing, we had a quick continental breakfast and waited to be picked up by the tour company. At around 7:40 a school bus pulled up to the hotel, picked up our family and another couple staying at the hotel and we joined the 5 people already on the bus for the trip out to the base camp.
The base camp is just past the entrance to Wapusk National Park and is where the two licensed operators (Tundra Buggy Adventures and Great White Bear) transit tourists onto the tundra buggies / polar rovers. By 8:30 we were on the Tundra buggy and getting briefed by our guide / driver, a Churchill native named Brendan. And then we were off. The polar rover (since we had such a great time going with Great White Bear Adventures, I think we should call them that, even though tundra buggy is a much more descriptive and alluring name) is a custom-built vehicle designed for traveling off road, over snow, and through water. Ours had three independent axles (thus was a six-wheel drive vehicle) and the wheels are about 5’ in diameter (think big earth moving machinery) and very wide. The rover has its own bathroom, a propane heater and windows like a school bus with seats like a coach. The back has an outdoor viewing platform. Hopefully the attached photos give you a better idea than my descriptions. If you want to see all 43 of the uploaded photos, they’re viewable at http://www.flickr.com/photos/familyadventure/sets/72157622448757711/
Shortly after heading out, we spotted bear #1, a mid-sized male that Brendan speculated had not seen many Polar Rovers as he didn’t want to hang out near us. We watched him walk along the rocks and then try to get out of our way by heading to the shoreline. We followed in hot pursuit (well, as hot a pursuit as you can have when you’re in a vehicle that has a top speed of 10mph on the tundra). We got some more photos of the bear along the shore before he managed to evade us some more. We then headed out to another part of the park.
By now it was about 10am and the gentle bouncing of the rover over the rocky trails had lulled Simon into a nap. After about an hour of fruitless searching, Brendan suddenly stopped the rover. At first, none of us knew what he was looking at, but then he pointed to a large yellowish rock in the distance that, on closer inspection, was the backside of a sleeping bear. We couldn’t get any closer to the bear (we were at least 100 yards away) and he didn’t appear to be doing anything but napping, so we decided to move on.
We could see that there were three other rovers/buggies a few miles away all stopped near one of the Tundra Lodges (the two companies each tow out large, movable hotels for the 6-week polar bear season). Brendan decided to head over, and when we got there we could see a well-fed, adolescent bear napping next to a small pond. Josh named the bear Paul (I’m not sure why) and we stopped, the rover, ate lunch (a hot tomato soup that was just what we needed after standing on the cold observation deck, sandwiches, donuts, coffee & hot chocolate). I should note that while it was pretty warm inside the rover, outside it was about 28 Fahrenheit (just below freezing) outside with a very strong wind. Also, whenever we were near a bear we were opening a lot of windows which quickly lowered the temperature inside. Thus, the hot soup was most welcome. Over the course of the hour and a half we spent having lunch we watched ‘Paul’ curl up and nap, open his eyes and look up at us and the other rovers / buggies, go back to napping, get up and yawn, go back to napping, lift his head up again to look around, go back to napping, etc. I was amazed by how human-like the expressions were on his face, and we were near enough to really see the lazy bear go through his motions.
By now it was around 2pm and we started heading back (the tour was scheduled to end at 4). We went back near the area where we had seen Bear #2 (the sleeping lump off in the distance) and he had moved on. We then went out near the Hudson bay to where our tour company (Great White Bear) had set up their tundra lodge and saw another bear walking in the distance. By now a snowstorm had kicked up and so visibility was low (the snow was coming down hard, diagonally). The pictures I took have a very impressionistic look to them, and are some of my favorites so far.
After another 20 minutes or so of watching Bear #4 through a snowstorm, we started heading back to base. I was really amazed at the rover’s ability to go through a few feet of water, over rocky hills, etc. At some points it looked like we were out on a boat! Here are some other shots to give people an idea of what the view was like from inside the rover and rugged the vehicles are.
By 4pm we had pulled back up to base camp and were transferred back into the school bus for the ride back to Churchill. We had a wonderful dinner at the Lazy Bear Inn, by far the nicest restaurant we went to in Churchill (much nicer décor than the others, and excellent food). I’m writing this while waiting for our evening train. We head back south to Thompson this evening and then will re-join our RV and head to down to Winnipeg for a few days before heading off to points that we haven’t yet decided.
Cheers,
Evan
The base camp is just past the entrance to Wapusk National Park and is where the two licensed operators (Tundra Buggy Adventures and Great White Bear) transit tourists onto the tundra buggies / polar rovers. By 8:30 we were on the Tundra buggy and getting briefed by our guide / driver, a Churchill native named Brendan. And then we were off. The polar rover (since we had such a great time going with Great White Bear Adventures, I think we should call them that, even though tundra buggy is a much more descriptive and alluring name) is a custom-built vehicle designed for traveling off road, over snow, and through water. Ours had three independent axles (thus was a six-wheel drive vehicle) and the wheels are about 5’ in diameter (think big earth moving machinery) and very wide. The rover has its own bathroom, a propane heater and windows like a school bus with seats like a coach. The back has an outdoor viewing platform. Hopefully the attached photos give you a better idea than my descriptions. If you want to see all 43 of the uploaded photos, they’re viewable at http://www.flickr.com/photos/familyadventure/sets/72157622448757711/
Shortly after heading out, we spotted bear #1, a mid-sized male that Brendan speculated had not seen many Polar Rovers as he didn’t want to hang out near us. We watched him walk along the rocks and then try to get out of our way by heading to the shoreline. We followed in hot pursuit (well, as hot a pursuit as you can have when you’re in a vehicle that has a top speed of 10mph on the tundra). We got some more photos of the bear along the shore before he managed to evade us some more. We then headed out to another part of the park.
By now it was about 10am and the gentle bouncing of the rover over the rocky trails had lulled Simon into a nap. After about an hour of fruitless searching, Brendan suddenly stopped the rover. At first, none of us knew what he was looking at, but then he pointed to a large yellowish rock in the distance that, on closer inspection, was the backside of a sleeping bear. We couldn’t get any closer to the bear (we were at least 100 yards away) and he didn’t appear to be doing anything but napping, so we decided to move on.
We could see that there were three other rovers/buggies a few miles away all stopped near one of the Tundra Lodges (the two companies each tow out large, movable hotels for the 6-week polar bear season). Brendan decided to head over, and when we got there we could see a well-fed, adolescent bear napping next to a small pond. Josh named the bear Paul (I’m not sure why) and we stopped, the rover, ate lunch (a hot tomato soup that was just what we needed after standing on the cold observation deck, sandwiches, donuts, coffee & hot chocolate). I should note that while it was pretty warm inside the rover, outside it was about 28 Fahrenheit (just below freezing) outside with a very strong wind. Also, whenever we were near a bear we were opening a lot of windows which quickly lowered the temperature inside. Thus, the hot soup was most welcome. Over the course of the hour and a half we spent having lunch we watched ‘Paul’ curl up and nap, open his eyes and look up at us and the other rovers / buggies, go back to napping, get up and yawn, go back to napping, lift his head up again to look around, go back to napping, etc. I was amazed by how human-like the expressions were on his face, and we were near enough to really see the lazy bear go through his motions.
By now it was around 2pm and we started heading back (the tour was scheduled to end at 4). We went back near the area where we had seen Bear #2 (the sleeping lump off in the distance) and he had moved on. We then went out near the Hudson bay to where our tour company (Great White Bear) had set up their tundra lodge and saw another bear walking in the distance. By now a snowstorm had kicked up and so visibility was low (the snow was coming down hard, diagonally). The pictures I took have a very impressionistic look to them, and are some of my favorites so far.
After another 20 minutes or so of watching Bear #4 through a snowstorm, we started heading back to base. I was really amazed at the rover’s ability to go through a few feet of water, over rocky hills, etc. At some points it looked like we were out on a boat! Here are some other shots to give people an idea of what the view was like from inside the rover and rugged the vehicles are.
By 4pm we had pulled back up to base camp and were transferred back into the school bus for the ride back to Churchill. We had a wonderful dinner at the Lazy Bear Inn, by far the nicest restaurant we went to in Churchill (much nicer décor than the others, and excellent food). I’m writing this while waiting for our evening train. We head back south to Thompson this evening and then will re-join our RV and head to down to Winnipeg for a few days before heading off to points that we haven’t yet decided.
Cheers,
Evan
Saturday 10 October 2009
The Butterfly Effect and stuffed bears
I’ve long been fascinated by “butterfly effects” – the ability of seemingly small events to have such a big impact further on down the road. In science, it has been posited that a butterfly flapping its wings in Tokyo could alter the course of a tropical storm thousands of miles away, thus the effect’s name. This week, thousands of miles (and many years) away from the original seeds, we ended up reaping the harvest of two butterfly effect events.
My father’s largest client happened to be located in the General Motors building in midtown Manhattan, and he would visit frequently. For some reason, back in 1931, Frederick August Otto Schwarz decided that he would move his toy store to the southeast corner of W. 58th street (I doubt the GM building was there when he made the decision). One day, back in November 1997, after one of his meetings ended early, my dad decided to pop into FAO Schwarz (which had now moved to the GM building) to buy a present for his new grandson, Josh. I’m not sure why my father picked Schatzi, the stuffed white bear made by Gund, but it probably seemed like the absolutely perfect, positively special, just-right gift he was looking for. And it was. Although my 12-year old would probably not want his name to be associated with stuffed animals anymore, he still has Schatzi. Schatzi has been with him to four continents, sleep-overs, sleep-away camp, and is in his carry-on luggage as I write this.
Wendy and I can’t recall exactly when Josh became passionate about polar bears in general (not just Schatzi in particular), but it has been a long time. We have visited the polar bears at the San Diego zoo, we’ve read with interest all the trials and tribulations of baby Knut in the Berlin zoo, we’ve bought numerous polar bear toys, watched several national geographic specials and tried to learn as much as possible about the great white carnivore of the north. And so, when we were thinking about things to do on our year-long odyssey that would celebrate the children’s passions, polar bears were near the top of the list. Back in April, I had never heard of Churchill Manitoba, but when I Googled “Polar Bear tour” and “North America”, it was in all the search results. It seems, that the place to see the bear is in a town just off the Hudson bay, 900 miles north of Winnipeg that has no roads leading in (but does have an airport, train station and sea port). Apparently, the polar bears cross the frozen Hudson bay in the spring and den-in around Churchill, and then wake up in September, famished and looking for seals (or anything else they can eat) and are itching to head north the arctic circle, but are stuck around Churchill until the Hudson Bay re-freezes (usually in mid-November). So, for most of October and November, thousands of polar bear admirers flock to Churchill and load themselves into tundra buggies to view the magnificent animals (I’ll try to blog more about the bear sightings after we’ve actually seen a few).
Thus, because my father’s largest client happened to be located next to FAO Schwartz, and he happened to pick a certain plush toy 12 years ago, I’m now on a 16-hour overnight train ride from Thompson, MB to Churchill. When my dad gave Josh Schatzi, I’m sure I said something like “what a nice toy, it’s so soft, I’m sure the baby will love it.” I didn’t know enough to say “thank goodness it’s not a Koala, then we’d have to travel to Australia in 12 years time” or something more forward thinking. That’s one of the exciting (or frustrating) things about butterfly effects -- while you’re watching the wings flapping, you have no idea of the magnitude of the eventual impact.
My father’s largest client happened to be located in the General Motors building in midtown Manhattan, and he would visit frequently. For some reason, back in 1931, Frederick August Otto Schwarz decided that he would move his toy store to the southeast corner of W. 58th street (I doubt the GM building was there when he made the decision). One day, back in November 1997, after one of his meetings ended early, my dad decided to pop into FAO Schwarz (which had now moved to the GM building) to buy a present for his new grandson, Josh. I’m not sure why my father picked Schatzi, the stuffed white bear made by Gund, but it probably seemed like the absolutely perfect, positively special, just-right gift he was looking for. And it was. Although my 12-year old would probably not want his name to be associated with stuffed animals anymore, he still has Schatzi. Schatzi has been with him to four continents, sleep-overs, sleep-away camp, and is in his carry-on luggage as I write this.
Wendy and I can’t recall exactly when Josh became passionate about polar bears in general (not just Schatzi in particular), but it has been a long time. We have visited the polar bears at the San Diego zoo, we’ve read with interest all the trials and tribulations of baby Knut in the Berlin zoo, we’ve bought numerous polar bear toys, watched several national geographic specials and tried to learn as much as possible about the great white carnivore of the north. And so, when we were thinking about things to do on our year-long odyssey that would celebrate the children’s passions, polar bears were near the top of the list. Back in April, I had never heard of Churchill Manitoba, but when I Googled “Polar Bear tour” and “North America”, it was in all the search results. It seems, that the place to see the bear is in a town just off the Hudson bay, 900 miles north of Winnipeg that has no roads leading in (but does have an airport, train station and sea port). Apparently, the polar bears cross the frozen Hudson bay in the spring and den-in around Churchill, and then wake up in September, famished and looking for seals (or anything else they can eat) and are itching to head north the arctic circle, but are stuck around Churchill until the Hudson Bay re-freezes (usually in mid-November). So, for most of October and November, thousands of polar bear admirers flock to Churchill and load themselves into tundra buggies to view the magnificent animals (I’ll try to blog more about the bear sightings after we’ve actually seen a few).
Thus, because my father’s largest client happened to be located next to FAO Schwartz, and he happened to pick a certain plush toy 12 years ago, I’m now on a 16-hour overnight train ride from Thompson, MB to Churchill. When my dad gave Josh Schatzi, I’m sure I said something like “what a nice toy, it’s so soft, I’m sure the baby will love it.” I didn’t know enough to say “thank goodness it’s not a Koala, then we’d have to travel to Australia in 12 years time” or something more forward thinking. That’s one of the exciting (or frustrating) things about butterfly effects -- while you’re watching the wings flapping, you have no idea of the magnitude of the eventual impact.
Schatzi on the train en route to ChurchillThe second way that fate / butterfly effects impacted our lives this week goes back even further. In 1914, Lt. Harry Colebourn was being shipped over to the UK to fight in the Great War, and as he was going through Ontario he decided to purchase a pet to keep him and his fellow soldiers company. Being a bit of a maverick, Lt. Colebourn decided to purchase a bear instead of a dog or a cat (a black bear alas, not a polar bear). And, because he wanted to be reminded of his home town of Winnipeg, Colebourn named the bear Winnie. Now, had Colebourn not passed through White River, Ontario on a day when bear cubs were for sale, this story would have a different ending. Had the UK had the same quarantine laws that they now have this story would have a different ending. Had Colebourn’s regiment not been called up to leave the UK and go to France, this story would have a different. Had Colebourn not lent the bear to the London zoo while he went to France this story would have a different ending. Had he not permanently donated the bear to the zoo upon his return from the war (because the bear had become very popular with children) this story would have a different ending. Had writer AA Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, not enjoyed going to the London zoo and seeing the bear, this story would have a different ending. But, dayenu, Milne saw how much his son liked the bear and they named his stuffed bear Winnie as well. Christopher’s stuffed toy is still viewable, I think, at the New York public library. And two statues were cast of Lt. Colebourn and Winnie and one was placed in the London Zoo and the other in Assiniboine Park zoo in Winnipeg. Likewise, had Simon not liked going to the London Zoo and seeing the statue, and hearing the story of Lt. Colebourn, AA Milne, Christopher Robin and, of course, Winnie, this story would have had another ending. But, when we realized we’d be passing through Winnipeg on the way to Churchill, we realized we had to see the “other” Colebourn statue.
So while I always had a vague conception that stuffed animals could have a major impact on their owner’s and their owner’s families, I never imagined that in one week we’d be traveling hundreds of miles because of two different stuffed bears.
Josh by the statue of Winnie & Lt. Colbourne
So while I always had a vague conception that stuffed animals could have a major impact on their owner’s and their owner’s families, I never imagined that in one week we’d be traveling hundreds of miles because of two different stuffed bears.
Wednesday 7 October 2009
We've been busy
Forgive me reader, it’s been over three weeks since my last blog. It took a former co-worker calling me a slacker to rouse me from my slump and put fingers to keyboard, but it’s not that I haven’t been busy – since seeing the minor league baseball game in Peoria, IL (my last blog subject) we’ve been through seven states (and slept in Wal-Mart parking lots in four of them), visited eight National Parks or Monuments, stayed in five friends houses (and seven different campgrounds), traveled over 3,000 miles (over 5,000 since starting out in August) and been to three indoor water parks.
Water Parks? I’m not sure if it’s a Midwest thing; if I just missed the growth of US water parks during our six years in London; or if, as Wendy suggests, they’ve always been here but I wasn’t paying attention because our kids weren’t water park age. But, there are a lot of water parks in the Midwest. And, we’ve learned that when your kids are national park’d out, and the outdoor swimming pools at the KOA are closed, then whizzing down a ten story-high slide on an inner tube is a welcome diversion.
When Wendy and I had planned this trip, we spent most of our time thinking of all the wonderful hikes we’d be doing in National Parks, the scenic vistas we’d be appreciating, the historical sites and museums we’d be visiting. We kind of forgot that our 7- and 12-year old boys would be a little more chuffed by mini golf and water slides. After a mini-rebellion when we were leaving Jewel Cave National Monument it was agreed that we’d do more “fun” things with the kids. We found a campground with a mini-golf course (crazy golf for those without an American English->British English dictionary) and realized that when the kids are having fun we’re all having a better time. The next day, after rushing through Mt. Rushmore, we made it to the highlight of South Dakota (for the kids) – Watiki World water park. For three hours on an uncrowded Friday night, we splashed around and rode numerous slides (all of our favorite was the “super bowl” in which you slide down a slide, get shot around a large bowl which you circle three or four times before dropping down another shoot into the pool below). Watiki World, like all the parks we’ve been to, had a “lazy river” for drifting around on a tube, a combination of slides that you can go down in a tube as well as body slides, a few different kids play areas where large buckets of water pour down every once in awhile, a hot tub/whirlpool, and an attached arcade and bar (so far we’ve not visited either of those).
After Rapid City & Watiki World, we headed east across South Dakota, stopping in the Badlands and staying over at the home of Wendy’s college roommate. We also made the mistake of stopping at a bar & grill in Belvedere, SD (the “Population 44” sign should have been our first indication that only ping food would be served). We spent a night in Iowa at a state park on beautiful Spirit Lake (even more beautiful without all the summer tourists) and then headed up to St. Paul/Minneapolis where we spent a week with another of Wendy’s former roommates.
While in the twin cities we went to our second water park, the Water Park of America which is next to the Mall of America. As much as I wanted to visit the mall, which claims more annual visitors than all of the National Parks combined (and if that isn’t a damning indictment of American society, I don’t know what is), the lazy river was calling and Josh and Simon already had their swim suits on. The WPA (Water Park of America for those of you who don’t remember the Depression) was just as fun as Watiki World; it had a “family raft” slide that up to 6 people could go down at a time, it had a 7-story high body slide and numerous other slides, it even had a surfing simulator (it’s hard to describe, but you’re essentially surfing down a waterfall with the water going up, so the water pushes you up while gravity pushes you down, keeping you in one place)! Forget the Baaken museum (an interesting museum dedicated to the way electricity can be used for health purposes, endowed by the inventor of the first implantable pacemaker), Minihaha Falls and the parties thrown by various friends – the hands down favorite event of our Twin Cities visit was the water park.
Yesterday, we left the Twin Cities en route to Northern Canada for our Polar Bear tour in Churchill, Canada. About two hours outside Minneapolis we stopped to have our photo taken next to the 30’ high plaster Viking, named Ole, in the town of Alexandria, home of the Rune Stone museum which houses the famous Kensington Rune stone. For those not of Scandinavian descent, the Kensington stone was found in 1898 by a Minnesota farmer and purports to chronicle the adventures of a couple of Vikings who visited the area in the 14th century (more than a hundred years before Columbus ‘discovered’ America). There’s been more than enough written about whether or not this was an elaborate hoax or not, so I won’t weigh in other than to say anything that gives a bunch of Scandinavian immigrants the incentive to erect a 30’ high plaster Viking in their town square can’t be all that bad.
After the Alexandria stop we headed into North Dakota and stopped for the night in the town of Grand Forks. It was 7pm and we hadn’t had any exercise all day. We thought of finding a swimming pool so I called the local YMCA but found out they didn’t have open swim on Tuesday nights. Then I had a brainstorm – “we’re still in the Midwest, why not look for a water park?” I plugged ‘water park’ into my Blackberry’s Google Maps application and it turns out we were only 1.5 miles from “Splashers of the Seven Seas.” Clearly, it was meant to be. And, because it was Tuesday night, we had the whole water park mostly to ourselves (entirely to ourselves after 8:30, not counting the 5 life guards on duty). Splashers was the perfect antidote to a day spent cooped-up in the RV. We all enjoyed the “Turbo slide,” a smaller version of the “Super Bowl,” the giant-sized hot tub, and the swimming pool area with all the basketball hoops. Wendy and I tried to get some exercise by walking the wrong way up the lazy river, only to be upbraided by a teenage lifeguard for not being in an inner tube. “But we’re the only people here,” I protested, to no avail. In the end, Wendy decided that we could justify our water park habit by claiming it was exercise. “It’s like skiing in reverse,” she explained on the phone to her mom, “you get the exercise when you’re walking up the stairs, before taking the slide down”.
In any event, that’s the update from the road. I’m writing this from a Timothy’s World Coffee café, with free Wifi, in Winnipeg. So far we’ve been to the zoo (I’m hoping one of the kids will do a Blog on why we went to the zoo, for the statue of Lieutenant Coleburn and his bear) and are planning on spending the night just outside the city. Tomorrow we head further north (400 miles), to the town of Thompson, which is close to where the roads end. From there, on Friday evening, we board a 16-hour, overnight train up to the town of Churchill. On Sunday, we’ve booked a dog sled tour in Churchill and on Monday we’ll be on the Tundra Buggy to view the Polar Bears. So, given all the good fodder for writing I’m hoping that I’ll be blogging more frequently in the future, but it’s unlikely we’ll be able to visit a water park in the next week.
Ciao!
PS – In addition to catching up on the blogging, I’ve also caught up (at least through South Dakota) on our Photos. They are now online at Flickr and you can click on this link to go there as well as the Photo link on the top of the http://www.familyadventureyear.com/ home page.
Water Parks? I’m not sure if it’s a Midwest thing; if I just missed the growth of US water parks during our six years in London; or if, as Wendy suggests, they’ve always been here but I wasn’t paying attention because our kids weren’t water park age. But, there are a lot of water parks in the Midwest. And, we’ve learned that when your kids are national park’d out, and the outdoor swimming pools at the KOA are closed, then whizzing down a ten story-high slide on an inner tube is a welcome diversion.
When Wendy and I had planned this trip, we spent most of our time thinking of all the wonderful hikes we’d be doing in National Parks, the scenic vistas we’d be appreciating, the historical sites and museums we’d be visiting. We kind of forgot that our 7- and 12-year old boys would be a little more chuffed by mini golf and water slides. After a mini-rebellion when we were leaving Jewel Cave National Monument it was agreed that we’d do more “fun” things with the kids. We found a campground with a mini-golf course (crazy golf for those without an American English->British English dictionary) and realized that when the kids are having fun we’re all having a better time. The next day, after rushing through Mt. Rushmore, we made it to the highlight of South Dakota (for the kids) – Watiki World water park. For three hours on an uncrowded Friday night, we splashed around and rode numerous slides (all of our favorite was the “super bowl” in which you slide down a slide, get shot around a large bowl which you circle three or four times before dropping down another shoot into the pool below). Watiki World, like all the parks we’ve been to, had a “lazy river” for drifting around on a tube, a combination of slides that you can go down in a tube as well as body slides, a few different kids play areas where large buckets of water pour down every once in awhile, a hot tub/whirlpool, and an attached arcade and bar (so far we’ve not visited either of those).
After Rapid City & Watiki World, we headed east across South Dakota, stopping in the Badlands and staying over at the home of Wendy’s college roommate. We also made the mistake of stopping at a bar & grill in Belvedere, SD (the “Population 44” sign should have been our first indication that only ping food would be served). We spent a night in Iowa at a state park on beautiful Spirit Lake (even more beautiful without all the summer tourists) and then headed up to St. Paul/Minneapolis where we spent a week with another of Wendy’s former roommates.
While in the twin cities we went to our second water park, the Water Park of America which is next to the Mall of America. As much as I wanted to visit the mall, which claims more annual visitors than all of the National Parks combined (and if that isn’t a damning indictment of American society, I don’t know what is), the lazy river was calling and Josh and Simon already had their swim suits on. The WPA (Water Park of America for those of you who don’t remember the Depression) was just as fun as Watiki World; it had a “family raft” slide that up to 6 people could go down at a time, it had a 7-story high body slide and numerous other slides, it even had a surfing simulator (it’s hard to describe, but you’re essentially surfing down a waterfall with the water going up, so the water pushes you up while gravity pushes you down, keeping you in one place)! Forget the Baaken museum (an interesting museum dedicated to the way electricity can be used for health purposes, endowed by the inventor of the first implantable pacemaker), Minihaha Falls and the parties thrown by various friends – the hands down favorite event of our Twin Cities visit was the water park.
Yesterday, we left the Twin Cities en route to Northern Canada for our Polar Bear tour in Churchill, Canada. About two hours outside Minneapolis we stopped to have our photo taken next to the 30’ high plaster Viking, named Ole, in the town of Alexandria, home of the Rune Stone museum which houses the famous Kensington Rune stone. For those not of Scandinavian descent, the Kensington stone was found in 1898 by a Minnesota farmer and purports to chronicle the adventures of a couple of Vikings who visited the area in the 14th century (more than a hundred years before Columbus ‘discovered’ America). There’s been more than enough written about whether or not this was an elaborate hoax or not, so I won’t weigh in other than to say anything that gives a bunch of Scandinavian immigrants the incentive to erect a 30’ high plaster Viking in their town square can’t be all that bad.
After the Alexandria stop we headed into North Dakota and stopped for the night in the town of Grand Forks. It was 7pm and we hadn’t had any exercise all day. We thought of finding a swimming pool so I called the local YMCA but found out they didn’t have open swim on Tuesday nights. Then I had a brainstorm – “we’re still in the Midwest, why not look for a water park?” I plugged ‘water park’ into my Blackberry’s Google Maps application and it turns out we were only 1.5 miles from “Splashers of the Seven Seas.” Clearly, it was meant to be. And, because it was Tuesday night, we had the whole water park mostly to ourselves (entirely to ourselves after 8:30, not counting the 5 life guards on duty). Splashers was the perfect antidote to a day spent cooped-up in the RV. We all enjoyed the “Turbo slide,” a smaller version of the “Super Bowl,” the giant-sized hot tub, and the swimming pool area with all the basketball hoops. Wendy and I tried to get some exercise by walking the wrong way up the lazy river, only to be upbraided by a teenage lifeguard for not being in an inner tube. “But we’re the only people here,” I protested, to no avail. In the end, Wendy decided that we could justify our water park habit by claiming it was exercise. “It’s like skiing in reverse,” she explained on the phone to her mom, “you get the exercise when you’re walking up the stairs, before taking the slide down”.
In any event, that’s the update from the road. I’m writing this from a Timothy’s World Coffee café, with free Wifi, in Winnipeg. So far we’ve been to the zoo (I’m hoping one of the kids will do a Blog on why we went to the zoo, for the statue of Lieutenant Coleburn and his bear) and are planning on spending the night just outside the city. Tomorrow we head further north (400 miles), to the town of Thompson, which is close to where the roads end. From there, on Friday evening, we board a 16-hour, overnight train up to the town of Churchill. On Sunday, we’ve booked a dog sled tour in Churchill and on Monday we’ll be on the Tundra Buggy to view the Polar Bears. So, given all the good fodder for writing I’m hoping that I’ll be blogging more frequently in the future, but it’s unlikely we’ll be able to visit a water park in the next week.
Ciao!
PS – In addition to catching up on the blogging, I’ve also caught up (at least through South Dakota) on our Photos. They are now online at Flickr and you can click on this link to go there as well as the Photo link on the top of the http://www.familyadventureyear.com/ home page.
Friday 11 September 2009
Minor League Baseball
We finally made it to a baseball game the other night. We had been trying to get to a game for a while, but team schedules, high ticket prices and our own schedule (we were supposed to be up in Chicago when the White Sox played the Red Sox, but ended up staying in southern Illinois) conspired against us. Finally we decided to go to a minor league last night – the Peoria Chiefs vs. the Cedar Rapids Kernels. I’d been hoping to get to a number of minor league games on the trip, but unfortunately they play a shorter season (ending in mid-Sept.) and the only way to really see a lot of games is to plan your schedule around the teams you want to see, and we didn’t want to limit our itinerary in that way.
Anyhow, the game was great. We got to O’Brien stadium, home of the Peoria Chiefs (just across the street in downtown Peoria from the Caterpillar world HQ) just before the game start at 6:30. We bought our tickets online four days before the game and had front row seats over the dugout on the 3rd based side – for $10 each. Did I mention this was game 1 of the playoffs (for the Class A Midwestern league)? Given that it was a playoff game, I was amazed at how empty the stadium was (total attendance was less than 1,000, and the stadium could easily hold 10,000).
The game was great. The level of play was almost comparable to the majors, but the atmosphere was more casual. Homer, the Chief’s mascot (a Dalmatian with a fireman’s outfit) came and took pictures with Simon and danced on the dugout. Between each inning the Chief’s cheerleaders either threw items up into the stands (soft-filled baseballs, Frisbees, t-shirts) or had picked people out of the stands for silly contests on the fields (musical chairs, sack races, and some more interesting contests like connecting two people with a bungee cord and then having them try to race in opposite directions to put rubber chickens into baskets, but I digress). It was a beautiful autumn evening, low 70s, and life was good. The Chiefs are a farm team for the Cubs, and the Kernels are a farm team for the LA Angels. The kids decided to support the Kernels since they feel more of an affinity for California than Chicago, I decided to support the Chiefs, and Wendy decided she’d cheer for whoever was winning at any given point.
The bottom of the ninth helped us recall “Casey at the Bat” as the score stood 4 to 2 against the Chiefs. The home team rallied and tied the game, bringing us into extra innings. The kids were ecstatic (even though they were cheering for the Kernels, they didn’t want the game to end and were happy to have the extra innings).
Then we got to the 10th inning, which was definitely not a major league game inning… The Chiefs had put in a new pitcher, for the top of 9th, Kevin Kreier, who did a good job in his first inning (two pop flys and a strike out – 1,2,3). He struck out the first batter – almost. With a 2-2 count, Kernel’s Alexia Amarista swung at a low pitch, which the Chief’s catcher missed, allowing Amarista to steal first. Then, the second batter, Roberto Lopez hit a nice line drive double, down the first base line into the outfield corner. So, with runners on 2nd & 3rd and no outs, pitcher Kreier decides to intentionally walk the next batter. Unfortunately, he threw the ball a little high, and again the catcher missed it, allowing Amarista to steal home (someone should probably adjust his stealing stats to note that he’s not that fast, just lucky). When the Chiefs got up at the bottom of the 10th, they got a walk, a single and then the third batter hit into a double play, and the fourth batter hit a fly ball to left field.
As we were leaving, Josh and Simon were begging for us to drive to Cedar Rapids so that we could watch game two of the three game series. We decided against the four hour drive (driving up to Peoria was already an hour and a half each way from our base in Springfield, IL). In the end, it sounds like we missed another “classic” minor league moment – Cedar Rapids was down 7 to 8 at the bottom of the ninth when a Chiefs reliever Chris Huseby walked four in a row to tie up the game. And then, adding injury to insult, hit the fifth batter to “walk in” the winning run.
In summary, I can’t wait until the spring so that we can get to some more minor league games. They’re fun, affordable and, a little quirky -- which is a great combination.
Just before the game
Anyhow, the game was great. We got to O’Brien stadium, home of the Peoria Chiefs (just across the street in downtown Peoria from the Caterpillar world HQ) just before the game start at 6:30. We bought our tickets online four days before the game and had front row seats over the dugout on the 3rd based side – for $10 each. Did I mention this was game 1 of the playoffs (for the Class A Midwestern league)? Given that it was a playoff game, I was amazed at how empty the stadium was (total attendance was less than 1,000, and the stadium could easily hold 10,000).
View from our front row seats
The game was great. The level of play was almost comparable to the majors, but the atmosphere was more casual. Homer, the Chief’s mascot (a Dalmatian with a fireman’s outfit) came and took pictures with Simon and danced on the dugout. Between each inning the Chief’s cheerleaders either threw items up into the stands (soft-filled baseballs, Frisbees, t-shirts) or had picked people out of the stands for silly contests on the fields (musical chairs, sack races, and some more interesting contests like connecting two people with a bungee cord and then having them try to race in opposite directions to put rubber chickens into baskets, but I digress). It was a beautiful autumn evening, low 70s, and life was good. The Chiefs are a farm team for the Cubs, and the Kernels are a farm team for the LA Angels. The kids decided to support the Kernels since they feel more of an affinity for California than Chicago, I decided to support the Chiefs, and Wendy decided she’d cheer for whoever was winning at any given point.The bottom of the ninth helped us recall “Casey at the Bat” as the score stood 4 to 2 against the Chiefs. The home team rallied and tied the game, bringing us into extra innings. The kids were ecstatic (even though they were cheering for the Kernels, they didn’t want the game to end and were happy to have the extra innings).
Then we got to the 10th inning, which was definitely not a major league game inning… The Chiefs had put in a new pitcher, for the top of 9th, Kevin Kreier, who did a good job in his first inning (two pop flys and a strike out – 1,2,3). He struck out the first batter – almost. With a 2-2 count, Kernel’s Alexia Amarista swung at a low pitch, which the Chief’s catcher missed, allowing Amarista to steal first. Then, the second batter, Roberto Lopez hit a nice line drive double, down the first base line into the outfield corner. So, with runners on 2nd & 3rd and no outs, pitcher Kreier decides to intentionally walk the next batter. Unfortunately, he threw the ball a little high, and again the catcher missed it, allowing Amarista to steal home (someone should probably adjust his stealing stats to note that he’s not that fast, just lucky). When the Chiefs got up at the bottom of the 10th, they got a walk, a single and then the third batter hit into a double play, and the fourth batter hit a fly ball to left field.
Between the top and bottom of the 9th, Simon joined the cheerleaders in dancing to YMCA
As we were leaving, Josh and Simon were begging for us to drive to Cedar Rapids so that we could watch game two of the three game series. We decided against the four hour drive (driving up to Peoria was already an hour and a half each way from our base in Springfield, IL). In the end, it sounds like we missed another “classic” minor league moment – Cedar Rapids was down 7 to 8 at the bottom of the ninth when a Chiefs reliever Chris Huseby walked four in a row to tie up the game. And then, adding injury to insult, hit the fifth batter to “walk in” the winning run.In summary, I can’t wait until the spring so that we can get to some more minor league games. They’re fun, affordable and, a little quirky -- which is a great combination.
Monday 24 August 2009
Pizza Bagels at 65MPH
Now that we’re on day 6, I’m happy to report that this has been as much of a culinary adventure as a geographic one. Cooking in an RV adds a few unique constraints – only a 3 burner stove, a small oven and a microwave; limited space to store pots and pans; limited pantry space leading to limited spices and other staples, etc. Given our tight budget, we’re planning to limit restaurant meals to once per week – I can’t remember the last time we went more than 3 or 4 days without going to a restaurant or buying prepared food to eat at home.
Here’s a summary of the meals that I’ve prepared so far (interestingly, while I used to do only the meals for company when we lived in a bricks & mortar house, I’ve done all of the cooking so far on the trip). Mostly, the breakfasts have been cereal, but we’re planning to expand to scrambled eggs and fresh corn bread in the near future. Lunches have been sandwiches, pasta (CFO Josh sings the culinary and budgetary praises of Ramen noodles), leftovers and the below-mentioned pizza bagels.
Night #1, Shadow Brook Campground, Cooperstown, NY.
This was our first meal so we weren’t planning to be too adventurous:
Reviews were mostly positive, biggest downer was we had to buy salad dressing at the campground store as we didn’t have oil and vinegar
Night #2, Shadow Brook Campground, Cooperstown, NY.
We had more time to plan, and so I decided to spend a little more time on the dinner. Unfortunately, because we got back to the campground late we ended up eating it in the dark and feeding the mosquitoes while we dined.
Day #3 lunch, along Interstate 90.
We had left Cooperstown later than planned so were hoping to make up some time by not stopping – while Wendy drove I defrosted some frozen bagels in the Microwave, cut them in half, slathered them with tomato sauce and sprinkled some shredded mozarrela on top, then baked them in the microwave. With Wendy’s steady hand on the wheel, I was able to have them piping hot by the time we pulled into a rest area to eat.
Night #3, Jellystone Park Campground, Niagara, ON.
We had about an hour to prepare and eat dinner and still make the 8pm shuttle bus into town to watch the fireworks over the falls. Nonetheless, we managed to put together a reasonably healthy meal.
Night #4 & 5, Sewickley, PA
We stayed with friends just north of Pittsburgh who on the first night cooked up a wonderful meal with lots of fresh produce from their garden. We had a picnic in a local park on the second night.
Night #6, Buck Creek State Park, Springfield, OH.
Another late night (got to the campsite around 7:30, dinner ready by 8:30.
That’s the first almost-week in a nutshell—no restaurants or take-out meals yet! I now have the Verizon broadband access via Blackberry working, so I have good internet at the campsite just by connecting my Blackberry to the PC. I uploaded Josh’s blog earlier as Wendy was driving west on I-70, and am finishing this up as the kids get ready for bed.
Ciao!
Here’s a summary of the meals that I’ve prepared so far (interestingly, while I used to do only the meals for company when we lived in a bricks & mortar house, I’ve done all of the cooking so far on the trip). Mostly, the breakfasts have been cereal, but we’re planning to expand to scrambled eggs and fresh corn bread in the near future. Lunches have been sandwiches, pasta (CFO Josh sings the culinary and budgetary praises of Ramen noodles), leftovers and the below-mentioned pizza bagels.
Night #1, Shadow Brook Campground, Cooperstown, NY.
This was our first meal so we weren’t planning to be too adventurous:
Linguini in a sage-butter sauce
Farm stand-fresh green salad (lettuce, tomatoes, and an onion)
Reviews were mostly positive, biggest downer was we had to buy salad dressing at the campground store as we didn’t have oil and vinegar
Night #2, Shadow Brook Campground, Cooperstown, NY.
We had more time to plan, and so I decided to spend a little more time on the dinner. Unfortunately, because we got back to the campground late we ended up eating it in the dark and feeding the mosquitoes while we dined.
Pizza Chicken (chicken tenders coated with crushed Ritz crackers, then baked with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese on top)
Pizza eggplant (as a vegetarian, I sautéed some eggplant and then baked it with the sauce and cheese)
Parmesan Risotto (from a box, actually very good)
Steamed Broccoli au Beurre
Apple Iced Tea (bought a box of apple cinnamon tea at the dollar store, and brewed it up and added a lot of ice and a little sugar)
Day #3 lunch, along Interstate 90.
We had left Cooperstown later than planned so were hoping to make up some time by not stopping – while Wendy drove I defrosted some frozen bagels in the Microwave, cut them in half, slathered them with tomato sauce and sprinkled some shredded mozarrela on top, then baked them in the microwave. With Wendy’s steady hand on the wheel, I was able to have them piping hot by the time we pulled into a rest area to eat.
Night #3, Jellystone Park Campground, Niagara, ON.
We had about an hour to prepare and eat dinner and still make the 8pm shuttle bus into town to watch the fireworks over the falls. Nonetheless, we managed to put together a reasonably healthy meal.
Roast Salmon (marinated in the leftover campstore-bought Italian dressing)
Zucchini & Yellow sq uash stir fry
Tomato & Mozzarella salad (with olive oil & balsamic vinegar – no more store bought dressing!)
Night #4 & 5, Sewickley, PA
We stayed with friends just north of Pittsburgh who on the first night cooked up a wonderful meal with lots of fresh produce from their garden. We had a picnic in a local park on the second night.
Night #6, Buck Creek State Park, Springfield, OH.
Another late night (got to the campsite around 7:30, dinner ready by 8:30.
Ginger-Soy stir fry (Tofu, baby corn, water chestnuts, snow peas from the grocery, with a pre-made ginger soy sauce)
Jasmine rice
Fresh broccoli (from Patty & Harris’ garden)
Edamame
Pink lemonade (from a mix)
Gin & tonics (We were worried the mosquitos might be malarial, so we needed something as a carrier for the quinine)
That’s the first almost-week in a nutshell—no restaurants or take-out meals yet! I now have the Verizon broadband access via Blackberry working, so I have good internet at the campsite just by connecting my Blackberry to the PC. I uploaded Josh’s blog earlier as Wendy was driving west on I-70, and am finishing this up as the kids get ready for bed.
Ciao!
Wednesday 19 August 2009
Our first day
We finally cast anchor at around 1 pm today. It was a very hectic morning, getting all of our stuff out of the vacation rental and into the RV and/or my parent’s house. All of our nerves were frayed, but we finally got everything loaded up in the RV and had Wendy drop the car at my parents while I drove down to the Post Office for the official departure photo…
Since we still weren’t ready to leave, we bought lunch at the Winhall Market and ate it on the way. We then stopped at the farm stand 10 miles down the road to buy food for dinner and after that we were on our way. The bumpy Vermont roads were a little scary at first, but eventually we got into a groove and continued to the Shadow Brook campground near Cooperstown, NY without any further stops (well we did have to stop a a cross road to let an Amish horse and buggy pass, but I’m not counting toll booths and top lights). Simon mostly read (Harry Potter 5), Wendy fell asleep on the sofa, Josh and I worked on finalizing the budget. Wendy tried out the new coffee maker and made me an excellent cup of French Roast. We went through a hellacious rain storm near Albany that had me nervous because of the limited visibility, but other than that things went well.
We finally got to the campground around 5pm, just as we were listening to Harry Chapin’s 30,000 Pounds of Bananas song (Josh’s voice is changing, and he’s getting pretty good at the bass part on the chorus refrain). I didn’t know what to expect from a campground, given that I’ve never done much car camping or any RVing before, but the place is really nice. We have full hookups (electric and water) and the campground has a nice pool and playground. Here’s a photo I took from the front lawn just after we checked in…
We got to the campsite and did all the numerous set-up tasks (connecting water and electric, taking out the awning, putting the slide-out out) very rapidly considering how inexperienced we all were. The family posed for a few photos and then we went off to the pool.
After the pool, we cooked our first RV dinner. Given how little planning we did, and our inability to find a grocery store along the way (we kept thinking we’d see one off the road, and didn’t) we eked out a passable meal –cheese and crackers, linguini in a sage butter sauce and a green salad with the veggies from the farm stand. After dinner, Simon took his bicycle out and we set off to discover the rest of the campground. It’s hard to figure out how long the rest of the inhabitants here are staying – there are a lot of camper/trailers that seem to have been here for a long time, with cluttered front porches, barbeque grills and toddler toys all over their campsites. We seem to be the only folks stopping by for just a night or two.
As I’m writing this (9:30pm EST) the kids are asleep, Wendy’s reading in bed and I’m due for a good night’s sleep as well, so I think I’ll sign off. We’re all very excited about going to the baseball hall of fame tomorrow and I hope to be blogging a lot more regularly now that all of the preparations are finished and we’re on the road.
Thanks for all of the nice emails that you’ve been sending. It’s been great to stay in touch, and Wendy and I hope you’ll keep commenting / emailing.
Since we still weren’t ready to leave, we bought lunch at the Winhall Market and ate it on the way. We then stopped at the farm stand 10 miles down the road to buy food for dinner and after that we were on our way. The bumpy Vermont roads were a little scary at first, but eventually we got into a groove and continued to the Shadow Brook campground near Cooperstown, NY without any further stops (well we did have to stop a a cross road to let an Amish horse and buggy pass, but I’m not counting toll booths and top lights). Simon mostly read (Harry Potter 5), Wendy fell asleep on the sofa, Josh and I worked on finalizing the budget. Wendy tried out the new coffee maker and made me an excellent cup of French Roast. We went through a hellacious rain storm near Albany that had me nervous because of the limited visibility, but other than that things went well.
We finally got to the campground around 5pm, just as we were listening to Harry Chapin’s 30,000 Pounds of Bananas song (Josh’s voice is changing, and he’s getting pretty good at the bass part on the chorus refrain). I didn’t know what to expect from a campground, given that I’ve never done much car camping or any RVing before, but the place is really nice. We have full hookups (electric and water) and the campground has a nice pool and playground. Here’s a photo I took from the front lawn just after we checked in…
We got to the campsite and did all the numerous set-up tasks (connecting water and electric, taking out the awning, putting the slide-out out) very rapidly considering how inexperienced we all were. The family posed for a few photos and then we went off to the pool.
After the pool, we cooked our first RV dinner. Given how little planning we did, and our inability to find a grocery store along the way (we kept thinking we’d see one off the road, and didn’t) we eked out a passable meal –cheese and crackers, linguini in a sage butter sauce and a green salad with the veggies from the farm stand. After dinner, Simon took his bicycle out and we set off to discover the rest of the campground. It’s hard to figure out how long the rest of the inhabitants here are staying – there are a lot of camper/trailers that seem to have been here for a long time, with cluttered front porches, barbeque grills and toddler toys all over their campsites. We seem to be the only folks stopping by for just a night or two.
As I’m writing this (9:30pm EST) the kids are asleep, Wendy’s reading in bed and I’m due for a good night’s sleep as well, so I think I’ll sign off. We’re all very excited about going to the baseball hall of fame tomorrow and I hope to be blogging a lot more regularly now that all of the preparations are finished and we’re on the road.
Thanks for all of the nice emails that you’ve been sending. It’s been great to stay in touch, and Wendy and I hope you’ll keep commenting / emailing.
The Preparation
After 6 months of planning, hundreds of miles of “pre-trip” driving -- From NY to Georgia and back in one car down and a different car back up when the first one broke down, from Virginia to Vermont in the new RV, from Vermont to Massachusetts to meet the boxes of stuff arriving from Georgia and London (2 separate trips, one in a rental, one in the RV)—we finally set off on our odyssey today.
I haven’t been blogging for awhile, but it’s not like I haven’t been busy – I feel like I must be the busiest unemployed person around, and I don’t know how I ever managed my life when I also had to work. Here’s some of what has been happening in the lead up to the departure:
Web site – We’re now on the third iteration of our www.familyadventureyear.com web site, and it’s certainly not the last. I hoped to have a week in Vermont to do the photo integration (via Flickr) and the Google Maps API programming (so that you can interact with a map of our journey and see where we’ve been, where we’re going, etc. on a large map). Unfortunately, all of the other logistical issues have prevented me from doing the programming work required. I hope to spend a few days getting the site overhauled at some point before mid-September, and you’ll certainly hear about it first here if I get it down;
Gadgetry – While I’m happy to traipse off into the outdoors with just a backpack and sleeping bag, I thought that I’d take advantage of the adventure to update the family’s technology stack. If anyone has any detailed questions, send me an email as I’m now an expert on several new things:
1) Data loggers – I have an AMOD AGL3080 device that fits in my pocket (or clips onto the camera bag) and gets our GPS location every second. At the end of each day it geo-tags all of our photos, so if someone looks at any of our photos on Flickr (after I get around to uploading them) the location the photo was taken can be viewed;
2) Digital SLRs – I wanted a new camera to document the journey and have happily settled on the Canon T1i with both 18-55 and 75-300 image stabilization lenses. It’s amazing how much better the pictures are than with my other cameras;
3) RVs – See my last blog, but I spent a lot of time before settling on our WII (Winnebago-Itasca Impulse). If you’re ever in the market for an RV, the $150 that RV.ORG charges for their buyers guide is well worth it;
4) Portable Printers – Bought an HP-460c for $60 on eBay; it has a built-in, rechargeable lithium battery, and does great printing and takes up very little space. There are newer (and better) HP models for >$300, but buying the older one saved a ton of money;
5) Netbooks - Wendy needed a new computer and loves her new Toshiba -- <3>10hours battery life, etc.
6) Mobile phones – Moving back to the US I had to navigate the maze of carriers, plans, devices, etc. We ended up spending a little more $ to go with Verizon, but there coverage map is much better and so far we’ve been very happy with the coverage and the customer service. My BlackBerry Tour is not as nice as the Bold I had in the UK (no WiFi support), but it’s still a long way from the first email only Blackberry (and only text at that) that I had back in 2002. I think this is my 7th or 8th Blackberry, and I’m still a big fan.
7) Coffee makers – When I drove the RV up from Virginia to Vermont I realized how much money I spend at gas stations on coffee. I did the math and realized that we’d either need to add a separate line in our family P&L for Wendy and my multiple times per day habit, or come up with a reasonable mobile solution. We ended up with a Keurig unit that can either use the very environmentally irresponsible single K-cup packages or brew a cup at a time with the re-usable filter. While it doesn’t have a steam head for milk foaming, it does brew a very good cup of coffee with no glass to break;
8) Rechargeable batteries – I now know far more than I ever wanted to about NiMH AA and AAA batteries and the proper types of chargers required to keep the batteries re-charging time and again. It’s amazing the number of devices we’re carrying that need batteries and how often they go through them:
a. Data logger – 3 AAA
b. Josh’s Lego NXT robot (part of his science curriculum) – 6 AA
c. Family Walkie Talkies – 6 AA and 8 AAA (we have two different pairs)
d. Flashlights – 8 AA for the non-crank flashlights we have;
e. I’m sure I’m leaving off a few others, so that’s why I have some spare batteries.
And, of course, this trip isn’t about the technology / gadgets at all, so I’m trying not to go too overboard and just have things that make our life easier but don’t keep us away from all the fun adventures we can be having. I’m still frustrated that I have very few photos of the times when I’m having the most fun – because who wants to stop to take photos when they’re having such a good time. I’ve also pretty much decided against doing any videos, as Wendy says, we don’t want to be one of those families that spends the first half of their life videoing themselves and the second half watching…
Home Schooling Prep – We had to plan both a 2nd grade and 6th grade curriculum, purchase materials (math texts, spelling texts, etc.) and convince the state of Vermont that we would be providing a good education for our children. We heavily borrowed from the American School in London (ASL) curriculum that our kids would have done this year, and are indebted to the ASL middle and lower school principals, our children’s teachers, friends with teaching backgrounds and other home schooler parents that we know. Thanks again for all of your support.
There has also been planning around our itineraries, especially some of the more complex / expense legs that require more advance planning and reservations (Churchill, Manitoba where we’re seeing the Polar Bears in October; Hawaii where Simon will be studying volcanos and tropical fish in January, etc.)
But, all of that is now behind us, we've gotten our tetanus boosters, our Vermont residency (drivers licenses, PO Box, car registrations), we've set all of our bills to paperless, we've arranged for someone to forward the mail and now we're on the road.
I haven’t been blogging for awhile, but it’s not like I haven’t been busy – I feel like I must be the busiest unemployed person around, and I don’t know how I ever managed my life when I also had to work. Here’s some of what has been happening in the lead up to the departure:
Web site – We’re now on the third iteration of our www.familyadventureyear.com web site, and it’s certainly not the last. I hoped to have a week in Vermont to do the photo integration (via Flickr) and the Google Maps API programming (so that you can interact with a map of our journey and see where we’ve been, where we’re going, etc. on a large map). Unfortunately, all of the other logistical issues have prevented me from doing the programming work required. I hope to spend a few days getting the site overhauled at some point before mid-September, and you’ll certainly hear about it first here if I get it down;
Gadgetry – While I’m happy to traipse off into the outdoors with just a backpack and sleeping bag, I thought that I’d take advantage of the adventure to update the family’s technology stack. If anyone has any detailed questions, send me an email as I’m now an expert on several new things:
1) Data loggers – I have an AMOD AGL3080 device that fits in my pocket (or clips onto the camera bag) and gets our GPS location every second. At the end of each day it geo-tags all of our photos, so if someone looks at any of our photos on Flickr (after I get around to uploading them) the location the photo was taken can be viewed;
2) Digital SLRs – I wanted a new camera to document the journey and have happily settled on the Canon T1i with both 18-55 and 75-300 image stabilization lenses. It’s amazing how much better the pictures are than with my other cameras;
3) RVs – See my last blog, but I spent a lot of time before settling on our WII (Winnebago-Itasca Impulse). If you’re ever in the market for an RV, the $150 that RV.ORG charges for their buyers guide is well worth it;
4) Portable Printers – Bought an HP-460c for $60 on eBay; it has a built-in, rechargeable lithium battery, and does great printing and takes up very little space. There are newer (and better) HP models for >$300, but buying the older one saved a ton of money;
5) Netbooks - Wendy needed a new computer and loves her new Toshiba -- <3>10hours battery life, etc.
6) Mobile phones – Moving back to the US I had to navigate the maze of carriers, plans, devices, etc. We ended up spending a little more $ to go with Verizon, but there coverage map is much better and so far we’ve been very happy with the coverage and the customer service. My BlackBerry Tour is not as nice as the Bold I had in the UK (no WiFi support), but it’s still a long way from the first email only Blackberry (and only text at that) that I had back in 2002. I think this is my 7th or 8th Blackberry, and I’m still a big fan.
7) Coffee makers – When I drove the RV up from Virginia to Vermont I realized how much money I spend at gas stations on coffee. I did the math and realized that we’d either need to add a separate line in our family P&L for Wendy and my multiple times per day habit, or come up with a reasonable mobile solution. We ended up with a Keurig unit that can either use the very environmentally irresponsible single K-cup packages or brew a cup at a time with the re-usable filter. While it doesn’t have a steam head for milk foaming, it does brew a very good cup of coffee with no glass to break;
8) Rechargeable batteries – I now know far more than I ever wanted to about NiMH AA and AAA batteries and the proper types of chargers required to keep the batteries re-charging time and again. It’s amazing the number of devices we’re carrying that need batteries and how often they go through them:
a. Data logger – 3 AAA
b. Josh’s Lego NXT robot (part of his science curriculum) – 6 AA
c. Family Walkie Talkies – 6 AA and 8 AAA (we have two different pairs)
d. Flashlights – 8 AA for the non-crank flashlights we have;
e. I’m sure I’m leaving off a few others, so that’s why I have some spare batteries.
And, of course, this trip isn’t about the technology / gadgets at all, so I’m trying not to go too overboard and just have things that make our life easier but don’t keep us away from all the fun adventures we can be having. I’m still frustrated that I have very few photos of the times when I’m having the most fun – because who wants to stop to take photos when they’re having such a good time. I’ve also pretty much decided against doing any videos, as Wendy says, we don’t want to be one of those families that spends the first half of their life videoing themselves and the second half watching…
Home Schooling Prep – We had to plan both a 2nd grade and 6th grade curriculum, purchase materials (math texts, spelling texts, etc.) and convince the state of Vermont that we would be providing a good education for our children. We heavily borrowed from the American School in London (ASL) curriculum that our kids would have done this year, and are indebted to the ASL middle and lower school principals, our children’s teachers, friends with teaching backgrounds and other home schooler parents that we know. Thanks again for all of your support.
There has also been planning around our itineraries, especially some of the more complex / expense legs that require more advance planning and reservations (Churchill, Manitoba where we’re seeing the Polar Bears in October; Hawaii where Simon will be studying volcanos and tropical fish in January, etc.)
But, all of that is now behind us, we've gotten our tetanus boosters, our Vermont residency (drivers licenses, PO Box, car registrations), we've set all of our bills to paperless, we've arranged for someone to forward the mail and now we're on the road.
Friday 24 July 2009
Homeless no more
The adventure is rapidly approaching reality with our recent purchase of a new Itasca Impulse 30-foot motor home. The purchase was the culmination of a grueling research, testing and bargaining process, and we are thrilled with the results.
For those who want the gory details, read on; for those just wanting to see the photos, skip down a few paragraphs. Motorhomes / caravans / RVs have their own subculture, terminology and complexities, none of which we had been exposed to until a few months ago. Basically, the first decision we had to make was the type of vehicle we wanted – a trailer or fifth wheel that is towed behind (and doesn’t allow people to travel in it when you’re driving) or a motor home that allows people to move around while you’re on the road (wearing seatbelts, of course, even though not legally required). After deciding on a motor home, the next decision is Class A or Class C (class B are built on van chassis and not good for families) – Class C, which we eventually decided on is built on a pick-up truck chassis and has a bed (or other space) over the cab; Class A are built on a bus or truck chassis and the cab is more integrated into the overall unit. In the end, we liked having the bed over the cab so the kids can have their own “bedroom” without having to fold up the bed each day that we hit the road. As one of the many salespeople we ended up dealing with said, “it’s like a two bedroom.”
The next challenge was figuring out how big, what features, what brand, etc. I won’t bore folks will all the gorey details, but I’d be happy to provide advice if you’re ever going through a similar process. We decided it needed to be under 34’ so that we could fit into most of the National Parks (many people, who have larger motor homes then tow a car behind them, because the motorhomes are too big to fit in a lot of places). The most invaluable advice was from the http://www.rv.org/ “How to Buy a Motor Home” guide and ratings CD. They provided a database of all models for the last 10 years, rating them on a number of safety and other features that the manufacturers don’t tell you about. At this point, we were staying in our storage facility in Atlanta and had narrowed it down to three units that we were interested in:
We got to the dealership around 3pm, Wendy test drove the unit (she had never driven an RV like this before, while I had test driven some of the other models) and Simon lay down and fell asleep during the test drive (which we took as a good sign). I decided that we would put in a bid via eBay, but that we couldn’t go nearly as high as the price the dealer was asking (which was a great price if you wanted to buy a new RV, but we were looking for a used one).
Jerry, the salesman, who was definitely one of the best salesmen (there don’t seem to be any RV saleswomen) we had met to date asked us what price we were willing to pay to buy it then. Wendy and I quickly caucused and threw out a price that was lower than what our final bid would have been and was 15% lower than the asking price and 40% off of MSRP. That’s when the fun the began (people who know me well know how much I enjoy a good negotiation). Jerry brought in the general manager, Doug, who sat down, pulled out the file, did some quick calculations, and then explained that the unit was priced at their cost but they wanted to move it out and were considering the offer. He then said “My job here is to make money, so when it comes losing it I don’t have a lot of experience.” At this point I’m thinking, but not saying, my view of negotiations like this (I’m not happy until they’re not happy). Doug then brought in the head of sales, Scott, who again tried to explain why I should pay more and what a great deal this was and what it was really worth quoting me NADA guide price (which said the unit, used, was worth $3k more than my offer). I then explained why I wasn’t going to pay more and used the classic “there’s only two prices that matter – what I’m willing to pay and what you’re willing to sell it for” line and he then said he would take the offer to the owner of the dealership.
He called the owner, and came back saying our offer was accepted if we could go up another $50 (it seems like the owner had to add some value if he was going to be involved in the transaction) and we finalized the deal. And that’s how we ended up with our RV. We ended up spending more than we had planned, but given that it’s a new unit, with full warranty, hope to get most of it back when we re-sell at the end of the adventure (and as part of the deal we agreed to use the dealer we bought it from to sell it on consignment). Unfortunately, RVs don’t get driven off the lot the same day you buy them – there’s apparently a lot of preparation work and the dealer then has to do a multi-hour orientation course to teach us the various workings of all the devices on the motor home. So, we shook Jerry’s, and Doug’s and Scott’s hand and agreed to see them again soon.
Now, a week after agreeing the deal, I’m writing this as I’m flying down to Virginia to pick up the RV and drive it back north. I’m planning to pick up Josh from summer camp this Saturday, and we’ll then have the RV in Vermont with us for the next three weeks as we prepare for the big adventure.
For those of you who weren’t interested in the details of the negotiation, here’s the details of our new “home” for the next year:
2008 Itasca Impulse 29T Motor Home built on a Ford 450 chassis with a 6.8L V10 engine (basically, a giant Conestoga wagon with 305 horses in front). Sleeps 8 (2 in bedroom, 2 above cab, the dinette converts to a double bed and the sofa folds down to a queen). Comes with a 55 gallon gas tank and we should get 10mpg on the highway. It’s along way from my Prius in terms of gas mileage, but I’m figuring if we average the two then we’re still under an SUV given that I drove the Prius about 15000 miles.
Here are the photos:
For those who want the gory details, read on; for those just wanting to see the photos, skip down a few paragraphs. Motorhomes / caravans / RVs have their own subculture, terminology and complexities, none of which we had been exposed to until a few months ago. Basically, the first decision we had to make was the type of vehicle we wanted – a trailer or fifth wheel that is towed behind (and doesn’t allow people to travel in it when you’re driving) or a motor home that allows people to move around while you’re on the road (wearing seatbelts, of course, even though not legally required). After deciding on a motor home, the next decision is Class A or Class C (class B are built on van chassis and not good for families) – Class C, which we eventually decided on is built on a pick-up truck chassis and has a bed (or other space) over the cab; Class A are built on a bus or truck chassis and the cab is more integrated into the overall unit. In the end, we liked having the bed over the cab so the kids can have their own “bedroom” without having to fold up the bed each day that we hit the road. As one of the many salespeople we ended up dealing with said, “it’s like a two bedroom.”
The next challenge was figuring out how big, what features, what brand, etc. I won’t bore folks will all the gorey details, but I’d be happy to provide advice if you’re ever going through a similar process. We decided it needed to be under 34’ so that we could fit into most of the National Parks (many people, who have larger motor homes then tow a car behind them, because the motorhomes are too big to fit in a lot of places). The most invaluable advice was from the http://www.rv.org/ “How to Buy a Motor Home” guide and ratings CD. They provided a database of all models for the last 10 years, rating them on a number of safety and other features that the manufacturers don’t tell you about. At this point, we were staying in our storage facility in Atlanta and had narrowed it down to three units that we were interested in:
- The old rental – A 31’ Winnebago 2005 Chalet with 56k miles. We found this at a Georgia dealership, it was priced right (15% below NADA guide price), but we were concerned about the high mileage (typically RVs get 5,000 miles of use each year, so this had more than 3 times the normal use);
- The high-end model – a 32’ Bigfoot 2004. This was my personal choice, a high-end brand that is consistently among the highest rated in terms of quality, but there were several problems: A) it was in Oregon, and we would have to fly out to pick it up; B) we would have to buy it pretty much sight unseen (or at least invest a few thousand in inspections and a flight out to Oregon before committing), and C) there were a few other interested buyers and I didn’t want to get into a bidding war.
- The over-priced, lightly used model – a 31’ Winnebago 2007 Access with 5600 miles. This unit, located just outside Atlanta was everything we were looking for, other than the price – the dealer was asking $59k, and there were 5 other similar units for sale on RV Trader for $49k. I emailed the dealer the details on the comparable units, then spoke with him and asked what the best price was. He never called back, despite my leaving two additional voicemails.
We got to the dealership around 3pm, Wendy test drove the unit (she had never driven an RV like this before, while I had test driven some of the other models) and Simon lay down and fell asleep during the test drive (which we took as a good sign). I decided that we would put in a bid via eBay, but that we couldn’t go nearly as high as the price the dealer was asking (which was a great price if you wanted to buy a new RV, but we were looking for a used one).
Jerry, the salesman, who was definitely one of the best salesmen (there don’t seem to be any RV saleswomen) we had met to date asked us what price we were willing to pay to buy it then. Wendy and I quickly caucused and threw out a price that was lower than what our final bid would have been and was 15% lower than the asking price and 40% off of MSRP. That’s when the fun the began (people who know me well know how much I enjoy a good negotiation). Jerry brought in the general manager, Doug, who sat down, pulled out the file, did some quick calculations, and then explained that the unit was priced at their cost but they wanted to move it out and were considering the offer. He then said “My job here is to make money, so when it comes losing it I don’t have a lot of experience.” At this point I’m thinking, but not saying, my view of negotiations like this (I’m not happy until they’re not happy). Doug then brought in the head of sales, Scott, who again tried to explain why I should pay more and what a great deal this was and what it was really worth quoting me NADA guide price (which said the unit, used, was worth $3k more than my offer). I then explained why I wasn’t going to pay more and used the classic “there’s only two prices that matter – what I’m willing to pay and what you’re willing to sell it for” line and he then said he would take the offer to the owner of the dealership.
He called the owner, and came back saying our offer was accepted if we could go up another $50 (it seems like the owner had to add some value if he was going to be involved in the transaction) and we finalized the deal. And that’s how we ended up with our RV. We ended up spending more than we had planned, but given that it’s a new unit, with full warranty, hope to get most of it back when we re-sell at the end of the adventure (and as part of the deal we agreed to use the dealer we bought it from to sell it on consignment). Unfortunately, RVs don’t get driven off the lot the same day you buy them – there’s apparently a lot of preparation work and the dealer then has to do a multi-hour orientation course to teach us the various workings of all the devices on the motor home. So, we shook Jerry’s, and Doug’s and Scott’s hand and agreed to see them again soon.
Now, a week after agreeing the deal, I’m writing this as I’m flying down to Virginia to pick up the RV and drive it back north. I’m planning to pick up Josh from summer camp this Saturday, and we’ll then have the RV in Vermont with us for the next three weeks as we prepare for the big adventure.
For those of you who weren’t interested in the details of the negotiation, here’s the details of our new “home” for the next year:
2008 Itasca Impulse 29T Motor Home built on a Ford 450 chassis with a 6.8L V10 engine (basically, a giant Conestoga wagon with 305 horses in front). Sleeps 8 (2 in bedroom, 2 above cab, the dinette converts to a double bed and the sofa folds down to a queen). Comes with a 55 gallon gas tank and we should get 10mpg on the highway. It’s along way from my Prius in terms of gas mileage, but I’m figuring if we average the two then we’re still under an SUV given that I drove the Prius about 15000 miles.
Here are the photos:
Right side view, main door in the middle
Left side, with Dinette slide out
Simon & Josh's bed above the cab
View to the front
View to the back, from the cab
Wednesday 1 July 2009
R.S.V.P.
It has been a long time since I’ve Blogged, but I’ve been busy 
finishing up my job, ensuring we got out of England with all of our belongings (when you’re married to someone who is always looking for an excuse to take your favorite 20-year old t-shirts and useless plastic objects to the charity shop, constant vigilance is always required). And, getting ready to send Josh off to summer camp (dropped him on Sunday) and head off with Wendy and Simon down to Atlanta.
I’ve also been focused on getting all the gadgets ready for the trip (and am happily typing this while on-line in my car thanks to Verizon wireless Internet). And, I’ve been working on the Web site (which still needs another week of work that I’ve planned for late July to get the photos and mapping working). But today, I’m not thinking about technology. I’m thinking about the South, town planning, strip-mallization, national brand dominance and where I’m going to have breakfast.
Driving down through Virginia yesterday and North Carolina today, I’m forcibly reminded of my love/hate relationship with the South. The thoughts started flowing this morning as I ran across the Brunswick country line, just past the small town of McKinney, VA. On the line was the following sign, highlighting the county’s great contribution to the southern culinary landscape – Brunswick Stew
Here’s the text from the historical marker in case you can’t read it from the picture:
According to local tradition, while Dr. Creed Haskins and several friends were on a hunting trip in Brunswick County in 1828, his camp cook, Jimmy Matthews, hunted squirrels for a stew. Matthews simmered the squirrels with butter, onions, stale bread, and seasoning, thus creating the dish known as Brunswick stew. Recipes for Brunswick stew have changed over time as chicken has replaced squirrel and vegetables have been added, but the stew remains thick and rich. Other states have made similar claims but Virginia’s is the first.
Now, back in 2001, when we decided to move down to Atlanta, I got a lot of funny looks and stories from my family, most of whom have never lived more than 20 miles outside of New York City. My uncle told me the following joke (which I’ve repeated often) – “You know when you’re down in Georgia and see R.S.V.P on a dinner invitation, do you know what it means? Roast Squirrel Very Possilble”
Now the Atlanta area is as cosmopolitan a city as any, and we were never offered squirrel while we lived down there, but still, when we’d head up north to some of the small Appalachian towns, I got the sense that my uncle’s joke wasn’t too far off the mark. And then, here in McKinney, out for my morning jog past the tobacco field and Baptist church, the sign was bringing it all back – These people eat squirrels, and like them, and write about it on historical markers.
We got back in the car and put on Mary Chapin Carpenter’s
“I am a town.” It was now 7am and we were in a hurry to leave because Wendy was getting nervous about the domestic dispute that was going on several doors down at our hotel. I didn’t mention that we had stayed for the night at a cheap and non-descript roadside motel off of US 1 that probably wasn’t much in its day and whenever that day was, it certainly hasn’t been in the past 25 years.
So we got in the car and continued heading South, deciding we’d get breakfast once we crossed into North Carolina. We were driving down US 1, which parallels I-85 because Interstates are pretty boring and you can’t really see what you’re driving through. Of course, it became pretty clear that there wasn’t much to miss on the Interstate, but we decided to stay on US 1 anyway, getting stuck behind tractors but not passing any traffic lights. I tried explaining to Simon what tobacco is (we’d driven through several fields, and yesterday had gone by the Phillip Morris world HQ on I-95, which reminded me, both architecturally and morally of the Death Star from the original Star Wars movie). Simon thought tobacco was something used in sauce, and we had a very amusing conversation about the differences between Tobacco and Tabasco (“What’s the difference dad?” asked Simon. “An S,” I replied, “and one kills people through cigarettes while the other makes food taste better”)
Anyways, we were now approaching the NC line and getting ready for breakfast, but each town we drove through had nothing resembling a diner or other local restaurant. There were lots of gas stations and convenience stores, plenty of flea markets and churches and other stores, but no restaurants. We did pass a Burger King and a couple of hamburger stands, but nothing resembling a local restaurant. It’s amazing how many Cracker Barrel, Denny’s and Waffle Hut signs we had seen off I-95 the day before but we hadn’t even passed one of them (not that we would have stopped if we had).
Finally, however, we were redeemed: Driving into the town of Henders
on, we came across the Sunrise Biscuit Company – it seemed like everything we were looking for: a locally made breakfast; not a national chain; some ‘Southern’ character, etc. I had the scrambled egg & cheese platter with a biscuit and a side of grits, Simon had the pancakes (which he proclaimed bigger than his head and larger than any he had ever seen before). The perky woman behind the counter had the best southern accent ever; straight out of central casting. We probably got nicer, more friendly service in 5 minutes than all of the times we’d had breakfast in the UK over the past 6 years. The eggs and grits were good and Simon said the pancakes were almost as good as Grandpa’s.
It’s amazing how often stereotypes can come true (especially if you’re looking for them), but that’s not always a bad thing. Chalk one more tally mark on the “love” side of my love/hate relationship with the South. Of course, it helped that they didn’t have squirrel on the menu and the coffee refills were free.
finishing up my job, ensuring we got out of England with all of our belongings (when you’re married to someone who is always looking for an excuse to take your favorite 20-year old t-shirts and useless plastic objects to the charity shop, constant vigilance is always required). And, getting ready to send Josh off to summer camp (dropped him on Sunday) and head off with Wendy and Simon down to Atlanta.
I’ve also been focused on getting all the gadgets ready for the trip (and am happily typing this while on-line in my car thanks to Verizon wireless Internet). And, I’ve been working on the Web site (which still needs another week of work that I’ve planned for late July to get the photos and mapping working). But today, I’m not thinking about technology. I’m thinking about the South, town planning, strip-mallization, national brand dominance and where I’m going to have breakfast.
Driving down through Virginia yesterday and North Carolina today, I’m forcibly reminded of my love/hate relationship with the South. The thoughts started flowing this morning as I ran across the Brunswick country line, just past the small town of McKinney, VA. On the line was the following sign, highlighting the county’s great contribution to the southern culinary landscape – Brunswick Stew
Here’s the text from the historical marker in case you can’t read it from the picture:
According to local tradition, while Dr. Creed Haskins and several friends were on a hunting trip in Brunswick County in 1828, his camp cook, Jimmy Matthews, hunted squirrels for a stew. Matthews simmered the squirrels with butter, onions, stale bread, and seasoning, thus creating the dish known as Brunswick stew. Recipes for Brunswick stew have changed over time as chicken has replaced squirrel and vegetables have been added, but the stew remains thick and rich. Other states have made similar claims but Virginia’s is the first.
Now, back in 2001, when we decided to move down to Atlanta, I got a lot of funny looks and stories from my family, most of whom have never lived more than 20 miles outside of New York City. My uncle told me the following joke (which I’ve repeated often) – “You know when you’re down in Georgia and see R.S.V.P on a dinner invitation, do you know what it means? Roast Squirrel Very Possilble”
Now the Atlanta area is as cosmopolitan a city as any, and we were never offered squirrel while we lived down there, but still, when we’d head up north to some of the small Appalachian towns, I got the sense that my uncle’s joke wasn’t too far off the mark. And then, here in McKinney, out for my morning jog past the tobacco field and Baptist church, the sign was bringing it all back – These people eat squirrels, and like them, and write about it on historical markers.
We got back in the car and put on Mary Chapin Carpenter’s
“I am a town.” It was now 7am and we were in a hurry to leave because Wendy was getting nervous about the domestic dispute that was going on several doors down at our hotel. I didn’t mention that we had stayed for the night at a cheap and non-descript roadside motel off of US 1 that probably wasn’t much in its day and whenever that day was, it certainly hasn’t been in the past 25 years.So we got in the car and continued heading South, deciding we’d get breakfast once we crossed into North Carolina. We were driving down US 1, which parallels I-85 because Interstates are pretty boring and you can’t really see what you’re driving through. Of course, it became pretty clear that there wasn’t much to miss on the Interstate, but we decided to stay on US 1 anyway, getting stuck behind tractors but not passing any traffic lights. I tried explaining to Simon what tobacco is (we’d driven through several fields, and yesterday had gone by the Phillip Morris world HQ on I-95, which reminded me, both architecturally and morally of the Death Star from the original Star Wars movie). Simon thought tobacco was something used in sauce, and we had a very amusing conversation about the differences between Tobacco and Tabasco (“What’s the difference dad?” asked Simon. “An S,” I replied, “and one kills people through cigarettes while the other makes food taste better”)
Anyways, we were now approaching the NC line and getting ready for breakfast, but each town we drove through had nothing resembling a diner or other local restaurant. There were lots of gas stations and convenience stores, plenty of flea markets and churches and other stores, but no restaurants. We did pass a Burger King and a couple of hamburger stands, but nothing resembling a local restaurant. It’s amazing how many Cracker Barrel, Denny’s and Waffle Hut signs we had seen off I-95 the day before but we hadn’t even passed one of them (not that we would have stopped if we had).
Finally, however, we were redeemed: Driving into the town of Henders
on, we came across the Sunrise Biscuit Company – it seemed like everything we were looking for: a locally made breakfast; not a national chain; some ‘Southern’ character, etc. I had the scrambled egg & cheese platter with a biscuit and a side of grits, Simon had the pancakes (which he proclaimed bigger than his head and larger than any he had ever seen before). The perky woman behind the counter had the best southern accent ever; straight out of central casting. We probably got nicer, more friendly service in 5 minutes than all of the times we’d had breakfast in the UK over the past 6 years. The eggs and grits were good and Simon said the pancakes were almost as good as Grandpa’s.It’s amazing how often stereotypes can come true (especially if you’re looking for them), but that’s not always a bad thing. Chalk one more tally mark on the “love” side of my love/hate relationship with the South. Of course, it helped that they didn’t have squirrel on the menu and the coffee refills were free.
Sunday 1 March 2009
Telling the kids
Yesterday, after a week of planning / discussion, Wendy and I finally told the kids. It's amazing how hard it was for us to keep the secret (and contain our excitement) for a week. We wanted to wait until the weekend so that everyone would be in a little mellower and not have all the normal distractions (dinner, homework, bedtime) and it worked pretty well. Mid-way through a standard family meeting (1. what are the rules around going into each other's rooms when a guest is over, 2. what are the play dates for next week, 3. what are we planning for the upcoming long weekend) we said we had a big announcement. Josh immediately asked Wendy, "are you pregnant?" before we told them that we would be moving back to the US but not to a house.
Each of their reactions was different. At first, Josh was upset because he thought he would be out of school for a year and then would be with much younger kids when he returned; we assured him that next year would be his 6th grade year and he'd start in 7th in 2010. Nonetheless he was insistant that "I expect to be supplied with extra school work." I'll make sure to have those words framed or put on a wallet-sized card for reference anytime he complains about the workload...
Simon (7 years old) was not really sure how to take the news. He knew it was big (he doesn't remember living anywhere else but London) and said, "It's weird and freaky... I feel like this isn't happening". It really helped him to be able to write out his feelings in his blog and he's looking forward to keeping a diary. Simon's biggest excitement was getting his own email account (his big brother had to wait until he was 11 for one).
After the initial shock, we started talking about all the cool and interesting places we are hoping to go and the kids have been very excited since. Each of them wanted to immediately call their best friends to break the news, and we took a recess from the family meeting while the calls were made, tears were shed and excitement was shared.
Once we told the kids, we then updated Facebook and emailed the announcement to friends and family. So far we've gotten very positive feedback and lots of good suggestions from friends all over the world.
Each of their reactions was different. At first, Josh was upset because he thought he would be out of school for a year and then would be with much younger kids when he returned; we assured him that next year would be his 6th grade year and he'd start in 7th in 2010. Nonetheless he was insistant that "I expect to be supplied with extra school work." I'll make sure to have those words framed or put on a wallet-sized card for reference anytime he complains about the workload...
Simon (7 years old) was not really sure how to take the news. He knew it was big (he doesn't remember living anywhere else but London) and said, "It's weird and freaky... I feel like this isn't happening". It really helped him to be able to write out his feelings in his blog and he's looking forward to keeping a diary. Simon's biggest excitement was getting his own email account (his big brother had to wait until he was 11 for one).
After the initial shock, we started talking about all the cool and interesting places we are hoping to go and the kids have been very excited since. Each of them wanted to immediately call their best friends to break the news, and we took a recess from the family meeting while the calls were made, tears were shed and excitement was shared.
Once we told the kids, we then updated Facebook and emailed the announcement to friends and family. So far we've gotten very positive feedback and lots of good suggestions from friends all over the world.
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