Oh Pioneers!

After the super long drive yesterday, we spent a whole day relaxing in Nauvoo and learning more about our hardy Mormon pioneer progenitors. It's still stifling hot, but at least they reconstructed the old pioneer houses with modern pioneer AC.



This is Willard Richard's sword. Dad thought about claiming it as a birthright, but it turns out nearly everyone is related to Willard Richards so he gave up.



The temple at sunset. We stopped here on the way to a pageant in Nauvoo. Dad saw it when he was a kid, but they have toned down the fun music from what he remembered. We just got lucky coming through on pageant day, but it worked out that we could go.

According to the kids, the best part of this stop was the hotel pool. They even had a kiddie pool for kid #3, but he decided it isn't a kiddie pool, it's a cat pool.

West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois...

All in one day! We put some miles down, all the way from Morgantown WV to Fort Madison IA (just over the Mississippi from IL). That's a lot of driving, but we did stop for a nice picnic in Bloomfield OH. Carmen the Garmin (our GPS) even found us a little park to play in.

Take me to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

The original plan for today was to head for the coast and go to Assateague Island to see the wild ponies. But who wants to backtrack on a cross-country trip? We spent another day in DC and went to the National Zoo instead.



We saw the real pandas, but they wouldn't cuddle so we used this bronze one for a photo.

After spending the whole day at the zoo, we drove across the whole state of Maryland. The kids were wiped out!

One more of DC...

We spent the rest of the day outside walking around the Mall. There was a big thunderstorm while we were in the museums, so it cooled off a bit and wasn't quite so muggy. We saw the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, and the White House. Everyone ended up with sore feet, but it was worth it.

DC continued...

DC is really amazing. There is so much to see crammed into just a few blocks. To top it off, the Boy Scouts are having a National Jamboree here right now, so whenever we cut across the Mall we saw an enormous scout parade with floats, bands, and balloons. We spend most of the afternoon in the Natural History museum.

And stopped in the American History museum for a few highlights. Mom had to see the First Lady dresses.

And of course the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. That's not a flying monkey, it's Kid #2's smashed face peering over the back.

If Kermit is the leader, this guy is probably the chief diplomat. After all, his primary function is etiquette and protocol.

Take me to your leader...

Today we're in Washington DC. The seat of our nation's government. Only a select few are aware that the real power in DC lies with a small, wise, green being. Yoda? You wish...



This is the Big Chief. And he lives in the Smithsonian. We stopped by to pay our respects.

We had breakfast in the Smithsonian castle with the remains of James Smithson himself. All the museums in DC are free, but 4 muffins and a bagel runs about $30.

The Air and Space museum took the rest of the morning. It was awesome! We especially liked the lunar module.

We took a break after lunch at the Hirschorn fountain. Looks nice. Smells funky.

Breuckelen

First night on the road, we crashed at DayBass Inc. in Brooklyn (Breuckelen is the Dutch spelling)



Dalyn and Sebastian have a great view from their roof.

We spent the morning wandering around Prospect Park with the dogs (Ellie, Thorton, and Bug). The kids loved the dogs! The dogs weren't so sure about the kids. We also saw the famous Monk Parakeets of Brooklyn. It was sweltering hot and humid, so we made good use of the sprayers.

Thanks DayBass for the prime accomodations!

On to DC...

PS- we are playing the license plate game on the road- 2 days of driving and already up to 33 plates!

Loaded, locked, and ready to roll

The final packing went pretty smoothly. We ended up using just over 15 ft, but because of the way the truck is set up we had to install the bulkhead wall that divides our stuff from the rest of the load at 17 ft. So, we only saved 2 ft from our original estimate. Still, at $150 a foot that's not bad!

It took three trips to the hardware store and a run to WallyMart, but we finally got the padlocks we needed to secure it all. Hopefully it stays.

Good bye New Hampshire!

Let the moving commence!

After a couple of weeks of diligent packing (by mom) and living in Box Hell, we were off to a good start.

The truck arrived Wednesday, we had some moving help that night (thanks Robert, Mike, and Derrick), and as of this afternoon it's pretty much all in. Just kept out the mattresses for one more night. We've only used 14 ft of our 19 ft allotment on the trailer thanks to some impressive jigsaw packing by the volunteer crew. We even had some time this afternoon to finally check out the brand new library (first and last visit), swim at the good old Memorial Pool, and hit up the Dairy Twirl one more time.

Planning a westward trek

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