Cruising again

Its been two years since the last cruise, and this one takes us around the British Isles.here is the first of letters home:

Last night, after we all had a long afternoon nap to catch back up, Becca, Josie, and Brianna went on their first tour. It was the spooky Jack the Ripper and haunted places of London, and it delivered spookiness. Our guide was very informed, not overly dramatic but definitely got the point across. We saw "ripper's corner" and the stairwell into which the bloody apron was thrown. And we also saw the interesting border between London and it's East End. We also visited the oldest church, St. Bartholemy's and the hospital, still in use (but not for emergencies) in the dark. It was a late night, and getting back by subway and walking meant we were really walking a lot and late, but there were still lots of people on the streets, and a generally festive atmosphere (gay pride parade). 

this was my trip journal from July 7th

The drive into YELL from the northeast entrance road was undoubtedly the loveliest of the five
entrances. The national forest up there is cut by only two roads, both well maintained by the
state of Wyoming, and both smoothly winding. The towns outside the park are very small one-street,
no stoplight camping villages, accessable from Cody or Billings.
Within five minutes of paying our user fee (25$ for the week for those folks not of senior age)
we saw a brown hump on the edge of meadow, and my first thought was 'bear'. Well, it was one!
I had never before seen a bear in Yell, although I had seen them in GRSM. We turned around and
clearly saw the classic teddy-bear ears. He spooked and we didn't get a picture, but the luck
had begun.
Our next stop was Lamar Valley, where we found people eagerly looking up the North side
at a fence-enclosed forest in the middle of a sagebrush covered hill opposite the river and valley.
They had seen wolves, including pups, but the canids were hidden. After finding bison fluff on
the valley side, I got into the car and thought, 'hmmm, how did you get a radio signal out here"
when my mom pointed out that it was a howl! So melodic! It sounded like a woman singing a
country song, and really did give me chills.
We saw hundreds of Bison in Lamar. When we saw the first Griz, it was busy digging something out
of the ground, and where we parked, it was the required 100 feet away. I watched it through
the long lens of the eos and tried to get pix when it popped its head up. However, when I turned
around, the car was no longer there! They had driven up to get a better (closer) view and left me.
So I had to go closer to the bear to get to the safety of the car. The ranger was not amused, but
since I was on the far side of the road, allowed me to pass and get in. He would not allow mom
to stay out and take a picture, though. It would have served them right if they'd had to find a
turnout to come back for me, if I hadn't been allowed to walk toward the car.
We had our first Bison in the road. Fortunately, its eyes were calm and mellow, not rolling, and
he stared right into our car. I thought I got the picture, but perhaps the eos (camera) jammed,
because it couldn't be reviewed. I am hoping photoshop will be able to resusitate it.
Lastly, on the way out of the park to Gardiner, MT, I saw the famed stone arch. I thought it
was at the Northeast entrance, and I was vexed not to have seen it. Turns out the Roosevelt
arch is right outside the pay station on the North entrance. I was so close the prior to visits,
and I never knew, because I had the wrong info. So the next morning we stopped for the pictures.

brief checkin before checking in

It is late Wednesday, and I will be getting up in 6 hours to fly to Chicago to visit my stepbrother, his wife and their adorable children. This is the first leg of a multi-city, multi-relative tour. my suitcase only weighs 40 pounds and has my mother's family history scrapbook in it, which for me, is a coup! we will be gone for three weeks, but hope to find laundry along the way. Otherwise, i will not smell very nice. daughter's suitcase is small, stuffed, but not very heavy, which is perfect. I resisted using a big bulky suitcase, but since I am the one heaving it up, down and sideways, i think size is a consideration, as much as weight. I am using a new jansport with nice turquoise targets on it, hating those ubiquitous red or black bags everyone else seems to have. Okay, dear daughter's is red, but I didn't buy it, it was a hand-me-down. One fact of life is that the more you weigh, the more your clothes weigh, and the heavier your luggage is. between that and the size of airline seats, there is enough reason to lose some of my pounds. It is a battle that is at a stalemate right now.

I was hoping for a big fireworks display for the 4th, and my kin assure me that their tiny town will deliver, but I am a little disappointed that we are not going downtown or someplace bigger. With small kids, though, I can see why they don't want to this year.
also, I am anxious about the weather. It has been so hot in Gainesville - 95 every day, muggy, and now finally getting some rain. Dear d has gotten used to being very warm, and if it is noticeably cool, there will be much complainage. Yet, i packed clothes for us for cooler weather. So if it is not cool, I will be the one complaining. You really cannot win if you have a big body and a small suitcase.

Spring Break driving adventures

Did you know that there are over 50 billboard signs for that stupid South of Border along I-95 (southbound) in North Carolina before you actually hit Dillon, SC? That place is so cheesy, my daughter and I may just have to visit before she grows up too much. I will have to see if we are allowed to climb the sombrero tower before I commit to staying there, though. It is a comfortable drive from our town to Dillon in one day, so it is within the realm of possibility...
We took the scenic route north when travelling to (almost) Trenton, and it really was pretty. I found this road that is basically an interstate highway, but almost nobody is on it. Sorta like the Suncoast Parkway in Florida - sadly underutilized. In North Carolina the roadside forests were draped with wisteria in full bloom. The medians were congested with daffodils. I found a buffet in Cheraw, SC that had some tasty fried chicken. I could tell that it used to be a Quincy's because it had the same layout, food warming islands and color scheme as our town's old Quincy's. However, the drive north went poorly after Charlottesville, Virgina (where UVA is). What is it with university towns and their absolute inability to build enough roads to handle traffic?!? (see Gainesville, Morgantown, etc). There were roads, but each one was filled to the maximum, peppered with useless traffic signals designed to slow the progress of those on the main road. When I finally got north of the worst of it, I was in this very pretty rolling hills, and frustrated by other slow drivers. Then two cars zoomed past, and I attempted to keep pace with them. Now, I did not want to drive only 62 in a 60 mph zone, but neither did I think it was a good idea to drive 72, either, as I soon found out when a Virginia state trooper pulled over both cars just a mile ahead of me. I was going about 68 and deciding the locals were not slow for no reason, after all. So I made the decision to get back on the interstate rather than continue on the slower byways. Wouldn't you know I found a large truck center near the last few miles? So many semis on these little country roads. I was glad to get back on the highway even if I did have to skirt DC. The two good things about it: Snow flurries in Virgina and taking the high-occupancy-vehicle lane exit to 495 which had a super-fun roller-coaster dip right off the exit ramp. "Do it AGAIN!" yelled my daughter. Wish I could, baby, maybe next year...

The Scenic Route

I hate Interstate 95. I am going from Florida to Pennsylvania and back. I hope to take two days each way. And the most direct route is the most dreaded (by me) on the planet. I would rather drive anywhere else than DC, Wilmington and Baltimore (in that order). Honestly. So I am trying to come up with alternative routes that won't take me too far out of the way or through too many small towns on too many small highways. I actually don't mind adding miles to my trip if the scenery is worth it. And I do like going through small towns as long as they aren't Waldo (Fla). Google it if ya don't believe me. But (there is always a but), since I am driving with my dear daughter, I don't want to be too far from civilization, rescue, anonymity. Also, there are only so many hours she is willing to withstand in a carseat, even if playing with cousins is the major bribe for going.
That said, I am going to try something new. Go where I haven't gone before. I am going to minimize interstate driving. Not at the expense of a speed limit of 45, but I am sticking to smaller highways, smaller towns. I am going to look for some fruit stands and farmers markets. I still look back fondly on the groves of pecan trees in late summer along US41 in south Georgia, cotton bolls literally littering the road-side, and the southern mansions with manicured lawns. There is really nothing like it. So I am going to try to find that kind of fun further north.
Oh, and here is the kicker...(are you ready for it?)...there will be nothing (and no-one) named Magellan, Tom-Tom, or Garmin in my car. No GPS. Just good old triple-A road maps, maybe an atlas, printed directions, and even a Gazetteer. Hopelessly old fashioned? Perhaps. However, I have found that it is really hard to have an experience when that little voice is nagging you to take a right in 200 yards. It is not all about the destination, people. Sometimes it is good to look around, decide on the spur of the moment to take that road less travelled, and even to get lost. I have gotten lost before, and it doesn't scare me. You meet some of the nicest people and see the prettiest sights getting lost. And it feels like an adventure again instead of just a long commute.
I figure I am adding about two hours of driving time. Balance that against the wait times in DC traffic jams, and the difficulty of actually finding the McDonalds in Virginia (those freaks don't believe in tourist-friendly advertisement), and I might come out ahead. If I am lucky, I may find a fried chicken or catfish place for dinner that will be worth revisiting. If I am unlucky, I will merely find another way not to go. Wish me luck!

tirade

I haven't blogged in a couple days, and I had this rant on my mind, but now I have forgotten what I was going to have a tirade about. Aint getting old grand? Actually, maybe that is why all my relatives were more mellow and happy the older they got! They simply forgot what they were all upset over. I do realize that not everybody gets nicer as they age, some turn into curmudgeons and other odious persons. So it could be worse. I think I am a lot more mellow than I used to be, but it could just be experience doing its work. I have been through a lot and it has taught me patience. It is fun to teach my daughter about things, too. I was teaching her about driving, today, not that she will be ready for it for a while. I was explaining that we drive on the right and sit on the left-hand side of the car. That we stay right except to pass. I am honest, too. i confessed that I speed, and that sometimes I tailgate, but that it isn't correct to do that. I remember when I was a girl that my grandmother would give me impromptu driving lessons. i remember really paying attention and taking it to heart. I cannot remember anything else she really taught me, so either her instruction was exceptional in its rarity or in its content. I try to remember that my daughter is just a sponge for information now. I think people forget that kids are always learning. It is not always apparent, even to themselves. My daughter will get home from school and complain that they "only teach me things I already KNOW!" I remember hating reviews when I was a kid, too, and finally realizing much later that I learn and retain things much faster than my peers, and that I could daydream or draw during the obligatory review sessions because I simply didn't need it. So she says that she hasn't learned anything in Kindergarten, except that she is now suddenly reading books, adding, subtracting, and knows what part of a bug its "thorax" is! I know her education is better than mine was. I will have to see if I can help her retain her skills over the approaching summer. Travel will give us some unique opportunities to learn map-reading (she already has compass directions understood), history, and distance. As well as meet a ton of relatives. I see why parents and educators get so excited over 'potential' of the mind to learn. It is amazing. It is not completely understood. But it is worthy of study. i think about aging and one thing I see is a slow reverse of elasticity of the brain and the ability to learn. I see the decline, and I can see that there are ways to reverse it. Just like muscle training for seniors, learning new things, exploring new points of view, and acquiring new skills are vital for a full life. I will be doing my part!

Gijon and Bilbao

Back to my travels...The first stop on the second cruise after leaving the port of Lisbon was a place on the northern, Asturian coast of Spain, named Gijon. It is pronounced much like a donkey's bray (or if you speak spanish, you may try their phonetic Xixon (accent on second syllable)). Our tour also took us into Oveido on a Sunday. Many shops were closed, as I expected, but a few were opening up. Our first point on the tour was an ancient Roman structure (about the size of a small barn) that had served several uses over its thousand years. It was up on a hillside overlooking the city and the view it commanded was just grand! The weather was cool and breezy, and it was perfect for a morning hike. My poor mother was about three fourths the way up, and realizing that she was going to have a hard time going down and debated whether it would be best to start right away. I am glad she persevered and got to see it. The structure itself was used as a summer house by conquering Romans, a troups barracks, a storage house, and finally as a national historical site. It is amazing how long some things last, if preserved even a little. We had to hike back down the hill, and my mom convinced the tour guide that a cab was essential, not just for herself but also another. The bus driver was not very cooperative, and my mom may not have hiked at all if he hadn't insisted she get off the bus, but it worked out well in spite of it all. The next spot for the tour was Oveido where we got to see many local Roman Catholics filing in to their church service. I am sure they loved (heavy sarcasm) a bunch of American tourists getting in the way and gawking at their buildings. Right after noon, there was an impromptu celebration parade of drumming and flute playing groups dressed up in traditional costumes. I don't think it was planned, but an amazing coincidence. There were several of these groups, some only eight members, some as large as 50. They marched through their streets (most of which were pedestrian only) playing and carrying their banners. I think the best description might be that they were clubs organized by heritage? It was amazing to watch and the music was lively. There were also a number of public statues to look at, and mimic. Our favorite was the 'travellers' since they, laden with luggage, looked so much like our own experience. However, another statue deserves a mention - the double butts. How funny that statue looked in this very conservative town! There was also a 400 year old University. Think about that next time you visit our own schools.

I need to mention how clean these cities were, especially Bilbao. Bilbao was a fairly large city and it had NO dirt or trash anywhere. There were no homeless people, no beggars. Everyone was well dressed and proper. There were sidewalk cafe's filled with customers. There were high-rise buildings all around with excellent public transportation busses and trams. It was like an urban utopia, and I did wonder what it cost them. Do they have to pay high taxes to support the cleanliness? Do they lock up all their unsavories somewhere, or just take them someplace else? I saw young people and old, but no one who was really old. It was a little bit creepy in that respect. One of the four Guggenheim museums is located in Bilbao, and it was impressive in a modern way. Near it was a unique playground for kids of all ages. There was a snack stand and restroom (free!). There was a giant ropes structure on which you could climb, and I was so glad I had taken my daughter. We played for an hour on this playground. There were also really strange variations of traditional playground equipment, and there were mound of texturized semi-spheres in the ground on which you could sit or jump. Older kids were playing there too, jumping from sphere to sphere. In front of the museum is a giant statue of a puppy that is a 3-D flower bed, covered with the pinks, yellows, reds and greens of blooms and leaves. At the gift shop, we purchase a tshirt souvenier with the flower puppy, and the cashier said, "Grathiath" in perfect kings' spanish lisp. I marvelled that such an advanced society still spoke spanish like thick-tongued five-year-olds. People are amazing. My daughter and mother did very well on this tour, and it was amazing to see such places that I never would have guessed were there.

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