Massachusetts – New Year, New Toothbrush?


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If your New Year’s resolution is to exercise, then schedule a trip to Massachusetts. Between walking the Freedom Trail in Boston, climbing Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, and combing the beach on Cape Cod, you’ll get plenty of exercise. Just don’t eat anything because Mass (that’s what the New Englanders call Massachusetts) is famous for many foods that aren’t very healthy, like clam chowder, Cape Cod Potato Chips, Boston Cream Pie, buttery lobster, and Parker House rolls, to name a few.

While we were in Massachusetts, we tried to see as many sights as possible while exercising so that we could eat our fair share of the regional foods. Here are some highlights from our week in Mass:

Best Regional Food: Cape Cod Potato Chips. We took the factory tour which honestly was pretty lame. It was set up like Krispy Kreme where you walk down the line and peer thru windows while reading about the process. In all fairness, potato chip production is longer than donuts, both they’re both junk food cooked in oil with a delightful treat at the end. In the Cape Cod store where the tour ended, they handed out 2 small bags of chips to each person. They weren’t warm like at Krispy Kreme, but they were delicious, none the less, and coming from me, a non-potato chip eater, that’s quite a compliment. Cape Cod chips are little crunchier than regular chips but not heavy like most kettle chips, and they’re packed with flavor. We bought a couple extra flavors that sounded intriguing, like Parmesan & Roasted Garlic and Sweet & Spicy Jalapeno.

Favorite Meal: Pizza - with a view. Since we were there after Labor Day, we were able to stay on the beach in Cape Cod considerably cheaper than during the summer. Our balcony overlooked the pool, and with a turn of your head you could see the ocean. Now I know about those fancy alarm clocks that project the time on the ceiling for those of us too lazy to turn our heads to check the time, but I was more than willing to turn my head for an ocean view! I enjoyed the balcony and view so much that I didn’t want to leave for dinner, so we ordered pizza for delivery.

Most Regrettable Food: Shot-cakes. We’ve been watching the Food Channel frequently because, well, we love food, it’s always family friendly, and there’s not much else to do in a hotel room while you’re waiting for your turn in the shower. After seeing Cupcake Wars, we were excited to split a shot-cake, a cupcake with a scoop of ice cream injected into it…what a great concept! Unfortunately the execution didn’t turn out as delicious as we had hoped. The cake portion was bland, and the ice cream and frosting didn’t mix well on our taste buds. I’m not sure if we’ll make it to a cupcakery during the rest of the trip, but there’s surely no need for more shot-cakes.

Best Tourist Spot: The Freedom Trail. It’s a long path laid out in red bricks along the streets and sidewalks so that you can follow it through Boston to see various historical places. We followed the entire trail - Chloe quite literally walked on the actual red line even around poles and everything – to the USS Constitution. Either walk on your own, take a trolley, or book a walking tour, but do it. It’s rich in history…and good exercise.

Although, the award goes to the Freedom Trail, Plimouth Plantation is a note worthy second.  We had the most fun at the English settlement where they had role players that you could ask questions.  They did a great job of staying in character.  I asked one lady who was moving hay if I could take her picture, and she replied, “I know not what that is, but I think it is fine.”  We loved the way they talked using King’s English, “Good morrow.  How do you fair?” 
 
Best Heart Healthy Tourist Spot: The Pilgrim Monument in P-Town. (Provincetown on Cape Cod)  The monument marks where the pilgrims first landed and signed the Mayflower Compact before sailing to Plymouth. At 252 feet the monument was taller than I thought it would be, but surprisingly, the climb up 116 steps and 60 ramps went quickly. The view from atop was nice, too. 

Biggest Surprise: Crabs as big as your head! In the Midwest, there’s a cheap Mexican restaurant known for having burritos as big as your head. I’ve never eaten one, so I don’t really know if they are as big as your head, but I do know that the beach in Cape Cod was littered with horseshoe crab shells as big as your head…and bigger! (We later learned that they can grow up to 24 inches in diameter.) I wonder if Cape Cod’s slogan is “Crabs as Big as your Head.” After making that discovery on the beach, the kids quickly moved to the swimming pool, which was nice because I could watch them from the balcony without turning my head. 

Biggest Disappointment: Plymouth Rock is not all it’s cracked up to be. I always pictured Plymouth Rock to be this monumental rock that when the Pilgrims disembarked the Mayflower, they stepped onto it. In actuality, it's much smaller than I imagined, and it isn’t even displayed on a pedestal or anything. Quite the opposite in fact: it is in the water with the waves lapping over it and a structure built around it. The shadows falling upon it in the late afternoon rendered it impossible to take a picture.

Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Swimming laps in the hotel pool. I love to swim and miss not being able to do laps regularly because most hotel pools are too small. This particular hotel in the Boston area that we booked on Hotwire had a pool large enough to swim laps. It was a great start to my day, and my knees appreciated the break from the exercise machines, especially after descending all the steps at Pilgrim Monument.

Worst Closure: The touch tank at Woods Hole Aquarium. Chloe wanted to go to this aquarium strictly for the touch tank, so it was a major disappointment that the tank was closed for renovation. It would have been nice if the website had mentioned that. Being the oldest aquarium in the United States, it is small but also free.

The saving grace of the aquarium was the behind the scenes walk. They actually allow you to walk behind the tanks where they feed the fish and take care of them! If workers are present, you can ask questions too.

Best Deal: Flax Pond Farms. It’s an Ocean Spray coop farm where they grow cranberries - in a bog, just like in the commercials! The nice lady, Dot, who has run the farm for years along with her husband, explained the cranberry harvest process with large picture boards, as harvest was another week or two away. She was very sweet and full of information, even showing us how the cranberry sorting machine works. Unfortunately, we really wanted to see the guys in their waterproof waders corralling cranberries, so we were disappointed. There was no cost, but we did purchase a few cranberry items because she was so nice.

My MA Hike: Walking across the breakwater in Cape Cod to reach the Wood End lighthouse. It was only a half mile hike to cross the breakwater, but stepping and sometimes leaping from one large rock to another the entire way made it fun and challenging. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the lighthouse, but the hike was still fun and picturesque.

Best Memory: Turning around. We had crossed the entire breakwater, some of which was tricky with the water rushing through lower points in the rocks, and stood there wondering how far the lighthouse was from that point. A man, who happened to be there playing with his dog, approached us and volunteered, not once but twice, how far we still had to go in order to reach the lighthouse. He stressed his fear that the tide was coming in, making it difficult to navigate back across the breakwater during high tide. We wonder if he was an angel sent to warn us about the high tide. Regardless, we’re convinced it wasn’t a coincidence.

Worst Memory: Limbo-Land. The last we heard we were supposed to be helping at a Donate Life table at a fair, but no one got back to us with the details. We spent the better part of a morning trying to figure it out and never were able to get the information. We found out the next day that they thought we were just going to show up at the fair. 

Funniest Memory: On the drive to Mass, Mike and I were talking about how long we’d been on the trip. Chloe piped in from the backseat, "No way we've been gone that long. I'm getting a new toothbrush!"  I guess it was time.

Biggest Revelation: They cooked with fire on the Mayflower!  I was surprised when touring the Mayflower II, a replica of the original, that there was a brick cooking area aboard.  I had always thought they ate pretty much only hard tac, and that’s why they were sick with scurvy; however, we learned they boiled cod and other fish and dunked the hard tac in it to soften it.  Still, it was no luxury liner.

What We Did Miss: Whale watching, Salem, the cranberry harvest, the whole western side of the state, and other places recommended to us.

In Summary: Massachusetts, thanks for all the memories, food, and exercise opportunities!  Depending upon our New Year’s resolution, we might need to return someday soon.

The Mom

Rhode Island – Who Can Really Find it on the Map?


Let’s be honest here. How many of us can identify Rhode Island on the map? I have to admit, before this trip, I couldn’t have. After all, it is the smallest state in the Union. Oh sure, in school I knew the location, but anymore it was just somewhere over there in the jumble of little, tiny states on the East Coast. You know the ones: the ones on puzzles they combine into one piece; the ones on maps they label off to the side in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean because there isn’t room on the state.  It's no surprise so many of us struggle with its location.

After spending a week in Rhode Island, however, I can not only easily place it on the map (right there between CT and MA), but I have so many fond memories as well.

Here are some highlights and fond memories from Rhode Island:

Most Authentic Meal: Iggy’s. I ordered a lobster roll. I needed to try one. I’ve seen and heard so much about them, but it was Levi who surprised us by ordering fried calamari. Now that I think about it, it’s not surprising. It’s fried and squishy – right up his alley! Then we ordered an insane amount of food in order to try everything: a bowl of red clam chowder, clam cakes, and the infamous dough boys. The red chowder was actually pink and didn’t taste as tomatoey as we thought it would, so we were a little disappointed with that. The clam cakes didn’t disappoint; though, they tasted like fritters. You couldn’t taste the clam at all, but I’d still rather eat my mom’s corn fritters whenever I can sweet talk her into making them! The dough boys were the finest of our feast, resembling a warm, delicious semi-flattened donut hole rolled in sugar, melting in your mouth.

Most Regrettable Meal: Hot weiners. We should have just stopped right there with the name. Who decided to call them “hot wieners” anyway? They were recommended as a Rhode Island must eat, though, so we had to try them, at least that’s what Mike, the hot dog lover, argued. We ordered them “all the way” which means with mustard, meat sauce, onions, and celery salt. How they picked celery salt out of all the spices in the spice rack, I’ll never know.

The wieners weren’t the best, in my opinion, but my favorite dog is the kind that wags its tail, so I’m definitely not the expert in this area. Actually, Chloe was the only one in our bunch who liked them, and she just ordered mustard on hers. At least they were cheap and tiny, so we had plenty of room to try another Rhode Island must, Del’s Lemonade.

New Foods: All of the above already mentioned foods plus Del’s Lemonade – a sugary, soft frozen lemonade. You don’t drink it, so you don’t need a straw, but you also don’t eat it, so you don’t need a spoon either. You sort of shake the cup and eat it with your tongue, and the heat from your hand slowly melts the ice. Levi and I really liked it, but Chloe and Mike wanted more tartness to it.

Biggest Surprise: How fast the Rhode Island Coalition Donate Life folks could pull an event together! Steve really worked hard setting up the event at Mulligan’s Island. We appreciated his enthusiasm and hard work.
Mulligan’s Island offered to give a free round of mini golf to anyone registering to be an organ donor. (a $10 value) How awesome is that!? During the event, NBC10 came out and did a story.

While we were manning the booth with another volunteer, Lisa, the kids were each stationed at different holes on the course. They were very responsible in maintaining their positions for the full three hours, telling people about the raffle, and handing out raffle tickets to the people who hit holes-in-one.

Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Missing my laundry machine. When we first started the trip, I missed and suddenly appreciated my old laundry room, right there off the kitchen with easy access, but in Rhode Island I discovered that I now appreciate laundry machines in the same building as us! The Hotwire hotel we were at for the week in Rhode Island didn’t have laundry machines, so for the first time on the trip, I ventured out to a local laundromat...after convincing Mike I’d be safe there.

Now, I haven’t been to a laundromat in many years. Things have sure changed! For one thing, they got really expensive, and I thought the hotel laundry prices were ridiculous! Secondly, the laundromat I frequented 15+ years ago had seating, not this one. I stood the entire time. I was tempted to sit on the machines but felt weird with the owner lurking about. In all fairness, he wasn’t lurking; he was a very nice Italian man who helped me figure out the ropes.  I had plenty of time to think while I was leaning and realized that sometimes you don’t fully appreciate what you have - until it’s gone…All the more reason to be on this trip promoting organ donation registration!

Best Tourist Spot: Newport with Cliff Walk and the mansions. Of the numerous mansion tours available, we opted for The Breakers Mansion tour because of their recently added family tours. All this meant was they have a different audio for kids to listen to; although, it wasn’t as kiddish as I thought it would be. I know because I listened to it instead of the adult tour. After all, someone had to hear what Chloe was listening to.

The mansion was amazing, all 138,000 square feet of it. It was built by the Vanderbilt family in the late 1800’s as a summer home. Yes, a summer home! After seeing their mere summer home, I can’t help but wonder what their regular home was like. By the way, the Vanderbilts were millionaires from the railroad, not fashion industry, as I previously thought!

My RI Hike: Cliff Walk. After gawking sufficiently in The Breakers Mansion, we walked a large part of the Cliff Walk. The Cliff Walk is a 3.5 mile path along the ocean with huge mansions on one side and ocean on the other. It’s amazing to me that they have a public path right between the two, that the land isn’t privately owned all the way to the water. Because of this path and the gorgeous views it offered, I’d rate Cliff Walk as one of my favorite walks on the trip.

Best Deal: Save the Bay Aquarium. It’s small, really small, but for 5 bucks the kids were enthralled with the touch tank, touching sea creatures and learning about them until their fingers were well beyond prunes!  On a busy day, this would probably be too crowded, but on a quiet day, you can definitely get your money's worth.

Funniest Memory: Finding a bathroom in a traffic jam. We had no idea that Newport was so busy on Labor Day! What was supposed to be a short 30 minute drive turned into 2 1/2 hours. We later learned that the normal tourist traffic was confounded with move-in day traffic at Salve Regina University; however, when you’re expecting a short 30 minute drive and you’ve refilled your drink before leaving, you don’t really care why the traffic isn’t moving, you just need to move! Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and turned the wheel over to Mike.

The kids and I hopped out to find a bathroom in downtown Newport. When we returned to the van 15 minutes later, we walked ONE block, no exaggeration, up the street from where we left it. Mike was anxiously awaiting our return since the driver behind us had bumped our van. Fortunately, there was no damage: it’s difficult to receive damage creeping along at 5 mph. Of course, I have to tease Mike about handing the keys over for a whole 15 minutes and him getting into an accident!

Best Memory: Fishing in the Atlantic Ocean. We set sail for a 4 hour cruise, and the time flew! Levi caught the first fish in our family: a 16” black sea bass. Chloe didn’t catch anything for about the first 2 hours, but then she made up for lost time and caught the biggest fish of anyone on the entire boat: a 26” blue fish. She called grandma to compare it to Mike’s big catch thirty years earlier, which hangs on their wall to this day. Supposedly, they’re the same length, but I'm a little suspicious.

Worst Memory: Feeling guilty about eating at Panera for dinner. Rhode Island had so many local restaurants. I felt like I should have been trying them instead of a chain; however, I’m just not much of a foodie fish fan. I keep trying it and trying it, even on the coast where you get the best fresh fish. It’s like that saying, “You can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the girl,” or something like that. I take it to mean that I’ll never enjoy eating fish.

Biggest Revelation: They get hurricanes way up there! We were in Rhode Island when Hurricane Earl wreaked havoc on the East Coast, or at least was supposed to. Fortunately, it turned out to be no big deal, just some rain. We took advantage of the rainy day by hanging out at a bookstore, reading their books, sipping their beverages, and using their Wi-Fi. Sometimes rainy days can be fun!

Worst Closure: The beaches. They were closed most of the time we were in RI due to the riptides caused by Hurricane Earl.

What We Did Miss: Providence, numerous Newport mansions, most of the beaches, and lots of fish restaurants.

In Summary: Rhode Island, what you lack in size, you make up for in fun, and don’t worry, I’ll always pick you out on a map from now on!

The Mom

Rhode Island - The Family Reeks

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Have you ever been on a deep sea fishing trip and suddenly start smelling fish? Well, don't blame anyone else because it's you! I didn't even know a smell that bad existed. In Rhode Island we experienced a deep sea fishing trip, a cliff walk, mansion, aquarium, and my second and hopefully last hurricane experience.

The deep sea fishing trip was awesome! I caught a twenty-six inch bluefish.  It was not a bluegill.  It was a bluefish. It was the biggest catch of the trip! Levi caught three; Mom caught three; Dad caught four; and I caught four. The deep sea fishing trip was at sunset. It was very pretty because the beautiful sunlight was pink, red, orange, light blue, and purple. It was also reflecting off the ocean which made it double pretty. That was my favorite fishing trip, and I think it will stay that way.

The Cliff Walk was of course a cliff walk. It was three and a half miles. We walked past about ten huge mansions. We were also right next to the ocean. Levi and I found bushes with a trail through them. We played tag in them for a while. The cliff walk was beautiful! The waves crashing against the rocks and the sun setting were the best parts. My favorite part of the Cliff Walk was when you had to jump from rock to rock.

The Breakers mansion was huge! It was one of around ten mansions you could see on the Cliff Walk. Did you know that Breakers is the name of the mansion, not the last name of the family that lived there? The name of the family that lived there was Vanderbilt. The Vanderbilts named it Breakers because you could hear the waves breaking from the mansion. We went on a tour of the Breakers mansion. It was very interesting.

In every state my goal is to see an animal I don't usually get to see. In Rhode Island my animal was at Save the Bay Aquarium. Save the Bay Aquarium was awesome! There was a touch tank at Save the Bay. You could pick up everything you saw in the touch tank, such as crabs, starfish, hermit crabs, and sea snails. My favorite to pick up was the crabs, and the starfish felt really weird.  Levi and I could have stayed there for hours, but it was getting busy.

In Rhode Island I survived my second hurricane. My first hurricane was a few years ago when I was at Disney World outside playing on the beach, but it was down graded to a tropical storm. Don't tell anyone. I want it to sound like I've survived through very dangerous things. The hurricane in Rhode Island wasn't as bad as the first one because I was inside at Barnes and Noble reading.

In conclusion all hurricanes I've been through were very dangerous. I mean, Rhode Island was great! By the way, my whole family still reeks from that fishing trip.

The Daughter

Rhode Island - Heaven in a Ball

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Have you ever been in a mansion that all the floors laid out on the ground are over a mile long? I have at The Breakers Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Even though Rhode Island is the smallest state, we were still rushing around trying to get everything finished on our agenda. We went to an aquarium, played mini golf, and ate at Iggy's.

The Breakers is an old, eighteenth century mansion owned by the Vanderbilts, who owned one of the first railroads. That's how they obtained their fortune. Their mansion is called Breakers because it is right next to the ocean. You can take a hour, maybe two, tour of the mansion. When you first see the mansion, they have a huge gate in front of their driveway. Then you see the five story house with two story pillars in front. When you walk inside the mansion, you first note the architecture (and the titanic size). Throughout the house they have different architecture from Greek to Italian. They have seventy rooms in the house, and it cost one hundred and seventy million dollars. It was built on thirteen acres and is the most visited attraction in Rhode Island.

Cliff Walk is just that a cliff walk. It winds along the Atlantic Ocean. You're able to walk along mansions on the other side. That's when you first see The Breakers. It's about a three and a half mile hike. Not very exciting if you're looking for an adventurous hike, but if you like scenery and huge houses, then it's pretty cool.

Iggy's is a Rhode Island famous restaurant. You can get some really good seafood there. I got the calamari which is also known as octopus, although what you really need to get are fried doughboys. You can get them with regular sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon. It tastes like heaven deep fried into a ball.

Save the Bay Aquarium is one of my favorite aquariums. It was a small, four room aquarium. The animals weren't much, a couple of fish and crabs. The real beauty was the touch tank. They had horseshoe crabs you could pick up along with hermit crabs, starfish, and shells. They had an attendant you could ask questions about everything in the tank. My favorite part was holding the five inch horseshoe crab.

Mulligan's mini golf held a Donate Life event. The had two courses: a red and a blue course. Chloe and I watched two different holes. Chloe watched hole eleven on the blue. I watched the eighteenth hole on the red. If anyone got a hole in one on those two holes, they were entered in a raffle to win a gift card to a restaurant.

Rhode Island has many things to do. Most of it was fun, too. Some of which are an aquarium, beaches, restaurants, and no offense, houses longer than the state. 


The Son

Connecticut – America’s Best Kept Secret

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At the Garbage Museum in Stratford (yes, a whole museum about trash) we learned the trash facility burns their garbage and produces electricity in the process. My gut reaction was that it would produce too many smoke pollutants; however supposedly, it produces less pollution than coal and natural gas plants. With that in mind, it’s baffling to me that we possess this capability and don’t use it everywhere in the United States! Wouldn’t this solve all of our problems, well some of them anyway, from landfills to energy? Is Connecticut keeping it a secret? Why isn’t every county in every state in America doing this?

Here are some highlights and other secrets from our week in Connecticut:

Best Meal: Chip’s pancakes. Chip’s Family Restaurant was voted #1 for pancakes in CT, and now I know why. They have 40 different kinds of pancakes, and if that wasn't enough, they were happy to accommodate changes. They have unique flavors like sausage and apple, Hawaiian, and my favorite, the choco-holic. I hear the omelets are good, too, but I was lucky to walk, and not roll, away after a stack of those pancakes.

Worst Meal: Pepe’s Pizza. My apologies to the numerous Pepe’s “pie” fans. (Pizza is called pie around these parts.) The crust was too thin and charred for my liking. No offense to Pepe…It’s that style of pizza I’m not a big fan of, but I always love to try new places and foods. 

Biggest Revelation: Authentic is best, but that’s really not all that revolutionary. In New Haven, we stopped in Libby’s Italian Pastry Shop for an Italian ice. It was delicious, creamier than all the other Italian ices I’ve had previously, so much so that I’ll never buy another Italian ice from the frozen food section again. 

My Restaurant Conspiracy Theory: We tried our first Tim Horton’s in Mystic. Tim Horton’s is basically a donut and coffee shop, but they do have limited sandwiches. My lunch was fine, but the kids wanted to return – and why not? Where else can you get a lunch combo with a donut? Forget chips! Personally, I think it’s an evil scheme in which brothers Tim and Tony Horton (the P90 fitness guru) operate companies designed to keep each other in business: Tim fattens you up; Tony slims you down; Tim fattens you up; it’s a vicious cycle!

Most Beautiful Spot: Overlooking New Haven from the summit at East Rock. There are so many trees in the East! Of course when you think about it, it makes sense that there aren’t as many trees in the Midwest since it was a prairie. You just don’t realize it until you see the difference.

Best Tourist Spot: Mystic Seaport. I had read some reviews online that said it was no Disneyland, so I wasn’t expecting much, but once we stopped looking at old buildings and actually did stuff, it was fun! We watched the whaling play, where Chloe performed as thunder. Then we went to the planetarium. I almost didn’t pay the $2.50 extra per person, but it was so worth it. The guide patiently taught us how to locate different constellations in the night sky. He even taught Levi how to use the sextant. I have never had anyone teach me how to find constellations, even in school. It was awesome! We made a point to get our ticket validated so that we could come back the next day and continue our exploration at Mystic Seaport. 

Worst Tourist Spot:  Yale tour.  Maybe we're just not Ivy League tour kind of people, but we skipped out on the second half of the tour because we were bored.

Worst Memory: My 4 am theory. I awoke in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep because of the strong, unfamiliar perfume smell on the sheets. After questioning Levi, Chloe, and my husband and finding they didn’t have a perfume aroma, I theorized that our sheets weren’t changed after the previous hotel guests. You just can’t fall back asleep after realizing you’re sleeping in someone else’s dirty sheets.

Best Memory: Watching Mike and Levi skipping around like schoolgirls at the USS Nautilus Submarine Force Library & Museum in Groton. They were fascinated looking at the missiles. The finale was the submarine tour itself, which was a 20 minute audio tour while walking through the sub.

Funniest Memory: Having fun at a grocery store?! I wasn't sure what we were in "store" for by going to Stew Leonard's Grocery Store in Newington, but we laughed at the dancing chickens and ourselves as we kept pushing the button to make them sing and dance. Stew Leonard’s is designed to look like an old general store with whimsical characters throughout that sing and dance when you push a button. This combined with the samples (loved the donut holes!) was quite a hit.

Biggest Surprise: You can drive anywhere in the state of Connecticut in one hour! We stayed in the middle of the state the entire week and drove wherever we needed each day. It was certainly a welcome change after all the driving in Pennsylvania and the West.

Biggest Disappointment: Internet access in the hotel lobby only…maybe I should have expected that from a hotel that doesn’t change the sheets.

Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: We met up with friends from Lincoln, who are living in CT now. They gave us a personal tour around Yale and New Haven. It was nice to see them, but it also made me miss (briefly!) the normal routine of life when we saw them at church every week.

My CT Hike: Walk to the Mystic drawbridge. It was several miles to the drawbridge and back from our hotel, so I’m calling it my hike. Talk about nice timing! We arrived at the drawbridge just minutes before the scheduled lifting. With the heat, Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream was a refreshing treat before heading back. I guess most real hikes don’t include an ice cream break in the middle, do they?

What We Did Miss: Mystic Aquarium, Essex steam train, Shady Glen Dairy Stores, Branford Trolley Museum, and much more all recommend to us.

In Summary: Connecticut, we had a great time discovering your state, and there's no need to keep that a secret.

The Mom

Connecticut - Doors Still Open at Yale?

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Have you ever been at a beach where the sand is so hot you can't stand on the top for more than fifteen seconds? I did in Connecticut. I'll tell you more about it, as well as New Haven, Rainforest Cafe, and Bishop's Orchard.

The Connecticut beach was really fun and hot! My mom and Levi buried me in the sand. It took an extremely long time to get all the sand off me, but it was worth it. The water was as cold as a refrigerator, but it felt good on a nice, hot day. I was trying really hard to catch little fish, but they were way too fast. I went in the water so deep that I had to tread water. We could also see Long Island in New York across the sound. The beach was awesome!

New Haven was pretty fun. We toured Yale. People still go to college there. I did not know that. Yale was huge! We didn't even have enough time to go everywhere. We did have other things to do, but still Yale is huge.

In New Haven we also stopped by a store that sold toe shoes. Toe shoes are shoes that have fingers for your toes. It's supposed to be like bare feet. They're basically all purpose shoes because you can do everything with them: go in the water, run, and walk. I really want them.

In every state my goal is to see an animal. In Connecticut my animal was at Rainforest Cafe. I know there are no real animals, except the fish, but we were really desperate. Rainforest Cafe's atmosphere was awesome, but their food and service wasn't the best. Every half an hour the gorillas make noise. I used to be really scared when I was five. My food was okay, but in hindsight we should have gone somewhere better to eat.

Bishop's Orchard was delicious! We were able to pick delicious red raspberries. My favorites were the ones that were barely ripe. They're really sour that way. Levi and Mom liked them mushier. I think the mushy ones are really gross.

In conclusion Connecticut was pretty fun. The beach, New Haven, and Bishop's Orchard were fantastic, but I don't want to live there. By the way, my feet are still burning from the sand at the beach.

The Daughter

Connecticut - Trash Talkin'

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Have you ever been to a museum that is devoted to one of the worst things in the world?  I have, and that museum is called the CRRA Garbage Museum. Other than that, nothing was garbage about Connecticut. We enjoyed many activities like swimming at the beach, eating a lot of pizza, visiting yet another museum, and going to an orchard.

The CRRA Garbage Museum is one of the two museums we visited. You can watch what happens to garbage from start to finish here. I loved playing I Spy in the huge heap of garbage that the trucks brought. They also have a huge dinosaur made out of garbage ranging from Barbie heads to stop signs. That was great for I Spy too. They had many things for small kids like puppets, coloring paper, and a little fake grocery store.

The other museum we went to was the Submarine Library Force Museum. It had information from the invention of the sub to the present day. They had a room where you could look into some real periscopes and see things that were happening outside. They also had a great video about the submarine that showed its uses in World War I and World War II. The best part was you could go inside a real submarine which was once an active submarine. They also have a section of the museum devoted to the Cold War.

We ate at a lot of local restaurants in Connecticut. Joey Garlic's specialized in pizza. We ordered the barbecue pizza. It wasn't the best pizza I ever had, but I enjoyed it. One of the problems was they had a floury, dry, crunchy crust. We ordered some Italian dessert donuts which is the rare time we order dessert at a restaurant. They were really good. I loved the mushy inside with the brown sugar and vanilla sauce. We ate at another restaurant called Chip's. They are famous for their forty pancake selection, and they certainly did have a variety. They had pancakes that came with bananas, M&Ms, chocolate chips, and blueberries just to name a few that were available. You have the choice of getting three or five pancakes. I was full after three. I am a big pancake fan, so Chip's is a restaurant after my own heart.

Bishop's Orchard has many things to do. You can pick apples, pears, and even raspberries. We picked raspberries and pears. Unfortunately we were too early for the apples and to get any good, mushy pears which I love. The raspberries were really good though. We got a bucketful for about five dollars. I don't know which was better: picking them or eating them. They also have other things to do like look at alpacas and llamas.  Plus they have a great general store.

Connecticut was a great state. They're third in low obesity, 20th in low crime, and with their garbage museum I would say they're number one in "trash talk."

The Son

Pennsylvania – A Sweet Time!

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What better way to celebrate my husband’s 7th anniversary of his kidney and pancreas transplant than to overload his new pancreas with milk chocolate in Hershey! (The pancreas helps to maintain blood sugar levels.) Mike was Type I diabetic since he was a young child, but with his new pancreas he’s no longer diabetic…and enjoying it. We had more sweets than normal to celebrate with a humungous candy bar that ended up being our lunch. None of us could eat another bite of chocolate, which personally, I didn’t think was possible!

Here are some other highlights from our week in Pennsylvania:

Best Tourist Spot: Lackawanna County Coal Mine Tour in Scranton. A coal mine tour seemed like a must do in Pennsylvania, and we were not left in the dark while descending 250 feet under the earth’s surface into the mine. We learned a “ton” about coal mining from our tour guide. Personally, I could have listened to his thick East coast accent longer!

Worst Tourist Spot: Independence Hall. You have to go. History was made here, but the tour guide we had was boring and somewhat uninformed. This could be so exciting with a lively tour guide telling stories, instead of just spouting facts, or even a complete revamp by the National Park Service. Imagine the scene with holograms of Ben Franklin and the others in the room! The tour was free, so that was a plus, which probably wouldn’t be the case after adding holograms. We wished we had spent more time walking around Philly finding the different storytelling spots.

Best Photo Spot: Hershey Main Street. The lampposts are so cute! Not all the streets in Hershey are named after sweet nothings, but Chocolate Avenue is worth a photo.

Worst Photo Spot: Liberty Bell. It’s very cool to see but try taking a picture with just the bell in the picture…it’s impossible! Everyone rushes to stand next to the bell, trying to get a picture with them next to the bell, and all you get in your picture is the bell and some tourist wearing a Philly t-shirt!

Best Meal: Arcaro & Genell’s in Old Forge. This should seriously be on that “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” show on the Food network. Here “white” pizza doesn’t mean alfredo sauce but rather NO sauce. We ordered both red “cuts” and white double crust “cuts,” more commonly called pieces. To say the white double crust pizza was delicious is an understatement. It was absolutely the best thing I’ve ever eaten - that isn’t chocolate. The crust was flaky and done to perfection with a wonderful blend of garlic and spices. The white cheese was just oozing out the cuts…mmh! This is a must eat in Pennsylvania!

Worst Meal: Philly cheesesteak at Campo’s. They get you in and out fast, too fast, and be sure to have cash on hand as they don't take credit or debit cards. I had cash, but the cashier was still rude. It's a tourist spot, so of course it’s expensive, but to top it off they won't give you a cup of tap water. In addition, we could barely find the cheese on our cheesesteaks, but they seem to have plenty of demand regardless. Personally, I'd go somewhere else next time to give Philly cheesesteak another try.

Biggest Revelation: PA is a big state! I don’t know how you could see it all in a week.

Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Our son celebrated his birthday in PA. It was difficult for both of us not doing his usual birthday sleepover with friends, but he was a good sport about it, making the most of his special day.

Biggest Surprise: A Birthday Gift. We arrived at Putt U mini golf and found the owner manning the booth. He gave Levi a “Happy Birthday” golf ball for his birthday. That was so nice! Levi still uses it each time we mini golf. Putt U is a challenging course and nicely maintained. At each hole, they post who made the first hole-in-one on that hole.

Biggest Disappointment: Having to throw out the rest of our giant custom made chocolate bar at Chocolate World in Hershey because it was 100 degrees outside, and we had no way to keep it from melting. What a waste of good chocolate!

Best Drive: Most of our driving in PA was rainy. We did have one day where we drove thru the Poconos, NJ, NY, and into CT. What an accomplishment for 4 hours!

Worst Drive: In a not so good area of Philly. We left Philly during rush hour and in need of gas - a volatile combination. Why is it so hard to find a gas station in a big city, and why don’t they put gas stations on the blue interstate signs in big cities? That’s where you need help the most!

After idling in traffic forever, we exited the highway to find a gas station. Needless to say, Mike pumped gas at one of those stations with bars over the windows and graffiti on the walls. He didn’t even fill the tank completely, so we could bolt quicker. Mental note, ALWAYS fill up before driving into a big city, even if you have to go out of your way to do so.

Funniest Memory: Crying at Toy Story 3. Our son’s birthday was a wet, rainy day, so he chose a movie for something fun to do. Surprisingly, Toy Story 3 was an emotional movie for me, seeing Andy go off to college on the same day my son became a teenager made me realize how little time is left until I’m in the very same shoes as the cartoon mom! Looking back at it now, it’s funny, but at the time, I had tears in my eyes. Life goes so fast; live it to the fullest!

Worst Memory: My sacrificial stupidity! To make a long story short, we were at my favorite restaurant and I, in my “mother must always sacrifice mode,” offered to eat Chloe's poppy seed salad if she didn’t like it because they didn't have tomato soup in the summertime.

Of course you know what’s coming next: she didn’t like the salad. Here we are at my favorite restaurant, which we hadn’t been to in months, and I’m “sacrificing” by eating a salad that I don’t really care for, using my gift card to boot! The thing was, though, I wasn’t really sacrificing because I was bitter about it. That’s not sacrifice; that’s mommy guilt. I mentioned the irony, and in the process made Chloe feel bad. It was awful, so very stupid of me. Why do I always feel guilty and do these “sacrificial” things that I don’t really want to do? It’s one thing to be truly sacrificial and happy about it, but it’s a whole other thing to be “sacrificial” and unhappy. I always feel worse afterwards and so does my family.

Mike, in his wisdom, made me get what I wanted. We walked through all the tears, and it came out okay, but it didn’t have to be that way. All this sacrificial stupidity needs to stop. I’ve decided I’m only sacrificing now if I’m doing it with a true desire to give something up out of love, not out of guilt. In an odd way, it’s like we’re all winning by me being more selfish!

Best Memory: God showed our daughter how much He loved her through a salad. Chloe had been craving a salad all day, ever since eating a giant chocolate bar for lunch. (Believe me, she reminded us all afternoon of her desire for a salad.) Much to our delight and surprise, we discovered that the kid’s meals at The Grill on Chocolate Avenue came with an option of a side salad! If you’re not in the kids meal stage of life, that’s highly unusual, a miracle in our eyes!

The food at was delicious, and the kid’s meal toy was actually entertaining for once: wax sticks. The kids had fun with them designing their own roller coasters and even wished dinner had lasted longer.  How often do you hear that from kids?

My PA Hike: Regrettably, it didn’t happen. We stopped at Bushkill Falls, but come to find out, it’s privately owned and had an admission fee. Since it was a rainy day and everything was wet and sloppy, it hardly seemed worth $36. It brought up an interesting thought about taxes, though. I would much rather fund a park thru my taxes than pay $36 to take a short hike, yet I want smaller government - I realized I need to be willing to sacrifice. Oy, here we go again…

What We Did Miss: Gettysburg, Falling Water, Pittsburg, an Amish village, Crayola Factory, Steel Stacks, Martin Guitar, Shanksville, and so much more all recommended to us .

In Summary: Pennsylvania, we had one sweet week in your state!  Would living there be as sweet?

The Mom

Pennsylvania - With the Liberty Bell, Is It Not All It's Cracked Up to Be?

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Have you ever seen a roller coaster that looks really scary? I saw one that was so scary I didn't even ride it. Then after Levi went on it, he convinced me to ride. I loved it so much that we went on it a million times! I will be talking about Hershey Park, Chocolate World, the zoo at Hershey Park, and Independence Hall.

Hershey Park was great! They had a bunch of really fun rides. One of my favorite rides was called The Bobcat. It was a wooden roller coaster. It was extremely bumpy, and the hills were huge. Fortunately for me, the hills were not straight. They were curved, and when hills are curved, you don’t get that lose your stomach feeling.

Another fun ride was called Lightning vs. Thunder. They are two different roller coasters on separate tracks, but the tracks are similar. One roller coaster’s name is Lightning, and the other roller coaster’s name is Thunder. They race and see who wins. Here's a secret:  the people controlling Lighting and Thunder are just switching who wins. Lighting wins; then Thunder wins; then Lighting wins; and it goes on and on until the ride closes.

Chocolate World made me sick of chocolate for a couple of months. We went to a make your own chocolate bar place. First you pick what kind of chocolate you want and what kind of toppings you want. Then you move over to the conveyer belt where your chocolate bar gets topped with the toppings you chose and then cools. While your chocolate bar is cooling, you make your wrapper. They box it for you, and you have your very own freshly made, delicious, Hershey chocolate bar. The bad thing is that when we went, it was hundred degree weather, and the chocolate bars were huge. They were bigger than king size. Because it was so hot, we had to eat it right away or throw it in the trash can. I only ate half of mine, and I'm still a little bit sick of chocolate.

In every state I want to see an animal. In Pennsylvania we went to the zoo at Hershey Park. The zoo was interesting, but it was probably my least favorite zoo because the animals were just sitting there or pacing.

The tour at Independence Hall was so boring! I practically fell asleep because the tour guide was counting sheep. Actually, she just wasn’t very interesting. In my opinion, Independence Hall is a MUST NOT in Pennsylvania.

For once, Levi was right. The ride was awesome! It didn’t make me sick, like the chocolate. Other than being sick of chocolate, seeing my least favorite zoo, and almost falling asleep during a tour, Pennsylvania was pretty fun, but I don't want to live there.

The Daughter

Really, she had fun in Pennsylvania.  I'm sure of it!  She just didn't seem to write about it...

Pennsylvania - More Chocolate Than One Boy Can Eat

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Have you ever had pizza that isn't pizza? In Pennsylvania we experienced the best pizza ever. Pennsylvania also had Hershey Park, a zoo, and of course, Philadelphia.

Hershey Park is an amusement park. I went on as many extreme coasters as I could. My favorite coaster was a wooden coaster. It was so fast that it could have beaten a racecar. What made it more fun was it was also bumpy since it was wooden. The bumpiness made it louder than a racecar too. Luckily we went on a day when there was a celebrity speaker. Everyone was at the speaker and not at the park. One ride we didn't go on had an hour and a half wait. It was definitely the most extreme ride there.

Hershey also has Chocolate World. Chocolate World is centered around chocolate. My favorite thing there was making my own Hershey bar. You have to pay to make one, but it's really cool. When you first walk in, there's a screen that takes you through designing your chocolate bar. First you pick your type of flavor chocolate, dark chocolate, or cookies and cream. Then you choose from different fillings and decide if you want sprinkles or not. After that, you watch your bar get fillings dumped in and go through a ten minute freeze to harden the chocolate. While it freezes, you can design your label with your name on it. After that, it's ready to eat. It was one of the best bars I have ever had. Warning: don't eat it all at once, because it made even me sick of chocolate.

We also went on a free chocolate tour. It was neat. It was thirty minutes and shows how the chocolate is made. My favorite part was some cows singing "It's the milk chocolate."  After the tour, they give you a tiny chocolate bar.

Chloe wanted to go to their zoo. It was not the best zoo I have ever been to. They had several buildings for different animals. One building had nocturnal animals, and another had desert animals. My favorite exhibit contained tarantulas. 

The pizza at Arcaro and Genell's was amazing. We had a double crust pizza which means crust on the bottom and crust on the top. They had spices inside that made it even better. I even loved the spinach double crust! The uniqueness of the pizza alone makes this a must eat. I would definitely go back if I could.

Philadelphia has lots of historic things to do. We went to the Liberty Bell. It was really neat seeing the crack. We also went on a tour to Independence Hall. I enjoyed seeing where the first Continental Congress held session. The tour lacked interesting stories though.

Pennsylvania was a really fun state on the fun meter. With pizza, Hershey, and Philadelphia, we were busy. Now can anyone give me a slice of pizza that’s not really pizza?

The Son

Michigan – Staying Warm in the Mitten State

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Even though we visited the UP (Upper Peninsula) and other parts of the mitten shaped state, Michigan will always be remembered as Checkpoint Greiner for us. We stopped at Mike’s sister and brother-in-law’s house near Detroit for several days and enjoyed some sightseeing and a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the trip.

Here are some highlights from our week in Michigan:

Most Beautiful Spot: Mackinac Island. Arriving by ferry, we stepped off the boat and felt like we had gone through a time warp. There are no cars allowed on the island because they were banned over one hundred years ago. The only methods of transportation are the horse and bicycle. Mackinac Island boasts a bustling Main Street with shops, restaurants, hotels, and their famous fudge makers. It’s so quaint on Mackinac that we loved it, well everything except the manure piles and accompanying unpleasant odor!

Best Tourist Spot: Frankenmuth, or Frankenberry as we affectionately call it, is a cute, little Bavarian town. When in Bavaria, we did as the Bavarians and took a pretzel rolling class, of course. We experienced all aspects of pretzel making, including wearing the required hair net, much to the kids’ humiliation. While rolling our own pretzels, we learned their history. Finally, when the knot finished baking, we were able to eat the fruit of our labor. I hate to say this, but they weren’t as good as we anticipated. We all desired a good dunking in a vat of runny cheese, or even better, frosting!

We didn’t eat one of the infamous chicken dinners in town, since they were a little beyond our budget, but we did play mini golf at the Bavarian Inn. It was a fun indoor course. What was neat about this course was they let you pick a ball from their unusual selection of sports themed balls and then keep it! We also rented an Aqua Cycle, and all 4 of us pedaled up and back on the Cass River. It was good exercise with a nice view!

Worst Tourist Spot: St. Ignace. Our hotel advertised they’re beachfront. Maybe years ago this was true but not anymore. There is no beach. In addition, we found service to be lacking at the restaurant downtown. Zak’s fudge shop was the only happy place we found. Their fudge was delicious and their friendliness a welcome change! That night we sat in our spider web laden hotel room and frantically looked for a new town to move on to…maybe this one with a beach.

Best Meal: Union Woodshop in Clarkston. This hip restaurant is famous for its mac and cheese. While I enjoyed the mac and cheese, I thought the woodshop should be known for its variety of BBQ sauces from all over the country, which were sitting on the table to sample and enjoy. The pulled pork, served in a small jelly roll pan, became an adventure in dining across the United States without ever leaving our table!

Worst Meal: Bentley's B-N-L CafĂ©, St. Ignace. We went there to try a highly recommended pasty. A pasty is sort of like a calzone, except much lighter and filled with beef, potato, and onion, and then baked. The pasty was tasty, but the service and temperature were polar opposites. The server was cool, to the point of being rude, while the temperature in the restaurant was exceedingly warm, even for someone who usually brings a sweater along to wear. We’d eat a pasty again from somewhere else in the UP. 

New Foods:  a pasty, Vernor's ginger ale - It's really gingery!

A First for the Trip: Cleaning out the van. After 110 days on the trip and a pound of sand from Acme beach, I cleaned the van for the first time, completely emptying it, washing, vacuuming, and organizing it, in between 6 loads of laundry. That pretty much took an entire day. The kids were entertained playing a hockey game using plastic sticks and laundry baskets for goals.

Biggest Revelation: This is going to sound horrible, but the animals at the zoo just aren’t as exciting after seeing them in the wild. We did visit the Detroit Zoo on a hot and humid August day, and the animals were lazy as a result. In addition, this was our first zoo we visited since viewing the animals in the wild at our nation’s great national parks out West. It was just a little lame seeing them lying down inside a caged area as opposed to stopping traffic on the side of the road.

Having said that, the river otters were very active and cute swimming around their habitat. They alone made the zoo trip worthwhile, besides the fact that it was just nice hanging out with Mike’s sister. Chloe even bought a stuffed otter to remind her of our trip to the Detroit Zoo with her aunt.

Biggest Surprise: Having the same debate now that we had in the late 1800’s! You know you’re getting old when automobile history is interesting. At the Ford Museum, we were surprised to learn that they experimented with gas, electric, and steam cars way back in the early days of the automobile. Here we are returning to the same debate all these years later!

Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Seeing Levi and Chloe playing with the kids next door. While staying with Mike’s sister, it was so sweet of her neighbor to invite our kids over to swim and play with hers. They had fun swimming and climbing trees, but it made me a little sad that Levi and Chloe are missing those simple, every day pleasures with their friends back in Illinois.

Best Drive: The drive from the UP down to Traverse City. It was mostly two lane scenic highway. We went through Petosky and Charlevoix, both of which are charming, harbor towns. We wished we had more time to get out and explore.

Worst Drive: It could have been a horrible drive in Detroit had it not been for Mike’s sister leading the way around the notorious summer road construction clogging traffic. As it was, it wasn’t bad at all.

Biggest Disappointment: Missing the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum & Library because we didn’t realize there were TWO Ford museums in Michigan! One is for Gerald, the President, and one for Henry, creator of the automobile assembly line. We’ve been trying to visit all the presidential museums in the United States, partially for their great history, so we were thoroughly disappointed to miss one because of something so silly.

Funniest Memory: Chloe’s tree climbing. There was one large tree that divided the neighbor’s yard from Mike’s sister’s yard, and Chloe decided this was the tree to climb. She climbed so close to the top of the tree that it actually frightened us all, and then she dared the neighbor boys to climb as high! Note to the neighbors: I’m so sorry!

Worst Memory: Saying good-bye to Mike’s sister and brother-in-law. It was sad to be leaving Checkpoint Greiner. It was fun and refreshing seeing family…and a great opportunity to clean our clothes, blankets, coats, pretty much everything we have, including our van!

Best Memory: Mike’s sister really hooked us up with a table near the cafeteria in her busy work place to sign up donors over the lunch hours. I was very impressed by not only her enthusiasm and advocacy in setting up the table but also her encouraging coworkers to register. We had people signing up online right there at the table, while others took cards to sign up later. Some people stopped and asked questions; some talked about loved ones who had passed away and donated; and others talked about the excitement of knowing someone who has received the gift of life through a transplant. It was a great experience.

My MI Hike…err, Bike: We rented bikes on Mackinac Island and rode around the island. It was a fun ride on the carless highway, dodging only piles of manure and other bikers. 

What We Did Miss: Sleeping Bear Dunes, Greenfield Village, Gerald Ford Museum, and so much more all recommended to us.

In Summary: Michigan, we miss being spoiled at Checkpoint Greiner, but we’re glad we didn’t need mittens while we were there!

The Mom

Michigan - No Bailout for us in Detroit

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In Michigan I saw the most cars I've ever seen in one state, but it wasn't traffic. I saw them in a museum. Below I will be talking about a zoo, an event at GM, and Henry Ford Museum.

In every state I want to see an animal that I don't usually get to see. My animal for Michigan was of course at the Detroit Zoo. The river otters there were so cute! I could watch them all day, maybe even all year! Did you know that river otters set their food on their stomachs before eating it? The zoo keeper would throw the food. Then the river otters would grab it, put it on their stomach, and eat. I bought a really cute plush river otter. I named him Michy because I bought him in Michigan.

They had a butterfly room at the zoo, but it was really hot. A butterfly landed on my shoulder. It didn't stay on my shoulder very long, but the moment it was on my shoulder was amazing! I saw a couple of orange, black, and yellow butterflies, but my favorite butterfly was blue with a black outline. It was really cool! Another butterfly was yellow and red.

At GM we were signing people up as organ donors. My aunt works there, so we went during lunch break so more people would see us and come to our table. We had stickers and cookies for people that signed up. It was fun for an event but wasn't very fun as something fun. I do have to remember that it was helpful though. Somebody could have a whole new life because of the people that signed up that day. It's very important to become an organ donor. You could save eight lives and change fifty others. All I'm trying to say is, "Sign up to be an organ donor. You could save multiple lives."

The Ford Museum was interesting but not my favorite place in the world. There were hundreds of old and new cars there. There was a big line of vehicles from the bike to our newest Ford cars. There was also a paper airplane station. We made a bunch of paper airplanes. Then we tested them. I think Dad won.

Overall Michigan was an okay state, but I don't really want to live there. I’d like to return to see my aunt, though. Maybe our van will still be in good enough shape to drive there. Sorry Henry, but ours is a Chrysler.

- The Daughter