Day 1: After a wonderful send-off by Riley and Julie complete with gifts, we began our journey…only 15 minutes later than we planned. Our first stop was Nostalgiaville. We.. loved it!!! We would have bought everything in the store, if our pocketbooks allowed, but instead we looked at (and touched) everything. It contained all the kitsch of the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s. The journey to Louisville, KY was uneventful. We flagrantly broke the maximum of 5 people in the hotel pool. When a local policeman visited and wanted to speak with Darren, I was sure we were busted. I was searching my brain for which one of you friends and family members would come bail us out. I figured that we had 10 chances to find someone, with our 1 phone call per person. I was hoping we didn’t get down to Nellie because I wasn’t sure which of you could understand her, but I knew that no one would be able to resist her, if only you could interpret her. Luckily, the police officer had more important business to attend to, but just in case, we left early the next morning and plan to return home by a different route!
Day 2: Our flight out of Louisville was uneventful. We did stop at Morehead, KY for lunch. I tried to have a conversation with a woman in the restaurant, but even though she appeared to be speaking English, I couldn’t understand a word she said. So, like any foreigner, I smiled, nodded my head and hoped that was the appropriate response. The highlight of the day was making new friends. We had dinner with Scott, Alysa, and Chase. We enjoyed our time and wished we had more time with these guys. We can’t wait to meet Avi and fervently hope to see them all in KC soon!
Day 3: We started the day at Monticello. After looking at all the details and plans for the property by Thomas Jefferson, Tommy Cacy replied that “he sure must like things his own way”. He is a case study in “control freak”. He designed every detail from the carvings on the crown molding to the patterns of the hard wood floors. He purchased all the land he could see from his mountaintop home and he planned where every bush, tree and plant would go on the property. It is a beautiful estate. We moved to Richmond and the Civil War Sites in the area. Polly, Zoe, Tommy and Zane are now Jr. Park Rangers. The highlight was climbing on the old train engines and rolling down the embankments….and to think these things weren’t even on the tour brochure.
Day 4: We scouted out Colonial Williamsburg, making a note to wear warmer coats when we plan to stay longer. After lunch, we hit the beach along the York river and toured the Revolutionary War sites around Yorktown. Nellie was impressed with their big sand box and wanted each of us to see the treasure she found…..more and more sand. She liked it so much, she brought some back to the hotel with her. Others brought sea shells. Maybe I should have brought an extra suitcase for souvenirs.
I am so impressed with your organization of this trip. Are you eating out every meal? Are you cooking? Did you pack very much? Are you doing laundry every day? Did you forget anything? Any crucial trips to Walmart? Have you lost any shoes yet? Have you lost any socks or underwear? How about toothbrushes? Does everyone have their own suitcase or are they sharing? Are there markers and pencils all over the van? Love you guys!!!
Eating out one meal a day. We have breakfast at the hotel, protein bars at lunchtime, dinner at 3pm or so, then snacks and sandwiches later, if necessary. I’m not cooking at all! Yippee! The older 5 girls all got their own small suitcase. The boys share a suitcase, Darren, Nellie and I share a big suitcase. We packed clothes for 8 days and will wash clothes at my Uncle’s house in Fairfax, VA, while we are there for 2 days. Then, 8 more days until home. We don’t know of anything we forgot. We don’t know of anything we have lost, except for Nellie’s trail of toys….Richmond Battlefields – one small rubber duck with reindeer horns, Williamsburg – one stuffed penguin, Jamestown – one dolly, but we found it. Ha! We allowed no markers, but have plenty of cracker crumbs and paper all over the van to make up for it.