100 Days until The Hike

We have 100 days until we hike to the base of the Grand Canyon. I thought it was now or never that we purchase shoes for the trek, so we have time to break them in. We went to REI and bought a few pairs of shoes ... yes, just a few. Let's just say REI was giving away $20 gift cards for every $100 spent, and we walked out with five pairs of shoes and $100 in gift cards! We will return to purchase additional items for our trip scheduled for March 20-31, 2013.

I did some research into hiking the Grand Canyon. We will walk down the South Kaibab Trail (7 miles of tight switchbacks), stay two nights at Phantom Ranch, and return on the Bright Angel Trail (9 1/2 miles). Only 43,000 people do it annually. Hopefully in 2013 that number will be 43,004. I know this adventure is 98% psychological and 2% physical; my traveling team is more than capable of physically doing this. I'll be working on exercising their 'psychological endurance' over the next 99 days ...

I haven't done any planning for this trip, other than book our lodging for the base of the Grand Canyon (thanks to my friend Kelli). So I researched lodging in Vegas, and booked The Venetian. I reserved a mini-van for driving the 12 days, and secured lodging for the night we return from hiking UP the Grand Canyon. I'm getting excited to get back on the road!

The Master Plan

Last week I received an email from a friend that I have been communicating with regarding renting their RV. They recently bought a new one and he said, "Let me know what your plans are and we’ll see what we can do." That prompted me to sit down and create a Master Plan on how we are going to finish seeing 22 states (and D.C) in less than five years. And squeeze a trip to Europe in as well.

"What do you think honey? Is this going to work?"

2013 (Paradis 8th - Annelies 4th)

• Spring Break 2013: Southwest 5 States (Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado). Fly into Vegas, rent a car and drive through Utah, Arizona (hike to base of Grand Canyon), New Mexico and fly out of Denver after visiting Colorado. 

2014 (Paradis 9th - Annelies 5th)

• Spring Break 2014: Going East 8 States (Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware  New Jersey, Pennsylvania). Drive up through Canada, go down into Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and back home via Canada. I think this would be a good RV trip.
• Summer 2014: Upper Northeast 6 States (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine). I'm thinking we will fly into one state, drive through the others, and fly out at the end.

2015 (Paradis 10th - Annelies 6th)

• Spring Break 2015: Wyoming - Yellowstone. Another RV trip?
• Summer 2015: Europe for two weeks

2016 (Paradis 11th - Annelies 7th)

• Spring Break 2016: Alaska. Fly.

2017 (Paradis graduates - Annelies 8th)

• Spring Break 2017: Hawaii. Fly. Paradis requested this be the last state.

This schedule looks tight (budget-wise), but I would still like to do:

• A full week in D.C., although both go with school in 8th grade.
• A full week - or long weekend - in New York 

Update March 17, 2013 : Annelies and I were talking, and we realized life doesn't end when Paradis leaves home. We have so many more trips to plan after she is gone ...

• Route 66. Travel the entire 2,448 miles. Probably in a RV.

Day Four: Kentucky Derby with a Big Win

When we originally planned this trip, we thought we would wake up early Saturday morning, get to the Derby around 6:00am, and be the first in line at 8:00. After spending the day at the Oaks, we changed our strategy. Instead we slept in, the girls swam a little, and we arrived at Churchill around 1:00.

After walking through the entrance gate, we proceeded down the tunnel that took us under the track, on to the infield. On that short journey, while pushing our way through the crowds, Annelies said, “Any kid that spends a day here will need at least a year’s worth of weekly therapy!” Yesterday we counted four kids at the Oaks. Today we counted two, Annelies and Paradis, and they were stars wherever we went. The guy below asked to get a picture of them. He thought we were weird; he was wearing a taco suit (it was Cinco De Mayo)!

Today our goal was to find a seat near the racetrack (done!), bet on every race (done!), and stay put (done!). The crowds in the grandstand area the day before were crazy, so our plan was to avoid it. We talked through all the races, wrote down our bets, and Scott and Annelies placed them in one shot. We weren’t planning on standing in line again. It was super, super, super hot and the crowds in the infield were enough.

But after race #10 we learned Scott picked the Exacta, winning $403.16 on a $4 bet! Woot woot! We were pumped. Annelies and I returned to the Waging Window and cashed in our winning ticket. We were up $316.The girls were feeling lucky.

As 6:24 drew near, the crowds around us got thicker and thicker. We were definitely a group of misfits; I was knitting, Paradis and Annelies were under the age of 21, and Scott was sober. Men would say, “Can I get a picture of you, I’m confident I’ll never see another women knitting at the Derby!”

Annelies started giving out advice; how to calculate odds, ways to pick a good jockey, and the strategy of betting on long shots.

The excitement in the crowd was electrifying as we waited for the race to start. We watched the horses exit the starting gate on a large screen, and soon after saw them flying by us at unbelievable speeds. Everyone around us was talking about their bets, trying to figure out if they had won. We felt fortunate horse #11 didn't win, as the guy behind us said he would strip naked if he crossed the finish line first. Here is a photo I took of the winning horse as he was warming up in front of us … #19, I’ll Have Another.

Overall the day was a ton of fun. We won a little money, survived the ‘cultural’ experience of the Derby, Paradis checked an item off her Bucket List, had a 13th birthday she will never forget, and Scott and I got bit by the ‘Derby Bug’. We all agreed, if we didn't have a laundry list of places we want to visit, we would come back.

We are now on our drive home. This will be my last entry, as we will arrive late tonight and need to return to the real world tomorrow. For all my 'statistic' fans, I'm sorry but I didn't keep up with receipts on this trip and won't be publishing final stats. Next trip, I promise. Thanks again for following us. We will see you at Canterbury!

Day Four: Happy Birthday, The Oaks and a Little Rain

The day started with Scott, Annelies and I waking Paradis up to a lovely rendition of Happy Birthday and cake. A tradition in our family. She was excited. I can hardly believe my little girl is 13. Have I said that yet?

We packed up, said good-bye to the horses, and drove into Louisville for the Kentucky Oaks. It was so fun to see everyone dressed up. I was amazed at all the fancy outfits and hats. The hats. I couldn't believe the hats! When we first looked at getting tickets to the Derby, the only seats that were available cost $350 each, so Scott and I decided to expose the girls to some 'culture' and get general admission tickets for only $40. General admission is located in the infield of the track, and means you get no seat, you don't see a single horse, and you hang around people that drink a lot of alcohol. Therefore we weren't wearing hats!

It was crowded and hot. Very crowded ... and very hot. I counted five kids at the Oaks, two of them being mine. Let's just say this isn't a 'family friendly' event. Annelies gets anxious in large crowds, so she calmed her mind by counting cigarette butts on the ground as we walked. From the gift shop to the infield she counted 529. Way more cigarette butts than kids!

But we wiggled our way to the Waging Kiosks, made some bets, and watched the race on the overhead screens. Betting was the best part of the day. We all raced individually on the big Oaks race and Annelies and Paradis bet on a couple others.

An hour before the big race, scheduled for 5:45pm, people started walking around saying, "A thunderstorm is coming." We all looked at each other, and packed up quickly. We almost made it to the parking lot when it started to rain. It was there that Paradis' got a free sample of her favorite drink. Monster.

We drove to our hotel, just south of Louisville, and caught the final race on TV. The Oaks was won by Believe You Can with 10-1 odds, and ridden by Rosie Napravnik the first female jockey to ever win the Kentucky Oaks. Exciting. We spent $31 on bets, and won $4.30. We didn't think that was bad. We later heard they evacuated the infield due to rain; we were glad we didn't leave at the same time as the other 112,000 spectators!

At the hotel the girls hit the pool without hesitation.

Paradis selected Colton's Steak House for dinner. Scott secretly told the hostess it was her birthday when we arrived and ordered an ice cream. As the waitstaff began ringing the bell and singing Happy Birthday, Paradis joined in with the clapping until she realized it was for her! You should have seen her face. It was priceless! It was a good day ... Happy Birthday Paradis!

I'm skipping the statistics today, because I'm behind on entering in our spreadsheet. They don't let you bring your laptop into Churchill Downs on Oaks day. Can you believe it??!!

Day Three: Churchill Downs, The Betting Bug and Saddlin’ Up

I didn’t write yesterday, but Day Two wasn’t all that exciting. We finished our drive to Kentucky and ate at a fabulous Mexican restaurant in Versailles, a beautiful town of 7,000 right in the heart of horse country. The farm we are staying at is absolutely gorgeous. I found this place after sending out tons of emails to every horse person I could find in the area, asking if anyone had a place for us to stay on a farm. I knew Paradis would love it. Here is the view from the balcony I talked about … it is breathtaking (and doesn’t smell like horse poop).

Thursday we drove to Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. I had reserved the last two seats of a Backside Tour, and we planned to let Paradis and Annelies go alone. But as they boarded the van, I was able to convince the Tour Guide the four of us could condense into the size of two adults, so we all saw the barns and track up close! I have to say that tour got our hearts pumping so fast, we all got ‘Kentucky Derby Fever’.

We spent a good hour walking through the barns and spending most of our time simply watching the horses warm up on the track. Everyone knows I’m no ‘animal lover’, but these horses are beautiful. I could have watched them all day. I've spent many hours around horses, but none of them have looked like this. They are smaller than what I was expecting and just amazing. We saw several Derby and Oaks contenders, which got us pumped. Our tour guide grew up on the ‘other side of town’, without a lot of money, but his family owned a box at Churchill Downs. He was 50 years old, and hadn't missed a Derby since he was 16 when he squeezed in under the fence. That was the year Secretariat won. His brain was so filled with Derby statistics the four of us were entranced. And that is when we all got The Betting Bug.  

I’ve come to learn that the Derby is more about the betting, than about horses. The owners and their money are the topic of conversation at the track, not the type of horse feed. I’m sure many of you are saying, “Ah … yah!” After the tour, we visited the Kentucky Derby Museum. The award winning movie brought tears to my eyes (if you've read my blog before, you know that isn't hard) and it was so fun to read about the Derby from the perspective of the Jockeys, Trainers and Owners. But most of the time you could find us at the Wager Window, where we bet on pre-recorded races. All for free.

It was fun betting, and yelling for the horses on the TV screen. Annelies got hooked! She didn't want to leave. When you don't spend money, it is easy to get carried away. We talked so much about mathematical odds that Scott and I would like to think the girls got their math lesson for the day, which helps with the guilt of missing three days of school!

But the excitement didn't stop there. We were able to pull Annelies away from the Wager Window just in time to meet Penny Chenery and Ron Turcotte, the owner and jockey of Secretariat. We all know the horse from the recent Disney movie, but reality is Secretariat was an amazing horse that still holds the record for fastest Derby time. I think Paradis almost peed her pants. She thanked us over and over again for purchasing a ridiculously high priced 8x10 of Ron, so he could sign it. Well worth it. She was gleaming.

Scott met a woman at the Museum, who gave him four box tickets to the race later that day. We felt luck was on our side, so we headed over to the track. We ran into our Tour Guide, at the Wager Window of course, and asked for an ‘insider’s suggestion’ on getting our hands on some dirt from the track for my collection jars. He walked us to a prime spot, and Annelies reached her hand under the rail and grabbed a hand full!

We were running short on time, but got in one bet before the race started. Paradis wanted to get back to the farm and ride. We didn't win our bet, but here is the email Annelies sent my mom on the drive back, “Now I'm addicted to gambling it's so much fun. When I'm 21 years I asked my mom if I can go to Vagus. Have you ever ben to Vagus?” Grandma Roz loves to gamble, and Annelies was looking for a partner! We had lunch at Chipotle (our favorite) and made it back to the farm around 3:30 to get in a ride.

They both had a good time, and Paradis was in heaven. It was a great day in Kentucky …

Day Three: 326 miles (1,067 total); $69.45 on gas ($130.84 total); 1 state (4 total); $292.95 Lodging ($357.94 total); $95.35 Souvenirs ($95.35 total); $150 Tourist Traps ($150 total); $0 Redbox  ($9 total); 0 fights (0 total); 0 injuries (0 total)

Day One: Lots of Driving

Sorry to say Day One wasn't very exciting. Picked Annelies up from school at 3:00, drove to the airport to rent our van, stopped at my sister's to park our vehicle, made a quick stop at McDonald's for dinner and wifi so we could jailbreak Scott's phone for MyWi (forgot to do it before we left), and headed south for 741 miles. We stopped a couple times for bathroom breaks and gas, but other than that our goal was to put some miles behind us. 

We ended at Davenport, Iowa for good nights rest. Accomplished. 

Today (Wednesday) Paradis said, "Why haven't we stopped for any state signs yet?" Sounds like she misses them. I may fake a state stop as we continue on our drive.

Day One: 741 miles (741 total); $51.70 on gas ($51.70 total); 2 states (2 total); $64.99 Lodging ($64.99 total); $0 Souvenirs ($0 total); $0 Tourist Traps ($0 total); $4 Redbox  ($4 total); 0 fights (0 total); 0 injuries (0 total)

Back On The Road: Kentucky Derby 2012

We are back on the road my friends. To celebrate Paradis turning 13, we are heading to Kentucky for a week filled with horses. We will start our adventure at River Mountain Farm, where we will stay Wednesday and Thursday night. Both girls will take a couple riding lessons and simply enjoy the animals. Our room has a balcony overlooking the pasture; Paradis will be in heaven waking up to the sweet smell of horses, her favorite scent in the world (personally I think it smells like horse poop, I guess we differ a little there). Friday morning we will drive to Louisville where we will attend the Kentucky Oaks, the third largest horse race in the country. Saturday we will check an item off Paradis' bucket list by attending the Kentucky Derby, where we will witness "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports"!

We have rented a 'sweet' Chrysler Town & Country to make our ride more enjoyable. It includes everything we all love; Scott gets his satellite radio, Annelies has a built-in DVD player, Paradis gets split seats so she doesn't have to touch anyone, and I have a 110V power plug-in for all my gadgets.

We left our screwdriver at home, as there won't be any junk yard stops on this trip. We have already visited all the states, so no illegal pull-offs to get State Sign Photos. But I'm sure we will find some adventures along the way.

Here is the birthday girl, 'plugged-in' to Pandora while simultaneously watching Annelies' movie. Friday she will officially become a teenager. All I can say is, "Where does the time go my friends?"

Day Twelve: Lots of Driving, Wisconsin and Home Sweet Home

Day Eleven we drove. And drove. And drove. 652 miles total. The girls hung out and finished homework while I packed and cleaned. I bring empty totes, so I can pack the last few hours. I was done unpacking Monday morning by 11:00am .. yippee!

We drove through Wisconsin on our final journey. State #14 for this trip. It was CRAZY windy. Scott could hardly keep the RV on the road. We had to slow down to 50 at times, and our mpg dropped to 5.8. Darn, that is hard on the gas budget.

We made it home around 7:45pm. The girls were so excited to see the neighbors, and their Easter baskets. That Easter bunny is gooood! Scott and Paradis returned the RV today (Monday). Yes, I let Paradis stay home from school as we didn't know when we would return, and she already had her home work done. Hope Annelies doesn't read the blog entry today. 

We were sad to say goodbye to our Jayco Greyhawk - it was a good ride. Literally. I'm putting in a plug for Charlie's RV Rental - Charlie was great to work with and the RV configuration was perfect for our family. Thanks Chuck!

Final Statistics:

• 14 States Visited
• 4,063 Miles Driven
• 614 Gallons of Gas
• 6.65 Average miles/gallon
• $3.88 Average cost/gallon
• Gas: $2,372.96
• Lodging: $52.00
• Souvenirs: $360.87
• Tourist Traps: $839.81 
• Redbox: $26.00
• Fights: 0
• Injuries: 1

When is our next trip? Scott travels to California in ten days, for his annual Baseball Trip with friends. In three weeks we drive to Kentucky, to celebrate Paradis’ 13^th birthday at the Kentucky Derby (I'll be blogging). And two weeks after getting back from Kentucky, Scott and I fly to Vegas with friends. It will be a busy couple months. As for our next long road trip, probably in 2013.

Thanks for following us. Don’t forget to put your email in the box to the right if you want to get notification when I blog again. I love all the comments and emails. Happy travels everyone!

I want to end with a note Paradis gave me when we drove in the driveway yesterday. Almost every day I think about how little time Scott and I have left with our girls, and I feel so fortunate we can travel as we do. Thanks to my entire travel team ... I love Drivin' the Dream with each and every one of you!

Day Eleven: A Waterfall, Horse Back Ride, Indiana and Back on the Road

In the morning Scott rolled over and said, “Guess what time it is?” We had slept in until 10:00! Apparently that fresh mountain air made for good sleeping. We stopped at the Visitor Center for Annelies’ 18^th Jr. Ranger badge.

We hiked to Cataract Falls where the girls had a good time walking in the river and across fallen trees. It was a beautiful day.

We left GSM and drove toward Townsend Center to a place called Next to Heaven, for a trail ride in the mountains. This was an unguided trail, and I thought it would be fun for the girls to ride in the mountains. The best part turned out to be meeting the family that had gotten on the trail just before us. Their horses had stopped to eat, and they couldn’t get them going. Paradis and Annelies shared their riding experience with the family, and got them down the hill. We shared a lot of laughter going down that mountain.

After that adventure, we hit the road at 3:30pm for a straight shot back to Minnesota. We had 988 miles to reach our home in Victoria, and planned on stopping only to sleep. Paradis and Annelies slept for the first few hours, not sure what that was all about. I guess they are just plain worn out!

At this point, it is only fair to mention Scott does all the driving, and he is amazing. Driving a 30 foot RV isn’t a simple task. There were two situations where I almost peeed my pants, trying to turn around in a spot not made for our vehicle. But Scott was great. He is always cool and calm. Unlike when I become my own mother and start yelling, “I can’t look .. I can’t look ..!” At one point I had to get out of the vehicle, as I was confident it was going to tip over.

People ask us all the time about our gas mileage. As I mentioned before, we are getting about 6.3 to 7.3 miles per gallon. It depends on the driving conditions and use of the generator, which runs on gas. The prices fluctuate greatly throughout our travels, from $3.66 in Kentucky to $4.00 in Iowa.

We made it into Indiana late, so we shook the girls up from their electronics long enough to get out for our state sign shot. That was state #13 on this trip, #28 total. It was dark, so the sign was reflecting off my flash!

We stopped at a Wal-Mart in Lebanon. Indiana, that is. We drove 458 miles for the day; only 530 remain until we reach Minnesota. We are all a little sad to be coming home (sorry friends). 

Day Eleven: 458 miles (3,411 total); $264.90 on gas ($1,906.11 total); 2 states (13 total); $0 Lodging  ($52 total); $16 Souvenirs ($360.87 total); $141 Tourist Traps ($839.81 total); $4 Redbox  ($26 total); 0 fights (0 total); 1 injuries (1 total)

Day Ten: Gatlinburg Craziness, Clingmon’s Dome, First Hitchhiker, and Great Burgers

I realize this post is late my friends, but I went 24 hours with no cell towers; I was starting to get the shakes from withdrawal!

We made our way to the Great Smoky Mountains (GSM). We were expecting tranquility and peacefulness when we sadly came into … Gatlinburg. What a tourist trap! Branson used to be our ‘Tourist Trap Capital of the World’ but we are adding Gatlinburg to that title.

We stopped at the GSM Visitor Center and picked up some maps. GSM is the #1 visited park in our country, and we were feeling it. They were experiencing record numbers for April, similar to a typical day in July. Crazy.

The Wal-Mart near Gatlinburg wouldn’t allow overnight parking, so we decided to stay at a campground in the GSM. We drove to Elkmont Campground and snatched up the last spot. There wasn’t a Ranger on duty, so we drove around until we found an empty spot, and secured it with a piece of paper clipped to a board on our site. We were so anxious that we would return that evening to find someone else at our site, Scott took a picture of our registration, to document the time!

We drove to Clingman’s Dome, which is the highest point in the GSM. It was absolutely beautiful. And cold! We had to pull out our sweatshirts. As we were heading back down the mountain, we saw our first hitchhiker, so we pulled over and picked him up. We could only bring him five miles down the hill before we pulled over to hike the Appalachian Trail, and dropped him off.

Fifteen years ago Scott and I celebrated our 2^nd Anniversary in North Carolina, and spent time on the Appalachian Trail. At that time we dreamed about hiking the trail with our kids. So we got on the Appalachian and hiked to the Mount Collins shelter. We met a couple hikers that were settling in for the night. It was fun to talk about ‘life on the trail’.

After the shelter visit, we drove to Newfound Gap and took some photos. Amazing. As we were leaving Newfound Gap, guess who we saw? The same hitchhiker! So we picked him up again. We agreed to bring him to the grocery store in Gatlinburg; on the 30 minute drive we shared our Cheetos & Gatorade and he shared his stories. We were fascinated with his life. His trail name was Strider, and last summer he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail (2,184 miles). This summer he was simply walking 130 miles of it with his ex-girlfriend. His occupation? Hitchhiker. I didn’t dare take a photo, because he said it is frustrating to ‘get off the trail’ and have people ask for a picture as if he was some sort of ‘creature’. But I wanted to!

We arrived back at our campsite, which no one had taken, around 9:00pm. We are confident most campers were sleeping, as this was a rustic campground – no electricity or water. We didn’t pack camping stuff, but Scott and the girls insisted on cooking hamburgers on an open fire. Without any kindling or paper, Scott and Annelies were determined to get the fire started. Scott kept saying, “Wish I had some gas!” By 10:30 we all enjoyed what Annelies said was the best hamburger she ever tasted. The two of them had a great time facing the challenge, while Paradis and I took showers and played Farkle.

We had a wonderful day in the Great Smoky Mountains ...

Day Ten: 159 miles (2,953 total); $242.29 on gas ($1,641.21 total); 1 states (12 total); $17 Lodging  ($52 total); $73.70 Souvenirs ($344.87 total); $0 Tourist Traps ($698.81 total); $0 Redbox ($22 total); 0 fights (0 total); 1 injuries (1 total)

Day Nine: Some Tags, Congaree National Park, North Carolina, and GSM

Scott scored a couple more Tags (a.k.a. License Plates) on our drive to the Congaree; South Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. Yahoo!

We entered Congaree National Park around 10:00am. Annelies earned her 17^th Jr. Ranger Badge. If you aren’t familiar, Jr. Ranger Badges are available at most National Parks; they are usually a booklet with questions for the kids to answer as they visit the park. Some are very detailed, others are simple. It is only fair to say that Paradis does all the work for the badges, while Annelies gets ‘sworn in’. Annelies doesn’t dig the ‘educational portion’ and Paradis would rather die than go through the ‘swearing in portion’. It works.

The Congaree was amazing. It is the largest area of old-growth bottom land hardwood forest remaining in this country. The trees are so tall, it was hard to see the tops. The amount of wildlife we saw (e.g., lizards, slugs, frogs, catepillars) was fun for the girls. Another American wonder.

We hit our 12^th state on the trip, North Carolina. We pulled over for our classic shot, just after driving through a hail storm.

I failed to mention an injury that occurred on day six. Paradis had a callus on the bottom of her foot, which became a blister during our walk throughout Disney. It is healing nicely, but we are a little nervous about our hike tomorrow.

We ended the day just 30 minutes east of the Great Smokey Mountains entrance at Gatlinburg, sitting in Lowe's parking lot (free WiFi), watching Convoy. Remember it? The 1978 movie starring Kris Kristofferson and Ali MacGraw about a trucker that creates a convey to avoid an abusive sheriff? The girls couldn't stand it. Scott and I thought it was hilarious. Every time we are on a road trip I can't stop singing, "East bound and down, load it up and truck it. We're gonna do what they say can't be done ..."

I’m not sure if it is reflective in this blog, but we are having so much fun. Even I find it amazing that the four of us can spend so much time together, in such small quarters, and still giggle as much as we do. I have so many funny stories to tell, but not enough space to do so. And many of them the girls won’t allow me to post; sure wish they were younger and couldn’t read. My friend Linda wrote in an email the other day, “How fun to have a husband who enjoys the travel, and girls who love the history.” I couldn’t say it better myself. The photo below is an example of some of the craziness I enjoy every day traveling with these three ...

Day Nine: 245 miles (2,794 total); $242.29 on gas ($1,641.21 total); 3 states (12 total); $0 Lodging  ($35 total); $10.59 Souvenirs ($271.17 total); $0 Tourist Traps ($698.81 total); $4 Redbox ($22 total); 0 fights (0 total); 1 injuries (1 total)