Here we go!

Today was my sister's party in Connecticut. We went and stayed there till six o'clock and then we left go to to Albany, New York. We had to drive through a little corner of Massachusetts to get back to NY! When we got hungry we decided to start looking for a place to eat dinner. We saw Burger King, but that wasn't very interesting! You can get BK anywhere! So we kept going, and saw a sign for something that said, "Berkshire Hillbillies". We thought this was pretty funny, so we decided to drive for five miles only, and look for it. If we didn't find it in five minutes, we'd turn around and go back the way we were going.

It turned out to be this really neat country restaurant with home cooking and a bakery and stuff. They were so nice there! My friend got a pork chop and apples, mashed potatoes and candied carrots, and I had a cheeseburger and fries. The burger was on a HOME MADE roll!!! I even stole some of her mashed potatoes, they were so good!

The waitress was super friendly and gave us lots of tips for where to go on our travels. I wrote them down and wrote down her name. If we go to any of those places I think we will send her a postcard. I think she'll like that!

We were too full for dessert but we bought two cinnamon pastries with nuts and icing and a half a dozen home made doughnuts with cinnamon sugar on them to eat for breakfast, 'cause we're visiting my friend, and it's always nice to bring something when you're a guest!

I just ate half a doughnut. BOY are they good. MAD good, as some would say! :)

Leaving that party, it started to rain a little, but it was still sunny. So guess what we saw? A DOUBLE rainbow! It was gorgeous. We got a picture but only one of the rainbows came out in it.

I don't think I'm going to eat anything in Albany because I don't think Albany is famous for any sort of foods. Albany is famous for making laws and having political events. And college.

Tomorrow we are heading out to Niagara Falls. I'll try and post tmw night or the following night.

We are READY!!!

I even helped pack the car.

Everything is fitting neatly in the car, in large bins, looking like a tetris game, with everything in it's own spot. We have snacks and clothes and cooking supplies and toys and games and books and a first aid kid and a million other things.

Tomorrow we will get up early and go have breakfast at my favorite cafe in Brooklyn. Then we will go to my grandma's house in CONNECTICUT for a family party.

From there we will drive to ALBANY, NY and stay at our friend's house. For those of you following this on Google Maps, it should be quite fun!

The next morning we will get up and drive to Niagara Falls, NY. This is going to be a really long drive! I am a little disappointed because near there is where I spent a lot of summers when i was a kid. My mom sent me out of the city most summers, so I stayed with my grandparents, upstate, in a town called Chatauqua. See how close that is to Niagara Falls? Well, we don't really have time to go there. Another year. :)

I hope we go on the Maid Of The Mist. That's the boat that takes you UNDER THE FALLS!!! It is so cool.

I'll try and post more tomorrow!

TWICE! TWICE now I have mapped out our route on Google Maps. I have entered each destination along the way to study the trip and what I might encounter along the way.


TWICE now I have accidentally closed the window.

Computers can be very frustrating.

COOL!!!

You can get buttermilk to DRINK in Idaho!!! At the diner! With your burger!


I like buttermilk a lot but I never buy it at the store because I'm the only person I know that likes it, so I can't really drink a whole quart! I love the idea that I can just order a cup of it to go with my meal, like a milkshake! Only more nutritious and less junky! No sugar!

I tried to cut and paste a picture from www.roadfood.com but I don't think it worked.

More from www.roadsideamerica.com:

Mysterious spots pockmark the tourist landscape, promising to show Nature and Physics gone berserk. Mystery Spots offer an amazingly similar menu of wall-walking, seat-balancing, body-shrinking and -growing tricks; most are placed suspiciously near interstate interchanges and bloated tourist meccas.

The drama of the unexplained is best conveyed by an old codger, wise to government coverups and the shifty vagaries of science. Listening to the ravings of the expert at the Mystery Spot Santa Cruz, California, is half the fun. Unfortunately, many mystery spots fail this crucial test, employing 14-year-olds to convince skeptical summer visitors of their spot's veracity. "Scientists think it's caused by the 'igmmeous' rock in the hill, I think. . . " offered one bored, gum-clicking expert.

For our money, America's premier mystery spot is the Oregon Vortex near Gold Hill, Oregon, open to the public since 1930. Tennis balls really do seem to roll uphill here, brooms really do stand on end.

After subjecting many spots to rigorous, very scientific tests, our Mystery Spot Test Kit ™ indicates that the Oregon Vortex is the most disturbed.

What causes the mysterious goings-on here? No one knows.

One theory is that a great beam of "high velocity soft electrons" exits the earth through the vortex. Another claims that a giant underground device produces the weird effects.

Skeptics usually write off the effects observed in Mystery Spots as nothing more than optical illusions manipulated to mysteriously lighten the wallets of tourists. But when was the last time you enjoyed a vacation accompanied by a skeptic?

For the true believers, there's always a new scientific theory on the gift shop shelves, explaining how TIME speeds up and S-S-L-L-O-W-W-W-W-S-S-S down in a vortex, depending on where you stand and when.

A broom stands on end at the Mystery Spot in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

One man who apparently knew the secret of the Oregon Vortex -- John Litster -- studied its effects first-hand for more than forty years. He even corresponded with Einstein on the subject. What he uncovered no one will ever know, for he burned all his notes before his death.

"The world isn't yet ready for what goes on here," he warned.

What on earth is a "gunfighter charity"?

from www.roadsideamerica.com:


Cody, Wyoming - Daily Street Gunfights

The free gunfights occur Monday through Saturday nights (June 1 thru Sept 30) from 6 pm to about 6:30 pm in the street in front of the porch of the Irma Hotel in downtown Cody. Arrive early and get a free seat on the rock wall or picnic tables. Or rent a folding chair for $1 from the Cody Trolley Tours ticket booth on the porch of the Irma. They'll put your name on the chair so you can arrive 1 minute before the show and still get a front row seat. 200-400 people attend nightly and only 150 folding chairs are available. Half the proceeds go to gunfighter charities. [Mike Johnson, 03/25/2006]

Free Camping

Every time I google "free camping" or "Free campgrounds" I get a lot of information about RV campgrounds. We do NOT HAVE AN RV!!! That's a mobile home. A big house on wheels. Not that I don't think that it would be cool, but I don't know how to drive one, and they take a LOTTA GAS!

So one of the websites mentioned that at least in South Dakota, in many city parks, camping is free.

I am looking forward to learning more about that! Less money spent on camping, more money I will have for local treats!

ooh! An Old Faithful Webcam!

Old Faithful is a geyser. A hole in the ground where water suddenly shoots up in the air with great force. I can't wait to see it for real!

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/oldfaithfulcam.htm

Whoa. Serious stuff!

http://wikitravel.org/en/Tornado_safety

My brain is stuck in Wisconsin!

I just called to make a reservation at a campsite, for July 7th and 8th. In MINNESOTA. I kept saying,

"So how far are you from Menomonie, Wisconsin?"

The lady was very confused. She kept saying,

"ma'am, we're in MINNESOTA."

Finally I got my act together, or as my students say, I got my head in the game. I reserved two nights at this lovely campsite on the lake. I forget what lake.

This is from their website:

If you're into birding, this is the place to be! With 86 acres of prairie seeded with wildflowers, butterflies, meadow birds, bluebirds and hummingbirds abound. Loons and bald eagles are seen as they migrate to and from their winter/summer areas. Raptors are numerous with the meadow and woods nearby and waterbirds from herons to kingfishers are seen. Bring your binoculars and hiking staff because you're in for a real treat.

Um... RAPTORS???

Wall Drug! As corny as South Of The Border!

In 1930's South Dakota, Ted Hustead's wife had an idea to help bring traffic into their declining drug store. Dorothy Hustead came up with a jingle and created a sign attracting drivers from the nearby highways - "Get a soda/Get root beer/Turn next corner/Just as near/To Highway 16 and 14/Free Ice Water/Wall Drug." The sign worked, and Wall Drug has become an expansive tourist attraction of international renown, taking in more than $10 million a year and attracting some two million visitors annually to a remote town whose population has never exceeded 800. The silly signs have become their trademark of sorts, in time Mr. Hustead was spending $300,000 a year on billboard advertising, including Wall Drug signs on London buses and in every train station in Kenya. The little store has been expanded into a 75,000-square-foot sprawl of western kitsch, housing an enclosed mall - selling everything from souvenir T shirts to pricy cowboy boots- a 400-plus- seat restaurant and a range of free attractions. While it's certainly a sight to be seen when traveling in the West, Wall Drug seems to be famous for its fame - as a sign at the Taj Mahal will prove - "only 10,728 miles to Wall Drug."

So we are going there. We've been planning to go there for years. What we DIDN"T KNOW was that this year is the 100th birthday! Festivities will include:

TUESDAY, JULY 10th-

Time Capsule Opening � 5:30pm � City Library Hut
100th Birthday Party- Picnic & Old Fashion Games -6pm-Wall City Park
Wall Celebration Bull Riding showcases the top 30 bullriders against the top 30 bulls. -7pm- Rodeo Grounds
Fireworks Display-weather permitting

Diamond Point, on Lake George

Beautiful campsite. Recommendation!

A question

my name is t ***. my question is, is it going to be snowing in Canada?

My test is on Friday!

Wish me luck, everybody! My road test is on Friday!

Hopefully, by Friday at 3:15 I will have a driver's license!

caniden money

my name is o*** canaidien money looks like a dollar that has a gold sticker and it has people
in sleds that are in the snow

caniden money

Ms. Alexander's Great Loves, #593

These are some of the things I look for when I am traveling:

Cool independent bookstores (That means NOT Barn Of Evil or Bounders)

Frosty Beverages (like Slurpees, or Frappucinos, but strange local treats that I've never had before)

Library Book Sales

rainbows

Miniature Golf

Weird Tourist Attractions like The World's Biggest Ball Of Snot (I don't THINK this exists... YET)

Oh, WOW.

I just started playing around with Google Maps. The Satellite feature is SO SO SO SO SO cool! I went over above Canada, and clicked hybrid, and I got a combination of actual pictures of the bridge that we might cross to get back into the US, and an overlay of map lines and names!

Then I went over to Niagara Falls, and got really close. I saw the water move!

I wonder if I can stand on a mountain somewhere this summer and have someone take a satellite picture of me? Does that work?

I think we have decided that to avoid crowded, crazy campgrounds on Fourth Of July Weekend, we're going up through southwestern Ontario for the first week. Then on through Michigan, etc etc...

Disappointingly, Wikipedia's information on SW Ontario is really boring. Doesn't mention the rich history of the Underground railroad, or foods we can eat there or anything. Sheesh. Feel free to suggest some better resources!

Does anybody know about these? Do they work?

http://www.cheapify.com/Main_topics/Gas.html?gclid=CJmujIaVwYwCFQXGSgodmnveVw

My Other Obsession

The other thing I am sort of obsessed with finding this summer, along with local yummy things, is a Hot Spring. For those of you who don't know what that is- it's like a lake or pool of water that's naturally hot! They're very relaxing and good for people with aches and pains. Apparently there are TONS of them on the west coast of this country! All those red dots are hot springs!

I am also obsessed with things that come from books. We found about a dozen places to go to to see Laura Ingalls Wilder tourist stuff. Yay!