Saturday, March 19, 2011

Death Valley and Vegas

The road to Death Valley gave me chills, not because of where we were, but because of the blowing winds literally attacking our RV.  The usual road to the park was closed because the winds were too strong for anyone like Rv’s or trucks.  We saw one truck overturned.  So we decided to take an alternative road only to find out the authorities probably didn’t have time to shut that one down.  It was bloody scary!  A stressful drive along a desert highway with winds and gusts of winds ready to make you tip over!  Boyan was a champ driving through it.  Sophie and I were safely buckled down in the back waiting for him to get us into the mountains to find some shelter.   Another steep drive over a mountain range to then drop below sea level into Death Valley!  When we got there, there was still a lot of wind and because our first stop was near sand dunes, there were sandstorms around us.  Made for a unusual eerie scenery.  We slept the night at the campground, which felt more like a parking lot in total darkness since we were in the desert.
The next day we walked in Mosaic Canyon, a beautiful canyon made of polished granite and went hiking in the sand dunes.  A lot of fun, but quite the workout!  The weather was gorgeous with a high of 26 degrees.  It is after all the hottest place on earth.  Summer is deadly over there. The following day we changed campsites and went further south to Furnace Creek where even more gorgeous views awaited.  Death Valley has a nasty name, but truly is beautiful.  A whole new scene unravels just by driving a few miles.  With every turn, the unexpected is revealed.  We spent two more nights there and headed out to Vegas!

Vegas
Two days of walking up and down the strip in Vegas.  We were pooped at every end of day.  I would have loved to been able to party a little, but with Sophie it wasn’t possible.  Still the second night there, we treated ourselves to a delicious dinner at the Aria Hotel.  A brand new hotel with all the fixin’s.  We hit the buffet.  I tasted crab legs for the first time.   Imagine a mountain of Alaskan crab legs just waiting to be eaten.  We also had lobster and ate way too much of everything else they were offering.  But oh boy was it worth it. Wine, à volonté too!  We watched three rounds of the fountain show at the Bellagio and walked the strip at night.  Sophie partied as best she could before passing out!  A trooper!
On our way out of Vegas, we stopped at Hoover dam.  A marvel of engineering and drove east to Sedona.

Heading back east

Yosemite

We start this last stretch of our trip by driving to Yosemite National Park.  The drive is just beautiful.  Rolling hills of green pasture, cows munching away and blue skies to cheer us up.  Once again, we push our RV up the winding road before making our way back down to Yosemite Valley.  Awestruck!  This park has to be the most beautiful thing we’ve seen so far.  How nature can produce such marvels is beyond me.  Every turn of the road reveals an even more beautiful façade of the mountains sprinkled with waterfalls and lush pines.  It is cold in Yosemite at this time of year so there’s snow on the ground, but it makes for even more spectacular views because you can see the contrasts of the rock on the mountains. Plus it’s nice to be RV’ing in the wilderness when you can cuddle up inside where it’s warm.  We got to the campground by the end of the day so we only had time for a little hike to see some nearby waterfalls and meadow.

The next day we went on a long hike up the mountain to halfway up the waterfall.  Couldn’t go any further cause the trail was snowed in.   Had lunch and came back down.   The sun was nice and warm so we couldn’t feel the cold.  Drove around a little to go see Tunnel View.  It’s a view you get as you come out of a tunnel, which gives on to the whole valley.  You could stay there and gaze out at the scenery for hours.  It’s so big that it makes you realize how small and fragile we are.  Came back home for a nice rewarding meal.  On our last day in Yosemite, we drove to Mariposa grove where Sequoia trees grow.  One can only be impressed by the magnitude of these beauties.  Thousands of years old and standing so proud.  We’ll get to see more of these in Sequoia National Park, but this was a nice preview.

Sequoia National Park

A winding drive again, but the trees didn’t disappoint!  We saw the world’s largest tree named General Sherman.  Now that’s a tree!  The pictures don’t do them justice.  They are so majestic and serene.  You know they’ll be there way after my children or grand-children have passed.  We truly enjoyed our day amongst the sequoias.  At least for me, I can say that they brought me a real sense of peace.  I took the time to relish in the moment, knowing that I’ll probably never see them again.

Up the west coast

 Back up the coast we went.  We stopped for the day in Santa Barbara.  A charming little city, very quaint.  Boyan hurt his knee while in San Diego so our walks are a little shorter and less strenuous.  But still we got to visit the place.  Overlooking the ocean, the houses are gorgeous and downtown has full of cute shops.  We also were there during a farmer’s market, which is a nice place to wonder around and look at all the yummy food.


We left Santa Barbara to head for Big Sur.  A winding road along the water with the mountain on the other side.  A little nerve-racking with our big RV.  The road brought us up and up.  It felt like we were never going to get to the top.  Plus it was incredibly windy which made me stress out even more!  Boyan kept on stopping to take pictures, but I just wanted to get out of there!


 





On the way back down we found a nice spot to spend the night.  It was quiet, overlooking the water and pitch black!  What a difference with our usual parking-lot parking!  We were joined by a lovely French couple who obviously hadn’t spoken French to anyone in a long time and really needed some bonding time!  The next day we went to Big Sur and hiked a little bit before arriving in Monterey where we visited an aquarium. Back along the coast then finally arrived in San Francisco!


Much fun was had in SF!  The roads are crazy fun to drive on.  A very nice city with all sorts of different things to see.  We went to visit Alcatraz, drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Fisherman’s Warf, Pacific Heights, …  Boyan has a friend who lives there so we spent a day with him.  In all, a delightful place to visit. 



We also went for a day to Napa Valley for some wine tasting.  Beautiful scenery everywhere you look.  Again not easy to do some wine tasting when you have a baby, but we found a family friendly place that didn’t seem to mind her crawling around.

Monday, March 7, 2011

San Diego

After our fourth flat tire of our trip, we drove down to Encinitas near San Diego to visit my cousin Paul and his wife Joanne and baby Ava!  It was so nice to see familiar faces. Not that Boyan anSophie aren’t great, but we don’t talk to many other people on this trip so when someone from home is there to share some good times, it makes for a wonderfully good time!  The best part was to see Sophie and Ava play with each other.  Sophie absolutely loves other children, especially babies.  So she was just thrilled to have Ava.  Ava, on the other hand, wasn’t as excited about seeing Sophie!  Sophie would hug Ava or climb on her, which wasn’t always welcome, but they found a way to make it work and figure each other out!  It was delightful to see them.




We went for a little hike along the beach, ate Jo’s famous fish tacos, discovered San Diego, strolled in Balboa Park, visited the USS Midway (aircraft carrier),ate more of Jo’s awesome cooking, had Paul’s sourdough pancakes, had Boyan’s crepes, hung out in the Jacuzzi tub and talked around a fire in their backyard.  An awesome visit that helped us, or at least me, replenish for the last remaining month of our trip.


Los Angeles

It was off to L.A. afterwards.  As soon as we stared driving, the scenery started changing.  Grass was replacing the desert sand and trees started showing up.  And the LA takes over quickly. First the suburbs and then the never ending city.  Sprawled all over the place.  You can’t see the city limits!
                               
Our first afternoon there, we spent a lot of time looking where to park our beast.  LA is not RV friendly, nor are the drivers may I say. People are stressed here on the streets.  No mercy!  We finally found ourselves in the far suburbs in the north-west, above Santa Monica and Malibu.  So we went to Malibu beach.  Odd, one day we are wearing winter coats in the mountain and the next we’re in shorts and t-shirts!    Saw some surfers in the late afternoon sun catching some waves. We walked a little along the beach admiring all the beautiful beach villas.  Tried to find Charlie and Allen from Two and Half Men, but to no avail!  So we headed back home though the Malibu hills.  There we discovered that we were parked next to Trader Joe’s!!!  What is Trader Joe’s you may ask?  Well it’s the best grocery store in the whole entire world!  (thanks Paul and Jo).  All sort of natural foods at cheap prices.  We got ourselves some readymade dinners and had a delicious meal! 

The next five days, we visited LA with all its glory.  Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, Beverley Hill, Belair, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, Getti Museum, Griffith Park Observatory, Hollywood sign, Mulholland Drive, … We really enjoyed ourselves.  Plus the weather was cooperating so it made for a nice visit.
Playing with Dad on Malibu Beach
Super Diva



Joshua Tree National Park and Palm Springs

What a state!  No wonder so many people live in California.  You really have it all, mountains, beaches, urban living, nice weather.

We started out our Californian adventure at Joshua Tree National park.  Odd looking trees in the middle of a desert where huge boulders make up the landscape. Higher up in altitude, we had to dress up more than what we were expecting for California.  The scenery was unreal. It felt like we were on another planet sometimes! The park is so large, that we did quite a bit of driving to see the most that we could.  We did manage to do a couple of one-hour hikes.



















































Right next door to the park, there’s Palm Springs.  We didn’t do much then drive around in the city, but we did take the aerial tram all the way up to Mount San Jacinto.  I really enjoyed myself.  After a dizzying ride up, we got to go on a wonderful hike.  Normally people go in the summer where the trails are properly indicated, but because there was snow on the ground we were on and off the trail all the time which made for much more interesting views and discoveries.  The temperature was just above zero with loads of sun.  Nothing better for some mountain exercise!  The views were breathtaking and made us feel like we were all alone.  Which we were more or less since not that many other people actually leave the tram area.




< 


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Cowboys et Cactus

Ça fait très longtemps que je n’ai pas fait un compte rendu.  Manque de temps et surtout fatiguée après  nos longues journées.  Mais bon depuis la Louisiane, on en a fait des choses. Entre autre, on a changé deux autres pneus crevés! Assez stressant disons!  Mais bon, tous les vieux pneus sur notre RV ont éclaté, on devrait tenir le coup jusqu’au bout cette fois!

On est arrivé à Houston, Texas.  Une ville assez anodine.  Pas grand-chose à faire. Le dimanche qu’on est arrivé il pleuvait, on a donc décidé de visiter le Space Center.  ‘’Houston, we have a problem’’, votre centre est plutôt ennuyeux!  Mais bon, il y avait quelques affaires intéressantes.  Contrairement au reste de la ville.  Le lendemain on voulait aller visiter la ville, mais tout est fermé les lundis et mardis! On a tourné en rond dans la ville pour finalement se dire qu’on s’en va vers San Antonio.  EN tout cas, ça parait qu’on est au Texas.  Le nombre de pick-up par rapport aux autos régulières est  hallucinant. Les hommes portent vraiment des chapeaux de cowboys, même en ville! Il ne faut pas oublié les raffineries qui longent les autoroutes.  Ça ne finit pas.  Il y en a partout!  Le gaz n’est pas cher ici.  Environ 0,70$ le litre!

San Antonio nos a charmé.  Une belle petite ville avec plein d’histoire et de belle architecture.  On sent vraiment l’influence mexicaine.  On a visité l’Alamo.  Un champ de bataille où une poignée d’américains se sont battu contre les mexicain au 19e siècle pour occuper s’approprié le territoire.  Ils ont perdu pour plus tard gagner à Houston et fonder le Texas.  On a mangé dans un petit restaurant mexicain sur l’heure du lunch.  Tous les locaux y étaient.  C’était succulent.  On est resté là un peu pour se réchauffer.  La température a soudainement baissé.  On  a environ 7 ou 8 degrés Celsius.  Une vague de froid s’est abattu sur nous!  Mais on s’est bien habillé.  On a continué de visiter la ville en après-midi.  Très jolie.  Le soir on est resté à San Antonio.  On s’est bien gelé la couenne!  Moins 16 degrés Celcius!  On a du chauffage dans le RV, mais la batterie ne tient pas par ce temps froid.  Il faut parti la génératrice qui fait un bruit de fou et encore là, le chauffage part atteint la température désiré puis s’éteint. Dès qu’il s’éteint la température commence à baisser radicalement!  Ça ne fait pas des nuits très confortables!












On prend donc la décision de se diriger vers Tucson, Arizona et ensuite la Californie car ils prévoient du temps froid pendant 2 semaines encore.  On voulait faire le Big Bend dans le sud du Texas, mais c’Est du -24!!  On laisse tomber!  En se dirigeant vers l’Arizona, on s’arrête dans un village de cowboys, Bandera.  Il ne manquait plus que des chevaux dans la rue et on se croyait dans un film western!  En fait, je crois que s’il faisait plus chaud, les chevaux auraient été là.  Devant les saloons, il y a des attaches à chevaux! On a mangé dans un restaurant tout à fait charmant. 





8$ pour un buffet texan!  Délicieux et un service chaleureux!  Après la tournée en bateau de Wakulla Springs, c’était le 2e meilleur 8$ que j’ai dépensé!   Les texans sont très gentils malgré le fait qu’ils ont tous probablement une carabine dans leur pick-up!  On a vu un cowboy au resto habillé comme dans le temps et comme portefeuille, il avait une poche en velours mauve avec une corde de couleur or.   ‘’Gold rush candies anyone?``.  Trop cool!

Les degrés montent petit à petit et l’Arizona nous accueille avec un 10 degrés.  Quel bonheur! On arrive le soir et on se stationne dans un Walmart.  Le matin en se réveillant, on réalise qu’on est entouré de montagne!  Tucson est dans une vallée!  Quel beau paysage.  Les gens ici ne le remarque probablement plus.  On est dans le désert alors on va visiter un musée du désert.  Pas n’importe quel musée. Le musée est à l’extérieur, donc on voit tout comme si on est était par nous-même, mais avec des explications.  Génial!  Et les cactus…. Que dire de ces beautés!  Les Saguaros ont environ 200 ans en moyenne.  On les voit toujours dans les dessins animés, mais ils existent vraiment!  On a vu un coyote traverser la route devant nous!  Il manquait le roadrunner!



Le lendemain, on est allé se promener dans les montagnes.  Des vues à couper le souffle.  Un hike de 3 heures avec Sophie dans le back-pack!  Très agréable.  Elle ne s’est pas plaint et a fait ça comme une championne!




On quitte pour Phoenix, le lendemain.  Une ville énorme.  Les américains ne sont pas familiers avec le concept de construire en hauteur.  Ils s’étalent le plus possible et font des autoroutes pour se déplacer.  Encore entourés de montagnes, on s’y promène.  La ville elle-même n’est pas très intéressante. 
Ce matin on se dirige vers la Californie.  On va commencer avec le Joshua Tree Park….


Saturday, January 29, 2011

New Orleans and Cajun Country


Well getting to New Orleans took a little longer than expected, but it was well worth the wait!   We left last Sunday from Boyan’s parents’ house in Cape Coral Florida.  We drove all the way to Northern Florida to Tallahassee. It’s the capitol of Floriday, but boy is it small and boring!  Fifteen miles south however is the Wakulla State Park.  Our Lonely Planet recommended that we stop for a visit and it was worth the stop. A beautiful park where we took a river boat tour.  We got to see manatees, alligators, turtles and all sorts of birds.  Best $8 spent so far! Wakulla is the world’s deepest freshwater spring so the water is crystal clear.  Really beautiful. 



It was off to New Orleans after that.  On the way there, we got a flight tire on the middle of the highway!  There was a popping sound and then a lot of rattling.  We immediately knew what it was L  We pulled over to the side of the road.  Of course the flat was on the side where the cars and trucks were passing and not only that, but it was the inner tire so we had to remove two tires!  The sun was starting to go down so we didn’t want to change the tire there.  We decided to continue driving slowly to the next exit since we still had one good tire.  We found a little town (Bonifay) and a used tire shop that was closing in 15 minutes.  They agreed to help us out. We got a semi used tire installed for $45! 

We were quite relieved.  At least I was!  Boyan doesn’t get too stressed with these sorts of things since he’s on the road all the time and flat tires are all too common for him.  So we ended up sleeping in Bonifay instead of New Orleans.  With the RV, we can basically stop in any commercial parking lot and stay the night.  Stores don’t seem to mind.  Normally we stay in Walmarts, but this time it was a little fast food joint.

The next day we took off for N.O..  We arrived late afternoon and found our home in the Walmart near N.O., in a little suburb called Chalmette.  We unhooked the car and started driving.  Chalmette was completely destroyed in Katrina so everything there was nice and brand new.  The town between Chalmette and N.O. however was not so nice!  A real hood.  Many houses abandoned and those that are still occupied are not kept up.  You can tell people just don’t have the money for upkeep.  Let’s just say that I wouldn’t have wanted to have a flat tire there!















But we arrived safely and New Orleans is everything they say it is!  Would have been nice to been there during Mardi Gras, but there were already decorations starting to go up so we got a little taste of it.  We toured the French Quarter for our first day.  Beautiful architecture and charming, colorful streets.  














We walked around until our feet were aching.  Sophie was a trooper and stayed in her stroller quiet and happy.  She was thrilled with everything there was to admire.  She even partied on Bourbon Street with best of them!! 

We would have loved to stay the evening and have a nice dinner, but one, we were pooped from our day and two, Sophie isn’t allowed in many of the establishments (underage)!  They are really strict about that, as if we would give her a drink!  So back to Walmart we went!













The next day, we visited the Garden District where beautiful mansions line the streets.  We just put Sophie in the Stroller and went on admiring each house.  It’s like the Westmount of New Orleans!  














In the afternoon, we visited some sugar cane and cotton plantations along the Mississippi River!  Wow!  We saw this one plantation that the entrance was line with 200-year-old oak trees.  Simply majestic!



Beautiful homes on large lands where you can feel the history seeping through.  Took a tour that explained the life of the owners and their slaves.  Found out that in today’s money, a slave was worth on average $25,000. Older and sick ones were worth less.  Skilled workers could go up to $75,000.

Yesterday morning we left for the Cajun country.  Lonely Planet said it was a must see in all of the States.  Well, we’re still wondering why.  This is where there’s supposed to be the highest French –speaking population in all the U.S (Acadians that fled Nova Scotia).  We haven’t found a single person that spoke French!  Way overrated of a place.  The towns are puny and really, but really boring.  I think it’s better in the spring or summer when all the festivals are happening.  We did eat some crawfish (écrevisse) and catfish which were very good.  At night we went to a Cajun restaurant for more Cajun  food, music and dancing. We were the only visitors, the only French-speaking (except for the band singer) and the only ones under 55 years old!  Again a lot of hype over nothing.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some! 
On the road again on our way to Houston, Texas!




Saturday, January 22, 2011

Bah - aaaaaaah - mas!!!

Des vacances pendant des vacances!  Faut le faire!  Ahhhh mais que c’était bon!  Splendide les Bahamas.  Si proche des États-Unis, mais avec un rythme et un style propre à aux îles. 
On est parti lundi pour Miami.  Il pleuvait en masse, mais on s’est promené dans le Art Deco District quand même.  Il n’y avait pas les filles en petit bikini et patins à roulettes comme on voit à la télé, mais sinon le style art déco était très présent.  Des builldings avec une belle architecture au bord de la plage. 



On peut s’imaginer la vie qui y régnait dans le temps.  On s’est donc promener un petit peu sous la pluie puis on est allé prendre notre bateau pour notre croisière de 4 nuits dans les Bahamas.

Première destination était Freeport.  On a passé la journée à la plage.  Pas d’excursion de possible avec Sophie malheureusement.  Ce n’est pas grave, on la met dans un back-pack à bébé et on la promène comme on veut.  Elle finit toujours pas s’endormir de toute manière.  Ce qu’elle a fait en marchant sur la plage.
Pas la meilleure place pour elle pour faire ses siestes par contre.  C’est ce qu’on a découvert car en soirée, c’était comme si on avait kidnappé notre Sophie et on l’a remplacée par un petit diable! Elle ne tenait plus, chialait, ne voulait pas manger, ne voulait pas dormir, … bref pas un cadeau.  On a eu droit à trois jours comme ça!

Notre petit diable adoré!




















Le lendemain le bateau s’est arrêté à Nassau.  Atlantis….WOW!!! 

 Atlantis se trouve sur Paradise Island.  Un complexe hôtelier avec tout pour plaire et amuser.  Des plages à couper le souffle, un casino, un parc aquatique, un aquarium, des piscines,….  un petit paradis. 


On a réussi à se faufiler quand un garde ne regardait pas pour rentrer dans les lieux.  Normalement il faut payer pour avoir accès. Un autre couple québécois a payé 120$ pour avoir accès toute la journée.  Ils avaient un lunch d’inclus, mais bon ça ne valait pas 120$!! Nous on a emmené de la bouffe du bateau donc on était bien content!  On n’a pas pu faire le parc aquatique (l’autre couple non plus), mais tout le reste était à nous à découvrir.  Je prendrais bien quelques jours dans ce resort.  Peut-être une lune de miel future!  C’est formidable.   Nassau est une belle petite ville.  On n’a pas eu le temps de voir trop de choses.  Sophie commençait à faire des siennes encore une fois!  Il faisait tellement chaud cette journée là que la pauvre n’en pouvait plus dans son back-pack.  Elle s’est quand même baignée dans la piscine du Atlantis!



Troisième journée, le bateau s’est arrêté à Great Stirrup Cay.  Une île qui appartient à Norwegian Cruise Line.  Donc une île privée.  Tout le bateau se retrouve sur la plage.  On a eu une super belle journée à relaxer et vraiment rien faire.  Boyan s’est baigné avec Sophie, on a joué, on a mangé et Sophie a fait une sieste (youpi!).  Tout le monde était de bonne humeur et la température était idéale. 



Retour au bateau pour notre dernier souper. En passant, on n’a pas arrêté de manger pendant ces trois jours.  Même Sophie a pris du poids je crois!

Pas de lit à faire, pas de bouffe à cuisiner, pas de ménage à faire, du soleil, la mer, …. des vacances pendant les vacances!  Maintenant, retour au Winnibago!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Florida Keys or Conch Republic, as they call it

We're on our way back from a few days in the Keys.  A little peace of paradise.   A string of islands all conncected by a single highway.
 On either side, gorgeous aqua water, wild birds and wild vegetation growing freely.  Oh and let's not forget all the tacky gift shops!  The Keys is one huge beach town.  Very laid back.

We spent our first night in Key Largo.  Can't help but sing the Beach Boys song when you say Key Largo!  Didn't really do anything.  More of a pit stop before heading down to Key West.  Had a quiet evening in our RV.  Headed the next morning to Key West, the last Key at the tip of the US.  The Old part of town is party city.  Everyone is drinking in the streets.  Music is blaring from all the different bars on Duval Street (main street).



We look a little odd with our baby stroller! Not that many young people on the islands.  But we don't care.  Sophie seems to enjoy herself!

 

Walked around for a few hours taking in the scene.  Had a delicious piece of key lime pie!  Boy was that ever good!  In the evening we went to this little shack called Bo's Fish Wagon.  Had fried grouper and shrimps!  Yummmy! MOre walking on Duval street and off to bed. Oh we finally found out what a Conch is (pronounced conk). It's those big seashells, you know the ones you can hear the ocean when you put your ear to them.

The next day we drove  back towards mainland and stopped in the MIddle Keys at Bahia Honda State Park. A gorgeous park completely protected from development.



The water is pristine however.  So many birds all over.  We spent the day walking up and down the beach enjoying the scenery and relaxing.  Sophie enjoyed it until she just passed out on Daddy's back.



Back at Key Largo for dinner and bed.  In the morning we went to do a glass bottom boat ride to see the coral reef.  Very nice ride in beautiful sunshine.



I think people were more interested in Sophie than the fish and coral!  There was an entire group of girls going crazy over her! She charmed the crowds as usual, until she started crying cause she was tired.  Then we got those ''no body likes a crying baby'' looks! Back in the backpack she went and off to sleep she went!  So nice to travel with such a good kid!

We walked a little bit around and now we're heading back to Boyan's parents for a day .  We leave on Monday for a four-day cruise in the Bahamas!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Les exploits de Sophie

On dit que voyager fait grandir.  Eh bien c'est le cas de Sophie.  En une semaine et demi, elle a réalisé tout plein de choses! 

Elle s'est mise debout dans son lit toute seule.

Elle a compris qu'il fallait soulever son gobelet plus haut pour l'eau puisse descendre.

Elle claque sa langue pour faire des petits bruits.  En fait, elle imite plusieurs sons qu'on fait.
Elle tape des mains quand on dit ''tape, tape'', quand on chante une chanson ou quand on dit ''Bravo!''!

Bref, elle ne cesse d'épater ses parents.  C'est certain qu'un voyage avec un enfant ce n'est pas pareil.  Il y a bien des choses qu'on aimerait faire, mais ce ne sont pas nécessairement des activités ou des endroits appropriés pour elle.  On s'accommode tout de même.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Florida

Well we made it to Florida after a long drive from Washington.  On our way we stopped overnight in Savannah Georgia.  Didn't see anything, just slept there.  We did go to Jekyll Island in Georgia.  That's where a bunch of millionnaires back in the late 1800 hung out.  Big country club and summertime cottages are now open to the public to see.  Pretty cool.


We arrived at Boyan's parents' house in Cape Coral, Florida on Friday night.  It was nice to settle down for a bit. We did some work on the RV.  Minnie Winnie got a facelift!  She looks like a 20 year old, but you can tell her bones are 70!! 

Spent today and yesterday at the beach.  Not too hot, but warm enough to catch some rays.  Sophie got to see the ocean for the first time and she was quite taken by it.  We got her some sunglasses for the occasion.  Little Miss Cool wears them as if she had them her whole life.


We're packin' up tomorrow for the Florida Keys. 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Washington D.C. done!





Sylvia: Well two days in Washington  were really nice.  We arrived late Monday night.  Got all cozy in our RV in a grocery store parking lot.  Slept pretty well.  Sophie, not as well as home, but she was a trooper.  The next day we headed off into the city and discovered what the Unites States of America are all about.  The grandeur of this city is breathtaking.  Nowhere else have I seen such large buildings made entirely of marble with all the fixin's.  They really took pride in building this capital of theirs.   We started with a visit of the Holocaust museum, where they give you an identity booklet as if you were a Jew at that time and each page tells the story of the person you're supposed to be.  At the end of your visit, you find out if you survived or not.  I didn't, but Boyan did.

Then we visited the Capitol. Beautiful building where Congress meets.  Took most of the afternoon to visit it all.  At the end, we were too tired to go see anything else.  headed back to our RV and ha dour first meal!
The night went well until the heating stopped working.  IT's about 0 degrees celsius outside so no time to loose heating!  The battery was dead.  Thank God for the generator!  It was close to morning so we started our day early.  Today we went to see the Washington Monument (the Obelisk).  We went all the way up the 555ft to get a gorgeous view of the city.  I'm sure we spotted Obama.  Everyone looked like ants from up there, it was hard to tell!!

Then we went to see the Lincoln Memorial, you know the huge statue of Abraham Lincoln, the one where he sits on a chair and overlooks everything.  Very impressive.  You never think it could be that big until you see it with your own eyes.  Walked around the White House.  Forget about getting anywhere remotely close to it.  In the afternoon we went to the Natural History Museum.  Saw dinosaurs, stuffed wild animals and beautiful gems and stones.  All pooped out, the three of us headed back home.  Now it's supper time.  Tortelinni alfredo it is!