My spot in the bleachers @g8sman - Tumblr Blog

17jun2021 - head east

Yesterday was a slow lazy day. I slept in but Heather was up and logged in by 7:30. When I did get up, I made coffee, toasted my bagel and scooped out some cantaloupe and went out to the porch which was sunnier and a little warmer than what I was used to. An indication of my late start. I pretty much stayed there until lunch time. Most of the time was spent staring at my phone flipping through headlines and reading occasional stories. I have convinced myself that this is no different than reading a newspaper. Just that I ignore more headlines. After Heather finished working, she made lunch for the kids and we collected some beach stuff and headed down to the Bailey’s house to spend the afternoon. When we got there, Logan and Evelyn pretty much headed down to the beach where Emmie and YG were already out in the water. All four of them hung out and looked like they were having fun. OG and his friend K came out as well. What seemed like not too much longer after we had been there, Emmie got out of the water. YG caught two things in the water with her hands. One was a broken fishing rod and the other was a baby shark snagged on a broken fishing line. She got the hook out and released the shark back into the water. That was pretty impressive. The water was kind of rough; consistent wave action. So after Georgia left the water, Logan and Evelyn joined us on the beach. Logan was looking a little lonely. He said he was bored and that the water was a little too busy. He didn’t bring his book with him so he just sat on the beach. Mr. B and I played a knock version of corn hole. It was a way to pass the time. Evelyn worked on a sand volcano. Heather and Mrs. B chatted about a variety of things. We packed up around 4:30 and went back to our beach house to shower and change. We got back to the Bailey’s around 6:30 for dinner. We were celebrating OG’s high school graduation. We had a good dinner and good conversation with everyone. Logan seemed kind of depressed. When we went back for dinner he basically sat and read his book. I am wondering if this has something to do with Emmie just being around her friends and to some degree ignoring him. When we were at the house, the four teenagers minus Logan and Evelyn essentially retreated to their rooms. Earlier when we were at the beach, Emmie came in early and Logan never really went back in the water. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was a little depressed and potentially not being able to understand why. I think he looks up to Emmie and so on this trip when she is not here at our beach house or not really hanging out or interacting with him she is present I could understand where that might upset him. This is the first time where we have been in a situation like this and so it is probably hard to figure out what emotion he was feeling. Of course I am purely making things up to try and understand what was going on myself. It could be that he was feeling bloated and just needed to pass some gas to feel better. Later in the evening, Emmie, YG, Logan and Evelyn did walk down the pier. I was glad they did that for Logan’s sake. He seemed to perk up a bit for that and on their return walk. We left the house around 9:30 to come back to our beach house. The kids changed and went to their rooms to sleep or do something else until they slept. Heather and I finished watching a special about the Simplon-Orient-Express train which travels from Amsterdam to Venice. The train looked beautiful but the scenery was even more spectacular. It was enough for me to want to take it. I do wish train travel in the USA was more accessible in both destinations and in price, but it is not to be. I am not sure that the Simplon-Orient-Express is on my bucket list, but a scenic train trip like that is. This was definitely the laziest day at the beach so far. Hopefully we will get some more beach time Friday and Saturday. I think we have run out of things to go see. I wouldn’t mind going into Southport but know no-one else wants to go, unless I promised ice-cream! Here is to tomorrow in hopes that I see the sun-rise and the sun-set.

16jun2021 - aquarium

The alarm is going off at 6 and while I am coming to terms with being awake at that time, the pull to get out of bed is less. Not having dogs to walk or things to accomplish for the day helps with that. I laid in bed flirting with sleep until about 7 when Heather got up to start her morning. I stayed in bed flipping through headlines and reading some of them. Finally decided I had enough and got up to have breakfast and check in on work. I am not doing any work, but a quick login and looking over things means I don’t pretend to have to do it when I am back. Meaning, my email is not full of messages and there is not a overwhelming number of missed IMs that I need to go back and read. The best thing is that I just close the computer when I am done. We have reservations for 2:30 at the aquarium today which means catching the ferry in Southport and riding over to Fort Fisher. I promised Evelyn that we would play risk this morning so that is on the docket as well. Maybe also playing putt-putt as we come back from the aquarium. May also try to go over to the Oak Island lighthouse this morning. I was reading you can go in it but cannot go all the way up unless you make a reservation like 2-4 weeks in advance. Something to remember for future visits. We left the house a little after 1 in hopes we would catch the 1:45 ferry. Our hopes were not met. The ferry was full so we waited until the 2:30 ferry came and rode that over and got to the aquarium around 3. The aquarium had been re-worked a little. As you walk in there is a new otter exhibit with three otters in it. They were small, cute and beating each other up. Logan noticed that the box turtles had been removed for the otters which made him sad. The rest of the aquarium was the aquarium. In general it was nice to look at the aquatic life. The big tank is always mesmerizing to watch as are the jelly fish. There was one tank where the stingrays and some other aluminum foil looking fish were really active. That was pretty neat to see. From the aquarium we went to the Fort Fisher park and got there 15 minutes before they closed. We went in and look around real quick and headed out. Next time we will need to make that the priority as it seems each time we go to it, we never have enough time to see it. We caught the 5:30 ferry back to Southport and stopped at Wal-Mart where Heather had ordered Yahtzee. The joke here was that I asked Logan to bring Yahtzee and everyone but me agreed that the game was at the beach. We get here and low and behold, no Yahtzee. When we played Clue that first night, I kept commenting on how some rolls would have been good in Yahtzee. Everyone would groan when I said it. But now the problem has been solved and we have Yahtzee at the beach. We got back to the house and Heather worked on dinner while the rest of us lazed about. After dinner Heather and I went out for a drink leaving L and e to watch the house. H and I went to the “Lazy Turtle” and had a couple and just talked about the day and current events. We got back to the house around 10 I think and the kids were still up. They said the watched some World War II documentary and then switched over to Rabbids, A cartoon show that L really likes. Think Three Stooges type of comedy. Heather and I stayed up and finished watching season 2 of Lupin on Netflix. It was a good show, and for me it could end after that season, but it looks like they are making a third one. Another good lazy day at the beach. As of now, no plans for the day tomorrow. The Bailey’s are having a little graduation party tomorrow evening that we will go too but other than that not really sure what we will do.

15jun2021 - battleship

Routines are meant to be changed, right? I slept in this morning till about 7, saw rain was in the immediate forecast which was confirmed by thunder and decided I would skip the morning walk. That and the beach has a lot of shells on it and I was not too excited to get out there and walk on them in my bare feet. I know I could wear shoes, but it is the beach! Instead of getting up I stayed in bed and flipped through a content aggregator and read some articles. Heather was already up and starting her half day of work. I could also hear Evelyn watching the TV. I eventually got up and fixed myself some breakfast and headed outside to join Heather. Evelyn has somehow gotten herself into watching foreign films for kids, which I think is pretty cool as it exposes her to other cultures. The one she was watching today involved a British woman trying to build a skate park in India. The challenges were a woman trying to lead change and then the main character was a teenage girl who really wanted to skate but was being married off. A clash of cultures and times changing. I caught part of it here and there, but it seemed like a good movie. Better than some of the other stuff she watches. I know, I know….I am the parent and I can control these things. Plan for the day is to get some putt-putt in the ten o’clock hour, come back to the house, eat lunch and then head down to the Bailey’s so we can organize a trip to the battleship. Depending on the pace with which we go through the ship, might mean an early dinner in Wilmington or coming back to the island. We will see what the day provides. Putt-putt fell through as they open at 4 but the battleship plans came together. We went down and visited the Bailey’s and picked up Emmie, Graham and Allison and caravanned to the battleship. The battleship really hasn’t changed all that much over the years we have been coming. It is a good glimpse into the life of the ship and you get a feel for how cramped ship living is. I think the cool aspects of the ship are you get to walk around in the kitchen as well as sit in some of the guns. The things that you could sit in and interact with were Evelyn’s favorites and Logan said he enjoyed looking at the guns on the deck. They are pretty impressive. As we finished up at the battleship the sky’s opened up on us. So it was a mad dash to the cars and we headed over to Wilmington to a sushi+ restaurant that Graham and Allison knew about. It was pouring buckets and I missed my turn so it took us a little longer to get there but we finally did. Emmie packed away some sushi, Evelyn packed away an adult entree of chicken, shrimp and rice and Logan ate a cheeseburger while trying to protect his fries from invading neighbors. By the time we were done the rain had stopped and we headed back to Oak Island. The evening was non-eventful as we ate some chocolate lasagna, Logan retired to his room, Heather and Evelyn watched “Swiss Family Robinson” on Disney+ which was the first time I had seen Disney add a disclaimer to the movie about depictions of characters being wrong then and now. I didn’t think that walking around the boat took that much out of me, but after eating my lasagna I could definitely feel a blanket of sleep coming over me. So I decided it would be better to go to bed than fall asleep in the chair, wake up and then be up for the rest of the night. Another day at the beach and already losing track of what day it is. I think that is a sign of a good vacation or at least a good beach trip.

14jun2021 - beach day

Alarm is still set for 6 am which I am ok with. Keeping in the daily routine even while on vacation is good. Hopefully it will make it easier when we are back home. I got up, started the coffee and headed down to the beach for a walk. This time I headed west (the pier is to the east). I got some pictures in of the cloudy morning. Sun was working on trying to burn off the cloud cover and the clouds were showing they were in no hurry to disappear. All that makes for a nice walk on the beach. Getting back to the house Heather was logged in as she is working half days this week. I got my breakfast assembled and we sat outside as Heather clicked away, I consumed and the kids slept. About a half hour into this the kids awoke and amazingly had made their breakfast and joined us outside. Now breakfast was a bowl of Lucky Charms (and Evelyn added to that a bowl of `Nilla Wafers), but the fact that there wasn’t just staring at us and grunting was a welcome change. Today L, e and I are heading down to the beach in the morning and coming back around lunch to consume and collect Heather. Then the plan is to head back down to the beach for an afternoon spell. Will need to check in with E and see how she is doing. She and H were texting yesterday and it sounded like they were having a good time. We will try to get up with the group that she is hanging out with later in the week. We got down and setup on the beach before 10 which is pretty early for us. We took down an umbrella, a boogie board, two chairs, drinks, snacks and a shovel and a bucket for sand construction. A quick setup and I was in my seat and the kids were in the water. As they played, I watched the beach fill in with people. By eleven it was crowded. We had plans to come back to the house for lunch and collect Heather but instead we stayed at the beach and H was nice enough to bring lunch down with her. We stayed down till about 3 or so and then headed back up. I think all of us were at the point were we had enough exposure to the beach. I think L and I got the most burn while Evelyn got some as well but she seems to be managing it ok. Heather got a little on her leg and I got it on my legs and arms and Logan was his face and back. We are going to try and stay out of the sun the next couple of days in order to not over do it. We got back to the house and commenced the cleaning process. We washed off the beach stuff and got our showers in. I took a little nap in my chair as everyone else took their showers. H, L and e made two batches of chocolate lasagna and then e and I played some UNO and Mastermind. The decision was for pizza tonight so we went ordered takeout from Pepperoni Grill, a local place on the island. Pizza was tasty and everyone was happy. After dinner L took a bath to try and cool off his sunburn and the rest of us watched “The Man Who Knew Too Little.” The day was a good one. I enjoyed getting to the beach early and throwing the football with Logan and Evelyn. I will say it was nice to see Logan smiling as much as he was as we were throwing the football. It really warmed my heart. I also enjoyed texting with Emmie. It felt weird and nice at the same time to have some level of a conversation with her. Hard to believe that she is going into her senior year and that going forward this level of interaction may be the main type of conversation I have with her. Tomorrow’s plans include putt-putt golf in the morning and then heading up to Wilmington to see the battleship. L has been into everything Word War II lately so seeing the battleship will feed into that. It will also help keep us out of the sun for the most part and give us a little reprieve before getting back out to the beach.

13jun2021 - Cleaning day

This is the first time in a long time that I have been at the beach with just the family. I also think it is the first time in a long time that Tim and Elaine have not been in months and so when we arrived on Saturday evening we drove into a property that needed some cleaning. But that was the job for Sunday. Saturday, we went back across the new bridge and got some dinner at the Midtown Grill and then settled in for watching some TV. Heather and I went to bed relatively early while Logan and Evelyn stayed up watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Emmie is down here at Oak Island as well but is with some friends for the week. Sunday started with me getting up a little early and taking a walk on the beach, to the pier and back. It was a cloudy morning but the water was calm and the beach was quiet. Came across the walkers, joggers and those getting camp ready on the beach. On the pier I noticed a band was setup to play. Figured it was probably some level of religious music but did not stick around to see if I was correct or not. Getting back to the house Heather was up but the kids were still asleep. We putzed around watching Sunday Morning on CBS and Logan made us some orange danishes. After breakfast got to work sweeping up and knocking down cob webs. Also washed the front porch and then hosed off the back porch when it started to rain a little. While I was doing those last two tasks. Heather and the other two headed off to the grocery store and then to find Logan some new swim trunks. Somehow after growing what seems like a foot, his trunks from last year don’t fit. With the house cleaned, but probably no where near the T&E level, the rest of the afternoon was lazy. Each of us found a device to latch our eyes onto and waste away some time. Well partially. Heather was cleaning the kitchen and putting stuff away. A little later Evelyn and I played some Uno and then Mastermind which seemed pretty easy until we looked over the directions. It becomes a lot harder when all you tell the person is if the got the colors right and if they are in the correct position or not. After game time we had dinner (spaghetti night was chosen via voting but I am thinking of demanding a recount) and then played some rounds of Clue. In the first round of one game, Logan knocked out Heather with some witty playing. After game time the kids went to bed and Heather and I stayed up watching Lupin on Netflix which is a pretty entertaining show. Going through the cleaning it helped appreciate what T&E do to get the house ready or just maintained. I mean we really didn’t do that much as there is still the grass that needs cutting and the leaves raked off the driveway, but it was still time consuming. I also enjoyed the game playing and just having some time to sit down and do nothing. I think I need to find a book or something though. I almost brought one down with me and then connived myself it was not needed. Whoops! Tomorrow we look to get some beach time in. The weather for the week seems to be changing hour by hour. The only constant is that rain is in the forecast for Tuesday. Everything else will be a wait and see.

Touristy but fun

Thursday, July 18 That was not a good sleep. Not sure the reason. Evelyn was awake by 6:30 and goofing around. She was inch worming in here sleeping bag all over the tent. When it hit 7 it was time to get out and break down the tent. I took off the rain fly while Evelyn collapsed and folded the air mattresses. Then she said she could take down the tent so she did. We got that all a way and then went and took showers. That felt good. Got everything into the car and off to Chattanooga we were. After a quick stop for breakfast. The drive was pretty easy and we were parked at the incline parking by 11:30, EST. We went up the mile into the sky, took some pictures, went to the Point Park that is part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park. Then we came down the mile. The train itself was pretty neat. The have two cars and when one goes down it pulls the other up. 10 minutes to go from bottom to top. Is it touristy? Yeah, but it was fun and worth it. We grabbed lunch at Mr. T’s Pizza and Ice Cream which was right across the street from the Incline train. It was pretty good and I would recommend it. From there we headed to Rock City. Now all the things I read I was not really all that excited to go. It is basically at the top of Lookout Mountain just on the other end away from where the train comes up. So we drove up there and parked. I must say I was pretty impressed. Nice walk through the rocks, some nice flowers, a swinging bridge and great views. Also claim that you can see seven states from there but today was hard pressed to see that. Way to hazy/cloudy. Also, they piece de resistance was the Fairytale Land which were all these dolls posed for the different fairly tales. It was quite impressive. Also, there are some really weird fairy tales from back in the 1930s. If you find yourself in Chattanooga, I would recommend Rock City. It was worth the time. From Rock City we headed over to the Chickamauga Visitor Center in an effort to look at some of the stuff there and see the film. A distant relative was instrumental in establishing the park so I was looking to get a little more information. Back in 1990, my mother, brother and came down here as part of the 100th anniversary and I remember us posting a wreath or something along those lines. So I asked if there was a marker for hm or his regiment and the ranger there helped navigate us to where that is located. We will check that out tomorrow as we do the car tour. We left the visitor center and headed to our hotel. Went for something different tonight. Found a place called the Bluff View Inn. It is right on the Tennessee River in the arts district. We got here and checked in. The family that owns the Inn owns several buildings that cover a coffee roaster, a bakery, several restaurants and several houses for people to sleep in. Quite impressive block of what they have. We got ourselves checked in and then walked the 3-4 blocks to get downtown and dinner at Big River Grille. They are a brewery as well as serve food. We had a good dinner and then went across the street to Ben & Jerry’s for ice cream for Evelyn. Then we walked back along the river to the hotel where Evelyn beat me in crazy eights and war which was cut short as it was bed time and she needed to get a shower in. Today was a surprising good day. Going in I thought it was going to be touristy and campy but it turned out to be pretty cool. Evelyn seemed to enjoy it but has said several times over the past couple of days that she misses home. to really any one thing, but all of it. I do too. Tomorrow we will be in the western part of the state and one day closer to being back home. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

Surprising Day

Wednesday, July 17 At some point during the day Evelyn said to me, “Dad you were out last night.” That is how good of a sleep I had. We went to bed relatively early and it was nice to have a good night sleep. I had done most of the packing last night so it was pretty easy to get up, shower and go. We grabbed a couple of things (coffee, milk, fruit and yogurt) to go with our donuts, gassed up the car and were on the road. We had two and a half hours to get to Florence, AL, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum house. When we got there we were able to join a tour that had just started. The hose was pretty neat to see. Flat roof and flat lines with a mahogany wood and cement on the exterior and interior. I am not going to do it justice in describing it and would suggest looking it up online. If you are ever in the area, it is worth seeing it. I like some of the ideas that Wright used. The idea of the grid and keeping things lined up based on the grid, open floor style, use of space for storage. Some pretty neat concepts. This was both Evelyn and I’s first Wright house and she declared if she could she would buy it while I silently thought to myself it would be neat to see more of his houses. After the tour Evelyn was talking to the lady that gave us the tour and she recommend a place in Huntsville for lunch, Banditos Burrito. Sounded good, so we got back in the car to do the one and half hour drive to get some lunch. We landed in Huntsville around 1 and pulled into Banditos Burrito, I think that was the name. Anyway, a kind of a whole in the wall but a notch above. Place was big enough for around 8 tables. You walked up placed your order and waited a couple of minutes for your food. Evelyn got two tacos with cheese and I got two burritos. Food was good and appreciated the recommendation. After our first Mexican meal of the road trip we headed over to the US Space and Rocket Museum. On the way to lunch we had passed it and you would have to be a very focused driver not to see it as there were two rockets several stories tall that could not be missed. What I did not realize was that NASA had/has a huge presence in Huntsville. From what I could gather this was a major test facility for the rockets back in the 60’s as well as for the Space Shuttle. Not knowing what to expect it was a cool museum to go through. I just did not have time to read all that much as Evelyn was moving quicker than I and then an older gentleman that was with NASA back in the 1960s caught up a conversation with me providing stories of when he worked there. By the time I had finished listening to his stories, Evelyn had already finished with the Apollo exhibit of which I was only half way through. I quickly did some looking and quick scanning of plaques and we moved on. I did not know that there were rides at this place, but there are. Evelyn I believe did all of them. I think her favorite was the moon launcher thing-a-ma-bob. Basically you get in this seat and it goes up about 10 feet in the air and then launches you quickly another 30 feet or so just like that and then slowly comes down and then goes up a little bit and then comes down again and so on. She really had fun on that. There was also the g-force where I assume you are in a seat on the outside of the contraption and then the spin you around. Note that I said Evelyn did all the rides. I myself was happy to let her do them. Besides the rides there was a building that housed the full size rocket that was used to get the Apollo missions to the moon. That thing was huge. I believe they had the same type of thing at Cape Canaveral. It was still neat to see how big this was and all the information that was in the building around being an astronaut and the history behind getting man to the moon. Yes Emmie, they actually went to the moon and not a sounds stage. We wrapped up our visit by walking by the Space Shuttle replica they had. It was actually a dummy that weighed the same as the real Shuttle that was used to test out equipment for moving the shuttle around. Oh…I mean we wrapped up our visit by going through the gift shop and getting gifts for everyone. From the Space Center we headed to Mante Sano State Park which is on a mountain that rises up on the east side of the city. There is somewhere where you can get a view of things, but I did not find it. We got to camp, got a site and then Evelyn pitched the tent. We walked around the campsite during which Evelyn proclaimed that “her body was not meant for this.” Now you have to say that in your best 10 year old southern lady accent. I found it quite amusing. We trudged on and went and checked out the Japanese Garden that they have up here, which was nice, and then headed back to camp. I tried to get a fire going but the wood was not working with me. We had a couple of our jumbo marshmallows while waiting for the fire to catch. While that was going on Mother Nature decided she would dump gallons of water in the area. There was some thunder in the distance that we could hear and then it started sprinkling. We quickly packed up what we had gotten out to make dinner with and jumped into the car. Good timing on our part as the skies opened up. We headed down the mountain into town to find some food. We ended up at Teds BBQ where Evelyn got the smallest kids cup of mac-n-cheese that I have ever seen and I got a potato with BBQ on it (amongst other things). Food hit the spot and the rain stopped which allowed us to head back to camp. When we got to Teds, it was raining so hard that from where we parked to get to the door, our shoes were submerged in the water. It was just pouring. I was happy to not try and cook in that. We came back to camp and changed for bed. I am working on some laundry, listening to nature and watching the fireflies. This seems like a nice park and I know there is more to it then what I see at the moment. Maybe I will get back here again to see what it has to offer. Evelyn is starting to get tired of being on the road. She talks about wanting to be home and how she misses the rest of the family. We will see them soon and be back in our own beds and back to our normal routines. While it will be nice to be home, I will miss this time. We did listen to Elvis radio for longer than I thought. At one point she started singing other songs and I asked about changing it and she said she was just soaking it in. That lasted for another 20 minutes until I changed it. Once you get a taste of the King, it is hard to shake. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

From Ducks to the King

Tuesday, July 16 Going to bed with it raining and waking up to it raining made me happy to be in a hotel. Taking a shower felt even better. It was not the best of sleeps, but I wasn’t having to deal with cooking breakfast in the rain. So I consider it a win. Got Evelyn up and we headed downstairs for breakfast. Holiday Inn Express always does a good job with their breakfasts. We got out of the hotel and into the rain and drive down to “Mud Island” to get a close view of the Mississippi River. We then headed over to the Peabody Hotel to see the duck march. At 11 and 5 the Peabody ducks march to and from the elevator to the fountain in the hotel. Evelyn didn’t know what we were going to go see until she asked a kids next to her. All the kids get to sit on the edge of the red carpet that the ducks walk on. As soon as those ducks came out, it look like the sprinted from the elevator to the fountain. I didn’t get to see much from where I was but when I finally caught up with Evelyn she was very excited to see ducks waddle past her. From the Peabody we wandered back into the rain in search of lunch. We ended up at a place called “Little Tea Shop” that apparently was on Triple D and I would have been all over but nothing on the menu appealed to Evelyn. So the owner or a guy that works there that we were talking to recommends Sam’s on Main St. We went over there and Evelyn had a burger with hot chocolate and I went with a phillysteak. Quite yummy and would recommend to anyone who finds themselves in downtown Memphis. We left lunch and drove past where Martin Luther King was shot, the Lorraine Motel, and then headed over to Graceland. The rest of the afternoon we spent at Graceland. We toured the house, saw exhibits and a couple of airplanes. Of all that we saw, Evelyn and I agreed that the house was the coolest thing. I found it interesting that there was a lot of Elvis and Lisa Marie but little verbal mention of Priscilla. As one would expect there is a lot of positivity in the overall tour. Touring the house was worth it, but the exhibits are probably not. Anyway, it occupied our afternoon and Evelyn was able to find a soft and fuzzy blanket of the Million Dollar Quartet (Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis) after going through the 5-6 gift shops. We found a place to eat dinner and then stopped at Gibsons Donuts to get donuts for the morning. I was thinking it would be our dessert but Evelyn said she was stuffed, so the plan changed and we have breakfast for the morning. Evelyn is now an Elvis fan. As we were driving home she said, “we need to get some Elvis up in here.” So I changed the channel to the Elvis channel and we were rocking to Elvis. We will see how long we stay with Elvis tomorrow. Memphis is a pretty cool town and worth coming back to explore more of the history. The town does seem to have a challenge with the homelessness. They are quite prevalent in the city. I had asked the guide at Sun Studios yesterday why did Memphis drop off the music scene and he mentioned that with the death of Martin Luther King in Memphis the tension in the city was so great that Nashville became the place for people to go. The guide did say that some of that is coming back to Memphis as Nashville is getting so expensive. It would be cool to see Memphis get its groove back. Tomorrow we head to Huntsville as we start our return trip home. We have a couple stops planned along the way so that will hopefully break up the trip. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

Memphis bound

Monday, July 15 That was a pretty awful night’s sleep. We left the rain fly doors open but there was no breeze and so I was just to most of the night. It finally cooled off enough to get into the sleeping bag, but that still does not help when you are sticky from being sweaty. I released the air in the air mattress at 6:30 and got up. I got out our breakfast of cereal and milk and then started getting stuff out of the tent slowly and getting it put away as well as organizing the car. Around 7 I made Evelyn get up so we could get her going and get her stuff packed up as well. The goal was to get to the Visitor Center by 8 to get tickets for the 9:15 Mammoth Passage tour and then after we get the tickets, then go take showers. As Evelyn ate her breakfast I broken down the tent and got everything put away. We left camp and pulled up to the Visitor Center right at 8, perfect. I got the two tickets, and then we headed over to get showers. We each had enough money or five minute showers which was more than enough time. That shower felt good. After we finished up the showers, we headed back over to the Visitor Center and we timed it that we did not have long to wait until our tour started. We had Ranger Josh who was one of the rangers on our tour yesterday. The tour today was going through the Historic Entrance which was a big opening into the cave which had a lot of cool air coming out of it. We went down a long set of steps, equivalent of going down to a metro stop in D.C., walked through a door and we were in the caves. Today was not as adventurous as yesterday. The tour focused more on the history. Talked about the prehistoric people and the artifacts (moccasins, reed torches, shells) they have found in the cave, the mining that happened around the early 1800’s. The were looking for saltpeter in order to make gun powder and then how that then turned into a tourist attraction of people wanting to come see the caves. We got some more geology lessons and the cave was much bigger today than what we saw yesterday which would mean there was a lot more water flowing through this section of the cave. It was impressive to see. Evelyn had the camera today as she said that I took all the pictures yesterday. I tried to explain that it will be harder to take pictures in the cave. I have not looked at the pictures yet to see how they turned out. After the cave tour, we headed to Memphis. We stopped by the Rock-A-Billy Hall of Fame in Jackson, TN, just to try and break up the drive. Unfortunately they were closed. So we walked around the block to stretch the legs and then got in the car and went to Starbucks to get some coffee and a snack. We got back in the car and drove the hour into Memphis. We went directly to Sun Studios. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but it was awesome. We joined a tour already in progress in a section upstairs where they had a lot of memorabilia and the radio booth of the Dewey Phillips (no relation to Sam Phillips) who was the first to play Elvis’ record on the air. We went from there down to the studio where Elvis, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Johnny Lee Lewis and countless others have recorded. It was really neat to see that level of history as well as hear the music. They had the drum set from U2 from the Rattle-n-Hum tour, a piano from Jerry Lee Lewis and countless other instruments from other performers. Also, Sam Phillips donated the microphone that was used to record people and we could get our picture taken with it. I will say that it was really cool. Evelyn asked our guide Graham if there were any places to eat by the Mississippi and he recommended Dyer’s which is a burger joint. So down to Beale St we went. Beale St felt like a Bourbon St wannabe. Not really busy on a Monday night which was fine. We went to Dyer’s and got burgers. The thing with them is that the re-use the grease (strained and cleaned from the day before) to cook in. So they have a really big cast iron pan that they cook the meat in. It was kind of neat. Burgers come with mustard and pickles by default and was good. From there we walked down to the Mississippi to take it in and take some pictures. Evelyn had been wanting to see the Mississippi ever since we went west two springs ago so she was very excited to see it. We walked around a little bit more and then back to the car and then on to the hotel. We called Heather and the kids to check in and chat as Evelyn really wanted to talk to her siblings. She was very excited to show of Tails, her new stuffed animal, and just chat with them. We video chatted with them so it was nice to see all of them. Everyone seemed happy which was good. After traveling with Evelyn for a little over a week, I can’t help but think how different she is than the other two. She will sing out loud to songs, she will entertain herself with different things easily and she will do what she wants when she wants. Emmie was like that in camp but on rides she had her iPod which entertained her most of the ride and Logan had something similar. For this ride, Evelyn doesn’t have anything like that, so it is neat seeing the difference. Could have been that Emmie and Logan would have been doing something similar, but who knows. Tomorrow we plan to see the ducks of Peabody Hotel (Evelyn doesn’t know yet) and then Graceland. It looks like it will be a rainy day tomorrow so we wills how water logged we get. Happy to be in a hotel with the rain coming in as well as being in one place for two nights. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

A mammoth of a time

Sunday, July 14 Relatively good night sleep considering we are in a tent and it was raining. However, it stopped before morning and we were able to get up and move around without issue. I got up and got our breakfast going. We had eggs and a bagel again. Evelyn was sleeping hard and it took a little to get her up and moving. We finished up breakfast cleaned up the site as I wasn’t sure if it was going to rain again and headed up to the visitor center. Evelyn made sure to say goodbye to her new friends as they were leaving to head bak to Michigan. At the visitor center all the tours were sold out but we were able to get the Mammoth Passage at 9:15 and Domes and Dips at 2:15. We had about 20 minuted to kill before the first tour so we checked out the gift shop and then headed over to where the tour started. Evelyn was having some personal issues so we ended up abandoning the tour and spent most of the morning trying to figure out what was wrong. I think she was nervous about walking into a cave and wasn’t really sure how to express it. We grabbed some lunch, went through another gift shop and then went out walking one of the short hikes around the visitor center. We went to Sunset Point and then a spring that was at the bottom of the cliff that Sunset Point was on. We then walked back up the big hill to get back to the visitor center so we could catch the 2:15 tour. Evelyn was starting to have her personal issues but she powered through and I tried to help her take her mind off of it. We were bussed to where the tour started and walked through a door in the side of a hill and walked straight down for hundred of steps before we got to our first stopping area. Mammoth Caves has 412 miles of caves and probably more as they keep finding more and more. For one who likes to explore caves, this is the place for you. We had a good walk through the caves and it was impressive. At the very end of the tour we saw Niagara Falls and Crystal Lake. Those were both very impressive. Evelyn was very excited about the whole experience and she even got to ask the Ranger some questions and make a statement. At the end there were some grasshoppers that were gravy on top of the day. When we got back to the visitor center, we asked about tours for Monday as we wanted to see if we could take the one we missed and they said that tickets are sold on the day so we will be back bright and early tomorrow. We stopped by the store to pick up some dinner and ice as well as Evelyn’s latest addition to the stuffed animal farm, a fox named Tails. Back at the site we had a new neighbor who had a young daughter who Evelyn took too. She went and made necklaces at their site and I worked on dinner. The neighbors were from Oregon who have engaged in the nomad life for the moment. They plan to move to Estes, Colorado, once they are done with their travels. They had a teardrop trailer of which I was envious. We had hot dogs and baked beans (you are correct that I would not be voted chef of the year for my menus on this trip) along with carrots. We topped it off with a s’more. Good eats if you ask me. Day was a low stress day. I am glad that we were able to go into the cave and that Evelyn really enjoyed it. While her spirit stresses me and amazes me, I really hope she holds onto that genuine happiness that she has. She has missed her brother and sister quite a bit. We called home but had a tough time with the connection. We plan to call them tomorrow when we are in a hotel. Plan tomorrow is to drive to Memphis and stay there for two nights. It will be good to be in a hotel bed not sweating one to sleep. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

A slow ride to Mammoth

Saturday, July 13 It was good to be in a hotel but sharing a bed with Evelyn not so much. At some point she went perpendicular to me and I woke up with feet hitting my stomach. King beds are big but not big enough for that. I straightened her out and went back to sleep. Got up around 6:30, wen down to the lobby and worked on updating my journal entries. Past couple of nights I had entered in bulleted items and so took the time this morning to fill in the entries. Went back up and told Evelyn that we needed to get changed and packed up. We were out and in the search of breakfast by 8:40. There was a place close by called Butterbeans I think. Evelyn had a huge cinnamon roll which I got to help finish off. Yum. We headed over to the visitor center for the Natchez Trace Parkway. We got there around 9:30 and Evelyn started her Junior Ranger booklet when she realized she was missing her dolphin necklace which she had left at the hotel. We got back in the car and went back to the hotel and they were kind enough to let us back in the room and sure enough it was there. Whew. Back to the visitor center we went where we added another coffee mug and a new traveling mate, Gobbles the turkey. He even makes sounds. We were not able to finish the booklet but we can mail it in once we are done with it, so we got on the parkway and started driving. * mounds * bridge - lunch * Lewis gravesite * falls * house * bridge Got done by four. Skipped heading into Nashville and went straight up to Mammoth Caves National Park. Went by the camp store to get some firewood, and a couple more supplies. Hot dogs and baked beans were on the menu again. Evelyn abandoned me for some new friends and did s’mores as well as sparklers. The crew was from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Evelyn was hanging with the three kids. I cleaned up and contemplated leaving things out when I saw lightening in the distance and decided to pack up. I was able to get in the tent as the rain started coming down. I asked Evelyn to confirm that she went to the bathroom when she brushed her teeth. Nope. Ugh…so she made a dash to the bathroom in the rain. I gave her my shirt as I had not grabbed our coats from the car when I was doing everything else. Double whoops on this one. She got back and luckily was mostly dry. My shirt not so much but of the options, it turned out the needed way. As I listen to the sound of the rain on the tent, I can say that I love being out here. I am not the outdoorsman. but I enjoy being out here and having these experiences. The Parkway was a nice drive and having done it once, I am not sure I need to do it again. There were lots of stops we did not do and they have hikes that may be tempting, but if I never get back, that is ok. It was a nice drive and a nicer way to cover the 170+ miles to get to Nashville than using the interstate. I am glad that Evelyn got to meet and play with some kids. I know she has missed that. She also found a small tick on here from when we walked around Lewis’s memorial. After having had a co-worker go through rocky mountain spotted fever just recently, it makes me think how quickly things can change. I am glad that Evelyn found that tick and we were able to get it out of the car and I am happy to be sleeping in this tent listening to the rain with my daughter next to me. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

Selma to birth of the King

Friday, July 12 When I went to bed I was hot. It was pretty uncomfortable. I finally cooled off enough and was tired enough that I fell asleep. I woke up at four to the realization that I had slept with the keys in my pocket. I am not sure how many times I may have caused the horn to honk but now I had the concern that I might have pissed off the two groups in the area. I decided I would apologize if I saw them and finally got back to sleep. Got up around 6 to use the bathroom and then grabbed the camera. We were in Prairie Creek Public Land Use and it sticks out into the Alabama River. I walked to the end of the camp site where a chute comes into the river. It was really gorgeous. after spending some time down there soaking it in (saw a sturgeon jump out of the water, most of the time I would just here the result of it) and taking pictures, I walked back down to camp and started getting organized for breakfast. We had eggs, toasted bagel and a banana. Evelyn woke up and traced my steps of the bathroom and checking out the end of the campsite. She came back and we enjoyed a moment where we were not moving. Just sitting and eating. We then got moving again. Cleaned the dishes, dried and put them away and got the rest of the camp broken down and put away. I was still covered in my own sweat from the previous night so I went and took a shower. From there, we left and headed back into Selma. To be honest I did not know many of the details. I knew it was black people walking from Selma to Montgomery and it was a catalyst in the right to vote act of 1965. In Selma, right by the bridge, there is a NPS interpretive center. That is where we went to learn more. I know there is a lot that still goes on, but the images of watching a unit of police walk up to a column of people two wide and just physically attack them was quite moving. The two people in front never moved until the police, and it was like 30 police, came up and surrounded them and then just started pushing them to the point where they had to move and that was when things got real bad. In the video they had playing, one of the people talked about how the police followed them back to their churches and homes and beat them all the way there. What is even more eerie is that the police were on horses. To me it gave that vibe of white plantation owners beating their slaves. We finished up and went outside to take some more pictures of the bridge, went by the Mt Zion church which was the main meeting place when Martin Luther King came in after that first march and then headed out. I had originally planned to stop at the other National Park site that is on route 80, but decided we would pass on it. It was 11 as we passed it and we still had 3.25 hours to drive to get to Tupelo. We drove on into Montgomery. We got a picture of the state capital building to have the bookends of the march. Then we went and got some food at Baumhower’s and got on the road. We hit traffic which added an extra 45 minutes to an hour to our drive, which was nice. Driving on I-22 heading west of Birmingham one does not see much evidence of civilization. I did get a sense of things being different as there were more hills and lots of pine trees. It gave off a feel that logging is prominent in the area, but I am not sure. It was a pretty drive and nice to have a change of view and scenery. We went straight to the camp I had picked for us to stay at. We got in after hours and while it looked nice and I would like to stay there, I gave Evelyn the choice of camping or getting a hotel. She opted for hotel. She said she needed a break from the bugs. We left the campground, gassed up and then headed over to Elvis’ childhood home. We walked around there for a bit and got some pictures. I think the most interesting thing at the place were the quotes they had from people that knew Elvis as a kid. From there we went to downtown Tupelo and got some dinner. Historic Downtown that is. They have invested a lot of money in downtown and it was really nice. They had these guitars that looked like different organizations painted or maybe sponsored all around downtown. It is much like the wolves Raleigh had or the pigs that Cincinnati has. We grabbed dinner at Kermit’s Outlaw Kitchen. A burger for each of us which was good. We met two ladies that were heading to Clemson from Oklahoma. Said they had just driven threw some of what Hurricane Barry was offering. They said it was some very stressful driving. I am hoping we miss as much of that as possible. After dinner we made a quick stop at the Natchez Trace Parkway Visitor Center and grabbed a map (wanted to look over it for the evening) and then went and got a hotel for the evening. We showered and called home. I know these long drives are very boring for Evelyn. She is tired but is having a hard time sleeping in the car. Plus the batter died in the big camera so she couldn’t take pictures. She has been doing well with coloring and occupying her time but at some point, one just gets tired of being in the car. However, she is still having fun. She doesn’t want anyone to know, but she has a crush on 13 year old Elvis. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

Heading North

Thursday, July 11 Woke up around 1:30 and decided that I would pull the sleeping bag that was airing out on the picnic table in. Git up, put it in the trash bag it was in before, put it back in the car and then I went back into the tent. About an hour later woke up to thunder and rain on the tent. I felt good about that call. The rest of the night/morning was more of the same of thunder and rain. Woke up around 6 to quiet. I got up, grabbed the camera and walked the mile down to Ft. Pickens. Wasn’t sure what the day would bring later on, so wanted to check it out. Plus, it was nice to get the walk in. I got back into camp around 7:30 and got Evelyn up. She had a hard time finding the bathroom that she had used just 10 hours ago. She was convinced it was not there until I walked her down and pointed it out, and then she just gave me gibberish. We ate, tore down the tent, packed up and left around 8:45 and were at the fort as it opened. We took the self guided tour and then made it back for a music firing demonstration. It was a little more than that as they had some one who looked like they were in the park service giving a talk and then barking out the commands for the two soldiers. He was new at this so good on him for trying. The trio went through the process twice. On the second time Evelyn got to yell “Fire”. She was really quick with it though. Evelyn was pronouncing the ‘f’ before the gentleman had finished humming his lips on the ‘m’ in aim. After getting her picture with the two gentlemen in uniform, Evelyn got her Junior Ranger badge and a stuffed pelican named Pennies. On our way off the island, we stopped at Langdon beach to enjoy the white beach and clear water one more time. We then headed north. We stopped at Whataburger for lunch and had a nice burger. We then made the drive to Prairie Creek Public Land Use in Alabama. We made it there by 3 PM and found the campsite by 3:45. It was a nice spot on the water. It looked like there was no rain until tomorrow afternoon so I made the decision to leave the rain fly off and we spread it out on the picnic table to let it dry out some. I was thinking we may leave it off all night. We blew up the air mattresses and threw in our pillows and the one good sleeping bag we had. I hung up the towels to let them dry and to air them out. We then headed into Selma to get some groceries. It took about 20 minutes to get to Walmart, 45 or so to do our shopping and then another 20 to get back to the campsite. As we got close to the campground we could see heat coming off the street. I said to Evelyn “this is not good.” She said “what?” As we pulled up to our site we could see it rained and our pillows, mattresses and one good sleeping bag were wet. Luckily the campground had a washer and a dryer. We pulled the air mattresses out, Evelyn dried out the tent, we flipped the mattresses over and put it back in. We did hot dogs, baked beans for both and a vegetable medley for me and carrots for Evelyn. For dessert we did s’mores with the really big marshmallows which is not the right call. It takes a long time to heat those all the way through and when we ate it, it squished out the sides. Very messy, but still yummy. We walked up to the bathrooms which is where the laundry was. I did laundry while Evelyn took a shower. I was washing the towels so I told her just to spot dry herself. I called Heather to check in and Evelyn came out and talked to her for a little while. As I am writing this I am waiting on the laundry to finish. First thing I did was dry the sleeping bag and two pillows so they were ready for Evelyn. I had two loads to do, one for the clothes and the other for the sleeping bag that needed washing. It is really hot in this room with the washer and dryer. I had to go get my camp chair so I could sit outside as it was cooler. After yesterday, this was a good relaxing day. After lunch I could have used a nap, but with Kenny Curtis on Kids Place Live, he kept me awake and rolling. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

Long day

Wednesday July 10 Woke up at three to Evelyn saying she peed in bed. This is a result of not following the rule that says to make sure kids have peed before bed. Back to sleep around 4:30 and then alarm went off at 6. Got up and started packing up my stuff. Got Evelyn stirring and helping by 6:30. Broke down camp and then went and took showers. When we came back to camp there were deer wondering through about ten feet away. Evelyn was very excited. We got in the car, opened up our pop-tarts and off we went. We stopped in town to drop off a letter Evelyn wrote to the home front. In doing that saw a Dunkin Donuts (it will always be Dunkin Donuts) so we stopped for a donut and coffee and then hit the road for reals. We headed towards a place a couple recommenced yesterday, Topsail Hill State Park. They said it is gorgeous and hardly ever crowded. It is a four hour drive and then we have to make sure we get checked in at Fort Pickens before we do our Dolphin cruise which is a surprise for Evelyn. From Topsail it is a 2 hour drive to Ft. Pickens…going to be cutting it close. As we were driving we changed timezones, which is a bonus. I knew we would but didn’t realize it would be in Florida. With that time change we got in to Topsail around 11:45. The couple and my fried were right. The beaches in this part of the world are as white as can be and the water is as clear as can be. One of the most gorgeous beaches and water I have ever been to. The water was cool and clear. You could see the fish swimming as clear as day. Another bonus is that the sand was cool. I am not sure if that was because it was cloudy or something else. It was a great time on the water. Just sad it was so short. We Stayed till 1 and then took the tram back to the parking lot to start our two hour trek to Ft Pickens. Tried to get lunch along the way but Apple maps had us arriving at Ft Pickens right at 4. That was making me nervous. So we snacked on crackers and yogurt covered pretzels. Made it to Ft. Pickens in time to check in and then turn around and get to the boat by 4:30. Both of us hungry. The cruse we did was a dolphin cruise recommended by Cindy called Chase-n-Fins. The boat left around 5 and was out for about two hours. About halfway in the two man crew found where the dolphins were and it was pretty cool. We saw several groups of three dolphins swimming. None of them were jumping out of the water but they would come up for air and then go back down. Evelyn was way excited about it. So much so she was screeching. Very happy that we saw dolphins and that she had a good time. She saw one that had a piece missing in its tail and called it Bambi. Thanks to Cindy for the recommendation. Another enjoyable thing was that the crew had plenty of fishy dolphin jokes. Logan and Emmie would have enjoyed it. Once back on shore we grabbed dinner at one of the tourist traps, Crabs. We sat with a view of the beach and the water. Meal was good. Afterwards we walked over to Circle K and got some stiff for breakfast and some ice and then headed to camp. Driving the six mile road to get to camp we were dodging the crabs that were on the road. A new experience for me. We got to our site and set up the tent. Evelyn went to go shower and I called home to talk to Heather to let her know we were doing ok. Evelyn came back and talked to her as well. Today was a really long day. I knew it was going to be a long drive, but not as much as we did. Overall I think it was worth it. Topsail was a great stop and recommend it to anyone who is going to be in the Destin area.The cruise was great and really cool to see Dolphins and Evelyn was really stoked about that. Also excited about where we are camping. We are on the Gulf National Seashore which is part of the Park Service. Ft. Pickens is a Civil War era fort at the end of the island. Hopefully we will get a moment to check it out tomorrow. The storm that is currently in the Gulf may alter our plans. Tomorrow will be more laid back. We have around 3 hours to get to our ext site which is just outside Montgomery, AL. Evelyn was a real trooper. She took pictures, played with her stuffed animals or colored. She is in the habit of saying some gibberish (what I call it) so that gets a little frustrating. We passed signs for a store called YOLO which she just loved as that is one of the gibberish phrases she keeps saying (thanks to her older sister). However, over the three trips I have taken, Evelyn is the only one that has wanted to jump in and do things; set up the tent, cook dinner, clean. With one more year left with elementary, it will be interesting to see where her drive takes her. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

Springs

I woke up around 4 to the power being off. My mind started to wonder about things…worrisome things…what if I had damaged my phone so that it wouldn’t work anymore…things about work…will we have enough time on Wednesday to enjoy the beach before the surprise for Evelyn…all this kept me up until the power came on around 5:30. My phone worked well enough that I could figure out how long it would take to get to Weekie Wachee Springs State Park and from there how we would meander up the Gulf Coast to our final landing spot. I got Evelyn up around 6 so we could get packed up, grab some breakfast and get on the road. Goal was to be traveling by 7. We got dressed and packed up in time and walked down the stairs since the elevator was having problems last night. When we got to the car, I could not find my pair of shorts and belt from yesterday. I went back up to the room and they were not there and went down the elevator. I think that was my mistake. At the time of this writing I can still not find my shorts and belt and think they may have fallen on the stairs. Anyway…no one wants to hear me go on about lost shorts. We checked out and the front desk said dinner was on them due to the power issues. That was very nice of the Holiday Inn to do and was appreciative. Not enough to spend ten dollars on breakfast there so Evelyn and I got in the car and went down to McDonalds to get some breakfast. Well that and a picture. This McDonalds had an old style sign so it was worthy of the snapshot. We got our breakfast, fiddled with my crippled phone and got going. The phone was working enough to enable the car play feature which shows the map on the bigger screen in the car. A pretty nice feature. The ride was pretty simple and short. Just under two hours for us to pull into Weekie Wachee Spring State Park around 9:15. (You can probably see that we did not leave by 7 but made it when we needed to.) We packed some swim stuff and towels and purchased a ticket. The main attraction was the live mermaid show. The show started at 10 and we were in line by 9:30, seated by 9:40 and one of the park rangers from the wildlife side of the park talked about the wildlife in Florida. She also had a snake to show off. Evelyn asked how old it was and it was eight. No road trip for that snake! Then the Mermaid show started and it was pretty impressive. 5 women staying underwater the whole time. They had hoses to get air from (obviously) but still pretty impressive. One of the interesting facts was that ABC back in the 1950s (?) paid to have the theater that they are still performing in. The show lasted 30 minutes and was a fun. Evelyn enjoyed it. She was clicking off pictures like a sports photographer. I kept hearing the clicking of the picture in quick succession. I had to get her to stop so she could actually watch the show. Which looking at her pictures was probably good because it looked like she was watching the back of the head of the people in front of us based on what was in focus. After the mermaids we went to the gift shop, got a reservation for the river cruise (all part of park admission) then headed over to the water park side. Evelyn changed into her swimming suit. I sat this one out. She got into the water and as soon a she stepped in she said it was cold. She braved it out though. Got into about her stomach and then went under. She finally came out and went up the tower for the water slides. However, mother nature had other plans. There was some distant thunder earlier but now there was a pretty close clap although I had not seen any lightening. The lifeguards closed down the water activities and so Evelyn changed out and we headed to the car to head north and look for some food. We ended up at a place called Clawdaddy’s whose logo was a manatee with bull horns. It was a pretty good logo. I got the crab cake basket and Evelyn got mac-n-cheese. We had piece of key lime pie for dessert or I should say I had the pie for dessert. Evelyn tried a piece and said it was not for her. Don’t blame her. Key Lime is not my favorite either although this was pretty good…or maybe bad since I liked it. Over lunch I noticed that there was a road right where we were that went out to the gulf. I thought, we have time, let’s go. I am glad we did. At the end of the road was Fort Island Gulf Beach. If I had known about this, we would have left Weekie Wachie right after the mermaids and headed here. It was a beach on the gulf where there was no-one really. It looked really nice. Evelyn went out and walked in the water. We then went down another 400 meters or so and walked out on a pier. That offered some beautiful views and the opportunity for Evelyn to talk to a family of four about fishing as that is what they were doing. Mom and daughter were catching bait fish and it looked like dad and maybe son were trying to catch bigger fish. The bait fish were being caught rather quickly. The bigger fish were not having as much luck. It looked like a great spot if anyone wants an unpopulated beach on a Tuesday in July. I will say the other thing that surprised me was the nuclear power plant that was close by. There was a lot of unexpectedness at the end of that road. We headed up the road a little bit to Crystal River and to the Natural Wildlife Refuge at Three Sisters Springs. It was thundering and beginning to rain a little so I did not take my already damaged phone nor the big camera. It might have been worth the $15 if in the non-summer months so that one could see manatees, or maybe the wetlands would have been good, but today it was not worth it. We paid for a good walk in nature with a little rain. The springs were neat but there were a lot of humans in them doing human things and that was not really anything I wanted to see. We did not do the wetland trail as Evelyn wanted to only walk about 200 meters and turn around which I said no-no. If you are going through Crystal River, Florida, in the summer, I would skip this unless you are a nature enthusiast. One of the things we did see though was a house with a manatee sculpture holding the mailbox. That was neat. Back on the road we got to get the little over hour ride underway to Manatee Springs State Park. We made a quick stop at a gas station to get some food for the night and pulled in around 4:30. We set up the tent, got the rain fly on for the rain that I thought was surely coming (but as of the moment has not), filled up the air mattresses and put them in the tent along with our pillows and sleeping bags. Once all that was done, we went over and checked out the park. It is located on the Manatee Spring that feeds into the Suwannee River. Evelyn and I stepped into the cool year round 72 degree spring and that was as far as I was willing to go. We got up talking to a couple that was from Florida about some different things. Evelyn slipped on the steps and given how she looked as she went down, she was lucky to end up with some small scrapes on her feet. We left the couple and headed down the boardwalk that went out into the river. We stayed there and I tried to get Evelyn to just stop and listen. I think I got her to do it for about two minutes. That dock was nice and it was nice to have some time and just look out at the river and listen. We headed back to the camp site to get our dinner warmed up. Chef Boy-r-dee was on the menu. Spaghetti with meatballs for Evelyn and ravioli for me. Also a can of corn to split between us. We finished up dinner, washed the dishes and git everything put away. Emmie wrote a letter home tonight. As she read it to me, it was interesting to see that the only thing she thought was newsworthy was what had happened in the last two hours. We did a video chat with Heather and the other two last night which was nice. I am not sure we will be able to over the next several nights as we will be camping out. Our next targeted hotel is not until Monday I think. As I type this, nature is loud with music, especially as the Disney movie that was playing several sites down has quieted down. I don’t have sweat trails running down my back, but I am quite clammy and think tonight will not be restful. This is reminding me of the night that Logan and I spent in Jackson, MS. That was hot and uncomfortable. This might be just uncomfortable as to be honest it is not really hot, more humid. Today was a good lazy day. I think Evelyn really enjoyed the mermaids and probably would have enjoyed it more if I had gone in the water with her. Tomorrow we have about 5 hours to get to the Destin/Pensacola area. So plan is to be up around 6, some combination of shower and break down camp and get on the road by 7. We have pop-tarts for breakfast (strawberry of course) so that is covered. We will need a stop for coffee and another one for lunch. Really want to be at our destination no later than 2 so we can have time for being on the beach before Evelyn’s surprise at 5. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

LEGOland

We slept in a little this morning. The sleep was good and the couple of times I woke up, I was entertained by Evelyn talking in her sleep. I thought at first she was up, but after talking a little, she would go back to her heavy breathing. We went down and grabbed some breakfast in the hotel and came back up to the room and Evelyn took a bath. She took so long that I did not have time to take a shower. That was alright I was entertained by her bath singing. We left the hotel about 20 till 10 and the park opens up at 10. We get to the park, get our tickets and are in by like 10 after. The quickest I have ever gotten into a park. I think it helps that there are so many other parks in the area that parking was and entry was so easy. We stopped at a ride in the LEGO movie section. It said “you may get soaked”…it meant “you will get soaked”. It was a boat ride that went under water and you had on your seat a water cannon that you used to fire at targets that would then shoot water at you. By the time we got off the boat we were pretty wet and laughing. From there we went and did a ride that is kind of like Disney’s Soarin’ ride but more intense. Made me realize I cannot do those rides anymore. Evelyn loved it. We then headed down and did two more roller coasters and a another interactive ride. Evelyn was having a great time. I squeezed myself into one of the two rides but then the Coastersauras I could not fit in so left Evelyn to enjoy the ride herself. That is the first time I have not been able to fit in an adult roller coaster. We walked through Miniland which are LEGO replicas of some Star Wars scenes as well as cities in the US. I always love the mini-cities. We grabbed some lunch, Evelyn built a mini-figure and then we caught a show at the Pirate’s Cove. We saw some water skiing and some people dressed up as legos water-skiing. It was a good little show. Better than expected. Evelyn sat all the way in the front right by a water cannon. She was all happy to get involved in the act. She said after the show that she smacked a pirate, smiling from ear to ear. After the show we went and walked through the Cyprus Gardens which was pretty neat. They had a nice gazebo, a really neat canyon tree and just a nice tranquil place. From there we headed to the water park. We changed and headed to the water slides. Evelyn took the one that was covered all the way and I took one that had a couple of humps. It was pretty fun. On the way down the slide, I lost my phone that I had in the bag. The next person down luckily took the same slide I did and turned up my phone. Lucky I was. I took my phone and put it in the locker. While I did that, Evelyn went back down the same slide. We then did a tube slide. We did that in a double float. Evelyn picked the slide that was covered the whole way. It is weird not knowing what is coming up and turning left and right but still feeling safe at the same time. The slides were fun. It is definitely something I could seeing doing over and over, but only when there are few people present. The walk up to the top is pretty high! After the slides we went to the lazy river and floated around a couple of loops. Then we went to the tidal wave pool and had some fun floating in the water. Amazingly that pool had tickle fish too. Those fish seem to be everywhere. In an attempt to beat the crowd before the water park closes we tried to get changed about 20 minutes before closing. However, Evelyn got caught up in building and racing boats and then took some time to change. So by that time we were kind of caught up in the mass leaving. Turned out to not be too big of a deal. We stopped to try and ride on more ride, but as we got close to it, they cancelled the rides due to inclement weather. Looking up you could see the dark skies to the north west. We went and did some shopping for the family and then headed to the car to get in just before the skies opened up. Driving back to the hotel it was pouring and hard to see but at the hotel, seven minutes down the road, it was barely raining. We grabbed some clothes for tomorrow and headed in. Dropped our clothes and goodies off in the room and headed down for dinner. During dinner, the storm caught up to the hotel and we could see lightning and hear the thunder pretty quickly after. And then there was a quick loss of power that seemed to put the hotel into some level of issue. The waitress said that she could not print a ticket so she took our room number down and said she would call us later. We had to go outside to get access to the steps as the elevator was down. Evelyn was really concerned about the storm. So much so that she did not want to take a shower. My concern, in looking at the weather is the forecast of tropical storms forming in the gulf by later in the week. This means that it may be raining over the next two nights where we are supposed to be. Will need to figure it out as we hit each day. Today was a good day and Evelyn was having a great time. When she gets focused she will go do her own thing and there is not much you can do about it. But then there are the times where she will grab my hand as we walk. It is those little things that I hope I remember when I get older. Here is to a good night’s rest and to see what tomorrow brings.

Very excited to be here (at LEGOLAND Florida) https://www.instagram.com/p/BzqJlAUHnWLOwoZx9UmgGucYT-jLJZB3AmZ6kg0/?igshid=t4bpnhhn6w9q

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