Number of aliens/alien ships spotted: 34 (33 in Roswell, NM, 1 in Montana)
Best meal: New Mexican food at Tortilla Flats in Santa Fe
Worst meal: Everything at the Gettysburg battle
Weirdest meal: Either the "freeway sausage" or the "Jubal Early Burger" at the Blue-Grey Diner
M&Ms consumed: Hundreds. Hopefully not thousands.
Number of days camping: None. Too darn hot.
Best museum site: Plimoth Plantation - so realistic it's like hanging out with the Pilgrims!
Worst museum site: 1880's Museum in South Dakota - junk pile
Biggest surprise: Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. A lovely European village in the middle of District 12.
Biggest disappointment: The Battle of Gettysburg
Trip roles:
Autumn = Driver and dispenser of candy
Hailey = Kitchen genius, photographer
Claire = Navigator, with the awesome ability to get me around NYC without crying
Brennan = Suddenly mature young man, who got through the whole trip without bugging us! Much...
Karl = Relief driver and chief financier
Rufus = Team storyteller and kid wrangler
Trip quotes:
Can I have an Oreo? Where's my Oreo? You said you'd give me an Oreo. - Rufus
Turn on the snowflake! Turn down the snowflake! Thank God for the snowflake!
Oh, look, another Subway.
Dad gum, dad gum, dad gum. - from Mater's Tall Tales
Did you lock your door? - Everyone to Hailey
Not more Pennsylvania bread. (Bread in PA was invariably soft and mushy.)
Well that's a bummer, because we don't have that. - Quoting Henry from General Henry's Victory (We Happy Few Productions.)
What room number are we in again? - Mom
Ticks removed: at least a dozen, (but none embedded, thankfully.)
And I'd like to take a moment to recall the bug, now undoubtedly long dead, who bit my elbow somewhere around Santa Fe, and whose legacy still remains. Hats off to you, you vicious little creature. You're an immeasurably tiny fraction of my size and still the bane of my existence weeks later.
Wish I could've: Spent a few days at the beach in New England.
Random acts of happiness: The free Starbuck's iced coffee in New Orleans. The very friendly lady at Drayton Hall in South Carolina who explained to me why "enslaved peoples" has now replaced "slaves." Walking in the footsteps of Merriwether Lewis at Harper's Ferry. Milkshakes. The River Walk in San Antonio. Visiting friends in Wisconsin. Getting caught in the Gettysburg downpour, which in hindsight was hilarious. I wish I'd gotten a picture of all of us soaked. Ice cream in the blazing heat at Williamsburg. I also liked the kitchen and smokehouse at Williamsburg. Did I mention that Hailey and I bought a book on smoking meats? Abbeville, Alabama. Treadmills with built-in fans in the south. The hotel in Massachusetts near Cape Cod, and running on the beach there.
Dang! I just realized we never had lobster in Boston.
Favorite moments:
Hailey = I liked New Orleans because it was colorful and old and different. It felt festive, but at the same time parts were quiet and peaceful. I also liked sitting in the car, eating ice cream and laughing at jokes. And I had fun watching the movie Mater's Tall Tales in a hotel room. We laughed so hard!
Claire = Watching Pickett's Charge, because it was really cool to see huge lines of Confederates charging and to hear the rebel yell and the Yankees shouting, "Fredericksburg!"
Brennan = The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History; it was so big, and cool to see all the animals and the Hope Diamond. Also crossing the border into Washington again.
Karl = Arriving in Boston and seeing my family. (Aww.)
Autumn = Running over Little Round Top and through Devil's Den in the early morning mist. Seeing the battlefields from ground level and moving over the paths the soldiers trod was so immediate, both sad and awe-inspiring.
Rufus = Hands down, it was this: In the early morning, Abigail and I walked onto the Gettysburg battlefield. We climbed up the slope to Devil's Den and stood on the rocks, looking across the open valley land. Morning mist was moving through the lowlands. And in the distance, from across the field, came the crumping sound of artillery from the re-enactment site. The hairs on my neck and arms rose.
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