Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Before you start reading this blog entry, you might want to consider the meaning of the word giantastic. That is exactly what this entry is going to be, giantly fantastic. Or maybe Fantastically giant, or both. Either way, it is definitely going to be the longest BOSHMA Blog post to date. Why is it going to be so giantly fantastically gigantic you ask? Just keep reading, but please, consider yourself warned.

To start, lets go back in time. Back to a time when things were simpler unless they were more difficult. Back to the days of fried chicken and cars that drove on streets of asphalt. Back to April 3, 2008. That is the day it all began.

You see, that is the day we left St. George for the somewhat astonishing Atlantic seaboard. This blog entry is the detailed report.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
We had a late flight out of St. George so we didn't leave home until about 9:00 at night. We got to Las Vegas a couple hours later for our flight to Washington DC. We were flying in on a red eye, and I hope that is the last time I ever have to do that! When we got to the airport we had a little time to waste before we could board the airplane, so we let Max play on the moving walkway. He loved it!















Friday, April 4, 2008
Friday found us in Virginia on two hours of sleep. We got in to the airport at about 7:30 am. Lige was kind enough to pick us up and we went back to his and Shelli's new townhouse where we were going to be spending the next few days. After and nice shower and breakfast we headed out! Our first stop was Arlington National Cemetery. I hate to say it was cool, because the reason for it's being is not very cool at all, but it was amazing. It was a little overcast and cold but it was a fairly pleasant day. It was neat to see the Tomb of the Unknown soldier and the changing of the guard. It was also amazing to see the number of Americans that have given their lives for our country. Even though I have never met any of them I felt indebted to them and thankful for their sacrifice.

After Arlington we made our way to downtown Washington DC where we stopped for lunch in Chinatown. We ate at a small Chinese restaurant. Shayla even ordered something, and she liked it! After lunch we walked to the International Spy Museum. Even in our extremely sleepy and exhausted state, we thought the museum was pretty cool. It was neat to peek in to the life of a spy and see the tricks of the trade. I only wish I wouldn't have been so tired and I might have enjoyed it even more. At one point Shayla and I sat down to watch a little movie clip and almost fell asleep! We wouldn't have been alone however as Max slept through the entire museum!

After our three hour jaunt into the spy world, we decided we were way to tired to do anything else so we headed back to Shelli and Lige's place. We hung out there the rest of the day.

Saturday, April 5, 2008 - Metro Day
Amy, Chad, and Blake made the trip up from Charlottesville to spend Saturday and part of Sunday with us. Shortly after they arrived we left for Washington DC again. We drove to the Metro station closest to Lige and Shelli's house and would use this as our mode of transportation throughout the day.

As it was my first experience with a subway, I thought it was really cool. I'm pretty sure Max thought it was cool too. He liked to look down the tunnel at the trains barreling toward us. And I must say, I was quite impressed with the Capitol City's subway system, all the trains have carpet inside!

Our first stop was National Geographic's exhibit on frogs. The frogs were pretty cool, but apparently the trash people were much cooler because we took pictures of them, but didn't take a single picture of the hundreds of frogs we saw.

After making friends with the trash people, we went and grabbed a bite to eat before hopping back on the Metro. Our next stop was the National Zoo. It was fun going to the zoo and Max, Blake, and Liam really seemed to have a good time looking at all the animals. It was a bit of a bummer though because many of the larger animals weren't there due to it still being cold outside. It was still fun to go and it was a great stop for the kids.

After the zoo, it was back on the Metro as we headed over to RFK Stadium for the DC United soccer game. They were playing Toronto FC. It was a fun game and was a blowout for DC. They beat Toronto with a 4-1 scoreline. Shayla and I were pulling for Toronto most of the game, mostly because we felt bad for them and also because Jeff Cunningham, one of our favorite players, is on their team.

After DC dismantled Toronto, we got back on the Metro and headed for home. It was a fun day and we were glad that Amy, Chad, and Blake could make it up to DC to spend it with us.

Sunday, April 6, 2008
Sunday we said goodby to Amy, Chad, and Blake. It was good seeing them during our trip. Blake and Max had fun playing together but I think Blake knew somebody was missing when he said, "Where's Kaden?" Usually when Blake and Max are together, Kaden (their cousin) is there too.

After we said goodbye to Chad and Amy, we packed a lunch and headed into the heart of Washington D.C. The Weather Channel had said that Sunday would be a warm and sunny day so we decided that that would be the perfect day to spend at the National Mall. Well, the weather man was wrong, and Sunday ended up being very cold and windy and rainy. But we decided to brave the weather and go anyway.

When we arrived at the Mall both of the boys were asleep so Shelli, Shayla and I decided to hop out of the car while to see the sights while Lige circled around in the car with the sleeping kids. Our first stop was the Vietnam Memorial. It was pretty cool to finally see something that I had heard so much about. The number of names on the wall was astonishing.

After the Vietnam Memorial we went over to the Lincoln Memorial. Let me just say, that thing is HUGE! It is much bigger than it looks on the penny! Shayla and I ran up the stairs to the top. Abe Lincoln sure did like stairs, I thought we would never get there!

After the Lincoln Memorial we ran over to the Memorial for the Korean War. That was also pretty neat to see. The wall with the images of the soldiers was amazing. Lige called us as we were leaving the Korean War Memorial. He was on his way back to us so we ran over to the street and he picked us up.

After Lige picked us up we drove around forever 'till we found a place to park. Once parked we got out and walked to the Jefferson Memorial. Old Man Jefferson must've had the same wacked-out love for stairs as Lincoln. Only this time we had Max and Liam with us so I was able to work out my legs, arms, and back muscles as I carried him in his stroller, all the way to the top! The Jefferson Memorial was really huge, much like the Lincoln one. Those guys, they go for big and the like their stairs! It was pretty cool and we had a good view of the tidal basin from the top.

We left the Jefferson Memorial and walked around the tidal basin. We were there during the Cherry Blossom Festival and it was really pretty. There were blossoms on all the trees and Japanese people taking pictures of them all. I think those Japanese love their cherry blossoms as much as Lincoln and Jefferson love stairs!

We made our way to the Washington Monument where we stopped for a cold and windy lunch break. I thought the monument was pretty neat. It was big too. But at least there were no stairs. Washington was my kind of guy.

After lunch we walked over to the Museum of Natural History. It was a lot of fun and I pretended that it was like the museum in the movie, "Night at the Museum". Ben Stiller was there and the dinosaurs were coming to life. It was a lot of fun until the Neanderthal people started throwing rocks at me. We had to hightail it out of there before we got harpooned by a wayward caveman spear. I tried to snag the Hope Diamond and take it with me, but a Wooly Mammoth beat me to it. Apparently they like diamonds.

We headed for home after the museum. It was a fun day and I have to thank Lige and Shelli for being fantastic tour guides!

Monday, April 7, 2008
Our last day in the Capitol City! We took our time getting ready and headed out to the Air and Space Museum. That was a pretty cool place. It was neat to see the evolution of flight from the days of the Wright Bros. up to now. A lot has hapened since Kitty Hawk!

After the museum we went and had lunch and Union Station, said goodby to Lige, Shelli, and Liam, and boarded Amtrak for our train ride to Cleveland! I thought the train was a lot of fun. It was a long, ten hour ride, but the seating was spacious, and we were able to walk from car to car. They have a dining car, a snack car with seats where you can sit and eat or play games, and a car with big windows where you can just sit and look at the countryside. Max loved running through the train and looking out the windows. Our train passed through Rockville, MD, Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg, WV, Cumberland, MD, Connellsville and Pittsburgh, PA, and Alliance, OH before stopping in Cleveland and about 2:45 am. Thankfully Shayla's parent's were kind enough to sacrifice their sleep so they could be there to pick us up.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Tuesday morning we found ourselves in Kirtland, Ohio. It wasgood to see Shayla's parents again and they were pretty thrilled to see Max. I think they would have been perfectly happy if we had just sent him and stayed home ourselves! I guess I can't blame them though. Max is a lot cooler than his parents.

Shayla's mom and dad took us to a farmpark where we got to see lots of farm animals. Max even got to milk a cow! He did a really good job at it too! It was fun to see Max interact with all the animals. He loved petting them and knew all the sounds they make!

Since it was spring there were a lot of baby animals as well. We saw baby sheep and baby pigs along with the bigger versions. Max helped to feed the horses, and even wandered down to a corral to open and close the gate (don't worry there were no horses in it waiting to escape)! We learned how cheese is made and had a great time. The weather was perfect too!

After the farm park, we spent the rest of the day driving through the Ohio countryside and hung out at Shayla's parent's house.


Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Wednesday morning we woke up ready to hit the road! Shayla's parents were kind enough to let us steal their car for a couple days so we hopped in and headed east! We drove through northeast Ohio, got lost in northwest Pennsylvania, and continued on through upstate New York.

Our first stop was to try and figure out the GPS unit. We programmed it to avoid toll roads but after getting sidetracked on to a side road and a different interstate, we decided we'd rather pay the toll. We programmed the GPS to take us back to the toll, hoping to shave about 30 minutes off the trip. By the time we got back on the toll road, it had been more than the thirty minutes we would have saved! Oh yeah, and the GPS died on us on the way back to the toll road. We thought we were going to get stuck out there with no idea of where to go! Luckily we made a quick call to Shayla's parents and they helped us get it all sorted out.

Our next stop was the charming little town of Palmyra. It was cool to see the places we had heard so much about in sunday school. We stopped at the printshop where the Book of Mormon was first published, and then headed over to the Sacred Grove. Max didn't seem to like the printshop too much, he squirmed and fussed and chewed up my arm like it was beef jerky. Seriously. I think he did like the Sacred Grove however. Or at least he liked being outside after being cooped up in a car most of the day. It was a little chilly at the Sacred Grove and we only saw a couple other people. Because there was hardly anyone there we let Max run around on the trails. He seemed to like it. I thought the Sacred Grove was really cool too. Even with Max running around you could feel the spirit.

After walking through the Sacred Grove we got back in the car. This time we headed west. We backtracked a bit until we got to Buffalo, New York. Instead of continuing on back the way we came, we turned north and went up to Niagara Falls, Canada. Instead of stopping on the American side we went staight to our hotel in the 51st state.

When we checked in the Hotel clerk asked if we wanted to upgrade to the Jacuzzi suite for a nominal fee. Of course we did! We stayed at the Marriot Courtyard and it was really nice. We could see the American falls from the window in our hotel room. We got a little settled in our room and then walked down the street to see what all the fuss about the waterfall was about. Let me just say, it is amazing! The amount of water rushing over the edge is astounding. Shayla kept waiting for it to run out. It seemed like with that much water spilling over it would eventually run dry on the other side. With it being so cold outside there was still a lot of ice in the river and over by the falls where the mist had condensed and frozen. It was really cold, but it was really cool.

When we decided the water was never going to run out, we walked to TGI Friday's for dinner. The food was good, since we were paying Canadian prices and the dollar is on par with Canada's money, it was expensive. But we had fun. All the TV's in the restaurant were showing the NHL playoffs, and with Canada being the hockey crazy place that it is, our waiter got a little distracted with the game. He would sit down and watch it and forget to come see if we needed anything. We kept having to call him over. We weren't really in a hurry so we didn't mind too much. It was actually kind of funny. Crazy Canadians.


Thursday, April 10, 2008
Thursday morning we woke up, ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and headed out for the day. We walked around Niagara Falls, went to a bunch of tourist shops and bought a few souvenirs. We also went on a big ferris wheel that gave us a good view of the Falls.

We also walked down and looked at the Falls again, and then headed over to an aviary that was just a short walk down from the waterfalls.

The aviary was really cool. We were able to walk through the rooms and the birds would fly all around us. Max loved watching the birds fly. There were a couple that nearly took off our heads! They were all so accustomed to people and they would buzz right past you. There were birds from all over the world. They had small ones, big ones, and even bigger ones. The birds were constantly flying overhead. Amazingly, we all made it through without getting pooped on!

After the aviary, we hopped in the car and headed north. Seeing as how we were only about an hour and a half away from Toronto, we (or more accurately, I) decided it was a must stop on our vacation. The drive wasn't too bad. It was a little tricky trying to keep my speed accurate as I was driving on a road with the speed limit posted in kilometers, and I was accustomed to miles. For the most part, I just kept the same speed as the vehicles around me, which was usually ten to twenty kilometers faster than the posted speed limit. I figured it was probably about the same as driving five miles faster than the speed limit in America. At any rate, I'm glad we never passed a cop, because I didn't want to find out his opinion.

Once we got to Toronto, we weren't really sure where to go. We knew we were hungry, and we also knew we wanted to go see the CN Tower. For those of you who don't know, Toronto is a big city. It is the fifth most populous city in North America, trailing only Mexico City, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Because it is such a large city, traffic is crazy in downtown and there are pedestrians walking all over like ants on a candy bar. This might help explain how I found myself parked in the middle of a 5-way intersection on a red light. I was completely blocking two lanes of traffic. I'm such a bad driver when it comes to Canadian driving! Anyway, Shayla hated Toronto at first. I guess you could say our firts impression of the city wasn't good.

After I succesfully backed up out of the way of traffic, and then later succesfully found a parking garage, we walked a couple blocks down to the CN Tower. As of right now, the CN tower is the tallest completed building in the world. There is currently a building under construction in Dubai that is already taller, but since it isn't finished yet, it doesn't count. Apparently. Anyway, the tower is 1,815 feet tall. That makes it about 700 feet taller than the Stratosphere in Las Vegas.

We took a self-guided tour up to the top of the tower. It was pretty cool to look out and see the city of Toronto below us. We could also see out across Lake Ontario. There was also a glass floor that, apparently, can hold the weight of 14 large hippos even though it is only 2.5 inches thick. Luckily, on the day we visited there were only thirteen hippos on the glass floor, so we were able to walk on it without fear of it breaking. I thought it was cool. It made Shayla a little dizzy. We were standing on a fairly thin floor, looking straight down with nothing between us and the ground below except air. Max seemed to love it. I think he loved the whole tower in general. He was all over the place!

After walking around checking things out for a while we made our way back down to terra firma, found our car, and made our way out of Canada. It was a fun little trip. I'm glad we went to Niagara Falls and Toronto. For quite some time now I have wanted to visit Canada, and even though it was brief, now I have.

We had about four hours of driving ahead of us now, as we were on our way back to Ohio.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, & Monday, April 11, 12, 13, & 14, 2008
We got back to Kirtland, Ohio somewhat late Thursday night. We met back up with Shayla's parents at their place, where we would be staying for the last few days of our trip. By this time, Shayla and I were about travelled out. We didn't do a whole lot these last few days, but we did enjoy spending the time with Shayla's parents.

Friday morning we woke up early and went to a big breakfast in the Amish community. Every once in a while the Amish will hold fundraiser breakfasts to help raise money for their schools. They were having one this morning and Shayla's parents had been invited so we went along with them. It was really neat to meet some of the Amish people. They are really friendly and easy to talk to. Some of the little boys wanted to play with Max, but he didn't seemed too interested in playing with them. I think he was more concerned with the fresh homemade donuts. They were delicious!

After breakfast we drove around to a few of the small Amish shops and then drove over to the small village of Chagrin Falls. Chagrin Falls is a cool little town that was built on the Chagrin River with the main road through town passing right over the water falls. We went around to some of the small shops while we were there. There is one small shop that is a little candy store that looks like it has been there since the 1950's or maybe even earlier. It sat right next to the road over the falls.

Later that day we went to Lake Erie, where we played on the beach for a while. It was a little cold and windy, but not too bad. Max loved picking up small rocks and sticks to throw in the water. Usually they would just land on the sand about a foot in front of his feet, but then the waves would come rolling in and cover them with about an inch or two of water. I think that was just fine with him. There were also some big logs there that we could stand on and let the waves come crashing around us. Max thought that was pretty cool too.

There was a little park next to the shore of Lake Erie so after we tought we had had enough of the lake, we went up to the park and let Max play around for a little bit.

On Saturday, we drove down to Mesopotamia, Ohio, a small little town southeast of Kirtland. We stopped in Mesopotamia when we came to Kirtland last November, and we liked it so much we decided to go back. There is a small country store, called End of the Commons, that is supposedly the oldest General Store in Ohio. They have a lot of cool little Amish products and gifts, old time sodas, cheese, popcorn, and ice cream. It is always fun to go there as well because you can always see the Amish out driving around in their horse-drawn buggies.

After Mesopotamia we went back to Kirtland where we ould spend the rest of the day. Shayla's dad and mom took us through a couple of the old historic buildings. It was nice to be back in Kirtland again and see the way the early pioneers of the church lived. We took it pretty easy the rest of the day, playing games and hanging out with Shayla's parents.

On Sunday, Shayla's parents went to church. Since it was their Stake Conference, we decided to stay home and get our things packed up. After they got back from church, we played a few games, ate lunch, and then went on a driving tour through Cleveland before heading to the airport. Shayla's parents were so good to us while we were there and I have to give them a big thank you for all they did for us! They made our trip so much more enjoyable!

We go dropped off at the airport, said our goodbye's, and waited for our flight. As we were waiting, a lady with the airline got on the loudspeaker and informed all the passengers that the flight was overbooked. They were looking for three people to give up their seats, and in doing so would be booked on the first flight out in the morning, provided with $18 dollars in food vouchers, shuttled to a hotel provided by the airline, and given $250 dollars in travel vouchers to be used on a future flight. After quickly discussing this Shayla and I decided we would gladly give up our seats! Since we were both reimbursed, we ended up with $36 bucks for food, and $500 bucks worth of travel vouchers! They shuttled us to a Marriot hotel that was really close to the airport where we slept much better than we would have on the airplane (our flight was a red eye), and our flight the next morning left at about 9:00 meaning we would get home in the early afternoon. Much better than getting back at about 1:00 am and having to drive two hours home on little sleep.

It was a pretty good ending to a very fun trip. We were glad we were able to see so many of our family while out there. Thanks to Amy, Chad, and Blake for driving up to Washington D.C. to see us, Shelli, Lige, and Liam for letting us stay with them and for being our personal tour guides around the nation's capitol, and a very big thank you to Shayla's mom and dad for picking us up at the train station at 2:30 in the morning, letting us take their car on our Canadian Adventure, carting us all over northeast Ohio, and dropping us off at the airport. We had a lot of fun and will remember this trip forever!

THE END!