An Update From The Kids

Next Friday we leave for Arizona and the third leg of our adventure (didn't we just get here?!). I'll try to post an update from the road. As for today, our family sends a big thank you to all the veterans who have served our country!

Since we left home we've received a lot of support, and also a lot of questions. One question we get often is "But what do the kids think?" Good question! Let's ask them. After our presidential election this week, I think we're all ready for something new to read.

Everything from here on out is all them. They like to keep it real. ;-) Also, keep in mind this is their first time away from the traditional school environment.

Enjoy!

- Jen

Oldest son (15- Freshman): "I am not a big fan of the trip in most ways, however I'm glad I got to fly a plane in Alaska. I am looking forward to going to Disney World in Florida in a couple of months. What I'm really looking forward to is going to high school in Washington when I get back because so far I've noticed that normal school is more fun than homeschooling. Plus, I get to see my friends."

Daughter (13- 7th Grade): "At first, I thought this trip was awful! Then we went to Chena Hot Springs in Alaska, which was exciting. Now this trip is tolerable. Chena Hot Springs was probably the best part of the trip so far because I rode a horse named Coby on a trail.

Since we had a family emergency while here in Idaho, we haven't seen everything. But if you do come to Victor or Driggs, here are places we went that I would recommend:

- The Corner Drug Store- It has a soda fountain.
- The Spud (I think that's it's name)- It's a drive-in theater.
- The Library
- Wildlife Brewing Company- It has awesome food!
- Or just going for a drive- The houses on the way to the dump (Yes, the dump!) look really cool and I think you would like them too!"

Youngest son (10- 4th Grade): "We've sort of been having fun in Idaho. We had fun at the Museum of Idaho. We went to the movies to go see Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children in Idaho Falls. We went to Driggs for groceries (my brother calls it Drugs). We also went to Blackfoot to drop off our dogs while we were in California. The house here in Victor seems like part of a mansion."  

We took the 101...

Okay, so that blog title is mostly a joke. ;-) We really did grow up in California, but unlike the SNL skit, have never used "the" when talking about freeways, highways, interstates, or any other roads. Then again, we grew up in Northern California so that might be a regional difference. SoCal's, any insights? On that note, we did take 101 and it was a beautiful drive!

Last week we joined my husband in California to finish settling the estate of my Father-in-law. Then we caravanned to Washington for work and to bring a few things home. It was a long drive, especially with no relief driver in the car, but we made it! It ended up being fun in spite of the pouring rain. The kids were especially excited when we went over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Fun fact: My husbands grandmother marched across the Golden Gate with her school band when it opened in 1937! Their family has a long history in California.

San Francisco also has a lot of cool murals and beautiful architecture.

We made sure to visit Chandelier Tree (the drive-thru tree) and stamped our Parks Passport at Redwood National and State Park. Close to the Oregon border you will see gorgeous coastal views. I definitely recommend going if you're ever nearby!

Fortunately for the kids, we were able to get home in time to go trick-or-treating, which was exciting. A big thank you to our wonderful friends for taking them while we sorted everything out! This week has given us a chance to visit the orthodontist and to get a few other things taken care of. Mostly though, it's just been nice to visit with friends and be home for a tick.

Our unexpected detour ended up adding three states we weren't planning on visiting this year- California, Oregon, and Washington. Who knows? We may need to hit all 50 now just to say we did!

Tomorrow we head back to Idaho. I'm sure the dogs will be excited to see us again! They've been at a kennel while we've been gone. Then we start preparing to head down to Arizona for the next leg of our trip in a week or two. Is it really almost time for the third leg of our adventure?!? I guess what they say is true, time flies!

- Jen

Dig a duck a day.....

As promised, this post will be full of pictures. Here's one I know you've been waiting for. This is our trailer! It's a Viking 17 BH. It's 20 feet long and doesn't expand, which makes it small and light enough for our car to tow, yet large enough for us to sleep in comfortably.

This is what it looks like on the inside. We folded down the table and benches and made them into a bed for our youngest to sleep on. Now everyone has their own space. There isn't much walking room in general, so things will get pretty interesting when we're all loaded up for the trip.

Each child has their own Thirty-One Tote for their personal items. They fit nicely at the end of the bunk beds. 

Last weekend we took the trailer out for a test run. It's geoduck (giant clam- pronounced gooey-duck) season in Washington, so we headed up to the Hood Canal for the ultra-low tides. Being new to trailer ownership, we're still figuring things out. We didn't realize that we need to specify if we want water/electrical available, so we ended up with a dry campsite. This wasn't a big deal since we were only there for two nights and there were bathrooms and a water spigot nearby. It's good to know for future reservations though.

These are pictures of the Hood Canal that were taken while we were out clamming with friends. If you ever plan to go, please pay attention to the water toxin reports and make sure you have a shellfish license. There are laws about how big the clams need to be and how many you can harvest per person. Despite what you see in these pictures, there were a TON of people there. That tends to happen when it's sunny and beautiful out.

We picked up a book called "Whelks to Whales: Coastal Marine Life of the Pacific Northwest, Revised Second Edition" by Rick M. Harbo at the aquarium. I'm so glad we did because after missing our tide pools field trip with the homeschoolers last week, this book told us everything we wanted to know about the animals we were seeing. I highly recommend it!

Beautiful, no?

I look forward to geoducking every year. Sometimes we are successful and sometimes we aren't. Either way, it's always a wonderful trip. This year, I left the clamming to everyone else and went out to find starfish. Last Friday when our youngest and I wound up at the Seattle Aquarium, we learned that starfish have been dying at an alarming rate up and down the west coast because of something called "Wasting Disease". You can learn more about it here:

http://www.eeb.ucsc.edu/pacificrockyintertidal/data-products/sea-star-wasting/

I had no idea this was even happening! The volunteer at the aquarium sent me on a mission to see if I could find some this year. We've always seen tons of sea stars, so the possibility of them not being there was frightening. I'm happy to report that even though it was difficult, I was able to find three small Sunburst Starfish. This is one. It felt soft like the inside of a cheek.

A few were upside down. Would you like to see what the underside is like? Here's a clip!

We also saw a few curious Harbour Seals.

The second night we were there, a friend woke me up, and I'm so glad she did! I only wish I had a camera at the time. The Aurora Borealis was visible!! This is a huge bucket list item for me and it was such a treat to be able to see it in person. It was like green, evenly spaced waves. Kind of like this.

The kids had a great time digging up clams and tiny crabs (that were left on the beach) with their friends. The guys came back with three geoducks, which were turned into sashimi and clam chowder. This is a geoduck. They look...interesting.. to say the least. They taste sweet and briny. I would say "like the ocean" but that probably doesn't describe the flavor much because they aren't salty. The texture is a bit on the firm/crunchy side.

Freshly prepared geoduck sashimi

The chowder was as fresh as it gets and was absolutely delicious! 

Other than having a fantastic weekend adventure, I picked up the mail from our new P.O. Box for the first time this week. We got our first letter (okay, okay- bill). We also visited the dentist to keep up our oral health before we head out. Dental health is very important! (Hi Dr. C and staff! ;-))

This weekend we'll be packing and outfitting the trailer with things like a toilet paper dispenser. You know, those little things that make life easier......

42 days to go!!

- Jen