Thankfulness

We had a lot to be thankful for this American Thanksgiving. We arrived in Charlottesville VA on Tuesday where we would be hosted for several days by close friends of ours - the Lievers. Upon arriving at their place, we bid a glad, albeit temporary goodbye to hotels, restaurants on the road and our daily "drive-hotel-drive" routine.

Virginia reminds us a fair bit of Chilliwack - a nostalgia-inducing observation to be sure. There is an abundance of greenspace and farmland surrounded by rolling hills. Granted it lacks the pointed peaks of Cheam & Slesse, but hey, Chilliwack lacked some things that Virginia has - like the Lievers. On our first day, they quite wisely decided to focus our tour closer to home. They took us around UVA and the quaint Charlottesville downtown - stopping for lunch at the "Five Guys" (who know how to make a fine burger) and for desert at a store that specializes in cupcakes (Brent likes the sparkles).

The next day found us preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. Jenn, of course, was the brains of the operation as she led us all in a flurry of peeling, chopping, mashing, slicing, cork-screw popping and table setting. It was great fun and reminded us of working in the Galilee kitchen. We took a couple of hours in the afternoon for the mandatory Thanksgiving hike - which is also a great way to work up an appetite.

Our first American thanksgiving will be fondly remembered as we enjoyed the Turkey and all the fixin's along with one of Brent's co-workers. If you have never tasted Jenn's brined-Turkey, you have never really had turkey. In fact, if I was a Turkey, I would insist on being prepared in this way. You'll have to ask her for the details, but I think it involves soaking the entire turkey in a sugary/salty brine for 12 hours before roasting it in the oven. The result is delicious and the white meat is the moistest I have ever tasted.

The next day found us at the Luray Caverns. After visiting Carlsbad, we were expecting to enjoy the visit very much but did not expect to be completely blown away for a second time. We were wrong. The Luray caverns are quite a bit smaller and closer to the surface than Carlsbad, but they are intricately and densely decorated, is better lit and has more natural pools which together create a spectacular effect. Because you are moving from room to room, rather than traversing a single one for 30 minutes, the scenery is constantly changing and you move very quickly from wonder to wonder. The final room on the tour contains a stelac"pipe" - an organ where the various tones are generated via mallets striking the rocky stalactite and stalagmites in a large chamber. A sign in the room declares that this represents the hand of God and the genius of man in perfect harmony. Truly amazing to hear the rocks sing in those echoey chambers.

These are just a few of the adventures that we had with the lovely Lievers family. Many other stops, laughs and enjoying of each others company was had. It was with sadness that we bid goodbye to them this morning and struck due North for the first time in three weeks...home stretch. We didn't want to overstay our welcome though - we mighta tired them out ;)

Today was a good but frustrating day. We spent over $30 on toll booths and occasionally had to wait in line for almost an hour for the privilege of paying the toll. Most of the trip was spent in fairly urban areas with cars speeding along overly narrow lanes. However, this is not the usual path you'll be taking if you plan on visiting Brent and Jenn from Ontario (we don't want to discourage you), we were taking a bit of a sidetrip to Philly. One of our youth group friends from Ottawa has been quite unwell and is hospitalized in Philadelphia. It was a short visit, but wonderful to visit and pray with him and his family at this challenging time. We felt like we were representing so many of you who would love to be there but can't because of the distance.

We are spending the night in a ssssshwanky hotel (thanks Hotwire) in Reading Pennsylvania. Tomorrow...CANADA!!!

Livia quotes:

1. When being prompted to thank Jenn for supper: "Tank ooo for supper. Aaa-men!!"

2. "Lettuce please" - she's very insistent about this one - we're still not sure exactly what she wants.

Time warp

This whole trip has felt like a bit of a time warp but it really hit home today. It's been a time warp in several ways: 1. We're driving East - so our days keep getting shorter and shorter until we cross into the next time zone. Then we lose an hour on one hand but it stays light out later on the other - confusing? Yeah, us too. 2. Seasons: We've driven out of the Fall in BC, into Spring on the rainy/lush West Coast, into the summer of the American South and now it's looking like fall but feeling like summer. 3. Racism: We've already talked about this, but there have been several times that it has felt like we went back 50 or so years. 4. Christmas: Is it really almost Christmas? There's something really wrong about listening to Christmas music in 20 degree weather. They were putting up Christmas wreaths and lights in the desert ghost town that we were visiting last week. Meanwhile, it feels like we are on summer vacation.

Alas, with the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend (yes, another time warp) we are trying to get in the spirit of things. We went to a Christian bookstore today and bought some Christmas music. We suspect it will get more and more air time as we move North.

Our drive today was relatively short (four and a half hours) but we still passed through three different states. We started in Alabama, and then we really just nicked the corner of Georgia on our way to Tennessee. Our time in Georgia was so short, in fact, that we were nearly out of it by the time we figured out that we arrived. Sadly, we missed their welcome sign - which almost prompted us to swing back but we wanted to keep it a short day.

Beautiful scenery which we didn't see today but which is

a necessary feature of a travel blog.

We took a nice sidetrip up Lookout Mountain and played in a park at the top. We were going to go down to see Ruby falls, an impressive waterfall, 1000 ft. underground, but they were charging a ton to see it and we figured that three caverns in one trip would be a bit much - we want to see the one in Virginia! It was nice for Livi to stretch her legs and practice her new "boogie woogie" dance moves.

The dance and the park tuckered her out and she fell asleep before Grandma Tildy could even buy a canary. She slept until we reached the hotel. Aside: if you are a late comer to our blog, go back and read the first few entries - we were much cooler and more exciting then.

We checked into our hotel, with Livia's help as always. The hotel routine is getting a bit old and we are very much looking forward to staying with friends for a few days. We had dinner, visited a Christian bookstore (which had an autographed picture of Andrew Peterson in it) and went to bed. Our highlights of the last few days have been our daughter, who we are thoroughly enjoying playing and laughing with. She has been a patient and pleasant travel companion. We're pretty sure she thinks that driving is what she will always do during the day, hotels are where people live and bathrooms are where children sleep - she's resigned to that existence - I think she will be happy to learn that there is more to life than this. Alas, tomorrow - Charlottesville!

Livi's doing all the work

At the restaurant

Loussissabama

Our day began with a hearty breakfast of instant grits and eggs. Well, only Livia had the grits, but they were a big hit - as you can see.


We went to West Monroe First Baptist for church. It was really nice, especially since it reminded us of the church we'll be attending in Kirkland Lake - the fifty person choir, the full orchestra, the barbershop quintet, the audiovisual content, four services per day and the airing of the entire service on local television. Okay, it's nothing like the church we'll be attending. The pastor spoke passionately about revival and how much all the pastors were praying for revival to sweep across their land. This too, prompted a good van conversation. Don't get us wrong, we think revival is a good thing. How can you think ill of Christians and the church at large renewing their devotion to Jesus, turning away from their sin & laziness and re-focusing on Christ. The question we had is whether that is something that a pastor can/should talk his church into. It seems like if your focus is the concept of revival rather than Christ you're going to miss the point. The apostle Paul made a point of preaching only Christ rather than elaborate arguments or clever tricks. Because that's where the true power comes from. Revival is not the focus but the by-product of Christians being taken up with Jesus. But this is a travel blog. Today, we traveled some more.


We said goodbye to the Louisianan accents, passed over the impressive Mississippi river (M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I) into Mississippi, of course. Mississippi (for the fourth time, because we love spelling that word) seemed very well manicured and it felt like we were driving through the grounds of a country club. The trees were colourful, taller than before and there were quite a number of rivers, streams and lakes - which was refreshing to the eye. But we passed into Alabama a few short hours later without ever getting out of the van.

The Mississippi River

Tonight we are in Tuscaloosa (which is also fun to spell) Alabama. We enjoyed a conversation with the clerk at the front who was telling us about some of the history of the area. "I d'know how much y'know 'bout American histree...". "Probably just a little bit more than you know about Canadian history". "Fair 'nuff". Anyway, she was very nice and told us to visit the University of Alabama which has an interesting story. It was one of the major sites of conflict in the civil war, where all of their buildings were destroyed by the Northerners. It was also one of the places where the desegregation discussions became most heated. She told us that Tuscaloosa was the last city in America to desegregate - amazingly as late as the 1970's. For that reason, the racial tensions are still very tangible here, and though official segregation has been abolished, practical segregation is everywhere. It really makes you feel sick in the pit of your stomach. What cultural poverty there is in ignorance!

It was sunny today. Looking sharp Livi!

Tomorrow, we are spending our last night in a hotel before seeing the Lievers!!! We will be cutting through a corner of Georgia and driving through a good chunk of Tennessee to Knoxville. That will leave us just 5 or 6 hours from Charlottesville on Tuesday.

Livia's quotes of the day:
1. First looking at then trying her piece of toast, Livia said quickly, "Don't like it!...Mmm...like it! Nummy toast."
2. "Went church, singing songs, play toys, people lots of people, bye church" - her own verbal blog while walking out of the church...
3. "All done car". She's ready to go home.

One of Livi's favourite hotel pastimes - colouring on the complimentary pad of paper

Bienvenue en Louisiane

Not much to report today. We are making our way East and the thought of seeing familiar faces (The Lieverses) and eventually getting home is increasingly exciting. We are a bit sad to miss the Gulf and some of the Atlantic coast line but we have traded them for shorter and more manageable driving days. After all, we're only 27, we can leave some of the States for another time :)

We had "breakfast" at our hotel before hitting the road. It consisted of plastic-wrapped apple danishes, cereal with warm milk and a rant from the hotel owner about racism, marijuana-smoking "kids today" and the dismal US economy. We later enjoyed a conversation in the van about the difference between racism and an understanding of the unique features of each culture. Otherwise, the drive was literally, quite straightforward. The landscape changed from desert, cotton-fields and watermelons to something akin to Ontario. We don't need to describe it any further - most of you live there. It was nice to find Autumn, though the colours are more earthy than Ontario's resplendent pallet.

When we got to our "home" for the night we were delighted to hear our host's Louisianan accent. In fact, we went back to the lobby to ask him questions about the city, not caring an ounce about what he was saying but how he was saying it. We decided since it was still early and bright to head into the city to try to soak in some Louisiana culture. We were hoping to find a Jazz band (+/- a funeral march). Well, we ain't in "Nawlines" and we couldn't find the crowds we were hoping for downtown, so we went to the next best thing...the mall.

It was nice to let Livi loose and watch her press her face into store windows to see the toys and pictures. There was a very nice carousel and she enjoyed riding a hopping bunny on the "spin". We opted out of Santa's lap as Livi would need more time to warm up than he could possibly give her. We grabbed some food and just enjoyed listening to conversations and people-watching (which is what we went there for). It was interesting to notice that, with only one exception, we did not see a single white person in a group of black people or vice versa. Again, we enjoyed a good conversation about cultures, segregation and whether or not this is a form of racism. It makes us thankful to be Canadian where various cultures are celebrated rather than segregated. On our way out of the mall, Livia was getting tired, so Dan put her up on his shoulders as usual. No sooner had he done so then a hypervigilant security guard told him that this was a safety risk and that he was going to have to ask him not to keep his child on his shoulders. Dan thanked him and acknowledged that he drops Livia on her head almost weekly this way. What would any of us do without authority figures telling us how to raise our children (or in this case, not raise our children)?


Tomorrow is Sunday and we are keen to find a church. Preferably one with a swaying gospel choir that sings "There ain't no mountain high enough..." and other well known hymns. We have a slightly shorter day planned as we travel out of Louisiana, through Mississippi and into Tuscaloosa Alabama.

Howdy y'all from Texas!

We done did cross d'State lyne t'day. Okay, we can't keep it up for a whole post, but we've actually been talking to each other with a southern drawl since we got here. A few surprises about Texas (at least for us). We haven't seen anybody carrying a gun, they really do talk weird, but everyone is super nice (the sign didn't lie).

We left our hotel this morning after an unusually hearty breakfast on the house. The 1.5 hour drive out of New Mexico was much the same - arid, prairie-like, abandoned homes, cacti and tumbleweed. It is odd that things seem to change so quickly when you pass from one state to the next. Coming into Texas, the desert was replaced by beautiful cotton fields that look like countless snowballs growing on sticks. The cotton tends to blow in the wind and accumulate in the ditch so we pulled over to pick up a soft cottony souvenir. Ouch! The one Catherine selected was embedded with burrs. Livia was inconsolable for quite some time because mommy got an ouch - sympathetic child that she is. The cotton is gathered up into huge blocks by cotton-picking machines.



Also intriguing were the new cacti we found as we crossed into Texas. We thought they were small ball-shaped cacti so we pulled over to see and we found instead - wild watermelons. No joke. There are piles of little watermelon growing all over the side of the road. Dan wanted Catherine to take one, but perhaps sobered by her burr experience, she declined. People in Texas have guns, we thought to ourselves, maybe these watermelons belong to somebody. Also, we weren't sure they weren't a poisonous cousin of the tastier ones that grow in grocery stores.


We stopped at a Dairy Queen in Texas for a restroom and diaper break. Here we met our first real Texans. Mostly, they're old, talk weird and friendly. We made friends with two of them (Joey-Bob and Marie-Sue - okay, we didn't actually get their names). Livia was running around the restaurant (we let her get away with that to encourage her to blow off steam before sitting in the van for another 5 hours - helps slow the muscle atrophy), and one of the old, friendly Texans suddenly jumped out of her booth and yelled, "boo". Amazingly, Livi didn't cry, and we sat and had a nice conversation with this older couple who recommended a nice zoo close to our destination.

So that's what we did. It was lots of fun and made our journey, once again feel like a holiday. It was really great to see Livia make friends with the animals (like "Bob" - the bobcat - "Hi Bob! Bob, come down!! Bob eating grass"). We (Dan and Catherine) definitely have mixed feelings about Zoos...the most exciting exhibits are also the saddest ones. It's hard to see the hawks perching on trees with no room to soar and huge cats designed to run and hunt with no opportunity to do so. The most spectacular animal was the Bengal tiger. He was so big and majestic looking (the biggest cat in the world we were told) but he looked weak and flabby from his confinement. At any rate, it was still very fun to introduce Livi to animals in real-life and we are planning a prison break tonight.

Cougars (and Livia)

Dan got a kiss from the Giraffe.

Awesome Bengal Tiger

We arrived in Weatherford, checked into the hotel and headed out to dinner at the closest thing to a homemade meal - good ol' Cracker Barrel. Tomorrow we are off to Louisiana. Till then, have a g'night y'all!

Carlsbad Smells Bad

This morning Livi had to say goodbye to her "Abba cookie." We picked up some breakfast burritos from Anita's diner and got on the road. The majority of today's drive was flat, dry grassland with small bushes and cacti and every so often a ghost town. There were an amazing number of abandoned and dilapidated homes along the way - doubtless a reflection of the economy and the harsh conditions. We were in a hurry to make it to the caverns before they closed so we pressed through the 6 hour drive with only a 6 minute stop at a rest point to change Livi's bum (lest it should burst). Catherine opted to stay in the car and change Livi on our cooler after seeing the sign "watch for rattlesnakes" as we turned off. Dan, however, ventured out in search of his prey but returned to the vehicle disappointed.

various cacti along the road to the caverns

Our goal was to make it to the Carlsbad caverns in time to take a tour. We were there with tickets in hand 15 minutes before closing time. The Carlsbad Caverns are located in the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico. If you have seen the Planet Earth series put out by BBC, you might remember the shots of millions of bats swirling out of huge underground caves full of enormous stalactites and stalagmites. That's where we went today! Entering at the mouth of the "bat cave" (see first picture) to the complex network of "rooms" below , we hiked down 754 feet into the aptly named big room - after passing through a series of other rooms first.

If you are prone to claustrophobia you may still enjoy this "Natural Wonder in the First Order" - National Geographic, circa 1924. Although you occasionally need to duck to get through channels between the rooms, the rooms themselves are sprawling. The big room itself is the size of 14 football fields. In all we walked briskly for 2 hours, never visiting the same point twice. The ceiling often disappears into blackness hundreds of feet above. There are small lakes and pools and the rooms are decorated with the most spectacular calcium deposits. Massive pillars, stalagmites, stalactites, drapes - it looked like a ballroom decorated in crystal and pearls. Upon entering the caves, they ask you to keep your voices down to a whisper and the effect is haunting. Silent, darkened, ancient halls. Livi thankfully kept her voice to a quiet snore - except at the end when we had to explain to her that she had to whisper "Twinkle, twinkle" in the big tunnels.

notice Dan and Livi (in backpack) at lower left of picture...it still doesn't do it justice, but this place is massive!

A disappointment was that we were not able to witness the bat exodus as these migrated to Mexico two weeks ago for the winter. We enjoyed another homey meal at a local diner/buffet and ran around Wal-Mart with Livia - one of her favourite activities. We, once again, plan to spend the next little while plotting our course as we have no idea where we're going tomorrow. So goodnight.

PS - Carlsbad smells bad because it is a petroleum refining town. We are pleasantly surprised by our hotel - despite the reviews.

"Abba Cookie"

We're still making up our minds about New Mexico. It's exciting to be here in that the landscape is (once again) staggering and it feels like we're in a foreign country, but it also feels dirty and a bit dangerous.

We left our hotel just a little after nine this morning but couldn't tear ourselves away from the canyon. Instead, we drove Hwy 64 E along the southern rim of the canyon for about 90 km to Cameron. We're glad that we did as we found an ancient ruin, some more breathtaking views of the Canyon and perhaps most surprising was the Colorado gorge. In some ways it was typical of a gorge - narrow chasm with sheer cliffs on either side. What was unique was that you had to get right close to the edge to finally see the bottom "miles" below. Thankfully, Americans are not safety-vigilantes in the same way as Canadians so you could get within a foot of the sheer drop - a vertiginous experience that had us clinging tightly to our little girl.

We continued Eastward along the Canyon, deep in Navajo indian grounds. It was very interesting to see their markets and villages along the way in the middle of nowhere. Incidentally, we were listening to an Odyssey cd (which is like a radio drama) about the story of Horatio Spafford - the author of the hymn "It is Well With My Soul". An inspiring tale that should remind all of us to rest in the Lord and praise His good name regardless of our circumstances. I will always link that drive and that story in my mind...

From there, we went South to Flagstaff and saw a couple of coyotes tearing across the fields (sorry, no picture). The landscape changed once more to an almost prairie-like expanse of desert. We have often wondered why anyone would ever choose to settle in such a harsh location so many years ago. I get thirsty just thinking about it. At any rate, we pulled off the road to see a meteor crater (4000 ft across and 500 ft deep). It was really neat to see it and also to see and feel a piece of the meteor that was recovered. Another highlight was just seeing the 360 degree desert view around the crater. Just wild. The area was also used to train astronauts for the Apollo missions because of it's similitude to the moon. You do have to watch your step though - Dan accidently stepped in their zero gravity field and almost floated away (see picture below). Catherine was quick to grab a hold.

New Mexico is equally beautiful and again, it's shocking how many different types of landscapes God created without having to repeat any. The rock formations in New Mexico look like you've taken the ones from Arizona and gone over them with a sander. Also, there are some rounded cliffs that look unnaturally red. It really does feel like you're in another country. With all due respect to our many New Mexican readers, the towns and cities of New Mexico are pretty dingy (although we are in nice accommodations in Albuquerque tonight, and enjoyed a great homey meal at the local Cracker Barrel - we know, true New Mexico cuisine :)

We are once again struggling to know where to go from here. The tension comes from our reluctance to extend our trip balanced against not wanting to miss what there is to see out here. We are having a real tough time finding a place to stay in Carlsbad. We've stayed in a few marginal hotels, but these ones sound downright nasty. We would like to see the Carlsbad Caverns (remember Planet Earth where the bats stream out of underground tunnels? And the massive crystals in the inside chambers? Yeah, Carlsbad) but not if it means staying in a hotel where the cockroaches carry us away in the night.

Tumbleweed - woo hoo!

Livia's quotes:

1. "Abba cookie" - Livia's version of "Albuquerque"

2. We've been trying to encourage Livia to spend more time reading each book or playing with each toy so that she doesn't exhaust our stash in the first 15 minutes of driving. Often when she asks for "more book" we tell her to wait a while. To which she replies in rapid succession, "Have patience, have patience, don't be in such hurry. One, two, three, four, five. Yeah. Okay. May - I - have - more - books - please".

3. "We made it. Yeaaaaay!" As we pulled up to the hotel. "All done? Bye Abba cookie" Livi was quite concerned as we pulled our van out to park around back. We had to reassure her that we were going to spend a bit more time in Abba Cookie.

Grand Canyon

Today was a very good day. The Canyon certainly lives up to the hype. It's so big, it's so massive, it's so ginormous, it's so...Grand. In some ways though, the hype almost took away from the experience. When we first arrived, we felt like we were looking at a big picture, or a movie. It was like we were at the Grand Canyon museum rather than at the Grand Canyon - it was just so surreal. Thankfully, the hike down into the canyon and up took care of that feeling and we can confirm that the real Grand Canyon is up in Arizona, North of Flagstaff, and that it is truly awesome.

We had breakfast at the hotel. The dining room was absolutely packed, much like the lobby when we registered yesterday. We can't believe how busy this place is in the off-season. It makes us glad we didn't come in the summer. Apparently, it's just crawling with tourists...darn tourists! We've also been surprised at the drop in temperature at night. We awoke to frost on our vehicle and snow in shaded areas as we drove to the South rim. I guess that's in keeping with desert (hot days, cold nights) as well as being at elevation (7,500 ft).

(Livia trying to get her arms out like Daddy)

When we arrived at the park we asked a ranger the best way to see the canyon in a day with a 20 month child. We seriously considered taking a short flight over the canyon in a fixed wing (which we'd still like to do someday) but opted instead for a hike. We were keen to get away from the shuttle buses and paved pathways. The Ranger told us that we should only go to the first viewpoint of the Kaibob trail, 600 ft down (The Ooh Aah Point - I'm not making this up) as we likely wouldn't make it lower and back again in a day. Baaah, he didn't know we were well-conditioned BC hikers. We made it down to just below the third view point (past Ooh Aah, Cedar Ridge and Skeleton point) - 2,000 ft down from the rim. It was worth the climb as this vantage point gave us our first view of the Colorado River on that hike. Our hearts ached to reach the river and see the canyon tower over our heads and we dream of one day camping by it. It was, however, much harder to go up than down (who would have thought?). It's easy to see how people get fooled into attempting to reach the river and back in a day and require evacuation by (a very expensive) helicopter. Note that the second picture below shows our path zig zagging its way down the canyon for several hundred feet.

By the way, Fall 2025 (when everyone's kids are old enough to appreciate it) we're going to come back with a big group to raft and camp our way along the Colorado river. We're going to fly into Vegas, rent big white soccer vans (which may or may not be able to fly by then), and drive (or fly) our way across the desert to the start of our trip. Sign up now. More details as the date approaches.

We returned to the village with aching muscles, hungry tummies, and dry mouths. A wonderful mexican restaurant and a soak in a hot tub fixed all of the above (mmmm...hot tub water). A good night's sleep and on to Albuquerque NM tomorrow.

Livi's quotes of the day:

1. While looking out over the Canyon pointing at different spots: "Dangerous, and there's dangerous and there's dangerous, hold hands". I guess we overstressed the importance of holding hands in the Canyon - she's gonna be a bit paranoid...

2. "Grand Canyon...big rock...throw in water" - Livi really wanted to make it to the river.

3. While looking beside her chair in the restaurant: "Daddy made big mess. Oh dear!" - nice try Livia.