I-10 Day One - Philly 2008

So we stayed the night in St Augustine at a hotel next to the Golf hall of fame. It was too early to stop there but I know squatt about golf anyway. We ate at a wonderful local restaurant called Manatee and then headed into St Augustine to see Castillo de San Marcos. Its a spanish fort smaller than the last fort we saw but in the same octogon type shape. It had a mote but aparently it was never filled in, or if it was it would leak. From the top you could see the light house and a great view of the whole area. After walking around the fort we went for a stroll downtown. Very nice street with no cars old houses and newer onces built to look old. They claim to have the oldest wooden school house, it was tiny and it did look old. After downtown strolling we hit the road heading home. We went due west instead of up to I-10 right away, whick starts in jacksonville north of st augustine.
Florida is a very pretty state, it is very heavilly treed. We eventually hit I-10 then just before Talahasse we went to the coast and took the coast highway 98. And it really hugs the coast. One thing diffrent about this coast than any others are the pine trees that run up to the sandy beaches. Very diffrent. We saw some huge fancy houses up on stilts as we went along. Saw a racoon and some deer munching on the side of the road. We are staing in Destin this evening just out side of Pensacola. We are headed to New Orleans today about a two hour drive.

East coast - Philly 2008

We hit the beach this morning but the wind was too strong and cold to spend much time out there. We drove to Savannah to see Fort Pulaski, it was very diffent it had a moat and dirt mounts that when you stepped down into some tunnels that run under it was a maze. If you look at the walls of the tunnels its made of a type of concreat but the material was made with shells. You could see whole clamb & muscle shells in the walls, ceiling and floor. After the fort we drove into Savannah to see some of the old houses. We went into one called Owens-Towns, in order to keep everything symetric and even when you look in or outside of it there were fake windows and doors. So in a room if there was one door there was another even if the door wouldnt open or go anywhere. The house had a staircase that started as one then split into two going up to the second floor then the second floor had a bridge that went between the two stairs to a little sitting room at the back of the house. Very strange touches to the house. We made it down to St Augustine for the night. We hope to start early tommorrow and see the fort it has tommorrow and some more beach of course.

Carolina Coast - Philly 2008

We spent some timeo on the beach today looking at shells. We first stopped outside our hotel which was on a place called shell island and its obvious where its name came from there were shells everywhere. We then took 17 south along the coast and made it to Myrtle Beach for lunch. We ate on the water at a fish place called Sea Captains. It had good food and a nice peaceful ambiance as the rain decided to down poor outside. The waves started crashing from the higher winds but by the time we were done the rain stopped so we made another short walk on the beach. Next stop was in Mt Pleasant, there is a plantation there called Boon Hall. The plantation is still being worked, they have fruits and vegtables. The main house was built in the 1930's so not that old but the slave quarters are still there and those are more original. There were nine of them standing, its amazing how small they seem. The plantation was had a big brick yard on it as well as the largest pecan grove. There are still about 500 pecan trees. They look very diffrent than the ones you see in phoenix cause they have ivy and moss all over them. The gardens even had some flowers, the dafidils were out and you could see other bulbs getting ready to come out. From there we took a look at fort Sumpter, we arrived to late to take a boat out to the fort which is in the middle of the bay. You could see its large brick walls out in the middle of the water. From there we drove to Charlston SC from where we were to Charleston there was a real fancy bridge that with the lights and the clouds look like a type of gateway. We stopped to see the north caroline battle ship. Man those ships are big. We then headed for our next hotel for the night on Hilton Head Island, to get here we had to take alot of bridges and if you think there are alot of golf courses in phoenix you havnt seen this place they are all over the place. Today we will head to florida we will see what we do next.

Mon Feb 25 2008 - Philly 2008

We headed south out of dover down the the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. Before the tunnel we went thru Lowes which claims to be the first town in the first state of Delaware. This town had some old buildings and a light house boat that was kinda neat. From there we stopped at a national park on an island called S somthing or other they had wild hourses running free. Joe attempted to go on the beach but the car was trying to get stuck so he quickly turned around and we drove back out. I wasnt expecting they white sandy beaches so far north. They were all very clean and beutiful. Finally we hit the bridge to get back to the mainland it was huge, when you first got on it you couldnt see land on the other side just lots of water and the bridge. We went thru two tunnels while out in the middle of the water not sure why they bothered but they were short streaches. From the bridge we hit Virgina Beach and ate dinner at a mediteranian restaurant that was good. We then headed strait south and stopped a beach resort in Wrightsville, North Caroline. The view is spectacular, the weather has finally warmed up enough. We have the patio door open and the ocean breaze comming in. We hope to make it to Charleston today and maybe even Savannah.

Wedding Weekend - Philly 2008

Thursday night we meet the family for the rehersal dinner at Dave & Busters near Penns Landing. After eating we went and played the video games, Quinn was given so many tickets by diffrent people around the place he ended up with 1300 so he traded em in for two stuffed animals. After the video games we played pool till 1am, quinn really likes this game and between each game had the balls setup so he could make a practice shot. We were out till 1am, quinn fell asleep in one of the chairs.

Friday morning we wokeup to a blanket of snow somewhere around 3 - 6 inches I'd say. For lunch we went to Jims on South for some Philly Cheessteak. I had to pass on the Whiz part and just get provolone. Just seems odd that its famous for its cheessteak and the cheese is Whiz. It was good. After lunch we walked over to the liberty bell and the original capital buildings accorss from it. The congress house is so small its amazing to compare it to the one in DC that is huge. Friday night was the wedding on the way we drove thru chinatown. All the signs both street and the store signs were in both english and chinneese.

The wedding was a wonderful event, every one looked beutiful. After the ceremony they had apatizers that were amazing, lobster, shrimp, mini pizza, fruit, millions of other little mixes. After suffing your self there we went into the hall where the dancing began. Quinn was out there as soon as he could find someone to dance with. There was also a balcony that looked down on the event so him and taylor would go up and look down at everyone. Dinner again was supurb, and then came desert. It was like being in a pastry shop but you could try whatever you wanted. And boy was it some good stuff. Quinn finally fell asleep while his aunt Linda was holding him, he never slows down until he just crashes. We made it back to the hotel about 1:30am. Very good time.

Saturday we meet for a morning brunch at the hotel to see everyone. After that we headed to see some of the sites. We went to the libery bell again and around some of the other building down there. Saturday night we walked over to a martini bar called the continental, on the top floor was a patio bar mostly inside which was nice. It wasnt too busy at first but picked up by the time we were seatted for dinner. We then went downstairs for dinner and did a pot luck style dinner. So many diffrent things and unexpected things were real good.

Sunday we went to lunch at Genos on 9th, to get there we walked thru the italian market that was interesting. It had a bunch of street vendors from fruit and vegtables to other odd ends. Felt a bit like mexico. We walked by some meat markets and fish markets. Kinda neat to see these types of stores not typical in Phoenix. After lunch we went to the Museum of Art, they had alot of paintings by american artists. We also saw pennsylvania made furniture on display. Upstairs they had dutch and european art. After the museum we went to dinner at a FireHouse restaurant. It had the pool and everything, it was nice and quiet and the food was supurb. I remember now someone mentioning that philly was one the the most overweight cities in the US and I can now see why. Everything tasted wonderful. So after dinner we head out of town and drove across the water to New Jersey so Joe could say we hit another state. We took the coast down and crossed back over near Newark. We then went south and made it to Dover Deleware for the night. Sunday was a gorgeous sunny day today is lookin dreary again. We are headed down deleware accross the bridge into virgina.

Day 5 & 6 - Philly 2008

We went to the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago in the morning. They had a model train model with a model of Chicago and a bunch of difrent trains running that quinn enjoyed. They had a submarine, some larger trains, airplanes, baby chickens. The best part was the john deer tracktors that he was able to climb in and pretend to drive. Once we left the museum we headed east and hit a lovely snow storm due to lake effect off of michigan into Indiana. It made an area of about 20 miles a complete mess then nothing everything was clear. Once we made it out of the snow the sunset was beutiful off the snow storm. We stayed the night outside Cleavland. There was a lunar eclipse last night that was kinda neat, the skys were very clear so we had a real good view of it while we were driving.


Today we made it into Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a very hilly state. We saw no flat areas and everything seems to be covered with trees. The town you can tell is real old. The freeways were slower than squat so we took side streets as a detour, very interesting parts of town. Old brick buildings that barely look livable. We shared dinner with the bridal party tonight at a Dave's and Busters. Quinn played some of the video games that gave him tickets to trade in for toys. Between his tickets and the ones everyone kept giving him he got two stuffed animals a dragon and a frog. After the games he help play pool with the rest of us then eventually passed out on our laps. We have the wedding tommorrow night, not sure what we will be doing during the day. There is an ice storm that is suppose to hit the area tonight so far it doesnt look too bad, maybe it will miss us. Heres hoping.

Day 5 - Philly 2008

We spent the day in New Hampton. Quinn decided to try and make a tunnel through one of the snow banks. We made it about 1/4 of the way thru before it was time for lunch. After lunch we headed out of town toaward chicago. The roads were a little icy but not too bad. We took 20 thru Debuque IA where we crossed the mississipppi. It was a very large river covered in snow, it looked pretty frozen. Once we crossed the river we went thru the town with the home of President U. S. Grant. It had a very nice old main street look to it. Illinois is a big change from Iowa as soon as you cross the river it seems to get hilly no more flat area. We stayed with Joes Cousin Susan Tuesday night. They have a great view of downtown. The car is covered with snow this morning so as soon as we can get that cleared up we are headed to the science museum downtown.

Day 4 - Philly 2008

We made it to New Hamptom on Monday. The drive that usually takes 2.5 hours took us 6 hours. Most of the way was sheer ice on the roads so we went about 15 miles an hour. Iowa has this law called "No Tow" which when affect if your car ends up in a ditch you cant have it towed until the No Tow is no longer in affect. Basicly when the roads are 100% clear. So driving down I35 which is the main road N to S the roads didnt seem too bad. However in one area between the middle and the two sides of the road there were at least 20 cars scattered thru the snow. Joes cousin said most of the cars in the ditch happen in the first hour of the storm before everyone decides to slow down. When we arrived at the farm it was 7 degrees, Quinn being the kid he is decided to play out side. The farm had huge piles of snow and other snow drifts in the yard so it was an exciting challenge for him to try to make it to the top. The cold didnt seem to bother him at all, he is loving it.

Day 3 - Philly 2008

So we headed out early Sunday morning to try and beat any storms that decided to crop up. We hit some blowing snow with low visibility out of colorado springs until we hit I-80 then it was clear sailing and boy is it a boring drive. Usually in the summer you have diffrent types of crops this time a year its flat an very uninteresting. We saw a few antelope, some cows and alot of tumble weeds tryed to attack the car. We made it to a rest stop outside demoines and they had an internet connection kiosk to their department of transportation. It was the most interesting map I have seen, usually in arizona the road is open or closed. Here they had diffrent severitys the road we were on was "normal" but ahead of us it was classified as "wet" then in des moines it was classified as "travel not advised" and north were we were planning on going was "completly covered". Needless to say we took its advise and stayed the night in des moines. Its about 9:30am now and looks like the snow plows have caught up so we are off to our first stop, should be there i about 2 hours.

Day 2 - Phily 2008

So we made it to showlow last night. We had rain all the way into payson and fog. then outside payson it was clear stary skies then when we hit the top of the rim we hit snow all the way into showlow. The snow banks off the road in forest lakes were huge, it was as big as the car. Its been a long time since I have seen that much snow. This morning we took a walk in the snow to kill some energy and everything was very nice. Snow everywhere with clear blue skies.



So we checked the weather before we left and then again when we hit Albaquerque and the nice storm that just left Arizona was going down 40 to Okalahoma City. So we decided to go north. We ended up in Colorado Springs for the night, not a bad deal the roads were dry with not much snow around. So now we are watching the weather channel and although we hoped to make it into Iowa tommorrow at the moment it looks like we may get stuck in Omaha. Its showing snow from canada to okalahoma and omaha to chicago. We will see...

Day 1 - Phily 2008

Today we start our trip out to Philadelphia. What a way to start, the weather here in Phoenix is rainy the mountains are suppose to be getting hammered with snow. We only have to make it to Show Low but it seems like a million miles a way with a wall of white stuff in between. So whats the forcast for the weekend. Each state we plan to cover in the next few days will have winter weather conditions. Hmm.. maybe I should pack that extra set of thermals.