We spent one last day in Florida with Patrick’s family. I enjoy them very much – but there’s a lot of inertia going on with making a plan there. All I’ll say is Joe’s Crab Shack is never going to make my 10 Ten Must-See List in any city. (Partially because you can find them in any city.) But it was fun to talk to all of his family and celebrate his mom’s 80th birthday. Did I note – 80 years old and spent 10+ hours at Disney World?!
Saturday morning we got up very early and poured the kids into the car. We drove *all day*. It turns out that Tennessee and Kentucky are really pretty states. The mountains are beautiful. We stopped in Macon Georgia for lunch. I found someplace on Trip Advisor that was well noted for pizza. It was good – and fun not to go to a burger joint for a change.
Then I decided that we had to have a break of some sort and we stopped in Atlanta. We went to visit the Martin Luther King Jr History Center. It is amazing! I think I mentioned that Lily had been working on a paper on MLK and Malcolm X – so it was timely and we had all been talking about racism and life back in the 1960s. The Center is an emotional and inspiring place. They have a nice timeline of events in MLK’s life, which was helpful in talking to Aine about who MLK was. She knew who he was and knew about his assignation – but not so much about his life.
Also the whole area is peppered with quotes about nonviolence and standing up for what you believe. Obviously good lessons for everyone!
States visited: FL, GA, TN, KT, IN
States visited next day: IN, IL, MN!
The day started about a week ago. We started in Chicago. Drove through Indiana, stopped in Cleveland Ohio for lunch and a tour of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and now we’re sleepy in Pittsburgh. That’s three new states that the girls and I have never visited. (Grandpa has – in fact he mention that the last time he drove this path was September 12, 2001; he was stuck in DC for 9/11 and decided to just start driving West to get home.)
We had lunch at the Great Lakes Brewing Company. It came recommended and was good – although a little loud. Then we headed to the Rock & Roll Museum.I suspect that Grandpa and I may have enjoyed the Museum more than the girls – at least one was a little crushed not to find Justin Bieber anywhere. Sadly you can’t take pictures through most of the museum – but here are some of out highlights (in no particular order):
- Boy Scout uniform from Jim Morrison
- Pictures from T Edwards radio program. (Including a picture of Dion; someone remembered when Dion played in Winona.)
- Album covers from the Midwest including the following: Babes in Toyland, Prince, Husker Du, Jayhawks, Replacements, including a flyer from a show at 7th Street (Lily thought it was sad that I had been there in the last month) and that’s all I can remember.
- ZZ Top drum set – I told Aine that they decorated the drums with their beards; that’s what it looked like anyways.
- An undipped acid blotter sheet featuring a picture of Janis Joplin.
- Boots (and guitar) from Johnny Cash.
- Dress worn by Katy Perry
- Michael Jackson’s glove & the Thriller mask
- The giant hotdog that Phish used to land into one of their shows
- Janis Joplin’s psychedelic car
- Figures from The Wall (or as Aine says monster/teacher/Dr Einstein moving doll person) So wish I could have gotten a picture of that!
I’ll let you guess who loved each item. Our only sadness was that we didn’t have more time.
States visited: IL, IN, OH, PA
So who thought it would be a good idea to drive to Florida? What a dummy!
We started on the trip yesterday. We got on the road about noon, as scheduled. So that was good. We got a free upgrade to a minivan, which was probably good. (Not my dream vehicle – but loads of room for the girls.) Then the luck sort of ebbed.
I got a speeding ticket as soon as we crossed over the Wisconsin. I totally deserved it. I may have been able to talk my way out of it – being less than an hour in a rented car and just getting used to it – if I hadn’t been on the phone. I will give the cop credit for not asking if I knew how fast I was going. (I didn’t but I had some idea.)
Next it started snowing in Tomah. The blizzard started about 40 miles later. They closed schools in Madison about 2 hours before we got there. We were averaging about 40 miles an hour on the highway. I couldn’t read the signs. (Should have used that excuse with the ticket!)
Nearly 8 hours to get to Chicago – that’s an all-time worst record.
But once we got there bbq ribs were waiting and a cake to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday. And it was fun to see the cousins. And now it’s 8:00 and we’re already in a new state. I’m not driving. SO that’s good. Mifi is working. So that’s good. And we have plenty of gas. So that’s good because I think you can enjoy Gary Indiana just as much from the car. It seems pretty industrial – and not in a glamorous oils refinery/Emerald City way. Just trains and power lines.
State Count: MN, WI, IL, IN
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