The return of Busch Gardens...Hallo-Scream style!

We went back to Busch Gardens for another scare. This time no friends with strollers, but a couple of friends instead, one that gets especially scared when people jump out of dark corners and that is exactly what happens at HALLOWSCREAM! To make a long story short, Busch Gardens sets up some special attractions during the Halloween season that are themed to the area of the theme park to scare the wits out of you. Most of these could be seen as maze like areas or haunted houses with some great costumes!

Yorktown's 225th anniversary

With all the history on the East Coast we have decided not to fight it, but embrace this opportunity to learn more about our country. The 225th anniversary of the victory at Yorktown was our first opportunity to embrace the history rich area of Virginia. Pretty cool and we got to talk with some of the real life re-enactors of the period for a little insight into their club too.

Weekend in Washington, DC

We were up in DC and saw the president ride in on Marine One, here is a link (http://www.youtube.com/v/hH4bK77Y28Y) to a video I took while in DC of Marine One leaving the white house lawn. Or you can scroll down and see it. Anyway we tromped all over the DC area on Saturday and saw every monument in the area...phew it was a long way and my legs were a little sore from it the next day, but it was really neat to see some of the places we've only just heard about or seen on TV. We also saw the president in a motorcade that day too and now know the secret about motorcades and the masses of people always standing at the side of the road...yup! While we were watching the video on the camera we were stopped at the edge of the road on our way back to the Washington monument when the cops told us we had to stay on the curb for now. A few seconds later they pulled a car over out of the road when all of a sudden a motorcade with the president came in and he was waving at us! So no one really camps out when the president arrives, everyone is just trying to cross the street.

A few of the highlights were going to the portrait gallery and the sculpture garden. It was amazing how much history was displayed through portraits of influential people at the portrait gallery. The sculpture gallery on the other hand was a different story where each of the pieces got better and better as you walked around them, especially "House One."

While we were up in DC we had the chance to try out some fun restaurants too. The first night we went to Mirakesh with Angela and her boyfriend. Mirakesh is an Morrocan restaurant with belly dancers, but more importantly a 7 course meal waiting inside for us. Now when I say inside, this place was on lockdown when we showed up, which looked pretty typical for daily business. We walked in through the front door which only opened from the inside and it seemed to only open right around the time that they had reservations. Once inside they clicked two to three deadbolts back into place before we were seated. The food was there fantastastic, I guess it is just a well guarded secret in DC.

Also while we were there one of Sarah's childhood friends generously allowed us to crash at his place and took us to a few of the his favorite places in DC during the day and night.

We are both ready to go back and continue the adventure in DC sometime soon...

Exploring the local culture...Busch Gardens

A season's pass to Busch Gardens and the water park. That was the way to go. Are you going to try and argue with the accountant or the math guy? We purchased a season's pass which allows us to go to the park in October and is valid all next season. We have made two trips to the park, both times with our friends who have a nine month old baby. What a great kid! No problems, and we liked having the stroller to store things in.

In our two trips to the park, we have tried most of the rollercoasters: Apollo's Charet; Loch Ness Monster; and Alpengeist. We need to try the Big Bad Wolf.

There are quite a few visual effects associated with a few rides: Corkscrew Hill; Escape from Pompeii; and Curse of DarKastle. The Battering Ram was a good warm-up, carnival ride. Then all we have left are the Roman Rapids (water ride) and the touring train and boat. On both visits, we had a great time - but now we need to get back for Hallo-scream. We'll keep you posted...

Finally...Day Seven

We awoke in Virginia and according to the map, we were only a few hours from Williamsburg. We arrived to our new apartment complex and were pleasently surprised at our new place. For the next week, we had to sit on the floor and watch movies on Brian's computer propped off the floor. Thankfully, Brian insisted on purchasing an air mattress that first night, because it was over a week before our things arrived.

When it was time to move it, it seemed like we had more boxes than space. But we conquered. The size of the apartment is such that we don't need to purchase additional items because there is no room for them.

Arriving in Virginia in August...that was an interesting choice. The weather was hot. And hot doesn't really explain it. It was the kind of hot that hurts your eyes to look at. Opening a car door meant a flood of heat poured in. And the stuffiness of a car that had been closed up with the heat pounding on its exterior is also hard to discribe. Interested to check it out? Come and visit next August, we'll wait for you inside.

We've almost made it...Day six

On the penultimate day, we made it as far as Virginia, but I believe the highlight was Tamarack! Tamarack claims to have the best of West Virginia. This was an interesting place that seemed to have more tourism than that of West Virginia, but we stopped to see what all the buzz was about, had a bite to eat and were off again with our destination close at hand.

Most of the day we spent hopping back and forth across the Ohio river, actually a very pretty part of Ohio/Kentucky. A nice little unexpected detour off the main highway through the state.

With Tamarack behind us, the countryside of West Virginia in front of us was a beautiful thing. Green hills on both sides as we drove through the mountains and Virginia dead a head, or apparently around the next bend or twelve. But, before to long it got dark and we decided to pull over and stay the night with our destination only a few hours away.

National Monuments and toll roads...Day Five

We started the day quite rested after our full day out of the car, but the trek had to continue. We hopped back in and began the drive for Wisconsin, but made a little detour for a friend at home as well as my own curiosity. We drove down to Darwin Minnesota where the largest ball of twine built by one man rests. Unfortunately, we missed twine ball days festival by one day, but maybe next year...

We got pretty lucky that we started the day in a relaxed mode otherwise the gift shop wouldn't have been open and there would have been no way to pick up a bright orange t-shirt for Sarah! Thankfully, we got there right when they opened and after a short viewing and reading of the information board we went in to see the goods!

After all of the excitement in Darwin, not much else stuck out in the days trip since we were engrossed in a book on CD "Deception Point" by Dan Brown. Pretty good book or at least good enough to make us excited about getting in the car over the next few days. Other than that we passed through Wisconsin and into Illinois where we stopped in Champagne for the night.

Do I have to get in the car today?...Day Four

Today was our day of rest! And it came at the best time in our trip, halfway. We spent the entire day in Minnesota running around, sleeping in, having a homemade latte', but more importantly not doing anything in the car unless it was under 10 minutes. Stopping in Minnesota was a great time to visit with Sarah's mom and grandparents as well as rest up for the next few days of driving.

Durring the day we got a chance to play 500 with her grandparents as well as just visit with them at the lake.

All in all a very relaxing day, unfortunately it had to end and we had to get back into the car the next day...

Minnesota or bust...Day Three

This morning didn't have much going for it other than we got to see another state or two. However, at the end of the day we knew that we would have a home cooked meal waiting for us in Minnesota. Now before we leave Montana, I think we found the biggest issue of a large state and that apparently is Meth. We saw tons and tons of signs over the course of day two and three all related to meth = death and more. Pretty interesting, but kind of scary considering the implications of meth and other drugs for our nation's future.

The drive through North Dakota was pretty empty, but we did see some grain silos, windmills and a few other random things that I hadn't seen much of, so it was kind of interesting, but I think I was really reaching for anything at this point.

Now onto the good news, we made it to Minnesota and are ready to have a home cooked meal from Sarah's mom, yes! On top of all that we get a non-hotel bed.

All Montana, All Day Long...Day Two

We awoke with a bunch of bikers that were Sturgis bound, but they were all very friendly, which from what I can understand is against their image, but I digress...Glacier National Park was absolutely amazing. It took us 3 hours to drive 90 miles and it was worth it! The views were breathtaking and aweinspiring. Near the visitors center is the continental divide, which rests at 6,646ft or 2025M.

After leaving the Park, we had to drive slowly through the remains of a large forest fire. It was incredible to see what both the fire and heat does to nature.

Then things got flater and straighter and it was all about distance. We drove highway 2, which is the less traveled of roads and it was a peaceful drive. The landscape was diverse with a few bumps and bangs along the way. One of the factors of driving on a less than populated road is that nature doesn't see you coming or doesn't understand what to do with you...unfortunately along the way three birds attacked the Green Machine and the Machine won...the first was the biggest shocker since neither one of us had any idea until we pulled over at a gas station to fill up. That is when Sarah found the little guy stuck inbetween where the hood of the car opens. Now the most entertaining part of this was another car at the station where the woman in the car couldn't stop staring at us while we gracefully squeegeed the bird off the front hood of the car. Now for you crazy folks out there, no there are no pictures of this incident, so your imagination will have to do. We ended that day in Glendive Montana at a little place that happened to be housing the local Senator.

In the beginning...Day One

Our journey began on a cold August morning as we piled everything into the Green Machine. It didn't look like everything was going to fit, but after walking around the car and examining the space and what needed to go in we found a way and managed to squeeze all our stuff into the car and get rolling. Once on the road I was ready to get to our destination of across the country, but that was a long road ahead. As planned, we hit Spoke for lunch and met up with Sarah's aunt and uncle for a bite to eat. Afterwards we were Montana bound, where we ended up for the night with a nice tastely local micro brew and the best tasting pizza around. This could be due to the fact that we were both starving at the time, but we might have to go back at some point to find out...maybe when we return to Glacier national park for a nice vacation of hiking. But you'll hear more about Glacier in day two since we headed there next! But for now I will leave you with a picture of us at the Montana state border, we actually tried to get a picture of each state line as we made our way, but either a few were missing or we were distracted.