Day 7- traveling to Jackson, MN

Happy boy in the AC (early on in the day)

At 8:30 this morning it was already 85 degrees in Chicago.  It took no time for the kids to vote on leaving Chicago and spending the day driving in the AC! We, on the other hand, were disappointed to be leaving the city so soon.  Afterall, I had to cancel my lunch date with Oprah and Len had to give away his box tickets that he had for the game at Wrigley. Oh well, at least on the boat tour we got to see the "high end" fitness club where Oprah and Dr. Oz work out together! Len and I have already decided we'll go back by ourselves some day.

Douglas's photo of the storm we drove through.

Let me just start this next part of the story by saying we still have our kids with us and we have decided that we do still want to continue this trip. However, it took a bit to get to this point.  The good news is it took us until day 7 to have a rough day.  The bad news is it was not one of our stellar parenting days.  The fighting, teasing, potty language, gangsta talk, obsession with electronics got to Len and me.  About 6.5 hours into an 8 hour drive we pulled the car over and shared a few choice thoughts and words with the boys.  The last 1.5 hours of driving were delightfully quiet and all was forgotten by the time we pulled into the campground.  Amazingly, the boys were extremely helpful in setting up camp. :-) The swim in the pool once our camp was set up may have been a motivator (not to mention my parenting meltdown!)

Look closely for the windmills!

This morning we drove right into a huge thunderstorm.  It was quite different than anything we had experienced before.  We could see it coming from miles away.  Douglas tried to take a picture of the clouds.  The clouds were so dark and ominous that the kids both put down their ipods and watched the storm.  At one point we fielded questions of tornadoes and water spouts.  For the rest of the day we drove and drove and drove through acres and acres of farmland.  Finally, Douglas asked,       "How much corn does this earth really need anyways?" Like I said, there is a real learning curve going on  about just how large this world is! There is a huge use of wind power out here.  One of the pictures we are including is of a farm surrounded by windmills as far as we could see.  The day was pretty hazy so the photo wasn't as clear as we had hoped!

All set up and finishing dinner!

According to our original plan, we would have been spending another night in Chicago. Tomorrow we would have driven to Rochester, MN.  So, we are now one full day and a few hours ahead of our plan. We are at a KOA campground right off the highway (in the middle of cornfields) in Jackson, MN. We have a nice grassy site with electricity. The farmers are still in the fields and we can hear the tractors rather loudly.  I'm hoping he doesn't try to pull and all nighter!  Tomorrow we'll take it slow packing up.  Check out time is 11:00 and we'll head west again on I-90 towards Mitchell, SD and The Corn Palace!  Then we'll head toward the Badlands.  We have no reservations so we don't need to be anywhere in particular. Stay tuned....

Day 6- Chicago, Illinios

Some of the buildings along the boat tour

Chicago is a great city!  Unfortunately, we arrived in the middle of a heat wave and the temperatures were in the high 90s and low 100s. This required a bit of re-prioritizing because it was so miserable in the heat.  There is so much to do here that re-planning the day was not a problem!  We spent most of the morning at Navy Pier.  The buildings were all air conditioned so we wandered through the shops and would go outside for a bit to look at all of the boats and the skyline.  There is an IMAX theatre on the pier so we saw the 3D IMAX movie of Born to be Wild.  The cinematography was outstanding and Duncan left the movie saying," I really want to go to Africa someday.  I think I see myself working with wild animals." We'll see where he ends up but it was interesting that he is thinking about his future.

View of Navy Pier from our hotel

We completely lucked out with our hotel.  I used priceline.com and got a sweet deal on a four star hotel right on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Navy pier is a 10 minute walk from where we are.  We were able to drive to Chicago by 10:00 this morning and park at the hotel.  Granted the parking is on the steep side,  but we have been able to walk everywhere which has been nice.
After we checked into the hotel we went back over to the pier and took an architectural boat tour of the city. This was a 90 minute boat ride along the Chicago River.  It was a great way to see the city and it was actually a bit (and I mean bit) cooler on the water. The different style buildings that line the river are amazing.  It was so interesting to hear how devastating the Chicago fire was but how it lead to the rebuilding of the city that ended in such a dramatic skyline.

Enjoying a drink at Navy Pier

The kids are certainly getting their fair share of people watching here.  Douglas was happy to drop some change into the guitar case of a musician but was very concerned about the man we saw laying on the sidewalk trying to sleep. We went to a great restaurant for dinner called the Grande Lox.  Tonight we walked to the "Landshark Beer Garden" that is all the way at the far end of the pier.  Although the musicians never played while we were there, we enjoyed a drink while watching the boats come in and out of the marina, gazed at the beautiful lit up skyline, and people watched. We are all exhausted and arrived back at the hotel around 10:45. 
The heat is supposed to continue tomorrow and after a short discussion we have decided to keep moving along to our next destination. We were hoping to take a tour of Wrigley field and go to the Lincoln Park Zoo but neither of those would be fun in this heat.

Day 5- On the Road Again

Today was a long day.  We drove from Brampton, Toronto to Portage, Indiana.  Much to our surprise the kids did great riding in the car all day.  Things were pretty uneventful at least until we got to customs entering the United States.  We were quizzed over and over about the foods we had in the cooler.  We kept saying no to all of the items he was asking about- peppers, apples, potatoes and kept telling him we just had bananas and strawberries.  Then he asked us to open the back door of the car and asked Len to pull out the cooler. Unintentionally, we forgot that we still had one tomato left from when we had tacos.  He pulled it out and said,"This is a $300 fine."  Then he walked up to me and said, "This, ma'am is typically a $300 fine for intentionally concealing a food item. But since you didn't intentionally conceal it, you have no fine."  I apologized profusely and expected to be sent on my way. Then the customs agent picked up the phone and made a call.  We couldn't really hear him but we heard "mismatched numbers and do I have your permission to let them through?"  When he returned to the car, I asked him about the call and what we heard.  He smiled and said," All I can say is don't change your last name,sir." I looked at him questioningly and he finally offered,"Let's just say we all have an evil twin that could cause a lot of trouble!"  That's just great.  My husband looks like someone from America's most wanted list.
Once we recovered from the customs escapade it was four more hours of driving.  We, by chance, came across a Sam's club.  We filled up with gas and went in and purchased a couple of books and a movie.  Excellent investments for long car rides!
In our travels today, we passed acres and acres and acres of farmland.  We passed irrigation systems that were on wheels and as long as a football field.  There were windmills as far as the eye could see in the Detroit area.
We have crossed over into the central time zone.  Our clocks say 7:39 pm but it is now only 6:39.  I have a feeling we'll all be asleep early tonight.  We are less than an hour outside of Chicago.  Tomorrow we'll spend the day in the city and have another hotel stay in the city.  We have Navy Pier, Wrigley field, Lincoln Park Zoo on our list.  We also plan to take a boat cruise down the Chicago river tomorrow night. No pictures today but more to come tomorrow!

Day 4- Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto

The large goalie at the entrance!

Hello from Brampton, Ontario!  We packed up this morning after a breakfast of scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon.  It took us 1.5 hours to get to Toronto.  It is an absolutely beautiful city.  We couldn't get over how clean it was.  Navigating the city was a bit trickier than we anticipated.  There was lots of construction going on near the Hockey Hall of Fame which meant roads that are regularly accessible were closed.  Toronto reminded us a bit of Boston.  Many streets are in a grid and then all of a sudden one street will go diagonal through the entire block.  And that doesn't include all of the one way streets!  We definitely would come back here for a longer visit but our goal for this time was the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Duncan & Douglas with THE Stanley Cup

Unknowingly, we picked a great day to visit the museum.  Today they announced the 2012 inductees.  There were lots of news stations and the Stanley Cup was carefully watched.  It was unavailable to the public during the announcement so they could have it for the event.  Knowing that the cup was going to be unavailable for a bit, that was the first place we went.  It was so cool to be standing right next to it.  We found the engravings of all of the Boston Bruins players for last year's win.  They had an employee "guarding" it the entire time.  He shared with us that there are actually three Stanley cups- the one we saw, one in the vault, and one that is on tour with the winning team.
After seeing the cup we headed to the hands on part of the museum where both Duncan and Douglas took slap shots on a computerized goalie.  Then they went to the section where the hockey players take shots on them.  Duncan chose to do the "All Star" level and stopped all of the shots but one!  He had a great lacrosse season as goalie- maybe he is playing the wrong position! After everyone had their try at hockey, we saw a movie about the history of the Stanley cup.  It was especially cool for us because the movie recapped the Bruins win over Vancouver in the 7th game. It was very interesting to learn about the evolution of the Stanley cup and the impact that Sir Stanley's gift had on hockey.  Lastly, we went to the broadcasting area where Duncan and Douglas both got to try their hand at announcing plays.  It was a great lesson in how complex announcing actually is and provided us lots of laughs.

The boys with the Booby Orr exhibit

From Toronto we drove out of the city to Brampton for our first hotel stay!  Surprisingly enough, none of us was desperate for a hotel stay.  The tent for three nights was actually fine and we all agreed we could have done another night or two camping, but I had pre-booked this and it was non-refundable.   We have a long day of driving planned for tomorrow. We are headed back to the US and towards Chicago.  We have no reservations so we'll see where we end up.  We have our eye on seeing Indiana Dunes State Park but we'll see.
Although our visit to Canada has been fun, it is very expensive.  The US dollar is not strong here.  Luckily, without realizing how it would benefit us, we filled our gas tank while still in the US.  I believe we paid $3.43 a gallon.  Here gas is 1.20 per liter and there are 3.8 liters in a gallon! We think we'll make it over the border before we have to fill again. We also haven't called home or answered any texts while we've been here.  Our cell phones don't have foreign plans so roaming charges are outrageous.  Once we get over the border we can be in better contact.
We just got back from a quick swim in the pool and Len is out picking up pizza and salads.  Although they have made no mention of it while camping, the kids are happy to watch a little TV!

Day 3 Taking it Easy

Duncan & Douglas on the "bouncing pillow."

Today was a much needed lazy day. Last night there were strong thunderstorms.  The lightning was fantastic! Luckily our tent continues to be awesome.  We didn't feel a drop! Today was cool and breezy.  We are happy to be packing up a dry tent tomorrow morning! We all slept in late this morning.  While eating breakfast we asked the kids how they wanted the day to go.  They wanted to hang out at the campground and busied themselves with the bouncing pillow, rental bikes, reading, wiffle ball and cribbage.  We even took naps in the afternoon.

 Tonight we took a ride into Niagara to see the falls all lit up.  It was a gorgeous site.  The lights on both sets of falls were red, white and blue.  I took pictures and was hoping it wasn't too dark.  Unfortunately the photos didn't come out. So glad we have some time built in to just relax.  The kids are very excited to be going to Toronto tomorrow.

Day 2- Niagara Falls- Maid of the Mist

Today was a perfect day!  We took our time getting motivated this morning and hung around the campground.  We had an early lunch, packed some snacks and headed into town to see the falls.  It was an overcast day with a forecast of a few showers.  The early afternoon was very hot and humid.  We were thankful to get on the boat The Maid of the Mist so we could cool off!  Down on the river the winds were high and we all got really wet even with the beautiful "complimentary" raincoats on! Duncan shared that he thought the falls were really beautiful.  He said,"Up top looking at them they look great, but being on the boat almost under them is just so awesome!" Last week a man walked across the Canadian Falls on a tight rope.  He was the first one ever to do it.  Douglas kept trying to picture the scene but just couldn't. Of course, being such attentive parents, we didn't really explain the boat ride to Douglas.  As we got closer to the falls, he held onto my hand tighter. Finally, I asked what he was doing and he said,"Mom, I really don't think I want to go under the falls.  I think all that water might hurt my head." Poor thing thought we were going to submit him to the pounding of the falls!

After the boat ride we walked all around town.  It really is a tourist trap with shops,  the Rainforest Cafe, Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood, rides on every corner, wax museums, and Ripley's Believe it or Not shows.  The kids were great and didn't ask to go on anything or buy anything.  Just sightseeing was enough to keep them wide-eyed!  Douglas had his photo taken with a "zombie." Between all of the walking and the kids playing on all of the amenities (putt putt golf and the bouncing pillow) they should sleep well tonight!

Day 1- On the Road

Our first day was a complete success!  The kids kept saying they wanted to get to Niagara Falls the first day so we kept driving!  We left the house with a jam packed car at 9:15 am and arrived at the campground in Ontario at 5:30 pm.  We stopped twice- once for a bathroom break and once for lunch.  Otherwise it was pedal to the metal and we just kept driving. The tent we have is awesome!  We had the entire "camp" including air mattresses and bedding all set up in less than 30 minutes!  People kept telling us the kids were at a perfect age for this trip and so far I'd have to agree.  They were very helpful setting up.  The campground is great.  It is about 2 miles from the falls.  Things are very clean and there are lots of "things" to keep the kids occupied.  Right now Len and I are enjoying a cup of coffee and the kids are at the "bouncing pillow" which is a huge mattress that tons of kids are just jumping on!

We took this trip for many reasons, but the biggest is that we felt it was time for the kids to realize just how big this world is. So as we were passing all of the electrical wires as we got closer to the falls we started asking the kids if they knew why there were so many lines.  We were hoping to start a conversation about hydroelectric power and how the Falls produce so much energy.  What we got in response was, "I bet there are so many wires because all of the kids here really like cable TV just like me!" (Douglas)

As we were waiting in our car to go through customs Douglas asked," Since we are in Canadian can we just eat Canadian bacon all day because I love that stuff." So to sum things up, great start to the trip!

Two weeks and counting....

Today is June 9.  We have two weeks to go before our scheduled departure.  We have lists all over the house of what to pack, things to do, purchases to make, numbers to write down, and bills to pay.  Although one might (ok definitely would) walk into this house and wonder if it had been ransacked, we feel like we are in pretty good shape for this six week venture we are about to embark on.  As a matter of fact, by writing this first entry I am actually crossing something off my list- Create blog!  Here's hoping I can figure out how to post and download photos on a regular basis.

We have been piling "trip things" in the corner of the front room.  There really is no order to it but at least it is starting to be in one place.  I went to Target the other day and bought the place out.  We are good to go for batteries, first aid items, sunscreen, bug spray, paper goods, toiletries, memory cards, matches, flashlights, laundry detergent, cooking items, camelbacks, water bottles, and the list goes on. Yesterday Len and our friend Rick mounted the Thule car pod onto the Blazer.  We actually look like we are gearing up for an adventure now!  The pod fits perfectly and looks relatively spacious (this being said BEFORE we have packed a thing).  We are happy that we can still open our sunroof and lift the back cargo door with no problems. We also picked up the tent and an inverter from the same friends who are lending us the carpod.  Thank you Bragg family!

So....the countdown for our six week camping trip across the USA to many of the National Parks and important sites has begun!