Day 1: Wed 6/23/10: PVD to SLC to Rock Springs, WY:

Flew all morning via Southwest, arrived in SLC around 10 AM. Called Acess RV to pick us up at the airport and we were introduced to our 23-foot motorhome, which was to be our home for the next 10 days. It was fully equipped with bathroom, heating, refrigerator, propane stove, generator, air conditioner, microwave oven, television and DVD player, and three sleeping areas (one master bed, one bed above the driving compartment, one living area that converted to a bed at night).

We had trouble finding the WalMart in SLC, so we stopped instead at Park City to stock up on food and supplies. The interstate in Utah and later Wyoming are wide and straight, and the speed limit is typically 75MPH, which is the fastest I’ve ever driven, never mind in a vehicle larger than I’ve ever driven. Strangely, after a few hours of driving my allergies started bothering me, and my eyes were strained and watery, even painful. At one point I had to stop the vehicle and allow W. to drive. We stopped again at a Wal-Mart and picked up some very nifty polarized driving sunglasses that fit over my prescription glasses, and the problem did not recur.

The kids enjoyed being able to eat in the vehicle. E managed to spill his cereal not once, but twice on the floor, and we had colorful particles of Fruity Pebbles in the cab for the rest of the trip.

Arrived at the KOA at Rock Springs, WY as a mid-point sleep stop, on the way to Thermopolis. Rock Springs is apparently not much more than a few restaurants (including an iHop), alon the highway, and the KOA is not much more than a dusty, hot parking lot with a pool. It was nothing like the campgrounds I was familiar with in the East, with no trees or natural setting of any kind. The evening was hot, and we went to bed with the RV windows open. As the night went on, the temperature dropped to the 50′s, and we were shivering in the vehicle. I had not yet discovered the thermostat and heater.

Day 2: Thurs: Rock Springs to Thermopolis

Eric spills his cereal and milk in the car, which we fear will leave a stinky residue (it doesn’t). On the way to Thermopolis we pass through the Wind River Canyon State Park, which is the first interesting natural setting, and we decided to stop for lunch. Unfortunately, we paid $6 to picnic in the state park, when we could have stopped at any rest stop for free. We then drove trough the beautiful canyon, arrived in Thermopolis and headed straight for the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. It is a very high quality museum with many significant artifacts from the local dig site (including a Supersaurus skeleton and an archaeoperix impression) and other specimens from other sites. There was also a tour of an actual outdoor dinosaur excavation site, which was highly impressive. We witnessed excavation of Camarasaurus bones and Allosaurus footprints and teeth. It was very hot.

We checked into Eagle RV Park and Campground in Thermopolis. Eagle was a nice step up from the Rock Springs KOA. There was no pool, but it did have cable TV. The campground owners informed us that the river float trip we had anticipated was cancelled due to high water. We got supplies at Blair’s market, and wine across the street at the combo liquor store/bar. Then we enjoyed a picnic dinner at the Hot Springs State Park, and E saw a deer standing on the very top of a hill. After dinner we drove through a bison sighting area, where we saw some bison right up along the road as the sun was starting to get low in the sky behind some clouds (8:30).

Sunset in Wyoming was after 9PM, and it was difficult to stick to our plan of going to bed early and rising early. We started fairly quickly going to bed around 9 or 9:30, and waking around 7AM. This second night we were smarter, and put on the heat and kept the windows closed overnight.

Day 3: Friday: 6/25/10: Thermopolis all day

The first thing we did after breakfast was get the key at the Thermopolis Hot Springs visitor center for the Legend Rock parking area. We drove about 20 miles to the site, which featured petroglyphs both ancient and more recent (“RH 1908″). I could have taken a closer look at some of the inscriptions, but it was really hot and the kids couldn’t take it much more. In addition to the petroglyphs, there was a nice colony of cliff swallows which built their nest in the cliff.

We returned the key to the Hot Springs State Park and had lunch there at a nice grassy picnic area. Then we went to the “teepee” water park, a small water park with some indoor and outdoor thermal baths, plus a waterslide. The kids especially loved the waterslide, especially E (it was his favorite thing of the trip). After water fun, what’s better than ice cream, which we partook at the Dairyland on Park Street. We were learning that we could take the RV most anywhere that there is onstreet parking; the wide streets of Wyoming were well accommodating our wide vehicle. Ice cream was followed by a visit to the Hot Springs Historical Museum, which was a superb little museum loaded with western artifacts including a stage coach, the bar from the Hole in the Wall Saloon, and recreated building interiors including a bank, dentist, doctor office, photography studio, and much much more.

We returned to the campground for dinner, then it was back to the Hot Springs Park for another look for bison. We didn’t have as much luck, but the sun gave us a better display than last night, and I shot a few scenics. Then we decided to check out the footbridge over the Big Horn river, but were nearly devoured by mosquitoes. We returned to the campground around 9:15, put the kids to bed, had some wine, and went to bed.

Day 4: Saturday: 6/26/10: Thermopolis to Cody

Filled up with gas in the morning, and I was passed by a band of motorcyclists on the way to Cody. We arrived at Cody at 11AM and bought tickets for a 1pm trolley (bus) tour of Cody. Then we headed to the Sierra Trading Post outlet store to get shoes for S and a sweater for W, was well as a national park pass. A coupon for a free t-shirt netted me one plain boring white t-shirt.

From 1-2 we took the Cody tour bus, which pointed out the historical sites as well as the new fitness center and some other Chamber of Commerce-type locations. It was rather difficult to imagine the area the way it was 120 years ago, since there were so few landmarks that survived. S loved the tour, I was not impressed. After the bus tour we spent about 2-4 pm at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, which was a set of several very high-quality museums together in one spot. The kids most enjoyed the Draper Museum of Natural history, where they enjoyed a “treasure hunt” in which they got a small brochure stamped at several embossing stations. My favorite was the Whitney Gallery of Western Art.

After the Cody Historical Center we stopped briefly at the back of a souvenir store to see a huge diorama/train set tableau of the history of Cody and the West. Of course the kids wanted to spend their $10 souvenir allowance. We had dinner at the Sunset House Restaurant, where I had bison steak; the flavor was remarkably good, but it was much fattier and greasier than I expected.

At Cody we stayed at a KOA campground, which was very clean and well-run, with a pool and trampoline and an advertised free pancake breakfast. Well, the pancakes were free, but everything else cost money. We considered going to the 8pm Cody rodeo, a famous nightly show, but we decided it would be better to skip it and turn in early so that we could get a good start on Yellowstone. Looking back, I regret that decision; probably the rodeo would have been a lot of fun. Instead of going to the rodeo, I bought a bag of “burn in the bag” charcoal, and we cooked smores by the RV.

Day 5: Sunday 6/27/10: Cody to Canyon Village

On the way out of Cody we stopped at the Yellowstone Gift Shop, a reputed location of an elongated penny machine. I also picked up a christmas ornament and magnet. We stopped for gas and a newspaper (E desperately wanted to see a weather report daily) and then at the Cody Dam Visitor Center, where another elongated penny machine awaited us. We also picked up a small animal identification guide, which became our constant companion throughout the trip.

As we entered Yellowstone, the canyon became more steep and spectacular, and we even saw snow on the side of the road. At the entry gate, we picked up a newspaper, and W discovered a 3pm ranger hike at Canyon. We decided to make that our day’s goal; but we still had a way to go, yet. At least the GPS gave us a running estimate of how long it would take to get there.

At the Dam, E had asked for a parks passport, and we debated the merits of the request on the way to Fishing Bridge, Yellowstone. We decided that collecting a set of something would be a good way to encourage E’s interest in the trip, so we picked one up.

On the way to Canyon we did stop to see pelicans at LeHardys Rapids, and for our first geothermal attractions: Dragon’s Breath and the mud volcano. Plus we saw some elk and bison.

We arrived at Canyon just in time to put on shoes and sunscreen, and join the ranger for his walk. It was a good presentation; the ranger gave an overview not just of the canyon but also of the whole park, its mission and history. We saw the lower falls from several vantage points on the south rim, plus bear claw marks, the different kinds of pines in the park, and more.

After the walk we made a beeline for the grocery store at Canyon, only to find the power out. The power outage made grocery shopping slow, and also made campground check-in extremely slow. We had a quick dinner and went back south to Hayden Valley to see wildlife: a few bison, elk, and one grizzly bear in the far distance. Then we returned to Canyon Village for ice cream.

At the campsite, I balanced two sets of three rocks. It was impressive enough that an elderly tourist had his picture taken with them the next morning.

Day 6: Canyon to Gardiner, 6/28/10

One of the problems with the RV style of travel is that I cannot get up early and drive to a location for photography. I have to wait in the RV until everyone wakes up; at that point, we can drive to the location and the others can eat breakfast while I do my photo thing. Such was the case this morning, as I waited until 7:30 to drive to Artist Point (sunrise was around 5:40). I shot what I could shoot at 7:45, had breakfast then returned to Artist Point again at 9:45 to catch the famous “10:00 rainbow”.

At Artist Point, E was clearly jumping to do some rock climbing and get some outdoor exercise. So we decided to split up, with W and S going to Canyon Village to do some shopping with E and I took the Uncle Tom’s Trail down to the lower falls. The trail wasn’t exactly rocky as much as it was a series of steps, many many metal steps down to the falls. When we got back to the top, we had to wait for W and S to return, as it was a short hike.

Next we drove again, toward Tower-Roosevelt. Prioritizing, we skipped the Lamar Valley entirely and decided to do a short hike at the Yellowstone Picnic Area, which was written up in one of our guidebooks as one of the top Yellowstone short hikes. The sun was scorching hot, but we enjoyed a view of the river valley which was breathtaking. And we saw some interesting birds. After the hike itw was time to drive to Mammoth hot Springs to get ice cream. There were quite a few elk grazing right there in the town square. E got his Passport pass, and there was a penny machine in the Mammoth gift shop.

From there it was off to Gardiner for grocery shopping. By then I was feeling woozy and tired, probably significantly dehydrated. We went to the Yellowstone Campground, a private campground in Gardiner, and I tried to nap while W and S watched a download of Dr. Who, which was quickly becoming S’s favorite conversational topic of the trip. In retrospect, what I should have done at that point was take E and the RV to the north entrance of the park, which I had wanted to photograph in evening light; however, I was so light-headed and tired that the thought did not occur to me. By the next morning, the gate was in shadow, and the shot was not ideal.

The campground was situated right on the river, but our site did not have direct river access. The sun was hot, with no shade anywhere; the campground was like a big desert parking lot. I tried some rock stacking, but the rocks were almost too hot to handle.

Day 7: 6/29/10; Gardiner to Grant Village

We got gas in Gardiner and headed to Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way, we had to stop at the sign that announced the 45th parallel. I thought it would appeal to E’s love of geography.

We saw the Lower Terraces, and even did the Upper Terraces Drive. The signs said that the Upper Terraces Drive was closed to RV’s, but our guide book said that vehicles under 25 feet were allowed; ours was 23 feet. It proved to be a fine decision, as we were well able to negotiate the drive. There were some particularly beautiful geysers along this drive.

After the Terraces, we saw a mother and bear cub along the road.

Then it was on to Norris Geyser Basin. I wanted to have lunch at an overlook, but we wound up having lunch in the parking lot of Norris. After lunch we sunscreened up and headed for the Norris Geyser Basin. Steamboat geyser amazed us with its hissing and gurgling, we were sure it was due to erupt any minute; it’s also the world’s tallest geyser. Then we learned that it has not erupted since 2005, and we gave up on it. My favorites here were porkchop geyser, churning pump geyser, and beautiful emerald spring.

From the Norris geyser Basin we drove to West Yellowstone, Montana. First I stopped at a photo store and bought a polarizing filter, which I had forgotten to pack. I knew that a polarizer would bring out the colors of the hot springs and darken the sky. I had also heard that geyser water contains silica, which can damage camera lenses. Next up was dinner at the Timberline Cafe, where I had trout. Then more souvenirs, a penny machine, ice cream, and a drive back to Yellowstone. We saw the Lower Geyser Basin and the Upper Geyser Basin as we drove on across the Continental Divide (twice) to Grant Village Campground. Grand Campground is a lovely wooded campground on Yellowstone Lake, but there are no views from most of the sites. There is no hot water at the campground. As we went to bed, we heard the pitter-patter of raindrops on the roof of the RV.

Day 8: 6/30/10: Grant to Old Faithful to Colter Bay Campground

In the morning we rushed out to Old Faithful as early as possible. We caught the 10:30 eruption, which was mostly steam, then separated for a tour of the closest loop of the upper geyser basin. I shot a lot, my favorites being Blue Star Spring and Pump Geyser.

Back to Old Faithful for the noon eruption, which was better but some guy stood up in front of my camera, ruining my video. I’d have to reshoot OF from the front row. Had lunch in the RV, then it was back to OF for the 1:30 eruption, before which a child repeatedly asked “when will it erupt? when will it erupt?”, which became kind of a catchphrase for the rest of the trip. The eruption went off very beautifully, it was the best eruption of the day and I managed to sit right up front. We then took a longer geyser walk; I wanted to walk to the famously beautiful Morning Glory Pool but the kids were reluctant. It was hot but breezy and we persuated the kids to make the hike by promising ice cream at the end. I got squirted by the Sawmill Geyser. The water was hot but not painful, and spray did get on my new polarizing filter. Other favorites included Grotto, which according to E. looked like Abraham Lincoln, Beauty Pool, and of course Castle Geyser, whose eruption we had missed while eating lunch.

We returned to the Old Faithful Inn for the promised ice cream, and by that time it was nearly 4:30; time for Old Faithful to erupt one more time (the weather was turning cloudy). So we would up watching four eruptions total.

By this time we knew we had to head to Colter Bay, which was out the southern entrance of Yellowstone, in Grand Teton. At Colter Bay, we discovered that the float trip was booked solid, but there was room on a boat cruise (which was shorter) so we booked that. The guide also suggested we hike to hidden falls and inspiration Point at Jenny Lake. E got his passport stamped, and we had dinner at the cafeteria at Colter Bay. The campground was very woodsy and cozy, and even had electric hookups and hot water in the showers.

Day 9: 7/1/10: Colter Bay and Environs all day

Tried to get out a little early, and drove to the Oxbow bend overlook. Actually, we intended to turn for Jenny Lake, but it’s a good thing we missed it; we would not have stopped at Oxbow bend otherwise. From there, we backtracked a little bit to the Jenny Lake road, and at Jenny Lake had breakfast and took the ferry across the lake to the Hidden Falls/Inspiration Point trail. It’s a short but very rewarding trail; the waterfall is gorgeous and the view from inspiration Point is gorgeous. The whole hike reminded me of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, with thousands of pine trees and rocky overlook points. We had a small snack and hiked back down to the ferry.

We drove back to Colter Bay to make our 3:30 boat cruise time. On the way, we saw traffic stopped along the road, just south of the Jackson lake dam; there was a bear with two cubs eating a kill, and walking down to a stream for a drink. The spectators were blocking the road until a ranger came and ordered us to move along.

We arrived at Colter Bay just in time to get our stuff together and get on the boat. The tour was relaxing and informative, but probably not a highlight of the trip. In the evening, W went to get some computer time at the laundry room while the kids and I checked out the gift shop; then we headed to the lake to see if we could get a photo of the sunset on the Tetons. Unfortunately, we locked W out of the RV until we got back.

Day 10: 7/2/10: Colter Bay to SLC;

This day was mostly spent driving. In the morning we stopped at most of the viewpoints in the Tetons, including a return to Oxbow Bend. I had a sense that this was where Ansel Adams took his famous photo, but I’m still not certain. In any case, there are lots of very short trails to the river that were fun to explore. At one point I slipped and fell, and I think my sunglasses fell off my head, never to be seen again.

We took one last stop at the visitor center to get some final souvenirs, then it was off to Jackson for gas. We didn’t stay long in Jackson, and headed back to SLC via a route determined by my GPS unit. I’m not completely sure what route we took, but we followed the Snake River along the ridge of a canyon, with spectacular views and a twisty, windy road. Then, we were in Idaho, which was mostly flat but with mountains in the distance. Always mountains in the distance. We tried to spot which fields were growing potatoes, but it wasn’t always so obvious.

In Idaho, the interstate speed limits were 75, and the roads were dead straight, for the most part. Handling an RV at 75 mph was not difficult, really, but it did require great attention to the road, as there was no room for error. We stopped for dinner at a IHOP outside SLC, and arrived at Homewood Suites Salt Lake City around 7pm. I parked the RV across the street, in an area reserved for 45-degree parking. I parked parallel to the curb, so that the vehicle would not stick out into traffic. I was worried about getting a ticket, but I made it OK.

Day 11: 7/3/10: Salt Lake City

The first job of the day was to find a gas station where I could fill up the RV with gasoline and propane, then return the RV. W gave me permission to explore the city a bit while she and the kids rested up at the hotel. From the RV place, I took a light rail line to downtown. I got off by the courthouse, and admired the old buildings on Main Street downtown. I was impressed by the architecture and ambience of Salt lake City’s small but well-preserved Main Street, with its little bookstores and restaurants. At the north end of Main Street (actually, the center of town) is the Mormon temple complex, and north of that is the state capitol. The walk from the state capitol to our hotel was about 45 minutes; from the temple to hotel about 30 minutes. A hop on the light rail could shave 10 minutes off that time. Next to our hotel was a wonderful, lively farmer’s market.

After my morning walk, I joined W and the kids at the hotel for lunch and a dip in the pool. Dinner was at Denny’s, a short walk away.

After dinner I headed back downtown for some stock shooting at sunset. I had two specific goals: the State Capitol building and the mormon temple. As I arrived at the Capitol Building, the sun was behind a cloud. I waited and waited for the sun to appear from behind the clouds, and was eventually rewarded with a dazzling illumination of the capitol dome. There were a few other shooters there, including a local guy who I chatted with. I finished up the Blue Hour at the Mormon Temple, which was beautifully lit, but had an earth mover machine parked in front of it. It was tricky to shoot around the construction equipment. I was back at the hotel by 10:15.

Day 12: 7/4/10: Salt Lake City to Home

I woke at 5AM to shoot sunrise. My hope was to capture the first rays of the sun hitting the mormon temple. However, it turned out to be a poor result. Sunrise time was 6:02 AM, but the hills to the east meant a delayed sunrise. Also, the sky was mostly overcast to the east, so there was to be no direct sunlight this morning.

I had promised W that I’d be back at the hotel by 7:00, so I didn’t have much time to wait for better light. I made it back to the hotel at 7:05, then we were off to the airport and our long flight back home.

Sunday night, after we unloaded and had dinner, we biked to Arnold’s for ice cream.

Monday

I was excited to paddle, so the first morning I woke up around sunrise and took the kayak to Stage Harbor, in Chatham (with a quick stop at Chatham Lighthouse to get a quick photo).

After the paddle it was back to the lake house and a quick lunch, after which we went to the Sand ‘n’ Surf in Wareham to pick up a friend of Daughter’s, who was going to stay with us a couple of nights. That evening we cooked up some veggie hot dogs and veggie burgers on the charcoal grill.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning we mostly stayed around the lakehouse. We booked a seal watching trip in the afternoon on the Rip Ryder. The boat was a little smaller than we expected (you have to walk out in the water to get onto it, which was also unexpected), but I soon saw the advantage of that: this boat is small but fast. We boated out to a small feature off Monomoy Island known as the Powder Hole. The captain was somewhat apologetic that another boat had scared off a lot of the seals, but we got to see quite a few male and female Grey seals. Also, we were within view of the Monomoy Point Lighthouse, which was nice. After the powder hole area, we explored the shallow sandbars off the southeast tip of Chatham, where we saw a colony of female seals, as well as some fascinating natural sandbars. The next day, I read in the newspaper that kayakers had seen a shark kill a seal just that past Sunday in this area.

That evening after a dinner of Taco Salad, we bicycled to Arnold’s Lobster and Clam Bar. Arnold’s is famous for their seafood, which generates a huge line. But we were not there for the seafood, we were there for Arnold’s equally good ice cream.

On the way back to the lake house, it was after dark. Despite my precautions — everyone had lights and helmets — we had a serious accident when my wife quickly braked and went over, hurting her ankle badly. It was very difficult to get her back into the lake house for the night.

Wednesday

We spent most of Wednesday in and out of hospitals. It turned out that the wife suffered a serious fracture in her right ankle area. While the wife was waiting to get a soft cast, I took Daughter’s friend back to Wareham. When I returned, she was just finishing up. We stopped at Barnes & Noble in Hyannis, where I saw my iStockphoto image of Cape Cod’s Nobska lighthouse on the cover of an American Map road atlas.

Thursday

Thursday, we decided to try to enjoy our Cape Cod stay, even though the wife would be stuck in the lake house with limited mobility. My main goal was to try taking Daughter on the Province Lands bicycle trail. Son and I had done the trail two years previously, and I wanted to see if Daughter could do it on her new Trek. I was also interested in stoppling at lighthouses, so I decided to take the kids northward. First we stopped at Cape Cod Light (Highland Light), then it was on to Province Lands. It was extremely hot, but Daughter was game, so we gave it a try. She made it about a mile and a half, and we decided to turn back. That left us with one extremely large hill to conquer, and Daughter handled it fine. She did three miles total that day, which made me proud. On the way back, we stopped at Nauset Light for another photo. I wanted to stop at Nauset Light Beach, just to show the kids and maybe have a walk around, but it was too crowded to park, even at 4:30 pm.

Friday

Friday we sadly packed it up and left the Cape. Since we had brought two cars, this meant that I had to take a bus back to Eastham that night. By 11:30 PM, all four of us and two cars were back home again.

See my gallery of images from our Cape Cod trip.

Arrival: Thursday

We arrived at a rainy, wet BWI airport. We chose to fly into BWI because we are big fans of Southwest Airlines, and they don’t fly into the DC airports. We got into town by public transportation, taking a shuttle bus to the MARC train to Union Station. After dinner at the “America” restaurant in Union Station, we took the Metro to the Mariott Wardman Park, arriving in the evening.

Day 1: Friday

Friday was rainy, so we made it a museum day. We began with the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We arrived just as it opened and began at the top floor to avoid crowds. There we enjoyed a first-rate exhibit on the Presidents. Interesting artifacts included a sample of hair from the first dozen presidents or so, a death mask of Lincoln, sample toys from presidential children (TR’s son’s paint set, Chelsea Clinton’s ballet shoes, etc). On the lighter side, we also saw pop artifacts such as Judy Garland’s shoes and — believe it or not — a portrait of television parodist Stephen Colbert.

After lunch we headed for the American Museum of Natural History, where we saw a ton of bones, including all sorts of dinosaurs, and an exhibit on the human remains found at Jamestown, VA. I found this quite interesting, as I have been reading a few books about early European settlements in the US, and I have previously been to Jamestown, years ago. In fact, I remember when the settlement was first discovered and excavated.

Dinner found us at Taste of India restaurant near the hotel. It was my restaurant pick and I enjoyed, it. The kids didn’t like the food, though, so we picked up some Frosted Mini Wheats and yogurt at a local convenience store.

Day 2: Saturday

Saturday the wife had a conference to attend, so I took the kids to the National Zoo, which is a short walk from the hotel. The weather was still cloudy but the rain held off, and we had a great opportunity to see the pandas, cheetahs, and gorillas, including the new baby gorilla. The elephants did a brief training session for us, which was cute.

After lunch, daughter wanted to head downtown to the Air and Space Museum, mostly because many of the artifacts there are featured in the new “Night at the Museum” movie. I was thrilled to see artifacts that I remember from the tail end of the “age of space exploration” such as the Apollo/Soyuz mockup and the Skylab replica. I was proud that I was able to explain to them how the enormous Saturn V rocket launches from the pad but only the Command Module and the Service Module and the Lunar Module actually make it to the moon, and ultimately only the tiny Command Module returns to earth — of which the museum had at least two on display.

My favorite exhibit, however, was the replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer. When I was younger I took the story of the Wrights for granted, thinking that flight was inevitable, but now I am so very impressed with their achievement. Firstly, the role that bicycle technology played in aviation development is very interesting to me — the Wrights drew on their experience with light weight materials, chain drives, balance, wind resistance and aerodynamics. “Wheeling is just like flying.” Further, the fact that the Wrights had to solve so many aspects of flight all at once — from generating enough thrust, to understanding lift, to being able to pilot the thing safely — all these were poorly understood, and the Wrights simultaneously had to solve all of them in order to be successful.

Dinner was take-out Chipolte and McDonald’s, eaten in outdoor seating at the hotel.

Day 3: Sunday

By Sunday, the temperature was getting quite hot, into the 80′s. Our first stop was the National Building Museum, mainly because it was open relatively early for Sunday (11 AM). We got off the Metro a few blocks away, and walked through a Hot, empty city. On the way we wanted to check out Ford’s Theatre, and as we rounded the corner we were confronted with about four full-size tour busses and huge crowds of people. For Ford’s Theatre, you can get free same-day tickets, so we got tickets for 12:30, although as it turned out we could not fit it into our itinerary. The building and gift shop were jammed with people, and we got ourselves a souvenir pressed penny.

By contrast, the National Building Museum was empty. There was a special demonstration for kids, and the docent was begging us to attend, as there were no other kids around. It’s a pretty decent museum devoted to architecture and urban planning, which are two of my interests. The cafe was pretty good, too, and we brought some of our own food to go with it.

At 2:30 was one of the highlights of the trip, a DC monument tour by bicycle. It was a great way to see the monuments. Son rode on a Trail-a-bike type attachment, daughter rode a multi-speed bike for (almost) the first time. We had a great time, despite the humidity and heat.

When we got back to the hotel, we were ready for a pool dip, but the pool was too crowded for our taste. I promised Daughter we would return for a late evening swim. We had dinner at Open City, which we adults enjoyed, but the kids found the pasta and pizza too garlicky. We’ll never be able to travel more adventurously as long as the kids remain such picky eaters.

Day 4: Monday

Our flight out of BWI was in the late afternoon/early evening, which left us with a dilemma: what to do between hotel checkout time and our departure. It was our experience that most of the museums were pretty paranoid about security and would not give us the chance to check bags. For example, the Museum of American History has bag lockers that are long and narrow; they are barely wide enough to hold my day pack, and would never accommodate my big suitcase. We discovered that there is a bag check at Union Station (it’s right near the entrance to Track A). This left us with the question: What is there to do right near Union Station?

The Postal Museum is the closest to Union Station, but the kids were not interested in that. We wound up taking a walk to the Capitol building (Son wanted to see it), and we walked the perimeter of the building. It was really hot, and we were wilting badly. Therefore we headed to the nearest air-conditioned museum, which was the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art.

It turns out, they do have a substantial bag check at the National Gallery. I saw several big suitcases checked there (they x-ray each bag for security). It could be useful for some folks to choose this over the Union Station bag check, since the gal at Union Station is overworked and very slow to check and uncheck bags. The bag check at National Gallery is not nearly so busy.

Anyway, we had a good hour around the East Wing of the National Gallery. The kids have not seen a lot of modern art, so this was a good experience for them. Son really liked “the naked ones.”

Took the MARC train to the BWI airport shuttle and back home again.

Full photo set on Flickr.

We flew via Southwest Airlines, which has become our airline of preference, and rented a car from Ace aka Blue Oval. The car was a Nissan Versa, and we paid $122 for 5 days. It was quite suitable (though there was not enough luggage space for 4 suitcases and a large backpack — fortunately, we filled the car with luggage only twice, for two short trips to and from the hotel). The shuttle service was quick and the customer service quite friendly and efficient. We stayed in the Homewood Suites – Liberty Station, Trip Advisor’s top-rated hotel in San Diego. It’s deserving. It’s not luxurious, but it’s a new hotel, with new furnishings, a comfortable bed, and very friendly helpful service. The complimentary buffet breakfast was very good (scrambled eggs, bacon or sausage, make-it-yourself waffles, fruit bar, cereals, muffins, and delicious cinnamon rolls). The kids really loved the breakfast, and so did I. Mondays through Thursdays they serve a complimentary “light” dinner, which was really enough dinner for us. Monday was Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and gravy and a salad bar, and Tuesday was baked potatoes with toppings and a salad bar. Wine and beer were also served!

On Saturday we went to the San Diego Zoo. Our primary reason for going to San Diego was to see the zoo and its koala exhibit. Daughter has been crazy about koalas since she did a report on them in first grade. We headed to the koalas first and spent quite a while watching them. Adorable animals! We also got to see the elephants, which are Son’s new favorite animal, plus meerkats, gorillas and pandas. We managed about 4 hours in the zoo before travel exhaustion set in and the crowds got annoying. It’s a pretty extraordinary zoo, but one thing we didn’t like were the buses that ferry people all over the place. It’s crazy to have to watch for bus traffic when you’re walking in a zoo.

After a dip in the hotel pool, we went to LaJolla to see the seals at the Children’s Pool Beach. This is a natural seal haul-out, and the seals were quite adorable. I loved watching the seals, but the kids found it boring. Also, there was apparently a police event going on (complete with helicopter circling and police with bullhorns saying “Come out with your hands up!”) nearby, but it was more entertaining than scary.

We ate dinner at Denny’s in Pacific Beach afterwards. The kids were tired and we wanted a kid-friendly place for them to relax. On the way back to the hotel, we got lost, but wound up driving through a really beautiful, vibrant neighborhood of little surf shops and taquerias. It was a classic California strip along Mission Blvd.

On Sunday we spent the day in Balboa Park. We went to the Museum of Photography, the Model Railroad Museum, and the Natural History Museum, then we had a picnic outside the Botanical Building. The International Houses were having some sort of event, and we went from house to house and indulged in free snacks they were providing in each house. My favorite was the apple pie from the Germany house!

After another trip back to the hotel pool (our last — it got cooler/breezier the next 2 days) we went to the Hotel del Coronado to watch the sunset and play on the beach. The kids had a blast and got soaking wet and sandy. We had planned on going to Miguel’s, but at the last minute, we decided to go lower key and stopped at the La Salsa (fast food Mexican) on the corner across from the Del. A better choice for kids, especially when Daughter knocked her lemonade all over the table. Come to think of it, Daughter was spilling drinks the whole trip, including breakfast, and almost at Denny’s.

Monday we spent at Legoland. My expectations were low — I love Lego, but I thought the whole Lego theme park idea was stupid. Still, I had wanted to go to Legoland for years. Well, it turned out that for some reason I found the conceit of lego animals and statues to be really compelling. I kept looking to see what piece they used for what construct. We arrived before it opened at 10, and spent all day there, to 4:30. Anyway, Legoland is definitely geared for younger kids. My 9.5 year old was about at the high end of the age range to enjoy it. We had the best time in Pirate Shores with the splash battle, and a car-driving attraction. We also liked the Lost Kingdom Adventure, which was a sort of a low-rent but still fun version of Buzz Lightyear’s Ranger Spin from Walt Disney World. The main attraction, though, was Miniland. Our 6 year old son was absolutely thrilled and amazed by everything. We also picked up some fresh strawberries at a farmstand near Legoland, and they were delicious.

Dinner Monday was at the hotel.

On Tuesday we headed for Cabrillo National Monument and the tidepools. I was extremely disappointed that the monument is only open from 9 to 5. At other times, the park is gated, and you cannot enter. Firstly, I wanted to photograph the Old Point Loma Lighthouse at sunrise. Further, the famous tide pools were not available to us at the point of lowest tide. When we got there at 9:15, the tides were already rising. However, we did visit the Old Point Loma lighthouse, which did have a nice museum and keeper’s quarters available to view. Then we headed up to the visitor’s center to see a terrific movie about the migration of whales.

After lunch back at the hotel (it was too breezy for my wife to picnic at Cabrillo), we went to Old Town for a little bit. Had I realized there were some nice picnic tables there, we would have picnicked there. Oh well. Old Town had some really photogenic spots to explore, both exterior views and inside the quaint shops. I could easily have stayed there for hours, but we had only a short visit there because we were meeting friends up in Kearney Mesa for an early dinner. We went to Jasmine’s Seafood. Since we had free dinner waiting at the hotel, and we don’t really like seafood, we didn’t eat much there. But our friends enjoyed it quite a bit. After dinner, we decided to head to Ocean Beach/Sunset Cliffs. We ended up on Dog Beach, I think, the southern end, and we watched the sunset there. We liked the hippie feel of Ocean Beach quite a bit, and I was very amused by all the bad singing/guitar playing and even rapping going on.

We kept ourselves on an early schedule while we were there. We were asleep by 9 most nights, awake at 6 am, so I could keep on an Eastern time zone schedule as much as possible. We had a great time. The weather was perfect, the people were friendly, and the attractions were interesting and held my kids’ attention. If we had more time, I would have liked to have gone on a whalewatching trip and taken a side trip to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

This trip report is adopted from the wife’s post on TripAdvisor. See my San Diego photoset on Flickr.

In Seattle we decided to forgo renting a car and instead got around by public transportation. As some sort of compensation, the Wife rented us a nice fancy limousine ride from the airport. The limo even had free wine and beer. The limo took us to our guest apartment at Seattle Pacific University, which was our way of economizing on lodging. The apartment did not have a lot of amenities nearby, but it was in a safe area and it was right on a bus line. We generally made breakfast in the room, took lunch with us in the mornings, spent the whole day in the downtown area (which is well-served by public transit) and did not return to our room till evening. The apartment was right near a canal and bike path. We didn’t use the bike path, but there were wild blackberries growing on the path, which made for some nice dessert.

Our first full day started at the Center for Wooden Boats. We didn’t arrive early enough to reserve an actual boat trip, so I found it a bit of a letdown. Next we headed for Seattle Center, where we bought a CityPass and explored the Pacific Science Center, which is a huge science museum, and the Experience Music Project (EMP). Son enjoyed trying out some real instruments.

The second day we spent at the waterfront including the Seattle Aquarium, a harbor tour, and a walk through Pike’s market and Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Afterward we went back to Seattle Center for a dip in the fountain. Our third day in Seattle we headed for the Museum of Flight, which was quite enormous, with an impressive collection of vintage aircraft. The Museum of Flight was big enough to spend most of a day whole day exploring.

Below: Museum of Flight

That evening we went downtown the the very quaint and hip Pioneer Square neighborhood. I loved that neighborhood, it has a very Soho New York kind of vibe. Daughter lost her tooth on the bus back to the apartmtent.

Below: Daughter lost her tooth on the Seattle bus!

Day Four found us taking Amtrak to Portland, where we visited an old childhood friend of the wife and her family. She took us to one of Portland’s amazing public pools, which was located at a high school. The pool had a sizeable water slide, nice shallow kiddie area with water spouts, and a “lazy river” that allowed you to drift with a current into a round whirlpool. It was a really impressive pool.

Day Five we explored the Oregon zoo by day. It’s a large and impressive zoo, with a robot dinosaur exhibit that Son appreciated. I think it was actually the same robot dinosaur exhibit which we saw at our own local zoo a while back, but the kids were excited nonetheless. That evening we went to the Oaks Amusement Park, which calls itself “one of the oldest continuously operating amusement parks in North America.”

Below: Son is tall enough to ride, with some help

Day Six we headed to the coast, where we had reserved a weekend beach house rental. The house was just down a short road from the beach, and the kids took delight in getting all sandy and wet. The sand there is interesting, much grainier and chunkier than Eastern beach sand.

Below: Fun on the Oregon coast

Day Seven we spent exploring the coastal town of Depoe Bay, which is famous for its whale watching. We caught a glimpse of a grey whale or two off the coast, but did not spring for the whale watching cruise. Later we headed to Yaquina Head Lighthouse, which was my first trip to a west coast light. That evening I returned to Yaquina Head for a sunset shoot.

Day Eight was our last day in Depoe Bay, which we spent at Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area. The kids had a lot of fun splashing on the surf as the Wife looked for Agates in the sand. On the way home we stopped at some outlet stores, as Son needed new shoes.

Day Nine we headed north for Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument, a last-minute addition to our itinerary. It was a fascinating experience, to learn how the landscape was devastated by the eruption in 1980, and to see how life has slowly been returning. The volcano itself still ejects puffs of steam on a regular basis. The highlight, for me, was walking a short trail to the Johnston Ridge Observatory from a nearby observation point. It was a short hike and physically not difficult, but somewhat precarious because it was a narrow trail along a very steep ledge.

We stayed overnight in the small nearby town of Kelso, and I got up in the middle of the night to watch the Perseid meteor shower. We returned home the next day, basically flying all day.