Flashback Friday: Summer Road Trip 2017 Part One!

I had hoped to write about this road trip all in one blog post, but after getting the photos from the first few stops on here I realized I am going to have to do this in segments.

We left after Mollie swam in last year's swim team finals (she did two relays - one as the butterfly leg of a medley relay and one as the third leg of a freestyle relay), all sweaty and sticky from having stood outside for the better part of the morning.  We were happy to do it, though, and were really proud of her for having given her all for her team.

The kids got reading as soon as we got in the car.

Bryson drove for the entire trip.

We issued the edict that the kids needed to tell us AS SOON AS they had to use the restroom, and they really took that to heart; we ended up stopping about three times in the first hour because they wanted to be sure.

We rented a car for our trip - mine is a bit older and we weren't sure how it would do on the long drive - and since we got a crossover it had a lot less room than we were used to.  I ended up spending a lot of our drive time with a ton of stuff by my feet, both for ease of access and because we just didn't have a lot of room to spare.

We decided to go through Canada, so the kids got their first taste of a "foreign" country.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to look at besides windmill farms.

We finally reached Niagara Falls, our first official stop of the trip, around dinner time.

As it turns out, Niagara Falls is a bit tricky to navigate when you're hungry and just looking for a place to eat around dinner time, so we ended up taking the kids to their first Hard Rock Cafe.  For Baylor, it was love at first bite; he has been wanting to go back ever since.

We took a look at the falls a little bit before we settled in for the night.

The next morning, after a good breakfast, we headed back out to take a closer look at the Canadian side of the falls.

They were quite beautiful, though rather difficult to photograph in their entirety.  The sound was awesome, though, and I think it was a cool experience for the kiddos.

We hopped back in the car and started out on the next leg of our trip, which also happened to be one of the longest clocking in at just over nine hours.  The kids did great, though, and were wonderfully surprised when we revealed we had purchased a DVD player so they could watch movies along the way.  This made the time pass quickly for them which, in turn, helped us a bunch.

We finally got to our destination, my uncle's cottage (which Mainers call "camp") in West Gardiner, Maine.  It was nighttime, so we basically had to go right to sleep after visiting for a few minutes.

The next day, though, there was much fun to be had!

We did happen upon this guy who was, hands down, the biggest spider I have ever seen outside the zoo.  And, since I don't want to focus on him too much because he freaks me out, let's move on.

We went out on their boat for a little fun in the sun.

First, Laura showed us her water skiing skills.

Then Delaney showed us what she could do.

And then Uncle Andy did a little hot dogging.  

Laura did a great job driving for Uncle Andy!

Mollie decided she wanted to give it a try, so Laura helped her out as best she could.  Mollie gave it a couple tries and nearly got up once, but getting dragged in the water a little seemed to put the kibosh on the fun for her so we moved onto other things.

Like swimming!  Baylor jumped off the boat a few times, but he wasn't a fan of how dark and deep the water seemed so he decided to hang out with the guys on the boat.  Mollie, though, was all about the lake and swimming with the ladies.

It was just such a beautiful day!

We got the tubes hooked up to the boat, and the kids tried tubing for the first time!  Baylor went with Laura.

And Mollie went with Delaney.

While the kids and girls had a pretty tame ride (which was just fine with their mom, thank you very much), Bryson and I had a much more typical tube ride.

Including some tip-overs!

The water fun continued the next day with a picnic pontoon boat ride!  Mollie enjoyed the watermelon immensely!

Baylor enjoyed snuggling in the sun.

The lake was very still.  In fact, we pretty much had the whole of it to ourselves ... well, except for our little loon friend.

We had some fun on dry land, too!  We watched an old favorite of the Curtins and a new favorite of my kiddos: The Sound of Music!

We had awesome food, including some sweet corn.

Laura went putt putt golfing with us at McT's. 

When the kids asked us what the theme of this course was, we looked around and said, "Nature?"

As it turns out, we were right!  Not only did we see a worm in one of the holes, we saw slugs and this guy on the last hole!  The kids were not too keen on him, but I thought he was sweet!

Our time with Uncle Andy and the girls was wonderful, relaxing, and the perfect start to our trip.  It was, of course, bittersweet because Aunt Cynthia was not there to enjoy it with us, but her style and spirit was evident all over the house and I felt closer to her in that space.

On the last morning, I woke up a little earlier than usual and took a moment to enjoy breakfast from Aunt Cynthia's seat.  It's no wonder she loved that spot so much; the view was beautiful, from the  shadows cast on the outstretched table to the sunlight shining through the leaves.  To be honest, it was a little difficult to leave.

But, after a very tearful goodbye with Uncle Andy (we had said goodbye to the girls the days prior), we headed out on the road.

Mollie snapped a couple pictures of life in the backseat.

Our next stop was Ben & Jerry's in Waterbury, Vermont.  We took the free tour ...

... visited the flavor graveyard ...

... and then realized the kids were starting to get hangry and quickly got some ice cream!

With ice cream in our tummies, we headed back out onto the road and made our way to Burlington, Vermont.  We took a narrated boat tour, got the kids a little more food, ...

... and saw some beautiful sights.  The rock formations were probably the most fascinating part for me.

After the boat, we took a walk down one of the main shopping areas.  The town really is beautiful.

Someone had written lovely messages on the sidewalks in chalk.

On the way back to the car we walked out closer to the water and saw some of the old battlements from back when this area served more military purposes.

It was such a nice walk.

And there was some unusual artwork along the way ... so it was a win-win!

We finally made our way to the hotel and gave the kids the biggest gift we could: pizza in bed while watching Shark Week!  I don't think they could quite believe their luck.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and got back on the road.  A little over five hours later, we arrived in West Orange, New Jersey.  When we told people all the stops on our trip, nearly everyone was perplexed why this was on our list of must-see places.  We figured this was a good enough reason to visit.

Since we got there a little later in the day, we had to get going and see as much as we possibly could.  If you ever visit any of the locales that are part of the National Park system with your kids, I highly recommend trying out the Junior Ranger program.  It is free, they give you the workbook and usually a pencil to use, and at the end they make you official Junior Rangers, complete with a badge and an oath.  It is a lot of fun and helps make these huge, sometimes overwhelming places more manageable, particularly with kids.

We started by checking out one of the first movies ever made.

Then we saw Thomas Edison's library and office.

This is the bed he would use to steal naps.

They had a cubic foot of copper that had been given to Mr. Edison.

We then toured the workshop.

It was quite amazing and so well-preserved.

While the first floor had more of the larger, rough cutting machines, the second floor housed the precision cutting machines, ...

... the lab, one of a couple of them on the property, ...

... and the drafting room.

Thomas Edison's inventions were all over the place, to the point that it was difficult to remember what each one was.

In this room, I believe, they worked on recording music for the phonograph.

This room was full of cones of every shape and size, each one serving a different purpose.

We went to a ranger-led talk about the phonograph in this barn.

We finally went to see this lab, certainly one of the most interesting places in the park.  A ranger happened upon us in there and gave us a ton of fascinating information about what went on in this room.  The lab has been largely untouched, with some chemicals even having been left in their jars from when Edison worked there.

In the picture above you may notice pipes running here and there around the room, each painted a particular color, and the key to the colors was posted on the wall.

The ranger showed the kids Edison's version of a record, which they then dropped on the cement floor.  Luckily, the thing was nearly indestructible and didn't even have a scratch on it.

As we were leaving, the ranger did a little more narrating and pointed out that the cream-colored pot in this picture is encased in asbestos.  I shuttered to think of the working conditions in this lab, from the heat, to the dangerous chemicals, to the asbestos; It was amazing, and kind of sad, to think of what those people had to endure in the name of scientific advancement.

 We finished touring the property, said the Junior Ranger oath, purchased some postcards at the gift shop, and headed out, tired from our long day.  One interesting thing just outside the gates was this sign asking you to carry a flag across the street with you, presumably to make you more visible to oncoming traffic.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at Thomas Edison's lab complex!

Since this was the closest we were going to get to New York City on this particular trip, Bryson asked at the gift shop where we could possibly see NYC from West Orange, New Jersey.  She instructed us to head up a hill to a lookout area.  

Sadly, because of the hazy weather, it was almost impossible to see much of the city.

Coincidentally, though, we were actually at a 9/11 memorial site.  We showed the kids around a bit and told them a little of what happened that horrible day.

They even had a piece of the steel girders that used to hold up one of the buildings.

It was a wonderful tribute to those from New Jersey who lost their lives that day, and I am glad we could open a conversation with the kids about it.

Having started something by enjoying dinner in bed by the light of the television, we kept with the trend and ordered in pasta and watched more Shark Week.

To answer your question, yes, we did end up getting a little, tiny bit of pasta sauce on the bedding.  I am sure you are not surprised by this in the least.

The kids even got to snuggle under their blankets with Bryson before bedtime.

Our first few days of vacation were wonderful, and we made so many fantastic memories and learned so many cool things along the way!  Stay tuned for the rest!