RVing in the USA

Special thanks

2009-02-21T00:26:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to all of our precious friends and family who visited or hosted us.
And to our loyal readers who accompanied us on our adventures from all around the globe - south america, north america, europe, africa, asia and down under. Hope we get to see you all in Israel!!!
Peace and love.

Interview with Dafi

2009-02-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

Q: What do you think about the trip?
Dafi: It's something very special that we always wanted to do and I'm glad we found the opportunity to do it. No words can describe how wonderful it was.

Q: How was the trip comparing to your expectations?
Dafi: I knew it was going to be good and it was even better!

Q: What will you miss after settling in a real non-mobile home?
Dafi: I'll miss waking up every morning to a different scenery. Staring out the window while still in bed and enjoy the sights. To be able to open the door to nature.

Q: Where will you visit again, where will you not?
Dafi: I would like to go to Algonquin park again (Canada) in summer time, take a canoe and go deep into the park for a week, sleeping in the rustic campgrounds. I could skip Nebraska...

Q: Did you learn anything new about yourself and/or your family?
Dafi: I thought that after spending so much time together with my family I would go crazy but now I don't know what I'm going to do when it's over.

Q: Would you recommend this kind of trip to others?
Dafi: Hurry up! Life is short.

Q: What is the next dream?
Dafi: A year in a nice villa in Tuscany.

Q: What photo represents the trip for you?
Dafi: One picture is hard. I choose my dear ones hiking in a Canadian forest in fall colors.

Interview with Dagan

2009-02-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

Q: What do you think about the trip?
Dagan: life is tough, but somebody must do it. Hope it will be the first of many to come.

Q: What was the most stressful place you drove in?
Dagan: Two that I recall: navigating narrow streets and low-clearance bridges and tunnels downtown Boston (at night!) and the steep-narrow-wiggly-road at Clear Lake where we were not even sure we are on the right way and it was clear that we will not be able to turn around if needed...

Q: How do you feel about not seeing your family 24/7 soon?
Dagan: I think I will miss it a lot, but we all can enjoy some privacy and some time to spend alone.

Q: Where would you go rv-ing next?
Dagan: I would like to do New Zealand and Australia but it doesn't have to be tomorrow.

Q: What's the most spectacular view you've seen?
Dagan: Impossible to select: Yosemite, sunrise at Maine, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Lake Louise (Glacier NP, Canada), Algonquin Park (Canada) and many others

Q: If you were to live in the US, where would it be?
Dagan: Need number of seasonal houses. One in Maine (the best ocean view), one in New York (for the night life), one in California (for parks and nature), one in Colorado (because we missed it in this trip). Picking one - it would probably be in California.

Q: What animal did you like most?
Dagan: the Armadillo was maybe the coolest but I liked many others as well - moose, ermine, bobcat...

Q: What picture represents best the trip?
Dagan: there are more than 9,000 photos we took during our trip and it is not so easy to select one. I picked the one taken at the sunrise from Cadillac mountain, Acadia NP (Maine) because it shows the RV (aka HOME) along with the spectacular view.

Interview with Adi

2009-02-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

Q: What do you think about the trip?
Adi: It's perfect, I liked the scenery and activities and the parks.

Q: What was your favorite animal?
Adi: Armadillo because I never saw one in my life and he's cute.

Q: Did you like having guests?
Adi: Yes, a lot. We get to do things with other people.

Q: What kind of campground do you prefer?
Adi: Full hookup county parks

Q: If you were to embark on another rv trip, what would you do differently?
Adi: I would drive to different places and do different activities and stay for different amount of time.

Q: What was the most fun moment in the trip?
Adi: Going to Yosemite NP for the second time.

Q: If you could choose, where would you prefer to live next?
Adi: Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Q: What picture do you think represents the trip best?
Adi: a picture of the whole family:

Interview with Aviv

2009-02-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Q: What do you think about the trip?
Aviv: I think it was a great experience and opportunity for us to learn and interact with nature. It's something we don't do all the time.

Q: What was your favorite room in the rv?
Aviv: I liked the main room best because everything was happening there.

Q: What's the best book you read during the trip?
Aviv: All of the books by Gary Paulsen were very good.

Q: Who was your favorite park ranger and why?
Aviv: My favorite park ranger was Ranger Mike because he was very funny and he dressed up like a mountain goat during his program. He taught us a lot about mountain goats in Glacier NP.

Q: What was the hardest part in the trip?
Aviv: Although the trip was a lot of fun, sometimes it was hard to live in a small space.

Q: What's your greatest achievement on the trip?
Aviv: Learning to ride bike and earning junior ranger award from all over the country.

Q: Will you ever want to live in the US?
Aviv: I think it's nice to visit here but full time might be a little... I don't know... I would rather just come to visit.

Q: If you were to live in the US, where would it be?
Aviv: I would like to live in a national park

Q: What picture in your opinion represents the trip best?
Aviv: Mushroom Rock in Death Valley NP:

Back to our starting point

2009-02-10T22:29:00.000-08:00

Two days ago we got back to where we started our journey. It feels like we only left yesterday. We started taking all of our stuff out of the rv yesterday and haven't finished yet. We still don't know how everything will fit into our bags. It's actually like moving out of an apartment. We also cleaned everything inside and took some pictures to put on ads. We're only missing a buyer(-:

Yosemite - the sequel

2009-02-06T22:00:00.000-08:00

For our Yosemite 'grand finale' we decided to hike 11km to the upper yosemite falls, the tallest waterfall in the US, about 740m high.
We started climbing early in the morning and on the first stop Aviv suddenly whispered: "a cat! a cat!" And there it was - a bobcat very close to us in the woods, seeking a breakfast hunt.
As the trail winded up we saw the beautiful valley below us and it became more and more difficult to breath. The kids didn't share this shortage of oxygen issue and ran up the trail ahead of us.

After about an hour and a half walk, we reached to the lower level of the falls. The water is falling on a snow bed and continues to the lower falls.
The trail became steeper and narrower with bigger snow patches
We saw another friend along the way - an ermine, which is actually a weasel in a white wintery coat. The cutest creature ever!Getting rid of some layers...The valley below
Steep cliffs all around us
Almost there...
And we made it to the top in 4 hours, according to the schedule. We had lunch, enjoyed the view and the accomplishment and started going down

The way down took us another 3 hours and here we are, all exhausted with shaking knees back in the trail head.
Needless to say, the next day we (the adults) weren't able to move. 3 days later, we're still recuperating. The night before we were concerned if the kids will be able to make the streneous trail and eventaully we were the ones to worry about(-:

This is a picture that should have been included in the previous post and somehow was left out
We're staying with our dear cousins in Mountain View at the moment, a warm and cozy home after some freezing cold night in the Yosemite.

Yosemite in winter - a different world

2009-02-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

We've been to Yosemite NP two and a half years ago in July and it was a completely different experience. We followed the weather forecast and planned our visit to a 5 days window between 2 storms, so we had a nice sunny weather. The nights though, were very very cold. The only campground that is open this time of year is Upper Pines in the valley. This is the entrance to the park, coming from El Portal:
El Capitan:
Yosemite valley:

On our first day we walked around Mirror Lake, a 9.6Km round trip. Most of the trail was flat and covered with snow and ice.
Mirror lake was half frozen and half not

The kids had to collect one bag of trash as part of their junior ranger program
On the next day, we went to see the lower yosemite falls.
Waiting for the shuttle...
Half dome
At the visitor center, the kids completed their junior ranger program and received a badge and a patch (for the last time in this trip).
A jay on the way
After having lunch in the sun, we joined Ranger Dean for a walk. He explained about the trees of the park. Since we were the only ones to attend the walk, it was a private one

We spent 2 more days at the park but since it's getting late and since we don't want this blog to ever end up, we will write about them on another day.

take a walk on the white side

2009-01-31T18:42:00.000-08:00

After a day in Monterey aquarium, we drove up to Sequoia National Park today.
"Do you have any ranger led programs today?"
"Oh sure", says the ranger in the visitor center. "We have a snowshoe walk at 2. Just that it's for children 10 and up, so... I don't know... Why don't you go to the Giant Forest museum and talk to the ranger over there. The snowshoes might be too big for your young son."
With little hope and big desire we continued to the museum.

We started to go higher and higher in elevation and the snow became thicker and thicker. The road was icy but we didn't need chains. Snow tires were enough.
And then we arrived to the museum and to the big sequoia trees near by. Those trees are BIG!

At the museum Adi tried on the shoes that were about his height and somehow they fit! What a relief, we can join the hike! We got an old fashioned snowshoes (Maine style) that look like tennis rackets and off we went
We explored animal footprints and learned how they survive in the winter low temperatures.

By the end of the walk we were very cold, unable to feel our toes.
They have a strange habit to name the sequoias after generals. We went to see the biggest tree in the world (we believed), named General Sherman(-:
On the way out of the park we saw this beautiful coyote

Hwy 1

2009-01-29T21:26:00.000-08:00

Hwy 1 is always spectacular and breathtaking. At Morro Bay, we camped in the same campground as our very first night of the trip in July, when we met Stacey. We liked climbing the rocks in the playground

and the small botanical garden near by
After 2 relaxing days we continued on hwy 1 until we saw this:
Hundreds of elephant seals lying on the beach! As we got closer we could see (and smell) the moms and babies. They keep covering themselves with sand to protect from the sun. They're very noisy - they scream, burp, snarl and sneeze while sand is blowing out of their mouth.
The elephant seals come here every year to have their babies and mate. They will leave in March and come back next January. The males (bulls) have a funny snout
They fight among themselves on territory. They fight so hard that they bleed and have many scars on their necks.

Some more pictures from the way

Pismo Beach

2009-01-26T16:44:00.000-08:00

Along the coast we stopped for the night at Pismo Beach. Dagan and I spent here a night maybe 10 years ago and we wanted to stay here again.
In the state park campground we saw signs of butterflies along the road so we took our bikes and went to check what it's all about. We arrived to a place called monarch butterfly grove. We saw three telescopes pointed at eucalyptus trees and few butterflies in the air. When we approached closer and looked through the telescope we saw thousands of butterflied arranged in clusters up on the trees.

More and more people gathered to see this wonder and then we heard a short talk about the monarchs. They travel all the way from south Canada to mate and lay eggs in warm California. There are about 23,000 butterflies visiting this year.

We have a new embellishment for the rv - a "for sale" sign. Isn't it sad...?

Back in California

2009-01-25T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well... actually we entered to California few days ago (Death Valley) but during the last couple of days we really felt California.
From Death Valley we had a long drive, crossing mountains and slowly exchanging the brown desert to green landscape. We spent the night at Flying J gas station (it is not as bad as it sounds) and by the morning got into the beautiful Los Padres National Forest. Slow drive with some snow by the road and a fantastic landscape.

By the afternoon we got to Ojai, where we found a nice county campground next to the river, surrounded by green mountains. After getting some tips and hints from our camping neighbors, we continued to Santa Barbara with not too much of an expectation. They have a film festival and the streets are packed with people (and dogs). We LOVED it!

We continued just few miles to spend the next night by Lake Cachuma. One of the best things traveling off-season is that there are plenty of spaces in all the best campgrounds.

We saw many birds all around. Look at this nice Acorn-Woodpecker - he drills small holes in the bark of the tree and then he hides acorns in it (its squeezed in so hard that even the squirrels can't get it). Enlarge the photo to get better view of the acorn bank.
On the way from Santa Barbara area we passed through the green hills and miles of vineyards of the wine country. We stopped for brunch at Solvang, where we couldn't resist the yummy Danish Pancakes.

on the way the sun and the rain made this full rainbow specially for us
Tonight We are staying in a campground in Pismo Beach and tomorrow we will start driving on hwy 1, along the coast.

Death Valley

2009-01-22T23:12:00.000-08:00

Another national park, another surprise. We had no idea that there's so much to see in a place that has 'death' in its name. As we entered the park we were impressed with the beautiful colors of the rocks and their impossible shapes.
We pulled over by a view point of carved rocks. There's so little rain in this area (5mm a year) and still, there's water evidence everywhere.
The next day we headed south to the part of the park that is under sea level (-100m). Devil's Golf Course is a land covered with salt deposit. It seems crispy but actually it's very firm when stepping on it.
As we entered this salt field we saw a small water pool and in it crystals of salt, so delicate and beautiful.

In the evening we attended a ranger-led program about the history of the park. The ranger showed a slide of a rock mushroom and said that he's not allowed to talk so much about it because it's sacred to the local Indians (Shoshone tribe) and they asked the park authorities not to mention its location. Of course that intrigued us to go look for it, and voila!... we found it the next day
We hiked in the Golden Canyon, the trail goes inside a narrow and then wider canyon with tilted walls.

We've met some wacky rangers in the past, but ranger Jay surpasses them all! He's a cave freak and gave a talk in the visitor center about caves in the park. He dressed up as if he was going to "dive" into a cave and crawled under some chairs and ladder to show how narrow caves can be. It was hilarious! Best stand up comedy show ever!

We spent the second night in a campground by those picturesque dunes
And another quiz for Cathy - who's that? (hint: try googling it!)
So we're back in California, almost finishing our loop. The plan is to visit the beaches north of Los Angeles and then hopefully it will stop snowing in Sequoia park so we can visit there too and finally Yosemite.

sin city

2009-01-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

What a place - Las Vegas! Everything that is forbidden elsewhere in very much allowed here. Drinking alcohol in the streets (no paper bags to hide beer bottles), riding your motorbike without helmet, gambling and probably much more that we're not even aware of
We had to do some gambling, just for the record. It's not our thing. Surprisingly we lost all the $3 we invested. Aviv is dissapointed for not being allowed near the slot machines.

We've stayed in a nice hotel, in a room that is 4 times bigger than the rv and enjoyed the TV, took many many showers and rested.
In between we strolled along the strip, the main casino and hotels street that winds along Venice, Paris, Sahara and more

Some celebrities insisted on taking a picture with us. What a nuisance...

The mornings are fairly quiet and calm. It's the night when the city comes to life and the casinos are filled with minimally well dressed ladies. They attract so much attention, we hardly noticed any men.
Last picture sent with love to the Kingma family:

Arizona to Nevada

2009-01-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

Traveling from Arizona to Nevada we crossed the Colorado river (and changed our time for the last time in out trip). We did our first cross in Lake Mohave and then we crossed back and forth through the Hoover Dam, at Lake Mead (we couldn't find a parking spot in Nevada so we parked in Arizona).

Both Lakes are actually part of the Lake Mead National Recreational Area - what made it an opportunity for the kids to earn another Junior Ranger Badge (their 18th!!!!)

Davis Dam is a relatively small dam, holding the 67 miles long Lake Mohave - south to Lake Mead. Blue clear water scattered with ducks and giant fish and dramatic desert mountains surrounding it.
The next site was the Hoover Dam. As a strategic site - the road on the dam is closed for trucks and buses (since 9/11) and we were not sure if we will be able to go on it with our RV, but after a short questioning and search in and out the RV - we could go.
by 2010 there will be a new bridge to take the traffic crossing between Arizona and Nevada in parallel to the dam instead of on top.
This is how it looks from the top of the dam
We learned that Lake Mead's low water level is a source of concern for the locals. Maybe another global warming effect? In the picture below, the white strip shows the level of water in the past.
And today - we packed a suitcase for 2 nights and left home for the first time in 6 months!! We parked it in the hotel parking lot and took a hotel room in Circus Circus Hotel, Las Vegas. Actually we preferred staying home but it turns out that in Vegas a hotel room is cheaper than a campground!! who said depression is bad???

The Grand Canyon in Winter

2009-01-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

For the last 2 weeks we've been following the temperatures in the grand canyon and trying to plan a visit strategy that will allow us to see this wonder. With -10C at night it was impossible for us to sleep in any place near the canyon. So the plan was to sleep in Sedona, a quaint little town 2-3 hours south of the canyon, wake up early in the morning and spend the day in the canyon. The plan worked perfectly well! Yesterday we arrived to Sedona in the afternoon. As the sun went down the mountains and sculptured rocks around the town turned even more red than usual.

Early in the morning we started heading up to the canyon, with the kids still in bed. As we went up in elevation, we saw more and more snow until it was all covered in white. For us, Israelis, it's always a special sight. This is where we stopped for breakfast after the kids woke up.
As we entered the Grand Canyon National Park the sun came out and we saw this lovely mule dear.
It was beautiful to see the canyon with the contrast between the dry, arid desert and the fresh snow all over.
The dramatic views and huge proportions of the canyon make it a spectacular place. We walked along the south rim on a paved trail that was covered with ice so we had to watch our step all the time.

Carved buttes and the geological layers with the Colorado river running at the bottom of the canyon. Of course in real life it's much much more impressive

The grand canyon is more about view than wildlife and yet we saw some bluebirds and a woodpecker.
We first planned to see the skywalk too, but apparently it's far away from the south rim, partly on dirt road that's not suitable for rv's. It's owned by an indian tribe that lives there and they charge 80$ per person, they limit the visit to 15 minutes and they don't allow photography. We'll leave something for next time(-: We went to the i-max theater to watch a movie about the canyon instead...

wild wild west

2009-01-11T21:09:00.000-08:00

We started the day yesterday in Tombstone - historic town from the gold and silver mine days of the old west. The place is super touristic and looks like it was taken from a western movie.

We saw a comedy gunfight show with the good guy and bad guy, some shooting and lots of laughs

From there we continued to Tucson area to visit Saguaro National Park. The park is known for it's huge Saguaro cactus. Those cactus are enormous and have special adaptations to survive in the dry desert. It takes them hundreds of year to become as tall as this
The Gila Woodpecker pecks holes in the Saguaro to make a nest. Other birds use those holes to make their own nests too

This morning we visited the desert museum. A wonderful museum that most of it is outdoors, features the desert wildlife, plants and their adaptations. There are many senior volunteers all around the museum that are excited to share their wide knowledge about nature.
Explaining about the bees and tasting some prickly pear jelly, cactus pads pickles, cactus juice and more

We saw a Harris Hawk free flight show. This species is not local to Arizona but they brought them here anyway, can't remember why (-:
Some other interesting things we saw at the museum

Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge

2009-01-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we visited Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge. As we entered we were welcomed by thousands of migrating snow geese
Those bird are very loud!

After that we stopped by the visitor center. This area of New Mexico is known for its chili peppers and chili chains are hung everywhere.
We took a loop road that goes around a wetland area to watch amazing birds. Some of the birds come for the winter and others stay all year around.

bald eagle
pheasant
We were also there(-:
They grow corn fields especially for the birds to feed. Look for geese between the plants
On the way we passed by Hatch - THE chili capital

Tomorrow we're crossing to Arizona!

White Sands and missiles everywhere

2009-01-06T16:51:00.001-08:00

Until now we're fighting the loads of sand that got into the car, the clothes, shoes, hair and everywhere. It all happened in the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.
But before that we must show you the crazy missile park that we visited yesterday at the missile test area museum. We entered a military base to see the museum. This sign got us a bit worried but everything was ok eventually(-:

and now... to the sand dunes...
We got plastic discs to sled on the sands. Originally it's used for snow. The sand is made of a mineral named gypsum.

That was in stills. In motion pictures - it looks something like that..

We also went on an afternoon stroll in the dunes with ranger Johnny. This Yucca soaptree grows inside the dune. It has a long stem that goes all the way down to the bottom of the dune. The dunes are moving all the time due to wind. They move 1-1.5m a year. Within few years the Yucca plant will be left out of the dune, just as it was before the dune covered it. Because the Yucca is so tall by then, it breaks down and dies.
On the way back we saw an oryx
The nights here are extremely cold (ok, in Israeli terms). Tonight it even snowed! We are managing ok but our water system needs some time to start up in the morning.

star party

2009-01-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

We spent most of the day yesterday in McDonald (not the restaurant, to Adi's big disappointment) Observatory, which is part of Texas university. The observatory is located on a mountain in a remote area so that there's no light to disturb the star gazing.

We joined the day program and heard an explanation about the sun, including solar viewing. We saw real time image of the sun and succeeded to see a pretty big flare! Then we visited the big telescopes they have on site. The biggest one they have has a 270cm (diameter) mirror and the other one we saw was 208cm.
A crack in the wall that opens to the sky
In the afternoon we joined the twilight program where we learned how to use a planisphere
and then we went outside to practice. It was already very cold
At night they have a star party. Everyone gathers at the amphitheater to hear an explanation about the sky tonight
Enlarge the picture below to see Orion constellation
After that there were 6 different telescopes to view different constellations, stars, the moon, Andromeda galaxy and a nebula.
If you're ever in that part of Texas, it is highly recommended to visit. All the staff were nice astronomy nuts that manage to transfer their enthusiasm to the audience. We learned a lot and definitely will be looking more at the stars from now on!

Big Bend national park

2009-01-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

A roadrunner races in front of me
A silent blur in the sand

A finger of light,
Piercing the clouds
Looking for water
To dip itself in

Deep valleys
High mountains

A bird races to the horizon
Disappearing in the endless cliffs,
Towering the sky

by: Aviv Barilan

Big Bend NP lies in the very south of Texas. It's a beautiful desert and Rio Grande river flows across the southern border of the park which is also the border with Mexico.
We arrived to the campground in the afternoon and took a short trail to see the surroundings. We went to the river and to a viewpoint to watch the sun sets.
There was a big flood in the park in October and a lot of mud was washed into the area. Also the trail itself had been washed away

On the next day we took a walk with ranger Rob to learn about the wildlife habitats in the park. We looked into some footprints in the mud. There were bobcats prints, wild pigs, raccoons and beavers.
and followed them all the way to the creek
A branch chopped away by a beaver
Ranger Rob was fun and crazy and has this strange habit of digging into animal's poop. Here for example he found snake scales, fur and bones in a coyote poop.
Swallow nests in the rocks

Purple cactus
By noon, the kids were ready to get their junior ranger badges in the visitor center
From there we went to the next campground in Chisos Basin. Chisos are mountain range, 2,400m high, in the center of the park. The campground is surrounded by the high mountains making it a very special place to spend the night and wander around.
We saw this buck couple of times in the neighborhood

This morning we drove even further south to see Santa Elena Canyon, where Rio Grande river flows. We heard that there's a beautiful trail that goes into the canyon. When we arrived there we were disappointed to find out the the trail was closed - again due to the famous October flood.

We couldn't accept the bad news and decided to see with our own eyes what's wrong with the trail. Apparently there was only a small part of the trail that was washed away
all the rest was in a very good shape!

We love the desert! The sky is so big and the views are spectacular.

Romantic evening in San Antonio

2008-12-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

We arrived to San Antonio sometime around noon - headed into downtown, hoping to find a parking spot. After some time driving around, we decided to park at an abandoned yard just across the street from The Alamo. To avoid the risk of getting fined, we took shifts with another RV that followed us into the park. One stayed guarding while the other went to see The Alamo.
After finishing this "must do" item, we headed to the campground - just 15 minutes from downtown. After settling in, the kids decided that they are NOT going out to see the city. So - with Aviv as a babysitter, we hopped on the bus and went to town - just the two of us.
We visited the Mexican Market

and the highlight was of course - the River Walk, which is a river flowing below street level with zillions of cafes and restaurants.

and the river at night..
We had great stakes at the Saltgrass restaurant (thanks Iddo for the recommendation) and we had great time with our romantic evening.

Today we are heading to the Big Bend National Park. We will probably will be out of communication and internet during the next few days...

Bandera

2008-12-28T20:49:00.000-08:00

נר שמיני של חנוכה

Hee-Haw! We are in Bandera, a cowboys little town that looks like it was taken from an old western movie.
Attorney office
We parked in a campground very close to the town center so we took advantage of that and went out in the evening to the local Bandera Saloon (not before lighting the 8 candles, god forbid). The kids stayed home.
The place was under a thick cloud of smoke and all cowboys sitting in full uniform, drinking beer and having fun watching famous Walt Wilkins greatest hits show. We were the only ones to hear the songs for the first time.
It was a very special experience for us to spend an evening with the locals and get a bit of their culture. Dagan made new friends in no time and here are two of them:

"My horse is parked outside"

Wimberley

2008-12-27T19:51:00.000-08:00

נר שביעי של חנוכה

Today we visited Wimberley, a cute little town in the hill country near Austin. We browsed through many crafts stores and saw this cool tea bag.
Aviv was very excited, because we were supposed to meet Andrea there at noon. Andrea is Aviv's friend from Brazil that now lives in Austin. And finally she arrived with her family - her mom, aunt and her 4 cousins. We had lunch together
Curly fries
and then we went down to the river behind the restaurant to play and run around
After that we all came to the rv to have coffee. We could fit 11 people into our house, that's a new record.

Austin

2008-12-26T19:15:00.000-08:00

נר שישי של חנוכה

On Christmas day we spent the day in a park in Austin area. There was nothing else to do because everything was closed and people stay home with their families. We parked for the night at Wal Mart. We've never seen an empty Wal Mart parking lot before
In the evening we lit the candles. Adi was very excited because the next day we were going to meet his first best friend from school in Brazil.
This morning we drove to meet Raymond, Ricky (Adi's friend) and Isabella. Ricky had no idea that we were coming and as he walked out the house to welcome us he said : "Is this Adi...?" in an unbelieving voice. They were so happy to meet each other after 2 years! All the kids grew up and changed so much. We went out for lunch to a stake house
Raymond's coolest car
On the way back home we stopped by Dell to see where Raymond works
Tomorrow we're meeting Aviv's friend Andrea and her family in the hill country. Another fun day!

Houston, what's the problem?

2008-12-23T16:45:00.000-08:00

נר שלישי של חנוכה

Arriving to Houston, we went directly to check M&J's culinary recommendation for lunch:
It's a very simple restaurant with many choices of meats. We came underdressed since we forgot our boots and cowboy hats at home. The meat was excellent! You can even ask Aviv
Today we visited the space center in Houston. The most interesting part was a visit to the astronauts training facility

and the Saturn V hangar which is a launch vehicle.
This is the Apollo 11 crew before going to the moon
And this is the crew that came back. Can you tell who's missing?
This afternoon as we were looking for a campsite in the campground we came across this little guy in the grass. First time we see a nine-banded armadillo.
Later on we made sufganiot and svivonim

Attention! We have a new quiz on left!

נר ראשון בסגנון עדות המזרח הטקסני

2008-12-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

English below...

ספיישל עבור מישה, פוסט באנגלית קלה במיוחד.
לפני הכל קצת שאריות מלואיזיאנה. בצאתנו מניו אורלינס ראינו שיירה של עגלות קרנבל שלא ברור מאין באו ולאן נסעו. עשינו פרסה במיוחד כדי לעקוב אחריהן ונשברנו לפני כניסה לכביש אגרה. בכל זאת, טיול בתקציב נמוך...

לעת ערב לאביב היה רעיון מבריק. לא רק רעיון, גם ביצוע - להלן מכונה להעברת מחשבות
בצהרי היום חצינו את הגבול לטקסס ועצרנו ב"קנה ובנה" כדי למצוא חומרים לבניית החנוכיה שתכננו בראש. לאחר הרכישה והחיתוך שנעשה במקום, נגשנו לעבודה. עדי על השופין
ודגן במחלקת צבע
וככה זה נראה. מחר יתוספו גם הגלגלים
בערב הכנו לביבות מן המטבח הישראלו-טקסני
והדלקנו נרות. למי שלא מאמין, גם דגן בירך על הנרות. שרנו שירי חג וזללנו לטקס. לקינוח - עוד לטקס, עם סוכר. שימו לב לקישוטי חנוכה בסגנון הגלותי על החלון ברקע.
ועכשיו אני חייבת לרוץ, המטבח הטקסני מחכה לי

חג אורים שמייח!!!

This post is mainly in Hebrew for Hanukkah. I'm adding few words to describe the pictures.
Just before leaving New Orleans we saw spectacular carnival carts. Later at night Aviv had an idea for a "thought transmitting" machine. I was chosen to be the lab rat and I can testify that this machine looks simple but it actually works!
Today in the afternoon we crossed the border to Texas and stopped at Lowes to get supplies for building our dream Menorah. We lit the candles in the evening, sang holiday songs and had traditional food. Now we're looking for a volunteer to wash the dishes.
Happy Hanukkah!

The big easy

2008-12-20T07:47:00.000-08:00

We arrived to Wal Mart, New Orleans early in the morning to park our home. The Wal Mart is next to a police station so it was a safe place. From there we took a cab to the French Quarter (10min) - the old touristic area of the city.
We spent the whole day in the french quarter of New Orleans. Everything we heard about the place came true and we liked it a lot! We started off with the local doughnut called "beignet" in famous Cafe du Monde and a walk on the moonwalk along the Mississippi.
Korean waitresses at the cafe
The cathedral as seen from the moon walk
The small streets and old houses with green balconies are very beautiful, people play music and street preformers in every corner. The locals are very friendly and would indulge in conversation easily. In some cases it was actually impossible to stop them.

Apart from music, they have a very developed voodoo culture and the famous Mardi Gras (fat Tuesday)- a carnival style parade that happens every year in February (same as in Brazil).
Modern voodoo dolls
Masks store

A visit to the insectarium (or like Adi says - bug zoo) features a lot of insects of course, that you can even try out.
Delicious warms for example

We strolled the streets farther deeper in the neighborhood and arrived to places children shouldn't be in.
Just before catching a cab back home, we had another round of beignets, this time we were tired and silly. Maybe we inhaled too much sugar powder(-:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAHAR!!!

3 states in 4 hours

2008-12-18T18:12:00.001-08:00

This morning we woke up in Florida, at noon we washed our clothes in a laundromat in Alabama and here we are in Mississippi for the night, continuing to Louisiana in the morning.
In between we didn't do anything too exciting but schooling, massaging Aviv's feet as part of her birthday present
and taking pictures of hookups for educational purposes.
Electric hookup - connects campground 30amps power to the rv. Used for lights, oven, and outlets. When there's no electric hkp, we turn on the rv noisy generator or use a battery for lights.
Water hookup - connects tap water to the rv's water system (aka city water). When there's no city water, we use water from the rv water tank (60 gallon), using an electric water pump.
Sewer hookup - connects the gray water (sinks and shower) and black water (well, you know...) tanks to the campground sewer system. When there's no sewer hkp, the water stays in the holding tank and we dump it in a dump station. This is Dafi's favorite job!&*#
This control panel helps us to see how we're doing with the different parameters.
Some campgrounds have all 3 hookups and others have only part of them or none. When there are no hookups, it's called "dry camping". We "dry camp" a lot of nights in Wal Mart parking areas.
This was a brief technical review for beginners. Further information will be provided upon request.

Answer to alligator quiz

2008-12-18T09:06:00.000-08:00

The number of gators in the picture is 6! And all of them are gators of course. Crocodiles live in salty water and their nose is different in shape. Thanks to all voters.

St. George Island State Park

2008-12-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

We spent 2 nights on St. George island because of the nice beach and the friendly campground. We were welcomed by this tiny frog as we hooked up to electricity. Apparently its home is in the inner part of the electricity cover. It ran away and the next day we found it exactly at the same spot.
Then we went to check the beach
There were 9 miles of white sand seashore, clear water and thousands of shells

We saw many cardinals. Cathy I bet we saw this particular one in your back yard few months ago(-:
Today the endless amounts of sand in the rv got on our nerves and we moved on the another state park in the panhandle, far from the beach this time.

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It's been a while since I last participated in one of the craftsy challenges on the internet. I like them so much so this month I'm in. The challenge is - create something that is made of fabric and paper. That's my creation for "mixim" monthly challenge, made of felt and paper:
Congratulations to Adi for completing the grade 2 math book! Great job!!

It's Aviv's birthday!!!

2008-12-14T18:36:00.000-08:00

After spending another night at the Lawrence's (we keep coming, it's too hard to say goodbye to them)
we moved on to Manatee Springs state park, in the north-west of Florida. As we arrived there Aviv started working on her birthday cake for the next day.

Later on we went exploring the park. The Suwanee river flows across the park into the Gulf of Mexico. The manatees from the gulf are swimming into the river on winter nights since the springs are warmer. We were surprised to discover that the manatees swim in both salty and fresh water. Well, they are mammals and breath air, so it makes sense. We tried to find them in the river but they didn't come... We did see a lot of black vultures
Vulture style reception

Aviv panicked when she thought she caught a dangerous virus named "Squirreliosis" but eventually she was ok.
Suwanee river in the afternoon

Before going to bed, we decorated the rv for the upcoming b'day
Today Aviv woke up first, all excited about her birthday. We can't believe she's already 12! After a breakfast-in-bed treat, she made a wish and blew the candles

and we went to fulfill the birthday girl's wish for the day - shopping (how surprising).
Picnic-ing on the way
We had dinner at Outback stake house - Aviv's choice for dinner. It made us miss Brazil so much...

Florida quiz

2008-12-11T07:11:00.001-08:00

How many gators can you spot in this picture? Look carefully! Click the image to enlarge it. The use of magnifying glass is limited to visitors above 60 only (-:
!!!Vote in the survey area on the left side of the screen!!!

Shelling in Sanibel

2008-12-11T06:45:00.001-08:00

We spent 3 nights in a perfect campground by Miami.
Then we drove to the west coast of Florida. In one of our tours last week we met a lady that collects shells and she recommended Sanibel island as a good shelling location. We read about shelling in the internet and learned that the best time to go would be 6am, with low tide. So we woke up very early today to be there in time. When we got there, it was still dark because the sun rises only at 6:30. We had breakfast and headed to the beach.
The beach was filled with a great amount shells and conchs in all shapes, colors and sizes.
All you can eat buffet...
A bird "bem diferente", can anyone tell what's the name of this one?
and another one...
And this is our crop for today. All the shells collected are allowed to take home by the state of Florida law. It is only prohibited to take live seashells.

Key West

2008-12-07T17:12:00.000-08:00

We're back from the Keys and we must say it was different than we expected. The views are astonishing, the islands are so beautiful and serene with the blue water and green Mangrove islands. The people in Key West are very laid back and it looks like their favorite thing to do is sitting in pubs and smoking whatever is available at the moment.

Many of the locals we saw had something strange looking pupils and the streets smelled funny. All in all we didn't fall for this town's vibe.
Another hilarious fact is that they have chickens running freely in the streets

A pelican getting his morning exercises

We spent 3 hours in Key West (aka Conch Republic for their secession from the US in 1982) observing loads of tourists and free spirits and then we drove back to the main land. The campgrounds prices were ridiculously high, sometimes higher than a mid-range hotel room.
On the way back we saw some beautiful Mangrove islands of all sizes. They start as a single tree tiny island and then grow to make huge islands that nourish fish underneath and serve as a good place for birds to hide.

QUIZ ANSWER
The false sentence is the first one. Florida's state animal is not an alligator, it's Florida panther !
A new quiz will be published soon.

Everglades National Park

2008-12-05T15:53:00.000-08:00

While staying at the Lawrences, we saw an article in the local newspaper, recommending on a bike trail in Everglades NP, named Shark Valley loop. Yesterday we arrived there, all ready to bike the 24km(!) trail. The area is swampy with sawgrass prairies. As we started going we saw many alligators sunning along the road, making it ever so scary to go through. Adi and Dafi the chickens, got nervous and started to go back towards the car. Dagan and Aviv followed. The terrible story of Steve Irwin came to my mind (Dafi) and I couldn't continue.
Then we met a ranger that said that there was never a problem before and the gators are usually calm with full bellies. We gave it another chance and this time we did the whole trail.
It was a beautiful day and we saw a lot of wildlife, mainly birds and gators. In the pictures: red shouldered hawk and anhinga drying it's wings. Anhingas don't have a fat layer on their wings, a fact that allows them to dive for fishing. Later on they need to spread their wings out to dry in order to fly.

This is a mama-gator with baby-gator on the back
Great blue heron and a Florida giant orange grasshopper

On the way we saw some black vultures circling a swollen gator carcass that was floating in the water (the carcass photo is too gross to blog.)
Tricolored heron

Too many gators

And one Crayfish crossing the road
We are in the Keys right now. The campground prices are crazy high because December is the high season. It's really beautiful here and we'll write about it next time.

Adi is 8 years old in Big Cypress

2008-12-03T16:04:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning we baked a chocolate cake, Adi's choice for a birthday cake. The kids decorated the cake with rainbow sprinkles.
Later that day we arrived to Big Cypress Preserve in south Florida. The preserve is a huge swamp - heaven for birdwatchers and full of "smiling" alligators as well.

We stopped by the visitor center to watch some of the wildlife and to make reservation for a ranger-led canoe trip for the next day. There were no openings and they added us to the waiting list. They said that the chances are slim but that they will call us if something changes. As we arrived to the campsite we found out that there's no cellular signal and we already made different plans for today instead of canoeing. Later at night when Adi fell asleep we decorated the rv for his birthday.This morning Adi woke up first, all excited about his special day. As a special treat he had breakfast in bed. The cake was waiting on the table too.
Then, a ranger in a car stopped by the rv and asked if were the Barilan family. She said that there are openings for the canoe trip and that we have to be there in 30 minutes. We were so happy and thought it would be a special way to celebrate Adi's birthday. We hurried up and made it in time for the meeting point. We split in 2 canoes - Adi with us and Aviv shared a canoe with a ranger and a German guy.
There were another 5 canoes in our group. We paddled along the swamp, watching tens of alligators and hundreds of birds. In the pictures - Herons, Osprey, Water Lili and Gator.

As we went farther south towards the Gulf of Mexico, the water became more salty (at least that's what the rangers said and we believed it) and we saw more and more Mangroves growing in the water. Mangroves are trees that grow in salty water. At some points the Mangroves were so dense that they formed a tunnel above the waterpath and we had to duck all the time. It became impossible to paddle and we navigated by pulling the branches only.
When we got back to the starting point, we took out Adi's cake from the rv and Adi blew the candles and gave out cakes for everyone. The crowed sang happy Birthday in 4 different languages.

Last day at the Lawrence resort

2008-12-01T11:51:00.000-08:00

We had a very busy day yesterday. It started with an exciting Wii Mario Kart challenge
The windy day was perfect to go kiting

Later on at the club the kids built gingerbread houses for the holiday

The leftovers at home
This morning we left the Lawrences. Farewells are always sad and we hope to see them again soon! Thank you Paul, Maureen, Mark, Justin, Allison and Nicole for a wonderful long weekend.

Check out our new Florida quiz.

Sunny Thanksgiving in Florida

2008-11-29T11:32:00.000-08:00

Thursday evening we had our thanksgiving dinner at the Lawrences with a delicious turkey, and fantastic sausage stuffing, made according to the royal secret recipe.

after dinner the kids decorated the tree. It came out beautiful!!!

Friday morning we went RVing! all ten of us jumped into the RV and took a few minutes ride to Philippe Park. We parked the RV in a nice spot and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. We had a great time.

In the afternoon we came back home and had a "make your own pizza" dinner.

That was yesterday (seems like long time ago) . Today we were told to wake-up early (8am) and after breakfast we headed to Clearwater beach. we arrived while you could still see the sand, before rush hour. We enjoy a beautiful day playing on the beach and just relaxing. By the time we left, the place was packed!

and a bonus photo of our nice neighbors...

That's it for today. On tomorrow's schedule we have... bowling and more.

Thanksgiving day with the Lawrences

2008-11-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

We arrived to the Lawrences last night (we planned to see them only today morning but we just couldn't wait). It took few minutes for the kids (6 all together) to play together and forget that we even exist.

We woke up early this morning, went waiting to Paul - our representative-runner in the "10K Turkey Trot" finish line.
We went home to have branch and start the preparations for Thanksgiving dinner. Paul and Maureen arranged for us a 15 pound turkey. let's see if it will be enough...

After putting the bird in the oven we went to see their new house (a palace will be better definition). We will have to come again when it will be ready!
and from there - to the Christmas tree show

on the way back home we couldn't ignore the line (or maybe campground is the right definition) next to Best Buy, getting ready to the 4am opening on black Friday. They are there since Wednesday!!!!
about thanksgiving dinner - later on.

St. Augustine

2008-11-24T19:54:00.000-08:00

Today we visited another historic city, St. Augustine, just that this time it's Spanish. The first settlers came here in 1565. Right after entering the gate to the old city, there are many old houses, old school, old drugstore and so on. In between them there are arts and crafts stores and restaurants. Very touristic.
Spanish architecture
A garden behind a store

We enjoyed the city but 3 miles away we found the real thing...
Florida beach!!!
Our campsite for tonight and tomorrow night
We have new decorative lights (hanging on the tree), ho ho ho...

lazy day in Okefenokee

2008-11-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

We slept in today and then walked the Trembling Earth trail on a boardwalk over the swamp

A butterfly on the jeans and some trees with beards

Later on we cleaned the house
and played Nintendo DS
For school we learn the Hebrew alphabet. The kids drew and put the letters on the wall

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MAZAL TOV I & H

new!!!

2008-11-21T20:21:00.000-08:00

Every week we will have a multiple choice quiz on the left hand side of the screen. The right answer will be published in few days. Don't hesitate to vote! Every voice counts!

Together as one world - YES WE CAN!

Okefenokee wildlife refuge

2008-11-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

Okefenokee, meaning in Indian "the land of the trembling earth" is a huge swamp in Georgia. The name comes from unique islands that "grow" in the swamp. They're made of peat and are floating on water. They can get thick enough for humans to walk on. We arrived here late morning. On the way here the kids "flew" first class
We found a very nice campsite (that's very easy, all of the campgrounds are empty these days)By the campsite we saw a lot of does and deer

We took a guided tour in a boat on the swamp, between thousands of Cypress trees, some of them 900 years old. The trees has a kind of beard which is a plant hanging from them, called Spanish moss. It's a kind of Bromelia actually.
The water is packed with Alligators just that it's too cold for them to come up and they stay deep in the water. We did see a lot of wildlife though - turtles, vultures and other birds

The tourists with our guide Carina

to Georgia

2008-11-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

Dagan woke up extra early today to watch the sunrise
We drove south to Georgia, crossing many bridges and marsh lands.
When we arrived to Georgia we stopped in Savannah, another historic city. We strolled along the streets and came across an old synagogue from 1733. As we entered we met Niel. When he heard we were Israelis he gave us a tour inside the synagogue and the small museum upstairs. The interior and exterior look a lot like a church actually, built in a Gothic style. It was originally built as a synagogue though.
In the museum there's a Spanish Torah scroll from the 14 hundreds and many other interesting exhibits
We learned that there are 4,000 Jews in Savannah, most of them arrived from England before the revolutionary war. There are 3 synagogues in Savannah and the one we visited is reform. We thanked Niel and for lunch he recommended on a certain pizza place in the market.
In the market, waiting for "Vinnie Van Gogo's" pizza to open. We also saw lots of art galleries in the market area. There's a big art and design college in Savannah.

The pizza was excellent!!!

We saw some more of the city until it became too dark and cold. This is the city hall

As for the results of last night experiment - the temperature never dropped below zero and the water never froze. BUT, we do know that squirrels prefer sweet water!! This is what we found in the morning...

Hello friend

Hunting Island

2008-11-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

This is Dagan's home made coffee capsule dispenser. He designed and built it together with Adi few days ago. Also in the picture is one of my new tea mugs from Starbucks
This morning we rode the bike to the nature center of Hunting Island state park. On the way we stopped for some shell hunting on the beach

An interesting fact about the island is that natural forces of erosion constantly change the the island's shape. The island gets smaller all the time because of those heavy tides. We saw few houses that had to be demolished as they were no longer on land. This house used to be a coffee shop on the beach. It's completely in water now
In the nature center we heard about reptiles and for "dessert" we got to hold a corn snake. First time a snake crawls on us. It wasn't that bad actually (Cathrine, skip the next 3 pictures!) It was a cold day and the snake felt cold. It seemed that he liked our warm body temperature.

On the way back we ended up riding the bike on a busy road with narrow shoulders. It became very windy and dangerous to continue. We got off the bikes and started walking reluctantly. A couple in a car going the opposite way pulled over and the guy asked if we would like to get a ride back to the campground (about 3km away). We hesitated because we didn't know those people and we had the bikes with us too. The guy, named Calvin, was so kind, he took us back with the kids' bikes and then he took Dagan again to get the adults bikes. This lovely Canadian couple did us a great favor and we were so grateful. Dagan with Calvin

Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop to -2. We took the opportunity to do a scientific experiment. Aviv prepared 3 bowls with 3 types of water - sweet, fresh and salty. We placed them outside and we'll see tomorrow morning if the water will freeze

Survivng a twister and safe in Charleston

2008-11-17T17:03:00.000-08:00

We survived our first twister in North Carolina! The tornado ripped about 40 mobile homes (just like ours) and 8 people were killed. We only found out about it yesterday(-:

Anyway we are in South Carolina already, enjoying the beautiful beaches and sun. We saw hundreds of golf and mini-golf courses and thousands of super size gift shops.
We spent yesterday and today in Charleston, South Carolina. A charming historical city from 1670, telling the story of the Civil War and slavery. There are lots of old houses and historical landmarks along the streets, cute little shops, good food and surprisingly (or not)... many Israelis that live there. For dinner we had delicious sea food and sure enough, the owner of the place is an Israeli guy. They serve boiled peanuts and scallops in grits

As we went on eating, Aviv's tooth fell out (Adi suggests it's because of the tornado)
This morning we strolled around downtown. This is a civil-war submarine from 1860 that used by the southern forces fighting the north blockade. It was found in the ocean in 1995.
Some of the old houses

The old and vibrant covered market, where they sell hand weaved sweetgrass baskets

Waterfront park - Adi has to touch everything
This picture shows the waterfront marshCool swings in the park
Spot the dolphin in this picture

North Carolina

2008-11-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

After one sunny day it started raining in NC. The good news - it's very warm here and we can do a lot in the breaks in between rains so we like it. We also like the challenge of deciphering the southern drawl(-:

The kids cuddling up on a rainy day
We took a 2.5 hour ferry ride from Ocracoke to Cedar Island. We found out that Nuvi, our GPS navigator has vocabulary we never heard it saying before, like "board ferry ahead"
It was so cool having our house on board. We played games, read and had lunch while the ferry was struggling the stormy weather outside.

We fell in love with NC beaches. Each time the rain stops we take the opportunity to visit another beach.

It's Friday night and the house smells of challah that just came out of the oven. Shabat Shalom!

It all flies in the Outer Banks

2008-11-12T18:56:00.001-08:00

One of our biggest surprises of the trip are the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The outer banks is a 320km chain of narrow sand dune islands, as shown in the picture. The banks are located off the shore of North Carolina. Some of the islands are connected by bridges and others have ferries running between them.
In Kill Devil Hills, a village in the north of the outer banks, took place the first flight of the Wright brothers in 1903. Today the place is a national monument. Living in Brazil, we often heard from Brazilians that Santos Dumont was the first one to ever fly a plane in 1906 in France. Another Brazilian-American dispute. Who are we to judge... Aviv with Mr. Dumont (wearing hat)
The plane replica
The monument on the hillThe brothers owned a bike shop in Ohio and were gadget geeks. After a lot of work and research they came up with their winning plane model. They had 4 successful flights in the same day, the longest lasted 59 seconds, 260m (they took off and landed at leveled area). Luckily, the brothers didn't own an electric appliances shop or we would have flown flying toasters until this very day.
Aviv is learning about the brothers
Adi takes off and follows the plane routeNext stop was at the Pea Island national wildlife refuge. This time of year thousands of migrating birds stop by for a swim around the island.

Among them - flying turtle and rabbit

Across from the refuge we saw a civil war shipwreck. Too bad ships in the 19th century weren't able to fly...
And look what happened to the poor shark who tried to fly
All in all we had a great sunny day in nature - just the way we like it!

Washington DC

2008-11-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

From the Koplitz's house we walked to the nearby metro station to catch a train to dc. We liked the "kiss&ride" drop off zone sign

We got off the train in the national Mall to see all the memorials, museums and the Capitol. We visited the museum of natural history

The sculpture garden
Strolled in the streets

It was great to see for real all those places that we see so many times in movies and pictures. Feels like we've already been there in a way.
In the air and space museum Dagan won a paper plane contest

In memory space shuttle Columbia and Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut on board

This morning we said goodbye to our kind hosts Peggy and Bill and moved on to North Carolina. Thank you P&B for everything!

Shenandoah National Park

2008-11-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

We spent 2 days in this beautiful park. The only road that runs through the park is Skyline Drive. Along the road there are many overlooks and trails with stunning views of the Shenandoah valley.

We hiked

We rode the bike to the visitor center so that the kids could complete their junior ranger program
On the way back it was almost dark and a deer almost crashed into Adi's bike
When we looked closer we saw another 3 deer in the same place. They were looking for food inside the campground area.

We thought we were going to skip Washington DC and go south since we had enough of big cities and it's getting cold. BUT we received a very kind and irresistible invitation to stay with the Koplitz family, close to DC. We arrived to DC this afternoon.
Peggy and Bill took us for a first 'tasting' tour in the city tonight (pics taken by Bill, with his super camera)
So here we are, in Washington, ready to explore it tomorrow.

Delaware to Virginia

2008-11-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

In Delaware we took a nice morning walk around Lums Pond. On the way we came across this colorful spider. Looks hazardous...
We continued to Maryland and stopped for the night in another park. It rained until the next day non-stop, so we just kept on going toward Virginia to meet, that's right, another one of Misha's cousins. On the way we visited Wallop - NASA rocket launching facility and visitor center.

We had lunch in a great seafood restaurant. On the wall there was a world map hanging, with coins and bills from many countries. They already had Brazilian and Israeli bills so Misha donated Israeli coins and the kids had the honor taping them to the map
We crossed Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel from Delmarva peninsula to Virginia. The bridge tunnel is 20 mile long. The bridge part of it goes above the ocean and there are 2 artificial islands where the road goes into a tunnel underneath the water. Scary to think you're driving under the ocean. The weather was pretty bad and later we heard that the day before it was closed due to bad weather conditions.
Cousin Dorothy is living in Norfolk, a city known for its naval's largest station. Right behind Dorothy's house there's a naval museum where a huge battleship is parking.
We spent the night by the waterfront near Dorothy's apartment
This morning we went up for breakfast (while the kids were still asleep)
After breakfast we said goodbye to Misha. He took a bus to Washington DC and we went west to Shenandoah. The sun came out and it became warm finally! We're expecting a nice weekend in this area.

Election day in Delaware

2008-11-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

We're staying in a beautiful state park in Delaware (Biden's state). We can't get enough of the fall colors, the views are breathtaking.

On the way we saw a bus for change
At night we played scrabble while watching the CNN live news, following the voting results
A special chocolate cake for the new president, still hot

A guided tour in the UN

2008-11-03T17:29:00.001-08:00

Ronen was waiting for us today to show us around the UN building. He started off by putting on a tie with a little help from a colleague (doesn't it look like Clinton and Rabin back in the day?)
Explaining about the UN goals and achievements
Misha's new position in the Security Council chamber
Adi is listening to an imaginary simultaneous interpretation in the General Assembly hall
Finally we had lunch at their dining room. The food was ok, I bet the food in the kibbutz is way better(-:
The visit was very interesting and we learned a lot about the UN organization and functions. Having Ronen as our guide was a real treat and we felt sort of VIP for a moment.

Tomorrow is election day. Propaganda is all around the streets, the media is overloaded with Barack and McCain. In this part of the US it seems like Obama is the favorite candidate and we hear many Americans saying that if McCain gets elected they'll consider moving out of the US. Let's see what happens tomorrow...

Manhattan

2008-11-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

It's our 3rd day in Manhattan and we're still surviving the big city. Our big thanks to Aviva and Hillel who made it possible for us. We stayed with them and took the bus to the big apple. They really made us feel home and the kids were all ready to accept the "challenge". Here they're snuggling in their living room in front of the tv.
Yesterday morning the kids were helping Hillel to clean the falling leaves from the backyard. Adi had a special role as a leave compressor.
We said good bye to our wonderful hosts in NJ and moved to an rv park closer to Manhattan. In the big city we've been to all the popular sites again, just that this time it was with the kids for the first time.
In the toy store, Dagan was trying to beat the sales person in solving Rubik cube. The dude was much faster but Dagan gave a good fight (-:
The ice rink in Bryant Park is already active, even though the weather was nice and warm.
We've visited all the "classics"

and had lunch in Chelsea Market, "foodies" favorite spot.

The original plan was to leave NY this morning and go south. Plans changed when we met Ronen and Lihi for dinner last night and Ronen invited us to a guided tour (by himself) in the UN.

Halloween in New Jersey

2008-10-31T18:06:00.000-07:00

We are staying with Misha's Israeli cousins Aviva and Hillel, third cousins visit in a row. They are living in New Jersey and we're having the best time, including Israeli tv, food and the easiest language in the world, Hebrew. In the morning the kids and Dagan dressed up the rv for Halloween.
The kids also got dressed up and all ready for trick or treating.
There are tens of kids in the neighborhood and they were all out in the streets this afternoon, looking for candy. The costumes we liked most were the bananas and strawberries

Aviv and Adi went trick or treating and came back with loads of candy
Later we had a yummy dinner, cooked by chef Aviva

Cousins in New York

2008-10-31T09:17:00.000-07:00

On our last day in Rhode Island there was a serious storm (at least for us it seemed so) and we had to spend the entire day indoors. We had to be creative and so we started getting ready for Halloween by preparing masks.
The next day the weather was better and we continued to New York to visit some more cousin. On our way we saw some of the storm damages
We arrived to New York and met Betsy, Jaime and their son Alex. Their 2 beautiful huge dogs Max and Sam welcomed us at the door. We later found out that they also have 3 cats.
We arrived in the evening and before we knew it, Adi was helping Betsy with cooking, making brownies.
Betsy and Misha are excited to see each other
Alex with his paintball gun (or marker as he prefers to call it).

Before bed time the kids had a visit
The next morning we said goodbye and went on to our next cousins, Aviva and Hillel in New Jersey.

Cape Cod and Rhode Island

2008-10-27T14:37:00.000-07:00

Cape Cod was very foggy in the morning and we drove up to Provincetown at the very tip of the cape. We walked on rocks into the sea all the way to the end. By the time we were back the sun was out so we took the bike and rode to downtown Provincetown.

This quaint town is very cool and touristic. It was the last weekend before the season's over until May 2009 and all the shops and restaurants were on sale or closed already.

Today we are in Rhode Island. We visited the famous mansions of Newport. The "Cliff walk" passes between those beautiful huge palaces and the ocean.
We're staying tonight in a state park in Rhode Island and it's so pretty here that we're considering staying another night.

Boston to Cape Cod

2008-10-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

On our last day in Boston we biked along a part of the Emerald Necklace - a series of around 10 parks. We went from Back Bay to Jamaica Plains.
It was a Friday, so we made challahs in the evening

They were ready very late so the kids had them for breakfast today
Then we said good bye to Jessica and Noa and headed to the airport to pick up Misha. While waiting we saw this creepy car ready for Halloween.
Misha arrived just on time and we were all very happy to meet grandpa.
From there we continued to Cape Cod to meet Misha's cousins Ellen and Gary. It was the first time they ever meet and everybody was very excited. Misha brought with him the family tree book he prepared and they sat down to work on it immediately
Ellen and Gary, lovely couple.
We stayed for a yummy dinner and then moved on to a campground
It was a great opportunity to meet with new relatives. We had a wonderful time!

Boston

2008-10-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

The bigger the city the bigger the challenge for us to visit it is. Here in Boston Jessica and Marc make it possible for us to enjoy the city as they take such a good care of us. For the weekend we parked the rv by their house. On weekdays we park not far from there.
Last night we met Beth that we haven't seen for 3 years. We had a lot of catching up to do and we did it in this fabulous old fashion pizza and bowling place - Milky way. It's a different kind of bowling - candlepin bowling. The pins are thinner and the balls are smaller so it's easier for the kids to play. We had a great time!

In the morning we heard someone knocking at the rv door. We were sure that one of the neighbors didn't like us staying for the night by his house. It had been a good surprise to find out that Marc came to visit with some fresh croissants for breakfast. Later on when Dagan was unable to start the engine (again), we went to replace the battery.

When the rv was alive again, we took the train downtown to walk along the Freedom trail. The trail is marked by a red line along the sidewalks and passes through 16 significant historical sites. It's a good opportunity to get an impression of the amazing architecture and history of Boston.

We followed the trail until we got to Faneuil Hall, where we stopped to rest and have lunch. The market was packed with people and good food. Everything looked tempting but we knew we wanted a traditional clam chowder which was superb.From there we went to the aquarium, where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
In the evening Noa, Aviv and Adi carved pumpkins for Halloween
And the jackolanterns 'in action'!

Camden

2008-10-19T11:36:00.000-07:00

We spent our last day in Maine in Camden, a cute touristic town. We stayed in Camden Hills state park. In the park we drove up Mt. Battie to a scenic vista point to see the town, harbor and surrounding islands.
On top of the mountain there's a small tower to climb and see a bit farther.

In the town we visited the harbor, the small shops and rested in the park. Of course we had another farewell lobster sandwich

We're in Boston now, staying with Jessica, Marc and Noa, having fun!

Maine lobsters

2008-10-16T20:54:00.000-07:00

This morning we left Acadia right after the kids got their junior ranger badges. Here's their pledge video

For lunch we had to check if Maine lobsters are really as good as everyone says. There are lots of places to eat lobsters all around but this particular restaurant drew our attention because of the big boiling cauldrons at the front. They are selling boiled lobsters to go.

We chose to sit in the restaurant (rather than taking the beast with us). We ordered the smallest lobsters, 1.25 pound each.
Aren't they cute?

We started cracking and digging into them and they were SO fresh and delicious. Definitely the best ones we've ever had!
I found the shell very useful for upcoming Halloween

Acadia National Park, Maine

2008-10-16T12:38:00.001-07:00

We picked up Ori in the airport in NH and we headed to Acadia NP in Maine. We spent a night on the way in one of the few campgrounds that are still open this time of year. For a change, the weather was warm enough to have dinner outside.
The next afternoon we arrived to the park, straight to the campground.
Since we arrived early, there was time for some scrapbooking

The next morning we woke up extra early to make it on time to watch the famous sunrise from Mt. Cadillac summit . The clock's alarm didn't go off but Dagan somehow managed to wake up just in time to start the engine and go. On the 20min ride we all got out of bed and dressed up. We arrived in time to see this breathtaking sunrise. It was very cold and windy though. The park is located on an island in the east most part of the USA and therefore we were the first ones to see the sun in the whole US.
We weren't the only crazy ones to wake up early. We were embarrassed to take out our camera next to those professional photographers.
After that we parked in front of this spectacular view to have breakfast. The park is surrounded by many smaller islands and cruise ships among them.
Most of the park lands were donated by people who used to own it in the past. There are still people who live very close to the park in very nice houses
Next we joined a guided hike to Mt. Gorham. Ranger Alexa was our guide. This hike counted toward the kid's junior ranger program activities.
On the way back Ori was modeling the latest 2008 fall fashion

We spent the afternoon on this beach, strolling along the tide pools or reading a book

New Hampshire

2008-10-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Crossing the border took the longest this time, about an hour. One of the officers searched the rv and found 3 suspicious avocados from a Mexican origin. He complimented us about how clean the rv was. Beside that they looked up their computers to check our history of entrances and exits in and out of the US. Eventually they let us go even though they didn't like the fact that we don't have a return ticket.
Without planning or knowing we arrived to NH for a holiday weekend, Columbus Day. Apparently this is the busiest weekend in the fall season, as everyone is out and about to see the spectacular foliage. To be honest it is very pretty here. We were busy escaping traffic jams and found ourselves next to this gorgeous river. It looked like the perfect place and time for lunch break.
Tomorrow we're picking up Ori at the airport and he's going to stay with us for about a week. It's the first time that we have a guest to stay with us for that long. We're looking forward to the experiment!

Quebec City

2008-10-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

From Montreal we arrived to Quebec City after spending the night in a beautiful campground under the falling maple leaves.We found out that Quebec City has good bike trails so we took advantage of that and rode 8km to get to the touristic part of the old city. The trail we took passes along a river and then the port.

Arriving at the old city, we took the funicular to go up to the upper town. The old city is known for its old beautiful castles and citadel.
Château Frontenac, said to be the most photographed hotel (in the world or something...)
We strolled between the old city's narrow and artsy alleys and on top of the city walls.

The weather was beautiful and then in a matter of seconds clouds covered the sky and it started raining so hard that we had to stop at McDonald's for lunch. Guess who was very happy... By the time we were done it was nice again and we walked along a panoramic promenade, looking at the river. Before we knew it, it started raining again, sleet this time. The best shelter in the area was a phone booth.
When the sun was out again this beautiful rainbow came out
And the most photographed Château, from a different angle
We rode the 8km back to the rv. We arrived after dark and slept tight!

last day in Montreal

2008-10-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

We're back after solving a technical problem with the modem.
Together with the Elblings we visited Andy Warhol exhibition in Montreal museum of fine arts. It was a very good one, threw us back in time to the 60's.

Autumn leaves
Later in the evening Gabriel came for a sleepover in the supermarket parking area(-: The kids were excited

The following morning the Elblings came over to pick up Gabriel and to have a farewell breakfast. From there they continued to south Ottawa and we went north bound to Quebec City. We succeeded to squeeze 6 adults and 3 kids into the rv and serve breakfast.

We had great time with our friends and it was sad to say goodbye. We hope to meet again soon!