Roadtrip Blog: April 2008

Saturday, April 26, 2008

The End

Home.

Once again, within minutes of 24 hours. A hard but clean run, everyone is exhausted, but very glad to be home.

The dogs were glad to see us, and Dylan glad to be relieved of his pet duty.

Mom and Dad both way overdue for naps. Amanda for checking her myspace.

Entering mass.. Getting close. Everyone

Entering mass.. Getting close. Everyone tired & punchy.

Chesapeake house. brk & switch.

Chesapeake house. quick break & switch.

Starbucks closed... Crystal got coffee (BK) and drove

feel it getting closer. late.

Fuel & switch. Just south of Richmond...

Friday, April 25, 2008

Fayetteville rest area switch.

South of the border... no stopping this time.

After several attempts Amanda captured her shot of the South Carolina Sunset.

Break, chow, & top off. Lake marion.

Slow-down in sc, traffic or accident...

turned out to only last a few minutes.

Entering south carolina... Jen napping.

Entering south carolina... Jen napping. Kids watching movie on laptop. Mom driving, dad reading.

Georgia line, p break, switch

Georgia line, p break, switch drivers. There was short stop b4 jax. Topped off. Diff route about a wash.

11.45 p break... Land o

11.45 p break... Land o lakes.

New Hampton Suites....

1050am Jenn asleep maybe she will sleep the entire trip home!

Ready to go...

Ready to go home! Goodbye Condo and Sarasota. We'll be back soon....

Sink bath before we go.

This one goes out to little Herbie Kilroy. Thought of you in Sarasota..

Thursday, April 24, 2008

After some serious negotiation from the kids on Wednesday night we decided that if everyone wanted to go we would indeed take one more shot at Busch Gardens. The tickets were still good and believe it or not there were still some things we hadn't seen so off we went.
The first stop was Dragon Land for the little ones. Justin didn't waste too much time getting into the water. He and Jenn had a few more spins on the small rides.
We also had the opportunity to see the Pirates 3D movie that we had missed. That was fun for all, except poor Jen who was asleep when we went in and woke up while we were getting sprayed by mean old Captain Lucky.
Crystal decided that she was going to take the Shiek-Ra challenge and went for it. She did great, and you can see her and Amanda below in the front row all the way over on the right. She rode it at least twice and I think was glad she did. Amanda was eager to try it a few more times, and even went on once herself. The lines were longer this day than they had been in the first two days so we had to pick and choose where we went, but by the end of the day things thinned out and everyone got to ride what they wanted at least once.
The Congo River Rapids were cool, and Amanda, Justin and I got SOAKED as we went through the waterfalls. That was ok because it was HOT.
The best part of this day was the Bird House. We entered and realized that we could hold the birds (if they would land on us) and the kids really had fun. A few landed on the girl's heads, and Justin did get one nip, but in all it was a really cool interactive experience.
Everyone was glad we went back for the last day, and while sad... I think we were ready to start thinking about the homeward trek on Friday.

On tram to parking lot C . Goodbye busch gardens hope to see u in

October!

Waiting 4 the tram 2 get back to the truck from Busch Gardens.

Hanging out in dragon land

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Wednesday Ringling Museum and Beach

Wednesday morning we headed off for some culture at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. This place was great, despite a moment of skepticizm at the start we all had a great time and really enjoyed the exhibits that we were able to visit.
The model of the Circus was really spectacular. I think everyone got a kick out of how big and detailed the whole set up was. From a model standpoint, it may be the best I've ever seen. There were so many cool things to see in both of the Circus buildings and we spent quite a while there. Justin really liked the Cannon Truck for the Human Cannonball.
The Museum grounds were really nice. Crystal got some good pics of the awesome Banyan Trees. We also had a quick lunch at the Cafe just under some of the spreading branches. Justin took some nice pics in the beautiful rose garden on the way. The pic below was by him.
We all liked the Mansion Ca d'Zan and took some good shots outside on the sprawling patios. We stopped at the museum shop for a clown nose on the way out and skipped the larger art exhibit halls for the soft white sands of Siesta Key. Dad forgot the camera in the truck but managed to capture some more of the beach fun with the phone-cam. Justin is becoming an expert Sandcastle Contractor, and Jenn is really enjoying the beach with all of us.
By the time we got back to the condo there was still enough light and time for another quick dip in the pool, and everyone however tired went in for a few minutes.
Justin even did some good arial work.... see below.