He called around and found a place that could replace the tire the next day. If they could get it done early enough, we could still get some driving in the next day. We were in a rush to get to Connecticut and a hurricane was bearing down on the East Coast so timing was crucial.

We had dinner that night at The Pufferbelly, which is located in an old fire house. The food was excellent and we had a great time! The next morning, we got up and drove the RV to the truck repair place. The manager and employees were super nice. We were going to buy a new set of tires before our big trip in January anyway so we decided to go ahead and have it done then, since another tire had problems as well. We had two blowouts a few years ago and I never, ever want to experience that terror again!

We took our tow vehicle for breakfast and, while we were eating, I thought I heard a guy yelling “TAXI!” outside. I looked up and he was standing outside the restaurant, looking up, apparently to a window above the restaurant. And, he was actually yelling, “LEXI!” He kept yelling for her and I guess she kept ignoring him. Perhaps young men who are trying to attract young ladies should wear shirts?

After breakfast, Richard called the repair place and learned the RV was all fixed! With had six new truck tires and we were $2,000 poorer…

We hit the road to see how far East we could get by dusk. I love driving through upstate New York and it was a beautiful afternoon. We don’t gamble but Richard was curious about what’s reported to be a really nice campground at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York. I called and they were available so we stopped there.

We unpacked and called the shuttle to pick us up to take us to the casino for dinner. They told us to wait at the end of our road for the shuttle that it would be there in 5 minutes. What they didn’t tell us is that we’d get eaten alive by mosquitoes. As they started buzzing, we started walking (quickly!) to the campground office in an attempt to stay ahead of the buzzing, hoping we’d meet up with the shuttle (we didn’t). I kept Mason busy by telling him to “call the bats.” I figured there must be plenty of them with all those mosquitoes buzzing at dusk. Mason started making kissing sounds with his mouth and saying, “Bat! Here bat!” Within a few minutes, sure enough, a bat swooped by, having his dinner. What a treat! We also saw several Canada Geese in V formations, flying low. So, despite the bug bites, it was a very unique stroll!

We arrived at the campground office and they once again called the shuttle. That time, they showed up very quickly. We walked into the casino and it was very impressive. Max could see all the slot machines in the distance and said, ‘I wish I was 18!”

Dinner was quite interesting! I’ll tell you all about that next time.

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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The windshield wipers (they keep stopping in the middle of the window when you turn them off)

The quarter-panel on the passenger side (it came loose and is currently being held on with duct tape)

The slides (they are squeaking, and probably need a good greasing)

The air conditioner (the filters need to be changed)

And, the big one – our big plug that we use when plugging into the power at a campground is…melting. Yes, you read that right.

The other day, when Richard’s friend, Chris, was visiting us at the RV in Racine, the power kicked off. That happens sometimes but usually when we do something dumb, like trying to run the air conditioner and the microwave at the same time. We figured that was what had happened so Richard threw the breaker and everything came back on and we didn’t give it another thought.

On Friday, when we arrived at our next stop in Frankenmuth, MI, it was quite warm and we plugged in and ran the air conditioner with no trouble. That night, however, the power went out. Richard discovered everything was off when he got up the next morning. The next afternoon, it was off again. Richard threw the switch and it came back on again, but only for a few minutes so Richard called the campground office. They came out and took a look. Richard had already noticed our plug was starting to melt. It was a Saturday and nobody nearby would be available to replace the end of that plug for us. We did buy a converter so we could plug into the 50 amp plug but we couldn’t risk a fire by continuing to use the air conditioner. We could run everything else without the plug getting hot but not the A/C. It was around 92 at the time so we did what any normal family would do. We went to an air conditioned restaurant for dinner.

This is how hot the RV gets on the outside while parked in direct sunlight (which is why we like SHADED campground spots!).

After dinner, we walked to the park and the boys played until sunset.

By then, it was cool enough to just run the fan in the RV with the windows open. (Our neighbors were playing 80′s music outdoors and that was a treat.) After midnight, it dipped down into the upper 50′s and we actually needed quilts the rest of the night. We got up bright and early and hit the road because we can run the air conditioner all day as long as the generator is on. And, we can run the generator on the highway, but not at a campground (because neighbors would complain about the noise).

After dinner, Max, Mason and I all started having stomach cramps. Max’s stomach had been cramping before dinner a bit so it wasn’t that meal in particular but we obviously all had a mild case of travelers diarrhea. I was up for a few hours (ug) and racked my brain but couldn’t figure out what the three of us ate/drank that Richard didn’t. By morning, we were all feeling just fine, thank goodness.

We are currently racing down the highway somewhere in Ohio. We stopped at a crowded rest-stop for gas and lunch. Mason wanted one item in particular. We stood in line for 10 minutes waiting to order, and then another 10 minutes to pick up the order…and then Mason decided he didn’t want to eat it (sigh…). On the tollway after that, Richard took out an orange cone but it’s been otherwise uneventful day. Concerned about the incessant heat and our lack of air-conditioning while parked, Richard had me check the weather for our next three city stops.  We ended up with another major mechanical problem as well. More on that later in the week!

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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My wonderful husband, who always spoils me rotten, rerouted us to Frankenmuth, MI on our way home, which added about 240 miles total to our trip. When we arrived there on Friday evening, I said, “Gosh, honey, I hope that sweater store is still here!” Heh…

On Saturday morning, we set off to once again explore that beautiful (and very touristy) town. First stop was lunch. Second stop? The sweater store – yes, it was still there! It only took me a few minutes to find another fine sweater, strong, hand-made, and ready to keep me warm on cold Maine winter nights for another seven years!

Mason thinks my new sweater makes a great Obi-Wan Kenobi costume.

I told the lady at the cash register about our long trip to get my new sweater. She was quite amused…before telling us about their website.

Oh, sure, I knew they had a website but I wasn’t going to spend that much money on one article of clothing that may or may not fit if ordered by mail. And, I needed to feel the sweater to ensure it was super soft. I had to be there in person.

We spent the rest of the day shopping (mainly for our adult children – the “big kids” – back home).

I was going to buy this jar of Morel Mushrooms for our daughter, Ali, who’s majoring in Culinary Arts…until I saw the $49.95 pricetag.

It got progressively hotter as the day wore on and I got a heat headache that pounded my right temple in rhythm to my pulse. It was time to head back to the RV, which is when we discovered we had a bit of an electrical problem…and no air conditioning due to a melting power plug. More on that tomorrow…

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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I took the boys inside while Richard finished pumping the gas. I ordered Mason’s “sammie” (that’s what he calls a flatbread, cheese sandwich) and Max’s usual, a “ham, salad and pickles sandwich” (salad means lettuce). I then ordered a toasted veggie for myself and the guy helping me got all bent out of shape when I told him which veggies I wanted before I told him which cheese I wanted. He made some crack about me getting ahead of myself. I was confused and said, “What?” At that moment, Richard walked up behind us.

With even more attitude, the Subway employee sighed and replied with something like, “You’re talking about something that’s down the line.

I realized he was giving me, the customer, lip so I raised my voice and said, “Look, I’m just trying to order lunch for my children. I don’t need attitude while I’m doing that.”

He didn’t say another word (and it’s a good thing he didn’t!). I looked back at Richard, who is the polar opposite of me when it comes to confrontation, and I’m pretty sure he was pretending he didn’t know me at that moment…until Mason turned around in my arms and said, “Hi, Daddy!” Heh…

We spent a few hours driving through Pennsylvania, which I love. The rolling hills and quaint farms are beautiful. If you venture onto the back roads, you’re likely to see one of these:

Whenever I see a sign like this I just wanna buy a quilt and eat some pickled beets!

Several miles down the highway, we hit some construction. Richard was driving very slowly and I was sitting in the passenger seat, formatting an author’s book, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A nice old lady was motioning to me. I opened the window and she said, “Your steps are down.” I thanked her profusely, got up, and turned them “off”, causing them to retract. They have previously done that automatically when we turn the engine on so that’s something we’ll need to add to the maintenance list. It was very nice of that woman to take the time to alert us because those steps are brand spanking new and it would be a shame to have to replace them yet again.

We had to replace them two weeks ago because, um, I was backing the RV out of the driveway and, er, the steps didn’t retract then either and, uh, I kinda hit the railroad ties and the steps bent badly and broke, getting wedged firmly into the wood. I should have taken a picture that day of Matt and Richard using a crowbar on those steps to try to straighten the metal. Richard was not terribly pleased with me on that day. That was even worse than the day I ran the entire side of the canopy along a huge tree. Heh… (See last picture HERE.)

When we finally arrived at the campground that night, the boys were getting restless. Right next to the campground office was a lake with a dock, a sand beach, and a slide in the water. Oh boy, were the boys thrilled! We quickly put on our shorts and sandals and headed for the water.

Max contemplating whether to keep going up…or to go back down.

Mason was admiring the sand castle built by a previous lake visitor.

They played there for about an hour before they decided they wanted to go to the park. We went back to the RV to put on dry clothes and then we walked to the park.

There was a sweet little girl there, probably around 6 or 7 years old, who approached Mason and said, “Would you like to play with me? I’m playing time portals and I need help getting back home. Right now, I’m stuck with the dinosaurs!”

Mason had NO idea what she was talking about but he was very pleased to play along. About 15 minutes later, she ran up to me and said, “There was a bee in his hair. I told him not to touch it but he did and he got stung.”

I looked at Mason who was just standing there holding his thumb. He sure didn’t look stung to me! I asked him if he got stung. He said yes and I inspected his thumb. Sure enough, there was a tiny hole there. He’d never been stung by a bee before so we walked back to the RV so we could treat it and keep an eye on him. I had a bad reaction to a bee sting when I was a little girl so I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to have any trouble.

On the way back to the RV, he was still holding his thumb, but not crying at all. I thought that was really odd. I know those hurt like crazy! I also noticed he was cocking his head back, as if to rub the back of his head with the top of his shoulder. I said, “It’s okay, honey. The bee isn’t in your hair anymore.”

He replied matter-of-factly, “It stung me there, too.”

I looked and, sure enough, he had an area of swelling on the back of his head, just above his haircut line. I could see a tiny puncture hole there, too. So, Mason had two bee stings and didn’t shed one tear. Wow! He was more upset about not being able to stay and play with his incredibly creative time-traveling friend than he was about the stings!

Mason’s Bee Boo Boo

I’d called Richard to tell him what happened and he was ready when we arrived with the first aid kit. We washed the stings, looked for stingers (none there) and applied medicine. I bandaged his thumb but not his head. He then chilled on the couch, watching movies for the rest of the evening. And, again, no tears at all though he continued to rub his thumb for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow, we’re be driving through more of Ohio and into Indiana. I was born in Indiana but only lived there for three months before moving to Texas. We won’t be near any family as we’ll be passing through the wrong part of the state. We are looking forward to driving through miles and miles and miles of cornfields, which can put even the most caffeinated driver to sleep. Come on along!

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I’ve posted many, many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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At one point during our drive, we almost veered off the road. I told Richard to let ME shoo the bugs out the window from now on (sigh again…).

The bike rack was a bust. It not only didn’t hold the bikes steady, but it left a big, ugly, red mark on the trunk of the tow vehicle.

I plan to send a picture to the manufacturer and we will return it and get our money back. The bikes are now lying on the bed in the back of the RV. We’ll just chain them to the outside of the RV each time we stop at a campground.

We spent the night in Danbury, CT and we had dinner at Two Step, a southwestern restaurant. The food was really good and the service was outstanding but the restaurant was bare. We arrived at 6:00 p.m. and only one other table was full. Just before we left, one more family arrived. It was a huge place and it was sad to see it so empty. Not sure if the economy is affecting that town that badly or if everyone in town was busy on a Monday night.

Max and Mason at Two Step in Danbury, CT

Just as dinner was wrapping up, we heard thunder. As we stepped outside, the sky opened up. Richard is still recovering from his badly broke leg so I took off my sandals and made a run for it. I then drove the car to the door and picked up Richard and the boys. The deluge filled up the streets pretty quickly but it didn’t last very long. We were then treated to a beautiful sunset in the Connecticut hills.

Before bedtime, Mason called Grandma Cindy to tell her he can’t wait to come to her house to play. He watched himself in the mirror while they talked.

Tomorrow, we’re heading farther west, through New York State and into Pennsylvania. See ya there!

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I’ve posted many,  many more pictures of our trips HERE.

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That afternoon, we rode with Ali to her new apartment with a load of her stuff. She was going to spend the evening packing up our room and Max and Mason’s rooms. Our rooms were going to be painted and refloored while we were away on our trip. Richard wanted to watch a movie but I talked him into helping me help Ali get those rooms packed up. I’m still feeling guilty about that…

A few hours later, Richard was coming down the attic steps, taking out the trash, and his foot slipped on one step near the bottom. His body twisted around and I’m not sure really what happened after that but we all heard a large THUMP, and then Richard yelling, “I BROKE MY LEG! I BROKE MY LEG!!”

There were about 12 people in the house right then and we all went running. Richard was sitting near the bottom of the stairs, already sweating profusely, and not moving his leg. He has on his work boots but the broken bone was clearly visible just under the skin. His foot was also sitting at a very odd angle.

I called 9-1-1 while Zach watched Richard to make sure he didn’t pass out (he didn’t). Long, long ago, Richard was an x-ray tech and he knew what he’d done. If he moved, his bone might come through the skin and the severe break would turn into a very, very bad situation requiring emergency surgery. He was still sweating and grimacing and he was incredibly brave. He said, “Tell them to hurry. It’s going to break through if I move. Please tell them to hurry. Oh, and somebody get my iPad.”

No, I’m not kidding. He really said that and we all laughed about it…the next day.

Anyway, the older kids had quickly moved all the cars out of the driveway, and were outside, ready to flag down the ambulance. They arrived very quickly and walked upstairs to assess the situation. They had to wrap his foot and shoe in a large pillow and tape it all up. Richard pretty much had to shuffle down the last flight of stairs while one paramedic held his foot and, let me tell you, it was agony for him.

He was in so much pain and I wanted to cry listening to him groan. Max and Mason were there and Frank’s girlfriend, Kate (God bless her), came up to them and said, “Hey, guys. Let’s go play a game!” She whisked them away to protect them from witnessing their father in so much pain.

Once they got him to the bottom, they strapped him to one of those cool little chairs, got him to the ambulance, on the gurney, and whisked him away. I rode with him, of course.

At the hospital, it was quite busy and Richard was dumped on a gurney in a hallway with a red number on the wall. It took 45 minutes for them to triage him and Richard was getting more and more worried because he said if any veins or arteries were affected, he could lose some function in his foot if they didn’t move quickly. He said, “They’re either going to set it or do surgery. I hope they can just set it.”

A nurse finally came along and had to take his shoe off. I thought it needed to be cut off but she said it would be just fine. After she got the shoe off, while torturing Richard during the process (he’d had NO pain killers at all), she clucked her tongue and said, “This is a bad one.” I was starting to get very angry but I bit my tongue so as not to stress Richard anymore.

Things moved very quickly after that. He was given two Vicadin and sent to x-ray. A few minutes later, he was moved quickly to a room. The anesthesiologist came in and said, “Your bones are in many tiny pieces. You should have been taken immediately to trauma.” She then turned and mumbled to herself, “We are going to have a meeting about this one.”

She pulled out the x-rays and showed us what had happened. His tibia and fibula were both broken and both were dislocated from the ankle.

Richard said, “Are you going to set it or operate?”

He looked pretty crestfallen when she said, “Both.”

I got instantly nauseated and was embarrassed when I blurted out, “I’m going to be sick.” That seemed odd to me. I saw the foot hanging at an odd angle and that didn’t bother me. I later saw the bone under the skin a and that didn’t bother me at all, either. Heck, I even took a picture of it. Hearing about it and knowing he faced two immediate procedures sent my worry meter through the roof and I almost got physically ill but I managed to push it back down. He is my best friend and my rock. I love him so much!

They needed to immediately set it to fix the dislocation because his arteries were stretched and risked breaking. He was also at risk of nerve damage if the blood supply was cut off. They just had to wait for the doctor to arrive.

They whisked him off to trauma. As soon as the doctor arrived, they brought in two huge, burly guys to help. I thought, “Oh my gosh! They’re going to sit on him, just like in the movies!!”

No, they didn’t do that. They sedated him (with the same stuff Michael Jackson overdosed on) and pulled on his leg. He yelled out so they stopped and gave him more. They waited a moment and pulled again. He yelled out again. They gave him the rest of the syringe and said they couldn’t give him anymore. He was out cold and didn’t budge when the doctor grabbed his foot and popped it all back into place. The burly guys were there to hold him down if they needed to (they didn’t) but also to hold his entire leg completely stationary while they put a splint on. Just after the doctor set the leg, Richard’s oxygen level dropped and the anesthesiologist and nurse anesthetist grabbed his head, cocked it back, and dug their fingertips up under his jaw. One of them then started massaging his chest and talking to him. Seeing them set his leg didn’t bother me at all. Seeing them trying to get him to breathe just about did me in. I was not expecting that and, well, I can’t even find the words to describe how shocked and terrified I was that my husband had stopped breathing. Shaking, I said, “Aren’t you going to give him something to wake him quickly?”

She responded, “This is very fast acting. He’ll wake up any moment.”

Right then, his eyelids fluttered and opened, and he said, “Wow! I could hear voices far, far away! That was weird!”

No, he’d never been sedated before (never broken anything or had surgery, either), and didn’t know what to expect.

They’d said he would feel much better after they set it and they were right. The painkillers didn’t hurt, either. He’s previously been grinding his teeth and very agitated. I noticed a complete change in his mood after he woke up, as you can see here:

Pain meds. Aaahhh…

A few hours later, we were in his room and it was then 5:00 a.m. His surgery was scheduled for late that afternoon. At 7:00 a.m., Zach came to sit with Richard while I went home to try to get some sleep.

I slept for two hours before Zach sent me a message telling me they were going to come get him in 45 minutes. I was dressed and in his hospital room within 17 minutes.

Four hours later, he finally got wheeled away to surgery (sigh…). He came through just fine and…let’s just say airport metal detectors will take on an entirely new meaning for him now. He has 3 screws on the inside of his leg/ankle and seven screws and a metal plate on the outside. There was a small piece also broken off the back but they “didn’t bother with that.”

They said they’d had a hard time waking him up in recovery, which is why it took two hours for him to get out of recovery instead of one. I asked his nurse that night if anything had happened during surgery. She said, “Now that you mention it, yes. The nurses said they had a hard time keeping his SATS up (oxygen levels).”

Turns out the exact same thing had happened during surgery that had happened the night before. I said, “Oh no! Just like last night!”

She replied, “What do you mean?”

I told her what had happened in trauma. She got very upset and said, “Nobody told me about that!”

She ran out to get a monitor so she could keep an eye on his oxygen levels and I stood next to him, watching him sleep. And, yes, he did stop breathing after each snore. I’d thump him and he’d start breathing again. They say he has sleep apnea, which doesn’t mesh well with anesthesia. I spent the next hour obsessing over that monitor and the nurse said later she was watching it closely in the nurse’s area, too. It never went below 93 but they wanted it around 99/100. He was on oxygen the whole time.

The next day, they took him off oxygen but kept monitoring him and the alarm started sounding when it dipped down to 88. I wasn’t there at the time as Zach had relieved me again. It’s a good thing I wasn’t because I’m pretty sure they’d have needed to sedate me!

Anyway, his levels kept dropping so low that the alarm would sound and wake him up. He’d go back to sleep, the alarm would sound again, and he’d wake up again. They finally just turned off the alarm so he could sleep but they kept monitoring him. First thing Monday morning, I called our doctor to get a referral for a sleep study.

On Monday, he was doing very well, making phone calls, eating and in good spirits. The doctor came in and said if he mastered crutches and a walker he could go home! Yea!!!

He didn’t have any trouble with either one and he was home by mid-afternoon. Ali is moving out anyway so she turned her room into his recovery room since it’s downstairs. He can’t put any weight at all on his foot for six to eight weeks and he won’t be “good as new” for about four months. I’m now paranoid about blood clots so I’m making him move frequently. His biggest enemy for the next two months will be boredom so we’re all trying to be as entertaining as we can. I can tell you…there is no shortage of walker jokes in this house!

On a serious note, we’re now absolutely positive that we were not supposed to take that trip. We should have gotten a clue with the car problem. After the broken leg incident, well, let’s just say – we can take a hint!

What sane person would leave Maine on a day like today? We would! We are on our way to Scott and Kelly’s wedding in Wisconsin. Whoop whoop!!! Scott is Richard’s childhood friend. Kelly is his beautiful and funny sweetheart. They met while working at the same library. Scott asked Kelly to be his bride here in Maine, on Cadillac Mountain, last October 17th. We were with them on that day. We’d taken the boys to the bathroom. When we came out, we went to the top of the mountain so we could see where they’d wandered off to. I looked to my left and, in the distance, I spotted them. At that moment, Kelly jumped into Scott’s arms and kissed him. I said, “Oh, isn’t that sweet?! They’re kissing!!”

Richard said, “He just asked her to be his wife.”

I then loudly told everyone around us what was going on and a collective sigh and several “Awwweee!!”‘s arose from the crowd. I grabbed my camera and took this picture:

Below is the wedding present we sent to Scott and Kelly. Max helped with the rocks and one rock in the lower, right-hand corner has the date of their engagement on it.

A few minutes later, they joined us again and I took this one:

Below is the painting I did for Kelly’s Bachelorette Dinner, based on the photo above. Yes, it’s flipped on purpose.

Richard made all our reservations at campgrounds for this trip weeks ago. We are supposed to arrive in Wisconsin on Wednesday. Friday night will be the bachelor’s party. (I’ve been assured there will NOT be any strippers!) The following Wednesday will be a bridal dinner. The wedding will be the Friday after that. In between all that, we will be visiting with Richard’s family and friends in his hometown and staying at the campground where Mason was conceived back in 2005. (I couldn’t resist dropping that in. Heh…)

The RV is all packed and we’re ready to go. We actually did leave about an hour ago but we didn’t get far. We always stop at a nearby park to hook up our tow vehicle. Richard couldn’t get the driveshaft engage knobby thingymabob to engage.

We looked it up online and it’s a frozen cable – apparently very common and easily fixed…if you’re a mechanic. We aren’t. So, we’re in a holding pattern until Monday morning and we’re praying the RV place will see us early so we can get on the road then. Since the RV is completely packed, and since I detest packing and refuse to do it twice in two days, we are going to camp out in the RV until Monday morning.

Ali is glad our trip is delayed. We are having our room and Max and Mason’s room painted and refloored while we’re gone. Ali’s weekend job was to move everything out of both rooms. Now, she’ll have some extra help with that.

I’m sitting in the back of the van right now. Ali is moving into her first apartment and we’re driving down to Bar Harbor with her to pick up her key and drop off some of her things. She is SO excited!

I believe in fate and I believe all things work together for good. For some reason, we were not supposed to leave on our trip today. Knowing that, we’re okay with being stuck for a couple of days. Richard wasn’t happy about cancelling and changing our reservations for the next week but he’s already finished so we can enjoy the rest of the day.

We kept going straight and ended up in a grocery store parking lot. That was easy enough to get out of and we waited a moment for the GPS to give us an alternative route. We ended up in that neighbor again, albeit on a different street, a very narrow passage with endless cars lining both sides. I remember passing the freeway at one point, going right under it, and wondering why the GPS was sending us a different way. It was a Saturday and there were lots of people outside enjoying the weather. There were also lots of junk cars, tattoo parlors, liquor stores, and other unsavory things that made us start to feel a bit nervous. At one point, men got out of two cars right in front of us, blocking traffic. They each went to houses on different sides of the street. We had no choice but to stop and wait. I heard a woman yell outside, “Leon, move your (BLEEP!) car!”

Leon was nice and went back to his car, whistling for his friend, who also went back to his own car. They moved out of our way.

We kept driving and the GPS wasn’t leading us toward any highway or freeway that we could see on the screen. At one point, I think I remember Richard calling the GPS the same name the shouting lady had used with Leon.

People were standing outside and staring at us, obviously wondering what this huge RV was doing in their very crowded neighborhood. We breathed a sigh of relief when the GPS not only led us to a two-lane road, but a police car also pulled in front of us. A few seconds later, he turned and we were once again feeling quite a bit alone and vulnerable. The neighborhood got even more imposing and, I’ll admit it, I was scared.

A few blocks later, I saw a man dressed like the Statue of Liberty. I whipped out my camera and took his picture. When he saw my camera, he made a rather rude gesture to me with his fingers. I was more discreet with my camera after that and I triple checked that the RV door was locked.

I’ve pixelated the fingers…

All our worry was for naught, though. We somehow ended up on the expressway and on our way toward the George Washington Bridge.

George Washington Bridge

I worked for a few hours while Richard drove. We were going to see the boys’ Godfathers, Doug and Raul, and Max and Mason were so excited we had a hard time keeping them still and entertained. We arrived at the campground and the boys were happy to see grass and a playground.

Doug and Raul came to pick us up about an hour later and, much to our delight, had chosen Mystic Pizza II for dinner. It was DELICIOUS!!!

Mason’s Dessert at Mystic Pizza II

The next day, a Sunday, Raul and Richard took Max to the YMCA to go swimming and Doug and I stayed in the RV with Mason, talking shop. I LOVE to talk shop with Doug, who’s a New York Times bestselling author. He has amazing creative ideas for book marketing and he is SUCH a talented writer. I just finished his book, Neverland. I couldn’t put it down! Doug has an incredibly entertaining blog. You can subscribe HERE.

That night, we went to HUGE diner, Equinox, and had a really fun meal. After dinner, we returned to the RV and the boys enjoying spending more time with Doug and Raul. We’d planned to stay an extra day but Doug caught a cold/flu bug so we started for home the next morning, knowing we’d be back in May anyway. Mason was noticeably upset and Max cried.

On Monday morning, we packed up the RV for the last time on our “No More Snow!” trip and started the long drive back to Bangor. I’m sure God was laughing when Ali called to let us know it was 36 degrees in Bangor…and snowing. Forty-eight hours after we got home, it snowed again. Honestly, after the snow we had the first three days of the trip, and the 15 inches we had when we got to Virginia, and the additional four inches we got on the beach in South Carolina, we weren’t surprised.

On the way home, we did what we always do, reminisced about the best parts of the trip while also making a list of all the stuff we broke in the RV…so we’d have that when we took it to the shop. We made it home in plenty of time for Easter, which was our goal, and on Easter Sunday in Bangor, Maine it was almost 80 degrees! It was the warmest Easter, by far, we’d ever experienced in Maine and it was absolutely perfect!

One funny thing happened on this trip that I forgot to mention in earlier posts. After we left home, I realized we hadn’t brought along the bathroom scale. It’s very important to weigh yourself daily when you are eating out so much because you might get home and realize you’ve gained far more weight than you knew. So, early on in the trip, we bought a new, very cheap bathroom scale for the RV.

We’d only been gone for a few days when we bought it so I was stunned when I stepped on it the first time in our little RV potty room and discovered I’d gained seven pounds. SEVEN POUNDS!!!! Why did my jeans still fit?! Richard said he’d gained weight, too (more than me), and so had Max (though less than we had). Hmm… Not good! A few days later, Max was in the potty room in the morning and I asked him to hand me the scale. I put it on the floor near the bathroom sink and was thrilled to discover I’d lost those seven pounds….in one day! Of course, I instantly knew what had happened. The RV was not quite level at that campground. In the potty room, the scale had been facing uphill. When I put it on the floor by the sink, it was facing downhill. I had a good laugh with Richard about it and, let me tell you, we was facing downhill for the rest of that trip!

I hope you’ve enjoyed coming along for the ride on our “2010 No More Snow!” trip.

Join us again in just two weeks when we head to Wisconsin!

I’ve posted many,  many more pictures of our trip HERE.

PREVIOUS POSTS FROM THIS TRIP:

Braised Shoulder of Lamb; Heirloom Beans, Black Olives and Parsnips at Gramercy Tavern

Lightly Smoked Artic Char; Savoy Cabbage, Sunchokes and Mussels at Gramercy Tavern

Need I say more? There are more pictures from our delicious meal HERE. The boys were stunned when the discovered the towels in the bathroom were REAL towels! After use, they get tossed in a basket under the sink. We have nothing like that in Bangor, Maine!

After lunch, we took a looooooong walk through the city to the Empire State Building. Max had been waiting weeks for this and he was not disappointed! We must have been there on a slow day, during the slow season, because we didn’t have to wait in any lines. The weather was, once again, perfect and the view was breathtaking. Max took lots of videos of the visit, even taping himself as the narrator. Of course, we had to stop by the gift shop so Max could buy a tiny statue of the building. Mason was also excited about visiting the “Pirate State Building.”

We took another marathon trek through the city after that, walking to the Apple Store and the toy store, FAO Schwarz. Richard and Scott went to the Apple store while I took the boys into the toy store. When we walked in, I realized Mason was holding Big Bird, a gift Scott had given him the day before. I quickly tucked him under a jacket on top of the stroller so nobody would think we stole him. Sure enough, we saw identical Big Birds in the store!

We were limited on how much we could carry (I mean, on how much we could hang on the stroller) so I told the boys they could only choose small items. Max chose some Star Wars action figures. He wanted specific characters and light sabers but the characters he wanted didn’t have light sabers so he had to buy Jedi’s that did have light sabers….and he must have spent 20 minutes standing there, trying to make up his mind. That was okay. There were plenty of other things to look at, like this life-size statue of Chewy made out of Legos.

Mason was surrounded by every toy imaginable, and many he didn’t even know existed…but he still wanted another Thomas the Train character (sigh). Richard and Scott caught up with us and, before we left, we bought some interesting candy for the loved ones back home. As we left, I was thinking about Big Bird, hidden in the jackets hanging on the stroller, wondering if some alarm would go off as we walked out. So, I turned to Scott and said, “You wanna push Mason?” Heh…

I’d whispered the Big Bird quandary to the guys at the register so he knew what he was up against when he bravely agreed to push Mason through the double doors. We all pretended not to heave a sigh of relief when no alarms sounded and no men in dark blue jackets gave chase.

We walked a bit more and then caught a cab to the hotel. We dropped off our goodies and then took a stroll to a small Italian restaurant for dinner. A famous author was eating there alone. I didn’t even notice him but Scott did. Apparently he eats out in that area a lot. I won’t mention his name to respect his privacy but I thought it was funny that we were sitting right next to a celebrity and I didn’t even notice. I was too busy trying to get tiny Mason to eat something (anything!) nutritious for dinner. In case you don’t know, Mason is the pickiest eater on earth. The restaurant didn’t have anything he was interested in. They were good sports, making him some homemade macaroni and cheese but he wouldn’t touch that, either. He was very happy with the bread basket, however, and I think he may have eaten five pieces.

After dinner, we stopped by a tiny grocery store and bought Mason some milk and cereal so he would at least get some vitamins that evening. We already had juice in the hotel room.

On Thursday morning, Scott arrived with chocolate cookies, much to the delight of the boys. We told them they had to save them for after dinner because we were heading to an organic restaurant, Josie’s, for lunch. The food was delicious!

Lemon Ribbon Ice Cream Pie – graham cracker crust with layers of lemon curd and vanilla bean ice cream topped with meringue at Josie’s in NYC

Organic Warm Chocolate Chip Cookie Plate served with organic milk for dunking at Josie’s in NYC

After lunch, we took a taxi to the Intrepid, an aircraft carrier that’s been turned into a museum. Max had been studying flight and air travel for a few weeks and this was an exciting field trip for him. He even got to see a real Blue Angel airplane! While we were there, Scott, Max and I rode a 4D ride.

The movie part was a roller coaster. Max really enjoyed that! After we left, it was rush hour and finding a cab proved to be quite a challenge. I’d wanted to go to Soho that day and we were far, far away from that part of town. So, we walked and we walked and we walked some more. We found ourselves outside of Macys – the one you see in the Thanksgiving Day parade. On that block, during rush hour, I saw more people than I’ve ever seen on any city block in my life. It was amazing and the energy from all those people was invigorating! I felt quite exhilarated and I usually don’t like crowds. Max’s homeschooling got even more well-rounded a bit later when he was one man sleeping on the sidewalk and another man getting arrested. I could tell we’d somehow moved from one part of town to another but Max wasn’t afraid or nervous. He was far more interested in taking pictures of graffiti.

Beauty is in the eye of…

Shortly thereafter, we finally found an empty cab, and headed for Soho.

In Soho, we did some window shopping. There seemed to be lots of designer stores but I really don’t like shopping for clothes. However, the window displays in the clothing stores were amazing.

I mainly wanted to find some goodies for the loved ones back home. We did find one store, The Evolution Store, which looked interesting. And, boy oh boy, was it! Downstairs, they had fossils and stuffed critters galore. Frank, who loves geology and has a large collection, would have been in heaven! I chose a beautiful freshwater pearl for him and a 4 million year old chunk of amber with insects in it. Earlier in the week, Richard said there was a human body exhibit, BODIES: THE EXHIBITION, in New York. We decided Max was too young to be looking at real, dead human bodies. Seeing a wrapped dummy is one thing. Seeing a real body or bones…well, that would be too much for him. Why am I telling you this? Well, because we went upstairs in The Evolution Store and there was an entire glass case of human skeletons, from an adult, to children, and right on down to a fetus, with the skull still noticeably unfused. I wasn’t happy seeing that because adults have the opportunity to donate their bodies to “science” if they want. The children and babies who previously inhabited those skeletons obviously did not. Max was a bit upset but I think I was far more so. We went downstairs and left.

I wasn’t going to let that ruin our evening, and wanted to get Max’s mind off it, too. So, I quickly changed the subject to, “What does everybody want for dinner?!” We found a small French restaurant, Felix Bar & Restaurant, with all the doors open. So, even if you sat inside, it was like sitting outside. It was very loud and the evening air was cool and perfect. The people all seemed to be on a collective high from the Spring weather and there was much merriment and laughter. The atmosphere was great!

On Friday, we got up early and Richard went out for Starbucks. Mason drank a good bit of his Frappuccino, and was jumping all over the place so we decided to take a walk before meeting Scott for lunch. I was looking for a new backpack purse because mine had a broken zipper. I’ve been carrying the same purse for about a decade, and I was looking for one that looked just like mine, and around the same size, and I hadn’t been having any luck. I finally found one store that had more purses than I’d ever seen. I found four backpack purses that would have worked quite nicely. Problem was, they ranged from $365 to $425. Call me cheap but I’m not going to spend more than $20 or so for a small black backpack! I gave up and we went to meet Scott for lunch. The restaurant where we’d planned to eat was small, and didn’t have any tables large enough to accommodate us, so we walked around the corner to an Italian restaurant we’d seen, the Arte Cafe. We ate a very nice lunch, outside, in the still-gorgeous Spring weather.

After lunch, we took a cab to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Max had been waiting for this homeschooling field trip for weeks! We looked at the medieval outfits first, chainmail, suits of armor, etc. Max had recently studied medieval times and was really enjoying seeing real armor and other protective clothing that people wore back then. He also thought the real swords and other weapons, laden with gems, were pretty cool.

He was having a great time! Mason, on the other hand, was bored out of his mind. He likes museums but he wanted to see some trains…and he kept asking about trains, over and over again. I figured out a way to placate him. I told him, “They have lots of paintings here, Mason. Let’s hunt for a train painting!”

That seemed to work. Now, admittedly, I was sure we would NOT find a train painting but hunting for one would keep Mason busy until we got to the gift shop, at which time he would most certainly forget all about trains. But, we didn’t plan on visiting the gift shop until the end of the day.

This is NOT a train painting.

As we were leaving the medieval display and moving to another, Mason was once again saying, “Where’s the train painting? I wanna find the train painting.”

I said, “Keep looking, honey.”

At that moment, a nosy man with a kid in tow leaned down to Mason, sticking his nose into OUR business, and said, “I’m sorry to disappoint you, young man, but there are no paintings of trains in this museum.”

You should have seen Mason’s face. It was like the man told him there was no such thing as fairies. Mason went from frown to public meltdown. I wanted to have a meltdown, too. I mean, the guy had a kid. He must have known I was trying to divert Mason’s attention for a few hours. I wanted to throttle that man!!! Mason was very cranky the rest of the day…until the gift shop, of course, and it was all that nosy, inconsiderate stranger’s fault!

Anyway, Max got to see mummies (wrapped or in tombs, of course, not the actual bodies) and Roman sculptures. He really seemed to enjoy those. And, of course, the paintings. Sooooo many paintings! Max loved drawing and painting and he was as impressed as we were with the beautiful artwork. I could have walked those rooms for days, gazing in awe at the beauty…but Mason would have none of that!

I kept hoping Mason would get tired and take a nap in his stroller. That didn’t happen. We finally made it to the gift shop, which is actually the museum bookstore, and Mason seemed more happy that it was time to go than he was about buying something. Just before we left, a toddler wandered into the gift shop alone. I realized instantly that she appeared to be lost. I also knew, from instinct, that you don’t pick up a lost child. You try to talk to them and keep them safe while you summon help but you don’t touch them for two reason. One: the child may panic. Two: if the parent arrives, you may be accused of attempted kidnapping. Another woman was standing by me and she did the same thing. We both stood on both sides of her, asking her what her name was, where her mommy was, etc. She continued to ignore us. I summoned one of the cashiers, who quickly came over as well. The little girl looked up at me again, but still didn’t say a word. Then, she reached into a display of magnets, grabbed one, and darted out of the store. I burst out laughing and said, “Shoplifter!!” The other women laughed, too.

I was about to follow her but saw the little girl run right into a woman, obviously her mother, who made her come back into the store and put the magnet back on the display. I said, “I’m sure glad you’re here! We all thought she was lost.”

The woman ignored me, didn’t even look at me, but started speaking to her daughter instead…in French. That certainly explained why neither one would respond to us!

We finally left, to Mason’s delight, and went walking to find a place for dinner. We ended up at a Turkish restaurant, A La Turka, and we had SO MUCH FUN! It was long and loud and awesome! We ate and ate and ate some more, all new, interesting dishes we’d never tried before, like lamb flat bread pizza, cigar fingers (made with lamb, not tobacco), swordfish, steak and lamb kabobs and much more. And dessert! Oh, the dessert! We had the sweetest custard we’d ever tasted and cheese baked in coconut and swimming in honey. My mouth is watering just remembering that awesome night.

There was a table next to ours, separated by a glass partition. Mason was flirting with the woman on the other side of the glass. He even leaned over and kissed the glass when we left. His first crush! We obviously need to talk to him about sticking to his own age group…

On Saturday, we had to pack our bags. It was our last day in New York City and we’d only be there until early afternoon. We were all very sad. We left our bags with the Maître d’ and walked to lunch with Scott. We had brunch at Isabella’s. My meal was great but the
dessert was the most beautiful one we’d seen during our trip.

Dark Chocolate Bag filled with which fresh raspberry mousse, and topped with a variety of fresh berries and whipped cream at Isabella’s in New York City

After lunch, we had some time to visit before our hired car arrived. By hired car, I mean a black car that isn’t a limo. The hotel had helped us find a company that agreed to drive us to New Jersey because the ferry we’d taken in didn’t run that route on Saturdays. The day before, Scott had brought the boys some wind-up chicks. We sat on a bench while the boys wound up one of the chicks and made it hop on the sidewalk as people walked by. It was pretty funny watching all sets of eyeballs watching that small toy as they strolled along. Some people snickered while others smiled but Max and Mason were giggling up a storm!

We finally had to walk back to our hotel and arrived just as the car did. We all shared hugs and Max got very sad and sniffly. Max and Mason both watched Scott walking away through the car’s rear window.

During our drive to New Jersey, we were entertained by the driver’s logical explanation of plural marriage. No kidding! He was a very nice guy, with one wife only (so far) and children. He’d grown up in another state and he was also explaining the difference between the size of “homes” in New York City versus his home state. After staying in the tiniest hotel room ever, we knew exactly what he was talking about. He also talked to us more about his religion but he wasn’t pushy at all. He was very kind and quite entertaining!

When we got back to the Liberty Harbor RV Park, we decided to pack up the RV and drive to Connecticut right then instead of waiting until the next day. It was a beautiful day for a drive, once again sunny and in the 70′s, and the excitement about seeing their Godfathers, Doug and Raul, made Max and Mason start hopping all over the RV. Little did we know, we’d end up in the ghetto…

I’ve posted many,  many more pictures of our trip HERE.

PREVIOUS POSTS FROM THIS TRIP:

Liberty Harbor RV Park isn’t anything like a campground. It’s a line of large parking spaces – an RV parking lot, all in a row. You can see the Statue of Liberty from select places there and you can hear the “clang, clang” of the sailboat rigging…but that’s about it as far as aesthetic appeal is concerned. Oh, and the subway/train passes by frequently, too, though I did manage to tune that out at bedtime.  The parking area is just cement and gravel so we didn’t even bother putting Mason’s gates outside.  The boys played inside that night. However, if you want to park your RV and take a trek into the city, this the place to do it. We drove to the Brownstone Diner & Pancake Factory in Jersey City, NJ for dinner. It has been featured on the Food Network on Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives but we didn’t know that at the time.

The portions were HUGE and delicious! For example, we ordered “dollar pancakes” for Mason (age 3). They brought out an enormous platter of regular-sized pancakes! There were so many that we got them to go and put them in the freezer in the RV. Mason ate them for the next week and a half.

The smothered fries were oh-so-good, swimming in bacon and cheese and a delicious sauce. Even Max (age 8), who hesitates to try new things, couldn’t get enough of them.

I got a California omelet and it was the biggest omelet I’ve ever had. We got so full that we ended up getting our dessert to go. They had an endless assortment of pies and cakes to choose from, as well as ice cream sundaes. We were delightfully stuffed when we rolled ourselves out of there that night. The service was amazing!

It was the dinner rush but you’d never know it from the way our waiter hovered.

After dinner, I accidentally tipped a bag of leftovers, causing a spill, and he ran to the kitchen for another to-go box and bag for me. The manager was extremely polite and gave us huge smiles as well. We’ll definitely be back.

The next morning, after some initial confusion about where to buy ferry tickets (the ticket office closes during the day), we were on board and heading for the city. It was a beautiful, clear day and the boys only needed light jackets. We had a distant but clear view of the Statue of Liberty from the water.

The ferry ride was short and we were the only passengers on board, much to the delight of Max and Mason.

After the ferry, we hailed a cab and headed for the hotel. We checked in right on schedule and called Scott to tell him we’d arrived. The boys were SO excited about spending a few days with their buddy!

The hotel room was small, and I mean TINY. When we unfolded the small sofa at night, we could only get to the bathroom by walking sideways at the end of it. It made our RV look like a castle in comparison. But, it was very clean, nicely decorated, and pretty quiet, too! We would definitely stay there again.

Scott only lived a few blocks from our hotel so he arrived in no time. And, he brought gifts – Sesame Street characters! The boys were thrilled! Mason ended up taking Big Bird with him everywhere we went that week.

The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. It was around 70 degrees and sunny. We took a walk through Central Park. At one point, the boys took a swing break and Scott took a pull-up break. I was impressed. I couldn’t even do one of those!

The sun started to set so we headed to dinner. Scott has made reservations at Calle Ocho, a Cuban restaurant. Our stomachs were all stretched out from the night before so we had no trouble putting away another huge meal. Here are just some of the goodies we had that night.

Ceviche Sampler at Calle Ocho NYC – March, 2010

Gallitos – Platter of Traditional Costa Rican Soft Tacos with Grilled Beef, Salsa Verde Shrimp & Chipotle Chicken (serves two) at Calle Ocho – March, 2010

Vaca Frita al Caballo – Cuban Skirt Steak, Latin Fried Rice, Tomato Escabeche, Avocado at Calle Ocho NYC – March, 2010

We give Calle Ocho five stars! Mason tried his hardest to stay awake but he conked out before dessert. Luckily, we were sitting in a booth so he was quite comfy.

On Tuesday, we walked about five miles and had many more adventures! More on our whirlwind tour of NYC next week.

I’ve posted more pictures of our trip HERE.

PREVIOUS POSTS FROM THIS TRIP: