Home!

30/8/2012

 
Yesterday we arrived at home (at 6 P.M., my mom did feel well enough to drive the whole way), according to the odometer we drove 371 miles (actually 5,000  miles (my mom accidentaly reset it towards the end of the trip). When we got home, we worked on resetting up the computer (unplugged and hidden during trip) and my mom rested (she was still sick). 

I am working on a DVD slideshow of the photos from the trip, combined with the blog text, let me know if you want a copy (maybe through 

More driving

29/8/2012

 
Yesterday we continued driving, ending up in Bakersfield (we were going to stop sooner, but we missed the exit, and my mom decided to continue driving).

Today we (you gussed it) continued driving and expect to arrive tomorrow (we are only three hours away, but my mom still feels to sick to drive that far.)

Tue, Aug 28, 2012

28/8/2012

 
Yesterday we dove to a hotel in Needles, CA (finally in California!) where we spent the night. Today we continued driving and are planning to stop in tehachapi (near bakersfield), we would be able to go home today or tommorow (GPS says we are 6 hours away) except that my mom is still sick, and can only drive 3 hours a day. :(
 
After the previous blog post we continued driving (for a few hours) and eventually camped at a KOA in holbrook.

The next day my mom felt sick but decided to try to drive for a couple of hours. On the way we decided to go to a crater (called Meteor Crater) that was advertised as the worlds best preserved crater and the first crater identified to be from a meteor (see pictures). After leaving Meteor Crater, we only got to flagstaff before my mom felt too sick to drive (she says it is a stomach virus) and we went to a hotel there (hilton garden inn, $65 (same hotel in Washington D.C. cost 109$, see hurricanes hotels and the capitol post for more info on that hotel stay)) where we spent the night.

Today my mom felt like she could drive ("probably at least 200 miles" she said) so we are continuing our journey towards home.
Picture
top left: a rainbow we saw;others:the Meteor Crater
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a panoramic photo of the crater
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another panoramic of the crater (sorry about panoramic cutting the crater in half, that is beyond my control

New Mexico

25/8/2012

 
Note: if you read the previous post before it said edit and edit2 the please go back and read the updates /note

After the last post, we arrived at Tucumcari(by now it was dark) and found a KOA, which we decided not to go to because we knew about a cheaper one a mile away. When we arrived there, we saw that it was for big rigs, so we went back to the KOA.

Today we continued driving west. When we got to albuquerque we decided to go to the telecommunications museum, only to find it was closed (only open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.) We then decided to go to Petroglyphs National Monument. When we arrived, we hiked up a hill, took a panoramic photo (of Rio Grande Valley (according to my mom), see first picture)and took photos of petroglyphs (see picture groups 2,3). We then continued driving, as we are now.
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The panoramic photo
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Petroglyphs
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Petroglyphs
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The panoramic photo, curved into a circle (using the iPhone app 360 panorama). I like how it looks like a planet.
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A view from the road
 
Yesterday we drove to the Ozarks (mountain range) in northwest Arkansas where we camped (kamped as they say at KOAs) at a KOA. After setting up (much easier with the trailer (no tent, etc.)) we wanted to ride some paddleboats, but they said that you couldn't because the water level in the pond was too low, so we had to settle for swimming in a pool. After swimming we fed some ducks and played in an old fashioned playground (picture group 1)

Today we slept late because someone sent a spam text to us in the middle of the night (supposedly "Chase" is giving us $1,500 for no reason).
When we got up we decided to take the shortest route (I-40 (aka route 66)) through the southwest. Today we drove through Oklahoma and most of the way through Texas. We are hoping to camp in Vega, which is only a few minutes away (it is 8:32 here).

EDIT: the Vega campground didn't take VISA so we are driving to the next town, Tucumcari, an hour away (it is now 9:22, so we will be driving until 10:20 (if all goes well)). (we have driven 500 miles today (will be a bit farther when we arrive at campground), 1320 miles remaining)

EDIT 2: it is now 8:43 as we have entered New Mexico and the mountain time zone, we still haven't arrived at the campground (33 minutes left)

Everglades

23/8/2012

 
[note] this post is for the day we left the Florida keys and I never got a chance to post it [/note]

We went to the Everglades National Park and went on several nature walks (see pictures for highlights) on the first walk we saw an alligator with a cricket on it's head, on the second we saw an owl (the three other walks were relatively uneventful).
 
The day before yesterday we went to the Cabildo museum which has exhibits about the history of southern Louisiana (see picture groups 1&2). We then went to the Presbytere museum, where they had exhibits about hurricane Katrina.

The next day (yesterday) we went to a nature preserve (my mom said it is called the Barataria Nature Preserve). There, we went on a walk on a boardwalk thorough a swamp. We suddenly saw a raccoon on the boardwalk, walking towards us (picture groups 3,4), he then jumped into the swamp and walked away. We also saw lizards with blue tails and blue and green dragonflies. We then drove along the Mississippi river, through some sugarcane plantations. We drove north for several hours, before camping at a national forest (we were the only ones there, even though it only cost three dollars.

Today we had breakfast (toast) and continued north, into Arkansas (we are now 2000 miles from home (according to the iPhone).

P.S. please comment if you are still reading this.

zoo photos

21/8/2012

 
these are the remaining photos from the previous post. haven't seen it? click here to the new orleans blog post.
click read more below to see the photos.

New Orleans

21/8/2012

 
We finally left Florida and went to New Orleans and stayed in a hotel that had two floors for our rooms (my bed on top, my mom's bed and other rooms on bottom level! (see first picture group)). by then it was getting late so all we did was get food at a restaurant and went to bed. The next day we went to French Quarter where we first had breakfast (beans and rice), and went to Jackson Square (see picture group 2). we then had food at Cafe du Monde (cafe of the world, in french (according to my mom)) while there, we saw some pigeons eating (and throwing it everywhere) powdered sugar left by someone else (picture group 3). when we left we went to the zoo (it was free due to my mom being an Audobon member (it was an audobon zoo) (see remaining pictures and captions for details (click read more to load all pictures)
the pictures above aren't the only pictures from the zoo! click read more below to load all pictures. even doing this, there are too many photos to put in one post, so I will put the remaining photos in the following post.

    Author

    I am Patrick Leiser and this is a blog for a vacation I am going on this Summer (summer of 2012) on it you can track my progress on my way to Washington D.C. and back.

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    My location. (approximate, can only update occasionally (when I have access to computer))