Rides, Food & Sleep

No one should ever wake up at 4:15 A.M. for anything. It’s just not right. The real problem with waking up that early is you have to be in bed by 10:00 P.M. if you want a decent amount of sleep at all. We hadn’t been in bed before midnight our entire trip until Monday night, which found us turning out the lights at 8:30 P.M. Except there was one problem with that – the much anticipated Jon & Kate Plus 8 announcement started at 9:00, and the show is an hour long. After the drama-filled episode, we jumped back in to bed at 10:00 and luckily were both asleep by 10:30 P.M. Even with 5.5 hours of sleep, 4:00 A.M. came reallllllllly early. We were up bright and early for a day trip to Cedar Point, OH home to some of the fastest and tallest roller coasters in the world. Now we all know my thrill-seeking bone tops out at about 65 mph on the interstate. Before this amusement park trip, I thought I knew Rachel fairly well. One thing escaped me though: she has a death wish. Well, death wish is up for interpretation, but anytime someone wants to get on a ride that takes you 310 feet in the air and propels you straight toward the ground at 93 mph…yeah, that’s what I call a death wish. Rachel and some of my other family members however, call it a fun afternoon. For the most part, Rachel is usually somewhat timid and level-headed. But for 12 hours she became someone I didn’t know existed. Flips, loops, corkscrews, ups & downs, drops…she did them all. She lays claim to a title I will never possess – professional thrill-seeker. And she can keep it, because now I can say to everyone that SHE is the crazy one in this relationship. I did do one ride though, and lemme tell ya, those bumper cars are pretty insane. I mean, the possibility of some horrible whiplash was right around every turn, and those 7 year olds drive a mean bumper car. Oh yeah, and there was the water ride that everyone in our family rode (all 9 of us) with the expectation of getting a little splash or two. Twenty seconds into the ride however, we found out that a “little splash” was going to turn in to a full fledged pool party. It was a hot day so we thought a little water might feel good. But when we stepped into the raft and saw 3 inches of water covering the floor, we all knew right then that this may be a little more than we had bargained for. You may have well just thrown 8 of the 9 of us into a lake because as we stepped off of the ride, only 1 of us had a spot of dry clothing on us. The rest of us were literally 100% drenched. Seriously, from head to toe, sopping, dripping, wet. As you can see from the picture, we were a little upset. (Okay, that was a completely posed picture, we weren’t really upset but it made for a good photo-op). We left the park at 11:00 P.M., each of us ready to get off of our feet and into bed. The drive ahead of us was 3 hours long and with a stop or two we didn’t get home until 2:30 A.M. After some quick showers, we finally shut off the lights at about 3:15 A.M., nearly a 24 hour adventure. But we walked away with some good stories, very minimal sunburns, and some pictures of Rachel’s crazy ride face.

For the most part, our Indiana time has been spent recuperating from our multi-city adventure. The walking alone that we have done has left our feet and legs wanting to shoot us, so we knew that 5 days out of the car and some time with Josh’s family would be a welcomed break. One of the nicest things during our Indiana stay has been home cooked meals, and no check out times. There has however, been some riveting Gin Rummy games. So far, we’ve been able to avoid the infamous Indiana summer storms that bring lightning, rain, and tornado warnings. Hopefully, unlike our drive to Indiana, we’ll manage to miss 30 minutes downpours that leave an inch of water on the roads and a scaredy-cat like me complaining to Rachel about how bad driving in the rain is. We feel lucky to have missed some tragic events, such as tornado touchdowns in Ohio, the D.C. Metro crash, and the Holocaust Museum shooting. God has truly kept His hand on us this entire time, for which we are very grateful. Tomorrow we start the last leg of our trip, which will take us through the Windy City, a small town called Fairmont, Minnesota, through Rapid City, South Dakota and the Mount Rushmore Monument, and even smaller town called Dillon, Montana and finally back to Boise. This has all gone so fast and neither of us can believe we are on the final stretch. Thanks to everybody for continuing with the reading of our blog, and hopefully the last week of our trip won’t disappoint. We appreciate the reads, the comments, and the prayers, and we’ll see you all very soon! More to come…
From the Road Less Traveled,
Josh & Rachel

If you want to see some of the coasters up close, visit www.cedarpoint.com and you can even have a first-perspective from the rides. Check out this one, voted one of the top 10 coasters in the world every year since 2000: (this is the one that we mentioned)http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/millennium_force/index.cfm

Indiana Highlights: lightning bugs, a buddy to ride on the coasters with (thanks Baylee!), sunscreen, good walking shoes, no check out times, home cooked meals, card games, family time, wireless internet (for free!), change of plans for the ride home.

Don't Worry, We're Still Here! (again)

Hey everyone,
So we just wanted to check in and say yes, we're still here!!! We are in Indiana with Josh's family so it's a little harder to find time to blog but we hope to write one tomorrow about our time at Cedar Point. If you want to pre-look at our fun time, check out cedarpoint.com and check out all of the wild rides!!! Keep checking back and we hope to hear more comments when we post again. Thanks for reading and leaving your fun/encouraging comments, we LOVE reading them so keep 'em coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Josh & Rachel

Believe What You Believe, Know What You Believe

Plan A: Wake up super early in an attempt to create a blue & orange “hello” sign and stand in line to try to get our faces on the Today Show.
Plan B: Sleep in a little bit because the ever-so-popular Jonas Brothers were performing on the Today Show for 10,000 twelve year old girls…screaming girls…shrill, ear-piercing screaming girls.
We went with Plan B.
For everybody we did not get to say hello to on the Today Show, this is your hello.
HELLO!!!!!!!
Sorry that’s all you get, take your frustration out on a Jonas Brothers cd – more on a 12 year old girl who screams with the ability to break glass.
We were really hoping to get down to NBC’s morning show. We even went to Office Depot in Times Square to buy materials to make said “hello” sign, but when we got back to the hotel and looked up the information on how to get on TV, hundreds of reviewers said you needed to be there by 6 A.M. if there was no concert going on. If there was somebody famous that was making an appearance, then you probably needed to be there at midnight the night before in order to save your place in line. We however, are not Jonas Brothers fans, not 12 year old screaming girls, and not going to stand in line at midnight the night before just to get on the Today Show.
So we slept.
And it was probably a good thing because from 10:30 A.M. until close to 7 P.M. that next day, we sat for maybe a total of 20 minutes.

As soon as we got to Manhattan that morning, we went straight to the subway to attempt our first train ride to the southern part of the island where the Statue of Liberty awaited us. Okay, okay, so it was fairly simple, but it still would have been nice to have a little more help *tear*. When we arrived, we went straight to the ticket counter where we were told the wait to get on to the ferry that would take us to Liberty and Ellis Islands was one hour, 15 minutes. Not the best use of our time, I realize that, but come on, it’s the Statue of Liberty – you do what you gotta do. So we waited, and much to our pleasure, the wait was only 40 minutes. It’s somewhat surreal to be pulling into an island that has been shown in thousands of movie and TV clips and to be seeing the sight that millions of immigrants first saw as they pulled in to the NYC harbor on their way to bigger and better things. You don’t get the full glimpse of how huge this statue is just from seeing it on TV. You have to go see it for yourself, and I mean that whole-heartedly. Next to Liberty Island is Ellis Island where we were able to stand in the same building that millions of hopeful foreigners stood in with dreams on their minds of a new type of pursuit of happiness. Reading the story of what Ellis Island meant to so many men, women & children who came to America for a better life was very moving. We both wished as we left that day we would have more time to spend there. Maybe we’ll make it back to learn a little more eventually.

But the most touching point of our entire trip sat in a little church one block away from where the World Trade Towers collapsed on September 11, 2001. Everything we’ve seen from the MLK Jr. Historic Site and the Alamo, to the Carolina basketball Hall of Fame and the D.C. National Monuments, nothing ripped at our hearts more than seeing the faces of thousands of American citizens whose lives were taken on that horrible Tuesday morning. Across the street from the WTC site lies a humble, broken, church with a cemetery full of gravestones that have been worn away by time and tragedy. Inside that little church lays a make-shift memorial to the police departments, fire departments and volunteers who came to the rescue without any regard for their own life. Directly to the left as you step in to the church, a stand contains the thousands of patches from other police departments (national and international) that men and women have sent and left as a tribute to the American first responders. Words of well wishes and God-blesses cover the stand from top to bottom. Just past this spot you see a wooden church pew that looks as if someone took a knife and carved random etchings all over the seat and backboard. On the left side of this pew, a firefighter’s uniform that was actually worn on 9-11 lays draped across the wooden seat. When you read why the pew is carved up, it pulls at your emotions like a needy child tugging on your arm. The markings on the pew are from the numerous firefighters who made that their make-shift nap spot while trying to take a few moments of rest to gather strength for more attempts at digging through the rubble and saving more lives. Their helmets, belt buckles, suspender straps, and boots left the pews with scrapings and markings that damaged the wooden benches beyond repair. The church pondered on whether or not to have the pews professionally repaired, but decided not to in an attempt to have the public experience the church and memorial in a more real way. Other places in the church pay tribute to the thousands of lives lost on September 11, but one spot in particular just about brings you to your knees. If you think back to that day, you will remember the images that poured across our TV screens of the friends and family of people who were lost as they desperately searched for their loved ones. In their hands were pieces of paper and cardboard with photographs of the people they were looking for followed by a number to call if found. As the horrific news came in that very few survived those signs of “If found, please call…” turned into “In memory of…” Those very signs that brought tears to all of our eyes were right in front of us, hanging on a wire stand that was about 7 feet wide and the faces of all of those people who were lost stared back at us like a wall of reminders. The only sound in the church was the buzzing of three feet tall stand up fans doing all they could to keep the air cool on a hot, muggy day. But nothing about this church was cool. While it was an honor to pay respect to those people, it would have been much cooler had there not been any reason for a memorial like this. We walked out of the church on the verge of tears, grateful to be alive in a world that is full of uncertainty.

Our final stop of the day was the Empire State Building which I believe now stands as the tallest building in New York. Like the chicken that I am there was no way Rachel was going to get me in to an elevator that took me half way to outer space. She had already been to the top some years ago so I was going to take her word for it that the view was great, but I preferred to stand on the nice, solid ground. A look at the building was quite enough for me. Rachel snapped a photo of the structure and we were on our way back to our hotel.

Can you believe that it has almost been 8 years since that day? That day that all of us woke up to the news that we were being attacked? I don’t know about you, but the images and sudden shock are still vivid in my mind. I will never forget how extremely united we all were in the following days. Everyone put everything aside because we knew we had to get through it all together. No one cared about the petty politics, preposterous pork spending in D.C., or silly squabbles among politicians. But here we are, over 7 years later, back to where we were on September 10, 2001. This time it’s worse though, we should know better. We should know what happens when complacency pursues, when slander seizes the day, and when we forget the morals, principles and truths that our entire existence was built on. Do not take this as a political statement but as a cry of hope. A hope that would have every single person who reads this blog not forget what we’re fighting for here. The American dream is not some ideal or way of life to aspire to, it is something millions will truly risk their lives for. There’s a whole island just south of NYC that proves that point if you don’t believe me. There are thousands of soldiers in foreign lands risking their lives to protect exactly what those terrorists attacked. This is not a political statement but a cry for action. If we go back to how it was the day before September 11, 2001, there will be another September 11, only this time it will be worse and there will be no return to what we know as American freedom. The tables have turned already, the game has changed too much and there is more at risk now in the history of the United States then there ever has been before. Regardless of your political stance, whether you lean left or whether you lean right, we have a responsibility as citizens of this amazing country to learn what our politicians stand for, to educate ourselves about the principles our country was founded on, and to understand exactly why history tends to repeat itself. And most importantly, we have an obligation to the future generations of this great nation to make sure we do everything we can to set our system on a path not bound for repeating itself.
There was an article in the church that stood out as we walked through. It was from a newspaper in the days after 9-11. The author spent most of the article writing a letter to those who attacked us. She told them of all the things that we were feeling, all the ways they had hurt us, and that if they were trying to tell us something, we heard them loud and clear. Then she said this…

“If that’s the case, consider the message received and take this message in exchange. You don’t know my people, you don’t know what we’re about, you don’t know what you just started, but you are about to learn.”

I implore all of us to remember exactly what we felt on September 11, 2001. Literally, take a moment right now to think back to that day and recall not the materials that went through your mind, not the daily work schedule that you were on, not the homework you had, not the television show you were going to watch that night, not what the weather was going to be tomorrow…but the people you loved who matter the most to you. If the WTC church reminded me of one thing, it reminded me of how truly proud I am to be an American and that I cannot take for granted, living in a country that allows me to write this very blog, and to remind you, the reader, of what we are exactly up against here. The people who attacked us do not care about our memorials, they do not care about our national deficit, they do not care about our elections or what bill is going through the Senate – they care about one thing: their cause, which does not have freedom in its plans. Hopefully, we’ll all take a little more time to not only stand up for what we believe but to learn why we believe what we believe. God knows they have no clue why or what they believe – they believe it because they’re told to.

From the Road Less Traveled,
Josh & Rachel

NYC Day 4 Highlights: Really tall green statues, seeing the Merril Lynch bull, historic sites, complaint calls (more about this in tomorrow’s blog), good complimentary breakfast!, no rain or need for an umbrella, not standing in line at 5 AM, not getting lost in the subway, emotional reminders, never feeling endangered in the Big Apple.

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on…Manhattan?

* Watch Video Before Continuing*

Isn’t that the most exhilarating version of Mary Had a Little Lamb that you’ve ever heard/seen? Tom Hanks ain’t got nothin’ on Rachel. If you’ve never seen the movie Big, that probably won’t make any sense, but that’s your bad because everybody should have seen Big. The “Big Piano” is located in FAO Schwartz in New York City. FAO is known worldwide as one of the biggest, coolest, toy stores around. Had we been 10 years old on this trip, FAO would have been the place we hung out most on our entire trip. We used our time at FAO to play while we waited for the Letterman staff to call and inform us if we were going to be selected to receive free tickets for that night’s show. Lucky us, we were put on “Paul’s Gold List” (this was just a fancy way of saying we had been selected, it was their way of making us feel special) and after some training on how to laugh properly to boost Letterman’s ego, we were in the Ed Sullivan theatre waiting to see our first Late Night show live. To be honest, we were both not entirely thrilled to see Dave, but more excited to see who the guests would be. He had a good one on that night and we got to see all 4 feet 2 inches of Danny DeVito and a story about how he took on a poisonous scorpion in his hotel room in the Caribbean. DeVito was definitely the highlight of the show. Letterman on the other hand simply berated anything close to a right-wing ideology, so you can imagine how we felt sitting in the middle of a studio audience who seemed to all think Dave’s wit was genius. We applauded ever so lightly. Nothing against any libs reading this blog, but can any late show host make jokes about anything but politics these days? Sheesh. We left the theatre with feet as ice cubes. Let me explain…

We woke up that morning to a New York rain storm that was unrelenting all day. Within one hour of our time downtown, even with umbrellas, our pants were soaked, our shoes sopping, and even our shirts and jackets were drenched. Rachel’s hair did not appreciate the unkind weather either, Josh’s hair on the other hand, had no say in the matter. However, we were not going to let some rain on our parade stop us from having a good time.

Before the Letterman show, we decided to try out the famous Ray’s Pizza (and this actually is a famous place). From what we understand, this was the first pizza place in NYC. So it was just one of those things you have to see for yourself. The pizza was good but not earth-shattering. We continued our Times Square experience after the Letterman show with a stop at the M&M’s World, an enormous Toys ‘R Us, and a stop at Walgreens to fix our chocolate desire with some old fashion M&M’s. We would have bought some M&M’s from M&M World but they saw it fit to charge an arm and a leg for one pound of M&M’s. We settled for a few ounce bag at Walgreens instead.

After a full day of New York attitude, buildings, and soaking wet clothes, we decided to call it a night and headed back to our Jersey hotel for some much-needed rest and relaxation. We have yet to see the main attraction in NY but I’m sure the Statue will be amazing…let’s just hope for some better weather! More from NYC tomorrow…

From the Road Less Traveled,
Rachel & Josh

NYC Day 3 Highlights: Umbrellas!!!, short guys named Danny DeVito, cool and helpful NYPD, Ruby Tuesdays for dinner, pianos you can play with your feet, toy stores, nice hotel shuttle drivers, M&M’s, getting to warm up in a hot shower that night!

License Plate Update: Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Indiana, Texas, Florida, Oregon, California, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Illinois, Oklahoma, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Alaska, Michigan, Iowa, New Mexico, Arkansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina (go Tar Heels!), Virginia, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas, Vermont, West Virginia, Delaware, Washington D.C., Rhode Island (51/51)….this completes our list…we’ve seen ALL the state license plates plus Washington D.C.’s license plate!!!!!!!!!

Not All Witches Are Bad

Check this youtube out of some of the music we got to experience. Not the same actors, but the same music and all of it amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlMBcTGJ4YM&feature=related

Cue Stage Green Light Left *FLASH*
Cue Stage Green Light Center *FLASH*
Cue Stage Green Light Right *FLASH*
Cue Rolling Fog Across Bottom of Stage *Fog Rolls In*
Cue Orchestra, Maestro *Strings, Brass, Percussion Sound in pit*
Cue Back-ground Purple/Pink/Orange/Blue/Yellow Lights Around Stage *FLASH*
Cue Flying Monkeys…
WHAT????
Yes, cue flying monkeys I said…*Ee-ee-oohh-oohh-ahh-ahh-ee-ee-oohh-oohh*…
Okay, hopefully I’ve set the scene for you as well as I could, and hopefully you are still reading and aren’t thinking to yourself, “Okay, this blog has gotten out of hand!”
Yes, the envy of Broadway-buffs around the nation, and we were at the center of it all. Ten rows back, 3 and 4 seats in on the left, close enough to see the expressions on the faces of Glinda and Elphaba – the untold story of the witches of Oz, we were at the Gershwin Theatre for the production of the Wicked, the one made famous on the actual Broadway in Manhattan. As hard as it is to believe for some of you, I do feel like a fairly well-versed musical watcher (South Pacific, My Fair Lady, The King and I, Beauty and the Beast, Brigadoon, Wizard of Oz, Mama Mia, Mary Poppins, among others…). Rachel on the other hand, is what somebody like me would call a “professional musical watcher.” Her list is too long to put down here, but trust me, it is extensive. But I can speak for both of us (with permission I might add) when I say that this production blows all others out of the water. From the choreography of the dancers to the lighting and scenery created by the stage hands to the most amazing, spectacular, awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, heavenly-sounding voices in America, the Broadway Wicked has, to say the least, GOT IT GOIN’ ON!!! I wish we had another week in New York, because we would make it a priority to see as many Broadway shows as possible. Truly, if you ever find yourself in New York, you HAVE to go see a Broadway show, Wicked in particular. There are no words to describe just how good these performers really are in person – simply amazing.

After the show, we went just down the way to a little restaurant on the corner called Stardust. The outside of the establishment touted singing waiters and waitresses, but as we sat down for a early evening dinner, we were shocked to hear yet more amazing voices coming from nearly every waiter and waitress in the joint. I thought to myself, “Okay, is everybody in NY this talented?” Then our waitress, Amanda B. (a.k.a. Mustang Sally) grabbed a mic and informed the well-pleased customers that the workers at this particular restaurant appreciated all the tips because most, if not all of them, were taking voice and acting lessons in hopes of being one of the stars we had just watched in Wicked, or any other Broadway show. These hard-working, extremely talented servers were trying to work their way up in the Broadway business and Stardust was their start. The food was good, the entertainment lively, and it made for an overall brilliant Broadway experience.

Before the matinee showing of Wicked we worked our way through downtown NYC to find the store of all stores (in my opinion anyhow). The NBA store was truly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It was like a scene out of a majestic, heart-warming, sports-based movie where the little fan that could, finds his way home. This store had everything an NBA fan could want – you name it, they had it. In fact, I consider my leaving that store the start of my coaching career, as I walked out with a book that is titled, “The NBA Coaches Playbook,” a book that has numerous offenses run by NBA teams. I also found a sweet NBA mug that will most likely be on display come this fall in my classroom, but we’ll see. I’m sure Rachel was less enthused about our stop, but hopefully she knew what she was getting in to when she said, “I do.” She did in fact almost pull the trigger on a wonderful purchase of an NBA plate and bowl party set, but being the ever-conscious consumer (a.k.a. cheap-o) that I am, I nixed the buy. *sigh*, what was I thinking???

Did you know that it actually is possible to drive 40 mph in a tunnel 2.5 feet wide, side-by-side with another bus that is 8 feet wide and make it out alive? Really, I saw it happen. It’s called the Lincoln Tunnel and we experienced this miracle first-hand. I know, I know, you are saying to yourself, “It’s not possible for two 8-foot wide vehicles to travel next to each other in a 2.5 foot wide tunnel,” and I too was a skeptic…but seriously, it happened. You have to believe me. I didn’t think it was possible for any city’s driving to top Atlanta or Houston. But now I know why they say do NOT drive in Manhattan. And what is it with the honking NY people…if the 20 cars in front of you can’t move, then reason would say…you aren’t going anywhere!!!!! Honestly, it’s just annoying so maybe the NYPD should start passing out tickets for noise ordinance violations to anyone who honks when there is more than 5 cars or 5 pedestrians directly in front of traffic. This will make me appreciate the “traffic jams” we see on the interstate going from Boise to Nampa at 5:00 in the Treasure Valley. I’ll be glad to be out of metropolitan driving…but we’re not ready to leave quite yet!

One more thing. To all of you who lied to us about how “easy” the subway/bus system is in and around NYC, shame on you. Next time we come to NY, your number is going to be on our speed dial and we will be calling you to inform us, since it’s so easy, of what route and line/zone we need to take to get to our next destination. No one, and I mean no one, has seemed to care to answer our questions about the NYC/NJ Transit system. Not even an on-duty police officer. Okay, we’re not really that mad, but we must not be getting the same help you all got when trying to decode the mess known as the Metro/Transit system in NYC.
Two more blog-days for New York City (we are one day behind), but we’ll get caught up soon. Just wanted to thank everybody who has been commenting/emailing/praying for us. We love reading your comments as we sit and reflect about our day at our hotel room at night. Keep ‘em coming and we’ll keep blogging. Thanks again, more soon…

From the Road Less Traveled,
Josh and Rachel

NYC Day 2 Highlights: The NBA Store (Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Dwayne Wade, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant and all the rest…), Amazing talent in the performers of Wicked, surviving our first bus ride to NY and back (from NJ where we’re staying), a good breakfast every morning at our hotel to start the day off right.

Big Lights and a Big City

You know what is super awesome? Washing and drying all of your clothes and then arriving at your destination to find the spout on your cooler has mysteriously opened, draining the icy cold water on the bag you just put all of your washed, dried and now folded clothes in. Thankfully, the bottom four t-shirts in the bag absorbed most of the water and were able to dry out with a night of a fan blowing on them – but still, not the ideal arrival. Our departure from D.C. was not so graceful either. We started the day with a liquid softener spill in our laundry supplies bag which was followed by a battle with the D.C. freeway system…the freeway system was winning at first, but we overcame. I blame the signs (or lack there of) on the D.C. streets. It’s crazy, because if there is a sign at all, you are lucky to see it behind a tree branch that is blocking your view of the sign or the sign is so small that there is no point in attempting to strain your eyes to see the white lettering. It would have been nice to have more obvious signs while making our exit out of D.C., but there was one sign we saw and understood very clearly. While doing the laundry (that later took a swim) in a Laundromat that was 1 mile away from our D.C. hotel we came across an interesting request. Behind the washers in the dirty, sketchy, establishment was a sign that read the following: “No drugs or alcoholic beverages at any time.” Now, call me crazy, but gosh, I figured at most places you probably shouldn’t have to be told to leave your paraphernalia or illegal narcotics at home, but of course we picked the business that felt the need to remind their customers of this once-assumed common sense rule. We weren’t really worried about our choice of Laundromat until we ran across this sign, after our clothes had already started a wash cycle. So there was really no leaving at this point, unless we wanted to finish the trip with the clothes we had on – with over 2 weeks to go that was not an option. (Not that this mattered, but we were the only white English-speaking customers in the store. The other people there were not threatening, but it was somewhat unnerving.) After a couple of hours of washing and drying clothes, we finally left the Capitol city for another Capitol city – not of a state or country, but of the financial & tourist world, the Big Apple.

One thing that we did not plan on budgeting for was tolls. I’ve been through a few toll roads in my life, all of which have added up to a few bucks. But had I known that half our budget would have been spent on the toll roads going from D.C. to New York, I may have tried to pick up another 3 or 4…dozen substitute days. Okay, maybe not half of our budget, but we spent almost $20 going through toll booths yesterday. What happened to the good ole’ days of 35 cent tolls? Oh well, I guess even the tolls keep up with inflation. Driving in to our New Jersey hotel was not as bad as I thought and thankfully, our NJ hotel room does not smell like some foreign cuisine that’s been burnt in the stove, or like a smoker’s delight room that needs a good wall scrubbing. It actually smells like a hotel should smell, and overall it has been a great hotel experience thus far. We grabbed some dinner at the little Italian restaurant attached to the lobby of our hotel and were treated kindly by the Italian manager who sounds like he was straight off the Sopranos. The next few days should be very interesting as we attempt to take on the largest city in the United States. Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Times Square, the World Trade Centers site…all of it’s on the table for a trip to New York City. Hopefully it’s as pleasant as the other cities have been so far. More from NYC soon…

From the Road Less Traveled,
Rachel & Josh

Leaving DC/NYC Day 1 Highlights: Broadway musical (Wicked, which we’ll venture into on tomorrow’s blog), Rockefeller Plaza, sweet new Conan shirt for the broski, Nintendo World (Pikachu!!!), getting in and out of NYC (although getting back was an adventure, yet another blog story for manana), good hotel, the NBA Store (another home-away-from-home), cool place to eat called Stardust.

Flags, Fallen, Founders & Freedom

*ATTENTION* Watch this video before proceeding to the reading of this blog. *ATTENTION*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZdTSSQ4cks



(Note - We took our own video, but due to the lame connection capabilities of our hotel's wireless internet, we had to resort to a youtube video - our apologies!)

Precision…the first thing that comes to mind after having seen the changing of the guard twice as well as 2 wreath ceremonies. The site – Arlington Cemetery, the final resting place for thousands upon thousands of brave men and women who gave their lives defending the multitude of stories that exist in the boundaries of Washington D.C. As you enter the cemetery between two iron-clad gates, you come first to a tourist/information center that can answer any questions or listen to any comments you may have regarding Arlington Cemetery. At first, you don’t really notice and can’t really see what lies between the dozens of pathways that snake through the hollowed ground. After walking 50 yards or so, the site becomes obvious. As far as you can see in almost every direction, white tomb stones bearing the name, military rank, and years lived of American soldiers spot the landscape. It doesn’t seem real at first that so many lives could have been lost due to war. And just when you think, after you have walked hundreds of yards, that the tomb stones could not go on anymore, you find yourself at the beginning of another plot of land, acres and acres wide with hundreds of more white engraved headstones. After attempting to wrap our minds around the enormity of this place, we found ourselves standing in a sun that was absolutely cruel to bake in at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. But it was worth it. I’ll ask you to look up what these soldiers must go through in order to earn the privilege of standing guard at The Tomb. Once you realize the time and dedication required to earn this position, you cannot stand there and see those men as anything but true, genuine, 100% American heroes. The pride they must feel to stand at what is called “America’s holiest shrine,” cannot be matched. These soldiers will literally risk their lives to take their guard for the 30 or 60 minutes they are assigned to. If you don’t believe me, check out youtube and there is video of a soldier guarding the tomb in weather that we all would be ordered to find shelter in. They have stood at that place pacing their 21 steps back and forth for decades, every minute of every day of every month of every year. These men are deliberate with every single step they take, every turn of their body, every click of their heel, every time they change the position of their gun, and most importantly for them, every salute they give to the 3 soldiers that lie in peace at the feet of these guards. The precise nature to which these guards go about their duties is astonishing and I hope everyone gets to see it in their lifetime.

On a lighter note, we made 4 new friends in front of the National Archives Museum, 2 of whom are going to hook us up with a meeting of Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson. Okay, well, maybe we won’t get to meet them but we can say that we know 2 guys who have done special effects for these actors’ films, among many others. While waiting to go in to the museum, we were able to listen to these 2 men’s stories about their life in the fast lane with some of Hollywood’s top stars such as the two mentioned before, Tom Cruise, Samantha Mamba, Guy Pierce, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. They were in town for 30 days shooting an upcoming sports-based film featuring Witherspoon and Wilson as the main characters. You heard it here first – I think that obligates someone reading this blog to take Rachel and I to the movie, since we’re so close to Reese and Owen…I mean, we’re practically good friends with them now. One second, Owen is calling now…

Okay, sorry. He was just inviting me to the premier but I told him I have a blog audience who I figured would rather take Rachel and myself, but I told him you all said hello. Anyhow, we also met a mother and her daughter who were visiting D.C. for a few days like we were. The mother was originally from Honduras and the daughter, an entering freshman in high school. They were fun to talk to and it made the time we were forced to wait outside go quickly.

Inside the National Archives Museum, a shoe exists that is unlike any other shoe I have ever seen. No, not the famous General George Washington’s shoe…no, not the shoe of our 16th President Abraham Lincoln…I’m talking about the shoe of a larger man. I am of course referring to the Big Aristotle, the Big Diesel, the self-proclaimed King of Facebook, Shaq “the Shaqteriffic” O’Neal. One of Shaq’s size 23 (which is 16 inches long!) Reebok’s is on display for the public to see – talk about a National Archive. The shoe is on display as part of an anniversary celebration for the N.A.M. As cool as that was though, the real reason we were there presided in the bottom level of the building in a rotunda that allows no flash photography, no leaning on the glass, and thanks to security guard Eddie, no loud obnoxious 8th graders. In this room, we saw the original Articles of Freedom, which include the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The Declaration while cool to see up close, is almost non-readable as the ink once used by the founders has nearly faded completely away. The Constitution and Bill of Rights however, still contain dark enough markings for the reader to see. It is indescribable the sense of awe you feel when looking at these documents that you know are the foundation for what we have today (or should I say, what we had years ago but seem to be fading away).

Our final stop on our final day in D.C. was where it all unfolds – where our taxes get raised, the pork gets spent, the corruption breeds, the debt gets larger, and the bold-faced liars are given an immense amount of ego-boost, the United States Capitol (I’m really not bitter, I promise *cough*). This building is larger than I originally thought and extremely well protected. As crazy as the politics are these days, the whole experience was truly amazing, one we will never forget. Without getting in to too deep of a thought for this one, I’ll just say this – we’ve kept track of what is going on in the world via the internet and television while we’ve been on this trip and I sure hope that somehow, some way, our leaders and many of our citizens get their acts together because soon if something does not change, none of this history, none of these stories, none of what is built in D.C. will matter. It’s a sad statement, but I believe a true one.
But the stories that all of these monuments and buildings are built on is the exact reason why I think it will all be okay – goodness will prevail.

From the Road Less Traveled,
Josh & Rachel

D.C. Day 2 Highlights: Changing of the guard, sunscreen, a shower at the end of the day, a decent hotel for shelter, honoring & remembering our nation’s heroes, our nation’s freedoms, new found friends (including Owen and Reese), sitting down, Chipper (our ’07 Ford Escape).

Not Your Normal Mall

There’s no way to capture all that D.C. holds in a single blog so you will be getting an extremely abbreviated version of our Nation’s capitol. It didn’t take us long to realize that 2 days would not be nearly enough time to see all that there is to see and do all that there is to do. With the 2 full days that we did have, we attempted to experience as much as we possibly could. Time was not so much a limitation but the extent to which our feet would allow us to walk. Yes, nearly all there is to see is within a 2-3 mile radius, but to truly immerse yourself in the history and the story that Washington D.C. tells, you would need a full day for every 2 museums. The first attraction that comes to mind was the Holocaust Museum which has recently been a target of the national news media for the shooting that occurred on June 10. You could definitely see the amped up security efforts. Before we even got in to the main part of the museum, we walked by at least 10 security guards. The make-shift memorial that has been set up for the security officer who was killed in action was sitting just outside the entrance. If you have heard the story of the man who was charged with his murder, then you will recognize the irony of the entire situation as this museum gives anyone who passes through it an extreme reminder of what can happen when and if peace do not prevail. This exhibit could take any single person 8 hours to get through and you still might not have the chance to see everything that you would want to see. The amount of reading required (and a somewhat knowledgeable background to World War II) is extensive and probably not for children under the age of 12. If you are not able to stomach some extremely grotesque and unfathomable images of the atrocities that occurred under the reign of Hitler then you may not want to view much of the main exhibit in the museum. The mood while in the museum is quite somber, the dark air silent, and the focus intense. You leave with a new found view of what exactly happened during one of the World’s darkest periods.

Five of the monuments/memorials are all within view from each other. These 5 places of remembrance can be viewed fairly quickly, but the uniqueness and awe they inspire in you will last a lifetime. These 5 memorials were the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, and the Vietnam War Memorial. The amount of literature available to read at these monuments are enough to make a book full, so I’ll let you look up the information that we learned while at these sites, but one place in particular is worth pointing out. While at the Vietnam War Memorial (the wall), we were able to learn from a man who had a first-hand account of the events that unfolded during the war. This particular memorial is staffed by an all volunteer force made up of Vietnam veterans. They give their time and passion to anyone who is willing to listen to their stories, their knowledge, or their memories from the war. None of them bitter, none of them full of complaints, just truly genuine people wanting to share their experience and maybe a new perspective for you to hear. It was an honor to shake the hand of a man who survived to tell his story of the Vietnam War. This does not take away from how truly wonderful the other memorials are, but this one stood out.

The main attraction in D.C. was our final stop of the day – the White House. As we approached, there seemed to be a small commotion happening just in front of the famed spot for picture taking. Two policemen on horses were pushing everybody back to clear the area in front of the gates that surround the White House. We started to leave the area but 3 minutes later, the policemen had left and the crowd had once again gathered, so we gathered with them. We took our pictures, took another couple’s picture, then decided to call it a day and headed back to our hotel via the D.C. Metro. The Metro was surprisingly simple to figure out – all you need is a Metro official to explain the initial set-up of the system and you are good to go. We found our way around without any trouble and we both realized that we were probably panicking over nothing. The worst part is that there is not more Metro to connect the National Mall area. If you decide to venture to D.C. bring your walking shoes, because wow…you do a LOT of walking! More to come about our 2nd day in the city soon!

From the Road Less Traveled,
Josh & Rachel

D.C. Highlights Day 1: Metro-ease, sunscreen, shade, water, good walking shoes, reminders of peace, Vietnam vets, patriotism, the Lincoln Memorial café with “friends” to chat with from Texas, silly protestors, cameras, a shower at the end of a long hot day!

Some People Won’t Like This

I’ve heard it said that cats always know the way home. It’s as if they have some sort of extra sense that allows them to the way back to their place of dwelling. They have a special connection with wherever their home is. Call it supernatural, call it an extra sense, call it what you will…but I’m fairly confident that in my human nature, I experienced this animal-instinct of feeling at home on June 12, 2009. Chapel Hill, North Carolina, I can now say that I have finally found my home away from home away from home. The Chapel Hill campus was absolutely stunning to both Rachel and myself, probably for different reasons. While there is no denying she was able to see the aesthetic beauty, I saw a beauty I have been dreaming about seeing since I was 7 years old and became a fan of North Carolina basketball. I have dreamed (literally and figuratively) of stepping foot on the UNC Chapel Hill campus for years and years. Words cannot describe the excitement I felt as Rachel and I passed sign after sign directing us to the UNC campus. Once there, it only got better because the Dean Smith Center, where the UNC basketball team plays their games, was open due to high school graduations going on. That meant we were able to see inside of the building. Hanging in the rafters were the retired jerseys of past UNC basketball heroes. Next to those jerseys were 5 of the 6 (yes, 6) NCAA championships that they have won. Simply put, it was gorgeous, and I can now die a happy man.

I also visited another campus near Chapel Hill, which will go unnamed as I do not want to ruin this blog by mentioning the name of a far inferior school. If you wish to say the name out loud, be careful or your tongue may fall straight out of your mouth. If you don’t know what school I’m talking about, just look online about 8 miles northeast of the UNC Chapel Hill campus and you will see this wretched place. Against my better judgment and because I can now lay claim to being the best friend in the world, I graced this other school’s campus with a Tar Heel fan’s presence, only to foolishly give them some of my money, all to make 3 certain people happy. Let’s just say, they are forever in debt to me regardless of the amount we spent in the other campus’s store. In fact, I kind of like the sound of “the other campus” instead of its true name – I may start using that on a permanent basis. With that said, I will still show some respect. Rachel and I went to a place called Krzyzewskiville, a place in front of the other school’s basketball arena that is named after the other school’s head basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski. We decided to go in to that arena and there we were thrilled to see that a junior high basketball camp was going on which was being led by team USA and other school’s head coach, Coach K. Seeing as he is the epitome of class and genius when it comes to the game of basketball, we stuck around to listen to him speak and failed in our attempt to meet him. However, it was an honor to have seen such a respected and dignified basketball coach. With that, we went as fast as we could to leave this other school behind forever.

We did not realize until after we were in North Carolina that we did not have a Chapel Hill map from AAA – which stressed Rachel to the max. Thankfully, Chapel Hill is a fairly small town that centers around the UNC campus. We had a few extra minutes on our only night in North Carolina so we decided to “get lost” (there was only 1 or 2 streets to get lost on, so we weren’t that worried) and in doing so, came across some fantastic southern white picket-fenced middle-of-a-forest homes. Many of these homes were mansion-looking but there were a few that were somewhat quaint. However, regardless of their size, they were beautiful. These homes had to have been straight out of a Better Homes & Garden magazine. The landscaping was immaculate, the trees around the houses were lush with green leaves and pine needles, and the windows were adorned with shutters. While these houses, I think, excited Rachel more than myself, I could still appreciate the splendor of these Southern-style homes.

Our Washington D.C. hotel which was next on our list of cities did not have a check-in time until 3 PM. The drive to D.C. was only 4 hours though, so we had some time to kill in the morning. The previous night while on the UNC campus, we had seen a building that contained the UNC basketball hall of fame but it was closed, much to our dismay. With the few extra hours we had, we decided to go back to UNC and check this monumental site out – and oh man, I get excited thinking about it! The place was a holding-ground of all things UNC basketball related. As you enter the shrine, you are greeted with a dark room that has 5 cases spotlighting UNC’s first 5 NCAA championship trophies. The next room contains the numerous nets that the UNC teams have had the pleasure of cutting down from so many tournaments and championships won along with framed newspaper clippings, former players’ shoes and jerseys, and plaques and trophies from years past. The third and final room which is 10 times the size of the previous 2 rooms, was filled with everything you could imagine having to do with the UNC basketball tradition. From a wall that contains every name of every UNC player to play in the NBA, an enormous UNC logo that has numerous players’ signatures, to televisions with continuous highlights running from every moment you could think of that has to do with UNC basketball. But the best is saved for last. As you reach the last part of the room, there is a case that I would give my left arm, my left leg, a kidney, a lung and maybe even part of my heart to have. You can probably guess, if you know me, what this case may have held. I won’t go in to detail of all the MJ stuff this case had, but let’s just say I was contemplating how to fit this case into our vehicle for the drive home. Don’t worry, I left everything there *innocent eyes*.

I realized a childhood dream on June 12, 2009. While it revolved around a certain team in the world of college basketball, it was truly important to me to have experienced seeing this campus and this hall of fame. Some of you may find it silly to have such an obsession over a little basketball team – but I wouldn’t trade that dream and my fanicity of the UNC Tar Heels for anything. We all have our own dreams and whether they are silly or not, they are real. Everybody has that one thing they dream about and possibly have dreamt about since they were 7 years old, maybe younger. I truly hope that someday, you get to experience your dream, even if it is on a minor level. Our dreams, our aspirations, our desires, our deepest wishes, are what make life interesting and worth living. I still have many dreams, many hopes, and many desires that I hope I see come to fruition at some point in my life. But for now, I’ll take what I’ve been given. We come in to this world with nothing, we leave with nothing, but we leave behind a ton. Part of what we leave behind finds its form in the accomplishment of our dreams, so what are you leaving behind?
What are your dreams?
What do you love? What is your passion? If it’s a basketball hall of fame – so be it.
Just as long as it’s not that “other school’s” basketball hall of fame.

From the Road Less Travled,
Josh & Rachel

North Carolina Highlights: UNC campus, UNC basketball hall of fame, seeing beautiful homes, almost meeting Coach K (but getting lots of pictures), 6 NCAA championships, not running out of battery on the camera even though it was blinking at us!

License Plate Update: Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Indiana, Texas, Florida, Oregon, California, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Illinois, Oklahoma, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Alaska, Michigan, Iowa, New Mexico, Arkansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina (go Tar Heels!), Virginia, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas, Vermont, West Virginia, Delaware, Washington D.C. (49/51 … because we’re now counting D.C. as a “state” for this count).

Don't Worry, We're Still Here!

Hey, so you are probably wondering, "Um, helloooooo you are in new cities, where are the new blogs???" Well not to fear, we've had a couple super busy days in North Carolina and now we are in Washington D.C. and I'm sorry, we want to go look at all the cool things before we sit down to write a blog. But we will have a blog about our North Carolina trip, (with video I might add...) and we will have a blog about our Day 1 and a blog about our Day 2 in D.C. So, keep checkin' because we definitely will get a blog posted here soon. Sorry for the delay! Talk to you all soon!

-Josh and Rachel

Names and the Stories That Go With Them

Little Michael grew up in a fairly well-to-do neighborhood. Down one side of the street lived Doctors, a lawyer, and some affluent business men from the community. On the other side of the street lived nose-to-the-grindstone blue collar workers, all living paycheck to paycheck. Across the street from Michael’s house was a convenience store where Michael’s family and the rest of the neighborhood would buy household necessities – milk, bread, ice, and a multitude of other things. One day, Michael’s best childhood friend told Michael, “My dad says I cannot play with you anymore.” Michael’s best friend, who was white, would not be allowed to play with him anymore because Michael was black. Michael was heart-broken much like any 6 year old would be.

Luckily, as a 6 year old, Michael would not have had to deal with 5:00 traffic in 2009 in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. If you have any luck, you will not have to deal with Atlanta traffic either because…OMG! (OMG = oh my goodness, that’s for those of you who may not be up-to-date on your texting lingo). I take back everything I said about Houston being a crazy city to drive in. I said that all prior to knowing that I would have spent more time on the freeway than off the freeway during our stay in Atlanta. Okay, okay, I may be exaggerating a bit, but seriously, it took us 2 hours to get from the Braves game back to our hotel, which are only 19 miles away from each other. If you do the math, that makes your average speed 9.5 miles per hour. At certain points on the Atlanta freeway system, there are over 8 lanes of traffic all headed in the same direction, and which at any given time, 5 of them are at a complete standstill. Literally, 5 of them will not be moving, 2 of them will be crawling, and the last will be moving fairly quickly but it is the one lane you can’t be in because it is an exit only, the exit you don’t need *refer to video at bottom*. Now this fits somebody like myself great because if you know me, I’m not what you would call the “fastest driver” in the West. However, when the freeways do pick up to “normal” speed, it is absolutely, horrifically, unimaginably…scary. You will be going 75mph in a 55mph one moment and slowing down to 10mph in a matter of seconds all the while avoiding 4 cars in front of you trying to merge to their exits, 3 cars behind you attached to your back bumper, 9 cars in front of you slowing down because of the 3 semi-trucks in front of them, the Earth moving in one direction beneath your back wheels and the other direction beneath your front wheels, 24 tornados forming over your head, a volcano erupting in the distance in the middle of a blizzard, driving uphill in a mountainous terrain both ways. I know, sounds crazy right? Well, to add to the story, just pretend that it’s true, because that’s what it felt like. Oh yeah, did I mention the girl with her left foot hanging out of the window, talking on her cell phone, in the middle of rush hour traffic – and she was the one driving?! (Doesn’t make my volcano sound too out of place does it? I think I would have rather taken my chances with the burning lava than the psycho-driver girl). Anyway, back to the Atlanta story.

After we got into Atlanta the first night, we decided to not brave the traffic and settled on a good ‘ole Cracker Barrel night. It’s amazing how similar these restaurants are 2,000 miles away from each other; I think they use the same decorator. We came back to the hotel and decided to call it an early night so we could attempt to get up early for a full day in downtown Atlanta.

After the early events of our 2nd day in Atlanta, which I’ll discuss later in this blog, we made our way to Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves. You would have thought Atlanta, Georgia was right in the middle of the Equator. Rachel’s skin on her legs was so hot that you could have cooked an egg on them. Apparently, one of our readers does not believe we are intelligent enough to sunscreen-up every time we are going to spend some time in the sun. He underestimates our genius – we remembered and good thing because for 5 innings, that Atlanta sun bore down on us with all its might. We caught a break in the 6th inning when little white puffy clouds turned into dark, ominous thunder and lightning-bearing clouds which gave us some cover. The game ended with the Braves losing 3 to 1 and not a moment too soon. Not 60 seconds later, the Atlantic Ocean that we just left arrived over the top of Turner Field. This was not just a little drip-drip storm, but a storm that kept us and 10,000 other petrified fans in the halls of the Braves stadium for about 20 extra minutes. Neither Rachel nor myself have seen that much rain in that short amount of time, ever. The thunder literally shook the steel rafters holding up the stadium – needless to say, we were glad to finally get back to our hotel, shower off the globs of sunscreen we had smeared over our entire bodies, order in some Chinese food, and relax for a few minutes before diving into our new blog.

Something I was super excited about was my brand new Atlanta Braves jersey Rachel had been saving for me for months. I had pointed out a really nice authentic Braves jersey that I wanted over a year ago and Rachel spent months looking for it after the store we saw it in had sold out of them. She surprised me with it last night before bed and her and I were both able to rock our new looks in our new Braves baseball gear to the game today.

Oh, and about Michael…you see, I didn’t just randomly tell you some story about some kid named Michael to open this blog. That is actually a true story. But who is Michael and why should you care about him? Well, in 1934, a man lay on his death bed with his son at his side. The man’s dying wish was that his son would find a way to keep the family name going after his death. The son, who had a son of his own, decided to keep that wish for his father. Soon after his death, the son marched himself and his own son to the local courthouse and decided to have their names legally changed. While many of us desire possessions, materials, money, and basically just “stuff,” this dying man’s desire wasn’t for his gold pocket watch to be handed down or for a house to be left for his grandchildren, or for his fortune in stocks to be passed down through the generations, no, his name meant more than anything. He obviously felt that he had lived up to that name well and was entrusting that name to his son and his grandson. If you think about some of the most famous people in history, it usually isn’t their bank account that we remember them by – but their name. John F. Kennedy, Adolf Hitler, Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Napoleon, Jesus…all people we remember, some well-off financially and others not, but we do not remember them by their portfolio worth. We remember the stories behind their names.
Sometimes, I think about what my name is worth.
I hope that you too will think about the story that will be attached to your name someday.

Today, we were able to see inside the birth home of Martin Luther King Jr. We saw first-hand at the MLKJ Historic District in downtown Atlanta, just what his name has meant to millions of people. Shrine after shrine after shrine, Dr. King is remembered by the words he spoke, the actions he performed, and by the lives he changed. I am grateful, after all these years, to know the whole story of Martin Luther King Jr. This blog is dedicated to the memory of that man who once famously said, “I have a dream that one day, my 4 little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Because sometimes, a name, even if it has to be legally changed from Michael to Martin, is worth more than all the money in the world.

From the Road Less Traveled,
Josh and Rachel

In memory of, Martin Luther King Jr. 1929-1968 (born Michael Luther King Jr.)

Atlanta Highlights: Braves game, Martin Luther King Jr. memorial, shelter in the storm!, Cracker Barrel’s fixin’s, surviving Atlanta freeways, advanced map reading skills, good ‘ole southern hospitality, a decent hotel room (even with the weird smell), a blind tour guide that didn’t let his disability stop him from his passion, chocolate milk!

License Plate Updates: *so we forgot to post in Florida, so here’s our latest update* Idaho, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Indiana, Texas, Florida, Oregon, California, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Illinois, Oklahoma, Maine, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Minnesota, Alaska, Michigan, Iowa, New Mexico, Arkansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina (go Tar Heels!), Virginia, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Alabama, South Carolina, Missouri, South Dakota, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Connecticut, Kansas, Vermont, West Virginia (47/50)

Pensacola Day 2: What’s Happened to Customer Service?

I think it’s time to take up online shopping permanently. That way, you would never have to deal with “customer service” people anymore. Do you ever get the feeling that you are annoying the person who is taking care of your transaction? Or maybe you are one of the lucky ones who gets the “I don’t care about the customer, I’m going to act like you’re not here” treatment. We have been fortunate to have had the experience with both while on this vacation. You read about our first instance with “exceptional” customer service in Van Horn, TX with the Ramada desk girl. Day 2 in Pensacola took us to Pep Boys for our 3,000 mile oil change that we will need twice while on our honeymoon. I stepped in to the Pep Boys store and was looked at by 2 employees behind the counter. Silly me, I thought you should greet a customer when they walk in to your store and you’re standing 3 feet away from them with a counter that separates you. I guess the correct thing to do, according to the Pep Boys customer service manual, is to turn your heads back to the computers you are typing on, speaking only with other Pep Boy employees. I waited another minute while the employees typed away on their screens. After the casual/in-your-face clearing of the throat (you know, the polite little sound you make when you want somebody to look up at you but in your mind you are thinking “Hey jerk-wad look up at me, there’s a customer in the store!”), one of them glanced up from his computer and with a rather snarky tone, asked, “Um, can I help you?” Now at this point I was thinking “Gosh, Pep Boys should be a little more peppy” but I thought that they may have been in a rush so I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I told them that I needed an oil change and with an annoyed look, he glanced at his watch and retorted “It may be about 2 hours you might have to come back.”
We didn’t go back.
In fact, no one should ever go back to Pep Boys. They should be called Non-Pep Boys for their non-peppiness.

We ended up getting our oil changed right next door and we were on our way to the famous white beaches of Pensacola. The sun was blazing, the clothes were skimpy (on both genders – some guys should not wear some things *shivers*), but the water was amazing. You can actually let this water touch your skin unlike another ocean that I know (I say that just to get a rise out of all you Pacific Ocean lovers…my wife included) (Rachel made sure to type “my wife included”). We spent about 40 minutes wading up to our necks in warm gulf water and then ate a piece of “Death by Chocolate” cake at a little restaurant called Crabs. I will be digesting that cake after we get back to Boise – it was that huge! We took a stroll at a nearby shopping strip that had some beach shops, restaurants, and a giant clam shell. After a few hours at Pensacola Beach, we had had our fun in the sun for the day and decided to hit up a Walmart to restock our dwindling food supply.

On a final note our last minute hotel change worked out well as we were both pleased with our stay at Towne Place Suites in Pensacola. It’s funny how we are never pleased with the temperature as Americans. We were both “dying” of heat while standing in the sun on the beach and “freezing to death” back at the hotel room due to the blizzard-abilities of our air-conditioning. But if the temperature of a hotel room is the least of our worries on this trip, I’d say it has been a success thus far. On to Atlanta where another historical site awaits us (Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial) and a baseball game where the Atlanta Braves will take on the Pittsburgh Pirates – go Braves! More soon!!!

From the Road Less Traveled,
Rachel & Josh

Pensacola Day 2 Highlights: the Atlantic Ocean, chocolate cake at a seafood restaurant, Walmart, other people from Idaho who are 2,500 miles away from home that wave hello even if their license plate has a Vandal logo on it *yuck!*, showers off the beach to wash off the sand from your feet and legs, modesty (the little we saw), waterproof sunscreen.

Pensacola – Day 1

You forget how nice a 4 ½ hour drive can be after you have experienced multiple drives in a row of 7 hours or more. We left Baton Rouge this morning (June 8th) for Pensacola, Florida and the famous white beaches they lay claim to. The drive was smooth and quick, and it seemed as if no time had passed at all as we arrived to our newly booked hotel. You see, last night (the 7th) we wanted to check out our Pensacola hotel one more time before we got there, and after we looked on googlemaps (which can literally see your front door or anywhere you well please to look – hopefully they don’t have cameras in our bathrooms), we decided to make a change. The area around our original hotel didn’t look “inviting”, and by that I mean the area was dungy and dirty looking, something like our Van Horn room only on a wider scale. So, we rebooked with a new, Towne Place Suites Marriott hotel and I think both of us are pleasantly surprised. While the room was a bit more spendy, it is well worth it. We have a refrigerator, microwave (and you KNOW I was stoked about THIS), a flat screen LG television, a stove (didn’t really care about that one), and some other basic amenities that make your stay just a tad nicer – remember, it’s the little things that can add a lot sometimes! However, all these things won’t be used much (I reserve the right to change this statement based on the usage of the microwave), because we will be spending the majority of our day 2 in Pensacola on the absolutely gorgeous white beaches that surround “the Island”, or the main attraction in Pensacola. A bridge that is about 4 miles long leads out to this stunningly beautiful beach island with hotels, restaurants, condos and shops that all look out over the enormity of the Atlantic Ocean – a site that never ceases to amaze me. This is my 2nd trip to the Atlantic, and I’ve had quite a few to the Pacific, (this is Rachel’s first to the Atlantic and I don’t think she believed me that the water was like a swimming pool, unlike the Pacific that feels like an Arctic blast the second you step in the water). But each and every time I get near an ocean, I can’t help but be filled with awe and wonder at this place God has given us, because it is so overpowering and inspiring and absolutely thrilling to be a part of it all.

The minute we got into our hotel, we were itching to get back out and drive down to the Pensacola Beach area to check out the sites and mostly, the water. It was warm as expected, and the beach was packed! Hundreds of people filled the water front, many playing a game of beach soccer, beach volleyball, some laying out in the Pensacola sunshine, and others just out enjoying the feel of the sand on their feet with their families and a family pet. It was peaceful and pleasant, something we all need to experience! We gathered some shells (as you can see in the picture), walked around a few of the shops for a while, and grabbed some dinner at a place called Crabs. I ate something called the White Dory fish, and after I finished it I came to a sudden realization that I may have just finished off millions of kids’ dreams – if you recall, Marlin (Nemo’s dad in Finding Nemo) made a good friend along the way in his adventure of trying to find Nemo. Yeah – did it just hit you too? Marlin’s friends name…DORY! Ahhhhh! What did I do? I’m sorry! Well, guess I’ll have to get over it because the White Dory fish tasted excellent. Rachel’s grilled chicken burger wasn’t too bad either. Before dinner we enjoyed a rousing game of mini-golf at the Tiki-Torch Arcade and Mini-Golf course and I have to say, this was one of the best mini-golf courses we’ve ever played at. The course had this one hole that dropped a good 30 feet through twists and turns to where the hole was…it was really cool. As I began to write this segment, Rachel gave me permission to mention that I won our little competition, but silly Rachel, she should have known that the only reason I was willing to mention mini-golf was because I won…maybe she’ll know me 100% someday ;o)!

Another cool part of today was passing through four different states. We went from Louisiana, to Mississippi, to Alabama and finally in to Florida (and no time zones – something is weird there.) The land down here is SO green! I guess that’s what you get with 70% humidity year round. It’s amazing to see an area so different from the one you live in – the people are different, the buildings and roadways are different, even the air is different. But as I sit in this Pensacola hotel, with a humid Atlantic night sky just outside the hotel window, I know that I can see the same red moon that my family can see back in Boise, the same lit up night sky that the business man laying down for a nights rest can see in New York, the same big dipper that orphaned Rawandan children will see tomorrow night as they look up at the heavens wondering when someone will come help them, the same blackened blanket that covers the wide expanse above us that the son and daughter of a drug-lord in a South American jungle will see…we all experience this miracle called life. It’s the spin we put on it that makes the difference. It’s the circumstance of our very being that enables us to see these things with the attitude that we do, and our situation allows us to see it all with a sense of gratitude, amazement, bewilderment…you name it. I just hope that someday, I can help someone less fortunate than myself to come to see it the way I do. Someday, I hope I can help someone see it in a way they’ve never seen it. I hope you can too.
By the way, tomorrow it’s supposed to be bright and sunny here in Pensacola.
In some places it will be rainy.
But tomorrow will be a great day anyway!
More soon!

From the Road Less Traveled,
Rachel and Josh

Pensacola Day 1 Highlights: Seeing the ocean!!!, warm ocean water, a quick drive, M&M’s, Microwaves for the long-awaited hotdogs, Mapquest directions to the beach & back, last minute hotel changes (for the better), digital cameras on mini golf courses to capture fun moments!