10 Random Things From Vacation

So as you may or may not know, my little family took a vacation to North Carolina last month.  It was HEAVENLY and we can't wait to go back.  The ocean breeze, the sound of the waves...watching my Jacob have the time of his life "playing tag" with the waves...rolling in the sand...it was PERFECT.  The joy on that child's face made everything worth it.

So.  Here are 10 random things about vacation that you might find interesting, or might be bored to tears, but hey, here we go.

1.  On the first day traveling, we left about 6:20 AM.  We drove through SEVEN states:  Michigan (der), Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia. Whoo!  We stopped in Winchester Virginia at the cleanest Hampton Inn I've even been in.  It SMELLED clean when we walked in.  Just a hint of bleach (my FAVORITE smell) and everything was spotless.  I didn't even feel the need to UV everything, although  I DID still use my antibacterial wipes for the door handle, switches, remotes, etc.

2.  Pennsylvania (the route we took anyway) is one of the most beautiful states I've been in!  I was so taken aback.  For some reason I thought it was all like farms and Amish country.  But there are amazing hilly roads, mountains, beautiful foilage, and I don't think I saw hardly ANY farms, and we saw NO Amish people.  I was a little bummed about that.

3.  Doug suggested a game to see how many license plates we could "collect" on our drive.  We saw Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan (der), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Washington D.C., Wisconsin, AND, Ontario, Brunswick and Queensland Australia.  It was fun, and a challenge.  Sure wished we could have gotten them all!  We only did NOT see 11 states, including Hawaii and Alaska, so.....

4.  We met the coolest guy at the bait shop in Waves, North Carolina (or it may have been Rodanthe; they're all squished together).  The shop was called Hatteras Jack's, and I'm giving a shout out to Cowboy! He was so sweet and he and Jacob took a real shine to each other. (Jacob has a way about him....he gets free stuff everywhere we go.)   So Southern, and so sweet...He let Jacob "pet" the fish there (bait fish)...and even took his picture when he caught a blue fish.  So if you're EVER in Rodanthe, and you need to know anything about anything to do with fishing, go to Hatteras Jack's and look up Cowboy.

5.  One of the coolest things was seeing the wild horses on the beaches in Corolla. Open top jeep, the beach, the ocean, and horses. Jacob was in HEAVEN!

6.  On the way home we decided to go to Mammoth Cave, KY.  Well.  The Hampton there didn't have a refrigerator, so we had to stay at the Comfort Inn there.  It was okay, but the air conditioner vent was disgusting.  That was an entire ordeal....no hand held vacuum in the entire hotel, not even a vacuum with a brush!  I'm like, how the heck do you EVER clean these things?  (I think I answered my own questions!)

7.  Jacob and Daddy took the Historic tour of Mammoth Cave, which is a mile in and a mile back.  Everyone was taken with Jacob and how smart he was....Mmmm-hm!  Take THAT all you homeschool haters!

8.  Later that same day, we ALL did the Frozen Niagra tour, which is for "anybody."  Well, I'm here to tell you it is NOT for everybody.  First of all, one of the reasons they say anyone can do it is because there are a total of like 14 steps.  Well.  They don't mention the hideously steep inclines and declines that you have to maneuver, let alone the places where the rock is kinda narrow and you have to duck and twist at the same time.  Thank God I had my walking stick, or I would have face-planted on MORE than one occasion.

9.  Caves have crickets.  Yes, crickets.  They don't chirp, and they don't look like crickets.  They look like albino spiders.  BIG ones.  The park ranger guy told us that EVERYTHING in the caves was protected.  Even the cave crickets.  (This was BEFORE I had seen any....I'm thinking crickets...no biggie.)  So he says, "If one jumps on you, you can't smash it.  You have to gently brush it off, or ask the person behind you to gently brush it off."

So my question was, "But what about those of us with a knee-jerk reaction to scream and smash anything that lands on us that has more than 2 legs?"  While everyone else (all 6 of them) laughed, Ranger says, "That's not likely to happen."  I say, "You don't know me."

But alas, I made it.  I will NEVER do that again, but I made it.

10.  One of the safest places to be in an earthquake is a cave.  Yeah, I know!  I was like, um, I would think that would be the WORST place!  It has something to do with the earthquake needing ground to travel through (kind of like electricity needs to be grounded, but in this case we're talking actual GROUND), and since caves are hollow, they are safe. 

I think I'll take my chances up here on good ol' terra firma, thank you very much!