Travelling in the Shutdown

"Congress forcing a government shutdown is as good a strategy as a toddler holding his breath to get his way. Hopefully, they'll pass out." @roginkim  

When we were planning for this trip, I spent a fair bit of time thinking about all the stuff that could go wrong. What if the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere?  What if we can't find anywhere to stay one night? What if one of us gets sick and we can't find a doctor?  What if all the travelling upsets and unsettles the children? 

One thing that didn't appear on my worry-list was a US Government Shutdown.  To be completely honest, the first time I ever heard this phrase was only a few weeks ago.  (I'm not sure where I was during the 1995-1996 shutdown. Probably practicing my Spice Girls moves). Scroll forward to 2013, and I was sitting bleary-eyed in a hotel breakfast room, trying to convince Mr Almost 3 that muesli would be better than waffles this morning. In the background, Fox News was blasting its 'SHUTDOWN COUNTDOWN CLOCK' across our screens. Oh, how dramatic I thought.  It's just a budget agreement, it's not like they are actually going to close anything.....  ahhhh how wrong could I be.  

We were in Cortez, South West Colorado which is part of the wonderful Four Corners Area. The plan was to stay just a couple of nights, but that all changed on our first drive into the Mesa Verde National Park, with the beautiful cliff dwellings of the Ancestral Puebloan people and the Colorado plateau stretching out for miles ahead.  Right up the top we saw a really cool hotel called the Far View Lodge. It's 15 miles inside the national park and we were thinking how great it would be to watch the sunset and rise with the boys from this very special place, so we dropped in and booked a great room. Our check in date? October 1 - the day the countdown clock ran out.   

Well, some plans are not to be.  Just get over it man.  This made me think of Eyjafjallajökull. Remember that? The Icelandic volcano which erupted in 2010, spewing ash into the skies and grounding all flights across Europe for six days.  My colleague was at a conference in Lake Como at the time and unable to return to the office.  Stuck in a 5 star hotel by a beautiful Italian lake?  You poor old thing.  My heart bleeds for you.  

On Shutdown Day One, we took a deep breath, got over it and made a quick plan B to stay in Bluff, Utah. It was from here that we went to the 'Valley of the God's' which geek-daddy described afterwards as the drive of a lifetime.  It's a 17 mile off-road tour through massive rock monuments followed by a harrowing drive up to the Moki Dugway and on to Muley Point, with incredible views of Monument Valley. 

We are now in Kachina Villiage, on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona and we should have driven to the Grand Canyon today.  But for obvious reasons, we won't be going.  I just heard that the National Parks employees are going to get backpay for the time they were 'furloughed', which is good for them, but bad for all the businesses and towns around the 400+ national parks that are currently closed.  We talked to a somewhat depressed cafe owner who said that at the first whiff of the parks closing her business took a dive.  This is the real sadness and senselessness of the shutdown.  In Washington they are talking about the cost of towels in the congress gym (I mean really), but all this petty crap is causing real pain for small town America.  

And as for the Grand Canyon?  Yup, I'm gutted.  But I guess its been here for a few million years, so it will probably still be here next time I come to the US. 

Think I'll keep an eye out for impending government shutdowns before I travel though.  

The Mother Road

Any self-respecting journey across America should incorporate a good stint on the Holy Grail of roadtrips, Route 66.  The 'Mother Road' isn't really about getting from one place to another but carries with it the freedom and romanticism of a time before Wireless internet, GPS and Trip Advisor dominated our travel plans.  

But technically, US 66 no longer exists.  It was replaced by the Interstate Highway system in the '80s - by which time some had been overlaid, some of it realigned, and some stretches abandoned.  Route 66 is not even marked on ordinary maps anymore, but you can still 'Get your Kicks' (as the song goes), using www.historic66.com which includes a turn by turn guide across the entire 2448 miles from Chicago to LA.  Listening to people we met along the way, it sounds like most do a mixture of the faster two lane Interstate interspersed with stretches on the nostaligic 66, but there are also many fans and forums dedicated to the non-stop experience.  

Whichever route you decide on it is hard to imagine a more untouched landscape through which you can drive hour after hour.  I have to admit I found this kinda surprising.  I know America is massive, but all this talk about modernising the highway made me think there would be more stuff along the way.  There is not.  The Road stretches faultlessly to the horizon and even in 2013, almost 90 years since Route 66 was established there is a feeling of welcome isolation. Just you and the road.  And of course two toddlers, one husband driving gleefully, and several tons of essential luggage in the 'trunk'.  

We connected with Route 66 in Oklahoma City, a place I wasn't too sad to leave behind, and headed West to Amarillo.  For all of its admirable qualities, Amarillo is a good example of how not to organise a town. The Interstate goes directly through the centre and the hotels and restaurants are located on slip roads either side of the I-40.  This means that any housing near the main drag is also near a massive highway and a bit nasty as a result. I remember there was a great ad for whiskey in the 90s (Jack Daniels I think) with this old woman who lived below a busy junction.... "I like highways, that's why I moved here" she says defiantly.  I reckon she would dig this place. But what Amarillo lacks in town planning it makes up for in good Texan steaks, cowboys, and quirky places like the fascinating Cadillac Ranch (pictured below right).   

From Amarillo we took another heavenly drive into the sunset before we rolled into Tucumcari. 

Here the main street (the original Route 66), is filled with small 'Mom and Pop' businesses doing what they have always done for travellers along this road.  Old fashioned diners, motels and petrol stations with proper old school ticker counters - no digital in sight. There's even a drive-in tattoo parlour.  Where else can you rock up on a Harley, plant your boots and get some ink done?

We skipped the tatts and headed to the Blue Swallow Motel a 1939 establishment featuring neon lights and '100% refridgerated air'. As well as the cool air, the rooms come with rotary telephones, original toilets (!!) and an attached garage for your automobile.  And most excitingly for the little ones - the signage at the Blue Swallow featured in the Pixar film Cars.  (Lightning McQueen is a pretty big deal in our house).    

Tucumcari is nostalgic bliss, and pretty much sums up the emotion and respect that we have for the great American roadtrip.  Because even though everything has changed in our world, it feels like nothing has changed here.    

Enjoy every minute

One of the things I love about travelling with my boys, is that we end up chatting to people everywhere we go. We'll be at the supermarket or in a hotel lobby and the boys smile and wave, and before you know it we're talking like old friends with Bill and Jean, an older couple from Chicago who have two grown up children and came to Hot Springs to enjoy the baths and see the Bill Clinton library.  I enjoy these conversations hugely, we have met some amazing people who have great stories, even greater accents, and buckets of American charm. And as I read earlier today in this cool quote from Bill Nye the Science Guy: "Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't".   

But there's one piece of advice that I am routinely given when these folks see us with two young children, and that is this:  Enjoy every minute.  

Now then.  I enjoy every day with my boys.  I really enjoy the special moments.  I sometimes even manage to enjoy difficult moments.  But E.V.E.R.Y minute?  Hmmmm.  What about those (long) minutes when Mr 1 is teething and frustrated and Mr Almost 3 is expressing his turmoil about wanting to play inside and outside AT THE SAME TIME.  (Choosing is hard, right?). What about when they bump heads and both start crying, or they both want the same toy, or same book, or the exact same stone on an ENTIRE BEACH of stones?  What about the tantrums?  What about the broken sleep, followed by the tantrums?  What about the nappies, the spew the poo, the smelly shoes?  

Today felt like a hard day.  We are all kinda tired, and the whole fam has a bit of hotel fatigue.  The tension was building up a bit and then there were milk spills on top of a non eating lunch and everything was a bit arrghhhhh!  

But now it's the end of the day, the boys are in bed, and we are sitting here enjoying a cold beer (admittedly we are sitting in the dark - let's not wake the mini kaiju, right..?), and I am reflecting on the fact that today was actually a pretty awesome day.  We went to the Amarillo 'Discovery Center' this morning which was unexpectedly good.  There were a series of really cool hands-on experiments that should be in every school science lab - you could fire balls into a 'black hole', walk through a maze of ribbons, or run around on a shadow stage with freaky coloured lights.  And this evening we went to the Great Texan Steak Ranch, famous for its 72 oz steak challenge (I know, gross huh?!), although I found 12oz suited me just fine.  

Despite my earlier irritability  tonight I feel really lucky to be seeing these places.  I've been to tons of 'Texan' style steak houses but this is the first one that is actually in Texas.  Travelling is a massive privilege, these All-American experiences are pretty special, and I think it's really cool to be doing this when our little ones are still 'forming neurons' to quote a good friend of mine.  

So, enjoy every minute?  Nah, I don't think I'm going to try to enjoy every minute, whether refering to parenting, or travelling.  After all, some minutes are dumb and stinky.  But I am going to keep loving the good times, treasuring the wonderful people my life, and definitely definitely, appreciating each day.  

Both kinds

What kind of music do you usually have here?  

Oh, we got both kinds. We got country *and* western.

This has gotta be my Dad's favourite line from his favourite film, the Blues Brothers.  I must have heard him say this about a thousand times, and it kept popping into my head when we were in Nashville the 'epicenter' of country music.  There are bars on Music Row blasting live tunes all day (and night, I assume!), there are people on the streets who look more than a wee bit country (cowboy boots everywhere - love it!), and then there are buskers like the 'world famous Mandolin Mike' who has been playing on Broadway for the past 12 years.  Nashville really does the whole country centerpiece thing amazingly well, no matter what kind of music you like.  
It's no surprise that our time in Tennesse has been dominated by country and rock n roll.  We have been listening to this stuff non-stop, and we've been absolutely loving it.  Inspired even. As well as a huge appreciation for the music, I have also found myself strangely drawn to things like Johnny Cash's handwriting, or early box office receipts of the Johnny Cash Show, or Dolly's old stage outfits, or Elvis's cars (we all need a pink Cadillac in our lives).  

After getting in touch with our country side (ha), it was time to head to Memphis.  We were driving down the I-40 and all these lyric references we've been blindly singing along to for years started making a whole lotta sense.... For instance: 

•  "Drink my liquor from an old fruit jar" (Blue Suede Shoes) - meaning the Mason Jars that everyone drinks from here.  Seriously, I thought this was just something that just happened in the movies but everywhere you look people are drinking from 'hillbilly crystal'.  Mr Almost 3 was even served a blueberry smoothie in one of these jam jars.  
• "Catfish on the table" (Walking in Memphis) - Catfish is mega popular in Tennessee - they are really proud of the fact that it's from local ponds.  (well, I guess we are quite a way from the ocean now..). Also, did you know there is a National Catfish Day?  Who would have thought.  

It is a great feeling to be listening to this music when you are eating catfish, and drinking from an old fruit jar. Incidentally, if you are eating catfish, here's some helpful advice gleaned at the Cracker Barrell Country Store in Jackson, TN.  

Geek-Daddy: "Should I have it fried or grilled?" 

Bethany (our server): "Well, I'm a Southern gal, so I'm gonna say fried is always best"  

Anyway, back to the music.  When we listen to "Blue Suede Shoes" we listen with an ear that already knows the history and the awesomeness of The King.  So I was interested to see what the boys reaction would be to Elvis.  We left a pretty low grade brekker at the Heartbreak Hotel - I'm certain the coffee was made from sticks - to walk over the road to Graceland.  Despite being sans-caffeine we were excited and filled with anticipation.

Picture this.  It's around 9am, sweltering heat, size-able queues are already forming for the Graceland Mansion. Elvis is blasting over the load speakers and there are swarms of visitors standing around, many of these folks have traveled hundreds of miles to make the pilgrimage but all of them are looking decidedly annoyed. Queuing sucks, right?  Enter, two toddlers with no grown-up-hang-ups about the time of day OR the heat, and they are bouncing (in the case of Mr 1), or they are jumping like crazy (in the case of Mr Almost 3), and they're generally just rocking out to All shook up.  Ahhhh, what do the die-hard fans know about how to have fun?  

As well as lovely memories like this one, our musical education of the past days and weeks has had another positive outcome.  Mr Almost 3 has been asking me to play Elvis, Johnny Cash or Dolly Parton pretty much every time we get into  the car.  (No Wiggles CD on this roadtrip.. result!).  So I think we can put this down as a musical win.  

Ok, here are the rest of our fav Tennessee places and eats:  

• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
• Johnny Cash Museum 
• Nashville Public Library for it's wonderful children's section and the free puppet show
• Memphis Botanical Gardens and the extraordinary 'Big Backyard'.  Such a great place for kids.
• Shelby Farm Park Memphis playground.  More great places for kids.  
• General usage of 'Y'all'.  Especially 'How are Y'ALL?/Where y'all from/Y'all have a great day now
• Graceland, especially Elvis' cars and the planes  (I may possibly be turning into a boy). 
• The tremendous happy vibes brought by the Peabody Ducks who deserve their own blog post.  
• Gus's Fried Chicken.  Artery clogging goodness.   
• Silkys Barbeque on Beale Street and the oozy pulled pork and de-lish ribs  
• Outstanding Pecan Pie from a slightly dodgy looking roadside stop just out of Nashville. 

Goodbye Tennessee and thank you for the music.  I think I better go eat a salad now.

Sweet sweet times in Virginia. Not so sweet on the NSA. (Chocolate helps).

As we left Virginia today with the Blue Ridge Mountains behind us I thought about our time in three very different corners of the state and how wonderfully friendly everyone has been.

It started in Willoughby Bay, Norfolk the very first day we arrived.  (I wrote a bit more about our time in Norfolk in this post: 'Sitting on the dock of the bay'). That first sunny afternoon we walked down to the beach for a quick swim and everyone - I mean EVERYONE - waved hello to us. People were waving from their cars, from their porches and from their bicycles. I was with Mr Almost 3 later that evening when three ladies cycled by, yelling a big old friendly hello and one of them actually HIGH FIVED me as she rode past.  I kid you not.  I mean, how cool is that..!??!

This continued in Charlottesville where we stayed in a charming little apartment downtown. Charlottesville not only has a great name but has a really cool vibe and is another immensely friendly part of Virginia.  A lady we chatted to in the street even offered us her house keys if we needed somewhere to hang out.  (I think she mentioned us seeing how a 'real life American' lived.  Nice.)

But the best was yet to come.

We spent our final few Virginian nights just outside of the super cool town of Floyd along the Blue Ridge Parkway. As described to us by a local, there is just one set of traffic lights, and going by the latest census figures less than 500 people live in the town.  But in this tiny spot in the middle of Appalachia you will find a dedicated organic food community, an awesome coffee roastery (the guys even gave us a tour...  thanks Red Rooster Coffee!!), beautiful art stores, a strong sustainability focus, one of the most impressive computer museums my geeky husband has ever seen, an enormous chocolate shop and, if that's not enough, the Floyd County Store - famous for it's Friday night Jamboree gathering of bluegrass music.  Floyd is so cool that I could consider living here if New Zealand wasn't calling for me so loudly right now.  Oh that and the small issue of the greencard.  (By the way, I can't wait NZ.  I CAN'T WAIT).    

What made Floyd really special for us was that we stayed in the guesthouse of a family who were as impressive as the town itself.  They were so welcoming and charming, and invited us for a fab dinner last night where we sat around the fire chatting about everything from Syria to bizarre weddings to gangs in the Cape Flats in South Africa. We were talking about a friendly phone call that had taken place between Washington D.C. and Floyd about politics and we later had a bit of a laugh about how the government could be listening in.  I have had this same joke a few times with friends and family about how conversations we've had - either skype, email or on the phone - could have been recorded. But I have been thinking more about this today, and wondering why we find it so damn funny that our private conversations are being analysed and quite possibly tagged by an algorithm and then listened to by a real person in the NSA.  Is this because we don't really think this sort of computing power is possible?  (It is.  Well, it must be because I saw it on that TV show, 'Person of Interest').  Or is it because we think our conversations wouldn't be that 'interesting'?  Or because as we see it we have nothing to hide?

During our drive to Tennessee today we listened to the news about the latest Snowden leak around government hacking into our encrypted emails.  I think when we start to really really accept that our conversations are being listened to (this hasn't happened yet - I reckon we might all stop laughing at this point), that this will have an impact on how we relate to each other.  I was even wondering if one possible silver lining to the dark dark cloud of government snooping could be that we spend less time connecting with each other on the internet and more time face to face. But one problem with this is that our online lives and our 'real' lives are so intertwined.  And regardless of whether we can take ourselves off Facebook, the fact remains that questioning government is something we should be able to do freely, not something we have to hide in some 1984 style thoughtcrime fashion.

Ok, off my soap box now, and back to the chocolate box (care of County Floyd, Virginia).   These dark chocolate almonds are heavenly.

Before I indulge, a few other favourite moments from our time in Virginia.

• Mr 1 taking his very first steps on Ocean View Beach - bucket and spade in hand
• Mr Almost 3 riding his first rollercoaster at Busch Gardens
• The big waves of Virginia Beach and the boardwalk icecreams afterwards
• Our very own personalised travel guide for the area from our dear kiwi friends in London (thanks H and P!)
• Escaping the humidity in historic Yorktown and eating hushpuppies and drinking $1.50 draft beer at the 'Beach Delly'  
• Watching folks fishin' on the longest free-standing pier in North America.. "What kind of fish is that?" .  "That there is a Mud TOAD".
• Mr Almost 3 perfecting his Southern accent while repeating "That there is a mud TOAD" on a daily basis 
• Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway and taking in the view from Rocky Knob.  

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Sitting in the morning sun

I'll be sitting when the evening comes

Watching the ships roll in

And I watch 'em roll away again

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Watching the tide roll away

I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay

Wasting time

-  Otis Reading 

We've just spent a fantastic two weeks at Willoughby Bay, at a great little house with its own dock, which unfortunately for my family means I can't help but sing a bit of Otis Reading every morning.  After the initial flurry of travel when we arrived in the US it's been great to stop and stay in one place and chill for a bit.  

We've done quite a bit of yoga, reading and going to the beach.  However we have discovered that these things are not as relaxed or zen-like as they sound with the small persons around.... but you trade all that boring old hum drum for a whole heap of fun and silliness.  

Yoga with two toddlers in the room goes something like this: "Hahahaha downward dog, Mummy I can do that one standing on my head!".  Meanwhile the one year old is climbing on your back while you attempt the plank, and then they each take turns at trying to roll under your legs.  Hilarious I know!  This pretty much continues for the full yoga session.  

Reading, well I wasn't talking about reading novels, (who has time for that!?), but we have covered a lot of ground as far as Peppa Pig and Hairy Maclary are concerned. 

And the beach is an awesome scene of splashing and sandcastles, but do not expect to sit down for more than 60 seconds on any given visit.  

So, fun and laughs are in.  Relaxed vege-ing is out.  

Looking across the bay from our little dock is the monstrous Norfolk Naval Station. Wikipedia reliably informs me that this is the "world's largest naval station, supporting 75 ships and 134 aircraft alongside 14 piers and 11 aircraft hangars".  So quite obviously, sitting on the dock of this bay is not as peaceful as you might expect.  There is a constant line up of entertainment provided by Black Hawks doing rescue drills, (Geek-Daddy has just told me that the naval version is actually the Sea Hawk), P-3 Orion aircraft flyovers and a couple of good old fashioned Hercules to add into the mix.  

So here's what I think.  

Sometimes things are not what you expect.  Sometimes they turn out to be the exact opposite of what you expect.  But sometimes this turns out to be more restorative and therapeutic than your highest expectations.  

Ok, gotta get back to sitting on the dock of the bay, I think a couple of Sea Hawks are coming in to land... 

My Washington Post

It goes without saying that toddlers are incessantly curious creatures. From the moment they wake they are tirelessly investigating everything they see and touch, until they fall down exhausted at the end of the day and then sleep all night...  (ahhhh sorry there just went into dreamland for a moment ... who am I kidding about that last part!?!).  

Our boys are both fascinated by real world stuff - dinosaurs, birds, helicopters and bugs are all current favourites.  But it's not just the large or airborne.  Everything they can reach and touch interests them.  The one year old puts grass, or even worse sand in his mouth (ick!) to see what will happen.  Mr Almost 3 presses every button on the radio or smears peanut butter on the table NOT to annoy us (breathe, just breathe...), but because he is exploring and learning about the world.      

Recently Mr Almost 3 has started asking Why?  He asks 'Why' to absolutely EVERYTHING. Sometimes he asks 'Why?' twelve times before breakfast.  Mostly we try to answer as honestly as we can, which for me does vary depending on whether my caffeine levels are sufficiently topped up.  (You need to be pretty alert to answer stuff like - Why does the sun come up? or Why do starfish do poos?).    

If "Why?" is the default toddler response, conversations will wander into all sorts of unexpected areas. On one long Why-filled conversation with Geek-Daddy (who you will see is aptly named), the questioning led all the way to the Big Bang.  When you think about it this really is the ultimate answer to everything.  It's either that or 42.  

  

However there is one area where I'm being a bit cagey with my answers, and this is about the heavy stuff. Walking around historical monuments and museums in the great city of Washington D.C. I found myself steering conversations SHARPLY away from the heavy stuff more often than usual.  

As far as I'm concerned, my little ones can take their good sweet time to find out about death.  Of course I know the time will come when they realise that plants, insects, animals, people, and all living things die. Now that I have seen that sentence written down, I do hope that this realisation comes gradually, perhaps in that order and NOT in one overwhelming moment, like Lelu in the Fifth Element when she gets to letter W and discovers the horrors of War. 

But until then, it seems to me that this is such a wonderfully innocent phase of life, when you actually know a heck of a lot about the world and yet you know nothing of death, war, torture, slavery, or any of the other darker sides of humanity.  

So being in D.C through the inquisitive but wonderfully innocent eyes of a toddler was at times hard to reconcile.  One moment you are walking through the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, being asked What's THAT Mummy (and quickly trying to read what it actually is before responding.... umm, a Pratt & Whitney J57 jet engine, like a really big one.... Maybe Geek-Daddy can tell you more about it when he gets back from the jet fighter simulator).  

And yet you don't really want to talk about the purpose of war planes or ballistic missiles.  So you might point out the Washington monument as a gentle distraction.  What is a monument Mummy?  Well, it's a way of remembering someone or something that happened. (Smugly feeling a bit pleased with that answer).  Mr Almost 3: Why?  (Me: ok, not so smug now).  

Anyway, steering myself sharply back to some favourite memories from our time in D.C.  

WASHINGTON D.C. BEST BITS

Staying 'on the Hill' in a quirky little apartment.

Seeing The Capitol whenever we walked out our front door.  

Organic goodness at Eastern Market around the corner.

Drinking coffee at Pound (even if the service was a bit hipster-grump) on Pennsylvania Ave.

Seeing the Command module from Apollo 11.

Exploring some of the earliest passenger aircraft.   

Having a picnic outside The Capitol one day, and then the White House the next.

Mr Almost 3 asking me if the President would have presents for us.  (Me: Um, no.  Him: Why?)