Monthly Archives: August 2015

Highway Hazards of Road Tripping

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It’s always in the back of your mind, car accidents.  Whether you are driving in your own town or out on the open road, there is always a risk when it comes to driving.  But with 80 mile an hour speed limits on remote interstates and 75 mph speed limits on desert county roads, a drive across the wild west requires some extra caution while traveling with children.

On the portion of our drive from Salt Lake City, Utah to Denver, Colorado, we were brought to a complete stop on I-80, about an hour outside of the city limits of Salt Lake. Just about 20 minutes before we had come to a complete stop, we had seen two police cars and an ambulance with their lights on, moving ahead of traffic.  We knew something was ahead, but I was a bit confused as to why their speed was so moderate.  Well, when the rest of traffic is already traveling at 80 miles per hour, I guess if you are “slowly” moving ahead of them you’re still probably going 90, which would seem racing on a normal city highway of a usual 60 mph.  I had no idea however that we would be soon be at a compete stop for over half an hour.

As we came to a stand still, it took about 5 minutes of not moving before we saw people getting out of their vehicles.  I shut mine off and rolled down the windows and sat for awhile.  My husband got out as people from the car behind us started to gather around the asphalt chatting between our vehicles.  They told him that a neighboring trucker got word over his radio that there was an accident involving a motorcyclist.  A helicopter was going to be airlifting him out and it was presumed that he was already dead.  The sad moment set it.  Yet, we were still stuck there for some unknown amount of time.

I got out of the car too, but my daughter stayed in the car, occupied by an iPad.  After chatting with our parked neighbors, my 2 year old got restless and realized that everyone else was outside of the car.  I figured it would be a nice opportunity for her to get out and stretch her legs.  We kept her close, letting her walk back and forth between my husband and I.  Then I saw something that I didn’t expect while we were all parked out on the highway.  A motorcycle was coming towards us from the back of the pack, splitting the lane.  Granted, he was going slow, as he must have seen that there were people along the road, but my daughter was so small!  I immediately grabbed her and moved behind our vehicle until he passed. We moved towards the outside of the lane, against the large grass divide that separated the east and west bound highway, hoping to avoid more.  But just a few more minutes later, another motorcycle was approaching from this outside shoulder too!  It was clear that there would be no place for her to stand safely out of the car.  It was just another reminder that you can NEVER let your guard down when out or ON the open road.

People gather out of their cars, on the road, as we wait for an accident about a mile ahead to be cleared.

People gather out of their cars, on the road, as we wait for an accident about a mile ahead to be cleared.

With the the threat of more unexpected motorcycles moving through our stand still traffic, I put my daughter back in side the car and just let her walk around inside the vehicle (a benefit of a Yukon XL!)  After sitting on the highway for roughly 35-40 minutes, people began getting back into their vehicles and we knew it was time to start moving.  It took another 30 minutes of crawling through the traffic to move back out to “normal” speed.  But the image of the motorcycle helmet laying on the side of the road, and bits of broken pieces of the motorcycle scattered along the shoulder would serve as a continued reminder for the rest of our trip how much care needs to be given to road safety.  Staying in the right hand lane and letting aggressive drivers and excessive speeders pass you is not only a good idea, but a law in many states with high speed limits.

We hope everyone has a safe rest of the summer, whether in the air or on the road!

What to Expect When Expecting in Germany

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I was honored to be a guest blogger on such a wonderful site for expat information. Check out my post “What to Expect When Expecting in Germany” on http://www.expatpartnersurvival.com. Then see what some of the other guest blogs had to say, as well as Clara’s own abundant wisdom on being an expat partner!

Even though I have finally arrived in our new home in South Africa, I am still all over the place with work and blogging. It will be a few days  weeks yet before I can catch up properly so I am very grateful for this late entry to my Summer of Guesting posts. Today’s blog comes from Heather, who writes about her experience of childbirth in Germany. Posts like this are useful not just for expats in that part of the world, but for anyone considering giving birth abroad and wants to know what sort of things they need to consider before deciding where to have their baby. Over to you, Heather:

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When I followed my husband’s career to Germany with my two small children, I thought my family was complete. So when I found out I was pregnant half way into our third year living overseas, I was…

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Deer Mania! Japan Day 6

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You’ve probably seen the pictures or heard about Nara’s famous deer like I had, so this was one of the day trips I was looking forward to the most.  Nara did not disappoint, especially since we were basically going for the deer, and there were plenty to pet and feed.  But during our stay, we found a few other beautiful and unexpected sights as well as the beautiful and historical Todai-ji Temple.  The speed of our trip, with my husband now joining us picked up a bit, and therefore, my daily writing more difficult, but I’m excited to pick back up on the rest of our 17 day trip to Japan.

We were scheduled to be in Kyoto for day 6 & 7 of our trip (the Saturday and Sunday right after my husband’s conference ended) and I had been saving most of the Kyoto stuff for him.  However, with the poor weather on the day I planned for Nara, we didn’t get to go and it was something I was really looking forward to.  Since our next destination after Kyoto was Nagoya, and it was only 45 minutes by train from Kyoto, I knew it would be easier to come back to Kyoto from there than it would be to go to Nara from Nagoya.  With that in mind, decided to go to Nara while we were still staying in Kyoto.  This would be my husband’s first day to join us in exploring Japan.  While I was excited to have him along, but it’s always a bit different traveling with another adult than it is alone.

By this point, we were all on a new schedule of going to bed around 10:00 p.m. and not waking up till 9:00 a.m.  This, we began to discover, was not an ideal schedule for Japan where most attractions close by 5:00 p.m.  We were rushing to get to breakfast and eat before the buffet closed at 10:00 a.m., then quickly gathered up our stuff to head off to Nara.  The hotel shuttle took us right to the main train station where we had to exchange my husband’s JR voucher for his Japan Rail Pass.  I found it comical that the line in the JR ticket line was so long for all the locals, and the separate line for foreigners (any foreigner) was a deserted.  My husband was the lone customer the entire time we were in there.

We got to bypass the long line of locals for the empty

We got to bypass the long line of locals for the empty “Foreigner’s Line.”

On the train, a small regional one this time, we found the cars a little crowded with school children, around middle school age.  There was one open bench with two seats facing another bench the had two young school boys sitting down.  I ushered my sons over to have a spot while my husband and I stayed with the stroller in the open way of the carriage.  Immediately the school children took notice of the two little English speakers sitting across from them.  The term “giggling like a school girl” could very appropriately be applied to them.  It was a sweet moment to watch over the next 20 minutes while they were on the train with us.  They watched my boys talk and play with their stickers from the train workers and tried out their English by asking my sons a few questions. I even tried a few of my own and got an understandable answer.  Those type of things are what you live for one trips like this, for a few moments our kids had the chance to try to communicate with someone from a culture so different from theirs and it gave them a chance to be a hospitable sight and a goodwill representative of their own country.

Getting a small chance to interact with some Japanese school children, and to be a bit of an amusement for them.

Getting a small chance to interact with some Japanese school children, and to be a bit of an amusement for them.

Once we arrived in Nara, we went to the information booth and found out about the bus that would take us around Nara park and through the areas where you could get off to walk to their 3 different temples, all listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  The kids were also immediately given little origami gifts to take with them too, spinning tops!

Many information desks in Japan gave out Origami gifts to kids when we would talk to them.

Many information desks in Japan gave out Origami gifts to kids when we would talk to them.

In all, about 15 minutes from the time we boarded the bus, we got to a part of the park where we could see the deer and got off.  Instantly the kids were drawn to the deer, that really, truly were just walking around with the people.  They were on the grass, they were on the sidewalks, they even crossed the streets, obeying the traffic signals even!  The kids carefully and excitedly approached them and delighted in the fact that they could pet the deer while the deer didn’t seem to notice.  A few, sniffed around for food and one more aggressive deer even went after my shirt!  But, that wasn’t the norm.  A very nice gentleman came over and gave us some of his crackers so that the kids could feed the deer.  You can buy special deer “cookies” from the vendors that are all approved by the city.  He also showed us how the deer will actually bow for their food!  If you hold the cracker up high over your head, then the deer will bow their head/neck down low, some even a few times, to get the cookie from you.  Not sure who started that habit or how long it took to for them to figure it out, my guess is, not very long!

Just petting some deer.

Just petting some deer.

We bought some more cookies of our own and started the walk over to Todai-ji Temple.  Because of our time restraints (us not getting there till around 1:00 p.m., we knew we’d probably make it to just one temple.  I picked Todai-ji based on it’s description and the proximity of some other highly reviewed traditional Japanese gardens near it.  As we walked, we encountered more deer and of course, the row of tourist souvenir stands.  The temple had a fee to get in, 600 Yen for us adults and the kids being free. The gate, statues and the main hall (the world’s largest wooden building) were very impressive, as was the 15 meter tall seated Buddha.

The old gate.

The old gate.

The largest wood structure in the world.

The largest wood structure in the world.

As we walked around, we encountered one of the pillars that had a small hole cut through the middle of it’s base.  The saying is that it is the same size as the Buddha’s nostril and that if you can fit through it, the you will gain enlightenment for your next life.  Of course the kids wanted to climb through the hole.  My husband and I declined the inevitable embarrassment.

The hole the size of the Buddha's nostril.

The hole the size of the Buddha’s nostril.

Each kid wanted to take a turn.

Each kid wanted to take a turn.

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We didn’t explore much more of the temple grounds themselves, but instead headed over to the Japanese garden I had read about.  It was a little confusing getting there by exiting the side of the temple, but eventually we found it.  We arrived with about 35 minutes left before it’s 5:00 p.m. closing, something we were getting used to in Japan.  While we only had a mere half hour to explore it, and had to pay a small fee, it was well worth it to take in the beauty of Isuien Garden.  It is everything you ever pictured a true Japanese garden to be.  We used the comfortable facilities for the kids and a diaper change as we left and then they literally closed and locked the gates behind us on the way out.

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Isuien Garden with the Todai-ji Temple in the background.

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From here we figured it was time to start thinking about some food.  On the bus ride in, we saw a miniature Oktoberfest event set up in the park!  That was definitely not the sight I expected to see when coming to the city boasted as “traveling back to Ancient Japan.”  I thought it would be fun to check it out and see what Japan’s take on the Bavarian tradition was.  We walked over to that section of the park again and did a quick pass through.  After not being able to figure out quickly whether you just paid cash at the booth or if you had to buy some special tickets for admissions and food, we decided that just a walk through was enough and continued on foot by the next section of the park.  I had wanted to walk by a particular pagoda that seemed to be on the way to some other shopping and food.  We could see the towers, but of course, being part of a temple, and it being after 5:00 p.m., much of it was gated off so you couldn’t get too close.

A visiting Oktoberfest in Japan, in June!

A visiting Oktoberfest in Japan, in June!

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We walked the loop of the park and came upon a row of shops and eateries, I ducked into a visitor’s welcome center that gave us a map and guided me to a shopping arcade where they had 2 restaurants serving classical Japanese dishes.  With the map in hand, we headed up the promenade until we reached the restaurant.  Menus are still hard as they are not always in English.  But these had some good pictures to go by and we were able to ask some basic questions.  I ended up with my own little grill on a plate in which to cook some raw vegetables and a few slices of Kobe beef, my husband got the most beautiful (yet a bit scary) plate of 30+ brightly colored vegetables, tofu and meat that he had to cook in a broth, oldest son got a plate of rice with grilled eel (and he ate the whole thing!), my younger son ended up with a noodle soup that he couldn’t get enough of and my 2 year old, well, she was asleep.  The food was really good, but the bill was fairly high (ended up being about $110 for all 4 of us) and my stomach was still pretty empty.  On the way back to the train station, I stopped in a couple little markets to grab some food for myself and my 2 year old, who had slept through dinner.

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By time we got back to the train, it was approaching 7:30 p.m. and we had just the right amount of fun without too much overdoing it on walking.  Getting back to the hotel a little after 9:00 p.m. was probably the earliest we had gotten back in the last three excursions!  But now it was time to pack up.  It was our last night in Kyoto and we had just a few more things on our list to prepare for the next day.  Including leave our really nice suite for a much much smaller single room in the next city.  However, more adventure were about to come our way!

It’s A Date With The Great Salt Lake!

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Of all the times I have flown over the Great Salt Lake, I finally made it to it’s shores and in it’s water.  As we popped across the Utah border from Idaho on day 2 of our road trip, I began to look at where the best place would be to pull in for a lake stop.  While looking at the map the landmark “Golden Spike National Historic Site” caught my attention.  Flashes of U.S. history started to reappear in my mind as I tried to recall a few things I remembered about the great railroad race to connect east and west.  Since we didn’t do a hotel stop Friday night, we had the whole day to explore ahead of us before we could even check in to our Salt Lake City hotel.

Rocket display in Promontory, UT.

Rocket display in Promontory, UT.

I ran the idea by my husband who shared my mind set of “why not explore” and we watched for the break off signs from I-84.  At the turn, we also saw a sign for “Rocket Display” which I found curious, but made sense since U.S. deserts were often used for missile and bomb testing.  As it happened, the rocket display rose up out of nowhere before we reached the Golden Spike.  The large white rocket with the ever familiar blue NASA logo painted on the side stood off the side of the road in front of a large building waving an American Flag.  It was an impressive display.  Besides the NASA trophy in the front, the whole display was actually made up of more than a dozen other rocket engines and missile motors covering the last 75 years of air defense technology.  The building belonged to government contractor Orbital ATK.

So big!

So big!

Not being the most “techy” girl myself, even I was fascinated by the pieces on display and the accompanied explanations of how the missiles and rocket motors worked by their signs and my husband’s seemingly encyclopedia brain.  Seeing how the pieces fit together and their massive size was dumbfounding, especially when you compare your ideas to what these things do in real life to your childhood images of the movie Top Gun.  Call me dumb, but I had really never pieced together the fact that a missile, or even a rocket required its own motor, and a complex one at that.  I only wished that our 5 and 7 year old sons had been there to see it too, though not all was lost on our 2 year old daughter.

Helpful descriptions at each rocket motor station.

Helpful descriptions at each rocket motor station.

From the rocket display, we moved on to the Golden Spike National Historic Site, which was only about a 10 minute drive away.   We pulled up to the visitor’s center and could see the two steam locomotives in the back as we entered the parking lot.  A quick Wikipedia read before we arrived already told me that the actual Golden Spike was not on site, but I did learn that Stanford University’s founder, Leland Stanford was also the founder of the Central Pacific Railroad that built the eastward connection to the Golden Spike meeting point at Promontory, UT.  The fee was $7 per vehicle to “enter” the park.  There were a few movie features that showed throughout the day offering historical information about the site and also re-enactments, which we missed.  My desire to get to the Great Salt Lake limited my desire to spend too much time at the Golden Spike, but we did walk out to the trains where the tracks had met and there were stairs to platforms for each of the two railroad company’s steam engines so that you could get a good look inside of the pilot’s pit.

Golden Spike National Historic Site. Promontory, Utah.

Golden Spike National Historic Site. Promontory, Utah.

The gift shop had some fun and educational items and books highlighting the railroad era as well as America’s expansion into the “Wild West.”  I purchased a book and a couple of postcards, along with a train charm before heading out to drive along one of the original track routes.  You see, this portion of the historically significant feat of manpower, the first transcontinental railway in the world, has actually been re-routed.  I learned from the park ranger’s introduction that a better route, across the Great Salt Lake, was opened in 1904 that cut out 15 miles of travel and took away several portions of uphill grade that had previously required some extra “push” support for the trains along certain parts.  During World War II, the government mandated that all of the railroad tracks not in use in America needed to be torn up for use in the war effort.  So the tracks that were originally laid, connecting the east and the west, were torn up.  It wasn’t until the 1960s that the government decided that it was of historical significance and needed to be remember and was therefore, re-created a small portion of tracks at the original meeting site.  Nonetheless, my 2 year old found the trains interesting and more importantly, the rocks fun to play with.

As we heading back out to I-84, we decided to stop for a late lunch/early dinner in Ogden, Utah.  I had carried some snacks for my 2 year old with us in the car along with her water bottle so she was pretty satisfied.  Since we also had a big breakfast, no one was really hungry until 5:00 p.m.  We decided on a Cracker Barrel since that was a childhood favorite of my Georgia born husband, and something that we couldn’t get in Washington.  This of course suited my daughter just fine as macaroni and cheese is always a top choice, couple that with some steamed broccoli and we were set.  Though we had gotten out of the car to walk around several times that day, our appetizes were not as big as normal so finishing up even a single meal with salad and vegetables left us stuffed!  The decision to go to the Great Salt Lake between Ogden and Salt Lake City was perfect.  After looking on the map, a trip out to Antelope Island made the most sense.

We paid $10 for our car to get onto the island, which is a state park.  While the name suggests you’d see a lot of antelope on the island, the brochure said that bison herds were quite the popular attraction.  In 1893, about 12 bison were introduced to the island and today there are between 300-500!  As we drove towards the beach area to go into the water, we saw one grazing out in the grass, with a suspiciously pulled over van and people standing out around it.  We soon discovered a man running towards the buffalo, much against the advice of the parks department.  We pulled over to see if this person was truly stupid enough to keep going at the buffalo, trying to get it to charge.  It made a start at the man once, and he took off, back to his van, not to return.  After that brief entertainment, we parked over at the beach to go down to the water.

 

A buffalo and a man trying to tease him out our window.

A buffalo and a man trying to tease him out our window.

The sand was warm, but not too hot to walk on.  It was very dry and felt nice on all of our feet, and being so dry, it didn’t stick to the skin as much.  Soon however we found that more rocks and the dried and broken salt blocks to be a little too sharp to walk on bare foot.  It was however, still tricky to walk on with shoes, especially flip flops.  After we got about a 100 yards out, it became more compact and easier to walk on as we approached the water’s edge.  Soon, we took notice of movement that looked like blowing brown sand whenever someone would walk across the beach.  It took us both a second to realize that it was a swarm of bugs, Brine Flies to be exact.  It made me cringe at first, but the brown clouds they would make when movement was near were fascinating.  You could see them along the coast on the sand, and there was no way to get to the water without walking through them.  They do however, move away quickly and want to avoid you just as much as you would like to avoid them.

Playing in the Great Salt Lake.

Playing in the Great Salt Lake.

Breaking through the bug barrier was worth it.  The warm water was still just ankle deep a good 100 feet out from the shore.  My 2 year old loves the water.  Nothing made her day more complete then swimming or splashing in water.  While we weren’t equip to take a full dip, just walking around in the lake was fun enough.  You could feel the water pushing your leg up if you shifted weight to just one foot and let the other one go.  If you stood completely still on both feet would feel yourself starting to sink into the lake floor’s sand too.  We spent about 20 minutes walking and splashing around before we headed back, beginning to feel our only 5 hours of sleep through the night before.  I dreaded the walk back through the sand with wet feet but it actually wasn’t too bad.  Same issue though with the difficulty of walking with or without shoes that resulted in me having to also carry my toddler half the time on the 200 yards back to the car.  A quick rinsing off at the showers outside of the restrooms and we were loading back up into the car.  My daughter had gotten about 2 inches of the bottom of her dress wet in the lake, and when it dried, you would see the stiff salt crystals on the fabric!

Salt Lake City Sunset.

Salt Lake City Sunset.

We pulled into our hotel, a Sheraton in Salt Lake City, the capital also caught my eye with its attractive skyline backed by mountains with a beautiful sunset.  I was pleasantly surprised by the warm feeling Utah left me with at the end of a long drive, full of fun and educational pit stops.  And we haven’t even been to the rest of the state that gets the most press!  For now, I will leave Utah as a pleasant pass through state that I look forward to visiting again with my whole family!

Washington to Utah. Road Trippin’ With a Toddler

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My counter argument to my husband’s idea about living a global nomad life is that I have this belief that you need to have a “home base” to compare all your travels to, a “sugar pill” so to say.  But in order to understand the country you live in you also have to spend some time traveling it.  Well this summer, I decided to start that journey with my kids.  Will they remember it all at ages 2, 5, and 7 years old? May not all of it, maybe not at all, but just like our international travel for this age, I believe the process of travel is just as beneficial to the future as the sights we visit.  So off we went on a 3 week expedition through 10 states.

My sons had the benefit of flying to Denver to meet their grandparents, while my husband and I drove with our 2 year old to meet them.  We left on a Friday night and planned for a Sunday evening arrival in Denver.  During my drive time, and for a few days after our arrival in Colorado, my boys were going to do some RV camping and touring of northern Colorado and Pike’s Peak.  This meant my husband and I experienced the long forgotten life of having just one child!  We loaded up the Yukon and hit the road at 7:30 p.m., hoping that after a movie or two our 2 year old would fall asleep and my husband and I could trade off driving and sleeping to make as much headway through the night.

On the road!

On the road!

We made it to the Oregon/Idaho border at 3:30 a.m. before my husband decided it was time for us to stop and we both took a 3 hour nap at a rest stop.  I woke at 7:30 a.m. local Idaho time, after the 1 hour time adjustment.  I decided that since my daugher was still asleep, I needed to get moving and try to shorten the distance between us and Salt Lake City as much as I could as this would be our first hotel stop.  This allowed my husband and her to sleep another hour as we pushed further along into Idaho.  I needed a personal stop just before Caldwell, Idaho where I found a Sinclair, “Stinker Fuel Stop” that had free showers and nice changing room/toilet stalls in the restrooms.  I quickly changed and we headed off again.

Great stop for free showers near Caldwell, Idaho.

Great stop for free showers near Caldwell, Idaho.

As my 2 year old woke up and became more alert, we all decided it was time for breakfast.  We were coming upon Twin Falls, Idaho and figured it was as good as any place to stop.  We used a quick Yelp search for recommendations and came up with a family style diner called Choate’s Family Diner.  It did not disappoint!  Inexpensive, delicious food was just what this road trip needed!  My daughter got a giant pancake, me an egg, bacon and 1/2 order of hashbrowns while my husband had a full chicken friend steak breakfast plate, $20 after tip fed us all.

Choate's Family Diner was a great breakfast stop in Jerome, Idaho. Just outside of Twin Falls.

Choate’s Family Diner was a great breakfast stop in Jerome, Idaho. Just outside of Twin Falls.

From here we ventured on to the next gas station to fill up the tank and fill up our stock of beverages for the next hundred miles to the Utah border.  If we didn’t already know we were in America, the special at the fountain drink station said it all.  Just $1 for a size large (32 oz.) fountain drink while the medium size remained $1.55.

Can't beat a deal on caffeine in America. Just $1 each!

Can’t beat a deal on caffeine in America. Just $1 each!

Fully caffeinated, we were ready to cross into state #4 of the trip and begin a little discovering of the surrounding area of the Great Salt Lake.

Star Gazers

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As part of our road trip, we’ll be going to the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.  My kids, have taken a curiosity to space, the stars and planets.  So I was excited when I saw that this week with the Little Passports Blog-Camp Explorer Week 3, you can download a free constellation activity sheet so they can learn the names and shapes of six constellations!  Full Disclaimer: The Little Passports link in this post are affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link for Little Passports.

In other space news, did you know that the Perseid Meteor shower, which happens every year, is going on right now?  It will peak between the 9th and the 14th of August.  While we won’t get to the Lowell Observatory during that time, we’ll still be in southeast Arizona where the dessert and limited cities lights will be a perfect place for my kids and I to do some stargazing.  I’m excited to just sit on my grandma’s front porch and stare up at the stars with them, just like I did as a kid!

If you are looking for a hands on activity for your kids in the Seattle area to learn a little more about space, check out the Seattle Museum of Flight.  In addition of their wonderful flight and airplane exhibits, they have some pretty cool pieces from past space crafts for kids to walk through as well as many space related exhibits.  They also have a 3D movie “Journey To Space” that captivated my 5 and 7 year old’s attention, as well as mine! The first Thursday of every month is free admission for entry after 5:00 p.m. and the museum stays open until 9:00 p.m.  So mark your calendars for August 6th!!!