36 hours of vacation

We made it to London!

Everyone was very sleepy yesterday.  We got up Monday morning, went to CAK airport, the Charlotte airport, the Gatwick airport.  MHZ slept more than the rest of us on the plane, but still not much.  I don't know if Jeff even tried to sleep.  We took a taxi to the flat in Wallington, and walked to the grocery store.  Then we took the train and Tube to Trafalgar Square.

MHZ has a snack in Trafalgar Square

On our bus trip, we saw lots of FAMOUS LONDON SIGHTS. And notice the fabulous weather.

Houses of Parliament

Narrow streets

The London Eye

Parliament

And more FAMOUS LONDON SIGHTS when we transferred to the boat!

The Globe Theater

Skyline of London

Finally, we took the train back out to Wallington and had dinner in a pub.  My mom has a photo of us sleeping on the train!

We made it to a normal bedtime before we collapsed.  It was quite an accomplishment.

More pictures from vacation

No new pictures from home - they would just be of us unpacking and complaining about the heat anyway. Here are some from Lucas, Kansas at the beginning of vacation instead!

On the way into town

inside the women's restroom

restroom mosaic detail

restroom mosaic detail

restroom mosaic detail

On the outside of the public restroom

Garden of Eden

Garden of Eden detail

Garden of Eden

Garden of Eden detail

Garden of Eden

Lucas Plaza
American Fork Art - get it?

Men's restroom mosaic

Men's restroom mosaic

The rest of the blog post about Lucas is here.

Home home home

Hey, we are home.  Why is it so hot here?  Maybe we should head back to Crescent City.

Sorry no pictures today!  They would have all been of I-80 anyway.

Perhaps I'll post some more pictures tomorrow.

Day 23 but who's counting?

Sunrise over North Platte

Today was ANOTHER long driving day on I-80, from wherever we were last night (it's a blur) to the west side of Iowa City.  Specifically Coralville, in a hotel with a WATERSLIDE.  So that's fun!

We did have a field trip today to stop at the Great Platte River Road Archway Museum.  We have stopped there in the past and it's a fun diversion.  We were actually there this morning before it opened at 9, but I talked Jeff into waiting the 20 minutes.  We looked around the grounds while we waited.

The museum is the story of how the settlers used the road to get out West, and how the road evolved into I-80.  It is built over the road, which is cool.  Rebecca also liked their stockade maze, although Jeff and MHZ said it was already too hot at 9:45 am so they didn't go to it.

Archway museum entrance takes you up over the highway.

The view from I-80

Rebecca in the maze.

Rebecca gets the last letter punched on her maze card.

Other than that stop, we just drove 75 miles per hour (with occasional short stops) and got to Coralville for dinner.  Since we're located in a major sprawl area, there was one of each restaurant to choose from.  We picked a Mongolian grill, then crazy watersliding, then Cold Stone Creamery for dessert.

One more push tomorrow and we'll be home!

The view of I-80 from inside the Archway.
Notice that construction?  We saw that a lot today.

I-80 driving

Golden Spike tower so you can see the biggest rail yard in the world.
Not open at 9 pm on Saturday though.

Sorry, I couldn't take any pictures of antelope while driving 80 miles an hour.
So here are some jack rabbits instead.

Caboose near our hotel

Dining car under renovation

Today we had a long driving day - about 511 miles - all on Interstate 80. We did see some pronghorn antelope, but not much else happened on the road. After dinner here in North Platte, I took us on a driving tour of the town to see what we could see.  Mostly it was railroads and signs with Buffalo Bill on them.  There was a serious lack of ice cream shops.

Since we have a boring blog entry, I'll share the story of the awesome coffee cake I made at the campground instead!

Assemble your ingredients: pancake mix, peaches, cinnamon, butter, water.

Heat the Dutch oven on the grill.
Or in a charcoal fire.

Drain the peaches into your mixing bowl, which in this case is a pan.

Add the pancake mix (about 4 cups here), water needed to mix it up and a bunch of cinnamon.
Stir it up.

Put some butter in the pan, then add the jar of peaches.
Other fruit would totally work instead, but the Greens had some peaches.

Pour the batter over the peaches.
Put on the lid and close the grill.

Bake until puffy and brown around the edges.

Scoop it out and eat it!

The Great Salt Lake

Today was a long driving day - up at 5:30 and on the road by 7:30.  We did make one fun stop though...  Salt Lake.  Rebecca and I planned to jump in and float like corks.  However, we didn't realize how shallow it is and how far out we might have to walk to be able to get enough water to float!  So we just waded out, then rinsed off and went to look for wildlife on the rest of Antelope Island.

This was as far under as she could get!

We found some island wildlife, along with some beautiful views.

A view of the lake

We were hoping to see some ANTELOPE on Antelope Island...

But bison will be OK.

After our visit to the lake, we kept trucking along and made it to Little America WY by dinner time.  

Here's some info from their website: Named for Admiral Richard Byrd’s 1929 base camp in Antarctica, Little America has provided a similar haven to travelers since 1934. We pride ourselves on combining all the comforts of home with warm hospitality and high standards of quality.

Plus they have 50 cent ice cream cones.

We had a good dinner, and a swim in the outdoor pool which was about as warm as a bathtub. Now we're ready for bed and another long driving day tomorrow!