Disneyworld

Guess what we learned tonight??  Armadillos live in Florida!  This is a photo of Rianna standing very still (good for her) as the armadillo walked across her feet.  This from a girl who freaks over crane flies!!!!  I was very proud of her!  This was about three feet behind our trailer.  In the morning we would get up and see all the little holes and claw marks that they left from digging up their dinner over night.  The campground is very nice, but has far too many squirrels for my liking.  The dogs  just go crazy over them still!!  You would think by now they would be used to them, but no!  We are staying in a dog loop which means that most of the campers in this area have dogs.  There is also a large off leash area for them to play.  This has given Oreo and Hershey a chance to do some socializing.

We spent the next day at the Blizzard Beach water park, and it was great.  There were hardly any lines for any rides and the weather was beautiful!!  Little did we know that the lines were soon to get much worse as Thanksgiving travellers were soon to arrive!!  Apparently, Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest camping weeks of the year!  Who would have thought??  Not us, that's for sure!

The next day we went to Magic Kingdom.  The line ups here were not too bad, either.

Shuttle Launch - Monday, November 16th

We had the most incredible experience on this day!! We went to the Kennedy Space Centre to see the launch of the Space Shuttle.  

Cape Canaveral is only about an hour from Disneyworld, out on the east coast of Florida.  We had to get up early in the morning to head out.  We had tickets to watch from the space centre.  By the time we knew that we were going to be in Florida at the right time, all the tickets to watch from the closer viewing area were already sold.

At the Space Centre there is a launch simulator where you get to experience what it would be like if you were in the shuttle.  Riders are taken though the countdown to launch and feel the G force similar to a launch.  There are also games, activites, and tons of information on air and space flight.  There is an area outside with dozens of space ships and rockets from various eras.  They even have their own Imax theatre.  They have a kennel there so we could bring the dogs as it was going to be a very long day away from the campground.  

 We watched the actual lift off on a big screen in front of us, but we could see the shuttle as soon as it cleared the tree line, which was about 2 seconds after the launch.  It was pretty 
amazing to watch!  We were able to see it up until the time when the huge rocket boosters were used up and came off, and then we could see  it on the big screen too, as it reached space and separated from the main fuel tank.

Everything went smoothly.  

This shuttle was taking supplies up to the Space Station.  There are only supposed to be 5 more shuttle launches, and then this part of the space program is being curtailed.

One of the items they took into space was a scarf worn by Amelia Earhardt.  When we were visiting the Smithsonian a couple of weeks ago, we learned all about her adventures and the records that she set in the field of aviation.  It is so cool how these things all fit together!

It just so happens that today (the 27th) the Shuttle returned from it's journey.  We were watching from our campground, but we could not see it from here.  We think that we may have heard the sonic boom, though, because as it comes in to land, and it slows down from super sonic speed, two booms can be heard over the landing area.

We had a tee time already booked for today, or we might have gone back out to NASA to watch it come down.  We didn't realize it was coming in so soon.  We were chatting with another couple in the campground who are from Stony Plain (small world) and they mentioned that it was returning today.  We watched it on TV as it was happening right above us, so that was really cool!

Sean's bit

Stop - anybody who doesn't like me, please stop reading!!!  O.K., now that everybody is reading....
This is me in a 'Sea Raycer', it is like a motor boat, but for one or two people.  We rented them from the marina at our campground. It reached speeds of 30-40km as we raced around the lake. We went all around the lake and saw herons, egrets, and ibis (which are all types of birds). A few times I went over huge wakes which was the best. It was cooler than most go-karts. This was the day before we went to Magic Kingdom, which was awesome. We also went to Disney  Hollywood Studios, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom.  Today  we went golfing and to an amusement park called Fun Spot in Kissimee. They have a huge go-kart track with a 100 ft 20 degree drop, that turns into a 35 degree bank, just like at a race track.

This is a picture of the track that I got off the web.  It is not like any other go kart track that we have seen before.

We have also seen and played at a bunch of really cool miniature golf courses.  There is so much to do here!!!

Sean's Bit

Stop!

Anyone who

doesn't like 

me, stop 

reading,

JUST STOP!

O.K., now

that

EVERYBODY

is reading...This is me in a sea racyer it was like a model of motor  boat , but it works.   

Day One in Disneyworld

Who knew you could camp at Disneyworld??  Fort Wilderness is right smack in the middle of everything.  There is a lake in the middle of the resort so we just took a ferry to the Magic Kingdom.  At night we could sit on the beach and watch the fireworks over the water.  

There were tons of activities to do at the campground: movies at the outdoor amphitheatre, a pool with a water slide, tennis courts, horseback riding, archery, organized games, fishing, canoeing, campfire roasts and shows, bike paths, etc.  Buses went through the campground to take you from one end to the other.  (With 1200 sites, you need buses to get around)  These buses then could also take you to the other Disney parks that were farther away.

There was also stores, restaurants, live entertainment, and a walk up bar in the campground.  We could have stayed for a month!!! (Many people do!!)  There was even a huge off leash area for the dogs.  Everyone was happy!!!

Florida in Flamingo Lake

Yeah, we actually had to use our air conditioning today!!!  I think it might be the first time since Prince Edward Island.  It is wonderful to have some hot weather again.

We stayed in beautiful Flamingo Lake Campground, which had fish that were apparently un-catchable!  The grounds were so beautiful and relaxing, we understood right away why people drive to Florida for the winter.

Sitting in our lawn chairs, looking at palm trees...this is the way camping should be!!

They had a lovely little cafe and bar on the lake.  We did not partake in the Karaoke singing in the evening, but we were able to buy a lovely breakfast from the take-out bar.
We think we are going to like Florida!!

Scenery in Savannah

We have been off enjoying the fun of Disneyworld, and did not have internet access, but now is the time to get caught up on our adventures!

We were only in Savannah for two days, but managed to fit in a walking tour around the city.  It is very beautiful, with Spanish moss hanging from the trees.  The homes have wonderful gardens and verandas.

Our favourite spot was the square where Forest Gump was sitting while waiting for the bus.  There have been many movies filmed in this city, the most famous recently was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Sun in Savannah

Last Friday we made our way to Savannah, Georgia. We stayed on Tybee Island which is right on the coast. This photo on the beach is about 3 blocks from our campground (which by the way has pine trees AND palm trees)!!!
We arrived mid afternoon so we had time to go out on a Dolphin Tour!!! We took a charter boat out to an area where the big tankers go by. Dolphins like to swim in front and alongside these huge boats (we watched this from the beach in Charleston). We saw 4 or 5 dolphins around our boat, swimming and jumping around. They were much harder to photograph than the whales as they are much quicker! We were all very excited
to see them, but Rianna was just beside herself!!! It was a very cool experience!!
We spent the next afternoon walking around the downtown historical district of Savannah. Tons of beautiful houses, squares, and gardens. We stopped in Northern Florida the next night on the way to Disneyland.
The MacGregor's have decided that we really like Florida!!!! We finally have been having nice weather and it is sooooo beautiful here.

We are currently staying at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. We have had difficulty getting internet access so the blog entries might get a little behind, but we are all fine. We are here until next Wednesday. The campground is fully booked for the Thanksgiving weekend, so we have to try to get another place to stay down the line. There 1200 campsites in this park, and they are all supposed to be full! After being in nearly empty campgrounds for weeks, this is a bit of a change for us.

Arrival in Charleston, SC

After getting a late start today (having to get our tires replaced yet again) we ended up driving in the dark, and the pouring rain to get into our campground in Charleston.  We try to avoid coming in after dark as it makes set up a bit more difficult.

So imagine our delight upon filling out our late arrival form and finding this sign on the office porch.(The photo should get bigger if you click on it)  The last note is the one that got me... "Do not allow children to throw rocks into the water.  To an alligator a splash means food."  

 I don't think that Sean has the ability to go past a body of water without throwing a rock in it!!!

And even though I like snakes, I don't much like the idea of poisonous ones hiding in the leaves and trees!

My daily hikes around the campground with the dogs were curtailed a bit here, particularly the evening walks!!

Boone Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina

Spanish moss is my new favourite plant!! It hangs from the trees, blows in the wind, and makes everything look so romantic!

We are currently caught in the tail end of tropical storm Ida, which means yet more rain.  Even so, we spent a wonderful day wandering around Boone Plantation.    It has been a working plantation since the early 1700's, and at one point was even owned by a Canadian, who built the current house.

The Avenue of Oaks that leads into it is very famous, and has been part of many films.  The rain fogs up the camera a bit, but you can still get an idea of how beautiful it is.
At one time, this plantation had over 600 slaves working on it.  These 9 buildings here are the slave houses that are still standing.  Each one is a mini museum with artifacts, stories, and  digital presentations about the history of slavery in the U.S.  It was very enlightening.  They even have copies of the manifesto of slave ships coming from Africa, as well as purchase orders for coffee, flour, and individual slaves.  It all makes it very easy to imagine what life was like for these men, women and children.

It was very interesting to learn about how the life here changes with the end of slavery, the destruction of the cotton industry, fires, hurricane, etc, and remained a viable, working plantation.  True testament to the resiliency of the South.

Washington and more tires!

Our final days of touring around Washington took us to the Zoo, the White House, Madame Tussaud's and Mt. Vernon, which was the home of George Washington.  We had some really nice weather in Washington which was a great break from all the rain we have been having.  It was nice to be able to go out in T-shirts and shorts, finally.

We had a run of bad luck after leaving Washington, however!  We blew out a tire south of Fredricksburg, Virginia, and then before we could make it to Richmond to buy another spare, we blew out another tire!  We were all safe  (because David is such an awesome driver!) but it did cause us a bit of stress, and a lot of time!!!

After we got our tires all replaced and were back on the road, we had a problem with an engine part, so we had to make another stop at Dodge Dealership.   
Hopefully, that bit of bad luck has run it's course!  We had been headed to Myrtle Beach for a couple of days, but had to scrub that idea to make up some time.  We have tickets to see the Shuttle Launch in Cape Canaveral and certainly don't want to miss that!

Mr. MacGregor Goes to Washington

Continuing on our exploration and education of everything American, what tour would be complete without a political rally?!!

We had gone down to the Mall on day 2 to continue with more museums, but could see a huge crowd of people assembling on the lawn of the Capital Building.  After finding out from the visitor centre that it was a "gathering" of people to discuss health care issues, we decided to go have a look. (another Social Studies teaching moment!)

There were probably around 20,000 people there by the time we walked down, a lot of organized groups that came on busses, or were obviously from the same association.  They were all there to protest President Obama's new health care bill.  There were political signs everywhere! They believe that it is anti-american to give everyone in their country to health care, that it is a socialist ideal that will wreck their way of life, take away their freedom, and increase their taxes.  We saw again, the lovely caricature of President Obama with a Hitler mustache that caused David to get into a street side debate in

Now, there may b

e some particle of truth to some of these claims, but David has read that in America, about 120 people die each day because they do not have health care.  Another really interesting observation was that in this crowd of 20,000 or so, we saw maybe 4 or 5 who were not white.  So it seems that their opinions are a little one sided, and not representative of all  Americans.

So, we decided to go to the White House and do something about it!!  Rianna borrowed the President's phone, as talking is what she does best, and phoned everyone she new!!  Sean contacted the White House Press Secretary and talked to the Media.

As a result, the Health Care Bill was passed, and the MacGregor Family saved America!!

Welcome to Washington!

Here we are at the Lincoln Memorial, one of the best known monuments in Washington.  The statute and the building that houses it are very impressive!  It is at the end of the Mall, which is a long park, or green space that runs for about 2 miles in downtown Washington.  Most of the monuments and museums are found along this area.  We are staying at Cherry Hill Park, which is only about 8 miles away from this area, but by the time we take the city bus from the campground, to the Metro train that takes us into downtown, it still takes about an hour.  We have been warned that driving in DC during the day is pretty scary, and there is not a whole lot of parking, especially for a big truck!  We have met 2 other couples from Calgary who are staying here as well!  That is pretty neat, as we are seeing less and less license plates from Canada.  

We have been to see a number of the monuments and memorials on our walks.   We spent about 4 hours at the Natural History Museum. The Smithsonian Museum is actually made up of 15 museums in and around Washington.  The best part is that they are all free!!!  There is so much to see at each of them, though, it is pretty overwhelming.  Even I am starting to get a little museum-outed.  (Yeah, Yeah, that's not a word, I know!)  Still, we have to try to
see as much as we can while we are here.

Yesterday we stopped by at the Canadian Embassy - that is where we found the red couch!  It was really cool to be sitting on Canadian soil for a few minutes!!  Of course we managed to pick up some brochures for school on US/Canadian relations while we were there, just so we can write it off as a business expense. (ha ha ha)

We also visited the National Archives where we saw a copy of the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Constititution.  While in the gift shop, we had a strong urge to slip a copy of the Declaration into our jacket, but we did not (Movie reference - who knows where that is from???)

The Air and Space Museum took up the rest of the day!!  A truly amazing collection of aircraft, space craft, and tons of hands on activities to teach all the related concepts.  There were at least 4 different school groups there (bad timing on lunch by us, but still was quick because they have the infrastructure to handle it) and the place is so big, you could hardly tell.  I can imagine how busy it would be during the summer though. 

 The kids (and us) continue to learn a ton, I just hope we can retain most of it.  That's one of the few negatives about this kind of a trip - everything is all squished together in one big experience - I just hope we will be able to spread it out and remember it all once we are done!

Harrisburg and Gettysburg

On our way from Hershey to Washington, D.C., we stopped at a couple of places that have a great deal of historical significance, particularly with relation to the Civil War.  Not so much fun for Rianna, but very interesting for me, the one with the history degree.  

In addition to being the site of Lincoln's famous Gettysburg address, there were many battles fought in this area which you can learn about during a tour of the battlefield.  There is a brand new, very impressive visitor centre and museum in Gettysburg as well.

The Harrisburg National Civil War Museum discusses both sides of the Civil War in a very comprehensive manner, using video and artifacts.    The collar shown here is a slave collar, used on "particularly difficult" slaves.  The rods that go out and up would catch on things should they
try to escape, but they also make it impossible to sleep as the wearer would be unable to lay their head down. 

 I find it incredibly amazing, the time and money spent on developing machines of war and violence.  Think how much the human race could accomplish if all this effort was put into more positive endeavours.  (Sorry, that's my soap box speech...)

History of Hershey

Today's blog is a history lesson, but one that we were very impressed with!  ( I will try to give the short version)

Milton Hershey first made his fortune selling caramels, and used this money to develop a way to make chocolate that tasted good, and could be afforded by the "regular" folk. At the beginning of the 1900's, chocolate was very expensive, and a luxury item for most Americans.  Hershey chocolate was both affordable and good quality.  He built his factory in Hershey because he could access fresh milk from the dairy farms in the Lancaster area.  Then he built homes for all the people who worked in his factory, and libraries, and schools, and sporting facilities......  During the depression he continued to build and to ensure that all the people of Hershey had jobs, and health care.  He built a whole community and the resources to go with it.

He and his wife could not have children, and so they decided to adopt some and put them in school.  But first, he built the school.  And then he brought in more boys, orphans, ones from poor or needy families. The school continued to grow and take in more and more kids.  He provided everything for them: food, clothes, medical care, and most importantly, a safe place to live and a good education.

Shortly after his wife died, he donated his fortune and his company, some sixty million dollars, to this school.  It is currently second only to Harvard as the richest school in the US. 

It is an amazing campus!!!  Over 1800 students (including girls now) live at the school.  They all come from poor or underpriviledged homes, or from families at risk.  They are given everything they need, and their college tuition is paid for as well.  About 95 % of the students continue on to university or college.  They live with house parents who give them a stable environment, and a place where they can be safe and happy.  The alumni from this school have gone on to do great things as well because they understand the importance of helping others and giving back.

This was the story of how one individual, with the great ideas and support of his wife, has made a huge difference in thousands of lives because he believed that the money he made should be reinvested in the lives around him.

As we are travelling through America we hear so much about capitalism, the whole mess their health care system is in right now, and the importance of making and keeping their money.  We think that they should look back upon the men and women, like the Hershey's, who built this country, and were more concerned with sharing, than with keeping their good fortune.

  We were very impressed with what has been happening here in Hershey, and just thought that others should know about it, too!

  And the next time you buy a Hershey chocolate bar, know that the profits are going to a really good cause!!!

Halloween in Hershey

Celebrating Halloween in "The Sweetest Place on Earth", can you imagine anything better?  Milton Hershey began his chocolate empire here, but accomplished a whole lot more than make great chocolate - but we will discuss his most important work on another entry.....

In addition to his chocolate factory (which actually smells like heavenly chocolate as you drive by) there is a huge amusement park here with  8 roller coasters, 4 of them the old wooden style.  (Janie and Karen you would love this park!!!)

During the summer there is a huge water park here as well.  We spent  about 6 hours at the park on Friday night, and did not get to every section! There is an 11 acre zoo inside the 

park, with over 200 animals!

We are staying at a campground that is part of the whole Hershey adventure and it had a shuttle running to the park  from our campground which made life easier!  This campground has over 200 sites, and was full for this weekend!  There were tons of kids, we figured we had about 200 come to our trailer.  They went trick or treating in the afternoon, which made it really neat to be able to see everyone.  The leaves were falling, and it was quite warm - a lovely way to spend our fourth and final Halloween this year!!

Notice the Hershey kisses lamp posts?

Lancaster, Pennsylvania - Amish Country

O.K., so it's not a very good picture of the horse and buggy, but you get the idea!

We took a drive through the beautiful countryside around Lancaster, where most of the Amish  communities are located.  Other than dairy farms, they produce beautifully crafted furniture, playground structures, quilts, food, pastries, jams, etc... anything and everything for a wonderful farmers market.  

The landscape here is different, too.  We have mostly seen lines of tree on either side of the highway, and here we see open valleys and fields of corn, hay, and soy beans.  It is really nice to see vast tracts of farmland again.  It reminds us 
of home.  The leaves are still amazing, and there are still lots of flowers to be seen, both along the roadway and in gardens.

Biology lesson

See the bark?  Look hard, I know it's camouflaged!  Well, it sort of looks that way.  And the leaves, do they look like maple leaves?? Well, they're not!!!

This is a sycamore tree.  

They were introduced to the New York city area because they are very hardy and do well in this climate.  There is a whole grove of them on Liberty Island, dedicated to the families of 9/11 casualties.

Editor's note:  I do these little science lessons with my kids all the time - now I get to do it to a bigger audience!

Philly Beefcake and Philly Cheesesteak

Check out that Beefcake!  (No Janie, I don't mean my S.M.!)  This is what we looked like before running up the famous steps where Rocky trained.  We were still smiling when we got to the top, but we were breathing a little heavier!

We are in agreement though, that our favourite part of Philadelphia was the Philly Cheesesteak at Steaks on South.  We tried four different types and they were all awesome!!!