Good job guys!

 

The Southeastern Oklahoma State University Flight Team are the official first place winners of the 2012 SAFECON regional flight competition.  And Bobby is the captain!  Can't get much better than that.  (Bobby's 2nd from the left)

 

Every year Bobby's been at Southeastern as part of the team, they've always participated in this regional competition out of state in places like Nebraska and Kansas.  But this year SOSU hosted the games and it worked well for them because they won the whole thing.  And my favorite part was that Bob, Kaylee, Jennifer, and I got to attend the awards banquet on Friday following the week long competition. 

 

They recognized the top 20 out of each individual competition and we were thrilled and so proud as Bobby was awarded one 2nd place, two 3rd place, and two 5th place awards for his events.  What an exciting and proud way to do it in his senior year.  

 

Now they're bound for Ohio and the national competition in May.  Congratulations Bobby and the whole SOSU flight team!   



Boston twice

We finally got to see the ocean!  We woke up to clear skies, sunshine, and high 70's for the day.  Pretty nice!  Our Boston experience actually started yesterday when we drove in from Newport in a dreary drizzle.  And it didn't get much better through the day.  But we persevered.  

 

We stopped in Plymouth and drove to the coast where Plymouth Rock was.  We found it and the Mayflower II.  The ocean is in the background but as you can see our luck hadn't changed yet.    

After Plymouth we drove on into Boston and hit Fenway Park and Harvard.  The weather didn't really affect either and we had a great time taking in a little Bahston history! 

That was yesterday.  As I said before, today's weather was pretty much perfect so we were in good spirits as we drove into Boston again, hopped onto one of the tour trolleys (it's why our hair looks so wind blown in the following pictures), and started our trip back in time.........well, as much as you can with crazy traffic and huge modern buildings all around.  It was really pretty much a big city but it was truly beautiful for a big city.  I just couldn't believe the old buildings that just went on and on and on, especially Beacon Hill.  Amazing!

 

There really wasn't a good reason for this picture except that I couldn't pass up the opportunity since macaroni and cheese is one of Kaylee's favorites. 

And then there was Paul Revere.  He's always been kind of a background personality to me when I've studied about the founding of our country but that may have changed.  He was apparently a very hard working and trust worthy man and he had thirteen children, for goodness sake.  What's not to like about that! 

And of course there's the gelato.  The North End was full of Italian restaurants so we finally picked one and then went a couple of doors down and had Italian ice cream.  It was okay.  Not Blue Bell, of course. 

The things that stuck out most to me about Boston was, of course, the age.  And the history is obviously so meaningful and so cool to actually experience it all in person.  Being in a big city was pretty predictable except that here, the streets and sidewalks were much more narrow than what I'm used to.  Well, let's just say it--I'm from Texas and being in such an old city where everything is jammed together makes me feel a little claustrophobic.

 

So we completed our time in Boston in the late afternoon and then headed to the ocean.  I'd read about Marblehead when we were researching our trip and had decided that we just wouldn't have time to fit it in.  But we had some daylight left on this perfect weather day so that's where we headed.  And it was so worth it!  I thought it was sort of a present day Newport.  There were lots and lots of really amazing houses and quite a few looked pretty new.  It was such a quaint town and made for a beautiful sunset adventure.  That's where the first picture in this post was taken and then this one.        

We have one more morning left and we'll head over to Salem to check things out for a short time.  Then it's off to the airport in Manchester, NH, which makes seven states we've traveled through on Mom and Kaylee's excellent adventure!



Fog and Mansions

We woke up this morning to fog, hoping it would get better as the day went on but nope, it was not to be.  It's a pretty sad thing when you're right on the ocean and you can't see the ocean. 

 

But, on a much better note, we also woke up to an amazing breakfast that our host, Stuart, made for us.  We had blueberry covered Yorkshire pancakes and sausage, with pomegranate juice on the side. 

 

Then, rested and nourished, we made our way into Newport to see the mansions.  We started at The Breakers and here's a picture of the front.

We found out very quickly that some people just plain have too much money.  I mean, seriously, were they just looking for places to spend it?  Apparently!  The Breakers was my favorite partly because it seemed more like a home, and partly because I think I could have been friends with ol' Cornelius and Alice (Vanderbilt, of course).  They met while they were both teaching Sunday School and, even though four out of their seven children died young, "their faith brought them through those times".

 

This next picture shows how bad the annoying fog was.  We're looking out from the upstairs balcony at the lawn and................fog!  We just assumed the ocean was out there because they told us it was.       



Okay, remember how I said I thought I might be friends with Alice Vanderbilt?  Well, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have been friends with her sister-in-law, Alva, who built The Marble House.  If for no other reason than that she also had this monstrocity built in her back yard.  Maybe it was considered pretty back then and maybe I'm offending some of you right now by dissing it but it's definitely not my taste.  And I also didn't like her much because she divorced good ol' Cornelius' brother, William after only 14 years and, honestly, it sounded like she did it because it just wasn't done and she wanted to be the first to start the trend or something.  Anyway, here's the Chinese Tea Room with the elusive ocean in the background.  Can you tell I'm bitter about the fog?   

Obviously I'm not too distressed about it because I look pretty happy here in the back yard of The Marble House.  Note my Ebby t-shirt I won at Ebby School.

Since we were in Alva's back yard we went ahead and walked all the way back to the cliffs and Kaylee got this shot of the ocean, more fog, and some other oppulant homes in the distance.   

After a drive around to Land's End and the southern tip of Newport we picked up a pizza and came back to our little haven to watch the Presidential debate.  Priorities, right?



Fall has come!

Okay, at this point I'm wondering what the catch is.  Kaylee and I arrived in Portsmouth, RI this afternoon and were greeted by this amazing sight.  Our humongous and four star hotel style room on the 2nd story of a farm house.  Kaylee found it online for $100 a night.  What a deal.....if there's no catch, that is.  I'm waiting.  And enjoying!  This picture does not even do it justice.  Behind Kaylee is a partition and behind that is another beautiful bed. 

And this is the kitchen.  Everything is new, clean, and just perfect.  I thought about showing you the bathroom because it looks like a spa but I figured enough is enough.  We're here for two nights and we'll live in luxury and tomorrow will tour the historic homes of luxury in Newport.  Appropriate, right?   

I thought I'd see if you can guess what this relic of the past is.  I love maps!  There I said it.  I'm a map nerd!  I think it's one reason I enjoy my driving job.  I get to look at maps.  Anyway, our route today took us on some obscure scenic roads and I couldn't figure out how to enter that into our phones (I still think it sounds funny to say that) so I got to do it the old fashioned way.  And let me just say that pictures cannot do justice to the beauty of Connecticut!   

In a small town called Pomfret we happened upon a crew filming for a upcoming Cuba Gooding movie about slavery.  Yeah, much to Kaylee's embarassment I made her pull over so I could ask a young man who was an extra. 

This picture pretty much explains itself. 

 

 

 

Here I am with my four picked apples.  I'm pretty sure I've never picked apples before so I was excited.  It doesn't take much, right?  I wish you could have seen this little farmstand for real.  The colors were so vibrant.....everywhere!  I'm pretty sure that fall will never be the same for me.  We in Texas don't even know real fall.  I always thought we did but not anymore. 

And last but not least I had to show you this picture of the First Baptist Church......not sure of where since it was out in the middle of nowhere on a country road  Too bad we weren't driving by on a Sunday.                   

We finished our day driving on the Rhode Island Coast in the misting rain and arrived in Newport about mid afternoon.  We made a quick drive through but decided to just hang out for the rest of the evening.  And how nice to be greeted by such a nice place to do so.  Tomorrow we'll be seeing Newport fully so I'm sure I'll have lots of pics of that. We're hoping the rain stays at least mostly away.   

Four States In One Day!

We woke up to a beautiful sunshiny 73 degree day in Ronk, PA, just outside Lancaster. Our motel was a little less than desirable but there were waffles waiting for us in the morning so all was forgiven. I love waffles!

 

After breakfast our plan was to follow a route that would take us to see some covered bridges but that didn't work out so well. I'm blaming it on the instructions we had. But all was not lost. During our little hunt for bridges we were able to see mile after mile of beautiful rolling hills and Amish farms. What a beautiful day God blessed us with in our goal for the morning.

After driving around for about two hours and before continuing on our journey we stopped to get gas and I saw this neat little buggy beside the parking lot.  So I decided to take advantage of the photo op.

 

And Kaylee decided to be funny!  No, I don't normally wear my hair that way!  Actually, I laughed pretty hard for about the next hour.

And then we were off......again!  It was about an hour's drive to Philadelphia and we found ourselves in a big city again.  But what a city!  I just can't get over the age of all the buildings in PA.  Our plan was to gain a little history knowledge so we headed straight for Independence Hall to get our tickets for entrance a little later in the day. 

 

Apparently our waffles weren't sufficient or maybe it was the weather.  But we were so hungry by that time so we headed out to find a cheese steak stand that Kaylee had read about.  We walked a little over a mile which was fine because we'd been in the car so much the last couple of days AND we got to see lots more of Philly.  And it was so interesting.  And old, of course.  And so different from Denton! Love that! 

 

And the cheese steak was amazing! So worth the walk.  There were two little competing stands and both were busy.  We shared a sandwich and some fries (that were really yummy too!) We were so hungry we forgot to take a picture till after we were finished.  Here's the leftovers.  Oops, there are none!        

Here's Kaylee posing where we ate.

Of course we had to take the obligatory picture in front of the liberty bell.

And then Independence Hall

At about 3 we continued on our journey which took us through Trenton, NJ.  Hmmmm!  I guess all I'll say about that is that it sure was different from our drive through the mountains of PA.  I love America! 

 

I was so proud of us!  With Kaylee driving and me navigating, we maneuvered our way through New Jersey and just north of New York City like pros!  And in rush hour traffic to boot!  Yay us!!  Yeah, and while I was sure excited to see all there was to see I don't think I'll be too anxious to do it again.  I mean other than the traffic it's just.....well, crowded.  I mean, in some places, on either side of the road there just wasn't any room.  Stores and houses were just right there.  

 

This picture isn't very good and it doesn't even do justice to the view we actually saw but I took this when we were crossing the Washington Bridge in New Jersey.  The view was of Manhattan.  I just couldn't believe we were there!    

We made it through rush hour traffic and then hit Connecticut, a whole different world.  It was getting dark and we were on a highway so we couldn't see much but enough to be sad that we couldn't see more.  We drove along the coast so, as the sun set, we could see a little of the water between the trees.  We stopped at a Denny's like restaurant to get a late supper and then drove the last hour to Hartford where we stayed the night.  Brand new Super 8!  Much better than the night before.

 

Day 2--The beauty of Pennsylvania

The day started out very well when we were able to worship with Kaylee's friends at the church where she served as summer missionary in 2007.  It was a very small Baptist church in Freeport, PA, about 40 minutes north of Pittsburgh. 

 

The Cogley family allowed Kaylee to stay at their house that summer and were like a second family.  And they continued their generosity today when they treated us to lunch at a Mexican restaurant close to the church.

 

And then our journey continued.  I don't think I really had a preconceived idea about what Pennsylvania would be like and yet I was very pleasantly surprised at the beauty of it.  The city of Pittsburgh was pretty for a big city but it was a big city after all.  As we left that area and drove east the hills kind of became mountains and the fall colors were even more vibrant.  There were so many really breathtaking views........that I didn't get pictures of, unfortunately.  We'd gotten a later start than we'd planned so we were sort of on a mission to get to Lancaster and didn't stop much at all.  You'll just have to take a trip there yourself and see.  It's well worth it.  

 

We drove through Gettysburg which, of course is so full of civil war history and the houses and buildings there and in the next couple of towns were really an amazing sight.  I mean, there are old houses in Texas but nothing like the quantity or style that we've seen today.  And so many of the houses were right there practically in the road.  It seemed like I could have reached my arm out the window to touch them.  Interesting!  

 

But soon we left the mountains and history and hit modern civilization again as we got closer to Lancaster.  It was dark when we got here so we've not seen signs of the Amish people but we'll hopefully be able to do that as we drive around a little in the morning and then head for Philly.  Liberty bell, here we come!    

Pittsburgh

First day of our trip north!  Kaylee came to Pittsburgh about five years ago on a missions trip through the BSM at Stephen F. Austin State University.

 

And ever since then she's talked about how beautiful it is so we just decided to pay a visit. 

 

We got an early start and enjoyed a very pleasant flying experience with US Airways, stopping to change planes at Charlotte, NC. 

 

After arriving in Pittsburgh we retrieved our little rental Mazda and made our way into the city.  It's really beautiful with lots of hills and the convergence of three rivers.  We ate at a local sandwich restaurant that Kaylee had remembered and liked when she was here and then we walked a bit at a downtown market.  It was a beautiful day though so there were lots of people out and we ended up not staying too long. 

 

We then rode the Duquesne Incline up the side of a mountain and reached this amazing view.  I have short sleeves on but was regretting the fact that I'd left my jacket in the car.  There was quite a chilly breeze blowing up there and it was just a beauiful day. 

 

We're now staying a bit north of the city and tomorrow morning we'll go to the church where Kaylee served as a summer youth minister.  And we're planning to have lunch with the people who were her 2nd family that summer. 

 

It's been a really great first of seven fun days of our trip through five states.