St. Augustine and the wonders of Florida

We began the long drive from the outskirts of Houston to Pensacola fairly early in the morning. We were counting again on losing an hour with the time zone change. It was a pretty uneventful trip, going through two other States, Alabama and Mississippi, before hitting Florida. We did stop at a tourist information spot in Alabama but otherwise we just had a good driving day. Entering Pensacola we made our way to a family from acandleinthewindow, one with five children about the ages of ours! We arrived and discovered that they were in the middle of packing up to go away the next day for Thanksgiving. Wow. They still didn't mind us being there, for which we were thankful!  The girls hit it off immediately, playing and dressing up and acting like they had known each other forever! It is great when that happens and makes travelling so much nicer.  We had a great meal, yeah- chicken pot pie this time! After putting the kids to bed we had a good visit, getting to know our hosts a bit, and the man and Dominik had a good chat about creation and other things.

The next morning after the girls had seen the other girls off to school and we had finished breakfast, we set off for St.Augustine.  As it turns out, we hadn't lost an hour the day before on the way to Pensacola, but we would lose it now. We weren't too worried about traffic, despite people starting to travel for Thanksgiving. You have to realise that here, in the States, Thanksgiving is such a big holiday that the roads are as busy or buiser than they are at Christmas! We did well until we hit Tallahassee and then we got completely bogged down as the traffic was slowed and then stopped by the police. There was a funeral that day for someone in law enforcement and so the police came onto the highway going around the city and led the traffic at a slow pace, including sitting at a stand still for a good half hour. This was especially frustrating for us because the police had pulled into the traffic just three cars ahead of us! If only we hadn't had that one bathroom stop we would have missed the whole thing.  As it was we lost an hour and a half. This put us behind and so we found ourselves going around Jacksonville in rush hour, holiday traffic in the pouring rain! Eventually we made our way into a very wet St. Augustine and found the Matheney's house. We were so happy to arrive and to see friends that we hadn't see in two years! We had met Nancy and Milo, Jessica and Kiera through christianhomeswap.com when they had come to stay with us in Austria.  Now we could relax and take it easy, just settle in and visit.

We took advantage of the rain and had Jonathan and Rebecca do some math and some journalling and I did laundry. Our hosts were getting ready for Thanksgiving, doing a bit of baking and getting the turkey ready. In the afternoon the sun came out and we went for a walk too see the intercoastal waterway and their neighbourhood. It was wonderful to be on Anastasia Island and to smell the sea in the air and to have the anticipation of Thanksgiving the next day. It was wierd, however, to see palm trees and tropical bushes and birds around at Thanksgiving!

Our first American Thanksgiving was peaceful and fun. The Matheney's had family over and everyone brought something for the feast! We had those iconic American dishes of sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole as well as a colourful beetroot salad to accompany the turkey and its normal sides of stuffing, gravy and mashed potatoes. We finished with coffee and pumpkin or pecan pie. It was delicious! Then the men settled in to watch football and basketball, another tradition.  The kids player with our hosts grandkids and all-in-all it was a fun day.

The day after Thanksgiving is known here as 'Black Friday', a big discount shopping day. We went out to look for a few needed items at a thrift store and were so successful that we came home with seven pairs of shoes, two baseball gloves and a brand new pair of ski boots in Dominik's size! Ski boots...in Florida! We were amazed!!  Hmm, the car is getting sort of full now. Later I went shopping and looking around the old city of St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied city in North America, with Nancy, Jessica and Kiera (host mother, daughter and grand-daughter) and some of my kids. Dominik stayed with Jeremiah and Josiah to let them rest. That was just as well because the weather was so cool during our visit that any time we were in the shade it was quite chilly. St. Augustine was founded in 1565 by the Spanish and remained the Spanish Florida capital for over 200 years. We saw the quaint little shopping district with its pedestrian zone, the walled square which is still owned by Spain, and the old fort. Many of the buildings were strung with lights and as dusk settled and these lights came on it transformed the downtown into a romantic kind of fairyland. In this area also sits the oldest known school house in the America and it, curiously, is chained to the ground!  I did a tiny bit of Christmas shopping and then we raced back to get the men and to go to dinner at a sea food restaurant. Fried shrimp, coconut shrimp, grilled salmon and southern sides made for a memorable meal!

On our final full day in St. Augustine it was finally warm enough to go to the beach! We packed a picnic lunch and drove with Nancy and Milo over to a long sandy beach with big waves breaking on the shore. The kids played along the shore and did get wet but the water was still a bit cool to dive right in. Next, to continue our water-themed day, we went out on Milo's boat, first on the ocean and then on the intercoastal. It was gorgeous to be out on the water! The sun was shining and it was cool but not cold when we were driving along. We all, with the exception of Josiah, loved it! Maybe he will be a farmer and just doesn't like boats, or maybe he just hated the life jacket. I don't know but he did cry and fuss. Despite this we saw pelicans and storks and even some dolphins! That was really special, to be able to see dolpohins swimming not far from the edge of the boat. We drove over to the Fort and waited as men costumed as soldiers got ready to fire a cannon from the stone wall out over the ocean. They put bread in the barrel of the cannon and so, after they fired it, a great flock of seagulls swarmed around, fighting for food, beneath the Fort walls.  We saw one huge Yacht being hosed down, many sailboats anchored near the city, and we waved at the big Pirate Ship as it made its way by us with a bearded pirate waving his sword at us!  

After our boating trip Dominik and Jonathan went fishing from the local pier with Milo. Jonathan did catch something, as did Milo, but the fish were all too small to keep. After supper, just to make it a really full day, I drove with Nancy and my older three kids over to Nancy's daughter Sarah's house for a campfire and s'more-fest! This made all the kids very happy, and us adults too. Despite the extra sugar, the kids went nicely to bed and that left me free to socialise, organise and do laundry.

Sunday morning we went to Anastasia Baptist Church where we enjoyed a lovely and lively service. The worship leader that day was a man from South Africa who is now travelling around in the States with his wife and four children the ages of ours!  Then, armed with Café Latte, Tea and Hot Chocolate we bid the Matheney's farewell and set off for our next Florida stop: Leesburg!

Dominik and I met when we both arrived to work for a few weeks at Camp IAWAH in the summer of 1998. It was also at camp that we met Mary, the wildlife lover and teacher of outdoor education. Now Mary is living in Leesburg and, since we hadn't seen her since our wedding in 2002, we decided to stop by. We couldn't be in Florida and not stop in!  That Sunday we made our way, finally (the street numbering system could use some work) to her house, peacefully set on a rural road outside of Leesburg. Mary's kids are just younger than Elena and Jeremiah and, with a large back yard with chickens in it, all the kids settled in well playing together.  

Mary is still very much the outdoors person and on Monday we got together a picnic and drove over to the Alexander Springs Recreation Area and rented a canoe for a couple of hours paddling on the river.  After our picnic we headed out on the river, enjoying the fact that there were very few visitors in the park that day.  Wildlife was abundant there and spotting it started in the parking lot where an unwise turtle was digging and laying her eggs directly beside the pavement! On the river we saw Snake birds, Blue Herons, Black something (sorry), White Ibis, loads of turtles sunning themselves on logs and even a couple of alligators lying alongside the turtles!  They weren't very large and they were shy, swimming away if we came too close, but it is fun to be able to say that we've been canoeing with alligators! Josiah did much better this time as he had a lot of birds to look at, but he still didn't love his lifejacket!

The next day we were going out citrus-picking! Mary's friend, Bob, was going to trim a few trees for a lady and as payment they could take all the oranges, grapefruit and lemons that they wanted. After that round of picking we drove to a piece of land where a man had lived and had fruit trees but which was now a wilderness area for walkers. There we also saw orange, papaya, banana and avocado trees!  It was near a lake and it was a bright and sunny day- a lovely outing! Mary and I dropped everyone back at the house and went out to buy groceries so I could make schnitzel for supper and for our camping trip the next day.

When we had been in Houston Dominik had read online that NASA Would be launching a Delta Rocket with the Orion capsule in December 4th. From Mary's we had booked a campground at Jetty Park at Cape Canaveral for the night of the 3rd. Because we have five children I was told that we would have to books two sites as there is a six person limit per site. Even if one is a baby! So, we invited Mary and family to come along. It would be fun to go camping together! We headed out with litres of freshly-squeezed orange juice and tuna salad from a tuna that Bob had caught and frozen. We got to Jetty Park by 2pm, checked in and hit the beach! It was gorgeous! This was now our beach holiday! It was warm, the ocean wasn't too cold, the waves were large enough for surfing or body surfing and the sand was soft and perfect for the little ones to build and play on.  And play we did until almost sunset! The air was full of excitement for the launch that evening. The campground was almost full and television crews had set up near the jetty (the pier). Almost everyone was there just for this occasion- for the first launch of Orion and the beginning of the Mars missions! After some pizza we were getting the kids into the tent when we heard someine say, "Excuse me. Sorry to bother you, but are you here for the launch? Would you mind being interviewed?"  So, we said 'sure'. We were interviewed for the Local Channel 6 news, Jonathan, Rebecca and I spoke, and it was aired on the 11pm news! That was a first for me and, although it was fun, I can't say that I like to see myself on screen.  

Dominik and the kids had been watching some of the NASA TV coverage on our tablet and so Jonathan was eager to get up at 4:30 to continue watching. The launch was set for 7:05 in the morning, just after sunset. People continued to arrive at the campground into the evening, and some left in the early hours, probably for a prime-viewing spot. The rest of us got up at 5:30, we made tea and porridge and took it all to our chosen spot on the pier. The day dawned bright and clear. The sunrise was gorgeous. The atmosphere one of anticipation. The Pier was crowded with people, as was the shore. People had their camping chairs, coffee cups and cameras with huge lenses! 

The launch time came and passed. People around us had Internet service and we could hear when the launch was on hold and why. It was put on hold because, first, they were being careful, then because a boat had wandered into the launch zone, and then because some fuel valves couldn't close.  Then it was windy. We watched the military helicopter gunship flying overhead, hoping that things might change. Finally, at 0944, the launch was called off and rescheduled for the next day.

So, what to do? Easy answer. We decided to have a beach day and to stay for one more night and to hope that the launch would work the next day. Mary and co. had to head home but we had a great time on the beach before lunch and before it started to rain! Rain! Oh well. We drove around Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, even checking out the Banana River which, we had heard, was a great spot to see the launch. As it turned out we tried to drive down a road to the river, going by the Teen Missions Compound, we came to a sign which informed us that we couldn't drive any further as it was land for NASA employees only! I guess they should have the best spot to watch launches from.  Back we went and, although it poured rain all through supper, we could cook and eat under a roof at the picnic area. Just as the kids were going to bed it stopped raining but then did continue sporadically through the night. We decided to get up at 6 am this time. There were fewer people around and we weren't going to cook anything. The rain had stopped and it wasn't cold. We wandered over to the pier as the sun started coming through the clouds, beautifully orange and pink.  Then, just befor 7am Dominik noticed that there was smoke rising behind the trees, where the rocket was located. I didn't say before but we couldn't see the rocket from the pier but just the spotlights coming over the trees from that direction. Then, right on time, it lifted off and flew into the sky. It was a lot smaller than we had anticipated and so, considering what we could see, the fire coming out of it must have been huge! We watched and videoed and then....it was gone. It had disappeared into the clouds. Well, we were there. We saw it live! But considering what we had been told, that it was SO amazing, that you could feel the vibrations and even feel the heat, we were a bit disappointed. Interestingly, the roar of the rocket and the vibrations came quite a while after the rocket had disappeared into the clouds. We were further away than we had expected!

We packed up our then-dry tent and our wet bathing things and left the campsite behind. We wanted to find the Bass Pro Shop in Orlando to do some Christmas shopping. We found it and the kids got straight away into the activities offered. There was a free carousel, colouring, a train set and race track and target shooting with a laser rifle and toy cross-bow. We also had a free photo taken with Santa- for the first and likely last time. For all of us it was an experience to see parents bringing their children for photos with Santa, these children VERY fancifully dressed for Christmas. We don't have this tradition in Austria! As always, we had a great time looking around and shopping at the Bass Pro Shop. It's too bad that we couldn't fit a quad or a fishing boat into the car!

At this point we have only one week left on our tour of Canada and the States. What mixed feelings we have. It will be great to be at my parents and to get ready for Christmas- our only foreseeable Canadian Christmas. But being on the road as a family has been great. Even in a sometimes-crowded car for hours on end, we have seen and done so much! Once we get to Canada we will have two and a half weeks before we fly back to Austria. Time flies! For now, we are off to Albany, Georgia and Sherwood Baptist Church and then the Creation Science Museum. It may be our last week but we still have a things to see that we have been looking forward to since last year!

Houston on a City Pass

We chose to buy a City Pass for Houston, as we did in San Francisco, because it is an economical way to see a lot of sites.  It is interesting to see what there is to choose from on the Pass, to see what is offered in each city.  The first thing we did was to visit the Children's Museum, the Exploratorium, where their motto is, "Can your mind come out to play?".  The building itself is colourfully painted and the pillars by the outdoor walkway are giant figures of children.

Inside they have a range of classical and choral music playing at a quiet level, making a great atmosphere for the learning exhibits. They had little house-fronts set up with a display at each for the various holidays coming up now on the calendar- from Christmas to Kwaanza and Hannukah to Ramadan. We started at a math exhibit and went on to problems of weight and motion.  Jonathan and Rebecca did a couple of science experiments while Elena and Jeremiah climbed up and down a giant climbing maze made of hard rope and platforms.

Also a big hit was the'Miniopolis'-type section where the kids could try working in the grocery store, at City Hall, as a reporter or even as a Café owner. They were given an ATM card which, although not real worked on the 'city' bank machine to draw out or deposit their paycheques.  There were as almost everywhere, a lot of school classes visiting, making it quite busy in the morning, but it was easier for the kids to play in the afternoon.

We left at around 5pm and, now very aware of traffic problems in the big cities we drove straight out of town towards NASA to look for a hotel.  We settled on the Super 8 NASA with it's included breakfast and good location. This meant that we didn't have to get up quite so early the next morning, which sounded really good to everyone.  Then to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.  We were so excited!!! Four School buses pulled in in front of us, but there was enough to do that we could work around the congested areas. In fact, you have to plan your tour really carefully or you may run out of time!

We were some of the last to leave and we didn't manage everything, and we had arrived 15 minutes after opening! We started with movie presentation about the history of the space program, from the earliest rockets through the race to get man on the moon to the present day space station. Following that we were let out into the museum section which houses some of the actual original rockets, a Gemini space capsule, a Moon Buggy used for training (the used ones are still on the moon) and sand and rocks brought back from the moon. There was a small rock from the moon that we were allowed to feel. It was black and completely smooth and worn from being touched by so many hands.

Coming out of there was a display for the kids with an 'Angry Birds' theme.  They could weigh themselves to see what they would weigh on different planets, at the same time looking in a mirror which distorted their image to be either tall and thin or short and fat.  We went to another theatre where we saw a film chronicalling the history of the Shuttle Program. We snatched a quick lunch and looked around the nose-portion of the shuttle before running over to the Blast Off Theater for a talk by Astronaut Tom Jones. All that he had to say was interesting and he spoke so that the kids could also understand most of what he had to say.
Our next thing to do was the tram tour. When we arrived at NASA, at the Houston Space Center, it had been pouring rain. Now, in the early afternoon, it was merely drizzling. That was better because the tram has a roof but open sides!  We sat on the inside seats but it was pretty misty.  A man sitting in the front row of our car got absolutely soaked from water draining off of the roof of the car in front of us. He changed seats after our first stop!  The tram took us over to the Johnson Space Center and we were told what is in a few of the buildings. We then stopped at Mission Control and visited the control room used for the Space Program up until the early 1990's. It was a historic room and being there to see it, sitting where the invited guests  and families of the astronauts had been was sobering. The volunteer who spoke to us there had great information and details to share with us. Feeling appropriate awe we treked back out into the mist and were taken by tram to see a memorial arbour, planted on one side of the road for deceased employees who had significantly contributed to the work at NASA, and on the other side for astronauts who have died while trying to get into space. Our final stop was to see an Apollo rocket, housed in a huge warehouse. We were all suprised at it's size....it was absolutely massive!

After the tour we had time for one last briefing- this time about the International Space Station. We learned about the astronauts on board, where they come from and what they do while on the station. I hadn't realised that the only way to get there at present is via a Russian rocket- for which the Americans pay dearly! In 2017 there should be an American company offering that service.  Elena was happy to hear that the female Cosmonaut currently on the station is also named Elena!  We got a couple of good website addresses to look up when and where we might see the space station as it orbits the earth!

We tried to have a look around the gift shop but we were out of time.  To celebrate our Space Experience we finally found a Cracker Barrel Restaurant for supper. It had been recommended to us and finally we seem to have found lots of Cracker Barrel's. Jonathan and Rebecca had fun playing checkers on a barrel after eating.

The next morning it was still raining as we packed up, happy that this night we would be staying with another acandleinthewindow family.  Saturday was a big day for us because we were going to the Houston Aquarium, included in the City Pass, and then to a Gun Show north of the city. We had been toldd that a Gun Show would really be a cultural experience for us so we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.

First stop was the Aquarium. We absolutely loved the Monterey Aquarium so we were ready for more but....we were disappointed.  The 'background' music in the parking garage, halls and toilets was SO loud that you couldn't talk properly with anyone. The Aquarium itself was fairly small, with small displays. There was a diver in a tank of fish for a short display, but he didn't really tell us anything. Finally, there were the tigers. Yup, Tigers! They were interesting, poor things. They were white tigers and we watched the trainer leave food around the enclosure and one of the four tigers came back in to eat it. It didn't look as if they had very much space.  When a man asked the employee how offen tigers can reproduce he, like the guy at Natural Bridge Caverns, pretended that he knew the answer when he clearly didn't. He hummed and hawed and then guessed at 'about every year'. You'd think that this sort of basic information would be taught to employees who will be dealing with the public. Sorry for complaining, I could have just skipped over this but if anyone might be wanting to visit the Houston Aquarium they should know that there are much better aquariums for the money.

So, naturally being a bit let down we spent less time in there than we had planned. We happily left to drive up to Conroe, TX for the Gun Show.  I learned to shoot a gun when I was about 7 years old, and we got the kids to try target shooting when we were in Alberta.  We were curious because the gun culture in he States is quite different than that in Canada. Most friends in Canada have rifles of varying sorts for duck, grouse,deer and wild turkey hunting.  We're used to that.  But to see machine guns and even bazookas for sale- that was different. Who needs those? Even hand guns I might understand, for target shooting. That would be fun. Anyway, I dressed the younger boys in their camoflage clothes and off we went!

Upon arriving we ate our little picnic in the parking lot and then header in. The first man that we met, even before entering, was an older gentleman who stopped to chat with the kids. He asked Jonathan first if his Daddy had taken him shooting yet. Then he asked the other kids too. Thank you, Dwayne and Rachelle, that we could say yes!!!  We had a nice chat and then went on. We discovered that the Gun Show was a relatively family-friendly event: kids got in for free!  As we went up and down the displays people smiled and said hello, they talked about the kids and were quite friendly. We saw not only weapons of all sorts, including displays of knives, but also cases and backpacks for hunting, t-shirts, water filters, grain mills, freeze dried foods, seeds and even a solar oven and food dehydrator!  There is an emphasis on being able to protect and provide for yourself if and when the government either fails or turns against you.  We met more Christians and openly friendly people here than anywhere else in the previous few days.

That night we stayed with a very young couple from acandleinthewindow. We went with them to church and then bid them farewell and headed to the Kemah Boardwalk. This was also included in the Houston City Pass and is located right on the ocean south of Houston.  It was a beautiful sunny, warm afternoon and the amusement park wasn't overly crowded. We started with a two-level carousel and then moved on to the ferris wheel, the Pharaoh's Fury (a big swinging boat- back and forth), a swinging rocket (around and side to side), rides for younger kids, a giant circular swing and, the most insane ride which I agreed to go on with Rebecca, The Drop! On that we were strapped onto seats on a lift on an octagonal tower, lifted high above the park and then dropped! There was a sudden but smooth slow-down about 10 feet off of the ground. I was nervous only when we were quite high up, and then, even though I knew what was coming, the fall was a shock. Our feet flew up high and we plunged down! Only once! Wow!!!

We stayed there until dark and then we decided to try to get away from Houston a bit to find a hotel in order to avoid the Monday morning traffic. We thought that this was a good plan, especially as we had long drive ahead of us the next day, but when we started to ask about prices etc.,  we were met with refusals everywhere because we have too many people for one room! This hadn't been a problem at all- no one had asked hhow many children we have- and now it was. And every desk clerk looked as though they were from India- all of them, and we tried at least 8 on this stretch of highway. It seems that someone has bought up all the hotels and has made them quite anti-large family. They weren't even friendly! Finally we found a Super 8, still with an Indian clerk but it was an older lady who called me "dear" and didn't ask me how many children we have...or indeed if we had any! Finally. It was 11pm and we were eager to sleep. We tried to get onto the room but the card key didn't work.  Suddenly the lady came running out. "Excuse me! I am so sorry! I told you the wrong room! I just checked someone in there!" Yikes! It could have been some big, scary trucker and here we were at eleven o'clock at night trying to get into his room!!! THAT could have been interesting. Fortunately he must have been in the washroom or had fallen asleep quickly, and didn't come to the door. Ahhhh.... we pitched all the kids in bed, then us too and that, folks, was Houston.

P.s. When I look at our blog stats it says that there are people looking at our blog in not just Austria, Canada and the States, but in the UK, Irland, Russia, Poland, the Ukraine, Australia and sometimes places like Thailand and Vietnam. We would love to hear from you, just a little comment, to hear where you are. Thanks!