Family Reunion, Further evidence things do not always go according to plans:

Late in July was the family reunion for my mother's side of the family. This is the third year running we have gotten together, and this year it was held at my uncle's house near Atlantic City New Jersey.

For the drive up, we decided to make a detour through D.C. to see if we could visit a few monuments. We first ran into trouble early Friday morning. We were stuck in interstate deadlock for several hours due to a series of accidents ahead of us. We would learn later that an accident involving 4 tractor trailers and 1 car resulted in a terrible fire that consumed everything but the cab of the front most truck, the tail end of the hindmost trailer, and the frame of the car. While the drivers of the big rigs survived, the two people in the car were not so lucky. We saw only the wreckage pass us on several flatbeds headed south, and the equipment tearing up and repaving the road at the site of the accident. There was also another tractor trailer on its side in the ditch here, a secondary accident caused by the traffic related to the first, and a situation just not high on the priority list this morning.

Finally, we arrived in D.C. hoping, with the few spare minutes we had left for a stopover, to see the sites. But unable to find parking, we merely circled about the monuments and the white house. As we drove up Constitution Ave. to the intersection with Pennsylvania, a policeman drove his car abruptly across our lane. He jumped out and began clearing the traffic from Pennsylvania, one hand on his holstered gun. This younger thinner Denzel Washington shouted at pedestrians crossing the street and a car that thought it could sneak around. Moments later, a motorcade passed, going from the white house to the Capitol Building. The limousines were flying the flags of the Commander in Chief. Having seen more than we could have expected with such little time to spend, we were on our way again.

Unfortunately, the morning's accident was not a singularity. We navigated several more accidents and lane closures, and a few tolls before finally entering the state of New Jersey. As we turned off the interstate, onto a small two lane highway for the rest of our trip, we though we were in the clear. This was not quite the case. We had not gotten very far before we encountered our last obstacles, a severed telephone pole and the apparently volunteer police. Due to the pole, we were detoured onto even skinnier country roads and looped back to the main highway, roughly half a mile further on. The tractor trailers crept down the roads and carefully navigated the 90 degree turns. After another 45 minutes delay, we were on our way yet again.

After 16 hours in the car, we finally arrived at my uncles house, to find almost everyone had gone to the boardwalk. Not really feeling like good company anyway, we made our way to a local diner, Julianos, where I enjoyed a great meatball sub. This was a bar, a restaurant, and also something of a convenience store. Coolers with beer for purchase lined the far wall.

The next day was spent with family, making food and watching the kids play. In the early afternoon, some, myself and my husband included loaded up in a couple vans and headed to the beach.

I have swam in the ocean along the Carolinas and northern parts of Florida. I found this particular beach surprising because you could walk out a fair distance without a drop off, and yet, there were pretty large waves coming in. We had a pretty good time. What I wasn't so excited about was the fact that the water left my skin slightly sticky to the touch. I have since decided, based on Internet research, that this was likely due to human effluent pumped out by the large metropolis just to the north. But at the time, I was not deterred from swimming. What did finally get me out of the water was a small crab that scuttled across my foot, and mistaking my ring toe for a small fish, grabbed me with his claw, and left me with effectively a deep paper cut across the top of my toe.

Having retreated back to the towels, the kids and a few adults headed up the beach to investigate a dead ray that was beached there. While this didn't exactly improve the beach's image in my mind, it was reassuring to know that Southerners aren't the only ones who poke dead things with sticks. But even we don't touch them.

By the time we returned to our stuff, Jake had gone wandering down the beach in search of us. Then, naturally, he stopped to investigate the rocks there, and found among other things a small starfish that had washed onto the sand. After showing it around to the kids and me, we headed back to the rocks to find it a perch.

On our way back from the beach, my aunt and uncle took us by Lucy the Elephant. You can see a good video about her right here. Things like this really strike my interests, and rest assured, on a return trip, I won't be swimming again, but I will be taking a tour.

The Cave, The Grand Hotel, and the Quaint Hostel

After a day visiting monster gardens and saintly churches, we took a little time to visit something that is of the more natural world. Italy's Grotte di Frasassi consists of large caverns and large formations. The tour lasts just over an hour, and the entrance lies in a scenic gorge. If you enjoy caves, you won't be disappointed, the cave is a somewhat inflated version of the many smaller privately operated caves in Tennessee and Kentucky.

Finally, we headed to San Marino. A small town perched at the top or a isolated crag San Marino is, like Vatican City, a nation independent woman greeted us in her own hallway, and let us into our room. To anyone visiting, I would recommend Affitta Camere Franciosi as a nice inexpensive place to stay. Our room was equipped with a kitchenette, and the front patio was covered in tropical plants. The woman directed me to smell the large trumpet shaped flowers hanging heavily from one bush. The rich sweet smelling flowers were wonderful, and when I asked for the name she answered in Italian, and I was able to figure out when I got back home that they're called Angel's Trumpets here.

from Italy. We largely visited just to say that we had. We arrived after dark at our hostel, where a small and wrinkled elderly

After this, we went on a search for food. This being a pretty small town, there weren't too many options, and we finally Settled on the Grand Hotel San Marino It was a prix fixe menu, but unlike the seafood incident, we knew what we were getting into. From crisp spinach filled appetizers to lemon basil ravioli, steak and sausage main course, and small and sweet chocolate deserts, this was one of the best meals we had within Italy.

Sadly, we hardly stopped to take a picture of San Marino, and we were gone with first light for new adventures. We barely paused to take a picture of the entrance after coming down the hill as we left. San Marino is more than just a place to sleep and eat, and for those whose travel is a little more leisure oriented than mine, it would certainly be relaxing to spend a few days.

As good things must

The last day of our August 2006 trip started out as we drove to fossil butte NM. There is a museum there, and a few trails. Along the road to the museum we spotted a ruffed grouse, and snapped a picture, though it blends in so well It's a little hard to make out. The museum has a video on the fossils, and some very nice specimens on display. We made some crayon rubbings from the fossil plaques they had on display, but at this point, I just didn't want to do a lot more hiking/walking. Instead of hiking, we went hunting for a fossil store. and we found one, back in town, with a nice man running the counter who sold us a basic fish fossil for a reasonable price, and a cross section of a petrified tree that looks nice on our mantle.

Having had our fill of fossils, we headed into Utah. Just as you cross the state border, there are huge red rocks that cut up into the air, but after a while they diminish, then disappear all together. By the time we arrived in Salt Lake City, the terrain had grown to resemble Idaho. We stopped in town only to eat at a Marie Calender's. We probably should have ordered pot pies, because the food we did order was so bland, I think the meat was boiled and not seasoned at all. It was perfectly edible, but I cook better food at home.

We continued on to Antelope Island, located in Salt Lake. And we did see antelope, as well as buffalo among the golden grass and sunflowers. Satisfied with a drive around the island, we headed back to Boise, stopping to eat a huge ice cream desert at the same Jaker's we'd had dinner at when we first began our trip. Finally, we returned to ground zero, and boarded the plane the next morning.