Reisinger Road Trip Day 3: Cave tour, dairy tour, and a non-existent Shoney's

We left Chattanooga and drove about 15 minutes to Raccoon Mountain, where you can pan for gems, buy geodes, or take a tour of Raccoon Cave. We brought light jackets, as it was about 64 degrees inside-- a nice change from the heat and humidity. We tried putting Gabriel in a back carrier, but he cried his head off, so I put him in my baby sling instead. It worked out better, since the ceilings were really low in a couple of spots, and Gabriel would have had a whopping headache otherwise. He did try wiggle out of the sling, but after a while resigned himself to his fate and didn't fuss to much after the first 15 minutes.

The tour lasted about 45 minutes, and many of the formations inside the cave were impressive--the kids hadn't ever taken a cave tour before. Here are some pics from "the center of the earth" (that's what Rebecca thought anyway).

We ate lunch just outside the cave (sure wish we could have eaten inside the cave and enjoyed the cool air for a while longer), then headed east to Athens to visit Mayfield Dairy. This is a large, commercial dairy that produces milk, ice cream, and other dairy products. They process milk from about 150 dairy farmers in the region. The kids had to get a picture of the really big cow out front and the bronze cow in the courtyard-- perfect for sitting on.

The little girl holding Gabriel is my niece Mary. We
love her, especially her red hair :-)
We had to wear these fabulous RED hairnets during the tour, so of course I had to get a picture of that too. Even Gabriel had to wear one.
The kids all behaved themselves during the tour because we'd promised them ice cream at the end. I think that's why Christina is frowning in the picture because she is like her momma and couldn't wait to get her dessert. So all the kids (and grownups too) got ice cream, the scoops were HUGE, and they were only $1.50 each. Joshua got a sour ice pop, and that was just 50 cents. Everyone was pretty happy after their treat. Gabriel was glad to have a place he could walk around. He amused himself (and a group of grandmas rocking on the porch outside the gift shop) by walking up and down a little ramp for a good 30 minutes.

We then drove to Knoxville to spend the night. The kids were tired, so we decided to nix a swim in the pool and just go get dinner. Peter and Stephanie started looking at the tourist guide and the internet to see what our choices were.

I have explain a little bit about my brother-in-law Peter. If you don't know him really well, you'd think he was cheap (and he is), but really he just loves the mental challenge of trying to find the best deal for just about everything. For example, I thought I did really well getting Pringles chips on sale at Kroger for 88 cents a can, but Peter found his at Walgreens for 75 cents. Yes, he does a lot of the grocery shopping too. Peter finds the Shoney's website, and coupons for "buy one adult entree, get a kids meal free." The hotel doesn't have a printer, so Peter heads to the nearest Office Max to print out the coupons. We wait until he gets back before we all head out to eat. Earlier, we'd thought about going to Red Lobster (since we had a gift card), but Peter wanted someplace less expensive. Well, we drive a bit, and can't find the Shoney's. We finally figure out it was shut down. Peter had driven by a Chili's, so we ended up eating there. I told him I was going to make fun of him on my blog because it was ironic-- he had a gift card to Chili's. Hmmm... sounds like a conspiracy to me! But you know, you gotta admire his tenacity. And he really is good at finding things for next to nothing. Plus, their kids are nearly exactly our kids' ages, so it's really wonderful to travel together.

It's getting late, and we'll finally get to Asheville tomorrow. I can't wait to check out this conference center. Check back tomorrow to see what we're up to!

Reisinger Road Trip Day 2: 20 minutes in Georgia & itty bitty trains

Hit the road today around 8:45 so we could make it to Mass in Birmingham, Alabama. We went to the 11AM Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Birmingham. A baby girl was baptized so we didn't get out of church until 12:20. St. Paul's was small by cathedral standards, but beautiful, with the usual flying buttresses, marble and iron work, and many stained glass windows. It was nice to see the tabernacle front and center behind the alter.

The kids were famished by the time we got out of Mass, so I made sandwiches in the back like a crazy woman. We ran out of bread, so poor Mom and Dad had to stop at a Krystal for lunch.

Now, neither one of us had ever eaten there before, David says it's kind of cultish," so I figured hey, why not try something new, since the only other place close by was Whataburger. So we got burgers, a chicken sandwich, and a very good key lime pie milkshake (yum).

We had to cross the very northwestern corner of Georgia to get to Chattanooga, Tennessee. At one point, we were up on a high ridge, and the view was awesome-- Joshua's exact words were, "Wow, what a spectacular view!" Our kids have been deprived until now because Houston is perfectly flat, and the view is not impressive unless you've been to the top of the Chase tower downtown.

I wish we could have taken a long detour and driven down to Augusta GA, were I was born, but it's just too far out of the way, so some day we'll have to go back. David did indulge me when we crossed the state line, and took one picture of me under this sign (thanks honey!)

I'm going to go off on a tangent about Georgia. Yes, I love Texas, I've lived here for 17 years now, 11 of them in Houston. I can even slip some Texas twang in my non-existent southern accent if I'm around my red-neck family in Bryan long enough. But I miss Georgia somethin' fierce (see, it's already starting). Ya'll know I've lived in many different places being an Army brat, but no where else do people greet you by saying, "Hey!" Not, "Hi," or "Hello," or "Howdy," but it's always, "Hey...whatcha up to honey/sugar/darlin'/sweetheart." And anyone older than you is allowed to call you by any one of these endearments. And you'd likely answer with a "Yes ma'am/no ma'am/yes sir/no sir." It's just a Georgia thing (I think). Now you know why I have that song, "Georgia on My Mind" on my playlist. Sweet memories of Georgia, and it's not just the peaches either. Sigh...okay, enough reminiscing.
We got to our hotel--it's a Holiday Inn, but the official name is the Holiday Inn Chattanooga Choo-Choo. No, I'm not kidding-- here's a picture to prove it. I know you can't read the sign on the very top of the building, you'll just have to trust me. Now, you can stay in a regular hotel room, or you can get a reservation and sleep in an actual passenger car that they've converted into a hotel room for guests. Really neat, but likely too cramped for us and our 4 kids. After we checked in, we met up with Peter (David's younger brother), my sister-in-law Stephanie, and their four kids and went to the model train display which is on the hotel grounds. It's a huge set-up of model trains, and it's really neat. Here are some of the pics I took.

This was Joshua's favorite, the Toy Story Train.

And here's a couple more pics.

Tomorrow we'll do some sightseeing and go explore a cave, so stay tuned! It is way past my bedtime, since we're on Eastern Standard time now-- good night!

Reisinger Road Trip Day 1: Mommy, how do you spell "Mississippi?"

We left Houston bright and early this morning (around 6:45AM) and pulled into Meridian Mississippi (are you checking to see if I spelled that right?) about 3:30 this afternoon, so we made pretty good time. We did hit intermittent thunderstorms here and there, but otherwise, nothing really slowed us down.

Our family tradition is to stop at Chick-fil-A for breakfast, since the kids LOVE the chicken minis. I hope we aren't doing this every morning though.
At the visitor's center at the state line, just before we crossed into Louisiana, Joshua left his own calling card by using the public computer to log onto "Cartoon Network. " What a nut.
The funniest sign we passed said, "Baptist Pumpkin Center." I really have to wonder what that means. Saw it just after we crossed the border into Louisiana. I'll have to ask my friend Laura, she's from "Lou-see-ana " (lol).

Crossing the "mighty Mississippi," (see, I can spell it!) was neat for the kids because the bridge was MASSIVE, and they've never seen anything quite like that before.
We stopped in Baton Rouge for a stretch and the restroom, and then piled back into the van for lunch. David didn't want to stop to eat, so I told him last night he was in charge of feeding everyone. My amazing husband made sandwiches for everyone sitting on the floor of the van and using the cooler as his counter top. That takes talent-- too stressful for me, I have to admit. The kids ate like elephants, and settled in for another movie while Gabriel took his nap. (By the way, he was an angel. He never cried or fussed, despite being in the car seat for nearly 8 hours today, only getting out to get his diaper changed).
The miracle of today was none of the kids asked that classic question, "Are we there yet?" Bet we'll hear it all day tomorrow!
I bought Joshua a magnet book that contained magnets of all 50 state license plates, plus a few of the Canadian provinces. He enjoyed it, but Mom and Dad found more states than he did. We were diligent about checking every car and truck that passed us-- probably because we knew it was a lost cause once we started up the DVD player :-)
We saw a lot of piney forest just after entering Mississippi. It must still be recovering from Hurricane Katrina-- many trees we either dead, stripped of their limbs, or missing tops, so they looked like bare toothpicks. As we drove further north/northeast, the damage was less.
Stopped for dinner at an Applebee's and it was so cold in there-- I know restaurants are chilly, but this place was FRIGID. The kids were just miserable, and it was a quick meal, let me tell you!
Hopefully, I'll be able to post every couple of days. David was tired, so he's upstairs with the kids and I'm in the hotel lobby typing away. Time for me to turn in too-- good night!

St. Rita and Obedience

Obedience is a virtue that isn't getting the attention it deserves. As wives, we sometimes think being obedient means being less of a person. Perhaps we think it's a virtue meant primarily for our children to learn. But read Fr. John's thoughts about the virtue-- his link is on my list of blogs. I really think you'll like what he has to say.

We Don't Have Room for You

WHAT?!?!

To rehash what happened last night:

I called all the hotels we're staying in during our road trip to ask how many beds we're getting, check that it's a non-smoking room, and reserve a crib. I start at the bottom of the list. First hotel, it's all good. Same with the second, so I think I'm on a pretty good roll. Third hotel, they say they don't have any cribs. WHAT?!?!

Apparently the hotel was sued about 10 years ago about a crib that didn't work properly, and ever since, they won't use cribs of any kind. I tell the desk clerk it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, and we actually have to bring a crib for ONE NIGHT for a 12 day road trip. Unbelievable. She says she can't do anything about-- well, of course not. (However, we have a very small portable play yard that folds down to nothing, so we're going to use it for the baby). Okay, we can make it work for one night. I take a deep breath and resume calling.

Fourth and fifth hotels are all good (and yes, everyone has a crib except the one in Tennessee which I won't mention). I call the last hotel. I ask if the room is non-smoking, and they say no, it's a smoking. I tell them that will not do at all, we have young children, exposure to second-hand smoke, etc. They say they have nothing left because there's a baseball tournament and a Junior Miss pageant going on the same weekend in their little town. I've always had this thing against pageants, so now I dislike them even more.

David decides to call Hotwire since we booked the room through them. (He is the type of consumer who will not stand for poor customer service). In a nutshell, Hotwire refuses to refund our money or help us find a room with another hotel. I can only imagine the letter David will be writing to Hotwire once we're back from our trip. I realize they can't guarantee a non-smoking room when you make a reservation, but when over two-thirds of the general public doesn't smoke, it's ridiculous to not at least refund our money or offer us some kind of compensation.

This morning, David tries one more tactic. It's one of those moments I know why I love my husband... this handsome, incredible smart, wonderful man of mine. He calls the hotel directly, and asks if there is ANYTHING available in non-smoking. A very nice woman says yes, there's a single king room. So David offers to pay the difference (between that and the room we had reserved with 2 double beds) and Bridget says sure, not a problem at all. We'll have to bring sleeping bags for all the kids, but that's fine-- they love doing that anyway. We are able to reserve a crib as well. Problem solved. David even had us on a 3-way conference call so I could listen and talk too. I'm telling you, I'm the one who "married up."

I am about done packing, except for the food and snacks we want to take along. I've deliberately saved that for last, because I know when the kids see it all, they'll start clammoring for the oatmeal cream pies, cookies, and other delectable fare (a.k.a. "junk food") that Mommy doesn't usually buy for regular consumption. I do try to be a good Mom every once in a while :-).

Yesterday I found a prayer to St. Christopher (patron saint of travelers) and put a copy into my bag so we could say it every morning on the road. At the very least, I'm praying I let "Jesus Take the Wheel." And I'll be saying many, many prayers to the Blessed Mother to help me stay calm on this trip!

And The Award Goes To...

David and Kimberly!

Why?

Because we drove to all the way to St. Catherine of Sienna today for little Nathan's baptism (our newest nephew). We had my sister's kiddie table and chairs in the trunk to give back to her since we borrowed them for our anniversary party. We were two-thirds of the way home when David said,

"Guess what, we forgot to give Mike and Jenn back their table and chairs."

There is an award for being so absentminded, isn't there?

At least I can say it was both of us, not just me.

(Well shoot, I am the one who completely forgot to bring Nathan a gift-- sorry baby! I'll make it up to you at Christmas. I am so preoccupied with getting ready for our trip; or am I just getting old?)

This Must Be Heaven

Christina LOVES The Backyardigans. She has a great imagination, and I think that's why watching these cute characters make up fantastic adventures in their backyard appeals to her. We have about 16 episodes of The Backyardigans on the DVR (plus 4 other DVD's with about 8 episodes on each one). It really could be considered an obsession.

So being the good parents that we are, (and further fueling the obsession), David's been recording Backyardigans episodes off the DVR onto a disk for our trip next week. We have a LCD player and a DVD player upstairs in the gameroom that will project onto the wall, and David usually does all the recording there. So Christina got all comfortable this afternoon with her pillow and sleeping bag, and enjoyed a Backyardigans marathon. We got about 10 episodes recorded by bedtime, and she sure didn't think getting a bath and going to bed were all that important. It was hard to tell her it was time to come back to earth, because she must have thought she was in heaven.