Day 159 Rock City & Ruby Falls

Follow link to view Sophie's Poem & Photo Presentation on Google Docs: Rock City & Ruby Falls

And here it is in text format:

April 20, 2012 Day 159

Rock City & Ruby Falls

Write a long fun poem using the pictures (at least 12) we took about our day visiting these two cool places. After you’re done with the poem, we’ll make it into a Google Docs Power Point Presentation!

When we were driving through Tennessee,

  We couldn’t find anything do you see,

We were about to give up, “Oh what a pity”

But then we saw the sign for “Rock City”!

So we decided to go in and check it out,

But we really didn’t know what it was all about,

And we went through the enchanted forest,

I think this was a good stop for us tourists!

We saw lots of rocks, and we saw lots of trees,

We saw lots of flowers and we saw lots of bees,

We saw white tailed deer and other little critters,

And a sign on a rock that told us not to litter!

We walked up a bridge and saw seven states,

We all remarked, “Oh is this great”,

We can see Georgia, Kentucky, and Alabama

Virginia, Tennessee, North and South Carolina

Then we went to Ruby falls,

A 145 foot waterfall,

We had to go 200 feet underground

And there were rock formations all around!

There was a donkey formation,

And a turtle rock in a different location,

So we walked through this cave for a half a mile,

But when we got to the waterfall we looked up and smiled,

The lights went on and we saw the waterfall,

Man that thing was really tall,

It had a pool five miles deep,

It made us all jump and leap!

This was our visit to Rock city,

We thought that place was very pretty,

And also the day we went to Ruby falls,

Yes that day we had a ball

Day 158 Civil War Trip

April 20, 2012 Day 158 Civil War Trip

Read: The Civil War: An Interactive History Adventure by Matt Doeden

Write summary:

This book was an interactive adventure through the Civil War. I chose to fight in Gettysburg with the Union first. I chose to be on Little Round Top with Joshua Chamberlain. I got shot twice in the leg but didn’t die, I saw Joshua Chamberlain get threatened by a confederate soldier during a bayonet charge. I stopped the man and he shot me. After that I chose to go to Chancellorsville and fight with the Confederate army.  I was with Stonewall Jackson protecting him, although he got shot in the arm and hand by his own men at Chancellorsville so I got “fired” I didn’t die though. Then I chose to be a citizen during the siege of Vicksburg, I lived throughout the siege but my two children and husband died and I came down with Pneumonia.

Think about the Civil War history part of our trip (think in general) and complete work: CIVIL WAR TRIP PROJECT

6 Facts & Details

1. Most of the major civil war battles were fought in the south and mostly Virginia except for Gettysburg.

2. In Gettysburg we saw 301 real cannons and 70 replica cannons. We knew when a cannon was real because they were made out of copper and the copper was starting to turn teal, and the replica cannons were painted to look copper and weren’t teal. On the real cannons there was writing stamped on the barrel.

3. In Fredericksburg, we learned that there was a road in between each army, called the Sunken road, On one side of the road was a hill with banks were the confederate army was, and the other side a stone wall and a very small hill were the Union side was, in this battle the confederates had the defensive position.

4. In one building in Gettysburg we saw a cannonball stuck in the side of it.

5. In Gettysburg our guide told us a story of a woman named Mary Walker who disguised herself as a man so she could be the doctor.

6. My favorite battle site and second favorite part of the whole trip was Gettysburg

6 Pictures

Lily overlooking the field of the first day of battle

Oneof the original cannons

School with artillery shell near top window

Mounument for the 20th Maine

Fragment of actual Gettysburg cannon ball

Guide Jim telling us about Pickett's Charge and final hours of battle

These guys were hapy to meet someone from Chamberlain's hometown!

Sophie looking out from Round Top

6 Sentences

1. My favorite battle of the Civil war was Gettysburg because it was so interesting and decisive.

2. In general, on my trip I learned that the Civil war was very important to our country's future but was kind of silly because our country was fighting against itself which (I think) had never happened before.

3. When we were driving from battle field to battle field it took a long time, about a day, we were all thinking about how the armies had to march all this land and how slow and how long it would take them to get to the battle field, and then they would have to fight for hours.

4. I thought that if they had fought more battles in the north, the Union would have been more confident and would have won more of the battles just like Gettysburg, but it was fine since the North won the war!

5. I never had thought about how in Gettysburg and other battle sites that the men were fighting in peoples front yards and the town citizens had to stay in their basements without any food or water until the battle was over.

6. I also have never thought about how all of the men who died were just left behind and the citizens of the town were left in the stench and mess of thousands of dead bodies in their town.

6 Reflections/Thoughts

1. I thought that it was definitely easier to learn about the battle of Gettysburg and Fredericksburg when I was there because I really understood where everyone was and what their plan was

2. I thought it was a good decision that Lee made after the battle of Vicksburg to surrender to Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse

3. There were a lot of General on both armies that it is sometimes hard to keep track of them;  my favorite general was General Ulysses S. Grant on the Union side.

4. I thought that the Civil war is very interesting to learn about because there are a lot of cool facts and details that happen through every battle.

5. I wondered if America was the first country to have a Civil war, I looked it up online and asked mom but I couldn’t find the answer; I found that it was, but Britain says that they had a civil war which was our American Revolution, although England was America’s mother country at the time.

6. I thought it was cool to hear the entire story’s about the Animals on and near the battlefield and what they did to help.

 6 Things to Prepare/ Plan to visit National Battlefield sites

1. I think it is a good idea to learn about the battlefields by going online and checking out their website and planning where you are going to go and what you are going to do

2. On the website look at the times for special events, movies, or reenactments to make your visit extra special.  

3. Bring your camera and make sure it’s charged because there will probably be a lot of interesting artifacts and statues.

4. I would suggest reading a little bit about the battlefield you are going to visit, I thought it helped to know a little bit about Gettysburg before I went there so I could learn but still know a few details.

5. If you like to send postcards from Battlefields, you should get your friends and families addresses

6. Always bring good walking shoes to battlefields because most of the park is outdoors

6 Important People *write what you know, what you learned—don’t look them up & don’t worry if you know more about some and little about others—just write what you know about each*

1. Joshua Chamberlain: The colonel for the 20^th Maine regiment. He was from Brunswick Maine and was a professor at Bowdoin College. He fought and led the Maine regiment on Little Round top at Gettysburg, and is an American Hero.

2. Gen. Lee: The Major General of the Confederate Army, refused the opportunity to lead the Union, surrendered to Grant at the end of the Civil War at Appomattox  

3. Gen. Meade: The General of the Union army at Gettysburg and since. From Pennsylvania

4. Gen. Grant: Ulysses S. Grant was the General at Vicksburg for the Union army and led the siege, the one who Lee surrendered to at the end.

5. Gen. Sherman: A Union General who burned Atlanta and most of the South at the end of the civil war

6. Stonewall Jackson: A Confederate General who led Antietam, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Chancellorsville but got shot in the woods by his own men and died later of pneumonia.

Day 157 Great Smokey Mountains

April 19, 2011 Day 157: Great Smokey Mountains National Park

Read three books * and write summary of each:

1.       We’re Going to the Mountains by Steve Kemp

This book is written like a poem and set in the Great Smokey Mountains

 It starts with the kids who are going to the mountains wondering what they will see, they see a trout in the river they see a bear in the tree. They next wonder what smells they will smell, and then they go through all the five senses wondering what they will see smell hear taste and touch in the mountains.

2. When I was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant

This book is about a little girl who grew up in the mountains, and how different it was but in a good way. She said that she loved to go hiking and swimming in the streams, and eat different foods and camp outside and watch the stars, then it explains when the girl grew older how different her life was then when she “was young in the mountains.”

2.       The Grandpa Tree by Mike Donahue

This story starts with a bird, who had a seed in its mouth flying in the sky and then dropping the seed when a moth few by. It says that the little seed grew into a little tree reaching up to the sun with its branches, then the tree grew bigger and bigger and soon became the largest tree in all the forest. It explained how it watched other little tree’s reach up to the sun with their branches, and how they grew bigger. It said that the father tree started losing its leaves and some of its branches. It said it watched the other new little tree’s grow up and reach for the sun, the tree was now a Grandpa tree. He started losing more of his branches until finally, the old tree fell to the ground. It made a home for the rabbits and ants and then became dirt, where another new little seed dropped into and began reaching for the sun with its branches.

Write 3 poems—different styles (see LA book page *) about Smokey Mountains

Haiku poem

I now see the smoke, 5

Above the pretty mountains, 7

Isn’t it beautiful? 5

Limerick poem

Ahhh, I saw a bear,



But he doesn’t care,

That I’m in his lair,

And he won’t tear,

Apart my hair

Title-down poetry

My family loves them

Outside is our second home

Up above, On top of a large hill

Nothing is more gorgeous

Together we play in the woods

And we love to picnic there

I think they’re amazing

Never forget the bug spray

Sophie and Lily, Great Smokey Mountain National Forest. April, 2012

Choose favorite 6 pictures and identify each with a complete sentence.

Smoky Mountains; it is called so because the clouds come so close to the top of them it looks like there is smoke coming out of them.

This is a picture of the waterfall that we saw in the Mountains, “Thousand Drops."

This is a stream on one of the trails in the Great Smoky Mountains.

This is a picture of what mom called, “A Rock Island” because the trees are growing on the rock in the middle of a river.

Another picture of the Great Smoky Mountains. This time when we were heading out of them instead of in.

Travel Worksheet

Based on your knowledge and experience with travel:

1.       You are going on a two-week trip and can only bring one medium-sized bag and one carry-bag. What do you pack?

Five shirts,

Two pairs of pants,

Two skirts,

Three pairs of pajama’s

One dress

Hygiene Utensils (toothbrush, toothpaste, advair, water bottle, floss)

Two devices, (my Kindle fire, and iPod touch)

Chargers,

A journal,

Rain jacket,

Three pairs of shoes (one pair of sneakers, one pair of sandals, one pair of boots)

A fleece jacket,

A blanket,

A hat,

Sunscreen,

Sunglasses,

Two bathing suits

A towel

Jewelry

 

2.       What are the six most important things you should bring on a long car trip?

1. A map and GPS

2. Snacks and water

3. Kindle fire

4. A pillow

5. Your phone and car charger

6. An iPod for music and audio books

3.       What, in your opinion, makes a hotel good? Write an advertisement for your perfect hotel to stay one night:

The Sophie Calderwood inn,

With grand suites less than 80 dollars per night,

An outdoor and indoor pool and hot tub with water slides,

Plasma screen TV with over one hundred channels,

 King sized beds,

A Jacuzzi in your room!

4.        List 6 Basic Safety Guidelines for Travel:

1. Always bring a first aid kit

2. Knowing where you’re going before you start the journey

3. Always have a cell phone handy and charged

4. Always know where you’re keys are

5. Never leave anything locked without checking your keys

6. making sure other people know where you are going to be and what time you are supposed to get there

5. What do you like most about traveling? What do you like least? Always knowing that there is a destination and that you are going to get there, the chance of accidents

6. You have another big trip to plan for in October to Wales. Think about and then write 6 goals for you to prepare for your trip overseas:

1. Learning more about Whales and England as countries

2. Making the girls presents

3. Figuring out what they’re going to be for Halloween

4.  Trying some new food

5. Learning some Welsh words

6. Learning some Welsh traditions

Day 156 Fredericksburg & Knoxville Zoo

 April 17^th & 18^th, 2012 Day 156

List 6 important things/details you learned about the Civil War battle in Fredericksburg, Va. when we visited:

1. The Confederate army had the defensive position on the high bank of a hill overlooking a field

2. There was one original house that was there during the battle with probably 20 bullet holes in the walls

3. There were foundations of other houses that were there during the battle of Fredericksburg one of the plaques for the foundations said that a woman did not evacuate her home and stayed in her house through the battle and did not die.

4. There was a huge graveyard where they buried every man that died, but all it had on it was the number man that they buried.

5. This was the battle where the men who were still alive including Joshua Chamberlain used dead bodies to protect themselves

6. It was Lee’s Victory



List 6 other battlesites/ important historic sites we drove by today:

1. Chancellorsville

2. Spotsylvania

3. Shenandoah valley

4. Manassas

5. Lee’s Highway and Headquarters

6. Appatomic Courthouse  


6 descriptive sentences about our trip so far:

1. After we had walked on the Sunken Road we walked up to an Antique looking house that mom loved, Lily and I decided just to play on the cannons instead of going up with her and we pretended we were artillerymen running our cannons for the Union.

2. When we were driving to Fredericksburg the garmen got us lost and we didn’t get to see the museum or visitor center because it had already closed.

3. The next day it was raining, the storm was surprisingly big and we had rain all the way from Fredricksburg Virginia to Tennessee.

4. The night we stayed in Gettysburg we drove around downtown where there were many civil war themed restraints, we decided to eat at “The Lincoln Diner” where we had wonderful meals.

5. When we stayed in Fredericksburg we were starving so we decided to “Make our own sandwiches” at Subway for a quick little dinner.

6. At the hotel there was a really chlorinated pool. But it was warm so we stayed in it for a while, Lily opened her eyes every time she went under water and it made her eyes hurt; the poor little girl complained about her eyes all night and she refused to take eye-drops.

6 Images

6 Animals we saw at the zoo:

1. Chimpanzees and Gorilla’s

2. Elephants

3. Otters

4. Red Pandas

5. A Komodo dragon

6. Zebras

6 things you learned at the zoo:

1. Condor’s have the largest wingspan known for birds

2. Rhinos are hilarious when they run

3. Komodo dragons can grow up to be 6 feet long!

4. The Komodo dragon was a female, her name was Khaleesi which means dragon queen; the name was also used in Game of Thrones

5. Gorilla’s don’t like tiny enclosures

6. Red Panda’s are bears but they look and act a lot like cats, mom says she wants one!



Write 6 sentence poem about the zoo:

Today we went to the Knoxville zoo,

Where there was everything but Kangaroos,

My favorite the Chimps were out to play,

And the Lions were hiding on this rainy day,

But still it was fun without the sun,

And we saw funny Rhino’s run!

-Sophie Calderwood

Day 155 Gettysburg Battlefield Tour

April 17, 2012
Sophie's blog: First day of battle:

Today we went on an interactive audio tour in Gettysburg with a man named Jim who was our guide. He got into our car and took us around Gettysburg telling us every tiny little detail about the civil war. First we saw a house with a little statue in front and Jim told us that the only civilian that was killed during the war lived in that house; we think her name was Anna. She was stuck in the cellar of her house for three days and her whole family including herself was starving and thirsty. She went upstairs and started kneading dough and took a bullet right through her back and into her heart.

Then we went down the road along many houses with bullet holes in it. He explained where the two armies were on the first day and then we drove up to a white barn were we got out and he told us a story. The story was about the first day of battle and the Union Calvary General John Buford. He said that Buford had 500 men and only 6 cannons. There was a group of mountains in the distance that the Confederate army was traveling over. The Confederates began to shoot first and it started the battle of Gettysburg.

The Union was out of cannonballs and had little ammunition left. General Buford went into the cupola to look for General Meade, who was late. In the distance, John saw Meade approaching, even though Buford was a serious man who rarely smiled, at the sight of Meade’s army he gave a slight smile and said ”Where have you been?”

Meade’s army fought against Robert E. Lee, the Confederate General, for the rest of the day. In fact, The 19^th Maine regiment and the 15^th Alabama regiment were fighting on a hill. Alabama chased Maine in to a huge ditch that they couldn’t get out of; it was tragic for the Union army. The battle ended and the Confederates won. On the battlefield, there was a dog named Sally who belonged to a man on the Union side who got shot but was not dead yet. Sally stayed with this man and gave him warmth from her body. When the confederates came around later that day and tried to collect bullets and items from the dead and dying men around Sally chased them away. She lived until the end of the Civil War and is considered a hero.

Second day of battle:

The Second day of battle, The Union was more prepared and there were many more men including the 20^th Maine Regiment and Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Every General had a position. But One General, General Stuart I think it was retreated from his position because he didn’t think that his position would help the Confederate’s get passed their line. The armies were fighting a mile apart. The Confederates were in the woods in a straight line while the Union army was on a hill (The defensive position) in almost a fishhook shaped line. A soldier on the Union side noticed that a hill, Little Round Top was unarmed, he told Meade who called in for the 20^th Maine who had just arrived to take the hill. The Confederates thinking that the hill was still unarmed ran towards it knowing it was the key to getting to the Union line. The Confederate’s sent Alabama’s 50th Regiment up to the hill.

Joshua Chamberlain from Brunswick Maine was a professor at Bowdoin College so he was very smart, but he wasn’t trained in military as much as other colonels and especially Generals. Although the regiment had trained and drilled for many years so they were definitely ready for this assignment. Chamberlain’s plan was to shoot from the highest point of the hill while the Confederates were running up. His line was shaped a lot like a hockey stick and it was really easy to shoot down. Our guide said that Joshua wasn’t feeling well that day but he fought anyway. The armies kept shooting and shooting until the 20^th Maine ran out of bullets. Chamberlain had lost his voice he had been shot in the leg and the arm and like I said before, he was sick. He was yelling at the top of his lungs but it only sounded like a whisper, his friends were wondering what he was saying, but it was Bayonet’s everybody thought he was crazy to order a bayonet charge but he did. The Union chased the army down the hill with their sharp swords! This was a day that would change American History, because the fighting kept going and we won the second day of the Battle.

Third day of battle:

The Union’s confidence has been boosted since the second day, they believed that we could win the war now (which was true) General Lee had a crazy plan for the third day of battle. He started firing all of their cannons! One by one in a row, kind of like a wave, and then again and again! The Union fired back, but not all of their ammunition like the Confederate’s did. This went on for an hour or so and killed a lot of Union soldiers, but not all of them.

 Then the confederate’s sent hundreds and hundreds of infantry men out led by three generals, General Longstreet, General Pickett, and General Armistead. The battlefield was a mile long, and in the back of his mind Lee knew that this was a 50/50 chance but it was all he had, or at least that’s what he believed. This was known as Pickett’s charge because he led them. Unfortunately for the South this plan failed and the Union still had plenty of Ammunition left and we won the third day of battle which means we won Gettysburg!

Traveling Homeschool

I just wanted to write a few words about some of the other lessons the girls are learning on our trip.
Like most important things in life, one is not born knowing how to travel safely, with confidence, efficiently, and on a budget. I don't lecture the girls about planning, preparing, and traveling but I point out what I've learned, why I've done or prepared certain parts of the trip and why, and Sophie especially seems to be paying close attention.

She really appreciates my efficiency, calmness, and confidence when we travel and I know I am teaching them both by example. I also know that I learned my travel skills from my mother, who took us everywhere (and that's no exaggeration) across and around the country more than once and always on long drives on weekends to unexplored corners of whatever state we were living in. Mom taught me to be safe, be confident, have fun, stay calm, and see where the road can take you. Thanks Mom, without your lessons, I wouldn't have as much to teach my daughters.

Here are some of the things I've learned about traveling in a car with kids many thousands of miles:
1. A cooler for picnic lunches is easier, faster, nicer, and cheaper than any fast food or sit-down restaurants.

2. Have a smaller bag packed full of snacks for in the car that aren't too messy--think pretzels, pepperoni, crackers, and nuts. But keep the bag up with you in the front seat but always within reach and have at least three choices at any given time.

3. Always bring bottles of water. For both drinking and unexpected messes. And only allow water or capri suns in the car and nothing that is red colored.

4. On this trip I am traveling with a small bag packed with nothing by power cords and cables and a power strip for charging all the various toys and electronics--Kindles, Ipods, cameras, lap tops, DS--and every night we plug in and charge up.

5. This year I got the girls pink headphones made for kids. Easy and a relief from the whining and tangles!

*Note on below. I wrote this in Virginia, I think. And for some reason the Chrome book I was working on got stuck on Caps and the girls were sleeping and I didn't want to get up to go to the bathroom to use that light to figure out where the caps button was--NOT where it usually is on a keyboard--and ultimately decided to keep the crazy caps for the list below because it exemplifies another aspect of travel--you can't always depend on technology and sometimes...mosttimes you just gotta work with what you got.*

6. NO CRAYONS, THEY MELT.

7. MANY DIFFERENT BOOKS, DRAWING TABS, PUZZLES, ETC IN A BOOKBAG EASILY ACCESSIBLE FOR THE GIRLS IN THE BACK SEAT. LESS CHOICE IS BETTER. THEY WILL MAKE DO AND HAVE FUN WITH WHAT THEY HAVE. IF YOU GIVE THEM MORE THEY WILL OPEN IT ALL AND TAKE EVERY BIT OF IT OUT. IF YOU PROVIDE LESS THEY WILL BE JUST AS HAPPY AND LESS DISTRACTED.

8. TWO SMALL PILLOWS AND ONE LARGE ONE. TWO SMALL BLANKETS AND TWO STUFFED ANIMALS--THIS YEAR KERMIT AND MISS PIGGY ARE TRAVELING WITH US.

9. PACK A BEAN'S CANVAS BAG FULL OF SHOES. A FAMILY OF FOUR AND THREE THOUSAND MILES, WE LIMITED TO 3 PAIRS A PIECE AND THAT'S 12 PAIRS!

10. ONE "DITTY BAG" FOR US ALL.

11. SPLIT THE TRIP UP IN BAGS. I HAVE ONE EASY IN AND OUT BAG PACKED FOR US THREE GIRLS FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE TRIP AND ANOTHER BAG PACKED FOR THE SECOND, LONGER, DAD-INCLUDED, VACATION PART OF THE TRIP AND THAT BAG DOESN'T GET OPENED (or out of the car) UNTIL WE'RE IN FLORIDA.

12. UNDERSTAND THAT I HAVE ACCESS TO LAUNDRY AND THEREFORE I DON'T HAVE TO PACK 14 PAIRS OF UNDERWEAR, SOCKS, ETC.

13. I HAVE A PILLOW CASE IN THE CAR FOR THE LAUNDRY. I DON'T LIKE REPACKING DIRTY CLOTHES IN OUR CLEAN CLOTHES.

14. TELL THEM WHAT WHAT TO EXPECTED AND WHERE YOU'RE GOING AND THE BASIC TIMELINE FOR EVERY DAY--THIS LIMITS THE "WHAT ARE WE DOING?" AND "ARE WE THERE YET" QUESTIONS. ALSO--ALWAYS POINT OUT WHEN YOU'RE CROSSING A STATE LINE--IT MAKES THE TRIP SEEM LIKE IT'S GOING FASTER.

15. THIS YEAR I HAVE A BINDER FOR THE TRIP THAT IS ORGANIZED FOR EVERY DAY INCLUDING A PRINT OUT OF EACH HOTEL RESERVATION, DETAILED MAPS FOR EACH DRIVING DAY, AND ANY OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION I NEED.

16. I PRE-PROGRAMMED EVERY STOP WE'RE MAKING IN THE GARMIN, ALTHOUGH I DON'T TRUST IT OR LIKE TO USE IT. I AM STILL A MAP AND NOTES DRIVER BUT I LIKE HAVING IT FOR IF AND WHEN I GET LOST. BUT MOST OF MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE THING HAS SENT ME ON THE EXACT OPPOSITE ROUTE I WANT TO DRIVE!
* A note on the above: I was traveling from Gettysburg to Fredericksburg, VA, which just skirts Washington, DC. I actually drove right by where Kim, Paul, and the girls used to live. I got confused with the map quest directions on route 15 an decided to use the Garmin to get me to the battlefield and hotel. Long story short, the machine took me an hour out of the way in order to get to the highway instead of driving a more direct, mapquest, rural route and therefore we missed the Visitors Center at Fredericksburg but still had a very nice, self-directed visit ourselves. Lesson learned: don't trust the Garmin around DC or on country roads--it is obsessed with getting drivers to the interstate.
**Another note on the above. The same circumstance was true on the drive home north from Monticello to Pennsylvannia--long, slow, and rambling (pretty) drive that took twice as long as it needed.

17. Be smart and safe when traveling but not paranoid. It's easy, especially being a woman traveling alone with two small daughters, to be overly cautious with the result of creating a threatening environment yourself. Kids feed off their parent and watch closely to learn how to behave and react, especially to new situations.
It's important to maintain the balance between being safe and aware with a willingness to try new experiences freely and with trust. It's also important for children to learn to trust in the goodness of most people. While it's true that bad things happen to good people every day throughout our country, it's also true that statistically and realistically most people, even strangers, are good people just like you living their lives, working their jobs, going on vacation, loving their families, and for the most part interact with all other people without much incident. Again, it's the balance. I teach the girls to pay attention to the uneasy feelings we all have sometimes--especially women...especially mothers--and to the hair on the back of your neck, the small voice in your ear telling you to be aware, and the "knowing better" sense we have when we're somewhere we're not supposed to be.

18. It's unrealistic while traveling, especially by car over long distances, to keep a regular everyday schedule and it's a waste of energy to get too hung up on meal times or bedtimes. When traveling, within reason, you eat and sleep when you feel like it and when you can. There are plenty of days in one's lifetime to keep a regular schedule and traveling days have no schedule--you just go with the flow of the road.

19. Always choose a hotel with an indoor pool, especially when traveling with children but true in general. Nothing feels better than to stretch out in a pool and move your tired legs through warm blue water after a long day of driving! And nothing is more exciting to two little girls trapped in a car for hours after a long, cold Maine winter than to jump, play, and dive in a pool and then cuddle up together in a hotel bed in front of cable TV! At this point in American travel, one can expect a nice pool in any reasonably priced family hotel and it's worth any few extra dollars to afford the simple joy at the end of a long day.

19. If you're traveling long distances, try to see as many family members as possible along the way. This plan results in many savings: eating out, hotels, figuring out what's best to do in the area, planning a visit another time when maybe not as convenient, meeting other friends and family, and getting it all done in one fell swoop.

20. Plan and prepare but always be ready for alternatives, emergencies, unexpected delays, and uncontrollable events. As a rule of thumb, don't make many verbal expectations or congratulate yourself on a journey well made or plans working perfectly. Save the accolades for after a safe, unremarkable return home.