September 5, 2010

We left the campground and found a place to wash Sandy. She looked really nice and was ready for the show! It was a beautiful sunny day! We drove to Bug Out in Manassas – I’ve never seen so many Volkswagens!! We pulled into our spot, then had to unload the tires and wheels we were trying to sell. Katelyn went right to work washing the windows and sweeping the rug to make Sandy look awesome!








It was a fun event – we got see all kinds of VW merchandise, eat some good food, and just hang out. They also had a racetrack and they were racing VWs. That was fun to watch…it was surprising how fast those little bugs can go! Katelyn liked seeing all the different colors of cars – her favorite was the “lifesaver” Rabbit VW – it was painted in stripes the colors of lifesavers. We talked to some people that have Westies – got some good advice on different things – especially about Westy events (Full Moon Bus Club) and how to approach putting on a new canvas top (maybe our winter project?).

We did enter Sandy, but she didn’t’ win this time. Although the judges had some nice comments for us, so we were happy. A Syncro that was next to us won – it was pretty cool. We pretty much stayed the whole day… then home to start our second week of school (and plan our next trip!)

September 4, 2010

We woke up the next morning, had a small breakfast, packed up Sandy, and then drove into Manassas. The picture above is Katelyn's wake up call to us in the "downstairs bedroom!" :) There was a farmer’s market there so we checked that out – got some scrumptious brownies and ate them in Sandy. Then we walked around the town – went into a couple shops. The highlight of the time there was placing pennies on the railroad tracks. Doug told Katelyn how they used to do this when he was a kid. Of course, she had never heard of this, so she had to try it! We put one on the tracks then walked around the town a little – when we returned, we found the flattened penny! So, of course, we had to lay down more pennies and wait. She ended up getting two more flattened pennies. She thought that was pretty cool!









After that we decided to go to the Air and Space Museum (the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center). It is part of the Smithsonian, but not in DC. You pay $15 to park, and then it’s free to get in. It’s actually right near Dulles Airport. All kinds of aircrafts! The coolest was the space shuttle and the Blackbird. There is also an observation tower – you can see the planes landing at Dulles – pretty close up! Doug and Katelyn rode the cosmic coaster – a simulation ride where they “rode a roller coaster” through space.
On our way back to the campsite, we were looking for a carwash to wash Sandy (for the VW show the next day). We didn’t find one, but did find a Wegman’s. We stopped to get sushi, potato salad, and some pastries for breakfast the next day. We went back to the campsite early. Katelyn wanted to start the fire by herself. Doug had taught her how to do it the last couple times, so she was ready! She actually did a very good job – my little firestarter! :) Of course, you'll see Doug supervising! We ate our food from Wegman’s, then cooked hot dogs and S’mores over “Katelyn’s” fire.

Bug Out Weekend!

September 3, 2010

(You can tell school has started… look how long it’s taken me to get this on the blog!) We weren’t really sure we wanted to go away after the first week of school…would we be too exhausted? Well we were, but still decided that we could relax at a campsite just as well as we could at home. So, we left after school and headed for a campground just outside of Manassas, Virginia, called Bull Run. By the time we got there, it was almost dark so Doug and Katelyn got the fire started and I arranged things in Sandy. We brought hamburgers (for K – her favorite!), so Doug also fired up the grill! We enjoyed a meal of cheeseburgers and peanuts, and then had S’mores for dessert. We stayed up for a while around the fire, then went in Sandy and played Uno. It was a nice campground, but the walk to the bathhouse was insane! It was probably ¾ of a mile! We made a trip there to brush teeth – then off to bed!

Katelyn's First Road Trip (Day 2 - August 4)

We got up around 8 the next morning. We weren’t really thrilled with this campground. Our site was not in a good location. If you picture the letter V, we were at the tip of it. So, everyone was looking at us, especially the people to the right of us. I don’t know if it was because of Sandy – maybe they had never seen anything like her before. :) Whatever it was, it creeped us out a little, especially Katelyn! But she still said she had a really fun time camping for the first time in Sandy.

After putting everything away, we left to look for some breakfast. We first stopped at a bakery/gift shop and then went to the Bird-in-Hand Market. They had lots of good food there. We decided on some pastries, K a chocolate cream filled donut, Doug an apple fritter, and I got a bear claw. We ate them in Sandy – very yummy!

Next we went down the road to Abe’s Buggy Rides. Here we got to ride in an actual Amish buggy. Katelyn sat up front, Doug and I in the back. It was a thirty minute ride. We asked the girl (who was probably about 20) lots of questions about the Amish culture. She said she started driving the buggy on her own when she was around 10 years old. The horses start training to lead the buggies when they are one. They start pulling them when they are 2-2 ½. We asked her about school – the kids go until 8th grade – they have one teacher with an aide in a one room schoolhouse. They normally have 20-30 kids in the school. The students are assigned work and mostly work on their own until the teacher comes to their group. She said most drivers on the road are respectful. It was interesting – some facts to share with my students when we study PA.










After this we drove to the small town of Lititz. We went to the Julius Sturgis Pretzel House. Here we learned how the Sturgis pretzel business started and a little about making pretzels. We also got to make a pretzel out of dough (not to keep or eat). We got a bag of pretzels and bought a soft pretzel before we left. We walked around the town for a little and then stopped at a restaurant called The Lititz Pantry. We pigged out and then walked back to Sandy. We stopped at a Cupcakery and got Chels and Katelyn a cupcake. Then we headed home!

Katelyn slept most of the way home. This was probably one of hottest rides in the Westy to date. I think Katelyn thought she’d stay coolest if she was asleep and didn’t have to think about the heat! Overall we had a fun time - Katelyn said she liked it and wanted to do a Westy trip again! ~Jess

Katelyn’s First Road Trip! (August 3, 2010)

Today we embarked on an overnight adventure with Katelyn (our 10 year old daughter). We found some factory tours we thought she might enjoy. The first stop on our road trip was the Wolfgang Factory in York, PA. This is a company that sells chocolate (a lot of schools use them as fund raisers). We had to wear hairnets and Doug had to wear a beard net! Too funny! It is a rather small business – we toured three small buildings where the candy making process took place. It’s a free tour and you get a couple samples of their candy after the tour. They also have a small area of seconds, so we got some of that, of course! :)





We were getting a little hungry, so on our way to the next destination, we stopped at a small place to eat called Collinsville Drive In. We ate outside at a picnic table with a nice mountain view in the distance. Katelyn had her first pizza burger – she loved it, we split some fries, and each had a milkshake. Good food at nice prices! When the one worker brought out our food, he asked us if Sandy was ours. He said they like to take pictures of unusual cars that come to their place. Of course, we let him take a picture – not sure what he’s going to do with it??





Next we drove to the Lancaster area – Nottingham to be exact. This is the location of the Herr’s Factory. This was a much bigger place. We got to see how they made pretzels, nachos, and chips. We got to taste chips right out of the oven – they were still warm. Very tasty! This tour was also free and we got a free bag of chips. At their little store they had all different kinds of their products (all kinds of flavors of chips). We decided to get a couple of each kind of snack and then do a taste test down at the beach next week! We thought that would be fun!
We left here and drove to the campground – Mill Bridge Village Camp Resort. We checked in and found out the pool was closing soon. We were all pretty hot so we decided to take a dip. Katelyn met some kids from New York that she played with for a little. We started to get pretty hungry, so we went back to the campsite. Doug figured out a way to make a clothesline using Sandy and the utility post so we could hang our wet towels and bathing suits. K and I got her “bed” ready. She was pretty excited to sleep up top! I finished getting the rest of the stuff situated while she went out to help Doug start the fire. He gave her some pointers and together they got a pretty good fire started! We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. It was fun. We had some visitors of the animal kind. Who would have guessed there would be a family of cats hanging out with us?? The kittens were very cute, but we didn’t want to encourage them! They almost jumped into the Westy – in fact, at one point Katelyn said one was in it, but them jumped out! We had fun at the campfire, then went inside Sandy. We played Uno (Doug won), then headed for a last bathroom run before it was lights out. ~Jess

New England Trip 2010 (Days 6/7 – July 22-23)

North Truro - Chambersburg

Today was our last day in New England. We left the campground and went to a coffee shop to get some breakfast. We took it our on a small beach we heard about from the campground people – it was in North Truro by the Top Mast hotel. It was so windy and there were no shells or rocks to collect, so we left after we ate.

It was time to start heading home. Since I hadn’t driven yet, I told Doug I’d like to drive off the Cape, so I did. It’s lots of fun driving Sandy – I’m not big on driving the major interstates, so this was perfect. We drove until we got to Clinton, CT – we ate at a restaurant called Aqua. It was nice – we sat at a table overlooking the Clinton Harbor.

We left and drove some more, looking for a campground to spend the night. After unsuccessfully trying to find a campground while it was still light out, we decided we would drive to Hamburg, PA, to Cabela’s and spend the night in their parking lot, which is allowed! :)



We got there around 11 and set up camp! HA! When we woke up in the morning, we thought we should at least go in and take a look at the store. There is lots of cool stuff in there! We ate at Dunkin Donuts, which is right in front of Cabela’s and then drove home!

1,700 miles and lots of fun later, we pulled into our driveway at 11:30AM on July 23rd and ended our first road trip in Sandy! We had so much fun traveling this way and can’t wait for our next adventure! ~Jess

New England Trip 2010 – (Day 5 – July 21)

North Truro, MA

We slept in today – we are amazed at how well we sleep in Sandy – both by the comfort and the quietness in the campgrounds! It might be the fact that we are surrounded by small homes :) on both sides of us and the people just stay inside in the coolness!

We drove into Provincetown (the end of Cape Cod) and went into some of the shops (they have a ton)! It was very hot today! As we drove back toward the campground, we wanted to stop at a couple beaches to do some beachcombing. Unfortunately, you have to have parking permits for most of the beaches on the cape – we didn’t have one and the problem was we really didn’t have time to just chill on the beach, we just wanted to check for shells, rocks, and beach glass. So, we didn’t end up stopping. :(

We wanted to have lobster for dinner...the campground told us about a place down the street where they would steam it for you, so we went there to get some lobsters. Well, when we got there we found out that you had to order them earlier in the day! We knew we probably wouldn’t be able to have it tomorrow, because we would be on our way home, so Doug decided to buy them live and cook them at the campsite! We did bring along everything we needed to do this, we just didn’t really think we would have to. So we got two 1 ½ lobsters and two ears of corn. Doug’s mom had given us an old Coleman type stove – we hadn’t tried it out yet. What a great way to christen it!! It took Doug a while to get it started – I don’t even know the last time it was used. Finally...success! He got a flame! We put water in the big kettle and cooked the corn first. Then it came time to put in the lobsters – I wasn’t really into putting in live lobsters, so Doug did it. Poor little things – of course, I was all about eating them! The guy at the lobster place told us to let the water boil and then cook them for 12 minutes (if it’s 1 ½ pounds). Well, they turned out perfect!! :) What a delicious meal! It’s just like at home – I love just cooking in – and it especially helps when you have a great cook for a husband!












Doug had heard there was good striper fishing on the cape. So, he packed his fishing poles and tackle box in Sandy. He devised a way to pack the poles so they wouldn’t be in our way! The campground has a path to the beach, so we got our stuff and started walking. It was a path through the woods that seemed never ending! We found out later it was a mile (we weren’t really expecting this, so it seemed much longer!) We didn’t have much daylight time to fish because I certainly wasn’t walking back a wooded path in the dark! He fished for about an hour – no luck, so we headed back.









We got showers and then were going to play Backgammon – I remember playing that a lot with my parents when I was a kid. Unfortunately I couldn’t remember the rules so we’ll save that for another time when I have the energy to read and explain all the rules to Doug! We ended up playing War and then off to sleep!

~Jess