Best of the USA

Posted by the whole crew

Our route, corner to corner from the Atlantic to the Pacific

Based on extensive media research, we here at moving mountains have come to the conclusion that people like lists.  Top 10 celebrity nose jobs, favourite bar-b-cue ribs recipes, greatest kitten videos.  Lists rule the internet.  So, after travelling corner to corner and back again, in honour of the 4th of July, we sat down and put together a list of random things we liked  (and a few things we didn’t like so much) about our great neighbour to the south.

To start with, for posterity, here is a list of all 27 states we have travelled through on this trip: Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Maryland, Delaware, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Oregon, Washington State.

Best City

We’ve seen a lot of major cities on our trip.  Some (like New York, New Orleans, and Las Vegas) were pretty much what we expected, without too many big surprises.  They were victims of their prominent public images.  Still, it was fun to see all the famous sites in person.

Christopher, helping out with the refurbishment going on at the Washington Monument

Our favourite city overall was Washington, D.C.  While it gets a lot of bad press for both politics and crime, the downtown area where we stayed was clean and welcoming.  The history displayed in the  monuments and the Smithsonian museums could have kept us busy for a lot more time than we had.  Generally speaking, as a family, we don’t tend to have as much fun in cities as we do in smaller towns and rural places.  But D.C. is a city that would be worth going back to and exploring some more.

Taking a bike tour of the D.C. Monuments was a great way to get an appreciation for the city, and some American history.

Best Museum

This was a tricky one for us.  The museums at the Smithsonian are incredible, and impressive.  And Christopher loved the Kennedy Space center in Florida.

But the overall winner was the World War II museum in New Orleans.  This was an unexpected surprise, and is really well done.  If you ever go, shell out the extra bucks to see the Tom Hanks movie.  The submarine adventure is also pretty good, but if you want to save a few dollars you could do without it.

The World War II museum was really well done.  They even had some exhibits showing the Canadian contribution at D-day.

Best Restaurant

Finding good places to feed a family when you are living out of hotels is a real challenge.  Fast food is   ubiquitous, and cheap, but it is hard to find a place where you can feel that what you are giving your kids is nutritious in any way.  More formal, sit-down restaurants tend to get pretty expensive when you tally up meals for five.  And we found the portions in the U.S. were usually too huge to contemplate (we often tried to beat both these problems by sharing meals, but then we could never know for sure if we would have enough).

Despite the “huge meal syndrome”, the Olive Garden gets an honourable mention in this category.  A few times, when we were really starving, the all you can eat salad and bread helped to quell a real-life hunger games from breaking out.  One of the proudest moments of our trip was navigating from New York’s Central Park directly to the subway station adjacent to the Olive Garden in Times Square, without poking our heads above ground once.  Pretty good for a family from a town of 3,000 people.

The clear winner for best restaurant, though, goes to The Whole Enchilada, in Ft. Lauderdale.  This place perfectly hits the middle ground for food which is relatively inexpensive and prepared quickly, but is still fresh and healthy.  The help-yourself salsa bar has 6 different types of home made salsa which you can add at will to your burrito or chips.  The mango salsa was a particular favourite.

The whole enchilada, winner of our favourite restaurant award.  The cheque and trophy are in the mail.

Having said all that, the family vote for our favourite meal goes to the Hot Pot and Sushi restaurant where we had Sara’s birthday dinner, in Portland.  This was one of those pleasant surprises that are the best part of travelling. 

Our guilty secret is this.  Sometimes, in an effort to get a cheap, but decent meal, we have resorted to eating at the nearest Ikea, where we know we won’t break the bank (heck, some of them feed kids free on Tuesday), but will still get an actual meal involving vegetables and everything.  So, on the night of Sara’s birthday, we found ourselves in Portland, not too far from Ikea.  We were headed there for dinner (I know, big birthday celebration, right?) when we spotted the Hot Pot and Sushi restaurant nearby.

Watching the sushi train, at Hot Pot and Sushi in Portland.

On the west coast, we are used to having cheap, high quality sushi.  In the rest of the States, sushi still seems to be a pretty high end specialty food, so we haven’t eaten much recently.  Since we are all fans, we decided to forego Ikea, and indulge in sushi instead.  It turns out that it was one of those sushi restaurants where you all sit next to this little conveyor belt, and just pick out the plates that interest you.  At the end of the meal, they count the plates, and that is how they charge you.  The kids loved the conveyor belt idea, and it was great fun to watch the dinner options go by, and just grab what looked interesting.  30 plates later, we were as full as could be.  Sara says it was her favourite birthday dinner ever.

Best birthday dinner ever!

Best Hotel

Our favourite hotel chain was the Marriott Residence Inn, since we could generally get an extra bedroom and a kitchenette for a reasonable price.  For a single overnight on a road trip, they provide a pretty comfortable stay for a family.  But they are fairly standard, with nothing too exciting about them, so when we are talking about the best hotel overall, none of the Residence Inns make the list.

The runner up award for the single best hotel we stayed at goes to the Hilton Vacation Club hotel in Orlando, Florida.  Because we hit it in off-season (October), we got a huge, fancy, two bedroom suite with a full kitchen and living room for less than the cost of a lot of the basic hotel rooms we stayed in during the summer.  The massive pool, where they projected a movie in the evening helped to launch this place into our top two.  In a way, it was almost a shame that our hotel in Orlando was so great, since most of our time there was spent at Universal and Disneyworld, so we didn’t really get a chance to enjoy it.

Taking time out from our awesome hotel to enjoy Hogwarts at Universal Studio.

The winner in this category actually suffered a bit from our off season timing.  We arrived at the Glacier Canyon Lodge in the Wisconsin Dells exactly 5 minutes before they shut down most of the fun stuff for the winter.  From the registration desk, we watched out the window as the last go-karts of the year made their way around the track.  As we carried our luggage into our room, we could see them turn off the fountains at the outdoor water park for the last time that summer.

Still lots of fun at the indoor portion of the water park at in the Wisonsin Dells.

Ropes course at the Glacier Canyon Lodge.

Even without those things, though, the indoor water slides, arcades, and rope course made this place a legendary family stop.  The kids are still talking about the Hurricane, and the giant bucket of water that dumped on their heads.  And being there in the fall meant no people, and no line ups.  Add in a good sized room for a reasonable off-season price, and this place gets the award for our best hotel stay of the trip.

Best National Park

The rocks and views at Zion were incredible.

The vote here was split between Zion and Carlsbad Caverns.  In then end, though the Caverns get the nod, due to their unique environment.  And the fact that it wasn’t 40 degrees C out while we were enjoying them.  Where else can you spend the day hiking underground, looking at incredibly huge caves and crazy formations.  Definitely a must see if you are in New Mexico.

Descending into the depths at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Best Public Restroom

This is a pretty critical category when you are travelling with kids.  Without a doubt, Ceasar’s Palace, Las Vegas is the winner.

The losers in this category are too numerous to mention.  Suffice it to say, our bladder control has improved significantly along the highways of America.

Ummm, Mom, all this water.... can we go find a bathroom?

Best Pastry

We’d like to sound all classy, and say the Beignets in New Orleans were the winners here.  These light and flaky deep fried pastries covered in powdered sugar were definitely a highlight of our trip to the Big Easy.

However, the real winner here was the Cinnabon Cinnabites that we had at a Taco Bell in Biloxi, Mississippi.  These were like warm, crunchy sugar donut Timbits with a sweet creamy custard filling.  Mmmmmm!

Mmmmm, Cinnabon.

Best Town Name

Bunkie, Louisiana.  Made us think of the McJ’s place at Gambier.

This one is a test to see if Shakey has read this far. 

USS Alabama Pink and White and Military Fright.

Posted by Katie

Coming aboard the USS Alabama.  Dad said next time we head out to sea, we should take one of these.

After leaving Florida we entered Alabama.  As soon as we got on the Bridge we saw it.  On the other side of the river was a gigantic war ship with an uncountable number of guns, canons and turrets.

On the other side of the bridge we came around towards the warship and saw a submarine and a ton of fighter jets and bomber planes.  Once we got closer we realized that we could go on the USS Alabama and the submarine.

The big guns on the front of the ship.  Look at the size of the anchor chain.  I'm glad it wasn't my job to pull up that anchor.

So we got tickets in what was like the gift shop and I got a new hat.   Yup, I had left my old hat at The Kennedy space Center so know I was getting a new one.  It was Pink and white Yeah that’s right. Pink and white.

My new pink and white USS Alabama hat.

On the USS Alabama we got to walk all the way down to the bottom floor and the top one.  Then we got to go on to the Submarine.

Christopher took a try on the anti-aircraft guns.  He didn't shoot anyone down, though.

These are some of the shells for the big guns.

This was the store on board.  They had lots of old products from the 1940s.

Christopher and I spent some time in the brig.

This is where the sailors slept.  There wasn't much room for each one.  We each had a lot more room on Monashee.

This was the galley on board.  The cooks were making fake sausages.

once we were inside the Submarine Alexander, Christopher and Mom went ahead while Dad and I discovered the inside of the periscope.

The two newest sailors on the 'Bama.

Once we were out of the Submarine  we looked at some of the planes got back into the car and got on our way.

Cool Fact: USS stands for United States Ship.

Popcorn and Hot Chocolate For Meals

Posted by Katie

Shwish shwish the boat rocked in endless boat wakes as we entered the I.C.W (Intracoastal Waterway).  The I.C.W is a large river about the size of the Rio Dolce.  It goes through many city’s who most people think part of Fort Lauderdale.  We were aiming for a place called Hollywood. Some of you may remember it from last time when we stayed at Hollywood marina.  This time we planned to stay at Loggerhead marina a little farther along. Only, in order to do that we had to pass three bridges and that didn’t turn out so easy.  The first bridge was one of the worst. Since we had a super tall mast we needed to catch all the bridges on time to open, only we didn’t. We missed the first bridge by one minute and used the thirty minutes of waiting time to have lunch. The second bridge, we just made in time and the third was a 25 minute wait.

This guy rocked us a lot as we went into the ICW.

Once we got to the marina we docked twice, then the boys and I went for a swim while Mom and Dad checked in.  We never would have found the pool if we hadn’t asked.  Once we did, we got the directions to follow the road cross the bridge and once you see the entrance gate and Clubhouse your  there.  For one we were already sweating from docking the boat and it was a huge walk in the hot sun. And two the bridge was a huge car bridge and it was still in the marina!  The pool was great and the temperature was perfect.  The middle of the pool was some flowers and trees it was so wonderful.  And once we got back to the boat in the Lucius AC it was even more so.

The swimming pool was great, but a long way from the boat.

The next day, Christopher, Mom and I washed the boat while Alexander and Dad went to get the car it wasn’t too long until we finished washing.  After that I went to hang in the captains loung and got…           Ppppppoooooooooooppppppppcccccoooooorrrrrrrnnnnnnn!!!!!  Yes the captain loung has Pppooopppcccooorrrnnn!  And Hhooottttt Ccchhhooocccooolllaaattteee!!!!!!

Free popcorn in the captain's lounge.

And once the boys got back I got to see me old car!!!

Yay! Our van survived without us.

Puerto Isla Mujeres

Posted by Katie

We like this marina, mainly because it has a nice pool.

Puerto Isla Mujeres.  Yup that’s where were staying, safe from the grasp of waves in a bay that cuts into Isla Mujeres.  By the way for those of you who don’t know Spanish (or Espanyol) the J in Mujeres is pronounced like an H.  And what does Isla Mujeres mean?  Island Women, and that’s all the Spanish lessons I’m doin’ today!

On to  the  marina!  The dock at Puerto Isla Mujeres is long and high with pylons sticking up all around keeping the dock in place and making it hard to fend off our boat with our bumpers.  Fortunately we managed to get a spot where there were less pylons. In the evenings from the boat you can see tons of fishing boats pile in to the other marina’s.  Our marina itself isn’t very busy but we like it.

We have all our fenders out to protect Monashee from the high dock.

The marina was busier on the weekend, when there were lots of fishing boats here for a fishing tournament.

At the end of the dock there is a red roofed building with the bathrooms and the garbage.  The office is up past the pool and has AC and a bunch of wonderful couches.

One of the women on the Island of Women

The marina has a  wonderful pool  that is clean and round.  It has a pool side bar that the chairs are in the water and the table is out.  Me and my siblings like to play around a fountain to the side of the pool.

Playing in the fountain at the pool.

The Easter Bunny Bash

 Posted by Katie

The Easter Bunny found our boat!

It was a sunny Sunday morning and I was yawning in my cabin.  I had just woken up tired from last night.  Forgetting that it was Easter day I naturally rolled out of bed walked into the salon and …   

WHAT THE?!  The room was covered with chocolate every where I looked. Egg, egg, bunny,egg, bunny and even some lollypops!   I just stood there for a second. Then I remembered it was Easter. How could I have forgotten?  Just then I wanted to run around the room and grab all the chocolate.  But then I remembered that the boys would probably kill me If I touched anything. So I made myself an egg for breakfast instead of chocolate eggs.

Besides the chocolate, there were also Pez candies and lollipops!

After I was done my egg I spotted something in the garbage pile and went over to see what it was.  “Hobbit Pez”, it said. I looked at it and it listed a bunch of characters from the hobbit movie.  Then I realized what it was.  The Easter Bunny had left the case of a hobbit Pez package so we could know which little Pez holders to look for.  For another half an hour I spent trying to get a head start to the candy hunt.

More Hobbit Pez heads and some candied popcorn.

After a while the boys woke up and after they had breakfast we started the hunt.  Despite my head start we all found about the same amount of candy.  But one Pez holder was still missing.  The one named Thorin Oakenshield, the rightful king under the mountain.  Eventually  we found him along with a few other chocolates.  Want to know where he was?  Under the pile of garbage.  Probably wouldn't strike you as the best place to put the rightful king under the mountain huh?  Well that’s where he was.  And as a result to our Easter we now have a HUGE bag full of chocolate.

Thorin Oakenshield, the king under the mountain.  Under the garbage.

Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!!

The Wind of The Storm

Posted by Katie

The storm was even scarier because it got darker!

It was a nice afternoon, the moon was up and the sun was down. It was about 7:00 p.m and I was playing with my friend in her R.V.  All of a sudden the R.V shook and a huge wind howled outside. My friend Beth and I decided that I should go back to my boat before the wind blew up.  I didn’t really want to go out in the wind but I new it wasn’t going to get any better in the R.V.  So I got out of the R.V. and made a mad dash for Monashee which was about 100 feet away.

My friend's R.V.

As I ran I got more and more freaked out.  The wind pushed me the way I wanted to go but it still felt like It was trying to push me down.  Once I got to the boat Mom, Alexander, Christopher and our friend Brendon were trying to climb down the ladder to our boat.  After they got down we had to wait 10 minutes in the gusting wind.

The ladder to the boat.

After the ten minutes, Mom said while this was going on we should do our teeth at the bathroom in the marina.  I thought it was a kind of weird  thing to do in a wind storm but the boys climbed the ladder back up to the boat and got our toothbrush’s and tooth paste, alive.  Once we had run all the way to the bathroom we were rewarded with warmth and no feel of wind inside the brick bathrooms.  We did our teeth and then we went to check on how the dingy was doing.  The dingy had been holding out pretty well but we had to fix it up a little bit.

The dingy was rocked a lot by the wind and waves.

After all that I had gotten a little more comfortable okay a lot. Well…you decide how comfortable I was based on the fact that toward the end of the windstorm I played get on the pole and push other people off.

Mango Creek Has Good Coconuts

Posted by Katie and Scot

Mmmmm, fresh coconuts right off the tree.

Mango Creek is a friendly little hotel on the edge of a bay.    They have 4 small houses on stilts and one big house on the water.  The day we got  there I was really exited to learn how to drive the dinghy since the day before I had started driving a little.  Alexander and Mom came with me to make sure I didn’t flip the boat.  We drove around to explore and soon started to come back to the boat.

Katie is getting pretty good at driving the dinghy.

When we got closer to the boat mom suggested we pick up dad who was on the boat and go check out the hotel place.  The reason we did not pick up Christopher  was because dad wanted to see the bar but Christopher didn’t really have any thing to see much so we left him in peace.

Enjoying the downwind sail from Gunaja to Roatan.

The dingy purred around some bouys and into the harbour.  We hopped off the dingy and walked into the woods to tour the jungle.  Trees stretched down from their trunks and bugs zipped around us.  We walked across a path of stone tiles, admiring the scenery and wild life.  Birds sang and tweeted in the trees parrots glided by as fountains twinkled to our right. When we finally decided there was nothing more to see in the woods we started off to see the bar.  Right beside the end of the trail we spotted a bunch of tubes sticking out of the ground making a small dome.  In the dome a few sticks were nailed together  to make a little bird play set.  We thought it was that because two lime green parrots were stepping around on it only there wasn’t much of a reason they should have been there because the dome wasn’t keeping them in.  The pipes were still there but there wasn’t any barbed wire or any thing  the birds could just fly away if they wanted.  We talked to the birds for a bit and then decided it was bar time.

Playing darts at Mango Creek resort.

Once we got into the bar I already liked it. In the left hand corner  was a dart board and some bathrooms and by the  door was a chess board.  Just then a lady came up to us  and (just) asked “Would you like some coconut water?”  My mind went ‘Heck yeah’ and apparently my parents were thinking the same thing because they answered with a ‘that would be wonderful’ and soon we were watching a man chop open four coconuts!

Yeah!  Coconut water is yummy.

Dad adds:

The boys enjoying a game of chess at the Mango Creek Lodge.

After the extremely friendly staff at Mango Creek showed us around the property, and treated us to coconuts and freshly baked cookies, we made arrangements with them to come back for breakfast in the morning.  Normally, they only cook for guests of the resort, but since they weren’t busy, they were happy to make us breakfast.

Sailor is one of the dogs who greets guests at Mango Creek.

The next morning, bright and early, we hopped in the dinghy and headed back into the resort.  The breakfast was great, with bacon, scrambled eggs, toast and fresh papaya.  We also got to meet the resort managers, Doc and DD.

Mmmm, awesome breakfast.

They have only been managing the resort for 9 months, after having been cruisers themselves for upwards of 12 years.  They are working hard to upgrade the resort, and have plans to try and attract more boats as well as keep up their land-based clientele.  They couldn’t have been more friendly or gracious.  After breakfast, they let us bring Monashee in to fill up our tanks with the pure spring water they enjoy at the resort, for free!  This is a big deal in the world of cruisers, since on most islands they charge anywhere from 10 cents to 50 cents per gallon of water.

Doc and DD have some great stories to share about their cruising years, and about their new lives managing Mango Creek.

Filling our tanks with fresh spring water at the Mango Creek dock.

If you are planning to be sailing in the Bay Islands, or are looking for a great out of the way escape to go fishing, scuba diving, or just really get away from it all, you should check out the Mango Creek Lodge on Roatan.

About as waterfront as you can get.  Unless you are on a boat.