We took a lllllloooooonnnnngggg family vacation to Virginia's Eastern Shore, and stayed in a yurt. For those of you, who don't know, that's a small wigwam like structure with a wood frame, insulated canvas covering and air conditioning. No, you're not out-of-the-loop because you don't know what a yurt is. None of us did, until we slept in one. To give you an idea of the mishaps necessary to make a vacation for us, I'll chronicle the first few days.
FRIDAY, JULY 28
Margaret and I spent at least half of our packing time this morning fishing coins out of the tape player in our minivan, placed there by astonishingly deft two-year-old fingers. We embarked at 10:43 AM, listening to Around the World in Eighty Days. An early-afternoon frosty cured the temporary car sickness, that is the most common by-product of Chicago. We made it as far as Toledo that night.
SATURDAY, JULY 29
We visited Franciscan University as we passed. At about five o'clock we looked about us for a Church, and even asked directions to one. We then commenced what we called our 'steeplechase,' literally looking for steeples, and chasing them. We didn't find any that had Saturday Masses, so we kept on until we reached Front Royal.
SUNDAY, JULY 30
Went to Mass at St. John the Baptist and loved it. Visited Christendom College briefly, then spent the rest of the afternoon on Skyline Drive. I was in charge of the camera, much to my delight, and took about 80 pictures just that day. Now, looking back at them, I have dozens of lovely pictures of glorious panoramas, but can't tell them apart, or remember which of the scores of outlooks from which they were taken. Ah well.
At 10:00, a sleepy, whiny, slightly grumpy carful of kids with two tired parents pulled up to a narrow boardwalk extending off the road, out of the glare of the headlights, toward an ominous black hulk faintly illuminated between the trees against a moonlit background of glittering sea and sky. The YURT. What was it??? Did it have a fridge? A kitchenette? Is it clean??, wondered Mom. PLEASE let there be SEPARATE bedrooms!!! prayed the teenage girls, who hated the hotel rooms they had to share with their little brothers. "I just wanna go to bed!!!" wailed the two-year-old. After a long confusion about procuring the key, we unloaded the car, hobbled up the boardwalk burdened with suitcases, pillows, coolers...opened the door, turned on the light.... It was perfect!!!!! It had enough beds even for our family. It was cozily furnished, with tables, chairs, couches and a fridge, and had a lovely view of the beach.
THE END
We also went to Illinois for a week, visited an English tea room, went canoeing and spelunking in Iowa, and on Friday we're headed to Minnesota to spend some time with Grandparents in a cabin. On top of this, Mom & I have been devising ways to deal with the surfeit of tomatoes on our back porch. Luckily, I'm not yet sick of canning, chopping, seeding, and eating.
I hope this explains why I haven't been on the internet a whole lot in the past three months, but I'm trying to make up for it now. Speaking of which, I was tagged by love2learnmom for the book meme, and I need to attend to that directly.
I hope this explains why I haven't been on the internet a whole lot in the past three months, but I'm trying to make up for it now. Speaking of which, I was tagged by love2learnmom for the book meme, and I need to attend to that directly.
