On the road again...

Goodbye Baltimore. Time to hit the road again. We will be traveling our way South back home to Tampa, where we will stay mostly put for a bit. We want to have some time to reconnect with friends and family. We will be able to do this while Rick works from home.

After a long couple of days packing the Baltimore place up and putting everything in storage, we had a couple of long days unpacking things in the RV and getting it ready for fulltiming again. We are exhausted! We left Woodbine, MD on 7/9/08 and headed to the Thousand Trails Preserve in Gloucester, VA. We attended a presentation there, and have now purchased a Thousand Trails membership... with us being full time on the road, the benefits made sense for us. After three nights there, our caravan continued South. Yes, a caravan... Rick is driving the RV pulling the Aztec, and I am driving the minivan. We stopped for the night at the KOA in Wade, NC. What a nice campground! I wouldn't have minded staying there a few nights. Today we drove some more and have arrived at the Savannah South KOA. We are planning on a day of sightseeing tomorrow around Savannah, and then we will continue our trip towards St. Augustine Beach the next day. There we will spend three nights at a beachfront site, relaxing and recharging, before making our way down to Tampa. I had my camera packed, so I haven't taken any pictures of this trip yet, but will take some tomorrow.

Here I will include some pictures from our last few days in Baltimore.

Friends in Baltimore

We made some wonderful friends in Baltimore. Here are a few of our friends from the St Michael Homeschool group.

In the first picture are Jeanine, Karen, Margaret Mary, Kathy and her daughter.










In this picture we have Roseanne, Liz, and baby Maggie.















In this picture is Kristen and Liz.














And here is a picture of some of the kids with Gabi.

Carlos' guitar recital

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Carlos took some guitar lessons at the Peabody Preparatory, and had his first recital. He did a wonderful job. Here is a picture of him and his teacher Aron. We then went out to dinner at one of our favorite spots in Fells Point, One Eyed Mikes.

Mother's Day 2008 at Ladew Gardens

We visited the Ladew Topiary Gardens for Mother's Day. It is a beautiful place, just about an hour North of Baltimore. The kids enjoyed running around the gardens, and we enjoyed the tour of the historical home.













Here is some information from their website:
"Ladew Topiary Gardens is known around the world for its topiary and flower gardens. A self-taught gardener, Harvey S. Ladew (1887-1976) created 15 thematic "garden rooms" on 22 acres of his 250-acre Maryland property. Visitors frequently comment how Mr. Ladew's vibrant personality and vision is reflected in the unique design of his garden. The Garden Club of America described Ladew's garden as "the most outstanding topiary garden in America."
The Ladew Manor House is also open for guided tours. An impressive collection of antique English furniture graces the rooms of this equestrian-inspired country house accented with paintings and fox hunting memorabilia. Everything in the collection was acquired by Mr. Ladew."

Visiting Tampa/Ocala

The kids and I went to spend some time in Tampa/Ocala visiting with friends and family, and getting a break from the cold weather. Also, Carlos went to get his learner's permit.

These are Cara, Carlos and Jaimee at the park.










Gabi and Devon..












This is Abu's (grandma's) house in Ocala. The boys were relaxing and enjoying their time there.

Stopping in Baltimore for a while

Well, my friends... it is time to park the RV for a while. Rick will be working in Baltimore for the next year, so we have rented a place in Historic Fells Point in Baltimore City. If you want to find out how we are doing, email me at ivonnehdz@hotmail.com

EWTN, Alabama

We were finally able to visit EWTN, the Catholic Television Network in Hunstville, AL. It was a woderful, beautiful, peaceful place.

Our Family Portrait

This was taken in Tampa, in front of the Hillsborough River by our photographer, Don Cason of Cason's Photography.

Our RV

Well, since most people act really surprised once they see our RV's interior, I thought it might be a good idea to include here a link to the company's brochure for our model. Mine is very similar, but a bit messier than the one in the pictures. ;-)

You can see the brochure at http://www.tiffinmotorhomes.com/allegroBus/pdf/2006allegroBusBrochure.pdf

Virginia Beach

We headed to the Outdoor Resorts Virginia Beach to stop for a few days. We were within walking distance from the beach, and we took advantage of that.

I got to see a good old friend from my childhood, Vane. We were next door neighbors and grew up together. Our moms were best friends, so we always kept in touch. We hadn't seen each other in about 20 years. They invited us over for the 4th of July. Her kids and my kids (and the daddies too) got along really well. We had a great time visiting them.

Here is a picture of Vanessa and me, and below is a picture of the rest of the gang.

Philadelphia, PA

Well, it was almost the fourth of July and we were feeling patriotic, so we decided to visit Historic Philadelphia. We took a tour with "Ride the Ducks". This is a bus/boat that takes you around all the historic areas, first by land, and then on water. Yes, you read right, the bus turns into a boat and goes IN the Delaware River. Out tour guide was funny and informative. Not only did we see where the Liberty Bell is, and where the Constitution and Declaration of Independence are, but we also saw where Will Smith's dad lives.

This historic town is amazing. As you walk the streets you can imagine when Ben Franklin was walking there, and it is just plain cool.

An interesting note. The post office there is the only one in the US that is not required to fly the flag. The reason for this is that the Post Office opened before we had a flag.


I've decided to add these tidbits of information here so that you not only enjoy our travels with us, but learn something new along the way.

Also while we were there, we were able to see a real archeological dig. They were digging up the first Presiential House, where George Washington lived when he was President of the United States.

Independence Hall.This picture is of Elbreth's Alley. It is the oldest continuously lived-in residential street in the US.

Driving through the Finger Lakes

We decided to drive through the Finger Lakes region of New York. It is called that because when you look in a map, the lakes look like the fingers on a hand. The area is well known for its wines, and it is also the home of Cornell University. It was a beautiful drive, and we were able to stop in one of the wineries and do some tasting.
Here is a cool picture of a fact we learned on our trip. Waterloo, New York is the home of Memorial Day. Cool!

Lake Ontario

After a couple of days at the Niagara Falls, we drove about an hour northeast to the Golden Hill State Park. Our site backed to beautiful Lake Ontario, and we had a boat launch close by. We were finally able to try out puling the tube with our boat, and it was a blast. The kids had a great time trying to stay on the tube while daddy made the boat twist and turn to make them fall off. Even Migue tried it with Carlos (as you can see on the first picture), but after a minute decided that he did not really like it, so he came back on the boat. We even had daddy get on the tube while Carlos drove the boat. It was a lot of fun. Oh, and of course, I did NOT get on the tube. ;-) The boat is enough adventure for me.

Niagara Falls

The Niagara Falls are amazing. It is difficult to describe with words. We only visited the US side this time. First we saw them from above, and I thought they were beautiful, but it was not until we went on the "Maiden of the Mist" boat ride that I felt in complete awe. When you are down there surrounded by the rushing water, and all you can see around you is mist, you can feel the power of God. It was a very moving experience. It is good to remember how insignificant we are.

The next day we took the "Cave of the Winds" tour, where you go down an elevator to the base of the smallest of the three falls. You then get to walk up a number of wooden decks until you arrive to the Hurricane Deck. You get REALLY wet, actually SOAKED!!!

Then later at night the falls are a completely different view. They illuminate them with colored spot lights, and they look just beautiful. I am really happy we got to visit.