r u l y

Salt Lake City getting doused with much-needed rain.

After five long days on the road we arrived at the midpoint of our journey and our prime destination.  Ironically, just as in Denver, we arrived to find our supposedly tinder dry city getting doused with rain!

We were ready to stay put for a few days and get a break from the constant packing and unpacking.  We weren’t so much tourists in Salt Lake as we were visitors.  We spent nearly all of our week shuttling from one social appointment to the next, catching up with family and friends, many of whom we hadn’t seen in years.

*Since I am not sure about the privacy desires of our extended family and friends, I am going to share just a few pictures from this time.  Imagine beautiful women, handsome men and adorable children.

Probably the biggest reason people wanted to see us was to meet our new son.  Grandmothers especially want time to snuggle with their grandchildren.

Napping with grandma is the best!

There is now another “cousins dress” in the world.  I managed to just stretch out one more dress from the fabric we had but we had to use some filler for the back to make it work and my girls enjoyed having another “sister” for a while.

Add another cousin rocking this year's Easter dress design! We created faux bob hairstyles for my girls for this shoot.

From the back. We ran a little short of fabric but I like the surprise white back.

We also managed to spend some time in the pool and our girls made so much progress in their swimming!

As for other updates:

I enjoyed watching the first season of the ballet reality show Breaking Pointe featuring Ballet West based in Salt Lake City.  The season finale occurred when we were in town and my sisters and mom and I gathered around the TV to watch.  Interestingly, almost no one else in Salt Lake took note of this occasion!  While we agreed the show could use a little more ballet and a little less personal drama, it was really a great season.  Here’s hoping it renews next year and makes the company tons of money!

Finale of Breaking Pointe.

When I went to pick up our take-out dinner for our viewing party, I was reminded of all the beautiful dessert in Utah and picked up many samples for a dessert buffet.  Utah does sugar like no one else can.  Pastry and dessert cases are absolutely gorgeous.  I took pictures of so many sweets.  (We also ate plenty as well.)  Here are some of the dessert cakes we sampled for our viewing party:

Utah cakes - as beautiful as they are delicious!

And here is some gorgeous fudge from the local Cabela’s store.  It came in flavors ranging from chocolaty “Moose Drool” to sweet “Dulce de Leche.”  A customer behind me inquired about their “Red Velvet Cake” fudge which sounded awesome but apparently they were all sold out.

Cabela's Fudge - a dazzling array of scrumptious flavors.

In contrast to all this sweetness, I caught up with a friend and her family following the “green smoothie” trend.  As I understand it is a mostly vegan diet emphasizing lots of fruit and vegetables.  If you have never had a green smoothie before, it generally tastes pretty sweet, as most people put in sweet fruits like apples (or as my friend chose, bananas) to make the greens go down easier.  We tried to trick my daughter into drinking rice milk but she is too much of a milk connoisseur for that.  She knew instantly that it wasn’t “real” milk and refused to drink it.  “Ice cream” made from coconut milk and cocoa powder, however, went down just fine.

From another friend, we learned a great lesson about hosting guests.  When it comes right down to it, being a great host is not about having a pristine home with everything perfectly organized.  If you can offer a warm, genuine smile, infectious enthusiasm, and a steady stream of entertaining conversation, all the rest is just window dressing.  Most of us aren’t quite so socially gifted so we tend to patch together a mix of social graces and organization but it was nice to have a reminder of what graceful entertaining can be.

We did sneak in some touring, checking out the new Utah Museum of Natural History which has been totally redone and is a gorgeous work of art and architecture.  It compared favorably to big city museums and (fulfilling the sugar legacy) had some fun and delicious dinosaur cookies in the café.

The "new" Utah Museum of Natural History. Definitely worth a visit!

Dinosaur cookies! Yum!

At the museum, we picked up this interesting fact about magnolias.  Magnolia trees are pretty rare in Utah now but we certainly have them here in Virginia.

We also went to This is the Place Heritage Park, also renovated in recent years.  The park primarily discusses Utah’s Mormon pioneer ancestry but also pays tribute to other groups who came through the valley.  Our favorite was touring Brigham Young’s farmhouse (which he never actually lived in).  It’s architecture was a very interesting variation on Colonial style.   One organizing tip from this house was that historically when there were so many mouths to feed (from Brigham Young’s enormous family to farmhands and other visitors) the dining room table remained constantly set.  After you were done eating, you washed and dried your plate and put it back on the table turned upside down so that it would be clean and ready for the next diner.

Plates in Brigham Young's household were turned upside down when clean to be ready for the next meal.

Our visits to family always go by too quickly but we had a wonderful time, made many memories and look forward to returning again someday.

After a mountain of laundry was washed and dried, we packed back up for the return journey east.

Continue Reading: Day 13 – Wyoming

Denver - the morning of July 4th.

The next day was July 4^th and we awoke to a birdseye view of downtown Denver.

“Where are all the people?” my daughter asked, having gone to sleep with a view like this:

Denver bustling after the fireworks on July 3rd.

Since it was a holiday, the city remained quiet this morning.  We had a lot of miles to cover today so we got started early.

This part of the journey picked up the theme of natural disasters that began our journey.  Much of Colorado and Utah was on fire!  Concerned family had been emailing us tips and encouraging us to be careful.  It was hard to tell exactly which areas were on fire and as we were driving through the entirety of nearly both states the chance we would encounter something seemed quite high.  We checked the Colorado Office of Emergency Management before heading out.  Their website provided a great Google map with the fire locations marked.  We were able to overlay our driving route on it and fortunately just missed all the fires.

Our fire-laced route through Colorado!

Utah's fire status at the time of our journey!

Utah was not faring much better with new fires sprouting daily. We wondered if we would see smoke or encounter flames along our route. It was frightening to think of trying to out-drive a fire! Fortunately, we were far enough from the fires that we never encountered a single problem and saw no signs of fire other than warnings not to light fireworks.

We hit the road and drove through some gorgeous Colorado country.  The view changed about every 5 minutes.  This is one of the most beautiful parts of the country to drive through. There are mountains, and tunnels and ski towns and desert environments and all kinds of terrain. Even my “bad” pictures are pretty good from this section of our drive.  Here is a sampling:

At one point, the highway was under construction and it looked like we were off-roading.  The people in front of us certainly were!

After a while, we entered eastern Utah, a.k.a. dinosaur country.

We stopped for lunch at Café Rio, which we have heard wonderful things about.  Their barbacoa is more sweet than spicy but everything was delicious.  They had a selection of interesting lemonades, with strawberry, mint and even hibiscus flower!  They also had vanilla Coke on tap, which was an unusual find.

Next, it was on to Dinosaur National Monument, which was recently renovated.

My children loved the “dinosaur train,” a.k.a. the open air shuttle that takes you from the visitor center to the fossil quarry.

Riding the "dinosaur train."

When you see the fossils in the rock wall, you appreciate how much thought and effort must have gone into figuring out that a pile of bones like this:

Dinosaur fossils in the quarry wall.

Might be a dinosaur like this:

We paused in the gift shop to admire treasures like a giant Allosaurus foot, which would make an interesting and masculine conversation piece in a corporate office.

We hiked through the dry and beautiful country along sandy paths.  We wanted to continue hiking but there were more miles to cover and we had a rodeo to get to!

Reluctantly, we got back in the car and headed through more beautiful country, which became more green, lush and ranch-like as we headed through the mountains.

We arrived just in time to our destination, Oakley, Utah.

While my parents tell me that I went to a rodeo once when I was little, I don’t remember it.  This was the first rodeo I recall watching.  It was an absolute blast!  Many of the audience members were perfectly dressed in country attire, from cowboy hats to chic jeans and boots.  It made for some fascinating people and fashion watching.

The rodeo itself was a supremely masculine event, with men saddling up on powerful horses that were “bred to buck.”  They piped in rock and country music as each cowboy competed and it was really fun to watch.  We saw saddle-bronc and calf-roping.  Apparently this is the busiest time of year for rodeo professionals, with back-to-back rodeo events.  Many of the cowboys were saddling up despite elbows and knees in enormous bandages and braces.

My youngest daughter kept insisting that she wanted to ride a horse and even began crying as we told her that this was not an event for little girls.  After her dad told her that she would have to practice really hard to ride a horse in a rodeo, she kept yelling out, “I’ll practice! I’ll practice!”

Meanwhile, my son had this intense look of fascination on his face, staring at something behind us in the stands.  When I turned around to see what it was he was looking at, I found only two beautiful cowgirls!

This was also our second encounter with Australians and horses (the first being in Kentucky).  There were Aussies seated behind us in the stands who generously shared an extra program with us.  There was also at least one Australian cowboy competing in the rodeo.

When the children could not sit still about halfway through the program, we headed to the playground in front of the rodeo grounds.  While my children tested out the swings and the slide, my husband watched barrel racing and bull riding.  I could hear the loudspeaker from the playground and had to laugh when not one but two rodeo professionals shared my son’s first name.  I had no idea I had a cowboy on my hands.

We had hoped to see fireworks for the 4^th but they were canceled due to the fire risk.  So, we drove on in to Salt Lake City.  We arrived late and hungry since we had not had dinner just yet. The only restaurant open was a local McDonalds.  When the car in front of us had some problems with their order, a clean-cut college-aged man came to the window to complain:

“I don’t know what the freak you guys are doing back there!  I need a small fries and an orange soda.”

We had to keep ourselves from laughing at the uniquely Utah phrase, “what the freak”!  We were now in the land of Zion.  After our gourmet dinner and a shower at the hotel, we rested up to meet our families the next day.

Continue reading: Days 6-13, One Week in Utah

The stark contrast of black cows against the dry landscape.

We awoke in Colby, Kansas, ate a terrific breakfast at the hotel and got in the car headed for Denver. We passed a lot of dry prairies, dotted with cows.

The beautiful, but very dry landscape.

One of many fire warnings we encountered across the country.

After a few hours, we entered Colorado.

Soon after, we hit downtown Denver.

The drought has certainly affected Denver as well.  There were many signs that they were being water conscious, like this billboard, and a sign at a restaurant that they were only serving water upon request.

Ironically, the day we arrived, it was cloudy, overcast and slightly raining!  We spent our day in Denver with our wonderful aunt mostly outside enjoying the gorgeous weather.  After days packed full of touring, it was nice to have a day to relax and take it easy.

Trying on Auntie's shoes.

Collecting blue spruce pinecones.

Practicing sitting.

We stopped to eat at some of Denver’s fun eateries, where we had these delicious crepes.

Amazing crepes!

Denver has some California influence with its eco-friendly and healthy lifestyle emphasis.  In one restaurant we were given a special menu for those following a gluten-free diet.

In the evening, we headed toward downtown Denver where the city’s July 3^rd celebration was being held.  The city was in full-on party mode.  It was a beautiful desert night.  The rain from earlier in the day had subsided and people were out enjoying the party atmosphere.

Party on, Denver!

As for us, we learned from past experience that the easiest way to view 4^th of July fireworks with children is from a hotel room.  The kind staff at the Denver Sheraton helped us find a great room on the 8^th floor and we settled in for a wonderful show.

My son was especially thrilled to see his first fireworks show, tapping on the window excitedly with each explosion.

My son's first fireworks!

After such excitement, it was tough for the children to settle into bed but we had an early start the next morning awaiting us.
Continue reading: Day 5, Colorado and Utah

We woke up this morning in Jefferson City, Missouri.  The city’s name at first didn’t really mean much to me.  It was just the location of an inexpensive but well-rated hotel at a good stopping point on our journey.  My husband had passed this way before in other travels, however, and reminded me that Jefferson City is the state capital of Missouri!

So, when you are in a capital, it is nice to drive by the capitol:

Capitol building in Jefferson City, Missouri.

After that short detour, we got back on the road toward Kansas City.

Downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Our destination in Kansas City was the Crown Center, which is the corporate headquarters of Hallmark Cards and a huge shopping and entertainment complex Hallmark has developed.  Hallmark Cards has a longstanding relationship with Kansas City and is credited with turning around a very dilapidated section of Kansas City after World War II.

The Crown Center is a highly popular spot for families, housing a Legoland Discovery Center and a unique place called Kaleidoscope.  Kaleidoscope is a free service Hallmark Cards offers to children, where children and their parents can sign up for a 40-minute crafting experience, using materials left over from Hallmark’s manufacturing process.   I loved the concept!  It was a great way to recycle, provide service to the community and built corporate goodwill all in one simple idea.

We had a short time to wait before our assigned time in Kaleidoscope so we visited the Hallmark corporate museum next door.  This is a wonderful corporate museum showing many of the treasures of the Hallmark corporation, including correspondence between Hallmark’s founder, Joyce C. Hall, and famous artists like Norman Rockwell.

Each child entering the museum is given a passport to stamp off in each section of the museum.

Stamping the passport at the Hallmark Cards museum.

There were sections of the museum demonstrating Hallmark’s manufacturing process, like how they die-cut and print cards and a wonderful bow-making machine where children can push a button, watch a bow being made and get a free bow to take home!

The captivating bow-making machine at the Hallmark Cards museum.

There is also a wonderful section of Christmas trees.  Joyce C. Hall, the founder and chairman, must have been beloved by his employees.  Each Christmas, the employees would create an elaborate Christmas tree, constructing both the tree and the ornaments, for their boss.  Mr. Hall would display the tree in his office for all to see.  Some trees were created by famous artists but the homemade-looking ones were my favorites.  Here is one example:

A clever basket tree made by his employees as a Christmas gift for J.C. Halls.

What would make the employees work so hard on these Christmas trees?  There were many posters up expressing Hallmark Card’s corporate philosophy.  One read: “We believe that our products and services must enrich people’s lives.” But the phrase that impressed me the most was this one:  “We believe that the people of Hallmark are our company’s most valuable resource.”  For a company that has so much intellectual property, so many licensing deals and original works of art, to still value the employees above all of that is truly heartwarming and impressive.

Hallmark even values people who visit its corporate museum!  As we were leaving the museum, an employee made sure to grab my attention in the bustle to say, “As a thank you for visiting the Hallmark museum today, here is a free box of Hallmark cards.”  WOW!  The cards are lovely and I left completely full of good feelings about Hallmark Cards.

We then went on to our time in Kaleidoscope.  My daughters loved this! Hallmark also owns Crayola so between the Crayola markers and the Hallmark scraps, they were in heaven making all sorts of things.  Their favorite was the custom puzzle, where you draw your own picture on a piece of stiff cardboard and then run the drawing through a machine that cuts it into a puzzle.  My eldest daughter cried when our time in the Kaleidoscope was over.  She so wanted to stay longer.

Hallmark's clever recycling of manufacturing scraps for children's art supplies.

Crafting in the Kaleidoscope.

"Please don't make me go!"

We did some shopping in the Halls department store that is owned by Hallmark.  These types of cute department stores have practically disappeared everywhere else in the country but they are alive and well at the Crown Center.  The merchandise was wonderful and unique.  My daughter found a spiked pink backpack for school that she loves (and has received tons of compliments on).

A pink spiked backpack!

While we were exploring the Crown Center, my husband made a journey to the World War I museum.  The entrance has a beautiful bridge over thousands of red poppies.

The World War I Museum in Kansas City.

The poppy entrance at the World War I Museum.

We met up for lunch in the Crayola café.  I had another wonderful salad with supremely fresh produce.

Enjoying lunch at the Crayola Cafe.

Salad so crisp and fresh!

There was so much more to see in Kansas City but we had to make our way west.  We got in the car and found the landscape changing more toward “heartland” and “plains.”  Notably by four key signs:

Wind turbines.

Pumpjacks for oil wells.

Large farm equipment.

Jesus!

We ate dinner at a small Mexican restaurant in Kansas and then drove a short way to our hotel.  A full moon was out over the plains and it was so gorgeous it was beyond description.

Prairie Moon.

We arrived at our hotel in Colby, Kansas and experienced class A midwestern hospitality.  We inquired if the pool was still open.  “No, but we could open it for you!” the employee helpfully offered.  We decided to just tuck in early for the night but appreciated the offer that made us feel like royalty.

Continue reading: Day 4, Kansas and Colorado

The heat this week in Virginia.

Since most of the country is experiencing a heat wave, as Ruly Ruth and I are, we’ve decided to tackle hot-weather snacks!

When the weather is this hot, the last place you want to be is in the kitchen!  Before the twentieth century, kitchens were put in separate buildings from the main house because they got so extraordinarily hot in the summertime (as well as the fire risk they posed).  I can’t imagine what that must have been like in Virginia pre-air-conditioning.  So below are some tips on how to “not cook” in hot weather.

This week, I discovered the simple and delicious pleasure that is the chilled banana.  To make: chill a banana (peel on) in the fridge overnight.  In the morning, eat it for breakfast.   It’s creamy and sweet like ice cream.  Yum!

A chilled banana makes a wonderful summer breakfast!

Read on for more suggestions from the ever-creative Ruly Ruth!

Ruly Ruth’s Stay Cool Summer Snacks

1) Chilled Fruit – Chilled watermelon/cantaloupe/honedew/other melons—ARE LOVELY! We recently had a brief gathering at a park and I brought a cooler packed with watermelon slices–HUGE HIT!!

(Note from Anne: Starting in June, I clear a shelf in my fridge for watermelon.  The whole watermelon goes right into the fridge from the store to chill.  It’s a necessity to get through the humidity of a Virginia summer.)

Chilled watermelon - a summer staple!

2) Frozen Water Bottles – Store some bottled water in the freezer for outdoor hydration on hot days.  Caution–they will spill over a bit when opening them–but it will quickly cool you down! It’s lovely!
3) Frozen Yogurts/Gogurt Tubes – (esp. for kids)—put them in the freezer–it’s like a healthy ice cream popsicle–lovely!
4) Ice Cream —sorry–healthy or not–that is a lovely treat when it’s blazing hot outside! Cold, creamy–love it!
5) Salty Snacks – Be it crackers, nuts or chips and salsa–that’s always a wonderful combination in hot weather–the salt helps replenish the electrolytes that can so quickly dehydrate you in the hot sun.
6) Toast & Tomatoes – An Australian friend makes this for breakfast–you make toast, butter it, top with a slice of tomato and salt and pepper. It’s a wonderful, fresh and yummy! Add a protein like some cheese and it’s a perfect breakfast–even when hot outside!
7) Pizza – Either make your own or we love our Little Caesars–when counting calories go light on the cheese. It’s piping hot, yummy, salty–if you top it with everything you can get your veggies in too–perfect for a hot day!
8 ) Chilled Veggies – Crisp carrots, celery, peppers–with a super creamy bleu cheese or ranch or caesar dressing—yum!
9) Iced Coffee – For those of us that drink coffee, iced coffee is a lovely treat! From McDonald’s or your own kitchen–my girlfriend from Albania makes a frapee that is to die for!!
10) Lemonade – Hands down–the citrus helps replenish electrolytes, the lemon flavor is so refreshing on hot days! (Note from Anne: A glass of water with half a lemon’s worth of juice is great too if you are watching sugar.)
11) Italian Ices/Snow Cones – Italian ices are so popular around here–kind of like frozen slushees in a variety of flavors. And snow cones–enough said!
12) Hamburgers/Hot Dogs/Sausages – If you’re looking for a quick meal with some good protein–obviously leaner varieties be it turkey or low fat are better—but again, hot, salty, meat on a bun! Yum!
13) Salads – Crisp, cool–kind of like the veggies–but add on cheese or meats and eggs to make it a meal–like the chef salad or chinese chicken salads with wontons and mandarin oranges–DELISH!
14) Hard Boiled Eggs – The stuff of long-time picnickers–be it regular hard boiled or deviled–yum! Even for breakfast–quick protein–cold from the fridge–make a bunch and keep restocking them! The kids love to crack and peel the shells–so it adds an activity for them too!
15) Gatorade/Energy Drinks/Capri Suns – These along with water are really good–straight water will dehydrate you on a super hot day–it’s a great base, but it’s not filled naturally with electrolytes. Hydration is key here people!
16) Iced Tea/Sweet Tea – Here in the South–it’s all about sweet tea! Now I like mine half and half since all of my tooth decay issues are coming to light–but iced tea on a hot day is a sweet treat!
17) Gumbo – Okay–spicy soup on a hot day works! I don’t know why–it just does! Adding shrimp and sausage and onions and peppers in a roux-based spicy chicken broth– just FABULOUS!!
18) Juice-cicles/Popsicles – Of course the normal summertime treat of ages gone by is STILL a hot (cold!) commodity! And we love to make our own juice or lemonade frozen pops in the freezer–the kids love to help–and the frozen treat on a hot day outside is wonderful!
19) Fried Chicken Tenders/Nuggets/Wings – Fried chicken in the hot heat—bring it on! Whatever form….again, salty, tender, wonderful!!
20) Coleslaw/Potato/Macaroni Salads – If soups need to be spicy broth-based, in summer especially–side dishes or quick snacks need to be covered in creamy yumminess!

I hope these ideas are helpful–please feel free to add on! I’d love it! And most importantly–Stay cool, everyone!

Have a favorite cold or easy summer dish?  What do you crave when the weather is 100+?  Please share in the comments.

After our excitement escaping the derecho and its aftermath, we were glad to have a normal day to spend in Kentucky and Missouri. The first subtheme of our trip was natural disasters and the second (unintentional) subtheme was horses.

Kentucky is horse country. During our last road trip, we were always blasting through Kentucky in the dark and never really saw much. This time, we decided to stick around and tour for a bit. We awoke, ate breakfast and headed to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky.

This amazing place is kind of like a zoo for horses, housing a large collection of horse breeds. We first took a horse-drawn ride around the park and then went to a presentation on champion racehorses. Each of the four stallions (“Funny Cide,” “Cigar,” “Go for Gin” and “Da Hoss”) was introduced with a promotional video and then brought out to meet the crowd with a handler. Naturally, our kids LOVED seeing the horses. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this presentation as much as I did. The woman giving the presentation must have been a true horse lover. For each horse, she wove a colorful story about how the horse had fought against injury or training mistakes to become a champion. My favorite was the story of “Da Hoss,” a horse whose trainers always ran him on turf races and only showed his true talent when they finally let him run “in the mud.” Da Hoss was a true comeback kid, becoming a champion when many horses are retired. Da Hoss suffered one setback after another (including the sad realization that he was completely sterile) but always came out on top.

Funny Cide at the Kentucky Horse Park

I also learned a little about horse organization. Each horse has its name engraved on one side of its bridle, like so.

Go For Gin's distinctive bridle.

Next, we were on to a sort of fashion show with horses. The “Parade of Breeds” treated us to four different horse breeds, the Kentucky Saddlebred, Andalusian, Arabian and the enormous English Shire horse. Each rider was dressed to match the historical period when that breed was prominent.

The Kentucky Saddlebred horse in the Parade of Breeds.

At the end of the show, an incredible Australian horse trainer came out who danced to an Adele song with horses and performed tricks like riding by standing with one leg on the back of each of two horses while jumping. It was the first time in our trip when we encountered Australians among our horse adventures.

An athletic Australian trainer who showed the depth of the bond between horses and humans.

There were horses from around the world in the nearby stables. The number of breeds was astonishing and most I had never seen or heard of before, like the Knabstrupper, that is patterned almost like a giraffe.

A Danish Knabstrupper horse.

Next, we saw the “Mare and Foal” show where two adorable miniature horses and their even more adorable miniature babies came out. Is it just me or does this horse remind you of a certain famous fashion designer?

Miniature horses were popularized during the Victorian era.

We ate lunch at their Bit ‘N Bridle restaurant and then had to get back on the road again. Our children really wanted to stay longer and there was so much more that we didn’t have a chance to see, like the International Museum of the Horse that is associated with the Smithsonian Institution. Perhaps someday we will visit again.

We hit the road and our travels took us deeper and deeper into the rural heart of the U.S. In the past, I used to think of this as the “boring” part of the trip but this year for some reason, I was really taken by all the landscapes and cloudscapes we found as we crossed the plains. There were some signs of the drought as we passed and many dry fields.

By sunset, we made it to St. Louis, Missouri and crossed the Mississippi River with the Gateway arch in the background. St. Louis is known as the “Gateway to the West.”

We stopped for dinner in St. Louis at an excellent pizza place called Dewey’s where we they hand-toss all the crusts while you watch. They have exceptionally creative pizza flavors, like a vegetarian/Greek style called Socrates Revenge, which was super-delicious. Our kids opted for just plain cheese but loved it too!

This woman must be one of Dewey's MVPs. She must have tossed 30 or more pizza crusts, each one perfect, as we watched.

St. Louis is also the first point in our journey where fresh, beautiful California produce hit our plates! This was the gorgeous salad I had. You can taste the difference in the fresh, crisp lettuce and sweet strawberries. It is no wonder that people in California eat a lot of salad. The one complaint I have about east coast life is that we are in a produce void of sorts. We get great produce here and there but not the consistently incredible stuff that seems to exist within a smaller radius of California.

A beautiful, crisp Dewey's salad. Yum!

We stopped in Jefferson City, Missouri for the night, knowing tomorrow the “west” awaited.

Continue reading: Day 3, Missouri and Kansas

“We’re a little low on gas.  We should fuel up here before we get on our way,” my husband advised as we left Grandview.

The first gas station we stopped at appeared to be closed with plastic bags over the gas pump handles.  We drove past another. At first glance it looked fine.

Then we looked a little closer and saw yellow caution tape and orange cones roping off the gas tanks.

Caution tape and orange cones closing off the pumps.

“Hmmmm…..” we thought.

Another flashing sign popped up “No Gas.” We learned the storm had knocked out power to many gas stations in this area.

“Too bad,” we thought.  “We’ll try for the next exit.”

We drove to the next exit and got off.  The first thing we saw were long lines at all of the gas stations.  Long lines even for stations where there was no power and no gas!  People were just pulling up and parking in front of the pumps to wait.

The line for gas--at a station with no power and no gas!

This is where we started to get a bit nervous.  A woman at the gas station indicated there was gas just down the road.  My husband used the gas station finder application on his smartphone to locate more gas stations and drove several miles in either direction from the freeway exit only to find all the gas stations closed or out of power.  In the meantime, I was madly searching Google and Twitter to find out what was going on.

I learned that what we thought was just a thunderstorm was actually a derecho, which confused me even more because our rudimentary homeschool Spanish taught me that derecho means “right” as in derecho (right) and izquierda (left).  Wikipedia straightened me out and said that derecho also means straight and refers to a powerful storm moving in a straight line.  My searching also came across this scary article indicating that 650,000 West Virginia businesses and residents had lost power in 53 of 55 of West Virginia’s counties due to the derecho!  Helpfully, the article mentioned that there were lines for gas in the Charleston area, about 50-60 miles away from us.

With very little gas to sustain us, we had to make a decision.  We could:

1) Choose to wait in line with the growing line of cars at the gas station near the freeway exit and hope for power (or, alternatively, try to book ourselves into a hotel for the night).  We discussed the possibility that we might not be able to get a hotel due to the lack of power and/or lack of sufficient cash.

2) Take a risk and get on the freeway toward Charleston, hoping we could make it on what little gas we had left.

Interestingly, although my husband outwits me in almost every emergency, since this was essentially a shopping problem, where knowledge of people and shopping patterns were helpful, I had the upper hand.

“We need to get near Charleston,” I said.  “Even if they are out of gas, they will likely get resupplied first as the largest city.”

My husband did not want to entertain the possibility of stranding our family on the highway.  He reluctantly agreed to head toward Charleston but noted that I would be to blame if we got stranded.  The empty light came on as we approached a toll booth.

The empty light comes on.

“Ask the toll booth attendant if she knows where we can find gas,” I instructed him.

“Why on earth would the toll booth attendant know where gas is?” my husband testily replied.

“Please just ask her!” I pleaded.

So, as we paid our toll, he inquired.

“There’s gas in Marmet, about 30 miles away,” the toll booth attendant responded.

Feeling a bit smug, I breathed a sigh of relief as I consulted the owners manual for the car to determine the gas remaining once the empty light comes on and we calculated that we might just have enough gas to make it to Marmet.

“Are you really going to plan our course based on the word of a toll booth attendant?” my husband asked me.

However, since we had nothing else to go on, we headed to Marmet.

About halfway to Marmet, we came across the service plaza for the toll road.  My husband wanted to check to see if the gas station for the service plaza was open.  As we approached the service plaza, a lighted “NO GAS” sign met us and we saw a growing number of cars parked in the plaza.

It was a white knuckle ride to Marmet.  I was constantly scanning Google and Twitter on my smart phone for any updates.  All I found were complaints about people freaking out and hoarding gas.  There was a slight air of desperation to it all.  One person wrote that this must be what the end of the world is like.

As we drove, I tried to figure out how we could camp in the car for the evening if things got really desperate.  We had enough food and water to last us several days but finding a safe place to sleep was going to be a challenge.

We had no idea exactly how much gas was left.  My husband was monitoring the mileage and we calculated that we could make it to Marmet but no further.  To save gas, we coasted down hills with the car in neutral and drove at a slow-ish 60 mph, trying to utilize the cars “ECO” gas-saving driving mode as best we could.

Finally, we arrived in Marmet.

We found long lines at the stations.  I jumped out of the car and began questioning people at the pumps.

“Is there any gas left?  We just need a few gallons to get out of the state.”

At first, someone told me there was no gas left and that all was coming out was drops.  I went back to report this to my husband.

“No way,” he said.  “Those people are filling up right over there.”

I went back to double-check and it turned out that there was gas.  They were all out of 85 grade and just tapped out their 87 grade but there was some premium 92 gas remaining, available on a cash-only prepaid basis.

“We’ll take it!” I said.

We put in $20 and planned to fill up again closer to Charleston.  I stuck around inside the gas station to chat for a minute and learned that this might be the very last gas station in West Virginia with any gas at all! We added another $20 in gas.  I called the hotel in Kentucky we were scheduled to stay at to confirm they were not facing the same storm damage/power outage/gas shortage we had just escaped and the desk attendant seemed to think I was crazy and confirmed things were fine in Kentucky.

We were finally able to relax and my husband and I congratulated ourselves on our team effort getting our family out of this disaster situation.  We drove out of Marmet grateful for our good fortune.

At this point, another small disaster arose as my second child announced she needed the bathroom urgently.  My husband managed to find an open department store with a generator aptly called “Magic Mart.”  To express our appreciation for their bathroom services, I bought this cute shirt that I now associate as my “survivor shirt.”

Survivor!

We passed people lined up for an Applebee’s food truck and I felt a twinge of guilt for having to pass only temporarily through all of this while friends were suffering in 100 degree temperatures without power.

Sadly, there was not much we could do.  We had a trip to make and family counting on us and we pressed on to our hotel in Lexington, Kentucky.

From this experience, however, and from monitoring news updates about the situation in West Virginia for a few days after we left, I learned the following emergency situation tips.

Ruly Tips for Finding Gas in an Emergency Situation

1.  The two best tools for finding gasoline in an emergency/low gas situation are a smart phone and cash.  I have mentioned before why you should have cash in your emergency kit.

2.  Search the Internet for news about where power outages or gas shortages are occurring. Hopefully you will at least come up with a general area that is unaffected.

3.  If the Internet is unhelpful, ask everyone you run into where you might find gas but prioritize information from people who actually filled up with said gas.  I imagine truck drivers are a great resource in this situation.  In my case, a toll booth attendant was the key.

4.  If you still have no reliable source of information, heading for the closest big city or (we later learned), a service station on a major highway or toll plaza is probably the best choice.  A day after our gas emergency, we learned that the police put a priority on getting gas to cars parked at the toll plaza gas station because the line was backing onto the highway and disrupting the flow of traffic.

5.  Conserve your fuel as you are driving around looking for gas.  Drive below standard highway speed if necessary.  Turn off your engine while waiting in line.

6.  Know whether your car can handle different grades of gas rather than the standard 85, at least for a short time period or emergency situation.  It’s no good filling your tank with gas that will kill the engine.  If you don’t know the answer to this question, ask your mechanic.

7. If you find gas, Tweet it out to help someone else.  I don’t believe there is any standard hashtag convention but using the two-letter state code plus “gas” would be a good idea.  Ex.  #wvgas

8.  Aside from budgeting and car maintenance benefits, calculating your car’s typical gas mileage on a regular basis and knowing your car’s typical performance is a tremendous help in an emergency situation.  Know how many gallons you have once the empty light comes on.

9.  Most importantly, however, if a major disaster strikes your area and you are fortunately unaffected, don’t assume that everyone else is in the same situation.  Do some research before you head out in the car and take appropriate precautions.  The best advice might be to stay home and off the roads entirely!

As for us, we have put learning more about gas storage on our emergency preparedness list.

Have a low-gas/out-of-gas adventure?  Please share in the comments.

Continue reading: Day 2 – Kentucky and Missouri

Road Tripping Day one. On the road again!

The first day our trip almost ended before it began.

Our story begins late Friday evening when I am still packing (or more truthfully, just beginning to pack) for our trip.  I have most of the clothes spread out on the bed as I hear a thunderstorm outside.

“Oh good, we could use the rain,” I thought and continued to pack.

A few minutes later the lights flickered a bit.  Then they went out.

There was a cry for help from my 4-year old who found herself stranded in a nearby room in the dark.  My first concern was to find my son who had just crawled out of the bedroom and might head for the stairs.  I scooped up my daughter and found my son safe in the bathroom, confused by the darkness but unafraid.

In the meantime, my husband found flashlights and my eldest daughter and we regrouped in the hallway.

“It’s going to be tough packing in the dark,” I thought.

About that moment, the lights came back on.  We warned our children that they might go out again and not to stay too far away from a flashlight.  The girls loved hearing this news and began turning on and off the flashlights repeatedly.

I tried to turn the radio on to check if there were any weather alerts.  Just as I was about to get a signal, the power went out again.  We looked outside at the darkness and we saw a sky full of lightning and trees swaying wildly.

“Do you think it’s a tornado?” I asked my husband.  ”Do we need to go to the basement.”

“No,” he said calmly, with nothing to support his assessment other than gut instinct.

Soon, the lights flickered again, then came back on and miraculously stayed on.  We picked up an Internet radio signal and learned that a large thunderstorm was brewing but that it would pass in an hour.  They warned the worst of the storm was right in our area.

“Yeah, we know!” we told the radio obnoxiously.

I finished packing and the storm died down.  We went to sleep, loaded the car and got on our way.

We stopped to see our dear friend “Miss” first.

“Did you lose power in the storm?” she asked.

We relayed our experience.  She noted she had lost Internet access and possibly a tree.  We commiserated and she wished us a safe journey.

We spotted several trees and tree branches down on our route but all the roads were clear.  Our first stop was Lexington, Virginia for lunch.

We used TripAdvisor to locate a good restaurant called Pure Eats. On the door was a sign that due to the storm, credit card machines were down and it was cash only. Fortunately, we had cash on us so we went in for lunch.We ate burgers, milkshakes and the house specialty, fried potato salad.  Here in the south, fried food is an art form, so of course, I had to taste. Delicious!  Served with a spicy dipping sauce.

"Fried potato salad" with spicy dipping sauce.

For dessert, my daughters tried some of the unique handmade doughnuts.  Loved the creativity of the “fireworks” doughnuts with pop rocks candy on them.

Chocolate sugar and "fireworks" doughnuts with pop rocks.

As we ate, a steady stream of locals straggled in complaining that they were out of power and needed lunch. We noted this with concerned amusement, finished our lunch and got back on the road to West Virginia.

We stopped at Grandview, part of the New River Gorge National Park.

We probably should have taken more note of the downed trees

and the ranger station closed due to lack of electricity

but we were more interested in taking in the “Grand View,” which feels sort of like a greener, shadier version of the Grand Canyon.

We walked along the Grandview Rim Trail beneath tunnels of blooming rhododendrons.

Although temperatures were edging above one hundred degrees, the park was shady and the park brochure boasted “cold-to-the-touch sandstone walls . . . even on the hottest day.”  True!  We learned.

Despite 100 degree temperatures, those sandstone walls were cold to the touch!

We were a bit too hot and tired to make it all the way down the trail to the “natural air conditioner” supposedly blowing out of one of the rocks and loaded back into the car.

That’s where things got exciting.

Continue reading: A White-Knuckle Drive Through West Virginia

Over two weeks without a post?  What’s up?

Fortunately, only good things.  We’ve been on vacation!  While many bloggers will helpfully post a notice that they are going on vacation, with me all you got was silence and a sudden departure.  It’s the vacuuming equivalent of yanking the cord out of the wall rather than properly unplugging.

If you’re a long-time reader, you may recall the Ruly Road Trip of 2010 where we traveled across the country visiting family and picking up organizing ideas along the way.  Well, we did it again!  A different route this time, a new traveler (my infant son) and new organizing ideas to share.

First, a quick overview:

The route:  13 states in 17 days from Fredericksburg, Virginia to Salt Lake City, Utah and back, crisscrossing the heartland of America.

Our 2012 summer road trip route.

The travelers: 5, 2 adults and 3 children ages 6, 4 and 11 months

Our traveling band.

The vehicle: Our intrepid minivan.

To the minivan! Westward Ho!

The plan: Drive about 500-600 miles per day en route to Salt Lake, stopping at least once per day to see something notable.  Chill out with family for one week.  Then 500-600 miles per day back.

Over the next days, I will share the highlights of our trip and toss in some travel organizing tips as well as organizing tips picked up from across the country.

Please feel free to add your comments if you see anything you recognize, your own take on traveling and road-tripping or just a check-in to say hello.  Here’s to a fun, virtual vacation at Ruly this month!

Continue reading: Ruly Road Trip 2012 – Day 1