Friday, November 14, 2008

Flea Markets and More

11/14/08
Today we didn’t get very far, because we had to stop at some flea markets. First we stopped at one in Imboden, and the guy asked where we were from. My mom told him, and he said “What are you doing way out here in Imboden, Arkansas?!” We stopped at another one in Water Wheel. (And we saw the water wheel for which the tiny town was named.) Then we had to stop in Hardy, when we saw all the little antique shops, and a sign that said Hardy was the antique capitol of northeast AR. We’d only made it to two shops when it started raining, so we went to one more then we had to keep driving.

More Driving...

11/13/08
Today we drove from Tennessee through the little southeast hook thing of Missouri, into Arkansas.

Driving...

11/12/08
Today we pretty much just drove, but we went through Franklin and saw some of the old houses and plantations from the civil war. The campground we stayed at that night had a huge hill you had to go up to get to the campsites. Before the hill, there was one of those signs that show a semi truck going downhill, except this sign was turned so the truck was going straight up a hill!

Mammoth Cave

11/11/08
Today we drove up to the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. The Mammoth caves are the longest known cave system in the world, and the next longest known cave system is only a quarter of the size! Unfortunately, they only allowed babies to go on a tour in a front pack, which we didn’t have, so only Josie and I went. It was a really neat tour! At one point, the guide showed our group what people used to use to go on a tour—before they had lights put in—a lantern with an open flame. He told everyone to turn off cell phones and cameras and things, so the only light was the lantern, then he put out the flame. The darkness was amazing! You couldn’t see anything, and the guide said “If anyone had any questions, raise your hand.” Then he said, “Well, if we’re not talking, we’re walking. Follow me.” It was really funny. There were two places in the cave that had names—Fat Man’s Misery and right after that, Tall Man’s Agony. I liked Fat Man’s Misery—a very narrow passageway that went for 250 ft. Tall Man’s Agony was a place where you had to almost squat down to get through. Toward the end of the tour we saw a cave cricket, which looked very much like a spider, because it had very long, skinny legs, and antennas that looked a lot like it’s legs, so it looked like it had eight legs.

Nashville

11/10/08
Today we drove to Nashville, and while Josie went to the County Music Hall of Fame, my mom and I walked to an old train station, now a hotel. It was a cool old building, and the railing was a pretty design.

MOLLY!

11/9/08
Today we were planning to drive to Nashville, but we only got about an hour past Augusta. We first stopped at a cafĂ© in GA, and had lunch, and on our way back to the highway we bought some boiled peanuts. Then we drove some more, passed Augusta, and got off the highway again to go to a little vegetable stand. When we got back to the motor home, we found out Molly had eaten chocolate. I called an animal poison control center, and, after that, a vet. They said to give her some hydrogen peroxide to make her vomit the chocolate, so we had to go to a store and get some. Molly didn’t vomit even after we gave her the hydrogen peroxide, but she seemed fine.

Fun Science Museum

11/8/08
Today we went to the science museum that we passed by yesterday. It was really cool! There were two big satellite dishes, one at each end of the museum, and you could talk into one and someone at the other end could hear you! There was this funnel thing (I don’t know what it’s called, but it was kind of like a wishing well) with metal balls that were fun to watch going around it and down toward the hole and quickly back up. There was a volleyball ‘game’ that Josie and I played where you each have a screen and you can see you, the net, and the other person, and you have to hit the ball to your right (or left, depending on which side you’re on) and watch on the screen where the ball is and hit it. It was hard because the screen was a little messed up and it you could hardly see where your arms were, but it was fun. There was also a high wire bicycle, where you pedal around high in the air. which was pretty scary because it felt like it was tipping to my right. There was a 200 pound weight underneath that kept it balanced. There was a table that was hanging by four ropes, one at each corner. In the middle was a pole that had a marker at the end of it that could be raised and lowered. You put paper in the middle of the table (there was something there to hold it in place), start it swinging in a circle, lower the marker, and it would draw on the paper. There were two swings connected to each other, that Josie and I each sat in. I start swinging while Josie sat still. After I got going I stopped swinging. My swing pulled Josie’s, and soon hers was swinging and mine had stopped. Her swinging then pulled my swing and I started to swing again, and this made Josie’s stop. It went back and forth, and we didn’t have to do anything except at first when I got the swing going.