10/30/08
Today I went for a bike ride with Molly, since she was pretty hyper. We saw a fox, which was really cool. He was so pretty! I saw some deer later, not on the bike ride. I also gave Molly a bath, which she didn’t like one bit, but afterwards she was very energetic, so Josie and I ran around with her, and played ‘Find’ with her.

10/31/08
Today, when we got to the festival, I was supposed to work at one slide, but then I was told to go to a different slide, and from there I was told to go dry off a different slide. (There is usually dew on the slides, but today there was frost.) After that, I worked at the Barn Slide until my break. After my break, I worked at the top of Dino Slide, a huge, six lane slide. They launched 3 pumpkins into the pond.

11/1/08 (World Vegan Day)
Today we got up very early (for us), to go to D.C. We saw a deer right across the road while we were at the campground. He had antlers, which was really neat. We took the Metro into D.C., and first went to try to get tickets to the Bureau of printing and engraving so we could get a tour. They turned out to be closed on Saturday, which was disappointing, but then Josie and I hurried to try to get tickets for a tour of the Capitol, and our mom went to get tickets so we could go up to the top of the Washington Monument. While waiting for our tour of the Capitol, my mom and I went to the National Archives and got to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Emancipation Proclamation. They also had a piece of the Statue of Liberty there, which had been chipped off when it arrived, to see if it needed cleaned. (They decided it didn’t.) The piece was part of an ear of corn from the torch. Then we went on our tour of the Capitol. First there was a room that is used for ceremonies like when former presidents die. The next room’s design made it so you could hear everything said very well, even when whispered. It was not intentionally made that way. The next room was supposed to be a tomb; they had wanted George Washington to be buried there, but it didn’t work out, and no one is buried there. We also saw the old Supreme Court, and that was the last thing we did in the Capitol. Afterwards, I went to the Library of Congress. I wanted to look at some books, but it turned out you need to be over high school age to check out books, and my mom was not there, so I didn’t get to do what I wanted there, but I got to go inside and look around. After that, we went to the Washington Monument. At the top, there are two windows in each direction, and there were four photographs there of each view years apart. In 1901, facing south (I think) there were no buildings there. The next photograph, I think about 25 years later shows the Lincoln Memorial and the Reflecting Pool.

11/2/08
When we woke up this morning, we did not know what time it was, because of the time change. Our clock in the motor home, which does not change automatically, said 7:10. Our mom’s cell phone, which should have changed automatically, also said 7:10. We needed to be at work at 10:00, and we didn’t know if we should be there when our clocks said 10:00 or 11:00. We decided to get ready for work, and see if the clock had changed by the time we were ready. It hadn’t, and we didn’t want to get to work at 11:00 (by our clocks) and be an hour late (if our clocks were right and the time change had not yet happened). So we went at 10:00. When we got there, Josie asked someone what time it was. It was 9:00. We were an hour early. We though that was a funny adventure. This was our last day at work, which was sad, but I’d had fun. Today I was working in the Sweet Shack, which sold pies, cookies, brownies, cupcakes, hot chocolate, apple cider and coffee. Since there were only three days left for the festival, they didn’t have a lot of stuff left. We sold out of the cupcakes, pie, and cider, and there were only a few cookies left at the end of the day. What I did at the Sweet Shack was get what people ordered, and hand out samples of the cupcakes. Because the festival was almost over, they had what they called Pumpkin Madness. It is where they have all these pumpkin destroying activities. There’s pumpkin bowling (bowling with a pumpkin instead of a ball), The Wall Of Spikes (you throw pumpkins at a wall of spikes), Stomping Grounds (You stomp on pumpkins), and a pit where they were dropping pumpkins from a crane onto a raised board where they smashed when they hit it. They had this huge 1,007 pound pumpkin on display during the festival, and they had a sign next to it saying ‘The End for the Big Pumpkin.’ That was today, where they raised it with the crane, and cut the rope. It was funny how everyone at the festival seemed to be gathered around the pit when they dropped it, but it was kind of sad how they simply destroyed a huge thing like that.

11/3/08
Today we left to go to the islands of Chincoteague and Assateague on our way south. Because we had a lot of driving, we didn’t get to the north end of Assateague until about 3:45. We did get to see some wild ponies, and some Sitka deer, when we were driving around, but when we went on a half mile trail through the marshes, we didn’t see either. It was dark when we were leaving the island, but we saw some ponies still out, so we tried to take some pictures of them, and they didn’t come out to well, but the ponies started coming up to our vehicle. One came right up to the window, and she put her muzzle against the window!

11/4/08
Today we went to the southern end of Assateague, and the island of Chincoteague. We saw lots of herons in the marsh on Assateague, but we didn’t get to see any more ponies. On Chincoteague, although we had some trouble finding the spot, we saw where the ponies come ashore after swimming across from Assateague. After that, we drove south, and, to get from Cape Charles to the mainland, we had to go across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a 20 minute drive across the bay that consisted of 3 bridges and 2 tunnels. The tunnels are, apparently, deep enough under the water that boats can go over them! We had been planning to see some of Jamestown/Williamsburg today, but it got to late for us to have seen much, so we were going to get to a campground a little early so we could get set up in the daylight. We stopped at the store first, which took longer than we expected, so it was almost dark when we left. We were having some trouble finding the campground, so my mom called the campground for directions. We had pulled off on a little road, so when we had directions, we had to turn around. There was a big grassy area next to the road that was a little lower than the road, and my mom was afraid we would get stuck if we went into it a little bit to turn around. We didn’t though and we went back out to the road the turnoff for the campground was supposed to be on. We only went a short ways before my mom was confused again; there was only a small driveway type road where the turnoff was supposed to be. So we went back to the little road we’d been on before to call again. After calling, we started to turn around again. And we got stuck. Our back tires were off the road, and it was muddy. My mom called the campground again, and told them we were stuck, and they sent two guys to see if they could help. They couldn’t, so my mom had to call a tow truck. We were told it would be about two hours before they would get there, so it would be about 10:45. We listened to the election results as we waited, and it was almost 11:45 before the tow truck arrived. They pulled us out very easily. We made to the campground without any more trouble.

11/5/08
Today we went to see the Jamestown and Williamsburg area. We first went to Williamsburg and went on a tour of the battlefields. We also went through a ship that was like the ones used during the battle. Then we went to Jamestown and saw the ruins of glassblowing structures used in the colonial days. We got to watch someone doing the glassblowing like how they would have in the colonial days. It was really neat how he made things. He made the glass look all cracked; by dipping it in briefly water. He also made a big ‘bubble.’ He said if the glass could stay hot enough, it could keep expanding, and, unlike a balloon (or rubber), it would never stop. However, it is impossible to keep it hot enough. Lava is made of molten rock, and glass is molten sand, except hardened.

11/6/08
Today we drove to North Carolina, and I got to meet my penpal for the first time! It was really cool. We didn’t get to stay long because we needed to get all the way to the South Carolina/Georgia border by that night. The rest of the day we drove…and drove…and drove.

11/7/08
Today we were given a ‘tour’ of the neighborhood around my mom’s friend’s house, which is near the Savannah river which is the South Carolina/Georgia border. We also went over to Georgia and walked along the river. There were a lot of canoers on the river, practicing for a competition. We passed a science museum that had a huge ball (more than half a ton; 1037 pounds, or something like that) out front. It was in a fountain that held the ball up with the pressure from the water. The water between the ball and the fountain was only five sheets of paper thick! You could push the ball and turn it in the direction you wanted because it was just floating!