October Vacation: Charleston

Ah, yes. I know what you're thinking. It is November and I am still rambling on about our 8-day family vacation way back in the first part of October. But things move slower the father south you go and Charleston, South Carolina, is about culturally Southern as you can get.

After our first day of driving back from Florida, we checked in to a brand-spanking new Springhill Suites hotel in North Charleston. It was very modern in its decor and really sleek. Q was going to use some saved-up points to pay for the room, but they offered to let him have it for $40 instead so he agreed. I'm not sure how they made any money off us at all because we ate nearly that at the complimentary breakfast, I think. Did I mention the free lollipops at the front desk?

In the morning, we headed downtown to the Visitors' Center. It's in a refurbished old brick train station just on the border between a nice part of town and a scary one. Q stood in line to talk to the folks there about a good walking tour while the rest of us gathered too many brochures from the displays. There were no fewer than thirteen art galleries or museums listed and I was intrigued.

Our walk was indeed lovely, winding past shops, churches, galleries, restaurants, and boutique hotels. It led through the old City Market which was full of local baskets, trinkets, imported jewelry from Eastern Europe, cheap hand-decorated sweatshirts, beautiful carved wooden bowls, pashmina scarves, and more jewelry. We paused at the waterfront, which the children enjoyed very much, before meandering back. We passed an artist waiting for his painting to dry. There were horse-drawn carriages (tours, with guides) and way too many interesting gated alleys to peer down.

The city has done an admirable job restoring many old buildings and the Greek Revival, Classic Revival and Georgian styles are everywhere. Apparently, the whole downtown is a National Historic Landmark and more than 3,000 buildings there are labeled as "historic". One could spend days just looking at the architecture and then weeks getting to know the local art scene.

There's a very chic shopping street- the main shopping avenue of years ago- and we took that way back. Rejuvenated by Five Guys, we arrived at the Visitors' Center ready. Ready for the last day of vacation before the clock struck midnight, so to speak, and we all turned into pumpkins.

It was a wonderful October vacation.

See flickr for all the images.

October Vacation: Space Legacy

I am the granddaughter of one of America's first rocket scientists, though I hardly ever act like it. My grandfather was a pioneer in the field of radar guidance systems, rockets, satellites, interplanetary exploration and other things I don't really understand. He was a great man.

A partial quote from his obituary printed in the Washington Post on July 11, 2006:

"Mr. Cummings earned his bachelor's degree in physics at CalTech in 1944 and did his advanced studies at Harvard and MIT Radar Schools. He married Jean McDonald, his high-school sweetheart, in 1944 in Boston while on military assignment. He served as a Radar Officer, 1st Lieutenant, in the U.S. Army Signal Corps from 1944-1946.... Born and raised in Southern California, Mr. Cummings returned to Pasadena and joined the fledgling Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1946. He was responsible for the development of the Corporal Guided Missile telemetry and radio guidance systems. From 1954-1957, he served as the Corporal Technical Coordinator, Jupiter Project Director, and Chief of the Systems Engineering Division. In advance of the 1958 launching of Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, Mr. Cummings was sent to Washington, D.C., on special assignment to the Department of Defense and served as JPL's first representative to the newly-created NASA.

Returning to Pasadena as the Lunar Project Director for JPL, Mr. Cummings was responsible for Project Ranger [which he named after the family camper], our nation's first unmanned lunar spacecrafts. Under his leadership, the launches of the initial Ranger crafts provided important feedback needed to ultimately reach and travel beyond the moon in interplanetary exploration."

He did a stint with Electro-Optical Systems of Xerox and some assisting in the Department of Defense before rejoining JPL in 1983 as the Manager of East Coast Technologies and Applications Programs Office. He retired from JPL in 1991 at the age of 68. He loved fishing, had a hearty appreciation for puns, and wore a pearl tie tack for as long as I can remember. I miss his laugh.

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While down in Florida, we had the opportunity to visit NASA's Kennedy Space Center twice. It was really great and all of us found something to ooooh and aaaah about. The first day we went was my third child's third birthday. Upon entering the gate there was a real space shuttle and it's enormous solid rocket boosters on display and he exclaimed, "WOW- THAT IS THE BIGGEST ROCKET I HAVE EVER SEEN!" We all concurred and it was certainly enough to get us pretty excited.

It was a relatively slow day for the Center; the parking lot was only a quarter full. Our first stop inside was the shuttle Discovery. The little ones and I walked up the ramp and got a great view of the inside of the payload area and control panel, while my husband and the oldest child went on the launch simulation ride which consisted of lots of shaking and loud noises.

Next was the tour bus which took us to a launch pad viewing tower, then on to the spectacular Apollo/Saturn V exhibit. This one had a couple of short movies about some early NASA crafts. After a thrilling short history, we entered a huge room filled with a real Saturn V rocket. It was beautiful. This facility also housed some gallery rooms, a real (tiny) moon rock you can touch, a moon buggy, a Ranger craft, a cafe and a gift shop.

On our way back to the main visitors' complex, we saw two very rare and seemingly unrelated items. First, as we passed by the main vehicle assembly building (the world's tallest one-story building), it's doors were just closing. Inside we could clearly see the shuttle Atlantis, which was going to roll out to its launch pad later that night, and the brand-new Ares I-X rocket right next to it. If I understood correctly, the significance here is that this will be the last space shuttle launch, after which the new Ares and Orion rockets will form a new mission in human space exploration called Constellation which will expand from Low Earth Orbit to the Moon and finally to Mars. There they were, the present and the future side by side. The other rare sight was an enormous nest of a bald eagle in the trees along the road. They put some real effort into making the area a friendly place for all sorts of native wild creatures. Perhaps those two things are not as unrelated as they might seem at first glance.

We had melting kids at this point, so we headed home after making sure to get our tickets validated for a return trip within 7 days. We came back two days later to see the Moon Walk IMAX movie in 3D (awesome), visit the kids' playground, the gift shop, the Robot Scouts exhibit (disappointing- I was hoping for more), and the great rocket garden.

I don't know if I will ever get back there again so it was a great pleasure to be able to see the place where some of my grandfather's work launched. I was inspired again to care about places beyond my own life, to wonder at the technologies mankind has developed, to grieve at the failures and human losses, to stand in awe of the gains, and to hope for amazing discoveries and adventures in the future.

October Vacation: Beachy Keen

Our accommodations were right on the beach: Cocoa Beach. It's the great stretch of sand just south of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Our condo resort included an outdoor pool, exercise room, children's play and craft area, game room, small movie theater, and a shady path right out to the seashore. We took advantage of many of those amenities, but the beach was king, of course. The pool was a close second. In general, the weather was gorgeous, warm, and humid; just right for the end of summer.

On the first morning there I awoke uncharacteristicly early- at 5:30. I went to find milk and juice for the sleeping crowd, then took my camera to the beach where I watched the stars fade and the sky magically move through all the long wavelength colors till it was light and the people started to come. I also brought my camera with me for low tide at noon the next day and high tide on our last evening there... magical light.

There was plenty of sand-digging, some boogie-boarding, frisbee, shells to find, and even a washed-up jelly fish to step over. Everyone loved the beach.

Oh, yes, and Happy Birthday to my favorite three-year-old. I love you.

October Vacation: The First 2 Days

Savannah. The name itself evokes myriad associations and colors for me: a favorite Erasure song (blue), hot African grasslands (orange), a Spanish moss-strewn seaside Southern city (green) and home of one famous design school (light yellow). It was already beautiful in my mind before I visited for the first time last week.

We drove the first leg of our Southern family vacation on Saturday night (Oct. 10), passing places and ghosts from my past at highway speed. We arrived in Florence, South Carolina near midnight and slept like like logs at our hotel. In the morning, we headed down to Savannah for a mid-day break. Parking right next to the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), I knew we were in a friendly place. SCAD was one of the places I might have gone if the stars had been aligned slightly differently, which would have been fine except that I think I prefer my current life.

Q went ahead into the visitor's center and mapped out a route for us through lovely Savannah. And the downtown was everything one might expect: charming, graceful, historical, slightly quirky, hip, and dripping with Spanish moss. We walked through lovely squares, down grand avenues, and along the waterfront where locals and tourists basked in the beautiful sunshine. A stately riverboat awaited passengers at the dock while friendly, sunburnt, tattooed folk peddled roses and crosses made from palm grass. We strolled back across town and enjoyed the interesting doorways, old cemeteries, and Southern architecture.

Piling the six of us back into the van, we continued on for many more hours. The girls logged all the distinct license plates they could find and (by the end of the trip) found 43 states and 3 foreign countries or provinces. Not bad at all.

Next stop: the beach!

Rest Stop

As part of the year 'round schedule at our school in Virginia, our kids get two weeks off in October. The school calls it "Inter-session Break" and there are cool half-day classes offered for a fee, which are well attended. However, we took the opportunity to get out of town for 8 days, see some Southern sights and relax at the beach. One last longing gaze at the summer we didn't quite get to finish.

I'm still processing the images and writing the details, but here is a brief preview. The first two days of the trip each contained at least 7 hours of driving. It was challenging, but worth it in the end. We made sure the kids took full advantage of each and every rest stop, i.e. running drills and chasing games. These were taken at the first one we stopped at in Florida (day 2).

Life's Little Detours

Happy New Year! If the first night is any indication, then this will be a year of unpredictability and hidden surprises, not all of them bad.

I expected to spend the midnight hour tucking our family into a hotel room in Salt Lake City, Utah, having just greeted most of the members of my husband's family. But sometimes the best laid travel plans go all awry. Instead, I watched the dashboard clock silently ring in the New Year as I merged from the outer loop of the Capital Beltway onto 620 West, also known as Braddock Road. That's right, we spent the night at MY parents' house in Virginia.

We had tickets to fly out of JFK on New Year's Eve at about 7pm. We decided to drive down there because it was less expensive than flying from Burlington. I had succinct lists for each leg of this trip and the packing was efficient, with no room to spare. We headed out at about 9:45 in the morning with light snow falling. We traveled south and watched the road condition deteriorate as we went. Drivers were being cautious- a little too cautious in our opinion- and we saw our generous lead time slip away. We finally got up to the posted speed limit when we made it onto I-87 in New York state.

The kids were generally good in the car, though the littlest one had a few episodes of frustration when he wanted to get out of his carseat and have me hold him. The reason why I wouldn't was beyond his understanding. But we made it across the Bronx in decent time and by 5pm we were on the Van Wyck- nearly to the airport- when my husband's mobile phone rang. He answered it and listened as the recording from the airline relayed the unfortunate news that our flight had been cancelled due to high winds. They had re-booked us on another flight to Salt Lake City two days later.

WHAT?! Oh no, no, no. That wasn't going to work at all.

We parked in the short-term lot and Q, the master negotiator an elite medallion card holder, went in to see what could be done. I stayed in the car and let 4 kids blow off steam for 45 minutes. We broke out some of the special airplane snacks I'd been saving and talked through the wishes and complaints of the 5 year old.

Q came back with our anticipated Plan B: 5 seats on a flight out of IAD (Dulles Airport) the next afternoon. We headed back out onto the road and I tried calling my parents, who weren't home. Hmmm. New Year's Eve... they were probably at my sister's, though I didn't know her new phone number off the top of my head. I tried my other sister, with no luck. What to do, what to do. Was it possible they were out of town? Possible, yes. I closed my eyes and stood next to the phone list on the side of my refrigerator. There it was! I dialed my younger sister's number but it didn't connect. I tried switching two numbers around, but that wasn't right either. No, I was sure I had seen it correctly, so I tried again. Bingo, Ed answered.

They were a little surprised, to say the least, but rather excited to have us overnight. I figured we would roll in about midnight, which gave my Mom plenty of time to make everything look as though she had been expecting us for weeks. We slowly poured our ready cash into toll booth after toll booth and made our way south again. As we crossed the next state line, we announced it to the interested parties in the back seat.

"New Jersey?" the 5 year old said. "But we don't even speak that language!"

"And what language do you suppose they speak here?" we wondered.

"New Jersey," came her reply. She noted that the man at the toll booth had an accent and wasn't sure he was speaking English.

We forget sometimes that our children haven't had the breadth of experiences we have had and their perspective is often quite funny. When we stopped for "dinner" at the Thomas Edison rest stop, she also noticed several things that she shared with us: a person wearing shorts (on a cold, blustery night), a set of twins, and that many people there had darker skin than hers. She's a good junior scientist.

As the hours ticked by, people in the car began to fall asleep. One child was too excited and had a difficult time being patient or sleeping. Guess which one. I switched seats with my husband and drove the last leg wide awake on adrenaline and one Dr. Pepper. I hardly ever drink caffeinated soft drinks, so when I do they really work for me. I could write a whole post on long drives and their associated soft drinks, but that's for another time. I discovered that 11:15 on New Year's Eve is a great time to drive on I-95 in Baltimore. It was nowhere near the bottleneck it usually is.

11:38. The beautiful Washington D.C. Temple rose from the car in front of me and appeared to be my destination. Unfortunately not this time. 11:49. I passed Tyson's Corner- Hi, Aunt Janet! 11:52. I passed familiar street names like Lee Highway, Arlington Boulevard, and Little River Turnpike. 11:59. I tapped Q on the arm and wished him a happy New Year as I exited the highway. Braddock Road was nearly empty, though I passed a few cars pulled over by officers of the law. By 12:25 I was carrying sleeping children and overnight backpacks into my old home, greeting my parents and looking forward to my sister's family coming over later that day.

We had a wonderful short visit and my Dad drove us to the airport the next afternoon. We eventually made it to Utah and drove into my Mother-in-law's driveway almost a day late, but intact and grateful for a few nice surprises among the ruins of our original travel plans.

How was your New Year's Eve celebration?

Weekend at the Cape

Another wonderful October Cape Cod vacation...


























































































sand between our toes...
finding a beach fortress...
burying a cousin in the sand...
flying kites...
and playing a little mini golf.


Thanks for coming, Boston cousins! Happy Birthday, Torin!

Gone Fishin'

Well, I didn't do any actual fishing myself, but that about sums up the last week or so.

Family reunions are great. It's a defining childhood experience for the kids and a chance for the grownups to bask in the personality variations of our family. Cousin Time is very meaningful for my children. I'm glad to go through all the hassle of packing and driving (though our drive this year was very short) to watch the sudden bright smiles and excited jumps as they see their cousins. These kids are going to be friends for life.

This year we got together on the shore of Fourth Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, near the town of Old Forge. We had a semi-circle of cabins facing the lake, and there was no shortage of relaxing or exciting things to do. With 22 people, ranging in age from 6 weeks to 67 years, there also was no shortage of bonding or conversations in which to participate.

Highlights included a water park called The Enchanted Forest, group dinner hosted outdoors by a different family each night, watching the one year olds play in the sand and the older ones pretend to be mermaids or build massive sand fortresses, late evening games with my siblings (Jungle Speed, various card games), and hearing my kids ask "Can I go over to Grandma's house?" and answering "Yes"!

Will it really be two years before all of us are together again? We had such a good time and I look forward to seeing those same people in smaller groups... until Reunion 2010!

Spring Break

Normally, I reserve this blog for my own thoughts and ideas... but sometimes the kids take over. That's what has happened this week. I'm here to report that Thirty Marens Agree: having all three kids at home during a week of the most gorgeous 80º weather is great; also that having all three kids at home while my husband is away conducting research in Morocco is exhausting. (Not to mention the fact that simply being pregnant is exhausting.) 

I tilled the gardens and we planted peas and a few cabbage seeds. We watered all the growing things (children included) since it was so hot and dry. The daffodils came up and are now fading in the warmth, hyacinths are in full swing and tulips are next. The trees are all leafing out a few weeks early this year, and we have made many trips to the river just to throw in rocks and see them splash. I moved the daisies to the wildflower bed and chopped one of the rugosa roses down to nothing in preparation for having it removed by my friend and her backhoe. Last year's raspberry canes have been removed and I look forward to another grand raspberry harvest. I still need to move the tree peony my neighbor gave me- I stuck it in the wrong place last fall. Oh, yes, and all those daffodils I planted last fall are coming up nicely. Hopefully they will multiply and look even better next year. 

Below are the kids in their Moroccan habiliments. There has been much dancing to Putumayo's North African Groove at our house. Brightly colored fancy leather slippers not shown, but very popular, as is the children's book in French. My treasures included a small wooden box for my collection, dried rosebuds from the spice market, brightly colored scarves, silk tassels (for my camel's saddlebag, I guess), chocolate, and a cookbook in French- which means my husband gets to help me make couscous.

Sacred Spaces

The result of a project I was working on recently.

Solemn Assembly

Salem

Kocatepe Mosque

Manti in the Morning

©2008 Maren Mecham. Do not remove from this blog.