Archive for June
Posted by PapiBlogger on Wednesday June 30th, 2010 at 10:31 AM
New dinosaur Briani compares her foot to prehistoric dinosaur.
My older kids, Jonathan (10) and Elena (6) thought they had seen a large mountain of rock yesterday when they visited the Meteor Crater but that was nothing compared to what the ninth day of our journey offered: sightseeing around the south rim of the Grand Canyon.
The Desert View of the Grand Canyon.
Jonathan and Elena were instantly BLOWN away when they beheld just one of the numerous views that the Grand Canyon has to offer. I think that the
Grand Canyon is so breathtaking that were I an atheist, upon seeing it, I would instantly believe in God.
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Tags: Dinosaur Tracks, Grand Canyon, Henry Family, Navajo, Painted Desert
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 3 Comments »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Tuesday June 29th, 2010 at 11:30 AM
The glorious Meteor Crater where Apollo astronauts trained for the moon.
Day 8 of the PapiBlogger Family Road Trip featured a visit to the nation’s oldest house and church and then onto a major drive to the world’s most famous crater on our way to the day’s final destination, the Grand Canyon.
OLDEST HOUSE AND CHURCH IN U.S. DISAPPOINTING
We bid farewell to Santa Fe with a lightning quick visit to the oldest house and church in the United States, both of which are literally right across from each other and both of which are barely worth more than a photo op to brag you were there. You can’t go inside or even peek through the window of “oldest house” (built in 1646) and as for the oldest church (built 1610) it is covered with scaffolds and construction right now. The kids liked knowing they had visited both buildings because they are the “oldest” things in their categories but you could easily skip them.
In front of all you see in front of the oldest house in the United States.
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Tags: Arizona, Meteor Crater, oldest hotel, oldest house, Santa Fe
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Posted by PapiBlogger on Monday June 28th, 2010 at 12:41 PM
The main residence patio area of Las Golondrinas, which dates back to the 1700's.
Day 7 of the PapiBlogger Family Road Trip was highlighted by a visit to El Rancho de Las Golondrinas (Ranch of the Swallows), a visit to the Georgia O’Keefe Museum and some leisurely walking and dining in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
HISTORY COMES ALIVE AT LAS GOLONDRINAS
Briani, Jonathan and Elena get some corn mashing tips from Las Golondrinas village guide Javier.
Las Golondrinas is a 200-acre, living history museum located in a rural farming valley just south of Santa Fe.
The museum, dedicated to the heritage and culture of Spanish Colonial, New Mexico, features original colonial buildings that date from the early 18th century.
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Tags: Cafe Pasqual's, Georgia O'Keefe Museum, Las Golondrinas, Santa Fe, Spanish colonial
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 1 Comment »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Sunday June 27th, 2010 at 12:08 PM
A number of our dear readers have recently asked, begged and/or plead for us to consider not going to Arizona because of its anti-immigration laws. We don’t do political stuff at PapiBlogger but at the same time we have to admit that we don’t agree with most anything Arizona’s government is trying to do.
That said, there’s one major reason why the Papimobile (aka our 2010 Chevrolet Traverse) will go to Arizona: God made the Grand Canyon and He trumps all politics. If you know me, you know that I always teach my children that the Lord is not a Republican, Democrat or Independent (I’ll be writing about that in the future).
Besides, what credible adventure showcasing our nation’s diversity would be complete without visiting the Grand Canyon? It would be a shame to let politics get in the way of a place where your children can truly behold the mighty wonders of God.
Tags: Arizona, immigration laws
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 2 Comments »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Saturday June 26th, 2010 at 12:16 PM
SPOOKY STUFF: This photo was taken very late in the night (you can view these lights even on a slightly lit night) from a distance of a couple miles. The red light is not a Marfa Light. The other lights are. Click on this photo for a close up view.
On Day 5 of our road trip, the Salt Lick restaurant in Driftwood, Texas, near Austin was the first stop in what would end up being a 500-mile day of delicious Texas-style cooking, long drives to West Texas and even a potential alien encounter in the dessert near Marfa.
TEXAS-STYLE EATING AT THE FAMOUS SALT LICK
You haven’t tasted juicy meat until you’ve visited the Salt Lick, a rustic, ranch-style restaurant that’s famous for its world-class, smoked cook brisket. It’s also the place where before we started dating, Angela introduced me to Austin and also where we had our pre-wedding rehearsal luncheon. (more…)
Tags: Marfa, Mystery Lights, Papimobile, The Salt Lick, West Texas
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 3 Comments »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Thursday June 24th, 2010 at 09:16 PM
“AND ON THE FOURTH DAY, THE PAPIBLOGGER FAMILY RESTED.”
Following a unplanned middle of the night drive from New Orleans to Austin, the PapiBlogger Family used its fourth full day of the 40-day family road trip to rest its wheels. Well, sort of.
In Sick Bay: Baby Briani had some coughing but the pediatrician gave her clearance to continue her national tour.
The day started with a impromptu visit to the pediatrician for one-year-old Briani because we wanted to check on a persistent cough she developed (she’s fine) and some World Cup rooting for the U.S. in their victory over Algeria.
Texans take their washer tossing seriously and so does Jonathan.
Washers Tossing at Freddie’s Restaurant
With barely three hours sleep for Angela and me and Briani back from the doctor, we headed over to Freddie’s, a classic outdoors Austin restaurant that is family friendly, offers good American and Tex Mex-style food and more important for us has a nice area to play the ranch game known as washers.
This time he didn't make any washers in the hole.
Basically, washers is a simple but very competitive game that entails throwing a 2 x 2 inch steel washer inside a hole on the ground from a distance of about 21 feet. You get points for throwing the washers in the hole or landing them close to the hole. Many Texans take washers tossing seriously and even Freddie’s features a weekly tournament every Wednesday.
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Tags: Austin, Barton Springs, capital of Texas, Freddie's, washer tossing, World Cup
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 5 Comments »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Wednesday June 23rd, 2010 at 01:19 PM
Cafe Du Monde is a national breakfast treasure that's not to be missed.
Day Three of the family road trip took us to explore more about New Orleans’ regional flavors as a food capital of the U.S., its history rich French Quarter and its brush with catastrophe during Katrina.
Cafe Au Lait and a bite of a Beignet are the focus of your time at Cafe Du Monde.
We started the day at Cafe Du Monde, easily the nation’s most famous coffee place and a fixture of the French Quarter. It just took Elena one sip of the Cafe Au Lait and a bite of a Beignet (a French version of the Mexican Sopapillas except with powdered sugar) for her to officially declare Cafe Du Monde her favorite breakfast spot in the nation. When you go, don’t expect anything else at Cafe Du Monde because that’s literally all they serve at this 24/7 landmark! (more…)
Tags: Cafe Du Monde, French Quarter, Katrina, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 1 Comment »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Tuesday June 22nd, 2010 at 07:19 PM
The jazz band at the historic Preservation Hall. (c) 2010, PapiBlogger
The second day of the PapiBlogger Family Road Trip took us on a nearly 11 hour, 590 mile long drive from St. Augustine to New Orleans.
Although driving through the whole of Florida, as we have, is the most dullest driving you will ever do because it’s almost fully flat, parts of northern Florida near Tallahassee actually have scenic hills. When going through Alabama on your way to New Orleans, you’ll want to have the kids awake to see the underwater tunnel in Mobile (always cool) and if you have a couple moments you’ll also want to pitstop in Alabama to see Alabama Battleship Memorial Park. We didn’t have time to pause more than we already did for food (we had a terrific meat lover’s stop at Sonny’s BBQ in Marianna, FL) but if we did we would have also added the still unspoiled beaches of Pensacola. I stopped there once 20 years ago during another drive to New Orleans and remember being captivated by it’s white beaches.
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Tags: Alabama, border, Bourbon Street, jazz, New Orleans, Preservation Hall, Sonny's BBQ, St. Augustine
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Posted by PapiBlogger on Monday June 21st, 2010 at 03:07 PM
We “landed” at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at noon Sunday, exhausted from a night of little sleep but at the same time exhilarated about the journey that had just begun. We will probably put Orlando in our itinerary on our way down from Maine next month but for now I thought that the Kennedy Space Center was just the place to start our epic road trip because I’m a huge fan of all things space exploration-related and I also wanted something to spark my kid’s imagination about the trip.
Bringing them to Cape Canaveral payed off in spades. My two older children got to understand, first hand, the scale of what our nation has accomplished in space, the magnitude of the feats achieved and the “coolness” of possibly growing up to one day be an astronaut. Jonathan seemed to be most impressed by the monstrous, 363-foot Saturn V rocket that propelled us to the moon. Elena’s highlight was touching a real piece of moon rock. Briani’s favorite part was just driving all four of us crazy, running after her.
Elena and Jonathan touch the moon. No, really.
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Tags: Cape Canaveral, ghost tour, Kennedy Space Center, Ripley's Believe It or Not Ghost Train Tour. moon rock, St. Augustine
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 6 Comments »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Sunday June 20th, 2010 at 11:07 AM
You’ve got to give it to Ronald McDonald. The man, the myth, the red-headed king of burgers (OUCH!) knows how to party.
Last night, The Ronald himself hosted PapiBlogger for an intimate send off at the McDonald’s Restaurant located on 62nd Ave. and South Dixie Highway in South Miami. Even though I literally grew up at McDonald’s (the subject for a future post because you really won’t believe the story), I had never before shaken Ronald’s hand, let alone been presented with a PapiBlogger-decorated cake by him. I felt so honored that an elderly couple that walked into the restaurant during the festivity actually wished me happy birthday 
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Tags: kids, McDonald's, PapiBlogger Family Road Trip, Ronald McDonald's
Posted in Family Travel Diaries | 4 Comments »
Posted by PapiBlogger on Saturday June 19th, 2010 at 12:35 AM
In 2007, Angela and I went on a two-week Christian mission trip to the African nation of Rwanda to take labor, love, medicines and other scarce resources. Rwanda is where in 1994, over the span of just 90 days or so, nearly 1 million people were killed in what is considered the worst genocide since the Holocaust.
In preparation for that trip into a far and unknown land, the organizing pastor told us that the most important thing we should do to mentally gear up for it was to remember the unofficial motto of the United States Marines: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. (more…)
Tags: 2010 Chevrolet Traverse, Adapt, General Motors, Improvise, McDonald's, Overcome, Sony, Sprint Nextel, United States Marines Corps
Posted in Family Travel Diaries, Parenting Tricks | 2 Comments »
