Home Leave 2005 - Midwest Tour

Between every overseas tour, the State Department mandates a home leave of no less than 20 days and no more than 30 days.  In other words, every few years we get shipped off home for at least a month long vacation.  Even though we were stateside for 5 months with training, home leave is a separate break.  The month of August, there was no school and no work, just travel and preparation for our move to Togo. Here's a quick rundown of our Home Leave 2005.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Station Square, across the river from a nice skyline.  We took a Duck tour where the three rivers meet and along the streets of Pittsburgh.  Every kid on board was given an opportunity to steer the boat.  You can tell Nicholas wasn't thrilled our captain didn't release total control to him and his desire to turn the boat in circles.  Pittsburgh started as a blue collar steel town, and while it still maintains its sense of industry (freight trains pass on these tracks every 15 minutes), the city is relatively small and charming.  The buildings tell a lot of its history, from the one made entirely of steel to the one pictured on the right, made of aluminum.  The tallest building is in its financial district, and is constructed almost entirely of reflective glass.



 
 

Toledo, Ohio

  
Toledo is known for its connection to M*A*S*H. Tony Packo's and the Mud Hens, we saw them both, with brats for lunch at Packo's and nacho grandes for dinner at the ballpark. Hometown minor league is the way to go if you want to see a baseball game.  We had $8 tickets in the front row just past the 3rd base line.

The boys really wanted to catch a foul ball.  Jonathon had the right idea.  He placed his hat on the wall in front of our seats and stated that when the ball came, he would catch it right there. One came down to the left, one came to the right but no luck for the hat.

Between batters the board would have fun stuff for the crowd.  You can see Yoda on the screen... he and Jar Jar did the "Who's on First" sketch.


 

Chicago, Illionois
We met Anne Coleman (from Manila) for dinner at Ed Debevic's in downtown Chicago.  If Katherine doesn't watch it, eating burgers like that will turn her into the guy behind her.

No time for the Navy Pier.  Maybe next time.



 

Lexington, Kentucky
Between Chicago and Lexington we stopped overnight in Indianapolis for dinner with Ian's cousin.  No photos.  We also spent an afternoon in Cincinnati while Ian gave a talk at UC to an International Relations class.  No photos there either because we didn't go to the zoo (like we should have).  In Lexington, we spent the morning at the Kentucky Horse Park.  The girls went on a 45 minute horse trek, sans parents.


 

Charleston, West Virginia
These photos aren't actually from Charleston, but from our drive leaving Charleston on I60.  There is nothing to do in the city and we didn't have time to do something wild like white-water rafting.

But leaving the city, we passed this waterfall (Cathedral Falls...  maybe after it rains.  Really hard.) and allowed the kids to run around the rocks in the shallow pool.  We also passed the "Mystery Hole".  Save your hard-earned cash, there's nothing mysterious about the hole unless you think standing in a slanted room is weird.


Charlottesville, Virginia
We spent two nights in Charlottesville to have plenty of time for Monticello and Michie Tavern. 

At Monticello we stopped first at the Info Center.  I highly recommend it first thing on a weekday; the hands-on room was ours to enjoy.  Once up on the mountain top, we took the kids' tour which visits the same rooms as the adult tour, but the kids answer questions, have tasks (like, count the number of clocks in the house), and learn about the children who lived in the home.

Michie Tavern is along the way to Monticello, so it makes a natural stop for lunch or gifts.  The original tavern is also open for tours.  While the tour isn't designed specifically for kids, it is interactive and loads of fun from the dress-up basket to the "pick the bean" bag.  Mr. Michie (pronounced Mickey) was sent to the Colonies after picking a black bean.  It was that, or pick a white bean and be executed.  For our family, Ian, Nicholas and the girls picked black beans.  Jonathon and I were condemned with white.  At least none of the kids faced the future alone. In happier time, we learned part of the Virginia Reel.

Next time in Charlottesville, we'll visit a vineyard.


 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Our stay in Milwaukee was actually in the early part of our trip, but we visited family for 3 days, so here are the highlights.

Day 1: State Fair cream puffs and a circus. Six puffs for 11 people, all the kids got 1/2 which was more than enough. After the regular circus was a Kids World Circus.  Our boys were picked as two of the three performing dogs. Jonathon is on the right, I believe Nicholas is on the left.  The vegetables at the top were from the Veggie Race.

Day 2: Brewery Tour, Discovery World, picnic. You can't purchase beer logo t-shirts for kids, but you can take their photo with larger than life beer bottle cutouts.  At Discovery World (last photo) the best part was the IMAX movie of the Nile River, and the hot and cold chemistry show, neither of which allowed photos.  And last, at the picnic at my aunt's house, everyone was soaked, but Nicholas was the worst off, drenched from top to bottom.


The Salapat-Hawkinson-Beaulieu-Hopper clan.


We ended at the beach for a week.
That's on Page 2...		  

We survived our trip, but more than that, I think we all had a really enjoyable time too.