We just got home from a wonderful vacation! We made some great memories and have a bigger picture of our incredible country. Yet it wasn't perfect... I could choose to focus on what went wrong or what went well.
It started out well. My husband got home from work early and we had the car and camper mostly packed and ready to go. Our son was going to take care of pets so we were set. We were on the road, ready for an adventure.
Our first stop was going to be in Pennsylvania, at the Sights and Sounds Production of Noah in Lancaster. We were so excited to get to go to this. I had the tickets purchased and we were on a tight schedule to make it there. We had no extra time if we were going to get to it. We had over a thousand miles to travel. And while on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, our car just stopped. Oh, oh! Didn't I just say we had no extra time for anything?
We didn't know the area we were in. We didn't know the extent of damage to our engine. We didn't have all the tools we needed and we didn't know where to get parts. And it was starting to rain! Eventually a tow truck came and towed us to the nearest parts store. He dropped us in a parking lot across from the parts store. So we were in a town we had never been in; it was raining harder, and we were in a parking lot not too close to anything with no car to get anywhere else. My husband started looking at the car's engine and saw that the timing belt was ruined. Now if that is all it was, it was fixable. However if the timing got off before the car stopped, we could have ruined the engine. And it was about 4:00 on Friday. We were running out of time. Would we need to buy a different car to get home? Could this be fixed? My husband decided to go ahead and try to get the parts. They didn't have them. :-( My daughter started calling parts stores all over the area. None. But we could overnight them! So we did. That meant no play in Lancaster. It also meant spending the night in a parking lot with no bathroom in the rain. To say we were disappointed is an understatement.
We did make it through the night and we got the parts the next morning. It didn't stop raining so my husband did all the work in pouring cold rain. We had to buy tools, but not a different vehicle. The engine was not damaged. How we thanked the Lord for that! We were able to get on the road again!
Now we were really looking forward to going to the musical Noah and we didn't get to. The staff there did give us a gift card good for 2 years so maybe another trip will be in the plans. The shows are also in Branson. Even though we were beyond disappointed, we moved forward. We chose to be thankful that the car was running. We regrouped and realized we had time to visit Hershey, Pennsylvania! I have always wanted to. I love chocolate! What fun we had as we toured Chocolate World!
Our next stop was Gettysburg on Mother's Day. What a humbling place! To realize the lives that were lost there is a solemn remembrance of all it has taken to make our country what it is. Then we were on to Washington DC. First we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and the American History Museum. There is so much to see! I loved the American History Museum, especially the war exhibit because it gave me so much perspective on the wars. We dropped off our daughter, Mandy, at a hotel for a conference and headed to our campground. There is a campground close to Washington DC. On the next day, we did almost all the monuments and had a tour of the Capitol. We also saw Union Station. On our last day there, we went to the Holocaust Museum. My heart and mind got all tangled up in there and the emotions filled me up so completely that it will take a long time to sort it all out. It is very well done. We also got to spend time with friends and have lunch with them. We saw the Federal Courthouse where our friend works and got to just chat a while with them. Next we went to Arlington Cemetery and saw the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And then back to the campground.
Thursday we picked up Mandy and headed across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. We did have to get a new battery pack for the camper to keep our refrigerator running. One more expense we didn't plan on... We went to Assateague Island to camp, a favorite place of mine. We saw the wild ponies. Did you read Misty of Chincoteague? We ate at a seafood buffet in Ocean City that night for my late Mother's Day gift. It was hilarious to see my daughter pop a steamed shrimp in her mouth and then say, "Was I supposed to take something off this?" When we told her she was supposed to peel it, she spit it in her napkin! The next day we played in the Atlantic and picked up shells. We went again to Ocean City and walked the boardwalk. When we left the Island, we went south to Chincoteague. Remember the book? I really liked that book as a child! It started raining again, but we were in the car. Next we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. What a cool experience! You go on a bridge and down through a tunnel and then up to another bridge and then down in a tunnel again and back up to a bridge again! We saw big ships go by while we were stopped at one of the top parts.
It kept raining. Setting up in a campground that could be potentially flooded didn't thrill us so we looked for a hotel. We got to swim in a pool and sleep in a bigger bed and have a nice long hot shower! The next day we headed to Williamsburg.
Colonial Williamsburg was like stepping back into history. It was so interesting. I loved the idea that we walked where George Washington and some of our earlier patriots walked. Seeing how they lived and worked made history so real. It was very special.
After we had walked and walked, we were ready to sit in the car a bit. We headed home, sorta! The girls and I were ready to ride, but my husband decided we would camp one more time. We headed to a campground in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was raining again. Had it not been dark and raining, it might have been appreciated more. It was a beautiful place. We just didn't see it when we drove in.
In the morning we started for home via the mountain roads. It slowed us down some, but was glorious country. God has given us such a varied, beautiful country. As we traveled into the night, it started to storm. It wasn't just raining. It was threatening. There were tornado watches, severe thunderstorm warnings, possible hail... We listened to the weather radio, had our cell phones on the weather channel and prayed. We did end up pulling into a small town to wait it out for a while. It was scary and the adrenaline was flowing so when we started driving again, we were wide awake. We drove way into the morning, stopped at a rest stop for a few hours, and then drove home that day!
What a vacation! We all agreed it was one of the best. We had difficulties, spent money we didn't plan on, and missed one of the things we really wanted to see. It rained a lot, too. We could concentrate on what went wrong or we can see the blessings in it all. When our car broke down, we could have wrecked the whole engine. God's grace saw us through that. God protected us in the storm. He gave us patience and peace. We were able to do so much and see so much. We have much to be thankful for. God was with us. Take Him with when you vacation. He will give you the flexibility you need to get through whatever comes your way.
