Atlanta, Georgia

I have wanted to visit the sight of Martin Luther  King, Jr's home and church for some time.  We left North Carolina and went directly to the King National Park site.  I have to admit, the museum was disappointing.  The exhibits were limited, and the site seemed to be not well taken care of . The gift shop was empty without any resources or books !

 Thank goodness we braved the torrential downpour and went across the street to the church.  The talk was good and the church has been rebuilt to replicate the way it was in MLK's time.  We walked up the street to his home and finally found an excellent book store and gift shop.  The Park Service needs to work on this one.

The highlight of our evening was staying with Shaun Raviv and. Miranda Kaplan. They have only been in Atlanta for a few months and were gracious hosts! We were fortunate to get to know them a touch better and learn a smidge more about their time in Africa. Thank you Shaun and. Miranda!

The Great Smoky Mountain National Park

This park was not originally on our itinerary, but we were within a day's drive and decided to go see it. What a beauty!

It sits between North Carolina and Tennesee and the Appalachian Trail runs through it.  We drove through- visiting a farm that had been typical for that area. The buildings were collected from homesteads that had been part of the park land.  

We also found an interesting mill sight that was grinding corn with a water-driven turban that turned the stones. 

We stayed in Bryson City, a tiny Appalacian town.  Our motel was originally cabins along the Tuckaseegee River that have been connected over the years.

Chapel Hill, NC

It was Jeff Halev's birthday!  What a great day to visit!  The Halev's family shared a delicious dinner with us, topped off by Avishai's homemade ice cream!  Jeff even BBQed a peach for us which was as sweet as candy !  

We got to catch up on our lives after not seeing each other in person for a few years. 

In the evening, there was an intense storm .  Thunder, lightening , and tremendous wind.  Luckily Lulu, their very sweet dog, had a thunder coat.  It seemed to really help her.  The storm ripped out a dead tree in their yard and knocked over a large tree down the street.  Glad we weren't camping that night !

DC- A Steam Bath!

We spent two lovely days with Adam and Deborah Raviv and their children Daniel and Daphne.  Staying with them and getting to know them a bit more was wonderful. They were generous hosts and we thank them for sharing those days with us.

  As for the sightseeing, DC in the summer is a hot swamp. No more needs to be said about the weather. Also, the entire Mall was torn up and fenced off for a re-lawning project:(

We spent many lovely hours in the Museum of Americsn History learning about the history of money, transportation - an exhibit that included our area of CA- 

and the beginning of the collection that will be housed in the new Museum of African Americsn History when it opens.

Michael liked the exhibit that showed artificial heart parts.  He is holding up his heart valve part number!

This is the first piece of gold that started the Gold Rush!

The one new discovery that we made while cooling off in the shade of a tree, was the Circulator bus line that goes around the Mall and for 50 cents - because we are old- we could ride to our next museum.

Philadelphia

Our travels continued to the City if Brotherly Love.  Well, not quite to Philadelphia.  We got a hotel in Cherryhill, NJ - just over the bridge.  It was perfect. My goal for Philly was to see Independrnce Hall and the Liberty Bell.  We took the afternoon and saw both things, along with the Constitution Museum.  Mission Accomplished!  On to DC!

People told me the bell was small, but it was about the size I had expected .

Independence Hall, dwarfed by modern Philadelphia.

I did not know that Eldridge Gerry did not sign the Declaration of  Independence and that he was the dude that Gerrymandering came from!

Long Beach Island

The reason we began this trip was because we had a family reunion scheduled at the Jersey Shore!  All the way from California we brought 4 beach chairs, 2 beach towels, and a few sheets to use at the beach.  We were finally going to get to use all that stuff!  Marilyn was a true sport and practically emptied her whole linen closet so that everyone would have enough sheets and towels !  

Marilyn and Barry and Michael and I had the top floor of a duplex and our kids and their kids had the down stairs.  We had an extra bedroom upstairs so we invited Cousin Susan.  The other bed was alternately used by David, Tamar, Rachel, and Barbara!  We knew that we were going to have fun , but I hadn't  anticipated just how much fun it would be.  Mike B's family was also on LBI so we shared dinners, beach time , and lots of ice cream ! 

Dinner on the bay at sunset.

In a whole week we only had one rainy day and we used that well. What would a week on LBI be if we didn't visit the Wizard of Odds?  We had to go through flooded streets, but we made it!  There was also a stop at a bathing suit store and Rachel got a fabulous Miracle suit!  I'm not sure what the miracle was, but she looked great in the suit. We even drove up to the end of the island to visit the lighthouse. Alas, the bait store at the lighthouse no longer has the sea horse exhibit.  Probably much better for the seahorses.

Each day we went to the beach in the morning and again in the late afternoon. After some trial and error we realized that low tide offered the best swimming and we began to plan our visits accordingly.  We all loved the water, except maybe Ari.  He loved being at the beach with his people and playing in the sand.  He preferred the ocean to remain at a safe distance.  Zachary became a boogie board champ!  Miriam got great joy out of all that splashy water.  She even dragged the boogie- board down toward the water to try the waves!  (She is now signed up for swimming lessons in Austin!)

We managed to fit in a round of miniature golf and lots of eating!  Marilyn saved the day when she found Michael's hearing aids in the dryer as the last load was coming out!

Moms and babies!

At the end of the week, we were all headed out.  Marilyn, Susan, Barbara, and I had lots of memories revisited.  

For all of us, many memories were made.  Zachary put in a request that we should always have the extended family included in our vacations! Z and Uncle Barry had really spent some special time together.

Here is almost the whole family.  The Raviv/Yaros branch left the day before.