Okay, whew, so much has happened between now and when Mom posted the other day. Well, on to the task at hand, I thought that I would tell you some about my overnight stay at PHC.
While I was there I talked with some students and student ambassadors. They really gave me a good idea of what student life is like on campus. It turned out that when I was there they had a student body presidential/vice presidential election. That night I heard the presidential and vice presidential candidates speak on what they want to do with the student government. It sounded like they had some good ideas.
I also learned some about the benefits of distance learning for the first two years instead of being on campus for those two years. So now we don't know for sure if I'll do distance learning or not, I may just do distance learning for the first year and be on campus for three years. I also learned that the course load is actually not too horrendous. It is rigorous, but there is still time for work and a social life.
I also got to meet some of the PHC students I had met on GenJ activities so it was good to talk with them again. PHC seems so perfect, but the cost is high, so I must leave it in God's hands. It is difficult to remember to do that, but I must remind myself constantly that if God wants me there, I will get there. God is great.
Quote: "I didn't think that it was this small." --- Me at PHC
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Mom's Turn: Patrick Henry College
Tyler is spending the night at PHC tonight, so it's my turn to update our digital journal. After exploring the rural countryside around the college, we spent most of the day on campus meeting students, faculty, and staff.
First of all, "rural" countryside in this case means a town about the size of Durango. We commented to a student ambassador that the town was quite a bit bigger than we expected. She chuckled and said most visitors comment about the town's small size. Guess it's all a matter of perspective! Purcellville is surrounded by farms/ranches on rolling hills, mostly inhabited by horses, although we did see some cattle.
Here are a few pictures of the school...
These pictures are deceiving -- it was cold today. Actually it's been a lot colder on this trip than we guessed it would be, and we didn't pack quite enough warm clothes. On this day, there was a solution, modeled by Alyssa...
We were really impressed by Patrick Henry's students and faculty. The average class size, even for freshman, is generally no more than 25 kids. And all classes are taught by the Professors themselves, not assistants. The seniors all have internships in their field of study, most in Washington DC.
Most of all, we were just impressed by the mannerisms of the people. Everyone we met was articulate, friendly, well-dressed, and polite. We sat in on a U.S. History class; I was shocked by the depth of some of the questions the kids asked. We ate lunch in the student cafeteria where we saw Michael Smith (director of HSLDA), Michael Farris (PHC Chancellor), and Graham Walker (PHC President) eating lunch next to the kids. Amazing!
Overall, it was a great day. And the big grin on Tyler's face when we said good-bye created a bittersweet moment for his Mom.
First of all, "rural" countryside in this case means a town about the size of Durango. We commented to a student ambassador that the town was quite a bit bigger than we expected. She chuckled and said most visitors comment about the town's small size. Guess it's all a matter of perspective! Purcellville is surrounded by farms/ranches on rolling hills, mostly inhabited by horses, although we did see some cattle.
Here are a few pictures of the school...
These pictures are deceiving -- it was cold today. Actually it's been a lot colder on this trip than we guessed it would be, and we didn't pack quite enough warm clothes. On this day, there was a solution, modeled by Alyssa...
We were really impressed by Patrick Henry's students and faculty. The average class size, even for freshman, is generally no more than 25 kids. And all classes are taught by the Professors themselves, not assistants. The seniors all have internships in their field of study, most in Washington DC.
Most of all, we were just impressed by the mannerisms of the people. Everyone we met was articulate, friendly, well-dressed, and polite. We sat in on a U.S. History class; I was shocked by the depth of some of the questions the kids asked. We ate lunch in the student cafeteria where we saw Michael Smith (director of HSLDA), Michael Farris (PHC Chancellor), and Graham Walker (PHC President) eating lunch next to the kids. Amazing!
Overall, it was a great day. And the big grin on Tyler's face when we said good-bye created a bittersweet moment for his Mom.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Harpers Ferry
Two posts in one day! Maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this. :)
As I said earlier, today we went to Harpers Ferry. We got there in the early afternoon and according to the guide, we could spend the whole afternoon in the town alone. There was also a hiking trail up to a hill overlooking the town and a couple other things as well. We started out with a tour led by a park ranger in period costume. He showed us around much of the lower town. You see, Harpers Ferry is built into a hillside. This makes for steep roads and paths that wind through the town as it ascends the hillside. The ranger said that the family who owned the town was very stingy and charged for new buildings by their width (maybe length too, I don't remember) but they didn't say anything about how tall the buildings could be. So all the buildings in the town are thin and tall. One building that was built into a rock wall was five stories high! Here are some pictures of the town.
We also saw John Brown's fort. This was where John Brown made his last stand during his raid on Harpers Ferry. Here's a picture of it.
Here are some other highlights of our visit there.
An 1830's Roman Catholic church.
Jefferson's Rock, an outlook that Jefferson was at when he visited this area.
And the cemetery. Some of the people buried here were born in the mid-1700's and died in the early 1800's!
Finally here are just a couple pictures of the scenery. The town is located at the spot where the Potomac and Shenendoah Rivers merge into just the Potomac River.
Jacob also did the junior ranger program here and got a badge for it; he really enjoyed doing that.
Overall Harpers Ferry was a great place. The amount of history that happened here is astounding. It is a beautiful place well worth the hours we spent there. There is so much more I could say, but I will close this post with a picture of a sign hanging in the information building. Today's quote is:
As I said earlier, today we went to Harpers Ferry. We got there in the early afternoon and according to the guide, we could spend the whole afternoon in the town alone. There was also a hiking trail up to a hill overlooking the town and a couple other things as well. We started out with a tour led by a park ranger in period costume. He showed us around much of the lower town. You see, Harpers Ferry is built into a hillside. This makes for steep roads and paths that wind through the town as it ascends the hillside. The ranger said that the family who owned the town was very stingy and charged for new buildings by their width (maybe length too, I don't remember) but they didn't say anything about how tall the buildings could be. So all the buildings in the town are thin and tall. One building that was built into a rock wall was five stories high! Here are some pictures of the town.
We also saw John Brown's fort. This was where John Brown made his last stand during his raid on Harpers Ferry. Here's a picture of it.
Here are some other highlights of our visit there.
An 1830's Roman Catholic church.
Jefferson's Rock, an outlook that Jefferson was at when he visited this area.
And the cemetery. Some of the people buried here were born in the mid-1700's and died in the early 1800's!
Finally here are just a couple pictures of the scenery. The town is located at the spot where the Potomac and Shenendoah Rivers merge into just the Potomac River.
Jacob also did the junior ranger program here and got a badge for it; he really enjoyed doing that.
Overall Harpers Ferry was a great place. The amount of history that happened here is astounding. It is a beautiful place well worth the hours we spent there. There is so much more I could say, but I will close this post with a picture of a sign hanging in the information building. Today's quote is:
Pictures
We are now in Winchester, Virginia. We will be staying here for the next couple days. Here are those pictures I said that I would post.
This is a picture of Wolf Creek Pass the day that we went over it.
Jacob and Alyssa took the pass very well however, usually Alyssa gets sick on the pass, but not this time because we were driving about 20 miles/hour.
Here is a picture of the scenery around the Richmond airport. It was so green and pretty that I just had to try and get some pictures of it.
Now we're caught up to yesterday. Yesterday, after we left the Myhrbergs' we drove to Mount Vernon. This is an amazing place. We spent about 5 hours there and could have easily spent 5 more. We saw so much while we were there. One of the first things was this building, a greenhouse and slave quarters.
Inside this building we saw the slave quarters, and a shoemaker's shop. Everything looked very authentic. We then went and saw Mrs. Washington. She was sitting telling stories and answering questions. The lady at the door said that the time period was after Washington's presidency. I thought that it would be a cheesy reanactment, but it was actually very fun. Mrs. Washington's voice made you just want to sit and listen to her for hours, and the stories she told were great. We then went and saw some of the buildings that had been restored. One of these buildings was a blacksmith shop with a blacksmith working in it. It was fun watching him work and as Dad pointed out, the bellows was huge!
Then we explored the outside of Washington's mansion, out on the grass on the Potomac side of the building. It was beautiful out there and the river was much wider than what I'm used to seeing for rivers. Here are some pictures from that side of the house.
Here is a picture of the house from the other side. We had to wait in line to go in, they sent everybody in in groups.
While we were waiting in line, Nelly Washington (Washington's granddaughter) came by. Jacob and Alyssa had their picture taken with her.
Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures inside the house. It was amazing though. The colors, the architecture, the rooms, everything was positively awe-inspiring. We saw the key to the Bastille which Lafayette gave to Washington, the bed on which Washington died, a huge collection of old books in Washington's study, an authentic harpsichord and so much more. Then we went down to see Washington's tomb. It was a very reverent place, with a few other pillars there for some of his descendents. Here is a picture of his tomb.
After the tomb we headed back to the entrance. There they had a museum and in the museum they had many artifacts from Washington's time. They had furniture, silverware, china, books, swords, the original wind vane, cloth fragments, letters, and the clay model for the bust made during his life that is said to be the most accurate representation of him ever made. That was about it for Mount Vernon. It was unforgettable and very inspiring.
Well, today we go to Harper's Ferry. It snowed overnight, but the roads are only wet. We saw pictures on the hotel's TV news of the cherry blossoms in Washinton, DC. They were covered with snow! The news report indicated that the blossoms were not damaged by the weather and should be at their peak when we arrive there next week. Hopefully I'll be more regular with pictures from now on.
"
This is a picture of Wolf Creek Pass the day that we went over it.
Jacob and Alyssa took the pass very well however, usually Alyssa gets sick on the pass, but not this time because we were driving about 20 miles/hour.
Here is a picture of the scenery around the Richmond airport. It was so green and pretty that I just had to try and get some pictures of it.
Now we're caught up to yesterday. Yesterday, after we left the Myhrbergs' we drove to Mount Vernon. This is an amazing place. We spent about 5 hours there and could have easily spent 5 more. We saw so much while we were there. One of the first things was this building, a greenhouse and slave quarters.
Inside this building we saw the slave quarters, and a shoemaker's shop. Everything looked very authentic. We then went and saw Mrs. Washington. She was sitting telling stories and answering questions. The lady at the door said that the time period was after Washington's presidency. I thought that it would be a cheesy reanactment, but it was actually very fun. Mrs. Washington's voice made you just want to sit and listen to her for hours, and the stories she told were great. We then went and saw some of the buildings that had been restored. One of these buildings was a blacksmith shop with a blacksmith working in it. It was fun watching him work and as Dad pointed out, the bellows was huge!
Then we explored the outside of Washington's mansion, out on the grass on the Potomac side of the building. It was beautiful out there and the river was much wider than what I'm used to seeing for rivers. Here are some pictures from that side of the house.
Here is a picture of the house from the other side. We had to wait in line to go in, they sent everybody in in groups.
While we were waiting in line, Nelly Washington (Washington's granddaughter) came by. Jacob and Alyssa had their picture taken with her.
Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures inside the house. It was amazing though. The colors, the architecture, the rooms, everything was positively awe-inspiring. We saw the key to the Bastille which Lafayette gave to Washington, the bed on which Washington died, a huge collection of old books in Washington's study, an authentic harpsichord and so much more. Then we went down to see Washington's tomb. It was a very reverent place, with a few other pillars there for some of his descendents. Here is a picture of his tomb.
After the tomb we headed back to the entrance. There they had a museum and in the museum they had many artifacts from Washington's time. They had furniture, silverware, china, books, swords, the original wind vane, cloth fragments, letters, and the clay model for the bust made during his life that is said to be the most accurate representation of him ever made. That was about it for Mount Vernon. It was unforgettable and very inspiring.
Well, today we go to Harper's Ferry. It snowed overnight, but the roads are only wet. We saw pictures on the hotel's TV news of the cherry blossoms in Washinton, DC. They were covered with snow! The news report indicated that the blossoms were not damaged by the weather and should be at their peak when we arrive there next week. Hopefully I'll be more regular with pictures from now on.
"
Saturday, March 26, 2011
On the East Coast
Hi everyone. Well we made it safely to Virginia. It is so hard to believe that we are actually here! Here's some of what has happened to us so far.
Our trip started out with quite a bang. As we were getting ready to leave a snow storm rolled in. We rushed to leave because we knew that we had to beat the storm to Wolf Creek Pass or else it would be a total mess. We raced to Wolf Creek only to find that we had caught up to the storm while we were on the pass. Thankfully we got behind a snow plow. The road was atrocious even with the plow and there was a box truck tailgating us some of the way. At the summit the plow turned off and then the road got really bad. The wind was bad too, it blew the snow across the road, making it almost a whiteout a couple times. Thankfully it didn't last and the tailgater passed us. I'll post some pictures of the pass probably either later today or tomorrow.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. Except that somewhere around Colorado Springs Alyssa's ear started bothering her really badly. It just wouldn't pop and she was miserable. Finally we got to the hotel in Denver where Alyssa got some pain killers and then she was fine.
We went to bed sometime between 9 and 10. Then we got up at 3:20 in order to get to the airport between 4 and 4:30 in order to get to our flight which left at 6. So we were up early, but the flight went well. It was Jacob's and Alyssa's first flight and they were super excited. They enjoyed most of the flight and it was a lot of fun to look down at the clouds beneath us, it was only my third flight after all. The problem came on when during decent. Alyssa's ear started killing her again and then she started getting motion sickness. Then Jacob's ear started hurting him. So neither of them enjoyed our landing in Atlanta. So we spent two hours in Atlanta recovering in preparation for the flight to Richmond. Once again both Jacob and Alyssa enjoyed the takeoff. On this decent Jacob did great, Alyssa still had a hard time, but not quite as bad as before. As we came in over the Virginia countryside Jacob and I marvelled at the beauty of the farms and everything. So we got in to Richmond and picked up our rental car, our minivan that the counter guy had unbelievably talked Mom and Dad into. As we left, again we marvelled at the greenness and beauty of Virginia. We even saw a couple Civil War era looking canons on leaving the airport. As we drove down the road I pictured in my head Union and Confederate, American and British soldiers fighting through the dense trees and foliage.
Finally we arrived at our friends, the Myhrbergs. They gave us an extremely warm welcome and we spent the rest of the evening talking and playing games. It was very relaxing. They have been such a blessing to us.
Well now you are caught up to today. We are still at the Myhrbergs', but will be leaving for Mount Vernon later this morning. I'll post some pictures once I get a chance.
Quote of the Day: "Look at the clouds!" --Probably most of us said that at 39,000 feet at some point yesterday. :)
Our trip started out with quite a bang. As we were getting ready to leave a snow storm rolled in. We rushed to leave because we knew that we had to beat the storm to Wolf Creek Pass or else it would be a total mess. We raced to Wolf Creek only to find that we had caught up to the storm while we were on the pass. Thankfully we got behind a snow plow. The road was atrocious even with the plow and there was a box truck tailgating us some of the way. At the summit the plow turned off and then the road got really bad. The wind was bad too, it blew the snow across the road, making it almost a whiteout a couple times. Thankfully it didn't last and the tailgater passed us. I'll post some pictures of the pass probably either later today or tomorrow.
The rest of the drive was uneventful. Except that somewhere around Colorado Springs Alyssa's ear started bothering her really badly. It just wouldn't pop and she was miserable. Finally we got to the hotel in Denver where Alyssa got some pain killers and then she was fine.
We went to bed sometime between 9 and 10. Then we got up at 3:20 in order to get to the airport between 4 and 4:30 in order to get to our flight which left at 6. So we were up early, but the flight went well. It was Jacob's and Alyssa's first flight and they were super excited. They enjoyed most of the flight and it was a lot of fun to look down at the clouds beneath us, it was only my third flight after all. The problem came on when during decent. Alyssa's ear started killing her again and then she started getting motion sickness. Then Jacob's ear started hurting him. So neither of them enjoyed our landing in Atlanta. So we spent two hours in Atlanta recovering in preparation for the flight to Richmond. Once again both Jacob and Alyssa enjoyed the takeoff. On this decent Jacob did great, Alyssa still had a hard time, but not quite as bad as before. As we came in over the Virginia countryside Jacob and I marvelled at the beauty of the farms and everything. So we got in to Richmond and picked up our rental car, our minivan that the counter guy had unbelievably talked Mom and Dad into. As we left, again we marvelled at the greenness and beauty of Virginia. We even saw a couple Civil War era looking canons on leaving the airport. As we drove down the road I pictured in my head Union and Confederate, American and British soldiers fighting through the dense trees and foliage.
Finally we arrived at our friends, the Myhrbergs. They gave us an extremely warm welcome and we spent the rest of the evening talking and playing games. It was very relaxing. They have been such a blessing to us.
Well now you are caught up to today. We are still at the Myhrbergs', but will be leaving for Mount Vernon later this morning. I'll post some pictures once I get a chance.
Quote of the Day: "Look at the clouds!" --Probably most of us said that at 39,000 feet at some point yesterday. :)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Day One
We have made it to Denver. I'll post more information and some pictures tomorrow. We are all tired from the long car trip, but we're here. Tomorrow we catch an early flight to Atlanta and from there to Richmond. Let the adventure begin!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Thanks for looking out for us
We've had a couple people ask about the security of our home since the topic of our blog is obviously about our trip away from home, and it's possible that people we don't know might somehow stumble onto this site. Thanks for thinking ahead for us! Actually, it's not a big concern because we'll have someone LIVING IN OUR HOME while we're gone. With all our critters to care for, there was really no other option. And the family who will be taking over the care of all the living creatures around here knows our routine really well. Besides that, our dogs will be running around like they always do, and they know who's "normal" around here. If all that isn't enough, it's also convenient that the Town Marshall is our neighbor, and he is also very familiar with how things should be. If all this foresight isn't enough, we'll trust in the mighty hand of our big God. No worries.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Mom's Turn
Hooray! We've been looking forward to and saving up pennies for this trip for several years. It's hard to believe it's really going to happen. We originally thought this would be a 3-week road trip with our tent trailer. As we got into more detailed planning, we realized it would actually be cheaper (surprise) to fly. This also gives us more time to see everything after we arrive. Exploring the countryside between here and there will have to wait for some other adventure.
This trip involves a lot of firsts for us. It's the first flight for Jacob and Alyssa, and the first time any of our kids have been east of Colorado. It's the first family vacation we've taken in almost 10 years that isn't camping or visiting our AZ family. It will include our first visit to Patrick Henry College, where Tyler hopes to be admitted in 2012. Actually, it will be the first time any of us have been to any of our destinations.
Of course we've woven our homeschool studies around each destination. The ties through ages of U.S. history are obvious, but we've also incorporated geography, government, Amish culture, bridge construction, manufacturing, the Atlantic, and lots of swimming creatures. And certainly we'll pick up more along the way! One of Tyler's assignments will be to maintain this blog, juggling occasional input from the rest of us.
We hope you enjoy traveling with us!
This trip involves a lot of firsts for us. It's the first flight for Jacob and Alyssa, and the first time any of our kids have been east of Colorado. It's the first family vacation we've taken in almost 10 years that isn't camping or visiting our AZ family. It will include our first visit to Patrick Henry College, where Tyler hopes to be admitted in 2012. Actually, it will be the first time any of us have been to any of our destinations.
Of course we've woven our homeschool studies around each destination. The ties through ages of U.S. history are obvious, but we've also incorporated geography, government, Amish culture, bridge construction, manufacturing, the Atlantic, and lots of swimming creatures. And certainly we'll pick up more along the way! One of Tyler's assignments will be to maintain this blog, juggling occasional input from the rest of us.
We hope you enjoy traveling with us!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Countdown
7 days, 3 1/2 hours, and 3 minutes before we leave. (approximately of course) We just can't wait!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
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