Goodbye Flying J

We’ve been fortunate that the US has such great truck stops like Flying J and Loves because we’ve never had to worry about where to sleep while on the road. For anyone on a US road trip, don’t hesitate to pull into a truck stop to crash for the night.

It was a beautiful day out and after a quick breakfast, it would be time to get to Oregon.

Finally made it to IN-N-OUT 

We’ve been meaning to try IN-N-OUT for a while and finally got the chance. WOW! Not only were the burgers amazing, but we loved how they have fresh lemon wedges to make some much-needed lemon water and chilis to have with the burgers. The fries at this particular location were also fantastic.

But since Dong Eun doesn’t eat beef, we went across the street for Chinese at Panda Express. I was slightly unsure it would be any good, but was surprised by the quality and cleanliness of this Chinese food franchise.

Keep moving

With our bellies full, we hit the road again and didn’t stop until we needed gas. We’ve been gassing up once we have about a quarter tank remaining, just to be sure we don’t run out. We kept going until that evening, as I wanted us to cross over into Oregon by nightfall.

Oregon, oh yes!

We got to Oregon and felt even closer to home. One great thing was how the landscape became more lush and green as we drove further north, another reminder of home.

That night, we slept early and pushed on to Portland, where we planned to do some final grocery shopping and be home by late evening.

Once we got to Portland, we went to Trader Joe’s for likely the final time. We’re going to miss Trader Joe’s, that’s for sure.

The home stretch

Dong Eun prepared one final delicious meal for us and again, we were so grateful for how much care and attention she’s put into ensuring we’ve eaten well on this trip.

US Postal Service is not for Canadians

We planned to send some packages from Oregon to friends and family overseas, but found out that you have to have a US address. We didn’t find out until after we had wrapped everything and stood in line. The good thing is that we learned something new and found that just about everyone in Oregon is super-friendly.

HOME!!!

We left Portland and booted it home. Well, we booted it as much as Juju Jr. would let us go and got to the Pacific Truck Crossing just after midnight. If it wasn’t so darn foggy, we would have probably arrived home earlier, but it sure felt great to walk into our place after being on the road for two and half months.

And now that we’re back, it’s going to take some time to readjust, but I’m sure we’ll still have lots going on as the learning never stops.

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

The post Road Trip Journal December 5 & 6, 2017 – The Mad Dash Home appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Ultimately, we chose Disney California Adventure Park (DCAP) because we knew that Ethan isn’t into Disney characters or any of the traditional Disney things. DCAP has more rides, which is what Ethan likes more so it was a pretty easy choice.

The more difficult decision was whether to stay 1, 2 or 3 days. We settled on one day because we felt that the money could be used for better things and because we could get home sooner. That turned out to be the right choice because after a day, we couldn’t imagine coming back for another day or two.

Ethan had a blast, of course, but even he was ok with just one day. The call of home was just too strong.

Early Birds

We slept at a rest area along the I-5 that was about an hour from Disneyland. This was perfect and allowed us to get there nice and early. We had some leftover spaghetti and meatballs to fuel up before hitting the park just after opening time.

Early meant short waits

Another benefit of going to DCAP early and on a weekday was the short wait times for popular rides. We got California Screamin’ without any wait at all, in fact. We did pick up a Fastpass for the Cars ride, though.

Overpriced for what you get

One thing we noticed was that you’re not getting much value compared to how much it costs to get in. We paid $324 for the three of us and couldn’t help but notice that Lotte World or Everland in Korea provided pretty much the same rides and scale of park for less than half the price.

Yes, it’s Disney so they can charge more based on the brand. That would have been fine if other areas of the park matched the price paid. For example, the bathrooms were not particularly clean, not all cast members were friendly or in “character” and from a social responsibility standpoint, I couldn’t believe that they still use paper towels and not hand dryers (which creates a huge amount of waste). Plus, the water fountains were dirty and the water itself was warm. Gross.

Then there’s the cost of food… Over $8 for a corn dog!? Glad we brought our own lunch.

And finally, the lack of plugs or charging stations for cell phones is unacceptable, in my opinion, because people are there all day and you’d think it would be encouraged to use our phones to snap pics and share them. It only makes sense to include outlets or charging stations throughout the park, but they had neither at DCAP. And don’t even get me started on the so-called wifi they had.

But still pretty fun

We still had a good time, especially Ethan, and that’s what really mattered.

So we did Disney. And now it was time to get home.

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

The post Road Trip Journal December 4, 2017 – Disney, but which one? appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

But first, we needed to get out of the Grand Canyon!

Phoenix 

We went by the Red Rock Canyon area of Arizona and also Sedona. We decided not to stop at either place so we did a drive by and kept going until we got to Phoenix by the late afternoon.

We had a fantastic dinner and stayed the night. It was great catching up and our plan was to leave in the morning.

However, we chose to stay until after dinner again so that Ethan could spend time with the other kids and for us to also spend time with the parents, as it had been some time since we last saw each other.

Next… San Diego!

We spent Saturday night at a rest area so we could be in San Diego around noon. We were really enjoying the warm weather after experiencing the cold for the last month or so.

San Diego didn’t disappoint and seeing the Pacific Ocean made us yearn for home. We knew we were now closer than we’ve been since we left and were quite excited.

But first, some time with another family who’s kids also went to the same preschool/kindergarten as the family in Phoenix.

San Diego was a blast, even if it was only for the day. By now, we were really itching to get home so we decided to leave and head north to Anaheim, as we had promised to take Ethan to Disneyland.

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

The post Road Trip Journal December 1, 2 & 3 – Old Schoolmates from Korea in Phoenix & San Diego appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

The Grand Canyon

We were so close to the Grand Canyon after driving over 20 hours from Washington, DC. It was a long haul to get to Arizona and we were finally less than an hour away. And then, there it was… the sign at the entrance to Grand Canyon National Park. Lucky there wasn’t anyone behind us because we had to stop and get a photo.

Day 1 at the Grand Canyon

I think anything related to the Grand Canyon is best expressed in photos. On Day 1, we mostly explored the area near the visitor’s centre. 

We got some info about what to do and grabbed something to eat from the van before heading out to explore.

The Park Rangers give free talks and we caught one about how the Grand Canyon was formed. It wasn’t the Colorado River as I had believed… or aliens. There were actually many rivers and streams that carved the canyon.

These little birds came to drink the spring water. So cool!

But mostly, we thought the Grand Canyon was awesome.

And the sunset was spectacular, even though it was a somewhat cloudy sky.

And another amazing meal by Dong Eun to cap off the night.

Grand Canyon Day 2

We camped nearby so we could catch the sunrise over the Grand Canyon. It was a lot colder than we thought but very cool to get an early start on the day.

A quick jog back to the van helped warm up Ethan.

We parked in a nearby picnic area and Dong Eun cooked breakfast outside. Ethan was craving hamburgers so it was cheeseburgers for breakfast.

We needed to shower and get some fresh water for Juju Jr., so we went to the camper services. There was an unexpected visit by the locals who also liked to get water from camper services.

When we pulled up, they wouldn’t leave. They only wanted a drink so there was really no danger, but we still kept our distance.

Hiking the Grand Canyon

Seeing the Grand Canyon from the rim is great, but hiking down is even better because you see so much more and can experience the Canyon up close.

We hiked for about an hour down and it took about two hours to come back up. Along the way, Ethan started writing messages on the rocks.

And we made sure to just enjoy the view.

Once we got back up to the rim, we tried to catch a Ranger Chat about the elk. All we got was to hold elk horns, which was quite cool.

Day 3 – The 1st of December!

We couldn’t believe it was now December. We’d been on the road since September 19, so it was quite surprising to see another month upon us. This would be our last day/morning at the Grand Canyon before heading to Phoenix.

It was another memorable morning, as we camped at the Desert View parking lot and had some company from some more locals.

Breakfast and then a bit more exploring.

And that was the Grand Canyon! Next up was Phoenix to visit old friends from Korea

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

The post Road Trip Journal November 29, 30 & December 1 – The Grand Canyon! appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

November 23: Thanksgiving at the Museum

We had an open invitation from Charles and Dena to have Thanksgiving dinner with them and decided to take them up on their offer. And why not? It was better to spend the day with friends, instead of driving for several hours on our own. But first, we went back to the Museum of Natural History, since the first trip was cut short on Monday.

This is an amazing place and we could have easily spent an entire week in here. But we only had the one day and made the most of it. An important part was realizing why we should take moose warnings on the highway seriously. These suckers are huge!!

The other parts were cool, too.

Ethan’s favourite part was Q?rius, a section made for kids to explore and discover all kinds of cool things. As a home learner, this part of the museum, and really, the entire museum, were awesome. I can easily see us spending nearly every day here and I’m sure there are homeschoolers that do just that.

Dinner

Dinner was an early 4:30pm start, which worked out great and is something we’d like to try if we ever have a big dinner event like this at our place. We were so thankful to have been invited and were so happy to meet Charles and Dena’s relatives and close friends. What a great group of people… and a fantastic dinner cooked up by Charles.

Also cool was that all the name cards were written by Charles and Dena’s daughter, Avalon.

The Show

The highlight of the night, however, was the show the kids organized and performed. There was also a haunted house and payment for all the entertainment was $1 or some Monopoly money. It was pretty amazing that the three kids planned and got everything ready in a couple hours.

After food and a show, it was time for us to move on and say goodbye. It was an amazing and unforgettable time for all of us. And it was even better because Dong Eun and Dena really hit it off, and so did Ethan and Avalon. It was magical.

November 24: National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

On the way out of Washington DC, we stopped at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which was an amazing place. And it was also free just like so many of the other museums in the DC area. Parking was $15 but was well worth it.

One cool thing is the scavenger hunt they had for kids. A souvenir and other gifts were the reward and Ethan happily accepted the challenge of finding planes with animal names.

So many cool planes, like the SR-71 Blackbird.

We took the free tour and got a great education about the various planes, but were very excited to see the Space Shuttle Discovery and the Canada Arm!

Lucky we brought our own lunch because all they had was McDonald’s (sorry Uncle Willy).

Ethan was excited about one plane, in particular: The Concorde! He’s been talking about the Concorde for a while because it traveled at twice the speed of sound. So cool to see it in person.

Afterwards, Ethan wanted to try out a ponytail before heading back to claim his scavenger hunt prizes. Overall, a very cool day here.

Korean Food!

Charles mentioned that there were Korean restaurants and shops nearby, so we found the H-Mart and got our fill of Korean food. Much needed!

November 25: Nashville to Albuquerque to Arizona… and Route 66, too

We now had to get to Arizona and the Grand Canyon as quickly as possible because we really want to get home by early December. That meant staying on the highway and sleeping at the rest areas and not straying too far off to do any sightseeing. That meant blowing through Memphis and not stopping by Graceland, but oh well. The rest areas in Tennessee were quite nice, complete with picnic tables and grassy areas to walk around in.

Ethan found time amongst all the driving to work on origami and keep himself busy.

On the way, you’d think that going to Nashville would mean checking out some country music, but for us, it meant stopping at a Vietnamese Pho place for dinner and driving further.

The rest areas had cool names, too.

Oh! No propane stove!

I almost forgot to mention that we haven’t had our stove since Thanksgiving. That night, we smelled propane and later, we noticed that all the propane had leaked out. We’re not sure what happened, but that’s why we’re having sandwiches and cereal. We also have to find other food options that require no cooking until we figure out what’s going on, or until we buy a portable butane stove.

So that’s why we had Costco food and picked up a roast chicken to have with the Thanksgiving leftovers we got from Charles and Dena.

And of course, Ethan had time to make a rocket.

Places we went through

We bombed it through Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. We decided to drive 65mph to make up some time and it worked, as we got to New Mexico by Sunday after leaving Washington DC and Virginia on Friday afternoon. The time on the phone was after 5 hours of driving and putting in the Grand Canyon Visitors Center as the destination. And we were on Route 66 from Oklahoma City onwards. Route 66 is basically I-40, but veers off at certain points.

Near Albuquerque

We started making cold brew coffee and tea because we can’t boil water. Ethan made a special funnel to help get the coffee into the plastic bottle we’re using for the coffee.

Very cool scenery along the way, as well as tumbleweeds that kids can catch.

At the rest stop in Texas, we met two different Canadian travellers: One was from Winnipeg on his way to California; another was a retired couple heading to their winter home in Phoenix. Quite cool to meet them here.

We made a couple stops to check out the views and Ethan got to make a new video about the origami projects he was working on.

New Mexico, at last!

Juju Jr. is Tired

Once we got the New Mexico, I started noticing that Juju Jr. was driving a bit sluggishly and seemed to be losing power, especially up the hills. I didn’t think it was too serious, but then we started hearing a rattling/clacking sound from the engine bay and we really started to lose power. It got so bad that we could barely do 60kph and the engine was hesitating a lot.

Along the way, we noticed that Juju Jr. was low on engine oil. This was odd because we had the front crank seal replaced in Winnipeg and at the oil change in Charlottetown, NB, there was no oil leaking. So we’ve been adding a quart of oil to top up when we see the oil getting too low.

Anyway, we basically limped into a 24 hour truck stop and decided to spend the night there and see what the issue was in the morning. Juju Jr. started up fine so it wasn’t the coil we just got replaced. I was thinking it was the spark plug wires also being corroded but had to wait until morning to check.

What to do in New Mexico?

If you’re Ethan, you make a new comic book series based on your life, that’s what!

And you create a new way to hold your allowance.

OUCH!

We managed to get Juju Jr. going on the highway and he was running well enough that we made it to the only auto supply store with the spark plug wires in stock. We got to Pep Boys and were getting out of the van when Ethan accidentally got his right middle finger slammed in the front door. I’m sure it hurt, but he was a tough little trooper and got himself patched up. It definitely hurt and he was out of commission for some time. He’s ok now, luckily.

Pep Boys is Good

I called Felipe at Alexandria VW to see if he had any idea about what was going on with Juju Jr. He said that it could be corroded spark plug wires, so with that confirmation of what I was thinking, I checked the wires and sure enough, they were all corroded.

I don’t know why they would be corroded after only 6 months, but maybe it was from driving through the Maritimes and getting battered with rain and sea water spray in St. John’s, NL.

Lucky I brought tools. Next time, I’ll bring a torque wrench and a few other things, just in case.

With the spark plug wires in place, I fired up Juju Jr. and thankfully, he ran smoothly and had regained all the power he lost…Plus, no more clacking noise. Yay!

Lunch at Trader Joe’s

We got some food before the next leg of our trip, which was to get to Arizona. Yes, we do love Trader Joe’s, by the way.

Cool scenery and Arizona!

It was like watching all those cowboy movies and shows about the desert. So cool to see in person. And very cool that Juju Jr. drove smoothly and without any noise. Totally awesome job, Juju Jr.

And finally, we got to Arizona! We’re so close to the Grand Canyon now!

Propane?

We wanted to try out the stove one last time before buying a camping stove. We pulled into a Flying J and quickly found out the leak is real. Willie, the attendant, didn’t charge us for the gallon of propane once he saw that there was a leak. Very cool of him.

But we had to wait for the propane to leak out, so we hung out in the Flying J’s lounge area. These truck stops are amazing places.

Dinner!

With the one gallon of propane slowly leaking out, Dong Eun realized that she could cook and make use of the gas we had, instead of just waiting for it to all leak out. So she made an awesome brown rice with seafood and kale dinner for us.

Tomorrow, we will try to get to the Grand Canyon and spend a day or two there. It’s supposed to be about -5C at night but we can’t wait to see the sunrise and sunset.

The post Road Trip Journal November 23-28, 2017: US Thanksgiving and Thankful for Pep Boys appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Morning

The day started with a buffet breakfast here at the Marriott Residence Inn Capital View.

After breakfast, we heard from Felipe at Alexandria VW… He told me that Juju Jr. started up fine and was ready to continue the road trip. This was exciting news, even though we’ve been enjoying the hotel, because it’s time to keep going.

Thanksgiving Dinner?

We had a decision to make: Pick up Juju Jr. and leave or accept Charles’ Thanksgiving dinner invitation. We decided to accept the invitation and experience our first US Thanksgiving with good friends, rather than drive with all the people on the freeway heading somewhere for the holiday. We’re all excited to see Charles and his family again and enjoy a nice dinner.

Chilling out

Ethan spent the rest of the day working on his new websites. He’s been using Wix to build the sites and has been learning a lot about design, layout and publishing a website.

Dong Eun spent the day resting and catching up on movies she hasn’t had a chance to see. And I worked on this blog, work projects and caught some movies, too. All in all, it was a great day to relax for all of us.

Before we had the coil issue with Juju Jr., Ethan had made a DIY hand warmer out of a plastic cup. He cut slits in the cup for vents. You hold the cup over your mouth and gently blow while your hands cover the vents. It’s also a frisbee if you compress it, like in the first photo below.

Tomorrow, we check out and will try to visit the Museum of Natural History again before going to Charles and Dena’s for Thanksgiving. Can’t wait!

The post Road Trip Journal November 22, 2017 – Chilling Out in DC appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Morning

We all loved staying at the hotel. It was probably the right time to take a break from the road after 9 weeks. Ethan and I liked the free wifi and Ethan was up early working on creating a Wix website to teach people tips on how to use a computer.(theres a link in the ‘about’ section)

Buffet Breakfast

The hotel had a make-your-own-waffle station so this was a fun way for Ethan to get his breakfast. The rest of the food was quite good, with the usual assortment of eggs, sausages, fresh fruit, cereal, and bread. Overall, we were very satisfied with the food.

Marriott needs to address this

What we were not impressed by at all was the use of paper plates, bowls and cups and plastic utensils. There were non-paper and non-plastic options, but there weren’t as many. For example, I had to use a paper cup for my coffee and the cereal bowls were all gone. There were no glasses for juice, only paper cups. The Marriott needs to seriously reconsider how much trash they are creating on a daily basis. At least there were separate bins for compost/organics and plastics.

Hotel Fun

Ethan found the foosball table and enjoyed a game with another kid staying at the hotel.

The rest of the day was spent working on his website, me catching up on blog posts and work, and waiting for Alexandria VW to let us know what’s happening with Juju. Jr. I was getting a bit worried when we didn’t hear from Felipe until nearly 2 pm.

Juju Jr.’s diagnosis

I decided to go to Alexandria VW because I had to get some food and clothing from Juju Jr. We already decided to stay an extra night at the hotel because we weren’t sure what was happening with Juju Jr. Alexandria VW has a free shuttle service, which was very cool.

When I arrived at Alexandria VW,Felipe had some good news… They got Juju Jr. started again and it was just the coil. The coil transmits power from the battery to the spark plugs, as far as I understand, and if faulty, can cause hesitation during driving (which happened) and even stalling for no reason (which happened).

Juju Jr. is a 1994 Westfalia camper van, so it wasn’t too surprising that parts start to go. But I’m pretty sure the coil was replaced about 3 or 4 months ago back home, but perhaps it was a lower quality coil that was put in. Or the fact that we’ve driven over 8,000kms since leaving Vancouver could explain the coil failure. Anyway,Felipe ensured me that the new coil would be up to VW quality standards, so I’m confident this will last longer.

Felipe told me he could get a new coil by either today or tomorrow morning, and fortunately, he had it in on the same day. I was really impressed by not onlyFelipe, but every person I dealt with at Alexandria VW… Ashley, Makayla, Megan, the sales staff who were there the first night… sorry if I forgot anyone, but you all rocked.

Felipe suggested keeping Juju Jr. overnight to ensure the coil was working properly and that we wouldn’t have any other issues. I appreciated his thoughtfulness and thoroughness, and since we already booked another night at the hotel, it was fine to leave Juju Jr. at Alexandria VW.

I also liked that the initial diagnosis would be included in the price of the coil replacement. So we wouldn’t have to pay extra for the work that needed to be done. Awesome!

Evening

The rest of the day was spent chilling out at the hotel and getting laundry done. The hotel has a guest laundry room where it costs $3 for washing and has free drying. Very cool and perfect timing for us.

Tomorrow, we’ll see how Juju Jr. is doing and figure out our next step. It’s getting close to US Thanksgiving, and Charles had invited us to spend it with his family, so… we’ll see what happens.

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

The post Road Trip Journal November 21, 2017 – Hotel Day & Juju Jr.’s Diagnosis appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Morning

Each morning, we’re grateful to be on this journey together. And it’s always heartwarming, and fun, to see Ethan connecting with Dong Eun.

We made a stop at Trader Joe’s because our plan was to see the White House, visit the Museum of Natural History and then, leave DC. Ethan found “Billy” at Trader Joe’s and got some free treats. He then had to hide Billy for another kid to find.

Outside, we had a nice chat with a local about our trip and her travels, too. Always nice to meet people and have a way to connect with them. It’s probably a good experience for Ethan to chat with new people, too.

Ethan made a flower for Dong Eun out of a paper cup and we had some lunch before heading to the White House.

It was a little chilly so we got some coffee and hot chocolate. Ethan wanted to show how he could make a bubble come out from the cup lid. We like that he finds something fun or interesting everywhere he is.

The White House

Basically, we saw it. It was smaller than I thought it would be, but it was cool to at least see it in person.

Museum of Natural History

Dong Eun and Ethan went in while I waited to find a parking spot. The museum was pretty awesome and well worth a longer visit. This visit was cut short, though…

Juju Jr.’s Surprise

Shortly before 4 pm, I had to find a parking spot because there was no street parking from 4 to 6:30 pm. My plan was to drive to the free parking area we’ve been using and walk back to the museum. But Juju Jr. had something to say about that.

As I drove through the 9th Street Tunnel, Juju Jr. started sputtering and stalled…twice. I luckily managed to get him through the tunnel, but since it was 4 pm, rush hour had begun. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t start again.

The bigger issue was that Ethan and Dong Eun were at the museum, but luckily, they were able to catch a free bus and walk to where the van was.

It took AAA a few hours, but eventually, Tyrone showed up with his tow truck to take Juju Jr. to Alexandria VW. It’s great how my BCAA membership works all across the US, so the towing was free.

The folks at Alexandria VW were awesome and let us know that since the dealership was open until 9 pm, we could go there and get ourselves sorted out. Ethan and Dong Eun took an Uber, while I rode in the tow truck.

Once we were all at Alexandria VW, we found a hotel nearby and settled in for the night. The hotel has a full kitchen so we were able to cook dinner there and get some rest.

Juju Jr. will be looked at in the morning, and I’m sure he’s in capable hands with Philippé and his service team.

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

The post Road Trip Journal November 20, 2017 – The White House, Natural History & Juju Jr.’s Surprise appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

Morning – Coffee at Misha’s

We met up with Charles at Misha’s in Old Town and had a great time chatting with his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. What an incredibly nice, close-knit family. We are so fortunate to have met such great people on the trip. And on top of that, Ethan has made a new friend in Avalon, Charles and Dena’s daughter.

Ethan brought Monopoly Deal to the coffee shop and had a great time playing it with Charles and Avalon. Charles is a lot more competitive than I thought! 🙂

Afternoon – Ethiopian Food!

We spent a lot of time at Misha’s and couldn’t have cared less because we were having such a great time. But we were starting to get a bit hungry, so we decided to try a local Ethiopian restaurant that Charles and Dena recommended.

We took Avalon with us while her parents ran an errand. This was great for Ethan because he and Avalon had more time to play together. We stopped at Gravelly Park and Ethan showed Avalon how to fold some origami.

When we finally got to the restaurant and ate, it was turned out to be well worth it because the food was amazing. I had no idea what to expect, but was happy to see that Ethiopian food had a bit of Indian flavour/style to it.

Evening – More Food

After saying our goodbyes to Charles and family, we went to the local Whole Foods to get something for Dong Eun. But when we got there, Ethan said he was hungry. So, lucky for both of us, we had some pizza and hung out at Whole Foods to use the free wifi.

Tomorrow, the plan is to see the White House and visit the Museum of Natural History. Let’s see how it turns out.

If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.

The post Road Trip Journal November 19, 2017 – Sunday Coffee & Ethiopian Food appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.

The post Road Trip Journal November 11-18, 2017 in Pictures appeared first on How to Do Stuff With Ethan.