And I'm so excited for you.

I want to come back to the post you just wrote, but I want to send you that list of things to see in D.C. that I promised so long ago. I didn't realize you were leaving so soon! (Let me know how the Arkansas diamond-mining thing goes. My son's been wanting to go there. Poker, diamond-mining -- he's always on the lookout for some quick way to make a buck, and he thinks we ought to pack up and camp out in Arkansas until we've mined enough to fill New Paint from stem to stern.)

(Question -- it sounds like you were personally affected by the Oklahoma City bombings? I'm a newbie to BWS, so don't know you as well as the other ladies do, but it sounds like you experienced the trauma of that day firsthand?)
____

Washington D.C. ideas -- No particular order, and I'm not even going to try to be neat or pay attention to grammar or punctuation. Just a brain-dump. For phone numbers, area code is 202:

1. Obviously, all the Mall must-sees -- White House, Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian (www.si.edu ) and all the great, free museums. National Archives with the REAL Declaration of Independence (Alex should get a kick out of that), the Air and Space Museum
( www.nasm.edu ) -- every kid's favorite (and, I've read, the most visited museum on earth). The National Museum of American History (americanhistory.si.edu) has lots of fun exhibits for kids - George Washington's tent to Oscar's Sesame Street garbage can. The Washington Monument, which is once again open. You can climb to the top. The Vietnam Memorial is incredibly moving. Just walking slowly and reading and touching the thousands of names has a powerful impact.
2. A good way to tour the city is via the Tourmobile. you can hop on and off all day long, and it's narrated, so you know what you're looking at.
3. The new National Museum of the American Indian. On the Mall. Given your Cherokee heritage and your knowledge of native cultures, you can help Alex connect with his roots.
4. The National Building Museum ( www.nbm.org )-- This is a giant indoor space with colossal columns and, if it's raining, kids can roam around free in here, like being in a cathedral without having to be quiet.
5. Union Station - 15-minute walk from the Mall. - A giant, fabulous architectural wonder. Modeled in part on the Baths of Caracalla in ancient Rome.
6. Capital Children's Museum ( www.ccm.org ) - Lots of hands-on fun for kids
7. National Zoological Park ( natzoo.si.edu ) - Stork-feeding at 10:30 am, elephant training at 11 am, pelican feeding at 1 pm, and so on.
8. National Museum of Natural History ( www.mnh.si.edu ) - dinosaur bones, geodes, IMAX theater, major jewels and gems (compare your haul from the Arkansas mine to the Hope Diamond...)
9. C&O Canal Towpath -- out of the hubbub and heat of the city, it runs from the Georgetown section of D.C. to Maryland. You can bike, walk, jog, etc.
10. Rock Creek Park - More green space. 3,000 acres of streams, meadows and woods.
11. Rent rollerblades. What a cool way to cruise the mall and take in the sites -- Go "inline!" - $15/day rentals at Ski Center, 4300 Fordham Rd., N.W. ( www.skicenter.com )966-4474.
12. Bike the Sites -- ( www.bikethesites.com ) - A three-hour, 8-mile bike tour, including bike and snack. (966-8662).
13. DC Ducks - ( www.dcducks.com ) - About $25/head. Ride in an original WWII amphibious vehicle. See sights on the Mall, then plop right into the Potomac for a cruise.
14. Rent a canoe or kayak and cruise the Potomac on your own steam - Rent at Jack's Boathouse (337-9642), below the Key Bridge in Georgetown.
15. Theodore Roosevelt Isalnd - ( www.nps.gov/this ) - A little island oasis in the city with 2.5 miles of paths, including the Swamp Trail, where you should see birds and such.
16. Flea market on Saturdays and Sundays (check first) at Eastern Market ( www.easternmarket.net ) - 7th St. & N. Carolina Ave., SE - silver, trinkets, rugs, jewelry, vintage stuff. you can eat lunch at Eastern Market, too.
17. National Geographic Society Headquarters (hey, Smile, you can get ideas for that WORLD TOUR here) --
( www.nationalgeographic.com/explorer ) - 1145 17th St., NW. - 18-foot replica of the Titanic, cool exhibits, awesome photography. Like walking through the magazine from its early days to today. (I tried to leave writing samples around the joint but left without a job offer.)
Old Town Trolley Tours - another hop-on/hop-off deal. (832-9800) - ( www.trolleytours.com ) - Two-hour tour, or get on and off as you wish all day.
18. Arlington National Cemetery
19. Alexandria, Virginia -- go to Old Town. Looks just like it did in colonial times. My friend Terry used to live in a townhouse on Duke Street, one of the oldest. She said it was amazing to live here.

I am not even going to check this for typos. Just hit send. Back later.

Dotsie: LPennin104@aol.com is her email addy. She's in Provence right now.
011-33490-774383

About six hours ahead of EST there.

Thanks Lori. I love all those ideas. I lived there for a couple of years in the late seventies and have been back several times on business so I knew some of that, but you have lots of new ideas too.

I know Alex will love the museums of natural history. I can't remember, do you know if that is the one with all the gem stones in it? I want to see that again. And he will love the big dinosaur bones. He found a huge bone in our creek and we're taking it along cause he thinks it might be from a dinosaur.

I can't remember where G. Washington threw that silver dollar over the Potomac. My kids and I went there once, but I forgot where it is and I can't seem to find it. Anyone know where it is. I think Alex would like that.

Of course he is more excited about the diamonds that he is sure to find than anything else so far. Oh well....
smile
I was a first responder at the okc bombing. It forever changed me. More than I could ever have imagined. The EMDR helped though. As it did all who took part I think.

Smile, I can't imagine having been on the scene at such a heartbreaking disaster. You must be one incredibly strong and wonderful person. I'm now even more intrigued by the eye movement therapy. When you talk about using it to combat stage fright, by walking fast or running, or even just visualizing that, I think of the importance that the physical act of running has in my life. (And I can't run right now -- Xrays this week ruled out osteoarthritis, but MRIs tomorrow will search for herniated disk or stress fracture...but I digress...).

As I start to run, I feel a bit discombobulated, out of myself. Then, as I become calm and get a rhythm, stress just floats away. I become like a unit with the space I'm running through, and I feel strong and in control. It is a truly empowering feeling. And, I find that the longer I go, the deeper the feeling becomes. A 15-mile run grounds me and settles my soul better than a four-mile run. When I'm running short, I sometimes don't get through the part where I'm totally focused on me and how I'm feeling, and there's not enough time to destress. But when I go long, I run through that "hump," and then start relating to trees, birds, what the clouds look like, every detail of the environment I'm in. It's remarkble.

I thought you probably knew about some of those D.C. sites. There's just so much to do in that city. And yes, the Natural History museum is the one with all the gems. How cool that Alex is bringing his BONES along on the trip. Even if they turn out not to be from a dinosaur -- which would be remarkable -- something for his local newspaper to write a story about -- it will be fun for him to have a scientist or curator take a look and give him a "professional opinion."

Dotsie, I'm glad you were able to send my suggestions off to your son. He'll find his own things to do, but it's nice to have a jumping-off point. What a trip he's going to have. Such beautiful places.

And islands with lush beaches? I'm not much of a sit-on-the-beach type, so I'm not the go-to-gal for recommendations on islands and resorts.

However, last February Mike and I took the kids to Jamaica to the Sunset Beach Resort in Montego Bay. It was an all-inclusive, something I vowed I'd never do, but am glad I did. We had an absolute blast there. It was a great place, we all loved it, and I highly recommend it. If you cruise my blog, you'll find a post that I wrote a few months ago called, "Ya, mon. In Jamaica, even the soup is smiling." It's about Sunset Beach. And, I found it by surfing through my favorite travel website, which I recommended some posts back, www.TripAdvisor.com. Awesome site.

I have visited some incredible non-island beaches. I will always remember the beach at Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica. Pristine. Like Gilligan's Island ( or Lost). The other beauty that sticks in my mind is Stinson Beach, north of San Francisco as you head up the California coast toward Bodega Bay. And, the beaches of the far western Algarve coast in Portugal, near Cabo Sao Vicente, where Portugal juts out into the Atlantic. These beaches are backed by towering ocher- and rust-colored cliffs, and they are hidden from the world above. I remember one in particular that reminded me of the beach that Charlton Heston rides on at the end of the original "Planet of the Apes." Otherworldly.

Good morning. Smile must be doing some packing today? Exciting stuff. Don't forget the duct tape. Danita must be packing, too? Custer State Park is only a week away. Two boomer road trips about to launch. Very cool.

I had two nice things happen yesterday, one related to writing and the other to travel -- and trust -- the kind of trust I talked about in relation to Alex, Smile's precious cargo.

First, I sold two small travel stories to an online magazine. Then, I got an email from my friend, Rhonda (my Nashville friend whom I write about in "Ribbons"). I'm interviewing her (and Danita--thanks, Danita!) for the homeschooling article.

Rhonda wrote me and asked if, in a few years, when her daughter Erin is in 12th grade and my daughter Dana is in 11th, "if you haven't seen every corner of the world by then," would I consider including Erin in one of our trips. Rhonda's traveled with me twice and, she said, "you took such could care of me on our trips, that I know you would be good for Erin. You and Dana would be good for Erin."

I called Dana over to read Rhonda's email, and we both had the same reaction. We were deeply touched and honored that Rhonda would ask us to give Erin something she can't, and that she would trust us with her precious cargo.

I promptly emailed back a resounding, "Yes!"

Lori,
What a blessing and a compliment to be so respected by the mother of that girl. You must not only be a trusted friend, but a respected mother.

I'm not packing yet. I'm just home from my speaking thing and I'm chilling out til tomorrow then we start the packing. Taking Duct tape for sure. In fact, my husband wouldn't go anywhwere without it.

Your post about running is so perceptive. I had ankle surgery in December and am still recovering, but I was just talking to my husband about how I love running and how much joy it brought me. It's kind of spiritual and indescribably joyful in both body and soul, isn't it.
Your descriptions of running, just like your descriptions of traveling, made me want so much to run again, and soon.

Back to the trip, Alex is so excited and I am too. He is a pretty good artist and I bought him a book of art paper and colored pencils to keep a drawing journal of our trip. I also bought some little put together type toys, one for each day so if he gets bored, he can have something new to play with.
You've got me so excited, I can hardly wait to get on the road.
smile

[ May 21, 2005, 11:00 PM: Message edited by: smilinize ]

Oh, the excitment of an impending trip. A road trip -- the best kind. Pulling out of your driveway and heading across pieces of America. With your grandson. Savor every moment, Smile. What a gift that you're able to do this.

On all of our journeys, especially the "Ribbons" journey, I made sure the kids were supplied with sketch pads and journals. They recorded some remarkable insights and images, as I'm sure Alex will, as well. You may end up with art suitable for framing. Hope you've got the wall space!

So, you're a runner, too. Cool beans. Was your ankle surgery to repair a running injury? Injury comes with the territory, especially as you get older, but you just heal up and get back out there. I look at every mile as a gift, and I enjoy the heck out of every outing. I look forward to finding out what's wrong with me this time, learning what I need to do to fix it, then hitting the road again.

Is your husband excited about your trip?

I've been meaning to post this:

To thank Dotsie for the honor of being a BoomerWomenSpeak Featured Author and to thank all of you for sharing your time and your thoughts with me'd, I'd like to offer signed copies of "Ribbons of Highway: A Mother-Child Journey Across America" at a special rate to anyone who reads this post now, and at any time in the future.

While you can order "Ribbons of Highway" through the usual channels like the publisher
( www.booklocker.com/books/1451.html ) or Amazon ( www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1591134536/ ), if you'd like a signed copy, I will pay the shipping and will also take a dollar off the book's price for anyone who finds me through this thread. (BWS member or not. If you're reading this, the offer applies.)

When you send your check for $13.95 per copy, simply write the word "Boomer" on it. And let me know to whom you'd like your book(s) inscribed. If the book is a gift, please let me know if you'd like a special message or sentiment expressed in the inscription. My address is:

Lori Hein, 40 Williams St., N. Easton, MA 02356

Again, I will honor this offer at any time. The word "Boomer" on your check is the secret code that will have your books on their way to you. Feel free to let your friends in on the secret, too.

"In traveling, a man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge." -- Samuel Johnson, 1778

My grandson always suffers from car sickness. Begins to vomit. What do you do for that?

Scientists think motion sickness occurs when three parts of the body that sense motion -- the eyes, the inner ear and the joints in the leg area -- sense that motion in some unbalanced way, sending a signal to the brain that something isn't quite right, and causing symptoms like fatigue, sweating, dizziness and vomiting.

Some ways to handle motion sickness include taking Dramamine or Bonine before a trip. Both are effective, over-the-counter drugs. If using in children, be sure to check with the child's pediatrician. One caution: Dramamine comes in both tabs to be swallowed and in chewable form. Make sure you know which you've got. Chewing the swallow-tabs creates a burning in the throat that is truly mericiless -- you'll wish for motion sickness instead.

Other ways to mitigate the effects of motion sickness: ginger -- ginger snaps, ginger ale; a carbonated beverage -- Coke, ginger ale; mild crackers such as saltines or oyster crackers; fresh air -- open the window, and, as soon as it's safe to do so, stop the car and let the affected person get out, walk around and stretch; avoid reading, or other "busy" eye activities; make sure a person who suffers from car sickness sits in a seat with a good, unobstructed view of what's passing outside -- someone sunk low in a seat, or squeezed between luggage or other passengers may not be able to make his eyes connect to the motion that he knows is occuring, which can lead to the imbalance mentioned above.

And, just in case, bring along a few paper lunch bags tucked inside plastic bags and keep them handy, along with a little bottle of antibacterial hand cleaner.