The Cernoias Signing Off

Well, as many of our East Coast friends now know - we made it back!  Sorry for all the cloak and dagger, but Dylan's great desire was to surprise everyone at church.  We had to stretch our trip by a few days, swear a few people to secrecy (you know who you are!), and post a few evasive blogs, but we certainly did surprise more than a few people! 



We started this adventure with a quote from Bilbo, so it seems fitting to end with one from Frodo:

"There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, 
it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same."

We've seen alot: history, museums, landscapes, animals, people, churches, nature, cultures, mountains, friends.  Really just so much amazing stuff.  Some that felt like home, and some uhm, not so much.  Micah is more than just 3 inches taller on the outside, and Dylan has amazed me.  Maybe Frodo is right, but for our part it sure is nice to see friends we've missed for 4 months!!!  And sleep in our own beds...and have a refrigerator (oh glory!) and...I would say unpack, but that may be awhile!

Thanks for sticking with us, it was fun to have you all along for the ride!  And you just never know when we might resurrect this baby, so stay in touch!

All That is Wrong With America - Part 3

Our journey continues.  We have become some weird wandering minstrels trying to find what is wrong with America.  So here we go...  (I guess even being within a days drive of 40% of the population doesn't exempt us from internet woes...so a day late, but here we are!)

What's wrong here is that Montana got such an epic portion of sky.  The other states will be jealous!  (Except AZ, it got a pretty decent share as well.)

What's this suppose to be?!  Therapeutic?  Artistic?  Soothing, relaxing?  It's really wallpaper from a hotel room in MT and I tell you: It's just wrong!

What's wrong with this?
1.  That it's so beautiful.
2.  That nobody knows about Glacier!
3.  That we aren't there RIGHT NOW!!!

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!!!

If you can't tell Micah is writing this blog, which makes Dylan with a beard even more wrong!

Mom is suppose to be a example of goodness and niceness (not to mention healthy food choices), but here she is at night attacking a s'more! Just wrong!

Actually this picture was taken while we were all eating s'more's and I accidentally left the flash on.  So we got the compromising picture of mom.  Ops, sorry mom!

"Hey mom, I think I just lost my appetite."

Well, now we can buy more than one used cow, but can we can test drive them???

Yellowstone is the mutant of all National Parks, I mean boiling, acidic water that is the only place certain microbes can live?!  The ground alive with boiling mud?...Herds of Bison warming themselves on geyser heated soil....   Weird, strange, wrong.

Yeah, right!  These poor delusional souls can believe what they want, but seriously we all know that God's a Patriots fan!  I mean the sky is blue, the snow is white, and fire is red!  How much more proof do you need?

Normally it's the kids holding the teddy bear, not the teddy bear holding two kids!!  Wrong!







Day's, no. 
Month's, no. 
Week's, yes.  What!?!?!?!?  Do I have to buy 'used' weeks - or are they fresh?

An elephant made from a towel.  A little TOO much time on your hands? Right.  Actually, no, wrong.

"Where do you live?" 
"No name." 
"Okay............"

So seriously - we've what, run out of names?






Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!  Denver the home of Cape Cod chips, no way!  Who are they kidding...but we've already established that they are delusional.

Gotta love the south.

(I think you can click on the pics to see them bigger.)

Rebels, yes... But mom made us do it :-)

That's as many wrongs as we have found thus far, how many more do you need?  It's clear that America is in some deep trouble.

Out for now -
Micah (with some help from mom and Dylan)

All That is Wrong With America - Part 2

Let's jump in, because we found that there is just so much 'wrong' with America and our reading public needs to be informed!

Let's be honest, these dramatized pictures should strike terror in hearts of all thinking Americans.  If you look up 'wrong' in the dictionary these might be the pictures you'd see...deep breath!












This speaks for it's self!

Some might say there are a few things wrong with this photo, but I'm wondering how did the Colonel get away with white after Labor Day?  I thought that was wrong...

How did this happen?  When we started I was taller!!!  I didn't feed him much (ask Noah road food is limited), I bonk him regularly on the head - all my efforts have been in vain, alas!

Maybe the question isn't: 'What is wrong with Iowa?'
But can anyone thing of anything right with Iowa? 

"Honey, look what I got at the store - chocolate milk flavored gin for little Johnny and cherry flavored tequila for little Cindy!"  Wrong!  Wrong!  Wrong!  Leave it to Iowa...

There's nothing wrong with our great visit to the kaleidoscope maker in Iowa, except that his is the only viable business in the 'downtown' and we now refer to the town as the Zombie Zone.  The abandoned area looked like a great place for a B film with lots of ketchup! And a side note here might be that this picture immortalized Micah's first pair of sunglasses...he's on his fourth pair.  I would say that's 'wrong', but he takes after his Dad (just ask Corey, she kindly supplied Pete with a case of glasses every few months!).  I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! 

This is actually the Walmart (future Walmart?) according to Shirley-Lynn our helpful GPS.  We are convinced she is just not right in the head (well, if she had a head)!  Well, whatever her 'issues' are - she is WRONG a fair share of the time.  I am left wondering if we could have been home a month ago if we'd used good ole fashioned maps.

"Babe, did you wash my work clothes?"
Recession, 10% jobless rate, so you got to do what you got to do, but still!

Wall Drug...how can something soooo good be soooo wrong?  It can't!

This isn't 'wrong'...but weird.

Umm, I guess Orth Akota welcomes us!





It is just wrong that no one told me how beautiful Minot is in July!  (Well, maybe Sandy did tell me and I guess I got caught up with the 50 below part and never heard the rest.)  It is so pretty!  There are fields and fields of flax and soybean that flower in purple and yellow - it's gorgeous!  The yellow fields (soybean, I think) look like a sunbeam is touching down!  It's bright it looks like the fields are lite up!

We are still not even half way through our journey of wrongness, so buckle up for more blogs of wrongness in it's awesomest form!

All That is Wrong With America - Part 1

As we've criss-crossed the country we've discovered a few things that are just plain wrong.  You know how you get the chain emails - all the conspiracies run rampant, the politics gone bad, the values and morals in the toilet...well, maybe we are too shallow but here's what we've come up with:

I just don't know what to say about this - but am I wrong? 
















This billboard was in the parking lot of this building.  It just seemed, well, wrong somehow....

Camden.  Is there anything right about Camden?  In a word: no.  How did it ever get on a field trip list?  But since we are on the subject of SC - did you know that in the mid-1800's there was a MA Senator that spoke about the evils of slavery, only to be beaten to the state of unconsciousness by the SC Senator the next day.  Wow, history is full of amazing little facts that are just...wrong!  (Not that the story is wrong - it was in the Gettysburg Museum - but gosh, that guy was just wrong!)

Maybe only Kim will get what's 'wrong' with this...
Up the road 'a piece' from Rita (as we drove to the grocery store that had never heard of hummus...uhm, that is so wrong!) we saw the "Living Water Mortuary".  I don't know, that just struck us as wrong, but we have no proof so you'll just have to take our word for it.

Need I say anything?
Although, maybe I'M wrong to be giving up blackmail
photos before there time.

And why would a picture of the Blue Ridge Parkway hit the 'all that is wrong with America' list?  Because my totally awesome little camera just couldn't cut it (I needed more, more lens, a filter to get the layers, more...) and it didn't do the BRP any justice.  So sad, so wrong...

Ah...the Wigwam Motel.  Of course we all know of this American icon, right?  We ran into at least 3 of these as we crossed from sea to shining sea (that might be strike one - it's a chain...how can that be?).  The reviews are quite scary: bugs, smells, dirt.  We were not brave (pun intended) enough to venture into one (dirt/bugs/smells=strike two).  But possibly the final blow, strike THREE, is that this is a tepee - a wigwam is an oval shaped structure.  It's just wrong!  And possibly the most wrong of all is that this particular Wigwam Motel is in Cherokee, NC...shouldn't Native Americans know these things?

  What is wrong with this blast of adrenaline?  That this isn't in our backyard - wow, was this FUN!!!

It is wrong how adorably cute Jasmine is!

I never imagined I would ever be saying there is anything wrong with a Corvette.  I mean, really?  But here's a list:
1.  A really boring museum...yawn.
2.  A really stupid driving simulator that only liscenced drivers can participate in...I got your 'simulation' right here: 10,000+ miles in 4 months!
3.  You call that factory tour?  Visit BMW and learn.
4.  No test drives, no free samples, aaahhhh.
5.  But this is surely this Vette takes the "wrong" cake! 

Join us tomorrow for more: All That is Wrong With America!

Um-Pa-Lu-Pa-Umpity-Do, I've Got Another Riddle For You!

WARNING: For the first time I would like you to do something before you read my blog!  Watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  The old version that does not have Johnny Depp.  Of course if you remember the movie well, you are exempt from homework.  Also if you have homeworkphobia you are exempt from it as well, just don't blame me if you don't get some of the throw backs!!

Today, we went to the only place in America that comes close to the totally amazing Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  Trust me, we would know!!!  And to add to the excitement, the only place that is like Willy Wonka's is the Hershey's Chocolate Factory.  Besides a food plaza Hershey Park offers a 3-D movie, chocolate tastings, Make-Your-Own-Chocolate-Bar and Make-Your-Own-Desert bar, none of which did we do. 
We didn't just go there for the free chocolate. 
No, our world is much bigger than that.......... 
Okay, chocolate is a reason we went to Hershey.... 
Fine, so my world goes only as far as how much chocolate I can inhale! 

But that's beside the point, the "tour" is really cool!  Only problem is that you never enter the factory.  We rode in a cart the could very well have started spraying ginger ale on us!  The ride took us through a miniature barn when we met the Umpa Lumpa's of Hershey Park.  Cows!!  They were singing a song about the importance of milk in the candy bar, and how that made the whole candy bar nutritious.....  Yeah right!  The only thing missing from the sugary paradise was edible candy on the assembly line and a chocolate river.  At the end of the tour we received our "everlasting gobstoppers" in the form of a Hershey Chocolate Bar.  One moment will be allotted for utter bliss.

Of course, our whole day couldn't spend reviling chocolaty goodness.  We eventually made our way to Valley Forge.  It is here were I got my second job: tour guide for the driving tour.  Of course, my job only consisted of reading from a paper and giving directions, but I still got a tip for my troubles:  Your mother is always right!  Ah, word's to live by!!!

Agape, Micah

Battles, Mishaps, and Of Course Pics!

Today we went to Gettysburg.
Yes, Gettysburg the famous battle field.

It was very interesting (and really, really pretty!).  We learned alot, like where they fought each of the different battle's was actually very spread apart!  I'd have been exhausted just getting from place to place, forget about fighting!

So here are pics.

And here's a story from the day: we ate at the food thingy in the visitor's center next to the museum, and I got ketchup and mustard.........

Why, you ask, do you tell us these nutrition-filled facts.
Because they also had bbq sauce.........
Now you say, what does that have to anything.....

Because Jesus performed a modern day miracle he turned ketchup in to bbq!
So, naturally, I asked a worker about it.  It took two worker multiple trips in and out of the kitchen, occasionally they thought they fixed it, but EVENTUALLY they did make the ketchup be ketchup. Hooray!!!!!!!!!

Dyl is out :-)

And P.S. the answer to yesterday's quiz...#1!  That's right the woman who got harpooned after being mistaken for a whale was the true story!  For those of you who guessed #2, you're in good company - we thought so too.  I guess you just can't make this stuff up.

The Worst Summer Vacation

This has honestly been one of the best summers of my life!  But not everyone can boast such a good summer "vaca."

As we drove today we caught a radio station that had a game show playing called, "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me."  The game was to guess which of the three stories was an actual event.  See if you can do it!

First story is about a woman vacationing in the Mediterranean that get mistaken for a whale as she swims.  A sudden and painful end comes to her vaca as she gets harpooned by a fisherman. 

Second, is a man taking a quick fishing vacation in Florida.  He gets cornered by alligators in the cabin he's rented and survives on the kitchen table for 48 hours until rescuers come.  (But, maybe the worst part of this torture is that the entire time the TV was tuned to a foreign station.) 

And third, a man and his wife go on a cruise (not so bad).  While the wife goes shopping, the man soaks in the sun on the beach.  He awakes later to see his cruise ship off on the horizon!  So he hires a fisherman to take him to the boat.  But half way to the ship the fishing boat breaks down.  They call the Coast Guard (yea, Uncle Steve!) for a rescue.  By the time the coast guard rescues the man his cruise ship has gone!  The man is desperate and hires a sightseeing helicopter to fly him to the ship and his waiting wife.  He's lowered to the deck, runs to room 235 and meets Mr. & Mrs. Jones...it turns out that the ship he was focused on was the wrong boat!  His wife and his cruise ship were still in the bay...

Only one of these is true. 
Your job is to pick it out!
(You'll have to come back tomorrow to get the answer!)

Agape, Micah

P.S.  40% of America's population live within a day's drive of Chambersburg, PA.  Yea, and just think if we hadn't gone on this cross-country trip, you'd never even know that!  Think of all the useless facts we've given you over this summer - what will you do without us?  Anyone up for a winter in Europe?