We're Off!

The great Grady adventure has begun.

The house is rented.
The RV is packed.
School started a couple months ago.

Today we said our very bittersweet farewell and headed West!  Actually we headed South, but I've always loved the sound of heading West, my favorite direction.  Every great expedition should embark westward.  The blog was named Sunset Chasers for a reason.

We drove from my dad's house in Lakehurst to Mechanicsville, VA to visit with Aunt Joyce for a few days. From here we're not sure where we're going next, Lisa said "where the weather suits our clothes".  I love that idea.

I'm not sure if we're going to use this blog or facebook or google+, but we'll be updating anyone who is interested with news, pictures, a map, and even some travel journals from the kids.  We'll get that all sorted out in the next couple of weeks.

To everyone who helped us and prayed for us along the way, thank you so much.  We truly appreciate our wonderful family and friends, we'll miss you all.  Please email us and keep in touch. Or, if you live along our route or can find your way to somewhere along our path, please come visit us or we'll come visit you.

God Bless you all and keep us in your prayers,

Larry, Lisa, Joshua, Caleb, and Selah

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

Grady Family 2008 Video

Well, we made it before the halfway point of 2009!

This last year we weren't able to take a summer long odyssey so we couldn't travel quite as far. However, we did carve out some time for a nice trip up to New Hampshire and Maine. Plus all of the other fun stuff we did as a family this year. I hope you all enjoy it.

This is a secure video so that it will not show up in google or video site searches. This allows us to just share it with our friends and not the whole world. Please enter in "sunsetchasers" (without the quotes) as the password and it will play, no other login or information is required. The video is in HD so it should look very nice if you click the Fullscreen button. If you have a slower connection click play and then once it starts loading click pause. This will start the video loading into your browser and you can watch the progress bar. When it is completely loaded you can click play again to watch it uninterrupted.

Password: sunsetchasers

Grady Family 2008 from The Gradys on Vimeo.

Update on Selah's Health

For those of you who don't know, while in the Outer Banks Selah developed a small bull's-eye mark on her arm, and then two more on her leg and stomach. It was a very distinct bull's-eye just like the ones you look for after a tick bite when someone possibly contracts Lyme's Disease.

We immediately took her to the doctor and he informed us that there is not a very high incidence of Lyme's in the southern states. However, the marks were indicitive of a tick bite and, unfortunately, what they do have is an extermely high incidence of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. North Carolina actually has the highest rate in the nation of RMSF cases.

They don't know for sure if she has it or not, but because the disease can be so serious, even fatal, they immediately start antibiotics just in case. They didn't even do a blood test informing us that by the time the results came back the antibiotics course would almost be done and they start it either way to catch it as early as possible just in case she is infected.

Many have prayed and Lisa sent out an update letting everyone know that Selah hasn't had any negative reaction to the medication (a possibility they had warned us about) and that we haven't seen any of the tell tale signs we were to look for, either a rash on her hands or an extremely high fever. So far so good.

Please continue to pray that she doesn't have RMSF or that if she does that the Lord will heal her. We're going to take her to our pediatrician when we return home but so far, praise God, she is doing fine. No problems with medication, no sign of the disease, and no change in her countenance or energy level.

Thanks everyone for your kind words, emails, and most of all for your continued and faithful prayers.

Way Down South in Dixie

Savannah was everything we had pictured it to be, but with better food than we could have imagined. Beautiful, giant Live Oaks with hanging Spanish Moss everywhere, old antebellum homes, green city squares... just a really picturesque and charming city.

We took a bus tour through the city (it was WAY too hot to walk anyway) and we learned a lot about its history. The boys were not as impressed as Larry & I were. To be honest, they heard “blah blah blah, pirates, blah blah blah ghosts”. So they came out thinking that Savannah is where nothing but pirates hung out and it’s now filled with their ghosts (not that we believe in that sort of nonsense).

Part of the tour drove by the “dueling fields” where men would go to fight to the death to protect their honor, using guns, knives, swords, and sometimes HAMMERS!!! I’m sorry Mr. Tour Guide, did you just say hammers?!? Maybe that's where we get the term "hammering out their differences"?

For lunch we were going to eat at a restaurant that is owned by Paula Deen from the Food Network, but we were pointed in another direction by a tour guide. We ended up eating at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House. Before we were seated, three women started bringing out bowl after bowl of food and setting up glasses of sweet tea at all the seats. Oh No! How much is this going to cost and how in the world could we eat all this food?! So, the 5 of us sat down to eat and then another couple came to sit with us! They do everything family style there. So, even with 7 of us eating, we didn’t come close to finishing all the turnips, mashed potatoes, black eyed peas, spinach, fried chicken, stew, sweet potatoes, succotash, pulled pork, dirty rice, squash, biscuits and at least 4 other things I can’t think of right now. I told the couple with us “I’m glad I’m never going to see you again, because I’m going to embarrass myself by how much I eat” And, I did! We all did! Caleb announced that he broke his world record of eating. So, when it came time to pay, we held our breath. We were shocked to find out that for the 5 of us (and Selah certainly ate her share!), it was only $30! That’s almost what we pay at McDonald’s! But it was the best meal we've had on our trip and was a real Southern Home Cooking experience.

We also were able to go on a really nice hike at our campground, Skipaway Island. Through the entire hike the path would be crossed by humungous spider webs with big yellow spiders called banana spiders. They were creepy but really cool. When we reached the marsh there was a small boardwalk leading to a lookout tower. While walking on the boardwalk it appeared that the entire ground beneath us was moving. Looking closer we realized it was actually thousands of tiny fiddler crabs running from the vibrations when we walked. We only stayed in Savannah for 3 nights and then we headed to a campground about an hour north of Charleston, SC.

We picked this campground because it had it’s own splash park, a lazy river, and it was right on a lake. Everything was perfect except the lake. Because the area was in a drought, the lake was shallow and kind of smelly. But, we all spent hours floating around the lazy river and practicing our cannon balls. You would not believe how tan the kids are. Joshua’s hair is almost the color of Caleb’s, but Caleb’s hair is almost white! The only one without color is me. I really think I was born without pigment or something!

Charleston is a fantastic city with so much history. We spent one day just walking around the shops of the straw market and another day riding on a ferry out to see Fort Sumter. That day was a highlight for Larry. He’s been reading a “Civil War for Dummies” book and was excited to see so many places that he’s been reading about.

We have been spending a lot of time around the campground. This pool is really amazing and we usually have it all to ourselves. Schools in the south start before ours so all the kids are already in class. We took Selah to her first movie here too! One day was SO hot that we decided to go see Shrek 3 at a dollar theater. She did really great…. As long as we kept feeding her!

From here we are going to the Outer Banks of NC. Larry’s father, sister, niece, nephew, Aunt, & Uncle are supposed to join us there for a few days. We are very excited. This has been a dream vacation and we are blessed by all of the amazing things we have done as a family.

We appreciate the emails and the prayers.

Some Extra Pics

I added some extra pics for Lisa's post below.

Click the link below to check them out, and keep the emails coming, it really blesses us to hear from our friends and family while on the road.

http://picasaweb.google.com/larrygrady/GAPics

Georgia On Our Minds

Hello Friends & Family!

We are now at one of the best state parks we have ever stayed in. Red Top Mountain State Park, GA.

It’s located about 45 minutes away from Atlanta and it has some of the most beautiful campsites we ever stayed in. They were a little “wilder” than many of the private parks we have stayed in and at night we would hear lots of critters in the woods! It’s actually located on a peninsula in lake Allatoona, so the entire park is surrounded by water. They have a really nice beach where we spent a few days swimming. Clear, warm water and a beautiful view. If it wasn’t for the little tiny piranhas (at least that’s what we were calling them) nipping at you, it would be perfect. They didn’t really hurt, but it sure is a shock when they swim up and gum you!

Of course, while here, Atlanta has been having record breaking heat. It’s been over 100 for the past 6 days. So, we had to break down and get our a/c fixed. I guess we’re not as tough as we thought!

While here in Atlanta I was able to visit family that I haven’t seen in almost 20 years. And, with good timing, we were there to celebrate my cousin’s 4th birthday party. It was so nice to see everyone. Also, good friends of ours from California moved to Atlanta a few years ago and we were able to have dinner (a great Mexican meal! YEAH!) with her, her husband and two beautiful children. Larry was thrilled to be able to sit around and talk sports with someone! We had a wonderful time visiting with our dear friends and family. Great conversation, great meals, and a really nice break from being all by ourselves for a few weeks.

While waiting for the truck to be worked on, we stopped at a cowboy art museum. We didn’t have high hopes for this stop, I mean really, would you? A “Cowboy Art” museum?!? However, we all really had a great time! It was called the Booth Museum and had some surprisingly beautiful artwork there. There were a couple of western galleries, an Indian gallery, and a great civil war gallery. There was also a presidents hall where there was a signed letter from every president along with a picture and brief background of each one. Joshua was thrilled to see what all the presidents looked like.

We also visited the Georgia Aquarium. We all loved the beluga whales and the main tank is the largest in the world (at least that’s what the workers told the boys). Inside were 10,000 fish including 4 whale sharks. That thrilled the boys! Oh, and Caleb got to touch a shark, what more could a little boy want than to play with sharks? They also had a 4-D movie featuring “Deepo” who looked exactly like “Nemo” without the stripes. The movie also had a huge shark, some reggae turtles and angler fish. We have no idea how they haven’t been sued by Disney, but it really was a fun movie.

After the aquarium we walked across the street to Olympic Park which was built for the 1996 Summer Olympics. What a beautiful big green space in the middle of the city. They have some memorials, some sculptures, and a very nice tiered garden running along the length of the park. But best of all, they have an Olympic fountain. The kids, baby included, had a ton of fun cooling off in the water randomly shooting out of the Olympic rings.

Atlanta seems like an amazing city with tons of museums, art, history, and family fun. We weren’t even able to scratch the service of all there is to do here. We could easily have spent half our trip in Atlanta and not felt like we experienced everything.

From here we are going to Savannah. Everyone says that we are going to love it there, but that it’s very hot and even more humid there. Oh, great! It’s currently 101 here, so what are we in store for?

Pardon me boy..... is that the Grady's on the Choo-Choo?

 

OK, we didn’t go on the Chattanooga Choo-Choo….. but what other catchy thing could I write for Chattanooga?
We also did not go to the National Towing Museum either, but who can blame us?

Larry & I have been to lots of places throughout this great country. Our favorite city is San Francisco, but our second favorite city is now Chattanooga. OK, it’s really 3rd. Philly is still, and will always be number 1!
What a beautiful, fun, and family-friendly city! We stayed in Chattanooga for 5 nights and we were very sad to leave it.

While there we went to the amazing “Rock City”. It was a beautiful park where you walk through caves, over natural bridges and a slightly scary suspended rope bridge, through really tight rock squeezes (one is called “Fat Man’s Squeeze”), and then, finally, overlook a waterfall and an amazing view at Lover’s Leap. From the lookout at the top you can look into seven states from that one single spot. We all loved it. The neighborhood outside of the park, on Lookout Mountain, is called Fairyland Town. The streets have names like Cinderella Lane, Peter Pan Road, Riding Hood Way.

In that same area, after Rock City, we drove up to Point Park, a part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Park. It was the sight of a portion of the Battle Above the Clouds and several other important Civil War battles. The view is beautiful and you really get a great picture of the Tennessee River and downtown Chattanooga. Of course you’re standing next to cannons that were firing down into that city and the surrounding battlefields, it’s a beautiful but somewhat somber place. We also took some very sweet pictures in the park and the boys taught Sissy the fine are of ant stomping, like the good big brothers that they are.

I was also able to take the kids to the Creative Discovery Museum. We were there for hours! I love kid museums, and this was a great one. There was a music room with tons of instruments to try, a room to dig up dinosaur bones and a room with different types of art (stamping, drawing, painting, still-frame movie making).

The one day we spent walking through the city. There are miles of parks along the river and the world’s longest pedestrian bridge. I also found a snake wandering across the path. I was declared a hero by the boys for finding it. I think they were actually more impressed that I didn’t’ freak out! There was a fountain park that the kids splashed around in for an hour.


I think Selah loved it there more than the boys. This is somewhere that we would certainly love to come again! We didn’t go to their beautiful aquarium because we are planning on going to the one in Atlanta.

We were in town for the annual HUGE yard sale that goes for FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILES! You can look up the route and people have sales along the way. Sometimes groups of people will meet in a field to set up their tables and sometimes you are driving up to someone’s farm. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we drove into Georgia and then into Alabama looking. We only got a few books, and a few games but it was such a great drive! The sale route even goes up into Kentucky. If we weren’t in an RV, I could have bought so much more!

Thank you for the continued prayers and the emails. We are thrilled and blessed to take this trip. We found a Calvary Chapel last Sunday and it was wonderful to fellowship in a place that felt so comfortable and a bit like home. After service every Sunday they stay at church to eat lunch together. So Josh and Caleb ran around in the playground with their new friends while Larry & I ate lunch with the pastor and his wife. Isn’t God great? When you meet another Christian, you instantly have something in common with them and there is an instant connection. Being in the “Bible belt”, there have been a lot of other believers around us. We are truly loving this experience.

Tomorrow we are headed for the Atlanta area. The deeper into the south we get, the thicker the accents. The thicker the accents, the more the boys love to imitate it. And I mean ALL 3 boys!