Recently in travel Category

We took two unplanned trips to Hermann, Mo. this week in search of Springerle cookie molds. Hermann is a wonderful old city on the banks of the Missouri River founded by German immigrants.

The last part of our trip was an overnight in Nashville. I had booked a motel room in Hermitage, since it was close to the highway and along our route from Bristol. At the time I booked, I had no idea the significance of the name "Hermitage." In fact, it refers to the estate of President Andrew Jackson.

On the first day of our vacation, as we drove from St. Louis to Bristol, we had kept our eyes open for the Hermitage exit we would be taking 9 days later. As we neared it, I spotted a huge dam with four big spillways. It was right before our exit. I made a mental note to check it out when we came back through.

There are uncertainties in any big trip. For me, one of the biggest concerned our time in Bristol with my great-great-uncle Jerry and his wife Thelma.

Jerry is the younger brother of my great-grandma Becker. I first connected with him almost exactly 2 years ago as a result of my family tree research. I had found a lot of documents relating to his parents and their immigrations to America.

We have been in touch semi-regularly by phone and online since then. The idea for our trip to Washington had its roots in a conversation I had with Jerry about how beautiful the leaves and trees were in Virginia in the fall, and what a scenic drive it would be.

By which I mean to say that the day I turned 30 had some humbling moments. (The age itself really doesn't faze me, and I haven't given it much thought)

Our journey to Washington D.C. was a lot of fun, but it was marked by moments of constantly being lost.

Here are some photos from yesterday and today as we wound our way east to Bristol, Va., and then north up I-81 to Harrisonburg.

We traveled across 3 states yesterday (Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee) and stopped just inside the border of Virginia to stay with my uncle Jerry and aunt Thelma. We had a great time last night eating spaghetti and telling family stories.

The trees have been very lovely everywhere (except Illinois, which was somewhat drab), and now that we are in mountainous country, everything is so scenic.

This morning uncle Jerry took us to a lovely park in Bristol and later we took a walk through a wetland, which the girls really enjoyed.

We are all in one piece, and the girls did amazingly well yesterday. The hardest part of the journey is over. Today we continue on to Harrisonburg!

Still playing catch-up here on the blog... Someday all my websites, bunk beds, and projects will be finished and we'll be up to date.

Ah, who am I kidding?

Anyway, here are a few choice pics from our trip to San Antonio.

Nan holds Josie in her living room.

Here at the Renaud Empire, there has been no shortage of stories to tell the world at large. There has been, however, a shortage of time in which to write said stories. So, yet again, I am apologizing for a lack of updates here.

A few days ago we returned from a trip to San Antonio to visit family and relax. It was really wonderful. The weather was hot and dry, although we were thankful to see the parched land receive some rain while we were there. My Nan's pool was loads of fun, and all three of the girls greatly enjoyed it.

The following was written by Yoli's dad, Hector Zegarra Barron (in Spanish of course):

Visit, Vacation and Second Honeymoon

Thanks to my dear son-in-law Joshua and my firstborn daughter Yolange Z. de Renaud.

After a lot of paper work done by my daughter Lucila and a trip to the US Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia, we got the long-awaited visa to be able to travel to this country in North America. We were finally able to depart in a beautiful American Airlines airplane, on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 9:15 a.m.

We arrived to Miami at 1 p.m. After Passport Control and Customs we had some problems finding the right gate. After solving those inconveniences and a 45 minute delay, we departed to St. Louis, Missouri at 9 p.m. and arrived to St. Louis around 11 p.m. Josh and Yolange were waiting for us. We got to their home and we rested from our trip.

First of all, I want to tell you about the change that my wife and I experienced: the U.S. is so advanced compared to third world countries in every way, cultural, political, economical, and above all technology.

To see modern roads, well organized traffic on the highways, orderly urban traffic, modern supermarkets, schools, universities, institutes; or the technological constructions like bridges, buildings, stadiums like the "Cardinals", the Arch next to the beautiful Mississippi, zoos, botanical garden, museums, the Meramec Caverns, in summer, just what I saw in the State of Missouri -- and I forgot the St. Louis Post Dispatch, where my son-in-law works, and the Anheuser Busch Brewery, car factories.

It would take too long to mention so many beautiful things we experienced, like the kind and hospitable treatment from people, especially from my dear daughter Yolange; my granddaughters Jadzia, Ludi, and Josie; my dear son-in-law Josh, without whom I would not be in this beautiful country; also the love from his parents Anita and Joe; and their son Justin, his wife and beautiful children. Neither do I want to forget the big and beautiful Grace Church; a country that believes in God will prosper.

Well, we are in the final days of our staying in this beautiful country and the good thing we have is the honor, my beloved wife and I, to spend the 4th of July here, the Independence of the U.S.A.

On Thursday we made our way to that which is at the center of nearly every St. Louisan's heart. Not time in St. Louis would be complete without it. Of course I mean the brewery tour.

Wednesday morning we made our second excursion far outside of St. Louis, this time along I-44. Our first stop was Meramec Caverns, which I haven't been to since I was in 5th grade.

Tuesday night my mom came over to watch the girls so that Yoli, Don Hector, Doña Lucila and I could go to the Cardinals game.

Across the river from downtown St. Louis is the Malcolm W. Martin Memorial Park. This year they finally completed a scenic overlook tower from which you can take great photos of the Arch and the St. Louis skyline. This past Sunday, we took Yoli's folks and the girls to grab some photos from there.

Despite our lack of blog posts this week, rest assured we are going full-bore. Together we have visited quite a few places this week, ranging from the Malcolm Martin Arch viewing platform in East St. Louis to a Cardinals baseball game to Meramec Caverns to St. James (where my brother Justin lives).

Also, Don Hector has helped me continue on with my bunk bed finishing project. I finally finished staining all the head boards, and Don Hector did most of the first coats of finish on the non-headboard pieces.

Photos/videos will be coming sometime soon, whenever we can find time. :)

This morning we will be off to the Anheuser-Busch brewery.

Check out photos from the last two days!

Here are a few photos from the first week of Yoli's parents trip to the United States.

We start off by taking them to the Delmar Loop for lunch at Fitz's, followed by a look around Plowsharing Crafts, where Yoli once worked years ago.

It was Tuesday night and Yoli and I were a bit exhausted.

We had been running around for days, making preparations for the arrival of her parents from Bolivia. Perhaps the biggest of these was the purchase of a minivan, which required a test-drive, offers, counter-offers, and a used car inspection.

Yoli's parents should be here late tonight.

This morning, I got the title to our "new" minivan: a 2000 Mercury Villager in really good shape. For those who care about such things, it is a dark green color. It should be of great service to us while our family temporarily grows to 7 people.

I still need to take care of inspections, etc. Hopefully it will be drive-ready Wednesday or Thursday.

As far as the house goes, we have made a lot of progress, but much remains to be done. I guess I better stop typing and get back to cleaning while the girls are still asleep!

We've spent the last week slowly making progress toward getting ready for the arrival of Yoli's parents.

A few things we've accomplished:

• clean sun room
• make curtain rods and hang curtains in sun room
• make tentative deal for a minivan

Of course we've been doing other stuff, too. Today we hit the farmer's market and bought some peaches (and soy candles). Later I took Jadzia to the library for a presentation by the Butterfly House about ladybugs, which was very good.

Yoli also wrote up a 4-page step-by-step guide for her parents on how to traverse the airports and airplanes from Santa Cruz to Miami to St. Louis. We hope they make it with no problems. Thankfully speaking Spanish is not an obstacle in Miami, and in St. Louis all they have to do is follow the crowd to the baggage carousel.

Tuesday night will be here before we know it. Now all we have to do is clean the rest of the house.

Today was the culmination of a lot of work Yoli and I and her family have been doing in recent months: Yoli's parents received tourist visas so that they can come to America!

This is not a particularly easy process for Bolivians. It requires paperwork, making an appointment online with the embassy, and traveling to La Paz. That trip is no trifle: it is an extremely long bus ride, and it is high in the altiplano. Since Yoli's parents are older and because they live in Santa Cruz in the lowlands, we were very worried about altitude sickness.

They left Monday from Santa Cruz, and traveled first by bus to Cochabamba. Cochabamba is higher than Santa Cruz, but not so high as La Paz. They spent a day there sightseeing, in order to help their bodies acclimatize before continuing on.

They had to wake up early this morning (Thursday) in order to make sure they were at the embassy before the 8 a.m. appointment. I understand that Yoli's dad was on his knees praying much of the night! We all had a very real fear that they would be denied the visa. After all, when it comes to the embassy, you are guilty of wanting to become an illegal immigrant unless you can prove otherwise. We have heard many horror stories.

When they got to the embassy at 7 a.m., there were already 10 people in front of them in line. Ah, the benefits of age: the embassy folks moved Yoli's parents to the front of the line. Apparently they were treated well and not asked very many questions during the interview.

Anyway, this is exciting news. We aren't 100% sure when the visas will take effect, but we should know in a few days. Our assumption is that we will be able to have Yoli's parents visit beginning some time in June.

The outlook for our "weekend" (Tuesday-Thursday) trip was not good. It had been raining and the forecast called for more of the same.

But this was our last, best chance to take advantage of my four-day work week and the three days off it afforded us.

On Saturday we drove up the River Road to Grafton. We spent most of our time walking around Elsah. The fall foliage wasn't totally changed over, which was a bit of a bummer. Maybe it will be more spectacular later this week.

Hope you enjoy these photos.

On the way out: We begin our day-long journey to Bolivia at 6:10 a.m. this morning. We should arrive there at 10 p.m. (Bolivia time). That could make for a long day, so please keep us in your prayers. While we are in Bolivia, we will be posting updates and photos to our Bolivia weblog NOT here, so please check there frequently!

On the way in: The Renaud Empire continues its expansion. We are pleased to announce that we are expecting our third child, who will arrive in January!

In two weeks, we're flying to Bolivia. As usual, we connect to our international flight in Miami. Unlike past years, this time we have a five-hour layover. So basically we will spend an entire day (from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.) in airports or airplanes.

The girls might go stir-crazy. Heck, I might go stir-crazy. So we've been considering our options for the layover.

One thing we've been wondering is: would it be worth it to leave the airport and do something in Miami with the girls? Is there anything fun to do that's relatively close (reachable by bus)?

Any experienced travelers out there? Let us know, we're counting on you!

On Monday and Tuesday, we spent a 1.125-day vacation in St. James, Mo. where we visited my brother Justin and his family. His youngest son Keaton was celebrating birthday Numero Uno.

I have fond memories of driving to the old plane-watching lot at Missouri Bottom Road and Lindbergh Boulevard. We would sit up on the roof of the car with lots of other families and marvel as the planes roared right over our heads. In fact, this is one of the fun things Yoli and I did together during her first trip to the U.S.

But then came the billion-dollar boondoggle, as I like to call it; or Bridgeton's Bane, to put a Tolkien-esque spin on it. I am referring to W-1W, the runway expansion plan.

The old plane-watching lot was torn up, major roads were rerouted, and an unnecessary runway and tunnel constructed.

Which brings us to today.

My friend Casey got married Saturday out in Waverly, Illinois. Since it was okay for us to take the girls to the reception, Yoli and I thought we might as well make a whole day trip out of it.

We packed up the girls and set out around 8:40 a.m. Saturday for the distant city of Springfield.

Last weekend, my youngest brother, Jon, got married. I went with Jadzia to San Antonio to attend the wedding. It was a whirlwind trip.

A few photos for your enjoyment. This is Jadzia at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

The past couple days we have experienced some bits of South Texas culture. Yesterday we went with my Grandma Renaud to eat at a barbecue place called Rudy's. And today we visited the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.

Well, we have been enjoying the Republic of Texas for the past 2 days.

On Sunday we flew into Houston to visit with Yoli's friend Sonja and her husband Jody and their two children. The flight itself went very well with no problems from Jadzia or Ludi. In fact, this may have been one of the best flights we've had in our post-childbirth era. :)

This morning Yoli and I awakened at 4:45 a.m. We were preparing to get her and Jadzia to the airport for their trip to Bolivia. I will be joining them next week. That's an early morning for someone who works until at least 11:30 p.m. every night. On the bright side, it gave me some extra time after I dropped them off to scan some in some recent ultrasound pictures of our next baby (see below)!

This is not a "traveling light" trip, my preferred modus operandi. Yoli will be making a wedding cake and also teaching a cake-decorating class at El Jord�n during this trip, so she took all the pots and pans, etc.

Yoli and Jadzia's trip will last three weeks; I will join them next Sunday, so I'll be there for two weeks. During this week, Yoli will post a few entries on our Bolivia weblog. Once I join her, I will be posting stuff there as well, so please check often!

Anyway, I know what you really want to see are the ultrasound photos. Here they are:

Well, our mission in Washington D.C. was about 85% accomplished.

Yoli was able to get a new Bolivian ID card (with her married name), but not a new passport. The Bolivian consulate in Washington was out of them. It's difficult for me to understand how a consulate can run out of passports, but such is life. Instead, they gave Yoli a 6-month extension on her current passport, which will enable us to travel to Bolivia in April. But we'll still have to go again to a consulate (probably Chicago) to get the passport sometime after the 6 months are up.

We're off to Washington DC tomorrow for the purpose of renewing some of Yoli's Bolivian papers. If all goes well, we will able to visit some friends, see a museum, and eat at a Bolivian restaurant before heading to Virginia to visit some other friends. There is a large Bolivian community that lives in the DC area, so I'm very excited to try a Bolivian restaurant in America.

However, things might not go well if the Bolivian consular officials decide to give us trouble. If you have a minute, pray that we would have favor with these folks and that Yoli's papers would be processed quickly.

This year we went down to San Antonio to introduce Jadzia to all her family down there. She met her grandmothers, many great aunts and uncles, and cousins. She also got to participate in a surprise 70th birthday party for her Grandnanny. Jadzia also went swimming in her Grandnanny's pool almost every day. It was a wonderful trip and we enjoyed every minute of it. We just wish it would rain down there and the drought would end.

Jadzia above the water, as seen from under the water.

This past week we took Jadzia to the Missouri Botanical Garden for the first time. It was a lot of fun for us. Jadzia got bored with it after a while, but we brought some food and got her to eat and later to sleep. Check out these photos...

Later today we'll be off to Bolivia. We should arrive some time early Thursday morning in Santa Cruz. To follow our adventures while we're there, visit our Bolivia weblog. A new, somewhat controversial president will be sworn in while we're there, so who knows what might happen!

--Josh

Some family members were surprised at Christmastime when Yoli whipped out Jadzia's brand new passport to show them.

Christmas went well. Jadzia slept through much of it, but she had nice long visits with her grandparents and got to meet her aunt and uncle and baby cousin. She got a few Christmas presents, and undoubtedly her favorites will turn out to be the San Antonio Spurs clothing from our relatives in Texas.

She also got to meet my dad's maternal extended family on Christmas evening. I wasn't able to stay long because of work (hope you enjoyed your Christmas weekend sports sections!) but it sounds like it was a great night.