Florida - Getting ready for the Bahamas

This is a post by... Geneva!: Thank you, Thank you very much! a lot has happened over the last week or so where to begin....
Yea! We are finally in Florida and I'm in a bathing suit! This is the first time in Sandridge history that I, Geneva Anne Sandridge, is in a bathing suit for Thanksgiving and hopefully Christmas. I also want to say.. Happy Thanksgiving! well at least belated. For Thanksgiving we had fun but not as fun as seeing our cousins. Actually I think it was equal to the fun with our cousins and family. We had two Thanksgiving meals. One with friends Brian and Linda at their great home and a huge pot luck dinner at Vero Beach with around 150 people. Last year they had so much left overs they gave it to the homeless shelter! But they probably didn't have a lot this year now that the Sandridge family has been here! Any way, I was really glad we got to meet up with Brian and Linda. Let me tell you if I wanted to live in Florida that is probably the best house to buy!! They also graciously lent us their car to go to the zoo and cooked a phenomenal Thanksgiving type dinner! My favorite part was feeding the birds. Except when one pooped on my head, that was nasty. :) When we rafted at Vero beach it was the only place that sold bathing suits because it's, wait for it, "winter" isn't that's weird!? I mean it was like 80 degrees outside and they had UGG boots and parkas in the stores!! Also, we saw our friends Bird on a Wire for the last time today until February!! :( This is also our last post until who knows? ) So I just want to say a few things.... I'll miss you guys, Merry Christmas, Happy New Years, Happy Valentines day and all the other holidays between here and when we are back! Puppy Dog Chow! Peace.

Hey ya’ll!! It is Erin! I have to tell any one and everyone reading this that I will be in the Bahamas. Yea! We will only get Internet in some places.We will not update the blog very often, so sorry readers. I had to tell you that so you did not think that we fell off the face of the earth. We could but I am thinking not. This morning we had to part with our friends which we have been traveling with for a month now. It was a very sad event. We hope to see them again in a few months. Well anyway lets talk about happy things. We had such a great time with them. We would watch movies and play games all the time. We had a great time with them. We also got to see some of my dad and mom’s good friends, Brian and Linda. They brought us to their house. When you would walk in the front door there was a swimming pool that had a hot tub that drained into the pool by a little waterfall. They also gave us the best home cooked meal I have ever had. We also got to go to the zoo. We also fed the birds. They would sit on your back, your hand and your head, it was really cool. One bird sat on me and would not get off even when I ran out of food. It would nibble on my finger. It would go over to Geneva and nibble on her finger and always come back to me. I guess my finger tasted good.

We spent Thanksgiving at Vero Beach with about 150 other boats going south. It was great, we had a lot of food and a lot of people. Jack and Kris from our Marina came to visit and take us to lunch. It was great to see them, they bought Geneva and me chocolate peanut butter cream pie. Well that’s my update. You will get some soon so don’t be sad, smile!

Beaufort, SC, Jeklyll Island, Florida

Update From Erin: You know how it is supposed to be warm in Florida? Who ever said that and put the palm trees there was never in Florida. It is so cold here. In the morning you can see your breath. Although it is still warm enough for the warm blooded mammals. We have seen a lot of dolphins. They don't come all the way out of the water though. I wish they did. I only get to see the top fin.

I went kayaking in Beaufort, NC. When I was done, I tied it off. But the knot at the kayak end did not stay on. It fell off and now we are down one kayak (spelled back words is kayak). We also joined with our two cousins and grandparents. Mark the oldest one, with lots of black curly hair was taking pictures (like always) and stepped on an ant hill. This was no ordinary ant hill, it was a fire ant hill. He looked down to see the fire ants biting him and took pictures. Now he has marks from where they bit him. Now Mark has marks! We went to Jekyll Island, Georgia. On that island there had been a person named Hyde. Is that creepy or what? They also had a swimming pool. I had to go swimming of course! To make the story short, I jumped in and right back out. We met other kids on a boat named 'Bird on a Wire'. Their names are Kristen and Annie. The older one is Annie and the younger one is Kristen. We had a few sleepovers and taught them to rider our rip sticks. On Jekyll Island we also got to see the millionaire's club. It was where rich people spent their time in the winter. This was before ww2. Well that's all for now folks!

This is a post by Geneva: Hey y'all we have had the most... umm... I don't know what words to use but oh well! Anyway we have finaly met new people to travel with yay! But the amazing thing is they have kids and a dog (of course named Rudder) so double yay for that! Their names are Annie(12) and Kristen(9). We got to teach them how to Ripstik and let me tell you. They learned faster then me. But its nice to get to travel with someone to Florida. Oh, by the way did I tel you they are from Canada! Aww and we were just there for the North Channel! Oh well... Beaufort, SC was an exciting place. We made it just in time for the Veterans parade. We also got to meet up with my parents' friends the Costigans. I think they are going to travel with us to the Bahamas for Christmas, so thats awesome. They have a Catameran and three kids. Brady(13), Brian(9), and Annmarie(12). Soooo thats really all I can think of thats been super exciting except we got to explore this awsome island and I stepped on a cactus(it hurt), saw dolphins, a dead bird, a run over armidillo(how nice). And my message for school? Kids stay in school! Later Peeps! Peace! : )

New Bern layover

Within the time that I wrote on the blog last and now, we have been in North Carolina. Our two cousins, Mark and Brendon have joined us on our grandparents boat. My grandparents are also travelling with us. We got to stay two weeks at my grandparents house in North Carolina. It was cold there. Well, cold for North Carolina. It was 32 degrees!!!!!! We had some friends down near where my grandparents lived and they drove us to a military base camp with a beach to search for shark teeth. There were a lot of shark teeth. We hope to be in South Carolina soon. Including South Carolina, I have been to 7 states in the U.S. Plus I got to go to Canada! We are now on the tip of Myrtle Beach. Having fun and hope you are too. My dad and mom got to see people that they had traveled with 20 years ago. They talked to them and I got to play with there dog.
Erin out.

This is a post by Geneva: Hey! Sorry I haven't been writing lately but I have a lot to tell all of you Where to start..... oh I know! We went to the one and only Camp LeJeune!!! Yay!!! Folks, this Marine base is huge when you get there the only thing you here is BOOOMMM, hey look at the that Tank crossing the road! Hey look at the beautiful..... beaches?! Yes its true they have beaches. We figured that out when Al and Jean graciously took us there and found shark teeth! It's was so cool because since the beaches are closed to the public there are shark teeth everywhere! Of course we would have walked by all of them if the lovely Sue hadn't shown us what they looked like (little black, pointy,triangular rocks). I got at least 30. Also during that week we saw Al and Jean at their lovely house (I love your house!!) with of course Aurora their dog! We got to see Mark and Sue in the awesome, quaint, rockin' f.r.o.g room house!! Now I'm not going to brag or anything but this is how you should live..... IN THE BAHAMAS and ANY PLACE WARM!! You know how up North everyone has those brick houses or a brown house.... well these Southern people know how to live! Bright pink bases, red roofs, 5 story, wrap around porches..... I think I can get used to this! See you later Alligators! Now you say "After while Crocodile!"

Washington DC

Hi from Erin! We are now in Washington DC. There is a lot to see and do. I don’t think that we could see everything here. It would be impossible. We have gone to a lot of places like the Air and Space Museum. It was very neat. There were a lot of things to see. We saw the first rocket to go to the moon. They had it in a plastic thing so you could not take pieces of it home. We rode Air Force plane simulators. They were fun. You would feel like you were in an actual plane. You could go upside-down and sideways. It was the most amazing thing ever. You could get seasick.

There were a lot of facts on World War 2 and all the monuments. We also went to the spy museum. That was really good. We got an under cover name that a spy had actually used. They showed how to pick locks and what kind of gadgets they used, like the shoe phone. They also had the brief case recorder and the tie camera. They had a American Seal carved out of wood for a senator, given to him by Russian school children. It had been bugged and the Senator didn't know it. It sat in the senator's office for 32 years. This happened in the 1940’s.

We went in the Capital building when the 700$ billion bail out was happening. We watched our taxes burn with the helicopters that carry the president places. The helicopters have to fly right above the river because they can not fly near the near the airport on one side of the river. So they fly down the river right over our boat. They have to fly below 500 feet, so they are very loud. Nice wake up call though. I guess that the president likes to do his work early. We went to the Natural History Museum today; we got to see some beautiful gems, diamonds, and the new ocean exhibit. We also saw the butterfly exhibit. A butterfly landed on my hat and would not get off so I named her Kelly.
Now going back about a week, we were in Baltimore, Maryland. That was a really neat place. We went to the Aquarium. It was huge. We saw the dolphin show. The dolphins were amazing they could do so many tricks. They had a lot of fish. We got to see them feed the sting rays. We got to see them feed the sharks too, that was cool.

We also met my dad’s friend, Brian and had dinner at his apartment and play Wii.

The Baltimore Harbor also had a trapeze training school in the park next to us. We watched the final exams every night to see who could do a flip from on bar to the other. It was pretty exciting. Well that all for now folks!

Washington DC, Baltimore

This is a post by the one the only Geneva!!! : Hey everyone we have had a, um, interesting two weeks! We anchored, broke the belt on the engine, blew the alternator, and as if anything couldn't get any worse we ran out of Popsicles! I know I know it's a tragic story!!! :) Now the high points you might want to sit back for a while... We are finally in DC and it is amazing!
It's just like the pictures, The Capitol here! The Monument there! Also a spy museum with all the history of spy's, traitors and old ladies with loose lips! I had an under cover name, Maria Rivera. After that we went to the BEP (Bureau Engraving and Printing) Where they make all the money and WOW! To much money! There was a stack of it as tall as me! I measured myself and I am worth $666,440 smackers.
Now go back in time to the olden ages of, well, last week. You all know from Hairspray, the song 'Baltimore"- "Good Morning Baltimore, every step's like an open door" and all that. Can you guess where we were? Starts with a 'Balt' and ends with a 'imore'. And let me tell you there are peeps everywhere. There goes a jogger and here comes a biker and hey watch out for that .... ouch... ice cream stand. Every night people, live music around every corner, and don't forget the trapeze training. They have the coolest aquarium with live fish, Puffs, Penguins, Sharks and of course Monkeys. This place is amazing! It never sleeps. Now my long time partner Erin will take it away.
Later - Geneva

Also - I can't forget to thank Uncle Alex and Aunt Jan for taking us ashore and feeding us ice cream and picnic stuff at their house. And another thank you to Dan and MaryAnn for visiting and driving us to the store to resupply the Popsicles.

New York City from Geneva

This is a post from Geneva: Hey everyone sorry I haven’t been in touch lately! Anyhow we have had an exciting week here in New York City! The City, first of all it’s almost like I would have imagined. Busy people. Shopping everywhere!!! But most of all hotdogs wherever you look!!!! The only thing different is that the subways are clean (even if they are confusing, we had a bad start with them but at least we didn’t get on the wrong train!) and people are helpful there. The first thing we did there was say “Lets go the World Trade Center Museum!” It was sooo cool what they had planned for it on about…. 3 years! There is only going to be one really tall and a short one. The bases of the original twin towers are going to be made as a memorial into reflective pools. As much as we wanted to see a show on Broadway (you’d have to wait 2-3 hours in the morning and because they would be sold out if you were at the end of the line) but the amazing thing was I wanted to see Wicked again and it was sold out! How long you ask? 3 years!!!! Also the cool thing is that in New York City they have a three story tall M&M world!!! And a huge one story Hershey store! It was heaven because they were right next to each other! In case you’re wondering we saw the Naked Cowboy!!!! Yes, he really wears underwear that says Naked Cowboy, yes he really can play the guitar and yes he really doesn’t mind that he’s walking around New York City in his underwear!! On the rainy day with the left over wind and rain from Hannah we went to the mall across the street and wandered around. Erin and I got fake streaks in our hair! Erin got a green streak with a shiny bow pony tail holder and I got a blue streak with 3 Sparkly bow clips (pink, blue, and green)! Well those are all the high points but this last detail really is high because we went on a tour in a Double Decker bus! It was so high if you would have stood up you would face a threat of decapitation!

Sandy Hook

Hey everyone reads this. This is Erin. We have just left Sandy Hook. There was not much there. They had a little town, but they had no beach!!!! There was one across the way, but no beach at Sandy Hook. We played tennis in Sandy Hook. We did our first over night motor sail. It is called off shore sailing in natical terms. It was a great night to do it. The moon was full. I had to be careful the whale wolves might have gotten me. We got to stay up very late and eat popcorn! At Sandy Hook we had gotten a huge bag of popcorn. We ate only a little bit of it. It is different in the ocean. The waves are real long and big. I got ocean sick. During the first part of our 24 hour motor sail we drug a line behind us to catch fish. We caught 2 fish within an hour. It was so cool. If some of you were wondering in New York what it was like on the double decker bus well we were very high. We had to duck for traffic lights!

New York City

Hello, this is Erin. I know we have not updated the website for a long time, so sorry. We have finished going down the Erie Canal. What I liked about the Canal is that there were lots of locks. I studied locks when I was in 5th grade. In the Erie Canal I got to go down a lot of them, 35 to be precise. They were like giant bath tub, only the locks were slimy .You had to hold onto slimy lines to keep our boat from bouncing around in the lock. We would write in the slime on the walls. It was funny because a friend of ours was behind us a few miles and when they went through the lock they saw our writing in the slime. We are in New York City. It is so big and at night there are a lot of lights. So far in New York we have been taking the subway. We got lost a couple of times but found our way home eventually. We never took the wrong train to the wrong place, but we got on a lot of trains then realized we were on the wrong train. We also got to see the US open (tennis game). It was great, we saw Roger Federer play and he won. It was a very close game. In the US open, the players would take a break and the camera men would show people in the audience. I didn’t get shown. They also gave away grills. We were in top section and you could hear people yell at Roger Federer. They would say things like “come on Roger” and “I love you Roger

The Erie Canal - First few days

This is Erin. Hey everyone reading this we have had a great time on the Erie Canal. It is really neat. It is very small compared to the lakes. It is only 90 feet across and 300 miles long. On each side of the canal there is a tow path where the horses would pull the barges. (That was a long time ago.)

The canal was built in 1825 and it was all hand dug. Horses would pull the barges down the canal on now what are tow paths. People back then figured that it was easier to ship things then to send it by train. The train owners did not like that so they built a rail way bridge. instead of having the frame on the top of the bridge it was on the bottom.. So the barges carrying big loads could not get through. The railroad bridge looked really neat. You can see it in the picture above.
Hey there again long time no see! This is another post from Geneva! :
We are in the canal and let me tell you it’s not like the North Channel, everything is mucky. But on the bright side I got to go down my very first lock and take a cave tour of an old underground factory. Did you know that back then it took the Canal to be built around 8 years? That to make the huge caves of factories each time they only blew a basketball hole in the wall and did that over and over again? Well that’s not the job for me because my middle name is not patient. In the cave, I got cave kissed!!!! That is when the cave drips on you. Wow, I must have a lot of luck! On the tour of the lock and the cave there was an upside down bridge. The reason for this is because the train industry was losing lots of business to the canal shipping and needed a plan. The upside down bridge would not let any big shipping boats around causing everyone running back to the train industries arms! Wow even back then they were clever! Well that was my favorite thing and I will be writing more of my ingenious words so stay updated!!!!

Home sweet home

This is a post by Geneva!!! : Hey Peeps we just started our journey to the BAHAMAS!!!!! At home we got to see our friends and family, but most of all we went to band camp!!! I’ll get to that after I tell you about the awesome Stars party at Sulfur Springs. We got to go creek hiking and roast marshmallows over the campfire! Yum! At band camp I played the saxophone and Erin played the flute. The band directors were Mr.Luce , Mr.Chongris , …… But the best part of all we got to meet the one, the only Dr. Jon R Woods (OSU Marching band) !!!! He was a great director and I had a blast!!!! But finally it was time to say goodbye and leave for a whole new adventure. BAHAMAS!!!!

Mackinaw, back home for a few weeks

This post was by Geneva: Hey everyone!!! We have just come back from a awesome adventure with horse drawn carriages, shopping and more shopping…. My family and I had just gotten back from Mackinaw City and Mackinaw Island. In Mackinaw City they had over 200 shops in at least walking distance. One of the cool things we did in the city was getting to go in the House of Mirrors and let me tell you never ever walk in there with your hands at your side instead of in front of you. Erin and I even got to make soap; mine smells like Black Cherry, is purple and has a sea horse in it. Finally we got to the see the new GET SMART movie, it was “the bomb” ! The next day we got to go to Mackinac Island on the Shepler. The first thing we did when we got there was to rent a bike and ride all the way around the island. Not saying that it’s a huge island but, it was a long ride and traffic was terrible considering there are no motorized vehicles. We had a great lunch at Mama Mia’s pizza place. Now I wouldn’t say that Mackinac Island is the cheapest place saying that to stay in a “special” hotel a hotel room it’s 500 smackeroos. No I’m not kidding but that’s just The Grand Hotel which is huge.

This is Erin here. Not many people travel down the Michigan coast on a jetski considring the fact that the water is so very cold. Well the Water Warriors did. The Water Warriors are a group of 25 jet skis that traveled down the Michigan coast. They raised money for the Special Olympics. One lady rode in her jetski raised 50,000 $$$$. That is a lot of money for just riding on a jetski all day. It was really cool that we got to wave to the special needs kids. They had so much fun. You could tell by the smiles on there faces. I added their web site to our Blog ( http://www.waterwarriors.org/ ).

Okay, as you saw Geneva and I were in front of a HUGE wave that had splashed up on the break wall. You don't know how long we had to stand there to get a good picture of us and the wave.That day they had about 5-7 foot waves. They were not big, not huge, but
enormous.