The Road Trip Family

The Road Trip Family, a.k.a. the Jones family, welcome you to our family web site.

Mike

Trish has Mike do all the driving.  Think she drove any of the trip from Pittsburgh to Alaska and back?  Think again!

Also, see Mike's work web site and Mike's blog.

Trish

Trip planner and navigator par excellence!

Gwen & Laurel

Growing up thinking it's perfectly normal to get in the car and drive across the country every now and then. :-)  In February 2006, at their request, we took them to Georgia and Alabama, their 49th and 50th states to visit.

 

Think identical twins have identical personalities?  Think again!

More About Us

Mike is board president of the USENIX Association and on the board of the Computing Research Association (CRA).

Mike is an active director of Asia Images, a stock photography company headquartered in Singapore specializing in images of Asian subjects for the Asian market.

Gwen and Laurel go to the Bear Creek School.

Some of our favorite Road Trips:

2007

• National Geographic Tuscany Family Adventure, August 2007.  From our base camp in the hill-top village of Gargonza, we made excursions to Siena,  Pienza, Montepulciano, Arrezo, and Montevarchi.  Plus the group had a day in Florence.  The highlight of the trip was front row seats for the Palio in Siena - the longest continuously run horse race in the world. Ten horses race around the town square for three laps with the riders bareback.  The course includes two 90° turns where horses (and riders!) often hit the (padded) walls.  Four of the 10 horses finished without riders, including one rider who came unseated only feet in front of us!  Our National Geographic photo expert and friend Massimo Bassano put together a wonderful trip slide show from photographs taken by group members.  Before and after the National Geographic trip we spent a few days in Rome, seeing the Coliseum, Palatine Hill, the Forum, the Vatican, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Trajan's Column, the Circus Maximus, and the Catacombs.  And in Italy, of course, what day would be complete without Gelato!
• Day hike at Esmeralda Basin, WA, July 2007. Mike, Trish, Gwen, & Laurel with Arin, Jordan, and Elliot Mares-Manton.  Bird watching for Arin and Elliot and great mountain views from the pass a mile past the meadow for the rest of us.
• Redmond to Pittsburgh and back, June & July 2007. Trish and the girls drove to Ohio via a direct route, Mike joined them later in Ohio (seeing Mike's parents), we proceeded to Pittsburgh for niece Rachel Burgess' graduation party, and then we all drove back via a much less direct route (coincidentally following the path of Historic US Route 66 for parts of the way) taking us places we'd never been, including adding Mike's 50th state: Oklahoma.  On the way East Trish and the girls saw corn, cows, trucks, and Mike's brother Mark's family.  In PA they say Hershey Park, Ridgeview Park, and the Carnegie Science Center.  Mike joined them and the Bruckmans for Fort Bedford.  The trip back included Niagara Falls (with the Journey Behind the Falls and the Maid of the Mist from the Canadian side on Canada Day), the St. Louis Arch, Laura Ingalls Wilder's home Rocky Ridge Farm in Missouri, the J.R. Davis Firearms Museum (the largest private firearms museum in the world), Fort Sill, Four Corners, Monument Valley, Zion National Park, Hoover Dam, Sequoia National Park, the Winchester Mystery House, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, the Santa Cruz wharf, and a week in the San Jose Fairmont waiting for the car to be repaired.  Best county name encountered: Deaf Smith County, Texas.
• Boston and vicinity, April 2007. Lexington & Concord, Walden Pond (should be named Mosquito Lake), Minute Man National Historic Park, Louisa May Alcott's house, Longfellow's Wayside Inn, whales offshore at Cape Cod, the Freedom Trail (over 3 days), the USS Constitution, Bunker (Breeds) Hill, the Union Oyster House, a Duck Boat tour, the Museum of Science, and the House of Seven Gables.
• Arizona, February 2007. A Jeep tour of the desert, the Fairmont pool, horseback riding, Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, Meteor Crater, the Petrified Forest with a bone-chilling below-freezing 30+ MPH wind, and the girl's first time firing a pistol.

2006

• Nags Head, NC, December 2006. Our annual New Years trip, this time with Roz, Ralph, Martha, Rebecca, and Elizabeth Ries and Steph, Bryan, and Daniel Jones.  Highlights included Kitty Hawk, the enormous sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge State Park, the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, and the lost colony at Roanoke.
• Pittsburgh, PA and Worthington, OH, December 2006. Christmas with Trish's and Mike's parents and our brothers' and sisters' families.
• Virginia, Thanksgiving 2006. Thanksgiving at George & Steph's with Mike's parents. Visited Montpelier, where the renovation continues.
• Southwest Oregon, October 2006. Highlights included Oregon Caves National Monument and the Rogue Creamery.
• Upper Gauley rafting trip, October 2006.  With Mark Stevenson, Karl Kleinpaste, and George Jones.  More full contact rafting!  This time we also rafted the Lower Gauley, which was pretty but not as wild a ride as the Upper.
• Colockum Pass, WA, September 2006. Beautiful views of the arid hill country above the Columbia River.
• Driving Tour of Western National Parks, August 2006. Crater Lake, Redwoods, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Bonneville Salt Flats, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier.  With Joe, Kathy, Rachel, Allison, and Ryan Burgess.
• Hike up Granite Mountain, WA, July 2006. Mike with Alex Mares-Manton.  Splendid beauty and isolation!
• National Geographic Greece Family Odyssey, July 2006. Sailing through the Cyclades seeing both historic and modern attractions with fun group of over families.  Athens including the Acropolis, Delos, Maxos, Naxos, Santorini/Thira, Foligandros, Milos, Spetses, Mycene, Epidauros, Aegina, and Pirias.  Also a day in Rome, including the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon.  Lots of history, lots of beauty, lots of fun!
• Utah, including the Kennecott Copper Mine and Golden Spike National Monument, June 2006. The Great Salt Lake smells repulsive and has disgusting swarms of tiny flies feeding on the dead brine shrimp along the shore.
• Victoria, BC, June 2006. Trish and the girls Trish's parents.
• Grand Coulee Dam and Eastern Washington, June 2006. With Trish's parents.
• Cove Palisade and Smith Rock State Parks, Oregon, May 2006. Camping and sightseeing with Mike's parents.
• Hells Gate Park and Hells Canyon on the Snake River, Idaho, May 2006. Camping with Mike's parents.  The jet-boat ride up the Snake through Hells Canyon is a treat not to be missed!
• The Big Island of Hawaii, April 2006. Diving on the Kona coast and hikes in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  The girls learned to snuba (scuba with tanks on the surface and a 25' depth limit), which they completely loved!
• Georgia & Alabama, February 2006. The girls' 49th and 50th states! Atlanta, Huntsville (the upright Saturn V replica is impressive!), and Savannah.
• Columbia Gorge, January 2006. A highlight was the Cascade Gorge interpretive center in The Dalles.

2005

• Virginia again, for Christmas 2005. Montpelier, Mount Vernon, Harper's Ferry, Antietam, and Skyline Caverns. Also Pittsburgh with the Bruckmans earlier in the trip.
• San Diego, December 2005. The San Diego Wild Animal Park, the Maritime History Museum, and a visit to our old friends' Gordon and Cyndy Macshane's new house.
• Virginia, for Thanksgiving 2005. Visited with George & Steph's family and Mike's parents, seeing the new Air & Space Museum at Dulles and the National Archives.
• New York City, November 2005. Times Square, American Girl Place, the Empire State Building, a Circle Line cruise around Manhattan, and modern dance with the Pedullas.
• Olympic Peninsula, October 2005. Lake Quinalt, Roosevelt Beach, Moclips beach, and hunting sand dollars by car!
• Camping near Wenatchee, October 2005. Late season camping at Lincoln Rock State Park on the Columbia, Ohme Gardens, and Rocky Reach Dam.
• Columbia Gorge, September 2005. Skamania Lodge, Bonneville Dam, Eagle Creek trail, and Sam Hill's Stonehenge replica.
• Northern CA, September 2005. A GPS- and satellite photography-inspired exploration to discover that the regular grids once seen from an airplane window were actually man-made wild bird migration resting sites. Also visited Lassen National Park and drove by Mt. Shasta.
• Singapore, Bali, and Phuket, August, 2005. Elephant rides, mountain hikes, wonderful foods, relaxation, and time with good friends.
• NYC and the Jersey Shore, August 2005. Rowing in Central Park and swimming at Island Beach State Park with our friends the Pedullas.
• A hike up Sauk Mountain, July 2005. Stunning scenery, beautiful wildflowers, and Mike and Alex Mares-Manton enjoying one another's company.
• Seattle to Yellowknife, Northwest Territory and back again, July 2005. The Icefields Parkway, Yellowknife, the Great Slave Lake, Watson Lake Yukon Territory, Hyder Alaska, and spectacular glaciers we had all to ourselves!
• Albuquerque and New Mexico, June 2005. Rafting on the Rio Grande, Los Alamos, Bandolier, White Sands (both the National Monument and the missiles), Carlsbad, Roswell, Acoma Pueblo, and El Morro.
• North Vancouver Island, May 2005. Ferries, wilderness, and black bears seen in the wild.
• Disneyland and Los Angeles, April 2005. Highlights were the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride and the LaBrea Tar Pits (for which one of our cats was named).
• Sedona, Arizona for New Years.

2004

• London and Cambridge, England, November 2004.  Saw a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Drury Lane.
• Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier, August & September 2004.  Hiked to lakes in the Tetons, saw all the thermal areas of Yellowstone, and drove the "Going to the Sun" road in Glacier.  Saw moose, elk, deer, antelope, a black bear, porcupines, eagles, an osprey flying carrying a newly-caught trout above the Snake River, garter snakes, ... and oh yes, our car was completely surrounded by a herd of bison!
• Cannon Beach, Oregon, July 2004.  Family retreat right on the beach with several other friends' families.  Nice walks along the beach to Haystack Rock.
• Central Oregon and Lassen area of northern California, April 2004.  Family trip to Black Butte ranch with horseback riding and exploring the lava caves at Lava Beds National Monument in northern California.
• Vicksburg, Mississippi, February 2004.  We flew into Columbus where we met Mike's parents and drove down to Mississippi, camping in their trailer.  Saw places where Mike's great-grandfather fought in the Civil War and visited the Old River Control Structure Army Corps of Engineers facilities in Louisiana.
• Ocean City, Maryland, over New Years with lots of old friends.

2003

• Upstate New York, October 2003.  Viewing fall color at its peak of reds and golds, with a backdrop of Lake George.
• Across the US and back, July & August 2003.  Trish and the girls and her parents drove from Redmond, WA to Myrtle Beach, SC and back, seeing many sites along the way.  The girls' cousin Allison Burgess joined them on the eastward journey.
• Kauai and Maui, Hawaii, May 2003.  Ran a workshop in Lihue, then took some additional time with the family on Kauai and Maui.  Sea Kayaking with dolphins and snorkelling with sea turtles were highlights.
• Florence, Italy and other parts of Tuscany for Albert Pedulla's 40th birthday celebration, with his wife Nancy and four other friends, Apr-May 2003.  Great art, food, and companionship!  Michaelangelo's David is an inspired work of art; It's amazing that a human could create something with so much life in it out of a block of stone.
• Arizona, for Laurel's trip with Mike's parents, February 2003.  Cactus, horseback riding, Canyon De Chelly, and much more!  It was nice to be in the sun and dry out from the Seattle winter!
• Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, over New Years with lots of old friends.

2002

• Lexington, Kentucky on November 14, 2002, for Mike to attend a Bruce Springsteen concert with Alex Mares-Manton, an American friend living in Singapore, who needed some fun in his life!  Three hours of singing, dancing, and yelling no more than a dozen feet from the stage.  Amazing!!!  As a fellow musician I have to say, Bruce and the Band were definitely not going through the motions -- they gave their all the entire time.  We were so close that Alex read Bruce's lips when he said to Clarence Clemens off microphone at the end of three curtain calls "Boy, did we rock this town, or what?!".
• Philadelphia and Jersey City, with the whole family, November 2002.  Very odd to drive the Jersey Turnpike towards Manhattan for first time since September 11^th and not see the twin towers that used to so dominate the skyline of lower Manhattan.  Albert Pedulla captured the feeling in one perfect word: "disorienting".
• Mike's annual Upper Gauley rafting trip, September 2002.  This time bringing Bryan Derrenger with me across the country.  Surfing chicken-enders, a dynamic beast of a hydraulic, with Darren and the crew just can't be beat!  T-shirt from this year: (front) "Life without danger..." (back) "is a waste of oxygen".  See the fear of swimming the rapids at Pillow Rock!
• Virginia Beach with our family and George & Steph Jones's family, August 2002.  Gwen & Laurel loved holding Mike's hand as the waves tried to knock them over!  During part of this trip Gwen visited Delaware with Mike's parents.  She's now been to one more state than Laurel has.
• Vienna, Prague, Kutna Hora (Czech Republic), the Salzburg region, and a Northern Italian dinner, with the whole family, July 2002.  Read about Musical Vienna and Musical Prague.  The ossuary in Kutna Hora may be the strangest thing we've seen in our entire lives -- sculptures from the bones of 40,000 people.  In Salzburg we rented a car and took a real road trip for several days through gorgeous alpine countryside, seeing castles, palaces, mountains, and quaint villages with flowerboxes under the windows -- what Leavenworth, WA wants to look like! :-)  In rural northern Italy, where we popped over for dinner one evening, they serve grilled polenta as the starch with all entrees.  Delicious!
• Hawaii -- the Kona Coast of Hawaii and Maui, April 2002.  We snorkelled and body surfed and sea kayaked and took a submarine way below the ocean and played in the pool (the girls' absolute favorite activity!). We saw sea turtles swimming and swam beneath a waterfall and watched beautiful orange sunsets over the sea and distant mountain islands and saw humpback whales breaching.
• New York City, Trish with Lori Dilio and Lorie Lund, January 2002. The people of New York were incredibly welcoming.
• Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia over New Years with lots of old friends.

2001

• Lake Louise, Alberta, with Trish and the girls, October 2001.  Beautiful with a light dusting of new snow!
• Utah and Western Colorado, for John Regehr's wedding at Alta and then a week's family vacation, July 2001.  Dinosaur, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Natural Bridges, Hovenweep.  Lots of great hikes and perfect night skies.
• Taipei, Taiwan (just Mike), June 2001.  The people were friendly and the food was wonderful, particularly the dumplings at Dim Tai Fung and the soups at King Join.  This was Mike's second trip around the world (Seattle -> Philadelphia -> Munich -> Bangkok -> Taipei -> Tokyo -> Seattle).
• Bavaria (Germany), Tirol (Austria), Northern Italy, Liechtenstein, and Appenzell (Switzerland), with Trish and the girls, May 2001.  The view from the top of the Zugspitze mountain (the highest peak in Germany) is fabulous.  But the girls liked Schloss Neuschwanstein (the castle after which Walt Disney modelled his castles) best.  Don't go to Appenzell without trying the cheese!
• India and Singapore, with Trish, Marc & Lisa Bauman, Alex & Arin Mares-Manton and Julie Lowry, February & March 2001.  Delhi, Varanasi, Agra (yes, the Taj Mahal is as magnificent as they say it is), and Saharanpur.  Beautiful hand-made silks, stone inlay, and wood carvings.  When in India, become a vegetarian for the duration of the trip (the vegetables are great -- the meat is not).  Drink lots of masala tea.  And in Singapore, be sure to eat some durian.  This was our first trip around the world (Seattle -> Amsterdam -> Delhi -> Singapore -> Tokyo -> Seattle).
• Palm Springs and the Rose Parade over Near Years with the Bruckman and Burgess families and lots of old friends.

2000

• Walt Disney World, December 2000.  Six is the perfect age for Walt Disney world.  Kid's favorite ride: the Southwest roller coaster.  Second favorite: Space Mountain - "Daddy, can we ride it a third time?".
• Fourth-annual Upper Gauley rafting trip, September 2000.  This time adding John Regehr.  A wild ride, as always!
• Prince Edward Island -- with George & Steph Jones & family, June 2000.  Yes -- Trish and Steph and our kids drove from Seattle to PEI and back.  Land of red soil, beautiful coastlines, potatoes, lupines, and lobster roll sandwiches from McDonald's drive-throughs.  That and fantastic Celtic music and dance at the College of Piping.  Hearing a chorus of a dozen bagpipes in tune is a sound you don't hear everyday.  And look who made the local paper on the 4th of July!
• Central Oregon and Crater Lake -- family trip, May 2000. Volcanic splendor.  Black Butte, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, a nearly mile-long lava river cave, and the classic beauty of Crater Lake.
• Joshua Tree national park, meeting Mike's parents there -- February 2000.  Joshua trees are amazing looking, and can be quite big.  The scenery in the neighborhood's not bad either!
• Martinique in the French Caribbean -- Mike, January 2000. Martinique is both fully Caribbean and fully French -- an amazing combination. Very lush, with banana and sugar cane plantations covering much of the flatter land, and the 4500 foot volcano Mt. Pelee towering over the north end of the island.
• Southwest Florida over New Years with lots and lots of old friends.  Featuring mangrove swamps, wildlife and plenty of beach play.

1999

• Mike's third now-annual rafting trip on the Upper Gauley River in West Virginia -- September 1999. With David Lund and Mark Stevenson, plus a now-regular friend on the river -- our guide extraordinaire, Phillip Belcher.  Tremendous, as always.  This year, with crash-and-burn photos!
• Spur-of-the-moment camping trip to western Montana, meeting Mike's parents there -- September 1999. Visited two gold rush era ghost towns, the Big Hole battlefield (Nez Perce), and the mansion of a copper baron.
• Bruckman Family Trip to Germany, Belgium, & England.  Marilyn & Bill Bruckman, Kathy, Joe, Rachel, Allison, & Ryan Burgess, plus the four Joneses -- June & July 1999.
• Idaho's Sawtooth Mountains with Terry Bradley and Mike & Lori Harvey -- May 1999. (photo: Mike, Gwen, & Laurel on a lake)

1998

• Spain -- Madrid, Baza, and the south, plus Gibraltar -- December 1998.  A wonderful visit with Nate & Mary Saxe.  Real Flamenco is a compelling combination of classical guitar, jazz improvisation, story-telling in folk song and dance, and tap dancing.  The singing is in a haunting Arabic style, including the use of quarter-tones.  Extremely immediate and passionate.  The shows start at midnight.  The south is gorgeous arid terrain akin to the table lands of Southern Utah or Eastern Washington, with olive or almond groves as far as the eye can see, surrounded by snow-capped mountain ranges.
• Rafting on the Upper Gauley River in West Virginia -- September, 1998. Mike, with David Lund, Mark Stevenson, and our trusty guide Phil.
• Cornwall, Cambridge, and London -- July 1998.  Megaliths, castles, stark beauty, and the end of the world (Land's End).  Met Carol Peterman and Jim McVein for a fun weekend in London.  Highlights for Gwen and Laurel included seeing "real princess crowns" -- the crown jewels in the Tower of London and Maori dancing lessons at the British Museum.
• Hawaii -- the Big Island and Kauai, with Mark, Libby, & Helen Verber -- June 1998.   Watching lava flow into the sea is an awesome sight to behold!
• Denver and southwest Colorado, with Alision Shapiro -- June 1998.   The girls loved playing at Great Sand Dunes National Monument.
• Boston, New York City, Baltimore, and D.C. -- May 1998.  Mike, with Mike & Lori Dilio, meeting Albert and Nancy Pedulla.  The Red Sox, the Orioles, and a fabulous day in the City with old friends.  Next year with Trish too!

1997

• Brittany, Paris, and many points between -- October 1997. Did you know that in France STOP signs say "STOP"? Only in Quebec do they say "ARRÊT". :-) (photo: Laurel & Gwen at Eiffel Tower)
• Rafting on the Upper Gauley River in West Virginia -- September, 1997. Mike, with David Lund, Mark Stevenson, & Steve Ploughe. Tremendous!
• Maine, with Mike's parents Bob & Lois Jones, plus George & Steph Jones & family -- August 1997.
• Quebec, including Montreal, Quebec City, the St. Lawrence Seaway, and points north -- June 1997. Quebec City is the only walled city in North America north of Mexico. The walls kept the American invaders out, too!
• Belize, for our 10^th wedding anniversary! -- April 1997.   Great beaches, snorkelling, and spectacular Mayan ruins! (Yes, we left the girls at home with Mike's parents.)

1996

• Ireland & Wales -- September, 1996. The girls' first trip overseas! (photo: Laurel & Gwen playing in peat bog)
• Utah & Colorado, with Mike's parents Bob & Lois Jones, plus George & Steph Jones & family -- summer 1996.

1995

• Colorado Rocky Mountains & Taos, with Alison Shapiro -- September, 1995. (photo: Gwen & Laurel on a hike with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches)

1993 and before

• Carolinas & Chesapeake Bay, with Mark Stevenson & Wendy Elcesser, May 1993.  Aquariums, gardens, and lots of driving.
• Paris & Grenoble -- September, 1992. Hiking the Alps near Grenoble felt amazingly similar to being in Appalachians of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia (other than being greeted with "Bonjour" by passing hikers) -- far more familiar feeling than the evergreen forests of our new home in western Washington.
• Pittsburgh, PA to Redmond, WA -- September, 1992. Across the country to our new home.
• Alaska, Yukon, & Northwest Territories, with Carol Peterman and Jim McVein -- July & August, 1991. Glaciers that would have their own theme parks in the lower 48 don't even have names in Alaska.  In July, the shore of the Arctic ocean is hot and dusty.
• England, Scotland, & Wales, plus a weekend in Brugge -- Summer 1990, with Brenda Bruckman. As Pittsburghers, we were horrified to learn that the English consider Heinz baked beans a breakfast food.  Lots of great Indian food, though.
• Belgium, Utrecht, & Heidelberg -- October, 1989. Despite the German reputation for precision, it's the Belgian trains that run on time.
• Guatemala & Honduras, with Mark Stevenson and Jewel Hendrix -- May, 1989. Friendly people and the most luscious fruit in the world. And of, course, spectacular Mayan ruins. (photos: Mike at Tikal, Trish at Tikal)
• Cozumel, for our honeymoon -- April 1987.  Great beaches, snorkelling, and spectacular Mayan ruins!
• Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario -- June 1984.  Back-country canoeing with many good friends and many more mosquitos.

Words to Travel By

Remember, the secret to a successful road trip is proper trash control.

Where do you want to go today?  :-)

Last modified September 9, 2007.