We are taking our first official family (of four) vacation tomorrow.
We're going to Delaware.
Delaware is one of those states that never hit my radar growing up. When we had the fill-in-the-blank geography tests of New England, I would remember Connecticut, Rhode Island, and I even got New Hampshire and Vermont in the right places. But Delaware...I just plumb forgot about it.
My geography nerd family members are surely going to comment that Delaware is, in fact, a MID-ATLANTIC, state, but I clearly remember getting that question wrong on my New England geography test. Blame AZ public schools, if you must
Speaking of AZ public schools, when we studied the Civil War, I asked the teacher if AZ was fighting for the North or the South. She replied that AZ wasn't a state at the time and didn't fight in the Civil War.
I then brought up the battle of Picacho Peak, the westernmost battle of the Civil War. I added that it was a battle between a California Union Army and a Texas Confederate Army. (I knew this because I had just been there with my girl scout troop, and because I was (am) a complete and utter nerd).
She sighed heavily and explained that there was no AZ Army, therefore the territory of AZ had no "side" in the Civil War.
I countered, "But if they did, which side would they be on?"
She sighed again, looked at the class as if to say, "Can you believe this?" and said, "The South, I guess."
"Yuck," I replied, wanting my home state to be of the land of Lincoln, not Lee.
Can you believe nobody gave me a high five for my line of questioning during recess? That my knowledge of arcane Civil War battles didn't shoot me to the top of the elementary school social standings?
Shocking.
That was a long, pointless sidebar.
So...we're going to Delaware! Rehoboth Beach, DE, to be precise. We're taking the boys, meeting up with our friends and their toddler crew of two, and we plan to do the following:
1) Play in the sand
2) Sit under an umbrella
3) Eat boardwalk fries
4) Make witty observations
5) Avoid sunburn
6) Feed coins into the amusement park rides at "Funland."
7) Get eaten by a shark (okay, maybe that's just my plan. It would make a good blog entry...)
So, loyal followers (Hi Mom!) I will be away from the computer for a few days...I'll have plenty of stories to tell about sand, surf, and hopefully, obscure Civil War battles.
3 comments:
So your line of questioning about AZ Civil War influence, is probably, at the very worst, on level with my questioning about the Cherokee Nation's involvement in the Civil War. I kept on every history teacher from 6th grade through College American History about the philosophy of the Cherokee Minority and the leadership of Stand Watie. No one gave a crap or knew what I was talking about.
I would have figured AZ to be on the Union side. Wasn't there some Union activity out of Yuma?
I would like to think AZ was more on a Union tip, but as far as I know, Picacho was the only official battle. As I recall, there was some Mormon in-fighting involved there,too.
Sarah Vowell writes amazing stuff about the Cherokee Nation in "Take the Cannoli"
I LOVE Sarah on "This American Life"! I have only read excerpts from "Take the Cannoli". I am so going to the library tomorrow!
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