Washington DC!!!

It's been more than 2 years since we embarked on what has turned into a crazy license plate quest.  Our original goal:  to get our son Sawyer's picture in front of all 50 United State license plates.  If you start from the beginning of this blog you'll find out the details on how it all started.  We did in fact get all 50 in just 30 days hanging out in good old Appleton, Wisconsin and the surrounding small towns (as well as one trip to Chicago). 

When we spotted Rhode Island in a parking lot at EAA in Oshkosh back in August of 2014 Sawyer and I jumped for joy.....we had gotten the last plate!  Channel 5 featured us in a story on the news which you can find in this blog as well. 

Sawyer, however, soon informed me that Washington DC was on this license plate game and they have their own license plate.  So the quest was not over!  Some close calls with DC occurred (read the blog) but we couldn't seem to get Sawyer's picture by one.  This was how the Summer of 2014 ended. 

2 more years go by and I start planning a family trip to Niagara Falls.  We still need Washington DC yet and it occurs to me that we might see one out there. 

We are there almost 2 full days with no luck yet.  We are actually playing the license plate game from scratch just for fun to see how many we can spot (we end up with 46 out of 51 in just 3 days). 

I drove thru some hotel parking lots and no luck.  We then drove down to a parking lot by the Falls to do the Journey Behind the Falls tour.  Here is Sawyer and his sister Harper posing for a picture in their very fashionable yellow rain ponchos.

As I turned around one row of cars we all continued to keep our eyes peeled on plates.  I think I was the first to spot it and then everyone flipped.  Our quest was finally over!  I wish we could have met this family and probably should have put some kind of note on the car. 

Our family had a lot of fun with this and we will forever be checking out plates I'm sure wherever we go. 

What should our next quest be?  Well, we did see 7 of the 13 Canadian provinces/territories license plates on our Niagara Falls trip.  So we need 6 more yet.  Anyone know the way to Newfoundland?

The license plate quest lives on.....

Well it's been nearly two years since we began this license plate quest and it still manages to permeate our lives.  Sawyer has shown the video at school a few times and the principal of the school found out about it.  That led to Sawyer getting invited to talk about the quest at a school board meeting.  They occasionally have student interest stories.  Sawyer, now 8 years old and 2 years removed from the quest, did a great job talking on his own to a room full of adults.  I was very impressed with how he handled the situation.

And yes, we still have not found that elusive Washington DC license plate! 

We are planning a trip to Niagara Falls this Summer so we are hopeful to spot one there.  Stay tuned!

Did we cheat? :)

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  With just Washington DC left yet to go and Summer now long gone it looked like we had zero chance of getting Sawyer's picture taken in front of a Washington DC license plate.  We had some close calls recently....see our the other recent blog posts.

Then I remembered a principle I had forgotten about that I used to live by.  When all else fails check the internet.....or more specially eBay.  Who knew you could buy license plates off eBay?

It was Sawyer's birthday coming up.....so what better than this for a birthday present.....right?!!

He was only slightly amused when he opened it.  I said 'we did it....we got them all....we're all done!' To which he replied.....'you cheated'.  Maybe?  Maybe not.  This will have to suffice until we find the real deal.....

District of Destiny?

Summer is but a fading memory as we've now hit October.  Many of the out of state plates we saw in abundance back in July are now long gone.  It's all Wisconsin now and a few random Minnesota, Michigan, and Illinois plates.

Hope of finding our last plate has disappeared for this year.....perhaps next Summer we can give it another go is our prevailing thinking.

So on this Wednesday I just picked Harper up from school and we needed to pick up a golf trophy I had engraved.  So we are making our way down College Avenue and I just happen to be looking out the right side of my car and I glimpse what I'm almost sure was a District of Columbia license plate parked right in front of the Chase Bank.  So I pull around the next corner, pay the meter (good for 8 minutes), and walk with Harper back to where I saw the car.  Sure enough, that's what it is! I have literally found the oasis in a barren desert of America's Dairyland plates. Harper nearly shrieks when she sees it.....even she realizes how rare this is.

I see they have 22 minutes left on the meter.  I quickly snap a picture of Harper by the plate.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it you can notice the chocolate smudges on Harper's face from the granola bar she just ate. Next question is how do I get Sawyer's picture by it since that would officially conclude this quest.

I decide to hang out for a few moments to see if they show up which I expect considering how much time is left on the meter.  I then realize my meter has probably ran out.  So Harper and I race back to my car and put in another 2 quarters.....hoping that while we're gone they don't come out of whatever building they are in and leave.  The car is still there as we round the corner so we are in good shape yet.

So we start hanging out and Harper is being great considering this has to quite boring for her.....but she manages to keep herself occupied.  

Unfortunately, I soon become a sitting duck for 2 young guys preaching about the Book of Mormon. One of them is named Elder Orson and the other one's first name is also Elder but I can't remember his last name.  They are from the church of latter day saints.  I am soon reluctantly immersed in a one way conversation about some guy who created the Book of Mormon in the 1800s.  I'm laughing inside thinking about asking them to pose for a picture for the blog.  I did get Harper's picture with the book after they left.  At this point she was getting annoyed and she refused to smile or look at me for the picture.

The meter expires for the District of Columbia car and I pump in another quarter while we continue to wait.  Another 15 minutes go by with no sign of them.  Now it's time for a note on the windshield which thanks to the Book of Mormon I now have plenty of sheets of paper to write on.  I transcribe this note.  

The meter expires again and I put one more quarter in it.  I then start to put this note under the windshield wiper when 2 young guys show up.  They are predictably giving me some quizzical looks as I launch into the License to Smile 50 story.  They seem slightly impressed   I got a rather cool 'cool' from them as they then told me they were leaving right now for Chicago.  

I was hoping they'd be in town for just a few more hours when Sawyer gets out of school.  But no such luck.  A part of me wanted to see if they would follow me to his school and I could pull him out of class to get the picture.  But I thought that might be a bit much to ask.

I'm thinking finding another one all the way up in Northeast Wisconsin may also be a bit much to ask as well.  But we've had plenty of twists and turns in this quest already so I suspect more surprises are on the horizon.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me

This may be my last post for a while as our quest to find the Washington DC plate has come up empty so far.  We almost had it a couple of weeks ago.....see the post below this one for that story. 

We have half a thought to take a road trip to the Mall of America when the Redskins play the Vikings this upcoming football season....thinking we could spot a DC plate at that time since I'm sure a few fans will be making the drive from the nation's capitol.  Redskins did play in Green Bay last season.....but we weren't doing this quest at that time.

We still call out license plates from out of state in the car.  I think we've seen every plate now a couple of times since we started the quest on June 30th....except for DC.

My kids are now having a fun time tricking me into thinking they saw a Washington DC plate......just to see if I'll go check it out.  I fell for it once or twice I have to admit.

Case in point:  We were at a McDonald's drive thru to get them some ice cream when Harper claims she saw a Washington DC plate in the neighboring hotel parking lot.  She's adamant she saw it and Sawyer seems to back her up on it.  I am almost sure they didn't but I'll pretend to believe them anyway.  So after getting ice cream I start driving through the hotel parking lot looking at plates.  It's not long before a cacaphony of giggles erupt from the backseat.  Fun times. 

Sawyer did ask me this question the day before the tv segment was going to air.  Not sure where he got this from but it went something like this....

'Daddy, when people ask me for my autograph should I sign my first and last name or just my first name?'

He really thought he was going to be famous.  Well, he was famous.....for about 15 minutes in the town of Kaukauna and its surrounding suburbs.

We didn't Capitol-ize!

My wife's aunt calls me while I have the kids at McDonald's playland in Kaukauna.  She's driving home from work and is behind a Washington DC license plate on 41.  Crazy!  She tells me how she was just reading the blog before she left work to catch up and then knew we just needed Washington DC yet.  Is this karma?  Or irony?  Or coincidence?  I had no time to think about that as I shuffled the kids (as they complained about leaving so early) into the car and we were quickly heading toward 41.

She kept giving me updates as to where she was.  Eventually she takes the picutre below and sends it to me. It's in our grasp!  Kids are complaining from the backseat about leaving McDonald's.  I express my disappointment in them for not being more excited about this rare find and the possible end to our quest!  By the time I got on 441 to get onto 41 she was following it by Northland Mall.  I quickly changed course and took the OO exit.....we were ready to put the squeeze on this black Kia Sorento.  How I was actually going to get them to pull over and stop was something I hadn't accounted for....I figured I'd worry about that once we got there.  We were only minutes from where she was tracking them heading down OO when I got the message from her.....'I lost them'.  Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

They were behind the El Azteca off OO somewhere she thought.  We both scanned the area frantically driving up and down each street.  I felt like a mouse looking for cheese in a maze.  Except this was a very cruel scientific experiement because the cheese wasn't there.  Where could they have gone?  They had escaped like specks of sand through clenched fists.  Only thought was they headed toward downtown but that search turned up empty as well.  So close!!!

Still on the hunt yet?

Sawyer and I have been having an argument about whether this quest is really over.  On his license plate game there is one plate left yet that we haven't flipped over.  I'm saying it doesn't count because it's not a state (and Dad is ready for this all to be over).  He's saying it does count because it's on his game (see red arrow in picture below....the only one he hasn't turned over yet).  This one will be much more difficult than Rhode Island or Wyoming.  I told him this might have to wait until we visit the place when he's in high school or maybe he'll go on a class trip there sometime. 

So Sawyer might look a little bigger on the next update to this blog!