Audrey the Anatomist

The other day Audrey drew this picture on her own and presented it to Carol.


Audrey explained that in the picture you can see where the food goes when a chicken eats.

Our Vanagon Adventure Begins

As I've mentioned several times, Carol and I have been planning for about three years to buy a Volkswagen Vanagon camper. They are a unique vehicle in that they are "normal" sized (not an RV), they get about 20 mpg, and with the pop-top they sleep four people very comfortably. Carol's parents had an older VW "Bus" camper when she was a child and an American van with a homemade bed inside later on. She has many fond memories of family trips in their vans, and we want to build the same kind of memories. We envision a lot of spontaneous weekends away - no reservations required.

About 18 months ago I started watching them on Craigslist and got be pretty familiar with the price/condition/age range. I read about other owners' experiences on sites like thesamba.com. There is quite a community of people around these vans. The camper versions were sent straight from the factory to the Westphalia company for camper conversions, and were sold that way by VW dealers. They are affectionately referred to as "Westies". VW has had three generations of campers: the original hippie bus until 1978, the Vanagon from '79-'91 and the Eurovan (with US camper conversions by Winnebego) from '92-'03. After a lot of research and asking friends who had owned them, we had decided that we wanted a "Multivan" version, which was only made in 1990 and 1991. The multivan has the pop-top sleeper and the storage closets, but no kitchen equipment. Instead, it has extra seating (for 6 total, plus another optional jump seat).

I say our Vanagon adventure is just beginning because these vehicles are guaranteed to be quirky and require that money be put into them every year. We know that going in. We think of it like our summer cabin, and even if we have to put money into it every year it's much less than a real cabin. And we can go a lot more places in it.

Replacing the engine has been part of our plan all along unless we found a van with an engine that was already rebuilt or converted. Our plan has been to convert whatever van we buy to a Ford Zetec engine. They are a more modern design, were made all over the world (in the Ford Focus) so parts are available everywhere, they have much more power than the VW engine, and a company in Boston sells a conversion kit that is dead simple.

Two weeks ago a nice-looking Multivan showed up on Seattle Craigslist. I emailed the seller about 10 hours after the ad appeared, but the van was already sold. I was very excited by this van and disappointed that it had sold before I saw it. I wrote to the seller twice over the next week and told him if for any reason that sale didn't go through to contact me. Well, what do you know? The sale fell through. Saturday Audrey I went to see the van and take it for a test drive. It had exactly what we wanted: a body and interior in good condition and an engine that still runs strong. I made an offer on the spot and we had bought ourselves a van. Today we met the seller at our credit union to get a cashier's check and I drove Ruby home.

The seller is a woman named Lisa who has owned the van since 2001. She also grew up with camper vans and was very attached to this one (which she named "Ruby Tuesday"). It was hard for her to part with it. It helped that Carol dropped me off at the credit union and Lisa got to meet Audrey (again) and Charlotte and see that her beloved van is going to a good home where it will build happy memories for another generation of kids. I told her I'd send her reports from our trips and that she has visitation rights.

Audrey and Charlotte knew I was bringing the van home after work and they kept asking Carol when it would be here. When I got home we parked the van in the alley and popped the top and we all hung out in it for a little while. We tried out the privacy curtains (all around - completely private inside) and the radio and the girls hung out on the upstairs bed, then danced to the radio in the "living room". We are all very excited to have found the van we've been dreaming about and we're anticipating the fun we're going to have in it.

Audrey Turns Five

Audrey turned five this week. Last weekend we hosted the Princess Party she requested as her celebration. Here's video of the occasion shot with our brand new HD camcorder.

Audrey Turns Five - Princess Party

Hopefully the embedded player shows up in email and RSS feeds.

There's also a photo album from the party.

With the party on Saturday, a family celebration with my parents who came home from California for the occasion and then one more little celebration on Audrey's actual birthday I was a little birthday'd out. And Audrey was a little over-stimulated. But we all recovered quickly.

We can't beleive we have a five-year-old!

January Gone Already

Album | Slideshow

Where did January go? Wasn't it just New Years?

Not a ton of news this month. For a couple of years Carol and I have been planning to buy a Volkswagen Vanagon camper. We now have the cash in hand and have started serious shopping. After a bunch of research I determined that we want one made between 1986 and 1991 (when VW stopped making Vanagons). We thought we wanted a full camper (with stove, sink and fridge), but after talking to several friends who have owned them we've decided to take their almost unanimous advice and try to find the "weekender" version that does not have the kitchen equipment but still has the pop-top sleeper and the full bed downstairs. I have notifications set up craigslist for all of Western Washington plus Vancouver, B.C. and Portland, OR.

Before we made the no-kitchen decision we found a full camper in Portland that looked good. We drove down there one Sunday to check it out. The van was pretty good, but it was the first one we had driven and we decided to wait for more experience. We're glad now, having learning more about them.

Why do we want to buy a 20-year-old van? Because this vehicle is the only "normal" sized "car" that can comfortably sleep four people. We plan to use it for lots of spontaneous weekend getaways. We had the plan long before knowing we were moving to Boston. Now we'll use it to explore the environs of our new home. Anyway, we'll keep hunting. We know that a van this old will need a fair bit of investment every year to keep it going. We're prepared for that.

While we were in Portland we visited OMSI. My grandparents lived in Salem, OR when I was a kid and our occasional trips to OMSI are very fond memories. The girls had a great time there.