Driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia

November 2, 2013

We head out of DC towards Lexington, Virginia.  We drive down through Shenandoah National Park.

Big Mistake!  It is Saturday and apparently everyone within 200 miles in going to drive through the park to look at the leaves!

This is one of the views we had of the Shenandoah Valley.  It was amazing.  The Blue Ridge Parkway starts in northern Virginia and goes all the way down to Georgia along the top of the Blue Ridge mountains.  It is beautiful.  We had to leave the parkway today because it was so stopped up with people.  We will come back on Monday when everyone has gone back to work.

We spend the night outside a small town called Greenville, in Virginia.  This place is a little uncomfortable.  We found this campground through "Passport America", where we have a membership for "half-price" campgrounds.  Up to this point there hasn't been a problem.  This place is about 4 miles outside of this tiny town.  Where are we going?  Then when we find it the people in the little office/store look kinda "hillbilly".  We get our site and now I am really taking a close look around.  The sites that are filled have people that really look hillbilly and you can tell they are staying in these sites long term.  Most of the guys have scruffy beards.  There is "crap" all over their campsites.  Blue tarps, old porch swings, junk.  Everything seems kinda cramped.  I walked around the motorhome and had dog poo on my shoe when getting back into the motorhome.  That was a sign to me.  I didn't leave the motorhome until we left in the morning.  Locked both locks on the door before going to bed.

We spend the next night outside of Lexington, VA.  Their local claim to fame is Natural Bridge.  This natural rock formation was surveyed by young George Washington, who carved his initials about 23 up on the right side of the arch.  Above you see the arch and then inside the square are George's initials.  This was later owned by Thomas Jefferson who was said to have loved this peaceful place.  There is a stream running through the bottom of the arch.  Not so peaceful with the tourists coming through.  You can see the benches where they are supposed to sit and enjoy the peaceful arch.

The above pictures were all shot from the Blue Ridge Parkway, some looking east, some looking west. It was awesome.

We jumped over to West Virginia for a night.  Stayed in Lewisburg at the fairgrounds.  We were the only rig there!

I picked Lewisburg because the guide book said that Carnegie Hall was in this small town.  It didn't sound right but who was I to argue?  I just didn't realize that Carnegie Hall was in such a small town!  It wasn't until I got there that I found out there are four Carnegie Halls.  The big one I was thinking of is in New York City.  I am starting to feel like a country bumpkin.

Recognize that green ball in the picture above?  Yes, that is a hedge ball.  I first saw one in the produce section of a grocery store in Michigan.  They are used to repel spiders in your home.  I find this one in the woods as we are hiking up to a Confederate grave site just on the outskirts of town.  I was kinda excited that I found one in the wild and knew what it was.  If you missed my first picture, refer back to my Michigan escapades.

This is the road we hiked to a confederate gravesite where 95 unidentified confederates were buried after the Battle of Lewisburg during the civil war.

This was the view from the motorhome door when we woke in the morning.  There was a flea market going on next door in the fairgrounds.  Mark strolled it while I took a shower.  He assured me that it was all junk so I didn't walk over.  It was cold!......and I was lazy.  Beautiful day out, though.  Don't you love those clouds?

I did get my sticker on before leaving.

Next night was in Wyethville, Virginia.  Quietest campground we have ever stayed in.  It was wonderful.  Unfortunately, we hit a deer on the road the next morning.  Did a little damage to the front of the motorhome and we lost a fog light but nothing major.  There is just no missing those deer when they jump out.  No wonder we have seen so many dead deer along the road on the east coast.

Visiting the Obamas

October 29, 2013

Our first order of business was to give the Obama's a call to let them know we were in town.

They were a little busy so they sent their stand-ins.

While I was hob nobbing with the Obamas Mark was out making friends with the local "Duck" party.  This guy hung around our motorhome for the entire 6 days we were in DC.  We must have been in his "spot".

We were lucky enough to get a tour when we visited the capitol building.

My favorite part was when we went by the "cry baby's" office.  I really wanted to go in and tell him to quit crying when he is on tv.

The North Korea Memorial was my favorite.  Maybe because it was the first time I had seen it.

This was our favorite sculpture in the National Art Gallery Sculpture Garden.  It was so funny because Jason, Lindsey and Kyle had no idea what it was.  My sister, Rose, was first to identify a typewriter eraser.  These things disappeared in the 70's I believe.  The "blue hair" is actually the brush that you would use to brush away the eraser dust.  This thing stood about 15 feet tall.

We took the night tour on Halloween Night.  The White House had orange lighting on it for Halloween.

This is a "selfie" that I took of Mark and I as we sat on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Halloween night, gazing at the Washington Memorial.

Here I am installing the itty bitty state of Maryland.  I just love putting these stickers on!

Mark with three of his five "C"s.  He was having a good day in the Capitol, despite being in close proximity to those Liberal Democrats!

Quality Time with Sue, Jerry and Ryan in Pennsylvania

October 27, 2013

Time for family again.  We arrive late on a Thursday, just in time to watch Ryan run in one of the big cross country meets on Friday morning.

Yes, I'm a great photographer and I got a great action shot.  Run, Ryan, Run!!!!

Saturday finds us exploring Valley Forge, where President Washington wintered.

Sue and I were checking out a few of the little bungalows that the troops built.  Not quite nice enough.

Mark and I drove to Hershey Pennsylvania to visit Mark's dream destination.  The place where pure joy is packaged in a little brown wrapper.

It was a great tour and they even gave us free chocolates on the trolley ride around town.  Yes, we bought a few bags of chocolates before leaving.

The next day we head on down to Atlantic City to visit Donald Trump's little establishment.  First to Ocean City to walk the Boardwalk and then to Atlantic City.  It was really cool.  I can just imagine what it is like during the summer.  Millions of people cruising the Boardwalk.......sure glad we were down here in October, even if most of the shops were closed.  Most of the businesses are seasonal and closed for the winter.

Unfortunately, after all that excitement, Mark came down with a cold and kept the couch company for about three days.  Sue and I entertained ourselves by shopping at the King of Prussia Mall.  Second largest in the United States.  I found a beautiful purse that suited my purposes.  I had to visit it twice before I could bring myself to spend the bucks but now Mark has my Christmas present ready for the holidays.

On Friday we drive to Ryan's next Cross Country Meet.  There were over 1200 runners that ran at the same time.  It was amazing.

Ryan finished 19th in this massive field.  I have a tendency to believe that he gave it his all.

Jerry found Ryan to tell him "great job" afterwards.  I noticed immediately that Ryan wasn't leaving his big white friend.  Even when his team mates were getting together for a photo, Ryan stayed with his big white friend......

After a very close inspection, Ryan seemed to be just fine.

Every region has it's "something special".  Texas has a "What-A-Burger".  Pennsylvania has the Wawa.  They are all over.  Gas station/convenience store combination with a fast food station for a quick sandwich.  They are definitely the quick stop of choice.  Thanks Wawa for the cheap gas and snacks.

Sue and I installed the Pennsylvania and New Jersey stickers so that the "Clubhouse" was looking good as we headed for DC.

We parked in the driveway and slept in the motorhome so we were pretending like we were their nosey neighbors that "just showed up at the back door a lot".  Thanks Sue and Jerry for the great hospitality

The "Troll Roads"

October 14, 15, 16, 2013

Next stop, Massachusetts.  We would just like to say that there sure are a lot of toll roads in the Northeast.  We have come to affectionately call them the "Troll Roads".  There are trolls in those little booths and they won't let us pass until we pay the fee.  Greedy little bastards.......

Anyway, we had about three trolls between Freeport and Boston.  Our Garmin navigation was spot on and we sailed through Boston and stayed in a campground at the "gateway" to Cape Cod.  Upon getting settled we visited a little with our new neighbors.  The couple next door was from Seattle, WA and the couple across the road was from Pasco!  That's right, Pasco, WA.  Brian and Connie.  They are pretty much doing the same thing we are but at a slightly slower pace.
We visited about our trip down from Maine.  Brain and Connie got messed up in Boston and had to pay the same toll three times because they were going in circles.  Turns out you can't drive a motorhome with propane through the huge tunnel in the heart of Boston.  Ooops! We didn't see any signs and drove right through.  Didn't take the detour that we were supposed to.  I told Mark as we drove through that I thought this tunnel was the "Big Dig".  Ten years too long in the digging of it and about 8 billion dollars overspent.  Didn't see Brian and Connie come out of their motorhome for the next two days.  I think Boston was too much for them.

We drove out to Cape Cod, Hyannis Port, on the first day.  Turns out Cape Code is a lot longer than I thought.  It seems like most of the time you are driving through a tree maze and can't see much until you are right on top of it.

The next day we drove into Boston and walked the Freedom Trail with a guide and then took the trolly.  Nice day.  A little frustrating when we left the city.  Once you get on the wrong freeway it is pretty frustrating until you get "out" of the city.

This picture is just proof that we did walk the streets of "Beantown".  Nope, didn't eat any beans.  The guide said that lobster is a popular food here.  Nope again.  Had enough lobster up north to last a while.

The road into our campground drove past these cranberry bogs.  They had just flooded them and were in the process of harvesting.  It was beautiful.  No wonder highway 28 was called the Cranberry Highway.  There were cranberry bogs all over the place.  None were flooded yet like this one so we were lucky.

We had lunch at Lindsey's place.

Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine

October 11, 2013

Vermont and New Hampshire are so small that they whiz by on our way to Maine.

We stopped along the road to enjoy the scenery and I had to give the big "V" for Vermont.  My overall impression of Vermont is trees and little tourist shops along the highway to tempt tourists with maple syrup and doo-dads.

We stopped and explored our first covered bridge here.  We didn't go to New York's "Madison County" to see the bridges that Clint Eastwood made the movie about but there is no shortage of covered bridges in the northeast it seems.

New Hampshire was the first state that finally told me that they had no room in the campground for us. For the first seven weeks we have been showing up in an area and the campground we pick has always had plenty of room.  Traveling in the off-season has been great.  Turns out that October is "high season" in Vermont and New Hampshire for the "leaf peepers".  Our first choice was full to our surprise.  The lady at the desk called another campground and secured us a spot in another campground that was only open because someone had cancelled at the last minute.  That is where this picture was taken as I add Vermont and New Hampshire stickers.  We did have our backup plan.  We spied a Catholic church and had decided that would be a good last minute overnight spot.
We have not had the opportunity to stay at a Walmart yet this trip.  It will happen though.  I am sure.

We pick Freeport Maine as our destination in Maine.  My first stop is for a lobster lunch.  I was a little disappointed because in the end you really don't get that much lobster meat from a whole lobster.

So this was the second course of my lunch.  A lobster roll.  Now, before you judge me, I would like to say that Mark did help me with the first meal as we were sharing it.  I did feel the need to gorge on lobster though.

I am not dancing to "YMCA" here.  This is the "M" for Maine.  I am still feeling the need to pose for my "sticker" pictures and am trying to jazz them up a bit.

This is one of the local state parks that featured a lighthouse.  We strolled the grounds and then found a  local "food truck" selling, what else?, lobster rolls. Yumm!

Freeport, Maine is the home to LL Bean.  Their store stays open 24 hours a day.  It sits on a huge campus.  Lindsey knows some of the people there and made arrangements for Mark to go out clay pigeon shooting on Sunday afternoon.  This is him.  They had a nice setup for shooting and also for archery which was about three miles out of town.
We were a little surprised to find out that the Freeport downtown area is a huge outdoor outlet mall with  LL Bean right in the middle of the whole deal.  On the Saturday and Sunday we were there it was basically gridlock in the downtown area which was packed with shoppers and cars.  It was about a 3 block mess.  I did manage to find some new pillows for the motorhome couch.

New York, New York!

October 8, 9, 2013

Ohio was a boring, blah, so I won't even bore you with it.

Now New York!  That is a different story.  We have loved New York.  It is beautiful and we are both quite surprised at how beautiful it is.

First stop, Niagara Falls.

The falls were beautiful but we were both surprised that they weren't higher.

Lunch was at Hard Rock Cafe.  First time I've been in one of those in 25 years I think.  Not bad.

Heading east through New York we discover that we are close to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Sidetracked again.

Then stopped by Ilion, New York, to the Remington Arms Factory and Museum.  Mark was quite excited.

We are cruising the countryside and find a place selling Apple Cider.  The only parking place left has this sign in front of it.  We had to move on cuz Mark wanted a cigarette as soon as he got out of the car.

When you have been on the road a long time you start doing silly things.....
What's wrong with this picture?

These are a few pictures I took as we cruised the countryside.  I am not a good photographer and could not do it justice but it was amazing countryside.

This is the view from our motorhome.

The heart is because I love New York!

And this is our New York campground in Bridgetown, New York.  About 20 miles south of Utica, NY