Random Stuff From the Trip

Sightings:
- Black squirrels at Fort Meade, Md.
- A red fox on Fort Meade
- A Longhorn in every major city (guaranteed Becky that in Baltimore, Boston and NYC we would see someone wearing something from TU, it happened)

Don’t let the tree huggers tell you there’s a shortage of trees…In the East, you get away from the big cities and that’s all you can see.

Most people say that ‘Easterners’ are unfriendly…NOT…every time we asked a local a question (which was often, especially in NYC), there always gracious in helping us. Oops, one exception, the guy from the hotel in Princeton who picked us up from the train, needless to say, he wasn’t rewarded. He should have checked with his cohorts, they would have clued him in.

Seems like it took all day to drive across Massachusetts, I can imagine what people say about Texas.

Even is you have a GPS, it’s a good idea to have an atlas with you. Bossy was generally on target, only misguided us twice, once which resulted in us ‘visiting’ Maine twice and New Hampshire three times in the space of 30 minutes!

Duck Boats are a good way to see everything if your time is limited and you don’t want to walk miles.

New York City
- Crowded (of course we were there on a Friday night)
- It would help in navigation the subway system if we knew if we were wanting to go uptown, downtown, etc.
- Crowded restaurants (we ended up eating our meals at Penn Station, there’s Nathan’s hotdogs down there that we patronized twice)
- Forget Krispy Kreme, Duncan Donut shops were everywhere. There were more of them than Starbucks!!
- Who knew that one end of Manhattan Island is all trees.
- The statue of Liberty is awe inspiring, so majestic.

Baltimore
- Went to a visitor’s center at the waterfront and asked directions to Charm City Cakes. I already had directions but wanted a backup. The gentleman was gracious and said that he gets requests for directions there about four times a day. I reassured him that I knew that we wouldn’t be able to go in, etc. All the while one of the other volunteers was muttering “I don’t know why anyone would want to go by there, you can only see the outside of the building.” I was ready to tell her to stuff it but refrained.
- The waterfront area was a very nice area to visit, very clean and lots to do and see.

Boston
- Very clean city
- Dodging traffic to get a picture of Sara crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon (good thing it was a Sunday)

Hampton Inn – Evolved into our home away from home.

Pilot Travel Centers – passed 41 of them on our trip.

I got Becky hooked on sun flower seeds, she can now pack a bunch in her right cheek instead on going at them one at a time.

Passed the following baseball stadiums: Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park (Boston), Camden Yard (Baltimore).

Best way to see the big cities is to stay out in the ‘burbs’ and take a train in. Hotels are cheaper and you don’t have to worry about traffic and parking.

Home Sweet Home

We are finally home…got home on Friday afternoon. I think the last time I posted was when we spent the night in Jamestown, N.Y., my how time flies.

The last couple of days of the trip I didn’t have any internet access and have been lazy since I got home. That’s why some of you out there thought we were still in the Chicago area!!!

Tuesday morning we got up and as usual left around 8 a.m. We thought we would spend the night around South Bend, Ind., but we got there in early afternoon and decided to go on. At South Bend we turned north on Highway 33 and went into Michigan, checking off another state.

From there we headed to the Chicago area but it was fixin’ to be rush hour traffic so the decision was made to keep south of the city on I80. We angled up to I39 then stopped at Rockford, Ill., for the night.

Wednesday morning we got up, hopped in the car and drove to Wisconsin, which was about 10 miles north of Rockford. With that state ‘visited’ Mom and I have now been in 49 states.

Once crossing the Wisconsin border we turned around (how sick is that) and ‘headed for home’, mission accomplished!!

We traveled on to Raymore, Mo., (just south and east of Kansas City) by way of Des Moines and spent the night with Kim (Becky and Les’ daughter) and her husband Steve. They were very gracious hosts and it was awesome to get to know them better. We briefly met them when they came down to Stillwater in January for Dad’s memorial service.

We have always heard what great people they are and now that we’ve gotten to know them better we can definitely concur with that. We also got another treat while we were there, we got to meet one of their children, Mike, his wife Nani, and their adorable daughter, Alana (I hope I am close on the spellings!) Being around Alana made me miss my grandchildren even more.

From there we traveled to Stillwater, Okla., arriving early afternoon. Stopped by and visited with our Aunt Vera (her granddaughter Britton was there too), then went to the Pryor’s and visited with John, Bonita and Aunt Olive. It was Olive’s 88th birthday so that was special to see her. From there we stopped by the cemetery and visited Dad. Becky and Sara hadn’t been there since the headstone was placed.

We hit the road again that day and spent the night in Norman, Okla. It seemed weird to be in Norman and not be going to a basketball game. One ‘basketball’ tradition we did keep when visiting Norman, we ate dinner at my favorite Norman restaurant, Charleston’s.

Friday morning, the last day of the trip, we headed to Frisco, Texas, to drop in on Erin, Bobby and the girls. Everyone had a good time visiting and playing with Ashton and Landry. Then we headed to Waco, making sure we stopped at Braum’s in Hillsboro for one final treat.

We gladly arrived back in town around 3:30. I was glad to get home and I know mom was too. Poor Becky and Sara still weren’t home though. Becky arrived back in Reno on Monday and Sara hung around Waco to help mom with some painting. She’s going home on Thursday.

I will post one more blog about the trip, mainly just some random stuff. Check back in a few.

Monday

Today was at travel day for us. The only "touristy" thing we did was bop up into Vermont, 10 miles into to be exact. It was a first visit to the state for all four of us.

We began the morning in Portsmouth, N.H., leaving the Hampton Inn (which has become a favorite of ours it seems) by 8 a..m. From there we went south then hit the Mass Turnpike to the west. We continued west on the pike which turned into the NY ThruWay. At Schnectady we cut down on I88 to Binghamton, had dinner in Horseheads, NY (just past Elmira). From there we had a two-hour drive to Jamestown where we are spending the night. It took us almost 13 hours to get here, Erie, which was our original destination was still another two hours. Don't know what made us think it would be doable (is that a word?) distance.

Tomorrow we will check off three more states. We'll leave here go through Erie, Pa., Cleveland, Toledo on I80/90. The interstate runs along the border of Ohio and Indiana to the south and Michigan to the north. At some point, we'll jaunt up a couple of miles and touch Michigan which will be a new state for us. Don't know how far we'll make it tomorrow but hope to make it to Elkhart or South Bend, Ind.

From there it will be to Chicago, turn north until we get to Wisconsin, turn around then head south.

The scenery going through New Hampshire, northern Massachusetts, and across New York was absolutely gorgeous. It seems like since we got to Arkansas and east, all we have seen is trees. Becky says she doesn't know what the tree huggers are complaining about. Obviously they haven't been to the northeast!!!

That's all for now....later.

Oh, BTW, Jennifer reminded me that it was my second time in the Atlantic and she's correct. I was there in North Carolina when she and the girls came down there when we played there. We took a boondoggle to the beach.

PS - sorry no pictures on this post, for some reason nothing would upload.

Boston and New Hampshire

This post is going to cover a couple of days...they are running together and it is hard for me to remember what we did which day. Also, what day it is.

We left the New York area on Saturday morning and drove towards Boston. Sara was a champ at driving through New York. We stayed in Newton, Mass., which worked out really well as the hotel was next door to the T station. That afternoon we caught the train into Boston (we could take that particular station straight into the Government Center stop) and went to Fanuiel (sp) Hall and Quincy Market. We ate dinner at Quincy Market where mom got her fish and chips. Then we caught the train back to Newton. Going in, we were on the train that was taking fans to the Red Sox game as that particular train passed by Fenway Park.

This morning we left the hotel at 8 a.m. then took the train back into Boston to take a Duck Tour. We had planned to take the 9 a.m. tour but didn't get on one until 10:30. It was a very interesting tour and on Sunday morning, they didn't have to deal with the Boston traffic. By the time we got back to the car it was 1:30.

From there we headed towards New Hampshire and Maine by way of Glouster, Mass. We went through Glouster so we could see the coastline, etc., but it was raining so hard we didn't get to see much and didn't get out of the car.

From there we traveled up north and stopped at a little shop in Ipswich (sp), Mass., and I got my fresh lobster dinner. Sara had one too and the guy/waiter/owner graciously got it all cracked up, etc., so all we had to do was eat it and make a big mess, which we did.

Then it was on to New Hampshire and Maine, both new states for Becky, Mom and me. We decided to spend the night in Portsmouth, N.H., because the traffic going back south was backed up for miles. I guess everyone was going back home from their weekend trips.

The last three days we have not travelled as many miles as we had planned so, since we have around 2,000 miles still left to travel we have decided to skip the Niagara Falls part of the trip.

The picture that I have posted to this blog is what New Hampshire trees look like. Not really, I just saw on the beach where someone had made a sea weed tree and decided to pull your chain.

Becky and I both stood in the Atlantic Ocean today, a first for both of us. I will try to upload some slides for the slideshow so check back when you get a chance.

PS - Mom/Ninny has been a real champ on the trip. We've drug her all over the place, in fact, if her knee didn't make it hard for her to navigate steps, she'd be leaving us in her dust!!

That's all for now, later.

New York City

Whew, what a busy, busy two-days we've had! I know it's hard for any of you who aren't from back East to comprehend, but in one nine hour span, we had been in five states.

We left our hotel on Thursday morning and headed to New Jersey via Annapolis. Smooth sailing until we got to the Bay Bridge that takes you across the Chesapeake Bay. Traffic was backed up and it took us 40 minutes to get through the toll booth. We thought traffic would take off once we passed that point but, NOT. The traffic was all being channeled into two lanes to go across the bridge. Becky was driving and as we were merging, she saw a state trooper coming up behind and stopped (no one else was) and waited for him so he could merge in front of us. Amazingly, no one honked or raised their middle finger at us. Anyway, once he got in front of us and he made his way up to the front of the line, they opened up a lane on the other side of the bridge and he motioned for us to follow him. He led us and all the rest of those behind us across at about 60 mpg (speed limit on bridge is 45 mph). Meanwhile, all of those that wouldn't let him in or had cut in front of us, were on the other side of the bridge creeping along. See, it does pay to be nice!!!

From there it was smooth sailing. We proceeded up and went through Philadelphia, man I didn't know there were so many bridges in Philly. We passed Trenton and went on to Princeton where we were going to spend the night. Once we checked into our hotel we headed for NYC.

OMG - what an adventure that was. We took a train to the city (a 70 minute ride). We were hoping to make a 4:30 boat trip at Pier 93. We got off the train at Penn Station then took a cab (not as much of an adventure as I expected it to be) to the Pier, but just missed the boat. So we caught a bus up to Times Square and bought tickets for a double-decker bus tour. We took the tour called the Downtown Loop. It took us through/past the following areas: Greenwich Village, Times Square, Empire State Building, Union Square shopping district, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, East Village, Rockefeller Center, Central Park and many, many more areas. It was totally worth the price.

After the tour we took the subway to Penn Station then caught the train back to Princeton, getting back around 11:15.

So, we experienced a NYC cab ride, train, subway, bus and tour bus!!

Friday morning (we keep having to ask each other what day it is) we caught the train back to NYC as we had bought tickets the day before for the 12:30 cruise around the island of Manhattan.

Let me just say, today was much less stressful as we knew which subway to take, which bus we needed and which train track we needed to go to to get home.

We made it to Pier 93 with about an hour to spare and waited for our "cruise" to load. The three hour tour was fascinating. I had no idea there was so much wooded areas of Manhattan. The highlight of the tour for me was seeing the Statue of Liberty.

Off to Boston tomorrow. I've been having trouble uploading pictures so Megan can add them to the slide show. I'll keep trying.

Later!!!

Baltimore

Thanks to Bossy we made the trip to the Fort Meade area just fine. We left Charleston, W.V., at 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning and headed for Alexandria, Va. to pick up sister Sara. She had spent the last week in Hawai'i, taken the red-eye back to LA (that's where she lives), didn't even leave the airport before catching a flight to D.C. She got there about 6 p.m. Monday. Even thought she made it to D.C., her luggage didn't arrive when she did. She finally got it on Tuesday, an hour before we were to pick her up.

Bossy got us to her hotel in Alexandria, then from there we tasked her with finding our hotel in Hanover, Md., which she did.

My nephew Reese, who is in the Air Force stationed at Ft. Meade, Md., got off work around 3:30 so he, his wife Heather and her sister, Jamie, came to our hotel. We all went to dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ, which was pretty good even if it isn't in Texas.

This morning we went sight seeing in Baltimore. We went to the Inner Harbour and took a Duck Tour. It was very interesting and informative and we really enjoyed it. We wandered around for several hours.

From there we tasked Bossy with getting us to Charm City Cakes, site of one of my favorite TV shows, Ace of Cakes. They never let anyone come in and they were on vacation anyway. But all I wanted to do anyway was get my picture taken in front of it and I did.

Tonight we will go out to dinner with Reese, Heather and Jamie. Tomorrow we will leave to head to New Jersey and on to New York City.

Check later for more pictures to be added to the slide show.

Later!

West Virginia

We arrived in West Virginia on Sunday morning. It took us an extra 10 minutes as we took Becky to Ohio because she hadn't been there before. Just before Huntington, W.V., you can take the Ironton exit, go across the river and you're in Ohio. We did that, flipped a u-turn then, crossed back across the bridge to WV.

After an afternoon spent relaxing, Jenn and the girls fixed a delicious dinner. The we just lounged around the rest of the evening.

This morning we went exploring some of the WV countryside. Becky says she's seen more trees in the last four days than she's seen in her whole life. Anyway we went to Hawks Nest State park and took a tram down to the river and saw some gorgeous views. From there we went to the New River Gorge. Also went over the New River Gorge Bridge which I think is the longest/highest bridge in America. They close the road down once a year and people bungee jump off of it. In fact, I think that a few years ago there was a commercial made there where they dropped a car off the bridge or something like that.

After that we were all hungry so we found a Pizza Hut. Let me just say, all the Bennett girls and their dad will all remember this, it was an experience duplicating a certain trip to the Old Country Buffet in Nebraska. There is a picture that Megan is adding to the slide show that should give you a clue.

Anyway, since I'm a "slideshow dunce" I have to get the pictures to Megan to add to the slideshow so she'll have them up soon. She's just adding to the current one as she gets them from me.

We'll be off to Maryland tomorrow to visit Reese and Heather, stalk Charm City Cakes and tour the Baltimore waterfront. We should be there until Thursday morning , then look out New York City!!!

Later.