Lofty Heights– Lakeside Camperworld, Dusechne UT 6/30

At dusk last night three elk sauntered across the meadow by our camp ground. All of them had pretty big antlers and seemed nonplussed by the nearby campers. They hung out for about an hour grazing. It was beautiful to see their majestic silhouettes as the sun faded. We enjoyed the ranger talk, but felt a little sorry for all the kids in the audience. The talk about carnivores was quite academic, including graphs, and geared for an adult audience. What ever happened to the good old days when everyone sang “On Top of Old Smokey?” This morning we were thrilled to be greeted by absolute crystal clear blue skies knowing we would have quite an adventure driving over the Rocky Mountains. We first started at a Visitor’s Center and watched a movie about the park and then took the Trail Ridge Road up, up, up. We made several stops along the way taking in the different perspectives of the rocky ridge and valleys. When we passed the sign that said, “Two Miles above Sea Level” and kept going up I started getting a little altitude sickness. I think we peaked out at 12,183 ft. Some of the highlights for us were seeing the historic Ute trail knowing that people walked here 6,000 years ago, and the headwaters of the Colorado River. It’s hard to believe that this harmless little creek created the Grand Canyon! Our next destination was Steamboat Springs. After driving through the desert and modest little towns we were amazed at this huge posh ski village. Wow – the resorts, upscale condos and chalet homes looked like something out of architectural digest. Once you leave the town heading west, the poor desert towns begin again - ironic to see this wealthy oasis amongst this humble setting. Rather than staying at a desert state park in the middle of nowhere, we decided to push on. Ned was a hero and drove on and on. We are now settled in at a private campground and enjoying the amenities. We love camping at the National Parks and taking advantageous of this great American resource, but don’t love the lack of basic amenities – i.e. showers! Tonight we have electricity, showers and wi-fi!! How luxurious. Tomorrow we head thru Salt Lake City and in the name of research hope to find a Farr’s Ice Cream Parlor to verify that it is, in fact, worthy of the first place status.

Rocky Mountain Hi- Rocky Mountain National Park, CO 6/29

We sadly left Custer State Park under a gorgeous brilliant blue sky. We really enjoy the vibe and the surroundings of this place so it was hard to say goodbye. Wanting to avoid the interstate as long as possible we took the back roads out of the Black Hills and into Wyoming. It was fun to see the lush green long views into the distance after being in the evergreen forest. It became abundantly clear when we hit Wyoming as the landscape flattened out and the population was about one person for every 500 miles. We drove by several working ranches and saw cowboys rounding up the cattle, which helped break up the drive. As we left the flatlands of Colorado and headed up toward Rocky Mountain National Park we enjoyed the dramatic flow of Big Thompson River thru a scenic rocky gorge. We finally came into Rocky Mountain National Park at about 3ish and were lucky to get one of the last 3 campsites in the entire park! That’s the good news. The flip side is that we are camped at Glacier Basin Campground which has been devastated by the pine bark beetle. The campground has been completely cleared of every tree and we are basically in a basin, which feels like it’s been hit by a bomb. (See today’s pic). What a difference trees make! This is so unlike camping at most national parks. That goodness we are at a high elevation with a cloud cover or we would be cooked by now. The pine bark beetle is really changing the landscape of our forests. In Custer Park the devastation was also really noticeable by the vast amount of dead brown pine trees. The beetle has really hit this entire park hard. Thousands upon thousands of the dead brown pine trees mar all of the scenic vistas. Apparently, this is a phenomenon that happens about every 500 years. The specific forests of Rocky National Park that was first hit by this beetle, about five years ago, is beginning to reemerge with Aspen trees. We figure that by the time our grandchildren view this park it will look vastly different. Once we settled into our camping spot we jumped on one of the park shuttles and checked out a couple of the Visitor Centers. We were particularly impressed with the Moraine Park Visitor’s Center and enjoyed the interactive displays on the geology, weather and fauna of the Rockies. Unfortunately, we missed the movie that was playing at the Beaver Meadows Center, but hope to catch it tomorrow. There’s a program tonight at 9 pm at our campground entitled, “Large Carnivores”, which we’ll probably go check out. Right now chicken is on the barbie, a glass of wine is being poured and we’re hanging out with all our fellow bomb victims.

Biking in the Black Hills- Custer State Park, SD 6/28

It felt rather luxurious to spend two days at the same campsite. When we arrived last fall at Custer State Park we fell in love with the Black Hills and vowed to return and bike the George Michelson Trail - or at least parts of it since it’s 109 miles long! After driving into Hill City we took a dirt road for about 12 miles until we came to the Mystic trail head. The bike path was a very slight uphill grade for about 11 miles. We rode over several trestles, thru two tunnels and alongside a river. The rolling hills were bright green, the sky was deep blue and the wildflowers were still popping up everywhere. (See today’s pic). We took a break once we reached the abandoned town of Rocheford then had the best time riding back – since it was downhill almost the whole way! We ended up doing a little over 23 miles. By this time we were famished and decided to take a trip into town (Hill City) for some lunch and also to do some errands, like give the Winniemobile a much needed car wash and do some grocery shopping. We headed back to Sylvan Lake and just hung out for awhile on the deck of the general store enjoying a soft serve in the warm sun and looking at all our pictures. It was a fun, lazy summer day!

Wall to Wall Adventure- Custer State Park, SD 6/27

Ned here again. We woke to a beautiful morning on the Missouri River. The drive through western South Dakota was gorgeous, with lots of green rolling farm and pasture land. The constant Wall Drug billboards along the interstate kept us entertained as we approached Custer State Park, and eventually we agreed to partake in the Wall Drug experience. (We had purposely avoided it on our trip here last Fall.) It was WAY more than I had expected, including the extensive assortment of cowboy hats and boots, collectible historic rifle reproductions, homemade donuts and ice cream, and a roaring fiberglass T-Rex dinosaur out back, all populated by a frantic crowd of tourists. Despite all the chaos, we received two good things from our trip there: Two delicious buffalo burgers for lunch, and a couple of good sessions at the shooting gallery for Debi. (Did anyone know that Debi absolutely LOVES using a rifle at a shooting gallery???) Once we arrived in Custer State Park we were stunned again by the beauty of the place that had impressed us so much last Fall. We took the Needles Highway to our campground at Lake Sylvan, and loved every scenic turn of the road. To our amazement, two full size touring buses were making the same trip, even though one of the tunnels is about 8 feet wide, and 12 feet high. I don’t understand how they made it through, but they apparently did. After checking out our campsite, we walked a little around Lake Sylvan and the general store next to it. Both were absolutely buzzing with activity on this warm Summer afternoon, which was a far cry from how we remembered them both last October when almost no one was here. We retreated to our campsite for a short rest, before returning to the beautiful Sylvan Lake Lodge to eat dinner on their outdoor patio. Dinner was great, and our extremely polite waiter from Bali only added to the experience. Afterwards we stopped at Sylvan Lake again and made a complete hike around it as the sun cast wonderful light on all the surrounding granite boulders. (See today’s pic). The lake was completely calm, and only a few people were there, so it was a delightful after dinner stroll. We’re looking forward to biking the Michelson Trail tomorrow, followed by a possible dip in the lake.

Bushels of Fun– Snake Creek State Park, SD 6/26

We had a long drive today through southern Minnesota. Actually, this part of the state doesn’t look much different than Iowa with miles and miles of cornfields broken up by the occasional dairy farm. Our original plan was to camp at the western border of Minnesota at Lake Shetak State Park that boasted swimming and a 6-mile bike path into the town of Currie. After about 5 hours of driving we finally pulled into the park, but deliberated whether or not to camp for the night. The concern wasn’t so much the campground, but the 70 mph winds, hailstorm and weather warnings that were continually being broadcast on the radio. So far we were fortunate in that we hadn’t seen any rain, but knew it coming. Even though we had already done a lot of driving, we figured it didn’t make much sense to stay put and be in the inevitable storm that was heading our way. On the way out of Minnesota and into South Dakota we decided to stop by Pipestone National Monument famous for the red soft stone that was the preferred source of pipestone among Plains tribes. The Visitor’s Center had several Indian crafts men and women carving and creating stone pipes and jewelry and a nice museum. As we drove down the main street of the nearby town, Pipestone, most of the buildings were made from this rock. While the architecture was similar to many small towns across America, the colors were definitely unique. I’m glad we made the side trip. Once in South Dakota we drove thru the storm, impressed by the strong winds and sheets of rain pelting down, but were pleased that in half an hour we were driving out of the storm and into blue skies/ We heard on the radio that the place we were going to camp was being pelted with golf ball size hail stones. Good call Team Russell! The next stop was the world famous and only Corn Palace! See today’s pic of Ned looking corny but cute in front of the Palace. (bad pun, I know). We pulled into our campsite quite late, about 8ish, but were rewarded with the last campsite directly situated on the expansive Missouri River. It’s a gorgeous evening and we’re enjoying a glass of wine, playing cards and taking in the sunset.

La Familia– Arrowhead Campground, Wisconsin Dells, WI 6/24-6/25

Before we left the campground Ned suggested we check out Kitch-iti-kipi or “The Big Spring”. We had a short drive to these springs and were really surprised by the beauty and interesting geological phenomenon. We were the only ones there and took a short walk to a pier with a self operated raft. Ned wheeled us out into the middle of the small lake, and viewing into the covered opening in the center of the raft you could look 40 feet down into the clearest emerald green water and see the bubbling sands as the springs flowed up. It bubbles up at 10,000 gallons a minute and is a constant 45 degrees year round. The tiny spring lake is located in a heavily wooded area and the sun was breaking just as we entered it - a truly magical moment. Our next stop was Lake Arrowhead for the family reunion. After a six hour drive we pulled into the campground, circled around, went to the site where the family was supposed to be and even checked at the office for the Santos-Saar family reunion. Nothing, nada, zilch. At one point, as we were sitting in front of the campsite that we thought was our group, a very worried “dad” came on over and asked us if we needed help. Yeah, will you be my family?! After a few phone calls, it turns out we were at the wrong Arrowhead Campground!! Fortunately the other Arrowhead Campground was only about an hour away and we finally caught up with the real family or at least the ones that haven’t disowned us yet. We had a great two days with everyone. Ned and I loved playing with all 4 great-nephews and they loved us for our van, which they considered a really cool playhouse. (See today’s pic of all 4 boys on the top bunk of Winnie). In all there were 6 boys ranging from age 7-3. We swam, played bean bag toss games, biked, and generally were worn out keeping up with the little ones. Ned and I took a daytrip on the Elroy-Sparta rail trail. We biked 23 miles through two former train tunnels along a gorgeous trail under arched trees. Others took side trips either playing golf, riding “the ducks, or enjoying the waterparks and we all met up for a true Midwest feast. Gary and Dru outdid themselves grilling up brats, burgers & dogs, Brunswick stew, salads and even homemade ice cream. The highlight of the evening was watching 6 little boys taking whacks at a piñata that wouldn’t break open. There are some serious baseball sluggers in this little group, perhaps even a future Cubbie or two. Later in the evening a pretty impressive thunderstorm rolled through adding plenty of drama to the night. This separated the men from the boys. Almost everyone scattered for their cabins or campsites. A hearty few of us – Marc, Gary, Becky, Andy, Laura, Lane and I played cards doing “shots” or drinking mai tais under a tarp as the storm raged on. As I’m writing this, early on Saturday morning – no one is yet up! Ned and I are on the road again for our next destination, Minnesota, leaving behind hung-over, weary campers. A good time was had by all.

Poncho Villa Rides Again! - Indian State Park, Thompson, Michigan, 6/23

Today was just too much fun. We were hoping the big rainstorm that was headed our way would hit last night, but unfortunately I only saw stars every time I woke up. By the time we headed for Mackinaw City early this morning, the storm was definitely headed our way, the skies were clouding up and rain was imminent. We decided, “What the heck, let’s just head for Mackinac Island and take our chances”. We embarked on the passenger ferry, with our bikes of course, and had a great ride viewing the suspension bridge and other ferry boats with their huge sprays, like rooster tails, spouting behind them. Once we landed on the island we decided to ride the 8 mile trail around the island before exploring the town. Well, we got to about mile 3, felt a couple of rain drops, heard the huge thunder crack directly above and just barely managed to get our ponchos over our heads before the skies opened up. Oh and what a mighty storm it was!! We rode another half mile, getting completely drenched, then finally spotted a snack shack and ran for shelter. We were not the only ones there, and as the bike refugees huddled under the very narrow eaves, the water poured off the hillside and came in torrents around us. We soon found ourselves in ankle deep water wondering how long the storm would last. Some of the troops didn’t think it would abate so they abandoned ship and rode back to town in the pouring rain. Soon there was only a small contingent left, a dad with two daughters, and Ned and I. Our fellow band of brothers decided that it was best to retreat, so they headed off into the rain back to their dry hotel room once the thunder and lightening stopped - but not Ned and I. No, the fearless duo was in it for the duration and we were determined to bike around the island. Ned spotted a restroom sign through the woods and we made a mad dash for it. Once in the ladies room I stripped down and used the hand dryer to dry my clothes. After about 10 minutes of intensive drying two young girls came in and I’m sure I scared the pants off of them too! The last thing they expected was to open the restroom door and see a half naked lady in front of the hand dryer. Once somewhat dry, we threw on our ponchos again and damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. As we rode off into the light drizzle we both yelled, “Poncho Villa rides again!” (See today’s pic). These brave warriors were rewarded with the road to themselves and calm skies. We rode triumphantly back into town the l-o-n-g way. Once in town, we thought it was a great time to grab lunch and reconnoiter. As we finished our lunch the owner of the restaurant came on over and said we looked like adventuresome folks so he showed us some other fun, more off the beaten path, places to bike. By this time the skies had cleared up and we had a great time exploring the middle of the island passing horse drawn carriages, grand estates, the tiny airport and historic battle places. By the time we landed back in town we had ridden 16.5 miles. We grabbed the 3:00 ferry and headed for Yooperland. Our first stop in the Upper Peninsula was at one of the many smoke fish shop joints that line the highway, a just reward for our valiant ride. We arrived at Indian Lake Campground and were thrilled to get a site right on the lake, including our own dock and bench. After spending a bit of time cleaning out poor Winnie (too many peanut shells and cherry pits), the sun broke and we took advantage of the warmth and went swimming. As I write this, it’s beginning to cloud up again and we are hearing the distant roar of thunder. Mmm – might be a good idea to start rounding up all our gear that is airing out and batten down the hatches.

CheBOYgan, Baby! – Cheboygan State Park, Michigan, 6/22

Ned here. (Debi’s talking to Josh in China…) Last night the skies opened up and produced the biggest thunderstorm of our trip so far. We ate breakfast in the van to keep out of the rain, which is something we did quite often on our trip last fall. As we headed north along the coast of Lake Huron, the rain stopped, although it remained cloudy. We soon stopped at a produce stand along the road that advertised both blueberries and cherries. We were soon on the road again, stuffing ourselves with some of the best blueberries and cherries we have ever tasted! We followed the “Scenic Sunrise Shore” drive suggested by our Most Scenic Drives in America book. Frankly, it was the first time we felt disappointed in one of the drives suggested by that book. There were only a few short areas where we were able to see the lake, which, however, we are pleased to report is much cleaner looking than our experience last night at Saginaw Bay. For at least 100 miles we passed very modest homes with lakefront property, along with 50’s vintage mom and pop vacation cottages. It felt like a time warp of when families loaded up the station wagon and vacationed at a cabin along the lake. During most of this time, Debi became obsessed with finding a place that sold smoked whitefish, a delicacy which she fell in love with last Fall on our trip through Wisconsin. However, we have yet to find any that meet her stringent specifications. We felt triumphant when we finally reached Cheboygan State Park. Last winter, as Debi was planning this trip to avoid cabin fever, we often joined in a chorus of “Cheboygan, baby, Cheboygan!” It was fun to actually get here after all that buildup! We stopped in downtown to buy some groceries, and decided to treat ourselves to dinner in town. We both ate a nice whitefish dinner on an outdoor patio, as the sun began to shine, next to the Black River,. As we ate, we watched three different fishermen pull in large fish across the river from us. On our way back to camp, we stopped at the beach in the state park. (See today’s pic) We verified again here that water in this part of the lake is relatively clear, but mysteriously to us, only a few inches deep, even several hundred feet from shore. We’re hoping for good weather tomorrow on our bike ride around Mackinac Island.

 

Cheboygan on Dwellable

A Gourmet Day, Back in the U.S. of A – Bay City State Park, Michigan, 6/21

We woke up to gorgeous blue skies this morning. We decided to revise our plans about passing through the Detroit area and headed straight toward Lake Huron, crossing into the US at Sarnia. We had 6 Canadian dollars (or 3 double loonies) left to our name, and wanted to spend them the best possible way before re-entry into the home country. For the past few days, we’ve driven past several Tim Horton’s (Canada’s version of Dunkin’ Donuts), and decided, what the heck, that was as good a place as any to blow our wad. Ned and I very rarely eat donuts, so this was quite an adventure. Three dollars and two wrong orders later, we were not impressed. By the time we reached the border, we discovered that we had a pay a $3 bridge toll to get back into the U.S…. Voila! Our first goal of the day was accomplished. Once we were back in Michigan, we desperately needed to make a fuel stop. Low and behold, the fine American institution of White Castle Burgers stood next door. Having grown up in the Midwest, I was smart enough to not partake. However, Ned had not been indoctrinated into the White Castle experience. After my strong encouragement, he ordered 4 “sliders”.(See today pic, before the big event.) Oh! The joy of the miniature steamed burgers, complete with micro-minced onions and dill pickle, which went down so easily for him! Two hours later, the joy was not so much… I had to admire his gusto in taking on both a Tim Horton donut and 4 White Castles on the same morning. (These Food Science majors will try anything in the name of research.) We drove along the shore of Lake Huron, on our way to Bay City, hoping to view the lake. However, for most of the way, the shoreline was obscured by trees or modest houses. When we reached Bay City State Park, on the shores of Lake Huron, we went for a great 15 mile bike ride. We really enjoyed riding the Rail Trail, a large part of which is shaded by over-arching trees. We rode through heavily wooded areas, along marches, and near the beach. It felt really great to get two long bike rides in back to back. Wanting to pick up something to barbecue tonight, we decided to check out the local grocery store. You can sure tell you’re in the Midwest: we don’t have cases of sausages and cheese stacked up like this back in California. We settled for a NY strip steak, corn and salad. After dinner, we decided to hop on our bikes again, cool off, and put our feet in the lake water. Yuck!!! This part of Lake Huron is smelly, thick with sludge, and dark brown. And this was the “swimming area”! After seeing the blue waters of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and, last fall, Lake Superior, we were quite shocked. Tomorrow we take the highly recommended scenic drive from Bay City to Cheboygan, where all the timber barons built their mansions. It’ll be interesting to see if that stretch of beach is any better.

Oh Canada – Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario Canada 6/20

We thought it would be fun to cross over into Canada and check out the falls from our Northern friend’s side. It was crystal clear blue skies and the day was quite warm with not much of a breeze, quite a contrast from yesterday. Once entering Canada we took the Niagara Parkway along the gorge and we stunned by the beauty of this area. The drive is thru a park and we passed botanical gardens, a tomahawk and woodcutters area, saw the flower clock and really just enjoyed the pristine beauty of the gorge. The parkway ultimately spilled out onto an area overlooking all three falls. It was really quite stunning and much more of a panoramic view than on the US side. (See today’s pic). The last time I viewed this was about 15 years ago and I remember it being much more tacky than this. It seems that the touristy kitsch shops are now all located on one main street somewhat away from the falls. The crowed was a bit more sparse than yesterday and didn’t seem so frenzied. We continued down the parkway following the Chippawa Channel and enjoying the scenic drive with all the homes overlooking the waterway. We finally picked up highway 3 or the Crown Road as it is known in Canada and drove for about 4 more hours. We drove through tobacco country (didn’t know Canada grew that!) and through rural farmland, passing several dairy farms along the way. We finally reached Rondeau Provincial Park, which is a small peninsula that juts out into Lake Eerie. We had originally planned on going a bit further, but I was getting car crazy and desperately in need of stretching my legs. This is a pretty neat provincial park, with a sandy beach area along the Eerie Lake side and a really cool marsh area on the Rondeau Bay side. Eager to explore the area, we took a 14 mile bike ride on the Marsh Trail out to the point. It was so cool to ride down a sandy road through marshes and hedges that were at times higher than us while dodging the bunnies and chipmunks. We stopped at a lookout tower to get an overview of the area and read about the unique eco-system of this area. We have a sweet camping site, with a huge tree (diameter around 4 feet!) shading us and most of the campground to ourselves. You gotta love Sunday nights!

Maid of the Mist– 4 Mile State Park, Niagara Falls, NY 6/19

We had an early start this morning knowing that it would be a bit hectic at Niagara Falls and getting a campsite on Sat. night without reservations a challenge. We pulled into the campground at noon, secured a site right on the bluffs of Lake Ontario, then high tailed it for the falls. To say it was hectic is an understatement! The place was so thick with people that you could hardly walk thru the crowds. It seemed everyone was either Chinese, East Indian or Middle Eastern. The wind was blowing mightily, over 30 mph, and it was quite a scene seeing all the colorful saris and head coverings of the Muslim women blowing in the wind. We decided to embrace our inner tourist and headed for the Maid of the Mist. It was insane!! The sky had clouded up and was threatening rain while the wind had whipped up to quite a bluster. I don’t know what we laughed harder at, trying to put on our bright blue plastic ponchos or seeing how silly we looked once they were on! The ride was much better than we expected. The beauty of the falls, the force of the water pouring over the cliffs and being drenched in the mist all added to the thrill. We tried to take pictures when next to the falls, but between mist on the lens and getting drenched everything just looked pure white. As we disembarked from the boat, the skies cleared up and the day turned out to be crisp and blue, albeit still incredibly windy. The warm gusty breeze felt much like the Santa Ana winds from home. We had a great time walking along the river path and watching the torrent of water gush over the cliffs. (See today’s pic). Once back at the campsite we did a quick tour of the area on our bikes and then settled down to a lazy summer evening enjoying the vibe of the campground. On the huge grass expanse, with mature trees, overlooking Lake Ontario boys are playing catch with their lacrosse sticks and throwing footballs, kids are sitting in circles playing duck-duck-goose, and a father is playing soccer with his little girl. At the onset of the sun going down, Ned and I walked the few feet from our campsite to a perfectly situated bench and watched the sun slowly dissent over Lake Ontario for about 45 minutes. It was a spectacular show. When I turned around to look behind us, entire families, with their kids and dogs, were all sitting on the grass watching the sunset. The entire place was quiet just soaking in the magic of the moment. Now, as dusk has settled over the campground, there’s a sea of campfires and kids are playing flashlight tag on the grass and trying to catch fireflies. You can smell smoke and s’mores in the air. Ahh - the epitome of summer in America.

Lazy Days– Cayuga Lake State Park, Seneca Falls, NY 6/18

We left the northwest tip of Massachusetts entering New York for the second time this trip. (Today’s pic is our campsite this morning in Mass. – not only was it a great mountain spot, but we had the entire campground to ourselves). Unlike her seashore Long Island side, this part of New York is mountainous and felt more like parts of Appalachia at times. We drove through dying hard scrapple manufacturing towns and eventually entered into the rolling hills of Cherry Valley. For the rest of the day we were in dairy country, passing – yes passing – mom and pop homemade ice cream stands. One of the more interesting towns we stopped in was Sharon Springs. About 100 years or so it was the place to vacation and soak in the springs. Now, the once mighty bathhouse has fallen to ruin and the town is about a block long with a couple of the old hotels lining Main Street with their rocking chairs on long porches. Apparently, it’s still the vacation spot for Hassidic Jews, but nearly forgotten by the rest of the world. We stopped in the early afternoon for a roadside picnic enjoying the lazy warm summer day, and then ventured on to the Finger Lakes region. It actually felt great for a change to not have some sightseeing or field trip planned. We arrived at Cayuga Lake State Park in mid afternoon glad to get a site before the weekend rush. This campground feels more like we are at a Catskill resort with the campsites spread amongst the cabins. Since it was so warm we decided to put on our suits and head for the beach across the road. I can’t tell you how disappointed we were to see that no swimming was allowed until Sat. morning at 11 when a lifeguard would be present. Bummer! Not to be deterred, Ned suggested we ride our bikes down the road for a stretch and see what we could find. We eventually settled on a tree covered spot next to someone’s boat dock, blew up our rafts, and floated around for awhile. It felt great! Tonight was pretty low key just hanging out watching the weekend family camping activity and Ned beating me at cards – sigh. We are looking forward to exploring Niagara Falls tomorrow.

On The Road - Clarksburg State Park, North Adams, MA 6/17

We took a quick spin on our bikes this morning, around the gargantuan beach campground that had at least 600 sites with more than half of them filled with big mama trailers. We couldn’t wait to pack up and make a dash for the western part of the state. Our big stop of the day was the town of Lowell, famous for Jack Kerouac and in its heyday being one of America’s most successful mill towns. It was so interesting driving into the town and seeing the enormous old brick warehouses and block after block of earthen red brick houses. We had a devil of a time trying to locate the Lowell National Historic Site and Visitor’s Center. The town is built around canals and rivers that twist and turn and hardly any of the streets are named. We stopped and asked a policewoman, who was in the process of writing up a parking ticket, for directions, but she was not very clear or sure where to send us. Through trial and error we finally found the Visitor’s Center. Apparently we weren’t the only ones befuddled. While waiting for a movie on the history of Lowell we struck up a conversation with some folks from Missouri. They asked us if we had a hard time finding the place. They had asked a local policeman for directions. He too was unsure where to send them. (Ironically, after waiting several min. pasted the posted start time we finally inquired and was told the movie was broken. Would it have hurt to hang up a sign?!) Several others in the Visitor’s Center were complaining to the Park Ranger about the lack of signage directing people to the Center. Interestingly enough, no one in charge really seemed to care. We have two thoughts on this; the local townspeople are really clueless on the great gem of this national park or they are purposely trying to discourage the “beatnik” types from getting too comfortable in town. Regardless, this place was well worth the digging. The history of the mills and the part they played in America’s history is well documented. One can also take a driving tour of Jack Kerouac’s early years, visiting the mills, hang-outs and home that was so descriptively featured in his novels. We walked through town and visited the commemorative park that had some passages of his work etched on huge granite slabs. Even though we now had a park issued map, it still took us awhile to find the cemetery where Jack was buried. (The map is completely out of date and the roads have changed.) We finally located the correct cemetery and found his headstone. It’s very modest and innocuously located. The fans that have visited this site have honored Jack by placing empty beer bottles, cigarettes and such on his marker. We added to the collection by placing our own memento of a Route 66 wooden nickel. (See today’s pic). We thought this was quite appropriate and Jack would approve. We continued across Massachusetts, finally leaving the busy highways surrounding Boston, and connected to highway 2. It was a gorgeous drive through thickly wooded forests hugging a river for most of the drive. This area is dotted with maple sugar stands, understandable since we are so close to the Vermont border. We stopped in Shelburne Falls to see the famous Flower Bridge. It used to be a trolley bridge bringing cotton from the mills and was last used in the 1920’s. About 70 years ago it was turned into an absolute gorgeous walking garden bridge! We enjoyed taking our time walking over the bridge and seeing the hundreds of flowers, shrubs and trees in full bloom. I kept thinking of my friend Patti and how much she would just love this! We took tons of pictures and left a small donation for the team of volunteers who work so hard to keep this sweet, picturesque little jewel alive. Tonight, we are camped in the hills of Mass. right next to the Appalachian Trail. Our campground is very thickly wooded and is situated around a small pond. At this point it seems as if we are the only ones here. Seems like a good time to pour a glass of wine and play some cards. I think somewhere Jack is smiling.

One If by Land & Two If by Sea, Salisbury Beach State Park, MA 6/16

Ned here again. Our big focus for today was to walk Boston’s Freedom Trail. Knowing this would be a long day, we shoved out of our campground by 8:20 to find our way into downtown Boston. Despite the fact that my trusty Navigator, Debi, was armed with 3 different maps for reference materials, and I was calling off every road name and landmark as we cruised past it, we became completely befuddled in our assault of the heart of Boston. Between the circuitous nature of the roads that approach the city, and the consistent lack of road signs on many roads and highways, it took us a while before we finally had our van parked in a downtown high rise parking garage. Once we were on foot, however, everything changed for the better. Starting from the Boston Common, we followed the red brick path throughout the town for 2.5 miles past fifteen historic sites from the Colonial and Revolutionary era. At first we groaned as we realized that we were among a sea of school children, possibly all on their end-of-the year field trips. Soon, though, we saw that most groups of kids were led by very informed and entertaining guides, dressed in full Colonial or Revolutionary garb. We learned several interesting facts while eaves dropping on those tours. Some places we saw were the State House, the graves of John Hancock & Samuel Adams, Paul Revere’s House, and the Old North Church, from whose steeple were hung the two lanterns to signal the beginning of Paul Revere’s famous ride. The grand finale was our tour inside the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides), the 1797 fully commissioned US warship, which still floats in Boston’s harbor. I was amazed by the elegant beauty of the ship, but also the huge number of crew required to man her, and the exceedingly cramped quarters below deck. (See today’s pic of me next to one of the “guns” below deck and the limited headroom) Our tour guide, Seaman Gonzalez, was a very engaging young Navy recruit from San Diego. Our trip back to our van was via a fun water taxi ride across Boston Harbor, and a walk through the elegant Beacon Hill area. We left Boston and wound our way up Highway 1 to Gloucester, seeing the famous Gorton’s Fisherman statue, then headed to Rocky Neck Artist Colony, and from there we drove to the very tip of Cape Anne to Rockport for dinner at a funky little place called the “Lobster Pool”. We’re now settled down in a huge beachside campground a the very top of Massachusetts, ready to start our official trek back toward the west.

Escape to the Cape, Wompatuck State Park, Boston, MA 6/15

We go an early start this morning knowing we had a long day with a lot of things planned. Our first stop was Newport, RI to check out Ocean Drive and all the mansions. Jimeny Crickets, I’ve never ever seen such HUGE houses before. Seriously. Of all the places we’ve traveled nothing has ever compared to these mansions. Most of them are situated on the ocean and look like the White House or even Versailles, complete with gilded gates. I’ve always heard that Newport, RI was the playground of the rich, but this was over the top. I can’t wait to get an internet connection to found out the history of this area. We then made our way over to Cape Cod starting our tour with the southern arm of the peninsula. We had a grand time driving along the roads checking out all the little towns. Our lunch stop was the little town of Centerville for a visit to the Four Seas Ice Cream shop. It was touted as being the oldest ice cream on the cape and the 3^rd oldest in New England so we had to give it a try. Besides, I had read that Caroline Kennedy had this peach ice cream served at her wedding. It was delish and definitely ties with second place. We continued our drive to Hyanis Port looking for the Kennedy compound, but never did stumble upon it. We had a blast driving down all these backgrounds, sometimes coming to a dead end at the ocean, but always rewarded with gorgeous views. Our next stop was the Visitor’s Center of the Cape Cod National Seashore. The 22 mile rails to trails bike path starts here and we both vowed to come back sometime and spend several days camping and biking it. We eventually made it to the furthermost tip of the cape to Provincetown, or as the locals call it – Ptown. What an eclectic, busy, campy place it was. The center street in town has colorful flags strung across every which way and there are umpteen shops and B&B’s crammed everywhere. It’s almost like a Berkeley-Castro beach town. Deciding that this place was too interesting to just cruise through we got on our bikes and pedaled around town. Up close it felt more like Bourbon Street in New Orleans with so much going on. (See today’s pic). At some point we could barely bike with all the foot traffic, tour trolleys, and general craziness of the place. I liked it! On the way back we decided to explore the northern area backgrounds as well. This section was much less touristy. The road (6A) was predominantly covered with trees arched over the roadway and dotted with saltbox houses and tidy yards. Compared to Long Island this area is much more to our liking. The entire cape is so much less pretentious and understated. The vibe was also much more laid back and people not trying so hard to impress each other. We did visit Nickerson State Park to check out the campgrounds. I’m already planning our next trip here so we can have time to bike the rail to trails. We (sadly) left the cape, stopping off in the town of Plymouth for a bite to eat. We spotted a seafood market that looked pretty local and low key. I had a cup of lobster chowder with a lobster roll and Ned had haddock fish and chips. Yum!! Tonight we are camped just outside of Boston in a heavily wooded state park. We didn’t arrive til late, about 7ish, but did manage did get in a quick 5 mile bike ride. The young kids checking us in were all excited about the Celtics – Lakers game tonight. I assured them that we were Warrior fans, not Lakers! (So much for my California loyalty). The game starts at 9ish tonight, I guess we’ll find out what happened when we enter Boston tomorrow.

15 Miles and 3 Manhattans–Fishermen’s Memorial State Park, Narragansett, RI 6/14

It took us about 45 minutes to drive from our campsite to Orient Point at the very tip of the North Fork of Long Island. We caught the 10:00 ferry to New London, CT and thoroughly enjoyed the hour and a half ferry ride. Some of the highlights were seeing the impressive homes along the Connecticut Shore and Trumbull Fort built as a Civil War fortress, which was greeting us from the harbor. We took a short trip along the Connecticut coast with a stopover in Mystic – famous for the movie Mystic Pizza. By this time it was high noon and a great time to try out our own “slice of heaven.” It was great fun to see all the movie memorabilia in the restaurant. In addition, they were playing the movie Mystic Pizza on tv screens through-out the restaurant. (For those of you who don’t know, this movie was Julie Roberts debut. It’s a great, camp coming of age movie and one of my faves.) After leaving the restaurant, we took a stroll through the town enjoying the great views of Mystic River, the drawbridge, shops and great gardens. We continued our drive north on highway 1, eventually entering Rhode Island. We took a couple of side trips down some inlets and finally reached our destination for today at Fishermen’s Memorial State Park in Narragansett. It was still fairly early in the afternoon with a cool breeze so we decided to do some exploring on our bikes. We rode down the point to Judith Point Lighthouse and then rode around several neighborhoods with cute little cottages. This part of the coast reminded both of us of Mendocino. (See today’s pic). We then rode up highway 1 past some amazing, jaw-dropping mansions in the historical district finally ending up at the main beach near the 1885 Romanesque arches. Turns out this was the original Coast Guard station, later turned into a casino and now housing the visitor’s center. We stopped to watch some of the local surfers, but really it was just too sad. The waves they were surfing were just swells and no self-respecting Californian would even attempt to paddle these. We had a nice long bike ride back to the campsite (about 15 miles in all), but within about 1 mile of the campground Ned spotted a tavern and suggested we quench our thirst. Ned opted for a draft beer but I ordered a Manhattan. And, oh baby what a Manhattan it was! Talk about a work of art – served chilled on ice in a small carafe. It filled my glass 3 times – yikes. I had a very tipsy final mile home on my bike. Well, needless to say, after a short nap later we decided to ride our bikes to a roadside restaurant called Aunt Carrie’s. It’s been around since 1920 and still remains a popular spot today. We both had the lobster dinners and for dessert were given coupons to an ice cream parlor across the street. The ice cream was made by a company called “The Ice Cream Machine” out of Cumberland, RI. I think we have a pretty close contender to Farr’s Ice Cream. In all fairness I only tasted Ned’s so I’m thinking we need to do further research. As I’m writing this fire works are going off nearby. Kinda sums up the day perfectly.

A Day in the Hamptons–Wildwood State Park, Long Island NY 6/13

We loaded up the bikes and headed for the Hamptons! Our first sightseeing venture included driving along the Dunes, gawking at all the post-modern oversized mansions. This stretch of the spit featured mainly really ostentatious homes that looked more like hotels than individual dwellings. We continued along Montauk Highway driving through several villages eventually arriving in South Hampton. It looked a lot more like Rodeo Drive than a vacation hang-out spot that’s for sure! We really didn’t feel like riding our bikes through this village so we continued the drive East up the point. By this time it was about 1ish and we were getting hungry. We spotted a seafood shack and decided it was more our speed than the fancier restaurants. The lunch was to die for. We ordered Maryland crab cakes with coleslaw and onion rings. There were a few picnic tables outside and quite a few people already enjoying their lunches of clams, cod and shrimp. We asked if we could join them and we had the best time lunching together and chatting it up. Turns out they were from Ramsey, New Jersey and knew exactly where I used to live on Forest Avenue. How ironic is that! There were 8 of them and they had spent the weekend in the Hamptons at one of their family homes. They were impressed that we had chosen this place to eat since it’s supposed to be a great secret among the locals. We continued towards East Hampton swimming against the Sunday afternoon exodus. We passed miles and miles of BMWs, Mercedes, Land Rovers and Audis as they slowly streamed back to the city. Even though East Hampton village was just as posh, if not more than South Hampton, we decided it was as good a place as any to ride our bikes. We cracked up riding through the village. Every cross-walk has two white-gloved policeman directing traffic. Pretty much overkill if you ask me. We rode out of the village and took several side streets so we could check out all the homes. It was unbelievable seeing the gorgeous gardens and houses. We also enjoyed walking through the local cemetery reading all the headstones, some dating back to 1722. The most unusual being, “Peggy Negro Serving Cap. Somebody (sic) all her life.” We decided it was time to pack up the bikes and drive out to the farthest point of the island and view Montauk Lighthouse. (Today’s pic is Ned in front of the lighthouse). This lighthouse was commissioned by George Washington and was the first one built in the state of New York. Dang - some pretty good history there. Our next stop was Sag Harbor. I enjoyed this section of the South Fork most. Even though it was still pretty ritzy, it seemed more like old money and not trying as hard as the Hamptons. We took a bridge over to North Haven Island and then a short ferry ride to Shelter Island, checking out all the homes along the way. The little town of Dering Harbor really knocked our socks off. There are only a handful of houses, but each and every one of them look like something out of the Great Gatsby. It is very secluded and oriented toward the harbor. We eventually took the North Ferry off the island and headed into the town of Greenport. What do you know, an ice cream parlor serving Hershey’s ice cream, which is the same brand as Doumar’s?! (It’s not on the official tasting list since it would be scoring the same ice cream twice). We had fun walking around the town with our cones and discussing the day. We decided that we are definitely North Fork people. We like the low-key vibe of the North Fork with its wineries, flower and produce stands over the posh and glitz of the South Fork. When we arrived back at the campsite it was a far cry from last night. Almost everyone is gone and instead of campfires, bikes, balls, and the shouts of kids playing, it is incredibly quite and still. Sigh - the tip of Long Island at rest until the next weekend barrage of families and socialites.

Wine Tasting New York Style–Wildwood State Park, Long Island NY 6/12

The drive down the Palisades Parkway early this morning was quite beautiful. Most of our trip through the West and Midwest was comprised of large expanses of wilderness punctuated by small pockets of civilization. Here, it’s just the reverse. Everything is urban or suburban with small pockets of nature. We don’t take those small pockets for granted! In no time at all we were negotiating and navigating our way thru the maze of interstates feeling like we were part of a Grand Theft Auto video game. On our way to Long Island we made an hour or so stop in New Rochelle to visit a cemetery to check out some headstones for our friend James. We really enjoyed seeing some of the houses in this area and I particularly liked the sign welcoming us into New Rochelle. It’s a picture of an Irish looking cartoon character, surrounded by dogs, with the saying “New Rochelle - The Place to Come When A Feller Needs a Friend.” How cute is that?! We finally arrived in Long Island and rather than take the expressway I talked Ned into driving the l-o-n-g way on the surface streets through all the towns. I really wanted to get a feel for what Long Island was all about. For about ¾ of the island it’s basically just one large suburban sprawl. But, the last 1/3 is indeed a treasure! We are staying on the sound part of the island at a rather popular state park. It’s laid out like a small city with turn of the century type street lights at the end of each camper row. There’s rolling grass hills and very mature trees that cover the entire area. It’s nice, but definitely feels like we are camped in the middle of a block party. Kids are everywhere, riding their bikes, playing flashlight tag at night, and hide n seek and other ballgames during the day. I actually really like the family energy, especially after all the nearly vacant campsites or senior citizen only campers we’ve seen. It also has a completely different vibe than the southern campgrounds. Instead of huge bbqs in the back of pick-up trucks or at the campsite, here people are more into just constantly moving. We decided to explore the northern point of the island and were delightfully surprised by the roadside flower and produce stands, as well as the wineries. (Today’s pic is one of the many flower stands that dot the roadway.) I had no idea that Long Island was such a wine tasting mecca. We meandered towards the point stopping quite frequently whenever a particular winery caught our eye. Some of the wineries had live music playing or hayrides, but the biggest difference from our California wineries is that you can buy a slice of freshly made pizza pie as you wine taste! Gotta love New York! We got back to the campground in the early evening and decided to take a bike ride over to the beach. The beach on the sound side is amazing. There are no waves, the water is clear and calm, and the beach is made up of sand and the most beautifully polished marble sized stones. We took a long hour or so walk down the beach, past all the fishermen and their families until we were the only ones at that end of the beach - and there was still a huge stretch of beach in front of us. While it had been stormy looking most of the day, at this point the overcast skies had moved on and we were rewarded with beautifully filtered evening sunlight. Very romantic! Tomorrow we are planning on riding our bikes thru the Southern Coastal tip of Long Island, touring the Hamptons. Should be fun to see how the rich and famous spend their vacation, bet they don’t have any more fun than us!

A Trip Down Memory Lane –Lake Welch, Harriman State Park, NY 6/11

Our first stop of the day was my home in Wilmington, DE. I lived here from 1966 thru 1970- my 4^th thru mid-7^th grade years. When we approached the house a gentleman was standing outside. Turns out he was the owner of the home since 1983. He was able to fill me in on the neighborhood and let me know which families were still the original owners. Turns out one of my closest childhood friends still lives there! We knocked on her door and her mom, Mrs. Leary answered. She’s in her mid-80’s, but still looks remarkably young and the same. She invited us in and we had a little chat about the old times. She was always a hands-on fix it type person and true to form, she was in the process of refinishing a table in her backyard. Cute. From there we went to St. Mary Magdalen’s School. Unfortunately it was locked, but we ran into the parish priest (a rather rude SOB I might add), and he told us we could inquire at the rectory. A very sweet woman opened up the church and let Ned and I wander around. It brought tears to my eyes to see this place again. So many memories. I showed Ned the balcony where I went “fishing” with my hymnal tied to palm leaves that didn’t hold and went crashing down in the middle of mass. The priest stopped mass, pointed to me and my friend, and yelled, “You, out of the house of God.” Yep, that pretty much started off my descent to hell. It was also here where I poured all the holy water out of the containers and filled them with orange soda. You should have seen all the kids, dressed in their Catholic School white shirts with orange dots on them! As we left the church, I must admit I was a bit surprised that it was still standing and didn’t quiver, shake or burn to the ground as I crossed the threshold. Our next stop was The Charcoal Pit, a 1950’s burger joint that still serves the best burgers ever. We had an interesting couple of hours navigating the Jersey and Garden State turnpikes. (Glad Ned was driving!). We finally made it to Northern Jersey and the sweet little hamlet of Ramsey. The town is definitely more upscale then when we lived there. The little house on Forest Avenue, where I lived from 1963 to 1966, is still there and looks adorable! The owner was a little concerned about me taking pictures of his home and came outside to see what we were up to. Turns out his folks bought the house from my parents in 1966 and his mom still lives there! We then paid a visit to St. Paul’s school. It wasn’t yet out for the summer and we were fortunate that a 5^th grade teacher gave us a grand tour of the entire school. Yes, I was able to wander by the statue of the Virgin Mary that we would crown on May 1 and my 1^st – 3^rd grade classrooms. Interestingly enough, there are no longer nuns associated with any of these schools. Apparently both the convents have now been converted to the rectory. I guess now that woman have more options a life, the nunnery no longer has quite the appeal it used to – ha! As I wandered around the churches and schools it was hard not to imagine the nuns still wandering the halls, fully clothed from head to toe in their dark habits. Some, like Sister Mary Catherine, will always be remembered for her kindness and gentle guidance, while others, like Sister Flavian still haunt me – the mean ol’ battle-ax. No one, at either of the parishes or schools knew what has happened to any of the sisters. Sad. It was an emotional day for me reliving so much of the past -thinking of the years my Big Papa lived with us in these homes, the childhood friends I played with and lost touch, my little brother being born and brought home on Christmas Day, and all those catholic school memories!

We decided to camp at a place closer by than originally planned so headed into nearby New York. It’s a gorgeous area, feels very much like the Adirondacks. However, the campground itself is kinda odd, despite the beautiful lake and WPA era style buildings. We are in a wide open wooded meadow surrounded by too many New Yorkers. The thousands of ¼ inch tiny frogs continuously hopping all around definitely adds to the uniqueness of this campground.

Hanging with Tom –Patapsco Valley State Park, Catonsville, MD 6/10

Ned here again. Our focus today was all about Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. We drove through some beautiful Virginia countryside on our way to Jefferson’s home. On arriving there, we were impressed to see a beautiful visitor center which had opened about a year ago. We were a little anxious about whether we would get tickets to tour the house interior, since the place, on a Thursday morning, seemed to be crawling with large groups of school children. However, we were pleased to get a tour time about 1 hour later than our arrival time. This gave us a chance to take the plantation tour which covered the work and life of the slaves on Jefferson’s property. Our tour guide was a very enthusiastic former geologist, Ed, who was very knowledgeable about lots of interesting details of individual slaves lives, who he knew by name. Our house tour was given by another very well-informed fellow, who dressed in a tie and sports coat, despite the warm weather. One of my favorite highlights of the tour was the wound clock in the large entry room over the front door. The cannon ball-sized weights which power the clock are supposed to indicate the day of the week as they descend the wall. The problem, however, as our guide put it, was that “the 7-day clock was mounted on a 5 ½ day wall”. A whole had to be cut into the floor so that the weights could drop into the basement of the building on Friday and Saturday, before they were rewound back to the ceiling on Sunday morning. We also liked the design of the interior shutters on the windows, which folded back in a very elegant manner. Some other highlights: excellent use of skylights for good natural light, clever dumbwaiter and revolving shelf designs in the dining room to reduce the waiting staff to one person, and the famous double-pen invention which allowed Jefferson to make a copy of every letter he wrote. The grounds of the building are very nicely maintained and landscaped. (Today’s pic is a nice exterior shot of the house.) We enjoyed a walk from the house back down to the visitor center where we watched a very good short film on Jefferson. After Monticello, we made a slight detour to Fredericksburg to sample the ice cream made at Carl’s. We had seen this store featured on a TV show about great ice cream stores. While we thought the ice cream was very creamy, both the chocolate and strawberry (which I bought in the name of science) were served too warm and sloppy. Debi’s vanilla was a good consistency, but we didn’t think either the chocolate or vanilla were particularly well flavored. So, despite the wonderful original-looking 1950’s exterior or the place, and the very impressive vintage freezers from which the product was served, we had to rate Carl’s as number four, so far, behind Blue Bell, Doumar’s and Farr’s. From there we maneuvered through the rush hour traffic surrounding both Washington D.C. and Baltimore, in order to find our current campground in a beautiful state park, which is strangely located in the middle of a very urban area. Tomorrow we’ll try to hit two of Debi’s childhood homes in both Wilmington, Delaware, and Ramsey, New Jersey. She can hardly wait!

A Walk thru the 18th Century –Bear Creek State Park, Cumberland, VA 6/9

Today’s big adventure was Colonial Williamsburg. The historic park was a short drive from our campsite so we were able to really spend the majority of the day taking a walk back through time. We were fortunate in that the weather was just about perfect, a little on the cool side for starters with very little humidity. We enjoyed walking through the historic village, viewing the demonstrations of different trades, and listening to the vignettes of life around the time of the American Revolution. I really enjoyed watching how books were bound and seeing how leather was stretched over the spines. Ned enjoyed talking with the cooper as she explained the ins and outs of barrel making. It was also quite fun to see how silver coins were literally cut into pieces to make change. Clarifies so much the expression, “Pieces of Eight.” We also thoroughly enjoyed a visit to the still active Episcopal Church. It was so amazing to see the pews marked with the names of our founding fathers, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe and others and imagining them sitting there taking part if the service. The gentlemen that gave us a tour of the capitol building got top marks for good storytelling and bringing history to life. I was particularly fascinated with all the maps showing the colonies as they were at this time. There are so many good pics to choose from, including Mr. Ned with a 3 corner hat, but I decided to just show a snapshot of a typical street scene. There was a constant stream of horse drawn carriages, coaches and wagons rumbling by that really added of the authenticity of the village. We left Williamsburg at a little past 4, did a quick drive through Richmond and finally arrived at the sweetest little camping spot. Believe it or not we are the only people in the campground! It’s situated around a beautifully wooded lake and seems too perfect to be real. We popped the lid on Winnie and were planning on taking a ride through the park and perhaps taking a dip. Mr. Ranger, John, a very friendly fellow came on over to say hi. (Apparently, there’s not a lot going on today). He claims it’s a weekend campground that usually hosts about 400 people. Kinda hard to believe as I sit in the woods this evening, with the only sounds being the birds, insects, and Ned grilling chicken! He let us know that the beach was closed and we were no longer allowed to go swimming in the lake. Bummer. Ned and I hopped on our bikes anyway and spent some time poking around the place, visiting the lake, playing on the pier and taking great photos. We’ve been secretly planning our strategy for a late night swim, but I think Ranger John is hip to us. He keeps driving by occasionally to see what we are up to. At one point, as I was riding my bike he drove by and said, “Hello there Debi” and gave me a nice friendly wave. Kinda makes me feel a little tiny bit bad to be plotting against him. Tomorrow we continue the tour of our country’s forefathers and visit Monticello. I’d like to get an early start, but this place is so beautiful it’s going to be hard to leave.

Feast of Firsts –First Landing State Park, Virginia Beach, VA 6/8

Knowing that there were a couple of little tykes eager to pounce on our bed and wake us up, this ol’ lady managed to outfox them and get up first. It was wonderful to spend the morning with all that boy energy and Ned and I each enjoyed taking turns reading to them. I must admit, I was a little sad to have an early start, but we had a lot of territory to cover today. Originally we were just going to head straight for Virginia Beach, but Ned really wanted to visit Kitty Hawk and see where the Wright Bros. had their first flight. I thought that was an excellent idea since that would give us a chance to travel longer up the coast. As we meandered toward the coast, the North Carolina countryside put on quite a show for us. We traveled alongside miles of abundant orange daylilies, magnolia and mimosa trees in full bloom, and the ubiquitous fields of corn. We also admired a field of red tulips. It was quite a thrill to finally reach The Outer Banks of North Carolina and see the sandy shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Hard to believe we’re here, especially after traveling thru the canyons of the west, peaks of the Rockies, plains of Oklahoma and gaps of the Appalachia Mts. It’s so interesting to see the home styles change from single story with large porches to three story homes built on stilts. Nag’s Head and the surrounding towns didn’t seem to have much of a “there” there. Even though there were the obligatory beach shops touting swim wear and hammocks, it seemed more like it was just strip mall after strip mall. We finally arrived at Kitty Hawk National Site and were really amazed at how many people were there. We’ve visited a lot of National and Historic Sites the last 3 weeks and haven’t seen crowds like this. The visitor’s center and pavilion detailing the history of the Wright Bros. and their first flight was interesting, but nothing compared to going out to the dunes/field and walking the actual first 4 powered flights. So fun to imagine what it might have felt like to be in mid-air for 12 seconds, then finally 59 seconds! As we walked the final 852 feet you could almost feel the magic of the moment. We continued our drive up the coast leaving North Carolina and entering Virginia. After what seemed like a really long car ride traveling up the coast we finally reached First Landing State Park. We are camped at the spot where the Virginia Company first landed before going on to settle Jamestown. We picked out a spot nestled under the trees, but facing the dunes and the Chesapeake Bay. The first thing we did was take a walk out onto the dunes and put our feet in the water. It was much warmer than I expected! Well, Ned knew I was feeling antsy after being in the van so long, so he thought it prudent to “run the dogs” – i.e.. take the ol’ girl out for a bike ride. We headed for the boardwalk and had a marvelous 10 mile ride in the heart of Virginia Beach. (Today’s pic is Ned on the boardwalk). It was fun to ride up and down the boardwalk, but I enjoyed cruising through all the neighborhoods and looking at the affluent beach houses even more. It was a little after 7 by this time and we thought it too late to head back to the campsite to cook dinner so decided to head to Doumar’s for dinner and ice cream. (We first heard about this place on the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives). Doumar’s claim to fame is they invented the ice cream cone. They still make homemade cones on the very same machine that Abe Doumar made in 1905 on Coney Island. Doumar’s is located in the heart of Norfolk, in a very inner-city part of town. We couldn’t believe that after 8 pm on a Tuesday night the place was packed! We each had their famous bbq pulled pork sandwiches at the bargain price of 3.25 ea. Meh – I wasn’t so impressed with the bbq. It’s North Carolina style, so it was a vinegar based sauce. Ned summed it up perfectly when he said they tasted like tuna fish sandwiches. Our main reason for coming was to taste the ice cream! I had a vanilla cone and Ned had a chocolate. We thought it was pretty darn good and rated it just behind Farr’s. So for those of you following our ice cream adventure and keeping score the list now goes like this: 1^st place – Farr’s, 2nd Doumar’s, 3^rd Blue Bell and Andy’s Frozen Custard still is in last place. (This is only the official ice cream tasting, I’m not even counting the Baskin Robbins or franchise soft serve we’ve eaten!) Yes, there will be more of me to love upon my return home.