July 13 - Today we began our long trek home. First order of business was getting out of the DC area, not a small fete. It took close to an hour to slowly get out of the busyness. We crossed many states today, from Virginia to Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio. I was amazed at how forested it was. Most areas were solid deciduous forests fully covering hills and valleys, with some farmland, corn fields and Appalachian rock outcrops. Quite nice. There were few evergreens anywhere, especially as we moved west. There were nice town names like Meyerville, West Virginia! Things went quite smoothly. We even went for a walk around the town of Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio State University. We found a Walmart near by and bought some meat and cheese and grape-related beverages. (The meat went missing though. My theory is that Donald's son got some Russian spies to sabotage our trip in order to encourage us to return to our foreign land.) We mapped out the remainder of our trip, taking a short side trip to Estes Park in the mountains north of Denver.
July 14 - Our weather fortunes seem to have turned. Yesterday we arrived in Athens, Ohio after a rain storm had moved through. We had mainly sunny, hot weather. Today we learned that after we left Washington, a major storm hit the city, causing problems including canceled flights. The TV had weather warning of severe rain and flash flood problems for the Midwest but for us it has been hot, and humid. We drove across Indiana, Illinois and into Missouri, going through Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis and into St. Louis. It was to be a 7.5 hour drive and was going very smoothly and on schedule until halfway through Illinois, when we hit major construction delays. We lost over and hour in intermittent slowdowns and stoppages. (Between lunch stop, gas stop, and construction delays, I think I passed one truck at least three times.) We also gained an hour by crossing into the Central time zone in St. Louis. St. Louis was a very industrial looking city, and not very attractive. We did get photos of the Arch. We passed on a few of the standard motels we had been frequenting because they looked a little seedy. We settled for The Hampton Inn near the airport so we could get out of town quicker. We had dinner at the restaurant next door, a ribs place. We of course had to have St. Louis ribs. Very good, although, to tell you the truth, I prefer baby ribs that don't require covering your hands and face in ribs sauces, but I really enjoyed the backed beans with actual meat in it, rather than the piece of fat that comes in pork and beans cans.
July 15 - It was difficult to write too much about today because I had no complaints. Our travel went very smoothly, with no traffic delays, and the weather was nice. It reached into the mid thirties, although who would know with the A/C blasting icy air at me all day. OK, I have one complaint, but it was a little one. We drove through Kansas City, and my only regret was that we did not get any photos shots of Arrowhead Stadium, home of the NFL Chiefs, although we did get a shot of baseball's Royals home, immediately in front of it. KC straddles the border of Missouri and Kansas. In fact there are two separate cities called Kansas City, sharing a border but independent of each other. Who knew? We spent the night in Hays, Kansas, a university town. Now, I did have an issue with Hays. The entire town was designed to make me drive all over the place. Every direction I wanted to go in was blocked or one way, or there were distractions so that I would miss a turn. I drove for many blocks to get to the Mexican restaurant a few blocks away. My family now realized it was not easy being me, with so many things conspiring against me. It is amazing that I still have my cheerful disposition!
July 16 - We left Hays, Kansas and headed for the mountains. Driving eastern Kansas it was a hot day, but the skies in the distance looked threatening. Then the dark clouds rolled in and the sky seemed to come down upon us. We saw only a few drops of water before things cleared again and we had sun the rest of the day. Temperatures reached about 32 degrees C. We arrived at our destination, Loveland, a suburb of Denver, early. We spent the afternoon going to Estes Park, about an hour away in the Rockies. We had visited Estes Park many years ago when we camped in Colorado Springs, but we hardly recognized it. A quaint, little mountain town with a large Christmas store with lots and lots of Dickens houses, was now a town with many motels, condos, etc., and many shops. I think the Christmas store was a good part of Joanie's motivation for wanted to visit here, but alas, it was no more. Probably saved me over $100! We still enjoyed the new walkway and the little shops, and the drive through the mountains was beautiful. I also enjoyed visiting the sports store, and sneaking up on Joanie with a KC Chiefs mask on. She jumped into Leah's arms, which was good exercise for both of them. You're welcome. In the evening Leah visited with an old friend who lived here, while Joanie and I broke down and went to McD, and then walked through a sculpture garden, with bronze and steel statues displayed in a garden setting, very nice. On a side note not related to anything, we have probably never seen so many exceedingly obese people on our trip through the USA.
July 17 - Today being the first day in a new time zone, mountain daylight time, I woke up an hour early and couldn't get back to sleep. Last night I conducted an experiment to see how safe a place called Loveland could be. It passed! We came to the car to discover that my drivers side window was completely open, but nothing was missing, including the GPS on the dash beside the window. It was a risky move and not one I would be very happy to see Joanie do. We drove north in Colorado along side the Rockies, and then into Wyoming. The drive was on a two lane divided highway that wound gently through high grassland with long stretches of nothing. The speed limit was 80 MPH, or 128 KPH. Unfortunately, while we were miles from anything, our oil lamp went on, the first auto incident on this trip. The next town we hit had only an unmanned set of gas pumps and a sign saying the store would open soon. We had to drive another 25 miles to find a regular gas station. Perhaps the high speed contributed to the oil light going on. I did put some oil in and the problem went away. The auto manual suggested adding oil every 2,000 km. So, I have never added oil and on this trip, we were just 8,000 over the recommended procedure. The only other problem was finding an actual rest stop for lunch. There were unserviced pullouts but very few rest stops. We had a good drive and enjoyed the scenery. It was also a prophetic day. I had everyone on antelope alert. As we crossed the Wyoming border, Joanie said she wanted to see bison. Less than five minutes later, we came upon a herd of bison at the side of the road. We also saw a farm with several camels. We saw a few pronghorn antelopes but it was always too late to take a photo. I said I would find some antelope and if no one was on my tail, I would stop. Sure enough, not long after, I saw a herd of about 10 pronghorns and pulled over on the wide shoulder. The sign said emergency stopping only but this was an emergency. Do you know how danger it is to take photos while driving 135 MPH? We got some good pictures. From then on, see saw a lot of antelope, probably between 200 and 300. I had never seen so many before. We also saw a deer, some elk, and a dead fox. (You take what you can get.) We spent the night in Billings, Montana. A good day. We were looking forward to being home, although the thought of cleaning house and other duties did not appeal.
July 18 - The drive from Billings to Spokane, Washington was uneventful, which is always a good thing. The weather was good and there were no traffic problems until we entered Spokane in rush hour. In parts of Montana it was very hazy, and we wondered whether that could be a result of the wild fires burning in B.C. Most of the hotels we stayed in were 2 to 2.5 star jobs that included breakfast. I was looking forward to getting home and having an egg that had not been sitting in a bin for who knows how long, or those packaged scrambled eggs. I generally went with the waffle but even those were not always great, depending on the texture of the batter. We generally had lunch at a rest stop somewhere. We brought meat, cheese, buns or bread as well as peanut butter and cream cheese, so we usually had to eat only dinner in a restaurant. We decided to book our hotels at least the night before online, since a few of the places we were in were sold out soon after we arrived. I had tried to book the Kelly Inn in Billings through Expedia, but I kept getting a message that the booking could not be completed and to try again later. I clicked on Customer Support and messaged my problem to them. After not seeing a reply, I booked through Book.com for a better room, king sized beds vs. queens. This evening I got a response from Expedia support saying I should contact a Sales Rep. I am not sure how telling people to call a sales rep is providing customer support, particularly a day after the enquiry. We booked the Days Inn in Spokane through Book.com as well. It was located on the west side of town near the airport. I have to say it looked a little sketchy, and some of our breakfast sharers were a little shabby, but we made it through another night unscathed.
July 19 - We loaded up the car for the last time and headed for home. The drive between Spokane and Seattle was very nice. First the expansive landscape of rolling wheat fields that transitioned into our more familiar alpine setting with mountain passes, evergreens, etc. The plan was for me to drive until about noon, have lunch at a rest stop before entering the busyness of Seattle, and then head for the border! There were rest stops early on but those disappeared as we approached Seattle. I should note that it would be really nice to have rest stops with nice views you could enjoy as you eat or wait for everyone to finish their potty breaks, but from across Canada and the USA, this seldom happened. We did not find a rest stop before Seattle, so when We joined onto Interstate 5 from Bellevue, I stopped for gas. At the side of the building, in front of the car wash, were two little cement tables. We decided that we would have a quick lunch break. It was too much for Leah however when she came out of the store to find the table nicely covered in a table cloth, plates and glasses laid out, etc. We looked a little odd. When we got back into the car and got on the freeway, there was a sign, "Rest Stop 1 Mile". Crossing the border went very smoothly. We did not even get asked how much we spent, which was a good thing because he probably would not believe that we were gone for 28 days and only brought back less than $200 for the three of us.
About Me
- G Man
- I am a Christian who enjoys exploring God's wonderful creation! I am always on the lookout for new birds or animals to photograph.
Friday, July 14, 2017
Wednesday, July 5, 2017
Go East Old Man - Part 2
July 2 - 4 - These days were filled with family gatherings, games, food, etc. On Sunday afternoon we took a boat cruise up the Rideau Canal. It was a sunny, warm day when we boarded, and we had a nice cruise to the end point, Dow Lake where we turned around. Just as we arrived at the lake, the skies opened up. It poured like crazy until were half way back, and by the time we disembarked it was sunny again. We also spend a day at a lake in the Gatineau hills of Quebec. On July the 4th we actually had a sunny day from beginning to end and we did a 3 hour bike ride around Ottawa and across the river in Quebec. We followed this up with lunch at a pub. This was perhaps the highlight of our activities. For dinner we were to have a catered Moroccan dinner to celebrate John and Beth's 50th anniversary. The tables were set and everyone was ready when we heard the bad news. The dinner had been accidentally arranged for the wrong day, tomorrow. Beth was devastated, and informed us that they would have to order pizza instead,but within minutes two brothers quietly slipped away and came back with a pile of snacks, including samosas, veggie dip, a cake complete with inscription. The evening was fine.
July 5 - Dave and I had a challenge to see if we could get all the goodbyes said and have our vehicles out the driveway by 10:15. They were on their way to Quebec City and we decided to travel together as far as Montreal, where we would go our separate ways. At 10:14 our car backed out of the driveway and onto the street. Of course, Joanie was not in it, but c'est la vie! We made our way to Montreal, driving through the first section of the city, before turning south. This stretch was ugly, with old, dilapidated overhead crossings, road construction, and industry. We could see downtown but turned before that. We found a small, local little neighbourhood park along the highway to eat our leftover pizza before saying our goodbyes to Dave and Sylvia. We headed for the Vermont border. We were a little surprised by the landscape, flat farmland with corn fields, with the odd mountain in the distance. More like the prairies than some parts of the prairie. Entering Vermont, the landscape changed significantly. There were now rolling hills and small mountains covered in trees. Vermont's nickname is Green Mountains. We exited the interstate and drove along secondary roads, looking for covered bridges. We found a local map at a art store we stopped at and did manage to visit about 3 covered bridges. We found a room at Comfort Inn in Barre, near the capital of Montpelier. We walked around in Montpelier and had Mexican dinner there. It was actually quite a small, quaint place, and was very picturesque. We had a few jokes about the many steepled churches, many that had rainbow lines on their signs to clearly indicate that sexual persuasions were welcome. Our drive through the Vermont countryside was very, very nice.
July 6 - Our stay at the Comfort Inn was excellent, right down to the all-you-can eat freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, help yourself small pop cans, coffee, etc. as well as a decent free breakfast. It was a nice, sunny and warm day as we left, again taking a secondary route to find covered bridges. We did manage to see about 9 bridges, and by then they all kind of looked alike. It did add about an hour to our travel, but the beautiful countryside made it worthwhile. We were all amazed at how manicured every yard was. People with an acre of grass would have it all nicely mowed. No weed gardens and unkempt yards. We crossed the border into New Hampshire and the landscape changed. The rolling hills with manicured farms were replaced with more forested areas and we did find some messy yards. As we crossed into Massachusetts the traffic not only became heavier, but more aggressive. Up to now, driving had been calm and pleasant. Suddenly there were cars weaving in and out, tailgating, being cut off, lots of honking, etc. I was beginning to understand where my impression of Boston Bruin fans might have merit. We arrived at our first destination, Salem, at about 1:45PM. We parked all afternoon in a parkade for only $4.25!
Salem was a little disappointing. The city itself, which is about a 30 minute drive from Boston on a good day, looked depressed. The roads were in very rough shape. The city seems to play entirely on its history of witch hunts and the hanging, and crushing, of a number of people accused of witchcraft back in 1692. These events took place over a period of about four months before a government official's wife was accused of being a witch, and he suddenly decided to end the prosecution of accused witches and release the few hundred still in jail awaiting trial. We visited the house of the presiding judge, and various other sites related to the era, including the grave site where prominent citizens of the 1600 and 1700's were buried and where stones were added to commemorate the condemned people who were declared innocent a few hundred years later. Stones on the ground implore God to forgive the murder of innocent lives due to superstition and hysteria related to people who are a little different than others. (Donald, are you listening?) There of course were a lot of morbid museums, cheesy reenactments of the trials, and people offering séances and fortune telling. I even passed on adding to my shot glass collection because they all include witches or other morbid images. Interesting to visit, but felt a little uncomfortable as a Christian.
We left Salem at 5PM to go to the apartment we had rented in Lyn, a 10 minute drive from Salem, which took half an hour due to rush hour. We didn't know too much about our place except it was close to Boston and were pleasantly surprised to see that it was a block from a long beach with views of downtown Boston. the apartment itself was about a quarter of a large, white, old mansion. It looked great on the outside and we were excited. Inside it was a little different. It was very old and rustic, and we had to climb long noisy stairs to the third floor. Everything was old and dated, but we got used to it and the views of the ocean were great. After settling in we walked along the beach to a local park where they had a free concert going. The neighbour looked a little like the places along the Oregon Coast, except that the houses were older and more posh looking. We walked a few blocks to find a nice restaurant overhanging the ocean. We went in and found that we were a little under classed for this crowd. We decided to eat in the bar area instead of the fancy, linened dining room. We would have been the most underdressed by far. Our waiter was nice but you got the feeling he thought we might not fit in too well either. We ordered from the menu and he pointed out that the things we ordered were actually appetisers, even though that was not stated. My lobster ravioli was about five squares. I suggested to him that I would stick to the appie and perhaps order dessert if I was still hungry. Leah had a lobster bisque that she did not finish, so I loaded up on that. When the waiter came and asked about dessert, I said I didn't need any and he looked knowingly like, "I see, you really can't afford it." Our appies still cost over $20 per plate. And, not once did our water glasses get refilled. Maybe we will eat in a different neighbourhood next time.
July 7 - We walked to the local train station, about 15 minutes away, and commuted into Boston. It took 20 minutes. We had bought hop-on-hop-off bus tickets and spent the day visiting different locations throughout the city. For the first 90 minutes we were very happy that it was overcast but very peasant for walking. Then, the first rain drop fell, followed by over seven hours of continuous rain. Boston was where the American war of independence began, and our knowledge of the events surrounding the start of the rebellion against the British was enhanced. The rain did not stop us from our touring, but there were no drinks or coffees on outside terraces. We did have a drink at a bar recreated to look like the bar in "Cheers". We went to Fenway Park, hoping to see the inside of the famous ballpark, but it was closed due to it being set up for a concert, (Florida Georgia Line) tonight. There was another concert the next day, so no chance of getting inside. Despite the weather it was a good day. We took the train back home and were back by 9:30PM. While waiting for the train, we were approached by some young women who asked if we would like to attend the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert at the adjoining TD Place arena, home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics. They had bought tickets, but ended up winning two free tickets at a bar during the day. We had to pass since they only had two tickets and we were with the three of us.
July 8 - Today was finally a warm, sunny day. The train we took to Boston yesterday was replaced by a bus starting today and every weekend until sometime in September. That doubled the trip to Boston. We began with a harbour tour, which was part of our hop-on-hop-off bus ticket yesterday. We had a nice 45 minute jaunt around the harbour. Then we walked and we walked and we walked, over 43,000 steps in two days. We visited some of the sights we missed yesterday, or purposely drove by knowing we would be back today. We rehydrated at Cheers. It was a good day, but by 4PM we were done. We had to make one last stop, to Mike's Bakery, supposedly the best bakery in Boston. The bakery was wall to wall people with a line spilling out down the sidewalk. The bakery serves mostly health food like Boston cream donuts, a large assortment of cannoli, and icing and whipped cream tarts, etc. We finally got to the front of the line and ordered a few pastries each. I was wearing my Canada 150 t-shirt. The owner came to the till to ring up an order and saw me. He asked if I was Canadian. I said yes and he handed me a $20 Canadian bill. It didn't cover our $24 US bill but a good chink of it. As of this writing they have not been tried yet. As we headed to the train station for our bus, the skies opened up. Within a few minutes the streets were rivers of water. We ducked for cover for a short while but still got soaked. By the time the bus left, it had stopped, although we had the odd drizzle the rest of the night. Bahstan was very good, but after two days, I felt we seen what we wanted to. We also enjoyed some good clam chowdah!
July 9 - Finally, there is no rain in the forecast for today. We left Lynn, Mass. at 9AM after hiking that heavy suitcase down those flights of stairs. This time, instead of traveling to Boston, we traveled under Boston and headed south to Cape Cod. The route was no so scenic. A lot of trees, mostly deciduous, lined both sides of freeway and there was little in the way of views. We crossed the bridge onto the Cape Cod island and not much changed. The road ran down the middle of the island and no matter where we went, there was little in the way of scenery, except the "Cape Cod" houses. Also, being Sunday, most things were closed, and we needed coffee. What was worrying was when we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and the staff were not sure where there might be a beach with access. A customer helped them out and we stopped there for a coffee and the cannoli. There was a $20 charge for parking but when I explained that this was just a coffee pit stop, the attendant let us in for free. The beach was nice and the water was not as cold as I thought.
After leaving Cape Cod, we headed for Providence, Rhode Island. We went for a little stroll near downtown and checked out a flea market set up along the river. It was fairly quiet.
This next part is difficult to write. I had many emotions but few I should share as we crossed into Connecticut and headed for New Haven. Like the rest of the day, the scenery was limited to trees along both sides of the road. From shortly after we entered the state until we reached Orange, a suburb of New Haven, we were in traffic jams. At one point we drove 25 km. inching along at between 10 and 25 mph. The speed limit was 65 mph. Other than an accident on the other side of the median in the opposite direction, there was nothing to require any slowdown. We had a few spurts of going 60 mph for a few minutes followed by more backups. I am a reasonable person, and would never judge people on the basis for isolated incidents, but I would like to make an exception with Connecticut. I hate this state and never want to come back. Even Joanie settled down and tried to behave so as not to get on my other nerve. I think I behaved rather well. As I was telling Leah, "I think I am, look at that stupid idiot, handling this very calmly." My sentiment might have seemed wrong to some, until later tonight. Joanie had been grumbling that we drove right past a Christmas store on Cape Cod. When we drove for dinner we passed a mall down the street that said Christmas Tree stores. She was all excited and looked for them online later. Even though they call themselves Christmas Tree stores, they take down their Christmas ornaments, etc. after Christmas and replace them with summer items. Joanie now sees where I am coming from!
July 10 - We inched our way out of Connecticut today on what was to be a five hour drive to Alexandra, Virginia, a suburb of Washington. We left at 9:45 to allow rush hour to die down. In no time at all we were in a traffic jam. It was amazing how traffic could grind down to a few mph, then suddenly speed up to 65, and back down again for no apparent reason. The state remained on my most hated list. But, there was competition. (It got to a high of 32C today, but it was difficult to tell with the cold wind on my arms.) As we left Connecticut for New York state, the traffic in the other direction entering looked like a trucker's parking lot. Things improved immediately in New York, until we got near the George Washington bridge into The Bronx, things changed. A lane was closed and there was construction going on. We creeped for a long time before crossing. Then we headed for the New Jersey Turnpike. This is a long, tolled highway where semis are separated from cars, with three truck lanes and three regular lanes, separated by a divider, going in each direction. We motored along excellently until there was a sudden slow down. Two trucks going in the other direction, on the other side of the median, and past the three oncoming car lanes, had gotten in an accident. People literally came to an almost complete stop to check out the accident before returning to the 65 mph speed. This cause a backup for no reason. Meanwhile, the oncoming truck lanes were backed up for many, many miles. Having negotiated our way through New York and New Jersey, we assumed the rest would be a piece of cake. The GPS basically said to stay on Interstate 95 for over 200 km. Leah took over driving to give me a break. Things went smoothly until the turnpike ended and we entered Delaware. We paid our $13.85 toll at a booth and carried on, smoothly. Then we crossed into Delaware and the Delaware bridge, a tolled bridge, costing $4. The truck and car lane broke up into about ten booth lanes. For some reason the process was slow and the lanes backed up. On the other side, ten lanes had to converge into three lanes, and a very short distance away, the highway forked and there was a turnoff. Cars that came from the far left lanes had to cut through the stream of cars coming out of the middle and right lanes. It was chaos. Cars and semis everywhere, all forcing their way into the three lanes, while others crossed diagonally or were blocked by vehicles refusing to yield to anyone. Only an absolute moron could create such a traffic nightmare. Soon after we finally got through the mess, we again had to go through toll booths and pay $4 to proceed. When we got near Baltimore, there was another toll of $1.18, followed later by a toll of $4 to go through the tunnel under the city. All in all we were charged over $27 in tolls to drive from Newark, NJ to Washington. The worst though was the delays caused by the toll booths. If we never drive in Connecticut, Delaware or Maryland again, and I never will, I will be relieved. I felt sorry for Leah, as this was a very stressful drive. On a positive note, at one of the toll booths, we were told we did not have to pay because the car in front of us paid for us. Of course, all the delays, a few from construction but mostly from toll booths and questionable driving in heavy traffic, caused us to arrive in the Washington DC area during the afternoon rush hour. We crawled along at 5 mph around most of Washington before finally reaching our destination. Our five hour trip took 8 hours!
Today was also our 41 anniversary. To celebrate, we were going to go out for a nice dinner. However, the hotel in Alexandra was not near the restaurant area, so the anniversary dinner consisted of $4 appies and $4 wine at Holiday Inn. The debate will now rage on for some time. I may have to concede that Delaware should be ranked the most hated state in the Union. Leah certainly thought so. Maryland placed third. We may not have seem all of Baltimore, but what we saw before ducking underground was ugly. Very industrial. We are looking forward to two days of not driving before we blow this popsicle stand for what we hope are quieter lands to the west.
July 11 - Thoughts of rainy, dreary weather was behind us now. We had a sunny, hot day, with temperatures climbing to about 36 Degrees. We bought a fare card and took the train to the Washington Mall, the big grassy area by the White House. We checked out what the Smithsonian had to offer, to plan for the next day, and then walked to the State capitol building. We did visit the Congress Library, noted for its elaborate and artistic ceilings, walked past the Supreme Court, and visited the National Postal Museum. Then we had lunch in the Union Station at a restaurant recommended to us called the Shake Shack. It was a simple place, very busy, and I must say, I was a little sad when my shake cup was empty. We walked to see the Washington Monument, which was closed until 2019 for renovations, and the White House. These days you can not get very close. By now we were very, very hot and dehydrated and needed beer badly. Surprisingly, there were no restaurants or bars anywhere near the Mall. I had to ask a security police guarding the entrance to the roadway to the White House if there was anywhere we could go for a beer. He knew of a few places and gave directions. It was still a 5 block walk to get there. We downed our beer and water in record time. By then it was getting later and a little cooler outside. We checked out the WWII memorial, allowing our feet to dangle in the pool and recover, but being careful not to wade, which of course would be highly illegal. Then we walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial, which was overcrowded with large groups of school groups. By now it was dinner time, and our plan was to stay around here until dark to see the monuments lit up. The problem, as mentioned earlier, was that there were no restaurants in the area, and we did not have the energy to do a long walk to the restaurant district of Foggy Bottoms. (Yes, that is the actual name.) We did find one of the refreshment huts on the mall that did have some packaged sandwiches, so it was a tuna sandwich and water for dinner. Was this our anniversary dinner? We took some pictures, OK, a lot of pictures as the monuments lit up before heading home. My transit card would not work to open the turnstile. After trying to use the emergency phone at the vacated station manager booth and waiting to see if the manager would return, I had to walk through the emergency gate, which was unlocked. Now I join Leah as a felon. The New York state police are no doubt profiling her after she snuck an apple from Canada into the state, and now I am a transit buster in DC. If only this had happened in Delaware, I would be OK never returning there. For the record, we walked over 30,000 steps.
July 12 - Today was a 20,000+ step day. We took the train to Arlington Cemetery for what was to be a short pit stop. It ended up being over 2 hours, as the place is massive and seeing certain things like JFK's grave or the monument for the Lockerbie, Scotland terrorist plane bombing victims required lots of walking, up and I had bison meatloaf and Joanie had braised bison. Leah looked like she had half a chicken on the bone. It was an amazing dinner. I think bison tastes even better than beef.
Out two days of exploring Washington were everything we hoped for. We could not see it all but I think we saw what we wanted. The heat took its toll but I still prefer that to scurrying around with umbrellas. I never drank so much water and more than one or two beer to cool down. I saw more than the usual amount of drivers texting while driving around town and a lot of honking, often with little provocation.
July 5 - Dave and I had a challenge to see if we could get all the goodbyes said and have our vehicles out the driveway by 10:15. They were on their way to Quebec City and we decided to travel together as far as Montreal, where we would go our separate ways. At 10:14 our car backed out of the driveway and onto the street. Of course, Joanie was not in it, but c'est la vie! We made our way to Montreal, driving through the first section of the city, before turning south. This stretch was ugly, with old, dilapidated overhead crossings, road construction, and industry. We could see downtown but turned before that. We found a small, local little neighbourhood park along the highway to eat our leftover pizza before saying our goodbyes to Dave and Sylvia. We headed for the Vermont border. We were a little surprised by the landscape, flat farmland with corn fields, with the odd mountain in the distance. More like the prairies than some parts of the prairie. Entering Vermont, the landscape changed significantly. There were now rolling hills and small mountains covered in trees. Vermont's nickname is Green Mountains. We exited the interstate and drove along secondary roads, looking for covered bridges. We found a local map at a art store we stopped at and did manage to visit about 3 covered bridges. We found a room at Comfort Inn in Barre, near the capital of Montpelier. We walked around in Montpelier and had Mexican dinner there. It was actually quite a small, quaint place, and was very picturesque. We had a few jokes about the many steepled churches, many that had rainbow lines on their signs to clearly indicate that sexual persuasions were welcome. Our drive through the Vermont countryside was very, very nice.
July 6 - Our stay at the Comfort Inn was excellent, right down to the all-you-can eat freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, help yourself small pop cans, coffee, etc. as well as a decent free breakfast. It was a nice, sunny and warm day as we left, again taking a secondary route to find covered bridges. We did manage to see about 9 bridges, and by then they all kind of looked alike. It did add about an hour to our travel, but the beautiful countryside made it worthwhile. We were all amazed at how manicured every yard was. People with an acre of grass would have it all nicely mowed. No weed gardens and unkempt yards. We crossed the border into New Hampshire and the landscape changed. The rolling hills with manicured farms were replaced with more forested areas and we did find some messy yards. As we crossed into Massachusetts the traffic not only became heavier, but more aggressive. Up to now, driving had been calm and pleasant. Suddenly there were cars weaving in and out, tailgating, being cut off, lots of honking, etc. I was beginning to understand where my impression of Boston Bruin fans might have merit. We arrived at our first destination, Salem, at about 1:45PM. We parked all afternoon in a parkade for only $4.25!
Salem was a little disappointing. The city itself, which is about a 30 minute drive from Boston on a good day, looked depressed. The roads were in very rough shape. The city seems to play entirely on its history of witch hunts and the hanging, and crushing, of a number of people accused of witchcraft back in 1692. These events took place over a period of about four months before a government official's wife was accused of being a witch, and he suddenly decided to end the prosecution of accused witches and release the few hundred still in jail awaiting trial. We visited the house of the presiding judge, and various other sites related to the era, including the grave site where prominent citizens of the 1600 and 1700's were buried and where stones were added to commemorate the condemned people who were declared innocent a few hundred years later. Stones on the ground implore God to forgive the murder of innocent lives due to superstition and hysteria related to people who are a little different than others. (Donald, are you listening?) There of course were a lot of morbid museums, cheesy reenactments of the trials, and people offering séances and fortune telling. I even passed on adding to my shot glass collection because they all include witches or other morbid images. Interesting to visit, but felt a little uncomfortable as a Christian.
We left Salem at 5PM to go to the apartment we had rented in Lyn, a 10 minute drive from Salem, which took half an hour due to rush hour. We didn't know too much about our place except it was close to Boston and were pleasantly surprised to see that it was a block from a long beach with views of downtown Boston. the apartment itself was about a quarter of a large, white, old mansion. It looked great on the outside and we were excited. Inside it was a little different. It was very old and rustic, and we had to climb long noisy stairs to the third floor. Everything was old and dated, but we got used to it and the views of the ocean were great. After settling in we walked along the beach to a local park where they had a free concert going. The neighbour looked a little like the places along the Oregon Coast, except that the houses were older and more posh looking. We walked a few blocks to find a nice restaurant overhanging the ocean. We went in and found that we were a little under classed for this crowd. We decided to eat in the bar area instead of the fancy, linened dining room. We would have been the most underdressed by far. Our waiter was nice but you got the feeling he thought we might not fit in too well either. We ordered from the menu and he pointed out that the things we ordered were actually appetisers, even though that was not stated. My lobster ravioli was about five squares. I suggested to him that I would stick to the appie and perhaps order dessert if I was still hungry. Leah had a lobster bisque that she did not finish, so I loaded up on that. When the waiter came and asked about dessert, I said I didn't need any and he looked knowingly like, "I see, you really can't afford it." Our appies still cost over $20 per plate. And, not once did our water glasses get refilled. Maybe we will eat in a different neighbourhood next time.
July 7 - We walked to the local train station, about 15 minutes away, and commuted into Boston. It took 20 minutes. We had bought hop-on-hop-off bus tickets and spent the day visiting different locations throughout the city. For the first 90 minutes we were very happy that it was overcast but very peasant for walking. Then, the first rain drop fell, followed by over seven hours of continuous rain. Boston was where the American war of independence began, and our knowledge of the events surrounding the start of the rebellion against the British was enhanced. The rain did not stop us from our touring, but there were no drinks or coffees on outside terraces. We did have a drink at a bar recreated to look like the bar in "Cheers". We went to Fenway Park, hoping to see the inside of the famous ballpark, but it was closed due to it being set up for a concert, (Florida Georgia Line) tonight. There was another concert the next day, so no chance of getting inside. Despite the weather it was a good day. We took the train back home and were back by 9:30PM. While waiting for the train, we were approached by some young women who asked if we would like to attend the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert at the adjoining TD Place arena, home of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics. They had bought tickets, but ended up winning two free tickets at a bar during the day. We had to pass since they only had two tickets and we were with the three of us.
July 8 - Today was finally a warm, sunny day. The train we took to Boston yesterday was replaced by a bus starting today and every weekend until sometime in September. That doubled the trip to Boston. We began with a harbour tour, which was part of our hop-on-hop-off bus ticket yesterday. We had a nice 45 minute jaunt around the harbour. Then we walked and we walked and we walked, over 43,000 steps in two days. We visited some of the sights we missed yesterday, or purposely drove by knowing we would be back today. We rehydrated at Cheers. It was a good day, but by 4PM we were done. We had to make one last stop, to Mike's Bakery, supposedly the best bakery in Boston. The bakery was wall to wall people with a line spilling out down the sidewalk. The bakery serves mostly health food like Boston cream donuts, a large assortment of cannoli, and icing and whipped cream tarts, etc. We finally got to the front of the line and ordered a few pastries each. I was wearing my Canada 150 t-shirt. The owner came to the till to ring up an order and saw me. He asked if I was Canadian. I said yes and he handed me a $20 Canadian bill. It didn't cover our $24 US bill but a good chink of it. As of this writing they have not been tried yet. As we headed to the train station for our bus, the skies opened up. Within a few minutes the streets were rivers of water. We ducked for cover for a short while but still got soaked. By the time the bus left, it had stopped, although we had the odd drizzle the rest of the night. Bahstan was very good, but after two days, I felt we seen what we wanted to. We also enjoyed some good clam chowdah!
July 9 - Finally, there is no rain in the forecast for today. We left Lynn, Mass. at 9AM after hiking that heavy suitcase down those flights of stairs. This time, instead of traveling to Boston, we traveled under Boston and headed south to Cape Cod. The route was no so scenic. A lot of trees, mostly deciduous, lined both sides of freeway and there was little in the way of views. We crossed the bridge onto the Cape Cod island and not much changed. The road ran down the middle of the island and no matter where we went, there was little in the way of scenery, except the "Cape Cod" houses. Also, being Sunday, most things were closed, and we needed coffee. What was worrying was when we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts and the staff were not sure where there might be a beach with access. A customer helped them out and we stopped there for a coffee and the cannoli. There was a $20 charge for parking but when I explained that this was just a coffee pit stop, the attendant let us in for free. The beach was nice and the water was not as cold as I thought.
After leaving Cape Cod, we headed for Providence, Rhode Island. We went for a little stroll near downtown and checked out a flea market set up along the river. It was fairly quiet.
This next part is difficult to write. I had many emotions but few I should share as we crossed into Connecticut and headed for New Haven. Like the rest of the day, the scenery was limited to trees along both sides of the road. From shortly after we entered the state until we reached Orange, a suburb of New Haven, we were in traffic jams. At one point we drove 25 km. inching along at between 10 and 25 mph. The speed limit was 65 mph. Other than an accident on the other side of the median in the opposite direction, there was nothing to require any slowdown. We had a few spurts of going 60 mph for a few minutes followed by more backups. I am a reasonable person, and would never judge people on the basis for isolated incidents, but I would like to make an exception with Connecticut. I hate this state and never want to come back. Even Joanie settled down and tried to behave so as not to get on my other nerve. I think I behaved rather well. As I was telling Leah, "I think I am, look at that stupid idiot, handling this very calmly." My sentiment might have seemed wrong to some, until later tonight. Joanie had been grumbling that we drove right past a Christmas store on Cape Cod. When we drove for dinner we passed a mall down the street that said Christmas Tree stores. She was all excited and looked for them online later. Even though they call themselves Christmas Tree stores, they take down their Christmas ornaments, etc. after Christmas and replace them with summer items. Joanie now sees where I am coming from!
July 10 - We inched our way out of Connecticut today on what was to be a five hour drive to Alexandra, Virginia, a suburb of Washington. We left at 9:45 to allow rush hour to die down. In no time at all we were in a traffic jam. It was amazing how traffic could grind down to a few mph, then suddenly speed up to 65, and back down again for no apparent reason. The state remained on my most hated list. But, there was competition. (It got to a high of 32C today, but it was difficult to tell with the cold wind on my arms.) As we left Connecticut for New York state, the traffic in the other direction entering looked like a trucker's parking lot. Things improved immediately in New York, until we got near the George Washington bridge into The Bronx, things changed. A lane was closed and there was construction going on. We creeped for a long time before crossing. Then we headed for the New Jersey Turnpike. This is a long, tolled highway where semis are separated from cars, with three truck lanes and three regular lanes, separated by a divider, going in each direction. We motored along excellently until there was a sudden slow down. Two trucks going in the other direction, on the other side of the median, and past the three oncoming car lanes, had gotten in an accident. People literally came to an almost complete stop to check out the accident before returning to the 65 mph speed. This cause a backup for no reason. Meanwhile, the oncoming truck lanes were backed up for many, many miles. Having negotiated our way through New York and New Jersey, we assumed the rest would be a piece of cake. The GPS basically said to stay on Interstate 95 for over 200 km. Leah took over driving to give me a break. Things went smoothly until the turnpike ended and we entered Delaware. We paid our $13.85 toll at a booth and carried on, smoothly. Then we crossed into Delaware and the Delaware bridge, a tolled bridge, costing $4. The truck and car lane broke up into about ten booth lanes. For some reason the process was slow and the lanes backed up. On the other side, ten lanes had to converge into three lanes, and a very short distance away, the highway forked and there was a turnoff. Cars that came from the far left lanes had to cut through the stream of cars coming out of the middle and right lanes. It was chaos. Cars and semis everywhere, all forcing their way into the three lanes, while others crossed diagonally or were blocked by vehicles refusing to yield to anyone. Only an absolute moron could create such a traffic nightmare. Soon after we finally got through the mess, we again had to go through toll booths and pay $4 to proceed. When we got near Baltimore, there was another toll of $1.18, followed later by a toll of $4 to go through the tunnel under the city. All in all we were charged over $27 in tolls to drive from Newark, NJ to Washington. The worst though was the delays caused by the toll booths. If we never drive in Connecticut, Delaware or Maryland again, and I never will, I will be relieved. I felt sorry for Leah, as this was a very stressful drive. On a positive note, at one of the toll booths, we were told we did not have to pay because the car in front of us paid for us. Of course, all the delays, a few from construction but mostly from toll booths and questionable driving in heavy traffic, caused us to arrive in the Washington DC area during the afternoon rush hour. We crawled along at 5 mph around most of Washington before finally reaching our destination. Our five hour trip took 8 hours!
Today was also our 41 anniversary. To celebrate, we were going to go out for a nice dinner. However, the hotel in Alexandra was not near the restaurant area, so the anniversary dinner consisted of $4 appies and $4 wine at Holiday Inn. The debate will now rage on for some time. I may have to concede that Delaware should be ranked the most hated state in the Union. Leah certainly thought so. Maryland placed third. We may not have seem all of Baltimore, but what we saw before ducking underground was ugly. Very industrial. We are looking forward to two days of not driving before we blow this popsicle stand for what we hope are quieter lands to the west.
July 11 - Thoughts of rainy, dreary weather was behind us now. We had a sunny, hot day, with temperatures climbing to about 36 Degrees. We bought a fare card and took the train to the Washington Mall, the big grassy area by the White House. We checked out what the Smithsonian had to offer, to plan for the next day, and then walked to the State capitol building. We did visit the Congress Library, noted for its elaborate and artistic ceilings, walked past the Supreme Court, and visited the National Postal Museum. Then we had lunch in the Union Station at a restaurant recommended to us called the Shake Shack. It was a simple place, very busy, and I must say, I was a little sad when my shake cup was empty. We walked to see the Washington Monument, which was closed until 2019 for renovations, and the White House. These days you can not get very close. By now we were very, very hot and dehydrated and needed beer badly. Surprisingly, there were no restaurants or bars anywhere near the Mall. I had to ask a security police guarding the entrance to the roadway to the White House if there was anywhere we could go for a beer. He knew of a few places and gave directions. It was still a 5 block walk to get there. We downed our beer and water in record time. By then it was getting later and a little cooler outside. We checked out the WWII memorial, allowing our feet to dangle in the pool and recover, but being careful not to wade, which of course would be highly illegal. Then we walked along the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial, which was overcrowded with large groups of school groups. By now it was dinner time, and our plan was to stay around here until dark to see the monuments lit up. The problem, as mentioned earlier, was that there were no restaurants in the area, and we did not have the energy to do a long walk to the restaurant district of Foggy Bottoms. (Yes, that is the actual name.) We did find one of the refreshment huts on the mall that did have some packaged sandwiches, so it was a tuna sandwich and water for dinner. Was this our anniversary dinner? We took some pictures, OK, a lot of pictures as the monuments lit up before heading home. My transit card would not work to open the turnstile. After trying to use the emergency phone at the vacated station manager booth and waiting to see if the manager would return, I had to walk through the emergency gate, which was unlocked. Now I join Leah as a felon. The New York state police are no doubt profiling her after she snuck an apple from Canada into the state, and now I am a transit buster in DC. If only this had happened in Delaware, I would be OK never returning there. For the record, we walked over 30,000 steps.
July 12 - Today was a 20,000+ step day. We took the train to Arlington Cemetery for what was to be a short pit stop. It ended up being over 2 hours, as the place is massive and seeing certain things like JFK's grave or the monument for the Lockerbie, Scotland terrorist plane bombing victims required lots of walking, up and I had bison meatloaf and Joanie had braised bison. Leah looked like she had half a chicken on the bone. It was an amazing dinner. I think bison tastes even better than beef.
Out two days of exploring Washington were everything we hoped for. We could not see it all but I think we saw what we wanted. The heat took its toll but I still prefer that to scurrying around with umbrellas. I never drank so much water and more than one or two beer to cool down. I saw more than the usual amount of drivers texting while driving around town and a lot of honking, often with little provocation.
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