September 11, 2012 – Kennebunkport, Maine

Keepsake Quilting - Center Harbor, Maine

LL Bean Store

LL Bean Boot 

      Nine Eleven – has it really been eleven years?  Remembering all those who lost their lives that day and all those who lost loved ones.  I know we were all remembering them today.  

     We enjoyed breakfast before leaving Manchester this morning – that’s unusual for us – we’re usually in a hurry to get on the road.  We took the scenic route along a beautiful lake from New Hampshire to Center Harbor, Maine to Keepsake Quilting.

     What a beautiful, big, friendly quilt shop.  I spent two to three hours – loved every minute of it.  I bought some beautiful things – but not too much since the car is filling up quickly.  Lester was very patient – he rode around a while, then found a nice shady parking place to wait on me.  Of course I did some shopping - just a little.

Home of George & Barbara Bush

Kennebunkport, Maine

 A beautiful drive to Kennebunkport, Maine – seems to be the vacation place of the rich and famous.  A beautiful, very crowded little town.  Extremely crowded – I can imagine what it’s like in the summer.  We rode through town in all that traffic twice (no that was not on purpose).  Our GPS took us right to Walker Point – the beautiful home of George and Barbara Bush.  It is breathtakingly beautiful – built on a point with rock cliffs all around.  We were surprised that there was a place to pull off to take pictures – a 15 minute parking time limit.  Lots of people were there taking pictures.  I wonder where the secret service were hiding – probably in plain sight – maybe the bicyclists?

    

  

     Portland, Maine – We went to the LL Bean store.  It is much more than a store – it is a campus of beautiful two story buildings with beautiful landscaping.  Just browsing for us – enjoyed walking around.  The whole area seems to be about shopping - dozens of upscale stores.  

     Neither of us like Lobster – which people find hard to believe.  So many people told us that we just had to try Maine Lobster.  We knew better but we decided to be good sports and try Maine Lobster.  Not a good decision.  Neither of us liked it at all.  Yuck – I don’t like the taste or the smell or the texture.  We ate a McDonald’s salad – can you believe it???  No more lobster for me – ever.

     

     Drove through Freeport, Maine - more shopping areas - dozens more of the same type stores as Portland.  

  

     We found a really nice Comfort Inn in Brunswick, Maine - looked like a colonial house.  A very good day (except for the lobster).

Every Day Can't Be Perfect - on a Road Trip or in Life...

Driving to Cape Cod

     I'll be nice and jsut say that Massachusetts is just not one of our favorite places to visit!  We spent some time in New Bedford - then drove on toward Cape Cod.  I visited Cape Cod years ago and liked it much better then.  We went to Hyannis and chose not to stay long at all - we did enjoy the town of Falmouth - where we had planned to take the ferry to Martha's Vineyard.  By that time neither of us really had any desire to spend any more time there.  I had been and Lester didn't really care about going after our disappointment with Hyannis and Cape Cod in general.

     We found a really great handblown glass place "Pierpoint Glass" in Sagamore, MA.  Beautiful handblown glass - you can watch the glassblowers at work.  We both enjoyed looking - and bought a couple of things.  Hope we get home without breaking them.  The people there were the nicest we met in Massachusetts.
   

The Mayflower

     The high point of our day was Plymouth - beautiful village.  "Plimoth Rock" (not a typo - they spelled it this way) is on display in a beautiful park.  A full size replica of "The Mayflower" is open really impressive.  Some nice shops.  Nice afternoon.
   

Salem, Massachusetts

     Salem, MA - our last stop - don't know quite how to describe it.  People dressed like witches in the streets - witches everywhere we looked.  We took a trolley tour of the city - the guide was really knowledgeable and entertaining.  It seems like the whole city is about the Salem Witches.  As if that weren't enough - there was a lady on the trolley who obviously had been drinking all day - loud and obnoxious.  It was good to get to New Hampshire.

     There is only one Cracker Barrel in New Hampshire and there it was just waiting on us in Londonderry!  What great timing - we had a really good dinner then drove on to Manchester where we're spending the night - very nice place.  A good way to end a tiring day.  Looking forward to tomorrow in New Hampshire!

Mystic Seaport, Flea Market and Newport, Rhode Island

Sunday, September 9, 2012
     Waffles for breakfast then on the road to Mystic, Connecticut.  A beautiful little town with lots of shops, restaurants and a street fair today.  We enjoyed walking around - taking pictures.  Unfortunately it was too early for lunch so we didn't eat at Mystic Pizza - just took a picture.  The drawbridge is weighted with huge cement blocks - I had never seen one like it.  Great weather - enjoyed walking around and browsing in a few shops.

Lester at Mystic Seaport

     Our next stop was right across the Rhode Island state line in Westerly.  Nice town.  We stopped at an antique shop with a very nice, very talkative owner.  After asking where we were from (guess she caught that southern drawl), she asked who we wanted to win the presidential election.  I was almost afraid to answer.  I said "Romney" and she said, "Well, thank goodness.  I just don't understand these people who want to give Obama 4 more years."  I think everyone has very strong feelings about this election.  All we can do is vote and pray for the best of our country.  Interesting stop.
     We drove up the coast on Highway 1 - beautiful drive.  Lester has radar when it comes to flea markets - last minute right turn - a really good flea market.  We each bought a few small items.  I just hope he doesn't find an antlered animal head for sale - it will get really crowded in the car.

One of many Newport mansions

Brenda at Newport Coast

     Newport, Rhode Island - Wow.  Surely this town has the highest concentration of huge mansions in the world.  Amazing houses.  We took a "Mansion Tour" - 90 minutes of driving by huge mansions.  
The Hammersmith Farm once owned by Jackie Kennedy's family is still a beautiful working farm as well as a mansion.  They now raise Oreo Cows (Dutch Belted). Downtown Newport is beautiful - their visitor's center is the nicest I've seen. 
      Our last stop in Newport was the "Viking Tower" - some call it the Newport Tower.  There are several theories about when and why it was built.  It is really impressive and hard to believe it's been there hundreds of years - very mysterious.  A lady came up to us and said that we seemed very interested in the tower - her husband, Jim Egan has written ten books about the tower. 

Viking Tower (sometimes called Newport Tower)

     We are staying in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts tonight with plans to spend some time in New Bedford tomorrow.  It has been a good day.   

Cloudy, rainy day - but only part of the day.  We left Atlantic City about 7:30 this morning.  Went to the Englishtown Flea Market - must be one of the largest in the world!  Didn't buy much of anything - just spent a few hours talking to people and looking around.

Holland Tunnel 

Statue of Liberty

We drove to NEW YORK CITY!  Traffic was bad but we survived.  We've paid almost $50 in road tolls in two days.  We southerners aren't used to toll roads.  We got to the Statue of Liberty to take the ferry over and guess what???  The ferries were not running because there was a tornado watch.  We did get close enough to take some good pictures.  My Seestah called to make sure we were okay - some tornadoes did touch down - not sure exactly where.  Seestah is actually in NEW YORK CITY for a few weeks with family.  We thought about going by for some of her good cooking but since she is a guest in her son and daughter-in-laws house - we decided it wouldn't be nice to drop in.

Freedom Tower

We drove to the World Trade Center Site - the new Freedom Tower is beautiful and amazingly tall.  It really towers over all the other buildings.  The traffic and the people on the streets were more crowded there than anywhere else we went.                              

We were both ready to get out of the city so we survived the traffic and headed north. We went to Old Saybrook, Connecticut - a beautiful coastal town.  Lots of beautiful old houses.   We drove to Stony Creek to see the Thimble Islands - lots and lots of very small islands - some with only one house.  Beautiful.  We spent some time in an antique shop - didn't buy much but enjoyed looking.  The little village reminded me of Ocracoke, North Carolina.  A very good day.                                                         

Thimble Islands

Great Northeast Road Trip 2012

Friday, September 7, 2012 – Headed North

Road Trip Begins:  We left at 6:30 this morning.  Really nice day for driving – not too hot.  It was nice to travel on roads other than interstates – I enjoy the small towns. 

We drove over/under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  Over 17 miles over and under the ocean.  We stopped at the gift shop/restaurant on the bridge – it is built in the middle so traffic traveling both ways can stop. 

We took the ferry from Lewes, Delaware to Cape May, New Jersey – about 45 minutes.  Smooth trip across the water with 100 cars on board.  We relaxed in the air conditioned upper deck lounge.

Cape May is a beautiful old town full of old Victorian homes – many have been renovated and painted in the traditional Victorian colors.  Very pretty town.  We did spend some time in an antique shop – didn’t see anything we had to have.

We got to Atlantic City, New Jersey about 5:30.  We have a room at the Resorts Casino/Hotel – very nice – right on the boardwalk with a view of the beach.  After checking in, we walked on the boardwalk.  The famous steel pier right out the doors of our hotel.  Lots of little food vendors on the boardwalk – smelled so good.  We ate a hamburger and fries – the vendors each specialized in something different so we got the burgers at one and the fries at another – very good street food.  Third Brother did have one complaint when they handed him his Coke – looked like a kids’ sippy cup – it was that small. 

We tried to get back to our room without being lured into the casino – we failed of course.  I lost $10.00 but I had about $50.00 worth of fun.  Third Brother won!  He started with $20.00 and left with $33.25 – hard to believe he left without losing it.  The night’s not over yet.

A very good day.

Next Road Trip Begins in Just a Few Hours...

Yes, I do love to travel.  I enjoy seeing the beauty of our country - meeting and talking to people.  Flying is great for trips to other countries or when we just don't have time to drive.  My favorite is still "The All American Road Trip".  I like the planning - spending hours on Googlemaps and RoadsideAmerica.com. Ya just never know what's around the next bend in the road.

This trip will be much shorter than our last one - only about 4,000 miles as compared to 9,200 on the last trip!  Every day for the last couple of weeks we've made additions to our map.  I just keep finding things that need to be seen.  

We aren't taking the MotorHome this time - we'll be driving my Third Brother's Honda Insight - great gas mileage.  I only hope he doesn't find a moose head (or was that a steer?) or something similar (he really did find one on the last trip). Yes, we brought it home in the SUV - thought for a while we might have to tie it on the roof!  Traveling with a "collector" is really interesting - especially when he collects just about everything!

Ken will be staying home to keep things under control - except for Bodacious the Beagle - he just can not be controlled.

Check back for some pictures as we travel up the east cost about as far north as we can go.  On into Nova Scotia and Halifax - then over to Quebec before we begin a new route south.  Might even find a few Frank Lloyd Wright houses along the way.

Swamp Ape, Airboats and Frank Lloyd Wright!!!

   Yes, Key West was wonderful, colorful, loud, delicious and lots of fun.  That would have been enough to make it a great trip - but - we had more fun!  Stayed in Big Cypress Trail Campground - not realizing that it is World Headquarters of the Swamp Ape Research Center!!!  Not real sure about that swamp ape but they did have the largest snakes we've ever seen and beautiful birds and alligators.  They let Bro hold an alligator - just a baby one. Very interesting place - stop by if you're ever in that area.
   
Just happened to see a nursery with huge greenhouses full of the most beautiful orchids.  Spent some time taking pictures - wanted to bring some home but the shower in the motor home was already looking like a mini greenhouse! 
   One of our favorites was the airboat ride in the Everglades.  Yea, that's Ken in the driver's seat but they wouldn't let drive it - or is that skim it or hover it or whatever it's called.  Extreme fun - took us to a "hammock" where some Miccosukee Indians lived until 1987.  Didn't much like the water moccasins and alligators!


   Bro's iPad with 3G was great - we googled anything we saw along the highway - when we realized we were only a few miles from Florida Southern College - of course we had to stop!  Frank Lloyd Wright designed all the campus buildings - and several miles of his famous low covered walkways.  It is the largest concentration of Wright building in the world - loved it.  FSC has been named the most beautiful college campus in the country - and it really is!  What a nice surprise - and all 
because of Google and road signs!


   Just couldn't get that close to Disney World and not stop.  We only went to Downtown Disney - crowded and hot, but we managed to do a little shopping.  
We spent our last night somewhere in Georgia - really nice campground.
   Great trip - I love going and I love coming home!  
Where might I be thinking about for the next trip?  There are four states that I have not visited - I really need to take care of that.