October 16, 2009

Jiggety-jog

Our visit in Raleigh was excellent but way too short. We packed Hayden to ship him back to Arkansas.

While we were there Leon realized that he did not get too close to the poison ivy while geocaching and his muscles were not sore from driving. He had the perfect symptoms for shingles. We decided to head to the house and here is Leon picking up medicine in Asheville, NC. Eighteen hours of driving and we were back at the dead end. Home again, home again, jiggety jog. It has been a delightful whirlwind tour of the northeast US.

October 14, 2009

Raleigh, NC

After 70 miles on Skyline Drive driving 35 mph in 30 something degree weather we decided it was time to go visit Hayden. It was 77 in Raleigh on Tuesday and a beautiful day. Hayden pretended to be a fireman with the water that Brian was emptying from the hot tub.

Brian grilled steaks and veggies for supper while Leon waited patiently. What a fine meal!

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina in the morning, especially when Brian fixed waffles for Jennifer, Hayden, Leon and myself. Then it was off to school for Hayden. His mom, Jennifer, helped him put on his new jacket. He took his new Adirondack bear with him.

October 12, 2009

Virginia

Winchester, Virginia is all about apples so we picked a few to photograph before we peeled out of town and headed to Front Royal and the mountains.



The leaves were past peak and the temperatures cold. It was mostly cloudy and not the perfect day to be on Skyline Drive, but we enjoyed the drive all the same. After most of the day driving the ridge crest for 70 miles at 35 mph we decided to expedite matters and go down the mountain to visit Hayden. Leon could not agree more.

But we did enjoy one short hike on the Appalachian Trail before we left the park. The views were magnificent.


What a surprise when we pulled off at one of the many overlooks and a national park ranger walked over to Leon's window. We had a delightful visit with a young man from Hot Springs. Coby Bishop says hi to everyone. After our visit further down the road a camper had broken down and he was helping direct traffic hence the brightly colored outfit.

Pennsylvania

A Mystic sunrise was lovely as we sat alongside the bay after a night at the Pequot Indians' Foxwoods Casino. The three masted schooner cast a long shadow across the water.

We made several stops along the coast, maneuvered around New York, and through New Jersey. Of course I had to complete a geocache in each state so we even ducked into Delaware for a short while.

I could not get in touch with Jennifer in Kennett Square but we enjoyed a fine visit with the Elks in West Chester, PA before continuing west and south.

I just had to visit Amish Country once more! If only it had not been Sunday and we could have visited the Maple Grove market!

we took the backroads from Gap and all seemed so peaceful in the surrounding countryside. Children were playing and riding their scooters.

Transportation is just a little slower among these backroads.

Several families we met were apparently returning home from church.


After we crossed the Potomac we stopped at Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. What an interesting town on the hillside owned partly by individuals and partly by the national park service. We had just missed a reenactment complete with the marine band. There is so much history in this part of the country, including both Revolutionary War and Civil War. People interested in such could just get really excited!

October 11, 2009

Newport, RI

Lobster Newburg, lobster bisque, boiled lobster, lobster roll, clam chowdah, stuffed quahog, mussels, scallops, crabcakes, fish and chips, fried clams, more mussels. I think it is time to head south and away from the coast! Leon wonders after my shopping spree where he will sit!


Newport, Rhode Island .. stop one for the day .. stacked rock walls lined the road among the farms and vineyards on Wapping Road as we drove alongside the Sakonnet River.

We blocked traffic, like tourists do, as I took photos of the many gates in Newport, behind which stood the mansions on Bellevue Avenue.



We took a nice hour stroll along the Cliff Walk on the oceanside of the properties for which Newport is noted. We even found two geocaches along the trail.


This looked like a good spot for a rest so soon after breakfast at The Creamery.


Across Naragansett Bay we went into Connecticut, slowed only by a shopping frenzy at a TJ Maxx. Wash clothes or shop .. I choose to shop!

Stonington, CT was controlled by the Pequot Indians until 1637 when an attack on their fort in nearby Mystic opened the area for settlement. The Pequot Indians claim to have the largest casino in the world, Foxwoods, sitting on their land. I may not gamble much but I sure enjoyed myself in the MAC store at MGM. And yes, they have RV parking but we preferred to park with the cars as we are small!

October 09, 2009

Cape Cod, MA

Wednesday morning's rain did not last long and we were off to explore Cape Cod. Some of our favorite stops included this Stony Brook Gristmill. It was not open at the time but we enjoyed exploring the pond, streams, and area.

This limb seemed like it was made for relaxation. I held on for safety. In the spring the herring run up the river from the sea to spawn. We did see a few nice bass that were going nowhere.

Scargo Hill Tower in Dennis provided a little step exercise. The view from the top was nice.

And this shows that rain was imminent but only a short sprinkle fell from those clouds.

The Eastham windmill was built in 1680 in Plymouth by an Eastham resident, Thomas Paine. It was moved four times before coming to its final resting place in Eastham in 1808. It is claimed to be the oldest and last working gristmill on the cape. As hard as I tried I just couldn't get it started. The tour bus arrived just as we were leaving. Most of the towns we visited were dated from the 1690s.

Provincetown is like few other places. We enjoyed strolling the streets, eating the Portuguese food, and shopping the shops.

This week is leather week and also Women's Week. Too bad we could not stay for the festivities.

The Highland Light is also known as the Cape Cod Light. One could spend days just visiting lighthouses on Cape Cod.

At the Salt Pond Visitor's Center we learned about the geology of the area and how the cranberry bogs or kettle ponds, which number over 300, were created from receding glaciers. Nearby is the site where Marconi first transmitted a wireless signal across the Atlantic. A portion of the base of his tower remains. The national seashore runs for about 40 miles alongside the eastern coast.

Captain Penniman was from Eastham and made his fortune in the whaling industry by the time he was thirty, having left home at eleven. He built this home in Fort Hill in the French Second-Empire style in 1868. The national park is refurbishing the inside which we enjoyed touring. He had a hot water system that collected rain water and piped it through the cookstove to heat it for the bathroom and kitchen.

This is the third set of whale jaw bones that have been erected on the steps leading to the house. Imagine meeting a whale. Leon is 6'2".

Three nights were spent at the Elk's Lodge in Falmouth and one night at the Nickerson State Park in Brewster. Falmouth is a very pretty city with a village green and quaint shops lining Main Street. It allowed us a great opportunity to explore the area and have nice visits with the locals. They even serve Quahogs.

October 07, 2009

Martha's Vineyard, MA

Less than 5 miles from our camping spot at the Falmouth Elks Lodge was the ferry to Martha's Vineyard. We boarded the ferry with six tour bus loads of people.

Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60s and the perfect day to spend on the island. Our 45 minute ride took us to Oak Bluffs, a town that was made popular in 1835 for a spiritual revival held amid a grove of oak trees. By 1880, the Methodist revival meeting spot had grown into a summer city of a thousand wood framed cottages and tents that surrounded the tabernacle. The current Tabernacle seats 3,000 and was built in 1879.


The gingerbread cottages replaced the earlier tents but most are not insulated and are used as summer and weekend cottages. There are over 300 cottages on the 36-acre site, that are along walking paths that complete a circle around the tabernacle. Then there will be another row outside the first and so on. The whimsical, brightly painted and well-kept homes bring a flood of tourists to the area. According to one owner we visited with the cottages are selling for about $400,000 but you do not own the land it is on and have a one year lease. If you do not keep the property up then they don't renew the lease.



The Vineyard Transit Authority offers reasonable service to all six of the towns on the island but we chose to only visit two. For a mere $1 each we were transported to Edgartown. Here the architecture changes dramatically and in this town, established in 1642, one finds large white houses. The town grew in the 17th and 18th centuries and was a major whaling port by 1825. The whaling captains built large homes as the profit from trade with China and whaling brought huge fortunes to the island. Many of the existing houses were built from 1830 to 1845. We enjoyed walking and looking.

This house belonged to Captain Valentine Pease, supposedly the whaler that author Herman Melville used as a prototype for Captain Ahab in Moby Dick. The house was built between about 1836. Melville sailed on Pease's whaler in 1841.

The giant Pagoda tree was brought from the orient in 1833 and planted on the island. It shaded Captain Milton's home, built in 1840.

The Old Whaling Church is a Greek Revival building built in 1843. It has a 92 foot clock tower which can be seen far out to sea.

On Dock Street we lunched near the ferry to Chappaquidick, known as Chappy to the locals.

The Edgartown lighthouse was not far away.

We ended the awesome day by driving over to the Hyannisport area where we just happened upon the Kennedy compound. One would think we were tracking down former presidents.

October 06, 2009

Plymouth, MA

After skirting Boston we couldn't resist stopping to pay homage to the Plymouth rock with all of the other tourists. It is a fun little busy tourist area but I wonder if any of it is more than a reproduction. The reproduction of the Mayflower certainly made us wonder how anyone crossed the ocean in a ship like that so long ago.



We had a nice walk through town to the oldest house still in existence built in 1640.


This is supposed to be the rock where the pilgrims landed in 1620. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the fact. It is stamped with 1620 on the top.

Even if it isn't the real rock, what rock ever had a better shrine built over it?

We could have toured the boat and visited several other historical sites but afternoon often finds us tired and not so eager! But we were eager to get to Cape Cod.

Ahh, the land of roundabouts...now which way do we go?