Wednesday, July 9 - Thursday, July 10

Driving the interstates....

Today was purely a travel day. No fun diversions just big, wide, interstates.  Occasionally, barnstormers just need to reposition themselves.  Like a big cruise ship needs to move to bluer waters, barnstormers need greener pastures.  Today we left Cleveland at a very civilized hour, 8:30 ish and headed to suburban Chicago to spend some time with my family.  

Since we don't have anything fun to tell you about, we thought we would share with you the price variety and volatility we have noticed recently in gasoline prices.  For those of you who don't spend much time in New Jersey let me just say it is my favorite state to purchase gas.  The taxes are low so the price is low (almost always lower than neighboring PA) but NJ also requires that gas be pumped by a gas station employee, no self-service in NJ.  So, on those really cold or really hot days the NJ gas consumer can stay in the comfort of their climate controlled car! Yippee.

CT had some pretty expensive gas, as I recall. The cheap stuff, which is what we put in the Subaru, was almost $4 a gallon last week.  OH was the cheapest at less than $3.50/gallon.  It has been a long time since we saw prices this low back home.

Gas in IN was firmly in the middle of OH and CT prices, at $3.69/gallon.

The scenery was pretty much what you would expect from an interstate.... road signs galore

Although that looks like a person riding atop a car, it's some sort of machine to clear debris off a racetrack

Photography from a car driving almost 80 mph is a skill I'm still working on mastering!  But look, no rain and little traffic. Except for the trucks.  Lester was very impressed by the size of the trucks in the midwest.

Looks like a train, but it's a truck

The three container trucks have containers that are less than 53 feet long.  The two container UPS truck is two 53 footers. Lester always gets a kick out of the fact that I can drop that phrase... 53 footer.  I picked it up during my GVI days; and I enjoy getting the laugh out of him when I say 53 footer.

I was more interested in the farms that lined the roads in both OH and IN.  I was actually impressed by their picturesqueness....

Not VT, but not bad for an interstate.  

And of course we had some lovely views of Chicago as we drove by....

And so we find ourselves repositioned for the time being. Nana cooked a lovely dinner of corn on the cob and grilled chicken.  Uncle Tommy joined us after leaving work early. Tomorrow will we see Uncle Nick and Aunt Ada for a family confab.  So, there really won't be anything to add tomorrow giving me a day off the blog. Lester will be catching up on housekeeping while I'm away.  Oil change, bill paying, laundry, etc.

Sweet, we have gone from running a little behind in posting these daily entries to being a day ahead in no time at all. We'll be back on Friday since we will be leaving the Chicagoland area and heading to our next stop....WI here we come.

A&L

Tuesday, July 8th

Rain, rock-n-roll and pierogis...

We woke up and got a relatively early start to our day.  We had a long one planned.  The first order of business was the drive from Rochester to Cleveland, about 4 hours in reasonable weather and traffic.  The traffic cooperated but we had our first bout with seriously nasty driving weather. Coincidentally, the weather got nasty shortly after we were welcomed back to Pennsylvania, near Erie in the far northwest corner of the state.  I think it is a sign that we should be avoiding that state for the time being. We will do our best to cooperate for the next few weeks.

The weather stayed pretty nasty right into Cleveland.  Luckily for me, my barnstorming partner is gallant; he dropped me off at the front door of the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame and went to park the car in a torrential rain storm - the same one that I hear caused power outages back home in PA.  

As you'll recall, Lester is all about his music so today's stop was all about his bucket list.  There was simply a ton of awesome stuff in the museum.  In this case we will go with the theory that a picture is worth 1000 words....  We arrived about 1 p.m. and stayed right through to the Hall's 5:30 p.m. closing time.  We had our fill but could have spent the entire day there too.  Figure out a reason to visit Cleveland so you can visit the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame. It's worth the trip.

John Lennon's acoustic complete with doodles

John Lennon's costume from Sgt, Pepper

Sly Stone stage costume

Sign from Yasgur's farm - site of Woodstock

As luck would have it when we left the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame the rain had stopped and the sun was shining and it had cooled down nicely.  We had some time before our dinner reservations so we wandered around downtown Cleveland for a bit.  Another city with new sports stadiums smack dab in the middle of the downtown area.  The Indians were hosting the Yankees tonight. It is quite a pretty little city with lots of public art and it seemed the downtown area is really thriving.  We were happy to learn that it will be the site of the 2016 Republican National Convention - the city looks like it will be a great host town. 

Public art in the midst of major rehab

Dinner was also a bucket list item.  We ate at Lola's, a Michael Symon restaurant.  Our reservations were for 7:30 but we were ready early and they graciously accommodated us at 6:30 instead.  My grapefruit gimlet was very refreshing after our stroll through downtown Cleveland.  We both agree the winner item of the night was Lester's appetizer, beef cheek pierogis.  Dinner was enjoyable but it was not the spectacular dinner we had been hoping for.  We actually struggled to find a dessert we were interested in.  We settled on what turned out to be just average ice cream and sorbet. Their beer list was very disappointing.  Two IPAs and nothing interesting or local.

Once again, Hotwire won the hotel wars.  We are comfortably settled into our hotel for the evening, king sized bed and balcony near the airport.  It will make for an easy departure tomorrow morning.  And, since we have a long drive to suburban Chicago tomorrow we are happy to be a bit out of town.

A&L

Monday, July 7

Cleaned Up, Packed Up, & Loaded Up

Sadly our wonderful weekend house party has ended and we are now the "wav-ees" driving down the driveway rather than the "wav-ers" who wander down the length of the wrap around porch bidding departing guests a safe trip.

Our three car convoy met up at Sugar and Spice for a last parting breakfast before heading off for next steps - either home or more barnstorming.  These barnstormers have a driving day in front of us ... west to Rochester, NY for another visit with more old friends.  After spending a good chunk of the day in the car we arrived at our Hotwire hotel just before dinner time.  (Our unofficial, unscientific survey shows that Hotwire has better prices than Hotels Tonight.  We'll continue to update you on our experience. Tonight's hotel was on both sites and it was about $50 cheaper on Hotwire.)

One of our favorite things to do on long driving days is to listen to books on tape.  Since we set out on this trip we have been listening to "Cooked" by Michael Pollan.  Although the book was interesting we felt it was a bit too long in spots, but what it really did was inspire us to cook upon our return.

Dinner was delightful. Sinbad's, a Lebanese restaurant, on Park Avenue in Rochester was the choice of my high school friend, Lynn and her husband Chris.  It is one of their favorites. My falafel platter was most statisfying.  But the best dinner related surprise was the delightful Lebanese wine we enjoyed.

After dinner we strolled around the neighborhood so we could see a recently restored Frank Lloyd Wright house.  It is privately owned but we had a leisurely gander at the exterior. It is beautiful and it gets us excited for our upcoming visit to Taliesen. 

With Lynn at Frank Lloyd Wright house in Rochester, NY

Not a Frank Lloyd Wright house... it was green when we occupied it in the 70s!

Then we partook in a Rochester tradition dating back to our high school days and headed to Abbott's Frozen Custard in Charlotte for a cone, then wandered out on the pier that juts out into Lake Ontario.  

Chris photo bombing our ice cream picture....

Having kept our friends out until after 11:00 p.m. on a "school night" we took our leave and headed back to the hotel and started planning the next leg of our trip.... Ohio here we come!

A&L

Thursday, July 3rd - Sunday, July 6

We are parked in rural Vermont for a few days 

Visiting with dear friends, enjoying good food, a couple of cocktails and amazing scenery. Even though what happens in Vermont stays in Vermont I’ll share some highlights. A beautiful Vermont farm and farmhouse sitting atop a hill, wonderfully gracious hosts, the quintessential small town 4th of July parade, a farmers market, a 2 foot tall paper mache bust of Richard Nixon (seriously), a trek over hill and dale, through mud and weeds to the waterfalls (and no one was lost or seriously injured but one participant was permanently scarred by the full moon she saw at the waterfall!), a delightful dinner at Ariel’s even thought the scary floating bridge was closed, Hello Kitty lapel pins, a nighttime sky that would have to be seen to be believed – truly spectacular, and a furniture bonfire. Good times with great friends, lots of laughter and lots of love. Thanks again to our hosts for a wonderful extended July 4th weekend!

Photographic evidence…

And we are off… westward ho!





A&L

Thursday, July 3rd

Here we turn towards the west….  

But just a little since our next stop is Randolph, VT.  However, on the way to Randolph we are crossing our fingers for clear weather and heading for Mt. Washington, NH.  Turns out, that at 6,288 feet, it is the highest point north of the Carolinas and East of the Mississippi.  How can we pass that up?  And it turns out there is a road to the top.  Sign me up!

Well, they warned us, as we drove up to the toll booth that the road was, high, narrow, and lacking guard-rails……  Now, we have been on the Pacific Coast Highway and the Amalfi Coast but nothing prepared us for this drive.  Neither one of us tends to fear heights.  We climb every cathedral spire we get an opportunity to climb but the road to the top of Mt. Washington darn near did us in!

We made it to the summit and it was definitely worth the effort. Where else will you see a house held down by chains so the high winds won’t blow it away!  (Really the chains are for show now but once they were there for a reason!)  Having summited it once I don’t need to do it again.  I do believe it is one of those things that, if you can stomach the ride, is TOTALLY worth the trip.  And, that includes the way down as well.  It might have been even worse than the way up.

With Mt. Washington safely in the rear view mirror we head to Vermont and some very dear friends.  We managed to traverse New Hampshire and Vermont largely on charming, beautiful back roads.

Our destination in Vermont is off the grid so we will check back in when we are on our way westward.  And, just like Vegas, what happens in Vermont stays in Vermont.  So, the next several days will be broad sketches at best!

A&L

Wednesday, July 2

Moving on to Maine...

Before we move on to Maine, let me just say that dinner last night was great.  If you ever find yourself near Portsmouth, NH head out to Petey's Summertime Seafood and Bar (open year round) for a delicious seafood dinner.  You know when you pull into the parking lot of a restaurant at 7:00 on a Tuesday evening and you need assistance navigating the sardine like rows, there will be a significant wait for dinner, when you see the line out the door you figure you've found a gem.  When the hostess told us the wait for a table would be 30 minutes, we headed for the bar.  It turns out that the funky almost Caribbean feeling bar was seat yourself and first come first served.  As we were trying to get the bartender's attention a high-top opened and we scored a table in no time!  We enjoyed a lovely, leisurely, luscious dinner.  

Seafood Chowder

This is the Lazy Man's Lobster, all I had to do was dip in butter and eat!

After dinner we had a brief stroll on the rocky out crop that was the "beach".  

We headed back to the hotel for an early night of reading, blogging, and researching to come up with a plan for today.

This morning we headed out early and went straight to Maine,(which really means crossing the Piscataqua River) hoping to find a backroads route to Portland, ME.  We found several backroads but none with the hoped for ocean views.  We did stumble upon the Cape Neddick Lighthouse on Nubble Island which is located 100 yards off the coast of Maine. Construction began in 1879.  It is still an active lighthouse.  The keeper is a part-time employee who also teaches English.  Apparently when school lets out each summer he moves out to the island as caretaker.  Sadly, visitors are not allowed on the island so we settled for views from the shore. The lighthouse, island and waves crashing on the rocky shore made for a delightful morning.

When we had our fill of sea views we pointed the car towards Portland, ME and its small but interesting Art Museum.  We were going seeking Winslow Homer but as we were chatting with the woman at the information desk we found they had several Wyeths as well.   Chester county art snobs that we are we were surprised to learn that Maine also laid claim to a Wyeth.  They claimed NC Wyeth.  Still learning new tricks!

After a brief stroll around the old city port, an area filled with galleries, shops, restaurants and bars we headed to Freeport, Maine.  Freeport is the home to the Maine Beer Company as well as LL Bean's flagship store.  

The Maine Beer Company was a hit.  Lester enjoyed his "Lunch" beer and I tried and enjoyed a "Peeper".   I'm not turning into a beer drinker but I do want to participate in exploring local micro brews with Lester on this trip.

Note: I drank the smaller, ligher beer on the right.

We finished the evening with a picnic dinner in our room.  Wondering if the weather will be clear enough for us to visit the top of Mt. Washington tomorrow as we head towards VT for a long weekend with dear friends.

A&L

Tuesday, July 1

Oh the things you will see....

Portsmouth, NH, a lovely quintessential New England harbor town, is well worth visiting.  We have had some yummy food, beautiful views, and serendipitous sights.

After a rushed breakfast, we headed down to Tugboat Alley to get the 10:00 Harbor tour which we conveniently booked on line last night.  We checked in with the nice lady who swears she actually has been asked if the islands in the harbor are connected to the bottom.  She said the correct answer is NO, they are dragged out there every morning by the tugboats!  Hey if you are silly enough to ask it is the perfect answer.

As we got underway our Captain informed us the Piscataqua River which we would normally be taking as our route out of the harbor was closing and we'd be taking an alternate route around the aforementioned islands, essentially taking the tour in reverse.  Really, you can close a river??!!  It seemed that we had coincidentally timed our trip just in time to watch the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard launch a Virginia Class nuclear submarine, the USS California, which had been in for service, during this mornings slack tide.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/  Logo for the USS California

So in addition to light houses

 and fisherman, both fly and lobster,

we were treated to the unusual sight of watching a submarine, being helped by a tug, set out to sea.

The sub had an armed escort to threaten the small craft crazy enough to get to close.  Thankfully our Captain had a healthy respect for the machine gun mounted escorts!  

All this excitement left us a bit hungry so we took a page from the Copes Afloat and got some ice cream.

The afternoon was spent at Strawbery Banks, (not a typo - it is spelled with one R) a most unique historical museum of Portsmouth.  Unlike for example Williamsburg, VA which portrays a single period of US History,  Strawbery Banks portrays the changing face of history.  So we explored several hundred years of Portsmouth history -- pre-Revolutionary to the early 1950s.  It was quite interesting to see how the houses were modified over the years and chat with a pre-Revolutionary wife of a ship captain next door to an author's from the early 1800s to a Jewish immigrant from the early 1900s.  

We finished off the afternoon in the air conditioned comfort of  of our hotel watching the end of the US v Belgium World Cup.  A most exciting, yet ultimately disappointing, end to a very interesting day!

A&L