Looping the USA

DAY 14:

The last day of driving for a little bit, at least long-distance driving. We pulled out of Chesapeake VA after rush hour.

First wonderful place was the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. What a great bridge and tunnel. One minute you're skimming over the top of the water. The next, you're going under it (tunnel). Then you repeat.

We saw that Chincoteague and Assateague were only 10 miles off of our route through Virginia, so we decided to take a little side trip. Drove through the reserve and saw two of the wild ponies! On the way out, we stopped at Goddard Space Visitor Center. There went 2 hours.

Hubby was so glad to see freeway when we hit I-295. He's not much on the state and US highways because of all the start and stop, yet our fuel mileage was at 18 (and we were happy!). Freeways make him so happy. Getting on US-206 after Trenton made him most annoyed, especially when we hit it during rush hour.

Family was glad to see us, and we had so much to catch up on, plus many plans for the area.


Donna

Day 15 -

Finally! This was the day for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island! Those who followed my trip report for 2011 (West Coast to East Coast July 2011) may remember that our trip was aborted due to a death in the family, and we had to give up this part of our trip.

Off we went, early in the morning this year, for a 10:00 am cruise. For the two island facilities, both run by National Park Services, you must have tickets and ride a ferry run by Statue Cruises. Visitors should realize that you will go through an airline-type security before getting on the ferry. You can take the ferry either from Battery Park on Manhattan, or from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ. Due to the fact that we're staying with family in NJ, we left from that side.

Our ferry, Miss New Jersey, took us out to Ellis Island first. The Statue AND Ellis Island can be viewed from Liberty State Park and from the ferry. Our ferry was 3 stories tall so you could stand inside or outside, or sit in either.

Our tickets came with an audio tour available. You get a set of headphones and a little iPod type thing in which you type in display numbers to hear speeches about what you are viewing. We followed the 24 settings for the main tour and the Journeys exhibit had 10 others. You can choose detailed ones too. The only building open at Ellis right now is the main building, with its Baggage Room, Inspection Rooms, The Great Hall, and more rooms. They are busy restoring the hospital, which was the largest hospital ever built for a while with 29 buildings.

The Statue of Liberty is another 10 minute cruise. Unfortunately, this year the statue is not open inside at all. They are restoring the base, the pedestal, and the inside of the statue itself. You can see that windows in the pedestal have been removed and replaced by boards for now. I gather that NYC is also on high security alert this summer, so they're being careful for those reasons.

We waited for the ferry for longer than we were on the island itself. While the NY ferry picks people up at the statue and Ellis every 15 minutes in the afternoons, the NJ ferry only runs every 40 minutes.

If you are driving in NJ, be aware of a few things: Traffic circles can be a headache anyway if you're not used to them. They can be a MIGRAINE if there is construction on them, particularly since many GyPSy units don't have construction warnings. Also, signs can be confusing. The NJ version of "next right" may not be yours! Our new GyPSy messed us up with an under construction traffic circle, and the fact that there are two separate sections of freeway along I-78, known as "Local" and "Express". We had to get off the freeway at one of the rare exits from the "Express" lane because we couldn't get over from the Express Lanes at our needed exit. Fortunately, GyPSy got us to where we were going in the first place.


Donna

DAY 16 & 17:

Day 16 was a nice, relaxing layover day with NOTHING planned. It was just for visiting with family and trying to stay cool (since much of our continent appears to be in either hot or humid weather, or both).

Day 17 was spent down in Philadelphia. It was a 2-hour drive from the family's house, more than half of it over US-206. Hubby hates that road since it is pretty well like driving for 60 miles on a surface street. We had to go down part of it to get to Liberty State Park two days earlier, and then again to get to Philadelphia.

Finding a parking spot for our big pick-up truck near the historic district of Philadelphia was NOT easy. Most of the parking garages were limited to 6'7" vehicles, and lots that we saw were all full. Finally found one where the limit was 6'9". Since our vehicle is 6'8", it was a bit crunched. We made it. More on that later in this post.

I was able to get my Philly cheese steak for lunch. We had 3:15 tour tickets, obtained online, for Independence Hall. By the time we got to the Visitor Center that morning, the day's tickets had been given out, so we were glad to have gotten them online. We walked around the historic district to get our bearings, had lunch, looked at Carpenters Hall and the Portrait Gallery (inside the Second Bank of Philadelphia), and then went to go through security for Independence Hall.

Yes, there is security. They do check bags, purses, and make you do a little "twirl" to see what you could be carrying. Definitely leave pocket knives and the like in your vehicle, which hubby did.

Independence Hall Tour takes you to three areas, with a ranger-talk at each of the three. When you are done, it's recommended that you take the tour of Congress Hall, which goes every 20 minutes. We did that, too. Independence Hall wasn't really air conditioned, but Congress Hall has been air conditioned (thank goodness).

From there we got in line for the Liberty Bell. Now, years ago, when I was a very little girl, the Bell was hanging just inside Independence Hall, and you could walk up and touch it. Even my brother, who was a toddler at the time, remembers touching the bell! Now you must go through a museum all about the bell's history before you are shown the bell, which is at least 5 ft away from the closest visitor. Trying to photograph it without someone else in your photo is virtually impossible!

After the Liberty Bell, we walked over to the Christ Church Graveyard to see Benjamin Franklin's and his wife Deborah's gravesite. It's protected by an iron fence, but visible.

There was a store beckoning me, about 7 blocks up Market Street in Philadelphia. Macy's, which has been Lord & Taylor and before that, Wanamaker's, was calling out to me. The world's largest pipe organ is in that store, and there is an organist that gives a concert most days, from the console on the 2nd floor. For the day of the week that we were there, concerts were at noon and at 5:30 pm. Since we did not want to get involved with Philadelphia weekday rush hour traffic, the 5:30 concert was perfect. Check out this website, if you love organ music!

We listened from 3 different places. The final one was the best: right on the 2nd floor where we could see the organ console and many of the pipes. It was really a unique experience, listening to a classical organ concert in a STORE. The organist finished with a medley from Bizet's opera CARMEN.

The long walk back to the vehicle, and that's where we had an incident. Trying to get out of the car garage safely with a longer vehicle, we had a small fender bender when the front bumper and passenger side head-lamp came into contact with a concrete pole. It busted the head lamp cover, head lamp, orange lights, and put a lovely huge dent in the bumper. It remains to be seen, how much this is going to cost us and how much it is going to delay us. Was it preventable? Yes, probably. The one time I didn't call out to hubby to "watch out for that pole!", he hits it. I can be quite a back-seat driver and was so mad at myself for deciding to keep my mouth shut for once!

The rest of the trip back to northern New Jersey, including the dreaded US-206North, was uneventful. I was on the phone for at least 20 minutes with our insurance agent back in California; it pays to have State Farm as they are so good to deal with.

To be continued....


Donna

Sounds like you guys are still having lots of fun! Sorry about the fender-bender, though.

DAY 18 & 19:

We spent most of the next day (Day 18) trying to figure out the fender bender and what to do about it. Meeting first with an auto body specialist, he stated that parts would take a little while to come in and he'd probably need the truck for a full week. With other parts of our vacation reserved, and this problem not being a big deal, we decided to forego getting it repaired right away. Talking to State Farm about the insurance issue, they said they can cover it when we are ready to get it repaired.

Day 19 was therefore spent on the road. Back again on interstate highways, we were able to make decent time. Driving I-80/I-287/I-87 (New York Thru-Way)/I-84 and then eventually hitting I-95 on the southeast of New Hampshire, traffic flowed. We were very relaxed by the scenery, which was mainly forested roads.

Frankly, though, somewhere along the Thru Way (I think) there was a sign that bragged, "Elevation 985 ft" and hubby and I had a good laugh over that one. We said we'd remember this when on I-70 in Colorado later in our trip and see 11,000 ft elevations!

The weather went from partly cloudy to cloudy with a few little rain showers, to sunny. In Maine, it was not awfully hot.

Finding a place to stay in Maine was a problem. This is one place that we should have made reservations! We finally found Super 8 in Portland with some space, though not on a coupon deal or even for AAA members. They allot 10% of their rooms for each of those, and they were full up. They gave us a decent room on the first floor right next to the door, though, and they had an indoor pool.

Hubby HAD to have lobster for dinner, though. That was a given. The hotel desk was able to give us directions and a map to get us down to the wharf. He had great lobster (I had a hamburger). The price was right, too.


Donna

DAY 20:

From Portland out to the Acadia NP vicinity is only about 150 miles, but we'd allotted the entire day to travel I-295 then US-1 and ME-3. We started out leisurely in beautiful weather, almost no traffic, heading north and east.

US-1 is almost a perfect US highway. You travel along at 55 mph, slowing down only occasionally. It takes you down picture-perfect scenic byways. The route was partially marked as a scenic road, by the AAA maps, so we expected coastal views. We were slightly disappointed that most of the sea views were blocked by forests. However, so many of the buildings and shops were picturesque in their own way. It seems that every third shop was some sort of antiques shop, and most restaurants bragged at having lobster. The little shacks that sold lobster were advertising $3.99/lb, for the ones you cook yourself. This drive was SO enjoyable.

There were several little restaurants in some of the towns that looked inviting for breakfast. But we are in a big pick-up truck and we didn't find parking to fit, so we had to pass them by. Finally found a place in Searsport called Anglers' Restaurant. Good food, plenty of it, and we chose to have lunch since it was already past 11. The place was a bakery as well, so dessert was ordered. Hubby had the best coconut creme pie he'd had in a long time, and I had Maine blueberry pie (sugar-free).

Our accommodations were at a motel/cottages combination just over the bridge from Mount Desert Island, Isleview in Trenton. The price was reasonable at $180 for two nights. The cabin was rather small, but very clean, with A/C, a small college-sized refrigerator, small microwave, and coffeemaker. They had a small continental breakfast in the mornings.

Once settled in, we headed for Bar Harbor to check out that side of the island. There were times when we felt like a bull charging through a china shop, because the roads were so narrow and our rig is large. We were on Historic West Street when I spotted a sign, "MAINE SEA COAST MISSION." I asked hubby to stop and find a place to park. Surprisingly, there was parking right in front (probably because the mission is closed on Sundays). This is a mission that my sorority supported when I was in college. We were able to walk on the property and see some beautiful views from the backyard of the mission.

Dinner was another seafood meal for hubby. It was our anniversary dinner, so we didn't go to one of the "lobster shacks" this time. He wanted clams and more, and got them, while I enjoyed a good, tender steak.

DAY 21:

At this point, we were really surprised at ourselves, that we'd already been gone for 3 weeks and still have things to see and do! The sightseeing has only a few more stops, though, before we spend time with our daughter, her husband and new granddaughter.

The day's agenda was ACADIA and Mount Desert Island. We learned years ago that you get out into a national park in the early morning hours. It increases your chances of seeing wildlife and the crowds are minimal. Therefore we practically opened the Hulls Cove Visitor Center. I enquired about a cassette tape version of their audio tour (since our older model pickup does not have a CD player in it). They had one, but then I saw the book version and decided to buy that. It's less expensive and a nicer keepsake than a cassette tape!

We followed the book's suggested stops along the Park Loop Drive. So many beautiful seacoast views, lots of pretty forests, some beautiful flowers, and the weather just couldn't have been much nicer! At Sand Beach, we walked down to the water -- something that I had not done back when I was here as a kid (because it was cold and rainy that day). I took off my sandals and waded a little in the water .... BRRRRRRR!!!! COLD!!!!!!!! I had to giggle because there was a small child who evidently felt comfortable enough to run around the beach stark-naked, and absolutely NO ONE told the child to put clothes on! (I could see the nude fanny but the child was far enough away not to see boy vs girl, and the child was wearing a neutral colored hat.)

Thunder Hole was another favorite. Years ago, it was better because a storm was blowing in, the tide was high, so that blow hole made more noise and splashed a lot higher. The public fence was wooden back then. This year, it was low tide, beautiful weather, and we only got a few loud "thunder-y" noises. They have put better public fences in.

We got in line for Jordan Pond Restaurant before they opened for lunch. What a good meal hubby had ... more lobster! (He's going to start swimming if he eats any more lobster.) I had a roast beef sandwich and desperately wished it had been a HOT one.

Cadillac Mountain -- well, once again we had to laugh. At home, 1530' elevation is a HILL! But the views were stupendous -- we could see Mount Katahdin in the distance, because it was so clear.

Our next drive was down the non-NP portion of the island. We stopped at Echo Lake, parked in the shade, and just took a rest break. Then headed for the Bass Harbor Head Light -- lighthouse. It was smaller than I would have thought. The caretaker and his family live there so the lighthouse is not open for tours, or the caretaker's home. That's fine, but I'm sure they are rather relieved when winter rolls around and there aren't 36 cars in their backyard for hours at a time!

We absolutely loved Maine and hated to leave it. It is definitely on our consideration list for places to retire! It would have to be coastal Maine, though, as there isn't so much snow here as in the interior. The only negatives we've heard about are nor'easters and mosquitoes (which a few bit us last night).

Donna

DAY 22 and 23:

Basically, Day 22 was just a driving day. However, it was notable for one reason: I reached my goal of 50 states that day! Before this trip started, I'd been to 47 of the 50 states. I was only missing the two Carolinas and Vermont. Earlier this trip, we drove through South and North Carolina, and stayed overnight in South Carolina. So all I had left was Vermont, which we drove through on Day 22. To celebrate, we stopped at Friendly's for ice cream. Good, but we really do like DQ better!

Our day's drive was about half interstates (Maine and New York) and half on state and US highways (NH and VT). We took US-4 and NH-9 through NH, and then VT-9 and NY-7 before getting back to the interstates.

That evening we stayed at Super 8 in Johnstown, NY. We liked it except for two things: they had only a third floor room available and there was no elevator, and there was no pool. We hoisted a lot of stuff up and down those stairs.

The following day was back to being a tourist. Our first place was the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.
My husband spent more than 5 hours there and was poring over everything. After purchasing your ticket (his was free as he is retired military), you start on the second floor. There, it's baseball history from the very start all the way to the present day. There's a section about women in baseball, another one about baseball in other countries, and a special section devoted to Babe Ruth. Technically, you're supposed to start with a 13-minute film, but it only runs every 30 minutes so we skipped that. (We've seen Ken Burns' BASEBALL.)

The third floor had loads to do with statistics. While hubby was enjoying this, I found the recording of Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First" routine and I think I watched it four times. Finally we went back to the first floor which was the actual Hall of Fame. At that point, I left hubby to read the plaques and went out to the street to look at the shops there. I'm not much of a baseball fan, I guess.

Another one hour drive took us up to Rome, NY. By the time we got up there to the Erie Canal Village, it had already stopped selling tickets to the Village and Museum, and the train ride that goes along the canal. The latter didn't bother me, but I was dreadfully disappointed about the village. However, the woman said we were welcome to look around at what was open without a charge, until the train returned from its last trip.

This was the enlarged, "later" canal, with a bridge that was much too high to have been an original bridge. They had one of the boats in the water, and then there was a better view of the inside of a boat in the museum.

As we drove into Syracuse, our new GyPSy took us along the old canal. In places we could see that there was very little water. Some of the old bridges were there, though.

That evening, we situated ourselves in a newly renovated Days Inn, at University in Syracuse. The management and staff here were friendly, and accommodating! Though we had requested a first-floor room when we made reservations, they explained that the 2nd and 3rd floor rooms all had been renovated but they were still working on the 1st floor rooms. When I asked about an elevator, they said that they HAD one, AND had a luggage cart. In short, we highly recommend this particular Days Inn.


Donna

DAY 24:

Another driving day! We made 607 miles that day, from East Syracuse to the eastern side of Dayton, OH, in Fairborn. Breaking some of our habits, we left a little later and enjoyed a bit of the hotel's continental breakfast before we left. We were "on a roll" with this speed run, so we snacked in the car, stopping for fuel ($3.79 gallon for diesel! UGH!), and pit stops only. One exception: we had ice cream at a DQ in central Ohio.

We checked in to a former Comfort Inn in Fairborn, OH, which is about a mile from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The place is now called Broad Street Inn, but the Comfort Inn sign is still up. Evidently the hotel was repossessed by the bank at the end of 2011, and set under new management. Most of the same amenities are there, and we found this through a first use of expedia.com for $55/night. The area seems to be in a depressed state, but there are workers staying here so we felt plenty safe right away. The only downsides to the hotel are no pool and no refrigerators in every room. The rooms are huge and the bathtub had a whirlpool, and the beds fairly new and comfortable.


Donna

DAY 25:

This is the day that hubby had looked forward to for awhile: visiting the National Museum of the US Air Force, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, OH. We made sure we were there pretty close to opening time of 9 am. The museum is FREE, BTW, though if you want to do such things as the IMAX films, those have costs involved. Parking is also free.

One of the purposes to get there right near opening was to get on the stand-by list for the Back Stage Tour, which happens only on certain days. Once on the list, we headed for the "Early Days of Flight" gallery. We were in there for well over 2-1/4 hours and still didn't see everything in that gallery, and there were at least 6 other galleries to go through!

The Behind the Scenes Tour kept us standing on our feet for more time than we expected. We also hadn't been told how long it was, so when we got in line we had not eaten lunch nor had we had breakfast. (The hotel we were staying at does not offer one.) But the tour was well worth it. They bussed us out to three hangars where volunteers are restoring old planes. The one I really wanted to see was the MEMPHIS BELLE, of WWII fame. I was not disappointed! She is in many pieces but she is still worth seeing.

Once done with the BTS Tour, we were bussed back to the Museum and the Cafe was the next stop for these two ravenous people. Then we headed for the World War II gallery. Hubby hadn't even gotten halfway through that one when it was announced that they were closing the museum in 25 minutes. As for me, I found a wonderful tribute to Glenn Miller, including his trombone and some of the artifacts left from the Glenn Miller Band. I was far more interested in that than in some of the planes hanging around!

On the way back to the hotel, we managed to find the Wright-Patt Commissary to stop for a few groceries. We were disappointed to find that Housekeeping did not find one of the refrigerators for us. That was surprising as this large hotel is not even 1/3rd full and surely there would be one fridge available???? (According to the ads for the room, they have them "by request".)


Donna