Day 13: Change in Plans

After a good night's sleep, I'm up early (6am) to get on the road again.  I head south on 7 looking for the first ferry to cross Lake Champlain back into NY.  The first opportunity is in Charlotte, VT.  [I didn't know that there was one in VT either.]  I arrived at the dock at 7:10am, but on the weekends the ferry only runs "on the hour" so the next one was 8am, and then half an hour across the lake.  Hmmmm...  I don't want to wait so I drive back out to 7.

I've been watching the weather for the last couple of days, and it's gotten worse for the whole weekend which was planned for on and around Seneca Lake, wine-tasting at multiple wineries.  So.... I decided to drive back to Dayton (around 12 hours, I think) rather than heading to Amanda's in Michigan (which I believe at this point is 14+ hours).  Playing into my decision is that I am tired of being on the road -- in spite of so much fun and great company -- and I want to be in my own bed.  And also, that Amanda is expecting me Monday night, not Saturday night, and that it's a 3.5-hour drive between me and Amanda when I'm home.  So, I decide to head to Dayton.....  [I did a separate trip to visit Amanda and her family a month later...]

I start heading south on 7 again, heading for that next ferry, and guess what I pass??

I have to turn around and go back to take a picture.  It's a camel.  Or a dromedary?????  So I had to look it up.  Turns out that a one-humped camel is a dromedary, and a two-humped camel is a Bactrian camel -- and much less common.  I would have thought that VT would be much too cold for a camel, but "the Bactrian camel grows a thick coat of hair each winter which falls off every spring. This is to deal with the extreme variation of temperature in the Gobi desert (Mongolia) where summer highs often top 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and winter months can see significant amounts of snow."  Who knew?  Now the question still remains, why a camel in VT??

Just outside of Addison, I turn west for the next ferry crossing.  As I am approaching, I see pastures full of miniature donkeys. I'm really wondering if maybe I just got up too early, but I don't stop for a picture or to even look for some kind of sign.  But now back on my PC, I Google "Addison Vermont donkey miniature" and guess what I find....  A website for "Ass-pirin Acres" in Addison.  You can not make this stuff up!!!!  Check it out!  www.asspirinacres.com

On the ferry for the 5 minute crossing, and I end up in Port Henry, NY.

I had looked at the road atlas I had in the car, and it seemed as though heading on the 80s (e.g. 87S to 88W to 81S to 80W) was the way to get into Ohio and then take 71S to 70W.  Well....  that really isn't the fastest way, and Garmin kept trying to get me to 90W, but I just didn't want to listen.  Why would I go through Buffalo and Cleveland, that's just too far north.  I needed to head more southwest....  Yeah, in hindsight, listen to Garmin.    SPOILER ALERT:  the bottom line is that it took me 16 hours to get home (7am-11pm).  yes, that was with stops, and traffic, but ICK!  As per Google maps, the route that Garmin kept trying to get me on was estimated to take an hour less than the route I chose.  And if I hadn't been on 80W, I also wouldn't have hit all the orange barrel construction that I did.  I actually estimate that I lost 2+ hours by not listening to Garmin.    I really should have just found a Starbuck's (for free wi-fi) and spent a few minutes with the laptop.

...I've finished listening to "The Last Child" and my next book is "Swimming" by Nicola Keegan.  Good narrator, and the story starts off well, so I'm still thinking that I've got about 12 hours of driving ahead of me, and a good book and hopefully no rain until I'm well through PA.

A few things I notice driving through PA.....  on 81S there are a lot of billboards advertising Massages.  Now, when I pick a spa to get a massage, I'm not typically swayed by billboard advertising, so I think that this is odd.  Then I notice that some of them say "Truckers Welcome" or "Truck Parking Available".  Hmmmm...  This is probably a different type of massage than what I'm used to.....

I drive through Scranton -- location of "The Office", and then head west on 80.  And into orange barrel h-e-double hockey sticks....  Lots of people-watching, vehicle-watching....  speaking of that, I passed a tow truck (then he passed me) towing a beater of a white truck.  Scratched into the paint on the driver's side door of the beater was "It's not for sale so quit asking."  hee hee...  junker humor.....

I stopped for gas in DuBois, PA.  [Pronounced "dew boys", not "du bwa" as you might expect.]  Slowed way down when I saw a deer standing in the curve of the onramp.  Just before I reached the OH border, the sheets of rain came down.  The thing obscuring the "Welcome to Ohio" sign is my windshield wiper.

Now it's dark, I've just passed through Youngstown on my way to Akron, then Columbus, then home.  I still have 4+ hours to go and the rain is just coming down in buckets.  Do I stop and get a hotel room for the night???  Nope!  That's not how I want to spend my Sat night.  :-)  So I keep on truckin', I'm almost there.

I roll into Columbus about 9:45pm and when I get home at 11pm, I've never been so glad to get OUT of a car before.  :-)

All in all, a fantastic, fabulous trip, and I would love to do it again -- in a little while -- after not driving for a time -- and in a different direction....  :-)

2,955.5 miles in 13 days!  Yee-haw!

Day 12: The Green Mountain State

Kim had put the girls to sleep in bed with her (I think), so I wasn't disturbed at all in the morning.  So thoughtful! :-)  We all did get up pretty early though to pack up the girls who were staying with Kim's parents while she and Dennis were in CA.  [Kim's parents, the Rowes, live just across the lake -- as the crow flies -- still on the NY side of Lake Champlain, but we had about a 20-minute drive back across the peninsula to the mainland and then a little south on the lake.]  And Dunkin Donuts for breakfast as we were running a little later than we originally wanted.  :-)

After a few minutes with the Rowes, Kim said good-bye to the girls while they were occupied with grandpa and then we were on the road again.  Kim was riding with me across the lake on the ferry and then into the Burlington airport so that we could have some more time together.  On her return, her sister was going to pick her up in Burlington and she'd take the ferry back over.  This was the first time I'd ever driven onto a ferry, and it was easy.  The guys working on the boats might look like a bunch of slackers, but they really know what they are doing, and are pretty efficient!  :-)

After dropping Kim off at the airport, I headed into the town of Burlington and my destination for lunch, the Skinny Pancake!  A fabulous crepe place on Lake Road.

The line was pretty long, and the service is not actually what you call efficient, but very friendly, and gives you time to read the gigantic menu written on chalkboards above the counter.  And gave me time to change my mind several times.....  Let's see, do I really want breakfast?  and have a crepe with eggs and cheese and mushrooms and spinach?  or maybe an all-veggie one?  Or a sweet breakfast with nutella and strawberries?  what about eggs and bacon and a crepe on the side?  Or stick with lunch and have the chicken and mushroom crepe?  Hmmmmm....  I ended up with a "Johnny crepe", a cornmeal crepe stuffed with BBQ pulled pork and cheese, and served with a root veggie coleslaw. Yum!!!  I did manage to snag a table outside, so powered up the laptop to check email and look up some things I wanted to do in Burlington, while I waited on my food.  Well worth the wait, it was fabulous!!

Kim had been nice enough to call her sister and ask her for spa recommendations in Burlington.  At this point, I've been driving a lot, and could use a good massage, so I looked up the places that were recommended.  And I also checked out the geography of the Church Street pedestrian mall (where to park?) and the hours for the bar I wanted to go to that night (Nectar's).  After leaving the Skinny Pancake, I did wander along the lake walking path for a while, and sat down in the grass and soaked up some sun for a few minutes.  But I had my laptop with me, not my book, and I was afraid that I would actually fall asleep if I sat for more than a few minutes.  :-)

I then went back to my car and parked near Church Street for some window-shopping as well as some actual shopping.  They had a "Life Is Good" store, and that's one of my weaknesses, so I had to visit there, plus some of the Vermont stores (gotta' get my Christmas ornament!).  I also browsed a few clothing stores, but remember that I'm actually unemployed and shouldn't be spending a lot of $$ on things I don't need.  [Like I need another "Life is Good" tshirt.......  Oh well!]

They had these painted cows all up and down the pedestrian mall.  This one was done by Ben and Jerry's and was outside the B&J store.  [go figure!]  I was going to get some ice cream while wandering, but when I went in, seemed as though the entire population of Montreal had gotten there just before me, and the line snaked around several times within the store itself full of French-speakers translating the flavors.  I decided that I'd wait on the ice cream.  [and no, I never got any, so I left Vermont with no B&J.]

Realizing that if I had any hope of staying awake that evening for my plans at Nectar's, I decided to go check in at my hotel (a Quality Inn in Shelburne about 4 miles south), take a nap and a shower, and then come back out.  And I felt like a whole new person after!  [maybe I should have fit in that massage as well!]

I went back to the pedestrian mall area for dinner -- great recommendations and superb people-watching.  I had dinner (outside) at an Irish pub called Ri Ra.  A nice glass of sauvignon blanc, an okay potato soup, and then a phenomenal grilled salmon club sandwich (who knew that grilled salmon, tomato and bacon would be so yummy together???).  Inside of regular fries, I had "chips and curry" which meant fries with a curry dipping sauce.  Not sure it was the best choice with the grilled salmon, but really good anyway.  The live music started up in all the bars restaurants up and down this stretch of Church Street, and it was a beautiful evening.

After dinner, I went around the corner to Nectar's.  They are known for their gravy fries, but I was stuffed and there was no way I was having any more fries!

So I go in, and the first band is about to start (one guy on guitar, so do you call that a band?), but the place is pretty empty.  And it's divided into two spaces really -- one side is more lounging and pool tables, with a bar; and the other side is more a bar and music venue.  So I sit at the bar (on the music side) and order a drink and then tell the bartender (Dorsey) that I also need to buy a tshirt.  She says that the manager has just left with the key to the merchandise cabinet, but that he'll be back by 9pm.  Okay, so I settle in.

I'm people-watching, talking to a few people and Dorsey, listening to the guy (Lionel Thompson maybe?) and his guitar and watching a group in a corner set up for a high school reunion (that's just weird to me, and they all get nametags with pictures of themselves from their high school yearbooks).  It's around 8:40pm when Dorsey comes over to me and says that my drinks are on the house because I've sat there almost two hours, and her manager just got back and reminded her that they've lost the key to the merchandise cabinet (for two weeks now) and don't have any way to get into it.
I stayed for the start of the next band, but didn't really like them that much, and wanted to get to bed relatively early as I was getting up early to head to the Finger Lakes region of NY for a weekend of wine tasting!  :-)  Headed on back to the Quality Inn and bedtime!

Day 11: Upstate NY

After a wonderful night with Les and Swanson, I slept in.  I got up around 9am and spent some time with Swanson on the deck while doing some email.  And yes, watching "Project Runway" on my laptop!  :-)  After a little bit of chillin' out time, I headed out for NY State (again) and the Manion home!

Taking I-84W I was forced to keep a leisurely pace as the "America Recovery and Reinvestment Act" put lots and lots and lots of people to work!  There were orange barrels all over the place!  ]I was still listening to "The Last Child" so that was keeping my attention.]  I hadn't gotten too far into the trip and it was around lunchtime, and then I saw the billboard -- "The Eveready Diner as seen on 'The Food Network'"  Well, duh!  You knew that I was going to stop for lunch!  :-)

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any pictures as my camera battery was dying.  But you can check out their website:  theevereadydiner.com.  :-)  I stopped at the one in Brewster, NY.  And yep, it's got the old-fashioned diner feel.  [Listen to me, as if I was frequenting diners in the 1940s and 1950s!  Okay, it looks like the diners do on TV shows from that time period!  :-)  ]  Red vinyl booths, with the mini jukebox at each table.  The waittresses in black dresses with white aprons and the little black and white caps.  Counter service with the red vinyl stools.  And the pie display.  Oh, the pies!  I went a little off-program with an Italian panini (yep, sausage and peppers and loads of mozzarella in a panini), with sweet potato fries.  From the tables around me, I should have had either a cheeseburger with a pile of onion rings, or a giant omelet with toast and potatoes.  I left happy and stuffed, with several diet cokes in me as well.  :-)

Shortly after leaving the diner, I took the Taconic State Parkway headed north.  This parkway is for passenger vehicles only -- no commercial traffic.  I really liked that as I'm still sometimes a little nervous to have semi-trucks surrounding me.  One or two don't bother me, but when they are beside me and behind me and we're in the Adirondack Mountains, then yeah, I get a little nervous.  [You may or may not know that I was run off the road by a semi several years ago.]

This was really a beautiful drive even though it took me a lot longer than I had expected.  I was very close to Woodstock, NY and also drove through Saratoga Springs (on the interstate).  I rolled up into Plattsburgh around 5pm, and found Kim and Dennis's house on a peninsula called Cumberland Head, jutting out into Lake Champlain.  Just gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous!

Kim and her two daughters were in the yard, playing on the jungle gym as I pulled up.  I joined them (and one of their cats) until it got too "buggy" and we had to go inside.  [Dennis was away on work so unfortunately I didn't get to visit with him at all.  :-(  ]  We were inside long enough for a quick tour of the house, then we went outside to shuck corn for dinner and to head down to the lake to put our feet in the water.  This is the view from their backyard....  You have to walk down a few steps to get to the water.  :-)

After playing in the water for a little while, Kim fed the girls and got them ready for bed, and I spent some time on Google maps checking out my next stop -- Burlington, VT.

Kim and I had a wonderful dinner, with a great bottle of wine and caught up on the last 3 years!  The Manion family (Dennis's family) has a tradition where they celebrate the traditions of a different country each year at Christmas.  This year, it's the Caribbean.  And they have a side tradition where Kim gets a cookbook each Feb for her birthday with foods of that country, so they also cook food throughout the year from that country.  What a really cool idea!  And meant that we had some really yummy jerk chicken and rice with a light dressing and roasted cashew nuts.

We did end up having a really late night!  Which was bad because Kim had to be up really early as she was leaving town to meet Dennis in CA for a long weekend, however.... which was GREAT because we hadn't seen each other in over 3 years, since I visited them in Egypt in April of 2007 with my girlfriends Jan and Missy.

Day 10: Hanging in Fairfield

When I woke up in my yellow sunny room on the second floor of Leslie's home, Les was already gone taking Swanson to the vet for his first checkup.  [Mostly good news BTW.  A few small issues that should (hopefully) be easily resolved.]


I needed to do some laundry at this point, so I started that while channel-surfing.  [Did ya'll know that there is a school called the Universal Technical Institute?  The acronym is "UTI", and their website is uti.edu.  Ladies, anyone else laughing at this????]  Les and Swanson came home and we hung out in the backyard for a little while waiting on the Invisible Fence guy.  [Uh-oh, Swanson!]

After he came by to put up a new set of flags (Les already had the fence from her previous dog, beloved Brody), and test the fence, we went to the Firehouse Deli for lunch.  Gorgeous day outside!  We then had to head north to the city of Trumbull to pick up trophies and medals for the Bridgewater World Cup tournament.  [more on that later...]  The trophies were pretty cheesy, but Les said that she tried for a high cheese factor so that people will be proud to display the trophies on their desks.  :-)

When we got home, we spent some more time with Swanson on the deck (sit, Swanson!  Sit!), and then got ready to go to the soccer match.  Okay, here's the scoop on that....  Les is an event planner at Bridgewater (a privately-held hedge fund).  She really gets to do some fun things for the 1000 or so employees, and just so happens that this Wed was the last match -- the championship -- of their company soccer tournament.  This was the second year they did it, and they decided on a World Cup theme.  They had 4 teams (about 25 players each) -- Ghana, Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands.  And it just so happened that Spain and the Netherlands were playing each other in the final!  :-)  The company had even provided country jerseys for the team members.  They played 2 20-minute halves (remember that these co-ed teams include weekend warriors and people who had never played soccer before), and then did play the World Cup rules in case of a tie.  Of course, the championship game was tied at the end of regulation (3-3) so they went to a 5-person shoot-out.  And by this time it's 8pm (in CT) and it's getting really dark, and the field has no lights.  So, at least both goalies had the same handicap (completely unable to see!).  The Netherlands ended up re-writing history by beating Espana in the shoot-out for the 2010 Bridgewater World Cup.  :-)

After the game, there was a post-game party at Bobby Q's in downtown Westport.  [really good BBQ]  Les had taken the day off, but because this event was going on, we did watch the game and then went to the party so that she could be sure everything happened as it was supposed to.  Oh, and also so we could have a great dinner and hang out with some of her work friends!  We did pretty much close the rooftop down -- me and Les and about 10 of her co-workers.  Seems to be a REALLY great group of guys, although I question some of their favorite events and activities.....  An event where cheap beer is paired with fast food (the Natty Light really complements the White Castle jalapeno slider).  Really??  Although I guess I shouldn't be suprised.  Les's annual White Trash (WT) party is Saturday night......  :-)

I think that the last time I spent time with just Leslie was the spring of 2006.  She had joined us in Dayton in March 2009 for a Girl Movie Day weekend, but that was with a lot of other women so we didn't really have a lot of quality time.  But she did meet some of my crazy friends -- including having lunch with Karyn and Mike D at Tank's before heading out of town on Sunday!  So, we pretty much spent the 40 or so hours we had together talking and talking and talking and talking.  I feel badly for Sal having to put up with us Tuesday night, and then poor Swanson all day/night on Wednesday.  :-)

Of course, when we got home that night, more talking until we just finally had to go to bed since Les had to actually go to work the next day!

Day 9: Three States in less than an Hour

After a great night catching up with Lisa but then spending waaaay to much time finishing that book, I decide to completely ignore my alarm and sleep through breakfast!  Lisa had already left for work, but told me that the Residence Inn breakfast was pretty darn good.  Oh well.  Wanted more zzzzzzs instead.  :-)

Finally got up then hit the road.  I will have to admit that the northern part of New Jersey is more aptly referred to as the Garden State.  Drove through Oakland and Franklin Lakes, and really very nice.  I was keeping my eyes out for the NJ cell phone towers because they are camoflauged as pine trees.  Yep!  So here's a picture of one that I took -- and I was way too close when I took it so I've also pulled one of the inter-webs to include so that you can really see what I'm talking about.  The one I took is on the right side of the photo and the "tree" sticking up.  :-)

It was a very quick trip to the Tappan Zee bridge over the Hudson into NY, with NYC on my far, far, far right.  And then noticed --  55-mph speed limit.  Really??????

I was faked out by a motorcycle cop, and so I was very careful to do 62 and no more all the way through.  :-)  I was so very close to Sleepy Hollow, but didn't stop.  Maybe next time.  And it will have to be night.  And a full moon.

I realized that there are lots and lots and lots of country clubs in this neck of the woods, as I headed up 95 N into CT and all the "ports" straight up Long Island Sound.  It was a little odd to be so close to the water, but no real view from the interstate.

I stopped for lunch at a Panera in Westport.  I wanted to just take a break from driving for a while (two long stretches in two days) and also wanted to catch up on email and the blog.  :-)  So I needed some place that I knew would have free wi-fi.  It was actually pretty crowded in there, but found a quiet corner and had a sandwich while blogging.  :-)  [of course, you can tell that I'm still a couple days behind!]

I drove the rest of the way into Fairfield, and then set up camp at another free wi-fi spot -- Starbuck's!  Leslie wasn't going to be home until around 6pm, so I had a smoothie and watched the world go by -- or at least the people of Fairfield.  I also mapped out my next couple of legs and looked up a few things I wanted to do in Burlington when I got there.

I met Leslie at her house, and her beau, Sal, and their new puppy, Swanson.  I use the terms puppy loosely, as he's almost 2 years old, and 60 pounds, but he's a rescue dog and pretty much acts just like a puppy -- including full spaz mode.  :-)  We sat in the living room and talked.  Leslie cooked dinner and we talked.  We had a couple bottles of wine and sat in the living room again and talked.  :-)  Then had to finally go to bed as it was getting LATE!  I crashed hard looking forward to a full day with Les -- and Swanson -- on Wednesday!

Day 8: The Garden State

7 days into the road trip, and the time is flying by.  I really can't believe that it's been a week....

Slept pretty well at the Sheraton, but I think that I had 4 separate, detailed dreams -- all of them incorporating the ice machine (just outside my door).  I checked out and headed down to the waterfront.  I had looked at the inner harbor online the night before, and it seemed like lots of parking around that area, and right near the Visitor Center, etc.  I really just wanted to wander around a little bit, and the one destination I had was a store called "The Best of Baltimore" which was supposed to have items from Charm City Cakes.  [All of you Food Network fans with me????]  I had thought about driving to the actual bakery, but as their website is emphatic on the subject of "you can't come in", "the windows are covered and you can't see in", etc. I decided that I would simply pick up a few Charm City related items.

I was able to park right next to the visitor center, but I quickly regretted moving my car at all (versus leaving everything at the hotel), as it cost me $10 to park for less than an hour.  Constant re-emphasizing to me of all the reasons I don't want to live in a super-size city.  Medium-size is PERFECT for me!

I found the store, and the very limited selection of Charm City items.  I didn't buy any of that at all, but did pick up a few things including a Baltimore Christmas ornament.  Something I started doing years ago when I was traveling a lot, and getting tired of t-shirts and sweatshirts.  Now, it's really fun to decorate the Christmas tree and remember all the places I've been and all the great times/stories.  [Oh, and sometimes I buy jewelry when I travel too!  ;-)  ]

Leaving the city, I drove past Camden Yards, where both the Orioles and Ravens have their fields.  And then a HUGE flyover ramp to get onto I-95 north.  [I was thinking that Tiff would have seen that coming up on her right and had to have found SOME way to get around/past it and into NY a totally different route!]  Along the MD portion of 95N were many "Service Centers" which were like what I've been through in/out of Chicago where you find gas and food and tourist information in one center accessible from both north and south of that particular interstate.  However, something I thought was totally different was the fact that they also seemed to have real "service" centers, like auto repair shops.  Tires, oil changes, repair bays, etc.  Pretty sweet, but, of course, also very crowded.

[And, oh by the way, why again did I pick the month of August for a road trip??????  It's hot, hot, hot no matter where I go -- at least so far -- and it's crowded.  EVERYONE is traveling too.  Shouldn't all those kids be in school???  And all those adults be working????]

Something else I quickly noticed were unmarked police vehicles.  And, yes, I only knew what they were because they had cars pulled over about every mile for the first hour or so of my trip.  Mostly Ford Explorers, but really a mix of a lot of types of cars.  Must be more cautious.  :-)

I haven't carried a whole lot of cash with me so far on this trip, and haven't really needed it thanks to gift cards, generous friends, and my own credit cards.  :-)  And I start hitting tolls.  The first one is $2.  "okay, I think, I've got about $10, I should be fine."  The next toll is $4, then $5.  Really????  I dig in my console for the quarters I keep there for parking meters.  Hmmmmm.....  So the next exit I see with any type of convenience store, I pull over to get some cash from the ATM.  [by the end of this leg of the trip, almost $20 in tolls, and they certainly aren't spending it on the roads!]

I pass signs for Aberdeen Proving Ground and then the Decoy Museum.  [In conversation with Lisa later that night, we discussed whether this meant it was a fake museum designed to lure people away from the real museum (e.g. a "decoy") or if it was a museum full of wooden ducks.  Turns out the latter.  Apparently, there are a lot of people interested in the history of wooden duck decoys in the Chesapeake Bay Area, and the sport of "waterfowling" in general.]

I knew that I had crossed the Jersey state line when I passed a white Cadillac on the shoulder -- all tricked out in gold detailing -- with a man standing behind it wearing black socks and white loafers, with black knit shorts, and a red.velour.sleeveless.vest!  zipped halfway up and covering about 1/3 of his stomach.  Lovely!  Oh, and gold chains, and a huge watch.  So.... if I had been asked for a description of the man, that's all I could have told anyone.  No idea roughly how old, or what he looked like, any facial hair or whatever.  In that brief moment of me passing him I was able to completely absorb the outfit, but nothing about him.  I would have been no help to the police if they needed me!  :-)

Throughout this whole road trip, I've got some rough idea of where I am and where I'm heading from Google Maps, but I'm really relying on Garmin for the tactical day-to-day driving.  And Garmin decides that I should approach Wayne, NJ via what Lisa affectionately calls "the "A$$-crack of NJ".  I will say that I have to agree with her.  At one point, I had to text her to tell her that I was on Main Street (of Paterson, NJ) and that Garmin said I was only 4 minutes from her house, and I was scared for her......  Turns out that she lives in a very nice part of the state, and has just bought a home in another very nice part of the state.  Whew!

And when Garmin said "Arriving at Destination", I was actually in front of a hockey arena.  Huh???  I followed the road up and around the arena, and the Residence Inn was behind it.  Okay.  [she's in temporary housing until she closes on and moves into her house.]

Lisa had left me a key, so I went on in and got caught up on email and daytime TV.  She arrived home with mini bottles of wine (as per the day she had!),  and we chatted for a while before deciding on dinner at The Office.  Not the sitcom, but the sportsbar in Ridgeway.  [which is actually a very nice part of NJ also -- kinda like Oakwood.]

We found seats at the bar just in time for kickoff of the Giants/Jets game, so yes, we pretty much had front-row seats for the gouge to Eli Manning's head.  Ick!  We started with parmesean and truffle chips, then I had a lobster roll (Yay!) and sweet potato fries!  More conversation -- did you know that property taxes in NJ are 12.5%????? -- and then back to the Residence for a final round of chatting then bed.

Lisa needed to get up early, but my brain wasn't quite ready to shut down, so I finished a book I was reading "Think Twice" (pretty good) and then turned off the light around 1am.  Again, the witching hour!

Day 7: Baltimore-bound

Martha and I slept in 'til late morning.  It was FANTASTIC!  Then stayed in our beds and chatted for some time more.  And then -- yes, you guessed it! -- on the road to Baltimore, MD.  This was a somewhat random choice for this road trip, as I had friends to visit in NC and then in NJ, but not really in between.  :-)  And it's about a 9.5 hour drive, so I knew that I would have to break it up.  Just about half-way were both DC and Baltimore, and I've been to DC many times, so voila!  Baltimore!

Leaving Raleigh, I headed north on US 1.  A smaller highway, but a shorter way to get to I-85 and beautiful rolling hills.  I played leap-frog with these guys -- the "Steel Warriors" according to their jackets -- for many miles on 85.

Also, still listening to "The Last Child" and enjoying it.  A somewhat complex story, and I wasn't sure it would hold my attention either, but I stuck with it.  Between Raleigh and southern Virginia, no problem, but then I started to hit the traffic.    and the rain     I guess that I shouldn't complain as I'd been on the road a week with clear skies and easy driving.  [well, once I got out of Cincy anyway.]

I-95 N out of Richmond was pretty much at a standstill.  There were many sections where several major roads fed into and off of the interstate, and those were just gridlock.  And then just when I thought I was all clear, several more roads would empty into the interstate, and then the interstate itself would go from 5 to 3 lanes.    And on one of those 5 to 3 lane changes, the Steel Warriors came past me again, threading in and out of the lanes between cars -- not in their own lane.  And in the rain.  So dangerous!

I was also wondering if this was all Sunday evening commuter traffic into the DC area.  Yikes!  Approaching DC, I passed Quantico (and yes, thought of "Silence of the Lambs"); I wonder if there are tours available.  As much as I enjoy the "CSI" type shows, I would really enjoy seeing some of that technology up close and personal.  Also passed the National Museum of the Marine Corps.  Really interesting building.

While passing the Pentagon (on the interstate still, so not really close), I took this picture thinking that it was the monument to 9/11 at the Pentagon:  

However, it was actually the United States Air Force Memorial (which is pretty close to the Pentagon).  Was interesting to drive around DC.  Pretty darn close to the Washington monument, and I could kinda see the top of the capital building too.

Yes, Mom.  I'll stop taking pictures while driving and focus on the road.......  :-)

What felt like just a few minutes past all the major roads of DC was Baltimore.  No disrespect intended, but feels a little bit like a suburb of DC.  I'll bet there are a lot of MD commuters into DC as well.  Instead of a 5-hour trip, it was more like a 7-hour trip, so I was into downtown Baltimore a little later than I wanted to be.  Just checked into my hotel (on airline miles!  woo-hoo!) then walked to Luna del Sea for dinner.  Recommended by the concierge at the Sheraton, it was truly fabulous.  Just a short walk, near the convention center.  Very nice staff, and a patio for outdoor dining, but it was stuffy, and I noticed that there were TVs over the bar, so I was seated inside.  At a window seat (perfect for people watching), with a good view of both pre-season football and baseball.  I started with a glass of Matua sauvignon blanc while reading the menu.  [oh, and the music playing the whole time I was there was Frank Sinatra.  I think that they had a satellite radio station that was "all Sinatra all the time".  :-)  ]

This picture does NOT do the crab cake justice, as I took it with my phone.  But it was the best crab cake I've ever had.  Followed by a good filet mignon (not the best I've ever had), with something called "crab imperial".  Never had this before.  I asked the server what it was, and he described it as jumbo lump crab in a casserole.  I was expecting something like a gratin, and this was very different.  Definitely lump crab, just like the crab cake, but pieces of tomato and red pepper and a little bit of sauce to hold it together -- but not rich and creamy -- and then baked in a ramekin.

I checked out foodnetwork.com, and they have several recipes for it, which include diced green and red peppers, cayenne pepper, onion, shallots, celery and then a little mayo to hold it together and a breadcrumb topping.  Hmmmm....  I might have to play around with a couple of these recipes because this was delicious with the beef.

I will admit here, that all the crab items said "market price" on the menu, and no, I didn't ask.  [I know that Mom is appalled right now!  :-)  ]  I thought how much could this be??  And I was going to eat there, and being in Baltimore, was going to have crab, so I pretty much steeled myself for an expensive dinner.  Well, the lone crab cake -- again, fabulous -- was $18.  Ack!  So I'll let you decide what the filet/crab dinner cost.  :-)  Yep, it was a big one!  I know.  I'm unemployed now.  I'll have to eat cheap the next few meals.  :-)

But, now that I think about it, I'm really only eating once per day.  Breakfast has never been my strong suit (unless it's brunch around noon with the Sunday paper, or at Tank's!) and I'm typically on the road over lunchtime, so I pull through McD's and get a large diet coke and maybe a wrap or small fries.  [It has to be McD's -- at least for now -- as I'm using the gift cards that my Dayton team gave me before I started on my road trip!  So thoughtful and so very useful, and makes me smile and think of them often.]

I walked back to the hotel (needed the walk at this point) in a light rain that had just started, then got in my jammies, climbed into bed with pillows all around and channel-surfed while I caught up on email.  A nice relaxing evening, and I was so looking forward to sleeping in!