WHEE!  We are back home. 

We arrived at our home around 6:00 last evening.  Ron drove straight through from Richmond .  (We moved from Hagerstown , Maryland, to Richmond to visit our daughter and her family.)  We left up there around 9:00 AM, and only stopped three times along the way for short breaks.  We were traveling in the hottest day of the year.  It was indeed hot everywhere along the route.  Richmond is always hot and steaming, even in the morning, but when we got to Winston Salem it was 98 degrees.  A brief shower cooled it down to 84 degrees.  But it was hot, in the 98 degree range, all the ways to Ridgecrest where it was 92 degrees.  It felt so good to be back on Heathcote where our temperature was 82.

Coming home after being gone 45 days, we found plenty of weeds.  The grass looked good as it had been cut by our yard contractor and watered by Mother Nature and our neighbor, Ken.   The trees and shrubs are out of control, and all will need pruning.  We will be busy outside as well as inside for a few weeks getting everything back to normal.  Inside we will be catching up on mail, restoring all stopped services, getting our plants from a good friend, Susie, cleaning and opening up our porch, and getting caught up on happenings of friends and neighbors.  Forty- five days is not long on the road traveling, but it is a long time to be away from the house and yard.

Our trip took us to around 20 states and 7 provinces of Canada.  We traveled by car almost 10,000 miles.  We had one bus trip, but no ferry or train rides on this trip.  We would have had to take a ferry to Newfoundland, but we decided to forget about going there.  The ferry only runs in summer when the weather is acceptable.  While we were in the North-East, the weather was stormy and the sea was very choppy.  We did not investigate the ferry, but we were sure that the ride was not one that we wanted to take.

What did we like best?  We always love the West.  We have gone west four out of five times on our road trips, and we are glad that we have.  We enjoyed seeing and experiencing north-eastern Canada and the US, but it is not a place to which we would return---except for Maine and Quebec City.  All of the north-east is pretty, but we are not “water bugs”.   We don’t sail, swim, or boat.  After days of lakes, bays, bridges, and sand, we were ready to leave.  We enjoy seeing different places and finding out how other people live, but we enjoy most what is different from us.   Our way of life, our plants, and our lakes are much like those north-east of us.  So, to us the West is much more exciting and interesting.  We are glad that we had the opportunity to visit in the north-east, but are hearts beat for the West.

Today we went to Gettysburg.  Everyone knows the story of General Lee’s loss here and of Lincoln’s famous speech.  These were the battles that ended Lee’s campaign to take northern cities, one of the worst battles of the Civil War with the North and South losing so many men.  Lincoln’s speech was only two minutes long, and was not considered of note by the newspapers of the time.  Both of these, however, changed history forever.

 

 

 

 

Years ago, when my daughter was about 5, her dad and I brought her to Gettysburg.  We did our own little car trip around the battle field, visited the museum, and saw the wonderful painting done of the last battle of the campaign here.  (There were three battles, July 1, 2, and 3 in 1863.)  Today we rode around in an air-conditioned bus with a fantastic guide who pointed out all the points of interest to us.  It was amazing to see all the restoration that has been done here.  The battle field has mostly been restored to how it looked when the troops advanced upon it.  Even the painting has been restored and moved to a fantastic cyclorama that is the latest in style.  The new visitor center/museum/gift shop/cyclorama is now housed in a newly built building---at a cost of 106 million dollars.  Yes, it all is a big upgrade from the old.  It is indeed nice.  We were glad that we got the chance to visit Gettysburg (again for me).  It is such an overwhelming experience.  In addition, today with the guided tour we got to see places that I did not years ago. 

Tomorrow we start heading home.  We are now ready to get back home and pull our home life back together.  It is fun to be gone, but it is also fun to get back to our “regular lives”.

This evening we went to visit the Amish country.   I have always admired Amish craftsmanship, so we have furniture made by the Amish here and in Ohio.  I found that the Amish produce top quality products when I was here in this area years ago.  Since Ron had not ever been here,  I thought he would enjoy seeing the farms and shops of the Amish---not to mention eating some of the food.

 

 

 

We drove into Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand before coming to our motel.  The name “Intercourse” is thought to have evolved either from the old racecourse “Entercourse” which is just outside of town or from the joining or intercourse of the Old Kings Highway and the Wilmington-Erie Road.   As interesting as the name is, the people and their way of life is even more interesting.  It is fascinating  to see people live, farm, and produce products as our grandparents did.  They don’t have to worry about the power going out since they do not use electricity.  Their clothes are plain, handmade and have no buttons (considered decorations), and their colors are all earth colors.  They work the fields with mules and use horses for their carriages.  They do not want their pictures taken as they consider this “graven images”.  Their homes are decorated with homemade items, but are colorful in earth tones.  Their barns are  “Swiss-Air” style, and their fields are neat, orderly and carefully groomed.  Their food is wonderful.

Tonight we dined on Amish style food.  It is much like what we had growing up: fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles, salad (bean and green), sausages, beef, beans, etc.  The best part is always dessert.  The Shoo Fly Pie, various apple pies, cakes, and ice cream are yummy.  We had sweetened iced tea for the first time in weeks and coffee with dessert.  Would you believe that we ate too much?

If you were in upper New York state, would you not want to see Hyde Park, Woodstock, and the Catskills?  Well, we certainly did.  These were all places that we have heard about over the years and wondered what they were like.

Our first adventure today was in the town of Hyde Park.  We went to see Eleanor Roosevelt National  Historic Site.  This site was the home of Mrs. Roosevelt on weekends and her holiday retreat during her husband’s presidency and became her permanent home after his death in 1945.  The home was created from and old factory and was very humble.  World leaders came here and were treated as family.  The home is small and cozy by the standard of the big home where FDR grew, but it was the only home that was Mrs. Roosevelts to furnish and decorate as her own.  The big home belonged to FDR’s mother, and Mrs. Roosevelt never felt at home there.  Here a Val-Kil Mrs. Roosevelt felt personal freedom which fostered her ideas about human rights and world peace.

 

The second site that we visited was the childhood home of the president/the renovated home of the president and his family.  The house was the birthplace of the president.  It began as a farmhouse on a farm of 1500 acres.  In 1915 the house was greatly enlarged and became much more elegant.  The house remains exactly as it was at the time of the president’s death.  President Roosevelt and Mrs. Roosevelt are buried in the rose garden of the estate.  In keeping with the Roosevelt’s, their grave is marked by a plain marble monument.

 

This the bedroom and the bed in which the future president was born.

The last thing we visited at Hyde Park was the library and museum of the president.  The museum has  photographs, artworks, official documents and speeches, gifts from all over the world, family possessions and letters from the lives of the president and the first lady.  It even contained the president’s car.

Finally today we went to Woodstock.  Woodstock, the event, happened in a farmer’s field near a small town in the Catskills.  Today the town is a memorial to that event.  Small shops of every kind reflect the sixties era and the events of that time.  It is a town that is a little offbeat, but one that could be fun to visit for several days. 

Then there are the Catskills.  They are nice hills.  They are pretty, but we know where there are others that are pretty special too. 

We woke up in Concord, New Hampshire, drove through Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and are now in Connecticut.  It was not a long drive.  Being from North Carolina, I expect the states to be much larger than some up here.  Of course, some are larger than NC, but few are as long.

The little villages were all interesting in their own way and yet so alike.  It is really difficult for us to know the differences in the states.  All the houses, the water, the towns, and the vegetation seem so similar and so much like parts of North Carolina.  All up and down the Atlantic seaboard we are more alike than different.  Even the trees in our area are found here.  If you looked out our window here in this motel in Connecticut, I am not sure that you would not believe that you are in NC.  There is an Oak tree with a squirrel’s nest in it, maples, and other vegetation just like ours.  I did find a tree or two that was different, but most reminded me of home.

 

It is almost 7:00 P. M. and finally the sun is shining.  It was a cool morning and afternoon with fog and rain in the little villages along our route across the bottom of Maine (Hwy 1).  Actually it made the villages look like something from an English moor scene.   We did pass up lots of nice shots though because of the fog.  There just wasn’t enough light until we arrived here in Concord, New Hampshire.

 

After leaving Ellsworth, we chose to drive down the coast.  It was a great choice.  We drove past some of the most interesting points.  Two of these were at Verona.  Here we passed an old fort.  We would have stopped and visited, but it was so gray and cold looking that I thought it were a prison until I looked it up in the guide book.  It was a big gray stone structure that set on a bluff overlooking a river/bay.  A short time later we crossed a bridge that spanned this body of water.  It was a very unusual bridge to me.  I have crossed thousands of bridges, but not a suspension bridge built in this way.

In Lincolnville we stopped for coffee and goodies.  Ron had a great scone and I a wonderful bittersweet chocolate chunk cookie.  The coffee and the sweets were great.  The town was such a neat little town that we made a few pictures of it.

 

 

Camden is another nice little town on the seacoast route.  We stopped here to have a quick lunch.  We were going to eat out of our food bag, but we found a great convince store with hot dogs on the grill.  We never pass up a good hot dog.  These were all beef and grilled to perfection.  Since it was a chilly day, hot food was great.

We loved the little on-the- water villages of Maine as well as the north woods.  Maine is a big state with things to offer for all types of visitors.  Glad that we have had the chance to visit.

We are back in the United States.  We crossed over the border about 11:30 Atlantic Time, 10:30 Eastern Standard Time.  We drove from Truro, Nova Scotia, to Ellsworth, Maine.  Ellsworth is about 26 miles north of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park. 

As soon as we arrived in town, we checked into our motel, unpacked, ate a snack, and headed out to Acadia and Bar Harbor.  Although school is not out up here yet, there are plenty of visitors to this area.   The road to the park was busy and there were lots of people in the park.  We drove through the park a bit, and then drove up Cadillac Mountain.  This mountain is the highest point in the park and commands a breathtaking view of the bay.  It is reached by a windy, twisty road that is not one that I enjoyed.  When we reached the top, I made pictures.  Ron did not as he said that it was not clear enough.  I told him that I was not riding up and down that @#$% road and not making pictures.  I did not care how they turned out; I just wanted it all documented.  However, the view is about a 360 degree view, so it is impossible to capture it in pictures.

 

 

 

 

After returning from the park and town, we stopped at a fantastic seafood restaurant right on the bay.  I had “Steamers” (steamed clams) for the first time.  They were marvelous.  We both had scallops which were grilled.  So good!  We have had our best seafood of the trip here in Maine.  I am beginning to believe that no one else can do seafood like people in Maine.  I still haven’t had a lobster roll, but may tomorrow.   We will have to stop somewhere and have one more great seafood meal before we leave Maine.