Movin' Right Along

Sometimes, you’re having so much fun you don’t have time to blog. We are currently at the beginning of Day 7 of our dream trip. I guess I did blog once so far, but really, most of the time has been spent either out having fun or in a car. When we arrive places and I have some down time, I have been uploading pictures and falling asleep. I need to figure out a new system or something!

So far, we have traveled 1,783 miles in the six days we have been on the road. We have been in the car over 30 hours. Let’s see if I can give the whirlwind tour of our trip so far!

I already told you about our first stop, with Dave and Donna Barnes, and our travel day after that. (It was a long one!) So, starting from there….

Sunday, June 10 – This was a destination day! After traveling around 300 miles in rain, rain, and more rain, we arrived to a relatively dry Arlington, Virginia. We were blessed to stay with my college roomie, Merri Beth, and her husband, Rick. Rick has an apartment in Arlington for work, and they graciously hosted us there. After we figured out where to park our car and recovered from a Houdini like escape of their dog from his boarder (the boarders caught him), we were off to the Mall in Washington, DC (meaning the monuments). We enjoyed the cloudy day with only a few raindrops. We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Vietnam War Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the White House. We also saw lots of squirrels. They were kind of fat and slow, posing for pictures like professional politicians. (Not that politicians are fat and slow…wait a minute, I’m getting myself in trouble here….) After touring, we went back to the apartment for a great supper of steak and mashed cauliflower. It was delicious! And don’t forget dessert for Rick and me – Ben and Jerry’s ice cream! It was a great day of visiting and laughing and touring.

Monday, June 11 – We had a good breakfast of eggs and bacon, followed by a trip to Mount Vernon. We learned about George Washington and saw some reenactments. We smelled and touched and saw life as it was in Washington’s Day. The mansion and the grounds were beautifully, lovingly restored. I loved seeing the gardens, too – especially those trained apple trees that wove their way around fences and then grew to be the fences. Genius. We ate lunch there before our house tour and then were on our way to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Well, first we went to the National Art Gallery by mistake, but can that actually be a mistake? We saw some amazing pieces of art there as well. And on our walk from one to the other, I got a nice, long view to the capitol building, so that was cool. Our son David had requested that we see “Among the Sierra Nevada, California” By Albert Bierstadt and take some pictures with it for scale. We did that (LOVED it) and then wandered around more in that area of the museum. After a while, we went over to the presidential portraits area. That was fabulous, too. Then it was almost, but not quite, time to eat. We decided to go to the Bonefish Grill, which meant driving in rush hour traffic in DC. Well, Rick drove and we prayed. Yikes. Not going to live here! But the meal was wonderful and the lifelong friendship is a treasure. I am so grateful for this time we had with Rick and Merri Beth.

Tuesday, June 12 – We got on the road after another eggs and bacon breakfast (the best!). This was a designated travel day, so we were just hoping to make it as far as we could. Our day started slowly, as we traveled with rush hour traffic in the Washington, DC area. We finally escaped that congestion. We went through a lot of different places on this day, and before the trip began, I would say that this was the day we were the most concerned about. All in all, it wasn’t too bad! We started in Virginia, went through Washington, DC, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey (with a fabulous, 12-lane turnpike), New York (right through NYC), Connecticut (with an hour-long slowdown on a beautiful stretch of road), and Massachusetts (just across the border, to Sturbridge, MA). That’s seven states and one district! We left DC around 9:00 in the morning and checked into our hotel (a Comfort Inn and Suites) around 8:00 that night.

Wednesday, June 13 – This was another travel day. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel before heading out at about 8:30. We only covered three states this day: the rest of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. We had arranged to meet our friend Christina Enger along the way in Maine. She suggested that we meet at Kettle Cove. What a great spot to eat lunch! It was really great to catch up with Christina a bit and hear about her house and wedding plans. We continued driving, first on the Interstate and then on US Highway 1, a coastal drive through many, many small towns. It is great to get the flavor of the Northeast. I loved it! Also, somewhere along the way I saw my first lupines of the trip. I love those flowers! We stopped at Lincolnville beach, a spot where we stopped the last time we were headed to PEI. It had great memories then and was fun to revisit. Last time we ate our packed lunches on at the beach; this time, we just went and got some ice cream. I recommend either choice. We finally arrived at our motel in Bar Harbor at around 5:30 to find lots of construction in town. After weaving our way through all that and the very busy downtown area, we checked in to our reserved room at The Cromwell Motel. It’s more like an apartment – full kitchen and king-sized bed. We are very comfortable! After a quick run to the grocery store, we made supper and relaxed. We are ready to explore Acadia!