Sunday, June 16, 2013

Home!

We stopped here at this roadside rest area for lunch. The view was pretty nice.

Oddly at the rest area was a guy I know from Boston on the way home from his sisters house in PA. How random.

Usually on trips we run into people we know but not usually at the rest areas.
Final Pit-Stop on the Mass Pike for a coffee and bathroom break! We are just an hour from home now.


Coming home on Sunday nights was good as traffic on our street was pretty quiet and backing in went quickly.

It takes a few minutes to back the Airstream into our driveway which is barely as wide as my truck. Usually we hold up traffic for a couple of minutes.  The backing up isn't that hard after 2 months of practice but it is more stressful when there are short lines of cars waiting.

It wasn't that late so we ended up unpacking the trailer even know we have plenty of time to take car of all that.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Final Stop

Hard to believe but our second long trip is almost over. We are stopping here at  "The Woods" in PA for a few days of relaxing. It is a weekend and we didn't have reservations so we are just in the overflow field with no power or water hookup.  But the weather is perfect to have all the windows open feel a cool breeze come through the trailer. Such a contrast to the Everglades where the AC cranked 24/7.
It is nice to end the trip with a few days relaxing around a pool and taking a dip in the hot tub in the evening.  We stopped here last year on the way home from Alaska too but it was a bit too cold for the pool at the end of Sept.

They showed a movie saturday night but we didn't watch, it is nice setup though.

We did some short walks here and took out a pedal boat for a spin around the pond. Sunday we are driving the scenic route home avoiding the busy roads, it will 300 miles but we will be home so it doesn't really matter what time we get in.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A hike in Harpers Ferry

We are hiking a 8 mile loop that starts right in Harpers Ferry follows the AT and then loops around another trail to several viewpoints over the river.

We spotted this deer early on in the hike. Actually we saw way more deer just trotting around Harpers Ferry when we were walking around yester.
 This was the view from the first viewpoint.
 The main destination of the hike was called split rock. At first we thought this was it but it wasn't.
Now we made it to split rock it is actually a lot better view than in the trees. It is a big rocks outcropping one of which is split and "hanging" off the face.
That is Harpers Ferry, you can see it is just a little tiny town.
You can see will standing on the other side of the split but it isn't really impressive from this point of view. There was no good way to get a picture.
Move views
We hiked back to town and found an ice cream place to celebrate finishing the hike. Not that it was a big deal but any excuse for ice cream is a good one.
We did a little more walking up here to Jefferson rock. IT is now supported by those pilliar but it used to just hang there and Jefferson thought this was a special place. In his day they say the rock hung there and could be rocked by a person.

It was a good short visit in Harpers Ferry, the weather is about turn bad for a couple days so we are moving on. Riding some the canal bike trail would have been fun but high winds are coming and the campground suggested we at least move out from being camped under the trees before it hits.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Harpers Ferry WV

We were supposed to stop here in Harpers Ferry on the way south but something happened I forget what and we had to skip it.  But here we are we made it anyway, flexibility is the best part of travelling in the Airstream.

Harpers Ferry is a cool little town at the junction of the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers. The AT (Appalacian Trail) also runs right through town.
 It is also right on a important rail corridor and a former canal corridor, which is now part of a several hundred mile rail trail.  Riding that whole trail would be a fun bike trip.
It is a really pretty set of views from town.  Part of town is also a National Historic Park with people dressed up in period garb and doing old-y things.
And there is a cool tunnel. Below that tunnel is part of the Canal Bike Trail Corridor. It actually would take us right back to our campground in the next town which is right between the river and the canal bikeway.
 We got to see some more people hiking the AT from Georgia to Maine... some people do it the other order but not nearly as many.

None of them were any of the ones we met in the Smokies. We visited the AT Center where they have a small museum and a lounge for tired hikers to relax and take a break before heading back out to Maine.
Creepy Doll!
With all the rain and flooding levels we've seen on this trip the rivers are extra high and raging away.

Monday, June 10, 2013

Collonial Williamsburg

Before a trip back in time this colonial had to hit the rest room. I liked the tilework very clever.

After buying tickets and short movie you walk accross a bridge that takes you back in time. As you walk medalions in the pavement tell you how face back you are and what you just lost.. no more cell phone... no more TV... no more electricity.
There is a small working plantation and some farm animals. I wondered if the fence around this bull might also be electrified as I wasn't sure it's colonial construction could really hold him in.

Here was a kitchen in one of the houses. I really enjoyed another kitchen where someone was actually cooking all the old dishes the old way.

Sadly you could taste any of it.
Farmer working the land.
We went to a place kind of like this in NC but we did pay so all we did was walk around, at that place the streets were open to cars. Here they aren't and it makes a big difference to the atmmosphere.

You can just wander around here without paying but you miss out oll the interiors, tours and demonstrations. It wasn't cheap but for a whole day it was worth it
This main governors palace is a recreation but they have drawings and such to it said to be very accurate.

We didnt want to haul our cooler around so we didn't pack lunch today as we normally would. This turned out great because it poured right around lunchtime and it was nice to be in the Tavern with hot food.
 Poor wet sheep!

Friday, June 7, 2013

Outer Banks, NC

The weather today was really nice. On our drive we stopped at Myrtle Beach State Park to have lunch. We had to pay 10$ to get in but it was nice to eat lunch at the beach instead of on the side of the road.
Also on the drive we stopped in Wilmington NC to walk around. They film movies and TV shows here. This back alley and fake BBQ place are part of a scene of a new Melissa McCarthy movie called "Tammy". Sadly all we see them film is a scene where a lot of extras walk through an intersection.. Not very exciting.
We are staying at a not so great RV park on the Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk.  It is right on the beach which is good.  There is a big storm coming but we manage to visit Kitty Hawk where the Wright Brothers flew.
 Kill Devil Hill Monument.
They took off on their first 4 flights and got a little farther each time. The big stone is where they took off and the little ones are where they landed.
The beach is really nice but the waves are killing us. They are really strong as is the under-tow.
 Storm is a coming!
Farther up the Outer Banks is a town called Duck. It is a cute town and they build a long boardwalk over the water for the entire length of the town. Not a Jersey style boardwalk with arcades and such, a nice once.

Anyway Duck Donuts was started there and there are locations all over the Outer Banks. They make plain donuts and then you choose a glaze and a topping which are put on the hot donuts to order. Yum!

We also did a bunch of work during the 50 mph winds and storm.  And are out at a local Brew Pub.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Charleston SC

Will's sister mentioned this old tree we would pass on the way to Charleston. It was a very short drive day and we stopped to see the tree, even know it turned out was down a very bumpy dirt road we weren't sure had anyplace to turn around at the end. It was pouring when we got there but it was lunchtime so we made sandwiches and ate lunch till the deluge stopped.

The tree is about 400-600 years old and pretty cool
Also on the drive we stopped at the only Tea plantation in the USA. We did a your of the plantation and drank a lot of free samples. I also picked up some deep fried peanuts which were BBQ flavored and you eat the whole thing shell and all. They were good but not as good as regular peanuts.

After a relaxing evening at the campground we went out to tour the Yorktown an aircraft carrier. I was here as a kid although my family can't remember eactly when.
Will as a pilot!

The ship is huge and there are 6 walking tours so it takes the better part of an entire day to see.


The barracks!  It must take a long time to get your bearing when you get assigned to a ship like this because there are twisty corridors all over.
 Planes on the deck.
Helicopter on the deck.
Planes with bridge in the background. That bridge was not there last time I was here.
 Will commanding the ship!

There is also a battleship and sub you can walk on.
Many things on the ship seem very old fashioned. I thought I had a picture of the destroyers "analog targeting computer" which was a entire room. Almost any device today probably has more computing power...

We also took a walk around all of downtown Charleston and grabbed a coffee.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Bluffton, SC and Savannah, GA

Will's sister lives here in Bluffton SC it is a really pretty area and they live right on the water near Hilton Head Island.

And they have plenty of room for us to pull the trailer and "camp" in their yard! Although something about the super long extension cord we are using is causing the AC to trip the circuit breaker.

We hit a great pizza place in Savannah GA for dinner. Savannah is a cool very walkable city and the weather is great so we enjoy the evening.
There was a wait for the Pizza place so we walked to a beer place with hundreds of beers and grabs some beer. You can walk around with beers so we walk around checking out the city.

There is an Art school here and we think it might be graduation weekend because downtown is packed more than Will's sister Tina have ever seen it before.
 After dinner we hit Leopold's Ice Cream for some delicious ice cream, if you are ever in Savannah check it out it is owned by some famous movie producer. It is all very old school ice cream parlor and also decked out with movie stuff from all the producers movies.

The next day we visited the railway museum in Savannah on our own. All these pictures are from the museum.
We also did a lot more walking around Savanna checking out the water front and other sights.

We toured an old house that a rich man had built a long time ago by an up and coming architect who threw every bell and whistle of the time into the house.

Our tour guide was amazing and it really made the tour fun. It is amazing how much a tour guide and make or break an attraction. I never noticed this until this trip.

I just took a picture of this book to remember to look it up later so I can get it for Will as a Christmas or Birthday gift.

The next day Will's sister and brother in-law have to go to work so we wake up early to say goodbye and then go back to sleep.

Later that morning we packed up the trailer took a dip in the pool and got back on the road!