Days we were gone - 200
Miles traveled in the motorhome - 10,700
Additional miles traveled in the Jeep - 10,200
States visited - 28
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Vermont, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington DC, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri
Canadian provinces visited - 5
Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island
Photographs taken - 1,477
Bugs who hit the windshield & survived - 1
Bugs who did not survive - many, many more
Number of times Barb ran out of Tab - 0
(not only is it still made, it is also surprisingly available across the country)
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
October 17-24 - heading home!
Western Maryland & Pennsylvania 
showed us a last burst of Fall colors as we left Washington DC. We have seen so many amazing places but it's time to get home & we are now moving pretty quickly across country. We stopped in St. Louis to tour the Gateway Arch & the Budweiser brewery
.
Our RV park was directly across the Mississippi River & we had a fantastic view. The "pods" that take you to the top of the arch & the viewing area could definitely use updating, but they did the job. We leaned across a carpeted ledge to look out the tiny windows, but the views from 63
0 feet up were amazing. We got some great pictures & were even able to see our RV in the park across the Mississippi River. Pretty cool! The brewery was beautiful & much more ornate than we expected. We have heard the "how
beer is made" story many times so it was more of a treat to see the Clydesdales & marvel at the sheer size of this factory. We even saw one of the dalmations! Our final "vacation stop" was a visit to Gayle's new home in Tulsa. We enjoyed se
eing her huge apartment & the school she loves attending. We celebrated the day before her birthday with dinner where our waitress was one of her classmates & a very nice girl. Dennis was happy to see for himself how well his little sis is doing! After that, it was just a run for home with quick overnight stays. Everything was in great shape when we arrived. Thank you to Mom & our wonderful neighbors Elaine & Tom, who all kept an eye on things while we were gone. We never worried once about the house & that made our dream trip even more enjoyable. It was so much fun to be gone & it's so nice to be home. Can't ask for more than that!
showed us a last burst of Fall colors as we left Washington DC. We have seen so many amazing places but it's time to get home & we are now moving pretty quickly across country. We stopped in St. Louis to tour the Gateway Arch & the Budweiser brewery
.
Our RV park was directly across the Mississippi River & we had a fantastic view. The "pods" that take you to the top of the arch & the viewing area could definitely use updating, but they did the job. We leaned across a carpeted ledge to look out the tiny windows, but the views from 63
0 feet up were amazing. We got some great pictures & were even able to see our RV in the park across the Mississippi River. Pretty cool! The brewery was beautiful & much more ornate than we expected. We have heard the "how
beer is made" story many times so it was more of a treat to see the Clydesdales & marvel at the sheer size of this factory. We even saw one of the dalmations! Our final "vacation stop" was a visit to Gayle's new home in Tulsa. We enjoyed se
eing her huge apartment & the school she loves attending. We celebrated the day before her birthday with dinner where our waitress was one of her classmates & a very nice girl. Dennis was happy to see for himself how well his little sis is doing! After that, it was just a run for home with quick overnight stays. Everything was in great shape when we arrived. Thank you to Mom & our wonderful neighbors Elaine & Tom, who all kept an eye on things while we were gone. We never worried once about the house & that made our dream trip even more enjoyable. It was so much fun to be gone & it's so nice to be home. Can't ask for more than that!
October 12-16 - Washington DC
Greenbelt National Park in Maryland
was a great base for exploring Washington DC. The park was beautiful & filled with deer, grey squirrels & black squirrels. They were an interesting sight. Walnut trees surrounded our RV & kept our adrenaline pumping each time walnuts dropped onto our roof. We hardly felt like we were just 10 miles away from our nation's capitol. The Metro station was a couple miles from us & we became
quite 
adept at 
navigating the train system. We took a double decker bus tour the first 2 days in town. This allowed us an overview of the city & the opportunity to hop on & off as we pleased. DC was much more spread out than we expected, so we were glad to be able to see all the major sights for one low fare & not having to drive or park. The monuments & buildings were awe-inspiring & beautiful. It really made us even more proud of our country to be standing in the middle of so much history & importance. We even sa
w a motorcade o
n da
y one! Also saw a diplomatic license plate but didn't take a picture since we thought we'd see more. We didn't, but we did see a "Member of Congress" plate & quickly snapped away. Lesson learned! Once we knew where we wanted to go, we again took the Metro & then walked to the museums we wanted to explore further. We stood in line at the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution & are very glad we did, but we were surprised that they were more faded than we thought they would be. The main guard on duty cracked us up - he was power mad & very thorough in giving everyone very detailed instructions about where they should stand 
& how they should move through the line. Oh well, it was pretty good unintended comic relief. We had a great Maryland crab cake dinner near the park with friends Darcy & Bobbie. Well, Darcy had the salmon but we let him sit with us anyway. They were kind enough to drive about an hour from their home to meet up with us. As always, we had lots of fun & laughs with them.
was a great base for exploring Washington DC. The park was beautiful & filled with deer, grey squirrels & black squirrels. They were an interesting sight. Walnut trees surrounded our RV & kept our adrenaline pumping each time walnuts dropped onto our roof. We hardly felt like we were just 10 miles away from our nation's capitol. The Metro station was a couple miles from us & we became
quite 
adept at 
navigating the train system. We took a double decker bus tour the first 2 days in town. This allowed us an overview of the city & the opportunity to hop on & off as we pleased. DC was much more spread out than we expected, so we were glad to be able to see all the major sights for one low fare & not having to drive or park. The monuments & buildings were awe-inspiring & beautiful. It really made us even more proud of our country to be standing in the middle of so much history & importance. We even sa
w a motorcade o
n da
y one! Also saw a diplomatic license plate but didn't take a picture since we thought we'd see more. We didn't, but we did see a "Member of Congress" plate & quickly snapped away. Lesson learned! Once we knew where we wanted to go, we again took the Metro & then walked to the museums we wanted to explore further. We stood in line at the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution & are very glad we did, but we were surprised that they were more faded than we thought they would be. The main guard on duty cracked us up - he was power mad & very thorough in giving everyone very detailed instructions about where they should stand 
& how they should move through the line. Oh well, it was pretty good unintended comic relief. We had a great Maryland crab cake dinner near the park with friends Darcy & Bobbie. Well, Darcy had the salmon but we let him sit with us anyway. They were kind enough to drive about an hour from their home to meet up with us. As always, we had lots of fun & laughs with them.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
October 6-11 - Pennsylvania & New Jersey
We stopped near Easton, PA to visit Barb's friend Sandra & her husband Curt. Barb & Sandra worked together years ago & it's always fun to catch up. Curt & Sandra moved to Pennsylvania in February & seem very happy in their beautiful home. We went to dinner at a Portugese restaurant, which we'd never had but it was really good. After our nice visit, we moved to a park in New Jersey that is just 10 miles from Philadelphia. We took a double decker bus tour to get an overview & re-learn some history. Philadelphia is a beautiful old city but we were told most of the skyscrapers were built during a 1980's boom & they are quite bland. After the bus to
ur, we walked around our favorite neighborhoods. We loved seeing the townhouses in Society Hill & Elfreth's Alley. Elfreth's Alley has been a residential neighborhood for over 300 years & has just a carriage road running through it. Very beautiful & peaceful. We had Philly cheesesteaks for lunch in the building where Larry of the Three Stooges was born. Don't fear; it has since been converted to a restaurant. Philadelphia sightseeing highlights included Independence H
all, the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's grave, an open air market & the Rocky statue. We didn't run up the steps of the art museum, nor do we feel guilty after learning that Sylvester Stallone only ran up 3 steps while his stunt double ran the other 69! Oh...Barb got the senior rate on her bus tour ticket. Hopefully the ticket seller was just being a nice guy & passing along the $2 savings. Alas, that was not the only irritation of the day. Barb remembers seeing Pod restaurant on TV years & years ago. She thought at the time she'd definitely go there if she was ever in Philadelphia & was thrilled to learn it is still in business. It has all-white round booth-rooms with colored lighting that the occupants can change. Seems like a must-see, right? Well, we were there early in the evening & the bratty hostess would not allow us to even have a quick drink in a pod since you "must" have a party of 6. The place was nearly empty! Guess we should have either recruited everyone there
to sit with us or bribed her. Despite all this trauma, we still had a fun day. Our trip to Atlantic City let us know that we don't need to return to Atlantic City. It was fun to see & Dennis enjoyed reminiscing about his family trip to the Democratic National Convention there when he was 14 years old. We donated a little to Mr. Trump, had a corn dog on the boardwalk & Dennis dropped Barb off at the outlet mall while he circled the block. Luckily, Barb was only interested in running into H&M where she scored a very cute top. If you've been reading the blog, you may remember the H&M obsession from the Chicago leg of the trip. We're sure she'll lose interest once they finally come to Phoenix.
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