janka3

Road Trip and Memories, new and old - Part One

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 04:13:50 GMT

**(Click on any picture to see larger version)**

Just in case anyone reading this isn't aware of the cross country trip I had the privilege of being part of, here's the story: Two women, one dog, in a bright yellow Lancer, west coast to east coast, June 17th to July 4th, 2006.

Dyana's daughter, Makalah, was married May 27th, 2006 here in Bakersfield, marrying Kevin, who lives in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The ceremony, held in the backyard of the bride's grandmother, was intimate and sweet.

I don't think I've ever seen such a calm and serene bride.

The bride's mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt, along with aunt's soon to be daughter-in-law. What a lovely photo!

And this handsome young man is Matthew, the brother of the bride.

Kevin went undercover to search for the garter.

Success!

Afterward, the groom romantically guided his bride into their first dance.

Where their joy spilled into laughter.

The father of the bride couldn't resist some gentle teasing.

While the mother of the groom was a little more reflective.

The reception was lively and fun.

The newlyweds didn't have the luxury of time due to Kevin's work schedule so they flew to Rhode Island a few days after they said I Do.

Dyana made up some lame reason that Makalah needed her car and dog and she had to be the one to make the delivery. Although she has never admitted it outloud, I suspect the real agenda was she needed to see with her own eyes her baby girl was tucked in, safe and sound. hehe...of course it was!

The following is a recap of our 17 day adventure.

June 17th, 2006

Yep, that's us, 4 a.m., sleepily beginning our journey from the west coast to the east coast. By the time we were driving through Tehachapi it felt like a very painful eternity. Tehachapi is 36 miles away from Bakersfield.

We began to hit our stride driving into Arizona. The scenery was just so lush and alive and beautiful and I began to feel excited as we neared Flagstaff. It was just shy by two weeks of being exactly 20 years when I was on a similar trek, only coming from the opposite direction, and, there was a 15 month old baby in the backseat instead of a dog.

We were invited to spend the night with Dyana's sister's best friend, Vicky, in Payson, Arizona. It was around 2 p.m. when we arrived and after a tour of her *very* beautiful and warm home, we gratefully slipped between the most decadent cotton sheets ever (we even had our own rooms!) and slept deeply for a couple hours. Vicky is one of those people who has a genuine love of having guests and goes an extra mile or ten to put lovely and delightful touches throughout to make a person feel welcomed.

We were treated to a delicious breakfast before we left the next morning. She is a hospice nurse and was called out during the night and had to have been tired. She was worried we would have left before she got back home as she really wanted to send us on our way with a homemade breakfast. And to be honest, she nearly did miss us and a note had already been written thanking her for her hospitality. I'm glad we were still there because we wanted to thank her in person, plus she made one of my favorite breakfasts. French toast and bacon. Yum!

That is the Mogollon Rim in the background. I sat on that patio for a long time just staring out and felt such peace. I woke up at 5 a.m., made a pot of coffee, and enjoyed the quiet and beauty and solitude. It would not have taken much to convince me in staying longer, had it been suggested.

We were invited to another set of Val's friend's homes, Jack and Sandy. There were several people there and it sounded to me this was the traditional way they all ended their day. Izzy met Murphy. :o)

And Sadie. :o)

This is their view from their backyard. Bliss.

Izzy, the pretty pretty princess. I sure am missing her.

And with a measure of regret, we left Payson. When we drove up by the rim we saw a fruit stand and Dyana popped out to grab some peaches. They smelled so good and we were looking forward to digging into them a little later. They were tucked into the backseat whereupon we promptly forgot about them until they were unearthed a number of days later. You'd think we would have smelled the ripening process but before the first day was over any smells were automatically blamed on Izzy as she was emitting the most noxious farts. Ever.

A short time later, the scenery began to change. The colors and rock formations are beautiful but I was already missing the landscape in Payson. We had a long driving day and arrived in Amarillo, Tx at 11 p.m. There was a need to pretty much stop every two hours, sometimes sooner, the entire trip so that ate up time. Izzy developed some tummy troubles the day before we left and it persisted the whole way. The pepto left a punkish look as we never could entirely get the pink out of her beard. I suggested we just go all the way and pick up some kool-aid to add colorful streaking but *somebody* was a party pooper. :o)

We ended up at a hotel neither one of us were entirely comfortable staying in but we were starving and for some reason didn't really think about the fact that we were jumping forward two hours, so our options were few. We had no choice but to have an outside door and then I discovered after we brought back food from a nearby IHOP that our door had been banged around in the past and I could not manage to get the security bolt to slide into place. The woman running the desk, who was 85 if she were a day, and not in a good way...lol...forgot about us after she promised she would find us another room. I ended up walking down there because by that time it was well into tomorrow and we badly needed sleep. Fortunately there was one available only about four doors down and while she was trying to figure out how to program our room key, I was treated to the story of how she was going to her brother's birthday party in the upcoming afternoon and she was going to be traveling on such and such road to cross over to that highway, somewhere over there. Her brother was turning 82. :o)

We couldn't make ourselves get up at the crack of dawn, we were just utterly worn out. I began to get pretty perky and excited though as I was telling some stories that involved my best friend from high school, Angie. We were to meet Angie and her husband, Don, in Oklahoma City for lunch that day. Unfortunately, right when we were preparing to leave Amarillo she called to say they couldn't make it. There was a mechanical issue with their airplane so I certainly couldn't blame their caution. We did end up having a fun conversation though and I "introduced" her to Dyana and it sounded like she regretted having to cancel so I was able to buck up after a little bit of sympathy from Dy. Things happen like they are supposed to happen, I reckon. :o)

Spitting distance from the Oklahoma border we took a detour so I could take a picture of Dyana standing underneath this sign. Her dad was born in Wheeler, Texas and it was fun imagining him as a young child actually maybe perhaps traveling that same road. He died about 9 months after I moved to Bakersfield and I know it meant something to her to just be able to connect to her dad, even in this small measure.

Since our lunch date got cancelled, Dyana sweetly agreed to us dropping down 30 something miles below Oklahoma City so I could reconnect with friends of mine, Mark and Heidi. I hadn't seen them since 1997 and it was so fun to see how grown up their three boys are. Heidi is from Long Island, which is where we met up before, so this was my first visit to their home. It was a great visit and I actually got to hook up with them again on Long Island. They flew there for their annual summertime visit the day after we dropped by. Because of Mark's familiarity of routes, he saved us some serious driving time.

Izzy had no problem making herself at home, attaching herself to Mark. She has entitlement issues and expects everyone to love her and pet her.

We visited for a couple hours, long enough for us to lose our stride and I could literally see the energy drain right out of Dyana. We decided to drive to Tulsa and make that our stop for the night instead of our original goal of Springfield, Mo.

I drove that stretch, only my second time to drive (and last!). Dyana makes an awful passenger and was fidgeting so much the first time I drove (I believe that was in New Mexico), I threatened to stop at a WalMart and buy one of those car seat attachment toys so she'd have her own steering wheel and horn.

Because we got a later start that morning it ended up being 11 p.m. again before we secured a hotel so it would have been sheer insanity to try to push it any further. Unfortunately, I hadn't researched hotels in that area so we were flying blind and ended up driving in areas that felt unsavory to us. We ended up driving right into downtown Tulsa and stayed in a very nice DoubleTree Inn. Feather bed and a yummy duvet! It was too short of a stay though because we were determined to get back into the more reasonable traveling time frames and 6:30 a.m. came way quick. Made even quicker due to a 3:00 a.m. Izzy walk. (She made it clear I was "the chosen one" that night when she snuggled into my bed.) Then, it felt so nice outside and it was my own fault the trip downstairs was longer than necessary. I ended up doing some memory walking. Oklahoma was where my dad was born and plus being so close to Texas it made me feel nostalgic. I used to visit the Tulsa area frequently back then. Jenks, actually, but close enough.

We stopped for gas on our way out of town the next morning and were amused to see this old timey gas pump. This stop was made shortly after we saw a dead man on the side of the road as we were leaving Tulsa. Hmmm-mmmm, true story. A couple of men obviously happened upon him a short time before we did. They were standing semi-near him, on their cell phones, and they each had one of their arms wrapped around their chest, so we got the impression this wasn't anyone they personally knew. We only had a quick view of all this but it didn't appear he had been there very long and he looked cleanly dressed. Bizarre moment and I wonder still what happened to the man.

So then we stopped in Steeleville, Mo to take a picture of me standing under the above sign. This is where my mom was born. :o)

The landscape changed back into beautiful lushness by this time and I was a happy happy girl. We were heading towards Louisville, Ky this day, but we ended up not making it that far. As we were nearing Illinois, I mentioned to Dyana that we will be running into some wild weather pretty soon. She asked me how I knew and I just smiled and said that's how it is this time of year on this side of the U.S.

Bridge in southern Illinois. We could see definite possibilities of running into rain.

Although this direction, it was still clear.

A very short time later we began to see the light show and then the rain came down.

We got ahead of it as we entered Indiana but then we made our first navigational error and ended up in downtown Evansville.

Where we came across this beautiful Catholic church.

:o)

Because we made that unexpected trip through the town of Evansville the storm caught up with us just as the sun ended it's day. If we would have known what was in store for us the next couple hours, we would have stayed there. We were in the middle of nowhere driving in a slow moving (5 mph) storm that included one of the longest hail storms I've ever driven (ahem, ridden) in. Dyana got herself convinced there was a tornado ready to cross our path which really wasn't an unreasonable worry. By this time she was white knuckled on the steering wheel, hunched over, waiting for us to be swooped up. There just was no safe place to stop that we could see and I didn't think it would be a good idea to take some random exit and not only get swept away in a tornado, but be axe murdered in a field. I was able to distract her for about 15 miles by making her sing but she was so nervous she could only remember one line of each song. That made us laugh, so it worked, the distraction. We finally saw a sign for a Baymont Inn in Dale, Indiana and there was even a Denny's right next door. The storm eventually passed us by as we listened from the security of our room while eating BLT's and broccoli cheese soup.

The next morning, another early start, was beautiful - and no storming - so we made it into Kentucky in short order. I think we actually were only about an hour away before the storm beat us into submission. We stopped at a really nice tourist information center where there was a good sized stretch of grass and did our best to run Izzy around. We were both feeling pretty kinked up by now so we figured she must be feeling the need to run around a little. While doing this, we came upon this tribute of the Oklahoma City bombing that Kentucky put up.

We were heading to Grafton, W.V. this day, very much looking forward to having a little break. It was now June 21st and we had made great progress. At the end of this day we were going to be reunited with a very good friend.

When we entered West Virginia it began to rain again. But it was a good rain, relatively soft, and the scenery turned into a breathtaking sight. It was so soothing that we all began to feel relaxed, including Izzy. I don't know what it was exactly. The feel and vibration and sound in the car changed, maybe? She just seemed more peaceful and tucked herself into her little bed and didn't make a peep for hours.

Or it could have been the chicken breast she just finished eating. I'm afraid we may have gone overboard being suckered into Izzy's flat out refusal to eat dog food. There was one point where she was actually hand fed scrambled eggs. lol But lemme tell ya, if you were driving 3500 miles with a dog who had serious tummy woes like she did, you'd do it, too!

I will go on record at this point to say that we had so much fun on this cross country trip. Both of us were a little nervous that first morning. It's a big deal to drive that far!

We laughed for 3500 miles. What a joy and privilege it was to experience it with Dyana. She is not only a good friend, but a good person, and good-natured to boot. And, not that I expected otherwise, it was a testament to our unquestionable willingness to simply step in and do what needed to be done. Being like-minded, it didn't take long at all to have a nice rhythm going, making our very frequent Izzy stops quick and efficient. We kept her well hydrated and she had no accidents in the car - Thank God - and really, this was a minor inconvenience. Izzy was a dream, seriously. There was a small amount of regret and longing along the way as we saw many restaurants or stores we would have loved to had eaten at or explored in and couldn't because of her, but oh well. There are always trade-offs.

Dyana had a pretty good system set up to make things as convenient as possible in that small car. Izzy had a bed to sleep on and was harnessed so she didn't turn into a projectile. We had to stop at a WalMart for a new harness half-way into the journey as the one she started with broke. It was quite warm that day so Dyana sat with her in the entry portion of the store while I went inside. We also needed to restock drinks and Dyana was in desperate need of a visor.

Apparently Izzy attracted a lot of attention, particularly when she went into her favorite lounging pose as you saw in a photo above. One woman stopped to gush over her and asked Dyana if Izzy was a boy or a girl. Given the fact Izzy's parts were being resplendently displayed about a foot from this woman's face, it was with great restraint Dyana was able to respond with a straight face. I suggested perhaps the woman was being polite and not staring at her parts, given we were in the gentle south by this time. Whatever. It was amusing.

Next to Izzy and her bed was a 3-drawer organizer cabinet thingamabob where we stored snacks, cd's, books on tape, cameras, video camera, miscellaneous related bits and pieces and other items that needed to be contained. Next to this was the ice chest that we kept faithfully iced and full of drinks of all non alcoholic kinds. We did not realize until we stopped in Grafton for a couple days that the ice chest was sweating, bad, and had soaked the seat. Ut-oh.

The floorboard on the non-Izzy side was used to store the carry-on that held all our toiletries. We coordinated before we left so we didn't duplicate items that could be shared and take up unnecessary room. Next to my feet was where the atlas lived and a big envelope that held the many maps I had printed out and our boarding e-tickets for our flight home. Nice and efficient simplified things greatly.

The trunk is a generous size for such a small car and it was packed to the gills. I'd say 90% were all Makalah's things that Dyana creatively crammed inside. We were left with a small spot to pack our clothes. There was no room for any suitcases, so the trunk basically operated as a dresser for us and we made plans to use the suitcase that Mak borrowed from her mom when she flew to her new home. We accumulated a lot of stuff in that 17-day period. Fortunately for us Mak had also borrowed a suitcase of her grandmother's. There was no way all of our things were going to fit into one suitcase. When we got to the airport on the 4th to fly home, each of our suitcases coincidentally weighed 63 lbs, which equaled an extra $100.00 to get them onto the plane. Dyana went on a scramble and found a $15.00 SouthWest duffel and we hurriedly threw a bunch of stuff from both our suitcases into it. The curbside check-in guys laughed at us and actually helped de-stress the situation, so it was all good.

Ok, back to Grafton, W.V...

It is a very quaint town and West Virginia is a gorgeous breathtaking state.

I saw Anna M. Jarvis' house, unfortunately without my camera. She is the one who came up with the idea of honoring all mothers and the first Mother's Day was celebrated May 10, 1908. I thought that was a pretty cool opportunity. :o)

Stacey, our friend and host, took us to Tygart River Dam and we happened to show up in time to hear the park ranger begin a tour. He allowed us to participate in the tour as far as the doorway inside the dam where we had to part ways because of Miz Izzy. That was fine with us as it was veeerrrry hot and humid that day. None of us had the interest in walking inside and the length where there was a promise of it being even warmer. (Update: I just reviewed the video and my memory regarding the temperature inside the bridge couldn't have been more wrong! lol The park ranger said it was only 55 degrees inside.) It is a concrete gravity dam. There is 1.3 million cubic feet of concrete and the only thing holding the dam in place is the weight of the concrete itself. It is 208' wide and 230' tall and there are no pilings going into the bedrock. So, basically, it is a big wedge.

I really enjoyed it though and was able to capture it all on video tape. There was a curious young boy who asked several relevant questions and was as cute as can be. You can see a tiny bit of him on the right side of the picture, by the fence. He's standing in front of his mom who is wearing the skirt. Oh, and you can see the back of me on the left side video taping. There was actually a large group of people there but they were spread out pretty far and ending up on the cutting room floor. ;o)

Tygart River Dam was completed in 1938 and controls the floods on the Monongahela and keeps the crest of the Ohio River reduced. It is also used to raise the level of water on the Monogahela to allow barges to pass through. I need to watch the tape to refresh my memory, but the ranger compared the Tygart Dam to the Hoover Dam in some impressive manner. lol It is the largest concrete dam east of the Mississippi.

It was at this point where our participation in the tour was about to end. Here I am with Stacey. It was around this time the younger sister of the inquisitive boy tried climbing up to see over the bridge deck. She stepped up on those pipes near the ground, causing some of them to roll down. The park ranger was lightning quick and caught them with the toe of his shoe and, with some additional fancy footwork, lowered them down. He turned back around and said, "Thank you, we'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip the waitress." hehehe!

Later that same day, Stacey took us to Valley Falls.

It was very pretty.

See the current in the background? Stacey said it looks very deceiving.

I could have stayed all day but it became unbearably hot and humid.

That didn't stop me from snapping more pictures on the walk back to the car. I just love all the different textures of the water.

That bench was begging to be sat upon.

This stone was used in the grist mill at Valley Falls that was in operation in the 1850's.

I wished there was a ranger handy to ask questions to.

Train tracks at Valley Falls. The locals are proud of their history and we were told by more than one person stories of their railroad. During the Civil War, Grafton was considered a strategic site because of it's location and railroad access.

I was also told a version of the following (and more) but I couldn't recall enough of it to make it sound interesting, so I found the following on the internet:
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Grafton is the County Seat of Taylor County, WV. The city of Grafton was chartered in 1856 and named in honor of John Grafton, a civil engineer that played an important part in the expansion of the United States' railroad system. John Grafton laid out the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad in 1852 crossing the area that was then known as northwestern Virginia. Grafton and Northern Western Virginia are renowned as areas of historical interest for railroading aficionados around the world.
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As we first entered Grafton, June 21st, we passed by a national cemetery. We were not prepared camera-wise and thought at the time we would be driving back out that way on Friday. We were wrong. lol There is a monument in that cemetery to the first soldier killed in the Civil War.

Stacey's Aunt Becky graciously invited us to stay at her house while we were in Grafton. Isn't that a pretty view?

Here's Becky with her foster cat, whom she simply referred to as Pussy. This reduced Dyana to a giggling mess every single time. We both fell in love with Becky. She is not only a warm and welcoming woman, but a flat out hoot. She had a wonderful dinner prepared for us right when we arrived. We were so tired of eating on the run at that point and it was all so good and southern. We fell upon our plates like we were starved and probably should have been embarrassed. But we weren't. :o)

Becky is also a good sport. I became a little too enthusiastic in illustrating a suggestion Dyana had made and I inadvertently hit the back of her chair pretty hard, nearly ejecting her into the air. If Stacey would have waited a few seconds, we would have seen the real deal in this shot. We were literally crying from laughing so hard and it took much coaxing to convince a very frazzled Pussy to come back to Becky's lap.

On this night we were treated to a spectacular thunder and lightening show. It was definitely more enjoyable this time around. A storm earlier in the afternoon appeared so suddenly while we were all outside that we had to all make a run for it. One minute we are sitting outside going over maps and strategizing, then literally the next minute a terrific wind picked up and things were booming and zapping all around us. Very impressive! Dyana definitely got a good taste of how the weather can change on a dime on that side of the country.

This is Stacey's oldest daughter, Britt. It was so nice meeting her in person after so many years. :o) I'm sad I didn't have the foresight to take a picture of her youngest daughter, Madison, while I had the chance. Madison was with her mom when they met us in a parking lot to guide us to Becky's house and she probably thought all three of us were off our rocker. I couldn't get out of the car fast enough to give Stacey a hug and I think there might have even been a little bouncing around involved. It was just so great to see my friend again.

Stacey started off as an internet friend, as did Dyana did for that matter. And I actually met both of them in person at the same time in Las Vegas about nine years ago. I lived in Napa, CA back then and the three of us happened upon a chat group on AOL called Married with Kids. (And while I am thinking about this, the aforementioned Mark and Heidi whom we dropped in to visit in Oklahoma, I/we met them in the same chat group!)

I "met" Dyana first but she was more of the swoop-in/swoop-out kind of person and our chat group was pretty big so there wasn't a lot of one-on-one talking going on between the two of us. She amused me with the way she greeted and exited the chat room. It was like the front door opening up and letting a big warm gust of wind wash through to circle around giving high-five's and hugs. Then, poof, she would be gone. I never imagined that a dozen years later we would not only have one of the best friendships ever, but live in the same town!

Stacey and I met during her very first visit to Married with Kids. She was a little enigmatic which, of course, piqued my curiosity. It didn't take too long to discover we had many of the same interests and had many parallels going on. So, we bonded. :o) Over time, I couldn't imagine not having her in my life, even though it was simply through the internet and we were on opposite coasts.

We would occasionally try to figure out how we could meet up in person and early one summer began to joke how we should go to Las Vegas. Next thing we knew, it was going to happen and we spent the next couple of months plotting and planning to spend nearly an entire week there that August. A couple other roomies caught wind of this, Li and Dyana from Bakersfield, and it turned into a real chick trip. It was one of the best times of my life, truly. So many silly little things, so much laughter, so much discovery and so much fun.

The next leg of our trip was from Grafton, WV to Long Island, NY and although we were all very reluctant to part ways, we needed to get a very early start. The storm cells that were pelting us with rain promised to keep up all the next week (and they didn't disappoint) so we didn't want to end up traveling in inclement weather, especially in the dark, in an unfamiliar area.

The above photo is of another internet friend, Lisa. I've been part of an e-mail group called Your Survey for, gosh, around fifteen years or so now. Lisa joined the group several years ago and is one of the youngsters. :o) Her husband is in the Coast Guard and when I first met her they were stationed in Guam. They moved to West Virginia a couple years or so ago and live along the route were were traveling. So we dropped by for a short visit. She is a delight and if we didn't have time constraints I would have happily sat down for a longer visit. It was so fun to see in person what I had seen in progress photos, the remodel and new master bedroom they had *just* finished. I was quite impressed!

We didn't take anymore pictures that travel day. After leaving West Virginia (popping through a tiny portion of Maryland and back into West Virginia to see Lisa), we traveled through Pennsylvania and then New Jersey and finally officially crossed into New York at 3:00 P.M. We made the appropriate pit stops that day and other than stopping at KFC on our way out of West Virginia for a chicken breast for the pretty pretty princess and one of those new bowls that has mashed taters, corn, chicken and gravy in it (it was pretty good!), we relied on what snacks we started with in Bakersfield to sustain us. We had both been dreaming of having chinese for dinner for several states and were crossing our fingers we could make it happen soon. We actually had plans on having chinese for dinner in Amarillo but because of us not factoring in the time change, that didn't happen.

Ideally, it would have been a lot more enjoyable for us if we had arrived in New York several hours earlier, traffic wise. But, again, trade-offs! Getting up at 5 A.M. that morning was early enough for me and I would have been so sad to have passed by Lisa without stopping to see her. So, it was what it was.

Which was pretty much Hell and when my navigational skills jumped off the George Washington bridge in a handbasket. It all started on the first toll bridge we were crossing. Both of us frantically reading signs and me trying to do that and simultaneously refer to my printed out maps, notes and atlas. Dyana was doing her best to get to a lane where there was a human to hand money to but cars were screaming by and we ended up blowing through a booth. It rattled both of us and I sat there with my mouth hanging open going, "but but but...you can't DO that!" and Dyana saying, "Omg omg omg, I had no CHOICE". hahahaha...it's funny...now.

We are generally follow-the-rules kind of people and to break a rule or law even on accident made us sick to our stomachs. While I had visions of $5,000.00 tickets floating in my mind, Dyana was bound and determined to find a phone number to call so she could rectify the situation. We came to a second toll booth on that bridge and this time were successful in stopping at a manned booth and was asked to hand over our ticket. To our enormous relief, we were told if we didn't get a ticket at the first booth we just had to simply pay her. Omg, it felt like we were handed Get Out Of Jail cards. lol I know this may sound silly to those accustomed to it, but trust me, it felt intimidating to us. We live in the desert! No water! No big bridges with tolls on them!

After this we ran into traffic. If it went any slower, we'd have been going backwards, but at least we knew we could keep a close eye on the street and exit signs so we wouldn't miss our turn off to Long Island, right? Wrong. We drove and drove and drove. And came to another toll booth. We asked the woman where the Long Island exit is. Oh, about a bajillion miles back the way you just came from. We were nearly to Connecticut. sigh She told us what exit to take and I SWEAR we didn't see that exit choice earlier. By this time we were dangerously close to empty in the gas tank so we were relieved to come upon a small strip on the side of the road where there was a gas station. Dyana got more concrete information from a fellow customer and after filling the tank we hit the road again with a little more confidence.

With this being a Friday and the weekend traffic to the Hamptons heavy, it took a long time to get to exit 57. It started to rain again about an hour before we finally found Whitestone Bridge. We were quiet, tired, hungry and hotelless and our eight hour trek turned into fourteen. Heidi had invited us to a homecooked meal at her mom's house and I suddenly became so overwhelmed I was nearly in tears. I ended up calling Heidi back and she very understandingly encouraged us to find somewhere to stay and if it worked out to hook up, then it worked out. If it didn't, then it didn't. We made the first stop in a succession of hotels. The response of the first desk clerk did not bode well for us. She said she wasn't aware of any hotel on Long Island that accepted pets. Someone overheard the conversation though and said they knew of just one place. The hotel was fully booked. No bueno.

Over the phone, another desk clerk gave us several hotel names and phone numbers to try so we ended up pulling into a business parking lot to make the calls. Rain pounded on top of the car and the boomers and lightening flashing all around us only added to the miserable moment. We both had our cans full and the thought of having to drive back 57 exits to begin another search sounded so unfun that neither one of us were willing to discuss it. After several calls, there was a hotel in Medford that said they do accept pets, but those designated rooms were already full.

I discovered Dyana has a knack for charming hotel people into giving her some pretty good deals. I don't think we ever ended up paying what we were initially told what a room for the night costs. Although I'm not sure it was her charm that worked for us in this instance. I think it was the sound of the sheer desperation in her voice that tugged on the desk clerk's sympathy. The clerk somewhat reluctantly said that if the dog was 15 lbs or less, she can find us a room for a $30 pet deposit. Dyana said Izzy could weigh 15 lbs if she wanted her to...lol

A few minutes later we got to the hotel, told Izzy to suck it in, and checked into an upstairs room. We were delighted to discover there was a chinese restaurant right across the street, and, they delivered! The hotel actually had menus at the front desk, so I'd say we had hot chinese food in our room within 30 minutes of our arrival. And it was gooood.

Once we ate, I began to feel revived so I called Mark and Heidi to ask if they were in the mood to come fetch me, I could come visit for a bit. Mark and their youngest, T.J. picked me up in their rental van while Dyana and Izzy stayed behind. I'm sure it felt very nice to Dyana to have even a short time to herself.

We sat in the screened porch and I listened to how their trip back home was going. They had been able to go on a couple fishing expeditions and caught a few different species of fish, including flukes and sea robins along with a bottom dweller that shouldn't have been where they were fishing. I was sad it was nighttime because Heidi's sister, Carla, has one of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen. Ever. During this visit, another wicked storm visited upon us. Once it calmed down a little I said my good-byes and Mark drove me back to the hotel.

I quietly slipped into our hotel room where Dyana was deeply sleeping. I don't think Izzy even did more than slightly open one eye. It didn't take me long to fall asleep. About an hour later I got woke up by a car alarm. After about 30 minutes of this I was frustrated enough to call the desk but before I did this I decided I better figure out if it was even on the hotel property. The window muffled the sound a lot better than I thought it did...lol oopsie.. It was one of those roll-out windows and the second I got it cracked open it sounded like the alarm was going off in our room, startling Dyana out of her sleep. rofl...I felt so bad, truly I did. But she was so discombobulated that it gave me the giggles. Then she ended up getting the heebie-jeebies that I was able to get back into the hotel room without rousing her even a little bit. It took close to another 30 minutes before the desk clerk was able to track down the owner of the car and we were finally able to go back to sleep. I was THISCLOSE to looking for a sledge hammer to fix the problem myself.

This time it was me that fell into a deep sleep and Dyana periodically got woke up by the huge boomers throughout the rest of the night. Mark had suggested to us when we were at their house in Oklahoma to take a ferry from Long Island to New London, CT instead of the driving route we were going to do. We decided to catch the 1:00 P.M. ferry so we could take it a little slower that morning. Dyana was so excited because this was the day we would be arriving in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, and she would be reunited with her daughter.

I had come back upstairs after grabbing a bagel and coffee from the breakfast buffet in the dining area so Dyana could have her turn but before she left I realized I had left my Splenda in the car so she waited while I popped back downstairs. I like my coffee hot! Instead of putting on sneakers or even my trusty Birkenstocks, I slipped on the cheap thongs that I had been traveling in most of the way.

Big mistake. I was ok going out to the car, it was the coming back in that was the problem. That little bit of flooring between the protective carpeting inside the door and the staircase was my undoing. I went in 17 different directions. The only thing missing was that whoop whoop wheeeee sound effect. Once I finally got my vision back and I semi-stopped feeling like I was going to hurl, my first thought was, "omg, did anyone see me do that??" Crazy. It took me a couple minutes to decide if I could climb back upstairs. It wasn't easy.

Dyana chattered on for a minute as she prepared to go get her own breakfast so she didn't initially notice how quiet I was. I hadn't quite regained the ability to speak, to be honest, and the most I could whisper was, "I fell" and waved her on. lol..I was a mess. I managed to sprain both my ankles and bang my hip and elbow into the floor. Dyana was suspiciously quiet and I have no doubt she was thinking, "Don't EVEN go there...I'll leave your ass behind.." rofl

We got packed up and left the hotel a couple minutes ahead of schedule even and got back onto the Long Island expressway to Orient Point to catch the ferry. It was a gorgeous drive and we saw many places we would have stopped at had we had the time. We had to content ourselves with oooh'ing and ahhh'ing our way up.

And away we went!

We were so grateful for Mark's suggestion of taking the ferry. It was easy to find and so much nicer than fighting through New York traffic again. We met up with a very nice couple who were going to a casino. They are from New York but it was their first time to go on the ferry. Matter of fact, I believe they told us it was their first time to go to the casino. I was jealous - I love casinos! I was such a good girl and didn't stop at a single one. I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many we drove by.

Happy ferry riders. Izzy did well, but she was a little nervous. She did venture out a little to introduce herself to the casino-bound peeps and say howdy to a big golden retriever but she seemed the most comfortable sitting on one of our laps. Whatever she wanted is what she got. We were just grateful she didn't have any pressing needs.

Oh, this reminds me, we were *very* diligent in keeping her by our side during our stay at Becky's. We still can't figure out how or remember her being out of our sight for a second but apparently our first morning there, before we headed out to Tygart River Dam, she did her bidness in the bedroom Stacey was sleeping in. Becky and her sister (Stacey's mom) found it and took care of it. Dyana was horrified, just flat out mortified, when she found out later that evening. They were very gracious about it and probably wouldn't have even brought it up except for the fact Dyana and I were concerned that Izzy hadn't "gone" all day. Ugh..it couldn't have been a pleasant experience for them.

New London, CT. I wish it had been clearer weather, but even so, it was so pretty!

This lighthouse charmed us both.

As did the houses.

And here we are, mere minutes from driving off the ferry.

The rain picked up again once we were on the road, but it wasn't too bad. It only took us a little over an hour to get to Woonsocket, RI. It's a small town so it took no time at all to arrive at Kevin and Makalah's apartment, even if we did get a tiny bit lost.

Road Trip and Memories, new and old - Part Two

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 04:12:19 GMT

**(Click on any picture to see larger version)**

This is Pickles. He's a Maine Coon and weighs 28 lbs. Look at those gorgeous green eyes!

We got to the apartment around 3:00 P.M. I don't know the history of the place but it looks to me to have been converted from a house to six apartments. They live in a one-bedroom basement level apartment that is pretty small. Not a bad size for two people though, especially newlyweds. Makalah hadn't had the time to put her stamp on it and we couldn't wait to help her girl it up.

As Kevin was working pretty much around the clock that Friday through Sunday it was just the three of us that went out to dinner that night. I had my first east coast seafood and it was very good! I can't remember for sure but I think the name of it was Ann's. Woonsocket is only about 15 minutes away from Massachusetts and the restaurant is not too far inside. Unless Kevin is the one giving you the directions, that is. As time went on we discovered this was not an anomaly. lol (Love you, Kevin! :o) )

I woke up pretty early Saturday morning. I had been jonesing for a mocha for days and decided to go on a search. I had a spare key to Makalah's car in my purse and pilfered Mak's housekeys, taking off after I took Izzy on a quick walk. I didn't have to go far. Just across the street I found Tim Horton's. Lemme tell ya...oh my gawd. The kid who made my mocha spoiled me for life. I watched with interest when he picked up a piping bag and lowered it just above the mocha line. He slowly piped that cream inside so it swirled down to the bottom. It was delicious! The next morning I went back for another one and brought one back for all four of us before Kevin had to leave back to work. Dyana was hooked and in the eight days we were in Rhode Island I think we got mochas six of them.

Since I was out in the car and it was still quite early I went ahead and took a little drive around town. I felt reasonably sure I wouldn't get lost as long as I didn't venture too far off the road that ran by the apartment building. I actually acquainted myself pretty quickly with various landmarks that came in handy in the upcoming week.

Although I learned to not depend on Dunkin Donuts. There is a Dunkin Donut on nearly every corner. Seriously. Nearly every corner. Um...why? And it isn't just in Rhode Island. I'm not sure where it starts but I know they are everywhere we drove from Rhode Island to Boston. lol It isn't that I would want to begrudge any town from having one, but dozens and dozens of them? That is just crazy!

The subliminal effect began to work on Dyana though who soon had to have a Dunkin Donuts chocolate cake donut with chocolate frosting or she would just die. Seriously, one night she made me drive with her all over Woonsocket and into two more towns trying to find one that was open. rofl...she had to console herself with Tim Horton's donuts and it was just not the same.

There was a short break between rainstorms that first morning which was nice. I went back to the apartment parking lot and read a little in the Reader's Digest I had bought in Payson when we were leaving town. I entertained both of us by reading out loud jokes and short stories. I finished drinking my mocha right when Kevin rolled into the parking lot around 7:30 A.M. I think I startled him a little bit. I had the car door opened up because the air was so refreshing. He mumbled his hellos and said he'd see me in a few hours and went straight to bed. He looked dead on his feet.

While he and Mak slept, Dyana and I found a grocery store because she wanted to fix all of us biscuits and gravy - and bacon! Both she and Vicky make the most excellent bacon. Nice and crispy without burning it. So we had that for lunch. I felt so bad for her though. The primary cooking pot was a wok and in the process of making the gravy, some popped up and landed right on her hand, blistering it in several places.

The kids went grocery shopping after they ate because Kevin had to go back to work later that afternoon. After he left for the night we went to a nearby Sears store and Dyana bought them a new set of cookware, an electric griddle and a clothes iron. The kitchen is on the small side and only has two very small countertops, one on each side of the sink. One side holds the dish rack (no dishwasher) and the other was taken up by the toaster and a couple other small items and just made cooking and washing dishes an even bigger pain. There was a decent size gap between the stove and wall where Kevin was stacking up recyclables. The perfect spot, Dyana thought, for some stackable utility shelves. What a huge difference it made. Not only do they have an available countertop, but now the cookware and bakeware are next to the stove. I do wish I had before and after photos to show you.

Later in the week Makalah found a great deal on 4 place settings that compliments the Asian flavor both she and Kevin love. I found a large picture with an orchid-y feel to it that Makalah really liked for their living room and I was excited to give them a house warming present. We moved a few pictures around to different parts of the apartment and things really began to warm up and come together. They bought themselves an entertainment center and we rearranged furniture, ending up with a warm and inviting room if I don't say so myself. Dyana was the mastermind behind everything, I just did what I was told. :o)

Sunday, the 25th, Dyana, Mak and I drove to Providence. Oh, look, a Dunkin Donuts. Imagine that. ;o) We really didn't have a specific agenda but decided to go to Providence Place Mall downtown and start from there.

I was amused to find a Napa Valley Grille in Providence, Rhode Island.

Across the street from the mall there was a benefit taking place in the form of a cycle race. One of the lanes of the two way road running there was being utilized by the event so a couple orange cones were set up to split the remaining lane into two. Of course WE didn't know this until Dyana began to go into the left hand turn lane and earned a "WHOA WHOA WHOA WHOA" from a police officer who, we swear, appeared from nowhere. He slapped his hand to his face and shook his head. I presume this is the point where he saw the California license plate. For some reason Dyana thought it was a good idea to choose this time to actually engage him in conversation. Makalah and I slowly slunk to the floorboard. We thought if we did this AND cover our faces with our hands, we would somehow disappear. I heard a whispering chant float up from the back saying, "omg, go go go go." hahahaha. She ended up making a panicked right hand turn, ending up on a freeway. It sort of felt like we were just kicked out of town but, since our objective was to actually be where we just left, we bravely returned. And ended up on the same exact street, only on the makeshift side. Thankfully the police officer wasn't standing right there anymore and we made our way into the parking lot right underneath the mall.

Oh, by the way, that is the state capitol building in the background.

Here's a closer shot with Mak and Dyana standing on the steps.

While I took some pictures, Dyana took some video. See that bag Makalah is holding? Two copies of Janet Evonovich's newest release, "Twelve Sharp", baby! They were for the plane trip back home. It wasn't easy but we both managed to keep our hands off of our books until July 4th. It was a lot of fun reading at the same time, side by side, and sure made the time go by a lot faster.

There are some pretty buildings downtown Providence.

This was actually taken on our second trip to Providence. It was also our second time to eat at Ri Ra - http://rira.com/index_flash.php - and the gentleman with us was our waiter both times. His name is Graham and he is *excellent* at what he does. Ri Ra is an Irish pub and is mmmm-mmmm good! I was a little disappointed they were out of a particular salmon dish but once I took my first bite of my salmon boxty, I had no regrets. A boxty is an Irish potato pancake and they have several choices of fillings. I chose salmon, which included cream cheese and tomato. Picture a very stuffed quesadilla. Accompanying the boxty was the best garlic mashed potatoes I have ever had. And it wasn't a fluke because I had mashed potatoes with my meal both times. Excellent!

The first time, we were there on a Sunday evening and there was a small table in the front near the bar taken up by musicians (Irish, of course!). They were very enjoyable to listen to and with us being in the larger adjoining room they provided lovely background music.

It was quite the challenge to find Ri Ra though. Kevin had suggested it to us so we were driving around the area where he thought it would be, looking for Tra-La's. lol Bless his heart. I'm really glad we persevered though.

The Water Place is right near Ri Ra. There is an a section of water beyond this entrance where there are fire pits placed in several locations. I assume for special events and occasions, the pits are filled and lit. I'm sure it must be lovely when they are burning.

Inside the entrance of the Water Place is The Wall of Hope. It is a very moving memorial, "A Rhode Island community response to September 11th," states the writing on this rock. It also states in part, "This mosaic was created by more than 10,000 Rhode Island residents of all ages, races, religions, and cultures. The magnificent artwork you see here is a tribute to loved ones lost to the heroes of the 9/11 tragedy and our hope for the future."

There were several of these walls of mosaics.

Many of them choked us up.

The look on Dyana's face reflects what we were all feeling in our hearts.

Mark L. Charette had many tributes.

Our motive for returning to Providence (and Ri Ra) so soon a second time was to meet up again with Dyana's sister and brother-in-law, Val and Mick. Mick was leaving in just a couple hours for the ship he works on. He works 60 days on, 60 days off and it must work for them because he's been doing it for umpteen years. Val retired from teaching last year after selling their house in Payson. They bought a *gorgeous* motorhome bus and I believe the Plymouth, Mass location is the beginning of their new gig. It worked out great for everyone with them choosing to anchor there. She is close enough to Makalah for the occasional visit and we had a few opportunities to spend time with her. We actually hooked up with Val in Woonsocket later that day after she dropped Mick off at the airport, but more on that later. :o)

On Monday, the 26th, Kevin, Makalah, Dyana and I drove to Plymouth, Massachusetts and met up with Mick and Val. Before they got there, we checked out the MayflowerII.

It was quite exciting to see it up close and personal although none of us were willing to pay for a ticket to go aboard.

Even though we passed on the ship tour, I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery.

Aren't they adorable? :o)

Me included? ;o) It was quite windy that day.

When Val and Mick showed up we strolled over to take a look at the Plymouth Rock.

And there you go! :o) I'm not sure what I was expecting, and I know I'm not alone in thinking it would be something a little more substantial. Still, it was exciting and I entertained myself with visions of the pilgrims stepping off the ship and using this rock as a stepping stone and touching our soil for the very first time.

After visiting Plymouth Rock we all meandered back towards where we parked, stopping when something interested us. This is a statue and water fountain the Daughters of the American Revolution, Women of the Mayflower, erected in 1920; Erected by the national society in memory of the heroic, 1620.

Here is where Plymouth Rock lives, tucked underneath a granite canopy. A long long time ago when the people of Plymouth would have a celebration they would put the rock into a wagon and parade it. You may have been able to see a crack in the photo above, to the left of the 1620 date. In 1774 Col. Theophilus Cotton and the townspeople of Plymouth decided to move the rock. In the process the rock was split into two halves. The bottom portion remained at the wharf and the top half was relocated to the town's meeting house. It stayed there until 1834 when it was moved to Pilgrim Hall. In 1859 the Pilgrim Society began building a Victorian canopy, designed by Hammett Billings. That was completed in 1867 and in 1880 the top half of the rock was reunited with the bottom half. It was then when the date was carved into the rock.

In 1920 the rock was again relocated, the waterfront rebuilt and the above pictured lonic portico was built. During the rock's many journey's, numerous pieces of the rock were taken, bought and sold. It is estimated the original Plymouth Rock weighed over 20,000 lbs. and only the top 1/3 remains. No pieces have been noticeably removed since 1880.

Across the street from the rock is this monument. It was here the Pilgrims buried their dead, in the night, in unmarked graves so the Indians would not know the small number of Pilgrims left in the hope they would not be attacked.

I soaked up every bit of information I came across, as you can tell by the intent look on my face. This was not Val's first trip to this memorial, can you tell? hehe I'm just teasing...she made the experience just that much more enjoyable because of her knowledge. The fan I am holding in my hand was from the Pilgrim Hall tour. The museum held a collection of furniture, books, armor, farming implements and personal items. There was even the remains of a 17th-century ship. The museum is saving up money to install A/C so I got that fan via a small donation and did it ever come in handy!

The Pilgrim's first winter in America was very harsh and half of the 102 Pilgrims died from starvation and disease. They only had time to build seven houses before winter arrived; the rest of the people slept on the Mayflower. The Pilgrims had never seen a log cabin before so they built what they knew from England, which were houses with thatched roofs. There was no glass to make windows so they used paper or cloth rubbed with chicken fat to let the light in. Fortunately, the Pilgrims soon became friends with the Indians who taught them to hunt and fish and how to plant crops. Because of this, more than expected survived the winter, and many winters to come.

This is Massasoit. His name is actually a title, Great Sachem, used by Ousamequin of the Wampanoag people. The tradition of Thanksgiving was adopted from this tribe and its interaction with the Pilgrims. It was this tribe who saved lives that first winter. About 3,000 Wampanoag still live in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

I cannot recall what this building is but it sure is pretty! The three of us took a leisurely stroll through town. Well, more correctly, Dyana and I took a leisurely stroll which tormented Val to no end. lol She is a gitter done kinda gal and at one point she literally walked in circles waiting for us to catch up. hehehe! Her husband, Mick, refers to it as full mall speed.

We also toured Plimoth Plantation. http://www.plimoth.org/

Here's a link to a virtual tour:

http://pilgrims.net/plimothplantation/vtour/

"You probably noticed the unusual spelling of "Plimoth". There were no rules for English spelling in the early 1600's and words were spelled as they sounded to the writer - sometimes several different ways on a single page. "Plimoth" was one of the spellings used by Plymouth Colony's second governor William Bradford in his history, Of Plymouth Plantation". I quoted the above from a booklet I purchased and since they explain it better than I can, I'll continue with the following:

"Plimoth Plantation is a living history museum of 17th-century Plymouth Colony. The museum is dedicated to presenting the separate and shared history of the native Wampanoag and the English colonists in all its complexity and differing perspectives. From recreated immersion environments and role-playing staff to craft demonstrations and traditional indoor exhibits, the museum uses a wide variety of techniques to connect modern visitors with people, communities and events of the past. The museum offers you the chance to personally experience the powerful stories of two distinctly different cultures. You are invited to interact with the knowledgeable staff members who will help you experience this fascinating history first-hand."

After an film orientation explaining what we were about to see, the first area we visited was Hobbamock's (Wampanoag) Village. The women in the above photo were cooking meat on a spit.

These young Indians were playing a game. They used sticks to toss around and catch some kind of cloth-filled object. They engaged visitors in their play.

It was a lot of fun watching them.

Isn't she the sweetest??

This young Indian boy scampered throughout the game circle. :o)

Val and Dyana are standing next to the side of a wetuash (a house). The Wampanoag made these houses, which were dome-shaped and covered with bark and cattail reed mats.

I took the above two pictures while we were walking the trail from the Wampanoag village to the Pilgrim village. What a view!

I believe this is a beasthouse. Farm animals were often housed in small shelters and that looks like it fits the bill.

Look at that impressive stack of wood! It made me think of that game, Jenga. lol

A rooster guarding his hens.

Inside one of the houses.

Life in the colony.

I believe this is "John Alden", who served as a cooper in the colony.

Towards the end of the tour I went inside the house of "Myles Standish" and met his wife, "Barbara". Barbara was Captain Standish's second wife. His first wife, Rose, unfortunately died that first winter. Barbara arrived in the colony a couple years later in 1623.

This experience was quite enjoyable and the "colonists" role-played very impressively. I was a little stumped in how to initiate conversations and wished I had a better memory of history lessons. That or paid closer attention in the first place. I was amused to see the expressions and responses the colonists had when a visitor asked a modern question. Things such as "where is a bathroom?" and "can I take your picture?" :o)

We ended our tour of Plimoth Plantation at the crafts center. It was a lot of fun watching people use the same techniques and types of tools used 400 years ago in England. We watched a basketmaker work on a willow basket, a joiner work on a furniture piece and saw finished pieces of pottery. There were other artisans at work as well, but I could only take in so much. It was hard to tear my attention away to move on to another area!

While Dyana and Val were waiting in line to pay for some things, I told them I would meet them by the truck. I got a little turned around and it took me a few minutes to find the exit. When I got outside there was an empty bench so I decided to wait for them there. It was immediately outside of the exit doors so I figured there would be no way to miss them. Right? That would have been the case if they hadn't decided to sneak underneath a chained off area to take a short-cut to the truck. See what happens when you break the rules?? Bad girls...

It was at that point I apparently became "lost." I entertained myself by reading through the booklet I bought upon beginning the tour and was only mildly curious why they were taking so long. There was a big gift shop between the craft center and exit and I figured they stopped in there. Unbeknownst to me, Val was driving her truck to a different parking lot to see if I was wandering around while Dyana was going on foot everywhere else. While I had my nose buried in my booklet, she actually walked right past me through the entrance doors. She saw the gentleman who had been sitting on that particular bench on that side since before I came outside but didn't turn her head enough to the right to notice me. lol She stopped at the restroom that is right by the entrance which made her pause enough to decide to go back outside instead of retracing steps all the way back through. I heard her say, "OMG, have you been sitting there the entire time??" By that time I had been "lost" for approximately 45 minutes. They were both good-natured about it but I know there must have been a level of annoyance wondering where the heck I disappeared to. I'm innocent, I tell ya!

Val had actually spent the night in Woonsocket the night before. That was the day she had dropped Mick off at the airport so he could return to the ship. There really wasn't enough room for Kevin and Mak to have three overnight guests so we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Woonsocket. Dyana and I were not unhappy about this need AT ALL. lol Dyana was sleeping on one of the most uncomfortable futons ever and I was sleeping on a blow-up mattress that the night before decided to die and I kept waking up on the floor. My idea of fun is not using a hand pump to put more air in a mattress at 3:30 A.M.

Makalah passed on going back to Plymouth with us, which is why it was just the three of us exploring Plimoth Plantation. We followed Val to Plymouth in Makalah's car since we were officially parting ways that day. After we finished with the tour, she drove us to the lot we had left the car in.

We had lunch at The Lobster Hut before we went to the plantation. We had wonderful, delectable, lobster rolls. The clam chowder was also very good. mmmmmmm

This is Provincetown. This and the upcoming pictures should have been up above on the day Kevin, Mak, Dy and I went to Plymouth the first trip, the same day we met up with Mick and Val on Monday, June 26th. I'm not going to try to figure out a place to stick these though. That was a big day for us, exploring Plymouth and then driving to Provincetown. It was late by the time we got back to Woonsocket.

I also forgot to mention that before we left for Provincetown, we found Plymouth Bay Winery. The owner of the winery was very charming and put on a nice wine tasting. I bought a bottle of his Widow's Walk, semi-dry fruit white wine. http://pilgrims.net/plymouth/baywine.htm

We ate dinner outside and upstairs at a restaurant I cannot remember the name of. That's ok, I don't think I would recommend them anyway. The food wasn't bad, but I ended up feeling duped. I decided to choose this meal to do my big "splurge" so it was kind of a big deal.

This was our waiter. And yes, I was wearing one of those cheesy lobster bibs. He had given me his card of his other gig and I had planned on scanning it to share, but I don't know where I put it at the moment. He goes into full body make-up in the most interesting designs.

Around 8:00 P.M. we began our trek back to the car.

Kevin *hates* to pay for parking. I'm all for saving a buck but he takes it to the extreme. lol I am so not kidding. Our round trip walking portion of P-Town was over two hours. I'm not talking about the actual walking around town part. No no no no nooooooo...I'm talking about walking from the car into town and then leaving town to walk back to the car. I bet there was a little part of him regretting it on the way back. He was so exhausted from too much work and not enough sleep that he could barely walk in a straight line.

I loved Provincetown! It is utterly charming and eclectic and wonderful. I would love to have a summer house there. :o)

Kevin put on a BBQ. His mom (Kathy) and youngest sister (April), his uncle (Brian) and wife (Stacey), and Bill (he was the best man) all came.

While the meat was cooking, Kevin split open the watermelon with an axe and Stacey did her best to get out of the line of fire.

Brian grabbed some more hamburger patties to throw on the barbie and Kevin finished cutting up the watermelon.

And an excellent watermelon it was. I had two pieces. mmmmm

Makalah and a sleeping Izzy.

"Whattchoo lookin' at??" ;o) This is Kathy and April.

Earlier, Dyana and I were walking across the street to buy lighter fluid to get the BBQ going when somebody shouted out from their car, "Hey, you hookers walk back to California!" Surprised, I turned to Dyana and asked, "How'd they know we're from California?" hehehe! (It was Kathy)

"The Old North Church, or Christ Church, built by Episcopalians in 1723, is the oldest church now standing in Boston. The brick building is 70 by 50 feet in dimensions, and the steeple is 173 feet high. The steeple accurately represents one that was blown down in 1804. The tower contains a fine chime, brought from England, and is said to be the oldest in America. King George II gave a Bible, prayer books, and silver to the church in 1733. The figures of cherubim in front of the organ and the chandeliers, were taken from a French vessel by the privateer ship 'Queen of Hungary,' and presented to the church in 1746. A tablet was placed on the front of the Church in 1878, bearing the following inscription: 'The signal lanterns of Paul Revere displayed in the steeple of this church, April 18,1775, warned the country of the march of the British Troops to Lexington and Concord." (copied from the following website): http://www.celebrateboston.com/sites/oldnorthchurch.htm

This day is Friday, June 30th. We are in Boston and it was Kevin's birthday! For his birthday we parked Kevin-style, 150,000 miles away from the beginning of the Boston Freedom Trail via walking across the Charlestown bridge.

The Freedom Trail is 2.5 miles long, uphill, both ways. It is really cool though and I was excited to see everything. You follow a strip of red brick and it takes you through Beacon Hill, downtown Boston, the North End and Charlestown.

A statue of a monk as we approached Faneuil Hall. I don't remember if he is anyone of particular interest. My brain can only retain so much information, yanno?

Faneuil Hall (where we were initially trying to find "Nathaniel" Hall..Hi Kevin! ;o) ) has been a marketplace and meeting hall since 1742. It is the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis and others encouraging independence from England. It is sometimes known as "The Cradle of Liberty."

Three other buildings in this marketplace are North Market, Quincy Market, and South Market. They all, including Faneuil Hall, operate as indoor/outdoor malls and food eateries. We chose Quincy Market to buy our lunch and then made our way outdoors. We were fortunate to find an empty bench where all four of us could sit.

We heard music start up several yards behind us and I heard murmurs of, "Oh, they're back!" which was enough to entice me to go look. I was in possession of the video camera and was able to capture part of one of the street performer acts we saw that day. They were a group of dancers and they did a great job! Perhaps one of these days I'll borrow Dyana's video camera and see if I can capture some stills from all the performances we saw that day so I can share them here.

Paul Revere!

Making our way to Paul Revere's house.

Paul Revere's house and street. This house is Boston's last surviving 17th-century house.

Before we got to this part of the Freedom Trail we wandered through Copp's Hill Burial Ground. The gravestones are reproduced, which is understandable. I'm sure the original ones had been falling apart.

New England Holocaust Memorial. There are six glass towers, each 54 feet tall. We were there during the day so we didn't have the opportunity to see the way they are lit up within at night. The glass towers are set on a black granite path, each one over a dark chamber which carries the name of one of the principle Nazi death camps. Smoke rises from charred embers at the bottom of these chambers.

Six million names are etched in the glass and along the base of each tower with quotes from some of the survivors. It was a very sobering experience for me.

Here is a long distance shot of the top of Faneuil Hall. The grasshopper weathervane is a well known symbol of Boston. During the Revolutionary War, it was the answer to a challenge question issued by Colonial soldiers: "What sits atop Faneuil Hall?" If the swift reply was not, "Why, a grasshopper, of course!", there would be trouble.

We also saw the Old State House, built in 1712 and the site of the Boston Massacre that happened on March 5, 1770. There was just so much to see and not enough time to see them.

As we were winding our way on the trail, we found gelato! mmmmmm! One of the people from my e-mail group that I mentioned way up above, her daughter spent some time in Italy a couple summers ago and had kept a diary of her days. It was such fun to read how her days were unfolding. I recalled how she fell in love with gelato, so we bought some in little cups to eat as we walked. There were many choices and I got a little bit of three kinds, as did Dyana and Makalah. We shared our flavors with each other and although all of them were good, I think we all agreed the lemon gelato was to die for. :o)

I was looking wistfully at the passing tour buses and trolleys at this point. It was too far into the day to logistically go on one but if I ever go back that is the way I'm going to do it. We saw some people walking around wearing stick on name tags with the name of a tour bus company so we asked them if they were able to hop off the bus anytime they wanted to explore and get back on. They said yes, indeed! So that is cool. That is the primary reason we didn't do it at the beginning because we wanted to be able to explore and not just watch buildings as we rode by. Not all of them offer this option though, so if you go and want to do this, ask first. Then, near the Old State house, we saw an unusual looking bus drive by. It is called Duck Tours and is both a tour on land and water. How cool is that??

Retracing our steps to the car, we took a short break. This is the same area where I took the picture of the kids standing next to the statue of the monk. They looked so sweet sitting there I couldn't resist sneaking in this shot.

I caught Kevin giving his wife a kiss.

To their surprise. hehe :o)

Before we took this break, we walked through an open-air produce market. It was craziness, all the vendors shouting over each other. Dyana was particularly tickled by the man shouting, "Waaaatamelluuun, gitcher waaaatamelluuuns heah!" She wasn't so much amused when a vendor yelled at her when she picked up an ear of corn to feel it and see if she could get a look beyond the tassles. Geezle, she wasn't peeling any of it back or anything! He was MEAN!

Here is the harbor and marina next to the Charlestown Bridge. We were walking back over it to the car to drive to our next spot, Kevin's birthday dinner.

When I stopped to take the pictures from the bridge, I looked down and saw tons and tons of jellyfish. There were groupings of a dozen or more of all different sizes running nearly the length of the bridge. This was one of the larger ones close enough to the surface to capture a good shot.

This is the King of Medieval Manor.

Kevin's birthday dinner was celebrated at this musical theatre dinner show and was hilarious! I wouldn't recommend it for children as it was pretty bawdy, although the manner they did it, most of it would probably go right over their heads.

There was an oaf.

And a jester.

Along with a minstrel and wenches!

Kevin and Makalah ended up on stage singing and performing, "I'm A Little Teapot," led by the jester.

Sadly, the battery died in both cameras, so these are all the pictures we were able to take. :o( So I don't have a photo of the squire who recited a poem about Cinderella. It was a hoot! He recited this poem at a fast pace, switching letters around on the key words in each sentence.

You had to get permission from the king to leave the room. After the first wave of people walked up to him to ask permission he began to grant regular breaks to the room as a whole. Thank goodness! I'm all for a bit of fun, but, nuh-uh! Not me! hehe

As guests of the king, we were served a six-course banquet. This included loaves of bread and bowls of dragon soup (a spicy tomato), shellfish (shrimp and oysters), salad and beef ribs. The final course was roasted chicken and steamed vegetables. All eaten without, of course, knives, forks or spoons.

It was a lot of fun!

Over the following weekend, Kevin's mom, Kathy, invited us to a community fireworks display at a big park. We got there not too long before dark and from a distance we could see and hear the tail-end of a band playing. There were a few different food vendors there and we chose Nathan's. The girl taking our hotdog orders was a snot.

We also got a Del's lemonade which was pretty good although a little watery. The night Val stayed in Woonsocket and we spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express, we went on a search for an actual Del's store. We found one, but to Dyana's great disappointment they were already closed for the night.

Here's the proof we tried!

Dyana and I said our good-byes to Izzy Monday afternoon, July 3rd. Kevin and Makalah drove us to the hotel near the Providence airport. Our flight was leaving at 6:30 A.M. the next morning so it was just easier for everyone to go this route. They helped us get our luggage to our room, gave us big hugs and off they went.

There was a restaurant right across the street from the hotel that was highly recommended to us and I was so looking forward to one last opportunity for east coast seafood. Unfortunately we listened to the desk clerk tell us of a different restaurant a short walk away that is popular with the locals and is not quite as expensive. BIG mistake. The food was lousy. :o(

We repacked our suitcases when we got back and were in bed for the night somewhere between 5:00 and 6:00 P.M. Dyana fell asleep pretty quick. Me, not so fast. I just have the toughest time sleeping before a big travel day. When our wake-up call came at 3:30 A.M., it about killed me. I stumbled downstairs and got some bad coffee (where is Tim Horton's when you need him??). We got to the airport in a timely manner which was a very good thing as you may recall me mentioning us having to repack into an additional duffel.

We arrived at LAX after an uneventful flight (yay!) around 11:10 A.M. (20 minutes early!) and Greg was there waiting for us. I could tell he *really* missed his wife a lot. Truth be told, she missed him, too, and started whining about it a few days before we went home. lol It was very sweet. :o)

This has been fun, remembering everything! I know I am not recalling everything that happened, so I may pop up with another story or two down the road. And then there are a few stories I do remember but I am unsure how well they would translate here... would they only be funny to us and more of the you-had-to-be-there variety? So, we'll see. :o)

And that is the end of our story, road trip and memories, new and old.

I hope you enjoyed reading about it!

Love,

Janet