Ocotber 9, 2011

We arrived at our house after taking the 2pm ferry on Thursday, October 6. We were glad to be home and we had a wonderful trip. We drove a little over 8,600 miles, traveled through and/or stayed in 25 states, not counting Washington, and created a lot of wonderful memories. We had a tremendous time and lots of fun with Barb and Dick. We were fortunate to have spent some time with Carol Kodiak and Chad and Jennifer and Jackson. We enjoyed a couple of great evenings with Shelane and Andy and Harley. We were thrilled to have spent several hours with Scott and Beth in Cincinnati and to eat at a Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives place with them, Terry's Turf Club. They are such gracious hosts! Such fun! Rose and Barb became experts at searching for hotels on Trip Advisor and scoping out the best places to stay. They were equally adept at steering us away from not-so-good places, like the Provincetown Inn... We were a week or two early to see the spectacular colors, so we just saw the beautiful colors. Together we saw the covered bridges in Indiana, Falling Water in Pennsylvania, Greenbrier in West Virginia, Lexington Virginia, Gettsyburg Pennsylvania, Cape Cod and Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and all places in between. The four of us ate fresh lobster at a Hyannis restaurant called Spanky's. We even drove through Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel as I took a wrong turn. Rose and Barb steered us to various Starbucks across the country so we could buy the collector city mugs. They would look online, find Starbucks stores, and call and see if they had mugs. They were successful and we purchased Indianapolis, Ohio, Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh. We had lots of fun with that. When we were by ourselves Rose and I had a great time enjoying the vast splendor of our country. From the high plaines of western Montana to the lush valleys of the Adirondacks we were constantly amazed and surprised by a never-ending display of beauty and history. We visited the Little Big Horn, Mount Rushmore, crossed the Missouri and Mississippi in the same day, cruised the Wisconsin river in Wisconsin Dells, saw LL Bean in Freeport Maine, walked along the Erie Canal on the path used by oxen to pull the boats, stood at the overlook and marveled at the power of Niagara Falls, counted one-hundred trillion corn stalks through Iowa and Nebrasks, pretty much followed the Oregon Trail through Wyoming on US Rt. 30/I-80, were stunned by the beauty of the Snake River Gorge at Twin Falls, and finally were reminded of the beauty of Washington state as we drove along the Columbia on our way to East Wenatchee on the way home. We picked Annie up on Friday and she was glad to see us, and we her. If we don't stay in a hotel room for a while, it will be OK with us! Thanks for following along on our trip.