North Carolina to Atlantic City!

This will be a catch-up post for the last couple of days. Sorry there was no update yesterday, but the day just got away from me!

We drove from North Carolina to Virginia to stay with my brother, Jay and his wife Ija. It was another boring Interstate highway day, but an easy drive of only about 380 miles. Since it was a fairly short drive we would have arrived long before they got home from work, so we decided to stop in Fredricksburg for a few hours. What a beautiful town! Very old, historic buildings, brick sidewalks, lots of shops and restaurants, and plenty to see and do. We had lunch at The Capital Ale House, a great pub with delicious food and a fun bar. It's made of concrete and there's a strip of ice that runs along the whole length to keep your beer nice and cold! Plus they had the friendliest bartender ever! After lunch we walked the downtown area for a while, and Rick did some bench-sitting while I poked around in some antique shops. There are a lot of museums and tours available, but we opted not to do those and just spent a quiet, relaxing afternoon looking around. We had a nice visit with Jay and Ija, with another wonderful home-cooked meal of steaks on the grill, good conversation and lots of laughs. I wish we could have spent more time with them, but we enjoyed our visit and it was good to see them both.

We decided to end our trip with a fun night, so today's plan was to drive to Lewes, DE, catch the ferry to Cape May, NJ and continue on to Atlantic City. We drove Jay into DC for work since we were heading in that direction, and it allowed us to use the HOV lane so we could avoid sitting in the rush hour traffic. If you've ever seen the traffic around there you'll understand what a great plan that was! We made good time, stopped for breakfast along the way, and arrived at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare for the 12:45 boat. Once we were in Cape May we had just a short drive to Atlantic City. One more sign that we're getting closer to home was that we used our EZ-Pass for the first time since around Illinois! We're staying at Showboat, and the room is very nice, but Atlantic City is looking a bit tired. We took a walk along the Boardwalk and onto the beach before dinner, and maybe it was because it's so late in the season but everything seemed just a bit run down...more so than the last time we were here. It's still a fun place, it just looked sort of sad I thought. It's been a nice day, and we managed to avoid part of that long drive up 95 North. For now, I'm heading back to the casino for one last try at the slots!

This link should take you to the photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/lyons.da/CrossCountry2009Days2930?authkey=Gv1sRgCNDRlMLxx-fCUw&feat=directlink

We'll be home tomorrow...YAY!!! Can't wait to see good old Cape Cod! It's been an incredible trip but as Dorothy said, "There's no place like home"!

Fireworks & "Jesus Saves" in the Carolinas

This is a picture of the sky here tonight...so pretty!

Much as we enjoyed visiting with Jen and Mike, our time in Atlanta came to an end today. Mike left for work, we dropped Jen off at Emory and by 10:30 we were on I-85 N headed for Gastonia, NC where we had a room reserved for the night. All in all it was another boring drive on an Interstate, but it was uneventful and we arrived safely so all was well! I-85 was an easy drive, as Rick said "This is a good road!" and we only had to drive a little over 200 miles today. The road is lined with billboards, billboards, billboards! Lots of signs for fireworks, peaches, rugs, and we saw lots and lots of churches & "Jesus Saves" signs. We arrived at our hotel by 2:30, & lo and behold...there's a "Jesus Saves" Seminar tonight in one of their meeting rooms! They're serious about religion here in the South!

We relaxed for a while, got the car washed, and went to dinner at a local chain...like the 99...with good food & good service. When we went out to the car we spotted this gorgeous, mint condition, vintage Mustang parked next to us. It was a beauty! Reminds me of the one my brother had back in the day! Came back to the hotel, dodged the Jesus Seminar and are tucked in for an early evening. Tomorrow we head to Jay & Ija's for the night and will head further north the next day, possibly via a ferry & a casino. More on that later!

Oh, just a few stats since our trip is coming to a close. As of today: 28 days...8,718 miles...303 gallons of gas...and a lifetime of memories. We'll add a few more states, miles & gallons to those totals by the time we're home!

Cokes & Dogs in Atlanta

We've enjoyed our visit here in Atlanta. Yesterday we toured Emory University so Rick could see where Jen spends so much of her time. We saw the Art Department, a couple of classrooms, and the library...such a nice campus. After our tour we had lunch at a cafe before heading into downtown Atlanta. Our first stop was the World of Coke. We weren't quite sure what to expect there, but it turned out to be fun. There are a couple of movies, the first one as you enter is to get you into a "Happy" frame of mind and the other is 4-D with moving seats and special effects. A huge collection of Coca Cola memorabilia is spread throughout the exhibits, and examples of how their marketing program really launched the company. The finishing touch is the tasting room, where we got to sample Coke products from all over the world...lots and lots of them! There were 64 different ones to taste! It was fun watching all the little kids get ramped up! We finished up our

day in the city with a stop at a tavern overlooking Piedmont Park. We sat outside in the sunshine and enjoyed a couple of cold ones watching tons of people having fun. Great people-watching spot! This particular tavern allows customers to bring their dogs with them, and it seems to be the thing to do. There were lots of them! I was amazed at how well-behaved all the dogs were, and it was funny to watch them interact with each other. Then it was back to Jen & Mike's for a pasta dinner...our first home-cooked meal since we left home! I wish we had time for a longer visit, but today we're hitting the road to head home! We'll stay somewhere in NC tonight, stop at Jay and Ija's for a night, and should arrive back on the Cape sometime on Thursday.

Hello From Atlanta!

We arrived in Atlanta this morning at around 10:30, and made our way to Jen & Mike's house. It's so good to see them! Their new house is adorable...it's a cute bungalow in a great neighborhood. Jen showed us around the little square near their house...cute restaurants, coffee shops & such. It started raining pretty hard, but it's warm...just very wet! Rick and Mike stayed in and watched the Red Sox/Yankees game...Rick was in heaven! He's missed watching the games while we've been away. Jen and I decided a rainy day was perfect for the movies, so we went into town and saw Julie & Julia. I liked it much better than the book, and Meryl Streep was awesome as Julia Child. Definitely Oscar material! Tonight we went out for dinner at a nice restaurant, Watershed, where we had a fabulous meal. After dinner we walked to Decatur Square for a drink, then back home to relax. It was so nice to not be in the car all day...we drove 900+ miles in the last two days!

Louisiana - Mississippi - Alabama

Our day started out poorly today...breakfast at our hotel was no good! The coffee pot was empty, choices were poor, and we decided to move on. Our choices for breakfast in the area were Shoney's and Waffle House. If you've been in the South you may know them...neither is very good...we chose Waffle House. I had a great time watching Rick's reaction! Our waitress was sporting bright, bubble-gum pink eye shadow and matching earrings...it was quite an eyeful! Our breakfast was not the greatest...as Rick said at one point, "They use a LOT of butter here"! But, everyone should experience Waffle House once. Only once! Moving on...

We had to cover a lot of miles today on a lot of different roads...I think all in all we drove on six different Interstate highways! I-10 out of Louisana was the most interesting. We had to drive about 20 miles, between Lafayette and Baton Rouge, on elevated roads over swamps. The road is part of the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, according to a guide book, crossing America's largest swamp. The road sits up on concrete stilts, with two lanes separated by an expanse in the middle over murky-looking watery muck with more swamp to the sides. Very wierd to drive along looking at treetops knowing that beneath you is a swamp full of alligators and whatever else lives in that swamp! It's an eerily attractive landscape, with a beautiful array of colors from blues to greens.
Not much else to report today. We had another boring day driving the Interstate highways. Not very exciting...but we covered the ground we needed to. We're both looking forward to our visit with Jen and Mike, and should arrive at their house early tomorrow morning. It will be a fun couple of days, then we're making tracks for Massachusetts. It's time to come home! This has been an amazing trip, but we're both ready to get back to our normal routine.

Texas to Louisiana

Last night we had a great time on the Riverwalk, even though it rained. I think the rain probably kept some people away, but with umbrella in hand we still enjoyed the evening. We walked around for a while trying to decide where to eat and settled on a barbecue place, City Line. The atmosphere was fun & comfortable...lots of brick & wood. I'm not sure how it would rate with barbecue "experts" but we thought it was great. After a good meal we meandered along the Riverwalk for a while, and when the rain began to pick up decided to get inside for a while. We walked up to street level and went to Howl at the Moon. What a great time! It's a rock & roll duelling piano show, with four piano players who alternate in and out, along with a couple of guitars, drums and a horn player to fill things out. The music is non-stop, anything from the 70's to today, with requests from the crowd and they keep the place hopping. There is a mirror behind the stage where customers can pay to have a "Phrase of the Night" put up...so I couldn't resist. We Are Highly Mobile made the board! It was a fun night, but we paid today and we were both pretty tired. So sad to get old! :)

Today was another travel day, uneventful and pretty boring. We needed to restock our cooler, so we stopped at a couple of small towns along the way looking for a grocery store. Found one that was pretty bad and we actually walked out empty handed! The second try was better and we managed to pick up what we needed. We've been having picnic lunches at rest areas along the Interstates and have had very good luck with them. There are usually nice picnic tables with shaded shelters and restrooms...until today. The only rest area we found was so bad we left and ate at a Cracker Barrel down the road. Other than that, except for a stressful ride through Houston traffic it was just an easy, but fairly boring, ride down the Interstate. We had dinner tonight at a Texas Roadhouse...good food and a nice chat with the bartender...then back to the hotel for an early night. Tomorrow night we'll stay in Birmingham, then on to Atlanta for a couple of days with Jen & Mike. It will be nice to see them!

History & Horns in San Antonio

We're enjoying our stay in San Antonio. It's a great city with a lot to see and do but, unfortunately, we only have time to see and do a little! We had a nice breakfast at our hotel and hit the sidewalk to do some sightseeing. We began with the Alamo, and a dose of Texas history. We were a bit surprised by the Alamo...it's smack in the middle of the city. Not what we had pictured at all, but it was a great stop. We did the audio tour, and it's well worth the small cost. Listening to the stories gave a much better experience than just walking around on our own, and made it seem to come to life. There is so much to the story...both fact and legend! Then we spent a little time looking around in the museum and watched a video that gave even more of the history behind the shrine. After we left the Alamo we went to lunch at Schilo's, a local delicatessen. What a great meal we had. It's a good old-fashioned deli, very much like you would find in New York. Super food, service & atmosphere in a terrific old building. Really hit the spot!

Next, we decided to see what the Buckhorn Saloon & Museum was all about. Incredible! They have the biggest collection I've ever seen of exhibits about "Wildlife and the Wild West". Everywhere you look, as Rick put it, is taxidermy heaven. I've never seen so many horns! It all started in 1881 when the owner offered to trade deer horns for a beer or a shot of whiskey! They must have had to give out a lot of beers because there are horns everywhere. The entire second floor of the museum is almost entirely made up of collections of animals from all over the world, including a gorilla, lions, and so many more. A Texas Rangers Museum, huge exhibit of old-west items, gun collection and a curio shop complete this, as one brochure calls it, "totally Texas complex".

The Riverwalk, however, is by far my favorite part of San Antonio. It is so pretty with gorgeous trees, plants and architecture all along that I could just walk for hours. Restaurants, bars and shops line the banks of the river, and there are lots people strolling along so it's a very festive atmosphere. Yesterday we had an early dinner at an Irish Pub, then walked for a bit before heading back to the hotel. We'll spend the evening on the Riverwalk tonight...dinner and maybe drinks at one of the clubs so we can see it at night. It must be spectacular when the lights come on! The only problem will be choosing which restaurant to eat at! I only wish we had more time to spend in San Antonio, but I'm enjoying my "Taste of Texas"!