A Busy Spring!

03/25/2024 – 05/18/2024

As I sit here thinking of what to write about other than the eclipse, I realize that we had a pretty busy spring. At first, I’m thinking, we didn’t really do too much while we were in North Carolina. That part is true, we did not do too much IN North Carolina but we did do a lot over the last 7 weeks. Yes, we had a GREAT time visiting with my in-laws (mom, dad, brother, sister and nephews). We celebrated Easter and Mother’s Day together (no pictures ☹) and were treated to a jazz concert, led by my brother in-law, in his cul-de-sac. I also finished quilting a tablecloth I started almost 3 years ago!

But…the exciting stuff happened outside of North Carolina. On a whim, we flew to Oklahoma City to surprise our youngest boy and his family. Then we took a planned but spontaneous road trip in search of the best viewing spot for the Total Solar Eclipse, which happened to fall on a very important milestone for us… OUR 35^TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! We also celebrated 1000 days living in our RV. WOW! And we finished up with a 2-week trip to the Portland OR area to visit with both our boys before we head out on our summer adventures in the northeastern part of the US (and maybe a little further 😉) So, yes, we had a busy spring!

OKC

I suppose its okay to say now, Jefferey and his family have decided to leave Portland and the Pacific Northwest. After a lot of looking around, they have narrowed their new home down to Oklahoma City or Little Rock. It is now time for them to visit each city and see which one best suits their wants, needs and desires.

It’s spring break and they are flying into OKC and driving to Little Rock to do a little reconnaissance. Bill and I are currently in North Carolina, it’s a Friday afternoon and out of the blue, he asks me, “Hey, you want to fly to OKC tomorrow and surprise Jefferey? Have lunch with them and then come home?”  So… we make a few phone calls, get out the overnight bag and make some plans.

Surprise!

Everything worked as planned and we were able to get on all the flights that would get us to OKC before Jefferey’s plane. We surprised them as they got off and I think Jefferey’s comment was, “What are you doing here?” Oh, we just came to have lunch with you.

Change of Plans

Then events took a turn that eventually led to us taking a 5-hour ride to Little Rock with them. Their plane was a little late, a piece of luggage got lost, there was a very long line at the rental car counter and the restaurant we planned to eat at was closed. All this led to us not being able to make our flight out of OKC. Hey Jefferey, can we go to Little Rock with you and we’ll fly home tomorrow? Jefferey and Jess were more than okay having some company on the ride to Little Rock and it gave us 5 hours to visit! HAHAHA! A little more than we planned, but I’ll never be sorry to spend time with my kiddos.

It was a good time! Oh and Jefferey and Jess decided the Little Rock area fit their needs perfectly. They will be moving at the end of June and we will be flying back out to help with the drive. We are excited for them and this new chapter in their lives. However, this leaves our oldest in Portland with no family close by. That makes me sad.

Road Trip!

It’s not very often we get to travel with no plans, but that is exactly what we did the week of the eclipse. Back in 2017 we witnessed our first total solar eclipse in the zone of totality when we lived in Oregon. The total eclipse lasted 1 minute and 30 seconds and it was phenomenal! After it was over, Bill and I both looked at each other and said, “When and where is the next solar eclipse? We have to be there!”

As soon as we got home, Bill looked it up… April 8, 2024. Our anniversary, our 35^th anniversary to be exact. It was decided then and there, we were going to celebrate our special day watching the eclipse, wherever that might be.

Fast forward 7 years and we are off on another adventure. No plans and no reservations, just a full tank of gas, a suitcase and a cooler loaded with snacks and drinks. Kona is spending the week with Grandma, Grandpa and cousin Bella. Bill has been keeping a very close eye on the weather in the totality zone all week and decides Vermont is going to be the best viewing area. Alright, let’s go! Vacation has begun!

Saturday

We are up and on the road by 8AM. Our goal for the day is to get to Binghamton, NY. Why Binghamton, you ask? Well, because there is this restaurant, Michelangelo’s, there that has THE BEST Chicken Parm, or so I hear. If you have learned anything about us, it’s that we like really good food and will go out of our way to get it. Bill ate there many years ago when he was doing some work in the area and says it is hands down the best he’s had… and he’s had a lot of chicken parm. LOL.

We travelled through Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and made it to New York just in time for dinner! Our route up was mostly interstate since we were on a mission, but we still passed some beautiful scenery.

Bill was not lying about the food at Michelangelo’s. The chicken parm was as big as his arm! And it was delicious!! I had the baked ziti and it was pretty tasty too! And the garlic knots? My mouth is watering all over again. If you are ever in the area, or not, look up Michelangelo’s for some Italian food, you will not be disappointed or hungry when you leave! 😊 Time to find a place to lay our weary heads.

Sunday

After a good night’s sleep, Bill is on his phone checking the latest weather updates. Looks like there is going to be some light cloud coverage now in Burlington VT, but New Hampshire is looking good. We started checking for hotels near Vermont but also in close proximity to New Hampshire if that’s where we decide to go. We find there is still some availability but the rates are over $300/night! Yes, we were expecting this but were not willing to pay it. So, we decided to stay down near Manchester and get up early and drive on Monday. Both of our possible viewing sites are about the same distance away and it will be a game time decision.

As we headed for Manchester, we called an old friend who lives about an hour away in Massachusetts and stopped in for a visit. It’s been several years since we’ve seen Ron and it was awesome to catch up!

Time for lights out, but not before checking the weather one more time. Bill has our spot picked out along a small little mountain lake along US-3, 1-mile south of the Canadian border! In my mind, I’m thinking we are going to be the only ones out there since this place is so remote.

Monday aka ECLIPSE DAY!!! (and our 35^th anniversary)

Not only is it eclipse day, it is also our anniversary. Yep, 35 years ago today, a couple of young kids (I was barely 20) said “I Do” and started our adventures together. We’ve had a lot of GREAT times together and we’ve also hit a few bumps in the road but there is no one else I would want to ride life’s crazy roller coaster with than this guy! Love ya, Sweetie!

It was an early rise and shine so we could get breakfast and get on the road. There was a little buzz of excitement in the hotel breakfast area. We sat next to some brothers that flew in from Texas the night before and they were headed to Maine. They were in the path of totality but Dallas was supposed to be covered in clouds, so they hopped on a plane and rented a car to drive to Maine. (See we are not the only eclipse nuts out here!)

7AM rolls around and it is time to get on the road, we have a 3.5-hour drive ahead of us, without traffic, and we have no idea what that will be like as we get closer to “the zone”. The drive north was great, hardly any traffic and we were beginning to wonder where everyone was… That thought was answered as we entered the White Mountains and traffic stopped. STOPPED! We found the eclipse traffic, or so we thought. It turned out that the freeway merged into one lane near Franconia Notch in the White Mountains. No construction, no closed lanes, the freeway, literally became a two-lane highway for about 3 miles. After this section, we were home free and going 70mph again. Yay!

As we got closer to our remote little lake, we began to see more and more people parked along the road, in parking lots and along lakesides. We are scouting back-up sites as we continue to drive out to the lake…just in case.

It turns out we did not a “just in case” site. The lake was perfect! But… we were not the only ones out there, LOL. We unloaded our chairs, snacks, wine to toast this special day and whatever else we could carry and made our way through the melty, slushy snow on to the frozen lake and set up camp for the day. There was even a nice little screen of trees that made a nice “necessary” 😉 Everything is perfect and not a cloud in the sky! WAY TO GO BILL!!!!

Showtime!

We cracked open our bottle of wine once the moon started moving across the sun. Slowly the sky started getting darker and then the magic happened. The moon passed between the earth and sun and for 3 minutes and 30 seconds we experienced the zone of totality. The feeling that overcomes you as you remove your glasses and gaze at moon and sun above is indescribable. Euphoria? Surrealism? It is definitely magical and emotions you cannot describe overcome you, at least they did for me and Bill said the same thing. People around us were howling, singing, dancing and crying. I was trying to capture the moment on film then caught myself. I said to myself, “You’ve got your pictures, put the phone down and live in the moment before it is over.” And that is exactly what I did.

The moment was incredible! The sky was a deep dark blue, with a soft peachy horizon. Some stars made an appearance and Venus was shining bright. The winds picked up and nature was quiet. Then all of a sudden, the diamond ring appeared as the moon moved off and the sun began to reappear. Then just as quickly as it went dark, it was daylight again and the skies were a perfect brilliant blue. Utterly AMAZING! Click here to see a time lapse video Bill made of the eclipse.

If you EVER have a chance to see a total solar eclipse from the zone of totality, DO IT! The experience is one you will never forget. We are already planning to see the next one on August 23, 2044. The zone of totality will be right in my hometown near Tampa FL as well as Bill’s hometown on the Space Coast of FL.

While enjoying the sunshine again and watching the moon move away from the sun, we thought it would be a good idea to figure out where we would spend the night tonight. Bill says, “How do you feel about Portland?” “Maine?” I say. That seems so far away but okay, let’s go. Normally, it would take just under 4 hours to get there, but with the eclipse traffic, I think it took us closer to 6. Bill booked a hotel as I drove and we pulled in about 10PM that night. We were exhausted.

Tuesday – Maine

Lighthouses

As always, we pack as much as we can into a day. We started our day at the Portland Head Lighthouse, which is Maines most photographed lighthouse, then continued on to visit two more lighthouses. What is the draw with lighthouses? I love the rocky shorelines they protect, or I guess it is the ships at sea they are protecting from the rocky shorelines. Whichever, they are all different and have their own stories. I enjoy finding and photographing them.

Lob-stah Rolls

We returned to Portland and walked along the cobblestone streets of the waterfront before stopping in to get a fresh Lobster roll and yes you have to say “Lob-stah” 😊 They were AMAZING! 6 ounces of fresh lobster meat, tossed lightly with mayonnaise served in a lightly toasted roll. There goes my mouth watering again… There is no price on the menu for these and we did not ask, so when the bill came, we laughed. Each sandwich cost $37! Have you ever had a $37 sandwich? I can’t say that I have. But you have to do it once when you come to Maine and this is a special occasion trip. (See I can always justify any expenditure)

Whoopie Pies

One last treat before leaving Maine, a whoopie pie. A Whoopie pie is made of a delicious cream sandwiched between two chocolate cookie/cake like mounds. There is some controversy over which state created the Whoopie Pie and which are the best. Maine or Pennsylvania?

According to several articles I have read, the Whoopie Pie was first made in Maine in the 1920’s. It did not start appearing in Pennsylvania until the 1980’s. As for the best? I’ll have to get back with you on that one. We will be in Pennsylvania this summer and will definitely seek one out. In the meantime, the one we had from Two Fat Cats Bakery was pretty tasty. The cookie had a little bit of a “bite” to it, while the center was “chewy”, but not like a brownie chewy. The cream was heavenly. I’m happy to keep taste testing these confections… just sayin!

Wednesday – Vermont & Connecticut

Vermont is famous for what? That’s right, maple syrup! Vermont is the largest maple syrup producer in the United States. In 2023, they produced over two million gallons of syrup! We are now the proud owners of one-half gallon of that yummy delicious syrup!

While Bill was driving and I was googling, I discovered we might be able to visit a farm and see how the syrup is made. Score! Ever since watching “Newhart” in the 80’s, I’ve wanted to own a Bed and Breakfast in Vermont and visit a Maple Syrup farm. Don’t laugh… it was a thing. I’m over it, though. Well the owning of a bed and breakfast part of it, anyway. Roaming through the woods and seeing those little buckets hanging from the trees collecting sap still sounds like a good time, though.

I found us a farm to visit that was on our route home. Wait, what? We don’t have a route home, so this works out perfectly. Since we took the freeways up, we decided to take the backroads home. The backroads are much more fun.

Sugarbush Farm

Sugarbush Farm is a small family farm located in Woodstock Vermont. They offer a self-guided tour of their farm and offer maple syrup tastings. They did a very good job of explaining the process they use to tap their trees, gather the sap and make the syrup.

Much to my disappointment, many of the farms do not use the buckets anymore. Instead, they use a tube system. The trees are tapped and a small spout is inserted into the hole. Rubber tubing is attached to the spout and connected to tubing from several other trees. This tubing runs to a larger sap line that in turn connects to a large plastic pipe. The pipe runs downhill to a collection vat. The collection vat is emptied once a day into two larger vats at the sugar house. Once the trees are finished producing sap, all the collected sap is boiled down into syrup and bottled. At the end of the sugaring season, the spouts are removed and the hole heals. A new hole is drilled in a new location during the next sugaring season.

I knew it was probably too late in the season to see the “sugaring” but I thought we might get to see the syrup making process. We were about 2 weeks too late. Oh well. It was still very interesting to learn how the sap is collected and processed. The best part was tasting the end product.

I will share a few tidbits I learned:

• It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.
• Each tree produces about 10 gallons of sap in one season.
• A tree needs to be about 40 years old before it can be tapped but will continue to produce sap the remainder of its life, sometimes over 200 years!
• Maple syrup has a shelf life of 21 years when it is unopened and stored in a cool, dark place.
• Opened maple syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 years. It can also be frozen until ready to use.

I can now check this one off my list. My curiosity has been satisfied and it is time to head on down the road if we are making Connecticut in time for dinner.

Connecticut

If I haven’t already mentioned it, we are planning on spending our summer and fall this year in the northeast, New England and a piece of Canada. As I’ve been reading about “what to do” in each state, I found out that Connecticut is known for their pizza. In fact many say it is better than New York pizza. As a pizza lover, I find that hard to believe but I’m willing to put it to the test. Hahaha! (are you starting to see a theme with our travels? I am… FOOD!)

We make our way down VT Route 100, a scenic drive, along a beautiful mountain range with tons of ski resorts, cross back into Massachusetts and get to Danbury CT in time to meet one of Bill’s co-workers for dinner.

Another spontaneous stop. As we are heading south, Bill calls his friend and asks if they would like to join us for pizza. Absolutely! And we were even invited to stay the night at their house. I’m not usually one for staying at someone’s house that I just met, but Bill and Mandy were gracious hosts and we had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know them.

Oh, wait, the pizza… it was good, but not NY good. Still my #1.

Thursday – New York, New Jersey and Delaware

New York

Continuing to head south and the GPS marked to avoid highways, we took a lot of little country roads. As we were winding our way though small towns and forests in New York, I shared a thought with Bill. (I do that from time to time) When we are riding through the northeast, I often think about all the history that happened in these parts; the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and so on. As we were riding through this section of woods, I could picture a camp for the soldiers and wondered if that’s what it looked like so long ago.

As we continue down the road, several stone walls began to appear in the woods under all the leaves and then we crossed a bridge with a historical sign on it, saying this was once a camp during the Revolution (I think… could have been the Civil War) where the soldiers came to get inoculated. Hmm… guess I wasn’t too far off with my thoughts.

When we reached the end of the road, there was another sign (and I snapped a picture this time) explaining that this road was part of the Old Albany-New York Post Road, created in 1699 as a route from the Dutch of New Amsterdam (now New York City) to Albany. It was used to move supplies for the French and Indian War and during the American Revolution it was a major artery for troop movements and travelled by Generals Washington, Lafayette and Heath along with many others. You never know what you are going to find out wandering around!

Rockland Bakery

It is impossible for us to come to New York and not stop at the Rockland Bakery, in fact we will plan our route just so we can stop here. Actually, a year ago, we flew to NY for a day of our favorite foods. You can read about that trip here. Fortunately, this time it was right on our way.

I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but about a month ago, I lost my sense of smell. I don’t know if it was bad allergies or from a virus I picked up while we were in Florida. Whatever it was, my smell is gone. It is starting to come back a little, like tiny tiny bits. Sometimes its good when you can’t smell, like when something stinks. Today, however, it sucks! Imagine walking into a bakery of freshly baked bread and not being able to smell it! I’ll just have to use my imagination, I suppose.

I am very thankful, though, that I did not lose my sense of taste. The bagels and schmear… the cannoli… divino!

New Jersey and Chinese Food

Yes, more food! And I wonder why I cannot lose any weight!! But hey, when you are in NY/NJ, taking advantage of bagels, pastries, pizza and Chinese is a must! You cannot find anything like it anywhere else in the country. A few places come close, but don’t quite reach the bar.

Using Google and Yelp, we found a great little Chinese place in Freehold NJ. In order to be considered by Bill and Erin Butrico, the restaurant must get at least 4 stars and their menu must contain one very special item. That item is… drumroll… cold sesame noodles. These are delicious, cold udon noodles dressed with a creamy sesame sauce that tastes like peanut butter. They are to die for! Bill’s Aunt Mary Grace introduced us to Chinese food when we lived in New Jersey 35 years ago and life has never been the same. We would get Chinese at least once a week back then. Those were the days…

A to go order of the noodles was about to be placed, but we were stuffed, on the verge of being sick, and decided it would not be a good idea. Besides, we still had a cannoli to eat once we got to the hotel.

Delaware

One state closer to being home. I wanted to drive through Delaware on the way back to get an idea of where we might want to spend a week when we come up this way during the fall. Bill booked us a night in Rehoboth Beach. I was clueless and did not realize this is where Biden spends most of his weekends. So, of course, I’m looking to see where his house is.

Rehoboth Beach is a very nice beach town and I understand why Biden likes to come over here so often. The beach houses are charming, there aren’t a lot of big hotels and the shops and restaurants are not super “touristy”. We enjoyed an evening overlooking the Atlantic and watched a big storm move in. It rained and the wind howled ALL NIGHT LONG! We did not get much sleep.

The next morning on our way out, we rode around and ended up at the place where a special someone fell off his bike. We didn’t go out looking for it, mind you, just kind of happened upon it. We also noticed several secret service people in the parking lot and could see preparations being made for the “Big Guy’s” arrival later that day. It was Friday after all. 😉

We did not stick around; we had a huge bridge to cross and one more state to get through before we were home.

Friday – Virginia

After driving through Delaware, I can honestly say, there isn’t really anywhere I want to spend a week. If you’ve been there or know where to go, please let me know. I think we will probably explore Dover for a day, put the sticker on the map and call it good.

Okay, so to get to Virginia, we had to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, all 17.6 miles of it with 2 tunnels along the way. Before we started across we pulled into an overlook to well… have a look. I saw about 15 container ships lined up heading out of the bay. Thinking… Frances Scott Key Bridge. Oh, but wait, the ships cross over where the tunnels are. No problem.

We make it to the Virginia side unscathed. Just on the other side of the bridge, in Virginia, I noticed the First Landing State Park. A little research told me this is where the English settlers first landed on their quest to settle the new land for England.

First Landing State Park

We stopped in at the First Landing State Park and found this is NOT where the first landing actually occurred. It was a few miles down the road on an active military base and we were more than welcome to visit. The park did have a nice exhibit, though, on the voyage those brave men took.

They left England in December of 1606 and landed in the “New Land” on April 26, 1607. Can you imagine crossing the ocean in a wooden ship with only the stars to guide you? I don’t even want to do it on today’s modern cruise ships. Before departing, the men were given a sealed box by the Virginia Company with instructions to open it once they landed. The sealed box contained instructions for the members of the Council for Virginia to choose a president to serve for one year and to travel upriver from the bay and build a three-sided fort with two sides along the water. Captain Edward Maria Wingfield was elected and Jamestown Virginia was established.

We walked on down to the beach and watched a couple of ships navigate the channels of the bay, right over the tunnels.

Fort Story

Continuing to head south towards Virginia Beach, we saw a sign for the Cape Henry Lighthouse. We followed the signs and ended up at the Fort Story Military Base and were greeted at the gate by the MP. Oh, we didn’t realize the lighthouse was on the base. No problem, the last shuttle will be leaving shortly. Bill and I looked at each other and decided, well we are here, might as well go check it out and we can also see the actual First Landing spot as well.

We parked, signed in, surrendered our id’s and received a map, got scanned for weapons, got briefed on the visitor boundaries with emphasis placed on being arrested for trespassing on federal land if you breech those boundaries. Oh, and you cannot lose the map or you will not get your id back. Yikes! Alrighty, now that I am on high alert with my map safely folded and tucked in my pocket, let’s go see these landmarks.

First Landing Cross

After four months at sea, The Virginia Company Expedition made landfall at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and named the area Cape Henry in honor of Henry, Prince of Wales. They erected a wooden cross to give thanks to God for their safe voyage. The wooden cross is long gone, but this memorial cross was erected in 1935 by the Daughters of the American Colonists.

Cape Henry Lighthouse

The Cape Henry Lighthouse is the 4^th oldest lighthouse in the country and the first lighthouse authorized by the US government and the first federal construction project authorized by President Washington. The lighthouse was built in 1792 for $15,200.

In 1881 a newer lighthouse was built just 350’ from the original.

Ready To Go Home?

We found a nice place to grab some seafood for dinner and discussed whether we wanted to spend the night in Virginia Beach or head home. I think we were both tired and wanted a good night’s sleep in our own bed. A little bit of caffeine and we drove the last 3.5 hours home.

We had an AMAZING time this week and as always, packed a lot in. I am glad we explored the New England area a little bit. It will help me finish planning our trip this summer/fall and whet our appetites for all the great adventures we are going to have.

A Quick Trip Oregon

Going to New England this summer means we will not be going back to the Pacific Northwest to spend the summer with our boys. But it’s time for a visit, I can’t go all summer without seeing them! 😉  We put the motorhome into storage and hopped on a flight to Portland. We spent two weeks hanging out in Chris’s apartment, visiting in between everyone’s work schedules.

With the boys’ help, we moved all our stuff from our storage unit to a garage on Chris’s property. We weren’t sure it was all going to fit along with the jeep, but thanks to Jefferey and Bill’s packing abilities there was plenty of room for everything!

It wasn’t all work, though. Bill was able to go flying with Chris, I went on a drive along with Jefferey, we visited a Rhododendron Garden and we took the jeeps out for a ride in the woods. Bill and I also checked off a couple of needed doctors’ appointments. All in all, it was a very nice and productive visit.

Now it is time to return to North Carolina, pick up the coach and get ready for our summer adventures!

I have to give a special shout out to my mother and father in-law. They took care of Kona for us so we could go out and have all these adventures. If it were not for them, we would have had to board her, which is expensive and not ideal or we would have had to stay home. So, thank you very, very much! We truly appreciate your kindness.

What’s Next?

We are super excited to start travelling again! Virginia is the first stop on our New England and Beyond adventures!