Road Trip - Day 16 - Oct 24

The hotel in Virginia Beach that we spent last night in had a balcony overlooking the ocean and this is what we woke up to.

Left the hotel and headed to South Carolina.  We have hit great weather and are now back in our shorts and flip flops.  We went through another tunnel by Norfolk that went under the ocean like the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel (not nearly as long though).  Passing through Virginia and North Carolina we saw lots of cotton fields.

We saw a cool looking helicopter/plane and pulled off the road to take a look.  We think it was a fire spotter plane because it was by a fire training facility.

Entered North Carolina (the Tar Heel state) about 11:45 and it was 77 degrees outside.  We stopped in Smithfield, NC for a burger and gas and found our cheapest gas so far - $3.35 per gal.  We then stopped in Bentonville, NC and took a short driving tour through a Civil War battleground.  While on the drive, we saw a peanut field that had been plowed.  This made us realize that we had seen a whole bunch along the way which we had thought were soybean fields.

Saw lots of different churches in North Carolina.  In fact, we saw as many churches in NC as we saw bars in Wisconsin!!

Made it to South Carolina (the Palmetto state).  Driving through NC we kept seeing signs for the South of the Border Hiway oasis and saw it just as we crossed into SC.  It had a motel, a firework store, an amusement park, a reptile farm, and a bunch of restaurants.  

Stopped for the night in a small town close to Darlington, NC after having driven 347 miles.

Road Trip - Day 15 - Oct 23

Left Tom and Julie's.  It was so much fun to see them and to get to know Savannah again and to meet and get to know Sam.  What an awesome family!!

Drove down the coastline of Delaware to Virginia.  Imagine our surprise when we passed Wyoming on our way!!!

Got to Maryland (the Old Line state) about 11:30.  The leaves are just starting to change in Maryland.  Drove through Maryland and crossed into Virginia (Old Dominion state).  Went on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel which is a 23 mile combination of bridges and tunnels and connects the eastern shore of Virginia to Virginia Beach.  The first bridge was about 5 miles long and then we went in a mile long tunnel under the water.  Just as we were entering the first tunnel, a big cargo ship went over the tunnel.  It was kind of spooky, but exciting too.  Then a 3 mile bridge, a mile long tunnel (again under water), a 3 mile bridge, and arrived at Virginia Beach.

Panoramic View of the Bridge

Mike and I with the bridge in the background

We drove a total of 223 miles from Tom and Julie's to Virginia Beach where we stayed for the night.

Road Trip - Day 14 - Oct 22

Spent the night with Tom and Julie in Newark, Delaware.  Tom took off from work to take us on a tour of the area.  The first place we visited was the Turkey Point Lighthouse on Chesapeake Bay.

We then went on a ride around the area to see the local sights.  We got to see a covered bridge that was recently renovated, some awesome fall leaves, and some beautiful houses.  We also saw the campus of the University of Delaware, one of the oldest universities in the nation.  It was established in 1743 and was beautiful with old buildings.

This was a great day and it was so fun to spend time with Tom and Julie and to get to see Sam and Savannah.  What some cute kids!! We fell in love with them.

Road Trip - Day 13 - Oct 21

Parks Family - Tom, Sam, Savannah. Julie

Left the motel and arrived in Delaware (the First State) at about 11:30.  Another first time state.  We are really excited to visit with Tom and Julie.  I haven't seen them since they left Utah.  Mike saw Tom at the last Man's Trip Golf in St. George last March.  Made it to their house about 12:30.  They live in Newark (pronounced New Ark).  Beautiful family in a beautiful house in a beautiful state.

Back

Front

Road Trip - Day 12 - Oct 20

Left the hotel at 9:30 headed to New York state to get away from the big cities.  It is 70 degrees outside, but partly cloudy.

Entered Connecticut (the Constitution State) at 11:21.  Another state we are seeing for the first time.  The sun came out and is shining through the fall leaves.  Beautiful!!  Connecticut leaves were the most vibrant we have seen so far.  Lots of orange, red and yellow.

Arrived in New York at 2:00.  While driving down the interstate we saw a really cool looking building in Beacon New York, so we exited and went to look for it.  Went through a residential area with beautiful homes, past a park, past the high school, and found it.  Imagine our surprise when we found out it was the Fishkill Correctional Facility.  What a beautiful place to be incarcerated!!

Entered Pennsylvania (the Keystone state) at about 3:20.  We stayed in Bartonsville, PA in the Pocono Mountains.  It was pretty cold!!

Road Trip - Day 11 - Oct 19

Headed to see the sights of Boston today.  We are taking the train from the station in Salem (yes, it is the same Salem as the one where the witches were burned at the stake).  It is an adventure because we don't know what we are doing.  Thank goodness for people to ask!!  We made it to our destination without incident and bought a ticket to ride the city trolley and spent the day seeing the sights of Boston.

Things we saw:

Copp's Hill burial ground, one of the oldest burial grounds in Boston.

Paul Revere's Home

Old North Church

Cheer's Bar - Had to go there for lunch and a beer.  We learned that the only part of the sitcom Cheers that was filmed in Boston was the sign outside.  The rest was a filmed on a set in Hollywood.  It was fun though.

We also saw the USS Constitution.  However, it started raining hard and we weren't able to go aboard or to take any pictures.  The day ended with rain and a quick dinner at Wendy's.  What an awesome adventure!!!

Road Trip - Day 10 - Oct 18

Drove through the Village of Bethel before we started on our way again.  It was very quaint with some very old Victorian style homes.  Left the hotel about 10:00 headed to Boston.  On the way, we saw a beautiful crystal clear lake surrounded by fall leaves.

Wanted a little break from driving so we stopped at the Old Orchard Beach - near Portland Maine.  It was on the Atlantic Ocean and was very picturesque.  The Billow House Inn was located right on the beach.  Very Beautiful and serene place.  

Arrived back in New Hampshire about 1:00. We are only about 15 miles from Boston.  Interesting to see a state liquor store and a place to buy lottery tickets right on the toll road.  (Mike, I don't think we are in Utah anymore)

Made it to Massachusetts.  We took an exit about 20 miles from Boston to go potty and kind of got lost.  We stopped at a gas station that was by a garage.  We asked the girl at the convenience store how to get back to the freeway and she didn't know, so we went to the garage to ask.  There were 2 guys, a girl, and a white dog with blue eyes (the dog really impressed me).  They had all kinds of advice on where to stay and even went so far as to look up hotels on the internet for us.  They suggested we stay in the area and take the train to downtown Boston.  We went to the hotel they recommended, but it was booked up.  We asked the girl at the desk for a recommendation and she went the extra mile and called another hotel for us and gave us directions.  Once we found it, we were able to check in.  Some very nice people in Massachusetts!!!!

Today we drove 191 miles.  

Road Trip - Day 9 - Oct 17

Left Syracuse, headed to Vermont.  The sun is shining which we haven't seen for a few days!!  The freeway through New York is beautiful.  Trees on both sides and lots of farms.  The farther east we go, the thicker the trees and the greener everything is. 

Crossed into Massachusetts (the Bay State) about 11:50.  This is our very first time in Massachusetts.  Lots of trees still, but not as green and the freeway is not as well taken care of as New York.

Made it to Vermont (the Green Mountain State) at 1:53.  This is also our first time in Vermont.  Still lots of trees but doesn't compare to New York or Massachusetts.  In fact, a lot of the trees have already lost their leaves.  An interesting thing we noticed about Vermont is that the free has mileage markers every .2 of a mile.  We stopped at the Bradford Vermont rest area (for Nikki and Sidney) so we could say we had been there.

Entered New Hampshire (the Granite State) at 5:15.  Another first time state.  The first town was Lancaster which was very old and very pretty.  On the way we passed Santa's village (the grinch driver wouldn't stop).  We saw a lot of moose crossing signs, but thankfully, no moose on the road.

Made it to Maine (the Pine Tree State).  Another first.

Stayed at the Bethel Inn Resort in Bethel Maine. It was like a themed hotel and was on a golf course.  Gorgeous!!!