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Road Trip 2010 – Part 1: The Journey Begins

Posted on 2011-01-11 | by Happy Traveller

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao-tzu is credited with having said “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Well, this journey – Road Trip 2010 – will be something over four thousand miles, and it began with a single step… on the accelerator pedal of our 2007 Nissan Quest 3.5 SE minivan. We left the dogs with the house sitters and off we went!

Overall, there will be 5 major milestones on this trip: Colorado Springs, CO, for a couple of nights; Pagosa Springs, CO, for a few days of vacation; Roswell, NM, for some alien hunting; Dallas, TX, for OpenCamp 2010; and Nashville, TN, for an evening at the Grand Ole Opry and breakfast with my sister and brother-in-law. And then, of course, back home to Salisbury.

The first day’s journey was all travel, all day: a total of 18 hours and 40 minutes. Here are the stats:

Depart Salisbury, MD, Wednesday, Aug 18 at 6:20 a.m.

Arrive Shiloh, IL, Thursday, Aug 19 at 2 a.m.

Actual driving time of 16 hours 38 minutes

963.9 miles at 57.8 mph average

On the first day, we drove across Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, the southern tip of Indiana, and most of Illinois. We waited and ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel on Kent Island so that we wouldn’t be near Washington, D.C., at the peak of rush hour traffic. Still, traffic on the Beltway around Washington, D.C., was heavy and slow. Also, it rained from the time we left home in Salisbury, MD, until we got to somewhere in West Virginia. Other than that the day went reasonably well.

…and the Journey Continues

We spent a too-short night in Shiloh, Il, and then hit the road again, bound for Colorado Springs, CO. We didn’t have quite as far to travel on the second day, but it was still a very long way, so the second day’s journey was also all travel, all day: a total of about 16 hours. Here are the stats for day two:

Depart Shiloh, IL, Thursday, Aug 19 at 10 a.m.

Arrive Colorado Springs, CO, Friday, Aug 20 at 2 a.m.

Actual driving time of 13 hours 38 minutes

826.6 miles at 60.5 mph average

On the second day we drove across the remainder of Illinois (about 20 miles), Missouri, and Kansas, and part of Colorado. A truly uneventful day, which is the best kind when traveling by car.

Thoughts on Coffee

Posted on 2010-12-23 | by Andy

I really like a good cup of coffee. I enjoy everything about it: the smell when the bag or can is first opened, the rich texture and color of the grounds, the sound of the percolater (or the burbling of a drip coffee maker when it’s almost finished), the aroma as it brews, and, last but not least, the taste. I like my coffee either straight out of the pot, or with both sugar (well, Splenda, actually) and cream (I prefer the hazlenut flavored liquid creamer), but I don’t like it with only sugar or only cream.

I’ve had coffee in many different places. I’ve had cafe au lait and espresso in France. I’ve had cafe mocha in the Swiss Alps. I’ve had Jamaca Blue Mountain coffee brewed in a French Press in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. I’ve had no-nonsense, brewed-by-the-cup coffee in Germany, with heavy cream and raw, brown sugar. I’ve had Starbucks, and Seattle’s Best, and Gloria Jeans, and several other “coffee shop” coffees around the US. And of course I’ve had coffee at home and at the homes of several friends But the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had was at the Dean & Deluca store in SoHo. It was a cup of cafe mocha, with whipped cream on top, and from the first sip it was just so far above anything I’ve had before or since that I can’t wait to get back to New York to get another cup! Note: if you click on the link to the Dean & Deluca site, once there click on “About Us” at the bottom of the page, then on “Store Locations” in the upper right of the next page, and finally on “New York” in the upper right of that page to see a photo and read the history of the SoHo store.

One-cup drip coffee maker from Melitta — Slick one-cup drip coffee maker from Melitta

These days I drink primarily half-caff or decaffeinated coffee. On the occasions that I do drink the “real” stuff, I have to limit myself to one cup, or about an hour later I’m buzzing so badly it makes dogs howl. Hmmm, that’s probably more than you really wanted to know. Anyway, we have a Cuisinart 14-cup coffee maker that is the best coffee maker I’ve ever seen. If I only need to make one or two cups, though, I use this very simple device that I got from the Melitta web site quite some time ago. This one-cup drip coffee maker from Melitta sits on top of the cup or mug and uses a #2 filter (a #4 filter will also work it just sticks up higher). Add ground coffee – I use two tablespoons for a normal size mug – and pour boiling water through it. In a few minutes, you have a great cup of coffee! Highly recommended, if you can still get one.

Vacation 2006 – Hawaii

Posted on 2006-08-10 | by Happy Traveller

4 islands, 5 cities, 14 days…

The Journey Begins…

We left Reagan Washington National Airport around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, 2006, bound for Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport.

Oahu

Predictibly, we arrived at the Honolulu airport about 3 hours late – around 10:40 p.m.

On Sunday morning, June 18, we woke up really early – no surprise there, since we were still on Eastern Daylight Time – and had the breakfast buffet at Duke’s. Excellent food, good service, and a table not 20 yards from the beach – highly recommended!

After breakfast, we found a bus stop for route #58 to Diamond Head. While we were waiting for the bus, along with a family of 4 that was also going to Diamond Head, a mini-van taxi came by and asked if we wanted a ride to Diamond Head for $2 per person (the bus costs $1 per person). We all said “yes” and climbed in. Not only did we not have to wait for the bus, the the taxi took us all the way up to the gate – about a quarter-mile closer than the bus would have gone.

When we got back from the summit, we shared a “shaved ice” (a glorified snow cone) and while we were eating it we saw the same taxi that had brought us to Diamond Head waiting for a fare to return. He said if we wanted to wait for a full load (4 or 5 more people) it would be $2 each, but if we wanted to leave right then, it would be $5 each. We went for the $5 and left immediately. Enroute back to the hotel, we asked if he could take us to Pearl Harbor instead. He said that was a long way and that he couldn’t do it for less than $25. That sounded good to us so off we went. We also arranged for him to come back and pick us up around 4 p.m., so we had efficient travel for the entire day.

For Monday, June 19, we had Super Ambassador tickets to the Polynesian Cultural Center, which is near the northern end of Oahu. We paid just a few dollars extra to have a shuttle pick us up at the hotel at 10:15 a.m. So after the somewhere-between-continental-and-buffet breafkast at our hotel, we went downstairs and go on the shuttle. We spent the entire day at the PCC, including dinner and the show, and got back to the hotel around 11:00 p.m.

On Tuesday, June 20, we slept a bit late (well, until about 7:30 a.m., since we were *still* a little bit on EDT), had breakfast at our hotel, then packed and called for our transportation back to the airport for our inter-island flight to…

Kauai

We arrived on Kauai, got our rental car, found Poipu, located our hotel, checked-in, put our stuff in the room, got some lunch, and booked a two-hour introductory SCUBA lesson for mid-day on Thursday (which would be Nancy’s 49th birthday) all in time to spend an hour on the beach before our dinner reservation at the Plantation Gardens Restaurant at 6 p.m.

We slept a *little* later still – until about 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, June 21. We had breakfast at the Pool and Tennis club, which is part of the resort where we were staying. After a leisurely breakfast, we headed off in the rental car to find Wimea Canyon and do some hiking.

After spending all day driving and hiking around the breathtaking views at Wimea Canyon, we had dinner at the Tidepools Restaurant at the Grand Hyatt a mile or so down the beach. The Frommer’s guide said it was a good place to eat, and they were right!

On June 22, 2006, Nancy’s 49th birthday, we started off the day with breakfast at the Island Burger Cafe, then headed over to the Air Kauai terminal at the airport for a one-hour helicopter tour of the island, then went to our SCUBA lesson, *then* went to our first Luau (at the above-mentioned Grand Hyatt) – a day of firsts for both of us.

The helicopter tour…

The intro SCUBA dive was…

The Luau was okay; the food was great, but the show paled in comparison to the show at the PCC. Blah, blah…

Road Trip 2003 – Kitty Hawk (a.k.a. “The Honeymoon”)

Posted on 2003-12-02 | by Happy Traveller

Nancy and I were married at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, 2003, at Providence Presbyterian Church in Salisbury, Maryland. After the ceremony, we spoke to the guests by row, hung around the church for group photos, then headed to the reception at the Ramada Inn on Route 13. At the reception we ate a few bites, kissed, had a toast, kissed again, said a few words, kissed some more, talked to some people, cut the cake, kissed, tossed the bouquet and did the garter thing, then left for the Honeymoon! Woo-hoo…

We headed south on Route 13 at about 5 p.m., headed for Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. We stopped for dinner at a Pizza Hut somewhere south of Pokomoke City, Maryland, which is just a little ways south of Salisbury, then continued south. Of course, Nancy’s daughter, Lauren, and Lauren’s boyfriend, Ryan, had “decorated” the minivan (yes, we took the minivan on our honeymoon) so we got a bit of a reaction from the women working in the toll booths at both the Bay Bridge/Tunnel and the toll road a bit south of Suffolk, Virginia.

We arrived at the Cypress Moon Inn around 11 p.m. The Cypress Moon Inn is a Bed & Breakfast and doesn’t really have a reception area or front desk. I’d let the proprietors know that we’d be arriving late, and they had the room ready for us. Greg Hamby, co-owner along with his wife Linda, even waited up to help us with our luggage! After cleaning up a bit we realized just how exhausted we were, so we climbed up into the antique bed and were soon fast asleep.

We woke up Sunday morning rested, refreshed, and hungry! Not to worry, however, since Linda had coffee waiting on the balcony outside our room (see photo at right; the balcony runs all the way across the back of the Inn and is accessible from the main upstairs corridor as well as both guest rooms), and as we enjoyed the coffee Linda appeared with a freshly cooked breakfast – which was delicious! In talking to Linda we discovered that not only is she an excellent and creative cook, but she is a strong Christian, which was an added bonus.

Much of our honeymoon was spent sleeping late and then wandering around the Outer Banks looking for unique and interesting things, as well as stopping frequently for coffee and crab dip at the many roadside cafes. One of the “unique and interesting things” we noticed was that in many places there were horse statues that had been painted or decorated in some way. I don’t think we ever found out who put them there or why, but they were pretty fun.

One of the two things we really wanted to do while in Kitty Hawk was to visit the site of the Wright brothers original flight. It hadn’t really occured to us that December, 2003, would mark the 100th anniversary of that historic event. When we visited the site, we found that preparations for a big celebration were in full swing. One of the “exhibits” during the celebration was to be a recreation of the original flight, in a very faithful replica of the Wright Flyer (see photo at right). We were able to walk into the hangar where the replica was being worked on and get an up-close view of it; a truly awesome experience.

Since Nancy and I both like lighthouses, the other thing that we really wanted to do was to see the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras. The road to Hatteras had just been reopened (remember Isabel?) the day before we arrived, so we were able to drive down and visit the lighthouse. The devastation and destruction along the way were still very evident, even after a couple of months of recovery. We arrived at Hatteras late in the day, and were able to enjoy the view of a sunset that beautifully silhouetted the lighthouse.

For the most part, though, our honeymoon was exactly what we needed – a welcome respite from the seemingly endless wedding planning! We got plenty of rest and relaxation, along with lots of good food. On the last night we were there, we had dinner at a restaurant called Penguin Isle. It’s on the sound side of the island, and it was excellent. The food and service were both outstanding, and we highly recommend it if you’re in the area.

The sunset photo at the right was taken from the pier at the back of the Cypress Moon Inn, and seems a fitting way to end our honeymoon travelogue. Hope you enjoyed it!

Excursion 2003 – Hershey Park

Posted on 2003-08-01 | by Happy Traveller

Nancy, her daughter Lauren, Lauren’s boyfriend Ryan, and I went to Heshey, Pennsylvania, July 24-26, 2003. I met the three of them on Thursday, July 24, at the Pennsylvania Welcome Center on I-83 north, and after gathering some maps and “local attraction” information we headed for Harrisburg, with Nancy riding with me in the 300ZX and Ryan and Lauren following along in the minivan.

We arrived in Harrisburg in the late morning and left the Z at the hotel where we had reservations for the night. We then headed over to Hershey Park, where, once we paid for our tickets and went throught the gate, Nancy and I went one way and Ryan and Lauren went another. Not to worry, though – we all had our cell phones with us.

Now, Nancy and I both love Roller-Coasters, so we looked at a map of the park and planned the most efficient way to ride as many of the coasters as possible. They were all fun, but one in particular stands out; the “Wild Mouse” looks pretty tame from the ground, but is truly wild once you get on it. It doesn’t go very fast, but it’s really pretty high up and you can’t see anything out the side of the car except thin air. It also takes the turns – which are not banked – without bothering to slow down! With about a dozen coasters in the park, we pretty much rode Roller-Coasters for the rest of the day, with a short break to eat lunch.

After rendezvousing with Lauren and Ryan, we headed back to the hotel to check in and clean up before dinner. Then we headed out to find a nice restaurant to have dinner. We actually found a really nice place with very good food, and I wish I could remember the name of it! Anyway, a good time was had by all and we returned to the hotel completely exhausted (at least those of us over 40 were exhausted.)

We spent Friday morning and the early part of the afternoon at a local Family Fun Center (again, I forget the name, but it was pretty neat). We played Putt-Putt, some video games, Duck Pin Bowling, another bowling-like game called something like “Skoodles” or “Spoodles” or something like that which Nancy was familiar with but which I’d never seen before. Then Ryan and I each took a turn in the Batting Cage.

After having a blast at the Family Fun Center, we went back to the hotel and all took naps before getting ready for our dinner on the Pride of the Susquehana Riverboat. The food was okay and the atmosphere was very pleasant; there was a singer/keyboardist playing requests. The scenery was good, and the ride was very relaxing. The only bad part was that there was a baseball game at the stadium which is right next to where the boat docks, and the game was over just about the same time we returned from the cruise. Now, it’s been my experience that the drivers in Pennsylvania pretty much have all they can handle just keeping their cars on the paved surface, so you should have seen them all trying to exit the local public parking area at the same time! Good grief!

On Saturday morning we headed back to Salisbury, with a detour to Alexandria to pick up a few things. One of the things I picked up, unbeknownst to Nancy, was the diamond engagement ring I’d purchased in Augusta, GA, when we visited my parents the month before. On the way to Salisbury, we stopped to have dinner at the Fisherman’s Inn, which just happens to be the place where we met for the very first time. I had invited a couple of other friends to join us for dinner there, and everyone except Nancy and Lauren knew that I was going to propose to Nancy that night. She was definitely surprised! In case you don’t already know what she said, check out Road Trip 2003 – Kitty Hawk…