Overview

June 4: Fly to LGA in NYC through Chicago, drove to New Jersey.
5th: Philadelphia, Brandywine Battlefield, met Emma, Valley Forge, stayed at her house
6th: Fort McHenry (MD), met Rodney, Annapolis, stayed with friends in Marlboro
7th: Navy Yard Museum (DC), thru DE, Monmouth Battlefield (NJ), met friends & stayed in Princeton
8th: NYC! Statue of Liberty, Times Square, USS Intrepid, Central Park, Broadway play, Empire State Building, hotel just over border in Connecticut
9th: drove thru CT, Sub museum at Groton, seaport village at Mystic, Newport (RI) with the Navy War College, Fort Adams & Brenton Point, hotel
10th: Falls River (MA) with Battleship Cove & Marine Museum, New Bedford for Whale Museum, hotel in Plymouth
11th: Mayflower replica, Plymouth Rock, Boston Public Garden, Freedom Trail
12th: USS Constitution & Navy Yard, Bunker Hill, Lexington Green, Concord Museum & Alcott House, Concord Bridge & Minuteman, USS Albacore (Portsmouth, NH), lobster dinner in York Harbor (ME), hotel in Dover (NH)
13th: Vermont Country Store, ferry across Lake Champlain, Fort Ticonderoga (NY), Lake George, hotel in Saratoga Springs
14th: Saratoga Battlefield, Washington's HQ in New Windsor, West Point, ruins of Fort Montgomery, hotel in Suffern (NY)
15th: fly home same route

Good grief! How wonderful and crazy was this trip! 11 states! 5 friends! so many things!

In My Own Bed

I'm flat on my back, listening to the rain outside. :)

I'm gonna write about today tomorrow... zzzzz

"Good night!" :)

...written the next day:

I got up *very* early (3am Pacific) at 6 am in order to pack everything, eat next door and leave by 7. Packing was fine, but next door didn't open til 7. So I took off at 6:30. GPS Lady told me I'd get to LaGuardia in 45 minutes. And that, of course, turned into an hour and a half (with only one wrong turn). It took quite a while to merge onto the I-95 George Washington bridge to go into Harlem. Thankfully, I was nowhere near downtown Manhattan, although the drivers were just as crazy.

My GPS plopped me right at the car rental place! Thank the Lord! And I had tons of time. I really didn't want to get there at the normal two hours before take-off, because that might have made me sweat bullets in traffic. Who knows what traffic is like at 10? I didn't want to know.

So I got there too early to check my bags. And I needed to switch things around so my suitcase wasn't over 50 lbs anymore. Southwest lets you fly *two* checked bags for free... something I discretely found out from the large placard in front of my face while I was juggling the last 6.5 lbs. at the scale. So my 27 lb. backpack could get checked too! This made everything simpler. And I thought I'd might as well weigh myself as I was there, so I found out I'm still the same since Rodney's house: 165. This is sorta good news, since it means I didn't gain anything, but I'm still one over my signing weight. Gosh, darn it! :) I'll just have to press on this week before I check in on Friday.

So after finding this out I went and had breakfast. :) Had a slice of turkey quiche and a salad and I sat down with my laptop and copied my 2,810 photos from the trip onto the mini-laptop in folders by days. By this time I could get rid of my bags and go through screening, so I did.

Got to my gate and had three hours to kill before boarding. So I opened up the first picture and went through all of them, rotating as I went. I finished Day 11 just as it was time for me to get in line! The flight to Chicago was quick... but I was able to see the Statue of Liberty from the air this time! Otherwise I read for a bit and then slept for a bit in an uneventful flight. We even got in a half-hour early.

I paused in the A concourse for a Battle of Midway display they had up (in Chicago-Midway airport), featuring a fighter plane hanging from the ceiling. And at the food court I looked longingly at everyone's plates, but only had a Greek salad.

We boarded not too long after I got to the gate on the B concourse. But we didn't leave the gate for two hours! There was a mess of severe storms coming through that grounded all flights. Rain gushed down my window on the plane for at least a half-hour. I think I slept for a little while, but it was pretty uncomfortable. I read in the airline magazine about a service dog that was helping a veteran with PTS... very neat story... and then dozed more. I soon had enough of trying to sleep so I got my laptop out yet again and started going through the days, picking out my favorites and copying them to five different folders by topic (general sights, navy stuff, revolution stuff, maritime stuff, and a separate folder for NYC). This will make it much easier for me to post and for everyone else to view if they can stomach it all. :) It'll be at least a thousand in total. Remember, it did take me over a week to see everything... and I have an admitted shutter-bug problem. I should seek counseling. :)

When I finished all this sorting and copying we were only under an hour away from Seattle. My hand was a little cramped from using the same keys for so long, but at least I utilized the time. As we neared in, diving into the puffy clouds, I wondered if Washington really was the most beautiful place in the nation, as I had seen so much beauty this week. But when we broke through, there was Mt. Rainier, solid with snow, jutting out between the clouds. After penetrating the last layer, I was treated to sunbeams sprinkling out over Puget Sound with an orange sunset behind the Olympics to the west. Sorry... No contest. :)

Mom called my phone as I was disembarking; they were waiting for me. :) My bags came out promptly as Meg and Jason met me there. Mom and Dad were in the car. And I was starving! They took me out to Santa Fe Mexican Grill (and I had grilled chicken and rice & beans... no cheese... no sour cream!) and it was excellent! They had had snacks and had waited the extra two hours for dinner just to celebrate my coming home with me! :)

I am home.

A Revolutionary Day

model of the American lines at Saratoga

After Saratoga and Panera Bread, I went east to find General Washington's headquarters during the last years, 1782 and 1783. He stayed there in New Windsor for nearly a year while the Treaty of Paris was being worked on. His army was just down the Hudson from him a bit. I couldn't tour the house because it's closed on Mondays, but just walking around the grounds was fun enough! And I had to press on. With my late start and my enjoying Saratoga so much, I missed seeing the museum at West Point. At least the visitor's center was still open, and they had some displays about cadet life and a little history about the academy. And I even got a patch! :)

Just south of West Point is the ruins of Fort Montgomery, another 1777 battle site. The Americans lost this one, but did escape with most of their force. The visitor center for this was closed, but the fun of this was in walking the grounds. They had lots of interesting signs and it was just like taking a walk in the woods. I saw a deer and a lizard along with an assortment of birds (including a cardinal) and lots of squirrels. And just down the road from here was Stony Point Battlefield, but even the grounds were closed there. Ah well.

It wasn't much longer before I arrived at my final hotel, here in Suffern, NY (about 30 mi north of NYC). I checked in first, dragged all my luggage in various bags to my room and then went and enjoyed "Friendly's" one more time (it's a neighbor to the hotel). I had another garden salad (this time with light peppercorn ranch) and a delicious bowl of clam chowder (which is what I went in there craving). By 8:20 I had waited long enough back in the room and went downstairs to the fitness center. I did a mile and a half in 14:50, 75 sit-ups and a few push-ups. :) Gosh, it felt good to run around and get tired after a day of sitting in the car. I then took a very relaxing shower and got my bags ready for the airline tomorrow. After I felt satisfied with the state of my luggage I talked with Meg and Mom for about 25 minutes. A full evening! But I'm feeling more relaxed and ready to go home and not quite as tired as I have for a while now.

What a perfect way to end the tour, with the culminating battle in the north and with Washington's Headquarters at the very end. I didn't plan it to be so perfect... it just happened.

More Than Mid-Way

Hello from Panera Bread in New Windsor, NY!

I just got off I-87 South after going over 80 miles from Saratoga. Although I didn't really do anything in Saratoga Springs this morning, I really enjoyed the hotel. It was a one-layer motel laid out like horse stables. Because this town is famous for its racetrack. As I was leaving, the GPS took me right past the track... and I saw a few horses working out, and a horse being given a bath and there were crosswalk guards for a horse that was being lead across the street. And a "Thoroughbred Crossing" sign! :) On the way to the battlefield I drove by Lake Saratoga and through lots of country with farms and pastures and fields of corn. It was so pretty!

The battlefield was wonderful to visit! There's a visitor's center (with a *great* film about the battle) in one corner of the park (behind the British lines) and a one-way road that winds its way across the battlefield with 10 points that you can stop at, get out and walk and view the sites and monuments. There's a cannon that was captured at the battle by Benedict Arnold with a blank inscription, due to his treason. And at stop #7 there is an untitled monument to him: a stone boot, since he was wounded there in his leg while rallying the field for a great American victory.

Ironically, my trip today will take me to West Point, which was the crux of his treason.

Have I mentioned before that I love Panera? Yum! Sierra Turkey sandwich, apple and free Internet!!!