NEW ENGLAND Nights of Jun 7 to Jun 14 2013

After New York we followed the coast stopping for an extremely wet night on the coast in Connecticut and another in Newport, Rhode Island. Newport is a beautiful harbor town with boats of all shapes and sizes, no wonder it is a yachting haven. As we walked along the cliffs facing the sea we discovered the area contains 64 mansions dating back to the 1800’s. This is obviously where the rich from New York and Boston came to play.

We did ask for a waterfront campsite!

Newport, Rhode Island

We continued along the coast into Massachusetts and ventured out to Cape Cod and Falmouth which was encased in fog and so reminiscent of the English seaside. We caught the ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard for the day. As luck would have it the fog cleared and it was a very nice day. We were also fortunate to arrive 1 week before the start of the 2 month tourist season which turns the island into pure chaos. It was here that we had our first lobster – at $20 for a good sized lobster, corn on the cob, a bowl of clam chowder and fries it was a real bargain.

Martha’s Vineyard

We passed through Plymouth on our way to Boston and made a quick stop at the famous rock that the Pilgrims supposedly used to step ashore.

Plymouth Rock

In Boston we spent the entire day in the city walking the freedom Trail. This was a very neat red brick line set in the pavement and traced out all the points of historical interest including; The Granary & Kings Chapel burying ground contained the graves of John Hancock, Samual Adams and Paul Revere and Paul Revere’s house.

Grave of Samuel Adams

Grave of Paul Reever

The trail finished at the docks where we toured the very impressively maintained 1800’s warship the USS Constitution – The oldest warship afloat still in active naval commission. Nelson’s HMS Victory in England is the oldest in commission but it is in permanent dry dock.

USS Constitution

Site of the Boston Tea Party

It was after 6 by the time we came to the spot of the Boston Tea party, where rebels through all the tea overboard rather than pay the import taxes that would all make their way back to England. Not surprisingly the museum was closed. So after a full day on our feet we made our way back to the station to catch the train home.

NEW YORK Nights of May 30 to Jun 6 2013

New York was just as grand as Washington, the same but then different. We stayed at Liberty Harbor Marina which also caters for RV's and is right on the water across from Manhattan in Jersey City. We could even see the Statue of Liberty from Dude’s front door.

We caught the nearby subway the short distance under the Hudson River over to Manhattan Island each day and again walked everywhere.

One of the two 9/11 memorials at the site of the old World Trade Center

We eventually saw the new 9/11 memorial after a 40 minute queue and airport type security checks. The memorial consists of two sunken waterfalls in the holes left by the two towers. In typical American still no expense had been spared and it was very grand and well done.

New York by day

We spent 4 hours walking the entire 2.5 mile length of Central Park. It was amazing how quiet and peaceful it was even though we were right in the middle of Manhattan. We had to keep reminding ourselves where we were.

Central Park looking out over Gotham Hall

We walked through SOHO, Little Italy, Uptown, Downtown, Midtown and lower Manhattan. We passed the icon institutions of Wall St and the NY Stock Exchange, the Chrysler building, Broadway and ended up in Times Square. It was amazing the number and size of all the TV screens crammed into what is such a tiny space.

Times Square

Crowd entertainment in Times Square

Sandra managed to join in the crowd entertainment by playing drums along with about 50 others who were led by a drum master. It was a real hoot, although she did end up with bruised fingers.

We walked along the up market stores of 5^th Avenue which each trying to beat the other in who has the grandest or most lavish shop front. At one point we got caught in a huge downpour and sought shelter under some building scaffold. Moments later all the storm water drain covers starting rattling from the trapped air pressure reminiscent of scenes from Godzilla. That night we went to the top of the Empire State building to watch the sunset, how romantic is that. Unfortunately, hundreds of others had the same idea and it was packed but we did stay till it got dark around 11pm.

New York sunset from the top of the Empire State building

For a change we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and then caught the subway out through Brooklyn to the Brighton Beach boardwalk. As we wandered inland through little Russia we quickly realized this was the scene of all those famous movie scenes where cars are chased underneath the overhead railway lines.

The Rockefeller Center

After our week in New York we had come to really like it. Manhattan was nowhere near the congested, busy city with everyone rushing everywhere that we had expected. Instead it had a certain quiet charm with nice housing neighborhoods and plenty of quiet parks. One thing it does have is a memorial to just about everything including the Irish Potato Famine!

Wall St Subway Station

The best deal in New York is the Staten Island Ferry which is free so we did the half hour ride across and then immediately back again. This gave us our best view of the Statue of Liberty which was closed for repair.

The drive out of New York around Manhattan and through the Bronx, which really did look as bad as its reputation, was murder. It took over 2 hours to drive the 40 miles into Connecticut even though we were on the Interstates the whole way and it was mid day.

WASHINGTON DC Nights of May 20 to May 29 2013

We picked up Dude after the repairs which really were well done. The fight with our insurance company was awful they would only pay for the repairs not the out of pocket expenses as we were not sold that $11 option the people we bought the policy from who despite using the companies name where just brokers, another valuable lesson learnt. We hastily got out of Kentucky and drove straight back to Washington DC.

The rear and front of the White House

Our RV Park was only 10 miles north of the capitol and had a bus stop inside so it was easy getting into town each day. Washington itself is very easy to get around especially with everything in such a small area.

Once in town we walked everywhere from the Capitol at one end of the mall to the Potomac River at the other end and the White House in between. We even drove passed the Pentagon and the CIA headquarters at Langley. The later was surrounded by heavy security so we couldn’t even see any of the buildings behind the lush forest.

The Capitol Building

We visited the impressive Smithsonian Air & Space museum one day and the Natural History museum the next along with some of the other eleven that are all along the Capitol Mall. These were fantastic containing pretty well the best of everything, from the Wright Brothers plane and Apollo 11 command module to the Hope Diamond.

We also went out to the annex near Dulles Airport which has items too large to display in town including the Space Shuttle Colombia, an Air France concord and the Enola Gay. We did a detour to the front of the CIA headquarters at Langley but with its imposing security we only got as far as the gate and couldn't see anything inside the denseley forested compound. All the Smithsonian Museums have FREE entry, what a bargain.

Space Shuttle Discovery

The inside of Library of Congress is spectacular with so much marble and we got a look inside the even more spectacular domed reading room. We toured the Capitol Bldg which was just even grander including the magnificent central domed rotunda. We even got to sit in the Senate and House or Reps chambers despite being advised we would have to speak to our senate rep to get a pass. They were probably just handing them out as neither were actually in session.

                   

               Library of Congress                                    Central Dome of the Capitol building

We also did the self guided tour of the Supreme Court and had lunch in the judges cafeteria underneath. We again got a look inside the main court and had lunch in their cafeteria as the judges were not sitting.

On a nice sunny day we walked the entire length of the 2 mile central mall to visit all the monuments and memorials. Unfortunately the Washington memorial was closed for repair but everything else was open.

                      Lincoln Memorial                                          J Edgar Hoover (FBI) building

Hire Car, Hotels and 2,000 m / 3,219 km's

We picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and set off on the road in our hire car.

We’d dropped Dude off with the most enthusiastic and helpful Collision Repair Team in Lexington and knew they would do everything they could to have him back to us as soon as possible. Unlike our Insurance Company that were the total opposite.

Kentucky Horse Park

Needing some distraction from the recent events we made a short detour to the Kentucky Horse Farm on our way out of Lexington. This place is a horse’s heaven where they are waited on like royalty.

We spent the day touring the International Horse Museum, watched the Horse Breeds of the World Show and the Hall of Champions presentation where legendary horses now reside.

World Horse Show

Cigar

One of the Champion stallions "Cigar" the all time money winner of $10 million was sold for $25 million for stud work at $75,000 per mare but as they soon found out he was sterile.

We ventured north to Paris before turning south through Winchester to Fort Boonesborough where the Transylvania Purchase took place and its stories of self interest, deceit and sieges made this Fort an interesting place to visit.

Fort Boonesborough

Another storm was brewing so we called it a day when we arrived at Berea and checked in at the beautifully restored Daniel Boone Hotel Tavern. We learnt it was named after Daniel Boone as a tribute.

With Berea being a Liberal Arts College town the Hotel was run by the students and furnished with lovely handcrafted furniture made by students.

Daniel Boone Hotel Tavern

Driving to Cumberland Falls SRP I noticed we would be passing the town of Corbin and I mentioned to John how cool it would be to see the place where Kentucky Fried Chicken began....much to John’s disdain but he did detour there so I could have a look.

Colonel Sanders Cafe and Museum

We were glad to stop for a few days at Cumberland Falls after some frustrating conversations with the Insurance Company. It wasn't long before the rain set in and all thoughts of hiking were washed away so we spent our time driving through the area.

Cumberland Falls

Our spirits lifted when we passed through the tunnel at Cumberland Gap and into Virginia. A place of historical significance for its use by the Shawnee and Cherokee Indians as a war path, then as a trail used by hundreds of thousands of Pioneer Settlers making their journey to the west into Kentucky and as a strategic location for both Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War. 

It's also the 3 States Cornerstone for Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee. So we climbed the incline to the Gap to ponder all this history.

The Appalachian Mountain Range rose imposingly in the distance as we headed east and deeper into Virginia.

Appalachian Mountain Range Virginia

The Natural Tunnel State Park looked like an interesting place to stay for the night but they were not yet open for the season so we walked down 200 steps to the Natural Train Tunnel still in use today for transporting coal.

At the bottom the heavens opened up so we had to make a dash back up the hill to our hire car before setting off for Big Stone Gap in search of a place to stay the night.

We arrived in the town of Damascus and were greeted with a sign across the road "Trail Days 17 -19th May". I realised this was the event the Appalachian through hikers had been talking about when we were on the trail.

The town offered lots of adventure activities such as taking the shuttle bus with your bike to the top of Mt Rogers and then then riding 30 miles downhill back to Damascus.

One of the Appalachian Hikers I had spoken to at Springer Mountain said you have to see the wild ponies at Grayson Highlands State Park so here we were driving up 5,000 ft (1,524 m) to the State Park.

Grayson State Park

When we got out it was as like we’d been transported back into winter with the cold icy wind and the trees just beginning to get their leaves.

Ridge Trail to Appalachian Trail

We braved the elements hiking over the ridge to the Appalachian Trail and a short time later the wild ponies came into view. They had long flowing manes and thick coats of hair and I had a wonderful time taking photos of them.

After passing through Floyd we took a rural road through farmland to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was lovely driving through the trees with occasional views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.

I spotted some wild turkeys grazing in the grass and John saw a black snake crossing the road. Cloud filled the sky during the afternoon and by the time we pulled into the hotel in Lexington it began to rain.

Local communities

Rural life

Our arrival at Shenandoah NP was so different to all the other NP's we had visited because we had no activities planned. I felt I was a regular tourist stopping just long enough to snap a few photos while we drove along the Skyline Drive. It was very disappointing. With Dude still in for repairs we had to spend the night in Luray before completing our drive through the Park. 

The next day did bring about some excitement when we saw a black bear in the trees and a large snake crossing the road  before we exited the Park at Front Royal.

Then driving 70 miles we were in Washington DC where we got a glimpse of the Pentagon Building and the Potomac River. We drove through heavy traffic due to road works and got shaken to bits on the rough surface. We saw Washington Memorial Monument (covered in scaffolding) and the dome of the US Capitol Building. The city seemed like a mass of concrete overpasses. I wondered where all the beautiful grassed areas were as we continued east into Maryland.

Washington DC

We crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and I was surprised to be driving through rural farmland bordered by large trees that had been kept for wind protection. Here the farms had no fences and I was pleasantly surprised the whole area hadn't been built out. 

Rural Delaware

It wasn't long before we crossed into Delaware and with the day slipping away we found a hotel in Medford for the night.

We visited the quaint coastal town of Lewes with its sandy beaches and views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Lewes

Before we knew it we were driving out of Delaware and back into Maryland with its high rise buildings, themed Mini Golf places, restaurants and souvenir shops. Ocean City was hosting a hot rod show and we looked on as they drag raced each other at the lights.

Ocean City

Farming areas on way to Cape Charles

All in a days work

Bed and Breakfast Cape Charles

After a quiet night in a Bed and Breakfast in Cape Charles we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and stopped at the viewing area to see where the bridge descends into the ocean.

Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

The tunnel part of Chesapeake Bridge Tunnel

We visited the first landing site at Fort Story Military Base in Virginia Beach and got to see a Submarine doing maneuvers’ in the Bay.

Sub manouvers'

After navigating our way through several cross harbour tunnels in Norfolk we arrived in Yorktown. It was here the American Revolution culminated in 1781 with British forces surrendering to American and French Forces. 

The day was getting away so we drove the Colonial Parkway to Jamestown where the first English settlement began. We entered the Museum and stepped back in time.

That night proved difficult finding accommodation as Richmond had several events that weekend along with graduation so the hotels were booked out and charging an arm and a leg. We were grateful to eventually check into a sad and sorry looking place in Waynesboro then headed back out for take out. It was then the heavens opened up with heavy rain.

Humpback Bridge in Covington

The rain continued as we crossed back into Kentucky and into Lexington. 

During the afternoon we tuned into Speed Channel 31 and watched the Australian V8 Supercars competing in Austin Texas.

We had just driven 2,000 miles in 13 days and tomorrow we were picking up Dude....!