The Fate of the Day - overlaying American Revolutionary War battles on our itinerary

I have always had an amateur interest in Colonial American history and the period of the American Revolutionary War.  In school, one of my social studies curriculum fair projects was a map of key battles that my dad helped me rig up so you could press a button and a Christmas light would show where a battle had occurred while you could read a brief description on the side.

When we started planning our Northeast states road trip (which I'm now abbreviating as NERT - NorthEast Road Trip - my sons tell me that's a ridiculous acronym), we kept adding sites to visit that were significant during the American Revolution.  One of these is Fort Ticonderoga in New York.  In fact, we were going to just pass through on the way to Vermont, but once I started looking at what all there was to see there, we adjusted the itinerary to allow us much of the day to explore.  (On our Middle States trip, we had a few late additions to our itinerary that I wish we'd had more time for, so I'm thinking about that now.)

Anyway, DH brought a book home from the library the other day:  The Fate of the Day - from Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston - which is 2nd of a trilogy, beginning in 1777.  I'm not so much for reading about history - I'd much rather watch a documentary or visit a museum - but I started flipping through the book and reading the descriptions of landscape, terrain, logistics, etc., of how troops moved in, through, and about the parts of New York, Vermont, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania we'll be visiting.  I'd already been studying the Google maps and AAA maps to become familiar with the area, so it was pretty cool to look at the old maps from the late 1700s and think about how what we'll see next year would have looked like 250 years ago.

The stories the land could tell....

~ Cindy D.

Accommodations? Check!

We've had some cooler, dare I say it, fall-like weather this week, and that put me in the mood to take action on our Northeast States trip.  My social media feeds have filled up with the blazing colors of leaf-changes and cozy photos of New England in the fall.  While we'll start our trip while it's still summer, we'll still be traveling over a week into autumn.  

The calendar said I could make our accommodation reservations for most days, so my travel credit card got a work out holding rooms at hotel chains and independent motels throughout the 14 states we'll be visiting.  We also have two nights at Skyland in Shenandoah National Park - it's on the way home but will be a nice resting place before the last push... kinda like when we spent a few days in Gatlinburg as a last hurrah on our Middle States trip. 

We're also splurging on a night at the Hotel Hershey.  In 2015 we made a trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and had the opportunity to walk through this historic hotel, and at the time agreed that it would be very cool to stay there.  We didn't think then that we would ever actually make it back to Hershey, but Google maps presented a route that would take us through there.  And don't worry, I've budgeted shopping money for while we're there - and we're taking ice-packs to keep any chocolate we buy from melting on the way home!  DH is excited about getting a new Hershey t-shirt and a new Hershey's souvenir cup.

I still have a few more reservations to make because for some reason, the specific hotels haven't opened their booking windows yet.  And as per usual, I'll be re-checking the ones we've made to see if I can catch a lower available rate or special offer before we travel. 

~ Cindy D.

Tourism e-mails and gluten-free waffle bowls

If you've followed us for a while, you'll know I like to look for information about the areas we're planning to visit well ahead of actually going.  One thing I frequently do is sign up with state, regional, and local tourism organizations (think Visit Florida!) for their e-mails.  They are full of ideas for places to see, things to do, events that are happening, and off-the-beaten path suggestions.

TIP: use a separate e-mail address for trip research; that keeps your regular inbox from getting cluttered and keeps travel-related e-mails in one place.

I signed up last week for Portland, Maine's e-mails, so as I was browsing the one I got today, it led me to find out about MaineFlavor ice cream.  What's of interest to me is not only do they features flavors from Maine, their shop in Portland is a certified gluten-free location where they make their waffle bowls and cookies for their ice cream sandwiches.  As someone with celiac disease, this immediately put MaineFlavor's scoop shop on our list of places to go in Portland!

Even if you're not actively planning a trip, if somewhere new is on your radar, it's worth signing up for the tourism e-mails. They can spark an interest or help you decide what time of year to go.

~ Cindy D.

Planning for 14 states in 31 days

Hello friends!  We are less than a year from traveling which means the booking windows for accommodations are opening, so we've been busy getting our itinerary firmed up for our trip to explore the northeastern states.  Before we make reservations, I wanted to go through the itinerary visually with Google maps to show DH the route - and to give him the opportunity to look left and right of the planned route in case there was something along the way that we wanted to add.  As it turns out, there was!  We ended up adding two days to our return trip to have opportunity to check out the historical places in Appomattox and Harper's Ferry.  

Our Middle States trip took us through 17 states; this one will take us through 14 with only Georgia being in common. Friends gave me a 50 states bucket list water bottle that you add stickers to for each state you go to, so I'll get to add 11 more stickers!  We'll be going through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, and West Virginia.

We will mostly stay in hotels, motels, and local inns as the few cities where we are staying more than one night have a 3-night minimum on the affordable Air BnB's.  We did have to alter a few towns we originally thought we would spend a night because there just wasn't anywhere to stay.  This is why I plan the route and select lodging for the entire trip before making any actual reservations so I won't have to shift and re-shift.  It's also why I don't book accommodations that are not refundable - in case something comes up along the way.

Next up, I'll be working on places of interest so we have an idea of what we might want to see and do ... after all, we've got 14 states to see!

~ Cindy D.

Introducing: Exploring the Northeast US

Hello dear readers, old friends, and new followers!  If you're just joining us, welcome to our retirement travel blog!  We started this blog a few years ago when planning an epic vacation through the middle states of the US for our first retirement road trip.  I use the blog to help with planning, organizing, and soliciting ideas and recommendations from you all!  Our Middle States trip was a great success.  So earlier this year we made a not-quite-as-ambitious trip along the Edges of South Florida.  And with each trip, we've learned more about how we like to travel and what our limitations are.

Now armed with that information, we're ready to get our next trip planning underway!  We've both had a goal of getting to all fifty states; I just need to visit Vermont while DH still needs Vermont, Maine, New Jersey, and Delaware.  (I say I need Delaware, too, because I was under the age of two when my parents took me there.)

We're calling this trip Exploring the Northeast US because we're going to visit all four states that DH needs as well as some in between that we've been to before.

We live in the southern US, so we're choosing Virginia Beach to be our launch point.  We'll have a few travel days to get there, but we're saving South Carolina and North Carolina for another trip... or we'd never get started on the Northeast before we would need to be home!

Our loose itinerary at this point looks like this:

• Virginia Beach
• Southern Delaware including Fenwick Island where I hope to meet a 3rd cousin
• Northern Delaware
• American Revolutionary War stuff on the way to and through New Jersey
• Albany, NY
• Saratoga Springs, NY (our DVC friends, IYKYK)
• Burlington, VT
• Montpelier, VT
• Cross New Hampshire on the Kanc
• Bangor, ME
• Coastal drive Down East, ME - and cross over to Canada
• Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park
• Coastal drive to Portland, ME
• Ogunquit, ME
• Derry, NH to visit my uncle, aunt, and cousins
• Bennington, VT and Germantown, NY
• Hershey, PA
• Shenandoah National Park

There will be lighthouses, battlefields, and forts, of course.  Cheese, creemees, and syrup. Boat rides on lakes and intercoastal waterways.  Scenic drives, winding roads, mountain-scapes.  State parks and museums.  And maybe some leaf-peeping if we aren't too early.

If you have any recommendations of things to see or do, hotels or inns to stay at, or places to eat - or anything else - let us know in the comments!

~ Cindy D.

Sharks teeth and the end of the trip

We've been home two weeks now, and I'm finally getting to the last blog entry to record our trip.

When we left Fort Myers, we headed towards Venice, Florida, where we spent the last two nights of the trip.  On the way, we stopped in North Port to meet up with an online friend and her husband.  She and I had become acquainted back in 1997 when we were expecting babies as part of an online email group (before Facebook ever became a thing).  Her family had lived in the northeast back then but recently moved to Florida, and (because Facebook is a thing) she had been sharing photos from various Gulf beaches near her that made me interested in checking them out, too.  They suggested meeting for a mid-afternoon meal at Blue Tequila which was so delicious that DH declared it his favorite meal of the trip.  It was nice to meet face-to-face and they had some good recommendations for things to do in the area.

The following morning we woke up to rain.  It was the first rain we'd had since we were in Dominica on our cruise, and it was the first time our plans had to change due to weather.  In fact, when the tornado warnings sounded, it was reminiscent of our Middle States trip when we were dodging severe weather.  Thankfully it passed by about 10:30, so we decided to go ahead and venture out.

First order of business was gassing up at Costco!  There's a pretty new one in the area, so we went to check it out.  It makes our local Costco look like a 5 & Dime store.

Then we drove out to Manasota Beach because my friend had told me they often find sharks teeth there.  A few years ago, we had gone to Amelia Island, Florida, for an anniversary trip, and while walking along one of the beaches, we had talked with a woman who was hunting for (and finding) sharks teeth.  Ever since then, we've wanted to find our own, so this seemed like a great opportunity to try.  The beach wasn't busy as the rain was just letting up (and it was a Monday morning), so we spent about 45 minutes enjoying the fresh air and sea spray and searching for sharks teeth.  We met a family that had the whole shovel and sieve set-up for some serious sifting, so we asked them to show us what we should keep our eye out for.  The kids were so excited about their finds and gave us some helpful tips.

Of course we were just looking with our eyes and not digging around and sifting, but we managed to find a few on our own.  Another fella was also looking and had a handful that he gave us since we were such obvious tourists!

We had plans to meet one of DH's cousins who lives in Venice, so we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and then headed over.  DH hadn't seen her since the mid-1970s, but we had talked on the phone a few weeks before meeting up with them. I was especially excited because I asked her about old family photos and such, so she had a lot of things ready for me to scan for the genealogy projects that I am working on. 

After our visit, we headed back to the hotel.  There was a Culver's nearby, so we "broke" our rule about not eating at restaurants we can go to at home - and I got a cheeseburger.  Not the same as getting one in Key West, but it worked.

We had originally planned to visit another of DH's cousins in Bradenton on Tuesday, but she had to be out of town unexpectedly.  We were going to go up to Tarpon Springs and check things out there and then on Wednesday to to Weeki Wachee Springs to see the Mermaid show on the way home, but since his cousin wasn't available, we decided to just head home a day early.  Tarpon Springs and Weeki Wachee are within a reasonable distance, so we can do a short trip to see them another time.

So that's that!  We wanted to see the Edges of South Florida, so we did just that!  I love being retired!

~ Cindy D.

The Edison-Ford Winter Estates

One of the things we were looking forward to was visiting the Edison-Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers. It has a perfect combination of the things we find interesting: history, culture, museum, biography, and, of course, plenty of #flowersmakemehappy opportunities!  Our American Horticulture Society membership allowed us to tour the property free as part of the reciprocal garden network.  We definitely got our value from our AHS membership.

DH had visited the site in the late 1980s, but quite a bit had changed, yet stayed the same! These properties are well cared for and managed where visitors can immerse themselves into what life might have been like for the Edisons and Fords around the turn of the century (from the 1800s to 1900s, I mean, for my younger readers).  

The houses are beautifully maintained, and they each have their windows opened so you can take photographs without glare.  Although you do occasionally find yourself with a photo that has a voyeur from the other side looking in!

The gardens on the property were beautiful.  There were roses and citrus and even a moonlight garden near Edison's study.  And the banyan tree(s) were huge!

In addition to the houses, there is the laboratory that you can walk through, and a wonderfully done museum featuring both Edison and Ford.  However, there's not the lightbulb.  We inquired and were told it had been removed earlier this century (2006 or so) when ownership and management of the property transitioned - and it was probably not really the original lightbulb anyway.

We did a self-guided tour but didn't opt to listen to the audio portion that you could be through an app as we only had a finite amount of time to spend (two hours).  They offer a guided tour but it, too, wasn't going to quite fit into our afternoon.

~ Cindy D.