The last days, or we made it home!

We’re winding down our trip as we’re getting closer to home.  For time’s sake, I’m going to combine the last days into this blog entry, and then I’ll follow that with an overall observations summary.  If you’ve been reading all along, thanks for hanging out with us and for your interest.  I like doing these so I have something to go back and reference when I’m trying to remember something.

We made the quick drive from Lynchburg over to the Appomattox National Historical Park where General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to General Ulysses S Grant.  I’d heard of the Appomattox Courthouse, but I didn’t realize that that wasn’t the site of the surrender; the surrender actually occurred at the McLean house that was nearby.  We learned that in the 1890s, the house was disassembled so it could be moved for the World’s Fair, but the company went bankrupt, so the rubble was left in a pile.  It wasn’t until the CCC came in a few decades later that the house was able to be rebuilt and restored.  The courthouse serves as the visitor center and has a small museum with a lot of artifacts including the pens used by the Generals.

The park has living history guides that perform throughout the day, telling stories and setting the scene for visitors to gain an understanding of the events that occurred there.  And on some days, they are printing parole passes in the style of those given to the Confederate soldiers to help provide them safe passage back to their homes once the surrender had happened.  They’ll give you one if you ask, so we did – after all, we’re a couple of southerners who were headed home!

Printing Press

This squirrel was just hanging out.

McLean house

The day we were there was a cooler day and there was a really nice breeze.  This park is set up with several shorter paths for walking that take you to where specific events occurred such as the laying down of arms.

We left from Appomattox and drove down to Charlotte.  DH had been wanting to try Cracker Barrel since they reportedly had reversed some of their bad decisions about food preparation, so we found one on the way to the hotel.  It was a bit of a bust because they had run out of mashed potatoes.  How in the world does a Cracker Barrel run out of mashed potatoes?  They offered us baked potatoes in their place, but it wasn’t the same.

Our hotel was within viewing distance of some of the rollercoasters at Carowinds, and it was also right on the flight path for the Charlotte airport.

When we changed our plans mid-trip to head home through North and South Carolina, we decided to add Charleston, SC, as a destination.  We’ve both wanted to go there for a while but hadn’t figured out when or how to get there, so it was an obvious decision to go.

A few years ago, I had been listening to a podcast, My Grandma’s Diaries, that was done by a man and his friend from Charleston.  His friend was Liz Butler, and she’s a seasoned tour guide in Charleston.  I really liked her contributions to the podcast and thought it would be fun to take one of her tours.  We did her Storied Charleston walking tour in the afternoon that we got to Charleston.  It was wonderful.  She’s a 10th generation Charlestonian and is very knowledgeable about the area and its history.  We walked all over the downtown area as she pointed out sites of historical and cultural interest and wove them all into a wonderful description of Charleston.  This was my most favorite tour we did!

After the tour, we asked her if she had any recommendations for dinner.  She suggested a place called Page’s Okra Grill based on where we were staying in Mount Pleasant.  I had the best plate of shrimp and grits.

While we were in downtown Charleston, we went ahead and went to the Fort Sumter visitor center to get my passport stamp, get a preview of the fort we were going to see the next day, and get a few books for DH.  We parked in two parking garages while in Charleston because the Visitor Center was too far to walk to the walking tour meeting spot.  The first place we parked was at the Aquarium Garage which was nice because there was an attendant to help if you needed it.  The second place we were going to park (recommended as a parking location for the tour) was full when we got there, so we had to navigate the narrow and often one-directional roads to find public parking.  Once we did, I took pictures of the lot, the street corner, etc., so we’d be able to find our way back.  Thankfully we didn’t have any trouble.

The next morning, we packed up and after a quick stop at Publix, we went over to catch the ferry to Fort Sumter from Patriots Point.  We figured this was easier than driving back into Charleston, and we were right!  The parking is a text-to-pay lot, so I had to figure out another parking thing!  They only let you get an hour, 90 minutes, two hours, or all day.  I needed 3 ½ hours.  It acted like you could add time when your time was about to run out, so I figured I’d just have to keep an eye on it.  But thankfully once I put in the initial 2 hours, it gave me opportunity to pay for additional time.  (If you’ve been reading a while, you’ll know that this whole parking business was the most nuisance of the trip.)

The ferry ride to Fort Sumter took about 30 minutes.  Once you arrive, the ranger gives a quick welcome and tells you how long until you need to be back on the boat.  The fort is only accessible to visitors by the ferry.  We had about an hour which we found to be plenty of time.  After you’ve been there about 15 minutes, a ranger does a ranger talk about the fort and its history.  But don’t worry, you don’t have to stop looking around because they use a microphone system so the talk can be heard pretty much anywhere at the fort.  We were able to explore some of the areas that had been full of people earlier once the talk began.  Here are a few pictures from the fort.

Once we returned to the mainland, we got ready to head for Pooler, Georgia.  This is where my parents live.  There is a Mexican restaurant nearby that DH and I really enjoy, so that’s where we were having our meal for the day.  Then we got checked into our hotel and went to visit my folks for the evening.  We spent the whole next day with them, and then got gas at Costco ($3.55/gal thanks to the Georgia Governor suspending tax on gas for a while).

Then the next day, we headed for home. We were gone 35 day / 34 nights  Our ending milage was 4,758 miles, and Maisy averaged 32.9 MPG.  We came in over $1,900 under budget (but no worries, I’ve already used that for a grand European river cruise and land expedition in 2028).  But that's for another blog series.

~ Cindy D.

Poplar Forest

Welcome to day 28 of our Northeast Road Trip report.  Not much left on the itinerary, but we still have a few things to do.  After completing the entire Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, we continued onto the Blue Ridge Parkway down to Buena Vista.  It’s a beautiful, scenic byway and definitely worth staying off the interstate to see more of the area.

We were headed to Lynchburg, Virginia, for the night.  We hadn’t planned anything in the Lynchburg area beyond a next-day visit to Appomattox because we weren’t sure how long it would take us to drive out of Shenandoah based on how often we might stop.  But when I was looking at the map the night before, I noticed Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest was about 5 miles from where we were going to be staying in the Lynchburg area.  I didn’t know anything about it, but DH said he’d heard of it, so we put it on the list in case we had time.

Which we did.  We arrived at Poplar Forest mid-afternoon, just in time for a guided tour of the house.  Poplar Forest was Thomas Jefferson’s second home.  It had a lot of the same elements you might find at Monticello including his love of all things octagon!  The two bedrooms had alcove beds, and there were several other similar elements.  Outside the home, there were stands of tulip poplar trees; in fact, there are still a few that were planted in 1806 when Thomas Jefferson still lived there.

The house fell into the hands of others over the years and it was modernized by each new owner.  And many of the trees were removed from around the house.  Over time, as the house changed hands, a doctor bought it in the early 1980s to keep it from being turned into a commercial development such as a shop or restaurant.  At the time, there were only about 49 acres of the original land still attached to the house; the rest had been parceled off.  The doctor deeded the house and land over to the preservation corporation that began the restoration project over 40 years ago using documents from Monticello and archaeological finds from the land itself to restore the house to what it would have been like in the early 1800s.  They have painstakingly researched everything from the building techniques to the paint colors and process.  At one point in its post-Jefferson history, the house had burned down leaving only the brick walls and cobbled floor.  But thanks to the documents and even some drawings by Jefferson’s granddaughter that had been preserved at Monticello, they’ve been able to have a good sense of how to put it back together for future generations to enjoy.

This kind of stuff just fascinates me!

After our tour, we ate dinner at a Chili’s that was actually nearby the hotel, unlike the Chili’s incident in Albany, NY.  This was the only repeat-restaurant for us on the entire trip.

Up next:  The end of the Civil War (followed two days later by the beginning)

~ Cindy D.

Oh, Shenandoah

I think my favorite days of our Northeast Road Trip were the ones we spent at Shenandoah National Park.  We drove in from Charles Town, West Virginia, through the northern entrance on Skyline Drive.  We spent two nights at Skyland Resort in a premium 2Q lodge room with a back deck that overlooked the Shenandoah Valley with a somewhat obstructed view.  We ate two meals at the Pollock Dining Room at Skyland Resort, dinner the first night that was delicious, and lunch the second day (don’t ask me about blackeye pea chili).  We took two official trails (Fox Hollow by the Dickey Ridge Visitor Center) and Limberlost Trail (less than a mile from Skyland Resort).  We drove the whole length of the Skyline Drive, stopping at many of the 70+ overlooks.  The weather ranged from overcast to so foggy you couldn’t see in front of you, to clear and cold (45 degrees).  DH had to buy a hoodie because his thin jacket wasn’t enough.  It was colder at Shenandoah than it had gotten at Acadia in Maine.  We enjoyed the rest and relaxation, sitting on the deck and just watching and listening to nature around us, at least until it was too cold that we had to go inside.  Our room had a picture window so we were able to continue enjoying the view from inside where we had the heat on.  We walked around the Skyland area and visited the Massanutten Lodge that was located within Skyland.  We saw deer and squirrels and chipmunks.  We listened to the wind and found two small waterfalls simply because we were still and listening.

In preparation for our visit, I researched the various trails and picked out two of the easiest ones.  The first one we did was the Fox Hollow Trail that leaves from the Visitor Center near the north entrance to the park.  We talked with the ranger about the trail before heading out to make sure we knew where the trailhead was and to be sure that it was truly a circular loop.  It had an over 300-ft elevation change, and it had been raining on the days prior to us being there, so they advised that it would be muddy but the trail was in good condition.  The ranger we spoke to suggested we take the loop going clockwise because that might be easier with the uphills and downhills.  I commented to DH while we were on the trail that the ranger took one look at me and decided which way I should go.  We were about halfway through the trail when another ranger came from the other direction and I told DH that I figured the first ranger sent the second ranger out to make sure that lady was ok, haha!  It was a good trail, would’ve been better in dryer conditions, but we did it!  I do have confirmation that I am not a hiker, don’t want to be a hiker, and am definitely a flatlander!  But I was so proud of myself for doing it and for being careful and not having any mishaps or missed steps.  I did have quite a bit of mud on my shoes when we got done.

The second trail I picked was definitely more my speed.  It’s the Limberlost Trail, and it’s got about 130 ft elevation change.  It’s wide and has crushed stone for much of the path on the 1.3 mile loop.  It’s designed for an easy walk in the woods which was exactly what we wanted to do!  I was drawn to this trail because when I was maybe 10 years old, my grandmother had checked out a book from her local library when I was coming to visit that she wanted me to read.  It was A Girl of the Limberlost.  This book has stuck with me for fifty years, so of course I had to have my own Limberlost-adventure.  This was my favorite outdoor activity we did on this trip.

And instead of telling you about the beauty of the Shenandoah National Park, I’ll just share some photos here.

~ Cindy D.

Harpers Ferry, WV

We’ve seen a lot of places related to the American Revolution, but we also had a few Civil War related sites.  After we left Pennsylvania, we headed to West Virginia to the Harpers Ferry National Historical Park.  I didn’t know much about what happened here nor about John Brown whose actions contributed to some of them, but now I do.  I've learned so much on this trip!

The Harpers Ferry National Historical Park has a Visitor Center where you can catch a free shuttle down to where the site is.  This is such a great idea for the busier NPS sites that have limited parking.  The shuttle runs every 15 minutes and takes about 10 minutes to get to where the structures and museums are.

We spent about 90 minutes there.  There are several buildings you can go inside and see exhibits for.  And there’s the Point where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet.  The Appalachian Trail also runs through here.  This was pretty exciting for me because I had watched a guy on Instagram earlier this year who documented his hike from Georgia to Maine.  It was so interesting to me, so I walked along part of the path that was the real live actual Appalachian Trail.  Part of it here goes up some rugged stone steps by St. Peter’s Catholic Church.  Just as I was heading down the steps (careful, careful, careful), the bell rang and startled me!  Thankfully it didn’t startle me enough to lose my footing, but it did make me think about how varied the terrain is all through the A.T. and how careful, careful, careful you have to be!

Here are a few pictures from our time at Harpers Ferry.

Once we left, we headed into Charles Town to go to a small restaurant called Homespun.  They had gotten great reviews from the gluten-free community for the limited menu.  I had chili that was really good (unlike some chili I had a few days later).  DH had the chili and a grilled cheese sandwich that he declared the best grilled cheese he’d ever had.  (It did look good, and it made me think of my grilled cheese I had at Henry’s Diner in Burlington, VT.)  They also locally source their ice cream from a nearby dairy, so we bought a pint to take with us for dessert at the hotel.

We stayed in Ranson, WV, which is right next to Charles Town and situated at the top of the highway that takes you down to Front Royal, VA, where you can access the northern terminus of the Skyline Drive.  That’s right, folks, we’re about to spend a couple of days at Shenandoah National Park!  Check out our next blog entry to read about our time there and see some pictures.

~ Cindy D.

Hello, Hershey!

One of the things I wanted to do with this trip was make sure we always had something for DH to look forward to.  And this was one of those days – we were headed to Hershey, Pennsylvania!

DH has been doing much of the driving on this trip as he’d rather drive than navigate, but I didn’t want him to do all the driving, so as we were leaving from Lake Katrine, it looked pretty straightforward, at least until we got to Pennsylvania, so I took the first leg of the day.  Just after we entered Pennsylvania, I stopped at the welcome station for a rest break and then DH was ready to drive again.  We didn’t realize it, but our route on US 209 was taking us right through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area.  We saw the brown signs after we were on the road, but I hadn’t researched it like I had the Kancamagus Highway through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, so we missed a couple of spots that might have been fun to look at (waterfalls, scenic vistas).  In fact, it wasn’t until we stopped at the next Pennsylvania Welcome Center that we realized what, exactly, we had been traveling through.

For most of this trip, we have stayed off the interstate highways until they were the same roadways as the other highways (I’m looking at you, North Carolina, where this seems to happen a lot!).  But for this day, the more direct route was by interstate highway, so we took that over to Hershey.

We were staying at the Hotel Hershey, a historic hotel from the 1930s, that serves as a landmark and icon for Hershey tourism there.  We had been to Hershey several years ago and looked around the hotel and thought we’d enjoy a chance to stay there if we ever went back.  We didn’t actually think we’d ever go back, so when we were able to add it to our itinerary, we booked a room type that would guarantee we would stay in the historic section of the hotel.

We got checked in but before we had bell services and valet assist us, we decided to drive down the hill to Chocolate World.  This is where you can do several interactive things, shop, and eat.  We hadn’t had lunch and hadn’t figured out dinner, so we decided to just get something from the food bar there.  And a chocolate milkshake!  We picked up some t-shirts and several of our favorite Hershey brand candy which we then had to figure out how to keep from melting before we get it home!

Back to the hotel where it was lovely to have someone else load the luggage cart and haul our stuff up to our room.  And Maisy enjoyed having valet parking for the night, too.  Our room was well appointed and comfortable, although the bathroom was pretty small as is the case in many historic hotels.  There were chocolate kisses on the pillows, and later in the evening, they offered turn-down service where they bring you even more chocolate kisses!  They also give a full-size Hershey bar at check-in.  And they provide bottled water in the in-room refrigerator, and if you want more, you just call the front desk and they bring it to you.  They provide slippers and a robe for use, too – the slippers, of course, are yours to keep, so we did!

We walked around the hotel and out into the gardens that are part of the hotel property.  There is also a Hershey Gardens that is just down the hill that they give you tickets for that we went to the next day.  (They also give you tickets to the Hershey Museum downtown, but we had visited that when we were there before, so we didn’t bother to go over.  But it is worth doing at least once if you go and have never done it before.)  The whole place was beautiful and felt so glamourous!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel, and again, it was so nice to have someone else take our things down and tetris it into the car!  And they offered us more bottled water to take with us for the drive!

We spent a little over an hour at the Hershey Gardens.  The best part for me was the Butterfly habitat.  They have over 300 butterflies at any one time.  It was so neat to watch them.  I even had one land on my arm!

The flowers in the gardens were beautiful, too.  One of my favorite activities on this trip has been to visit gardens – I guess if you’ve been following along, you’ll already know that!  #flowersmakemehappy.  Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

These are the flowers they make Reeses Cups from.

~ Cindy D. 

Another American Revolutionary site, another President's house, and an extra state

Thanks for sticking with us on our trip report.  Congratulations - we've made it to day 23, and something unexpected happened on this day.  Read on to find out.

When we were in Maine, we had bought a few bottled drinks only to find that we had to pay a deposit on them.  We were talking about it with my uncle in New Hampshire and he explained to me how the states surrounding New Hampshire all had those deposit requirements and pay-per-bag, too.  So when we realized there was a Shaw’s grocery store across from our hotel in Merrimack, NH, we stopped there to stock up for the rest of the trip before leaving New Hampshire.  I know it seems silly, but a nickel is a nickel, and a dime is a dime!  (This is not the unexpected thing.)

We were headed to New York state again, and to get there, we were crossing the southern part of New Hampshire and Vermont.  It was a beautiful, scenic drive.  We really loved seeing this part of the country.  This is one of my favorite "from the car" photos.  Here are a couple of others.

Along the way, we stopped in Bennington, Vermont, to see the Bennington Battle Monument, erected in memory of the significant events of the American Revolutionary War that prefaced the turning of tides at Saratoga.  When we visited Saratoga’s battlefield days earlier, we had learned some about how the troops in the area had kept the British army from obtaining much needed supplies.  The battle monument has an elevator that will take you to the top for what is supposedly a spectacular view, but on the day we were there, the elevator wasn’t running.  Instead, we just enjoyed a lively discussion with the staff guide who was manning the exhibit area at the base of the monument.  We opted to not drive the five miles out to look at the Bennington Battlefield because we still had a long way to go for the day.

We stopped to get gas at a Valero in Bennington ($4.15/gal) before heading to the Apple Barn and Bake Shop.  We discussed getting an apple pie, kind of as a joke since the last time we’d been in Vermont, we got a blueberry pie.  DH had finally finished that pie.  Instead of pie, we opted to get maple creemees for one last time. (We planned to stop here, but we didn't expect to have creemees again, but this is not the unexpected thing.)

Our trip route was designed to form a sort of figure 8 by the time we get back home, so this day’s journey was going to take us back across part of where we’d wandered before. We were headed to Lake Katrine, NY, for the night, and I thought we'd just go from NH to VT to NY.  But wouldn't you know it?  The highway took us through a tiny corner of Massachusetts!  This is the unexpected thing!  We hadn't planned to go through Massachusetts, but because we were there, I made sure to drink some water from my 50-states water bottle so I could add the Massachusetts sticker to it!  It also means that even though we had dropped Kentucky from our itinerary, we'd still make it to or through 17 states on this trip.

We were headed to Lake Katrine by way of President Martin Van Buren’s home in Kinderhook, NY.  The site is off NY Hwy 9.  We had been on NY-9 previously when we visited FDR’s home.  The Van Buren historical site has a home that you can tour, but we weren’t there on a day it was open for tours.  So we walked around the property and enjoyed the break from the car.  It was also nice that there were good restrooms available here.  I also got my NPS Passport stamp.  I think fondly of my coworkers who so thoughtfully gave me my passport book as part of my retirement gift.  Here is a picture of the house and property.

We made it to the hotel, got checked in, and did some laundry.  We also got reorganized because the next day, we were going to be living it up at the Hotel Hershey including bell services and valet parking! 

~ Cindy D.