Day 5--May 31st

Went to bed without dinner and I tried to set up this blog, but the hotel connection was slllllooooooow! Got frustrated. Went to bed.

Breakfast this morning--same as the morning before (but not as good).. This Comfort Inn was not as "comfortable" as the one the day before. We did get to drive around the campus of Notre Dame, however. We reminisced about the time we took the kids (they were little) and how impressed Sean was with the football field (Bryn too, actually). During that visit, we walked around the campus and went to the bookstore. I think we bought a few things for the kids.

A bad picture of the Cleveland skyline

So we left South Bend, traveled to the end of Indiana, all the way across Ohio, stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch, mainly for me to pick up a harmonica (I have four at home and forgot them). I need to practice my blues harmonica playing. Hahahahahaha! There was so much construction that even though we left the hotel at 8AM (after breakfast), we only traveled about 580 miles today.

Poor Bob! I don't know why he didn't let me drive at all. We're only two and a half hours from Albany, but it's probably good that we stopped in Syracuse.

Skylar Hotel, Syracuse, NY

We're at a cute little hotel in Syracuse, on the Syracuse University campus. It is an eco-friendly hotel--so besides recycling, the electricity (lights, air conditioner, TV) are all controlled by the hotel key card. If we leave, we have to take the card. It's a beautiful hotel.

We went into the little area of restaurants to go to Faegan's Pub. However, it was closed--ON A SATURDAY NIGHT!!! As were many other restaurants on the street. I suppose that if we were downtown Syracuse, rather on the campus, most of the restaurants and pubs would be open, but we wanted to stay within walking distance. We did find a Greek/Italian restaurant. I ordered Buffalo Shrimp and eggplant fries. Bob ordered a meatball sub--we both had beers. The beers tasted so good after the long road trip and the food was, actually, quite delicious.

We walked back to the hotel and here we are. I hope we get to bed early and get a chance to visit Antoinette and others in Albany for a few minutes before we head to Boston--then to Portland, Maine, where we'll probably stay the night tomorrow, so we can take our time heading along the coast highway to the cottage.

Day 4--May 30

We are pushing it today. Note: Comfort Inn in Omaha on Grover St. had perfect bed, linens, mattresses, pillows, and BREAKFAST: scrambled eggs, delicious biscuits and gravy (not as good as Bob's, but passable), grits, bagels, donuts, cereals--wow!

We drove through Iowa (YAWN), Illinois (terrible traffic and drivers)--had lunch at Culvers (fried pork loin sandwich) and kept driving until Bob was tired. We ended up finding a Comfort Inn right outside of Notre Dame (South Bend). Boring drive. Poor Bob.

Gotta get to bed so sorry there's not much today. We have about 1200 miles to go, so we're shooting for June 2nd unless we dilly dally in the towns along the coast of Maine.

Day 3

Just as I expected, Bob and I both slept through our 6 AM alarms and didn't get out of Denver until 9 AM. Another late day. Sean advised us to enjoy the trip and be kind to each other and that's exactly what we need to do. However, today would be challenging. We would be going through NEBRASKA. My apologies to anyone from Nebraska, but the trip along the major highways is one of the most boring stretches of the US we have ever traveled on. And just as we predicted, this was a tedious day. The kayaks, however, seemed pretty secure--thanks, Sean.

There's really not much to report. Once again, as usual, Bob did all of the driving and we made it to Omaha. We stayed in a very nice Comfort Inn--and I discovered yet another idiosyncrasy that I have. I am practically OCD about the beds, linens, mattress, and pillows. If they're not just right (medium hard mattress, smooth crisp sheets, and many pillows of all degrees of softness), I don't sleep. This Comfort Inn was PERFECT. Very comfortable beds (two queens).

Sweet Potato Fries

delicious) food. I had 1/2 a rack of ribs with a salad, and sweet potato fries. Bob had sweet potato fries, brisket, and cole slaw. The meat was tender and the barbecue sauce was excellent--not too sweet with a little kick. The fries were crisp and freshly cut. We both had a beer and went to bed fairly early.

Tomorrow, we drive the dreaded (even more boring) I 80 through Iowa and Indiana.

Day 2--May 28th

I LOVE SANTA FE. After a fairly decent night's sleep, we had breakfast (free) at the hotel. It was not as extensive as those at other hotels at which we stayed, but it was sufficient.

We left the hotel about 8:30 AM and went into downtown Santa Fe. I visited a wonderful jewelry store and was able to get a few items for myself and Christmas presents for others. Then, Bob took me down the street to a gallery he had discovered on his walk to mail a check to someone. It was all wood works of art--lamps, beds, coffee tables, shelving units, wall art--and so beautiful. I managed to find a piece that I could afford--a hall (or bathroom) tree. Literally, it's a tree that was sawed in half vertically with branches cut short. It is natural--not stained--and will probably go into our hallway. We couldn't take it with us, though, so we are having them store it in their warehouse until we return in September. DARN! Now we have to go through Santa Fe again (;-)

It was another long day of driving. We arrived at Sean's house at about 6:00 PM. Then we all left for a barbecue dinner at Jess and PJ Fallis's new house. The house is beautiful, so is the deck in their yard (which is where we had dinner). Although they haven't been in the house that long, they have really done a lot to make it theirs. They have done a fabulous job. It's a wonderful home to raise their children in. We had wine, roast pork wrapped in bacon with a barbecue sauce made by PJ (from a recipe of Jess's father), roasted brussel sprouts and potatoes, a strawberry salad (that Chanelle made), and a choice of wonderful desserts (all singles that we passed around): carrot cake, turtle cake, coconut cream pie, peanut butter pie, tres leches cake--YUM!!!! Sean picked up the dessert and it was better than anything we could get at AJ's.

Bob was not happy, but Sean decided to redo the ties/straps on the kayaks/roof rack. He changed the position of the kayaks and secured the straps.

Bob and I have a new guest room with our own bathroom at Sean's. His former roommate had pretty much destroyed the room, but after a lot of work by both Chanelle and Sean, you'd never know the very pretty room was left in such bad shape. We managed to get to bed by midnight, which was far too late if we wanted to get an early start.

Day 1 Tuesday, May 27th

Kayaks with Sean's help in Denver

Although we got a late start (mainly because of the problem of mounting the kayaks on the top of the van--one fell off twice and put dents in the side of the van), we made decent time. We also decided to stop early in Santa Fe because if we went straight for Denver, we would not get a chance to see Sean and Chanelle since they'd be sleeping at 11:45 PM, our arrival ETA.

It wasn't long before we had traveled along I 17 in Phoenix when another driver gesticulated wildly to the roof of our car. YUP!! We were losing the kayaks. Poor Bob. I ranted about that for the rest of the morning. He had a lot of trouble securing them because it was hard to reach them on the rooftop and Bob's arthritis prevents him from being his old limber self. I fumed most of the way and worried about the kayaks falling off the roof.

Santa Fe

We arrived at a hotel in Santa Fe called the Santa Fe Sage Inn. It wasn't much to look at from the outside, but the rooms were all decorated a la Santa Fe southwestern and were adorable. We were starving so we asked the reservation clerk for a place that was fun, close, and had a menu that was pretty extensive.

C

Cowgirl BBQ

Cowgirl Barbecue Patio

The Corn Chowder

When she said, "The Cowgirl Bar," I knew that it was the same restaurant we had enjoyed during a previous trip to Santa Fe, when we couch-surfed at an EMT instructor's adobe home. Once we got there, we knew that we had been there before. We ordered starters: Corn chowder (with shredded chicken, corn, carrots, green chiles, potatoes, and scallions--it was amazingly delicious), a Caesar's salad, a lamb slider with lemon aioli, a Hatch chile quesadilla and a pork belly taco. Both of us had beer and were entertained by a guitar player/singer on the colorful and fun patio.

The hotel was darling, the bed comfortable, and the bathroom clean. So we had a good night's sleep.

Santa Fe Sage Inn

Summer 2014

Bryn and Anthony, Oct 18, 2013

It's been a helluva 7 months: my beautiful daughter had a fairy-tale wedding and married the man of her dreams in October (2013),

I took care of my dying mother right after the wedding in Albany NY, she died a day before her 93rd birthday, we went through the services and burial, I put her house up for sale, cleaned the house out, sold the house.

Engagement--Sean and Chanelle

 My youngest son got engaged to a beautiful girl, Chanelle, who we already love, and my oldest son finished his dissertation, defended it, and got his PhD. Unfortunately, he hasn't found a university teaching job (or a university hasn't found him).

Bob and I were obviously due for some quiet time and fun. We had already planned on spending the entire summer, out of the horrid furnace called Phoenix, at the cottage in Maine. It might be our last cross-country trip as we have done this trip more than 15 times and we aren't getting any younger.

The Las Vegas Wedding--Antoinette and Heath

Ziplining in Costa Rica

Costa Rica while Sean and Chanelle surfed

Costa Rica

There was so much to do before we left, however. That included a trip to Costa Rica (via Denver--another long drive) and attending my cousin Antoinette's wedding in Las Vegas (to our great friend, Heath). So we were busy, busy, busy--most of the time, gloriously so.

We were lucky to find two wonderful friends (a former student, Marissa, and her husband, James) to housesit and dog sit for us. Our original plans were to take the dogs and get the house set to be vacant all summer (which involved getting a top-of-the-line security system). However, Marissa volunteered and after a dinner at our place, Bob and I decided that they would love our dogs and take loving care of our home.

We wanted to be in Maine by June 1st, but we were pretty sure we'd be a few days late because it took a lot of planning, packing, and follow through to make this trip happen.

We packed the van (not close to as full as it was the last time we went to Maine) with art supplies, technology, clothes, etc. and once the kayaks were tied to the roof rack, we left. Our first leg was Phoenix to Flagstaff, but things would not go smoothly.