On the road again! It was hard to leave the lake after such a wonderful summer but road trip fun lies ahead. Lauren joined us on our first leg from Fayette, Me to North Chatham, NY on Tuesday, August 25 to stay with my college sorority sister Jan Langlois and her husband George Vollmuth - two wonderful friends that have been Lauren's east coast parents for many years. Of course Lauren had to get used to her parents road trip behaviors - she may never be the same again. It was great to see Jan and George, enjoy a wonderful dinner [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ah - Summer 2009 in Maine - the Summer of Wonder! It’s hard to believe that 2 ½ months went by so quickly and that we’re about to get back on the road again. We had such wonderful times with visits from friends, visits to friends, lazy days by the lake and the fireplace…depending on the weather. It was a summer of making memories: *Being together as a family for the whole time was the best part of the summer - we laughed, we teased, we loved each other, we read, we swam and canoed, we went to silly movies, and [View Full Entry]

---

---

We arrived in Maine a week ago and it feels like heaven… Our last three days on the road included stops at Steve’s parents outside Baltimore, where I got to enjoy the short season of soft shell crabs - nothing better! On to Lauren’s in Farmington, CT the next day, with a side trip to the town in which I grew up - River Edge, NJ. Never a truer phrase - You can never go home again - the modest little home I grew up in has been torn down and replaced by a McMansion. It looked so out of place [View Full Entry]

---

---

Monday, June 8 On the road again...and happy birthday, Steve! Tennessee is one long state east to west and I began to wonder if we'd ever get out of it. As we passed exit signs on the freeway to many small cities throughout Tennessee, Steve began to reminisce about his travel in the early 1970's when he worked for Seligman & Latz in New York. His job at S & L was to visit the various beauty salons the company ran in department stores throughout the country and he, being the low man on the totem pole, got some very interesting [View Full Entry]

---

---

-you see your first Waffle House -you drive through Christian County -you see mega church...after mega church -you spy your first Confederate flag -you see the 10 commandments in neon in front of a motel -the Bible is open to the motel housekeeper's favorite passage in your room -everything is fried on the dinner buffet, including okra and catfish -the front garden statuary outside the trailer includes two toilet bowls planted with plastic flowers -the lawn sprinkler at the motel is a cow with the water coming out of the udder -you can't find an NPR station This is too much [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, today turned out to be a very special day.. but let me start out at the beginning. Our early morning walk actually had us meandering by "amber waves of grain" in a field...although as Steve said, the wheat was so small that it must be for Wheat Thins (he made me put this joke in here!!!). We got acquainted with Abilene residents by wandering through the local cemetery - it was interesting to see the number of Hispanic surnamed families from the early and mid - 20th century. One poignant headstone had two grieving greyhounds on it - I'm sure [View Full Entry]

---

---

Another long driving day - about 450 miles - across Colorado into Kansas...and then more Kansas...and then more Kansas. It's true what they say about Kansas - it just keeps going on forever and is so very flat. We're in Abilene tonight, all tucked up in the newest, spiffiest hotel in town, the Holiday Inn Express. Lots of fields of amber waving grain, grain elevators every few miles, oil wells pumping, cows, horses, and just a picture of middle America. Some of the sitings- -signs alternately saying Jesus Loves You and Abortion Is Murder every few miles -a large billboard saying [View Full Entry]

---

---

I'm sitting in the John Tomay Memorial Library in Georgetown, CO - the best source of free wifi in this cute little town. Hanging directly across from the desk is Harry, the stuffed head of the last buffalo in Clear Creek County, who was killed, stuffed and given to the library in 1935, only 11 years after this wonderful little building was built. This town loves its library - there is a charming little park outside with a bandstand, just dedicated this year by the Friends of the Library. Yea for great public libraries... Yesterday was a real road trip day [View Full Entry]

---

---

Another spectacular day. We started out early in the morning about 7 a.m. with a hike up the Emerald Pools trail in Zion - and when I say up I mean up! There are three sets of pools that are formed from runoff from the porous limestone cliffs and you climb like a mountain goat to all three of them. Our reward was being about the only hikers on the trail and then a serene breakfast at the top pool which we had to ourselves. And yes, Lauren, both your father and mother made it up with no problems - how [View Full Entry]

---

---

...when he created Zion National Park. It's truly spectacular. I'm sitting on the balcony right now watching the last glimpses of sunlight fade from the red rocks soaring above - the beauty is almost unearthly. We started the morning out with our regular 45 minute power walk...on the Vegas strip. If you think it's tawdry at night, wait until you see it at 6:30 in the morning. On the way out through the casino you catch the few all nighters who are determined to win back their fortune..and the couple of guys still falling off the bar stools. You can see [View Full Entry]

---

---