Friday, May 21 One of the pleasures of road trips is the excitement of a find that you didn’t expect. Our traipse through AP US History has had us trying to recall so much that we had forgotten - education is wasted on the young - but many of the places and names certainly did ring some familiar bells. But our real find today was a new one - Montpelier, the home of James Madison, outside Charlottesville. We started out Friday morning meandering along a country road lined with the famous Virginia horse farms on our way northeast of Charlottesville - absolutely gorgeous country. Montpelier was the family home of the Madison family - he was born there and died there - and clearly shows how the Virginia aristocracy lived two hundred+ years ago. Until 25 ... read more

One of the fun parts of roadtripping is collecting people…well, not quite actually collecting them but collecting vignettes of the folks you meet on the road. I guess I have to admit to a certain amount of voyeurism as we travel as I do enjoy people watching and, frankly, listening in on conversations from time to time. Yesterday morning at the Gettysburg Visitor’s Center there were masses of high school students on the obligatory field trip, filling out their requisite class survey forms while leaning on each other’s backs, trying to be uber-cool with each other, and just generally being teenagers. Some comments overhead… “I didn’t know Jefferson Davis was President of the US... Dummy, it means President of the Confederacy.” “Eew, can you imagine being operated on with that? Did they have drugs back then?”...while ... read more

We're on the road again - after all, it's almost summer and Maine is calling again. It's not quite as ambitious as last summer with our cross country fun but we're revisiting American history this spring. Last June as we were driving through Tennessee and Virginia we kept seeing these signs with vaguely familiar names from Civil War battles but since we were moving fast by that point, we didn't stop but said we'd come back...and so we have. We left CA yesterday - yes, it was one of those how much can you pack in two suitcases trips...and are spending the weekend with Steve's parents outside Baltimore and will be off on the road tomorrow morning. We've decided road tripping is definitely a favorite family occupation - in case any of you doubt it, follow ... read more

We're on the next to last leg of our summer long adventure and it's hard to believe it's almost over. Wednesday, Sept 9 we spent a leisurely day the Izaak Walton Hotel in Essex, MT - thanks, Bob and Joanie Dehlendorf for recommending this unique place. The hotel is on the southern border of Glacier National Park and is an old railroad inn that is right on the railway line. A great old place - our room was paneled with wood, and looked like an old railroad car. The dining room is called...The Dining Car...what a surprise... and has big picture windows so you can watch the trains pass by. We're still in huckleberry country and so dinner was huckleberried to death - salad dressing, glaze on the chicken, cobbler and ice cream - I did ... read more

We had a great weekend with the Dehlendorf’s and all the Lincoln boys. All the guys went out fishing yesterday…with the results not subject for public discussion. When Scott caught a fish and took a photo he had to put it next to his foot so we even had some sense of how big…or little…it was. Lots of laughs, lots of fun. Sunday, Sept. 6 We started out from Bozeman on our continuing tour of Montana, on our way to Glacier National Park. Up through Helena to Great Falls, then north on a two lane road through the most god-forsaken country you’ve ever seen. We perked up at the camels in Fairfield, MT - who knew this was camel country?!! Mostly its beef cattle country with lots of cows, who seem to dance to the tune ... read more