We left on Tuesday morning and stopped for the night at Marsh Creek, an anchorage we'd always wanted to try. It was a beautiful spot, quiet and off the river. There was a dredge working near the mouth of the creek, but they quit around 4:30 and we enjoyed the peacefulness and the solitude. The next morning we were greeted with fog, which cleared out by mid morning. We were surprised when we got back on the river that the fog had not cleared there yet. It didn't take long until it burned away except for a few wisps of low fog and some interesting-looking fog tubes that swirled up and then dissipated. After all the heavy rains down south, both Pickwick Dam and Kentucky Dam are spilling until further notice. This means we had a ... read more

Monday, 13 July, 2009 Western Pennsylvania is beautiful and green, a very nice drive this morning. Then we got into Ohio, not special. It looks like just about anywhere, flat and fairly forgettable. We did stop in Wadsworth at a Walmart, but Wadsworth is just not the same since Mary Saylor left. We stopped for the night just north of Columbus at a nice campground at Marengo, where Kerry and Ethan went swimming in the indoor pool. Tuesday, 14 July The drive around Columbus was painless, not much traffic since we didn't leave the campground until 10:30. We went to Dayton to see the National Air Force Museum, which really was quite impressive. Lots of planes and lots of info. We saw Jim Harding's (Kerry's bro-in-law) display for his 101 missions in the O-1 over Viet ... read more

As cold, wet and dreary as yesterday was, today was bright and sunny. Blue skies and warm temps are a welcome change. After stopping at the Visitor Center for Acadia National Park, we headed for the Park Loop Road and went up Cadillac Mountain with its spectacular vistas. We saw the Schoodic Peninsula (where we were yesterday in the rain) and Bar Harbor and the Cat Ferry that goes to Nova Scotia. We admired the islands in Frenchman Bay (including Egg Rock with its lighthouse) and the islands to the southwest (Greater Cranberry, Little Cranberry, Bakers and Sutton.) We could see most of Mt. Desert Island to the north and Eagle Lake. We spotted Otter Cove, Seawall, and lots of boats. After coming down off of Cadillac Mountain, we drove the Park Loop Road down the ... read more

We left the campground in Epsom, NH, driving east on Hwy 4. At Portsmouth, NH, we picked up I-95 for just a few miles to the Welcome Center. There we picked up some brochures and advice and got onto US 1 heading north in search of lighthouses. We lucked onto our first, at Cape Neddick, the famous Nubble Light. It was quite pretty on its little island, but a real pain to get to, as we had to maneuver our camper down narrow residential streets. The beaches at York were rocky in spots, sandy and narrow in others, but the Atlantic Ocean looked gorgeous, fairly calm. We went looking for the light on Cape Porpoise, but never found it. We did find the Presidents Bush compound at Kennebunkport. Sorry no picture of it as I didn't ... read more

We got out a little earlier this morning and headed to the Vienna/Fairfax Metrorail station again, thinking that perhaps this time we'd find parking. We were excited when the north parking garage was still open, but after driving aroiund for 30 minutes and not finding a vacant parking spot, we gave up and went to West Falls Church station again, where we found a spot on the roof again. We got off at Federal Triangle instead of the Smithsonian station and walked past the Ronald Reagan Building before realizing we were going in the wrong direction. We stopped and got directions to the Museum of Natural History. What a fantastic place! The exhiibits are terrific, the animals so life-like and in such natural poses. We thoroughly enjoyed the ocean exhibits, but had to find a docent ... read more