Second Day – June 28 After a good night’s rest we joined Sharon, who graciously shared her house with us, for some morning refreshments and congenial conversation before heading out to meet our friend Jeremy for breakfast. Today’s plan was to drive from Atlanta to Pensacola. The trip covers roughly 350 miles. We met Jeremy in Norcross, GA (a northern suburb of Atlanta) at a local chain restaurant called the Flying Biscuit. They offered a unique breakfast menu and Jeremy, Jill, and I enjoyed our breakfast. Chatting with Jeremy for an hour or so we caught each other up on what was going on in our lives and vowed that we would try to get together again sooner rather than later. Before saying our final good byes, we enlisted Jeremy’s help for finding a ... read more

Vacation 2013 Although not our longest trip, a planned 4,800 miles, it might be our most diverse. We’ll go from eating grits to back bacon and hearing “Y’all” to “eh”. We will be making a giant loop around half of the USA. Our trip will take us from Baltimore to Atlanta then to ‘The Big Easy” via Talladega, Pensacola and Mobile. After sampling the beignets, po’boys, and muffulettas we’ll head north along the mighty Mississippi to the gateway to the west: St. Louis. There we’ll watch 4th of July fireworks under the arch and eat ribs, drink the local brew (Budweiser), and dine at Steak and Shake at least once. After resting and doing laundry in St Louis for a few days, we’ll strap ourselves in for the long drive to North Dakota. Since ... read more

Day 2 – June 28th After a hearty breakfast, Emily, Mattie, Jill, and I headed to Miss Chris Marina where we had reserved kayaks for a morning of exploring the back waters and bays of Cape May. Although Jill has experience canoeing, none of us had actually been in a kayak before – we expected that, if nothing else, it would be an “interesting” time. Jill and I each had our own kayak and the girls opted to share a larger tandem boat. I expected that the kayak would be unstable and would tip over easily. To my surprise it was quite stable and was relatively easy to maneuver. Emily and Mattie had a bit rougher time since a certain bit of coordination is required for a double kayak to go where it’s intended. Being the ... read more

Summertime, And the livin’ is easy Fish are jumpin’ And the cotton is high Oh, your daddy’s rich And your momma’s good lookin’ So, hush little baby Don’t you cry" George and Ira Gershwin OK, so maybe “livin” isn’t so easy, I’m not a big fisherman, and my daddy certainly wasn’t rich. But, it is summertime and it’s time for vacation. Like last year, I’m inviting you to come along with Jill and me as we explore another part of this impressive country of ours. We will be leaving Baltimore Monday morning June 27th and going to Cape May, NJ for a couple of nights then head south doing a Tour de Beach. We plan to visit most major beaches on the east coast and not stop until we get to Key West, FL. Actually, we ... read more

Day 20 Charleston to Hagerstown, MD 9:30 am....are you kidding? We slept in....WOW! In no rush to get to Hagerstown, we checked email, and watched some news..did you hear that LeBron James is going to the Miami Heat...Wow....and...yawn!! A quick brunch at Shoney’s and off on our last day of adventure. We drove through the mountains of West Virginia and Maryland in driving rain. The few stops we had planned, we past by due to torrential downpours! Dinner at Barefoot Bernie's....before 9:00!! Whoot...we are getting the hang of this! ... read more