Travel
Detailed travel logs and trip journals live here. Expect day‑by‑day itineraries (e.g., our Switzerland & Italy trip) with weather notes, meals and family anecdotes, plus posts on museum visits, road‑trips and cruises.
- 7:23 am: Up earlier than I would like. Time change to mountain time to blame.
- 9:21 am: False alarm roadside potty stop for Mazie.
- 9:59 am: Passing through Circle, MT.
- 12:57 pm: Lunch in Lewistown, MT.
- 1:28 pm: Noticed that Barack Obama is in Montana too. Wish he’d stop following me around.
- 4:49 pm: Through Great Falls, MT.
- 5:02 pm: Getting closer to the mountains.
- 6:50 pm: In Glacier National Park!
- 9:57 am: Van loaded. Hitting the road. Sleep in Montana tonight!
- 12:15 pm: Lunch in Alexandria, MN.
- 4:33 pm: In a real North Dakota wind storm. 50+ mph winds. Crazy!
- 4:34 pm: Going through Bismarck, ND.
- 6:51 pm: Dinner at Sandord’s in Dickinson, ND.
- 9:29 pm: Checked into hotel for the night in Glendive, MT.
- 11:14 pm: The WiFi in this Days Inn is far better than almost every expensive New York hotel I’ve stayed in. Plus it’s free with the room.
Summer of Love Day 2 Log
See full Summer of Love Collection.
Summer of Love Day 1 Log
See full Summer of Love Collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 37
On September 30, 2006 our Great East Coast Adventure came to a conclusion when we arrived back home on Saturday evening. After 37 days, 5,890 miles of driving and 8 different beds we finally got home. It was great trip, but it was equally great to finally get home and relax.
We were curious to see how Mazie would react when we got home. 5 weeks is a long time for a 15-month old kid and we thought she may just think it was another hotel. She proved us wrong when her face lit up after seein her toys and play area. You could tell she was noticably relaxed to be home.
I did a final update to the Google Earth Great Adventure with all the relevant interesting stops from the trip.
Add link.
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 35
It’s official! We have just finished the 5th week our trip. This was our last true day of vacation here in Charleston. We will hit the road early tomorrow heading through Atlanta with a brief stop at the Atlanta aquarium and then continuing our long journey home.
We got rained out in the morning today on our visit to the Boone Hall Plantation. Boone Hall is the only plantation still operating in America, they grow fruit now. It also has one of the most amazing entrances I’ve ever seen.
The oak trees that line the drive are 300 years old and were planted when the plantation was initially founded. It took them 200 years to meet in the middle. We didn’t get to see a lot since it was raining, but it was a cool visit.
We took the afternoon to join the local residents in a very popular activity – walking over the relatively new Ravenel bridge that connects Charleston and Mt. Pleasant. This bridge is the longest cable span bridge in the US. It’s also incredibly high and has a walking path on it. We walked up to the middle and then turned back. I have to admit that my fear of heights kicked in towards the top. I made it all the way though. It’s pretty surprising how many people go just to walk on this bridge. There are always people walking or riding their bike on it.
I’ve decided that this is “my bridge”. I find it incredibly interesting. The cable spans are so interesting. The geometry of it is great. I’ve decided that we need a bridge just like it in Minneapolis. I’m going to start lobbying for it when I return. 🙂
Tomorrow morning we depart early for Atlanta and then continue into the evening to see how far we get. We are hoping to get back to home by Saturday night, late. Don’t expect any updates from me on the road. I’m looking forward to getting back home again!
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 34
We spent Wednesday in Charleston. The real newsflash is that we *didn't
drive* anywhere the entire day! Amazing! We had a relaxing morning and
then took the [water taxi](http://www.charlestonwatertaxi.com/) to
Charleston. We had great barbecue for lunch at [Jim n'
Nicks](http://www.jimnnicks.com/) and in the afternoon we went to the
[South Carolina Aquarium](http://www.scaquarium.org/).
Mazie didn’t dig the water taxi in the morning. It was her very first time on a boat and when we got going she got scared. She overcame her concerns quickly though and on the ride back over in the afternoon she sat in her stroller on her own the whole way over like a champ.
The aquarium was nice. They have the tallest glass wall in the country in their huge reef tank. It’s a full two stories tall. At the bottom of it, it looks pretty immense. The picture on the right shows the wall. For scale, that is 20 feet tall. I’m excited to see the aquarium in Atlanta on our way home. It’s wall isn’t as high, but it’s 60 feet wide.
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 33
On Tuesday we loaded up in the van and headed for a short drive to Savannah, Georgia. Drive more? Absolutely! Why not… we just can’t get enough driving. Savannah is such a notable city and we thought since we were so close we should check it out. It took about 2 hours to get there.
Savannah is a really nice city. It’s smaller than the others we’ve been to. We didn’t have a ton of time so we drove through many of the parkways and then headed into the historic area of downtown.
We had lunch at The Lady & Sons restaurant. This is the restaurant that Paula Deen started before becoming the celebrity chef on Food TV. The Lady & Sons is best described as a Temple to Butter. The food is incredibly rich. As you sit there with biscuits immediately delivered to your table, you can envision truckloads of butter being constantly delivered to the loading dock to keep the cooks going. At one point while we are eating lunch one of the waitresses breaks out into song to praise frying! “I don’t want no grilled fish” went the lyrics, finishing with “give me my fried chicken and fried gravy”.
We spent the afternoon in Forsyth Park and took a bunch of pictures before heading out and returning to Charleston.
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 31
Let me get caught up first. On Friday we left Asheville and headed to Charlotte to spend the weekend with Tammy’s biological father Ed and his wife Nancy. We had a very nice time with great company, amazing food and wonderful accommodations. We got to meet Ed & Nancy’s son, and Tammy’s half-brother, Christopher. Christoper is a little over 3 and is all boy. What a great kid! We also spent the weekend with Tammy’s aunts, Betty Lou and Sandi, as well as Sandi’s husband Bob. (Whew, got the whole role call there.) It was very nice to get some home cooked meals after being on the road so long (31 days!) and to spend some time just relaxing. I think the highlight for me was just sitting on the deck in the back on Friday night chatting and looking at the stars.
On Sunday we headed out and continued the great adventure to Charleston, SC. We arrived in Charleston right around 5:00 pm and got checked into the Belvidere Club Resort. This place is pretty great. We have an entire two bedroom “cottage” to ourselves. It’s very comfortable.
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 28
Today we ventured out of Asheville again and went to Chimney Rock Park. The park was pretty cool. We did a short hike to the base of a 400 foot waterfall. Mazie did really good in the carrier, although we failed her by not bringing warm enough clothes. We had to bug out pretty quickly since Mazie was cold.
We also went to the North Carolina Arboretum in the afternoon. It was nice. They had a great bonsai exhibit that I really enjoyed. Mazie enjoyed running around for an extended period of time.
We have moved to a different hotel for this last night in Asheville. This hotel is much better equipped for Mazie and we are hoping she gets a good nights sleep. I didn’t need to put tinfoil on the windows here. 🙂
Lastly, I updated the Google Earth file with our Asheville adventures. Load the Great Adventure KMZ file to check out where we’ve been.
Add link.
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 27 - AT
Today we left Asheville and headed into the mountains. We drove about 30 miles northwest of Asheville to Hot Springs, NC. Hot Springs is one of the cities that the Appalachian Trail goes right through the middle of. The sidewalk that is on the main street of Hot Springs has “AT” trail blazes embedded right into the cement. Our visit was more to the AT than to Hot Springs, so Mazie loaded up into the kid carrier and we headed out for the trail.
I knew we weren’t going to get much of a hike in. I figured Mazie would make it an hour in the carrier and she did just about that. She did a great job walking by herself on the flats. She navigated the roots like a star and looked smashing in her bright green fury jacket.
It was fun to be on the AT and hiking with the white “blazes” of the AT in sight. Honestly the trail was no different than any other hiking trail we could have been on. However, this one could take you all the way to Maine if you just kept on walking. How cool is that?
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.
East Coast Adventure '06 - Day 24
We have arrived in Asheville! We got going quickly this morning and clicked off the last 4 hours of the drive pretty fast. Mazie was kind enough to sleep for nearly two hours, so it all went pretty fast. We arrived in Asheville around noon and decided to head straight to the Biltmore Estate before getting into the hotel.
The Biltmore Estate is pretty amazing. Imagine 8,000 acres of lush landscape with the largest private residence in the United States hidden away in it. We toured the estate itself, which took about 45 minutes at a fast clip and spent a couple of hours walking the grounds. There is a hotel on the estate and at first thought the idea of spending a few days there sounded kind of boring, but after visiting I would be up for that trip with no reservations. If you are in the area, you should definitely try to take it in. The amount of wealth necessary to create something like that, and even more, to keep it in the family still, is simply astounding.
After our afternoon at the Biltmore we checked into our hotel. We are staying at the Princess Anne Hotel. We are in #207 if you look at the floor plan. This is a very old-world hotel that is listed in the national register of historic places. It only has about 25 rooms, but each room is spacious with a living space, separate bedroom, and small kitchen. The elevator is a trip, it will fit me and about two suitcases as it creeks up. We are in a good location, with a number of things within walking distance.
Go to day: 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37 or East Coast Adventure collection.