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Friday

Sorry that we haven't blogged since Tuesday. We had issues maintaining battery power, locating dog-friendly wi-fi access and finding time to just sit down and write. Now that we are home we will finish the daily blogs, posting each remaining day as a separate entry. So the main title will say "Saturday," but the subtitle will actually refer to what day that blog it about.

Got up very early at 5am so that we could get to Arches National Park in Utah before the crowds. We also wanted to get there early enough to avoid detection. See, one of the most iconic landmarks in the nation is the Delicate Arch in Utah. It is a mile and a half hike from the parking area to the Arch. While dogs are allowed on National Park land, they are almost never allowed on the hiking trails. So, yes, we broke the law for a photo opportunity. After all, we had already been thwarted at the Liberty Bell. From a previous trip, we found out that if you go early enough, there's a pretty good chance that you'll get away with it.


We crossed into Utah at mile 7332 and got to Arches National Park just before 7am. Actually a little later than we wanted to. There were a couple cars in the lot, but no park ranger vehicles. We had to hurry past a few other older folks along the hike, but no one seemed to mind to see a dog on the trail. Looking back in the distance we saw a big tour bus pull into the parking lot, so we quickened our pace. We figured we had a pretty good jump on the tour as they would take some time to get organized before they started after us. As it turned out, we had about twenty minutes to ourselves. There was a man and his young son just leaving as we got there, and a couple sitting on some rocks several hundred yards away just hanging out. We were able to take our time, shooting from several different angles. We finished up in plenty of time, passing the older folks as we left. We stopped by where the couple was sitting and spoke to them for a few minutes. They were quite amused watching us taking pictures. It turns out the girl was also from Orange County but now lived in Aspen, Colorado. As we made our way back to the to parking lot, we passed the tour group as well as many other people making the hike. By the time we got back to the lot, it was full and another tour bus had pulled up. Our timing couldn't have been better. We ran into the couple again in the parking lot and they came over to say "hello" again. The girl was an obvious dog-person so we gave her the blog address. She thanked us and said that we made her day and couldn't wait to see the pictures. Maybe she'll get to read about herself. If she does, "Hi" from Dave and Hapa.
(Editor's note: Some people have mentioned that they didn't see anyone in the Delicate Arch picture. You gotta look closely. Kind of gives you an idea of how big the arch is! By the way, in case you don't know, you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.)

From there, we made the loooooong drive back to Orange County, CA. There's a lot of other stuff to see in Utah, like Zion, Capitol Reef, Monument Valley and the Salt Lake/Park City area, but we had actually been to those places on previous trips. We hit Arizona at mile 7795 crossing the little northwest corner of it and getting to Nevada and the Pacific Time Zone at mile 7825, gaining another hour there. Kind of forgot how awesome the scenery in that area is. It's a deep canyon, with sheer rock walls on both sides of the freeway. We got to Vegas right in the middle of rush hour and were pleased to find the traffic considerably light, especially on a Friday night. Again, not stopping since we had been there already, we pressed on through the city and hit the California state line at mile 7948. The ride to Vegas from LA seems long to many, but to us, it's a breeze. After almost 900 miles and close to 18 hours since we woke up in Grand Junction, Colorado that morning, we got home at mile 8184 at 9:45pm.

We had such a great time on this trip as always. Even though we just got home we look forward to the next one. There is still so much of the world to see!

We want to thank our family for putting us up and supporting us throughout the trip. Thanks to Yvette for coming along with us on the way out. We also want to thank our many Zama friends who either put us up at their homes or at least allowed us to use their home (Steve and Wayne) and the ones who offered their homes to us. Also thanks to everyone who came to meet us along the way (Kathy, Khahnie, Clarence and Joanna) as well as everyone who tried to meet up with us, but the timing just didn't work out. Thanks also to those of you who called and emailed. And finally, thanks to all of you for reading and posting messages. All of your friendships mean a great deal to us. Until next time...!

Thursday

The town of Colby, Kansas is just east of the line between the Central and Mountain Time Zones. Never understood why four of Kansas' western counties are in the Mountain and the rest of the state is Central, but it may be a little clearer now. As we were approaching the town the night before, we could see sunlight on the horizon until well after 9pm. Even close to 10pm the sky was still not completely dark. Anyway, after getting up in the morning, it was less than an hour before we had crossed into Mountain Time Zone, gaining an extra hour in our day. Forty-five minutes after that at mile 6730, we crossed the state line into Colorado around 9am Mountain time.

From that point it was about 175 miles to Denver. Having been to Denver on our previous trip, we bypassed the city and turned north through the city of Boulder. Boulder seems like a very nice town, although maybe a little crowded too with the all the building they are doing. It looks like it's growing quite fast from the looks of things. We stopped for lunch at the Barking Dog Cafe in Lyons located in the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains.




From there continued on to Rocky Mountain National Park. The Rocky Mountains were a very nice change from our long drive through the High Plains. We were surrounded by lush, green valleys and high, craggy peaks. The park is also full of wildlife. We saw elk, mule deer, marmots and chipmunks. We took a picture midway through our drive at the Alpine Visitor Center and then a little later at the pass through the Continental Divide. It rained a little bit throughout our drive, but we were still treated to a lot beautiful scenery. Winding our way back to Interstate 70, we returned to one of our favorite areas from last year's trip: western Colorado. Such a beautiful drive. This time however, instead of turning south at Glenwood Springs, we continued west finally stopping for the night in Grand Junction, just short of the Utah state line.

Random Thoughts from a High Plains Highway
Since this was a relatively short post, this would a good time to pass on some observations made during the long drive between Jefferson City and Denver. Driving across western Kansas can lead you mind to wander.

The Hardees fast food chain in the east seems to become Carl's Jr. in the west in this area of the country. It seems that Carl's Jr. bought out Hardees and changed everything about it to look and act like a Carl's. Even the radio commercials are the same with only the name changed. They even both use the "happy star" logo. We saw Hardees up until the middle of Kansas, and then noticed a Carl's in Colorado.

We seem to have left behind the humidity that we dealt with back east.

Starting to listen to a lot of country music and starting to actually like it. Sometimes there isn't much choice. Started listening to it a bit on the last trip, but now actually seeking it out on the radio. Noticing that the lyrics in every single song make sense. Maybe it's the storytelling aspect of the music that makes it conducive to road trips.

Is it just the radio in our car, or do all radios stop at 96.1 when scanning for stations, even when there is no broadcast on that frequency?

And speaking of the radio, when scanning for AM stations, why does it stop only on clear stations during the day, but at night, the scan stops at almost every frequency whether there is a clear signal or not? Maybe it's time to invest in satellite radio.

Dave's Rant
(Editors note: As said on last year's trip, I have been trying to do this blog somewhat from Hapa's point of view, or at least a generic point of view, since it is his blog. But it's time for another rant.)
Why do a lot of cyclists, and I mean bicyclists, seem to think they have some special privilege when "sharing" the road with automobiles. I use the term "sharing" in quotes to denote sarcasm. While I would not consider myself an avid cyclist, I have trained for two triathlons, so I do have quite a bit of experience riding on roads shared with automobile traffic. Even heavy, high-speed traffic. I've always noticed the problem while driving around in Southern California. But after driving across the country, I have seen it happen everywhere.

What I am talking about is that some, not all, cyclists seem completely selfish in terms of the amount of space they take up on the road. Once, on my commute to work here in Orange County, I was flipped off by a cyclist who I had accelerated past so that I could get around him. It was a fairly crowded road with no bike lane, but he made no effort to move over to allow any traffic by him even though he had more than enough space. I had to accelerate past him because I was forced to cross into the lane to the left to get around him, and I was trying to avoid cutting anyone else off in the process. He apparently took my acceleration as an aggressive move and responded with an obscene gesture. If I'm riding in heavy traffic, I have full respect for the cars around me, not only because it's common courtesy, but also because I could DIE! Again, it happened on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. This time I even slowed down and gave the cyclist a wide berth. He made no effort to make any room for me, and gestured as I passed. Although this gesture was tame by comparison, it was clear that he was perturbed for some reason. In Philadelphia, I witnessed a cyclist riding on the wrong side of the street, yell at a motorist for making a right turn in front of him. He was clearly in the wrong, and yet he was upset at the motorist for cutting him off and nearly hitting him. I also saw another cyclist flip off the car in front of me in the city. It wasn't clear why. The driver did not seem to do anything wrong from what I saw. On a relatively deserted highway in the Colorado farmlands, I came upon another cyclist who also did not make any effort to make room. This time I REALLY slowed down, and went around her. In my rear view mirror, I saw her gesture at me by turning both palms upward as if to say, "What the hell?" I even remember reading about a case, in Washington, D.C. I think, about a motorist who got spit on by a group of cyclists, who also hurled racial epithets at her. She was black and they were white. That group illustrates another problem with cyclists who insist on riding two or more across, completely taking up a lane of traffic.

When I am cycling, because my life could be at risk, I am keenly aware of traffic around me, so I don't buy the excuse that they don't hear cars behind them. In fact, it's their responsibility to know what's happening around them. I would try tooting my horn, but who knows how these road enraged cyclists would react to that. Think about it, when someone uses their horn on you, do you really know the difference between a toot, honk or blast? There is no polite way to honk at someone. I think the D.C. case happened as a result of the motorist honking. To me it's about common courtesy.

And what's deal with the fancy colorful jerseys? Am I to believe that ALL these clowns race with Discovery Channel corporate sponsorship? Please, you remind me of those skiers who spend $500 on a new ski outfit and can't even get down the mountain.

Wednesday

We started the day very early at mile 6003, getting on the road just after 6am. We stopped at this little coffee shop in the town of Warrenton called the Main Street Coffee House. It was run by this couple who had opened their shop almost exactly a year earlier in a historic house built in the 1903. They couldn't have been nicer! They even had dog treats handy. We sat on their porch, drinking coffee, eating a very good egg and sausage croissant (and dog treats) while planning out the day's route. The lady asked if we were traveling and we informed her that we were headed back to California, returning from a trip to Maryland. She told us that their son was a Marine and had been stationed at Camp Pendleton, just south of Orange County where we live. Was afraid to inquire further about him for fear of what the response might be. After talking with her for a bit, we didn't sense that anything bad had happened to him. They were especially nice to us and we do hope that all goes well with them, their new business, and their son, where ever he may be stationed.


After breakfast, we headed for Jefferson City which is, you guessed it, the capital of Missouri. We got there a little before 9am. This was a pretty quiet town, but very nice. Didn't walk around it very much, but we found another little coffee shop to get a refill and we were quickly on our way.

At mile 6228 we hit the Kansas state line around lunch time. As we approached the Kansas City area, we contacted a friend, Clarence, to see if he could meet us for lunch. He works at the huge Sprint global headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas. Fortunately, he and his wife, Johanna, were able to meet us. We ate at one of the many restaurants on the Sprint campus. The headquarters literally make up a city of its own; they have their own zip code. It seems like a really nice place to work with lots of green area between the many buildings. It is a college campus-like environment. There are several cafeteria-style restaurants, coffee shops, a huge state-of-the-art fitness center, a hair and nail salon, a florist, a bank and other retail stores, all on the Sprint grounds. Very impressive. Unfortunately, we had to be on our way pretty quickly. So we said our goodbyes and returned to the Missouri side of the border and headed for downtown Kansas City. We drove around a little bit, making sure to check out the recently restored Jazz District. We also managed to see Arrowhead Statdium where the Chiefs play and Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals. Kind of wish we had taken a picture at one of the city's famous fountains so we had something to show for our visit. Kansas City is known as the "City of Fountains," boasting the greatest number of fountains in the world second only to Rome, Italy.


Continuing our westbound journey, we got back into Kansas and made the relatively quick trip to Topeka to get a shot of the state capitol building. Topeka is also the site for the famous Brown vs. Board of Eduction case in 1951 which helped to pave the way for integration and the civil rights movement. We drove west through the rest of the city, made another coffee shop stop and got back onto I-70 for the long, straight drive across the state of Kansas. The overcast sky that we had traveled under all day turned to storm clouds as we made our way out of Topeka. As heavy rain began to fall, we made a slight detour off the freeway to the town of Wamego. This small town claims to be the "Oz Capital of the World" and is home to the Wizard of Oz Museum which houses one of the largest public displays of Oz memorabilia. We had hoped for a good photo opportunity here, but the rain and relatively unimpressive appearance of the museum's front dashed those hopes. While continuing off the freeway, we passed through the town of Manhattan and drove through the Kansas State University campus. On our way back to I-70, we happened upon the gate of Ft. Riley. We found out later that this large military installation throughout it's history has been home to George Custer, the famous all-black 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments, the soldiers of which were called "Buffalo Soldiers," and most notably, the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division, also known as “The Big Red One.” We turned around at the gate and got back onto the freeway to continue westbound, stopping for the night at mile 6674 in the western Kansas town of Colby at another Wal-Mart. This one was pretty crowded. There were at least eight RVs, about four trucks and a few other cars also camped out there. Doing this saves so much money, especially with amount we are spending on gas!

Back home again!

Finally home! Sorry, the last time you heard from us, we were still in St. Louis. We have an awful lot to catch up on. We'll post in the morning. For now, we sleep...

St. Louis, Missouri

Mile 5930

Sorry, it's been almost two full days and 650 miles since the last blog. We haven't had easy access to the internet for awhile because we were in the middle of Indiana farmland for a long time. We are in St. Louis, Missouri now at a place called Coffee Cartel in a really nice part of town called Central Park East. We really need to get caught up, so without further ado...


Monday morning after we left Columbus, we took Interstate 71 south to Cincinnati. A rather uneventful drive as you can't see much from the freeway. Just a lot of farmland. We passed through Cincinnati rather quickly and crossed the Ohio River at mile 5393 into Covington, Kentucky around 12:30pm. Very happy to find that it isn't the "Cincitucky" that we had heard about, but quite a nice riverfront town with a gorgeous view of the Cincinnati skyline. We crossed the Ohio via the Roebling Suspension Bridge which was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in 1866. It served as the prototype for John A. Roebling's design of the Brooklyn Bridge for which he gained greater fame. It also exceeded the Cincinnati bridge in length when it opened in New York in 1883 breaking his own record. From Covington, we drove along the river to Newport where we had our very first ever White Castle experience. For those of you who have never been to the midwest (or seen the movie) White Castle is America's oldest hamburger fast food restaurant chain known for it's small-sized square burgers called "slyders." White Castle was arguably made world famous, or at least world known, originally by the Beastie Boys back in the 80s on their "Licensed to Ill" album. White Castle was made an even bigger name more recently by Harold and Kumar. Never saw the movie actually. Gotta rent it now. By the way, for those of you who read the blog really closely on the Pacific Northwest trip last year, got caught up on the whole "Deadwood" series, still haven't seen "A River Runs Through It" though. Go back and read it, you'll get it. Anyway, outside of the novelty of the small, square White Castle hamburgers, one of us was indifferent to it otherwise. The other one gobbled it up voraciously.

After lunch, we crossed back into Ohio and the city of Cincinnati. We drove around just for a little bit to see the developing riverfront area, but didn't get to see much else of the city. Indianapolis was on our horizon.


We crossed the Indiana state line at mile 5422 about a quarter 'til 2pm and got to Indianapolis at about 3pm and made our first stop at the state capitol building. By the way, some of you are wondering about this obsession with state capitols. It started quite by accident on the last trip. There are some cities that don't have much going on, or at least that we can see from our singular paths through many of the places we have been. Helena, the capitol of Montana, happened to be one of the those places. We stopped there looking for a grocery store to replenish the ice supply and came across the capitol building. The building and the grounds surrounding it were so beautiful that we just had to take a picture. We followed that with Cheyenne, Wyoming and Denver, Colorado, and it just became a "thing." Regretfully, we didn't come up with this when we passed through Sacramento, California, Eugene, Oregon, or Olympia, Washington before that. Now it has become sort of a challenge to see how many state capitols we can get pictures of.


We drove around the central part of downtown Indianapolis briefly and then turned to the northwest part of the city which is home to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Actually, it's in the town of Speedway which is completely surrounded by the city of Indianapolis. The speedway complex was built in 1909 and the first running of the "500" was in 1911, but it was billed the "International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race." It didn't become commonly recognized as the "Indianapolis 500" until after WWII. You can actually drive under the track into the infield where the Hall of Fame Museum is located.

After that, we headed west, unfortunately right in the middle of rush hour. But congestion slowly transitioned into a rather pleasant drive through Indiana farmland on a single lane highway. We found a campground at Raccoon Lake State Recreation area near the town of Rockville, Indiana. It's a little under 60 miles due west from Indianapolis. We got there early enough to set up camp in the daylight. Actually it wasn't that early. You could still see daylight until after 9pm there. It's only about 10 miles from the Illinois state line and the Central Time Zone. Shouldn't have said anything about the wonderful weather, because the humidity started to kick in. Nowhere near where it could have been, but it got a little sticky.



Apparently, Parke County, where Rockville is located, is recognized as being the "Covered Bridge Capital of the World." So we got up early Tuesday morning so that we'd have plenty of time to make a bacon and eggs breakfast, and break down camp. We spent most of the morning driving around Parke County visiting various covered bridges. You can tell that a lot of them are not shown as originally constructed though. From the outside they look like it, but when you go inside you can see how much refurbishment was done. Probably wouldn't be safe to drive through otherwise. In fact, many of them, apparently, have been moved from their original locations. We actually saw one being constructed, or rebuilt. The main road to it was closed from both ends, but we found a back way to get around it. There is such a large network of farmland backroads that it was pretty easy to do. They probably construct the framework and place the shell of the old bridge on top of it. It was interesting, but after awhile, all the bridges started to look the same, so it was time to head west again. And yes, saw "The Bridges of Madison County."


We crossed into Illinois and the Central Time Zone at mile 5705 around 1:30/12:30pm and got to Springfield, the capitol of Illinois about two and half hours later. Visted the capitol building and then went to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site where Abraham Lincoln lived from 1837 until 1861. Unfortunately, the house was covered in scaffolding and didn't make for a very nice picture. Didn't know they had scaffolding in the mid-1800s. He was also buried in Springfield and we wanted to visit the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site, but dogs are usually not allowed in cemeteries, especially historical ones like that, so we didn't bother.


From there, we jumped on Interstate 55, part of which is also Historic Route 66, and headed southwest toward St. Louis. At mile 5925 we crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri around 6pm. Despite it being close to the end of rush hour, we found parking walking distance from the Gateway Arch rather easily. The area around the Arch was relatively empty as well. But we were lucky enough to find a spot the was virtually deserted to snap this picture. Don't know why no one else was there, because it was such a beautiful site to take pictures. From there we drove west through downtown St. Louis until we stumbled upon this area known as Central Park East. For a Tuesday night, it is surprisingly busy. Perhaps the change in weather has brought everyone out. We hit some showers coming into St. Louis, but now it is a beautiful night with the humidity almost completely gone and a strong cool breeze blowing though the streets. If you come here, Maryland Plaza at the corner of Euclid, where Coffee Cartel is located, is the place to go. In fact, as we sit here at close to midnight, Coffee Cartel is still crowded. They are open 24 hours and they've had a long line at the counter all night. And as we've looked across the street to all the other restaurants throughout the evening, everything else was packed most of the night as well. The ample outdoor seating on this street was full everywhere, as everyone was enjoying the cool night. Everything else is starting to close up now though. Coffee Cartel is still cranking away. Anyway, speaking of "close to midnight" and "closing up" it's time to retire for the evening.

Columbus, Ohio

Mile 5284

We are blogging from a coffee roasters in downtown Columbus, Ohio called Cafe Brioso. They roast their own beans and have free wi-fi. Can't beat that! We spent last night here in Columbus at a Wal-Mart parking lot. Wal-Mart has a policy of letting people park in their lots overnight. Ever wonder why you often see RVs parked at the far end of the parking lot? We've actually used Wal-Mart quite a bit on this trip. We are finally putting some distance between us and our starting point in Maryland. By the end of our first two days on the road, we were still only one state away, Pennsylvania. We have now made it three states away. Granted, the 14 mile strip of West Virginia that we crossed didn't cover much distance, but at least it feels like we've traveled further. Here's how our Sunday went:


Got an early start leaving Harrisburg before 8am and headed straight for Gettysburg. The town around Gettysburg National Military Park is actually very nice. A little on the touristy side, but that is to be expected I suppose. Spent a little time walking around the historical battlefields and some of the town. It is a town that is VERY rich in history. Gettysburg National Cemetery, where Abraham Lincoln gave his famous address, does not allow dogs on its grounds. So we had to settle for taking a snapshot nearby.


Forgot to mention the scenery from yesterday's drive. After getting east of Philadelphia, we stayed off the major freeways for the most part. A lot of the our trip was spent in the Pennsylvania Dutch area, also known as Amish Country. Such a beautiful drive! Can't help but feel a little sorry for the folks riding in their horse and buggies, with cars zipping past them at high rates of speed. The roads are not very wide at all. And some people don't seem to have the courtesy to even slow down as they swerve around those buggies. I guess the Amish must be used to it though. Getting back to the scenery, today's drive around Gettysburg was much the same. Gorgeous! Wheat fields are actually very pretty. "Amber waves of grain?" Again we stayed off the freeway until about the last 100 miles into Pittsburgh. We took this picture in the town of Bedford, just before we jumped onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It's like something you'd find on Route 66. You don't see stuff like this on most interstates.

We should also mention that the weather on this trip overall has been phenomenal. Not hot, humid weather the summer usually brings to the south and east. We only had one bad night on our way out around the Houston area. But the storm the following day cooled the temperatures down pretty well. There was also one day that was supposed to be very bad while we were in Maryland, but even that wasn't as bad as predicted. The weather since we started our way back has been perfect! Sunny and breezy. Not too hot. We've seen a few showers in Pittsburgh and here in Columbus, but nothing to put a damper on things.

Back to the trip. We got into Pittsburgh around 4pm and immediately experienced the worst traffic of the trip so far. The main freeway into the city was closed, so we were detoured. This created a mess, as all the side streets seemed to be backed up as a result. We eventually found our way through the gridlock by travelling through some questionable back street neighborhoods. But we eventually found the downtown area safe and sound.


No, we didn't make an accidental detour to Manhattan. THIS Carnegie Hall is in Pittsburgh and is part of the Carnegie Museum, also founded by Andrew Carnegie. Next to the it, we found a really nice park called Schenley Plaza with plenty of chairs and tables, some eating establishments, and free wireless internet access. Very nice! It was curiously empty considering it was a Sunday, so we had no problem finding a place to sit and relax for awhile, and grab a bite to eat.


After that, we took a drive around the city, first going across the Monongahela River and up Mt. Washington to get an stunning view of the Pittsburgh skyline and the "Three Rivers." After that, we checked out the South Side area which is also separated from downtown Pittsburgh by the Monongahela. Seemed to be a good place to hang out. Lots of restaurants and bars, and people walking around. Then we crossed back over the river to check out the Strip District. This was supposed to be the really happening part of town. We were disappointed to find it almost deserted. Only counted two restaurants that were open. Actually most of downtown Pittsburgh was very quiet for a major metropolitan center. Granted, it was Sunday, but still would expect more from the second largest city in the state. I would have never expected Harrisburg to put Pittsburgh to shame in this regard. That town was definitely the big surprise of the trip up to this point.

We left Pittsburgh around 8pm and got to the West Virginia border at mile 5132 about 45 minutes later. That narrow strip of that state took less than 15 minutes to traverse before to got to Ohio. We crossed half of the state mostly in the dark and got to Columbus close to 11pm where we spent the night.

Drove into Columbus Monday morning at headed straight to the capitol building and found Cafe Brioso about a block away.

Harrisburg, PA

Mile 4811

We are staying the night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. What a cool town! Check out the events that lead us here:

Well, we tried to get an early start. After making what we thought were quick stops at PetSmart and the grocery store, we finally got going in the right direction after 10am. We got off Interstate 95 just for change of scenery before we crossed into Delaware at about 11:40am. That was probably a mistake because we lost a lot of time and didn't really see anything interesting in return. Got back on I-95 and drove through the city of Wilmington. We didn't stop though and couldn't see much of the city from the Interstate. Probably got that backwards. Should have stayed on the freeway until Wilmington, then gotten off to see the city.



We hit the Pennsylvania state line less than an hour later and quickly came upon the city of Philadelphia. We headed straight to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Not to see art since dogs aren't allowed inside, but to run up the front steps. Why? For the cinematically impaired, those are the very same steps that Sylvester Stallone ran up in the famous scene in "Rocky." Cue the music: "Gonna Fly Now." If you remember, in "Rocky III," a bronze statue of Rocky was placed at the top of these steps and was given to the city of Philadelphia as a gift from Stallone after filming had completed. The statue triggered a furious debate in the city over whether the statue was indeed "art" or just a movie prop. Afterall, this was the Phildelphia Museum of Art. As a result, the statue was moved several times over the years, sometimes returning to the top of the steps for another appearance in "Rocky V" and the Tom Hanks movie, "Philadelphia." As a compromise, the statue now sits at the bottom of the steps off to the right. Judging from the line we had to stand in to take a picture, more people probably visit the statue than the museum. We also witnessed dozens of people mimicking Rocky's famous run up the front steps too. Of course, most of them turned around and walked back down instead of going into the museum. Strike a blow for pop culture over art.

After that, we tried to go see the Liberty Bell. But it is protected inside a building so we had to settle for looking at it through a rather small window. And there was a VERY long line to get in to see it anyway. Looked like at least an hour wait.


Disappointed, we pressed north to New Jersey crossing the stateline at about 3pm. Our destination, the state capitol of Trenton, was probably the northernmost and easternmost point of the trip at mile 4591. We'll have to verify that later. Trenton seemed to be a pretty quiet city.


Trenton sits right on the stateline, so we crossed back into Pennsylvania continued working our way back westward. We stopped for gas at a little town called Devon and realized that we were just a couple of miles from Valley Forge. By this time it was almost 5pm and we were only 150 miles from where we had started. The New Jersey trip required us to backtrack. But it was so close and a signigicant landmark, so we went. This is an example of one of our accidental detours. Valley Forge, now a National Historical Park, is where George Washington's Continental Army endured an extremely harsh winter during the Revolutionary War to battle the British who held Philadelphia. As a result, the British departure from Philadelphia was considered key to the subsequent success of the Army and Revolution. Little history lesson there. The National Memorial Arch recognizes the sacrifices of the officers and soldiers of the Continental Army during that time.



After that we headed straight to Harrisburg, hurrying to beat the sunset so that we could get a shot of the state capitol building. We discovered that we had shown up on the night of a local jazz festival. The streets were packed and the city was bustling! Not sure if this town is always like this, but it was a pleaseant surprise. We also discovered (another accidental detour) that the town of Hershey, as in the chocolate, was only 15 miles away. But we decided that we liked Harrisburg so much that we wanted to spend the night there. So we made it to Hershey's Chocolate World with just enough daylight to get a photograph. Incidentally, the town did not smell like chocolate, at least not on this day. After that, we returned to walk the streets of Harrisburg. The town was so vibrant, with packed restaurants and bars, and people walking the crowded streets. Very nice!

Although we hadn't traveled very far from our starting point, is was full day. So we called it a night after that.

Saturday morning

Mile 4413

Suffiently caffeinated and we are on our way home! We are leaving Columbia, MD and headed for Philadelphia, PA as our first stop.

The car is packed again!

We are loaded up and ready to start our meandering trek back to California first thing tomorrow (Saturday) morning. This time we'll take a more northerly route. Our plan is head north up to Pennsylvania and maybe a little bit of New Jersey. Then we'll turn west and go through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and finally, California. That is the general plan. But as always, we could detour at anytime if something looks interesting enough!

We've spent all of our stay here in Maryland just relaxing and being with family. On Wednesday, we did get a chance to get back to Washington, DC. And, of course, we snapped a few more pictures:

The World War II Memorial


The Korean War Memorial


The White House


The Marine Corps War Memorial (aka the Iwo Jima Memorial)

Annapolis, Maryland

We made a quick trip over to Annapolis, the state capitol of Maryland. It's only about 45 minutes from Columbia where we are staying. The Maryland State House, as it is known here, is the oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, dating to 1772.

We went to Annapolis harbor, which sits on the Chesapeake Bay, hoping to find a fish market so that we could bring home fresh fish for dinner. Unfortunately, the big fish market that used to be there many years ago was apparently wiped out by a flood caused by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. It has since been replaced by a food court and there seemed to be no other options. We asked around and no one knew of any fish markets in the vicinity. Very sad. A harbor town with no fresh fish. There were a few seafood restaurants, but even those seemed to be importing their fish from inland sources. This was evident by the seafood delivery trucks from Jessup, MD, a town about 25 miles inland from Annapolis.