Road Trip

We set off Thursday morning for New Hampshire, hoping that we had all the belongings we would need for 3 weeks smashed into the car. We stopped in Knoxville to see Brian's cousin, Kim, and made it to Virginia by night (not driving as far as we had hoped, of course). We really enjoyed our new GPS (thanks, Schladts) as it allowed us to explore new places easily. We drove though Lexington, home of Washington and Lee University. We drove through Staunton, and I pointed out the highlights, like Woodrow Wilson's birthplace.
Our main via point for the day was Gettysburg, but we were critical of the GPS directions the took us off the interstate and onto a small road, then state highway. Seeing that this was the most direct route to Gettysburg from the south, we went for it, wihtout realizing how long it was! The windy road was recently widened to 2 lane and there was a one-lane bridge. We stopped for the restroom in a large town, Charles Town. As we marvelled at the historic buildings and went to the visitor's center, we realized that we were in West Virginia! What a suprise to us! The town was founded by George Washington's brother and is where they hung John Brown (Harper's Ferry in nearby). It was a nice diversion, but we made it to Gettysburg. For those of you who have been there, there is a huge new museum that opened in 2008 that takes hours to go through. For those of you who have not, it is a beautiful country and town and you can really learn a lot. We are all set to watch the movie again. I am most amazed by the pictures of vetrans, who came for renuions in the 1930's - old men, once foes, now friends. We stayed till dark!
Tried and hungry, we made it to Harrisburg by 10pm. We used the GPS to look up hotels and found a few full. One Hampton Inn was inexpensive and available, so we headed towards it, a bit cautious. When we got there, it was obvious that it was not affiliated with the hotel chain! It was a family-run motel. We sat in the parking lot for 20 minutes calling hotels and almost all were full, the available rooms considerably more expensive. We had the clerk, an old man, show us a room and from a quick check, it was not bad. Plus, there was continental breakfast. We booked the room and searched for dinner, ready to finish the night. The first "restaurant" the GPS took us to did not exist, so we ended up at Perkins. However, the waitress forgot we were her table (there were only 2 others tables in use at 11 pm). It took forever! And the food was not worth the time. Back at the hotel, I realized that the shower had more mold than anything I had ever seen! And we had no shampoo. Breakfast was bread, a toaster, and coffee, so we gave up on it and drove to the capitol. Thank goodness there was a Cracker Barrel in town!
Brian has a collection of state capitol pictures, so we made sure to see Pennsylvania's capitol. It was gorgeous inside, recently re-done, and surrounded by historic buildings along the river. We drove to Albany, where the state capitol was part of a large legislative complex, the Rockerfeller Plaza. It was built in the 60's with tunnels and reminded us of a futuristic movie or the UN center. There was a free music festival (they had Ting there) and it was attended by old hippies and diverse crowds. The oddest feature of the plaza was The Egg, an egg-shaped concert hall from 1980, where the ground level was a pedestal for ticket sales and the seats and stage were elevated. It clearly was no longer the pride of Albany!
By the time we reached Vermont, skies were threatening to let loose a torrential storm and I began to feel ill. It was hard for me to take in the gorgeous scenery of pine covered mountains and towns from the 1700's. We made it to Hanover without much rainfall and began to settle into Hotel life.