Recovering from Road Trips

April 23 - Rail Trails in Connecticut and Central Massachusetts

As much as I love the open road and exploring the countryside the forced inactivity of the road takes a toll after a few weeks out.  In addition to keeping active at break stops along the way, use of exercise facilities when the places we stay have them, the best experiences are often hikes and bicycle rides. We don't usually travel with our bicycles, so often our recreation of choice is walking.

Hiking the sand along Myrtle Beach

Since returning from our latest Mid Atlantic States trip, where we took long walks along Myrtle Beach (above) and in Municipal parks like the North Myrtle Beach Sport Park, we have continued hiking at home.

This icy scene is Judd Brook along the Airline Trail in Amston, CT in late March before we left for South Carolina. As pretty as the scene was, and as magical as the rushing stream, you see why we fled south.

This is what the Airline Trail  before Judd Brook looks like now with the leaves still a week away from awakening.  The Airline trail section we frequent is about twenty miles long and part of a much longer project that will ultimately traverse Connecticut from the southwest to northeast corners.

Another great place to ride is the Mass Central Rail Trail. Above Jay poses with his new bike along the Norwottuck Branch of the Mass Central Rail Trail that runs through Northampton, MA. The ride is a bit more urban that our's in eastern CT, but still lots of fun.  Along the way is a cool snack bar and arcade called Quarters that is adjacent to the trail. The word is that the food is good, cheap, and the arcade fun.  We were in mid trip so we stopped only for a couple pictures.

 One of the great views along this trail is the bridge over the broad Connecticut River.

David crossing the CT River

Of course no blog of mine wouldn't be complete without a discussion of food.  Gloria, Jay and I celebrated our trip with a visit to Websters Fish Hook, a little cafeteria style restaurant just across the road from the parking lot.  The food was very good, especially the fish dishes and salad bar, and reasonably priced. There is lots of great food in the Northampton area, and lots of fussy diners, so don't let mediocre ratings online discourage you from places like this. Later in the season we will visit the adjacent stores including an ice cream shop and a plant nursery that has some of the best early tomato plants in the region.

There are miles of rail trails in this part of the country, and walking, biking or horseback riding they are great fun.  Check them out if you are coming to the area.

I'm off to tend the garden. Maybe I'll see you along one of the trails.

Day 13 Lancaster ,PA to Colchester, CT

Day 13 Lancaster, PA to Colchester, CT via Port Jervis, NY

After spending the night in Lancaster PA at a Hampton Inn, the plan was to spend the morning touring some of the many attractions of this interesting region.  Amish crafts are always a big hit, as are other artisan products.  To give the attractions time to open we rose late (7:30 am).  At that time it was raining lightly.  An hour later the area was blanketed with three inches of snow and it was coming down wet and heavy.  Anticipating a difficult drive to the north east, we abandoned our Lancaster plans and drove out into the thick snow which by then had covered all the secondary roads. This is the scene as we loaded the car.

The drive northeastward was uneventful, except for the snow that kept speeds down.  Uneasy about how far north the snow would still be falling, we opted to drive through with only short stops for gas and coffee. By Reading, PA (below) the snow began to mix with rain and the roads were just wet.

The drive through the Delaware Water Gap recreation area (Pennsylvania route 209) was over mostly dry roads, so we stopped at the Village Diner on route 209 in Milford, PA for lunch.  Not only was the diner convenient to I 84, the most direct route back to Connecticut, but it lived up to its Trip Advisor 4.5 stars for food, service and ambiance. The fish taco's were great and the cheff's salad was a hit too. If you like fast food there is plenty of that up the road, but give me an authentic American diner any day. 

We crossed into New York at Port Jervis and continued for about three hours before we saw the familiar sight of the winding country roads of south eastern Connecticut which we call home.  The road pictured below was a dirt track between small  farms when we moved into the area thirty years ago. Although here is no snow here today, note the lack of foliage signaling that it is still winter in Connecticut. 

 

I notice that this blog has discussed food and navigational flubs more that attractions. While food and getting lost and visiting tourist attractions are important, these are not the most important features of car trips (although you can make a  case for the importance of  food stops). One thing I enjoyed thoroughly during our stops every hour and a half was the opportunity to talk to local people. People standing in lines for coffee or lunch, or gas or just wandering around some attraction are often quite chatty. The mix of regional accents and sensibilities was a lot of fun.  People from South Carolina wanted us to move there.  A stranger in line at a buffet in New Port News, VA cautioned me to keep my daily expectations low, and be thankful to be alive every day. A woman in New York urged me to go back and enjoy Lancaster, PA and to take her along for some shopping. A sales woman at the Virginia Zoo had a catch in her throat when she noted the passing of a much loved elephant and the transfer of the remaining pachyderms to another zoo. Although many of the people we met were there to sell us something (a hotel room, gas, food, souvenirs) we took the  time to converse and learn a little about their lives and hopes. In part these trips are about experiencing what exists behind those dots on the map. I doubt I will ever understand how and why America works, but it is fun to experience it along the way. See you next time.

 

Day 12 Newport News to Lancaster, PA via Monticello, VA and Winchester, VA

Day twelve, Newport News to Lancaster, PA

Today was another of those rambling days where our primary goal was to reach our destination in daylight (we did), with as few miles on interstate highways as possible (mostly accomplished) and with visits to interesting points along the way (not really)

We set out from Newport News via I 64 headed toward Richmond, VA.  Numerous attractions filled the first hour including Colonial Williamsburg, Plantation tours, vinyards, great parks and the like. However, in our hast to get on the road we bypassed all these.  Also we have been to many of these on other trips. Wishing to avoid both Washington DC and Baltimore, MD on our route north we chose a Western Virginia town at random and headed there.  Little Monticello won the draw, and while the drive through the countryside was fascinating, we only stopped to stretch and get something to drink before heading to our other intermediate stop, Winchester, VA in the northwest corner of Virginia (up by the West Virginia border).  Winchester is filled with attractions, but our random pick this time was a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant called Neighborhood Italian Kitchen.  It is TINY but made the best chicken Marsala I have had anywhere (although I had ordered chicken Parmesan).  This picture has nearly the whole restaurant
 shown.

After an hour or so on I 81 we once again found an alternative and picked rt 30 across southern Pennsylvania and followed it nearly 100 miles to Lancaster where I sit typing this entry.  We enjoyed the drive through Gettysburg, and York and all the little towns between. 

Some pictures that Ernie's friend Connie took finally caught up with me and I particularly like the one below that shows Gloria and I on Cherry Creek Beach in Little River, SC.  I k now it's out of order but it seemed too nice to not post.

Tomorrow we will tour some vendors of Amish furniture before heading home.  I love the travel, but it will also be good to be home and see Andrew and Jason again.  See you along the way.

Day 11 - Thursday

Day 11 - Newport News & Norfolk, VA

As promised we were up early. Gloria was stirring by 5:00 am--an hour that precedes the rebooting of my sunny disposition by a couple of hours.  We got over that and hit the road by 7:00 for the  two hour drive to our next stop.  Today the Garmin took us from Stony Creek to Newport News entirely by back roads, some of them small enough to lack a center line.  The final mile or so was across the James River via a long bridge.  Newport News lies on a long peninsula bounded by rivers, so unless it is approached from the northwest via I64 at least some of the trip will involve a bridge or a tunnel or both.

Although the Newport News/Norfolk Virginia is an interesting place in general the main reason for our visit there was to spend a day with Don (my brother), Theresa (sister-in-law), and their two daughters Jessie and Nina. We were delighted to learn that our nieces, both nurses, were off from work and able to spend the day with us.  After meeting up at their house and grabbing a quick lunch, we drove south to spend the afternoon at the Virginia Zoological Park in Norfolk. The picture above is Don and I with an impressive elephant sculpture. Below Theresa and Gloria ham it up with a Rino statue.  The Park had lots of live animals also although sadly their elephants are moving to a larger facility. 

 It is great to see how zoos have changed in our lifetime.  Instead of being animal jails where wild animals receive minimal care, all the animals here are either rescues or involving in breeding of endangered species.  The habitats are clean, species appropriate and stimulating.  Still, it is with mixed feelings that I observed these magnificent but captive specimens.  Zoos are natural places for pictures, so here are a few more.

After leaving the park we encountered some of the insane gridlock that this region is famous for.  The Washington DC Beltway is crazy, but not as bad as this.  Since we were on vacation we took any road that was moving and got quite a tour including the downtown Norfolk tunnel, and another under the  James River below Newport News.  When we finally did get to our destination in Oyster Point, the GPS lost the satellite just before my turn, allowing another fun detour.
 
Part of the reason this blog post is being filed a day late is exhaustion fueled by a very early start and late end to the day. We had an outstanding suite at the Hampton Inn and Suites at Oyster Point in Newport News.  The six of us stayed up late in the spacious living/dining/kitchen catching up on family news.  I miss my family already and look forward to visiting here again.

One sleepy guy along the way. 

Day 10 On the Road Again

Day 10 Little River to Stony Creek, VA

Today was a good example of the kind of day that, while pleasant, doesn't turn out exactly as planned. We said goodby to Ernie around mid morning and headed north toward Wilmington, NC.  (Gloria is sad to leave as am I.)

One of the aspects of car travel that we have down pat is the luggage.  For trips of this duration (around 2 weeks) we each take one large bag for clothes, share one for electronics, and one for toiletries.  All these fit neatly in the  trunk of our Subaru Outback.  The back seat contains a garbage can, maps of every state we will follow, water and protein bars, medicines like sun screen, bug spray, aspirin, blistex, rain coats, and the like plus a few gift bags collected along the way. 

We prefer the coastal route up Rt 17 to Wilmington over the one proposed by Garmin, that heads west across northern South Carolina before turning north into North Carolina via I-95, so packed and determined we arrived in Wilmington in an hour and decided to skip the many attractions there and continue north to the little town of Warsaw where a restaurant and vineyard was reputed to exist.  We never found the vineyard and settled for lunch at a Springfield restaurant that turned out to be a one cut above fast food.  Still it was clean, staff friendly, and the food tasty. 

Back on the highway we decided to visit an artist collective in Rocky Mount. Garmin's instructions had us traveling down streets that didn't exist and the wrong way on one way's that did exist.  However, we are used to such situations and just drive legally on real streets while Garmin re-routs.  Due to patient determination we finally found the place.  It was closed and the building is for sale.  Rocky Mount wasn't appealing enough to encourage us to pursue one of the other 13 attractions listed on Trip Advisor, so we hit the highway again heading ever further north toward our destination in Virginia.

Along the way we had a bit of excitement when a Semi hauling a big  box we were following blew a left rear tire.  We felt the shock wave of the explosion and narrowly dodged a hailstorm of rubber tread pieces and the stone guard.  I was glad to have been keeping my distance.  The driver of the truck did a great job of getting the rig off the road and we kept along. We caught the whole thing with our dash camera but I haven't yet figured out how to edit video. When I do I will post some stills and a link here.

Despite our lack of visits to tourist attractions we did enjoy taking the back roads through farming country.  We stopped every hour or to stretch, get a drink and do other  things that tempt folks off the highway.  I got a chuckle from Gloria's reaction to the improvised women's room at the Sheetz rest stop along the way.  It was a temporarily reassigned men's room complete with a urinal. All I got was a creepy porta-potty in the parking lot. 

We stopped for the night at the Hampton Inn at Stony Creek, VA. We were concerned that we would need to settle for fast food or a long side trip, but our host at the Hampton Inn gave directions to Little Italy, which is a genuine, small, Italian style restaurant on Blue Star Highway.  It wasn't a five star place, but a solid 3.5 to 4 and way better than fast food. 

Tomorrow we are off to Newport News to visit my brother and his family for a day.  It's about a two hour drive, so its early to bed tonight and up early (ugh) tomorrow. See you along the way.

Day 9 Little River sights

Day 9 day trips around Little River, SC
Today we continued driving around the town of Little River, seeing the local sights. This morning we started the day with a long walk around the huge, beautiful, and apparently new Park and Sport Complex of North Myrtle beach, located about a five minute drive from where we were staying.

The park is a fantastic array of ball fields, playgrounds, dog parks, outdoor theaters, hiking and biking trails, a war memorial, concessions, a lake, and a ropes course. In addition to being beautifully maintained, there were multiples, from two to six of each kind of recreation area.

The rope course was a bit pricey, but looked very professional and great fun. Here is only a piece of it. This feature contained acres of zip lines, Burma bridges, towers, platforms and more.  All the participants received instruction in the use of climbing harnesses and the help of a professional guide.

After an enjoyable hike around the park we headed back to Little river and a little restaurant near the water.

Crab Catchers was located on the ICW next to an enormous casino ship.  The seafood gumbo was outstanding as were the fish taco's, crab cake sandwich, and haddock.  One nice feature was the option to have any of the entrees broiled rather than fried.
 

The final treat of the day was a long walk along a wide sandy ocean beach that seemed to go on for ever. We put in several miles walking across the firm sand before heading back to our car and another stop at a quality consignment store, of which there appear to be plenty in this town.

Tomorrow we say goodby to Ernie and Little River and head back north, with a few stops along the way in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.  After the warm sunny weather most of the last week, we won't enjoy the cold and snow back home, but we hope those are both temporary.

Visiting is fun, but it is also nice to see the country along the way.

Day 8 Murrells Inlet revisited and Barefoot Landing, North Myrtle Beach

Day 8 Murrells Inlet and Barefoot Landing

Thanks to an error entering our destination into the Garmin, we over shot our destination, Barefoot landing in North Myrtle Beach, by about 20 miles.  I know, that sounds like a lot but this is such an interesting place that it didn't occur to us that there was a problem until we had traveled completely through Myrtle beach and nearly reached Murrells Inlet, the subject of an earlier post.  Like so much of the South Carolina Coast, Murrells Inlet can be visited multiple times and something new found with every visit.  We arrived at the marsh boardwalk that starts behind the pier in the picture below a little before noon.

It seems that it's always time to eat or drink down here, so we gave in to custom and stopped in at a place on the marsh called the Dead Dog Saloon. We had checked it out on Trip Advisor while walking around and knew it was pretty good. Despite the unsavory name, the place was clean and comfortable.

Gloria found the she-crab soup to be excellent as was the shrimp in garlic butter sauce.  My fish was okay, fresh and flaky, but fried with more coating than I like.  The Coleslaw was tasty but watery.  The hush puppies and honey butter were sinfully good. The staff were friendly and helpful.

Above is a picture of the Dead Dog Saloon taken from the end of the pier in the first photo. You can see the boardwalk that connects about a half dozen restaurants, bars, boat concessions and the like.  As mentioned previously, this very flat coast line consists of miles of salt marshes and navigable canals, the Inter Coastal Waterway. Fish and wildlife abound.  Here is a real, live pelican posing. In the distance, across the ICW is Pawleys Island where we spent a few hours on another excursion.

Apparently fishing charters are easy to book here but I resisted the urge and instead got up close to a tuna statue on the board walk.

We left Murrells Inlet and headed back to Barefoot Landing, having figured out that RT 17 South  needed to be entered in Garmin as South Highway 17, North MyrtleBeach, South Carolina.  Barefoot Landing is another boardwalk on the ICW, but this one is just north of all the Myrtle Beach action in North Myrtle Beach.  This attraction is a conveniently located collection of shops and restaurants connected by piers and bridges.  We've been here before and find it very relaxing.  The shops run from inexpensive to pricey, as do the eateries.  You can see from the pictures that this was a sunny day and the temperature topped out in the low seventies, with a warm sun and brisk wind. All that weather and walking dried us out and a Johnny Rockets ice cream place turned out to be a good choice to have something cool and meet up with Ernie who had been out doing errands all morning.  The ICW around Barefoot landing was filled with giant carp, around six feet long , turtles the size of garbage can lids (small ones) begging for treats purchased from feeding stations located around the pier, and sea birds like the heron below.

 I am inclined at this point to engage in a discussion of navigation.  When we travel we rely on a combination of paper maps, directions on our computer, smart phone searches, and of course asking strangers for directions.  While my personal goal is to get from one place to the next independently, the accidents and subsequent detours and conversations with tolerant locals often make for the best travel experiences. Think Columbus. We hope that, like us, you will learn to see navigational challenges as adventures along the way.

Day 7 Day trips around Little River, SC

Day 7  Calabash and Little River and a fun movie

We continue to visit with our friend Ernie in Little River.  Today was another laid back day, visiting a few flea markets and consignment stores of which there are plenty in the area.  North Myrtle Beach Flea Market was kind of a bust in the sense that we didn't find any treasures that we just had to  have.  It was also a little smaller than our host remembered, but it was interesting to people watch.  Clearly some of the patrons were people who couldn't afford to shop elsewhere, and others, like us, were tourists looking for amusement or perhaps furnishing for vacation homes. Add patient but hopeful vendors, and  a combination of  displays in old buildings and others scattered on tarps sitting on sandy soil, and you have the scene. There are some bargains to be had here, mostly household tools and decorative items made in China, but also quite a bit of merchandise on its way to the recycling bin. The strong South Carolina accents, which are seldom heard in the commercial areas where nearly everyone seems to come from the north, were strongly heard at the flea market.  Also prominent was the friendliness we have come to enjoy in our contact with locals.

On the strength of listings for several stores carrying "Quality Consignments" we headed up the road to a little village called Calabash, just over the border in North Carolina.  We ate at Colemans and it didn't disappoint  in any way.  The staff were friendly and helpful.  The restaurant was clean, bright and had great views of the ICW.
After eating we spent a couple hours walking around the village center, stopping in at several consignment shops that did have quality items of all kinds for sale.  The high point was finding a length of one and one half inch diameter rope (commonly used for battle rope) that Andrew  has been looking for to include in his exercise routine.  The entire block below was one large souvenir and mercantile store.

After spending a few hours back at the house doing domestic chores we headed out to Myrtle Beach for a glimpse at the night life of which there is plenty.  The whole route 17 strip is lit up brighter than the Las Vegas strip, but with smaller crowds this early in the season here.  We settled for a movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, in a Carmike Cinema on the strip.  It was hilarious, sweet, and sometimes outrageous.  The wedding brought back memories of the ceremony Gloria and I went through 44 years ago, although ours wasn't quite as over the top and our families weren't quite as intrusive as in the film.  Still, the sentiment and funny goofs brought back fond memories. 

The pictures didn't come out as well today, so when we return to those areas tomorrow we will take some more and add them in here.

See you along the way. 

Day 6 Southport North Carolina

Day 6. Today we traveled  twenty miles or so north to the little community of Southport.  This is definitely a spot worth visiting and spending some time.  Less commercial than Little River, North Myrtle Beach, or Myrtle Beach, there are lots of things to do and places to eat.  Our hosts for the day were our friend Ernie, and a new friend, Connie, took us to a restaurant called Fishy Fish on the ICW.

From a food standpoint Fishy Fish was a treat. The place was big on atmosphere, the patrons friendly and the food very good.  Between us we had a crab sandwich, fish taco's, calamari, and shrimp with the fixings and all were pleased with their choices.  Although busy on Saturday noon, the service was prompt and friendly.  Check out the tequila diet mentioned on the sign above.

From Fishy Fish we traveled a little way south, to Silver Coast Winery for a wine tasting.  Befitting a Saturday the place was busy,  but the staff friendly and helpful.  The wines were quite good by our tastes and properly priced.  We were more fond of the whites (Chardonnay blends) than the Merlot or Cabernet.  I don't know quite what to say about the place.  Wine grapes don't grow particularly well in this region and all of the grapes are trucked in.  In some ways this made Silver Coast feel like a mock winery (the vines in front are for show only), but I respect the brewer's art enough to know that regardless of the origin of the grapes these people know wine.

We decided to wear off our wine at nearby Oak Island with a walk along the beach.  The wind had thrown up row after row of waves against the powdery sand beach.  The rip currents were obvious so no one was swimming, but the beach walk was great. Gloria caught this picture of Ernie and I under a fishing peer a half mile or so down the beach which was nearly deserted. What a beautiful spot.

The leisurely beach walk whetted our appetites enough to warrant a stop at Java City back in Southport. The coffee was excellent, but pricey. We hung around until the place closed at 7:00 pm.  Surprised that it was time to eat again (but pleased ) we settled on The Dead End Saloon and Fish Factory Grill as our supper stop.

This restaurant is not a sinister as its name which comes from the location of the place at the end of a street just before the water's edge.  Once again the food was excellent, especially the crab soup which was one of the best and most filling dishes we have consummed on this trip.  In fact, the crab here was as good as any we have eaten so far.  We watched the sun go down over the ICW from our table side window and said goodby to another very pleasant day on the road.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting our new friend Connie and exploring the wonderful little community of Southport, NC and would definitely return here for a stroll down its Main Street which promised more adventures than we could take in on one day.

Maybe we'll see you along the way. 

Day 5 - day trips from Little River

Day 5 - Day trips from Little River

The weather this morning, overcast, showers, occasional thunder storms, is tailor made for inaction. It seems like a good morning to slow down (even more) and do a few mundane chores.  Our original plan was to drive fifty miles or so north to Wilmington, North Carolina to visit attractions in that city. Since most of the destinations of interest were outdoor events we decided to wait until the weather clears.  This will give us time to plan the rest of our stay here.  We hoped to drive down the coast to Hilton Head island, just north of the Georgia line, or perhaps continue across the river to Savannah Georgia which is a beautiful city (the old town section by the river).  Time and weather will determine if we make it down there since that is far enough to justify an overnight stay.

We lunched in Little River today at a place called Snooky's.  The restaurant is on the second floor of a marina office building and features a great view of a tidal marsh and the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICE).
We enjoyed sampled the seafood which was good, but not at the standard of the Inlet Crab House in Murrell's Inlet where we ate yesterday. 

Gloria seemed to enjoy the view and she and our poet friend got into an interestng debate concerning how to write a poem about two intertwined pine trees along the ICW.

After some grocery shopping and touring a new housing development, we spent the remainder of the day browsing consignment shops.  We found several that carried quality products from glassware to furniture.  Here I am taking a picture of a brass head board in front of a glass front cabinet.

I've always favored refinishing quality used furniture over buying new.  There is something about worn furniture build from quality materials  that beats cheap, new factory built objects constructed of particle board wrapped with vinyl.  We do hope to visit some of the shops and factory stores in North Carolina that carry products in a tradition of quality craftsmanship on the way home.

Tomorrow we will visit some local vinyards and meet some of our friend's friends in North Carolina.
See you tomorrow.