Summer 2009

We left College Park before 7am in order to avoid the Baltimore and Wilmington rush hour. The trip to the trailer storage facility in Chester, NY was relatively uneventful and we got there at noon. It took us about thirty minutes to load the truck with the "stuff" that we were not leaving in the trailer until the next trip (laundry, perishable food and Susie's treasures) and head home.

The trip home from Chester was a typical New York nightmare. On the way to Chester we passed a construction site on the southbound New York Thruway just north of Suffern that had a 6 mile traffic jam. We chose an alternate route that took us towards Bear Mountain and then south on the Palisades Parkway to the Thruway, south of the construction area. We felt great that we passed the problem area. That elation disappeared as we approached the Whitestone Bridge and saw a major backup because of the perennial construction on the bridge. Having gotten past that jam, we figured, "it can't happen again." We forgot that this is New York and a few miles down the road we saw that the Van Wyck Expressway was backed up. So I decided we could take the Grand Central Parkway for one exit to the Long Island Expressway. Sure we could, right into another backup because of an accident at the Kew Gardens Interchange. The last seven miles took us over 30 minutes to travel... Welcome Home (cue the song, "I Love New York").

Some thoughts about this trip and where it might rank among the trips we took in the last five summers. It is hard to compete with the two Alaska trips for top billing, but this one came close. Aside from the stay in New Orleans, Santa Fe and Myrtle Beach, the other major stops, Lake Powell, Gallup area, Dallas, Memphis, Nashville and Asheville exposed us to some new things we had not seen before. Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon showed us more about the Pre-Puebloan culture then we learned at Mesa Verde, another fascinating area in southern Colorado. The Natural wonders around Lake Powell, The North Rim of The Grand Canyon and Antelope Canyon were sights not to be missed. Finally, Memphis with Beale Street and Graceland and Nashville with its Grand Ole Opry, gave us a taste of American Culture we are not frequently exposed to. All in all, a great trip.

Summer is not over and we will be heading out again in late July. Even though we did not win the Super Bowl, "We are going to Disneyworld." We will be gone for a couple of weeks visiting friends in Florida, spending time on the beach in Fort Myers Beach and, of course, spending time in the Fort Wilderness Campground in Disneyworld. The Disneyworld part of the trip is a little bit of a voyage of memories. We had camped there with the kids many times and enjoyed the Magic Kingdom, Epcot and the Disney Hollywood Studios. This time we will enjoy it without the kids and take in some of the attractions that have been added since our last trip there about 13 years ago. I am not planning to set up Web pages for this trip because most of it is more sitting back and relaxing... how many pictures of me on the beach do you need to see? (answer not required). As always, I will have my camera with me, and if something interesting comes up, I will take pictures and provide commentary.