Day 12 Hancock, Massachusetts to Kennebunkport, Maine 209 miles

church in Williamstown, MA

gorgeous fall colors in New Hampshire

self explanatory

ditto

 

Great day to be on the road.  Very little traffic and good weather.  Hugged Brad and Anna about ten o'clock and were on our way.  We took Route 2 in northern Massachusetts and saw some great country and cute small towns.  Four hours and two stops later we pulled into Kennebunkport.

We are staying at the Kennebunkport Inn and it is lovely.  Great character in the rooms but updated and very clean.  We spent a couple hours walking around town and making plans for tomorrow.  We passed some great antique shops in the town of Wells which is just next to Kennebunkport so we're going there as well as  

We had dinner tonight at a local pub and had a lobster, scallops and shrimp medley as well as clam chowder--tough deal :-).

Day 11 A visit from Brad & Anna

Headed over to the "kids" playground

Swinging :-)

Waiting for snow!

Content after a great dinner at John Harvard's

A very nice lazy day.  Sun early this morning with a cloud cover and cold wind this afternoon.  Brad and Anna arrived about 1:15 and we cracked a bottle of Rhubarb wine (yes there is such a thing and it was great) and had some snacks and watched a little football.

Took a walk around the resort ("the kids" played on the swings) later in the afternoon and ate dinner at John Harvard's located on the third floor of the Country Inn resort next door to us.  It was within walking distance and the food was fabulous!

The new backdrop on the blog is compliments of Brad & Anna. She found the picture and Brad installed it today.  Love it :-)

The Berkshires!

Fall color!

awesome museum

Hopefully you can read this

2300 year old mummy!

David says this is our new "dog"

Woke up to a light rain and spent the morning just enjoying it from the condo.  Walked to the resort next door to check out a dinner house for tomorrow night.  Fun walking in the rain.

Drove about 20 minutes south to the town of Pittsfield this afternoon to the Berkshire Natural History Museum.  Really a great place.  Pittsfield is the home of Herman Melville the author of Moby Dick which was written here in 1851.  They are very proud of him.

Ate dinner at a popular watering hole called Patrick's Pub.  Just a wee bit Irish, with great food!  Looking forward to seeing Brad & Anna tomorrow.  Might go to the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Day 9 Willoughby Ohio to Hancock Massachusetts 484 miles

Cloud  cover over Pennsylvania

A rest stop in New York!

Albany, New York

View from our room :-)

Well, we finally made it to Massachusetts and it was worth the trip.  Beautiful drive today with cloud cover early in the morning and a sunny afternoon.  Might be rain tomorrow morning but not much and they say it is supposed to clear in the afternoon.  Might just have to sleep in!

I included a picture of a rest stop, because since we hit Iowa they have been amazing.  They are large with many fast food places inside such as McDonald's, Subway, Roy Rogers (local), Burger King, Starbucks and many more.  They have huge bathrooms and are super clean.  Gas is available at most of them and if not, it's posted on the highway sign.  Really neat.

Haven't made definite plans for tomorrow yet, but they gave us about three full pages of stuff to do, so I don't think we'll lack for something to do while we're here.  Brad and Anna will be joining us on Saturday, so we're going to save something to do with them.  Should be a fun three days. 

Day 8 Galena, Illinois to Willoughby, Ohio 522 miles

Chicago!!!

beautiful church by the freeway in Chicago

Ohio countryside

Cleveland

 

Whew!  Glad today is done.  9 hours and 40 minutes on the road!!!  The trip to a little longer than originally planned as we opted to drive through the middle of Chicago rather than go around.  Not the best pictures, but a very impressive city. 

The country side from Galena to Willoughby (on the east side of Cleveland) is all gorgeous, although if you we're to drop me in the middle of it I couldn't tell you if I was in Iowa, Illinois, or Ohio.  David says you could add southern Minnesota and southern Michigan to that list as well.  Beautiful, nonetheless.

Tomorrows journey is shorter and we will be in Hancock Massachusetts for three nights with Brad and Anna joining us on Saturday--can't wait!!

Lobby of the resort

Historical Galena

Main Street

Couldn't resist the picture!

Had a great time today.  Woke up to the "big storm".  Not a lot of rain but lots of wind during the night.  Windy most of the day too.  Temperature dropped 20 degrees from 68 at midnight last night to 48 at noon today with a brisk wind that made it feel much colder. 

David and I spent about 5 hours walking through some great shops and antique stores and enjoyed lunch at one of the local places.  They are famous for their chili and hamburgers and David looked for a chili size on the menu.  They didn't have one but the waitress said she'd ask the cook (the owner was cooking today) if she could make it.  She liked the idea of it and David said it was delicious and they said they were going to put it on the menu!!!

Spent a quiet evening at the condo tonight.  Wine, dinner and a jacuzzi tub--perfect.  On to Ohio tomorrow.                       

Day 5 Lincoln, Nebraska to Galena, Illinois

                                                   Sunrise over Nebraska

Iowa cornfields

Iowa farm

View from our condo!!!!!

A great day today!  The drive was beautiful--just picture perfect.  I love Iowa, really, really pretty.  Just as I imagined it would be.  The peak of the fall foliage was about 8 days ago, but it is still really beautiful.

Our condo is amazing and the location is great.  Got here about 12:30 today so we spent the afternoon at a large antique place and then a little time in the historic part of Galena.  Went to a great wine shop and did a little wine tasting (and purchasing!) and ate a late lunch upstairs.
Supposed to rain tomorrow but the historic part of the town has about 50 shops and business to check out so we'll have lots of places to go to stay dry!

Our condo here is wonderful.  A jacuzzi in the bathroom and a double sided fireplace between the living room and the master bedroom.  Pics of Galena tomorrow. 

Day 5 Estes Park, Colorado to Lincoln, Nebraska 527 miles

                                                Sunrise over Greeley, Colorado

                                               Monument to Great Platte River

                                                               Nebraska

When they talk about the great plains being great, they mean it.  Day three of nothing but miles and miles of miles and miles!  Cloudy most of the day today and in the low 60s. 

Saw several dead deer along the side of the interstate today, a sad but common occurrence in these parts I think. 

We head to northern Illinois tomorrow and are looking forward to trees and fall foliage.

Day 4 Midway, Utah to Estes Park, Colorado 511 miles

                                                     Rock formation in Utah

                                                       Fresh snow in Utah

                                                    On the way to Estes Park

                                                                   Our condo

                                                     view from the back deck


A shorter mileage day but longer driving time as the highway to Estes Park is slow and winding.  Had quite a lot of weather events during the day, just missed getting snowed on but had some rain and lots of wind.

Estes Park is a trendy ski resort town that was quite crowded with people as we drove through.  Looks like a fun town.

I saw two female elk (David says they are called cows) while walking across the complex to the workout room this afternoon.  They were only about 20 feet away and didn't seem to care that I was watching them.  They sure are bigger than deer!!!  Naturally I didn't have the camera with me, darn.

Day Three Reno NV to Midway Utah 562 miles

Nevada desert

                                                             
                                                               Utah desert

                                                       Our Midway Utah Condo

After miles and miles and miles of sand, scrub and sage brush we arrived exactly 8 hours after we started at our home for the evening in Utah.  It was an easy drive (especially for me as David drove the whole way), especially as the speed limit was 75 miles per hour so we cruised along at 80 for most of the day.

Pretty country around Midway.  Spending our evening relaxing at the condo and plan on enjoying the Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom later on.

A "Hot" Night in Reno

We had a great last night in Reno.  The show was fabulous and we spent some more time in our favorite casinos paying our Nevada taxes.  Up early today to be on the road to Midway, Utah by 7. 

Reno!

One of our favorite places to visit.  Made great time getting here, 51/2 hours, and have just been gambling a bit (not winning, just hoping) and hit a couple of our antique stores today.  Have reservations to see Le Grand Cirque tonight at 7.  Keep hearing what a great show it is from people who have seen it.  Haven't figured out how to post pictures yet, darn!

THE DAY has arrived!!!!!

Can't believe 18 months of waiting and planning are over!  Had a great time playing cards with some of my girlfriends last night and then came home and finished loading the truck.  Slept about 3 hours and an anxious to get going :-).  My driver is still sleeping but I'll wake him soon.....

and so it begins..........

David and I are less than 48 hours away from our long awaited cross country trip!

When I finished crying after Brad called me in April of 2009 to tell me he had been accepted into the MBA program at Harvard University I started thinking about what a great opportunity this presented for us to see the fall colors on the east coast.  We were fortunate to have two excellent tour guides when they were in England and we are excited to be able spend some time with them in their present home town of Boston.

We leave Wednesday, October 20th and will return home on November 22nd.  34 days of fun with family and friends.  Wish you could all go with us but alas the truck isn't quite that big and I'm not a light packer!

I will do my best to update daily.