January 29 - a travel day. Washington DC to Florence S.C.

Today was a very good day for driving. We left Alexandria pretty early and drove down I-95 to Florence - just over 400 miles. We ate in the car food we had brought, so had very few stops. The weather was excellent. We started the day at 25 degrees and were happy to arrive in Florence where it is 55 degrees. We are staying just off the highway in a La Quinta, but we drove into the town of Florence to eat at the upscale Victor's restaurant in the Hotel Florence, a lovely old renovated hotel where we stayed last year, but couldn't find a good price for this year. Anyhow, we had a lovely dinner; Mark had a filet mignon with rice, collard greens, scallops and shrimp. I had salad and tuna. We both had she-crab soup, which was new to us. It was good, but a bit too rich for us.

A sunny day in Washington, D.C. January 28

What a gorgeous sunny day.....brisk and refreshing.  We finally did hear from Nick on Nantucket.He had been without power for 16 hours.  He said he played a lot of solitare and did a lot of reading.  Today he shoveled out to go to work, but went in for only an hour when they sent him home and shut down.  The roads are still disastrous,

We first drove to Alexandria and got our pre-check approval for the TSA (a political comment: we now pay to have ourselves checked out and the government has contracted it out, which is really a shame, as, if we have to pay for this, I would rather pay it to the government than to a well connected
private company.  85 dollars gets you a card that says you are not dangerous for five years.

Then we went to the National Archives in Washington and miraculously found a parking space right in front of the archives building, and what a gran building it is too.  An archivist sat with us and we explained that we were looking for a bit of a petition taken to Washington in 1842 by Cyrus Peirce. We explained that we had found it years ago, but only got a photocopy of it which was not very clear and not really good enough for publication.  He brought us up four possible boxes of files to look through and Mark found the piece we wanted. Another man helped us get high quality copies.  There over 100 names of Nantucketers on the petition, so it was quite exciting.  It includes Absalom Boston, Eliza Barney and Harriet Peirce....very cool.

Then we went to very popular Thai restaurant on G Street "Absolutely Thai"  Delicious.  Then didalittle museum hopping..Natural Science.....National Archive, (saw the original Geneva Conventions)..and the National Gallery

January 27- a day in Arlington and Nantucket in thr throes of Juno

We started our day at the Apple Genius store in Arlington to solve some of our technical problems so that we can continue this blog and keeptrack of our photos etc,  First, i could not get the keyboard to work or connect with the ipad mini.  I think that the genius fixed the problem in less than 60 seconds,although i had worked on it for about an hour last night. Sigh.  Then we worked on the slowness of my iphoto library,  He didn't completely solve the problem, but did help a lot and helped me to consolidate my libraries.  It looks as if i will need a new computer in a year or so.

Then, we went back to the hotel for a nice homemade lunch,  Then we went to see "The Imitation Game" which is nominate for several Oscars.  We loved it. Bennedict Cumberbatch's performance is amazing.  We saw "Birdman" with Michael Keaton, also nominated for an Oscar.  we also liked it, but think that Cumberbatch is the stronger contender.

For dinner we found a good Indian take away and ate in the apartment again and worked on this blog while watching the Australian Open.

We have not heard from Nick on Nantucket since this morning, but have watched the news.  Nantucket is completely cut off and without power,  So Nick sits,,,sans heat, sans water, sans power,,,bored silly.  The storm is still raging, but we hope he'll have power before the end of the day

January 26 - Dodging Juno and Delving into the National Archives

We got up early and were on the road by 7:10. Mark drove the entire way in spitting snow. The governor of NJ already had reduced speeds to 45 mph on the turnpike, but I can't say it was adhered to. We made very good time and arrived at the National Archives #2 in College Park Maryland by 10:30.

We had never been to those archives, but what a gorgeous building and facility. We renewed our research cards and went to the fifth floor where the photos are kept, or are at least catalogued. We selected a few Civil War photos for the book that Frank Morral, Mark and I are finalizing. We had to ask for one photo from the archives of the Acushnet, an IRS boat that is

key to one of the chapters that Frank is writing. The archives only "pulls" things you request at 10, 11,1, 2, 3. So, we had to wait for the 1 o'clock pull. So, we went to their cafeteria and ate. Then, when the photos came...no Acushnet. But, with help, we located the correct file and then had to wait for the 2 o'clock pull! But, then we were successful, although getting the copier to put the file on our flash drive also took another learning curve. But, we really had fun doing it all.

Then, we went to the hotel in Arlington where we are staying, The Virginian. We stayed here years ago. It is a hotel of suites and we have a huge room with a sitting area, table, separate kitchen and large bathroom. It is great. After we settled in, we went out to a Safeway, and came home and had a wonderful dinner of roast chicken, asparagus and salad.

Meanwhile, we have watched the impending storm looming over the NorthEast. Seven states declared a state of emergency and everyone is waiting.

January 25,,,,,Newton to Newark.......fleeing Blizzard Juno

We started out in Concord with Jecca, Willy, Otis and Hank. Willy took the boys to their ski race in the morning and Jecca went to her classroom to work on her grades which she had to get done before taking off in the afternoon for Cannon Mountain with the ski team.

We all kept an eye on the predictions of superstorm, Juno, which is looming. Our plan was to go into Boston tomorrow and sleep at Ted and Bev's and take off on Tuesday morning for Washington, D.C.

I spoke at 2 o'clock at one of the Newton Historical Society's properties about Cyrus Peirce to a well-informed audience. Then, at 3:30, we took off to avoid the storm which is predicted to be historic.

We drove just over 200 miles to a Best Western at Newark Airport. The drive was not bad, although there is always traffic around NYC and we did get a wee bit confused the last half mile to the hotel. But, we settled in just in time for Downton Abbey.

January 24 - Snowy, snowy day in Concord!

On the Road with the Whites, 2015 - First to Florida, then to Costa Rica!

We left Nantucket on January 23, 2015 on the noon boat on an absolutely gorgeous, sunny day. We traveled to Norwood where we met up with great friends, Nan and Jim Leighton. We visited their apartment and then we all went for a wonderful meal in Westwood at Ciara Restaurant. Afterwards, we traveled to  Concord in time to see Otis (12) and Hank (9) before they headed off to bed.