Reflections on our Trip

    10,612 miles.  30 states. (And the District of Columbia) 31 different beds.

     We saw all of our children and all of our grandchildren. We saw Mark's parents, all of Mark's siblings and most of our nieces and nephews. That was wonderful.

    We found the trip to be a few weeks too long and a few miles too long. We did pace ourselves by staying in places for long enough to recover from the driving. (Long stays - Lee, MA,  Missoula, MT, San Diego, Las Cruces, NM, Atlantic Beach, FL, Charlotte, N.C. ) But, we did find the drives took a lot out of us physically. Ideally, we'd prefer drives of 4 hours a day, but that's just not possible when traversing our big country.

     It was a wonderful trip. We had amazing weather with few days affected by bad weather. We had great conversations with friends, family and strangers. We ate well and had more picnics than we've ever had before. (lots of peanut butter and jelly)

     We loved seeing our family members and friends, especially as the pandemic had prevented us from seeing many of them, especially David and Maura in Montana.

     We saw huge disparities in relation to COVID. Some states/cities were very compliant (Portland stands out) and some were defiant about masks and distancing. (S.Dakota, Texas stand out) It is the first trip we've taken where we felt the hostility of the country's division. (Mount Rushmore stands out.) We self-tested before we met with any of our loved ones and that was reassuring.

    Overall, we felt like we packed wisely and used almost everything that we packed. Next time we will try to remember to bring a night light as hotels seldom have them. 

Back in Massachusetts, November 12 - 18

We left Tarrytown in wonderful weather - sunny and cool, and arrived in Concord around lunch time. We got sandwiches at Nashoba Brooks Bakery before we arrived. Jecca was coaching her last field hockey game of the season and Barbara walked up to see it. The team, which had a losing record, had a confidence-boosting win. 

Set of "39 Steps"

    After a nice dinner made by Jecca, we went to the Middlesex theater to see a production of "The 39 Steps" - a comedic take on Alfred Hitchcock. (Hank didn't go as he had gone the previous night.) We enjoyed the play.

Mark and Hank

    Today, our only full day here, Jecca and Barbara went to a kitchen supply store where Jecca got a new pie plate in preparation for Thanksgiving pies and Barbara got some new bowls (midnight blue). Hank had drivers' ed in the morning and went to a new Marvel movie in the afternoon.

      Later, Mark and Barbara drove over to REI to look at bicycles. Barbara test rode a bike that is the same as Jecca's bike. Mark looked at Level 1 electric bikes. 

    On the 15th, we left Concord and moved on to Bridgewater where we are staying at the Hampton Inn, the first (and now the last) hotel on our journey. We took Sandy some flowers for her birthday and took the folks coffee and jelly donuts (their request). 

Ted and Mark in kitchen in Bridgewater

    The Clarity went in for a check-up as we've done over 10,000 miles.

    We were supposed to have doctor appointments in Boston at the dermatologist, but, after driving there, we found that they had been cancelled. We had the option to wait for several hours, but we decided not to wait, partly because Ted and Bev were going to visit that afternoon. And, they did come to visit and, as Alice said, it made it like a party. They brought tea and a variety of cheeses.

View from the porthole en route home

     On the 18th, we headed to Hyannis where Mark had an eye appointment. (He needs stronger glasses). As usual, we shopped for groceries and the car was FULL. We got take-out from Bangkok Kitchen and went to Keys Park in Hyannis and ate. It was a nice day and we saw the boat coming into the harbor.

     When we got home, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our tenants, Callie and Paul, had supplied us with dinner - so very thoughtful. We also found that we had NO water. Luckily, we had some bottles in the car, so could brush our teeth.

     

Alice 

The next morning, we filled buckets with water from the hose at the cottage so that we had flushable toilets. And, Bob Ramos came over and got our water back after several hours in the crawl space. 

Barbara on her Christmas bike!

The island preparing for the Biden Thanksgiving visit

  

Beverly and Cal

Washington D.C. November 8-12

We arrived early at the State Plaza Hotel, but the room was ready - and it was not even noon. We parked under the hotel and went up to our little suite. It has a king bed and a separate little kitchen complete with fridge, stovetop, microwave and toaster as well as cutlery etc.

 We walked to Shawarma District Lebanese restaurant on 18th St. for a late lunch as well as to a coffee shop across the street. 

 On our first full day we walked over 4.5 miles, deciding to leave the car behind. The weather was gorgeous - full sun and in the 70s. We walked first to the Museum of African American History in hopes of finding out about same-day tickets which we were unable to get online. Well - that's because it was closed today! 

 From there, we walked to the National Gallery of Art. We used their phone app and only visited a small part of the West Wing. The app gave a lot of in depth information about certain paintings. 

 After that, we walked to Jaleo, Jose Andres' restaurant on 7th St. Mark had a compris menu of tapas - gazpacho, chicken croquettes, cauliflower with dates and olives and flan. Barbara had a bowl of gazpacho and the beet salad (with a Spanish blue cheese, citrus, greens and pistachios) We had gone there several years ago with Liz S. and were happy to revisit it. Then we walked back the the Mall and got on the Circulator Bus which took us down the Mall, around the Tidal Basin and past the Lincoln Memorial. We got out at the WWII Memorial and then walked back to our hotel. 

 Today, our second full day here, Liz got us tickets for the National African American Museum! We have tried numerous times and never got tickets. Yay! So, we walked there on another gorgeous day for 10:30 admission.(Another day of 4.5 miles of walking) 

 First, the building alone is stupendous. We started with the speical exhibit on Reconstruction. It was excellent, depressing and sobering. After that, we toured the lower 3 levels are arranged chronologically and are incredible. The information is well displayed. After that, we were both tired, so we did not properly see the 3 other floors, but did zip through some of them. We both especially enjoyed the 4th floor with its focus on music. We are meeting Lizzy tomorrow at noon to revisit the museum if she can manage to get tickets again. 

We were too tired to go out for dinner, so ate at the hotel's Garden Cafe and it was actually quite good and also reasonable. 

 We had a VERY special third full day in Washington, D.C. And, it was another gorgeous day. First, we walked to a cafe on the G.W. campus for breakfast. We met Liz Skokan at noon at the National Museum of African-American History as she was able to get tickets, despite it being Veterans' Day. We focused on the 3rd and 4th floors- music, art, performance, education, sports. 

We sat on the Mall and chatted and then walked to Tiger Fork in Blagden Alley, a contemporary bistro focusing on food of Hong Kong with a lot of small plate dishes. We were met by Meaghan Lynch and and had a fabulous meal which we really cannot adequately describe, but it included dumplings and dan dan noodles. We thoroughly enjoyed the company of Liz and Meaghan, both of whom are moving into new jobs. Liz will be at the Commerce Department in the Northwest Africa division and Meaghan, in the Pentagon now, will be moving to Brussels to work as a liaison with NATO. 

We left Washington around 8:30 and hit a LOT of traffic between Washington and Baltimore and saw more serious accidents than we think we have ever seen before. 

But, we made our way to Tarrytown, NY via a road we've never traveled - Route 9 N to the Tappen Zee Bridge along the Palisades. (now the Mario Cuomo Bridge, but we love the sound of the Tappen Zee) We are at a Hampton Inn and went into Irvington for Korean food (Go Su) which was very good.

Visit to Charlotte, N.C. family November 1- 7

   We are in a VRBO in Matthews, a suburb of Charlotte a few miles from Nick's apartment. We are in a 2-bedroom townhouse in a nice residential neighborhood. The rental is spacious, but feels like the guy who owns it is new at renting. It's pretty clear that he did the cleaning as it was definitely not professionally cleaned. We cannot get much on the t.v. as it is all set up for people who come equipped with passwords for streaming. But, it is more than adequate to our needs and well situated.

   

Nick at work

Nick had a meal waiting for us which was nice after a long drive. We had never seen his apartment and really like his complex which is a bit older than some but has nice grounds and trees. (Lots of pin oak acorns crunching underfoot.)

    Nick came over to "our" house for dinner the second night we were there - steak and Greek salad.

    On Thursday, Nick gets Christian from his nursery school and keeps him till noon on Saturdays, so we had a nice time with him. He's a jolly and friendly 3-year old. We went to a toy store and got him some toys including a carpet roadway and cars and some magnetic vehicles which were a hit. (The rest of the toys Nick will bring out slowly over the next few visits.)  Mark and I had a coffee at Braketown in the nice downtown of Matthews and Mark got a new long-sleeved t-shirt. 

     We went to the library with Christian and Nick. (Nick takes him there twice a week.) Nearby is a caboose which Christian loves to climb on. Then, we walked to Peel Pizza for dinner. Afterwards, we walked around Nick's complex and visited the playground. A full day. 

     On Friday, we drove the 2 1/4 hours to Hendersonville to pick up Sebastian. He stayed home from school and we were able to pick him up around noon. Christian was so excited to see him. We played in the playground and Nick made pork tenderloin and brussel sprouts, a favorite of Sebastian's.

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    On Saturday, we bade a sad goodbye to Christian. We took Sebastian to Barnes and Noble to get some books as part of his birthday present. As a wonderful surprise, Cole drove over from Morganton for the afternoon. The five of us went to Umami for sushi. It was a lovely and heart-warming evening. So, we managed to see all three of the "grands" of North Carolina. 

    On our last day, we drove over to Nick's for coffee and to say our goodbyes to Nick, Cole and Sebastian. Cole left shortly after we did and Nick drove Sebastian back to Hendersonville. We drove to Fredericksburg which took longer than it should have as we hit two fairly major traffic jams. We are at a Hampton Inn nearby to Wegman's where Mark and Barbara promptly lost each other in the massive store.

    

Atlantic Beach with Family, October 27-31

 

Ah - back to the Atlantic!

We are in Atlantic Beach in a spell of cool weather which is very comfortable and one day it rained and we read and chatted the day away.

James and Michael

   We are here for Christina's birthday, a first. We went to a barbecue in Atlantic Beach  to celebrate with them and were able to eat outside. James (almost 8), Sawyer (6) and Ziggy (2) had a blast because the restaurant has a wide open area with games and plenty of running space. 

    One day we ventured onto bikes and rode to the beach and a little way along the beach. This was a first for Mark for a while.

At a bistro, Amelia Island

     One day we went to Amelia Island on the ferry by Mayport and had a lovely lunch at a French bistro at the Omni resort.  We hustled home to try to pick up James and Sawyer, but the ferry was running behind, so we did not manage to pick up the children.

    One day, Barbara, Mike and Nancy went to the soccer fields and watched part of James' soccer game, coached by Chris.

     We were in Atlantic Beach for Halloween which was a lot of fun. We sat at a card table at the end of their driveway and dispensed candy to over 30 trick-or-treaters. Nancy got full-size candy bars and boxes, which was a big hit. At the end of the evening, Chris and Mike came by with their kids and family friends.

 

Beach riding - Michael, Mark, Nancy

Nancy, Ziggy, Sawyer

Michael, Nancy, Mark

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Driving Across the South October 22-26

   We left Las Cruces and drove to Fort Stockton, Texas, on route 8. We are trying hard to keep our days to drives of under 6 hours, preferably no more than 5. 

    After Fort Stockton, we drove to San Antonio where we are staying two nights. Our room was not ready when we arrived (Tru by Hilton) so we drove down to the Riverwalk and strolled. We ate at a Tex-Mex restaurant right on the river.

The Alamo

The Riverwalk

     The next day we walked to the Alamo, a short walk from the hotel. We walked through it and read the exhibits. We were disappointed that the narrative, which we had understood had been updated, still totally avoids the issue of the expansion of cotton and enslavement as an underlying issue. We reflected on the glorification of battles in history, too.

    We walked back to the hotel and, after a short rest, we walked to the River Walk, also a manageable walk. We had mid-afternoon reservations at Boudro's. Barbara had a delicious fish dish and Mark had a steak sandwich. Later we sat in the pool area on possibly the most uncomfortable lounge chairs ever made. 

    The next day we drove to Lake Charles to a nondescript hotel by the side of the road and we went to the grocery store for salad and a whole chicken.

     The next day was similar - we drove to Pensacola to a Quality Inn. We had to wait an hour to check in. (Lots of places are understaffed.) We were on Scenic Drive and it really was scenic along the huge bay. We ate at Old Hill Fish Restaurant and it was delicious. We both had a bowl of delicious gumbo and bought a quart of frozen gumbo to take to Atlantic Beach for Mike and Nancy. 

One of our many peanut butter and jelly picnics

     And, the next day we drove to Atlantic Beach, glad to be done with the cross-country trek. Mark is very happy to be back on the Atlantic and we walked 

    

Las Cruces, N.M. October 17 - 21

 

Jan and Barbara at The Shed

 From Tucson, we drove to Las Cruces, N.M. to stay with Barbara's college roommate, Jan. We stayed for 5 nights. It was a lovely break to be in a home and with a steadfast friend.

   There was a lot of laughter, many good conversations and fabulous food. Jan tried new recipes and baked cookies before our arrival. She made a Greek dish of veggies called Brean, which we will try to replicate when we get home. And, we made fish in parchment for two meals with different fish. (Trying to make our parchment packets caused a lot of giggles. Jan is way better with her hands than we are.) 

Jan's cul de sac

Jan making parchment meals

Jan and Barbara walked about 2.5 miles every morning before coming home to Mark who had coffee ready for them.

   One day Jan drove us to the lovely historic town of Old Mesilla. Two battles were fought there during the Civil War and it was the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona in 1861-62. Known for its cantinas and festivals during the period of the Wild West, it attracted people like Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett and Pancho Villa. The central plaza is a National Historic Landmark. 

   We shopped for chilis and other Tex-Mex ingredients to take home with us. Last time we brought home a ristra, but this time we didn't because we have a longer period in the car before we arrive home and weren't sure about the smell the entire way home. So, we got sauces and powders instead.

   One evening we went for hors d'ouevres across Jan's cul de sac at the house of one of her friends. It was nice to put faces to people that we have heard Jan talk about and who have supported each other throughout the pandemic.

Johnny and Mark

    One morning we went to the Shed for lunch, a place we've visited with Jan before. Yummy.

  Meanwhile, back in Concord, there is huge controversy at Middlesex when the Head of the school disinvited Nikole Hannah-Jones, one of the writers of the NYT's 1619 Project. The students have walked out, the faculty wrote a letter of protest. Jecca is in the thick of it.

Saga of a Lost Wallet

 

We left Mission Beach on the 16th for Tucson.

  The Saga of a Lost Wallet

   In El Centro, we stopped for gas and a driver change and Mark left his wallet on the gas pump. Two hours later, when we were gassing up again, he realized what had happened. We called the 711 there and the woman very rudely said that she was too busy to go check outside and to call back later.  We then called and cancelled the Amex card. We did call back later and again, she hung up on us.

     In Tucson (Country Inn and Suites), we filed for a new license with the Mass. DMV which has no process for expediting a lost license. But, later that night, Mark got a text message from a woman in Mexicali, Mexico that her husband had the wallet. We were initially hesitant to respond, but did. He asked her to have her husband take it to the El Centro Police Station and she said that he would the next day or the day after that. 

    When we got to Las Cruces, we called the police station and they said that the wallet would have to be entered as evidence and that we'd have to contact the "evidence technician" who was not in that day.

      The wallet was not turned in that first day and our optimism began to diminish. But, through various texts with the woman, Arabella, she said that her husband had been too busy that first day.  But, on the following day, her husband did turn it in. Hurrah! (Mark told the couple to keep whatever cash was in the wallet for being honorable and honest people.)

   Getting the wallet released from custody involved a few hoops to jump through including signing a release and setting up a FedEx account. But, Moises at the police department, made the process as smooth as possible. So, the wallet was sent by FedEx to Michael and Nancy's house in Florida.

  And, the Amex card also came via FedEx to Las Cruces.

  So - all's well that ends well. And, have faith in our fellow humans.

Mission Beach, San Diego October 9-16

 

 We had a long drive to Mission Beach from Monterey with lots of traffic with many huge highways and lots of highway changes. Mark did the bulk of the driving which was quite harrowing - so many multi lane highways!

 

We moved into a small studio apartment in a new part of the bay to us - 3578 Bayside Walk. The parking lot is small! We drove to Ralph's and got enough food to start our week as we were too tired to shop more than that.

Day One

We took a nice walk and settled into the apartment.

$$

For lunch, we drove up to Convoy Street to go to a Chinese restaurant, Golden Dynasty, that Mark looked up on Yelp. It was delicious - we had pea greens (a new dish for us and we liked it) and fried chicken.

We got tickets for a matinee at Old Globe Theatre to see a new musical, The Gardens of Anuncia. We had to show our vaccination cards, a first for us and masks, of course, were required. We liked everything about the play. The set, for one, was amazing. The play was written by Michael J. LaChiusa and based on the life of his friend, an Argentine actress/choreographer, Graciela Daniele. It was staged by flashbacks by an older Anuncia who's on the way to get a life-time Emmy. (true) It tells the story of how she was raised by three strong and independent women - her mother, her aunt and her grandmother during the time of the Perons. The dancing was amazing, the songs were so well done and beautifully sung. The actors had impressive resumes. We were very impressed and hope that it goes to Broadway. 

On the way home, we stopped at a pasta restaurant on Tourmaline St, got uncooked homemade pasta with two sauces and made it at home and sat on our patio. 

Day Two

We started our day with a nice walk along the bay - and saw several dolphins which we heard is quite unusual for the bay. At 10:30 we headed to visit Frank and Linda Morral in La Jolla. We always have wonderful conversations and we also had an in-room lunch with them as their dining hall is not yet open to outside visitors. Later we took them for a tour of Mission Beach down to the end, where they had never ventured. Then, we sat at "our" apartment's patio and chatted more. Linda and I took Rojo for a walk along the bay.

Day Three

Today we spent at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, about 40 minutes north. It was the perfect day for the park - quite empty with gorgeous weather. It involved a lot of walking, but we also took one shuttle and a tram around the African savannah section. We saw a cheetah, lots of varieties of deer/antelope, several elephants including at least 3 youngsters, one lion, 2-3 gorillas, one tiger, giraffes, rhinos, kangaroos. Getting photos was not easy as there are many long shots a lots of fencing. We lingered at the bird exhibits. We ate lunch in the park and made a day of it. We walked about 3 miles in the park. Afterwards, we sat on "our" patio and watched the high school crew teams practicing across the bay.

Day Four

We started with a walk on the other part of the inner bay where we stayed a few years ago. We also got our flu shots at a nearby CVS. We had tacos for lunch before Barbara had a Zoom Cemetery Commission Meeting.

We met Frank and Linda and went to the dog park on Fiesta Island. On the way home, we visited Soledad Mountain Memorial which has a huge concrete cross that was the subject of constitutional controversy about a religious symbol being on federal land. It was solved when a private group bought the part with the cross. There are over 3500 memorials to veterans on the monument. The mountain has one of the best views of the San Diego area.

Day Five

We met Frank and Linda for lunch at White Sands. Linda and Barbara took a nice walk along the La Jolla shores with Rojo while Mark and Frank talked theater. It's always great conversation. Then we said goodbye to them. We came "home" and took another walk along the ocean side of Mission Beach and had dinner on our patio. We also had a quick video call with Christian and Nick in Charlotte.

Day Six

Another beautiful day.  I had a Zoom meeting for the Historical Commission at 7 a.m. (time zones!) Afterwards, we took the car to the car wash - not something we do often. Then we drove up to Cabrillo Point- so beautiful, where we had a cup of coffee and wandered around.

In the afternoon we met Lindsay Goldsmith at the Communal Cafe and Bakery which was also attached to a flower shop. Lindsay is in an intensive, accelerated nursing M.A. program. It was lovely to see her. She is so evidently passionate about her profession.

Then we came "home," packed up and ate fish tacos on our veranda.