Charleston with Jo and Tom, February 7 & 8

   We drove from New Bern on Route 17 to Sullivan's Island. It was really our first warmish day.
 We stayed with Jo and Tom (and Archie, the standard poodle) in their lovely home on the beach.
    The first night, we went to Long Island Cafe and had a wonderful fish dinner. (Long Island was the original name of the Isle of Palms, nothing to do with Long Island, New York.)
     Jo made a wonderful breakfast both mornings of poached eggs on oatmeal that she makes ahead of time into patties which are then fried. We will definitely be adding them to our repertoire of recipes.
     On the 8th, Tom went out to John's Island. We took a lovely beach walk. A highlight was a flock of bluebirds which perched nicely enough and long enough for us to identify them conclusively, always a treat for us. Then we toured both Sullivan's Island and the Isle of Palms stopping on the marshy side and the ocean side. It was a lazy, wonderful day.

Mark, Tom and Jo at Long Island Cafe

     The second night we had a wonderful meal at 167 Raw, owned by Jesse Sandole, one of our former middle school students. It was just written up as one of the 10 places to visit in Charleston by the New York Times. It is small and does not take reservations, but we pulled strings with Jesse's mom, Jill and we were ushered right in. Jesse was there to see us and treated us to a complimentary dish of oysters. The food was amazingly good. Jo and Mark had tuna poke which was probably the highlight. Mark and Tom had tuna burgers which they really enjoyed. Barbara and Jo had delicious fish tacos and Barbara also had a haddock ceviche. We all pronounced it an extraordinary meal and Jo and Tom plan to return. Quite amazingly, there were two other former Nantucket students there that night, too. In such a small place, it was quite a coincidence.

Mark, Jo, Tom, Jesse at 167 Raw

Robert Anderson, Corinna Ramirez at 167 Raw

Mark and Jesse

    Mostly the four of us talked, talked, talked about politics. It was very good group therapy, I think, for all of us.

New Bern, North Carolina Feb 5, 6

  We drove on Sunday, the 5th from Washington, D.C. Leaving a city on a Sunday is always so easy. It was an easy trip; the last bit was on Route 17 which is not fast, but more scenic.
   We stayed at the Comfort Suites which is a little bit out of town, but a nice hotel and quite empty.
    The first night, we ate at MJ's in downtown. We both had ahi tuna and it was fabulous. Then we went back to the hotel and sat in the hot tub while we did a much-needed laundry. We settled down to watch the Patriots in the Superbowl versus the Atlanta Falcons. But, not being avid football fans, we fell asleep in the third quarter with the Patriots trailing by a lot. Imagine our surprise to wake up the next day and discover that they won in overtime and that we slept through a historic game. Darn.

The Masonic Temple. Anna may have taught here in her early days in New Bern.

   The next day we went to the library to research Anna Gardner. Barbara was here in 2004 on a grant and got information about Anna's time here during the early days of the Civil War teaching freedmen. But, it seemed as if Anna might have returned to New Bern before returning home in the mid 1870s, so we hoped to find some evidence of that. Barbara read microfilm records from the local and county school boards, as well as a few of the old newspapers on microfilm. The school committee records were surprisingly complete and she found no evidence that Anna returned.

New Bern during the Civil War

Northern soldiers in New Bern

   Mark focused on finding photos to put in the book. The librarian who helped us, Richard Green, was quite hopeful. He published a book a while ago with a lot of photos and told Mark where to get permissions for them.
    So, it was a fruitful trip. Barbara proved pretty conclusively that Anna did not return to New Bern and Mark found some good photos for the book, including a photo of school teachers of freedmen in their house. We suspect that Anna may be one of them, but will have to enlarge the photo more to make comparisons with other photos of her.
    As MJ's was so good that day before, we returned there for another meal! Then - a soak in the hot tub.
    The next morning, we took the Prius to a car wash to get the salt off it. That poor car is seldom clean.

A Day with Lizzy in Washington, DC, 2/4/17

  Today was sunny and brisk.
  We met Lizzy, former student and Stage Manager Extraordinaire, and now....good friend. We met her at Prit Khao, a Laotian restaurant in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. Miraculously, we got a parking spot right across the street and found Lizzy already there.
    The food was really terrific with different use of spices than, say, Thai food.  Barbara had monkfish wrapped in a banana leaf with vegetables to wrap in lettuce leaf. Mark had a sticky rice dish with Chinese sweet sausage. His other dish was crispy pork similar to chow mein. They were also lettuce wraps. We cannot remember what Lizzy had, although we all shared everything.
    Lovely conversation as we expected with such a bright and interesting young woman.
   Afterwards, we all drove to the grounds of the Soldiers' Home, set high on a hill on 251 acres. On the grounds is the Lincoln Cottage, a place to which Lincoln and his family often retreated. It had been used by the previous president, Buchanan, as well. During Lincoln's time the cottage had a view of the city and the Potomac, but trees and buildings have grown up since then.

View from the front of Lincoln Cottage; the photo does not do it justice.

   Lincoln spent 1/4 of his presidency in residence here. The White House was too hectic and too hot. The drinking water came directly from the polluted Potomac. So, he and the family spent extended summers in this house three miles from the White House. The cottage was also a place for the quiet the family craved so soon after the death of 11-year-old Willie.

Lincoln's Cottage

  When the Lincolns were there, the place was used as a hospital, a military camp, retirement home, and a national cemetery. It is still used as a retirement home for over 1,000 veterans. Because the grounds are still owned by the Soldiers' Home, visitors to the Lincoln Cottage are restricted to the cottage and the visitor center.

Mark and Lizzy in the Visitor Center

   We took a tour of the modest house where Lincoln penned the Emancipation Proclamation. The house itself is bare as the furniture the Lincolns used was brought from the White House and returned every season. Plus, it was used for many purposes afterwards including being a lounge/bar for the Soldiers' Home. It was designated as a National Monument in 2000 by President Bill Clinton and opened to the public in 2008.
    Then,we dropped Lizzy home. It was a lovely day and so nice that it was planned by Lizzy. Every day we have been in Washington D.C. we have gone to someplace we have never before visited and have learned a great deal.
    It is so appropriate to the times how we spent our days in Washington this year during the first two weeks of the Trump Presidency. How we spent our time felt like an antidote. We appreciated the Library of Congress for its storage of accumulated wisdom. We listened to the lessons taught by both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two men with prodigious minds. Both were dedicated to improving our country and who left behind important words and legacies.

Statue of Lincoln and "Old Bob" as well as Barbara and Lizzy

Lizzy and Barbara at one of the doors to Lincoln's Cottage

Original Soldiers' home in background and Lincoln's Cottage on the left

 

Frederick Douglass's house & National Gallery of Art

  Another chilly day. Damon said last night that we seem to bring winter with us when we visit Washington and today was no exception.

    We drove to the National Gallery of Art for a quick tour of the impressionists.

Mary Cassatt

Plaster cast of St Gauden's statue that is on Boston Common.

We forget the artist! Help someone!

Stuart Davis

  Then we drove to Anacostia to "Cedar Hill", Frederick Douglass's last home, where we took a tour. Anna Gardner, about whom Barbara is writing, visited there twice, once while Douglass was alive, and once with his widow when Anna stayed several weeks. It was cool to imagine her sitting on the front porch gazing out toward the Capitol Building, the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress and the Washington Monument. We tried to imagine which bedroom she was given.

View from Cedar Hill. If you enlarge this, you can see the Washington
Monument, the Capitol and the Jefferson Building of the Library of 
Congress, the dome to the right of the Capitol. The view 
must have been so lovely when Douglass lived here.

Cedar Hill, home of Frederick Douglass

Helen Pitts Douglass

Dining Room at Cedar Hill

  Then we went to Capital Hill Crab Cakes in Anacostia, a tiny mostly take-out restaurant. As it was already 2, they were out of crab cakes. So, Mark settled for a shrimp po boy and Barbara had a salad with crab in it.

 

A Day at the Library of Congress, Tapas with Anne & Damon

Today we ate breakfast in our lovely hotel suite and then walked to the Metro station at Foggy Bottom. Like two out-of-towners, we struggled with getting Metro Cards and loading the proper amount of money on them. In fact, we had to get help. Is it our age?

   Anyhow, we then went to the immense James Madison Building which is part of the Library of Congress. (The largest library in the world with the largest rare book collection) We were confronted with a maze to even get to the registration area for researchers. Then, we filled out forms, got our photos taken and were issued research cards. Everything went into a locker except for our phones, computers and chargers and eye glasses.

James Madison Building - Manuscripts, photos, music records are here for Library of Congress

   Barbara is tracking down letters written by Nantucketer Anna Gardner to Frederick Douglass. She has five, but hoped that there might be more. Her letters to him indicate a close relationship and she stayed at his home, Cedar Hill, on two occasions, once when he was alive and once with his widow.
   A very nice archivist helped Barbara and sent her to talk with another archivist, Dr. Adrienne Cannon who suggested a few other leads. Mark went up to the photos area and found a photo of Cedar Hill which he will order. Barbara found a photo of Helen Pitts Douglass and put in an order for that.
    We ate our packed lunch in the cafeteria in the building and then made our way to the jewel in the Library of Congress's crown, the Thomas Jefferson Building, built in the 1890s. It is quite surprising that we have never visited it before as we have visited so many of the wonderful buildings and monuments in the city.

Mark getting screened - Metal in his knee means setting off alarms.

View of Capital and Washington Monument from the steps of the Jefferson Building

   On display in the impressive lobby is one of three Gutenberg Bible's written on vellum. (The light was too low to take a photo of it.)

Ceiling, Jefferson Building

Lobby of Jefferson Building

Reading Room, Jefferson Building

Rotunda, Jefferson Building

   Then we took the Metro home, checked mail etc.
   We had a wonderful evening with Anne and Damon near their apartment in the Cathedral neighborhood. They are getting married on February 17 (my birthday!) and we couldn't be happier for them. They treated us to a feast of tapas at Barcelona. Yum!

Anne, Damon, me and Mark at Barcelona. Great conversation. A feast.

   A very good day.

 
 

Arrival in Washington, DC, 2/1/17

 An easy drive today from Edison to Washington, D.C.
 We are at the State Plaza Hotel on F Street near George Washington, D.C. We are in a HUGE suite.

Living Room

Living room looking toward dining room and kitchen to the right

Looking into bedroom

After settling in, we walked to Founding Farmers Restaurant, a farm-to-table restaurant. It was good, but not fantastic. Barbara had an ahi tuna salad and Mark had corn bread and chicken pot pie. Then we walked around the neighborhood, mostly in the university. We stopped at Whole Foods and got food for our breakfasts, some lunches and snacks.

Concord to Edison, N.J. (1/31)

 We left Concord in the morning and drove to Edison, New Jersey. We hit snow in Connecticut, which slowed us a little bit. We had little traffic and went over the George Washington Bridge which is always cool, even in the gloom and snow.

Yes, that's the George Washington Bridge

  We are staying in a very Asian neighborhood. (Comfort Inn) We walked to a Malaysian restaurant and had a very good meal. Then, we walked to a very cool Asian supermarket where we just browsed and were intrigued by the many spices and unfamiliar fruits and vegetables.
 

Back on the Road......Nantucket to Concord, Jan 30

   A lovely morning to be on the boat. Calm seas, sunny skies. Dinner in Concord with Jecca and family.

6:30 boat....a bit blurry but beautiful day

Lovely daughter making a statement with her hair

Reflections on our trip

  14,000 miles in the Prius.  (Which now has 115,000 miles on it)
  28 states. (Massachusetts, Connecticut, NY, NJ, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, NC, SC, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, NM, Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania) We were so close to Nebraska that we could see it, but didn't actually get there. We also went to the District of Columbia.
  38 different beds.
  Besides sightseeing, it was a people-rich trip.
  Barbara got to see all three of her best high school friends, one of whom she had not seen in over 30 years. (Diane, Cindy, Kathy)
  Barbara also got to see her college roommate who lives in New Mexico. (Jan)
  Mark got to see one of his high school friends in Atlanta. (Dennis)
  We reconnected with a wonderful woman with whom we taught in Egypt. Anne, a Belgian, is working at an international school in Washington D.C.
  We also reconnected with a friend who we had not seen since 1984 and had a great day with him in N.Y.C. (Weldon)
  We got to see lots of family: All 3 of our children, all 4 of our grandchildren. Both of Mark's brothers, 2 of Mark's sisters. Mark's wonderful parents. One of Barbara's English cousins. (Clare is a 2nd cousin once removed actually!) We got to meet Maura's Dad in Big Fork.
    We had a reunion with our CPS 7th grade team. (Denise, Dick, Barbara, Mark, plus Jack and Maureen) A great meal in Fort Lauderdale.
    We got to visit with good friends who left Nantucket last year after that horrible winter and who moved to San Diego. We miss them so it was great to see them in their new life. (Frank, Linda)
    We got to see good friends who moved recently to the Berkshires and see them in their new home. (Nan, Jim)
    We met with lots and lots of former students which was wonderful. Some were total surprises, others we had planned in advance (Alex K , Martha C, Michael M, Amber G, Sarah P, Scott A, Elaine M, Chris K, Keri F, Ian D, Sam H)
      We drove familiar roads and new roads, always a great combination.
     We visited White Sands National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, Cabrillo Point National Park and the Tijuana Estuary National Wildlife Refuge. We walked in many state and city parks such as Balboa Park in San Diego and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. We visited museums such as the Timkin and Mingei in San Diego, the Getty Villa in L.A., the Mexican-American Museum in L.A., the Clark Museum in Williamstown,  and the Rockwell in Stockbridge. We saw seven or eight plays and performances.
    We had pretty much every kind of weather including getting snowed in when we were in Washington, D.C. Overall, however, we were lucky with the weather, especially when making the long drives cross country.

   
    

Concord, May 6, 7

  We drove from Pittsfield to Concord on new roads, something we always love to do. We wound our way through the countryside in northwestern Massachusetts, ending up on the Mohawk Trail and eventually on Route 2. We stopped in West Acton for a fish lunch and ate outside, optimistic for our first glimpse of the sun in over a week. We even braved the upper 50 degree temperature to eat outside.
    Before the gang came home from school, Mark and I visited the North Bridge in Concord to see the statue of the Minute Man, the first-ever sculpture of Daniel Chester French, done in his early 20s. We were quite ready for a walk and it was interesting to see the sculpture after readying about French while we were in Pittsfield.

Minute Man

    It is always delightful to be with Jecca, Willy, Otis and Hank and to see their loving family and their busy lives.
    Willy made burgers on the grill and we had bought the fixings, per Jecca's request, for banana splits. Jecca had duty till 11:30.
     The next day, Saturday, Jecca and Willy, of course had classes. Mark went to visit his sister, Carol in Bridgewater and Barbara stayed home with Otis and Hank. The boys bicycled into Concord (4 miles each way) and she met them. They picked out a Mother's Day present for Jecca and then went to the Concord Cheese Shop for lunch.

Hank, Concord Cheese Shop

Otis, Concord Cheese Shop

 The boys had rehearsal at the Concord Youth Theater for their upcoming show, Robin Hood for the entire afternoon. Willy had a crew race.
   We all went to Ginger in Bedford for dinner. It was very busy and Mark didn't get his meal until after the rest of us were done. They did the right thing and did not charge him for it, but...poor Mark.
    The next morning, Mother's Day, Barbara got some lovely presents - 3 pairs of character socks, new slippers and a gorgeous overshirt. (Don't know what it's called, but a gauzy, filmy beautiful green "shirt" to wear over another shirt.) The boys gave Jecca a book of short stories.
    Then, we left Concord and headed for the boat. We shopped, as usual, before embarking. We ate at Common Ground on Main Street and had a very nice lunch. The boat ride was uneventful and we arrived to a sunny day -yay, it's been so long since we really saw the sun.
    And, what a great homecoming. Nick and Liz were waiting on the front porch to help us unpack. They had flowers on the table and had made a wonderful meal. We had a nice tour of all the work they have done on the cottage - a new upstairs bathroom, newly painted downstairs hall and bathroom, a fixed bookcase etc. Liz took down all the curtains and washed them. Nick painted the front door and all the old baseboard heaters. And, at our house he put in a gutter and downspout on the front porch so that we aren't always dripped on. Wow...very impressive.
    Home.

Visits with two sets of good friends, May 2 - 5

   We drove the fairly short drive (250) from Erie to Binghamton, still in grey weather. We arrived at Kathy and Jay's in time for a nice lunch, which is a given when you stay with Kathy. Kathy and Barbara went to Barnes and Noble where she bought a much-needed U.S. road Atlas. (Ours is 2005 and missing about 20 pages, including half of Montana and all of Massachusetts.) We had a lovely dinner of speidis, salad and pilaf.
   The next day, Kathy, Mark and Barbara went to Raymour and Flanigan's, a furniture store, and....we bought a new mattress! We had no intention of buying one in Binghamton. We have been talking about the need for a new mattress for our house for over a year. It is hard to find the time to test mattresses when we are in Hyannis as we are always going or coming in a bit of a rush. Kathy and Jay have just bought a new mattress from Raymour and Flanigan and we had a great night's sleep on it, so we thought we'd just go and write down model numbers. But, the store said that they would deliver, free, to the island. We were incredulous and made them check with their headquarters as we did not think that the salespeople really understood that we live 28 miles out to sea. At any rate, we ended up buying a new mattress, much to our own surprise.
     Later we all went to Nick's Italian restaurant in Endicott for dinner and chatted the night away. (Watched Ted Cruz drop out of the primaries after losing badly in Indiana.)
     While in Binghamton we had very good news from Montana that Maura got the job at the middle school as a liaison between the school and the Missoula Mental Health authority. Yay!

Kathy, Jay, Mark at Nick's

     The next morning, we got up and drove, in the rain - again!, to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to visit Nan and Jim at their new house.
      We brought speidis and we had a nice dinner, although did overcook them a tad. Nan is working at a middle school in Lenox and Jim is working at Chesterwood, the summer estate of Daniel Chester French who designed and built the Lincoln Memorial among many, many other things, including the Minuteman statue at Old North Bridge in Concord.
     The next day, May 5, Nan and Jim went to work and Mark and I went to Williamstown to the Clark Museum. The drive was beautiful, about 20 miles, but....still grey weather. We have not seen the sun since we left Montana! We had never been to Williamstown which is a beautiful village with bucolic Williams College in its midst. The Clark Museum is great - just the right size for a few hours. We loved the collection of impressionists; the Clarks collected the largest American grouping of Renoirs. And, we saw some Monets and Lautrecs which we have never even seen copies of. So, it was a lovely morning.

An early Monet that we really liked, Clark Museum

Degas Dancers, Clark Museum

We forgot the artist! Clark Museum

Monet

Rodin's The Thinker

     We ate at the Water Street Pub in Williamstown and then headed to Lenox to meet Nan when she got out of school.
       The three of us then went to Stockbridge to the Norman Rockwell Museum of which Nan is a member. It was equally impressive and so different. We watched the film first and then toured the museum. We always knew that we liked and were familiar with Rockwell's work, but were quite amazed at the size of the paintings that produced the covers of the magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Life. He was a hard-working and very prolific artist, producing over 4,000 works of art. The museum has all his covers for Saturday Evening Post in chronological order and it was a real walk-through of decades of American history.

Norman Rockwell's Stockbridge

    The special exhibit was illustrations by Mac Conner who illustrated books, ads and movies. He lived into his 100s and had never had an exhibition till this one at the Rockwell.

Illustration by Mac Conner, Rockwell Museum

      Afterwards we visited his studio which was moved to the site. That was also very interesting as you can see his props etc. and how his work evolved.  The studio is set up as it would have been in 1960. For example, he was working on a commemorative for the United Nations. It started with the U.N. flag in the center with three diplomats and lots of faces of people from many nations. But, he scrapped that in favor of a beautiful painting of faces and the major religions of the world. Instead of famous people, he put in faces of people he knew. His bushy-bearded postman became a Jewish rabbi. His wife, who had recently died, is in the top right corner holding one of their grandchildren. It is a lovely, poignant painting. He was basically a story teller.

Rockwell's Studio

Inside Rockwell's Studio. Note his wife in upper right corner behind Rockwell. Also note his model for his iconic painting of a little girl integrating a school in the south. His postman is the bearded rabbi. This is the painting he did in lieu of the U.N. and famous ambassadors.

Nan and Barbara, Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge

     Jim met us afterwards and we took a tour of the area including seeing where we stayed several years ago on our one visit to the area when we visited Tanglewood with Chris and Ken. We also went by Rockwell's house, quite a few "cottages" of the wealthy, the Kripalu Yoga Center and Shakespeare and Company. Then we went to the historic, beautiful old Red Lion Inn for a lovely dinner.

Red Lion Inn

Iowa to Indiana to Pennsylvania, April 30, May 1 - No Photos!

  We have no photos for the long drive (425) on Saturday, April 30 from mid-Iowa to mid-Indiana. (We stayed in Elkhart at the Garden Inn, a nice private hotel with a big pool and hot tub.)The reason for no photos is that it rained the entire journey and visibility was pretty rotten.
   We took the car to a Jiffy Lube for its third oil change of the trip. And, we went to a very nice grocery store, Martin's, for our dinner. We went to the hot tub at the hotel with about 100 kids having 3 different birthday parties! The decibel level was pretty high, but we like kids and stayed for a good soak.
 The next day, May 1, Sunday was no better weather. It was foggy and drizzly throughout the day and the fog got even more dense about 5 miles from our destination, North East, Pennsylvania, which is to the east of Erie. You could barely see the car in front of you and it was like driving through dense, light grey, cotton.
      We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express which was the opposite of the Garden Inn last night - it was pretty empty. We took a nice good soak in the hot tub and dried off in the sauna. We ate left-overs from the previous day.