Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged progressive roadtrip
Progressive Roadtrip Report – Day 4 (Drive Home)
May 28th 2008
No pictures today as nothing terribly interesting occured which is picture worthy. But I'm home now and resting up before having to return to work tomorrow.
We headed out from the hotel around 11am yesterday morning, waiting for as long as possible to avoid some traffic backups on the George Washington Parkway (or as the GPS likes to call it the "geowash parkway"). As it turned out though, the GPS lady didn't take us that direction (probably because it took a few blocks for it to get a signal to figure out where we were. The beltway going out this time had less cars but was moving a lot faster and it ended up being more scary. That and I had to cross 4 lanes of traffic to get to the exit we needed.
The first plan of action was to grab lunch somewhere, and since Wassy was having a root beer float craving we decided to hit the Friendly's in gettysburg since that would be about the right time for lunch. Once we got there, I discovered that they had added a buffalo chicken supermelt to their selection, so of course I would need to have one of those. It was pretty good although I think I prefer the honey BBQ one. After we ate, we were lead on a wild goose chase around the city by the GPS in search of a gas station. It sent us to one place that had a "cash only" price, one place that wasn't there, once place that was there but didn't have gas pumps and again to a non-existant station. Eventually I gave up and told it just to bring us to the one station we knew in hazleton. It was at this point we drove by 5 or 6 gas stations in a row (stopped at the first one, of course). Sigh. It also took us on some very strange routes through the town. I think it was having a bad day.
The plan was for us to switch off again near Hazlton, but once we got there it looked like it was going to rain quite heavily, so after stopping at a rest stop for some "skacks", I ended up doing the rest of the driving. Let me tell you, I don't want to see another 4 lane divided highway for quite some time. It was a good thing I did though, as it POURED about 5 minutes after we pulled out of the rest stop. And there was some heavy traffic on I-81 going north pretty much all the way through Pennsylvania. Also, I seemed to attract drivers that wanted to kill me. People kept cutting me off all day. Got annoying really fast.
Eventually we made our way back to New York (after seeing some more billboards for questionable massage joints. Speciically one that made it a point to say they worked on all of your extremities. And one that said "EZ On, EZ Off" which could be refering to how easy it is to get on and off the highway to get there…but I'm not sure…) and headed to Syracuse to grab some dinner at Olive Garden. The food and service were good…the lady at the next table over that brought her what looked to be 3 and 5 year olds though…not so good. The little girl was a high pitched screecher and ended up annoying us quite a bit, prompting a rant of epic proportions from Wassy.
From syracuse onward, it was pretty much a straight shot to her apartment to drop her off while we talked about how totally relaxing vacation was and how much we really needed it. Then I headed back to my place (after dropping by my parents to give my dad his Naked Mole Rat plush toy thingy that I picked up at the national zoo) and shortly after bringing everything in, I fell asleep on the couch. Vacation over. Booo.
Progressive Roadtrip – Day 3 (Concert Edition)
May 27th 2008
This one's going to be a short post since the activities of the day were pretty much limited just to a concert and a little bit of wandering.
But first an addium to the last post since I forgot to mention it. I believe I mentioned that we didn't bring milk thinking we could find it in the hotel store area. But we were mistaken. So we had planned to stop on the way back from the crab eating to grab some from a CVS we knew existed near the national zoo. However, I decided to trek out once we got back from the fountain wandering in the afternoon. As it turns out, there's a whole bunch of stuff just up the street from the hotel which we didn't know about. Which really sucks because if we knew about this stuff last year, we wouldn't have had to make a death march to a safeway in order to pick up subs. There was a 24 hour CVS, a Wendy's, as well as a bunch of other places to eat. Grrrr….noted for next time.
So Day 3 consisted of us mostly just hanging out waiting for the concert to happen. We went out for lunch at Wendy's and then because we needed to vacate the room in order to give it time to get cleaned we decided to head out to the navy memorial to hang out since they had fountans and it was cool just hanging out by the water.
When we arrived though, we found they were going to have a wreath laying ceremony followed by a concert, so we hung out for that. And we got to see some actual secret service agents! The ceremony was pretty cool to watch, as was the beginning of the concert. However, we were starting to get a little hot because of the sun (very bright and sunny weather we've been having all trip long) so we went back to the hotel and hung out for a couple of hours before we had to leave for the show. Metro cards in tow, we headed out for the last outing of the trip.
We arrived at the venue pretty early since we had wanted to grab food from a street vendor near the venue. Which we did. It was actually pretty good, although somewhat expensive. Makes sense though since it was right on the parade route.
Then we went to the show which was simply awesome. We ended up using the floor tickets which were MUCH closer than we had thought they would be. Dead center, right on the floor…very good stuff.
All three bands we went to see played awesomely. I also managed to meet a couple of the members of 3 and have a CD signed by everyone.
Dream theater blew the doors off though. The crowd was so into it and the band was obviously feeling that energy and they put on a stunning show. We ended up making the last metro train back, which I was worried about and then falling into bed at the hotel room.
My next post will be back home in New York, as we're just about ready to head out the door. It's been a good vacation so far.
Progressive Roadtrip Report – Day 2 (Fountain Edition)
May 26th 2008
I was originally intending on typing this up this morning, but I ended up spending more time captioning flickr photos than I had intended to.
We got going a little earlier than expected due to a large number of bikers hanging out under our window at 8am, blasting their engines and making it a little hard to sleep. Although that ended up being a good thing as it took Wassy a while to get ready in the morning. We also didn't have any milk for oatmeal because we thought the hotel had it in this little pavilion store thingy, but it ended up that they didn't. So we went down and had the breakfast buffet thing which was decent although overpriced.
After which we proceeded to head out to the National Art Museum to wander around a bit and just take in the sights. We decided to use a different metro station to get there since it was closer to the museums than the other
ones. It also happened to come out right on the United States Navy memorial which was a pretty decent surprise. The memorial was very cool looking with a lot fountains and such.
We walked the short distance over to the National Gallery of art and began wandering around. Not much to say about that except it was cool and relaxing. We made it a point to go see the only Leonardo Da Vinci painting in the americas which was very cool. Also just taking some time to view the sculptures and such was interesting.
We also enjoyed our reprive from the hordes of screaming children that were at the zoo. It was decently busy but not super crowded which allowed us to wander freely. And any kids that were there were fairly well behaved. So that's a definite plus.
We ate lunch at the cafe in the concourse of the National Gallery of Art which ended up being a pretty good decision. Not as busy as some of the other museum food courts were, with a decent selection of stuff and prices that were high but not stupidly so.
They also had a cool looking waterfall/fountain thingy which (combined with a fountain in the court of the national gallery of art) was the third fountain on the journey. It was interesting looking as the food court was set below the level of the fountain and the water ran down a series of steps near a window. It gave off a very interesting effect.
After we ate, we didn't have anything else planned so eventually we settled on wandering through the sculpture garden which was next to the gallery of art. However on our way there, we met up with the motorcycles again.
On the sunday before memorial day in DC, a large group of motorcyclists descend upon the city, riding in memory of those who were lost in the wars the US was involved in, primarily Vietnam it seemed. In any case, thousands of motorcyclists converge upon the reflecting pool where they hold a rally and then ride through a predetermined route through the city.
We ended up meeting them as we walked to the sculpture garden, so I snapped a few pictures of the proceedings. For the entire hour and a half, two hours we were outside around the mall at this point, there were the constant sounds of motorcycles ringing through the streets. There were an awful lot of motorcyclists.
Also of note was the first time we had ever seen a group of segways. They seemed to be riding along the motorcyclist's route leading us to initally believe they were part of the procession. However, as it turns out, they were just part of a tour group. Picture below.
When we had tired of watching the segways and motorcycles drive by, we visited the sculpture garden. Viewing lots of modern art type things that nobody really knows what they are, plus a sculpture of what Wassy tells me was a bunny but looked an awful lot like a donkey with a short tail and very long ears to me. It was a strange looking thing in any case.
As we were wandering around we spotted some purple bearded iris' and Wassy made me take a picture as they were her favorite flower. That picture will be show below because it came out really welly. In fact, a lot of my pictures from this part of the trip came out REALLY well, so I'm going to throw a bunch of them down below, extra large sized.
There's a big fountain in the center of the garden which is really awesome and we ended up spending about a half hour sitting by the fountain just talking about stuff (and splashing each other with water). It was a very relaxing scene which is something we both really needed. Probably one of my favorite moments of the trip so far. And as promised, the pictures:
It was just an amazingly beatutiful day yesterday, and to top it off along with a nice walk along the national mall, we went out to the planned crab smashing dinner. The service was a bit slow, but they did apologize and explain why it was slow (and I got a free drink out of it) so overall everything went well. There were crabs to be had (in my case crab-cakes), lots of realxing and general fun to be had. We ended up sitting out on the deck and after the sun went behind a building it became a very nice experience.
After that, we decided we would take some time out and wander around the monuments at night. We ended up doing a little more walking than we wanted to but it was a fun experience and really cool seeing the world war II memorial at night especially with all of the fountains and such. I had forgotten to bring my camera so I missed out on a lot of really clear shots. However, I got a couple of decent ones with my phone so, it wasn't a total loss. Getting some pictures really wasn't the point anyway.
I'd just like to say that the Washington Monument is wayyyy taller when you see it up close than you think it is from looking at it far away. It's freaking huge! I got dizzy looking up at it from the ground and it's really a wonder the thing is still standing. Seems kinda like one solid push would topple it right over.
The real highlight though was the World War II Memorial. We again sat down by the fountain for a while and hung out. We also saw a rogue duck swimming in the pool of water next to the "Here marks the price of war" engravings. The nerve of that duck! Making himself at home in the middle of the memorial. Especially in that particular pool. Go sit in the fountain!
Exhausted and tired of walking, we managed to get back to the hotel room just in time to fall asleep.
Progressive Roadtrip Report – Day 1
May 25th 2008
Wassy and I have arrived in Washington DC. I'm typing this up this morning while she's getting ready for us to head down for breakfast and the other associated activities of today since I didn't have much time to do so last night. Or the energy for that matter. So…here we go. Well, actually, before we go, I just want to point out that all of the pictures I took (that were deemed acceptable for internet consumption) are located here at flickr.
I left from my place at 5:30am and arrived at her place by 6, as per the scheduled plan. A quick pit stop to gas up the car and we were off driving. Wassy had the wheel first, so I hesitantly turned over the control of the Rogue to her. Not that she's a bad driver or anything…but I'm just a little nervous when other people drive my car. The trip started out pretty foggy. I mean…very foggy. We basically were driving into a cloud as we drove down route 12. Eventually we ended up at around 7:00am stopping at a McDonalds in Norwich, NY for breakfast. At this point in the trip we still didn't really realize that vacation was here at last after weeks of waiting. We were also worried about zombie attack in the fog, considering Norwich had a large pharmaceutical corporation, a hospital and a fairly scary looking cemetary all right next to each other.
I should also mention that I had my first Egg McMuffin as well. We should have taken a picture but alas, I forgot. The trip was proceeding very nicely up to this point, with the only snag being that it seemed like one of Wassy's debit cards wasn't working right. But we pressed onwards anyway, leaving the fog behind us.
We entered pennsylvania ahead of schedule as it seems my time estimates were a bit too large. No problem as it gave us some time along the route to relax a little bit and not have to worry about getting there in time to do anything.
The first thing we noticed in Pennsylvania was that they were offering free coffee 24/7 at rest stops on I81. This seemed…kinda strange as there were actual people manning the free coffee stations. I'd imagine this would get pretty darn borning when nobody needed coffee. Additionally, we questioned the effectiveness of this safety campaign as if you're tired enough to need coffee in order to keep driving, you probably shouldn't be driving in the first place.
The other interesting thing was I81 South through Scranton. We came upon a road sign that told us that to stay on I81 we needed to go to the left when the road split, but the GPS lady was telling us to go to the right. So Wassy decided to follow the GPS lady and we hung a right. And on the right there was another sign saying I81 south, exit right. So we took that exit and ended up on I-81 south…the road that went off to the left. We have no idea how this was physically possible and looking at the intersection in google maps only helps slightly. I think it's a dimensional warp or a wrinke in space-time.
We had planned a stop in Hazleton, PA which was pretty much the midpoint of the journey to get gas and switch drivers. However, at a rest stop earlier I had noted that the vending machine had 3 types of skittles, so that caused Wassy to want something sweet and fruity. Which ended up being Tropical Skittles at the gas station in Hazleton. I got myself a white chocolate big cup peanut butter cup. Mmm… And after Wassy's debit card didn't work at the pump, we determined the problem…she was using the wrong card. Oops. At least it wasn't a big problem.
With me at the wheel, we continued down the road to Washington DC, heading south again on I81. It should be mentioned we passed the fateful exit for Tremont, PA, the run down mining town that we had stopped at for gas on the trip down last year. Thankfully, we were able to bypass that this time around with a little more solid planning.
As we passed through harrisburg though, we began to notice curious signs. Signs that advised us that "Motorcycles are EVERYWHERE". We looked around and saw no motorcycles which eventually led us to believe that we were walking into a motorcycle ambush and they were going to jump out of the trees at us. For the rest of the trip every time we saw a motorcycle, we repeated the phrase "Motorcycles are EVERYWHERE!". Another interesting road sign we passed was for a roadside stop. It advertisded "Snacks. Soda. BEER". With "BEER" being about 4x the size of the snacks and soda part. Other interesting road signs included a billboard for an "Ultima Massage II" with "Tractor Trailer Parking". Uh huh…so that's what they're calling it now.
The most interesting series of road signs though was just outside of Gettysburg. As we were traveling down 15 there was a little white sign on the side of the road advertising "Fresh Honey" or something. And every half mile or so there was another sign. It started off appetizing enough. Fresh honey, hand picked strawberries. But then it turned into things like raw goats milk and strange turkey parts. The two best signs had to be "Do you like pottery?" And then later down the line "We have pottery!", followed by "Meet the potters!".
We decided to skip the exit. We eventually ended up taking a break and eating lunch at a Ruby Tuesday's in Gettysburg which was nice. We had planned at stopping at Arby's but we had enough time to do something a little more healthy and relaxing.
After lunch we took the short drive down and entered Maryland, with the obligitory state sign picture taken by Wassy. The traffic started to pick up here (which is why I had taken the second driving shift, since I was more comfortable with my car.)
Things really started picking up once we got past Frederick, MD. Sorry, I was unable to locate the giant stick they have there. And eventually we arrived at the beltway, which would be more aptly named as a parking lot. It seems that we had finally encountered the memorial day travelers coming into Washington DC.
Things were basically stop and go for about 20 minues, in which we covered about 4-5 miles. Of road. But eventually we got through it and ended up at the hotel, after driving through the scenic roundabout again. Fun.
We arrived a little early expecing not to have a room ready since they made such a big deal about being full up and all. But there was almost nobody in the lobby when I went down and we were able to get a room right away. So after taking our stuff up to the room and getting settled in (Wassy instantly took over the bathroom with her suitcase full of bathroom related items) we headed out for the metro and for a stroll around the national zoo.
The zoo was particularly busy, although I guess we should have been expecting that considering it was a really nice day as well as memorial day weekend. We tried to hit the buildings first because they were going to be closing before the grounds did. The ape house was a madhouse. People everywhere trying to look at the apes, so we wern't really able to see much of anything there.
Eventually though we made our way past the crowds of people to a less crowded part of the zoo where we saw some sea lions and seals. They also seemed to have a lot more fish than I was expecting they would have at the Amazon rainforest type exhibit. Really cool stuff as I had wanted to see some fish at the national aquarium before realizing that the one in DC kinda sucked and the good one was out on Baltimore. But anyway, we saw some really big fish which I took some pictures of which are located in my flickr feed since I don't have the space to stick them here.
I do want to mention though, that the theme of the zoo trip seemed to be animals having a little too much fun together. Well, except the ducks…
We were a little bit concerned at first when two seals looked like they started to go at it in the water. That probably wasn't what was going on of course…but it sure looked like it to us! Take the photographic evidence there as proof. And then we saw a bunch of rapist ducks. It was…strange. There was a bunch of male ducks who were pretty much tackling a female duck. She'd scurry away but then a male would leap on her back and pin her to the ground. Nature at it's finest!
After we got back from the zoo, we went down to the hotel's restaurant which was very nice, just as it was the last time we were here. We had the palce pretty much all to ourselves which was nice because the waiter was right on top of everything. The service is very very nice there. After dinner and desert (mmm, white chocolate cheesecake) we headed out in search of some drinks. We started out at a bar just next door to the hotel (where we discovered the wonders of enjoying a nice Bob Marley. Mmm, fruity goodness), and eventually ended up back at the hotel lounge and then up in the room watching Knocked Up on HBO for a bit before nodding off to sleep (as it turns out we both fell asleep before the end of the movie so nobody knows what happened exactly)
Plans for today are the National Gallery of Art, and then Crab Smashing at night. Vacation continues!
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