TravelStream™ news feed for member captnoindustry on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/captnoindustry en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:21:53 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254647044/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254647044/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254647044/tpod.html Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:21:53 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Bradford, Pennsylvania, United States

Today started out dry and foggy. We drove about 100 miles across Connecticut and new York, and then hit the back roads of Pennsylvania in search of leaf color. This year, that has been elusive. The leaves have not begun to change in about half of the East end of pennsylvania, but where they have changed, they are beautiful. In any case, the countryside of Northeast pennsylvania is really beautiful. The mountains are rounded and far apart, and the vistas are beautiful. The roads are wide and well-paved, and the farms are well-kept and scenic. it was a pleasant drive. We saw a hot air balloon at one point, and we completely missed the Browns losing again (and again).

We arrived in Bradford late in the afternoon, and found out why there are no major chain hotels here. The town seems to have a lot of closed factories, and not much going for it. It was probably a boom town at one point when the Zippo lighter plant here had a monopoly on cigarette lighters, but that was another time. Most of the restaurants here are closed on Sunday evening, and we could only find a Chinese buffet. It was pretty good, considering. We are tired from the long drive, so I am going to turn in.

Remember, i promised yesterday to include the Glenn Beck pictures, so here they are. We'll be home tomorrow, so clean up after the party.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254560619/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254560619/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254560619/tpod.html Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:47:17 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Danbury, Connecticut, United States

I am writing this on Sunday, because i was just too tired to write it yesterday. It was a very full day, with lots of ups and downs. We drove down the Seacoast through Rhode Island and Connecticut. We just LOVED Rhode Island, but Connecticut became a little too populous and a little too yuppie-fied for us. The day started with light rain, and just seemed to get heavier. This was the one day of the trip that we actually had a destination. We were headed for Old Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. Along the way, the rain increased and decreased, but never stopped. We got to Old Mystic Seaport, and it was coming down steadily. We opted to visit anyway, and I am glad we did. It is a kind of Nautical Greenfield Village. There is a town, with all the shops that a seaport would have had in the age of sailing ships. Since it was raining, we were almost the only ones there, and the propriator of each shop gave us a private lesson. I had always been amazed by the cooper's trade (barrel making), and am even more amazed now. What skill they developed after a 6 year apprenticeship. I learned that a barrel us a unit of measure (55 gallons) and a wooden barrel is only that size. Anything smaller is a keg, and anything larger is a cask.

We saw a "rope walk" where ropes were made. It is 250 feet long, and they only moved 1/4 of the original to the Seaport. There is a working shipyard, with huge saws and tools and diagrams of how wooden ships were constructed. The ship "Charles W. Morgan" which appears in a very well-known painting, is in drydock there, being repaired due to extensive damage done by hurricane Katrina.

There are several square-riggers, smaller sailing ships, and smaller workboats at anchor, and you can go aboard. We had a very enjoyable tour in the pouring rain, and left soaked to the skin. We had to stop at Walmart and get Sandy new shoes since hers were soaked. I took off my shoes and socks in the parking lot and drove for a couple of hours barefoot, until the rain stopped for a while and I could get dry stuff from the back of the car.

We continued on to Westport, CT, and the Black Duck Cafe. It is a bar on a barge in the river under the Interstate Highway, and it was featured on the Food Network's "Dumpsters, dumps, and dives" show. We have visited, now, three of Guy Fieri's hangouts, and are batting 2 for 3. The Black Duck is a winner. I had some steamers and stuffed Quahogs, and they were great. Sandy had chili nachos, and she raved about them. We also had a selection from the fermented grains food group. We then drove to the hotel in Danbury, only to find thet the 2-gallon water jug had rolled over on it's side again, and soaked the rear carpet again. It has begun to stink big time.

We hung the rug over the shower curtain rod, and headed to North Haven, 40 miles away, because janet had called us early in the morning, and said Glenn Beck would be at a book signing for his new book at Barnes & Noble from 8 to 9. We got there at 7:30. Glenn got there at 9:30. I was fit to be tied, but he is my hero. The line moved at a slow walking pace, and hes signed about 10 books per minute. I couldn't believe my eyes. He had about 6 assistants (read bodyguards) helping people get the book opened to the page and turned in the right direction. Since Glen is left-handed, he could shake hands and sign using both hands at once. I think he could do it out the window of the bus! We got back to the hotel at 11:30 and hit the sack!

I'll include the Beck pictures in tomorrow's blog. Bye for now
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254474197/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254474197/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254474197/tpod.html Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:34:36 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Newport, Rhode Island, United States

Today's trip was less than 100 miles, as the crow flies, but we managed to stretch it to 300. We headed for Cape Cod, but saw a sign for Plymouth (the Pilgrims called it Plimoth) rock, so we went to see it. It is a beautiful harbor, and the Mayflower is docked at the downtown wharf. No wonder the Pilgrims stayed. We took pictures of the rock, It is round and hard. Then it was off to Cape Cod, and a long ride out to Provincetown. We took a side trip to Hyena Port, but we didn't see any Kennedys. We are not mourning, we mourned when he was in Washington all those years. The houses on Cape Cod all look alike, and they look like the Cape Cod development in Bay Village. There are a lot of cottages and cabins on the water that are about the size of a room at the Holiday Inn (no exaggeration). There are also numerous higher rent venues.

Provincetown is very quaint, with small streets and lots of shops. It looks like this is where old hippies go to die. There are also a lot of the same tribe that inhabits Key West. The harbor views and the scenery are magnificent, and the town would be fun for a couple of days.

We went back across the cape, and they were working on the bridge. It was down to one lane each way, and the wait in traffic was about an hour. I can drive 500 miles non-stop and be happy, but traffic backups bring out the white in my knuckles. Grrrrrr. We headed for New Bedford, and hoped to visit some sailing ships and whaling memorabilia. Another closed bridge and traffic tie up later, we did a fly-by and headed for Newport. I had visited Newport a few years back, and knew of its many wonders.

We followed the GPS navigator around town to see the "Cottages" We started with "The Breakers", built by Cornelius Vanderbilt. Those peopled didn't do anything small. You remember the summer cottage built by his Grandson, George Washington Vanderbilt. He called it "Biltmore". The Breakers is only slightly smaller than Biltmore, though. If you have never been to Newport, you must go there. Google it and look at the "Cottages" the bazillionaires of the "Gilded Age" built there. It is mind-boggling. The waterfront is a beehive of shops and restaurants, and truly a fun place. The Harbor is full of sailing yachts of all sizes, and if you are planning a Company Team-building outing, you can rent a fleet of former Americas Cup contenders (with crew), divide your group into teams and race against each other. It was the highlight of the trip, so far.

The Residence inn we are staying in is spectacular. If you have never stayed in one, try it once. Go to the website and have a look.

Tomorrow, it's down the coast through Connecticut, with a stopover at Old Mystic Seaport. It is a Museum of nautical History, and several in-water vintage ships, whaling vessels, etc. I can't wait. See you soon
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254387746/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254387746/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254387746/tpod.html Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:21:38 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Braintree, Massachusetts, United States

Another fun day on vacation. The weather was beautiful, and we kinda poked our way along to Boston. We decided to do a sit-down breakfast instead of our usual McMuffin or motel freebie crap-o-rama breakfast. We stopped at one of the many diners on the coast highway, and it was very nice. Great food and local-color waitresses. We took the coast road and avoided the freeway, and saw 1200 coffee shops, 1400 lobster and clam stands, and lots of quaint little villages. Also we saw hundreds of million-dollar waterfront homes. It was a very pleasant drive.
We made a side trip to Gloucester, a very busy commercial seaport, and home to Gorton's Seafood. We saw the fish-stick trawlers coming in with the day's catch of little, rectangular fish. We also had a nice lunch overlooking the harbor. We circled the peninsula through Rockport and around Cape Ann, and enjoyed seeing all the old houses with the construction dates on the door, some dating to the 1700's. One of the little villages was celebrating it's 375th anniversary this year.

We followed the coastal road to Salem, then got caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and headed for the interstate. We took I-95, which is the outer belt and is the long way around Boston, but it probably saved us 12 hours in traffic jams. After checking into the hotel in Braintree (south of town) we headed into Boston to revisit "Durgin Park" My first visit was on our High School choir trip in 1960, and Sandy and I have been there 3 times before. The sign says "Founded before you were born" and it is a place across from Faneiul Hall and full of local color. We had a wonderful time, and walked around the Marketplace for a while before heading back.

Tomorrow is Cape Cod, New Bedford, and Newport, Rhode Island before landing in Coventry, RI for the night. Call Caron and congratulate her. She just had her annual state survey, and her facility was found "deficiency free". That is a very unusual occurrence, and a huge feather in her cap for the turnaround.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254301260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254301260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254301260/tpod.html Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:40:21 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Kennebunkport, Maine, United States

The day dawned clear and sunny, and we had a beautiful drive down the coast. This was intentionally a short day, so we'd have time to spend in Kennebunkport. Kennebunkport, gee, it's fun just saying it. We made numerous side jaunts into little port towns all the way down the coast, and their harbors were all beautiful, and filled with gorgeous sailing craft, from dinghies to 3 masted schooners, to gigantic sail yachts. We even passed a wooden boat builder with a yard full of newly-built vintage-design boats. Beautiful. We stopped for lunch at a small roadside restaurant, and tried a "lobster roll". It was the meat of a 1# lobster, cold, mixed with a mayonnaise sauce of some kind, on a really nice roll split open vertically. It was "Way better than Wendy's".

We got to Kennebunkport mid-afternoon, and got settled into the motel, then off to the trolley. As is our practice, we took the sightseeing trolley around town and the tour guide regaled us with anecdotes, facts, and figures about Kennebunkport. As usual, it was well worth the price, and we got the lay of the land, and a lot of history. We also saw the summer cottage of George and Barbara. (Bush, of course) It sits on a rocky peninsula in the Ocean at the mouth of the Kennebunk River called "Walker Point" GHW's ancestors bought the land in the late 1800's and the family has owned it ever since. It is incredible, but the house is by no means the largest or grandest in the area. It is; however, the most magnificent lot, maybe on the East Coast.

We had a great time sightseeing and found a little lobster shack (Nunan's lobster Hut) that Trip Advisor rates as the #2 restaurant in KBP, and George Bush eats at. We caught the daily special, 2 lobsters (1-1/4# each) for the price most places charge for one. All that, and real silverware, not plastic like Bar Harbor! It was yummy!

Tomorrow it is down the coast to Boston, and our favorite restaurant, Durgin Park. If you haven't been there, Google it. It has been there since Columbus discovered Boston, and the list of celebrities that have eaten there covers the walls. It is no-frills and long picnic tables with butcher paper. It's kinda like Dick's last resort with history!

Be good to each other and stay dry.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254214836/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254214836/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254214836/tpod.html Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:29:14 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Bar Harbor, Maine, United States

What a day! It dawned clear and bright, and stayed that way all day. We drove across the "neck" of Vermont, and loved it. The towns were clean, quaint, and beautiful. The houses seemed very old, and most had three or more additions added to the side of them. We theorized it was additions as generations were added to the families over the years. We stopped at a maple syrup factory where they made maple candy, etc., and bottled the syrup. The gift shop had a sweatshirt that said "What happens in Vermont, stays in Vermont, but nothing ever happens". Cute, eh?

Next we crossed New Hampshire. We circled South and drove back North through the White Mountains and past Mt. Washington, the highest peak East of the Rockies. Across the way was Wildcat Mountain, a ski slope I skied in College in 1963. It was on the return from there that I crunched my 1953 Volkswagen by hitting a deer on the New York Thruway. The leaves on that part of the trip were at peak color, and the mountain vistas were gorgeous!

The next leg of the journey was through the inland part of Maine. We were really disappointed with that part. The forests have been cut repeatedly over the last 300 years, and there are very few hardwoods of any size. The mountains are all in New Hampshire, so the land is rolling and not mountainous. The towns seem older and grittier, and not very scenic. We checked into our hotel in Bangor, and headed out to Bar Harbor for a crustacean-a-rama! The road from Bangor to Bar Harbor was 45 miles of misery. Chopped up and construction everywhere. We expected Bar Harbor to be a sleepy little fishing village. Au Contraire, Pierre, it is very much like Key West with class. Lots of shops, restaurants, etc., and 3, count 'em, 3 cruise ships in the harbor. Busy, bustling, and very nice!

We ate at Stewman's Lobster pound, and it was great food, but the plastic silverware was a real turnoff for a pricey place. The whole experience; however, was great, and we had a wonderful time.

Tomorrow it is off to Kennebunkport, and more lobster.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254128407/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254128407/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254128407/tpod.html Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:39:12 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Burlington, Vermont, United States

The day dawned sunny and bright, and we headed for the Adirondack Northland. We bought an updated version of the Navigation Disc for the car before we left (another long, long story) so we had all the latest maps, and we were off.East to I-81 and North through Syracuse (close your eyes), and off to Watertown. There is no snow in Watertown yet, but there soon will be. It is the snowiest city in the nation, sitting at the end of Lake Ontario. We turned right, and headed into the Adirondaks. The higher we got, the more leaf color we saw, and by the time we got to Tupper Lake and Lake Placid, the leaves were peaking, and spectacular.

We had lunch in Lake Placid (town, not THE lake) and Sandy shopped a while. Then it was back down the mountain and off to Port Kent. Port Kent is 10 houses and a ferry dock. We put Scarlet on the ferry, and headed off across Lake Champlain to Burlington, Vermont. Halfway across, I turned on the ignition and voila! position in the middle of Lake Champlain showed up on the map of the Nav System! I guess it should not be a surprise, but it was.

We drove off the ferry and through town to the hotel, and old motel repainted as a La Quinta. I really like the hotels La Quinta builds, and HATE the ones they buy and repaint.

Burlington is a wonderful, lively college town, and it is full of coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and clubs. With its waterfront on Lake Champlain, it is wonderfully scenic. We had dinner in a seafood restaurant overlooking the ferry dock. We split a fisherman's platter, and the two of us couldn't finish it. It was huge, and wonderful. Scrod, clam strips, clam bellies (I don't know either, I will wiki it later) scallops, shrimp, oysters, and calamari.

After all that, we retired to the room to catch up on travel blogging. I hope all is well on your end. Tomorrow it is off to the rocky coast of Maine. Lobsters beware!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254041983/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254041983/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/2/1254041983/tpod.html Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:15:08 -0400 Ocean and Leaves

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Skaneateles, New York, United States

Well, the first day of our East Coast trip was deja vu all over again. The last time we made this trek was in about 1969, and we had won the use of an Open Road conversion camper from the Chevy Plant. We drove from Cleveland to Western New York in the driving rain, and arrived with everything we owned soaking wet. It was not quite as bad this time, but it did rain most of the way. We drove to Erie on I-90, then took I-86 along the southern end of New York before heading north through the finger lakes. The trees are just beginning to change (maybe 15% of peak) and that was nice. I was amazed by the number of wineries as we drove through the finger lakes region. We really don't need Nancy Pelosi OR her wineries. The drive was really nice, and we are not scheduling as many miles per day as we have in the past. It was my bright idea to sample local color for lunch, so we stopped in downtown Pen Yan NY, at a storefront restaurant for lunch. Yucky. No Guy Fieri here.

After we settled in at the Skaneateles Suites, a very nice new cluster of individual cabins outside town, we drove around downtown Skaneateles. The town is a magnificent collection of mostly Victorian houses that look like they have been in the family and maintained in pristine form since the late 1800's. They obviously have a very strong Historical Commission that insists on upkeep. Some of the homes, especially on the lake, are immense, and gorgeous. We ate at a seafood place on the water in downtown, and the food, unfortunately was ordinary.

I did write my blog tonight, but the Internet connection at the hotel was not working, and there was nobody there to fix it. We went 10 miles in either direction looking for a hot spot, but on Sunday night we got nowhere.

All-in-all, it was a better day than you would have expected in the rain
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/1/1222867020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/1/1222867020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/1/1222867020/tpod.html Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:47:09 -0400 Grand Tour of the West

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Rocky River, Ohio, United States

Home at last!

By compressing what was planned as a 3-day trip home form San Antonio into a 2-day "Forced March" we managed to get home a day early. We have driven the Memphis to Rocky River run so many times, there was not much sightseeing left, so we did 1436 miles in 2 days. We left Jackson at 6:00 AM and headed straight through. After so much arid scenery in the desert Southwest, the countryside of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio seemed lush and gorgeous. We hit a little rain in the last 100 miles, the first rain we had seen since the St. Louis arch about a hundred years ago! I am watching the cloudy, rainy morning in Rocky River this morning, and loving it. It feels like home.

The cats were thrilled to see us, and the house made it through in good condition thanks to Kenney turning on the TV to keep the raccoons from coming through the cat door and eating the cat food. (They came through last night, though, and ate Sandy's stash of peanut butter crackers).

The final tally (you knew I would do a spreadsheet!) is:
28 days
9,924 miles
526.3 gallons of gas @ average $3.82 per gallon (the lowest price we paid was $3.35 in Westlake last night!)
18.9 miles per gallon, not bad for Sandy's SUV including city and mountains, and 75mph the last 3,000 miles.
2,796 photographs (thank God for digital, I'd hate to have to pay for developing all those!)

We saw:
spacious skies
amber waves of grain
purple mountain majesty
fruited plain
sea
shining sea
redwood forests
Gulf stream waters (almost)
California
New Your Island (last year)
dead presidents
big mountains
space aliens
giant jackrabbits and road runners

All-in-all, we had the time of our lives. We have so many memories, it is hard to remember the first few days of the trip. Best of all, we found out that what is really important is that after 4 weeks sitting next to each other all day every day, we still love each other and nobody has to find a place to hide a body.

Doing this daily blog has really been fun. No matter how tired I was after a long day of driving, I always looked forward to doing the blog. Thanks, Janet for suggesting it. Now I understand why my brother John has kept a very detailed travel journal for all these years. I can now go back and re-live all the experiences! Thanks, John. Thanks Nancy, Kenney, and Brittany for watching the house and the kitties (and, I guess, raccoons), and thanks to Caron for keeping us up-to-date with the kid pictures and news.

Mostly, though, thanks to all of you on the mailing list that followed our adventure and sent notes and suggestions. It was really fun to know that everyone was sharing the trip with us. As you travel in the future, please include us in your trip in the same way. Friends are the real treasures!

To quote Dale Evans "Happy Trails to you, until we meet again."

Bob
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/1/1222738200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/1/1222738200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/captnoindustry/1/1222738200/tpod.html Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:55:09 -0400 Grand Tour of the West

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Jackson, Tennessee, United States

In 1835, Davy Crockett was defeated in his re-election to Congress representing the people of West Tennessee. He stood on the courthouse square in Jackson, Tennessee, and told the electorate "You can go to Hell, I'm going to Texas. From there he went to san Antonio and met up with some Mexicans who were upset that the Home Depot did not have bilingual signage.

Today, we retraced his steps in reverse, but I'll bet it took him longer.

We thanked John for his gracious hospitality and got about a mile before the car phone rand. We forgot the camera! After retrieving it, we set out for our overnight in Texarkana. In the first mile, there was one of every conceivable restaurant, fast food, gas station, and store that you could find everywhere in the country. That strip of business was repeated every mile from San Antonio past Austin, Waco, and Dallas, and quite a ways beyond. It was staggering! I have never seen so many franchises. There are 2 kinds of roads in Eastern Texas; eight lane smooth as glass concrete freeways with gorgeous sweeping bridges detailed beautifully, or "Under Construction", and they are in equal quantities. Other than that, the drive to Texarkana was uneventful, and we arrived at 1:30. Not wanting to spend an afternoon there, we phoned in a cancellation and kept driving.

You can see from the lack of photos attached to the blog today, that we found little or nothing interesting enough to photograph or stop and look at. We headed for Little Rock. John suggested stopping to see the Bill Clinton Library and massage parlor in a double-wide there, but we did a fly-by of Little Rock too. Memphis seemed attainable and a reprise of ribs at Corky's seemed to beckon us. We hit Corky's at 6:00 and, knowing that Jackson was halfway home, we picked up at the drive through and "Kept on Truckin'". Did you ever try to eat a half-slab of wet ribs while driving down I-40. Surprisingly enough, that was not my first time, but the leather steering wheel may never recover. We rolled into the La Quinta in jackson, Tennessee around 8:00, 12 hours after leaving San Antonio saying "The Spurs can go to Hell, we're headed for Tennessee"

We made better time than davy did, but we are still alive. The Home Depot here is bi-lingual.

Tomorrow it's off to Rocky River and home a day early!
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