19 December 2022

We have arrived to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia on our first full day of fun.  This is a special trip for us – all 3 kids are with us as well as our younger dog, Winston.  Max is too old, deaf and grumpy to travel anymore.  John and Elaine are babysitting him at home while we are away.

We left home on Saturday afternoon and drove the first three hours to Knoxville, TN.  On Sunday we slept in, took a leisurely breakfast and drove the rest of the way to HF – arriving her around 4pm.  Just enough time to get settled and unpacked, find dinner and begin hard core relaxing.

Our house was built in 1830 and overlooks the Potomac river.  The building served as a hospital for both the US and Confederate troops during the civil war.  HF was changed hands 8 times from 1861-1865.  HF is also the site of the famous John Brown raid and failed black uprising.

Our parking spot and rented house – it’s the brick place on the left with the large, central fireplace.

View of our front room.

Isabella is grading papers. Finals week is over, but she has to get all papers graded and into the computer by 5:00pm today.  She hasn’t yet been able to relax on this trip.

Down one of the main streets near our house.

Out on our first hike of the day.  Cold (38 degrees) but sunny and not much wind.

Much of the town is preserved as a national park; most of the buildings have been restored/renovated. Many are re-done just as they were in the 1860s.

Interior of dry goods store, as an example.

The firehouse now known as John Brown’s fort:  It was in this building that John Brown and several of his followers barricaded themselves during the final hours of their ill-fated raid of 1859.

Abandoned railroad bridge piers.  They were built in the 1830s for the B&O railroad.  The Confederates blew up the bridge in 1861 and it was rebuilt and destroyed numerous times throughout the war, sometimes being replaced by a temporary pontoon bridge.  

We attempted another hike across the Potomac into Maryland to walk up the Maryland Heights.  Winston was NOT happy about this walkway and when we got to the far end, there were several steep series of open grate stair steps.  We could not get him to walk the gratings and could not carry him.  He got into a full, wiggly panic and could not be comforted.  We had to abandon our hiking plans and turn back.

We found another hike more to his liking; along the Shenandoah river.. this is part of the Appalachian Trail.  HF is just about halfway between the starting point in Georgia and the end point in Maine.

Brenda’s dinner – CBD salad full of marijuana leaves.  She did NOT expect that.  The leaves don’t have any of the THC, smell a bit like mint and did not taste good.

Our houses mantelpiece – with cap lock rifle and real cannon ball and shells.

Left over equipment from the 18th and 19th century armories – HF was ground zero for the nation’s arsenal and factories that produced much of our countries arms and armor. These lathes were turning gun stocks and rifle barrels.

20 December 2022

Our first, full day in Newport.  We are staying here for three nights before continuing on to Maine.
We have another AirBnB house with plenty of room for 5 + dog and within walking distance to the main, touristy part of the town.

Morning walk; this graveyard is a block away from where we’re staying. 

One of the main purposes of this stop is to tour Salve Regina University (in Newport).  Josie has been accepted here and been offered a very generous scholarship.  Even so, it’s still a bit of a stretch, financially.

In addition to a campus tour, we visited with the Financial Aid office and (in a reasonably-well-off, white family way) begged for more money.  We walked away fairly encouraged and will be looking for more letters and information coming from them in January.  Salve is small (2100 students) liberal arts university that has a good Education program (Josie’s intended major) – a Catholic school that takes in all types.

View from the campus green behind the admin building.

The girls impressed with the admin main hall.

Typical classroom we found that was open.

More campus buildings.

On to even fancier stuff… The Breakers – summer residence for the Vanderbilts.  Built in the 1890’s.  I think most of you have toured this place, no?

The music room all fixed up for Xmas performances.

Main hall.  We purchased a package that will get us into three mansions.. The Breakers today and two more (Marble House, The Elms) tomorrow.

Driving around Aquidneck island.  Apparently we come from the less well-healed branch of the Jeffery family tree.  These folks would not allow us to crash like a group of Cousin Eddys.

Typical houses in the area.  My co-worker, Alan, who has lived in the area for many years tells me that even if we won the lottery, we still couldn’t afford to buy these places.

Brenda was anxious to see if Winston took to sheep like fish to water.  He did not.  I think we bought a dud in the sheep herder department.

Brenda, however, always has an ability to get the animals to do her bidding.

Doing some Xmas shopping along the waterfront in Newport.

As the day progressed, Brenda has begun to feel worse and worse – likely food poisoning.   The day before, she bought a veggie wrap at a New Jersey Turnpike truck stop.  Who knew that might carry risks??!!

The kids and I went out to a seafood dinner and we turned in early to watch Christmas movies and South Park re-runs.  

22 December 2022

Brenda was ill today (stomach bug) and so we adjusted to a more mellow schedule.  (She’s getting better now..)

Starting out in Newport, RI again.

Picture of the house where we are staying.

Taking the dog on a morning walk.

The four of us (less Brenda) toured “The Elms” – another late 19th century summer “cottage” built for the Berwind family – he was Big Coal.

After that, we decided to drive up to Providence, RI on a lark.  Bella wanted to find some places to shop. Josie wanted to see RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) where one of her friends is hoping to attend. We parked in downtown and just wandered about.

We found a nice bookstore.  Bella bought a couple of books for her job.  Next door was a Korean place and the kids wanted to have lunch.  Providence is about 35 minutes away from Newport.

That afternoon, we toured the 3rd and final mansion open this time of year.  Brenda was feeling better and really wanted to see “Marble House” and so she joined us.  This was another Vanderbilt house – different brother or cousin or such.  It’s hard to keep track of them all.

More really fancy rooms.

It gets dark here about 4:00pm; after that it’s wine time.  We got take out pizza from a place a block away and watched “Four Christmases” on the tube.

This morning we pack up and head for Maine.
It is VERY warm this morning (53 degrees) but very windy and wet.  We’re going to miss all of the winter snow and ice just by hugging the seaboard all the way north.  The temps drop sharply over Xmas weekend, though.  We’ll hopefully be safely ensconced in our next place for the next 3 nights.

23 December 2022

A comfortably short 3.5 hour drive from Newport up to Maine.  The winter storm finally arrived, but the narrow strip of land along the seaboard managed to stay warm.  We drove through Boston with temps in the upper 50’s.

We saw our first snow after entering Maine (from a former storm) and made it to Portland by early afternoon.

Over Xmas we are staying on an island (Peaks Island) off the coast of Portland.  We arrived at the Ferry terminal by 2:00pm and were the first and only vehicle to make the crossing.  I learned later that the ferry service had been closed all morning due to the extremely high winds.  After a choppy 20 minute boat ride, we made it to Peaks Island and on to our house for the next three nights.

View of Portland from the cozy confines of our car during the ferry crossing.

It was warm all day but very windy.  The news that evening reported sustained winds at 30-40 miles per hour and gusts over 65.

Our house.  Built in 1914 as a summer cottage.  It has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths.. very well modernized and appointed inside.  After unloading our gear we went to the island’s only grocery store to get food. All of the restaurants and other stores are already closed for the weekend.

Typical houses.  Based on my dog walks I would guess that only about 1 in 5 are currently occupied.

24 December 2022

This morning (the 24th) most of the storm has already passed by.  The temperature is now 14F with windchill at -2F.  The weather will dictate much of what we can and can’t do over the next several days, but we have a great place to hunker down for Xmas day.

It is cold here now.  Sunny but windy with wind chills below 0. Early morning dog walk.  Winston doesn’t seem to mind the cold.

Today we took the ferry back to Portland ME to get our Xmas Eve lunch and do some shopping.

Ready to brave the elements. It’s about a 30 minute trip to the mainland.

A bit of background here.  Usually we try to build our vacations around some theme or principal goal.  This fall when we asked the kids what they wanted to do, Josie said she wanted to go somewhere cold.  Check.  Holden said he wanted lobsters in Maine.  Check.  This was our big meal of the trip.. the kids just love the things.  I don’t but was happy to let them dig in.

Back home and hunkered down for the next day.  Everything is closed today; our larder is full, the heat is on and we have games and cable TV. 

Merry Christmas!

25 December 2022

A quiet day that went by way too fast.  Everyone got to sleep in a bit longer than usual.  We watched some TV in the morning and then explored the island.  The highlight (for Winston) was our time in the woods near the center of the island.  We could take him off leash and let him loose for awhile to burn off some excess energy.  

Frozen pond

Brenda and Isabella going for a walk.

Before we left on the trip, Brenda purchased a dog coat and booties – in case we encountered ice or snow.  Winston tolerates the coat but hates the booties.  Fortunately, we didn’t need the latter on this trip.

For Xmas dinner, Brenda made Jambalaya.  After that we burned away the afternoon with a calm, quiet game of Risk.  Bella won and won’t let any of us forget that.

We leave Maine this morning and begin our return trip South.  We will take 4 days on the return trip to have time to see some fun things on the way back.

Dec 27, 2022

Our travels today began in Trenton, NJ and finished up in Richmond, VA.  We had to navigate through Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and DC traffic.. but the worst stretch of all was between DC and Richmond where 4 accidents on the Interstate.  It took us longer to make the 100 miles to Richmond than it did McClellan.

This is near the location where Washington crossed the Delaware on December 25, 1776.  We’re on the New Jersey side, near Trenton.  This is the Johnson Ferry house; it waas used briefly by General Washington and other officers at the time of the Christmas night crossing.  Brenda is checking out their frozen vegetable garden.

The location where Washington & Co crossed the river.  The kids were unimpressed – no where near as wide and dramatic as seen in the famous Leutze painting, but we did see some ice floes.  I guess you had to be there.  Josie wondered why Washington didn’t just take the bridge shown in the far left of the photo above.

On the previous travel day, we did little but drive and make occasional pit stops.  Winston never got a chance to stretch his legs and it showed in his behavior later that night.  With the weather improving and an ideal place to hike, we stopped in DC to do a walk around the National Mall.  

Of course, as soon as we arrive, President Biden boards Marine One and heads off for Edwards Air Force Base.  The town isn’t big enough for the both of us.

On the Lincoln Reflecting Pool.. frozen over.  This shot took a bit of work as Winston is not a fan of the ice.

This amount of ice is more his speed.

In all we got in 4.5 miles of hiking which did a world of good for everyone.  Subway sandwiches for dinner.. we got in after dark.  Only enough time to sort out the beds and watch a little TV before bedtime.

Dec 28, 2022

Our final day of rest/play this trip was in Richmond, VA.  There is quite a bit to see and do here; we could easily have spent several more days here if we weren’t also kind of anxious to get back home.
You will note a marked lack of Civil War photos below.. The rest of the family vetoed all of my great suggestions – and there is NO shortage of great CW things to see and do in and around Richmond.  That will have to be saved for another trip.

We did visit the Edgar Allan Poe museum – for some reason I always thought he was from Baltimore (that’s where he died), but Poe grew up in Richmond and lived here on four separate occasions throughout his brief, 40 year life.

We then toured Agecroft Hall – a tudor manor house first built in the late 1200s in Lancashire, England and expanded over the next 600 years.  By the 1920s it sat derelict but was then purchased by a rich Richmondite who packed it up and shipped it to here, brick by brick.

Brenda smelling herbs in the nearby garden.

We got a lunch downtown in a restaurant that was dog friendly.

After lunch we shopped in the Carytown urban retail district.. over 200 quirky shops full of used clothes, antiques and small restaurants.  We then returned for an early turn in.

The long drive home from Virginia.. We left at 4:00am and got in just before 1:00pm yesterday.

Map of our path.

All of us went to John and Elaine’s this morning for waffle breakfast and a review of our events.  Isabella drove home to Savannah this afternoon.  Josie goes back to school on the 5th and Holden on the 9th.