We’re back!
We spent the last week on an East Coast road trip, complete with stops in Ohio, Philadelphia, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington D.C.! It was our BIG trip of the summer, and it was well worth it. We started our journey in Ohio, visiting Jessica and Scott. We headed to Philadelphia to pay Lindsey and JP a visit. They showed us around their city. We even ate our first cheesesteak – YUM! Then, we headed south for Erica’s wedding. Let’s just say that the traffic along the eastern seaboard is much more dense than around these parts. We ended up missing the wedding by 15 minutes, but had a great time at the reception on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The scariest part of the trip came when we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. Yep, that’s right, it’s a bridge AND a tunnel. I was not too thrilled about going UNDER the ocean, but we did it! We then headed north to Washington D.C. We had both visited there before, but it was a long time ago. We did most of the usual “tourist” stuff – monuments, museums, and walking – oh, did we walk! We both decided that Washington D.C. is the most clean city we’ve ever visited. Highlights of our nation’s capital: Seeing Senators Levin and McCain speak on the Senate floor, seeing Mrs. Obama and her daughters on the White House porch, the Holocaust Museum (everyone should have to go there once in their lives), and our strolls through DuPont Circle for yummy ice cream! I posted a lot of our pictures on our website. There are several, but I had a hard time choosing which ones to share.
Things we’ve learned from our experience:
1. Cheesesteak is really yummy!
2. We take the 70 mph speed limit for granted here in Michigan! You can’t go that fast in other states!
3. We also take the fact that we don’t have to pay to drive on our roads in Michigan for granted. We forked out plenty of dinero to pay for toll roads. Can you believe that the ONLY 2 miles (yep, that’s right – 2) of toll road in all of Virginia is the 2 miles you have to travel on if you want to get to the Outer Banks/Atlantic Ocean!
4. Our new Toyota Rav4 gets GREAT gas mileage for a SUV (averaged between 26-30 mpg)!
5. We do not have a desire to visit/live along the eastern seaboard – too much traffic – Lake Michigan is just as pretty, and you won’t encounter even half of the traffic that we encountered in Virgina/North Carolina in order to get there
6. We have great friends and family! We had so much fun visiting with everyone!
7. We can’t wait for our next road trip! Hmmmm. where should we go next?
Wow! 400+ pictures, but I made it to the end. Looks fun!
Melanie! Thank you! Rob said “no one” would look at all the pictures! I knew you’d come through!
I knew that all of my work wasn’t done in vain!
I was wondering if you guys would have traffic issues getting to the Outer Banks–a lot of traffic heads that way, but the roads can’t really accomodate it. Anyway, I hope that you guys come back to Philadelphia someday! It was great having you here. The traffic does take some getting used to, but I try to look at it this way: I live in a beautiful, walkable city, with decent public transit, gorgeous parks, fantastic restaurants & nightlife, convenient to NYC, DC, the Poconos & the Shore, and horrible traffic. (See, if I look at the big picture, the horrible traffic part seems minor.)
But I agree–Lake Michigan is just as pretty to me as the Shore, too.
We will definitely come back to Philadelphia! We had so much fun with you guys! We expected the traffic around there – it wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before near a city. The part we don’t ever want to go back to again is right along the Atlantic (in particular Virginia and North Carolina along the ocean). We literally were going 45 in bumper to bumper traffic in Virginia and in North Carolina it just got worse. We were going like MAYBE 5 mph once we got closer to Kitty Hawk (which by the way was 15 miles south of the wedding). Too many people, and you’re right, the roads can’t handle it!
I looked at all your pics!! Loved them and your narrative, too. My favorite memorial is the WWII, and the FDR, too.. I think it is because I remember all of it???
I am awaiting news that you are “Auntie Sarah and Uncle Rob”!!
Love,
JT
Glad you enjoyed the pictures, Aunt Joyce! Rob and I really liked the WWII and FDR memorials. Those are new since I’d been there last! I’m actually reading the book “The Greatest Generation” right now (by Tom Brokaw) because of the trip to DC and those two memorials in particular.
Next road trip — Minnesota!!! You could squeeze in a quick trip before school starts. We’ll be home every weekend except 8/29 & 8/30. Eric’s birthday party is 8/15 (invitation forthcoming). Grandma T. is coming for the par-tay, luckily, we have a long couch and a twin mattress plus a queen air mattress in case any other out-of-towners need accomodations
OH – that is tempting! I wish we could lock it in as a definite, but it will all depend on the timing of Baby Warren! If he gets here early, we might try to do that! It was so nice to see you a couple of weeks ago, and it would be great to see you again!