The Historic Triangle

We left Assateague Island Maryland on Oct. 28 headed to Williamsburg Va. heading down the eastern shoreline, (as they call it out here.) The first adventure of the day was the crossing of Chesapeake Bay. The bridge tunnel is nineteen miles long running across the bay and on this day the winds were gusting out of the NW at up to 35 MPH. After paying our toll of $28 we headed across. It was kind of fun, but with our rig, Bruce said it was work holding it steady in the wind on the bridges and then maintaining our lane in the narrow tunnels. This sure beat the alternative of going back around Baltimore, DC and Richmond, and saved us a few hundred miles AND all that traffic.


After the crossing we continued on to Anvil Campground in Williamsburg, a nice, (50% for 2 of our 3 days), Passport America Discount Park located right in Williamsburg. We kind of felt like we were on our Alaska trip with the highway on one side and the RR on the other. It takes longer than three day to get used to the trains, so Lynn got out her earplugs.


Being on a budget, what with diesel fuel prices and all else, we decided that we would see what sights we could on Bruce’s National Park Pass at little to no additional cost, (except for an occasional souvenir!). We discovered that the Williamsburg Area Transit had an all day pass for $1.50 each, and there was a stop right at the campground, so we could take the bus to Williamsburg and then take the free Historic Triangle Shuttles to Jamestown and Yorktown National Historic Sites. That evening, who should knock at our door? Dave and Stephanie Grau, our new friends from Tenn. whom we met on the Cape May ferry. They were parked just across from us!


Wednesday morning was cool and blustery so we dressed in layers and headed out to catch the bus to Williamsburg and then the shuttle to Jamestown. All went well except the WAT bus driver did not stop at the Williamsburg bus stop, (someone pulled the cord or we’d have really gone for a ride!), he left us at the end of a parking lot that resulted in our missing the bus for our return to the campground that evening because we weren’t at the bus stop. We had to find the REAL bus stop after the bus whizzed right passed us even with Lynn waving her arms to try to flag him down! (What a nice guy...NOT).


We arrived at the Jamestown site and the wind was very strong coming off the river making walking around outside not much fun. They do have a very interesting “Archeorium” their word for a museum of the artifacts from the archeological digs on the site. We found it very interesting and entertaining with “hands on” and well displayed and explained artifacts. Interesting thought about Jamestown: It was settled for English trade in 1607 and remained an active community until the 1800s yet our education system celebrates the Pilgrims and the Mass. Bay colonies with barely a mention of Jamestown which was 13 years older! (Perhaps this has changed in the 45 years since Bruce was in school?)


We visited the glass blowing shop at Jamestown and watched as two young men worked on glasswares to sell to the tourist, standing next to the hot furnace was the place to be today.
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Lynn found a hand blown green glass jar just the right size to hold EVOO in our cupboards with her dispenser top, which actually fit! As with blown glass each piece is unique and all the openings where different. With much deliberation, she picked the right one even without the lid as a guide!


The next morning we took the WAT to Williamsburg and caught the shuttle to Yorktown. This site is significant to our country’s history because this is the site of the last major battle of the Revolutionary War. Here Geo Washington, with the help of the French Navy and Army, drove Cornwallis and the British back into the sea. Yorktown has a free trolley that will take you into and around the town.


We went into town and jumped off at the Waterman Museum. Waterman is the name that the men who have worked on the Chesapeake Bay have been called forever and the museum is dedicated to their boats, fishing, crabbing and life. The burled wood in the boat room was amazing! The grain when every which way!


We walked around the little town and ended up at a historic local pub for lunch so Lynn could have some locally caught scallops. Yummy! (Bruce had beef, no yucky seafood for him!)


After our late lunch we returned to Williamsburg and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon walking through the restored village and Market Square shops. (Just window-shopping, although we did find a cute little guitar ornament and an old fashioned clip on bird that took us back to our youth.)


We left the next morning for the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a visit with family.

Alaska Revisited Whittier Whale Watch Sept 3, 2006

9/2/2006: Rain, rain go away, come again some other day. Spent the afternoon getting ready to take KW into Whittier, and spent the night in it to be ready for tomorrow’s whale watch trip.

Las Vegas not Alaska

The tunnel into Whittier is very interesting built for trains; it is about two and half mile long under a mountain. In 2000 they setup the tracks installing smooth surface between and along side the rails so vehicles can drive through. They alternate directions into Whittier on the half hour, outbound on the hour and trains when they are scheduled or need to go. We won the argument with the toll booth folks, they wanted to charge me $35.00 like a commercial truck, I wanted the MH rate for my size, which was $12.00, and I was ready to pull out the title when they finally got the picture.

When we got to Whittier we found a place with a view of the bay and a large cruise ship, nice fishermen neighbors and it was free. Staying in the KW went much better this time we made Lynn’s bed warmer, not perfect but better. (When we took the truck to the Grand Tetons, it was cold and rainy and her airbed became the same temp as the ambient air, BRRRR!)

9/3/2006: Up at 6:30 AM we went down to the harbor and had breakfast at the Whittier Inn, nice view, OK food. We found Sound ECO’s boat, “Sound Access” before Capt. Gerry Sanger got there. We are ready; I forgot to mention the weather is beautiful, a great sunrise and the fog should burn off the Prince William Sound with the sun.

Headed out of the harbor the water is like glass and some spots of heavy fog running on radar sometimes. As predicted the fog burned off. Capt. Gerry said this was one of the nicest days he has seen on the sound this year.

The scientists from The Orca Whale Foundation are out on their boat today doing research; Capt. Gerry contacted them for info on any pods. We found out they have a pod showing on their satellite feed from a tagged Orca. The Capt. headed for that pod sighting.

When we came into the area we began to spot the distinctive dorsal fins: Orcas (killer whales) have an identifying patch on their dorsal fins, (only on the left side), unique to each of them. We began to spot them everywhere in this area. There were small pods breaching, tail slapping, rolling, doing the spy hop, it was just an amazing sight. We had come upon the whole AK super pod gathered for breeding; we were witnessing an Orca orgy!

The AK pod is a resident pod, meaning this is their home and Capt. Gerry said they are fish eaters only; no seal, sea lions or sea otters on the menu. Transient Orca pods will eat seals, sea lion, otters, and other mammals when given the opportunity. They are the ones who move around. This was a fantastic Mega pod, action everywhere! Capt. Gerry thought he had never seen this many at any one time in the 30 plus years he has worked the PWS as a game biologist. We estimated somewhere between sixty and one hundred Orcas, all doing the breeding thing!

We left this area after an hour of watching and headed to the Icy Bay Glaciers, Capt. Gerry had to find a way into the bay, because there was a lot of floating ice at the mouth of the bay. Once into the bay, we saw the glacier with lots of heavy ice floating at the front of the glacier with hundreds of Harbor Seals laying on it, just a nice sunny day on the ice. Lynn said that it seemed like we were floating in a punch bowl filled with chipped ice and when you consider we are in a 30-foot boat in front of a mile long glacier that was actively calving. I agree with that.

The rest of the day was spent hunting Humpbacks. We found two or three but nothing as active as the Orcas, fun hunting none the less. What great fun!

We came upon some Dall Porpoise pods; these guys are about four to six feet long and are very fast in the water. They love to “bow ride”, swimming in front of the boat and doing crossovers at whatever speed it takes to stay ahead of and circle the boat, throwing up rooster tails of water!

The best way I could describe it is, being the slowest car on the racetrack being passed on both sides and from underneath by everyone! They will make you smile and laugh like a little kid, what a hoot! Getting a clear picture is very difficult.

As we returned to Whittier Harbor we saw a few Sea Otters. Capt. Gerry said this was the best day on the water he has had all season, including sunshine and animal action. GREAT!! After 10 hours on the water, and as the sun was setting over Whittier Harbor, we headed back through the tunnel and to the RV Park. They had a forest rock festival going on, but we were beat, found the earplugs and went to bed.

Assateague Island Maryland

October 23rd started out to be a short day over to the National Seashore on Assateague Island, a barrier island on the Maryland coast. We saw a small buck with a large rack as we entered the park.

Later we found out that it was a Sika deer brought in from Asia by the Boy Scouts many years ago. (They had a petting zoo, which is how the deer came to the island.) We saw several of the wild horses that this island in known for as we drove further into the park. These horses are descended from domestic stock kept on the island by early eastern shore settlers avoiding main land taxes and fencing laws. This looks like it’ going to be a nice day! Spoke too soon.

We found the park and a great place to park, (we thought). As we backed into the spot, we needed to straighten the 5th-wheel so I told Bruce to pull it out straight. He did, straight into the cleverly disguised soft sand just in front of the site.


(Due to the turning radius of this truck, it’s not just a matter of pulling it out straight and putting it in neatly.) We were sunk in the sand in no time.


A couple of hours later, with the help of a couple of fellow campers, and with the Forest Ranger looking on, we managed to get it unstuck, (and didn’t get a fine). Thank you, Lord, for the great help You sent…and the compassionate ranger.


We went up the road and found an easier spot to occupy, one without a lot of soft sand. Just as we got parked, whom did we see? That nice family from the ferry drove up! They were checking out the park. Two times meeting definitely means we have to swap info and new friends are added to our list!


We have had a fun time hiking the trails and the beach. The horses have been great to watch as they meander through the campsites and around the park.


They are wild horses so we cannot approach, pet or feed them. The Whitetail and Sika deer also wander in and out, along with quite a few migratory birds. The people have been few, (except Sunday), so it’s been peaceful.


We had a bit of blustery weather Saturday, and it kept us indoors. We have a great cell and Internet signal, so it’s been good to get caught up on our blog! Sunday we walked the beach again, and people were everywhere! Of course, it was a beautiful day and even warm. We took pictures of four women and their horses on the beach, both Friday and Sunday. We also watched several surfers trying out the waves. The many dogs in the water and on the beach were fun to watch as well, especially the Labs.


Monday brought Bruce’s birthday (#63) and a beautiful sunrise. We got up early and headed to the beach to welcome the sun to Maryland and Assateague Island. As we came out the door there were three Whitetail deer grazing in our front yard.


We saw more deer as we walked to the beach. When we got to the beach the surfers were already in the water, “dawn patrol”, and we enjoyed watching them and the sunrise. Later that day we took another small hike to the sound and saw more wildlife. We had pork loin and 5-minute-microwave chocolate cake in a mug, (called "the most dangerous cake"), for Bruce's birthday to end the day. Glad we got our walk in early as the wind picked up and the sky started spitting rain.


Tuesday started cold, windy and rainy, as it had been doing all night. It’s not easy to sleep when the trailer is rocking in the wind and the rain is coming down sideways in sheets. If the ranger hadn’t warned us, it would also have been scary. The horses have a high-pitched scream that sounds like a young girl in peril. Mix that into a windy rainy night, close to Halloween and it was a little eerie!

It was also getting colder, so it was time to leave the barrier islands of Maryland for Williamsburg…South!

Off to the New Jersey Shore

The weather has just been fantastic. We decided that we would go to New Jersey for the first time, so tomorrow, October 16, we’re off to Cape May NJ. There’s nothing like wiggling your toes in the Atlantic Ocean. That’s exactly what we did!

We found a great campground with a pull-through and full hook-ups for the off-season rate of $20 a night! After downloading the trike the next day, we drove into Wildwood to the beach. We enjoyed the last warm day of the season, (77 degrees), by walking the whole length of the boardwalk, (5 miles…WHEW!). Ended the day at Sunset Beach in Cape May for a sunset that wasn’t. The predicted weather for the next day was already moving in so the clouds covered the sun. At least Lynn was able to collect some Cape May “Diamonds”.

A Cape May “diamond” is a unique stone that is made on the beach by the conditions of the water and the rocks and is only found in this area. They are really quartz stones that have been sanded smooth by the conditions mentioned and are clear or transparent. This shows up when they are wet, but they need to be polished, (or “tumbled” as the locals call it), to show off the clearness and diamond-like qualities. The jewelry is made and sold locally from $6 to $25+. Some have even been faceted like real diamonds.

We rested the next day inside, watched the chilly weather bring in the showers and more wind, and got out for a short walk around the park later when the “cabin fever” struck!

Saturday we braved the wind and partly cloudy 60+ degrees, and went back to Wildwood for the 50’s festival complete with a hula-hoop contest. Oh, “Those Wildwood Days”…(Bobby Rydell 1963) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5muryAawQfg,) We caught a short rain shower on the way home, but had a good time anyway. Loved the bands with that good old music of our past, (that would be the 60’s music they played).

Sunday, we went to the Seashore Community Nazarene Church, and afterward enjoyed the Naval Air Station Museum. It was pretty funny watching Bruce get in and out of T-33 and the Apache Helicopter. Then we went to a local restaurant and had an old-fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch “slippery chicken pot pie” for dinner. Different! Delicious! Lynn will probably try to duplicate that one! Not good for a diet, though.

Cape May is a large birding area with many migrating birds coming through this time of year so we headed back to Cape May State Park this time, for some bird watching. They have very nice boardwalks to the beaches and the coastal low lands, so we took our time and enjoyed the wonderful cool but sunny day. We even spotted an a few hawks and saw an Osprey carrying a large fish across the pond. We were too busy watching to get THAT picture! We ended a great stay by returning to Sunset Beach and this time there WAS a sunset! A nice one! Lynn gathered more Cape May “diamonds” while Bruce took sunset pictures. He missed the one when that wave caught the back of Lynn’s legs and filled her shoes with the ocean! It was a cold ride home!

Tuesday morning we got up and headed out to for breakfast in Cape May, took some pictures and picked up our mail. Cape May has some very interesting old vacation homes and has been a summer place to go for many years. Bet these places get the high dollar during the season!

Now all we had to do was pack up to go again but this time we were to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry the next day across the bay to Delaware, “lock, stock and barrel”. Saved us time and money!

The ferry ride was fun. The wind was brisk so it rock and rolled a bit. Lynn was surprised she didn’t get woozy, (like she did the time we crossed in 1976 on the ferry from Wisconsin to Ludington, Michigan). We got some pictures and met a nice family from Tennessee, who are full timing for a couple of years with their young son, and home schooling. It’s always fun to share traveling tips and stories with fellow full-timers. When we reached the shores of Delaware, we looked for and found a Wal-Mart in Georgetown. Lynn shopped her “list”, (and then some). We spent a surprisingly quiet night, (for a Wal-Mart), got a great night’s sleep and set off for Maryland in the morning.

Lancaster Pennsylvania

When we left Watkins Glen our next destination was Lancaster County PA.(The locals pronounce it “Ling-c’ster”) Bruce as always setup our trip to see the country along the way. (In Pennsylvania this means up and down and round and round.) What fun…driving through small towns with houses built right next to the road and big climbs up mountains then down the other side with all the brakes you have!

We followed US 6 along the Susquehanna River then cut over to Wilkes Barre, then down over to Hamburg for a stop at Cabela’s and spent some money. Cabela’s is prepared for RV overnight stays. They have horse corrals, dog runs and a dump station, so if traveling that way, stop by, but if you want to stay for “free”, like all “free” over night places, stay out of the store. Who said this parking lot camping was cheap?

We discovered that they celebrate Columbus Day here in the east as a busy holiday, (Oct. 13th this year), so we had a tough time finding a campground with room for us over the weekend. Tuquan, (“Tuck-one”), Park Family Campground in Holtwood, PA had a spot for us, so after a “fun” trek through the backcountry roads we arrived at a nice campground with a lot of seasonal campers, and they had a nice pull-thru spot for us. We planned to stay for a week and go to Gettysburg, Hershey, and the Strasburg area. Since we were in the heart of Amish and Mennonite country, we didn’t have a good cell signal. Go figure!

Saturday we took off for Gettysburg on the trike. We like to take the two lanes and avoid the freeways, it’s more fun and seems safer than running along side all those heavy trucks. The sun was shining and the fall colors where coming on strong.

Gettysburg is a small old town with limited streets and this afternoon there was more traffic than roads, everyone was out enjoying the holiday weekend and the warm sunny day. The Gettysburg Battlefield Park was very crowded; I’m sure not as crowded as some summer days, but enough for Bruce. We took the driving tour, met some re-enactors doing some educational encampments and decided if we wanted a more in-depth experience we needed to come back at a less busy time. The trip was nice 65 miles each way going through Amish and Mennonite farm country.

We attended the Bethesda United Methodist Church this Sunday, just a short distance from the campground. The church was very much alive and growing. It was very nice to worship in this country church.

Monday we took off for Hershey PA, the chocolate capital of the world, Lynn wanted to see how one of her favorite dark chocolates was made. They don’t have an actual factory tour but had an animated simulation ride that takes you through the process. It was fun, (and free), but you ended up in the gift shop and who can resist all that CHOCOLATE!?!

We took a trolley tour, (not free), of the “town” that Milton Hershey built, (technically there is no city of Hershey only the Township of Derry, PA, originally called Derry Church), very interesting history. (Loved those Hershey Kisses street lights!)

One of the best things we learned on this tour was the story of the Milton Hershey School for at-risk children. It is the largest residential school in the country and they receive no government funds of any kind. The whole school is funded by the Hershey Trust and private donations, it seem that Milton Hershey, having no heirs, set up all of his company into a trust with the one objective of funding the school. So remember every time you eat a Hershey product you’re helping the school. Lynn loves her Hershey’s Bliss dark chocolate even more now.

Being from an area where we have had opportunities visit with the Amish, (even have had the opportunity of eating in their homes), we set out Tuesday to enjoy the Strasburg area and its Amish and railroad history.

Bruce was like a little boy again when we took to the rails on the Strasburg Railroad for a ride to Paradise PA and back. The Baldwin steam engine put out lots of smoke and had a great whistle, the cars were very nicely restored and it was a very nice day.

Next stop was the National Toy Train Museum just down the road from the Strasburg RR. This museum has a very nice collection of toy trains from the all over the world and lots of working layouts. They had a lot of Lionel trains, again taking Bruce back to his childhood. Lynn enjoyed reverting back to her childhood by pushing all the buttons and working all the trains and accessories she could get her hands on. The scenes gave her a few ideas for making her own layouts, too. Bruce had to remind her that we only have so much space!

They have a Disney Diesel just like the one we gave our son, Eugene for Christmas in 1982. We let him have it back when we hit the road in 2005.

US 30 in this area is full of shopping and dining opportunities but not the kind of place we where looking for, (they seem to have gotten too “touristy” for our taste), so we ended up having supper at a little family restaurant in Quarryville, PA and headed home.

We took several walks through the park, met a few nice RVer’s, bought a bit of veggies at a roadside Amish farm and just enjoyed the beautiful warm Fall weather.