Monday, May 8th thru Saturday, May 13th...

Monday, May 8th, our day was focused on accomplishing tasks in the morning. This I did with great satisfaction. My little list gradually dwindled as I did things that were important to me. 

In the afternoon, we cleaned up and headed to Louisville. Stopped in Frankfort for a bite of dinner at Chick-fil-A. Then, on to Comstock Hall on the University of Louisville campus. The Oldham Country High School Symphonic Orchestra was performing in the State KMEA Assessment. Great honor. Our Mini's would be playing in this Assessment. They would perform three numbers. The first was Rienzi Overture. The second was A Song of Loudest Praise. The third was Rolling Thunder March. I teared up on the second number. It has the melody of Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing running through it. This is a favorite hymn of mine. To witness my grandmonsters playing in an amazing orchestra and know that they love music and have developed a talent, made my heart swell with gratitude. It is so important to have kids learn something. I am happy this is music but if our Raelyn becomes a good soccer player, I'll be just as happy. This is important in the growing up process. So very important. The orchestra received "Distinguished" across the board as their rating. This is the highest rating that can be given. So very happy for Hayden in his senior year to participate in this. Bailey will go on for the next two years. More concerts to attend!

Claude surprised me with a Baskin Robbins stop on the way home. Nutty Coconut for me!! We haven't had Baskin Robbins in a very long time. 

Tuesday, May 9th, was get-ready-to-travel day. I started with a trip to Dan Cummins to get an oil change in my car. After I stopped at Kohl's to spend my $10 Kohl's cash and then Lowe's to get a patriotic flag for our flower bed. On the way home, I picked up a Whopper for my hubby who had not eaten all day. In the afternoon, I packed for our little road trip and worked on my laptop. Claude mowed the lawn. 

I walked around the side of the house to see how our plants were doing. It fascinates me that we have these beautiful plants that no one sees unless I walk around to enjoy them. The irises bloomed. They will thicken and fill in this bed with time. These are irises from Utah. A treasure. The peony has two buds. I hoped they would wait to open till we got home on Saturday. They are also from Utah. The azalea that the previous owner planted had some blooms on it. The late frost did a number on this plant. But, it has some good branches and did flower.

I posted this picture on my Facebook newsfeed. "This is my vote for Governor this election. A great person who loves Kentucky and will do his best."

Wednesday, May 10th, we left our home about 8am headed to Cumberland, Maryland. After filling my car with gasoline and getting our biscuit for breakfast, we were on the road again!!

Entering Maryland, I began to look for landmarks. 

One of the things we watched with fascination while we lived in Maryland 19 years ago, was the beginnings of construction on an Ark. It was years sitting just like this when we lived in Maryland. Today, it still looks the same steel frame and no additions.

About the time we got to Frostburg, Maryland, I realized I had my shirt on backwards. In fairness, it is a quarter-length sleeved t-shirt with a boat neck and is the same on both side. I still find this amusing.

Our good friends, Fred and Bevy, met us in LaVale and we had a meal at D'Artri's Restaurant. We really enjoyed and appreciated visiting Fred and Bevy. They were our motorcycle riding buddies back in the day. Our riding styles matched perfectly and we road many miles with these good people. Lots of memories. 

After our meal, we drove to Frederick, Maryland for the night. We passed another of our landmark spots, Sidling Hill.

Then on through the mountains of Maryland to Frederick.

Our hotel had no toilet paper holder. The space was there. The little wooden or plastic rod to hold it was not there. Other than that, we drove to the gas station and filled my car for the next days adventure and purchased a sandwich for Claude for dinner. 

Thursday, May 11th, we left the hotel about 11am. Our first goal was to visit Montgomery Village. This is where we lived for 20 years. Hwy 355 was right by our hotel. When we lived in Maryland, driving Hwy 355 was often a lot more relaxing that driving I-270 between Frederick and Montgomery Village. We thought we were in for a nice drive through the country. 

Not far out of Frederick, we came to Urbana. When we lived in Maryland, there was a park way off the road and a few houses. Now, Urbana runs along both sides of 355 with two round-abouts on it. Lots of homes, townhomes, shopping centers, a park. It is a thriving metropolis. 

We did find a few stretches that were the one lane going/coming 355 that we knew and loved.

For the most part, the tiny towns that had a stop sign and a gas station or convenience store, are now all full of businesses and houses. By the time we got to the Germantown/Montgomery Village area, the road was three lanes going/coming and the cross roads were often two or three lanes going/coming. We felt like strangers in a foreign land.

We did find the Apple Barrel that has been at this location for 50,000,000 years.

My goal was to get pictures of the kids schools they attended, the home we lived in for 20 years and the church we attended. 

These are the schools our children went to. Watkins Mill Elementary, Montgomery Village Middle School, Watkins Mill High School and Gaithersburg High School. Gaithersburg High School threw us for a bit of a curve. We entered from Hwy 355 as we would have before. However, this put us at the back of the school, not the front entrance. We followed the arrows on the road and made our way around to the new front of the school for the picture. Goodness.

This was our home for 20 years. 10101 Kindly Court. We had a lovely pink dogwood tree on the right side of the front yard. That is gone now. We also had a black wrought iron storm door that is gone. The front yard was all large leaf English ivy. And, we had a nice curved concrete bench under the second front window. 

This curb painting was done by a crusty neighbor who lived across the street at 10100 Kindly Court. They wanted to be sure NO ONE parked in front of their home. So, they painted house numbers on the first two parking spots. The next two were to have been ours. We didn't park right in front of our home but in the parking area in front of 10100's home. We had words one day when they came out very angry that someone who came to visit for a brief moment parked in their spot. I simply told this very angry man, you wouldn't lose a friend over a silly parking place? But, he did. The covenants for Montgomery Village clearly said no reserved parking spots but two car limits for each home. Amazing.

This was the church building for the Montgomery Village Ward.

My pictures collected, we made our way around the Beltway to the Italian Store for a Milano. This meant crossing the Potomac River at Great Crossing in Virginia. 

It turned out the George Washington Parkway was under construction. It appears they are making it three lanes each direction. This is a big commuter road and three lanes will be very helpful. However, we shuddered to think what it is like now with one lane each direction. Ugh.

We made it to The Italian Store in Arlington, Virginia and enjoyed our Milano's outside at their little tables. Oh My Heavens these are good sandwiches. It was worth fighting all that traffic to enjoy these one more time. 

I checked Google Maps and we both looked at the route it gave to get from Arlington, Virginia to Ocean City, Maryland. We were off!!

I completely missed our drive through Annapolis. I was trying to learn about the toll now on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. It was cashless. They wanted EZ Pass, which we don't have. When I looked up we were stopped in traffic waiting to get to the bridge. Yep, that wait was six miles from the bridge and our speedometer read 0 miles per hour. Patience is a virtue.

Somewhere they took a picture of our license plate and will bill us for the toll for this bridge. I think it will be $6. Who knows? We will, when we get the invoice. These are picture crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore of Maryland. This is a tall, fairly lengthy bridge. People get to it and then can't drive over it. There used to be people who would drive your car over for you. Not sure if they still do that or not. I am fascinated with bridge structures. Going through one that has all this metal gives me so may angles and places it would be fun to take a picture. Alas, my pictures are all 'thru the window' pictures. No stopping on the bridge.

Once on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, we drove on to Ocean City to check-in to our hotel. A couple of interesting things we saw on this part of our drive were a caravan of first responder vehicles. Not sure if someone died or it was to honor them. It was quite long. Claude saw an interesting vehicle and he is sure he needs one. And, only in Maryland does this sign "Crabs To Go" make sense.

Along this drive, Claude pulled into a McDonald's to get me a soda. He asked at the drive-thru if they had Mello Yello. The girl taking the order went away and brought back another lady. Again, Claude asked if they had Mello Yello. Clearly they didn't know what we were asking. I called across Claude in the drive-thru and asked if they had Mountain Dew. No. Then Claude asked if they had Dr. Pepper. They did! Yeah. We ordered me a Dr. Pepper and drove to the window to pay. The girl there assured us she didn't know what a Mello Yello was. She had never heard of it!! 

We checked into our hotel and found a very bold wall for our headboard. We were not sure sleep would come with this bold of a wall. Also, there was no toilet paper holder at all. The hotel was doing a major addition and renovation. There was toilet paper, just no holder. Two nights in a row!!

Back to our car and over the bridge to Ocean City proper to look for a good place to enjoy a seafood dinner. We found that at a restaurant called Nantucket's in Fenwick Island, Delaware. This long peninsula on the Atlantic shore is called the Delmarva Peninsula. Delaware is at the top, Then a long stretch that is Maryland ending with Ocean City. Then back inland and on down a bit, is the Virginia portion. Hence, Delmarva. We had such a good meal. We each enjoyed a shrimp cocktail, Claude had quahog clam and scallop chowder, and we each had vegetables and a crab cake for our entrée. It was yummy.

We drove back down to the Ocean City Boardwalk, found a parking spot and walked for a bit. The temperature fell and we left our coats in the hotel. We purchased Ocean City sweatshirts in a shop. It was fun to be back in Ocean City. We used to go in February for our anniversary and stay over a weekend. We could not find the little hotel we stayed in. It was 5-stories and all the rooms faced the ocean. There was a good restaurant about a block away. The restaurant is gone. Change...

Back to our hotel with a stop to pick up water for our room.

Friday, May 12th, we set our sights on driving through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. This is a different place than the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The Bay Bridge Tunnel is at the very southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula on one side. It crossed over and under the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk, Virginia. Where it is a bridge, it is two bridges, each carrying traffic one way. There are two tunnels: Chesapeake Channel Tunnel and the Thimble Shoal Channel Tunnel. When you get to the tunnel entrances and exits, the bridges meet so that in the tunnels there is only one lane of traffic each direction. It is an amazing engineering feat. Cost $14 to drive through one way. There had been a restaurant and pull off in the middle but that was not available this day. 

Once in Norfolk, our goal was to find I-64. We got there and got on it. This is what we found. Ugh.

Once we got through all the traffic madness that is this area, we enjoyed the Appalachian Mountain drive to Lexington, Virginia for the night. Guess what?? We had a toilet paper holder in our final hotel room!!

Saturday, May 13th, was our return home day. The drive was from Lexington, Virginia, through West Virginia, to Kentucky and our home in Georgetown. I took these pictures as we drove through West Virginia. It was kind of like being in the Great Smokey Mountains with the whisps of clouds over the mountains. We had a little rain but not a torrential downpour. We drove past several seams of coal very visible on the side of the highway. We drove past West Virginia's state capitol building. Nice drive. 

I noted a sign for "Douthat State Park". I'm not sure how it is pronounced but I read it as 'Do That' State Park and found it amusing. I saw two license plates that also amused me: NU LYPHE (I read it as new life) and 3TURNS (Claude believes it is a family with the last name of Turn and they have three cars). These are things one does to amuse oneself on a long car ride.

It was a nice getaway. A good time to clear our heads, see places we want to remember, and be together.