LoriBarb

We don’t know where to start, as the City of Washington DC is just incredible !!! There is SO much to see! These three days had us touring around with Barb’s 3 friends Lesley Poole, Joanne Magna & Sandie Parker, all from Ontario. We did the Hop on Hop off, which frankly is a must do in any city. Then we toured the Memorials, which were amazing. We all had our favourites. We toured the Spy Museum which was eye opening to say the least. We were lucky enough to do the King Tut immersive tour at the National Geographic Museum. We also met for lunch one of the days across the Potomac River in Virginia at The Wharf in Alexandria where the ladies stayed. In Alexandria we toured the Torpedo art collective and walked down some historic streets getting a great picture of the skinniest home in the U.S. We had such a wonderful time!

We got up bright and early and hopped on the bus this morning from our Cherry Hill Park campsite, into Washington to catch the subway. The fact that the bus comes into the RV park is amazing! There was a nice young lady on the bus that helped us get off at the right stop. In fact our stop was her stop, go figure.

We then got on the subway line. People watching is fascinating and we will mention one man (who may have been on drugs but who are we to judge) who happened to drop a piece of mail on the floor of the subway car we were on. We mention this as it comes up again in this story.

We got off at our stop and headed off. We wanted to first go into the Air and Space museum but it was a timed entry so we got tickets for a 1pm visit. Having some time on our hands, we got a warm pretzel and headed off to the American Indian Museum. It was interesting as it showed the Indian from many perspectives and from all around the world. Canada was well represented. It took us a couple of hours to go through but well worth it.

Next we went to the Air and Space museum, which is free and the most visited museum in Washington. It was OK, and frankly we were a little let down with all the hype only to find out that more than 1/2 the museum was under construction so we couldn’t see it. Explains why it only took us an hour vs the 3 hours suggested. We did see a couple of movies in the planetarium that were good, so not all was lost. Below are some pics

We then made it back to the Metro bus stop using a different entrance to the subway, which was frankly WAY easier to get to our train. Train arrived and we hopped on. It was quite crowded, much different from mid morning. Once the train thinned out, Lori noticed a piece of mail on the floor. We were on the exact same train car, sitting just one row behind where we had sat earlier in the day. What are the odds!!!

We then got on the bus, after a long wait at the stop, and who gets on in front of us?? The young woman who helped us in the morning. Again, what are the odds??

Tomorrow is Museum of Natural History and maybe the Whitehouse! Wonder what additional coincidences we will encounter.

Well you can do a lot of play on words with Sheetz ! In this case it is a large gas station franchise and currently our favourite.

The roofs which cover the gas pumps are nicely elevated, important when driving a rig that is tall. Each gas station has over 50 spots for cars, at least. It also has a restaurant inside with ”made to order” items. Hamburgers/wraps/sandwiches/hot/cold, you name it. In fact the menu to build your wrap for instance is so extensive it is a little overwhelming, but well worth it! Sheetz gas stations were the largest we ever came across.

Gas prices?? We are currently paying $3.99 a gallon which equates to $1.13 Canadian. We are experiencing $1 – $1.10 on average per litre down here which is fabulous considering what we pay back home. Toronto currently $1.90 per litre. Even with the exchange we are coming out on top. Our initial shock in June 2022 of paying $800 for two fill-ups in the same day in Ontario is behind us. Our fear of “did we do the wrong thing purchasing this RV” is also very much behind us as even these first few weeks of travel has been ever so rewarding. Life is once again fabulous!

Gettysburg was a little out of our way heading to Washington, but what a GREAT choice. We took 2 hours to go through the museum which was laid out perfectly for a history lesson. We now have a better understanding of the impact the Civil War had on American politics. The evolution of the 13th amendment continues even today. This perspective will help as we visit Washington over the next 10 days and travel further south.

Well it was Lori’s birthday and we celebrated by doing some shopping at an Amish market called Bird in the Hand Farmers Market, then off to dinner at Agape Cafe & Grille, which was a dry restaurant. Yes folks you heard that correct, no wine or alcohol of any kind. LOL. Food was great and rich as we had burnt ends, BBQ ribs, a burger with pulled pork, and sides of mac and cheese and sweet potato fries. There was one pickle, which was the extent of the veggies, so we split it. We carried home over 5 pounds of leftovers, which is apparently lasting more than 1 day.

October 29th is Gettysburg and Washington DC !

We are staying at a great RV park (Florry’s) in Ronks Pennsylvania, right in the middle of an Amish Village. We wake up to the clopping of the horses as they pull the Amish buggies (closed carriage) down the road.

OK now back to the Scoot Coupe guided tour of 19th century covered bridges in Pennsylvania Dutch country! We took turns driving this little car and we loved it. Top speed 30MPH and there is no reverse so you need to park strategically. It was very fun on the side roads yet somewhat intimidating on the few major roads we had to travel on. At one point there was a semi-transport coming up behind us and we were somewhat terrified as we saw it in our side mirror. Fortunately our turn off was up ahead so around the corner we went never looking back!

The countryside was beautiful with the fall colours. We also stopped at a couple of covered bridges and an Amish home to look at the barn, horses and the buggies used by the family. The lady of the house also served us Meadow Lemonade and home made blueberry donut holes. Both delish!!

The town of Hershey was founded by none other than Milton S Hershey. Having gone to school to fourth grade and going bankrupt twice, he made a legacy not just making chocolate, but by building a town. The first Hershey bars were sold in 1900 and were so popular he was able to build a company town which was called, Hershey Pennsylvania. He was a philanthropist and built a boarding school for local orphans, which still exists and as of 2016 was able to accommodate 2,000 students. In WWII he developed a bar for troops that was non-melting, again something to ”give back”. In 1918 Hershey transferred the majority of his assets, including control of his company, to the Milton Hershey School Trust fund, to benefit education and advancement in science. Milton Hershey placed quality of his product, and the well-being of his workers, ahead of profits. He believed that providing better living conditions for his workers would result in better workers, and he was right! He built the town around the company and today it stands proud and quite beautiful in Pennsylvania. It truly is the sweetest place on earth.

In Hershey we have the Hershey Museum, Gardens, Theatre, teaching Medical Centre, Cemetery, and the School to name a few things Milton Hershey built in his lifetime and beyond. Mars, the confectionery company, wanted to purchase Hershey and the Governor of Pennsylvania stopped it, wanting to keep the Hershey company a Pennsylvanian treasure.

We toured the museum and a bit of the town. There is a HUGE sense of pride to all that work and live here. The street lamps are Hershey Kisses. The chocolate in the museum (some of which we had never heard of) we think are sold at cost. After we left we looked some items up on Amazon U.S and there is a significant difference in price. We should have bought more! Here are a few pics of our first tour.

We are calling today, October 24th, Day 1 of the U.S trip, but in fact we haven’t left Burlington yet. Today we were finalizing the last minute items required to get ready. Sanitizing the fresh water tank (that is a process!), Costco, Cleaning the RV inside and out, Costco, repacking the storage compartments underneath, Costco.

We also decided to do a little sight seeing, which is why we are calling this Day 1. About a KM from Barb’s home is a Museum called Ireland House. All these years we thought it had to do with the Country, when in fact it had to do with one of the first settlers of the area back in the 1800s, Joseph Ireland (DUH). Ireland house was built on Oakridge Farm between 1835-1837.

Joseph Ireland emigrated to Canada in 1819 from Bowes, Yorkshire England in 1819 at the age of 27 and he petitioned for the land at Oakridge Farm. Joseph’s descendants occupied Ireland House until 1985.

In 1987 the City of Burlington purchased the property from the estate of Lucie Marie Ireland Bush and established the museum, restoring the homestead to illustrate three distinct time periods that represent the generations of Irelands who lived in the house: 1850’s, 1890’s, 1920’s. It felt like we were going through the Downton Abby years all over again…..although Downton was filmed in later decades. Interestingly, 90% of the furnishings in the Ireland house are original and the light in the front hallway was the first electric light on Guelph Line, which is one of the main north-south roads in Burlington.

While the pictures below don’t do the home justice, it was a reminder of not just simpler times (and harder), but that there are historical riches in our neighbourhoods we should all take the time to visit, to learn what and who was here before us.

We are starting to wind down all our ”to do lists” before leaving next Monday, October 24th. We are busy going back and forth to appointments, Costco (of course one must go for a run or two before any trip), getting Winston bathed, local grocery stores for the small ”stuff”, re-boarding all Barb’s clothes and personal effects.

We have also tried to do a little pausing to ”smell the roses”. We stopped in Limehouse the other day and hopped on the Bruce Trail (800 km long and more than 400 km of side trails) which runs from Niagara river to the tip of Tobermory Ontario. It was beautiful with the autumn leaves and fresh breeze. We saw the old Kilns (they made the limestone in these back in the day). Quite educational really. And after an arduous 15 minutes we were heading back to the car onto the next appointment, and Costco.

On October 24th we are OFF to the U.S! Travelling through Buffalo towards Washington DC, then shifting south. We have yet to map out the specific details, but we are both excited to get back on the road. Lori has been living in the RV in Milton Ontario and while this has been nice, it is time to move on! Lori had her car, which was imperative, as becoming an Ontarian once again is a bit of work with drivers license/health card/registration of car/new plates. But she was able to find a Dr/Dentist/Vet and has had all the necessary appointments prior to leaving Canada.

When you think of traveling for months at a time in a foreign country you have to think of things like medication. Buying medication for months vs per month is a little daunting. Winston alone has a bag full of pills which was a $2,000 ticket but he is worth it 🙂 Not sure how the border police are going to react to what looks like a pharmacy in here, and Barb’s plethora of herbal supplements aren’t even here yet! Not that we look like drug lords, but honestly the amount of pills is ridiculous and we are NOT that old (keep your age comments to yourself!).

In December Barb will be flying home for Christmas so Lori will be hanging in Savanna Georgia with the fur kids while Barb is back home in Burlington.

This weekend is Thanksgiving. Barb is hosting her and Jim’s family at her home and Lori is with her family at her sister Joy’s home in Scarborough.

Monday we will start booking our stays on the way to Savannah. We have confirmed 3 girlfriends of
Barb’s will join us in Washington the weekend of Nov 4th. There is a ton to see there, and along the way through Buffalo to Washington.