Category: Trip Log

  • Travel Day

    On Thursday after school/work, our good family friend Alexx drive us to the airport. We arrived around 4:00 for our scheduled 6:10 boarding and 6:40 flight. The Air Canada section of the terminal was small and quite crowded, but we were able to find 4 seats relatively close together. And after a flight or two left, we were able to be all together, though Clara wandered off to the big charging table to top off her phone.

    The 5:40 flight to Montreal was significantly late, and we began to get a bit anxious about ours, as the plane had not arrived by 6:00. I’m not sure exactly when it did, but they turned out around relatively quickly, and we left sometime around 7:20. It’s a short flight, but we didn’t have a lot of leeway in our schedule. Our flight out of Montreal was scheduled to depart at 8:50. We got to Montreal around 8:20, but everything takes a while, and as we were hustling to the departure gate, which of course was basically at the other end of the terminal, they announced final boarding for our flight. So we really hustled the last bit only to stand in line at the end of the jetway. That flight left about a half hour late, but got to Geneva on time.

  • Feature Creep

    I’ve added a couple of new pages (see the “tabs” along the top) for a photo gallery and a map showing pictures along our route. Enjoy!

  • Statistics

    7593 miles (~375 gallons of gas, ~$920)

    0 accidents

    0 tickets

    2 warnings

    34 nights away from home:

    • 6 camping nights (5 sites)
    • 13 homes of friends and family (6 homes)
    • 15 hotel nights (15 different hotels; 14 continental breakfasts)
    • 25 different places

    823.5 hours together as a family, almost always sharing one vehicle, one hotel room, one tent, etc. (minus 12 hours one night when Susan and I slept in a different family home than the kids, and minus a 3 hour anniversary lunch outing) = 808.5 hours.

    55 hours of audio books (Harry Potter 6 & 7; a Roald Dahl collection; and InkHeart)

    9 National Parks and Monuments

    101 blog posts

    197 comments

    551 photos

    If you’re doing your math, you might notice that the nights didn’t quite add up – that’s because one night, the kids stayed at one house while we stayed at another!

  • Fin.

    We arrived yesterday at about 2:15 p.m. Feels good to be home, but we had some floors refinished while we were gone, so that meant lots of furniture to move before we could settle in. Which leaves today for unpacking, tomorrow for “rest,” then Monday it’s back to work!

  • 98.5% There

    Yesterday was our longest driving day, covering about 465 miles, and leaving about 120 miles for today. We are currently having a relaxing morning with my parents in North Haven, Connecticut.

  • New Record!

    4 states in just over half an hour. Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania.

  • Turkey Truck

    I don’t think it’s a joyride…

  • 81 78 287 15 Hut, Hut, Hike!

    This morning we leave behind our nth Comfort Inn and head northeast, our intended route to North Haven, Connecticut documented in the post title.

  • Decision Time…

    This morning, we must decide whether we spend any time in Shenandoah National Park, head to Hershey Park, or just book on home. We won’t make it home today, but if we were to go to Hershey, that would make a long travel day on Friday. If we head for home, we might stop at my parents’ house in Connecticut for the night, making a short travel day on Friday.

  • Shaving Hotel Costs

    In two or three of the hotels we’ve visited, the pop-up drain plug has been missing. In two or three others, the sink wouldn’t hold water in spite of the presence of a plug. This makes shaving rather less efficient. I tried to fix one of the non-water-holding ones, but failed. Are the missing ones the result of vandalism?