On The Road Again....: The Northeast States - Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, & Vermont - 2021

Day 20 - Sunday, October 17, 2021

We only have a couple things on our list today so didn't start out too early. We took Bear Notch Road over to the Kancamagus Highway then on to Robert Frost's place.

One of our observations is that people have lots of real long logs in their yards to cut into firewood. So many of the houses have huge piles of cut firewood already to get ready for a long winter. Seems like we were never ready to take a picture when we saw the big wood piles.

The Attitash Ski area was across the street

from where we were staying.

This covered bridge has been converted

into a gift shop.

Along Bear Notch Road

Along the Kancamagus Highway

Sugar Hill Scenic Vista

Along the Kancamagus Highway

Sugar Hill Scenic Vista

Along the Kancamagus Highway

I love the Quaking Aspens!

Lincoln, NH

Two-lane interstate

Robert Frost House Museum - The house was built

in the 1860s.Frost and his family lived in the house

until 1920 and spent their summers there for nearly

20 years.

The front porch

The view from the front porch inspired Frost

with his writings.

There is nice a trail behind the house

with copies of some of his poetry.

The trail

Another Frost poem

Otto H Olsen Memorial Overlook

After this drive, it was about time to head to the next adventure, our trip up Mount Washington. We had a 3:30 reservation. They use 12-passenger vans but were only taking 8 passengers at a time. There were 3 vans going up at 3:30. We lucked out and ours only had 7 passengers. The driver, Hans, asked if anyone would like to sit in the front and I volunteered. I wanted a good spot to take pictures! The price was $40 each but well worth it when you see the road. You could drive yourself for $45 for car and driver and then $20 for each additional passenger. There is also a cog railroad that goes up the other side of the mountain. It is $59.50 for adults. We had wanted to do that but we thought it had already closed for the winter. When we saw them at the top of the mountain, we were glad we chose the van. the train car was so crowded. The road is 7.6 miles in length and goes through 4 different environmental zones.

Mount Washington is 6,288' high and is known for the worst weather in the world. It is in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. On April 12, 1934, the wind speed was clocked at 231 mph at the summit! That is the highest wind speed not associated with a tornado or hurricane. The summit building is designed to withstand 300 mph winds. The other structures are chained to the mountain. The Appalachian Trail crosses the summit.

It's going to be cold up there!

A map of Mount Washington Road

Here we go!

Along Mount Washington Road

See how narrow the road is?

Along Mount Washington Road

Almost at the top. You can see the ice forming.

Along Mount Washington Road

Summit house at the top is chained down.

Interesting information

Lots of ice on the observation deck

Here I am in front of the Observatory.

It was so cold! I have a winter coat under

my fleece!

One of the cog railroad cars

They show a weather report about every 5 minutes.

Conrad, proving he was there!

At the top

Tip Top House - A historic former hotel that was built

in 1853. It is the oldest surviving building in the

summit area. It was gutted by a fire in 1915.

Headed back down the mountain. It was really foggy at the top.

It's starting to clear and you can see the sun!

Coming down the mountain.

You can see the Visitors Center.

At the bottom

The sunset was pretty driving back to the hotel.

I had to stop and take a picture of the

full moon coming up.

Day 21 - Monday, October 18, 2021

We left the hotel at 7:40 this morning, headed to Lincoln and the Flume Gorge. It rained hard at times on our way there and we thought we were going to have to pass up this hike. But, it wasn't raining when we got there at about 9:00 so we decided to take a chance. It was a huge WOW! It is a 2 mile hike and ended up taking us 2 hours of uphill, downhill and lots of steps. We did find a couple places to sit and rest along the way.

The Flume is a natural gorge extending 800' to the base of Mount Liberty. The walls of Conway granite rise to a height of 70 to 90 feet and are 12 to 20 feet apart. At the top of the Flume is a close view of Avalanche Falls. The 45' waterfall creates a roaring sound as the Flume Brook enters the gorge. The falls were formed during the great storm of 1883, which washed away the hanging boulder. As you walk through this area, you will notice many boulders. Some are quite large, weighing over 300 tons. During the glacial period over 25,000 years ago, a great ice sheet more than a mile thick moved over this area. The mass of ice was so powerful, it moved both large and small boulders. As the ice sheet retreated, these boulders were left behind.

We spent a lot of time in the White Mountain

National Forest.

On our way to Flume Gorge

The trail at Flume Gorge

A huge glacial boulder

The trail at Flume Gorge

Conrad never can stay on a trail. There

is always something he needs to check out!

The trail at Flume Gorge

The trees really struggle to find ground.

The trail at Flume Gorge

Avalanche Falls

The trail at Flume Gorge

Avalanche Falls

The trail at Flume Gorge

Liberty Cascade

The trail at Flume Gorge

Liberty Cascade

The trail at Flume Gorge

Liberty Cascade

The trail at Flume Gorge

Another glacial boulder

Flume Gorge was our last stop in New Hampshire and then we were off to Vermont. Our first stop was the Rock of Ages Granite Quarry.

New Hampshire

Bridge over the Connecticut River

State #14

Not long after getting into Vermont, we came up on more road construction. The guy holding the sign that said SLOW. So, I started around and he had a look of fear on his face and pointed to his sign and realized he had the wrong side showing and turned it to STOP. At least I could stop and didn't get around him and head down the single lane.

The next stop was in Graniteville at the Rock of Ages Granite Quarry. We didn't get to do the quarry tour because of the weather and the factory tour was closed because of construction. So, we looked around the store and there were some interesting things to see and read in there. The quarry is nearly 600 feet deep. It is the largest operating deep-hole, dimension granite quarry in the world.

Rock of Ages Granite Quarry

Picture of Rock of Ages Granite Quarry

The crane at this quarry could pick up granite blocks weighing

250 tons. That's equal to 500,000 pints of Ben & Jerry's! About

75% of all the tombstones found in Hope Cemetery were

carved by the occupants of the graves they sit above.

Next, we went to Hope Cemetery. It was established in 1895. By that time, stone cutters from all over the world, especially Italy, were flocking to Barre, VT to enjoy the booming granite industry in the city. It is estimated that one out of every three memorials found across the US was made using granite mined in Barre. Barre is also known for having an uncommonly high death rate, but that too, is related to the industry that made it famous. When the Spanish flu swept through the area, many knew that death could be just around the corner and got to work designing their own tombstones. All the monuments in this cemetery were white granite.

Hope Cemetery

Our next stop was Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks. With eight generations of sugaring, the Morses may be the oldest maple family in existence. More than 5,000 trees produce the sap used for syrup, candy, cream and sugar . We watched a film about how the process is done. Sugaring takes place in March and April.

Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks

I had to try to maple ice cream. Yep...it was really good!

We made it to Montpelier for the night. It is the country's smallest capital city with a population of about 8,000.

Vermont's State Capitol

Montpelier

We got lucky again and found a great place to stay

at the Inn at Montpelier. It was an big, old house and

was so quaint. The room was small but comfortable. Breakfast

was served in the dining room the next morning.

We walked to a bar nearby for dinner. We had

Ahi Tuna Tacos that were really good.

Day 22 - Tuesday, October 19, 2021

We left the hotel about 8:00 after a breakfast of eggs, bacon, muffins, English muffins and more in the dining room. Our first stop was at the Vermont State House. It is one of the oldest and best preserved of our nation's state capitols. The House and Senate chambers are the oldest active legislative halls in the US that have preserved their original interiors. It has a gleaming, gold dome an columns of Barre granite measuring 6' in diameter.

Vermont State House

The ceiling of one of the rooms in the Capitol.

House of Representatives

Senate

Across the street from the Capitol

House by the Capitol

After this, we were off to Waterbury Center to Cold Hollow Cider Mill. The cider here is made the old-fashioned way, with a traditional rack and cloth press built in the 1920s. They weren't pressing when we were here but we watched a video of how it's done.

Cold Hollow Cider Mill

The press

Cold Hollow Cider Mill

We stopped at Cabot Cheese but it is closed on Tuesdays.

Then we headed over to Waterbury to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. The tours are still closed down but the Scoop Shop was open. Decisions...decisions...

Ben & Jerry's

On a busy day, it is an hour wait from here,

and then around the corner before you even

get inside! They had just opened when we got there.

Ben & Jerry's

Ben & Jerry's - Salted Caramel Blondie

Great choice!

Vermont

Vermont barn

Next up was Richmond and Old Round Church. It was built in 1812-13 under the direction of local craftsman William Rhodes to be the Town Meeting Hall and place of worship for members of five Protestant denominations. Significant for its rare design and well-preserved detail, it is perhaps the sole surviving example of an early 19-century 16-sided wooden meetinghouse. The church is topped by an octagonal belfry. It hasn't been used as a church since 1870 but is used for a variety of functions.

The Round Church

The Round Church - The pulpit

The Round Church

Vermont

Our next stop was in Shelburne at Shelburne Farms. Founded in the 1880s as a private estate for two very rich New Yorkers, this 1,400-acre farm is much more than an exquisite landscape, it's an educational and cultural resource center with a working dairy farm, an award-winning cheese producer, an organic market garden and a bakery.

Shelburne Farms

Lake Champlain is next to Shelburne Farms

Lake Champlain

Nearby is the town of Vergennes. It is Vermont's oldest city, founded in 1788. Cannon balls were made here during the War of 1812. This is where the Rokeby Museum is located. A Quaker family farm for nearly two centuries, the National Historic Landmark served as a safe-haven for runaway slaves during the days of the Underground Railroad. We toured the museum first and there was a great exhibit from the days of the Underground Railroad. Then we walked around the outside to look at the historic farm buildings.

Rokeby Museum

Rokeby Museum - The tourist cabin

People could stay in this cabin for $1.00 a night in the

1920s and 1930s.

Conrad found another tree!

It's a white locust tree.

Rokeby Museum - This is the

fanciest outhouse I've ever seen!

We stayed at the Quality Inn in Shelburne and had dinner at Archie's Grill

Day 23 - Wednesday, October 20, 2021

From the White Mountains of New Hampshire

to the Green Mountains of Vermont

Vermont - The trees are past peak

Vermont

We stopped at Quechee, a historic mill town. Quechee is Vermont's Little Grand Canyon. It sits just upriver from its namesake gorge, a 266' deep canyon cut by the Ottauquechee River. It was formed about 13,000 years ago by glacial activity. We hiked the trail behind the Information Center to the bridge and gorge.

The trail to the gorge.

The historic Quechee Gorge Bridge was built in 1911.

It is Vermont's oldest surviving steel arch bridge. It was

originally built as a railroad bridge and in

1933 was adapted for use as a highway bridge.

Quechee Gorge Bridge

Quechee Gorge

The next stop was in Norwich at the King Arthur Baking Company. It is just a big store selling King Arthur products, a place to eat, cooking items and a bakery where you can watch them making bread.

King Arthur Story

King Arthur Bakery

We drove back into New Hampshire briefly to drive through the Dartmouth College campus. Dartmouth College is a private Ivy League research university. Established in 1769, it is the ninth-oldest institution of higher education in the US and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution

Dartmouth College

To get back in to Vermont, we drove south to the Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge. It is a 460', 154-year-old, t wo-span, timber Town lattice-truss covered bridge that crosses the Connecticut River between Cornish, NH and Windsor, Vermont. The current bridge was built in 1866 at a cost of $9,000 (equivalent to $157,152 in 2019). From 1866 through 1943, it operated as a toll bridge.

The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge

It says, "Walk your horses or pay two dollars fine."

The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge

The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge crosses

the Connecticut River.

The Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge

To get to Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock, VT, we had to cross the Taftsville Covered Bridge. It was built in 1836 and is among the oldest remaining covered bridges both in Vermont and the nation.

Taftsville Covered Bridge

Sugarbush Farm, a historic 1865 farm house, was in the middle of nowhere, on a long, dirt road. The three generation family farm is famous for its excellent waxed cheeses and pure maple syrup made right on the farm. Maple syrup is only made in the spring but we were able to tour the area where it is actually made. Once sugaring season is over, the building is re-purposed to an educational sugar house with a video, steps on how maple trees are tapped and the sap boiled down into pure maple syrup, and displays of the family tapping 9,000 trees. They offered free samples of two of their cheeses and the 3 different stages of syrups. In the spring of 2021,121,976 gallons of sap was collected.

The road to Sugarbush Farm

Sugarbush Farm - Outside sap storage

Sugarbush Farm

4-1/2 full buckets of sap boil down to

1 quart of pure maple syrup.

Sugarbush Farm example of a

tapped tree

Sugarbush Farm - lines leading to one of the

sap houses

Leaving the Sugarbush Farm

Again, we lucked out with a great place to stay. The Quechee Inn was built in 1739 and was originally the home of Vermont's first lieutenant governor. Since that time, the historic residence has been expanded to include 22 guest rooms, 3 suites, a restaurant and a common area. The rooms were nicely furnished in 19th century style but small since they had added a bathroom in each room. We could have made reservations in the dining room for dinner but we were ready to eat right then since we hadn't had lunch. We drove in to town and ate at Public House. We had chili and tater tots and it was really good. We're getting tired of restaurant food and this tasted like homemade!

Quechee Inn

Quechee Inn - The barns

Quechee Inn

Chili and Tater Tots

When we got back to the inn, the sun was setting

and the trees were beautiful!

Sunset

Day 24 - Thursday, October 21, 2021

We didn't leave the hotel until about 8:45 this morning. It was really foggy and we had a nice breakfast in the restaurant. Our first stop was in Plymouth at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site. It was closed for the season. Coolidge was known as "Silent Cal" because he wasted little time on small talk. Coolidge guided the US to a period of economic prosperity before the onset of the Great Depression of 1929. Coolidge took the presidential oath of office in the parlor of his family home at 2:47 pm on August 3, 1923. President Harding had died only a few hours earlier. Coolidge's father, a notary public, administered the oath by the light of a kerosene lamp; he refused to install such modern conveniences as electricity. The house was also Coolidge's boyhood home.

View from Coolidge Home Site

Formerly a store - Coolidge was born in the

house behind the store.

Coolidge Birth Place

Coolidge boyhood home and where he was

sworn in as president.

Church Coolidge and his family attended

Inside the church

Great view from his home

These curtains remind me of some we had when

I was a kid!

Coolidge home

Conrad says this Eastern Red Cedar is really big!

More of the property

Mountain overlooking a lake in Plymouth, VT

Now this house is ON the lake!

Killington, VT - a popular ski area

Proctor - across the road from Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle was completed in 1867. It is a 32-room mansion that was built over eight years. The facade of the Castle is set with English brick and marble, and is dominated by nineteen open proscenium arches and shadowed by a towering turret, parapet and balcony. There are 84 stained-glass windows, hand painted Italian frescoes and 13 fireplaces finished with imported tiles and bronze. There are 13 bathrooms but only one is in working order. It cost $1,300,000 to build. From the 1880s until 1939, the property changed hands sixteen times. In 1939, Herbert Lee Wilson, a pioneer in the AM radio field, purchased the estate. Five generations of the Wilson family have lived at the house since 1939. Wilson's granddaughter is one of the tour guides. We were able to walk around the castle on our own after the tour and touch anything we wanted to touch.

Wilson's Castle

Painted ceiling above the staircases

Fireplace with blue Italian marble

Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle - dining room chair

Wilson's Castle - buffet in dining room

Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle - close up of blue Italian marble

Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle - Ceiling on 2nd floor is painted

to look like fabric. It was beautiful!

Wilson's Castle - Mrs Wilson's bedroom

Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle - the turret in Mrs Wilson's bedroom.

The glass is the original rounded glass.

Wilson's Castle - Mrs Wilson's bathroom

Wilson's Castle - Mr Wilson's bedroom

Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle - the landing going up to the 2nd floor

Wilson's Castle - chair from Chine

Wilson's Castle - chair from a pope in

exchange for some work done.

Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle - Louis XVI jewel case

Wilson's Castle

Wilson's Castle - skylight

Wilson's Castle - They had 3 Chinese scrolls

that are 700 years old. They have a 4th one that

is still rolled up and is 1,000 years old.

Wilson's Castle - the veranda has a marble and red

slate floor.

Wilson's Castle - view from the swing on the veranda

Wilson's Castle - The swing on the veranda is flat so

the ladies could sit on it and their ankles didn't

show below their dress!

Our next stop was in Weston at the Vermont Country Store. Again, no bargains to be had here but the fudge was really good!

Vermont Country Store

Vermont Country Store - Evening in Paris was one

of my mom's favorites!

The country's first marble quarry opened in Dorset in 1785. After that, dozens more opened, providing the marble for the main research branch of the New York Public Library, Harvard Medical School, and many NYC 5th Avenue mansions, among other notable landmarks. This quarry closed in 1920 and is now a popular swimming hole since 1922.

Dorset Marble Quarry

Near Manchester

Sacred Heart St Francis de Sales Church,

Bennington, VT

Day 25 - Friday, October 22, 2021

After breakfast, we headed out to find The Old First Church and Old Burial Ground. The church's congregation was organized in 1762 and the current meeting house was built in 1805, with a seating capacity of 650. The sidewalk in front of the church is marble.

Bennington Battle Monument - It was completed

in 1891. It was built to commemorate the Battle

of Bennington which occurred on August 16, 1777,

and is considered to be the turning point in the

Revolutionary War.

The Old First Church

The marble sidewalk

Old Burial Ground

The grave of Robert Frost, his wife

and children. His epitaph reads,

"I had a lover's quarrel with the world."

One of Frost's poem is posted at his grave.

Another poem at Frost's grave

Old Burial Ground

Back to state #8

President Chester Arthur lived here in Hoosick, NY

and graduated from Union College in nearby

Schenectady, NY in 1848.

Albany, NY

Big barns - Ellenville, NY

Rock Hill, NY

I've always been interested in Woodstock and this past August, I was reading about the 52nd anniversary of the event. I looked up where it was actually held, checked our map, and it wasn't much out of our way. So, we put it on the list. It was one of the best museums of this kind that I've seen. We spent a couple hours inside and then walked out back where the concert was held. AMAZING!

Museum at Bethel Woods - Woodstock took place here.

Bethel, NY

The Museum at Bethel Woods

Woodstock Museum

Woodstock Museum - I'm getting on the bus!

Woodstock Museum

Woodstock Museum - some of the speakers from

the concert

Woodstock Museum - the field where it was held

Woodstock Museum

Woodstock Museum - 52 years later the grass has all

grown back and it's a beautiful spot! You can see

Fillippini Pond in the background. This is where the

attendees went swimming and washed off the mud

from all the rain.

Woodstock Museum - the field

Woodstock Museum - close-up of the pond

Woodstock Museum - The guy on the right said that

he had come to Woodstock from Brooklyn with his

friends. He pointed out kind of where they were sitting.

A guy asked him about drugs and he said they brought

their own!

Woodstock Museum

Woodstock Museum - the field

Video of the Woodstock concert area

We ate our lunch in the car here and headed on to Pennsylvania. The trees in northern Pennsylvania are about at peak color. It was cloudy and rainy after we left Bethel. We spent the night in Hazleton, PA at Red Roof Inn.

Day 26, Saturday, October 23, 2021

Our goal is to get to Holmes County, Ohio. We drove over 400 miles today and probably half of it in the rain. Conrad did a lot of the driving today. It seems like the trees in Ohio have just started changing colors and so pretty. We had to drive through 5 or 6 tunnels in Pennsylvania. When we were getting to cross the state line from Pennsylvania to Ohio, we discovered we were in West Virginia! We didn't realize there was a small corner of West Virginia we had to cross. It was only for 4 or 5 miles and then got in to Ohio.

Tuscarora Mountain Tunnel in Pennsylvania

Rainy and foggy drive

Back to state #4

Colliers, WV - crossing into Ohio

State #15

Dover, OH

Amish farm in Sugarcreek, OH

Amish farm in Millersburg, OH

Amish man behind the sign, feeding cattle

Heini's Cheese - Millersburg, OH

Heini's Cheese

Millersburg, OH

We saw lots of Amish on bicycles

Millersburg, OH - We saw so many buggies.

We had wanted to spend two nights in Millersburg at the Hotel Millersburg but they were booked full for tonight so we got a room at the Days Inn in Wooster, north of Millersburg for one night and will move tomorrow. We got to the hotel and I waited at least 15 minutes for someone to come to the front desk. Another group was also there to check in and finally I called the hotel and nobody answered. I was about to call the non-emergency police number when the guy finally showed up. He said they had 2 housekeepers quit that day and he was checking rooms. We finally got a room and when we went in, it looked like somebody had been on the bed and there was toilet paper in the toilet. They would have cleaned it for us but the toilet needed a part and couldn't be fixed. So, we had to get an upstairs room and there was no elevator.

Day 27 - Sunday, October 24, 2021

We left the hotel about 8:30 in search of breakfast. The hotel couldn't serve breakfast because of Covid. We were just going to drive around, looking at the farms. Nothing is open on Sundays in Amish country! The sun peeked out once in awhile but no rain. We drove around the back roads in the area (as Conrad called them, the roads with no yellow lines). After lunch, we got to Coshocton to visit with Beth Lapp. We finally got to meet her parents and her sister. We had such a great visit catching up and Conrad enjoyed his visit with her dad, Reggie. Her mom, Clara Belle, visited with all of us and her sister Lisa spent some time with us. We didn't leave there until about 5:15 and as we left, her mom told us to "watch for deer!" It was like hearing my own mom! It took us about 20 or 30 minutes to get to the Hotel Millersburg. We were in room 203 this time. It is such a quaint, old hotel. We loved it last time we were in the area. We walked across the street for dinner at La Palma Mexican Restaurant. Tomorrow afternoon, we'll head for home.

Barn in Apple Creek, OH

Field of Kale - Wooster, OH

Corn growing right up to the road - Holmesville, OH

Courthouse - Millersburg, OH

Holmesville, OH

Millersburg, OH - covered woodpile

Millersburg, OH - huge pile of wood to split!

Millersburg, OH - Amish school

Millersburg, OH

Millersburg, OH - corn crib

Dundee, OH - Saw lots of these signs

Millersburg, OH - Yoder farm - We toured this

farm last time we were here.

Millersburg, OH - Yoder Farm barn

Millersburg, OH

Millersburg, OH - This machine automatically wraps

"bales." We think this is alfalfa.

Millersburg, OH - Now these folks are ready

for winter!

Sugarcreek, OH - Horse farm

Sugarcreek, OH - Everything looked so pretty!

Millersburg, OH - Amish walking home from church

Millersburg, OH - Buggy store, I guess!

Millersburg, OH - Hotel Millersburg - Built 1847

Our room

Hotel Millersburg

Day 28 - October 25, 2021

We left the hotel about 7:30 and headed to Miller's Bakery to get something for breakfast, (When Millers visit Ohio, they stay at the Hotel Millersburg in Millersburg and eat breakfast at Miller's Bakery!) We each got something and it was still warm and so good!

Beautiful morning!

Millersburg - Miller's Bakery

Miller's Bakery

Miller's breakfast from Miller's Bakery

Still warm and so good!

Millersburg

Corn shocks - Fredericksburg, OH

Amish school - Apple Creek, OH

Lehman's - You can't come to this area without

stopping at Lehman's! They have everything!

Dalton, OH

The next four pictures were taken inside Lehman's. The carving's are by Paul Weaver. All of these are carved out of a solid piece of butternut but sometimes he uses mahogany. No pieces were added to the picture. On some of them, he had to remove something he had already carved and then work behind it. Then, he glued to front part back. Paul Weaver is an Amish man who spent 20 years perfecting his skills of three-dimensional wood carving. A furniture maker by trade, Mr Weaver spends about three months on each piece. He uses simple hand tools. None of the carvings are for sale because they are part of Mr Weaver's personal collection. They are amazing!

Lehman's

This guy had to use an umbrella since his buggy

doesn't have a roof.

Apple Creek, OH - Monday is laundry day,

rain or shine.

Laundry day

We also made a quick stop at Hershberger's while passing back through Millersburg. We bought some apples and a few other canned goods. They also have a grill out back and we bought a burger and a couple fried pies for lunch.

Hershbergers - That pumpkin on top weighs 760 pounds!

Hershberger's produce

Bridge between Aberdeen, OH and Maysville, KY

State #16

We spent the night in Maysville, Kentucky at Days Inn. We had dinner at Pasquali's, an Italian restaurant. We both had the Chicken Fettucini Alfredo. It was good but a huge serving.

Day 29 - October 26, 2021

We left the hotel at 7:30, headed for home. The whole town of Paris, Kentucky was under construction. Then, the GPS took us right through the middle of downtown Lexington. It was a pretty town though. We passed by the Keene Race Track. It is huge. We drove through horse country. We made it to Sikeston, Missouri for the night. We got there early but it was the best place to stay since we felt we were just too tired to drive on home today.

Lexington, KY

Leitchfield, KY

Caneyville, KY

Cromwell, KY - more construction!

Grand Rivers, KY

Wickliffe, KY - Crossing the Ohio River

Just across the Ohio River - Cairo, IL

Illinois - State #17

Mississippi River ahead

Crossing the Mississippi River into Missouri

State #18

Day 30 - October 27, 2021

We left the hotel about 7:30, headed for home. It was an uneventful trip and we made it home at 11:58 a.m. We immediately unloaded the car, unpacked, put stuff away and started on the pile of laundry. I picked up the girls after school and they were so surprised and happy to see us!

It was a great trip! We drove 5,382.9 miles, were in 18 states and saw some beautiful country during my favorite time of year.