West Virginia to Maine

Recently, I was able to take my first real trip north of the Mason-Dixon line. Bodhi, Thomas and I went to Eastport, Maine to visit his mom and step-dad at their house there. They live most of the year in SoChas and go north for the summer. I took 10 days off work and we decided to celebrate the Fourth of July, which happens to be my birthday, in Maine.

I don't have a lot of pictures for the car time, though I ensure you we spent A LOT of time in the car. 2500 miles roundtrip, 3 nights in a hotel and one night at a friend's house. Approximately 45+hours were spent driving.

This post is the first major leg of the trip, Charleston, W.Va. to New Harbor, Maine.

We left around 2 a.m. Thursday, July 1. I got off work at 1:30 and met Thomas at his mom's, where we left his car.

I drove the first leg while Thomas slept, which was supposed to be to the first rest area in Maryland. I was pretty awake at that point, so I drove a little further and the sun started rising. Around 5 a.m. we stopped about 20 miles from Frostburg at an Exxon to gas up, wake up, and let the baby eat. Bodhi was a trooper and easily slept the first 8 or 9 hours of the trip, waking only to eat or when we stopped.

Thomas took over and I got a chance to sleep. That's the primary reason there are no pictures from the first leg of the trip; the photographer was asleep. I slept all the way past Scranton, which was a bummer because I was eager to see the town where my favorite TV show is based! Saw it on the way back, wow. like a slightly larger Huntington.

We switched drivers again and Thomas got to sleep a little more, while I took us through N.Y. I kept going through Connecticut, on our way to Hotel #1, in Vernon, Ct. Thomas calls Connecticut the Land of a million Audis. We decided to count and see how many we could spot. At an off-time, only going through half of Connecticut, we saw more than 50 in about 70 miles. Not too shabby.

We made fantastic time on the trip and ended up making it to the Comfort Inn before check-in time. There was a deli next to the hotel, Rein's, which had a pretty good UrbanSpoon rating. We checked it out and it was delicious! Thomas has a Rachael, which is just like a Rueben but with slaw instead of sauerkraut. I went with the traditional Reuben and Bodhi had the mac and cheese. It was so delicious.

We went to check-in, got to our room and promptly crashed. Bodhi and I snuggled from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thomas said he got up at 7, but I have no recollection and can only take his word. We were hungry, and Rein's was good the first time, so we had it again for dinner. I had the open face roast beef and Thomas had the hot turkey. We decided to reward ourselves and add some ice cream. I had chocolate peanut butter and Thomas had vanilla. It was absolutely awesome ice cream. Maybe even better than the sandwiches. We wound down with some TV and then hit the hay.

Friday we got up early and left for Freeport, an town of outlets in Maine. We passed through Massachusetts and New Hampshire before hitting Maine. Traffic got a little heavier, but very reasonable, especially for the time of year.

We arrived in Freeport at lunchtime and walked around looking for a place to eat. We decided on the Corsican, which was a very charming little house with good food and reasonable priced. I had my first official New England clam chowdAHHH. Mm. With the dill roll, it was so delicious. Bodhi had some pasta with really fresh tomato sauce and Thomas had a cup of chowdah and a sandwich I think, plus his first Gearys.

We left the Corsican and went to the LL Bean store, where we drooled over everything we couldn't afford. I had to pull Thomas away with the promise we would go to the outlet where he was more likely to find something in our price range.

We went to the regular store, the bike, boat and ski store and looked at some of the large tents. LL Bean just so happened to be next to Ben and Jerry's, so we had to have a little afternoon snack. I have the black raspberry froyo and Thomas went with the heath bar. both delicious.

We needed to get to Hotel #2 so we headed for the LL Bean outlet. after not thinking we would find anything there, either, Thomas scored a nice gortex jacket and I got, get this, a day pack and a sleeping bag, for less than $47! Great, great deals.

We drove up U.S. 1 to Damariscotta, ME to the Pioneer Motel, and that is where this post will end. stay tuned for lobstahh!