Mark and Linda's Wild Adventure!

Going home is highly overrated. It may have worked for "The Wizard of Oz," but "The (Mis) Adventures of Linda and Mark" is another story. After more than three months of traveling, we ditched the ruby slippers and added three more cities to our itinerary: Chattanooga, Savannah, and St. Augustine.

The best part of Chattanooga was that we conned...er, cajoled my brother, Bill, and his better-half, Linda, to join us for a few days. They were going to Dayton anyway, so we planted ourselves in between them and Ohio. For three days we did enough to fill a week--the Tennessee aquarium, Ruby Falls, Rock City, the Incline Railway, the Chattanooga (Civil War) battlefield, yet another winery, the art district, even walked over a transparent bridge (you might ask: "How did they even know the bridge was there?!"), and more. Bill and Linda are game for anything! We had so much fun!

Sadly, we parted ways so that they could continue their trek to Dayton to attend Bill's Air Force reunion. We headed to Savannah. Paula Deen's restaurant "The Lady and Sons" was AMAZING! The food was outstanding. Took the trolley around town, ate at the Pirate's House, found The Cupcake Emporium (where cupcakes are created by gods), and watched artists paint in the market. So beautiful!

The last stop was St. Augustine. Been there a billion times, but it's still THE coolest city. And, Joe, our friend and "Center of our Universe" for 20+ years, lives there. The three of us went to lunch with a pirate, walked the city, and found another celestial cupcake bakery. Although we've discovered the San Sebastian winery before, after five or six "tastes" we forget it...and where we left the car...where we live...but, relish the thrill of re-discovering it during our next visit. Another great time!

We begrudgingly "struck" camp and returned home on October 8. Four months on the road. It was even better than we expected, and it's hard to be home doing regular stuff. Even laundry was more exciting...in Chattanooga they had a two-way mirror in the laundry room. Did they expect to see campers running amuck with the fabric softener? Naked people making sure every last bit of laundry was done? I'll tell you what they saw...me. My face mushed against the glass, my eyes riveting side-to-side, repeating, "I can see you! Yes, I can! Yes, I can!" No, I didn't really do that, but I DID think about making a very mean face. Scary mean. I might, if we ever return.

So, you can understand how being home might be boring. Except. Except for the prospect of seeing our friends. So difficult to be without the people we're used to being near. Some old friends. Some newer ones. All dear to us. Hard to leave them behind. So, we'll bask in their friendship for a few months, then hit the road in April or May. If only we could bring everyone with us. Hmmm....

P.S. The weekend after we got home, we went with Thor and Em to Daytona's Biketoberfest. Pics included.

Non-stop action in Ohio (yes, it IS possible!) Go-carted at Mary Jane (best high school buddy) & Steve's, ate Cassanos pizza (best 40 years ago, best today), celebrated birthdays, MJ and I had lunch with Patty (friends since the 7th grade?!!) & generally hung out. Also visited Barb (best neighborhood buddy) & Ron. Got three (fresh "out of the shoot") eggs from their plantation, hiked past old canal locks & Barb and I went to the Piquay Rodeo/Craft/Food Festival. Met up with everyone's children and grandchildren, dogs, and (in Barb's case) assorted horses, chickens, goats, and cats. Such good friends. We were very sad to leave Ohio.

Noticed a missing house down the street from my former Ohio home. Oh, the foundation was there, but the rest was gone. As in "poof!" What was left, looked oddly familiar (see pic). Turns out the house was the dentist office I used to go as a child. Someone left the laughing gas on and that night...BLAMO! No one's laughing now. And, yes, I have an alibi.

Nostalgia. Everything was the best or the worst. I weighed 99 pounds, my parents' Ohio home was HUMONGOUS, and I walked miles to visit friends. Reality. I weighed 99 pounds...for about 10 minutes in 1973. The house may have been 1200 square feet, and my friends all lived within a mile. Mark's high school was condemned and bull-dozed into oblivion. We've learned the best...and most accurate...memories are of our friends.

Camping is amazing! We've had dinner out on our picnic table, while being regaled by (an excellent) country duo 200 feet away. Our Nashville tour guide sang "his greatest hits," too. Evidently, nothing more irresistible than a van filled with captive tourists. We've parked in the middle of some beautiful forests, met people from every state, had a hot-air balloon land within arms' length, brought Max (dawg) to a drive-in to see a double feature, toured Andrew Jackson's mansion and the Belle Meade Plantation, spelunked Mammoth caves, dodged bats, toured more wineries, saw Harry Potter at a 3-D IMAX theater, ate at places we've seen featured on the Food Network, visited attractions highlighted on travel channels, and have generally enjoyed retirement with each other and our friends.

Next up: Chattanooga (where Bill-bro & Linda-newly retired- will meet up with us-yea!), Savannah, Macon, St. Augustine, then, on October 8, we'll return to Port Saint Lucie. Yep, there's still time to come up with excuses why you can't come over to review our blog in person. Until then...take care! Linda

How is it that we were the LAST to find out that Chicago is THE most fabulous city! We were stupid enough (please, someone...anyone, act surprised!) to think we could tour Chicago in one day. We screeched into town in a double-decker (I'm pretty sure) jet-propelled train...surely inspired by an episode of "The Jetsons!" Our first duty: a Chicago hot dog. Wow! ...pretty sure they're even better when consumed IN Chicago. We stood in the Sears (now Willis) Tower lobby, but chose not to wait the 90-minutes (we had only one day!) to visit the new transparent balconies at the top. We walked until exhaustion, then hailed a water taxi. That, alone, was amazing! We headed across the lake to the Navy Pier (THE most festive half mile you'll ever roam), then took the water taxi through Chicago via the canals/river to the train station. Condos lined the waterway, each patio dripping with vines and vibrant blooms. Breathtaking! We are SO moving to Chicago!

Next up: Madison, Wisconsin...home of Casey Coleman, famous (to us) son of my brother, Bill, and soon-to-be-retired mom, Linda Linda. We toured downtown Madison (more restaurants per sq inch than any other city), the capitol (more volume, but not necessarily more square feet, than any other capitol), walked through the (faux-) Swiss colony of New Glarus (which assumed Swiss status as tourist bait), ate at a pizza parlor (voted the best pizza in Madison). These parenthesis were provided by Casey, who is a virtual machine gun of little known facts! Although we missed the gay rights parade, we did see the University of Wisconsin's formidable student union bar (IRSC???) and lakeside cafe. Thanks, Casey, for being such a fun/funny tour guide!

The Wisconsin Dells were a hoot! We rode through the Lost Canyon (known only to the hundreds of thousands of tourists who ride the horse-drawn wagons daily), the (1/8 th to scale) steam engine train, barf-able water ski show (so bad it was worse), and highly fabulous Wisconsin duck (an amphibious vehicle that drives--mostly fast--on land and sea). A day that screamed "tourist!"

A definite highlight was our visit to Mark's oldest brother, Jim, and his wife, Diane, in Galesburg, Illinois. Jim has been fighting a winning battle against cancer. It was a relief to finally see him, and to know his spirit is strong, and his sense of humor firmly intact! We reminisced, ate at Galesburg's finest, picnicked with his girls and their children, and generally had a great time being with family. It has been (way) too long!

Currently in Indianapolis; too tired to be tourists. Catching up with shopping, videos, reading, laundry...and blogs. A temporary "retirement from retirement."

Next: Dayton, Ohio, to visit childhood (100 years and counting) friends Mary Jane and Barb, and their families. They've been duly warned!

Where to begin? The middle, of course. At Newburg, NY, Jessica stayed with us for a long weekend. We visited her in NYC a few times, too. Central Park, Central Park Zoo, Ophra's favorite pizza place, Grand Central Station, Juniors, train rides along the Hudson River, winery tours. So fun. So sad to leave her behind. Our New York campground's Big Theme was-- Christmas in July. During the month of July, Santa joined the kids for the daily 5-6 p.m. let's-sound-the-siren-throughout-the-campground fire truck ride. Doc says I might be able to hear low-flying jets and jack hammers by Halloween.

Gettysburg was awesome! We did the two-hour bus tour. Cheesy, yes, but the guide had us believing we were about to get caught in the crossfire. Surprisingly enough, I'm reading "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara...who knew I could
read?!! It's a novel based on the Battle of Gettysburg. We also ate in a 200-year-old tavern (food was new), where the owners had 14 children, and they hid runaway slaves. We apologize for the "touristy" pictures, but no blog is complete unless someone groans.

Visited our very favorite Aunt Carol (my dad's sister) and (equally favorite) Uncle Bob. Went to an Amish community (Walcott), where we ate in an Amish restaurant. Delicious! Apple pies and fried cherry pies were...um...sorry, I blacked out...DELICIOUS!!! They treated us to dinner at STEAK ON A STONE, where the steak is served on a 5 x 7 slab of volcanic stone heated to 750 degrees. You cut a bite, cook one side for five seconds, flip, eat. Fabulous! Best steak we've had in...forever!

Speaking of Heaven, both Mark and I realized our own piece of it. Mark got to visit the Harley Factory in York, PA. It's embarrassing to see a grown man drool. Same day we touristed The Hershey Chocolate Factory. Did you know Peppermint Patties are made there? Fact: Women can drool AND maintain their dignity.

Cue rain. Fog. Sound effect: Pop! Scene: At the peak of a mountain, somewhere in Pennsylvania, we found out we'd blown a tire. Fortunately, there was a tavern immediately ahead (cue dueling banjoes), where we pulled over, until AAA arrived. Changed out the flat for "the donut" in less than an hour. Soon after we arrived at our campground, the owner (Mert) had ordered two new tires (the other tire had a cut, too) and had one of his employees install the new ones. The best worst catastrophe we've ever had.

Visited the University of Notre Dame, Mark's dad's (Mel) alma mater. Full scholarship. Class of '38. Found his junior and senior class pictures in the Alumni office cache of yearbooks. He had a full head of hair and would soon make his mark ("Make his Mark"...get it? Cue: Groan.)

Briefs: Short stop at a walk-in clinic to remove wood splinters from my thumb...but, the campfire was outrageous! Hot-air balloon landed in our Ohio campground. Easy to get in the basket, needed a crane to get out. Next: Wisconsin (Mark's roots), Illinois (Mark's brother), Ohio (my girlfriends). Later! P.S. I miss everybody SO much!!!

Lots of history and food in Fredericksburg, Virginia. We enjoyed equal doses of both, except when hot fudge was involved. Then, we enjoyed the hot fudge more. We toured Mt. Vernon (George Washington's mansion), Mary Washington's house (George's mom) and Kenmore Estates (his sister's home). Beautiful! We'd planned to go to D.C., but our campground was too far away. Good thing. The day we'd planned to visit was the same day they shot that man on the steps of the Capitol. With our luck, we would have been "the innocent bystanders" mentioned in the next morning's headlines...using the past tense. Instead, we saw "Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince." After 2 and 1/2 hours, I still don't know what the title means, but Mark (he's read all the books) loved it.

Mark and I are in Plattskill, New York now. Last weekend, Jessica (daughter) took the train in from NYC to join us at our campsite for the weekend. The three of us checked out a couple of wineries, the Vanderbilt mansion and FDR's mansion. Then, we visited our first New York diner. YUM! Yesterday we took the 90-minute train ride, which parallels the Hudson River, into "the city." Typical of everyone's parents, we arrived two hours early for dinner with Jessica, so we explored Grand Central Station, Times Square, and a half-dozen Star Bucks. The pics are attached. In Times Square I agreed to take a picture of a cute young foreign couple as they stood among the usual throng of non-English speaking tourists. When i finally got them in focus, a dozen people stood posed in the frame. I shook the camera and refocused. Turns out everyone in the throng was a member of their family. Grandmas, grandpas, moms, dads, kids, and grandkids. I backed up a quarter mile, until everyone was in focus and clicked. They were so pleased. I got my back patted so many times, I was tempted to press charges. Only in New York City!

Two hours later, we met Jessica at Juniors (the best hamburger--with onion rings--on Broadway). With her new job (Events Coordinator for The Pulse, a dance company) she had about an hour before she had to get back to work. We "threw down" some burgers and a chocolate milk shake. Best hour I've had in a very long time. We'll return on Saturday for a finale, then off to Gettysburg.