In My Footsteps Podcast Episode 47: Restaurant Storytime 3, Top 5 Xmas TV Specials, Nintendo Game Boy, Colonial Williamsburg

 

Road Trip Day 6 - Wild Horses and the Long Journey Home

     The 6th day of my epic road trip was to be mostly the drive home.  It began in the small town of Onley, Virginia on the eastern shore.  I left the motel by 9am with one last great place to visit.  This was Assateague Island National Seashore home to loads of wild ponies.  

     There are signs everywhere warning visitors to stay back 40 feet from the ponies, to not feed them, or even entice them to come closer, you will get fined $100.  I parked at the beach first and took a quick look around there and some of the neighboring campground without seeing anything but seagulls.  So I drove to the park entrance which leads you about 3 1/2 miles south into the belly of the seashore.  There are several little roads leading off the main one along with off-road routes and walking/bike trails.  On my way down this road I happened upon a little brown pony grazing and stopped to get a photo of it.  

     Every so often I'd come upon a car stopped in the middle of the road, knowing they saw something good.  After puttering around for nearly an hour and see 1 horse and a deer I decided to head out.  It was when I was nearly at the exit, past the ranger station, that I saw an even smaller pony grazing.  I stopped to get some photos when it began to whine.  A few seconds later a pair of larger ponies showed up meaning this was the baby.  The threesome were followed by a few more ponies and I sought safety back in my car.  I did manage a great photo of the ponies heading down the road though.

     On my way back north I did have one more thing I wanted to see.  A skeletal lighthouse in Delaware.  Reedy Island Rear Range Light looks just like a lighthouse in Marblehead, Massachusetts except that it sits in a field nearly three miles west of the Delaware River.  Not wanting to tempt fate with No Trespassing signs everywhere I grabbed one photo and left, it was not too far out of my way to get there but still seemed like a little bit of a waste of time.

    After having lunch at Panda Express, one of my favorite places although the closest one to home is about 75 miles, I started the long journey home.  Rather than just put home in the GPS I picked stopping points along the way to make the 600 mile drive seem more manageable.  I stopped at a Wawa gas station to see what it was all about before I got too far north to go to one.  I had made the mistake of not stopping at a Sheetz convenience store and wasn't going to make that mistake twice. 

     Piggybacking on my visit to Panda Express my next stop would be Quizno's in Orange, Connecticut.  I used to frequent the chain when the had a location in Hyannis but that closed years ago and I was never willing to drive 3 hours to the nearest one.  Of course before reaching Quiznos I had to stop at a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike to stretch my legs.  I managed to get a good sunset photo, although not nearly as nice as the one at Bodie Island Light the day before.

     After sunset I had the obligatory getting stuck in New York City traffic, although my Waze app led me around it as best it could.  I ended up going northwest of the city and then coming down south to get to the Quiznos in CT.  That was my final stop, it was another 3 hours home from there to pull into the driveway at 11:30pm.

     All in all I drove 2,100 miles through 11 states, took 1,000 photos, tons of video I need to edit, and saw many Bucket List places.  I might be tired now but am already thinking of where my next road trip adventure might take me.  Thanks for following along.  These posts have been brief but as time goes on there will be much more detailed articles about most of the towns and attractions I saw just in case anyone needs motivation to go and see them for themselves.  

Road Trip Day 4 - Jamestown and Finding the Ocean

     Day 4 was filled with driving and seeing only a few places, but those places were worth the drive.  It started with me getting out of Lynchburg early, letting the hotel manager know I was less than impressed with his room and the noisy guests above me.  My original plan was to drive nearly 3 hours east to Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown, Virginia.  I am big on history so Jamestown has been on my to-do list for a long time.  

     A hiccup came with the fact that NC-12 the road that stretches most of North Carolina's Outer Banks had been closed due to the storm that had passed through over the weekend.  The meant my original plan of sunset there Tuesday night was off since it wouldn't be opened until mid-afternoon Wednesday.  I had wanted to do a sunset shoot of the wild horses on the beach at Assateague State Park in Maryland Wednesday night but couldn't be there and Cape Hatteras Lighthouse at the same time.  The compromise was to drive all the way up to Assateague from Lynchburg Tuesday, nearly 6 hours, get some shots and head down to the Outer Banks for Wednesday.  In all I'd have done about 550 miles and 10 hours of driving.  

     Luckily my route to Assateague took me right past Williamsburg and Jamestown, I thought maybe I could stop off briefly and see those places and still make it to the horses by sunset.  My love of history topped my desire to see the horses and I got lost in time at Jamestown.  It is impossible to rush when seeing the first permanent English settlement in America.  Every plaque had to be read, every piece of a building's foundation had to be photographed, plus there is ongoing archaeological digging happening.  The Jamestown Church is awe-inspiring.  The current one dates from 1906 and stands on top of where the original wooden church was built in 1608.  That was where Pocahontas married John Rolfe in 1614.  

Inside the Jamestown Church

     Colonial Williamsburg is the neighboring town to Jamestown, it's a third of America's Historic Triangle with Yorktown being the other town.  It is a family-friendly, touristy spot compared to Jamestown.  It has shops, restaurants, tours, people playing the roles of Colonial-era citizens, and more.  For those familiar with it, it is along the same lines as Plimoth Plantation but with more food and shopping.  It is definitely worth visiting, and it was pretty busy for a mid-November weekday so I could only image the lines during summer.

A Colonial-era horse and carriage at Williamsburg.

     After visiting those two places I realized there was no chance I'd make it to Assateague before sunset.  I readjusted my plans and decided to go back to the original which was to head to North Carolina's Outer Banks.  Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is a major Bucket List spot and the entirety of the Outer Banks is a place I've wanted to visit for years.  I booked a room in Kill Devil Hills, a beachfront room for cheap which really made my night.  Only when driving down to the hotel did I realize how big the Outer Banks is.  From where I stayed it is well over an hour south to Cape Hatteras still.

     I managed to find a little walking trail in Kitty Hawk that had a neat dock.  Knowing that I still have to wait until Wednesday afternoon to go to Cape Hatteras I decided to save many of the sites on the Outer Banks until morning.  After driving 1,200 miles since Saturday I ironically have no choice but to sit still for a while.  I plan on visiting the Wright Brothers Memorial first.  I kept my trying new places streak going by having dinner at Max's Italian Restaurant and getting supplies from Publix.  They need to build one on Cape Cod.

A secret spot in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

     I did manage to get my shoes soaked at the beach in the town of Duck which was great. Luckily I brought my running shoes in case I'd had the desire to exercise.  Those are now my main shoes with the others drying in my trunk.  All in all it was a much better Day 4 than Day 3, the hotel is great, on the beach, the weather is clearing up and Wednesday should be filled with epic sites to see on the Outer Banks.

Road Trip Day 3 - Civil War Bookends

     Day 3 of my epic road trip peaked in the morning and went downhill slowly thereafter.  I left Hagerstown, MD a little after 9am headed for Harpers Ferry, WV.  This part of the day was great. The sky was overcast and it was only in the low 40's but the little town of Harpers Ferry is full of history.  It was here on October 16-18, 1859 that John Brown attempted but failed to start a slave revolt by overtaking the arsenal at Harpers Ferry. It was considered to be a dress rehearsal for the Civil War.  The town, located where the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers meet, is home to less than 300 people year round yet welcomes more than half a million visitors each year.  

John Brown's Fort in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

     The downtown area looks and feels straight out of the 1850's with more historical plaques than you can believe.  The highlights include John Brown's Fort where he holed up during the raid on the arsenal in 1859, the B&O Railroad bridge which goes through a tunnel, and the Maryland Heights trail which is a 6.5 mile round trip hike to the top of a rocky hill that overlooks Harpers Ferry.  If I'd have had more time, and it wasn't cloudy I might have attempted it.

     Next was a stop at another Civil War era town Winchester, Virginia.  It is known for its Old Town area that includes Stonewall Jackson's headquarters that is today a Civil War museum.  The area is also a dining and shopping hub that doesn't allow vehicles, only pedestrian traffic.  It was here that I also stopped for lunch and tried something new for me, Bojangles.  Think similar to KFC, there are more than 750 in the southeast, it was a good stop, although messy to eat in a car.  

Old Town Winchester, Virginia

     From there things went downhill.  The next stop was meant to be the north entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway in Afton, Virginia.  I wanted to drive the scenic route for a little while and get some great photos.  I had an idea that the entrance might be closed due to the time of year, so that was not a total shock.  I went up to the visitors center on a nearby hill, which itself had some amazing views.  The super nice couple that worked inside actually had ties to New England, living at one point in Greenfield, Massachusetts.  They told me there might be an alternative route to get me onto the Blue Ridge Parkway about 17 miles southwest in the small village of Love.  I drove the curvy, climbing route, over 3,000-feet up, only to find that the road was closed still at that point too.  I was pretty disappointed.

     By this time it was 4pm, cloudy, and starting to rain.  I decided to try for my last destination anyway, the Appomattox Court House National Park which was where Lee surrendered to Grant to end the Civil War in 1865.  It was more than an hour south so I was hustling trying to get there with some semblance of light remaining.  The rain came down harder and it looked bleak.  Sunset was at 5:02pm and I arrived there about 5 minutes after.  I raced to at least get a few photos and videos of the McLean House where the actual surrender occurred.  The park closed at 5pm so the rangers were in the midst of shutting it down.  I told them I just wanted a photo and they let me go which was nice of them.  I managed to grab the photos and video I needed and then was on my way.  It was as good as I could have hoped for considering the time and weather.

The McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia

     I ended my 3rd day of my road trip in Lynchburg, Virginia.  It is a pretty nice college town, home to Liberty University.  I continued my streak of trying something new for dinner by going to Firehouse Subs.  There are more than 1,100 locations in the country but none closer than 75 miles of where I live.  That was a good choice.  The hotel, not as much.  They didn't take cash, my AAA discount was not close to what the website had offered, plus the people in the room above me sounded like they were killing each other most of the night.  I got up earlier this morning and am bypassing a shower just so I can get out of here.

     Due to the big storm that passed through the Outer Banks, North Carolina access road is likely closed until tomorrow afternoon.  This means I have to do some clever rerouting to see all I want to see and still make it home late Thursday.  Starting Day 4 heading to historic Jamestown, Virginia!