Milepost 10,290 (Home!!!)

Well, we're sort of home.  We're staying with Sabrina and Bryan (and, of course, Chloe) until our furniture is delivered next Tuesday.  We arrived in Tacoma early yesterday afternoon.  If you're wondering why we ended up cutting off a week or two of the trip to get here earlier...well, this photo should explain it.

Our new home will be at Pine Street Townhomes, which is next to the Tacoma Mall.  The following is our new contact information:

Address:  4348 S. Pine St., Unit B., Tacoma, WA 98409
Roger's Cell Phone:  (509) 432-3607
Steph's Cell Phone:  (509) 432-3880
(We no longer have a land line)

Thank you for following along on our travel blog.  We appreciated all of the feedback.  We're going to keep the blog going, at least for awhile, as a way to keep our friends and family informed about what we're doing in retirement.

As for our future travel plans, we have booked a Panama Canal cruise in December. We had been thinking of a Panama Canal cruise in the spring but decided to take advantage on a very good deal on the December cruise.

Milepost 8,636 (Milaca, MN)

Our Minnesota stop is just about over.  Tomorrow morning, we'll leave Milaca and begin the drive home.  We'll get to western North Dakota tomorrow and plan to be in Tacoma early Thursday afternoon.

As promised, here's a list of our favorite stops during the trip.

Favorite American History Sites
1: Gettysburg (and our favorite overall)
2: Independence National Historical Park
3: Minute Man National Historical Park
4: Monticello
5: National Civil Rights Museum
6: Jamestown
7: Antietam
8: Yorktown
9: Roosevelt Homes (FDR’s and Eleanor’s)
10: Daniel Boone Home

Honorable Mention: Hermitage, Shiloh, Appomattox, USS Constitution and Saratoga National Historical Park.

Favorite Music Sites
1: Ryman Auditorium
2: Sun Studio
3: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Favorite Sports Sites
1: Olympic Center in Lake Placid
2: Baseball Hall of Fame

Favorites for Just Having Fun
1: Cruise to New England/Canada
2: Niagara Falls

Milepost 8,324 (Woodbury, MN)

We arrived in Minnesota early this afternoon and will be spending some time with our families.  This coming Monday, we head back out on the road in the direction of our new home in Tacoma, WA.  We expect to be there on Thursday of next week (September 16).  Our furnishings/stuff will arrive the following Tuesday.  After nearly four months of living out of suitcases, we will once again have a home!

Yesterday, we were in Schaumburg, IL, to visit Steph's sister-in-law Amy and her family.  We had a delightful time (and a delicious dinner!).  Wish we would have had more time.  That's Amy and Cam with Steph.

Sometime in the next few days, we hope to post a "best of" compilation on our blog detailing our favorite stops during our trip.

Milepost 7,574 (Columbus, OH)

We're in Columbus, Ohio, a stop that allowed us to visit some friends and former colleagues.  Two of the people I worked with in my last job were Karen Olstad and Mike Rathke.  Both are now at WOSU in Columbus.  Tonight, we all got together at the home of Karen and her husband Will.  Will is next to Karen, and that's Mike to the right of me.  We had a wonderful time and enjoyed a delicious dinner.

Earlier today, we went to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH.  As with the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown several days ago, I focused on the teams from Minnesota (Vikings) and Seattle (Seahawks).  And like baseball, the team from Minnesota has the longer history and the greater success.

When you go back to the early days of the Vikings, the best known player was Fran Tarkenton. He was an immediate success with the Vikings in 1961, his rookie year and the first year of the expansion Vikings.  He ended his career holding every significant NFL passing record.

The leader of the defense back then was Alan Page.  In 1971, Page became only the second defensive player to be named the NFL's Most Valuable Player.  After retiring from football, Page became a lawyer and was elected to the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The Vikings head coach back in those years was Bud Grant.  Grant, who played both professional football and professional basketball, was one of the NFL's most successful head coaches.

The only member of the Football Hall of Fame who spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks was Steve Largent.  When he retired in 1989, he held several NFL receiving records, including most receptions (819).  Of course, those records are now all held by Jerry Rice, who finished his career in Seattle.

The Football Hall of Fame was enjoyable, though not nearly as good as its baseball counterpart.  I did pretty much skip the section on the Super Bowl.  When your teams are 0-5 in that game, it was just too depressing!

One thing I did learn today was that in 1959, Minneapolis was issued a charter membership in the American Football League, which began play the following year.  However, Minneapolis backed out of that when there was an opportunity for an NFL franchise.  They were replaced in the AFL by Oakland.

Milepost 7,402 (Canton, OH)

We went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland today.  That's an outside view of the museum on the left.  I'd like to show you something from inside but no photos are permitted.  So this will have to do.

Tomorrow, it's the Football Hall of Fame here in Canton.

Milepost 7,335 (Cleveland)

Fall seems to have suddenly arrived around Lake Erie.  We drove from Buffalo to Cleveland today, and the temperature was generally in the 50's and low 60's.  And it was very windy, as you can see in the photo above, taken looking out at Lake Erie from Westfield, NY.

In Cleveland, we're staying across the street from the Quicken Loans Arena (yes, that's the name), which is where the Cleveland Cavaliers play.  And where LeBron James used to play.  I decided it would not be in my best interest to wear a LeBron James Miami Heat jersey.

Tomorrow, we're going to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Milepost 7,122 (Buffalo/Niagara Falls)

I learned a couple of things today on our trip to Niagara Falls.  First, Niagara Falls is even more fun that I had anticipated.  And I'm an even worse photographer than I had thought.  You see, I took a whole bunch of photos today only to discover when we got back to our hotel that I had accidentally moved a setting on our camera from still photo to video for about half the photos.  Which meant I got a couple of dozen three-second videos.

We began our visit with a ride on the Maid of the Mist, which takes you past both the American falls and the Horseshoe falls.  And they might as well have called it the Maid of the Driving Rain 'cause there was a lot more than mist.  This photo was taken as we were headed toward the Horseshoe falls (and we got closer to the falls than that boat you see in the distance...wish I had the photos to prove it!). 

From there, we went to Cave of the Winds.  I'm not sure why they use the word "cave," because there's no cave involved.   But there is lots of wind and lots of water.  That's me on the "Hurricane Deck," which is less than 20 feet away from Bridal Veil Falls.

American Falls is pictured in the last photo.  Tomorrow, we're going drive along Lake Erie to Cleveland.

Milepost 7,083 (Buffalo)

Steph and I are fans of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on The Food Network.  We hoped to find a few of these eating establishments on our trip, but somehow it never worked out.  When we'd get to our hotel each day, we were generally too tired to go anywhere beyond a nearby chain restaurant.  Until today.  We arrived in Buffalo, NY, around 3:00 this afternoon, and Steph suggested researching whether there were any Triple-D restaurants nearby.  And we were in luck.

This is the Lake Effect Diner in Buffalo.  It was featured on Triple-D last year.  Click here to watch the video.  We had the haddock that you see prepared in the video, though I had the lemon butter version.  Both versions were very good.  But did you see the grilled mac and cheese in the video?  Absolutely delicious.

On the trip from Albany to Buffalo today, we made a quick side-trip to Rome, NY, to see Fort Stanwix, which was the site of a siege by British forces in August of 1777.  Members of the Continental army were able to hold off the British and their allies for 21 days.  It ended when Continental reinforcements arrived.  The fort you see in the photo is a reconstruction.

Tomorrow, we're going to Niagara Falls.

You might be wondering whether Hurricane Earl will have an impact on our trip.  It shouldn't.  We're too far inland.  But we're sure happy this wasn't the week of our cruise into New England!