Summer Trip - July 8-August 1, 2007

These pictures were taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S9000 digital camera on a summer trip around the eastern U.S. with a side trip to California mostly in July, 2007. Links to the pictures are within the trip report below. Images are shown at a resolution of 640x480, but many are available in full size or cropped from the originals or in half of original size by clicking on the links after the captions.

Sunday, July 8, 2007

The trip began from Pittsfield around 9:00 Sunday morning with the first stop scheduled to be the Yankee game in the Bronx. We had an easy ride to New York and arrived at the Yankee Stadium parking lot before 11:30. The weather was hot but the game was good - a 12-0 Yankee win [43 Pictures], which meant lots of people leaving early and not much traffic by the time it ended. We then drove in [31 Pictures] to midtown Manhattan. It took a few laps around the very busy streets near Times Square to find the hotel then to park, but we managed. We walked around the area and met Rick and Maria for dinner [13 Pictures]. After dinner, they drove us across the Brooklyn Bridge to get some views of Manhattan from the promenade there [13 Pictures].

7/8 Mileage: 151

Monday, July 9, 2007

We had some time in the morning to look around midtown. We walked north along 6th and 5th Avenues [8 Pictures] to the southeast corner of Central Park [7 Pictures], then back south along 5th [5 Pictures], with more pictures at St. Patrick's Cathedral [10 Pictures] and Rockefeller Center [11 Pictures]. Around 11, we checked out of the Comfort Inn Midtown [3 Pictures] and drove out of Manhattan [5 Pictures] to the Lincoln Tunnel [5 Pictures]. We drove across New Jersey [41 Pictures, mostly roads] making a lunch stop in West Orange. We took I-80 for a while, then the more scenic US 46. At the end of 46 and back on I-80, we made a stop to look around at the Delaware Water Gap [19 Pictures] before crossing into Pennsylvania. The ride through northeastern Pennsylvania [9 Pictures] was quick for the most part, with just one short construction delay. We got to the Williamsport area and had time to check into the Super 8 in Montoursville before dinner and the baseball game. After pizza for dinner in downtown Williamsport [9 Pictures], we saw the Williamsport Crosscutters beat the Tri-City ValleyCats in a NY-Penn League game [54 Pictures].

7/9 Mileage: 232

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

This was the first of just a couple long travel days for the trip. We needed to get from Williamsport to Gaylord, Michigan, so we got a reasonably early start and headed west on I-80 across Pennsylvania. We stuck with I-80 to Toledo, then took I-280, I-75, I-275, I-96, US 127, and I-75 again to get to Gaylord, Michigan, in about 12 1/2 hours. All the pictures are from the roads, so they're on one big page for this day [90 Pictures].

7/10 Mileage: 675

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Just stayed around Gaylord today. Pictures are from the lake in the morning [18 Pictures], from a ride through town to upload pictures at the library and to get some food [5 Pictures], ducks at the lake [4 Pictures], and cooking out [6 Pictures]. Cathy also has some pictures [53 Pictures].

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Second full day in the Gaylord area. After a side trip to the Petosky area [31 Pictures], it was back to Gaylord for the afternoon and evening [20 Pictures].

7/11-7/12 Mileage: 140

Friday, July 13, 2007

We left Otsego Lake mid-morning [13 Pictures] and started with a trip through Traverse City [12 Pictures] and up to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore [62 Pictures]. From there, it was down the shoreline of Lake Michigan all the way to Chicago. Pictures include a few from Beulah [3 Pictures], Manistee [5 Pictures], Ludington [15 Pictures] and then there are [47 Other Road Pictures]. We got in during the evening and moved ourselves into John and Elizabeth's apartment for the weekend.

7/13 Mileage: 444

Saturday, July 14, 2007

We left Chicago mid-morning to head north to Milwaukee [17 Pictures from the ride up]. We got to Milwaukee in time to walk around the downtown [39 Pictures] area then went over to Miller Park for the Rockies-Brewers game [117 Pictures]. After the game, it was back to Chicago for the night.

7/14 Mileage: 191

Sunday, July 15, 2007

We drove out to Lemont to visit friends the back into downtown Chicago to walk around and to get dinner. Pictures are from outside John's apartment in the morning [2 Pictures], on the road to and from Lemont [9 Pictures], and the walk around Chicago, broken into those from near Navy Pier [17 Pictures], Millennium Park [42 Pictures], from John's building [10 Pictures], from near our dinner stop by the Chicago River [12 Pictures], and of the Tribune building [58 Pictures].

7/15 Mileage: 77

Monday, July 16, 2007

Back on the road, but just a short travel day. We left Chicago [Picture] around 10:30, made a lunch stop in Rensselaer, Indiana, [10 Pictures] then continued on to Indianapolis [31 Pictures from the Roads]. We had time to walk around downtown Indianapolis [34 Pictures] for a bit before the baseball game between the Yankees AAA team and the Pirates AAA team [93 Pictures].

7/16 Mileage: 220

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Another short travel day. We started in Indianapolis and met a couple of long-time OBFLB owners in Louisville for lunch at the Granville Inn near the University of Louisville campus. From there, it was down to Mammoth Cave National Park where we walked around near the visitors center before running from a bus to the New Entrance for our cave tour [165 Pictures on 4 Pages]. It was just a short ride to our stop for the night in Bowling Green. [46 Road and Sign Pictures].

7/17 Mileage: 259

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

This was originally planned to be another short travel day, just from Bowling Green, Kentucky, to Huntsville, Alabama. That would be nice, but would mean 800+ miles to get to Naples on Thursday. So we decided to get an early start so we could push on to southern Alabama. We left Bowling Green early and got to the Nashville area mid-morning. We didn't get out, just drove around downtown for a few minutes [8 Pictures]. Our major goal for the day was the Space Center in Huntsville, which we visited right after lunch. Pictures are from our arrival [8 Pictures], from inside the museum [63 Pictures], and from outside by the rockets [19 Pictures]. We returned to I-65 and drove south through Birmingham to Montgomery. We stopped near the state capitol [34 Pictures] and the waterfront [12 Pictures] in Montgomery. We left I-65 at that point and drove on a bit to Dothan, Alabama, for the night. [75 Road and Sign Pictures].

7/18 Mileage: 500

Thursday, July 19, 2007

No sightseeing today, just trying to get to Naples. We got on the road from Dothan and cut across southwestern Georgia then down into Florida. It was an easy ride down I-75, into Naples before 7:30 PM. The only pictures are from the roads [60 Pictures].

7/19 Mileage: 530

Sunday, July 22, 2007

After 2 days in Naples, it was on to San Francisco for the USNCCM 9 conference. This very long day began in Naples around 4:30 AM EDT. My first flight to Atlanta was a little bumpy, and started dark and ended cloudy. The second flight was delayed for about an hour (most of which was spend on the plane at the gate), but turned out to be great as far as seeing interesting things. First, was a nice view of Memphis [2 Pictures]. After lots of Oklahoma or Kansas that didn't seem worthy of a picture, it was great the rest of the way. Pictures are from Colorado (including Great Sand Dunes National Park) [9 Pictures], Utah (including Canyonlands National Park) [26 Pictures], Nevada [17 Pictures], and California [9 Pictures]. After arrival in Oakland and lunch near the airport, it was across the Bay Bridge [3 Pictures] into San Francisco. Pictures are from the Golden Gate National Recreation Area [30 Pictures] and from the ride to the hotel in South San Francisco [11 Pictures].

Monday, July 23, 2007

This was the first day of the conference, so there aren't a whole lot of pictures. The ones I have are from lunch in Chinatown [7 Pictures] and from the Embarcadero Center [6 Pictures]

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Day 2 at the conference. I have some pictures along the Embarcadero on the way to and from the conference [16 Pictures], but the vast majority of the pictures are from the Giants game at AT&T Park, won by the Braves in 13 innings [200+ Pictures].

Meanwhile, back in Florida, Cathy was snorkeling at Key Largo [58 Pictures].

Thursday, July 26, 2007

With the conference done and my flight not until late, I took the day to drive around to some parts of the Bay Area where I hadn't been before. I started by crossing the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge [8 Pictures] to the East Bay, then went north toward Oakland [16 Pictures]. After a little confusion trying to find my way back to the freeway from a 7-11 off I-880, I got back on my way and headed out I-580 [3 Pictures]. I stopped for lunch in Livermore [8 Pictures], where it was considerably warmer and sunnier than it had been closer to the water, then continued east to I-5 [10 Pictures]. From there, I-5 South [11 Pictures] to California 152 and past the San Luis Reservoir. 152 is a nice ride [19 Pictures]. I made a short side trip through Hollister [5 Pictures] then continued west on 156 toward the ocean. I made a quick stop at the San Juan Bautista Mission [32 Pictures], passed through the artichoke center of the world in Castroville [8 Pictures], and stopped to see the ocean at the Salinas River State Beach (where it was once again cold, overcast, and windy) [13 Pictures]. With some time still to spare, I went south along the PCH [9 Pictures] a bit then cut back inland on the annoyingly slow and busy California 68. I decided to get back closer to the airport, and took 101 up to San Jose, then I-280 to Palo Alto [26 Pictures] I walked around the Stanford campus a bit, then got dinner at a small Mediterranean place [15 Pictures]. From there, there was plenty of time, but I just continued north to fill up the rental car and return to the airport. Unfortunately, my 11:45 PM flight was delayed to 12:45 AM, so this day's story continues...

Friday, July 27, 2007

...early in the morning on Friday, July 27. The flight really didn't take off until almost 1 AM PDT, and got into Atlanta close to 9 EDT, well after my connection was gone. I got into the next flight to Fort Myers and wound up about 2 hours late overall. On the way back from the airport, there was just a quick visit to Naples for lunch and to go down to the Gulf (19 hours after the Pacific) [10 Pictures].

7/20-7/28 Mileage: 750

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Starting back to the north. We spent the morning driving through south and central Florida [42 Pictures]. The big stop of the day was at Kennedy Space Center [200+ Pictures]. Afterward, we continued on as far as Jacksonville for the night.

7/29 Mileage: 436

Monday, July 30, 2007

The easiest day of our 3-day ride home. We left the hotel [4 Pictures] around 9:30. We took the scenic route (US 17, mainly) from Jacksonville to Savannah. Pictures are from northern Florida [7 Pictures], in an around Kingsland, Georgia [7 Pictures], in and around Woodbine, Georgia [6 Pictures], Brunswick, Georgia [21 Pictures], Darien, Georgia [10 Pictures], Riceboro, Georgia [2 Pictures], Midway, Georgia [3 Pictures], and the Savannah area [12 Pictures]. From there, we drove out to Tybee Island [9 Pictures] to check out the town, the beach [12 Pictures], the lighthouse [16 Pictures], and Fort Pulaski [9 Pictures]. We drove back [3 Pictures] through Savannah [9 Pictures] then up I-95 and US 17 to Charleston [6 Pictures]. We arrived at the same time as a thunderstorm that wound up flooding parts of downtown Charleston [28 Pictures] and postponing the baseball game we intended to see. Instead, we continued on, a little earlier than expected, to our intended destination in Sumter, South Carolina.

7/30 Mileage: 430

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Lots of travel and a baseball game. We got started from Sumter by 8 and pushed north, mostly along familiar roads. Pictures are from Sumter to I-95 [14 Pictures], from I-95 up to South of the Border [15 Pictures], through North Carolina and Virginia [10 Pictures]. We got to Aberdeen with a bit of time to spare and drove around a bit [5 Pictures] before parking at Ripken Stadium for the ValleyCats-Ironbirds game [72 Pictures]. The game was a quick one and we were back on the road by 9:30. Unfortunately, there was a lot of construction and after 2 1/2 hours....

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

...we were in the Flemington, New Jersey, area when it became Wednesday. No delays after that, and we got home between 3:30 and 4.

7/31-8/1 Mileage: 874

Stats

5899 miles (not including California rental car miles), 19/20 states (Cathy/Jim), 68 new counties (Jim).

E-mail domain: teresco.org, username: terescoj - Thu Aug 2 15:59:45 EDT 2007