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By Sue Staton

As I mentioned in my last article, I want you to take the trip my friends, my cousin and I took in October to the New England states through our eyes.

There was something I forgot to mention that we did when we were in Pennsylvania that I do not want to exclude about our trip.

We decided we were getting hungry and one of the ladies at a very nice flea market we had visited, told us about a food mall nearby. She said we would really like it. She was so right about that. It was humongous and did not only sell food but crafts and other home grown vegetables. If you guessed that it sounded like an Amish establishment, you would have been correct.

I did learn that they do get a little competitive. I mentioned to the first food booth that sold mostly cold salads and sandwiches if she knew where we could get some hot food. Her answer was a head shake no.
We walked around the corner to see place after place of any kind of hot food one could imagine. I have to say I got the best barbecued spare ribs I ever eat.

I was so happy the lady had directed us to that building to eat. We were fascinated with all there was to offer in that place. The Amish hard work was paying off for them that day. The place was packed and the cash registers were busy.

Again we were on the look out for a motel room. Each night we had trouble finding a place to stay. So, right now I am going to tell you about the night we felt we were prey to what we called “highway robbery”.
After calling to every place available within a thirty to forty-mile radius and with the night getting later we decided we would have to take wherever we could to get a room.

We also decided that it would be better than sleeping in the car. We were finally told that a room was available at a Marriott Inn. A flood of relief swept over us until we were told the rooms were $345.75 a room. We thought it must really be swanky.

The lobby was! However, we were shocked to know it did not even have Wi-Fi, enough towels, no breakfast, and to top it all off, we had to pay an additional $57 if we parked in their parking garage. We ended up saving $10 by going across the street and parking in another motel parking lot but we had to pay $47 to do so.

We were so bummed out by the whole experience. We felt they took advantage of us by knowing how desperate we were. We did not like the air of arrogance the manager seemed to have either. To some of you readers this might be okay with you but it definitely wasn’t for us. I asked for a number to complain and the number was invalid.
All in all we were shocked to see that the people we met were so nice to us. We thought southern people seem to be friendlier than those in the northern states.

On this trip we had to admit the northeastern states people were equally as friendly and helpful. I do think they enjoyed our southern accent, however and often commented on it.

None of us had been to Cape Cod, Massachusetts so we took a little detour from our route and headed that way. It could not have been a more beautiful day to have spent in Cape Cod. It was in the mid seventies. We sat overlooking the beach at a seafood restaurant. The food was great and the water was beautiful. It is always so relaxing sitting near water to me.

We watched the sailboats and schooners sailing on the water and we relaxed with a perfect day of weather.
Our next stop was at the Smithsonian Institute where we toured the National Museum of Natural History. I was impressed with all the historical items and readings I saw, but the one that has lingered in my mind the most was the last thing I saw. It was the magnificent Hope diamond. It is exquisite!

After that visit we went to sit in front of the United States Capitol to take pictures there and of the Washington monument. Time on our trip did not allow anything more and trying to navigate traffic in Washington D.C. did not allow us to do much else. We seem to go in circles at times around the Jefferson monument.
Parking was also an issue and none of us were able to walk as far as we would have had to walk to have seen more. None of us were “spring chickens” and we did not want to leave anyone sitting alone.

One exciting thing that happened was my cousin, Pat struck up a conversation with a lady out west who was also touring. We learned she had also worked at the University of Kentucky Hospital where Patricia still works part time as a nurse. In the conversations they learned they both had a close mutual friend. It was exciting when they decided to call the friend and speak to her and let her know they both were standing in front of the United States capital in Washington D.C.

Also on our trip we met some guy who had worked at U.K. We offered him an Ale 8 soft drink which he readily took with a smile. He seemed happy to see someone from Kentucky and we were too. We had also saw a couple from KY who lived in Ky and were wearing UK sweatshirts in front of the capital.

Each night was an adventure also, when we unloaded the car to go inside to a motel. I am sure each place thought we would be staying for a week with all the suitcases and paraphernalia we could not live without each night. All I can say is thank God for my cousin, Pat Ring that I have called “Trish” all her life.

She and I were the bell boys. She did the most work each night . We did not want the two ladies who were older than us to do the work. We felt we were younger and our place to do so.

We always made use of gasoline fill ups and insisted everyone go to the bathroom whether they needed to or not. We still had plenty of snacks and my cousin usually made sure we had some chocolate to eat after those stops. We were traveling on because we had more places to see and go.

We were getting closer with each day to our destination. Ride along with us in my next article.