Mel

April 2023 New Hampshire is mostly comprised of small towns with homes on large plots of land.  Even Durham, the college town, has only two bars.  The state reminds me of Norway.  Most people I met were friendly and happy to strike up a conversation.  This was my third trip to New Hampshire.  I started […]

April 2023 I realized in Massachusetts that I had not made it to Rhode Island and could not remember if I was there in the past (pretty sure I went to Providence years ago) so backtracked south to Newport.  Not only did I really love the town, I met this fabulous couple, Sara and Steve

April 2023 (and some earlier visits) I started my foray in the Berkshires staying in Lenox, the home of Tanglewood.  For those who have not been to Tanglewood, it is this fabulous outdoor music venue which the Boston Symphony Orchestra call their home in the summer.  The last time I was there was for a

April 2023 (and some past trips) New Jersey is a mixture of quite lovely and well, the rest.  Near the border with Pennsylvania there are farms and rolling green hills and some cute towns on the river. Then there is New Brunswick where I visited my friend Julie when she attended Rutgers for graduate school. 

Mostly past trips – drove through April 2023 Over the years I spent a decent amount of time in Connecticut visiting my friend Julie over the many years she lived there.  These visits were more frequent when I lived in Manhattan as I could arrive by train.  On one of these trips, it turned out

April 2023 Pennsylvania has a lot more natural beauty than I expected and definitely more strenuous hiking than anticipated – a big plus!  I drove in from Delaware and continued my exploration of the lovely stone homes which I would love to have photographed but there are no sidewalks and no place to pull over

April 2023 At first you do not notice a difference driving from coastal Maryland to coastal Delaware, but then the lack of public beach access hits.  The entry points to the beach are few and far between and stretched between them are a lot of private gated communities with private beaches (and more importantly private

April 2023 Maryland was relaxing and there was a comfort level here I did not find in Virginia.  The general energy just felt calmer and people were definitely friendlier and more willing to engage in conversation.  I started my journey in Solomons, just across the bridge from the hometown area of my friend Carolyn, staying

March 2023 I took a break from Virginia and drove into West Virginia on some scenic byways through Warm Springs toward New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.  I stopped shy of my destination in Dawson since I was still an hour away and tired. Nothing here – stay in Lewisburg or Fayetteville.  Driving into

March 2023 Driving into southern Virginia from North Carolina, I started seeing no trespassing signs and an abundance of political signs, many for a Republican delegate – some others for Trump.  I saw many Trump Nation banners and confederate flags, especially in the western part of Virginia.  Human contributions to landscape vary depending upon one’s