So I’m back in Ohio and back at work.  A friend needed a ride to
CU this morning, so I got up at 5:50 and left the house at 7:20 so she
could be here by 8:00 (or close to it!).  That actually is a good
thing because I needed to do some class prep before I actually get to
class today!

The weekend…I will get to pictures tomorrow.  The road trip was
certainly that (a road trip), but it was a good time away with
Eric.  We left at 4:30 on Thursday and drove into PA, stopping in
Dubois (as you probably saw on Friday).  On Friday, we drove the
rest of the way across PA (rain), into NJ (rain/clouds), around NYC
into NY (clouds) state and then onto I95 which is the New England
Turnpike.  Things were moving along just fine all that way, until
we got into CT on I95. Then we hit a traffic jam.  We went 10
miles in 2 hours!  
So we should’ve gotten to our hotel at 4:30 and instead didnt’ get
there until after 7:30.  YUCK!  So we went and got some
dinner and tried to unwind a bit at the hotel.  The one nice thing
was that the wind blew all the clouds away while we were sitting on 95,
so there were blue skies in CT for us to see!

Saturday was a leisurely day for us.  We drove around the
coastline on a scenic highway, stopped at a beach/state park for
pictures and to walk around.  Then we headed to our only
“official” activity: a ride on a steam train.  We were supposed to
also go on a riverboat on this ride, but the boat wasn’t running that
day because of the wind.  It was sunny, but very windy!  So
after the ride, which was very cool, we did some more driving
around.  We went up and saw the Gillette Castle (originally the
home of William Gillette, who was the original Sherlock Holmes) and
walked around there for a bit.  Then we stopped at an outlet mall
to wander around and get some supper.  Then we headed back to the
hotel and watched tv and relaxed.

Sunday we left the hotel at 7:30 to come home.  We did NOT drive
on 95 back towards NJ.  Instead, we headed up 84 into NY state and
then down into PA near Wilkes-Barre and Scranton on I81.  We got
back on 80 to come home (and then it clouded over and rained again) and
drove it all the way into Ohio (cloudy/no rain) where we picked up 76
in Youngstown, then back to 71, then back to Columbus (about
6:30)!  It was lovely to get home.  My butt hurt so bad from
sitting for so long that I decided to lay on my stomach on the floor to
watch TV and veg out.  But it was just nice to be home and sleep
in my own bed!

Overall…the views in CT were no better than the ones in PA and NY
(actually they were probably better overall). The train ride was fun
(we bought Kelly and Holly engineer hats and train whistles…won’t
Chris & Deb love that!). We got some good pictures and had a good
time together.  And we won’t be taking another road trip for a
while!