Trip to Vermont
This was a ten day trip from Maryland to Vermont and back. I took the long way up, through Lewes Delaware and Cape May New Jersey. I was photographing lighthouses, cemeteries and fall leaves and also visiting our grandson who is a chef in Vermont and our great grandson who was having his 2nd birthday in CT.
We left leisurely and were crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge by noon
We stopped on Kent Island for lunch, and soon were driving through the rural communities of Maryland's Eastern Shore.
As you may remember, I belong to a group that photo-document's cemeteries. We stopped in Lewes Delaware to photograph Friendship Baptist Cemetery
before going to board the Lewes-Cape May Ferry. They start lining people up an hour in advance. To make the reservation (and pay) I had to give them a driver's license number and I gave them mine. I didn't know if that meant that I actually had to drive the car. But it didn't.
We told them that I would go up the service elevator. I should have had my scooter for this but Bob didn't want to get it out. So they took me up the elevator and then I had to walk onto the ship just like you do on a cruise ship. I had to sit down three times to rest, just to get up to the bow. Bob was therefore first in line to load onto the ferry. Our car is the white one on the bow.
A vulture flew over. I hoped this was not a bad omen.
I left my telephoto lens in the car and I didn't have enough energy to climb down the stairs and get it and climb back up. So I did the best I could without it.
I wanted to photograph the Delaware Breakwater Light
and the Harbor of Refuge Light from the ferry.
Eventually I went into the lounge and lay down on a bench there because my back hurt. As we approached Cape Map, I crept down the stairs to the car
Originally I had made a reservation at the Virginia Hotel, but the week beforehand I sent them an email to be sure I wouldn't have to climb too many steps. But they told me that all the first floor rooms were taken and the shifted the reservation to Congress Hall, which is a big and much more accessible hotel.
The exertions on the ferry decided us to go to the hotel and check in.
We found our way in the entrance that I could do with the scooter, and checked in. I asked the girl at the desk what time the lighthouse was open (the AAA book said 'various times') and she gave us a big glossy magazine type of book which was about Cape May but didn't have any information about the times of the lighthouse either.
We went up to the room - the hotel was built after the Civil War and is huge. We had a comfortable town view room
with a view of a beautiful Victorian house across the street.
The elevator is very good for someone on a scooter. You go in on the first floor, and when the elevator gets to your floor, the back door opens and you can just go forward right out (instead of having to back out),
Me on the scooter waiting for the elevator. Bob brought up the luggage and parked the car. They have valet parking but you don't have to use it. However if you don't use it is a long walk back to the hotel.
Each door to the room has a wooden louvered door in front of it which makes it even more difficult to get out with the scooter because there are two different doors to hold open and when I am through the door, it bangs behind me.
The hotel had the old style pedestal sink (with no room to put anything), and they hid the light switch on the outside of the half wall at one end of the tub. (claw foot of course). I couldn't find it and Bob had to tell me where it was.
There was good internet and I got Bob logged onto it (he took his iPad with him for the first time), and when I looked it up on the internet I found the hours for the lighthouse. I could have gone for a moonlight climb this evening (right) and tomorrow it opened at 10.
We decided to eat dinner at the hotel.
The girl that showed us to our table said she would take the scooter and park it. I am used to that with male waiters on the cruise ships - they like playing with toys. But she tried to do it without sitting on it and she squeezed the forward lever and it leapt forward into the table and of course since it was getting away from her, she squeezed harder. It's easier if you sit on it.
There was a 20% early bird discount but we didn't get there before 6. I think they gave us the discount anyway. This was good because the food was expensive (for us). The bill without the discount was $54.66 which I think is a lot for an appetizer, a soup, a glass of cranberry juice and the daily special - Sunday through Thursday of a soup, entree and chef's choice of dessert for $26.99.
Monday was grilled Knockwurst, Tuesday was Grilled Rainbow Trout and Thursday was Chicken Fried Chicken. Wednesday was Brunswick stew which was billed as beef brisket braised with tomatoes, beans, corn etc, so since I like Brunswick Stew, I had that.
The soup was chicken pot pie soup and the dessert was pecan pie ala mode. The soup was OK and did taste like chicken pot pie but what I like about chicken pot pie is the crust and it didn't have that.
I wasn't happy with the Brunswick stew - it was basically beef stew with gravy. Brunswick stew traditionally would be made with rabbit or possum. But in NC they substitute pork or maybe chicken. It has corn, limas, tomatoes, and potatoes, but no gravy. It is a kind of soupy stew. I didn't see any corn or beans or tomatoes in it. I did see carrots an potatoes.
I didn't have the dessert because I don't care for pecan pie.
Bob had a shrimp cocktail ($14,00)
and New England clam chowder ($7.00) and didn't have an entree. That was enough for him.
We left leisurely and were crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge by noon
We stopped on Kent Island for lunch, and soon were driving through the rural communities of Maryland's Eastern Shore.
As you may remember, I belong to a group that photo-document's cemeteries. We stopped in Lewes Delaware to photograph Friendship Baptist Cemetery
before going to board the Lewes-Cape May Ferry. They start lining people up an hour in advance. To make the reservation (and pay) I had to give them a driver's license number and I gave them mine. I didn't know if that meant that I actually had to drive the car. But it didn't.
We told them that I would go up the service elevator. I should have had my scooter for this but Bob didn't want to get it out. So they took me up the elevator and then I had to walk onto the ship just like you do on a cruise ship. I had to sit down three times to rest, just to get up to the bow. Bob was therefore first in line to load onto the ferry. Our car is the white one on the bow.
A vulture flew over. I hoped this was not a bad omen.
I left my telephoto lens in the car and I didn't have enough energy to climb down the stairs and get it and climb back up. So I did the best I could without it.
I wanted to photograph the Delaware Breakwater Light
and the Harbor of Refuge Light from the ferry.
Eventually I went into the lounge and lay down on a bench there because my back hurt. As we approached Cape Map, I crept down the stairs to the car
Originally I had made a reservation at the Virginia Hotel, but the week beforehand I sent them an email to be sure I wouldn't have to climb too many steps. But they told me that all the first floor rooms were taken and the shifted the reservation to Congress Hall, which is a big and much more accessible hotel.
The exertions on the ferry decided us to go to the hotel and check in.
We found our way in the entrance that I could do with the scooter, and checked in. I asked the girl at the desk what time the lighthouse was open (the AAA book said 'various times') and she gave us a big glossy magazine type of book which was about Cape May but didn't have any information about the times of the lighthouse either.
We went up to the room - the hotel was built after the Civil War and is huge. We had a comfortable town view room
with a view of a beautiful Victorian house across the street.
The elevator is very good for someone on a scooter. You go in on the first floor, and when the elevator gets to your floor, the back door opens and you can just go forward right out (instead of having to back out),
Me on the scooter waiting for the elevator. Bob brought up the luggage and parked the car. They have valet parking but you don't have to use it. However if you don't use it is a long walk back to the hotel.
Each door to the room has a wooden louvered door in front of it which makes it even more difficult to get out with the scooter because there are two different doors to hold open and when I am through the door, it bangs behind me.
The hotel had the old style pedestal sink (with no room to put anything), and they hid the light switch on the outside of the half wall at one end of the tub. (claw foot of course). I couldn't find it and Bob had to tell me where it was.
There was good internet and I got Bob logged onto it (he took his iPad with him for the first time), and when I looked it up on the internet I found the hours for the lighthouse. I could have gone for a moonlight climb this evening (right) and tomorrow it opened at 10.
We decided to eat dinner at the hotel.
The girl that showed us to our table said she would take the scooter and park it. I am used to that with male waiters on the cruise ships - they like playing with toys. But she tried to do it without sitting on it and she squeezed the forward lever and it leapt forward into the table and of course since it was getting away from her, she squeezed harder. It's easier if you sit on it.
There was a 20% early bird discount but we didn't get there before 6. I think they gave us the discount anyway. This was good because the food was expensive (for us). The bill without the discount was $54.66 which I think is a lot for an appetizer, a soup, a glass of cranberry juice and the daily special - Sunday through Thursday of a soup, entree and chef's choice of dessert for $26.99.
Monday was grilled Knockwurst, Tuesday was Grilled Rainbow Trout and Thursday was Chicken Fried Chicken. Wednesday was Brunswick stew which was billed as beef brisket braised with tomatoes, beans, corn etc, so since I like Brunswick Stew, I had that.
The soup was chicken pot pie soup and the dessert was pecan pie ala mode. The soup was OK and did taste like chicken pot pie but what I like about chicken pot pie is the crust and it didn't have that.
I wasn't happy with the Brunswick stew - it was basically beef stew with gravy. Brunswick stew traditionally would be made with rabbit or possum. But in NC they substitute pork or maybe chicken. It has corn, limas, tomatoes, and potatoes, but no gravy. It is a kind of soupy stew. I didn't see any corn or beans or tomatoes in it. I did see carrots an potatoes.
I didn't have the dessert because I don't care for pecan pie.
Bob had a shrimp cocktail ($14,00)
and New England clam chowder ($7.00) and didn't have an entree. That was enough for him.
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