Hello Everyone. Happy New Year to you all – may 2022 be everything you hope and dream it can be. I apologize for this newsletter not going out last week, but my folks and I were out of town on a little trip I will tell you all about later in this post. I had hoped to get my newsletter done before we left, but it just didn’t happen. Then the New Year came and went and then a snowstorm hit us on Monday and now it’s a whole week later. I’m sure you all had plenty to do as well this past week, but I missed writing this post nonetheless. It was definitely a festive week here at home and we enjoyed spending a lot of time together. We got out and saw some very cool places these last couple of weeks which I’d love to share with you here.
On the Alexandria Waterfront
The Thursday before Christmas, we all headed down to Old Town Alexandria for lunch at Gadsby’s Tavern which was opened in 1770 and hosted two of George Washington’s birthday celebrations. It’s a great little colonial inn and our lunch was really good. From there we wandered around the Alexandria waterfront a little bit and then made our way back to downtown D.C. We had a nice visit to the National Christmas Tree in front of the White House and to the Capitol Christmas Tree at the U.S. Capitol. On the drive between the two, we were really struck by the beautiful tree at the Canadian embassy as well. Downtown Washington is a beautiful place every day, but it’s especially nice at Christmas and a really nice day really put us in the mood for the holiday weekend.
And a wonderful Christmas weekend it was, with lots of cooking and eating and music and fun. It was wonderful to get together and cook all day on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and turn out both an excellent breakfast and dinner on both days (no lunch was required, believe me). Everything came out well, and I was very proud of my first cheesecake which was delicious. While I don’t really want or need anything in the whole world, my mother really surprised me with a wonderful gift this year. I had mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago when I was out in Minnesota how much I had wanted an Indian pipestone pipe carved from their sacred quarries, but simply couldn’t justify the purchase. I don’t get a lot of souvenirs on the road, but that was one I had wanted and was disappointed about not getting. My mom found a really beautiful pipe online which had been hand carved by Roy Redwing of the Santee Dakota Nation from the quarry I visited while I was there and it’s something I will really treasure. I got a Roku for each of them so that when they are watching TV they can watch what they want as opposed to what’s on, and they are enjoying them so far.
After Christmas we lay low for a couple of days and then headed north and west to Pennsylvania. We had visited the National Historical Sites of Western Pennsylvania before, but it had been a bit rushed and we hadn’t had the chance to really dig into them as much as we would have liked, so this trip set out to remedy that. Our first stop was Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS, which tells the fascinating story of the first continuous transportation link between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (and also, therefore, between the eastern seaboard and the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers). The biggest challenge on this route was over the mountains between Hollidaysburg and Johnstown. In 1834 a system was completed by which canal boats could be towed onto railcars which could then be towed up the mountain by being attached to cables which were powered by steam powered engines. It was quite the engineering feat and was utilized for 20 years to make the crossing. Charles Dickens passed this way on his travels, as did the bodies of two presidents (William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor) on their way west for burial. With the opening of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, this route became obsolete in the 1850s and not much of it remains today, but it is a fascinating place and the National Park Service does a great job of interpreting the site, as usual.
From there we headed on to Johnstown Flood National Memorial which commemorates the tragic 1889 flood which occurred following the failure of the South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River. The flood wiped out much of Johnstown, killed 2,200 people and caused $17 million in damage ($490 million in today’s money). The story is tragic and fascinating and the site is also very well done. From the Visitor Center, we headed down river to Johnstown for a while and then on to Greensburg, PA for the night. When we got there, we made a little visit to the adorable Overly’s Country Christmas which included a light display, some great model trains, a manger with live animals and a few shops and food stalls. We went for a nice old-school Italian meal in Jeanette before calling it a night.
The next day we took off down the National Road (Route 40) which was the first major highway built by the federal government, starting in 1811. We spent the morning at Fort Necessity National Battlefield which commemorates the opening shots of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years War) which was also the first battle for a young George Washington. The visitors center also interprets the National Road and includes the Mount Washington Tavern, one of the early inns which lined the road. After learning all we came to learn there, we stopped by the quaint Casselman Inn in Grantsville just over the Maryland border for lunch. Then we wandered around the neat little artist colony at Penn Alps just down the road which had a really cool old house museum (The Yoder House) which, while unstaffed, was open to visit and wander through. We continued down the National Road to Hancock and then, since the daylight was limited, we jumped on the interstate from there and got into Berkley Springs, West Virginia right as the sun was setting. We’ve spent time in Berkley Springs before and it was actually a town I first visited in the very first week of this journey. When I took my folks there for the first time, my mom really fell in love with the Inn at Berkley Springs and wanted to stay there sometime. This was that time and it was really a pleasant place to stay. We stayed in the historic section and the main common areas downstairs were still decorated for Christmas, and very nicely at that. We had a couple of beers in the tavern and then wandered around the downtown area a bit before dinner. Our dinner was in the dining room at the inn which was great and then we had a nightcap at the bar chatting with some of the other guests.
The next day we visited some of the towns in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle including Martinsburg, Charles Town and Harpers Ferry, which were all a part of that first week of Miles2Go way back in November of 2017. I was happy to share some of what I knew about these places with my folks and to discover some new things as well. I really love West Virginia and I’m glad we decided to spend the day exploring these towns before heading towards home. We did make one more stop at Flying Ace Brewery and Distillery for a quick beer on our way. They’ve only been open since April, and I wish them well. They’ve got a big piece of property out in Loudon County, VA and I imagine it was and will be quite busy during the warmer months.
We headed over to my friends James and Kara’s place on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve for a few hours, but were back at home in the early evening. I didn’t necessarily plan on being up until midnight, but I was and did watch the ball drop before calling it a night. It was certainly nice to begin 2022 without a hangover and at a reasonable time of the day. I went down to Dupont Circle in the afternoon to watch my Penn State Nittany Lions play in the Outback Bowl vs. Arkansas. After a terrible season, this was an opportunity for some redemption, but that certainly didn’t happen. It was fun to watch the game though and maybe next year will be better.
The overnight forecast this past Sunday was for snow and the closer it got, the more they were predicting. It came down hard and thick in the early hours of Monday morning and it was beautiful to sit and watch. It was also nice knowing we had nowhere to be so we could just enjoy the beautiful snow. We ended up getting probably 6-7 inches, and it was heavy snow which stuck to the trees. I got out and shoveled the sidewalks before anyone walked on them and it was nice to be out in it for a while. A few people got stuck on our road with their tires spinning, so I went up and helped dig/push them out of it. I always help people in those situations when I can and every time I need help, someone is always there for me. I definitely believe in karma. When I was done, I sat by the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoyed looking out at our little winter wonderland. Washington D.C. does very poorly with snow and always has. The only thing I ever find surprising is other people’s surprise at how poorly we do. The plows come out very late and then plow the same streets over and over again, missing the majority of the city. There never seems to be a plan, they just drive around and for whatever reason they lift their plows before driving up and down our street. I’m also always disappointed at how few people shovel their sidewalks, but again there is no surprise in it. Many of the people in our neighborhood have their lawns littered with signs proclaiming how compassionate they are to all people, but can’t spend 30 minutes shoveling their walk to actually literally help their neighbors. Regardless, the snow was beautiful to watch and I enjoyed it, especially since I was not living through it in my van.
Some of you who read this blog during the pandemic may be happy to hear that I spent a little bit of time yesterday and today with my little buddy Mason, who is growing up quickly and is now 3½ years old. He’s very talkative, but is just as sweet and inquisitive as I remember him. I’ve enjoyed walking around their house with him, seeing toys and books and things that remind me of the year he and I spent together, exploring the world and avoiding the pandemic. That time with him will always nestle in a very special corner of my heart and I’m happy I will be able to watch him grow up.
And those are really the highlights of what’s happened these last two weeks. It was nice to be home and with my family for the holidays and to get my folks out of town for a few days as well. We certainly had a good run of Christmas activities this month, but we’ve taken our decorations down already since the Mardi Gras season starts tomorrow (12th Night). My mom made a King Cake today and we will definitely be celebrating this weekend.
As far as my exit plan for the next leg of my journey, it’s on hold for the moment. The omicron variant is certainly starting to gain momentum and it could be a rough couple of weeks here in the U.S. Beyond that generic information, the path I hoped to take south and west isn’t doing very well at all at the moment. Louisiana and Texas are reporting record high infection numbers and overfilled hospitals and New Mexican hospitals are also overwhelmed and dealing with the most challenging staff shortages in the country. While Arizona is doing a little bit better, their hospitals are crowded as well and their numbers are surging. By all accounts, this wave will pass in a few weeks so I will wait and watch. I’ve had a lot of friends test positive in the last couple of weeks which is something I’d like to avoid, and I especially don’t want to deal with it while living in my van. I’m not waiting around here forever, and I do hope to take off in the next couple of weeks, but when exactly is still up in the air. The good news is that especially when I get out west, I plan on spending as much time outside and away from crowds as possible. I’ll update you as I know more, but for now I’ll be sticking around here for at least a couple of more weeks.
This coming week I really need to get to work though. I have updates I want to make to all of my platforms and I need to keep planning and start packing. I do hope that when I leave I’ll be feeling good about where I am and what my plans for the next couple of months will be. It should be a good start to the year, and I’m really looking forward to it. More on all of this next week. Happy New Year, y’all, and thanks, as always, for reading.
-Mike