4 States Today

A very different mountain view than out west. This is south of Charleston, WV.

More curving roads, blue peaks, and white clouds. Lovely.

One of my favorite views going through Charleston -- the State Capitol with its gold dome.

I passed through four states today. I started in Parkersburg, WV, at my Chez Lawrence (home of my cousin, Alice, and her family). I arrived there yesterday just in time to hustle to car to pick up Daisy (daughter #1) from a dance class. Then we drove over to the mall where we met up with another family (dancers, singers and actors, all), ate some mall food (Actually, it wasn't too bad. I had a burrito without a wrap at Bohio.), and saw The BFG. I had to miss the very last couple of minutes because Remy needed to go out, but the rest of the gang filled me in, and it was pretty much as I expected.

Alice and Darrin and I stayed up fairly late (for me) talking, and that was lovely. It's so nice to just sit and the let the conversation wander with other educated, thoughtful adults.

I made a fairly early departure from Parkersburg, as I knew I had one of my longest drives ahead of me. The fastest route from Parkersburg to Syracuse, NY, was up to 90 and then following 90 all the way around to the east. But I decided to take a route that would take me through Ithaca. I just couldn't wait 3 more days to see Abby. She got out of work at 5. I reached the restaurant where we had agreed to meet at nearly 6.

I had to stop and wash off my purse that Remy had puked on after eating some goat cheese and potato chips that I spilled. And I had to stop for gas, which also means taking him for a walk. As I mentioned, this was the longest ride so far. It may be for that reason, or maybe he wasn't feeling well after the goat cheese, that he finally rested for over 5 minutes at a time on the pillow in the back seat, and actually curled up in his car seat for a bit. (See below.)

I am ensconced at a Knight's Inn sort of on the NE side of Syracuse. I chose this to give myself a reasonable trip today and not too much distance to cover tomorrow to meet my cousin, Marcia, in New Hampshire. I will have to be on the road by 6 a.m. to meet her by 10, but I think I can do it. We plan to hike, lunch, and swim tomorrow before I drive the 4 hours back to Syracuse. 

Since this is an area I would consider living in because of its proximity to Abby, I plan to spend some time looking around on Friday. I just found out that Colleen and Bill will be here for a few days, and I hope to be able to connect with them, as well, since Colleen grew up here and can fill me in on the area.

The WiFi at this hotel really sucks. Every time I start looking at something and want to go to a different page, it cuts out. I have to disconnect and reconnect. And the AC doesn't seem to work very well, either. I may change hotels tomorrow.