Love Affair... Part 2

So, picking up where we left off on our trip from Florida to CT. 

We made it to DC in time for a late check-in at a Marriott. Quite the improvement over our bus-depot hotel in Savannah.  Oh, the choices we make to save a few bucks.  We had a good nights’ sleep in a room overlooking the White House (if you craned your neck from the bathroom window) and we were off and running through our Nation’s Capitol. 

While we were there we found out there was going to be a Palestinian Peace Rally near the Mall.  Though I am sure it would have been interesting to watch, we decided to lay low and avoid all protesters/marchers and hide out in the Smithsonian buildings.  A good choice, as it was quite muggy and hot that day.  In the Smithsonian we watched dedicated people repairing the Francis Scott Key American Flag (the one that inspired the Star Spangled Banner!).  Folks lying on mattresses, face down, suspended over the 30 foot by 42 foot flag.  It was amazing to watch them work.  Our tour of the monuments around the Mall (we skirted the rally)  included the Korean War Memorial, one we had never heard about before and is amazing. 

The expansive memorial includes a group of 19 statues that depict soldiers

on patrol facing an American flag. A granite wall has a mural of the faces of

2,400 unnamed soldiers with a reading that states “Freedom is not free.”

A Pool of Remembrance honors all soldiers who were killed, wounded or missing in action.

Onward and Northward!  No trip through PA is complete without a trip to Hersey.  The Chocolaty-est place on earth!!  The main drag in town is lined with street lights shaped as Kisses, and there is always a hint of cocoa in the air.  Being able to tour the yummiest factory and to buy chocolate we can’t get at home was defiantly a highlight.  For a choco-holic like myself, this was like going home to the mother-land!

Now, we may have brought books on CD to help pass the travel time, but we talked SO much, we never got through the first CD of a 13 disc book.  As we were traveling north on I-95, I’m behind the wheel and Heather is on navigation.  Somewhere in NY I ask, “Hey, what exit are we looking for?”  Heather busts out the Triptik, when all of a sudden she starts laughing, uncontrollably… this can mean only one of two things.

Either we have just missed our exit OR we have missed it by a ridiculous amount of exits.  YUP, we missed it by like 20 exits.  Too much talking and not enough paying attention.  I figure I can get us home from Albany if need be…but we did somehow find our way.  It is still a joke that we carry with us on all our road trips.  “What exit do we need?”  “Exit 35, give or take twenty exits!”

On this trip we drove through nine states which brought my “states visited” count to twelve.  Driving through America is fascinating.  We are such a large county that it will take many road trips to see it all, but this road trip was the first one I have taken that would introduce me to the unique qualities of each state.