My Wolfeboro Summer

Despite the fact that I feel a bit like I'm cheating on Katie by deciding to continue this blog without her (I'm sorry Katie!  I love you!), I'm going to do it anyway.  Because you know what?  I'm not done traveling.  Nor am I done telling you about how much fun I've been having.  So take that...person that I am angrily addressing.  :)

Anyway, back to the point.  After Katers went back to Cali to take teacher classes, and after I recovered from what turned out to be strep throat, or something (after three weeks of dealing with a nagging sore throat, I finally went to the doctor where I paid $100+ in ER fees and got some meds to mend me), I was having a ball.  (Actually, I was still having fun even when I wasn't yet 100% better, because that's just the kind of girl I am!).  Anyway, aside from getting settled in Wolfeboro, my first order of business was to find. a. job.

We've Arrived!!!

Exhausted from a long (18 states in 20 days! yikes), fun trip, we finally wound our way to our final destination, beautiful Wolfeboro, New Hampshire!  Many moons ago, my Aunt Dee and Uncle Ralph said "peace out, California" and settled in NH, where they've been living ever since.  Their four kids/our cousins, Mary, Ralphie, Julie and Johnny all still live within an hour or so of Wolfeboro, which means we get to see our aunt/uncle, cousins, and their families whenever we're here!  YAAAY!!!

No sleep 'til...

The original plan for our trip was to stay just outside of New York City, but when we met this couple from Brooklyn in Charleston we decided to change our plans.  They told us about Park Slope (an up and coming section of Brooklyn) and we booked a hotel.  We didn't do much the first night because we got there kind of late, but the next morning we explored.

Civil War Reenactment, what!

So other than seeing Kitty Hawk, our goal for day #16 was really just to shoot up to Ashburn, Virginia so we could spend a delightful evening with my friends from high school, Lindsey and Mark Lesar, and their super cute 9-month old daughter Alyssa.  And that's exactly what we did.

The Outer Banks

When I read in our road trip guide that we could drive along these little tiny islands off the coast of North Carolina called the "Outer Banks," I was ridiculously excited.  I don't know why.  Maybe in part because the first island is only accessible by ferry (which I've never been on before and have always wanted to go on) or because when you look at the islands on a map, they look so little that it seemed like you'd be practically driving through the ocean.  Regardless of why I was excited, the really important thing is that, like so many things on our trip, the Outer Banks didn't disappoint.

Welcome to the Carolinas

(Technically this is from just as we crossed into North Carolina, but we missed the sign so deal with it)

Finally.  If I talked to you about the route we were taking before I left for this trip, I probably mentioned that I was excited to see the Carolina's.  Thanks to Pat Conroy's books Beach Music and South of Broad, I had a totally romantic vision of Charleston with its beautiful homes and amazing food.  It did not disappoint.

Why Hello East Coast!

After our strike-out in Montgomery, KR and I decided to head straight on through to Savannah, Georgia, instead of staying the night in Macon, GA, which was our original plan.  We figured we could get back on “schedule” once we made it to the East Coast.  Turns out, skipping Macon was a SUPER great idea, and we did, in fact, manage to get back on schedule pretty quickly, so it was all good.