On the ground

Starting another day on JetBlue’s All You Can Jet pass, we headed toward the Biltmore Estates in Ashville.

I woke up bright and early to get to the Pennsylvania state capitol. Due to it being a Saturday, much of the capitol was closed and the only option available was to take a tour.

Starting a rainy and miserable day in Concord, New Hampshire, another state capitol was first on the list.

Maine has a number of lighthouses, two of which I had the opportunity to see. The Portland Head lighthouse at Fort Williams on Cape Elizabeth is apparently the more photographed lighthouse of the bunch. This lighthouse had a fog horn that “talked” to another one at a different tone.

Of all the places I’ve visited in my life, Maine was one that I had mixed feelings of. My dad grew up in Lewiston and I remember seeing all the black and white photos. It was something to actually get to the town and see firsthand where everything is.

My first stop was the cemetery where a number of family members are buried. With all the cemeteries I’ve visited this month, I found myself stopped when I saw my last name on the tombstone.

To say I was emotional is an understatement. It was an experience that I will never forget.

Starting the day early, I headed to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington DC. Tours are every 15 minutes. Tickets were not required as this is the non-peak time of the year.

Today was wasted trying to reposition and figure out what could be done for the remainder of the day. By the time I got settled, everything was closed and so today became a rest day. I found out a few things at the airport during the 2.5 hours after my flight landed.

There is a travel aid desk that have some very competitive rates for hotels near the airport. Apparently this airport is far enough away from Washington (Regan much closer) that they work a little harder to get travellers to come visit. I got a nice hotel room for cheaper than anything I could find on the internet.

It was extremely hard and frustrating to do anything from IAD. It took over an hour and a half to get a shuttle to a nearby hotel. But once I got to the hotel, there was a king size bed waiting for me.

After dinner, I watched the sunset.

Driving from Boston, I headed to Hartford for another state capitol. There are two buildings, the capitol and the legislative building connected by an underground tunnel.

Today was the day 25 AYCJers were waiting for. We attended a taping of the Price Is Right. After waiting nearly four hours (would have been longer with individual tickets), we were led to the far back on the stage left side in the corner.