44= the hours it rained straight
10=the states we traveled through
8=the days we were gone
1 week= the amount of time we missed Hurricane Irene by and would have had to come home early!
endless= times we changed our plans, laughed, made memories, saw breathtaking views
So I took this road trip looking for who this Laura in Remission is. What I really came to understand was that as long as we are living, we are constantly changing. In our looks, our health, our personalities, our opinions, so much. We never stop learning because as long as we are living, we are experiencing Life and that is the greatest text book to learning and evolving... Simply Living Life, taking it all in, examing it and LEARNING from it. If you don't learn from it, you have just wasted that moment. So who is this Laura in Remission? She's the same Laura that has always been there, I now just have new experiences that are shaping me into the person I was always made to be. :)
So we started out on this trip knowing we were going to do it cheap and see what the Northeast coast had to offer us. We traveled through some of the most beautiful country in Upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire-Traveled through Maine to see whales-Then along the beautiful east coast ocean of Massachusetts and Rhode Island- and finally down to Connecticut- we drove through New Jersey (I was so close to NYC I could almost see it!) and New York again before hitting Pennsylvania to finall make it back to our homeland, Ohio. This is only a thumbprint of the over 500 pictures I have! I have so many places and moments that were not caught on camera or still hidden in the computer, but here is a tiny glimpse of one great road trip that before cancer, I never thought I'd have the guts to take! :)
My adventure buddies Kayla and Katie departing from Ohio at 5:50 am.
Jammed packed for our eight day adventure in the HHR!
Carmin the Garmin- our fourth friend on the trip....this trip would have been a lot harder without her :)
Niagara Falls!
The first of our 3 camp sites (the other nights were spent in a motel because of rain and with a friend in Conn. for 2 nights)
The moment I fell in love with nature! Seeing this sight in New York, we had to pull over!
Adirondack in New York!
Taking a car ferry to Vermont from New York, my first time!
Heading down a dirt road...
One of the highlight of the trip! Finding this place called Warren Falls in Vermont! The water was the clearest (and coldest) water I have ever seen!
I jumped too, just not a crazy flip like those guys!!!
The first of our covered bridge hunt! We saw some beautiful covered bridges!
Unfortunately, we didn't see any moose :(
White Mountain in New Hampshire, our next camp site. It started raining at 9:00 that night and didn't stop for 44 hours straight!
The rain didn't stop us all the way though! We still ventured out!
We stopped at a few book stores during the trip, I loved it :)
Scallops! I also ate New England Clam Chowder too..YUMMO!
A little grayer than I thought New England would be ;)
The view I saw of Hew Hampshire and Maine for 2 days :( Didn't get to do some things we had planned, but oh well....there's always next time!
We made it to Bar Harbor, Maine!
Sometimes you have to go through the places less traveled...
...To see the real beauties!
This red rock was all over Maine and New England, I fell in love with it for some reason!
A lighthouse in Maine
Katie and I enjoying the break in the rain!
It's not alive anymore...but its something you DON"T see in Ohio!
Acadia Park in Maine
After 44 hours of rain, look at this sunset!
We were the only people from Lima at this Maine motel!
Yes! That is a whale's tail!
We saw a couple different whales but also saw a mother with a calf. So cool! And when we were on our way back, I saw TWO whales burst out of the water...was my camera ready? Of course not! But it was breathtaking!
The calf playing in the seaweed!
So on our way to catch a lobster, we pulled off the road after we saw a mother with her children running from this car. We helped them out by giving them a place to sit, some drinks, and my flip flops. Needless to say, we missed my lobster catching...
But its ok, we still stopped in Portland on our way to Massachussetts to eat lobster!
We saw a ton of eagle's nest in Rhode Island and Connecticut on telephone poles! This one was on the way out to Martha's Vineyard.
Just how I pictured Martha's Vineyard eating, sandwiches for lunch with the windows opened!
Just another beautiful picture!
Loving the sailboats!
This is the bridge they used when they filmed JAWS! People were still jumping off of it, so cool!
A picture for Andrew's wallet of me:) Just Kidding AJ!
The beaches in New England, just like I'd pictured... lots of blues and grays :)
And I was SO close! We didn't make it this trip, but that's ok because I have always wanted to see NYC in the winter. So...............Andrew and I are going to New York City in December!! I CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!!!!
So that was our New England trip in a very very small nutshell. :) With all of the beautiful places we saw that weren't even caught on camera, I still can't believe we did it all in 8 days. We changed our schedule so many times, but that's what a road trip is all about. We really enjoyed the non-city life so much after the first two days in the National Parks that we kept it that way for the rest of the trip...more beautiful sights, less city life. And am a country girl a heart :) Kayla did amazing driving since it was her company car and by the time we got to Crazy Connecticut and their driving, we were ready to head home. We saw a beautiful part of the country though, the ocean up north (however the Virgin Islands are still 1st in my book!), and a part of nature (the state parks) that I have never seen and would go back in a heartbeat to explore some more...I mean, we still have to see a moose and bears! I truly believe that there is a great God out there after seeing this part of the country, He has a great imagination and is such an artist!
This trip was good for me too. I needed a trip where we could pull off the side of the road whenever we wanted and change our plans whenever we wanted. That was my goal for this summer remember? To do more of the unscheduled things in life, because that's when some of the best memories happen....I completely agree with that statement now! I have some great memories because of the spur of the moment, jump out of the car when you see something, 'where are we staying tonight?' kinda trip we took. It was out of my comfort zone to not have every minute planned, but I learned that life can be fun in the unplanned moments...so a big cheers to the unplanned future ahead and the memories made because of it!
This isn't even ALL of the donated items!! And the garage was FILLED!
The kids played on the boat we are selling after they helped serve Lemonade and Lunch to the customers.
