Portland, Maine after 10 states and $94 in tolls

We made it safely into Portland, Maine around noon today.  It was an exhausting 16 1/2 hour drive up the east coast from the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  It is pretty amazing that in 2 days, we have driven through 10 of our 50 states (North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, & Maine).  Matt was so impressed that he drove 7 states yesterday!!!  These small states are not quite like we are used to in the Western US.

It was a pretty exhausting trip complete with lots of 4 lane state highways with Matt's favorite, stoplights.  Nothing like going from 55 to 0 for a stoplight towing a 12,000 pound trailer.  Once we reached Dover, Delaware, the toll roads and interstates began.  Now, the driving was easier until we had to drive through New York City via the George Washington Bridge and the Bronx Expressway (I95).  We would pay $94 in tolls to drive the 485 miles between Dover, DE and Portland, ME.  Wow, this has to be our most expensive driving day ever.

We are settled in here for the next week for me to study for the GMAT that I have scheduled next Saturday.  After that, we will most likely spend a couple more days here so that I can explore a bit.  We will then start our trek further north into Nova Scotia and New Foundland where we will spend the bulk of the summer.

Beaches, Sand, Shells & Wind - Farewell to South Padre Island

We can't believe that we've been here 3 months and are busy packing up to leave on Tuesday.  We've had the carpets cleaned and the wash and wax happens tomorrow morning.  We'll be hitched and packed by tomorrow night and leave early on Tuesday morning to head to Houston.

I wanted to share some photos and videos from the past couple of weeks here on the island.

We have been going to the end of the road on the north end of the island and walking along the deserted beach to pick up seashells and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Beautiful wind swept sandy beaches

No one around - So quiet and beautiful

The shells were great - We found some as large as our hands - I ended up with a large ziploc bag that weighed about 20 pounds that I carried back from our walk.

 Since we are coming so near to the end of our trip here, Matt has been kiteboarding as much as he can in our final days.  I went with him down to the kiting beach on the Laguna Madre side of the island and waded out into the flats with him to take some photos and videos of him horsing around.

Inflatible Pool Toy - Check; Wetsuit - Check; Sunscreen - Check; Big Grin - PRICELESS!!!  Matt getting ready to go kiteboarding today. 

As I was in the water with Matt, I had an opportunity to take some photos from some angles that I normally can't get.  Here he was just getting ready to go back out.

Foot in and ready to power up

Matt, surfboard and the 9meter Cabrina kite

We stopped for dinner on our way home from the kite beach and enjoyed a great margarita and fajitas at Padreritaville.  The waiter was nice enough to snap this photo of us.

And now for some funny videos.  As I mentioned, I was in the water with the camera and as you will see in one of the video's, Matt gets quite close at times.  If you receive this in an email, be sure to go to the BLOG (CLICK HERE) so that you can view the video.

It was pretty light wind today, so there was a lot of clowning around to ward off boredom.  Here, Matt used his surfboard as a very small boat as he skipped across the water.  Not quite the normal methods of riding a surfboard.

In this video, Matt takes a nice little ride, that ends with my favorite...  A BIG SPLASH...

 

Here Matt gets a little close for comfort to me as I'm filming - Notice the scream and the camera bobble...

Here is a nice little ride, showing off how its done!!!

I think that is all for now.  I'll update once we are on the road and we have some more photos to share.  I've updated the sidebar here on the blog to show our travel itinerary for the next month, so visit the blog if you are wondering where we are (if you get this in email form).

Happy Travels,
Angela

We survived...

Well, we survived the Texas Week spring break or as the locals call it "Hell Week" here on the island.  It was quite busy and we are very happy to have our sleepy little island back.  We've been hanging out and enjoying the wonderful warm weather although it is starting to border on being Hot as we have had temperatures in the 80's for the past week (but NOT complaining).

We are here for another 2 1/2 weeks and then we will head to Houston for a brief stopover for a friends wedding before beginning our trek east and heading up the east coast this summer.  We've put together an itinerary for April and May that gets us to Hatteras, NC where we will hang out for about 3 weeks for Matt to try out the kiteboarding there. 

Here is a map of our proposed route:

Here are our proposed sightseeing activities in each of our stopovers, if anyone has any other ideas, please let us know.

City	State	Things to Do / See	Stay (Days)	Start Date	End Date
South Padre Island	TX		90	01/19/11	04/19/11
Houston	TX		5	04/19/11	04/24/11
New Orleans	LA	French Quarter, Café du Monde, French Market, St Louis Cathedral, Cemetary 1 & 2 (tour), Hermann-Grima Historic House, Bourbon Street, Steamboat Natchez, St. Charles Ave Streetcar (Anne Rice's house on 1st St), One Eyed Jacks (bands), Croissant D'Or (pastries),  - Outside Plantation Alley, Bayou Teche Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site & McIhenny Tabasco Co,	4	04/24/11	04/28/11
Natchez	MS	House on Ellicotts Hill, Stanton Hall, Longwood, Rosalie, Melrose Plantation	2	04/28/11	04/30/11
Vicksburg	MS	Vicksburg National Military Park,	2	04/30/11	05/02/11
Montgomery	AL	First White House of the Confederacy, F Scott Fitzgerald house museum,	2	05/02/11	05/04/11
Atlanta	GA	Margaret Mitchell House & Museum, Atlanta History Center, World of CocaCola,	3	05/04/11	05/07/11
Ashville	NC	Biltmore Estate	2	05/07/11	05/09/11
Winston-Salem	NC	Old Salem, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts	1	05/09/11	05/10/11
Hatteras	NC	Wright Brothers National Memorial,  Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, Oracoke village	19	05/10/11	05/29/11

2010 Trip Summary by State

I got curious to know exactly where all we lived last year so I tallied up our nights spent in each state or province for 2010 and below is what I came up with.  Not too surprising that Alaska was the largest chunk of time followed by our home in Colorado (since we didn't start our trip until mid-March). 

These totals include only states in which we actually spend a night.  We visited many others while driving through but since we didn't actually sleep there, they don't make the list.  I can't wait to see what 2011 brings!!!

Total Days	% of Year	Location
12	3.29%	Alberta, Canada
146	40.00%	Alaska
1	0.27%	Arizona
5	1.37%	British Columbia, Canada
95	26.03%	Colorado
2	0.55%	Kansas
18	4.93%	Missouri
9	2.47%	Montana
1	0.27%	Oklahoma
33	9.04%	Texas
27	7.40%	Utah
5	1.37%	Washington
11	3.01%	Yukon, Canada
365	100.00%	Total 2010