In the beginning was the car, and it was meant for driving, and so we did…drive…2800+ miles…in 9 days…
Last Updated 03/01/2002
Dateline: July 1-9, 2000
Event: Vacation road trip to Washington, D.C. for Independence Day
In the beginning was the car, and it was meant for driving, and so we did…drive…2800+ miles…in 9 days…
The map above shows the path we took on our tour of the Eastern United States. This graphic is courtesy of Microsoft Streets & Trips 2001 and is copyrighted by them. What follows is a description of the trip, with a few pictures thrown in for good measure (note: click any thumbnail image to see the full-size picture).
DAY #1 (7/1/2000): Long drive culminating at Cedar Point Amusement Park
Our trip began around 7:45am CDT on Saturday, July 1st, 2000. We departed our home in Bloomington, MN, originally headed for Toledo, OH. We drove through Wisconsin, Illinois (Chicago, in particular, was notable because of the stop-n-go traffic through downtown due to the Taste of Chicago celebration), Indiana, and most of Ohio. Nearing the point where we would depart the tollway to head NE to Toledo, we asked ourselves an important question: Shouldn’t we just drive all the way to Sandusky? And so we did. Upon arrival in Sandusky, we first sought a hotel. After checking in, we realized that Cedar Point Amusement Park was still open for another couple hours. So, off we headed, Valleyfair Season Passes in hand, for the roller coaster capital of the world! I don’t have any pictures from this first night, but suffice is to say that we had a great time! Two recommendations: 1) Ride the Raptor!! and 2) Try the homemade fries! They were terrific!!
DAY #2 (7/2/2000): Pittsburgh
Having stayed out late the first night, we slept in on Sunday, July 2nd. We had a reasonable drive from Sandusky, OH, to Pittsburgh, PA, where we were planning to visit The Andy Warhol Museum before proceeding to our evening destination of Ohiopyle State Park. We made it to Pittsburgh right around noon. We stopped and ate lunch before proceeding to the Warhol Museum. After the museum, we walked around downtown for a little while. Leaving downtown was a pain, mainly due to the STUPID directions provided to us by Microsoft Streets & Trips 2001 (note: we found throughout the trip that the long-distance directions, such as “take I-90 from Madison to Chicago” were fine; it was just the in-town directions that were generally very difficult to follow; also, not all road construction was reported by the program, despite downloading updated information).
Click here to view a few pictures from the Warhol Museum, followed by a couple shots of Pittsburgh. A piece of trivia, gleaned from TechRepublic’s Geek Trivia: Pittsburgh has more bridges than any other place in the US.
DAY #3 (7/3/2000):
After spending the night in a tent in Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania, we broke camp early to make our 8:30am EDT appointment for a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. I have over 100 pictures from this tour, but only present a couple here for review. If you wish to see more pictures of the home, please send me an email and I will gladly share the rest. After our tour of Fallingwater, we drove to Washington, D.C., where we would stay until the morning of July 5th. Pictures from D.C. are under the Day 4 section.
I present the following pictures to tell a little story. If you look carefully in the picture to the left, you will notice vertical, black I-beams supporting the structure. These beams have only recently been added to provide additional support to the cantilever construction. The second image, at full size, has two PostIt Notes pointing to the location of those supports. Plans are underway to add steel cables internally to the structure. If you look at the full-size image, you will see that I have added 6 crude arrows, roughly indicating the points where the cables will be attached. The hope is that these cables will provide adequate reinforcement to the structure so that it will be possible to remove the temporary supports and restore the original external appearance of the building. If you wish to support the efforts to save this national treasure, please contact the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
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There were several original works by Diego Rivera through Fallingwater. Here is a composite image of one of those works, with a close-up of Rivera’s signature.
DAY #4 (7/4/2000): Washington, D.C.
The end of Day 3, all of Day 4, and the morning of Day 5 were the pinnacle of our trip. We spent the time in Washington, D.C., celebrating the birth and independence of our great nation. I’ve provided a handful of pictures here showing some our national monuments. However, it is impossible to put into words the experience of joining with a quarter million people in celebration of Independence Day. Hanna and I enjoyed this time greatly and were pleased with our choice to make the trip. All those miles were worthwhile in the end.
Click here to view some pictures of July 4th in Washington, D.C.
DAY #5 & 6 (7/5-6/2000): Gettysburg and Niagara Falls
The majority of the 5th was spent in the car. We drove from D.C. to Gettysburg to Hershey, PA, through Harrisburg, where we had originally intended to stop for the night, and finally stopping in Williamsport, PA. We were actually glad that we drove all the way to Williamsport, because the drive to Niagara the next day would have been much more painful had we started from Harrisburg. We stopped for lunch in Rochester, NY, and visited Lockport, NY, along the Eerie Canal, en route to Niagara Falls, where we would spend the night. We walked down to the Falls from our B&B in Ontario when we arrived, saving us the trouble of having to visit the Falls on the 6th.
Click here to view pictures from Gettysburg and Niagara Falls.
DAY #7, 8 & 9 (7/7-9/2000): Mackinac and the long drive home...
Day 7 was spent driving across Ontario and Michigan, heading toward Mackinaw City, MI. I do not have any pictures from that day. Below are a couple pictures from Day 8, spent partly on Mackinac Island. We then drove as far as Ironwood, MI, that afternoon. An interesting side-note: by the end of Day 8, we had seen all five of the Great Lakes. Really, there isn’t much else of interest to pass along. Day 9 was spent driving home from Ironwood.
This one last picture is of Mackinac Island. Mackinac Island is unique because motorized vehicles are prohibited. Bicycle and horse carriage are common means of transportation. Fudge is one of the main exports, as my parents and in-laws now know. All-in-all, a quaint village, where I could never manage living.
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