Day 21 thru 24, maybe

Beautiful Downtown Central or
     Where the hell have you taken me and how do we get back??

Where the water if falling and the teenagers  are floating....

Its good to see that some things never change.

This is Mom's little house in the woods.

This is Mom's next door neighbor.

The bears live next door on the other side.  They were out of town for the holiday weekend, and there was a creepy little girl trying to break into their house but we ran her off.

Always pays to be on the good side of the bears.

This is the Central Park Hotel.

Where we had 2 of the most wonderful meals I have ever eaten, bar none, anywhere.

Scallops the size of 1/2 in. thick silver dollars and spinach with garlic that was the best we have eaten since Florence Italy.
Who'd a thunk it??
The Central Park used to belong to Bruce's Aunt Ethel one of Mom's 14 siblings and Uncle Bunt. I have heard many stories of the summers after summers when Bruce and his Sister Maria and Big brother Phil were sent off into slavery to work dawn to dusk for the rare 25 cents in spending money.
Toting barges, lifting bales, My Arse!!!
A general store with an extensive penny candy counter right across the road.
Uncle Bunts belief that a kid with a quarter in his pocket was less likely to develop sticky fingers. More waterfalls that fell in swimming holes than I could count. More little spots where some brave soul had shinnied up a tree and tied a Tarzan rope to make more impressive entrances into the crystal clear, cold water coming down out of the mountains.
Red Rock Mountain available for climbing and exploring just minutes away, where brave young jungle men could swing across gorges on long supple vines.
Hey Phil, how long did the cast stay on your arm?

Times were so bad as a kid in Central that as an Adult Bruce bought his first house there. He bought it from Aunt Ethel for $2000.
It as since been renovated.
Good times, good food and many new memories and stories.
But its time to travel again.

Back at the Harrisburg Station, thank you Maria for chauffering us.
Thank you Mom for putting us up, and putting up with us.
Thank you Central Park Hotel for this brand new 8 pounds.

Wanda is still saying prayers of thanks for having escaped the bears.
And we are off again........

Day 19

Lady Wanda goes to the Faire

 

The King immediately ran to Greet her.

I didn't even know they had met before this. Its just amazing how many people she knows, and how happy they are to see her.

The Lady Guinivere was also delighted to see our little lizard.

As were a number of the Royal Coutiers.

They came from far and wide,

Called out to her from balconies,

And the little children created magical orbs out of water and thin air, and they danced in the streets.

They held jousts in her honor,

and called in the jesters to amuse her.

And brought her gifts from near

and far.

She was amazed and delighted to find that the King had ordered her family crest to be flown over the Faire for its entire duration,

We ate, we drank, we listened to fine musical entertainment

and a wonderful day was had by one and all, and then the King invited us to view the Royal Jewels.

She swore it wasn't her fault, the devil made her do it. 

Alas, this is a most ignoble offence.

Disgraced once more, by the lizard.

The End

P.S. Wanda is headed off into the wilds of the Pennsylvania mountains. Watch for future adventures, or not, as the Internet Availability Gods so choose.

Day 18

Man-o-man were we busy today.....

   

Harpers Ferry West Viirgnia

Where John Browns body lays a moldering in his grave.

Here's a history lesson kiddies, Who was John Brown and why is he famous?

There is  a lot of history in this tiny town, much of it tied to the B & O 

railroad.

How pretty is this? 

We drove thru 4 states yesterday. Started in Maryland, went thru Virginia and ended in West Virginia where we met my big brother Tim.

He's a good lookin old fart isn't he?

He toured us around the more picturesque places in town.

 This is some old stuff. But so beautiful, and peaceful. I could have spent the day wandering around reading headstones. There are so many, many stories to be read.

But not everybody is as peaceful,

As is apparent in the photo, this is a really old hotel. And according to Tim it is extremely haunted.

So Bruce pulled out his handy Ghost Radar and the started communing with the spirits.

The ghosts started showing up immediately and words like "General"  and  a name that I of course I promptly forgot, but I could swear I vaugly remember it from a history class somewhere..  At one point there appeared to be a small ghost standing right behind Tim and the word "Railroad" popped up.

Yes, my brother spent his entire adult life working for the railroad.

Kinda creeped us all out, especially Tim. He seemed to draw ghosts to him where ever we went.

A fun day, a nice visit. Hopefully we will get Tim to come and visit us in the future. I think he would like it.

Yes, I can count. We went to a really nice little family owned Chinese restaurant in Pennsylvania for dinner. And we went in Joe's little convertible with the top down and the heat blasting. Man, am I glad I bought that jacket in Virginia.

4 states in one day.

And tomorrow we are going to a Renaissance Faire.

That should make some great photo ops. 

Maybe we can get a shot of Wanda jousting.

Day 17

I hear that train a comin'..........

     Yes, we are back on the train.

Doesn't Wanda look happy, this girl is such a good traveler. 

Northern Virginia is a really pretty train ride.

Much more open than what we had passed thru on earlier travels.

The farmland is softly rolling and so green. They are calling this the summer that never was. It has been cool and rainy, perfect for green and growing things.

But for a trio of Belizian wimps, it stinks!

Leaving Richmond, VA it was raining buckets.

Going thru our nations capital, Washington, DC

Raining cats and dogs

But with all this legroom, big overstuffed reclining seats, picture windows and great scenery its really a nice way to spend the day. And if you get tired of sitting and watching the world go by, head for the

 dining car!

We didn't have reservations for lunch, yes there are requested, but Wanda being the shy, retiring flower that she is introduced herself to Pria and Tim and they invited us to join them at their table. What a fun couple. On their way to a Jazz concert in New York City with a possible side trip to see either Spiderman or Lion King. 

He has just started working in real estate and she is in insurance. Having traveled in Europe, Japan and Hawaii they must be doing something right. 

40 minutes north of Washington we finally arrive in the home of my birth. 

Baltimore, Maryland.

The Torsk 

Famous Old Bay Seasoning

The National Aquarium

The Shot tower

The USS Constellation

                                                     

                                    Pirates!!

Lots of History

And of course, FOOD!

Once again a picture that was supposed to show a wonderful meal was devoured before we could snap the pic. Bad Wanda

Joe was supposed to reprimand her......

No wonder she is so bad.

Tomorrow is another day, let me get some rest and see what we can get into tomorrow. Sleep well my friends, love ya miss ya see ya.

Day16

Girls day out.......

     We finally got rid of the boys for a few hours. I think God created golf to give women a day off. First we had to feed them of course. Thanks to my friend in the country we had farm fresh eggs.

The cute ones at the bottom of the picture are right from the hen's to us. I love the pastel colors. Bruce and I are going to have to talk seriously about chickens. Hopefully Lindsey, our most trusty house, cat and dog watcher would adopt chickens into the program too.

Once the boys were gone Patty and I want to the pool. 3 blissful hours of laying around in the sun, reading, chatting and just enjoying the company. I did finally get warm enough to jump in the pool.

77 DEGREES!!!

I swam the entire 25 meters as fast as I could and decided it was still too cold for a Belizian sissy. 

Back to lazing around on the recliners pool side sipping cool drinks and reading. If I get too warm again I'll just go inside and soak up a little A/C.

The pool is just a few short steps from the condo, and the community is beautiful.

Mostly mature couples but there are young professionals moving in more and more often.

But speaking of mature folk, and I'm sure you are wondering what has become of Wanda.

Remember the nice seafood restaurant where we laughed and laughed and were afraid we would be asked to leave? Well, it seems that Wanda met an old dinosaur who has been monopolizing her time ever since. I honestly thought maybe she was getting a little too serious a lot too fast.  She assures me that she is just having a little fun.

I don't know.........

After a quick kiss good bye Dino was invited to leave and we all sat down to a lovely Last Supper. 

x

Thee was supposed to be a picture above of our lovely Beef Briskit dinner with German Potato  Salad and Camp Beans.

We ate it. And the men cleared the table and did the dishes.

We had another glass of wine.

Now its time to go upstairs and stare at my suitcase and decide what I can wear tomorrow that will keep me from freezing to death on the train and roasting in downtown Baltimore in the summer.

Then I'm going to bed.

See ya all tomorrow.