Some scenes from our third day, of downtown Auckland, on the way to pick up our campervan:
Auckland Harbor Bridge:
NZ Navy (yep, pretty much all of it):
Sky Tower:
America’s Cup:
Superyachts:
Auckland skyline:
Princes Wharf, where we lived for a few months before moving to the US:
Ferry Building:
Next time: our campervan!
This summary is about cities and towns I’ve posted about. I don’t tend to do these posts very often, so there aren’t many.
Again, you can also see the attractions from 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021. And you can see all of the attraction-related blog posts via the exploring category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top, or more specifically the town category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).
Amish country covered bridges:
Some interesting places.
The town of Custer, South Dakota.
An interactive map of the town:
We took a scenic drive around the upper Keweenaw Peninsula of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Here’s an interactive map of our route, heading counter/anti-clockwise (Jenn recently pointed out that I always write “anti-clockwise”, but “counter-clockwise” is the typical American form; my Kiwi roots showing again):
Lake Linden:
The beginning of US 41:
Copper Harbor:
Copper Harbor Overlook, with a view of Lake Superior:
Esrey Park overlook:
Eagle Harbor lighthouse:
Jacob’s Falls:
Keweenaw snow thermometer:
Quincy Mine Hoist:
To complete visiting the 48 contiguous US states, we stopped in Rhode Island for dinner — our rule is that a state counts as being visited if we do something in the state, not just drive through. And with the tiny Connecticut and Rhode Island states, they’re too small to actually stay in each, so dinner and driving around Newport will suffice.
“Discover Beautiful Rhode Island”:
A duck and ducklings crossing the highway:
Coast Guard House:
Sculpture:
Major marine layer:
We wanted seafood to celebrate this milestone, so we stopped for dinner at JB’s on the Water, and sat outside:
Menu:
Ahi tuna nachos appetizer:
Split fish and chips and BLT (which we were unable to finish):
Major marine layer:
Driving through Newport, Rhode Island:
Gilded Age mansions:
An exciting milestone!
We drove north from Salem along the Essex Coastal Scenic Byway.
An interactive map of our route:
A few scenes from our drive….
Beverly, Massachusetts:
Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial:
Gloucester, Massachusetts waterfront:
Island with two lighthouses:
Big houses:
Rockport, Massachusetts:
“Rotary”… an interesting name for a roundabout:
Welcome to Gloucester:
We drove through Woodstock, Vermont on a rainy afternoon.
An interactive map of the town:
Welcome to Woodstock (unrelated to the famous music festival, that was originally going to be in Woodstock, New York):
We headed out of town, looking for a place to stop for dinner, and came across the Long Trail Brewing Pub:
A nice creekside view:
And tasty food:
Then we headed back to Woodstock; here’s another covered bridge:
And another:
We would have liked to spend more time exploring the town, but had to make do with a quick drive through.
We visited Cooperstown, New York to go to the Baseball Hall of Fame (see tomorrow’s post), but before that we wandered through the town, and had lunch.
Downtown:
Doubleday Field:
We had lunch at the HardBall Cafe:
BLTs, fries, mozzarella sticks:
More of the town:
A cute town, but very touristy, unsurprisingly.
While staying at Ho-Hum RV Park, we did a few drives along the Forgotten Coast, in the panhandle of Florida. Amongst other things, we saw all four of the lighthouses on the coast.
A pamphlet for the lighthouse driving tour, with information about each lighthouse:
The first drive was west of the RV park, with lunch at the Blue Parrot Ocean Front Cafe (they have a live cam you can view, too), then St George Island Lighthouse.
Here’s the route on an interactive map:
Bridge to St George Island:
Blue Parrot for lunch:
St George Island Lighthouse; unfortunately the museum was closed when we visited:
St George Island beach:
Further west, the Cape San Blas Lighthouse in Port St Joe:
The second drive was east of the RV park, to St Marks National Wildlife Refuge, St Mark’s Lighthouse, and Publix groceries on the way back.
Here’s the route on an interactive map:
St Marks National Wildlife Refuge:
The refuge visitor center, with info about the lighthouse too:
The wildlife refuge:
The third drive was to have lunch at The Fisherman’s Wife restaurant in Carrabelle, then visit the nearby Crooked River Lighthouse.
Here’s the route on an interactive map:
The Fisherman’s Wife; we wanted to eat here last year, but they were closed for the holidays. They were closed again most of the time we were at Ho-Hum this time too, but opened a few days before our departure:
Crooked River Lighthouse, the tallest of the four:
The old lighthouse keeper’s house, now a small free museum:
Fascinating stuff. We really enjoy this area of Florida; much more laid-back than the more touristy and populated parts.
Some food and shopping around Red Bay, Alabama.
Casa Fiesta Mexican Grill, not bad Mexican food:
Piggly Wiggly grocery store, pretty basic:
Holiday lights:
Mia Marlie’s Hometown Pizza, fairly good and inexpensive:
Cardinal Drive-In, much like Sonic, but better:
Big Star grocery store, much nicer than Piggly Wiggly, and lots of super-tasty treats (of which we stocked up!):
Happy Hollow, home-goods and outdoors stuff, we always get some cat toys there:
Red Bay is a small town, but has some good food and shopping options.