photos. washington, alexandria, berlin, assateague island.

alexandria

washington

berlin

assateage island

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sunrise.

saturday morning, on hattaras island, i woke at sunrise for the second day in a row & i didn't fight it. instead, i slipped into my jeans, slowly made my way to the beach & enjoyed the quiet while i waited for luke to wake.

up to our getting to the outer banks, we hadn't enjoyed as many 'soft' moments as i'd hoped we would, but after that morning in hattaras village i realized we need to make it a priority. it felt therapeutic to just sit with my thoughts.

this trip is not intended to be about seeing as much as we can; we'll never see everything. it is meant to be a journey. it is meant to give us a new perspective. it is meant to bring us closer together after all that has happened. it is meant to be about healing.

going forward let's slow our days. let's take things as they come. let's make time for relaxing, for reading, for simply taking things in. let's really live in the moment. there are so many sights & sounds & smells begging to be appreciated.

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change of pace.

hi all. i'm sorry i have not been writing. coffee shops with wifi are generally expensive [ i'm talking to you, starbucks ], small towns often don't have wifi, & honestly, sometimes i just don't feel like it.

to catch you up, i'll let you know that * we're now on the outer banks, nc, & have been for a few days. at this exact moment we are in hattaras village, on hattaras island. we are sitting in the van, in the beach parking lot, using the ferry terminal free wifi. earlier this morning we were on the front porch of a coffee shop called 'dancing turtle', where we sipped coffee [ i had two because refills were only $1 ] & enjoyed the breeze coming in off the water. i wrote a little there too, & while i did that luke set off on foot to find bread to slather with the peanut butter we've been carrying around for at least two weeks.

since arriving on the outer banks we've been enjoying glorious weather & a slower pace. last night was the fifth in a row we've slept at the beach. the two days & nights prior to this we were in kill devil hill & just before that we spent two nights in cape charles, virginia.

out here, every town we've come across has been near empty. the busy season hasn't yet arrived, & because of that we've met more locals than tourists, have had our pick of spots on the beach & have had many moments where we were the only two people in sight. unfortunately this won't last long as monday is memorial day - the official start to summer.

prior to making our way here, we found a number of our destinations less than desirable. burlington, washington, ocean city & virginia beach were disappointments due to either weather, gaudiness, or number of tourists, but, on a positive note, our going to each of these places is what got us to the smaller towns or suburbs; namely alexandria, berlin & cape charles.

i've told you about both alexandria & berlin in previous posts so i'll touch on assateague island & cape charles here.

assateague island is a state park in virginia where the wild ponies roam [ in actuality, they are feral ponies ]. we spent some time there, on the island, in awe of the beauty of the landscape & the creatures themselves as we made the trip to virginia beach. & though, admittedly, i was a little frightened, [ there were signs everywhere warning visitors not to approach the ponies as they are known to kick & bite ] seeing those ponies in that setting was a dream come true.

as for cape charles, we discovered it by accident. when we stopped to stretch our legs on route to virginia beach, we happened upon a waterfront restaurant. in this restaurant were two patrons, both from the area. she [ sarah ] was a marine biologist [ she hooked us up with guest passes to the aquarium in virginia beach ] & very interested in our trip. in conversation, she mentioned cape charles, the last stop before the chesapeake bay bridge tunnel, & it sounded lovely.

& it was. the town had one true main street which lead to the waterfront & at this waterfront was a stunning beach, complete with sand dunes, a pier that stretched out into the sea, a public restroom & ample free parking. the perfect spot to hunker down a few days. so we did. and, though the weather didn't exactly cooperate those two days, we managed to do a beachfront workout, have an outdoor shower & meet a few lively characters, all of whom we met on one night, the second [ & last ] we were there

these characters were michael, a businessman from baltimore that spends as much time in cape charles as he can get away with [ as his wife / his job will let him get away with ]. he was so kind, so knowledgeable about the area & he offered us a hot shower & a place to sleep should we want to get out of the van for the night.

now enter skip, a local & an acquaintance of michael's. he was in his early sixties, had a sun & salt water worn face & biceps like i'd never seen. he was an oysterman. his accent was the strongest we'd heard yet & i could barely understand him. but i wanted desperately to understand him because i knew he had stories to tell. & he did. he was a recovering opiate addict, he was a father, he was a cancer survivor. he was loud & enthusiastic & generous.

next, enter the captain & his sidekick. as the rain cleared, a building-sized yacht pulled into the harbour. we were enthralled. we all waited with baited breath to see who would step onto the dock. it was two men, both of whom stood out like sore thumbs [ perhaps even more than we did ]. the captain was taking the vessel from florida to new jersey & the sidekick was just along for the ride. though captain was a little uppity, the sidekick was lovely. he was genuinely intrigued by our trip & with our living in ireland [ he is headed there himself ]. he peppered us with questions, which we happily answered &, in return he bought us a beer &, before heading back to the yacht, made a speech about our journey & wished us well. it was really lovely.
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& last but not least, at a pit stop on our way back to the van to sleep, we met hannah; a fun loving twenty-something local. we talked travel, the area & instagram. turns out she has over four thousand followers [ i can't even imagine ] & she [ very smartly ] uses this insta-fame to her benefit. [ if you have been following our instagram page you'll know that the next day she very kindly posted a photo of us, urging her followers to follow us & that this ended up providing us with a very unexpected & exciting experience in virginia beach later that afternoon ].

when we woke to more bad weather we made the difficult decision to leave. on one hand we wanted to stay & hook up with michael [ we had made tentative plans to meet ], but on the other hand, we were chasing the sun & it wasn't due to show up there any time soon, so we emailed michael to say farewell & hit the road again.

* i started writing this in hattaras village but finished it just now in a coffee shop in morehead city.

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first we take berlin.

berlin, west virginia - 'the coolest small town in america' -  is a gem. & how did we find this gem you ask? we found it while looking for a walmart. so, thank you, walmart, for being difficult to find this time around.

we were headed to ocean city & intended to spend the night at walmart to avoid the crowds, but fell in love with berlin & stayed there instead. it was so quaint. like something out of a movie. pretty storefronts, a creamery, american flags flying, the whole bit. it also had a beautiful public parking lot with 24 hour bathrooms & a picnic table under a tree which we used to eat dinner. &amp on top of all of that [ yes, there's more, if you can believe it ], it had a brewery. this wee town in what seemed to us like the middle of no where, had a brewery.

and what a brewery it had. there were at least fifteen beer on tap, they did flights & everything we tried was delicious. &, much to our delight, we found ourselves sitting next to a chatty craft beer loving family from pennsylvania. we talked beer [ duh ], travel [ they are serious campers & appreciated our journey ] & life in general. we had a laugh, they gave us some travel tips &, in return, we gave them a bottle of T&N beer we'd been carting around. after a while they said goodbye [ they had to make their way back to their campground ], but not before insisting on giving the bartender $20USD toward our bill. the kindness we've received from strangers [ who are now friends ] has been unreal.

as for ocean city, it was a shit show, so after fifteen minutes we saddled up & hit the road - again.

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casa blanca.

washington, dc. on our list of places to stop, of course, but if i'm being honest, it was only on the list because we felt we should stop. not because we're interested in us politics or war memorials or the white house. &, if i'm being honest, we skipped the smithsonian [ didn't want to spend a beautiful day indoors, we haven't had much luck with the weather thus far &, heck, we have visited more museums than we can count so we're kinda over it ], did a walk by of the white house [ it was white, & a house ], had tacos at an outdoor food market [ the fish taco was mostly batter, major disappointment ] & spent most of our time wandering through the national mall. though the lincoln memorial was pretty epic, it was nothing compared to the reclining buddha in bangkok, you know?

now, we didn't stay in washington proper. we didn't think attempting stealth parking on a street in the same city as the white house, the secret service, THE PENTAGON was a good idea. also, washington dc is one of the most expensive cities in the country & we're on a budget [ ish ].

so we stayed in kingstowne, a suburb of washington, where there was an anytime fitness [ shower! overnight parking! ], a walmart [ a second option for overnight parking! ] & an irish pub with an irish bartender we fell in friendship with the moment we met him. & as a bonus it was a five minute drive to the city of alexandria which has an historic town centre, gorgeous waterfront & quaint main street situation. it was so quaint, in fact, that we spent an extra day in the area to soak it all in. we wandered, we ate lunch overlooking the harbour, we had craft beer on a patio. this town made us feel like we were on holiday, not van dwelling.

ok, back to the bartender. his name is hopper, he's from tipperary & he's a fucking legend. he treated us with so much kindness, was [ much too ] generous [ we acquired a guinness glass, a pub  t-shirt, a bottle of hp sauce, half a chocolate bar, two patches, complimentary beers, complimentary bread pudding & complimentary curry chips - they're an irish thing]. he made us belly laugh [ more than once ] & is definitely someone we'll stay in touch with [ hi hopper! ].

i know i've been focusing a lot on the people we've been meeting more than the places we've been visiting, but, truthfully, & as my dad says, it's the company that makes the experience memorable. it's always been that way for us. we collect friends, & memories [ & now stickers ].

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two canadians walk into a bar.

ok, so we stayed in the poconos longer than anticipated.

we went to the boulder field as planned [ win ], & intended to go straight back to the house to pack & hit the road, but on the way back from said boulder field we spotted an irish pub on the side of the highway &, you know, had to stop [ as you do ].

picture this: we've been driving & climbing over boulders & its 25 degrees outside & we have a thirst on. we're on our way home, but it's still early [ about 2:30 ] so we're in no rush. we spot mc ginty's irish pub ahead on the right. we look at each other. as we come closer to the pub we recall that our friend mike had mentioned it was a 'laid back' place, so we pull into the parking lot. once parked, we hop out of the van & walk in to what we expect is going to be an 'irish pub' [ you know the type ]. but, no, wait, holy shit. it's not an 'irish pub', it's an irish pub. i mean, it even smelled like an irish pub [ luke's description, & he knows what he's talking about ]. &, much to our delight, all but two of the bar stools are taken.

as we make our way to the end of the bar, the bartender calls out a very friendly 'hi!'. we reciprocate & sit down, still in awe. we chat to him about the taps & the bar & the area. we tell him we love the place, that it's right up our alley. he asks where we're from & we tell him, 'canada'. & then the magic happens. turns out he lived in toronto for four years & loves canadians. & when the women sitting on the stools beside us hear that, they join in the conversation. turns out they lived in quebec for years & they love canadians. & if friendly conversation with locals isn't enough, a 20 ounce beer is only $2.50. and if that's not enough, it's game day. not gameS day, game day. as in, pheasant fingers, moose chili, venison & dumplings. & it's all free. & then - & this is the best part -  the bartender tells us that in all the years they've had game day [ & it's been a lot of years ], it has always been in february. except for this year. this year it was postponed. to this day. the very day we [ two van dwelling canadians on a budget ] walk into the bar. i mean, come on.

needless to say, we were there for a while. we ate our fill of game [ we had so many pheasant fingers we thought we'd burst. the gentleman cooking them insisted we help finish them off & we just couldn't say no ], chatted with the locals [ we bit our tongues more than once. not surprisingly, we have completely different political & social views ], sipped cold beer & laughed our arses off - the bartender [ a 'molly malone', as he stated more than once ] was a riot.

the next morning we visited split rock [ as suggested by the locals ], stopped at the historic jim thorpe town [ as suggested by the bartender ] & drove the four hours to alexandria, virginia. [ i use the word 'we' very loosely - luke has done ALL of the driving up to now. he. is. a. rockstar ]. photos to follow.

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photos, ricketts state park.

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bright blue skies. hurrah!

this morning we woke to bright blue skies. quite the departure from the cool, grey mornings we've gotten accustomed to waking to. it's incredible what an impact something as simple as the colour of the sky has on one's emotions.

as you'll know from instagram, we've been staying at a friend's family holiday home in the poconos since we left the cape two days ago. & i have to admit that even after just barely a week on the road, we are very much enjoying the luxury of having a kitchen [ & an indoor bathroom! ]. the bedroom, however, has not been touched. ha! seems we built a bed so comfortable we'd rather sleep in our vehicle than in a house. if that's not the sign of a successful van build, i don't know what is.

yesterday was one of the best we've had. we planned to hike, & we hiked. now, that may sound like nothing to you, but to us that was a win. at home we used to make plans to hike or to see a movie or go out for dinner, but at the last minute we'd cancel. i think it's because we knew that if we didn't do it then, we could always do it later. well, we've changed our attitude. this is a road trip. we're not staying in one place for long. if we don't do it today, we may never do it. we can't have a do-over. we're not driving one hundred miles back because we regret not seeing or doing something. if we want to do it, we have to do it now. we're flying by the seat of our pants. we're living in the moment.

right. back to yesterday. ricketts glen state park is beautiful. we chose to hike the waterfall trail & were not disappointed. the route was fairly sketchy, with slippery rock staircases & more than one gnarly tree root [ & a steep stint at the end that has luke feeling his glutes this morning ] but we touched a waterfall. touched. a. waterfall. it was incredible. & i couldn't believe the power of it. 

we hiked for two hours, admiring the scenery, calling out 'hello!' to our fellow hikers [ because that's what we canadians do, eh? ] &, for much of it, simply enjoying the sounds of nature. it was bliss - except for the part where we walked a mile in the wrong direction & ended up having to double back to where the water met. but, hey, we got through that without an argument [ another win! ]. oh, & we only spent $2USD all day, & that was on a toll charge to get out to the state park [ a third win! ].

today we will drive halfway to washington, dc. [ our next intentional stop ], but not before visiting hickory state park to see the boulder field. yep, a field of boulders. can't miss that!

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photos, to now.

all the oysters & prawns.

season opening party at patio restaurant & bar in provincetown.

the view from beer.

smells like victory.

meal prepping. in the van. literally.

lunch is served. on the beach.

all the sun, all the beer.

last night's dinner. with vino.

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