A confession--I keep telling Linda I rarely post because I haven't traveled much since my husband died in the fall of 1999. But in looking back over the past five years I realize that I have traveled quite a bit. I made several cross country flights in 2000 all to explore New England and I liked Connecticut so much that in March 2001 I moved there from California. If driving across the USA isn't traveling, what is? It was a delightful adventure with my daughter Emily who decided to move with me.

Highlights of the trip? The Grand Canyon, wandering off the Interstate to view indian mounds and other sites, Hot Springs, and crossing the Mississippi at Memphis. All these and plenty of serendipidous things too. A really funky hotel in Albuquerque. I can't remember the name, it was not downtown, and it was a revamped apartment complex. It was full of high school kids there for some sort of athletic event and it was fun, crazy, noisy, and fun. It was impossible to get a telephone line and the only quiet corner in the place was the bar. Our room was delightful as it had been a one bedroom apartment and had a bedroom, living room, and a small kitchen. And in Elk City, OK we stayed in a Holiday Inn that was hosting a blue grass convention. Wonderful music in every public area of this courtyard style hotel.

Alas, we had planned to go to Ashville, NC to see the Biltmore Estate and then drive north on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But the weather turned bad and so we headed north through KY, Ohio, PA, and NY to get to our new home. I'm rather glad that happened because we did make the Ashville/ Blue Ridge trip last May. Another wonderful trip and much better to take as a leisurely vacation than at the tail end of a cross country move.

I've also driven north to Bar Harbor, spent a lovely week in Newport, RI, a weekend in Boston (which included a Ziner gtg), and made a number of day and overnight trips exploring our new surroundings. And then there was that trip back out to California (by air, not car) in November of 2002.

Nope, I haven't traveled much in the last five years.

Next up? Probably Nova Scotia (by ferry and car) in May and definitely St. Louis (by air) in June for a convention. And after that? Maybe another California trip and someday I'll get to Toronto!

Best Wishes to the founders, their helpers, the posters, and the lurkers for many more years of TheTravelzine

Martha in Middletown (formerly know as Martha in Ventura)