Almost Heaven, West Virginia!

Monday, July 5—Day 8

After a good night's rest we have breakfast, pack the car and head to West Virginia via the Alleghenie Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley. We pass through rolling farmland and then ascend the mountains. Everything is lush and green and we see few other cars. As we pass the highest point in the mountains we see about 20 huge windmills with blades that must be at least 60 feet long.

We arrive in Hazelton, West Virginia, and check in to our hotel before going to Whiffletree Farm to visit Aunt Betty and Uncle Winthrop and have dinner. When we get to the farm, Betty has prepared a delectable turkey dinner with California quiche, creamed onions, cornbread dressing, and fresh cranberry sauce. For dessert we make homemade ice cream and eat it with brownies. Marshal's cousins Elizabeth and Charlene also come for dinner. Elizabeth and her husband, Tom, have two daughters, Hannah and Sarah, and they are close in age to Hilary and Olivia. We also get to meet Charlene's boyfriend, Will. The girls play nonstop with Hannah and Sarah—they track down the farm kittens, play in the homemade playhouse, ride in the Barbie car, and catch fireflies in jars. We go on a hayride and watch the sunset over the hazy, blue mountains and the girls climb the rolled haystacks before trying to roll one down the hill!

Back at the house, Aunt Betty shows us the Merriam family history she has put together and which goes back to the 1700s here in the United States. She has spent many years pulling the information and pictures together and we are so pleased that she shares the information with us.

The evening is so enjoyable that we don't want it to end. Charlene invites us to breakfast the next morning so we can have more time together. With much difficulty we get our tired girls into the car and back to the hotel. What a wonderful day!

Tuesday, July 6—Day 9

We have a good night's rest in Hazelton and after checking out of the hotel we go to

Charlene and Will's house for breakfast. When we arrive Charlene has created a breakfast wonderland on her front porch with flowers and candles on the tables and a scrumptious breakfast of French toast, sausage, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit, juice, and cereal. We even get beautiful red pineapple chunks on the side of our juice glasses. Gorgeous!

The girls eat their breakfast and then play with Hannah and Sarah in the yard. There is a large hammock to swing in, bubbles to blow, and Canada geese to feed. Charlene and Will live in a garden oasis.

While the kids play, the adults talk and eat leisurely. There is nothing better than good

conversation with family. Far too soon, though, it is time for us to get on the road to Washington, D.C., for Charlene to get to work, and for Hannah and Sarah to go and work on their 4-H project on the farm with Betty and Winthrop. Olivia and Hilary trade addresses with Hannah and Sarah so they can be pen pals. Wiffletree Farm and Charlene and Will's home are pieces of heaven where we can focus on the important things in life—family, fresh air, and nature at its best. We leave West Virginia feeling blessed to have spent time with beloved family.

Our drive back to Washington, D.C., is uneventful except for the ever-increasing temperature. We stop in Penn Alps and buy a lovely ceramic pie plate and three books for the girls. We pass through Cumberland and Harper's Ferry and remember passing through both towns on the train a week earlier. By the time we reach Washington, D.C., the temperature is holding steady at 103ºF and the humidity must be up around 85 percent. We drop the rental car at National Airport and catch the Metro to Union Station. After eating dinner we consider walking to the Capitol, but change our minds after about five minutes outside because it's still over 100ºF. We decide the better move would be to return to Union Station and eat ice cream!

About 9:45 p.m. we board the Northeast Regional to Boston. There is no air conditioning on when we take our seats and the heat is stifling. Not too long after we leave the station the conductor turns on the air conditioning, which feels great until about midnight then the car begins to feel like a refrigerator. Fortunately for the girls we had put sweatshirts in their backpacks before checking our luggage. However, Marshal and I have no coat or sweatshirt, so the night is rather long and chilly. Sometime around 2:00 a.m. Marshal goes to the café car and finds a newspaper. We cover the girls' legs with a few pages from the paper to help them keep warm and then get under a few pages ourselves! I can tell you that newspapers provide insulation when you are cold, even if they aren't terribly elegant. We manage a few hours of sleep tucked under our newspaper pages as the train passes through Philadelphia and New York City…

Wednesday, July 7—Day 10

The day dawns cold on the Northeast Regional, but the scenery as we pass through the New England coastal towns in the misty, pink-orange early morning light is beautiful. We see sailboats and beach houses as we pass through Bridgeport, New Haven, and Mystic, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island.

We disembark in Boston and leave our suitcases in the luggage holding area while we have breakfast and plan our day at the New England Aquarium. We walk to the aquarium from the station and enjoy the breeze blowing in from the ocean. When we reach the aquarium we enjoy seeing the penguin habitat. There are Little Blue penguins (the smallest of the penguin family), African penguins, and Rockhopper penguins with their feathers sticking out horizontally from the tops of their heads! The penguins are very active and love to chase the light fish that the kids can shine in the water.

The giant ocean tank in the center of the aquarium is something to behold. It goes up three floors and walkway spirals up around the tank. There is also a large tank for the harbor seals and a large pool for the northern fur seals. The fur seals are a delight to watch and they are very talkative.

After several hours at the aquarium we head back to the train station, stopping along the way to get a hotdog from a sidewalk stand for lunch. Once back at the station we retrieve our luggage and catch a taxi to the car rental office. We get the keys to our transportation for the next 5½ weeks, a Ford Escape, load the luggage and head to our hotel in Revere. By the time we check in there is just enough time for the girls to swim before we head out to dinner.

Trying to find our restaurant we become completely lost and end up at the Dockside Restaurant in Malden. What a find! The food is great, the service friendly, and the air conditioning works like a charm. We eat dinner and then head back to the hotel to call it an early night because tomorrow is a big walking day—we're going to tackle the Freedom Trail!