Stargazer's Garage

Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days--they've been quite busy. We are currently on the last leg of our cross-continent trip, back on the road and heading homeward to the west coast. Here's a brief summary of what we've done. More details and pictures will follow when I get time to upload everything. Because of the intense heat and humidity in the DC area last week, taking the Metro and walking around the National Mall all day long was not that appealing. Also, the National Museum of American History, one of the museums I really wanted to see, is currently closed for renovations and will not be re-opened until next summer.... So what we did instead was take a side trip (3 hours one-way) to Ocean City, Maryland and taking a dip in the Atlantic Ocean. We spent the rest of our time shopping at various outlet malls. I liked Potomac Mills the best because it was air conditioned and had a lot of shops. In fact, it was so big, we went again during the week. We also went to...

We ended our lay-over in Thunder Bay today and continued our road trip to Washington, D.C. Two years ago we did this leg of the trip in one night and got to Indiana before we stopped for the night. This time we took it easy: we left late and stopped early in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, about an hour south of Eau Claire. Last time, Eau Claire made such an impression on me because the highway suddenly disappeared and a large town suddenly popped up. I had never heard of "Eau Claire" before and having to drive through it I thought it was very quaint and wholesome. We even stopped for some ice cream cones at the time. I remember it well, because it was my great idea to take the cones outside so the kids could enjoy the sunshine--and consequently watch their ice cream drip like leaking faucets in the 30° C heat. This time, however, we drove on a newly completed expressway and it cut a swath right through Eau Claire. We must have saved 15-20 minutes of driving time. Kind of sad, ...

We stopped at this Cenex station in Rice Lake, Wisconsin for an emergency bathroom break. Luckily enough, it was the first gas station I found that carried NOS energy drink in a bottle. Needless to say, I bought 3 bottles (and a bag of Wisconsin cheddar cheese curds) for the road :0)