Happy Nuzzling Day!  or so I heard on the radio... I think the extent that I'll get of that is what i had so far with a blanket and sleeping bag in the 30-something air of my car this morning.  ;)

I am writing at a terminal in a library in PA.  Let's see how much I can chronicle of the fall foliage trip thus far in the allotted time.

I'll begin with my brother's pre-road visit.  He flew in Monday.  We hung out w/ Nikki (whose cat we sat for during his stay) and then went to the National Zoo.  It was 90!  At the zoo, I took note that I want to run there as a goal.  There will take some working up to get to that point- it's hard enough walking back uphill at the end!  With that said, I'm taking up running again.
We crashed early that night, hanging out w/ the cat.

Tuesday was DC touring day.  We went to the Natural History Museum and saw all those taxidermies I'd previously avoided.  They weren't as creepy as I'd feared.  I basically just went where my brother was interested in going.  For lunch, we headed up to Dupont Circle & caught up w/ the concert-lost-phone guy and my pastor.  My brother and I were quiet & the guy was engaging.  Engaging in the sense that he seems to be able to pick up a conversation with just anyone.  Not in the sense that I'm interested in him, because I am not.  He's someone I can honestly say that I think is cool and that we can be friends and nothing will happen.  Not that it's the first time that's happened, but sometimes there's that tension like something might.  I don't know if it's totally seperate or not, but there is a guy that I am interested in, so no one else will even get a second thought from me.  Regardless, we headed back to the Smithsonians (M.N.H., then Air & Space, the African).  By that point, my brother and I were snapping at each other a bit- don't know if it was the weather, my defensiveness or some sibling thing...  Headed up to Jaleo's for supper.  I had read the address earlier that morning, but mixed it with another address of a place I haven't been hope to go to (National Geographic Society).  That equalled walking extensively around town only to take a Metro back to the station I knew the restaurant was close to, going to the library & looking up the real address.  In the meantime, my brother caught up on some reading (that was a theme- him wishing he'd brought a book/looking for a bookstore) while I overheard a conversation.  The men talked about their faith & it was encouraging.  Nice, positive outlook on life & God.  After Jaleo's (brother liked shark but especially this special basque cake) we went to the Kennedy Center and listened to a famous sitar player.  Afterwards, we intended to crash early anticipated an early start the following day, but we ended up staying up late.  On my part, I was researching places for the vacation (that I hadn't had time to look at before).

(DAY ONE) Wednesday: rolled away at 5:15a.m.  Took major highways, but not 95- all the way to Maine.  It was mostly 81/84 & even Kenny admitted that he thought the road/view was nice.  We made good time (10 hours, even with stopping) and picked up maps at visitors' centers along the way.  Some things I noted:
exit 164, PA: "dark, abandoned plant w/ brokwn window"  It was the most fascinating abandoned building I've seen in a while.  I wanted to know it's history.  I'll put it on my to-do list of interesting things to follow-up.
exit 72, Ashford, CT: 'no cell in hand' (good to know)
trees the whole way... can see this being a significant sight if leaves were bright
MA: 'Take a Break- Stay Awake- for Safety Sake' (comes into play later on)
NH: I-95 toll= $1
Maine: we went to the ocean in York & it was so relaxing and refreshing... Kenny swam & I just breathed.  Then, we had lobster dinner (that did freak me out- there's one point where I stared at this creature with it's legs and new it had been alive early that evening & didn't know if I could continue eating it in that conscious.  Then my brother suggested I pretend I was an otter... and that worked!)  Finally, we went up to the hotel in Kennbunkport, where we learned they had a heated saltwater pool!!  I swam and floated to my heart's content (maybe 40s or 50s out) then slept long and well.

Thursday: Breakfast was great, including bread pudding- much better than other hotels' breakfasts (Kenny skipped it- maybe not awake enough).  (One thing to note about the Wednesday trip was the abundance to Dunkin Donuts.  They continued to haunt us Thursday as well.)  It was drizzling that morning, as it had the night before- so the trails weren't ideal for hiking, and we scratched that idea and headed to Boston.  It was OK.  We had no trouble getting there, and walked around downtown seeing some important/famou s sites.  We had sushi for lunch 'the best meal' Kenny had had the whole trip, besides the cake, and then headed for the harbor.  In the midst of everything, I lost the MA map & was scared I'd lost my check card as well... so I just tried to breathe and not undo the stress I'd already let go of- it had fallen out of my pocket in the car.  After safely getting my brother to the airport, I called up Matt (the cellphone/concert guy- have I mentioned he lives there?)  I stayed in the warm, dry airport for a lil bit before heading to MIT to catch up with him.  Details to ensue.