Day 13 - Waynesville, NC to Nashville in the rain.....

Odometer Reading:   59170

Starting Point:  Wayesville, NC

Destination:  Nashville, TN

Miles driven today:  270

State Lines Crossed:  2 - NC to TN

Odometer at the hotel when Jackie dropped me off:  59440

Total Mileage for me: 2908

Total mileage for Jackie:  3120

You know, when I started this blog and called it This Quilters Journey, I was thinking of my quilting journey - learning and growing as a quilter.   I had no idea how many wonderful trips I would be able to take:  Ireland for the first International Quilt Show in Galway, last year's Danube River Cruise and trip to England and now this trip all over the Northeastern US.  In addition to just seeing all the sites, we set ourselves a goal of making a memory quilt including fabric from each of the states we visited where we could visit a quilt shop.  I am very lucky to have had these opportunities and have really enjoyed this trip with my sister.  We had a great time and I am in awe of the fact that she drove all 3000+ miles with only one meltdown (long day, traffic and lots of merges on busy highways as I recall)  and very few wrong turns.  I think that, because my only job was taking pictures along the way (which had it's stressful moments), I really learned to just sit, look at the beautiful views and relax.

Final Stats:

13  days

17 States

1 Canadian Province

13 Hotels - Two Embassy Suites, 1 Comfort Inn, 1 Bayport Inn, 1 Best Western, the rest Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express

14 Quilt Shops (13 States - two were in NY)

1 Visit with my Morganntown daughter and her boyfriend (also a brief respite from the drive)

3 Meetups with friends, some planned, one a wonderful surprise (Ann and family, Evie and Caroline)

1 Deluge and other less stressful rain

2 traffic jams and lot of misc. construction

1 Awesome natural wonder - Niagara Falls

Many, many views of our beautiful US countryside

So many trees with great fall color I couldn't even begin to count

A couple of mountain ranges including the Smoky Mountains

13 days fun days with my sister - the most we've spent together in a long time

I am at my hotel in Nashville.  We  got here much earlier than we thought we would when we started planning the trip so I had to wait a bit to get into my room.  I kind of wish I could grab a flight back today, but the cost would probably be outrageous.  On the flip side, it's nice to have some down time before I sit on five hours of flights and a couple of hours in crowded airports tomorrow.

I think we both agree that Niagara Falls was the high point of the trip.  I think second for me was the opportunity to visit my daughter and see friends I haven't seen in a long time.  Third would be Biltmore Estate.  That was Jackie's idea and honestly, I thought it was a little crazy to add a six hour drive to the end of the trip (from Morgantown), but I have to say, I am really glad we did it.

The fall colors in New England, especially in Vermont were just awesome.  Proably second best were in Maryland.

My favorite pictures were:

American Falls at Niagara

Canadian Falls

Rainbow Bridge between NY and Ontario

Vermont

Kennebunkport wharf and lighthouse

Random barn - can't remember where we saw it

Boston Streets

Love Plaza - Philly

Independence Hall

Smokey Mountains - Asheville

Biltmore

I have a feeling I'm going to need to stay closer to home this next year so I can save up for whatever the next adventure will be.  I love traveling and seeing new places and visiting good friends.  Another trip of a lifetime - almost complete.

Thanks for reading.