Historic Corolla on the Outer Banks

Hi Blog! Today is Monday, January 5, 2015. Yesterday we spent the whole day inside the RV, hunkered down, waiting for severe thunderstorms that never came. Oh well, better safe than sorry. We did use the day to our advantage. Kathy cleaned and Dave made homemade honey oatmeal bread from scratch. While the dough was rising, we replaced a broken DVD player and cleaned out the electronics cabinet. We ended up throwing out a lot of broken junk. We now have a working DVD player again.

The storm front passed in the middle of the night and today dawned bright, clear and chilly. We decided to spend another day out on the Outer Banks. This time we drove North through Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores and Duck all the way to Corolla Village. Corolla is as far as we can go north on the barrier island without a four-wheel drive vehicle. The highway ends at the Currituck Banks Reserve. From there you have to drive on the beach if you want to continue north toward Virginia.

We knew today was going to be a good day when, just around the corner from our campground, we saw a family of bald eagles - mom, day and junior - in a farmer's field with a freshly caught rabbit. Well, at least it was a good day for us and the eagles, not so much for the rabbit. The rest of the drive was uneventful.

Here we are, arriving at our first visit to the beach in North Carolina:

Corolla (pronounced Ka-RAH-la) is the name for a small village that sits beneath the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.  In 1873, when the village was still known as Jones Hill, construction began on the Currituck Beach Lighthouse. The red-brick lighthouse, which towered over the small village and the sand banks, was completed and lit on December 1, 1875. By 1895, Jones Hill was busy enough to have its own post office. The postal service, notorious for changing the traditional names of Outer Banks villages, required that the villagers send in several suggestions for an official name. The story goes that they submitted Jones Hill and Currituck Beach and were looking for other suggestions when someone mentioned that the inner part of a flower is called a corolla. That name was submitted and chosen by the postal service, forever changing the name of the small village.

Here is the Currituck Beach Lighthouse:

There are about 20 restored buildings in Corolla. Around the lighthouse is the Keeper's House and Museum Shop. There is still a keeper in residence. Here is Kathy saying "hi-ho" to a couple of their goats.

Just down Corolla Village Road from the lighthouse is the Historic Corolla School, which still holds classes, and the Corolla Wild Horse Museum. We never knew there were wild horses on the Outer Banks. We've been to Chincoteague and Assateague, which are famous for their ponies. Here in Corolla, the horses are direct descendants from Spanish Mustangs most likely shipwrecked or abandoned by the Spanish. Here is the cute little museum and book shop. (Yes, Kathy bought a calendar with pretty wild horses on it.)

From the Historic Village. we headed over to the Whalehead Club and the Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education. But first, let's take a stroll along a boardwalk:

Wow.  Here is our first look at the Currituck Sound:

Although several inlets connected it directly to the Atlantic Ocean at one time or another, they have all since closed and there is now no direct access to the Ocean from the Sound.  As a result, the water in the Sound is more fresh than salty.  Its tides are not influenced by the moon, but rather by whether winds blow from the north or the south.

The lack of access to the ocean doesn't seem to bother the snowy egret or the thousands of other water fowl that use the sound on their migration routes. In fact, this area hosts 6% of the migrating fowl who winter over.  Consequently, water fowl hunting has big business in the Outer Banks for over 100 years.

We saw a snowy egret checking out his environment, and he was kind enough to pose for our photo:

In 1922, Edward Collings Knight, Jr., a man who had made his wealth in sugar and railroad and lived in the Philadelphia area, and his wife Marie-Louise LeBel Knight began work on a palatial residence to be known as "Corolla Island" (now known as the Whalehead Club). When the massive house on the sound was finally finished in 1925, it must have been quite a sight to the modest-living locals. Inside the five-story, 21,000-square-foot house are wonders to behold such as electricity, running hot and cold water, indoor bathrooms and even a refrigerator. The building is also an exceptional example – and remains so to this day – of the ornamental Art Nouveau style of architecture. What a contrast to the simple lifestyle of the locals! Today folks can take tours or reserve the Club for a wedding or other special event.

During the Knights' time, the Boathouse was a center of activity for the duck hunting that drew guests to the property. It was a place teeming with activity, where the decoys and hunting skiffs were stored, and where grain to lure the waterfowl within range of the hunters was kept. Today, a variety of artifacts from the heyday of wildfowl hunting on the Currituck Outer Banks are on display in the Boathouse, pictured below:

The Outer Banks Center for Wildlife Education, located next to the mansion, is run by the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission. We strolled through the exhibit center and learned more about what makes the Outer Banks so unique.

From the Historic Corolla Village, we biked down to the Currituck Banks Reserve where Highway 12 ends at the beach. The reserve is an example of a low-salinity estuarine ecosystem, and contains a variety of habitats, including beach, sand dunes, grasslands, shrub thicket, maritime forest, brackish and freshwater marshes, tidal flats, and subtidal soft bottoms. We tried to take the bikes along the beach but found the pedalling difficult:

However, the view from the dunes was amazing:

After having driven through mile after mile of housing developmens and shopping districts it was amazing to actually see the wild beach. However, we didn't see any of the Wild Horses. They must have been elsewhere in the reserve.

In order to keep the horses in the reserve and away from the housing developments and highway traffic, the state has installed large fences that go right out into the ocean:

On the way back to the truck, we stopped to take a walk on a 1/3-mile boardwalk that leads to a view of Currituck Sound. A 1.5-mile primitive trail departs from the boardwalk and heads north through a maritime forest. We took the trail and walked about halfway before turning around and heading back. We saw plenty of evidence of wild horses, having to tiptoe around several large piles of horse apples, but we never did catch a glimpse of the horses. Here is Dave resting on a bench in the middle of the maritime forest.

A mile or so of bicycling brought us back to our truck, and we drove south through 20 miles of touristy beach homes to get to the bridge back across to the mainland across Currituck Sound.  We made it home before dark.

So ends another adventure. Tomorrow we venture forth into the Great Dismal Swap!

The Lost Colony on Roanoke Island

After visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial, we drove down to Roanoke Island to visit the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, which, while home to the restored remains of a dirt walled fort established by delegates of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 on the second of three colonizing voyages, it is more well known as the first location of the "Lost Colony" established by 150 settlers under Sir Walter Raleigh's governor, John White, an artist who sailed on the earlier voyages to the location:

On March 25, 1584, Queen Elizabeth I granted Raleigh a charter for the colonization of the area of North America. This charter specified that Raleigh needed to establish a colony in North America, or lose his right to colonization.  Raleigh and Elizabeth intended that the venture should provide riches from the New World and a base from which to send privateers on raids against the treasure fleets of Spain.  Raleigh himself never visited North America.

The first voyage commissioned by Raleigh left England on April 27, 1584 and was led by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe with the goal to explore the eastern coast of North America. They arrived on Roanoke Island on July 4, 1584.  John White sailed on this original voyage as its artist.

The fort was established in July 1585 on the second voyage by Sir Richard Grenville, a cousin of Sir Walter Raleigh and populated with 108 people. This colony was unsuccessful and Sir Walter Raleigh took the survivors back to England in 1586.

In 1587, the colony was repopulated with 150 colonists led by John White, who Raleigh named Governor of the colony. The settlement and the fort were rebuilt.

John White's granddaughter, Virginia Dare, was born August 18, 1587, less than a week after the colony was re-established.  She was the first child born in the Americas from English parents.  Life in the colony was difficult, however, and the colonists persuaded White to return to England for supplies.  However, his return was delayed by a conflict between England and Spain. When he returned in August 1590 - three years after leaving - the colonists had disappeared without a trace. Now known as the "Lost Colony", the fate of the colonists remains unknown.

There are many theories of what happened to the colony, but to add to the mystery, the actual original location of the settlement itself has not yet been located.  There is speculation that it may lie just off the north end of Roanoke Island under water, in a location that had been dry ground in the late 1500's.

Wherever the original settlement was located, an even greater mystery is what happened to the colonists while John White was returning to England.  One theory is that they were adopted or kidnapped by local tribes and absorbed into their populations.  Another theory is that the colony was relocated north to an undiscovered location.  No archaeological evidence exists to clearly point to one answer over another.

In any event, the colony is intriguing because it was the first colony established by England in the New World.  It preceded Jamestown (established in 1607) by 20 years, and Plymouth (established in 1620) by 33 years.  Despite the Lost Colony's failure, it was only a matter of a few years before England succeeded in permanently establishing its settlements in the New World.

The rest is history.

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Hi Blog! Saturday, January 3, 2015, was our first full day in the North River Campground and RV Park in Shawboro, North Carolina. We needed to make the most of Saturday because Winter Storm Frona was bearing down on us. The Weather Channel predicts severe thunderstorms for Sunday where we are, which will probably keep us in all day. So, Saturday was our day for adventure, but with rain showers all day, it will have to be mostly indoor adventure rather than hiking or biking unless we want to get wet. Time to check off a couple National Park Visitor Centers from our bucket list.

First up was the Wright Brothers National Memorial located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. We arrived just in time to catch the Ranger Program. A good ranger can make or break a visit and this guy was great. He took us right back to the winter of 1903 when two ingenious brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright, from Dayton, Ohio, chose the sparsely populated area known as the Outer Banks of North Carolina to conduct a series of experiments that resulted in the world’s first heavier than air, powered, controlled flight. Here is the ranger standing in front of a replica of the world's first working airplane - The Wright Flyer.

From 1900 until their first powered flights in late 1903, the brothers conducted extensive preliminary glider tests that developed their skills as pilots and engineers, and also solved some of the basic problems related to flight. Here is a replica of the final glider design which they used to build their Flyer.

The story of these brothers embodies the American ideal of hard work overcoming all obstacles. Wilbur and Orville Wright were not just lucky bicycle mechanics but succeeded because of study and scientific experimentation. Their story is the realization of a dream that had existed for centuries; it is not simply about building the first plane, but rather about how they scientifically solved the problem. It is a story about those who inspired and those who aided the brothers.

This boulder marks the lift off point for each flight made on December 17, 1903. Here we are about to take flight back in time.

A 60-foot granite monument, dedicated in 1932, is perched atop 90-foot-tall Kill Devil Hill, commemorating the achievement of the Wright brothers. It is the only monument in U.S. history ever dedicated to a person living at the time of its dedication.

As we walked up to the top of Kill Devil Hill, we could see that the carving on the side of the monument that was inspired by Icarus, the Greek mythological figure who tried to fly from Crete by attaching feathers to his arms with wax.

Here Kathy gets an up close look at Wilbur.

The view from the top of Kill Devil Hill is pretty impressive. Now just imagine jumping off this hill in a glider!

Back in 1903, this grass covered field was nothing but blowing sand. The sand made for soft glider landings, but the Wright Brothers couldn't use wheels on their Flyer because the wheels would get stuck in the sand. They had to design a monorail for the Flyer to slide on as it was taking off. Here is a replica of the rail. It wasn't very long, as the boulder marks the liftoff spot.

On December 17, 1903, at 10:35 a.m., Orville Wright released the restraining wire. The flyer moved down the rail as Wilbur ran next to it to steady the wings. Just as Orville left the ground, John Daniels, from the nearby lifesaving station, snapped the shutter on a preset camera, capturing the historic image of the airborne aircraft with Wilbur running alongside. Here is a copy of the original photo.

There were four successful flights that day.  Each one going further than the next - 120 feet, 175 feet 200 feet and a WHOPPING 852 feet. That last distance is much longer than it sounds - almost 3 football fields in length.  Here is the monument to the fourth and final flight that day.

However, some say there was a fifth flight when the Flyer was caught by a gust of wind as the crew was carrying it back to the hangar. John Daniels, the lucky photographer, grabbed hold of the machine just as it went airborne. The plane rolled over and crashed making John Daniels only the third person to ever fly an aircraft, and the first person involved in an airplane crash.

The story of the Wright Flyer doesn't end here. While the brothers had abandoned their other gliders, they realized the historical significance of the Flyer. They crated it and shipped it back to Dayton, where it stayed in storage for 9 years. It was almost destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in March 1913.

They wanted to donate the Flyer to the Smithsonian, but the Secretary of the Smithsonian at that time, Charles Walcott, didn't recognize the Wright Brothers' claim to be the first in flight.  Instead, the Smithsonian honored the former Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Pierpont Langley, whose 1903 tests of his own Aerodrome on the Potomac were not successful. Secretary Walcott was a friend of Former Secretary Langley and wanted to see Langley's place in aviation history secured. Due to the legal patent battles then taking place, recognition of the 'first' aircraft became a political and legal, as well as an academic, issue.

In 1925, Orville attempted to persuade the Smithsonian to recognize his and Wilbur's accomplishment by offering to send the Flyer to the Science Museum in London. This action did not have its intended effect, and the Flyer went on display in the London museum in 1928. It remained there in "the place of honour," except during World War II when it was moved to an underground vault some 100 miles from London where Britain's other treasures were kept safe from the conflict.

In 1948, the Flyer was returned to the United States and now hangs in the Smithsonian, which is why the plane displayed in the Visitor Center is a replica:

That wasn't the end of its journey. Portions of the original fabric and wood from the Flyer traveled to the surface of the moon aboard the Apollo 11 lunar module.  Those pieces are proudly displayed in this Visitor Center.

What's next - Mars?

Eddie & George Wake Up in Shawboro, North Carolina

It's a little rainy today...

Abraham, Martin and Tom

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?

Can you tell me where he's gone?

I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill

With Abraham, Martin, and Tom

Hi Blog, Happy New Year!  Do you believe it is January 1, 2015 already? We have been retired now for three full years. Wow! How time flies. We're just getting started.

After a great Christmas in the Philly Area, it is time to head south to avoid the cold weather. We are currently camped in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which puts us close enough to visit Washington, D.C. After spending New Year's Eve in Georgetown, we decided to spend New Year's Day visiting all our old friends over by the National Mall. But first, we had to get there.

Have feet will travel! Here is our route.

The weather was sunny and bright, but very cold. It was still early on New Year's Day, so there were not as many people walking along the boardwalk by The Washington Harbor as you would normally see on a beautiful sunny morning.

The Georgetown Waterfront Park, a national park, contains a number of historic themed sculptures. Here Kathy looks down at an old map of Georgetown etched into marble blocks.

We were able to follow a series of bike paths along the Potomac River, including the the Rock Creek Park Trail, all the way from Georgetown to the National Mall. Here we are at the Kennedy Center looking back to Georgetown. The stately looking building with the pointy spire is part of Georgetown University.

In all the years we've been coming to D.C., this is the first time we have ever approached the National Mall from this direction. This is the back of the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument beyond it to the right.

We stopped by for a quick chat with our old friend Abe.  He freed a lot of people, but it seems the good die young.

We continued our trek past the Korean Memorial. We stopped to pay our respects. No silly selfies here.

The most striking features are the ghostly reflections of the soldiers in the highly polished marble. It is a very personal and moving tribute.

From the Mall, we struck out around the Tidal Basin.  Here we caught up to our old friend, Martin. He freed a lotta people but it seems the good they die young.

Here is a good view of the Washington Monument from across the Tidal Basin.

Here is our next destination - the Jefferson Memorial.

In all the years we've come to DC, we never realized that there is a small museum and book store under the Jefferson Memorial. We took the opportunity to browse the displays and watch a short video on the life and times of Mr. Jefferson.

Here we are visiting with our old friend Tom. He freed a lotta people but it seems the good they die young.

After having watched the Ken Burn's special on the Roosevelts earlier this year, we were eager to explore the Roosevelt Memorial. Here we are visiting with our old friends FDR and his dog, Fala.

Dedicated on May 2, 1997 by President Bill Clinton, the monument, spread over 7.5 acres, traces 12 years of the history of the United States through a sequence of four outdoor rooms, one for each of FDR's terms of office. Other sculptures depict scenes from the Great Depression, such as listening to a fireside chat on the radio and waiting in a bread line.

A bronze statue of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt standing before the United Nations emblem honors her dedication to the UN. It is the only presidential memorial to depict a First Lady. Here she is.

Our time visiting old friends had come to an end. We had to make it over past the Capitol Building to Union Station in order to catch our train back to Fredericksburg. We trekked a total of 5.5 miles. We made it with plenty of time to spare. We even got a chance to check out some of the Christmas decorations, including this miniature train display.

And so ends another day of adventure. Tomorrow we head further south.  Next stop, Shawboro, North Carolina. Outer Banks here we come!

Goodbye 2014 Hello 2015

I can imagine what the conversation would be between the new year 2015 and the old year 2014 if they were two of the Beatles.  The new year, 2015, would probably do the singing, and he would phrase the song as if were addressed to the departing year, 2014:

You say goodbye and I say hello

Hello hello

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello

Hello hello

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello

Anyway, I'm sure that's what would happen if years were musical.  Maybe they are, or maybe they aren't, but we decided to make our New Year's musical by having a late night dinner, into midnight, at our favorite Georgetown, DC jazz club, Blues Alley.  It's had the same logo in all the maybe 20 years we've visited:

Our trip started in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where our truck and trailer are parked in a campground. We made arrangements to park our big truck in a supermarket parking lot across from the Fredericksburg train station and made tracks up to the platform to wait for the train:

Commuting into DC from Virginia is not simple. There are two methods.  One is Amtrak, which is not cheap (e.g., $52 a trip).  The other is the VRE (Virginia Regional Express) commuter train, which is cheap (e.g., $11 a trip).  The two trains use the same tracks.  In fact, many times the two systems offer rides on the same Amtrak trains.  According to the VRE website, a VRE train was available when we wanted to go into DC, so we bought the cheaper tickets.  Only Amtrak trains were available home on New Year's Day, so we bought Amtrak tickets for the return.  Can't always get the best deal.

Not so simple.

An Amtrak train pulled up when we expected the VRE train.  We asked the conductor if another VRE train was going to be along shortly.  He said, "Nope."  We said, "When's the next train?"  "Seven p.m.," he responded.  Hmmm...  "We have VRE tickets for the train that comes at this time," we pointed out.  He responded, "Those won't work on this train.  You have to buy Amtrak tickets.  It'll cost you $44 apiece."  No one bothered to tell us that VRE lists the Amtrak trains in its schedule but doesn't bother to tell you that for THOSE trains you can't use your VRE ticket.  We bought our Amtrak tickets on the train.  Now we'll have to chase down a VRE refund.  Good luck.

Nevertheless, we made it without further incident into DC, enjoying a scenic ride up the lower reaches of the Potomac River as we travelled.  We passed Quantico Marine Base and had a chance to get an idea of the facility.  Got a drive-by viewing of the various National Mall monuments.

From Union Station, we took the Metro to DuPont Circle and stopped for lunch at an Irish pub, then walked on to Georgetown, where our little inn, the Canal Inn, awaited our arrival:

It's a cute little small inn-type hotel located right on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal.  We would recommend it to you, but the in-room, on-demand water heater had such small capacity that we couldn't even get a full shower without running out of hot water.  For some irrational reason, David was willing to overlook that small shortcoming, but it loomed large enough to Kathy that she swore, "I'm never coming back here again."  No accounting for taste.

Having settled our things in the Inn, we went out to stroll the C&O Canal and the rest of nearby Georgetown.

The Chesapeake and Ohio National Historic Park is a United States National Historical Park located in DC and the states of Maryland and West Virginia. The park was established as a National Monument in 1961 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in order to preserve the neglected remains of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal along the Potomac River along with many of the original canal structures. The canal and towpath trail extends from Georgetown, Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland.  While the park has seven visitor centers along its 184.5 mile length, the DC visitor center is in Georgetown within a few blocks of our Inn.

Just outside our Inn sits an old canalboat that once was operated on the canal:

The canal is spanned by several iron pedestrian bridges.  Here, Kathy leans out to look at the canal, and her shadow does the same on the canal wall to the right:

From our section of the canal, here is a view north (upstream) --

-- and a view south (downstream) toward the Potomac:

Most of the industrial buildings along the canal in Georgetown have been redeveloped and repurposed as residences, office and retail space.  Many are graced with compatible art and sculpture. On New Years Day morning, as we started our walk around D.C., we ran into a crowd at one stairway down to the canal from a Georgetown Street.  It was a huge group of Sierra Club hikers, perhaps 100-strong, out for a New Year's hike.  One woman invited us to join them, but we assured her that we were not allowed to hike with Sierra Club members because we are members of the competing Appalachian Mountain Club.   We're not sure she understood the joke.

We would also have loved to explore a much longer section of the canal by bicycle, but that will have to wait for another visit.  We've been to DC many times and expect we will visit again in the future, so we're pretty sure we'll have the chance.

After trolling Georgetown for a restaurant for dinner, we decided on a tapas restaurant, Bodega, just up M Street from 31st Street.  Knowing that we would be drinking and snacking our way to midnight, at Blues Alley, we kept our order small and shared three small plates which, unfortunately, got cut out of this photo because the photographer was obsessed with the 13 silver bull skulls on the opposite wall:

(Ed.: This blog entry will (for better or worse) dwell at length on the food we ate.  We try not to make this a practice, but we felt that, given the central role that music, eating and drinking played in our New Year's celebration, it is appropriate to make an exception in this case.)

We chose and HIGHLY recommend these hot tapas plates:

     Fritura de Cazón Adobado (Crispy Shark Nuggets Served with a Smoked Paprika Alioli)
     Pimientos del Piquillo Rellenos de Costilla de Buey (Piquillo Peppers Stuffed with Braised Beef Short Ribs and Served Au Jus)
     Butifarra Catalana con Judías Salteadas (Catalonian Sausage with Sautéed Kidney Beans) (Ed: It should be noted that our dish did not include kidney beans but cannellini (Spanish white) beans.  All the same, they were delicious and probably much more delicious than kidney beans anyway)

After dinner, we repaired to the Inn to rest until our 9:45 pm jazz club date.  At the appointed time, we strolled the VERY LONG one block over to Blues Alley:

The festivities started promptly at 10:00 pm.  We were surprised, however, because the jazz club used a different format for New Year's than we were used to.  Normally, dinner is served only at the early show.  The 10pm show normally only comes with drinks and light snacks.  However, unbeknownst to us, we had purchased the standard, MANDATORY New Year's package of a full dinner at the late show.  So, having already eaten dinner, we were confronted with a SECOND dinner.  We asked the waitress if she could serve us the salad and dessert (and - oh, yes - a bottle of wine), then give us the dinners in a bag to carry away.  She was very amenable to that, and we settled in to enjoy the evening.  Here's a photo of the venue in full celebration mode:

Okay, so now we include the obligatory "It's midnight and we're cheering in the New Year" photos:

The people on both sides of us were very nice.  One couple, who live locally and come to Blues Alley frequently, offered to take our photo together and we leapt at the opportunity.

Did we mention the champagne was a bottomless glass for the whole evening, in addition to the bottle of wine we purchased.  We must insist that we both behaved very well and only drank the small glasses of champagne that awaited us as we were seated, PLUS the obligatory cheer-in-the-New-Year glasses:

The featured artist was Monty Alexander.  Born in Kingston, Jamaica, he is a jazz pianist who also plays the melodica. His playing has a strong Caribbean influence and swinging feeling, but he has also been influenced by Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Wynton Kelly, and Ahmad Jamal.  The first half of his set consisted, first, of jazz interpretations of Christmas standards, including medleys of such songs as Jingle Bells and Silver Bells.  He followed up with a story about his experiences with Frank Sinatra and a traditional jazz interpretation of the Sinatra classic, "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning."  But the absolute highlight of the night was the last half of the set, when his Jamaican friends joined him on the stage to overwhelm us with a series of jazz interpretations of regae favorites.  All of his songs included phrases dropped in from songs known to all of us, and he would treat those phrases as little jokes shared with the audience.  By the time his performance was over, the house was rocking.

We were disappointed that he didn't play until midnight.  Rather, he finished around 11:30.  Another jazz trio stepped in, however, and took us into the New Year with some hot jazz.  The trio held their own and had us walking away satisfied with our celebration.

We went straight back to bed and were asleep by 1:00 am.  We got up a little after 8:00 am and suffered no ill consequences due to our very temperate behavior the night before.  We headed out to forage for breakfast and found a great repast at Martin's Tavern, up Wisconsin Street from our Inn, one of the few places open for breakfast on New Year's Day.  The entire establishment was decorated in a traditional way, adding to the warmth of the breakfast on a very cold, sunny holiday morning:

Tummies warmed, we headed back to our Inn to pack our bags and return home to our RV, ready to move south tomorrow to the coast of North Carolina.