New York, NY

We stopped in Brewster, New York, to visit with Cory's cousin Susan, whom I'd never met and Cory hadn't seen in nearly 30 years. Susan and her friend graciously played host for a visit to The City. Though the day was frigid, we did the open-air doubledeck bus tour anyway. Then we took in a Broadway show (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, starring John Lithgow) and had dinner.

UPDATE: Sadly, only a few months after our visit, Susan lost her long battle to cancer. We will miss her ... and we'll long remember our visit and her warm, gracious hospitality.

Boston, MA

Eagle Island, MA

Scarsborough, ME

Yes, that's right. What we have here is a life-size, hand-carved, 1,700 pound ... wait for it now, we didn't make this stuff up ... chocolate moose. And its name is Lenny.

Lenny's home is Len Libby Chocolates, just up Route 1 a bit from our spot in Arundel, Maine. Which is, itself, just down the highway a piece from Kennebunkport. We've done a fair bit of beachcombing, shopping and exploring in this area. But we stumbled onto Lenny purely by chance, when we finally decided to stop and visit the chocolate shop we had passed several times in our excursions.

Lenny, though, wasn't the best thing there, IMHO. We found a soft caramel-like confection dusted in powdered sugar called Bangor taffy. I'm a caramel aficionado, so I couldn't get out of there without several pounds of the stuff.

Philadelphia, PA

What would a trip to Philadelphia be without trying a genuine Philly cheese steak sandwich? We asked around and learned that two steak shops are considered the best of the best -- Geno's and Pat's. And they're across the street from each other!

We got the pictures at Geno's ... but between us, we liked Pat's just a bit better. Order "with" -- that's with onions -- and "Whiz" -- with cheese whiz melted on the steak. Mmm-mmm.

Philadelphia, PA

Wisconsin Dells, WI

While in the Dells, we took a duck tour. That's officially D.U.K.W.s – which is a military code describing the WWII vehicle (D = 1942 , U = amphibian, K = front-wheel drive, W = rear-wheel drive), but the GIs just called 'em ducks. The Dells have one of the largest fleets of original ducks still in operation.

While we waited to ride, the boys were boys. While we rode, trying to avoid the splashes meant they did a lot of ducking!

Lion Country Safari

Lion Country Safari, Pt 2

Sure, it's a gimmick. You overpay for a couple of tiny medicine cups of sugar water, just for the privilege of going in the cage. But who cares? The lorries know what's in those cups and you'd better have a tight hold on them. And at least until the cups are empty, you get to play "Bird Man" ... or woman. It was a total hoot!

Busch Gardens, FL

Gulf Shores, AL

We’ve arrived on the Redneck Riviera, that stretch of white sand beaches along the Gulf Coast between Alabama and Florida. The weather is a temperate 67-77 degrees, and though the day was mostly cloudy, there’s no wind and threatened rain storms never materialized. Last night, we drove in to Foley to eat at the famous Lambert’s Cafe. I had the hog jowls (now, don’t look down your nose–it’s a real treat for bacon lovers!) and Cory had the pork chops–good, down-home cookin’ with plenty of pass-arounds, including sorghum molasses for the hot rolls. They’re the size of a twelve-inch softball, and that’s how they’re delivered, as well.

Every few minutes, a young man comes out of the kitchen with a cart, hollering "Hot rolls!" Give him the high sign, from ANYWHERE in the dining room, and he’ll lob one to you. Mmm-mmm. That’s why Lambert’s is known as "the only home of the throwed roll." Late today, we’re going down to the beach…and we’ll get some pictures.

Lafayette, LA

It's MARDI GRAS!

Lafayette, LA

Biloxi, MS

Mississippi does Mardi Gras, too!

We spent a week in the Biloxi-Gulfport area–found on arrival that this is an area where reservations are best made in advance this time of year. We arrived without any, naturally, but we found a spot in Gulfport. We were parked so close to I-10 that Abby (the nickname we gave to our new Garmin 2610 GPS) couldn’t direct us home properly. The coordinates for our site came up as ON the highway, so she informed us that we had ‘reached our destination’ when we drove by and waved to the trailer.

We hit our first Mardi Gras parade in Biloxi on January 29, where we collected more than 8 pounds of beads without even trying. Can’t wait for sister Susan to arrive next week in Louisiana–you can’t help but have a good time at Mardi Gras in Acadiana.