Vacationing Ally

3,000 miles

14 states
9 days
2 love birds
1 Honda

That's one hell of a road trip! I'm still exhausted! I bragged how I didn't need concealer the entire time b/c I was so relaxed, but that last day was ridiculously long and I'm still not fully over it.

Saturday
Saturday morning we left Louisville at 6am and drove through Kentucky, West Virginia, Maryland and part of Virginia and spent the night in Fairfax, VA with Al's sweet Aunt Edie.


Top: NY&Co.

Jeans: Gap

Shoes: Sam Edelman

Bag: Michael Kors

Scarf on bag: Vera Bradley (courtesy of my buddy, Laura, who not only scored this at the VB trunk sale, but was sweet enough to keep my balcony "garden" watered the week we were gone. Thanks again, L!)

Sunnies: Max Studio




I wear the same jeans, shoes, and bag/scarf through the whole trip so if you can't see them, they're around somewhere. I didn't see any need in switching out bags or packing a lot of shoes. Yeah, I know. I didn't pack a lot of shoes. What's wrong with me?!?

Sunday
We spent a relaxing morning with Aunt Edie and Al's cousins then headed to Washington DC for a quick drive-thru visit. Al's been a few times and I haven't, but I didn't want my first time there to be rushed so we decided to breeze through on our way to Baltimore.

We drove all day through Maryland to Delaware where we spent the night. We had an awesome meal at Iron Hill Brewery in Newark. Thanks to Maglet for the great suggestion :)

At Baltimore's Inner Harbor...

Cardi/Cami: NY&Co.

Pants: Old Navy

Necklace: Walmart

Bag/Scarf: Michael Kors/VB

Flats: Sam Edelman









Monday
We tried to get up early but didn't manage. We had a LONG day of driving ahead of us, but sleeping in until 8am was a better idea than getting up at 6! :) We left Delaware and drove through a bit of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and finally arrived in Maine just before midnight! Whew!

One of the highlights of the trip, for me, was going to QVC! I'm the biggest nerd ever and watch QVC all the time. I've watched it for years (since the early 90's) and while I don't phone in and order, I have ordered a few holiday gifts from there. They offer a studio tour and after much weeping and gnashing of teeth, I managed to drag Al along with me to see what it was all about. It was super cool and if you're in the area, go see it. They have a QVC store there, too, and that was the best part. I loved seeing all the jewelry and stuff they sell. The store itself is surprisingly small and I wish they had more of each line out.


Thin tshirt: Old Navy

Green cami: Target

Same jeans, bag/scarf, and shoes.

I'm proudly pointing out Louisville on the QVC Local bus. Nerd, I say. NERD!





Tuesday
We were fortunate to spend two days in Maine (two different cities though) and had then chance to drive through Portland, Freeport (for some shopping!), and even went to Owls Head to the Owls Head Transportation Museum! Are you all tingly over it too? haha Compromise, kittens. He got the museum and I got QVC. Fair trade. The drive to the museum was amazing, though, and I actually enjoyed it.

After the museum, we drove back down to Freeport to the outlets and to LL Bean. Unfortunately, they roll up the sidewalks around 6-7pm so I didn't get to do much damage. Thank goodness LL Bean never closes, so we killed some time in there.

Cardi: NY&Co.

Tank: Target

Jeans: Gap

Scarf: Walmart

I don't remember what shoes I'm wearing here. I had my Frye boots on for most of the day but switched to flats at some point...just don't remember if I'd switched yet or not.


Wednesday
We left Maine and drove through New Hampshire to Vermont. What an amazing drive. That stretch was definately the most beautiful part. The colors were peak in Maine and New Hampshire and we didn't take a single interstate - all country highways. It was just amazing.

The neatest part was our drive up Mount Washington. For those who don't know, I grew up in Mt. Washington, KY so I got a HUGE kick out of being on top of the REAL Mt. Washington. I did give my mother a mild heart attack by calling her from the top of the mountain and doing the ole, "Guess where I am?" bit. She wasn't home so for all she knew, I could have been in her Mt. Washington. If you have the time, click on the link above and read about the drive up/down the mountain. It was just under 8 miles to the top and was super scary at parts! The summit is 6,288 ft and has the reputation for the World's Worst Weather. We were VERY lucky the day we were there and the skies were clear and the wind and weather were mild. Usually it's very cold, very windy, and very cloudy. One of the buildings is even chained to the ground!


Dress: Target

Yoga pants: no idea...had 'em for years

Scarf: Walmart

Flats: Sam Edelman

Isn't the view amazing???









Thursday
We arrived at our B&B Wednesday evening, got settled in and went to dinner at a local brewery. We'd been lucky and had perfect, clear weather the entire time. Our luck ended Thursday. It was rainy and misty until early afternoon. We took advantage of the poor weather and did indoorsy stuff. Visited Ben & Jerry's, the Cabot cheese store, a sugar maker (for syrup!), and several other shops. We drove around quite a lot too. Vermont is beautiful, even on a cloudy, rainy day.

Tweed jacket: NY&Co.

Lace cami: Old Navy

Jeans: Gap

Shoes: Target

Scarf: Walmart









Friday
After breakfast we checked out of the B&B and headed to Burlington and then through southern Vermont to Lake George, NY. It was a pretty uneventful day but the sightseeing was just incredible.

Black cardi: Target

Teal v-neck: Old Navy

Pants: Old Navy

Scarf: vintage, ebay

purple scarf: Walmart




Saturday
Saturday was the longest day of our lives. It was AWFUL. Just awful. In spite of the awfulness, there were a few bright spots: Al's visit with a friend in Erie, my fab fest w/KT, and getting home. For some reason, we thought it'd be a GREAT idea to drive from Lake George, NY to Lousiville. I'll give you a second to run that through Google Maps. That's just under 900 miles and 14 hours. IF YOU DON'T STOP. Well we just can't do that, so by the time we stopped in Erie, stopped in Columbus, stopped at a freakin trust stop to sleep, we got home at an hour where most folks were getting up, not going to bed. Oy. I was so tired Sunday. So tired I puked. What's up with that? I slept all day Monday and finally felt like a normal person Tuesday. I am still all puffy and bloated from being in the car for that long.

Hi, KT!!!! I can't even begin to tell you all how much I enjoyed meeting KT! She's the best! Her sweet daughter, Tessa, came along and as far as 16-year-olds go, she's tops. KT and Tessa brought me a big stack of catalogs to kill the rest of the ride home :)

*Excuse the poor PhotoChopping skills on my shirt. I busted out of my Fashion Tape and y'all don't need to see my bra.*


Well, that's all I can manage to post! I have TONS of photos of the trip that I'll be putting up on Flickr later in the week.