Sabin’s Vacation 2023 - From Land to Sea Day #6 - Pennsylvania to Massachusetts

by Nina Sabin - Travel Blog

Today we woke up with lake withdrawals- no fishing, kayaking, or boating.

Instead, we woke up to the noises of a hotel in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

John enjoyed the complimentary breakfast of premade pancakes and coffee. Due to my digestive needs I couldn’t eat the complimentary breakfast, but as an alternative I had the delicious Middle Eastern food that was left over from the evening before. What a treat to have humus and shawarma for breakfast. Mumtaz!

Soon after breakfast we were on the road again. Today was only a 280 mile drive.

Over six days we drove 1,250 miles and a total of about 29 hours in the car, we made it to our final driving destination: Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.

The last car ride on this trip is when we ride with our friends in two days to the Boston Port which is only an hour drive.

Today the roads were crowded but we were blessed because part of the roads in Connecticut did not allow trucks. This is because many of the bridges are too low on the Merritt Parkway.

All of the bridges on the Merritt Parkway, originally built to a minimum standard of eleven feet at the abutments, are too low for big trucks. In some places the bridges are even lower due to roadbed re-grading and raising. The road just wasn't designed for anything but passenger cars.

The signs too had an extra flair where the border around the sign had a jagged design verses the normal straight white lines. Funny what you notice when you are hours in a car on a road trip.

Connecticut replaced signs on the Merritt Parkway. The project cost approximately $4.25 million. The signs were way past their 17 year lifespan. The project encompasses roughly 40 miles of the Merritt, from the Connecticut to the New York border.

Before seeing these new signs I never thought about how much wear and tear the interstate signs endure.

We did a lot of reminiscing along the way as we drove over the Tappan Zee Bridge; it is now known as Governor Mario M. Cucomo Bridge.

There has been controversy about the change from Tappan Zee for this new span ever since 2017, when then-Governor Cuomo worked to have legislators agree to name the bridge in honor of his father.

When our girls were little and before we lived in Saudi we lived in Nanuet, New York for a while and would often go over the Tappan Zee Bridge to go to New York City.

We also lived in Worcester, Massachusetts 2000-2001.

It has been almost 22 years since we last visited.

The adorable bed and breakfast, we are staying at for two nights, is in downtown Shrewsbury, the neighboring town to Worcester.

After getting settled, we decided to treat ourselves to a pedicure. I had a manicure as well. What a treat!

Tonight's meal was Mexican. The place was called Mexican Cantina. The best part of the meal was the Margarita.

Tomorrow we will be going to have a full day to explore and reminisce.

Only one more day and then our true adventure begins...35-day cruise - Voyage of the Vikings.