Route 1, Day Two: Princeton, New Jersey to Dumfries, Virginia

On Wednesday, December 30th, I wake up at 10 a.m. in the Princeton Inn. We take a relaxed approach to the morning, requesting a late checkout. When I call down, the front desk clerk says, without skipping a beat, “The latest checkout time is 12:30 p.m.” Perfect.
We pack up, then leave our luggage on a cart near the front desk. (Jim is sold on hotel luggage carts.) I feel like a rich lady traveler with all this luggage. The cart even has brass (colored?) curved poles, just like the Waldorf, without the red velvet. However, our stack includes a red and white Playmate cooler from the early 80s, which lowers the class a bit. I just can’t travel without packing food.
Jim narrates our walking tour of Princeton, past his dormitories, Brown and Little, and Blair Arch, where the 10th reunion photo was taken, into the old bookstore which is now just T-shirts and convenience store.

On A floor in Firestone Library the study carrel where Jim spent hours working on his senior thesis is gone. Of course there are all sorts of interesting books; Jim often would pick up something new to read rather than study.
After the walking tour we drive around and find our first apartment at 155 Ewing St., which we sublet in the summer of ’79. Two workmen are there, and let us step in to see the second floor studio apartment. The wrought iron banister at the top of the stairs has been replaced with a half-wall; the kitchen and bathroom are updated. One workman is painting a door.
We drive out to the LDS chapel on Alexander, then take Route 1 north two intersections to Harrison St. to return to Route 1 south exactly where we had exited the day before, at the gas station where I waited in a long line for gas back in the shortage days of the 70s.
Crossing the Delaware River we see the bridge with big red letters: “What Trenton Makes the World Takes”. The drive through Philly and suburbs changes character every few minutes: below-grade street, commercial areas, townhouses, grassy tree-lined boulevards, and twelve-lane highway. Dusk has fallen by the time we reached Longwood Gardens near Brandywine, making the tall deciduous trees wrapped in red Christmas lights stunning. There was even one with multi-colored lights.
We drive through the Maryland countryside in the dark and in Perry Hall, Maryland, Jim pulls into the Double T Diner, a large and gleaming establishment with apple turnovers on display at the front entrance and a revolving dessert case.

Jim knows how I love the romance of diners. Unfortunately my dinner is too much food to even think about sampling any desserts. I enjoy Maryland crab soup, stewed lima beans, real mashed potatoes, and a huge and delicious broiled crabcake. I order two, but can’t eat the second until supper the next day.
We drive through quiet city streets in Baltimore, past the quintessential white stone steps of the row houses. Bold pedestrians in dark winter clothing cross the street in a nerve-wracking way, but no mishaps occur. Pressing on to the District of Columbia we drive down the mall, past museums of art and natural history, and the large federal buildings with huge Greek columns, turning left in front of the Washington Monument, and passing the Jefferson Monument and Tidal Basin. 30 miles south of the District we stop on Old Stagecoach Road in Dumfries, Virginia, at a Hampton Inn. Another late night of travelling, but at least we avoided heavy traffic in Baltimore and Washington.